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A Generic Universal RolePlaying System WorMbookBy Kirk Wilson TateEdited by Sharleen Lambard. with assistance from Mike Hurst and Steve JacksonCover Art by Guy Burchak; Interior Art by Donna BarrKen Trobaugh. Managing Editor; Guy Burchak. Art Direct01Production by Guy Burchak. M.E. Room and Charlie WiedmanPage Design and Typography by Melinda Spray. Lisa A . Smith aud C . Mara LeeGURPS System Design by Steve Jackson.S v h l thanLg lo Tmy C W D S Ofor originally suggesting this bmk. and la my wife. Deborah. d kff George for &sir assiglncs and support- Kifi TaleFlaWs(ors: Donald Brodale U. Tim Doyle. Skip Elmer. David Engberg. Robcrt Lerch. Chris Flank. Jeff Robem. Mike Sm3se.l. Rick Siegel Rick Slawson.Paul Toney. Brandon Volbrighl. Joe Wekenman and The Falcons: Dennis Barnes. Phil Jones. Butch Massey. Ellis MeNeil. Dennis Wamn. Paul Williamson.CURPS and lhe all-wing pyramid arc n n c n uademarksdof Slew Jsekson Games Inwlporalcd. CURPSIcr Age is Copyright @ 1989by Stove Jackson G a m n Incorporated. All righu reserved . Rimed in h e United States.2.1.THE PLEISTOCENE . 3.INTRODUCTIONAbow h e Auhol. About GURPS2The Fleistocene World4.4.5.5.5.6.7.8.8Geologic 'llmt. Page RefirmmaRo cChro logyTheAustralopilhecinesT i i k of Hwmm EwlutionThoGnusHmEconomyTechnology. LanguagesRebgim. Psionics mi Magic.2 HOMINID RACES. 9 5.BESTIARY . 38.Character Creation9Height rmd Weight Tnbk9Hamo Habilis10Height mtd Weight Mwlificalim. A m f o p i f h e h e Qloroclcr 10Homoerectus12Diet md h e Plnn of W m12Trchnobgy. Lrmgvogr md Social D c l o p n m l . 13Archaic Homo sapiens14lhc Ew lheoqI4Tool-Mating TechniquesISNeanderthal ManI77hr Cnw Bear Cub17Whor Happened to Nemieerhol . 18H aapicm aapimr in h e Trop'cs .19Cro-Magnon Man .20Danrsti@'m ofAnimo&20nt ofArt217heVmwCub2.3 CHARACTERS.24.24.25. 26.26.26.26.27.28.28.29.29 r m o ages DisadvanvrgcsskillsNewSLillssocial Slams and WcallhJobs and income. Jobs TableEquipmentWeaponsTable.31.31.32.32.33.34. 34.5 '"" .34Cnaiing *l& M i & Entrrmnd .34Disease: Diagnosis and Treatmcru .35Critical S p U FmmlurcTob& .35Magiellems .35SpellList .36sharnadsmGMingShamanbnThe Role of lhe Shaman. Shamanislic MethodsEpikpsyharlam?y m i n g T cFinding a Teacher4 SHAMANISM AND MAGIC.31Animal Deserip(ionsn e i a a s m uropeAumhs. BearCaribou and Reindeer. Cave Li.Deer HOW0ex. lrish Elk. Mammoth. Mastodon SabcrtmlhDd T i e r WolfWmlyRhinoeerosFlissneAfricaAnklelope. B b m nChcctah, Hyena. L iDinosaursh k y l O % NBmniOSau s ,Deiwnychus. Duckbill. Plesiosaur, PleranodonStegoslurus. Triceratops, T y r a o s s u s.38.38.38.39. .40.41.41.41.42.42.42.43.436 CAMPAIGNS.44.TheRealisticCampaign44BibPogrophy. ScLcIed Nan-Fieo'm44Technology and Culture .45Magic and Shamanism45CampaignThems45ScLNdFictim47The U m l i s l i c Campaign48The Fncmred Higorv Soninn.The Fictional Seuing48LnslRBllmn48Sc&& Yiewinga4849lh h r t Reabn Plot. &?cr zhe HobcawC lh hral In AgeCavamaaSla.pstkkMCreatures. TechnologyMSlapslick Adven reM.-.51.63INDEX .M.7 WOLF PACK O N BEAR RIVERAPPENDIX: Hominid Rsees TableSTEVE JACKSON GAMES

About the AuthorGURPS Ice Age is author Kirk Tate'sfust professional effort. He has been aroleplayer and GM for w e r ten years anda wargamer for more years than hecares toreed. He has contributed to Roleplayermagazine and playtested both lUwninoPand the GURPS Basic Set. His GM creditsinclude Hexworld at Origins '8S and otherTexas conventions. With parmer in crime1. David George, be designed and ran asolo roleplaying dvenbyeat Texcon.Kirk holds a B.A. in history from theUniversity of Texas where hi tastes ranfrom ancient Greece to modem Mexico. Inaddition to gaming, his interests includerugby and science fiction and fantasyliterature. He is currently the GM-bydefault of an ongoing fantasy campaign, asnone of his friends want the job. Kirk resides in Austin, TX., with his wife and anincredibly ugly