How can you make the stone age cool?

[Lucius 2,984]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

 

What useful skills does a shaman have? If there is no magic what use is he?

 

Plenty.

 

Well, we'll start with the skills common to the tribe and build on them. I'm assuming some exceptional characteristics - DEX & EGO 13, INT & PRE 18

 

I was a great hunter and warrior in my day

3 1) WF: Common Stone Age Weapons, Staff

2 2) Survival (Temperate/Subtropical) 13-

3 3) Tracking 13-

3 4) Concealment 13-

3 5) Stealth 12-

3 6) Shadowing 13-

3 7) Climbing 12-

3 8) Tactics 13-

2 9) Navigation (Land) 13-

3 10) Security Systems 13-

Notes: Spotting, evading, or building common traps used by hunters is an Everycaveman skill; the shaman's ability includes some tricks of personal security like "signature knots." i.e. "someone's been snooping in my bags - these aren't the knots I use to tie them."

 

The shaman inspires trust

 

Trust me. I'm a shaman.

3 1) Oratory 13-

3 2) Charm 13-

3 3) Persuasion 13-

3 4) Trading 13-

 

and can perform impressive rituals

 

Put on a show

3 1) Acting 13-

3 2) Sleight Of Hand 12-

3 3) Ventriloquism 13-

3 4) Mimicry 13-

 

The shaman will be the tribal oracle and perhaps judge

 

The shaman will get at the truth

3 1) Conversation 13-

3 2) Deduction 13-

3 3) Interrogation 13-

3 4) Gambling (Auguries (General), Lots) 13-

Note: Augury includes things like basing a decision, or making a wager, on things like the flight of birds,the state of an animal's liver when examined, etc

 

What the shaman doesn't know, nobody knows.

(Note- the shaman could not necessarily, for example, replace their best fletcher or spearmaker, but has watched them at work and if they are lost before passing on their skills, knows enough to help someone else rise to the occasion of replacing them so their skills are not lost to the tribe.)

 

Let's ask the shaman. Shaman'll know. Scholar

2 1) KS: Anatomy (people and prey animals) (3 Active Points) 13-

2 2) KS: Caves (3 Active Points) 13-

2 3) KS: Geography (3 Active Points) 13-

3 4) KS: History of the Tribe/Clan/Band (4 Active Points) 14-

2 5) KS: Medicinal Plants (3 Active Points) 13-

2 6) KS: Neighboring Peoples (3 Active Points) 13-

2 7) KS: Taboos and Customs (3 Active Points) 13-

2 8) KS: Tools & Weapons (3 Active Points) 13-

2 9) KS: Weather (3 Active Points) 13-

The First Specialist. Jack of All Trades

2 1) PS: Cave Painter (DEX based) (3 Active Points) 12-

1 2) PS: Firestarter (2 Active Points) 11-

2 3) PS: Mediator (PRE based) (3 Active Points) 13-

2 4) PS: Medicine Man (Healer) (INT Based) (3 Active Points) 13-

2 5) PS: Shaman (Priest) (PRE Based) (3 Active Points) 13-

2 6) PS: Shamanic Drumming & Chanting (CON based) (3 Active Points) 12-

 

No magic doesn't mean no Talents or even Powers

 

20 Animal Friendship

Notes: Not a mystical bond, but rather a shrewd awareness of animal behavior that allows the shaman to predict or manipulate the actions of animals.

3 Environmental Movement (no penalties in confined areas (caves))

3 Bump Of Direction

5 Eidetic Memory

3 Simulate Death

1 Rise from Death: Healing BODY 1 point, Resurrection (23 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x10 END; -4), Extra Time (1 Day, -4), 1 Charge which Recovers every 1 Week (-2 1/2), Limited Power Only to recover from botched Simulate Death roll (-2), Resurrection Only (-1/2), Costs Endurance (-1/2) 20

 

Depending on one's concept, a shaman might be surprisingly effective in combat

 

Shaman's Tricks

 

Maneuver OCV DCV Notes

4 Nerve Strike -1 +1 2d6 NND

3 Martial Grab -1 -1 Grab Two Limbs, +10 STR for holding on

4 Martial Disarm -1 +1 Disarm; +10 STR to Disarm

1 Weapon Element: Default Element: Bare Hand, Staff

 

And of course, what many would view as the most central ability to the concept of shamanism:

 

Healer

 

Skills

 

