I'm thinking of running a cave-man setting

You definitely need to include shaman magic and being terrified of angry clouds when it rains.

also include me as a player

Living in a hut constructed from hides and bones of slain megafauna > living in a cave like some kind of caveman version of basement dwelling NEET

Seriousness. Run it like the movie Caveman!

>What sorts of things should I avoid?
Marriage.

>What sorts of things should I avoid?

Don't assume that primitive is the same as stupid.

Caves weren't primary dwelling places. As wisely explains, tools, art, burials, and whatnot are found in caves because that's where they were protected for 1000s of years.

Read up on Otzi, the Copper Age "mummy" found under a melted glacier on the border between Italy and Austria. While he had a copper headed axe (and it looks like nothing you'd assume an axe should look like) nearly everything else about him was Paleolithic.

He had a flint-bladed knife and flint tipped arrows for his bow. He was carrying a kit of medicinal herbs and fungi. He had a sophisticated fire starting kit too. His shoes were very complex, so much so that they suggest cobblers must have existed. The rest of his clothes so craftsmanship too; leggings, loin cloth, pullover, belt, coat, cape, and even a bearskin hat. All were made with different types of hides and furs for different applications.

Your setting could be very interesting as long as you don't equate primitive with stupid.

I need a Virgin Neanderthal cave NEET and a Chad Homo Sapiens meme.

>Well, at least it's not another Scooby Doo joke involving drugs and lesbianism
The only thing worse than Hanna-Barbara cartoons is people trying to shoddily deconstruct Hanna-Barbara cartoons.

Not everyone is a double digit IQ brainlet simpleton like you, user.

you got it the other way around
>agricultural virgin
>chad hunter/gatherer - hunts with one hand, gathers with the other

And what stone houses have survived (mainly in the Orkney Islands) are still recognisable as homes as we would know them today. Especially with little things like having a mantelpiece.

The Flintstones comic is actually great. Its not an attempt at deconstruction, but rather uses the setting to do satire.

Hey user, I can tell you're a fag because you're whining about the new Flintstones comic without having read it yet.

Of course, now that someone has called you a fag for not reading it, your opinion of it has been soured and you won't be able to enjoy it because that's how you are.

Too bad, because it's fantastic.

Not him, but someone calling me a fag for not reading something won't sour me from the reading material. I'll just not like you and call you petty childish names like cum guzzling, homo loving, bear fucking, ankle biting, small dicked, nu-male.

Read the following, the theory might be complete bullshit but it offers pretty interesting concept for enemies that is easy to recycle to non-stone age settings.
themandus.org/old_website/ebook_chapters_1-3.pdf
themandus.org/old_website/ebook_chapter_8.PDF
themandus.org/old_website/ebook_chapter_13.PDF

Not them. It's more of a modern "modern stone age family."

So consumerism, poor veteran care, Barney's low sperm count, aliens, etc.

Well definitely read it, because it's great. I laughed out loud multiple times.

youtube.com/watch?v=3-ZqD9-W1_8

Got a link?

where'd he get that meat clever from?

fuck that picture is too real

What is a sex cave and how can I obtain one?

I can upload the first 8 issues later tonight.

Literally just what it says.

I actually ran a cave man game that was pretty fun. I set it up that the village shaman wanted the party to pick a fallen meteorite that landed somewhere in the east past the great mountains. The fought a rival tribe of gnolls who's leader rode a triceratops. Game ended with a drow kidnapping the party and enslaving them with the plan for them to fight for their amusement. Had to leave it at their because of real life. Bu it was fun. the trick is to really play up cave man stuff. We used 5e so, +1 weapons where copper, and +2 bronze, and +3 would have been the star metal meteorite. All other weapons where wood, stone, and bone. Armor like wise was mostly bone and animal parts with the heavy plate stuff being giant bug exoskeletons. No wizards allowed unless their is a damn good excuse for them to have a spell book.

>cave wizard having a spell book
>not just having spells tattooed or painted on their flesh
>or flesh of the other party members
>getting new spells is as simple as getting new tattoos or flaying and tanning the skins of enemy wizards

>And what stone houses have survived (mainly in the Orkney Islands) are still recognisable as homes as we would know them today. Especially with little things like having a mantelpiece.

A stone house is not a cave. One was built while the other already existed and was appropriated.

