Before I rediscovered D&D, I was on a huge "Barbarian fantasy" kick, styled after such video games as the Golden Axe series and the Gauntlet games, as well as movies like Conan the Barbarian and Fire and Ice, and books such as A Princess of Mars. This was fueled by a concurrent interest in primitive cultures and Stone Age technology, and I was fascinated at the probable structure of such a society, such as their day to day lives and hardships they would have faced.
I considered my fascination with primitive cultures and my interest with D&D to be compatible, but unrelated. The then current editions of D&D were the 4th and 5th edition by Wizards of the Coast, and they tended toward an implied high fantasy, high medieval setting. Even though the Barbarian existed as a class name, it did not make much sense thematically or historically, as I detailed in an earlier post.
I was actually surprised to find out that the 1e AD&D sourcebooks actually have explicit mention of primitive and tribal peoples, and actually have native support for a prehistoric styled world. The Man enemies of the Monster Manual strictly mention Cavemen and Tribesmen, and I could argue that Berserkers fit the bill as well, and with only minor changes so could Bandits. The only human enemy types I would consider unable to fit would be the Buccaneer and Dervish, as those imply a certain reliance on 16th century technology. And the Nomad, as they're basically stand in for Arabian tribesmen and raiders, and while its easy to argue that Arabian nomads lived in the Stone Age until about 1918, I don't really see them and the European concept of Barbarians actually freely mixing.
Aside from "Men" type, many, many of the entries in the Monster Manual depict primitive or brutish type enemies. Ogres, Hill Giants, Minotaurs, even Devils and Demons and more are depicted wearing only loincloths made from animal fur, brandishing crudely made spears, slings, clubs or simple bows, and little else. Most of the enemies are straight animalistic monsters, but even the humanoid ones are sometimes depicted completely naked, not just the infamous Succubus but male monsters as well like the Imp and Minotaur, and powerful ones like Orcus, Balor and the Pit Fiend. Ironically the humble Goblin, Orc and Kobolds are better dressed and equipped with more technologically advanced weaponry than world threatening monsters such as Orcus. And then there are the pages devoted to the many different type of Dinosaurs, and many entries of Pleistocene animals.
Not just in the Monster Manual, but Tribal Shamans, Witch-Doctors and other primitive spellcasters are directly mentioned in the Dungeon Master's Guide as well. All this points to native support for a primitive styled campaign in the AD&D system. Such a campaign would actually be enhanced by the onerous resource management and harsh penalties in the system, as primitive peoples were not expected to survive for very long, and neither are low level AD&D characters.
It seems obvious in hindsight, and other blogs such as Grognardia have taken deep analyses into the "pulp fantasy" influences within D&D, which are the sources of the barbarian hero and of which Gary Gygax was a big fan.
The newer editions basically throw all of this out. All the monsters and all the heroes are wearing properly tailored and modest clothing in the 4e and 5e source books, and most of the brutish enemies have been thrown out. The Cavemen and Tribesmen do not return, and neither is there mention of Tribal Spellcasters, its just assumed that monster magic users operate the same way as player ones. The dinosaurs make their return in 5th edition, because dinosaurs are cool, but the Pleistocene animals don't, mostly because the designers probably never expected players to play in that era.
Only a few supplements in the modern editions support a barbarian styled campaign. The Dark Sun setting for 4e (as early as 2e I guess) is set with such, but Dark Sun is more post apocalyptic in the style of Mad Max, except no one has firearms or diesel fuel. Storm King's Thunder is a 5e adventure module that promised a romp through savage barbarian territory, but in practice all the encountered NPCs, towns, and dungeons were very civilized and technologically advanced.
It's a shame that no official adventure module took place in an early prehistoric world. The closest to come was "X1: The Isle of Dread" and its callback in 5e's "Tomb of Annihilation", but in those instances players from the 'modern' world traveled to a secluded area where dinosaurs never went extinct. The Hollow World campaign setting for Mystara was similar where man and dinosaur live together in the core of the planet, untouched by the passage of time on the surface.
I feel that a straight adaptation of a late Stone Age, or Ice Age campaign could be a lot more intriguing and would contain a lot of unique and novel game play opportunities that none of the other settings have had.
I'd play "X1: The Isle of Dread", but I have no interest in a quick trip to The Land that Time Forgot, to meet the People that Time Forgot in the Savage Land, or sail 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth where At the Earth's Core the people live like its One Million Years B.C. at the time When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. Jurassic Park.
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