Stone Knives and Bear Skins

[Prince Atom]

Cromagnon (Humans), Neanderthal (Half-Orc stats), Austopithecus (Apemen -Halfling stats?), Lizardmen, Gnomes (because I like them)

Why would Australopithecines have halfling stats? Maybe without the size bonus; somehow 3E halflings are, IMO, kinda short for ape-men. Otherwise, this'd be good. How about some Saurials instead of lizardfolk? A recent Dragon presented four Saurial races for play.

Wizard: think Cave Paintings as gigantic non-portable Wizard Tomes in which the Wizard must meditate each night in order to learn spells

This is all well and good, but what happens when caves are few and far between? And perhaps the caves don't have any spells the wizard can cast. And what happens when a rival wizard shows up? Can they both meditate in one cave, or is it a first-come, first-served thing? If only one can meditate, that'd come down to some nasty fights first.

IMO, sorcerors are much more efficient. Such wizards can exist, of course, but not where caves are lacking. Not a good choice for PCs.

Thanks for your input!

TWK

 

[Darraketh]

According to my source there were two types of Australopithecines. These were the robusts, named for their massive jaws and teeth, and the graciles (Australopithecus africanus) who had smaller teeth and jaws.

It seems that the robusts were around for about 2,000,000 years before they died out. The graciles were around for less that 1,000,000 before they gave rise to Homo habilis.

To me this sounds like orcs could fill the role of the robusts and half-orcs the graciles.

I see creating a setting like this as an exercise in using most of the existing stats and changing the names, descriptions etc. to fit the desire.

With this in mind I'd use the orc and half-orc stats but I would change the description of the half-orcs to their being a unique species and not the product of orc and human interbreeding.

Maybe for the role of Neanderthal you could use the bugbear.

 

[Tonguez]

Why would Australopithecines have halfling stats? Maybe without the size bonus; somehow 3E halflings are, IMO, kinda short for ape-men. Otherwise, this'd be good. How about some Saurials instead of lizardfolk? A recent Dragon presented four Saurial races for play.

Australopithicus africanis (gracile) was only slightly bigger than a Chimpanzee and these I think fit the halfling 'stats', the larger Robustus is the classic 'apeman' and yes should have 'better' stats (maybe like the Orc).
BTW their is also the Gigantpethicus an extinct 'ape' which may have been 10 ft tall and imho could have Ogre stats (ps Gigantopithecus is probabaly the original Yeti and Sasquatch).

And yeah the Saurials are a good idea...

Wizard Caves
This is all well and good, but what happens when caves are few and far between? And perhaps the caves don't have any spells the wizard can cast. And what happens when a rival wizard shows up? Can they both meditate in one cave, or is it a first-come, first-served thing? If only one can meditate, that'd come down to some nasty fights first.

IMO, sorcerors are much more efficient. Such wizards can exist, of course, but not where caves are lacking. Not a good choice for PCs.

I agree that Scorcerers are much more efficient as PCs and this is why I made Wizard a PrC
I was thinking along the lines of a Wizard in a Wizard tower (too much Conan!) and projecting this back to Prehistoric times - a Wizard defending his cave.
These Wizards would need to be more sedentary than 'normal' PCs exactly because of the issues you raised (which btw would be wonderful adeventure seeds don't you think? - afterall fights over territory (and who can thus use the Wizard Cave) are the very stuff of primitive roleplaying).

Also imagine a adventure where PCs must find the Lost Cave of Flaming Achak the Wizard which was lost after an Earthquake and is now inhabited by Fire elementals or something

- see Artifact and Dungeon in one

 

[Tewligan]

If anyone's interested, there was an article in Dragon magazine about Stone Age-style campaigning. It's a really old article - I'm pretty sure the issue was sixty something. Anyway, I recall it being pretty interesting, if anyone has the Dragon archives, or the issue itself.

 

[Desdichado]

Well, I haven't read the whole thread, but just a few comments:

• What? No settled civilizations? Don't you think it likely that the Neolithic Revolution (and the next wave of that, the Secondary Products Revolution) are referred to as the "Neolithic" revolution because they indeed took place during the Stone age? Don't try to make the Stone Age a monolithic cultural and temporal entity: the "Stone Age" was still current in North America when the first Europeans arrived. I doubt the Cherokee Nation, for example, would think much of your ideas that the Stone Age is for Cro-Magnon illiterate hunter-gatherers.
• The Eve Theory. Really problematic. It's only one of two competing camps in physical anthropology. A lot of other folks are big into the Multiregional Evolution camp, and say that the Eve theory's popularity --especially outside the academic community-- is the result of good PR, not good science. I'm not offering my opinion here, though!
• No tanning? What's your source of that? Stone Age cultures, especially late Stone Age cultures were already way beyond tanning. Tarim Basin mummies (admittedly, Bronze Age by this time) were wearing twill tartans already (and the last time this population could possibly have been in direct contact with proto-Celtic peoples was Eneolithic at the latest.) Tanned leather was also a significant portion of their wardrobe if the mummies are any indication.
• I actually submitted a variation on this as one of my setting ideas to WotC. Not to spill too much of the beans, but my idea was a primitive human and Neanderthal dominated world that recieves an influx of standard fantasy races (elves, dwarves, etc) fleeing an apocalypse on their own world.