3 1) First Aid (Paramedics) 13-

3 2) Diagnosis: Analyze: Signs and symptoms 13-

 

Powers

 

Healing Arts

 

7 1) First Aid: Healing BODY 1d6+1, Loss due to illness, injury, or poison (+1/2) (19 Active Points); Requires A Roll (Paramedic Skill roll, -1 per 5 Active Points modifier; -1), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4) 2

 

8 2) Second Aid: Healing BODY 2 1/2d6, Loss due to illness, injury, or poison (+1/2) (37 Active Points); Extra Time (5 Minutes, -2), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), Conditional Power Power does not work in Common Circumstances (Requires favorable conditions and supplies (At a minimum usually clean water, may need particular herbs, materiels for setting bones or binding wounds, etc.); -1/2), Requires A Roll (Skill roll, -1 per 20 Active Points modifier; -1/4), Conditional Power Power does not work in Uncommon Circumstances (Patient must be resting, not moving around; -1/4) 4

 

7 3) Third Aid: Healing BODY 3d6+1, Loss due to illness, injury, or poison (+1/2) (49 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Day, -4), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), Conditional Power Power does not work in Common Circumstances (Requires favorable conditions and supplies (At a minimum usually clean water, may need particular herbs, materiels for setting bones or binding wounds, etc.); -1/2), 3 Boostable Recoverable Charges (-1/2), Conditional Power Power does not work in Uncommon Circumstances (Patient must be resting, not moving around; -1/4) [3 bc]

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises

[Certified 565]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

Nice post Lucius

 

Come on and join in start a rep train....

[SSgt Baloo 9]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

Trust me. I'm a shaman.

3 1) Oratory 13-

3 2) Charm 13-

3 3) Persuasion 13-

3 4) Trading 13-

 

I think we've pinned down the origin of the confidence man/used car salesman.

 

I gotta spread rep before I can get you, though.

[Lucius 2,984]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

 

Until then, how can you "stone-age" or "prehistory" a fantasy scenario?

 

In a cave on a hill lived a Hillfling.

 

The Hillflings are a small and quiet people; perhaps you have heard them called the Floresmen. They don't care what you call them, as long as you call them when the food is served....

 

This Hillfling's name was Bua, and even for a Hillfling he had led a quiet and unextraordinary life. Until the day that his life changed forever.

 

It all started with Mog-ur Greycloud, and Yokum, and his band of Feldoffers. Feldoffers you have surely heard of; not overly tall either, but broadly built and immensely strong, tough in their way like the flint they know so well how to mine and work, and with voices so tuneful some have said a Feldoffer does not know how to speak without singing. One might say it all began with a song, really, for until he heard them singing around his fire, Bua had never heard of Mount Solitary, or the sad tale of Yokum's people, driven from their home by the terrible beast, Smag. But his fate was in a sense sealed when Greycloud announced that none other than Bua would be the scout for Yokum's expedition to reclaim his ancestral caverns; for before Bua could object, Yokum denounced the idea, and Bua's pride was so stung he had volunteered for the adventure before he knew what he was doing.

 

In the next year, Bua was to travel far from the hills of his own people. He and his companions faced the terrible Ochre Men, who were defeated only becuase the Mog-ur tricked them into remaining outside until the rising sun turned their flesh to crumbling red clay; it was from their hoard that Bua recieved as his share a long black blade of obsidian that he was later to name Wasp. They stayed a delightful time among the Boskops of Rift Dell. They were captured by Piltdowners, and Bua was for a time seperated from his new companions and had to face, alone, the nasty creature he never saw - for they met and spoke in a pitch dark cave - but called the Riddler, for it made Bua gamble his life in a contest of questions. In a dark forest Bua saved the Feldoffers when they were entrapped by giant spiders, and again when a less friendly tribe of Boskops had imprisoned them. Even Smag fell at last only because Bua, the unregarded Hillfling, spied out the creature's weakness.

