Anybody run a Stone Age or Civ campaign?

[Gabe the Bard]

I was looking at Pathfinder weapons when I noticed the section for Stone Age weapons. There's only a small listing of clubs and spears, but it got me thinking about a campaign idea I had where the characters all start out in a very primitive era. The only class they have access to is Barbarian, but their actions lead to the rise of civilization so they can "unlock" various other classes in successive eras. I guess this would end up being more like a Civ campaign than a stone age campaign, but has anyone run something like this before?

One thing I'm concerned about is character retention. The players will probably want to keep the characters' they're playing with, so I'm wondering if they should be reincarnated with different (better) stats, or if they should encounter some kind of Elixir of Life which grants them immortality or longevity.

[TroubleBrewing]

I think limiting the initial class to Barbarian would be a mistake. I mean, Druid fits nicely, as do Ranger, Totemist, or Scout.

I've thought about doing a primitive campaign before, but I've never had the group interest there.

[Gazzien]

I would also see Rogue, Sorcerer, Cleric (both with the Primitive Casting feat), and maybe a Binder.

[JHShadon]

I could see them having a Witch as some kind of Shaman, but perhaps you could start them all with one level with an NPC class and being able replace the NPC levels with another class after unlocking it.

[Bullet06320]

I started to put one together, never got it underway tho

From Stone to Steel has some good reasources in it, 3rd party book

first thing was limit the skills available
all the physical skills are good to keep, craft can be important, the perception skills
my plan was to award knowledge ranks based on ingame play, as to wat they heard, learned and experienced
I broke survival down into defferent catagories, fire starting, finding shelter, hunting, gathering

for classes I was just gonna use experts as a base, give them good fort saves, and 3/4 bab, keep the skillpoints as is, maybe +2.
for languages to start, was basically just gonna be their tribe language

I was planning on them being part of a small clan, all related, maybe cousins, their parents a few npc siblings, and maybe a grand parent or great uncle or 2

for religion, this is was where I was gonna have fun with it
for every encounter they have, before any actions are taken, I had a chart, it was random, like 6 choice I think, cant find where it went to.
1. kill it and eat it
2. run away
3. try and communicate with it
4. worship it
5. ok maybe it was only 4things, cant recall, but it gave the pc's a chance to play it out, and see where their tribe went with it, especially if different pcs had different reactions to the same encounter

my plan was as they progessed to open up more things, shamans, warriors, and such, it sux I never got around to it, I think it would've been fun

[ruff]

This looks interesting--I'd like to see more about this sort of stuff, if folks have something.

[Gabe the Bard]

@TroubleBrewing: The class limitation would only apply in the first session. I don't think anyone would like being limited to a single class option for an entire campaign, but this would just be a way to speed things up in the beginning and keep it simple since it is a primitive world. I specifically wanted to avoid having any spellcasters, including divine casters and healers, so that having access to those things becomes a reward for advancing the civilization. Magic would be kind of like a "tech" or "civ advancement" in this sense. They could just as easily go in a different direction and have a civilization that advanced around alchemy or steam tech.

Including druids might be appropriate at the second or third session, but I envisioned the first session as being a blank slate, without any gods or belief systems. The players wouldn't even be able to speak with each other since spoken and written language haven't been invented. They would have to use body language, grunts, and sign to communicate, and anything else would require a Sense Motive check.

@Bullet06320: I like your idea about limiting skill options, and was thinking about doing the same thing. Maybe only physical skills, sense motive, perception, and survival for the first session. Everything else requires the civilization to advance to a suitable level before players can start taking ranks in it.

[Bullet06320]

I think limiting the spoken language in a table top game would be difficult to get around, doing sumthing like that in a larp could be interesting tho.
but limiting the spoken word, no big words, only simple concepts, no counting beyond your fingers and maybe toes

one thought I had was a generational campaign, play a couple sessions as one charchter, learn stuff do stuff, invent stuff, just plain old survive, lol, then restart, as their grand kids, adding a few new, opening skills, classes etc, keeps it from getting boring to qwick, come back as the grand kid, who's learned a few new tricks compared to the old folks, and still have ready made npcs if its needed, or as advisers to the new generation

[Fouredged Sword]

I had an after the fall campaign I always wanted to run.

The DnD multiverse had a close brush with another universe and they bleed into one another. Magic went haywire and civilization collapsed.

The world was E6, with a custom magic weapon system to allow for cool weapons based on runes carved into the weapon. I also folded in the avatar d20 system for modifying mundane weapons with cool stuff.

The players where to be members of a tribe of surviving humanoids hundreds of years after the fall. They are a small race, with pathfinder (+2 to any stat) human stats. They could trade a starting feat (they get 2 like humans) for a racial throwback genetics like all the elf racial abilities or orc abilities.

They would hunt dragons ala monster hunter. The best weapons (masterwork or greater) are made from dragon bone, and metal is unheard of. Magic is rare, and magic items require gems. Gems are found in dragon hordes.