Lost Prehistorica by Dark Quest Games (2004)

Cover blurb

Has your adventuring party ever wondered what was to be found on those parts of the map marked “Here there be monsters’?

Have you, as a GM, ever been at a loss as to what to do if they decide to explore these hitherto uncharted regions?

Have you, or your players, ever wanted to play something a little more primitive?

Lost Prehistorica could be the answer to your questions! An informative well presented tool-book for the GM who wants to try something that little bit different! Packed full of new playable races, information upon long lost cultures, lost continents, nomadic tribes and settings specific monsters, this book could be just what you need to spark a whole new range of adventures in a land untouched by time where dinosaurs still roam!

108 pages of tools to create a setting like no other.

Features include:

• 16 new diseases
• Over a dozen natural traps
• New weapons, armor, and equipment
• Nine new races
• Ten new divine entities
• Extensive beastiary
• Guidelines for creating tribes

My thoughts

Anyone who is thinking about turning their Dungeons & Dragons game into a “Dungeons & Dinosaurs” game will want to give this game supplement a look. (And given the last three posts all concerned D&D, I figured this was a good way to wrap up this week's theme.)

Lost Prehistorica is simply a guidebook for inserting “lost world” settings into traditional fantasy worlds. It is campaign neutral, meaning you can use it to add on to an existing world or create new one. And while it is an amateur effort – a fact reinforced by the subpar illustrations – the subject matter is well thought-out and the text is quite useful to any gamers wanting to get their adventurers out of the standard Medieval European setting of most roleplaying games.

The book provides everything from tips about how big to make your lost world to suggestions for creating primitive societies. There are sections about the environmental hazards found in stereotypical prehistoric settings, diseases your character could contract, how certain character types would react to the lost world and even how fossils may fit into local economies. It also has a sizable bestiary of both extinct animals and mythological creatures.

Lost Prehistorica is pretty closely tied to the J.R.R. Tolkien-inspired gameplay of most RPGs, and that diminishes its value for other types of game settings, like those inspired by pulp fiction. Still, there is enough here to keep most gamers satisfied. The supplement is available as a cheap PDF download on RPGnow.

Trivia

• The publisher also has produced Lost Creatures, a bestiary of fantasy creatures suited to lost world settings.

Reviews

• GameWyrd
• GamingReport.com
• Crothian