 

Only once in his life would Bua have such an adventure, although he became a frequent visitor to Rift Dell. The obsidian blade, ever keen and durable due to ancient enchantments, he passed on in time to his nephew, and along with it a much more mysterious object. It was his Secret, a stone in the shape of the tooth of a wolf or jackal, but with an amazing property; when hidden away in a man's fist, it would hide away the man, so that even in brightest sunlight he would be seen only as a shadow. It had other properties as well, and a long dark history behind it, and a destiny of fire and blood before it; but the tale of how it figured in a great war to come is a story for another time.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks I should reputize anyone who can identify the origins of the names Bua, Yokum, and Feldoffer, and what I'm alluding to with the Ochre Men (besides the Trolls, obviously.) Most of the other references are probably far too easy - I'll be surprised if someone doesn't guess "Floresmen" right away. And "Rift Dell"

[AmadanNaBriona 167]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

In a cave on a hill lived a Hillfling.

 

The Hillflings are a small and quiet people; perhaps you have heard them called the Floresmen. They don't care what you call them, as long as you call them when the food is served....

 

This Hillfling's name was Bua, and even for a Hillfling he had led a quiet and unextraordinary life. Until the day that his life changed forever.

 

It all started with Mog-ur Greycloud, and Yokum, and his band of Feldoffers. Feldoffers you have surely heard of; not overly tall either, but broadly built and immensely strong, tough in their way like the flint they know so well how to mine and work, and with voices so tuneful some have said a Feldoffer does not know how to speak without singing. One might say it all began with a song, really, for until he heard them singing around his fire, Bua had never heard of Mount Solitary, or the sad tale of Yokum's people, driven from their home by the terrible beast, Smag. But his fate was in a sense sealed when Greycloud announced that none other than Bua would be the scout for Yokum's expedition to reclaim his ancestral caverns; for before Bua could object, Yokum denounced the idea, and Bua's pride was so stung he had volunteered for the adventure before he knew what he was doing.

 

In the next year, Bua was to travel far from the hills of his own people. He and his companions faced the terrible Ochre Men, who were defeated only becuase the Mog-ur tricked them into remaining outside until the rising sun turned their flesh to crumbling red clay; it was from their hoard that Bua recieved as his share a long black blade of obsidian that he was later to name Wasp. They stayed a delightful time among the Boskops of Rift Dell. They were captured by Piltdowners, and Bua was for a time seperated from his new companions and had to face, alone, the nasty creature he never saw - for they met and spoke in a pitch dark cave - but called the Riddler, for it made Bua gamble his life in a contest of questions. In a dark forest Bua saved the Feldoffers when they were entrapped by giant spiders, and again when a less friendly tribe of Boskops had imprisoned them. Even Smag fell at last only because Bua, the unregarded Hillfling, spied out the creature's weakness.

 

Only once in his life would Bua have such an adventure, although he became a frequent visitor to Rift Dell. The obsidian blade, ever keen and durable due to ancient enchantments, he passed on in time to his nephew, and along with it a much more mysterious object. It was his Secret, a stone in the shape of the tooth of a wolf or jackal, but with an amazing property; when hidden away in a man's fist, it would hide away the man, so that even in brightest sunlight he would be seen only as a shadow. It had other properties as well, and a long dark history behind it, and a destiny of fire and blood before it; but the tale of how it figured in a great war to come is a story for another time.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks I should reputize anyone who can identify the origins of the names Bua, Yokum, and Feldoffer, and what I'm alluding to with the Ochre Men (besides the Trolls, obviously.) Most of the other references are probably far too easy - I'll be surprised if someone doesn't guess "Floresmen" right away. And "Rift Dell"

 

well written, my friend, and a natural blending of the "What happened to the smarter homnids" and "Can multiple intelligent species Exist at the Same Time" threads with this one.

[SSgt Baloo 9]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

In a cave on a hill lived a Hillfling.

 

Homo floresiensis

 

He and his companions faced the terrible Ochre Men, who were defeated only becuase the Mog-ur tricked them into remaining outside until the rising sun turned their flesh to crumbling red clay...

 

Trolls? Dunno what hominid is implied, however. Same for the dwarf-equivalents.

 

They stayed a delightful time among the Boskops of Rift Dell.

 

Elves? Of Rivendell? Again, I dunno which hominid would serve (or I suppose we can invent ones that never existed).

 

They were captured by Piltdowners...

 

Now Piltdown man was just a hoax, but I suppose if we're inventing other hominids it could fly.

 

The palindromedary thinks I should reputize anyone who can identify the origins of the names Bua...

 

 

Baptist University of the Americas?

 

...Yokum...

 

Easy! That's Li'l Abner's family name.

 

...Feldoffer

 

No Clue, although I found a link to an Eastern European botanist with that name.

 

...Ochre Men...

