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Old 11-18-2021, 10:56 PM   #1
Prince Charon
 
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Default [Ice Age] TL0 Gadgeteers and Civilization-Building

Imagine, if you will, a band of Neanderthals in Ice Age Europe, around 38,000 BCE (early in the Upper Paleolithic); among the last of their race, the previous generation of the band (a few of whom still remain) encountered a strange glowing object that gave them visions. All children born to them after this close encounter have been Gadgeteers of various types. This mutation is hereditary, so whether they or their descendants interbreed with the few other Neanderthalen, or Cro-Magnons, Denisovans, or other closely-related hominids, the children are likely to also be Gadgeteers.

The concept is a possibly-generational game (so, a few sessions with one group of characters, then some with their children, and then grandchildren, et cetra) of pushing technology forward, inventing civilization, and building from there. The PCs are (probably) the Gadgeteers, though the players might go with a broader game of each player running a band, and then running parts of a tribe or city, and then perhaps larger groups.

Mechanically, the PCs may be regular Gadgeteers, Quick Gadgeteers, or limited Gadgeteers (e.g. Accessibility limitations, Focused on a skill or group of skills, et cetra), and probably have a few Gizmos. They start out as TL0 Neanderthals, possibly using the template from Pizard's Ape pages, or possibly something more official.

The question of whether TL^ inventions are available is going to be important, but I'd say it is dictated by the type of game you want to run; some versions might have no TL^ items at all, some might have a small list of 'the edge of believable' items, and others might have various degrees of weirdness, up to 'anything that you can explain well enough to the GM.'

I suggest that no 'magic' system should exist, but if you include TL^, inventing a magic system or systems is not that much more ridiculous than some of the other stuff you can do with unrestricted TL^ gadgeteering (this is basically the theorized origin of the various powers available in the A More Scientific Golden Age setting).


Thoughts?
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