Stone Age Science Fantasy Beliefs

Primal Belief is a supplement for Primal Quest – Weird Stone & Sorcery Adventure Game. This roleplaying game of a Stone Age that never was, inspired by the fiction and films of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thundarr the Barbarian, Horizon Zero Dawn, the Cavemaster RPG and Hollow Earth Expedition, and more. This is a world in which humanity survives alongside dinosaurs and other creatures and ancient secrets and aliens lurk, with the Player Characters as warriors and hunters, shamans and sorcerers, exploring an environment dominated by a nature untrammelled by mankind. Primal Belief brings ‘Paleo-Faith & Proto-Religion in a Prehistoric World’ to the world of Primal Quest, including esoteric rituals, ancient animism, prehistoric shamans, and forgotten deities from the time before memory and record. What it comes down to is a set of random tables with which the Game Master can create gods, faiths, and religions, and then use them as set of prompts with which to further develop the tribe and world of the Player Characters in Primal Quest.

Primal Belief contains tables for ‘Naming Your Gods’, ‘Placing Your Gods’, ‘Worship Your Gods’, and ‘A Blessing from your Gods’ for a grand total of seventeen tables. All the Game Master has to do is roll a six-sided die several times and within a few minutes he has a complete religion. Or at least the basis for one. This will result in a random selection of results, some of which may not make much sense, but then again, a faith need not make total coherent sense, that is in the nature of a faith. Or alternatively, he can pick and choose, using the entries on the table to create a more tailored faith.

The sample faith is the Church of Zu-Xanu-Huwa, the shade of the stone, who slides between the cracks and breaks in the bones of the earth. He encourages the splitting and breaking of stone to build homes and settlements, but demands the spilling of blood upon those cracks, which includes human sacrifice when a new building is constructed, and in every building, there must be room left in shadow sacred to him.

Name: Zu-Xanu-Huwa
Elemental Focus: Earth (Stone)
Title: Daemon Domain: Civilisation
Rank: Regional Deity
Form: Phantom
Sacred Space: Stone Altars Veneration: Human Sacrifice Following: Church of…
Totems: Painted Tattoos Totem Figure: Miniature Hammer Patronage: Poets & Storytellers
Blessing: Marble Effect: Blast

Physically, Primal Belief is cleanly and simply laid out. It is easy to use—and that includes with any roleplaying game where a Game Master might want to create and add a faith to her campaign setting. It does include a ‘PRIMAL DEITY card’ that the Game Master can copy and use to record the details of the new faith she has created. It is only a half a page in size, so it is difficult to use. It would have been easier to use if it had been a full page in size.

The main problem with Primal Belief is that it is just six pages in length and amounts to a set of tables. Given the lack of advice on how to develop and portray the faiths that its tables can be used to create, or indeed, any type of advice, it is sparse, bordering on the threadbare. This is because, despite how it is sold, Primal Belief is not a supplement for Primal Quest, but an article. As an addition to a supplement, such as Primal Quest Companion, the tables of Primal Quest would be a fine addition. As a supplement on its own for which money is being charged? Just feels a bit rich…