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The Bone Age

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The Ape-Turtles didn't plan on three flying saucers crashing into the planet.

The Bone Age is an old-school RPG of neolithic-era tribes struggling against the sudden arrival of bug-eyed aliens. You play a Tuzanian, a tribe of jungle-dwelling, vine-swinging, pterodactyl-riding, bone-wielding savages, or a Cruach, giant-crab riding cave-dwellers living in mountains bordering the jungle. Radiation leaked from the Invaders' crashed flying saucers spreads on winds of purple, blue, and white, mutating the land and its inhabitants. Meanwhile, a race of turtle-apes and ape-turtles sleeping in stasis beneath the surface awoke...1,000,000 years later than planned. And they were not impressed by the native population – or the alien Invaders.

The Bone Age isn't based on a specific OSR system, but comparisons can be drawn to Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, and Dungeon Crawl Classics. The base mechanic uses a d20 where higher rolls are better than low rolls, and works in a similar fashion to the way saving throws and attacks work in Labyrinth Lord. Thus, an ability might be expressed as 12+, meaning you want to roll a 12 or higher on a d20. Placing the target number in the hands of the players means they get the thrill of shouting "My attack hits!" or the agony of lamenting "I failed my mutation roll," as opposed to the Game Master setting a secret Difficulty Class.

The Bone Age uses a class & level system, with levels maxing out at 10. While most of game mechanics in The Bone Age will seem familiar, there are some things that stand out in contrast to many other games. The most important is the concept of Attunement. The land of The Bone Age – called Kalsentia – is itself a living entity, and the creatures that inhabit it can develop a spiritual connection to various geographic regions. These regions are represented by hexes on a map. If you are attuned to a hex, you function more effectively in it. You can attempt to attune to new regions, but you risk the wrath of the land if you offend it – rock slides, earthquakes, and floods are just some of the signs that you have angered Kalsentia.The land is brutally hot. The north is dry, the south is humid. Many regions see rain only once per solar cycle.

Some bullet points of interest:

  • With the exception of the PCs and NPCs, The Bone Age harbors no terran life forms; no horses, no dogs, no bumblebees, no bats, no platypuses.
  • The methods necessary to create metal have not been discovered.
  • The bones of ancient creatures litter the landscape. Bone is thus a resource used for a variety of tools, including weapons.
  • Three alien ships crashed on the planet one solar cycle ago. Radiation leaks from those ships continues to be carried by the wind, infecting the land and its inhabitants with horrible mutations. The aliens are collectively called the Invaders. 
  • Advanced technology has been pilfered from Invader ships and Invader dead. Wise men and women have attempted to understand the strange items, to varying degrees of success. Player-characters will discover Invader tech in various states of repair. The use of these items can be unpredictable, wondrous, and dangerous.
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Reviews (1)
Discussions (9)
Customer avatar
David W J September 13, 2021 12:58 am UTC
PURCHASER
Can you get a character sheet on roll20 please? I really want to play this game.
Customer avatar
Charleslebronn X August 25, 2021 11:27 am UTC
Could this work just as a setting book I don't care about just another game system
Customer avatar
Michael B April 14, 2021 7:50 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Ugh, POD went away right when I decided to purchase:-( Do you plan to bring it back?
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Customer avatar
Bill E April 30, 2021 1:01 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Yes, very soon!
Customer avatar
Michael S March 20, 2021 6:59 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I tried the link in the 2nd email from today and it says, "INVALID DISCOUNT MAX USES".
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Customer avatar
Bill E March 22, 2021 9:13 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Shoot me an email and I'll make sure it works for you. southconway@yahoo.com
Customer avatar
Jeremy H January 21, 2021 7:32 am UTC
Are there more samples of the art available?
Customer avatar
Abraham Z January 20, 2021 10:40 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I find it extremely disappointing that, despite looking pretty good on the surface, the document contains no table of contents, bookmarks or hyperlinks of any kind, and no index. This is 142 pages long, how do you expect people to make their way through the document while learning the rules or playing the game?
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Customer avatar
Bill E March 21, 2021 8:14 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
There is an index. I was unable to fit a table of contents in due to page number requirements for the printed version, but I will endeavor to create one for the pdf. Thank you!
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Customer avatar
Abraham Z March 22, 2021 7:19 am UTC
PURCHASER
I see the document was modified after I wrote my comment, so I just downloaded the PDF and the new one does contain an index; but the one that I had, at the time of this comment, did not have it, it was added later. You can easily tell, as one page was added to it; I have both the before and after PDFs as proof. A better way of putting it is "there is an index now", rather than "there is an index", as that implies that your customer missed it.

I hope you do integrate a table of contents, this is the only RPG document, in 3 decades of gaming, that I have seen lacking one.
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Customer avatar
Bill E March 22, 2021 9:15 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
A table of contents will be added this week.
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Customer avatar
Bill E March 23, 2021 12:39 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Hyperlinked table of contents added. Index now has hyperlinks. Thanks for the feedback!
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Customer avatar
Abraham Z March 23, 2021 7:18 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks!
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Customer avatar
Derek H April 10, 2021 6:54 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Were the ToC and index added to the POD?
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Customer avatar
David W J August 04, 2021 3:33 am UTC
PURCHASER
Why don't you chill out? He's working on it. In your 3 decades of gaming did you ever hear about kindness?

Bill E, don't listen to this guy. I really like what you've done and I am going to get my discord(over 100 people) to start playing it with their groups. Don't listen to Mr. Extremely Disappointed.
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Customer avatar
Abraham Z August 04, 2021 7:12 am UTC
PURCHASER
You don't get to tell people what to do Karen, consider yourself ignored.
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Customer avatar
David W J September 13, 2021 12:57 am UTC
PURCHASER
Lol
Customer avatar
Kerry H January 20, 2021 4:34 pm UTC
PURCHASER
dang it! I just purchased this at full price last night!
Customer avatar
Rick H October 09, 2020 10:35 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Just making sure I’m getting this - in the example on pg. 6, shouldn’t Azora’s MoS be +3 instead of +2 (rolled 12, +2 for AGL, for a total of 14 compared to a Stealth Ability of 11+)?
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Customer avatar
Bill E October 11, 2020 8:25 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
You're correct! I'll fix it in a few days, after which hopefully any other errors are brought to light. Goid catch!
Customer avatar
Rick H October 09, 2020 4:20 pm UTC
PURCHASER
You simply CANNOT offer this in PoD soon enough. It’s très bon(e)!
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Customer avatar
Bill E October 11, 2020 8:27 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
There will be one. I'm writing more material for it before I do. There will be a free 'upgrade pdf' for folks who purchased the 90 page pdf version.
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Customer avatar
Rick H October 12, 2020 2:50 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Cool! What will the new material consist of, primarily? I’d love to see an adventure.
Reply
Customer avatar
Bill E October 15, 2020 4:14 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
An adventure and a GM 'Toolkit' of tables for things like campaign plot seeds, toxins, etc. Thanks for the enthusiasm!
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 Recent History















Product Information
Electrum seller
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Pages
142
File Size:
27.49 MB
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These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

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File Last Updated:
April 29, 2021
This title was added to our catalog on October 08, 2020.
Publisher
Cunning Plan
Publisher Average Rating