Prehistoric RPGs — Where are they?

[rusty_shackleford]

Feels like a setting that would write itself. Why aren't there any?

[rusty_shackleford]

Ogg the caveman must save his tribe from the reptiloids. On his way he tames a sabretooth and is joined by Grak, a tribal outcast who was shunned for his weird ideas about using fire to make metal tools.

this writes itself

man I want to play a caveman RPG now

[Bhaalspawn Jr]

Live a Live's Prehistory chapter comes to mind.

[rusty_shackleford]

Live a Live's Prehistory chapter comes to mind.

A bunch of JRPGs from that era had a prehistoric section which kinda hits on the same notes but man I wish they made a full stone age RPG

[Tweed]

Nobody wants to play a game about ooga boogas, but there is one in the works that looks kind of neat, but I forget the name of it right now.

[J1M]

Okay hear me out.

What if the sabertooth is a robot and preshistoric is also posthistoric and the tribe was LGBT and the caveman was a redhead girl?

We just had to make a few of these changes to appease marketing. But it's basically the same as what you asked for!

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[GhostCow]

E.V.O. the search for Eden is probably the closest thing you'll find

[J1M]

It's a setting I would like to see done well, but this is the only game I can think of that used the setting recently:

[Oyster Sauce]

That Ancestors game where you play as a monkey trying to learn how to throw a stick was kind of cool

[UltraFan123]

Nobody wants to play a game about ooga boogas, but there is one in the works that looks kind of neat, but I forget the name of it right now.

Perhaps you are thinking about Song of Planegea? The homebrewed setting using DnD 5e as a base.

[Norfleet]

That Ancestors game where you play as a monkey trying to learn how to throw a stick was kind of cool

[Hyborian]

Feels like a setting that would write itself. Why aren't there any?

How prehistoric are we talking? Bronze age? Chalcolithic? Neolithic? Mesolithic?

[Tweed]

Nobody wants to play a game about ooga boogas, but there is one in the works that looks kind of neat, but I forget the name of it right now.

Perhaps you are thinking about Song of Planegea? The homebrewed setting using DnD 5e as a base.

No, I was thinking of this:

[UltraFan123]

Feels like a setting that would write itself. Why aren't there any?

How prehistoric are we talking? Bronze age? Chalcolithic? Neolithic? Mesolithic?

I think the setting would most likely be before hominids learned how to smelt metal, so anywhere from early stone age to right before the copper age.

The one I mentioned before, Song of Planegea, is a setting that is artificially set in the stone age because of arbitrary in-lore reasons that are purposely preventing humanity from learning how to count beyond 9, develop the wheel, or learn any form of written language.

As might be expected, even if the classes and items work as normal, the fluff of this setting had to be modified in order to fit a stone age setting; metal weapons and armor don't exist, replaced instead by wood, stone, and bone. Magic scrolls are replaced by single-use mystic talismans, trade is made by bartering because the concept of money doesn't exist, dungeons are replaced by large cavern systems, the typical monsters are larger saurian versions of themselves, etc etc.

But my personal favorite modification is how - because written language doesn't exist - the [Wizard] is replaced by a modified class called [Spellskin] which instead of having a spellbook it carves tattoos symbolizing mystical power on its skin. The oldest and most powerful spellskins are covered from head-to-toe with colorful runes that emanate arcane energy.

Overall I think Song of Planegea is a pretty neat homebrewed setting with lots of potential, even if it was made for the most boring edition of DnD.

[Tangerine]

Coming up with progression that isn't Copper -> Iron -> Steel is hard, so let's just make inclusive fantasy slop instead.

[Gastrick]

That cancelled game that Cleve worked on with that ****** director grooming teen boys, with those penisaurs and ****** furries would have a big example, Wizardry: Stone of Arnhem.

[Gastrick]

E.V.O. the search for Eden is probably the closest thing you'll find

The PC-98 game this game is based off of has a more comprehensive and bizarre story, with several amusing bad endings, that it's the better one to play.

[Norfleet]

But my personal favorite modification is how - because written language doesn't exist - the [Wizard] is replaced by a modified class called [Spellskin] which instead of having a spellbook it carves tattoos symbolizing mystical power on its skin. The oldest and most powerful spellskins are covered from head-to-toe with colorful runes that emanate arcane energy.

That's still a written language, though. If anything, that's a very sensible way for a wizard to keep his spellbook. After all, in D&D, ******* DMs often target the wizard's spellbook as a weakness...which is avoided if the wizard tattoos his spellbook onto his body so they'd have to flay him alive to get it. You can similarly make wizards less convenient by placing the setting before conveniences like paper or even parchment, so the wizard has to carry his spellbook in the form of runes carved on stone tablets. And probably tattoo his favorites onto his body.

[Element]

The oldest setting in time of a not-yet-released rpg I can think of is Iron Tower's next game, which is 'lovecraftian bronze age'

[Kalarion]

There's always Worlds of Ultima.


(Don't blame me if this turns out to be some shitlib or whatever, I just took the first result for a gameplay video search to have a thumbnail)

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The oldest setting in time of a not-yet-released rpg I can think of is Iron Tower's next game, which is 'lovecraftian bronze age'

Hmm...

Wait. Iron Tower didn't go under?! We need a thread for this, pull the OP over from Codex!

[wndrbr]

(Don't blame me if this turns out to be some shitlib or whatever, I just took the first result for a gameplay video search to have a thumbnail)

ed123 did a video on this game, you should've linked that instead.

[Element]

Wait. Iron Tower didn't go under?! We need a thread for this, pull the OP over from Codex!

Im very rarely on the dex these days but here's their steam post

[Tenshi]

I also wish there were more games with this setting. And since we technically don't know much about it there's so much room for creativity and imagination. It's a shame creators are stuck in the late medieval europe settings (which is cool, but everyone is doing and has done that in the past already).

[rusty_shackleford]

[rusty_shackleford]

(Don't blame me if this turns out to be some shitlib or whatever, I just took the first result for a gameplay video search to have a thumbnail)

[ArcaneLurker]

I have thought a pre-historic inspired setting would be interesting, but also

or some other kind of twist. Either Atlantean or Antediluvian.

[Kalarion]

This looks really ******* cool.

Time to assiduously avoid all devblogs so I can keep the fig leaf of not knowing whether he's a libtard or not

[J1M]

This looks like it is using 3D models rendered at a resolution that causes aliasing on top of 2D tile maps.

[ArcaneLurker]

I have thought a pre-historic inspired setting would be interesting, but also

or some other kind of twist. Either Atlantean or Antediluvian.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Horrifying