There's a section on my old World Of Greyhawk maps called The Land Of Black Ice. Maybe some of you grognards will recognize it. It's such a wonderfully evocative name and concept that I've been fascinated by it since I was about 12; I even hijacked it into my very first attempt at a homebrew world, when I was about 13. I've wanted to build a campaign around it for years, but it's always given me trouble.

See, the name calls forth images of a fantasy Ice Age: cave-halflings, woolly mammoths, shamans, and stone-age hunter-gatherers fending off the forces of darkness with inadequate tools and poorly-understood magic. And the problem with that is that it doesn't fit well with any version of D&D; in order to evoke the proper feel for an Ice Age campaign, I have to deny options (particular classes, tools, spells, skills, etc.) to my players, and no player likes having their toys taken away.

Cavemaster solves this problem. Rather than shoe-horning the Ice Age into a pre-existing rules-set by taking things out, Cavemaster evokes its primitive setting by providing a game with multiple options, powered by rules that help you get INTO character before you even HAVE a character.

The game makes the Stone Age into a compelling, viable fantasy setting, and is nearly flawless in its game design. Well worth the asking price.

I'm gonna go start planning out my "Time Of The Black Ice" campaign, powered by Cavemaster!

Cavemaster is probably not like most games you've played - Basic Role Playing, D&D, Savage Worlds, heck, even the new Star Wars Edge of the Empire all try to do something innovative and different with dice. You role-play and roll dice to spice up the story telling.

The Habilis game system is something else entirely. No dice. But this is not a dice-less system, it's just that, well, cavemen didn't have dice so an authentic caveman game shouldn't use dice. What does a paleolithic gamer use? Sticks and stones. No really, you use little things you should be able to find just about anywhere to build up a "dice pool", distribute them on your awesome character sheet (an animal skin) and off you go.

Although you probably could explore a damp and menacing dungeon, you might want to first go hunting for the food your tribe needs to last one more day. Bag yourself a bison without getting gored? Good job, now how are you going to cook it? Fire? Who knows how to make fire? Yeah, forget the cave and gold. You need shelter and those crazy herbs the elder swears will cure the tribe's lack of offspring. They're easy to find. You just need to go to the Lost Valley. Gird your loins and take up your flint spear. It's off for real adventure - survival.

Ok, enough of that. Cavemaster is a truly innovative game that lets you tell and experience stories form a more primitive time. It is relatively easy to learn but contains a dynamic and rich resolution mechanic that allows a more invested style of play.

Finally, there is a bit of "stonepunk" to it that allows a cavemaster (GM) to introduce a bit less realistic elements into their campaign. There are unfamiliar races, rules for introducing magic, dinosaurs (but keep an eye out for the Dinosaurs of the Lost Valley coming out soon), and even visitors from another time or place. So whether you need a jazzy one-off for something different or a whole campaign inspired by the dawn of civilization, Cavemaster is a vital step in gamer evolution.

a really good game, I look forward to the dino expansion up and running on kickstarter.

A marvellous piece of work. Well researched, without being overly erudite, which makes it a pleasure to read. The mechanics are innovative, simple and genre appropriate. In this last area, other game designers would do well to take note, a well written game can be ruined by mechanics that seem incongruous to the setting. That's not the case here though. The cavemaster mechanics use stones instead of dice, and a character sheet without words. This is evocative of the genre and not at all clunky. The hominins (character races if you like) are presented with a good deal of depth, and enhance the scope of the game nicely. The setting is rich, and well presented, which is a boon in a genre that is perhaps more limited than fantasy settings. This game presents prehistory in an entertaining manner, and the illustrations capture the setting nicely. There are no negatives. Get out of the conventional fantasy rut, and give this a go.