The Orkney houses are fascinating. The best examples of them were uncovered by a violent storm in the late 1800s. Sadly, locals and other amateurs fucked around digging for trinkets for decades before any professionals visited the site.

>I can upload the first 8 issues later tonight.

Thank you. I'm sure that many of us will enjoy them. Is the comic one that can be found in stores?

See that is a damn good excuse. Stealing enemy wizard skins is metal as all get out. Mighty wizard lord wondering how he is going to keep track of all his piles of skin spells. Terrified minion suggestion tying them together. Bam wizard spell book.

>I can upload the first 8 issues later tonight
Holy shit, Thank you kind user. You'll be remember for your kindness like the Elric user, Corum user, Age of Reptiles user, and that crazy alien dragon wizard comic user. Also loved the Requiem user on /aco/. Those were fantastic. Thank you again.

I'm actually Age of Reptiles user

>Is the comic one that can be found in stores?
It was published in 2016-2017, so it's not "new" but you might still be able to find back issues.

Holy. Shit. You are the man. My biggest and deepest respects user. I would hug you, but that's homo.

You might also need to consider issues like the sophistication of the characters' understanding of simple mathematics, symbolism, and other abstract concepts usually taken for granted. Do they have a true understanding of counting, for instance, or just a Watership Down-style general idea that there can be one/several/lots of something? What about multiplcation and division?

Also, do they have any notion of standardized measurement, and if so how does it work and what sort of units does it desribe? It seems hard to imagine a society with no units of time (at least dawn, day, dusk, and night), but do they understand seasonal cycles? What about distance and weight?

I think a game in which the characters are only allowed to use limited forms of abstract reasoning could be interesting, but probably hard to play or run.

All fascinating ideas.

If they engaged in any sort of barter system or work specialization - and the tools, weapons, and clothes Otzi had strongly suggests an economy of sorts - they're going to be able to count. Math maybe not so much, but they're going to be able to determine X amount of A is worth Y amount of B.

They will also understand seasonal cycles, even as hunter-gatherers. What game and forage are available when and where will require not only understanding seasonal cycles but an ability to predict them. Plenty of Paleolithic art includes representations of various lunar, planetary, and star cycles.

Standardized measurements aren't needed as much as balance scales are. Determining weight will be more an exercise in comparison than actually measuring something. Distance will also be "measured" by comparisons.

>>I think a game in which the characters are only allowed to use limited forms of abstract reasoning could be interesting,

I do too and I think you shared some fascinating ideas.

A lot of lines from the comics are both funny while hitting a little too close to home.

>agricultural virgin
>nervously gathers crops to survive sitting still and freezing all winter
>gets malnourished and loses teeth from monotonous processed-carb diet

>chad hunter/gatherer
>carefreely follows the herds where they go, thus automatically migrating away from winter
>plunders agriNEET's stores using his superior meat-and-vitamin-fed physique in case of emergency

Pretty interesting

No such thing as homo in the sex cave

>>agricultural virgin
>>nervously gathers crops to survive sitting still and freezing all winter
>>gets malnourished and loses teeth from monotonous processed-carb diet
>>routinely brews and drinks various kinds of beer and other alcoholic mashes

>>chad hunter/gatherer
>>carefreely follows the herds where they go, thus automatically migrating away from winter
>>plunders agriNEET's stores using his superior meat-and-vitamin-fed physique in case of emergency
>>gets shitfaced easily because he's never has alcohol
>>passes out
>>gets head caved in with his own weapons by agricultural virgin
>>corpse fertilizes the fields

speaking of that, have one of my favorite books of crazy pseudoscience that would make for a great Fantasy Setting(notably it includes a version of that Predatory Neanderthal theory you link to)

How do you get so upset about your own life choices that you have to defend a caricature of a beta male

You should avoid not playing Og.

>Standardized measurements aren't needed as much as balance scales are.

I'm not so sure about that. What you said about measurement by comparison makes sense, but scales would only be likely if they have a barter economy in which currency-like trade goods are valued according to weight (precious metals, for instance), which I suspect is unlikely for such primitive people. I think a society that understands counting, but hasn't gotten far into metal technology would probably barter based on the basis of qualitative valuation (are these fish fresh, are they a tasty kind?) and simple enumeration (how many fish are you offering?). Small scales wouldn't work unless something small and valuable (basically bullion, whether metal or some other material) is used like a currency. Big scales (large enough to weigh things like cut timber or food) would be hard to make, and only really good for comparing batches of the same type of goods or against set of a formal standardized weights - even less likely.