Of course, this makes it not really Stone Age anymore, as they bring Medieval level technology with them, which disseminates throughout the emerging human civilizations. Still, for my money, that's more interesting than some kinda hoaky kill the saber-tooth campaign setting anyway. Not that yours is, but some of the ideas I saw tossed around here would certainly make me shy away...

 

[Prince Atom]

What? No settled civilizations? Don't you think it likely that the Neolithic Revolution (and the next wave of that, the Secondary Products Revolution) are referred to as the "Neolithic" revolution because they indeed took place during the Stone age?

The what?

And, naw, anything named "Neolithic" has got to have its roots in the modern day! [/SARCASM]

Don't try to make the Stone Age a monolithic cultural and temporal entity: the "Stone Age" was still current in North America when the first Europeans arrived. I doubt the Cherokee Nation, for example, would think much of your ideas that the Stone Age is for Cro-Magnon illiterate hunter-gatherers.

I wasn't casting the whole world as monolithic; just the region in which the PCs are first active.

And, FYI, the culture I was thinking of was inspired by the Native American display at the museum of UT Knoxville. I was primarily envisioning a nomadic group like those of the Tennessee valley -- Bluegrass region. So what if the Hopi are building houses in cliffs? That's a whole world away!

The Cherokee Nation was formed, IIRC, after several hundred years of contact with Europeans. Before the conquerors crossed the pond, were the Cherokee very European?

No tanning? What's your source of that? Stone Age cultures, especially late Stone Age cultures were already way beyond tanning. Tarim Basin mummies (admittedly, Bronze Age by this time) were wearing twill tartans already (and the last time this population could possibly have been in direct contact with proto-Celtic peoples was Eneolithic at the latest.) Tanned leather was also a significant portion of their wardrobe if the mummies are any indication.

I believe I never ruled out tanning. It was my intention that the groups would have access to tanned skins; if I didn't make that clear, I apologize.

Of course, this makes it not really Stone Age anymore, as they bring Medieval level technology with them, which disseminates throughout the emerging human civilizations. Still, for my money, that's more interesting than some kinda hoaky kill the saber-tooth campaign setting anyway. Not that yours is, but some of the ideas I saw tossed around here would certainly make me shy away...

Well, if you don't really want a Stone Age setting, that's your prerogative. Although great leaps in technology have happened through contact, I don't intend to just give the folk steel weapons and let them run rampant through the land. Bronze weapons would be artifacts (in the archaeological sense, not the magical sense) and thus wondrous and exotic in their own right.

And the reason this seems like some kill-the-sabertooth campaign is that I haven't come up with a good instability yet, something to get the plot rolling. It's just static, and of course it's boring if it's not going anywhere.

TWK
Gimme a break, I'm not an anthro major....

 

[Desdichado]

Hey, I wasn't trying to jump on you, by any means, I was responding to a lot of comments from a lot of folks out there.

The biggest problem I see (and the details of what you call "the Stone Age" aren't really a big problem) is; what keeps the campaign interesting? Something has to go on that provides conflict, and gathering food and hunting saber-tooths gets old real fast as an RPG. That's not necessarily a problem with the setting, but it's certainly a missing portion of it right now: there needs to be something to do.

There's not really going to be dungeons and such, I wouldn't think, either in a world that hasn't yet seen civilization. Not necessarily a problem, but something to be aware of.

EDIT: PS: I'm not an anthro major either: Economics is my thing.

 

[Prince Atom]

Instabilities

Sorry about that. I overreacted just a bit. (They don't have a sheepish grin smiley here, do they?)

As for things to do...

1) The PCs' tribe is threatened by another invading tribe, which is pushing the first tribe out of its stomping grounds. The PCs' tribe can't really go anywhere, because there isn't anywhere else to go. All the land around is either inhospitable or controlled by much-stronger tribes. The PCs have to resolve the situation, either by destroying the invading tribe or talking them into a peaceable solution. A merger between the tribes, perhaps by intermarriage, would strengthen both tribes and they'd be better off, while a fight would weaken and possibly destroy both. Of course, the peaceful solution is worth more, but is harder to accomplish. This could be one adventure or several.

2) Some of the PCs' tribe have gone missing, and the PCs have to hunt them down. It turns out they've been kidnapped by this major-mojo cave wizard who needs to use them in some sort of process. It'd be easier to say he's sucking their life out to prolong his, but that's rather hackneyed. He could have need of them to help him defeat some other hazard, in which case if they are removed the hazard overcomes the wizard. The optimum solution is to help the wizard come up with an answer that is effective and does not require the deaths or enslavement of the tribesmen. Of course, this could take a while, too.

3) The tribe's livelihood is threatened by a natural disaster that wipes out their food sources. With only a little food in reserve, they'll starve unless they are somehow delivered. It falls to the PCs to discover a solution, and perhaps they could begin by journeying to the ruins rumored to exist far beyond the borders of their lands. An oldie but a goodie, this could be worth a whole campaign.

Given time and a paycheck, I could undoubtedly come up with lots more, but since I'm lacking both the time and the incentive to knock myself out on this, I'll have to say I can't come up with more right now.

TWK