couch.About GURPSSteve Jackson Games is committed tofull support of the GURPS system. Our a&dress is SJ Games, Box 18957-A, Austin,TX 78760. Please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) anytime you write us! Resources now available include:Roleplayer. This bimonthly newsletterincludes questions and answers, newraces, rules, beasts, information on u pcoming releases, and more. Please writefor current subscription information.New supplements and adventures.We're always working on new material. Acurrent catalog is available for an SASE.Errata. Nobody's perfect but whenwe make a mist*,we admit it. Uptodate errata sheets for all GURPS releases,including this book, are always availablefrom SJ Games; be sure to include anSASE with your request.QbA. We do our best to answer anygame question accompanied by an SASE.Gamer input. We value your comments. We will consider them, not only fornew products, but also when we updatethi book on later printings!BBS. For those of you who have homecomputers, S l Games operates a BBS withdiscussion areas for several eames. including GURPS.Mwh of the pl&test feedbackfor new oroducts comes from Ule BBS. It's. up 24 hours per day at (512) 447-4449, at300, 1200 or 2400 baud. Call us!- IntroductionGURPS Ice Age is a supplement designed to provide everything you need toroleplay in the world of early man. Here you will find detailed rules for buildingcharacters of any species from man's family tree. There are new skills, advantages and disadvantages, and a magic system to simulate shamanism andprimitive spiritualism.You will also find suggestions for setting up campaigns in the stone-ageworld, as well as "lost worlds," time travel and slapstick campaigns. The Besriary chapter details a selection of Ice-age fauna for use in encounters as opponents and prey. Finally, there is an adventure for beginning characters to helpyou get the "feel" of roleplaying cavemen.Ice Age is oriented primarily towards Europe during the Pleistocene Epoch,which began about one million years ago. This is the world of the classic cavemen, Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon. There is also more archaeological evidencefrom this period and region than any other, especially for the last 200,000 years.The giant ice flows which shaped the entire ecosystem of most of the northernhemisphere had virtually no effect south of the Mediterranean.Despite the European emphasis, GURF'S Ice Age allows gaming in anyperiod of hominid history. All of the species of genus Homo are discussed indetail, and there are even rules for making characters from the genus Ausrrabpithecus. A few animals of the African savanna are described as well.The information provided in this book was gleaned from a wide variety ofbooks and periodicals. The field of anthropology is a rapidly changing one due to the development of new technologies. Wherever possible the most currentand widely accepted view is presented. This does not mean that it is necessarilyright, and it may someday be proven wrong. The final consideration in any matter, of course, is playability. If a certain theory didn't, in this author's opinion,make for good gaming, it was changed or omitted.- Kirk Tote

THE PLEISTOCEWE 1though the sun has been up for over an hour, the temperature is only a fewdegrees above freezing. As you walk along a windswept ridge, you can see theglaciers shimmering on the northern horizon - a cold reminder that the relativewarmth of summer is a fleeting thing. As you reach the end of the long, fingerlike ridge, itself a product of the towering ice, you see your goal in the broadriver valley below. You've been tracking the large wooly rhino for two days,ever since it was wounded by a well-thrown spear. From the cover of a stuntedthank the spirits that you found it before the wolves did. Your tribe needs themeat.Motioning for your companions to join you, you smear some of