[3.5]So I was just rereading the Technology Level section of my DMG. (Players no read

[Pika...]

Pik,

So I was reading the Technology Level section of alternate world building in my DMG (p.144), since the Orcs, goblins, and Gnolls in my homebrewed setting are not capable of producing metal items.

It got my imagination turning. It made me wonder if it was possible to actually run a Stone Age campaign, and if anyone here had done it before (either players or DMs).


Basic mental scene I got:

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1a. PCs/Players are part of a small tribe living in a cave. I introduce it as they live a simple life, though a happy one. However, midway through the description something(s) barge in and slaughter everything. A mini-combat takes place, but the PCs are quickly taken down with subdual damage.

1b. The above, but instead it happens when they were away, and things start off with them coming back with a dead dear (it is winter time) to the cave after the aftermath.

2a. Their family/tribe/people/whatever are all dead. Everything useful or worth of value has been taken. Due to the flame the tribe kept at the center of the cave having spread/escaped during the conflict has weakened the structure of the cave to the point it is no longer safe, and in fact there are still flames dying out around the PCs as they stare sadly at the aftermath.

2b. Same as above, but some/most/all of their family/tribe/people/whatever were taken. By now thanks to the time lapse, and the heavy snow fall, the tracks are long gone (especially for the Lv.1 they would start off at).

3. Basically, the whole point is that the PCs are left with nothing but the bare minimum aside from the clothes on their back, the few days ration they were just carrying, and perhaps the weapons they used to kill the beast. I am imagining this would be a "clean slate" for them to start with, and head anyway they want to with things, while forcing a reason for them to explore this unusual setting for a D&D campaign (aka the Stone Age)?.

From the above I am not quite sure where to go. I keep getting a scene with them having an epic fight with a mastodon (cliche I know...), and traveling through the forests and frozen planes of the planet.


I imagine survival and crafting would become better/bigger parts of such a game? Not sure about this, but the idea appeals to me.



p.s. Oh! And I just realized that in the Spelljammer spear my "home" world/setting is on there is at the very edge of the sphere (very close to the shell) is an ice world. I had not yet put much thought into it, but I had imagined it to be very low populated due to the conditions, with much distance between settlements. The residents of this sphere (aka the players) have not yet "unlocked" spelljamming, so would this justify the residents/races of this planet being so low-tech compared to the ones of my "base" world?

Many thankies and huggies in advance.

[Milskidasith]

This is somewhat off topic, but isn't this like, the third or fourth topic you have had about completely different campaigns for your PCs? How many games are you running?

[daggaz]

She runs play by post games. Considering it can take more than two weeks realtime for the characters to get introduced, get out of the Inn, and get into their first encounter, the DM has plenty of time to plan and stat things out. Its not uncommon at all for folks to DM and play in many PbP games simultaneously.

OP:

The old darksun campaign world (desert based, very primitive, its where thri-kreen come from) had tons of fluff and crunch for societies that were stone-aged or on the brink of stone-age. Plenty of stone, bone, and chitin weapons and armors. Getting metal was something special.

[Claudius Maximus]

Check out Frostburn. It has a lot of stuff that would work well with your campaign concept. It even has Neanderthals.

[Pika...]

This is somewhat off topic, but isn't this like, the third or fourth topic you have had about completely different campaigns for your PCs? How many games are you running?

Well, the Gnoll ones are part of the Mule/Wagon one.

Also, I run a sandbox styled world/setting/cosmology. This means everything I place in it can potentially be reached by the PCs.

If they figure out where the last of the First One's ships are at rest then they will have no problem traveling across the Spelljammer Sphere to this world.

Also, tI am thinking of this campaign idea as a backup, since the PCs left themselves in a pretty bad situation. Plus it would let me to experience some of the rest of my jammer sphere.

[Pika...]

Well, the Gnoll ones are part of the Mule/Wagon one.

Also, I run a sandbox styled world/setting/cosmology. This means everything I place in it can potentially be reached by the PCs.

If they figure out where the last of the First One's ships are at rest then they will have no problem traveling across the Spelljammer Sphere to this world.

Also, tI am thinking of this campaign idea as a backup, since the PCs left themselves in a pretty bad situation. Plus it would let me to experience some of the rest of my jammer sphere.