I agree that people who have complex tools and clothing requiring labor specialization will probably have and understanding of seasons, even if they are hunter-gatherers. I'm curious about more primitive people, though. If all they do is follow herds of game animals around, it's the game animals that need an (instinctive) understanding of the need to migrate. The humans just know that they follow, not necessarily why the animals move or the fact that their movements follow a periodic cycle.

Why is she leaving Dino behind?

>How do you get so upset about your own life choices that you have to defend a caricature of a beta male

How do you get so upset about your own life choices that you have to post inaccurate descriptions of a settled farmer and a hunter-gatherer while labeling each with fanciful terms used by pick-up artists and other simpletons?

Definitely crazy but rather fun to read in a "aww it's retarded" kinda way.

She's staying at the Rubble house for a week while Fred and Wilma go to a marriage retreat because they're wondering if this new "marriage" thing is right for them.

Not the user who posted that virgin-chad stuff but wew lad, as the kids say.

Try talking to girls. It's intimidating right away, but as you get more practice, it will come more easily.

I see

I should have stated that in a simpler way. Balance scales require a stanardized system of weight increments used to set the balance ratio in order to be useful for comparing the weights of different types of goods. That's why I think they're unlikely.

...

That run was actually pretty good, user. Wasn't really deconstructing the stone age. It had more "modern" societal woes put in to a prehistoric setting.

So it was actually a "Modern" Stoneage family, in a sense.

>Try talking to girls. It's intimidating right away, but as you get more practice, it will come more easily.

I'm in my mid-50s. I was "talking to girls" before your parents were conceived.

I'm just tired of millennials reducing everything to alpha this, beta that, and gamma something else. For a group so intent on your individualism, you sure as fuck like labeling people.

>ctrl+f "og"
>only one post about it

Shit Veeky Forums, you're not even trying

>Balance scales require a stanardized system of weight increments used to set the balance ratio in order to be useful for comparing the weights of different types of goods.

No they don't because you're unaware of the fact that simple scales can and did use variable balancing points.

>>That's why I think they're unlikely.

When you learn more about them, you'll change your mind.

I'm almost 40 and my parents are hitting 70.

If you're really in your mid-50s and getting upset about jokes on Veeky Forums, you have bigger problems than anything I can help with.

>getting upset about jokes

Not getting upset, just flipping back on the poster in question. It only took a few keystrokes, unlike your attempts at being a white knight.

Are we done now or do you want to derail a good thread by telling other people what to think and do?

...

Veeky Forums is in a strange way both more ignorant and more open to new games now.

>it is a grandpa gets triggered by memes on the interwebz episode

I can't speak for other concepts, but as a Mathematician who's studied the History of Mathematics quite a bit I can tell you pre-historic peoples almost certainly had a much more advanced understanding of mathematics than they're generally given credit for. The oldest mathematical - well, it's not a document, but oldest mathematical 'artifact' is the Ishango Bone, a 20,000+ year old baboon legbone with a series of notches on it that display a series of prime numbers. Most experts believe it to be either some sort of multiplication aide or lunar calendar. A second, smaller, less-studied bone was also found at the same site, having even more notches in what some think may have been a conversion table. Regardless, knowledge of primes easily indicates a solid competency in both multiplication and likely division, not to mention basic number sense, number conservation and addition/subtraction.
Looking a bit forward, the earliest mathematical texts in the world date to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and the First Dynasties of Babylon, around 2000 BC. These contain far more advanced content, including a good amount of elementary geometry, advanced use of fractions and algebra-style problem solving. The texts also seem to indicate that most of this knowledge was already quite old at the time, and has been around since well before written history began.
Pic related, an (admittedly not very good) photo of the Moscow Papyrus, one of the oldest mathematical texts in the world (~1850 BC), that I took myself in Moscow. It's pretty much an ancient textbook, containing a few dozen various problems and explanations of how to solve them. Despite the 2D image, the problem shown is about finding the volume of a frustum.

> ITT: Oldfag newfags can't handle the bants

Came in here to make sure Og was mentioned. Funny enough I've never gotten a group to play it but here's the PDF anyway, OP. Don't you dare run your game without at least reading this.

Wow my formatting was terrible. Sorry for the eyestrain people.