the rhino'sfresh dung on your clothing to disguise your scent - the beast's eyesight is poorbut its nose is keen. After carefully circling downwind of your prey, you andyour cousin begin to creep closer. The third hunter, your mate's brother, is waiting on the animal's opposite side, a good distance away. You'll have to surroundit to keep it from escaping again.At thirty paces, you stop to fit a javelin into your spear thrower. As you continue your approach, the rhino brings its head up suddenly and snorts. Seizing themoment you leap out of the grass and hurl your javelin. It strikes the rhino's backand sticks there, but your cousin's spear flies wide. The wounded animal turns torun, but is intercepted by the third hunter, who is shouting at the top of his lungsand waving his spear. The confused beast turns once more and charges towardyou. You move quickly sideways but it veers as well, lowering its head to makeuse of the eighteen-inch horn on its snout. You hear the others shouting, and knowthey are hurling their weapons at the beast. At the last moment you sidestep andthrust your last spear with all your might. You feel the point bite deep just as therhino's shoulder strikes you and sends you rolling into a shallow, ice-cold stream.Dazed and sore, you sit up and take inventory - nothing broken or gashed.You were lucky this time. About ten yards away the wounded rhino is trying torise, with four spear shafts protruding from its body. As you regain your breath,the others move in quickly and finish the kill. Tonight you'll eat well, and inthree days so will the tribe. You smile.The Pleistocene

The Pleistocene WorldGeologic TimeScientistsdivide the Earth's history intofive crar, each lasting millions of years;these are divided into smaller periods andeven shorter e p h . Major changes inclimate, plant and animal lie, as well asgeography mark each point where an olderage stops and a new one begins. The diuoSam, for example, lived in the MesozoicEra lasting from 225 million to 65 millionyears ago. This era is divided into threeperiods: the Triassic, Jurassic andCretaceous.The modern era is the Cencaoic; theraces dealt with in this book span its twoperiods the Tertiary and the Qualemary.More specifically, they existed in the lastand thifust epoch of &cse penods respectively. known as the Pliocene and the meistoceie.Man's earliest definite ancestor, Amnalopifhecm aJmensis, lint appears in thefossil record during the late Pliocene,about 3.5 million years ago. The Pliocenewas a cool, dry time in earth's histoly, butit was still warmer than today.The Pleiswene Epoch was ushered inby a significant global cooling whichbrought on the Quaternary Ice Ages, sonamed because it was once thought therewere four major glaciations during theperiod. It has since been shown that therehave been at least eight and possibly asmany as twenty distinct glaciations sincetheerabeganin 1.5 million B.C.The Pleistocem itself is split into threemajor mtions, called the Lower. Middleand Upper Pleistocene, the latter being themost recent The divisions are based uponthe e v o l u t i o m and technological milestones in the development of the genusHomo,lo which modem man belongs. ThePleistocene ended ten thousand years apo,beginning the modern o l w e n e - o c h ; i nwhich we live.-Page ReferencesRules and statistics in this book arespecifically for the CURPS Basic Set(Third Edition). Any page reference thatbegins with a B refen to a page in theBasic SeI- e.g., p. B102 meansp. 102 ofthe Basic Set,

rugby and science fiction and fantasy literature. He is currently the GM-by- default of an ongoing fantasy campaign, as none of his friends want the job. Kirk re- sides in Austin, TX., with his wife and an incredibly ugly couch. About GURPS Steve Jackson Games is committed to full support of the GURPS system. Our a& dress is SJ Games, Box 18957-A, Austin, TX 78760. Please include a self-ad .