Oh yeah, and I am trying to merge the Dawnforge books into/as an older age of my homebrewed world. It is currently on it's 8th "age", so I figured it would help me out a lot to use this preprinted setting which had a similar (but apparently not as much as I thought) feel to one of my ages. Plus, I simply like the setting to the point that I am willing to put the effort into reworking it to fit in there.

Still haven't figured out what to do about the differences in continents.

[Elfin]

I played in a short-lived stone age game; it was actually pretty fun. As you can imagine, magic and magical items were kept to a minimum; the only way to get them or any bronze/steel weapons was trading with the very reclusive elves. Humans were mostly primitive, nomadic hunters living in the shadow of much more powerful races (dragons especially were dominant), which gave a nice twist. and, as you already mentioned, crafting took on a great significance (as did getting food).

As for the higher technology levels, though, I can't imagine wanting to play in a D&D world with firearms.

[AlexanderRM]

As for the higher technology levels, though, I can't imagine wanting to play in a D&D gworld with firearms.

I'm pretty sure the main point of it is the rule of cool.

[Tallis]

Although I never got the opportunity to play it I had a similar idea.
One thing I used was defense points (used in the SWRPG, also in UA I think). Since there is no heavy armor available I felt tghat the melee classes especially could use a boost. I also traded out some proficiencies for feats or extra skills.

[Cieyrin]

I had a buddy of mine run a primitive campaign, though he did it as a set of one-shots that he ran at campaigns, really. He went the extra mile with making proto-classes and everybody was some flavor of elf, as his first race. The activities of the PCs led to great changes in the later one-shots, as the previous PCs established tribal relations and advancements (Mine becoming a god of magic, essentially, as one of the first Arcane casters of the world ) and I think he got it up to a 2nd or 3rd one shot, which introduced his favorite race, the Kobolds. I think the titled the one-shot the Coming of the Kobolds. XD

[SurlySeraph]

As for the higher technology levels, though, I can't imagine wanting to play in a D&D world with firearms.

How does shooting dragons in the face with a magical Uzi not appeal to you?

[Elfin]

Probably for the same reasons it does appeal to you.

[Foryn Gilnith]

How does shooting dragons in the face with a magical Uzi not appeal to you?

d20 modern...

The firearms rules are just an afterthought, really. I had gunpowder in a game to provide a contrast with the ancient magical empires, and also to have better siege weapons. Hand-loaded arms are just a side effect.

[Umael]

As for the higher technology levels, though, I can't imagine wanting to play in a D&D world with firearms.

Iron Kingdoms has a setting in which not only are there firearms, but also trains and "steam jacks" (basically primitive mech). d20 Rokugan has gunpowder as primitive explosives only (which are also illegal and dishonorable).

It is not difficult to imagine a technology level that involves 16th or 17th century technology in a D&D-like world. Pirates of the Caribbean is a good example of a D&D campaign with a little more technology.

Jump ahead to the 1920s. Not something you would consider for D&D most likely, but "Lords of Madness", the book on aberrations, makes several clear homages to H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos. If we can imagine mind flayers and aboleths as menaces in an age of "swords and sorcery", and we can have "unspeakable horror" in the 1920s, how hard will be it to bridge the gap?

(Sidenote: a Dragons magazine article about the dangers of real animals pointed out that getting eaten by a lion may sound like a tame death compare to having your brain pummeled by psionic powers until it oozes out your eyes, but your character is still dead regardless. Substitute a dragon instead of lion and it's still a dead character, 1920s or not.)

I can't speculate as to D&D with technology that surpasses today's standard, as the future is unwritten and the possible direction that technology will take is questionable. However, since any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic...

[Cieyrin]

Iron Kingdoms has a setting in which not only are there firearms, but also trains and "steam jacks" (basically primitive mech).

I whole-heartedly tote Iron Kingdoms firearm system as one of the more well-thought out systems. It's not perfect but it's better than the DMG's thrown together system, I'd say. Making firearms Rapid Reloadable would probably work well to improving the system a bit, as making that capability the sole province of PRCs is a tad silly, I say.

[Prime32]

I would just treat firearms as crossbows with a 20/x3 crit rate. There's already enough kinds of crossbow to cover most firearms - automatic crossbows, really big crossbows, double-barrelled crossbows...