 

Men made of this dirt-derived pigment?

[SSgt Baloo 9]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

Other useful links:

Control of fire by early humans

 

Stone tools

 

Copper Age

 

The History and Primitive Technology Page

If anyone can find more useful links, please post 'em!

[dmjalund 1,048]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

Elves? Of Rivendell? Again, I dunno which hominid would serve (or I suppose we can invent ones that never existed).

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/77503-What-Happened-to-the-Hominids-Who-Were-Smarter-Than-Us?highlight=boskops

[SSgt Baloo 9]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/77503-What-Happened-to-the-Hominids-Who-Were-Smarter-Than-Us?highlight=boskops

 

The webpage cannot be found

 

HTTP 404

Most likely causes:

 

• There might be a typing error in the address.
  
• If you clicked on a link, it may be out of date.
  

What you can try:

 

Retype the address.

 

Go back to the previous page.

 

Go to and look for the information you want.

 

More information

 

I'm not seeing it.

[Lawnmower Boy 775]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

D'oh. Should have thought of this days ago. Neanderthal remains are sometimes associated with red ochre finds, leading archaeologists to infer that corpses were prepared for burial by painting them with red ochre.

[dmjalund 1,048]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

try this Boskop

[Lord Liaden 5,738]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

I suggest taking a look at Digital Hero #13, featuring the modern-day superhero team the "Millennium City Eight" or "MC 8." One of the characters on the team, Raaktor, was originally a Neanderthal shaman, with a set of mysticism-based (but not magical) abilities easily adjustable for more realistic as well as superheroic "stone age" games.

 

Of course as far as stone-age superheroics go, the outstanding example is probably the 1960s Hannah-Barbera cartoon series, Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor. Unfortunately the series doesn't appear to be available on DVD, so it would be hard to refer you to as an example. One thing that did strike me about it (being old enough to have actually watched the original broadcasts) was how some of the classic tropes of comic books were translated to a neolithic setting; not just secret IDs, kid sidekicks, love-interest-in-distress, etc., but some of the gimmicks used by villains. For example, a villain called the Storm King who had twin spears which fired energy bolts when he touched them together, were tipped with "lightning rocks" which attracted lightning strikes and absorbed and stored their energy.

[SSgt Baloo 9]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdGPyyhheJA

Toonopedia article:

Turok: Son of Stone

 

That's pretty much all I got for now. *shrug*

[SSgt Baloo 9]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

Except for this:

[SSgt Baloo 9]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

Sure, if you're into Sitting-Around-And-Drooling HERO.

 

Visual aid:

 

Just so everyone can appreciaue it, I fixed the "broken" attachment link by just posting the pic.

[SSgt Baloo 9]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

Another good movie that's (peripherally) related to this thread: The Gods Must Be Crazy

 

An

Evil Thing

has been discovered by the tribe. At first it seems helpful/useful, but problems arise and the village/tribal elder rules that the thing must be carried to the edge of the Earth and thrown off. Only then will peace return to The People.

Pretty good plot seed for a starting campaign, anyway.

[Lucius 2,984]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

Stone age science fiction.

 

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20060817.html

 

"I don't need to make fire, I need to invent fire!"

 

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20061112.html

 

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Stone knives and palindromedary skins

[SSgt Baloo 9]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Lucius again.

 

Dangit!

[dmjalund 1,048]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

"I don't need to make fire' date=' I need to [i']invent[/i] fire!"

 

fire already existed, man had to reverse engineer it

[Egyptoid 112]

Re: How can you make the stone age cool?

 

What of magic or mentalism? Do the shamans have any real powers?

 

Or Do they just get visions from peyote?

 

Is your game like Low-Tech D&D or more like Prehistoric GURPS ?

 

What are character archetypes? Hunter? Trapper? Farmer? Thief?

is there Priest? Witch Doctor? Witch? Wise-Woman?

 

If there is a Witch-Doctor,etc: do they actually pray to gods and demons,

or are they really just creative herbalists who smoke the right stuff and get crazy ideas?

IE: does the world have the supernatural, or just mundane yet unexplained.

 

sorry I just now saw the earlier excellent dissection by Lucius

 

to his skills I would really up the Herb Lore, Dope Lore, etc.

you can get people to follow anything you say if

you show them tricks you can do while feeling no pain for example.

 

the ancient greek word for sorcery was φαρμακεία pharmakia. what do you think of that ?