TL 0 campaigns?

PTTG · 01-21-2018, 10:00 PM

I've been vaaaaguely considering running a short campaign in and around TL 0, or possibly TL 1. Has anyone had an enjoyable campaign with that general tech level? I'd love some advice or stories.

Here's a few thoughts I had:

- Cave Fantasy: It's the dawn of time. The gods' first children are set loose upon the world to find their places. Magic is wild and powerful, and the nights are terror beyond the firelight. Players are a group of these first mortals (maybe a generation or two removed from the absolute first people), on a quest to do something appropriately mythical, like taming magic, stealing fire, or freeing humanity from the god's slavery. Downsides: Might not really count as TL 0 if there is magic or mythical societies. The mythical scale this setting implies contrasts uncomfortably with being starving, but maybe that's fun?

- Historical Fiction: Really, really, really research paleology and then play a non-magical campaign set then. I'm not sure about the exact quest or direction, but food and water supplies, warmth in the night, and other such realistic concerns would be a critical part of it; in fact, just surviving might be the goal. Downsides: How do you respond to a player determinedly making gunpowder and other such anachronisms? On top of that, I don't think my players want to do that much research, as much as they like the theme.

- Psudeohistorical Fiction: Specify that the players, though at TL0, aren't in Earth's past, and that there are legends of a time "before," though vague enough that it cannot be distinguished from myth. Even common knowledge about useful plants and normal animal behavior isn't useful here, because the threats and resources are alien to our own experience. Downsides: have to invent a habitable alien ecosystem full of explicable resources. Not sure what the direction will be.

Responses? Ideas? Your own plans?

01-21-2018, 10:00 PM	#1
PTTG Join Date: Feb 2011	TL 0 campaigns? I've been vaaaaguely considering running a short campaign in and around TL 0, or possibly TL 1. Has anyone had an enjoyable campaign with that general tech level? I'd love some advice or stories. Here's a few thoughts I had: - Cave Fantasy: It's the dawn of time. The gods' first children are set loose upon the world to find their places. Magic is wild and powerful, and the nights are terror beyond the firelight. Players are a group of these first mortals (maybe a generation or two removed from the absolute first people), on a quest to do something appropriately mythical, like taming magic, stealing fire, or freeing humanity from the god's slavery. Downsides: Might not really count as TL 0 if there is magic or mythical societies. The mythical scale this setting implies contrasts uncomfortably with being starving, but maybe that's fun? - Historical Fiction: Really, really, really research paleology and then play a non-magical campaign set then. I'm not sure about the exact quest or direction, but food and water supplies, warmth in the night, and other such realistic concerns would be a critical part of it; in fact, just surviving might be the goal. Downsides: How do you respond to a player determinedly making gunpowder and other such anachronisms? On top of that, I don't think my players want to do that much research, as much as they like the theme. - Psudeohistorical Fiction: Specify that the players, though at TL0, aren't in Earth's past, and that there are legends of a time "before," though vague enough that it cannot be distinguished from myth. Even common knowledge about useful plants and normal animal behavior isn't useful here, because the threats and resources are alien to our own experience. Downsides: have to invent a habitable alien ecosystem full of explicable resources. Not sure what the direction will be. Responses? Ideas? Your own plans?