Formatting or not, it was a great explanation of the advanced capabilities of prehistoric peoples.

They were primitive, not stupid.

What, are you saying Adam and Steve wouldn't be allowed there?

Adam and Steve wouldn't be considered homo/hetero or whatever you marriage-fags are pushing as labels, just another part of the sex cave.

Oh right, that's okay then.

Boo! Boooooo!

Says the person invoking muh linneals.

This thread is borderline /v/ tier when it comes to quality of posts and shit talking. c-c-can't we all just have fun being fa/tg/uys and talk about shit with heavy undertones to our magical realms like we normally do?

Freakin' brilliant.

"Agriculture: The food just pops up right out of the ground!"

I understand that it's possible to set a weight ratio by changing the balance point rather than setting an initial load on one side. How do you construct an accurate balance and mark the balance points for various ratios without standard reference weights to start with? (I can imagine doing it with precise manufacturing and a good understanding of the physics involved.)

I'm still having a hard time with the idea of value-by-weight in a society without stanardized weight units or something like bullion. I get it when you have something like a specific metal as the primary good against which all others are valued, creating a reference standard for which value, quantity, and quality have a fairly consistent reltionship to weight.

>I'm still having a hard time...

The fact that you can't understand the concept doesn't mean they couldn't.

>triggered incel
Kek

>Be Gronk
>Can't find partner in sex cave
>find equally unattractive gronket
>tell her I'd be willing to be her subserviant if I can Gronk her for life
>She agrees
>I get to Gronk her whenever she says it ok
>She eats whatever she wants and gets fat

>triggered sex cave dropout

kek

>not wanting to be the chadman who injures a large herbivore with his tribal group and walk it to death instead of being a cavelet and pick berries who gets his women stolen by the chadman

Well, there's so many ways to have fun with it. And so many things to crib from, like Farcry Primal.

As a suggestion, give each group/clan/family/tribe/whatever of people a special "thing" that sets them apart. Like:

>Fire Tribe - who have learned how to make fire using flints. Now they use it for everything, like driving animals into traps, or cooking meat.
>Cave Tribe - who actually do hide out in cave networks, hiding from rain and hail, huddling together for warmth.
>Wood Tribe - who dwell deep in forests, and sleep high in the trees.
>Stick Tribe - who figured out you could stick seeds in the ground and they'd grow. Now they have lots of food.
>Shiny Tribe - who found softer shiny rocks, which they could make into pointy rocks, and now use them for their weapons.

Wow, that's pretty cool. Where can I read more about this?

>building life around sex alone

k

I understand the concept. It's definitely possible to do. You can say "move the balance point halfway to the hide side when weighing apples against hides" if that's what you regard as the appropriate ratio. You can theoretically establish ratios like this for for trading quantities of many kinds of goods.

I'm still skeptical about it being something such primitive societies would see as a practical basis for trade or even come up with.

>In the end, they found out that what they hated most wasn't millennials
>But each other

>Thinking life is anything more than sex cave

I bet you worship the fireball in the sky too huh? Did you name it "Gawd" too?

>2000017 BC
>not worshipping skyfire.

I bet you think storms and earthquakes are natural and not spirits as well.

>Ishango Bone
That's interesting - that knowledge is older than I would have guessed. Do you know of any evidence of societies lacking concepts like multiplcation and division? (Perhaps I was wrong to imagine humans understanding counting at all while lacking these ideas.)

>Talking shit about mother Gaia

Keep your skyfire mouth to yourself! REEEEEEEEEEE

>I'm still skeptical about it being something such primitive societies would see as a practical basis for trade or even come up with.

You do realize that things like a given number of seeds were used as "standard" measures by numerous societies for 1000s of years? Or that something like hides wouldn't be "weighed" against apples?

Let me suggest you search for the term "blanket trade" and read about how barter was surprisingly sophisticated.

Thank you for your quality post user

>read first panel
ooh, this could be an interesting comic to read
>most people think things that weren't around in the past are immoral, but not our heroes

for fucks sake, I hate this timeline. EVERYTHINGS politics.

OK everybody, here you go! First eight issues of The Flintstones, as promised.

mediafire.com/?a24f9a0qdlu74

Thank you user! It's great to read them.

Thank you so very much.

Of course they didn't live between your mother's legs. That where you have your family reunions!

Avoid a lack of pic related