As a caveat (i.e. to get my excuses in early), I have yet to play an actual game of Hide, Stone and Bone, so all thoughts and reflections are based solely on reading the rulebook.
The game unashamedly puts a narrative experience at the forefront, with tribe (or 'band', as referred to in-game) creation, post-game and campaign activity bordering on RPG-lite. In this respect I think the game achieves the author's intended experience, and is better off for it, but the narrative-heavy approach does place a fairly hefty burden on players, from both the perspective of learning and preparing to play and the extent of rules checking and reference during games.
General Reflections
The Hide, Stone and Bone rules are suitably thematic, with elements and mechanics that introduce and provide space for concepts that feel 'right' for prehistoric gaming (at least to me). For example, 'Stress' is a status effect that must be managed during play, as mounting stress can result in your hominids tucking tail and fleeing, which feels very much like ancient humans acting on flighty animalistic instinct and reverting to their base fight or flight nature.
Players can choose to field bands of either prehistoric humans (weak but inventive) or Neanderthals (stronger, hungrier but not as bright as humans). Campaign play is centred around 'Big Days', described in the rulebook as notable events that bands of hominids will reminisce about around the campfire and immortalise through cave art. These Big Days are represented through a multitude of scenarios that are each a variation on one of three central themes, either hunting (tracking and hunting prey animals for food), hunted (escape and survival from hungry predators) and raids (clashes against rival bands).
During play there are a lot of actions available for hominids to take, and many will be immediately familiar to seasoned gamers, particularly actions relating to movement. The standard rules for climbing, jumping and falling are used, which keeps the cognitive load light here, at least.
Sticking with movement, oddly it seems that hominids may attempt to 'Sprint' (measureless movement) but only through certain types of area terrain. This does come at the risk of falling, introducing some risk/reward, but depending on the size of the terrain feature would allow for potentially unlimited movement range.
The rulebook includes multiple instances advising players to discuss and agree various elements at set-up and during play in order to avoid disagreement and uncertainty. I envisage that this will suit the target audience just fine, but nonetheless it is something that prohibits the immediate ease and pace of setting up and playing.
A dice system based around the use of D6 and D10 is used, introducing all of the affordances offered by these dice types (D3, D5, D50 and D100). Regardless of the dice used a roll of 1 is always a failure, and a result of 10 on a D10 is a crit. Combat is a simple D10 roll-off between players with modifiers added or subtracted to the result, and the winner inflicts a single hit on their opponent and any result of a natural 10 also causes a hit.
Except for specific scenario rules, the standard method of determining who goes first each turn is a straight D10 roll-off. Although this aids in keeping the players attention focused on the many game specific rules and actions I can't help but feel like this is a missed opportunity to do something more interesting or innovative with regards to priority, perhaps something with a thematic link back to the central conceit or mechanics (something tied to Stress maybe?)
A lack of player aids such as band rosters for tracking characters, equipment and skills and quick reference sheets for both playing and campaign management add to the burden facing players.
Alongside the photographs of miniatures (which were nice, but I would have liked to have seen more) the rulebook contains a lot of original artwork in the form of cave paintings, which is entirely thematic and setting appropriate. The art (by Mars Oosterveld) really strengths the core conceit as the cave paintings depicted throughout the book are direct representations of the Big Day scenarios promised campaign action.
The World's First Superhero, Captain Caveman!
Following the long list of actions available to players the author references the 'Rule of Cool', expressing that players ought use their own common sense and judgement when addressing gameplay situations not expressly covered by the rules. The principle is welcomed, but the example given of a hominid jumping from a cliff onto the back of a wild beast is explicitly covered by the rules as written, so it isn't immediately clear where players might draw the line between the rules and the Rule of Cool.
If the intention was to emphasise the Rule of Cool through narrative action perhaps there was an opportunity to streamline some rules elements, particularly movement actions - as written, the example given of a hominid leaping from a cliff onto the back of an animal would require three dice tests (climb, jump, mount beast), each of which invites opportunity for failure. The points of failure add to the drama and potential humour of the attempt, but not necessarily the Rule of Cool.
Time is Money, Literally*
Recognising that early humans did not use money Hide, Stone and Bone uses the concept of time for its economy, using the concept of 'Moons', the passing of days, instead. Moons are collected post-game by able-bodied members of the players tribe and spent as currency, representing the 'cost' (i.e. time taken) to gather resources, grow the tribe and to discover or invent advancements. I like this idea.
*When I first read the introduction to Moons as currency I immediately thought of this joke, but was dismayed to find that the rulebook makes the exact same pun a few pages later. Turns out I'm not so clever, after all.
Journey to the Centre of the Rulebook
The optional 'World Beneath' setting and rules, (which happens to be introduced at about the halfway point in the rulebook, thereby setting up the lame joke above), offers the opportunity for the injection of pulp fun, with additional character archetypes such as dashing adventurers, femme fatales and big game hunters providing players the framework to introduce a Jules Verne and Arthur Conan-Doyle style 'lost world' spin to their game of Hide, Stone and Bone. Players can even introduce dinosaurs, both predators (tyrannosaurs and velociraptors) and prey (sauropods and triceratops), as well as humanoid foes such as bronze age under dwellers* and lizard-folk.
*The Lucid Eye Savage Core range of miniatures would be perfect for games set in the World Beneath.
You and Me Baby Ain’t Nothing But Mammals
Players can grow the size of their bands through procreation, and the rules encourage a generous gender split within bands to support this. A lesser reviewer might joke that this is the closest some tabletop wargamers will get to sex - not me however, I wouldn’t stoop that low.
What I Liked About Hide, Stone and Bone:
- Thematic rules that push a narrative experience throughout all facets of the game, from band creation through to varied scenarios, post-game activity and campaign management.
- Evocative cave art style illustrations sets the tone and aids the theme nicely.
- The rules for the World Below immediately makes me want to play pulp adventures in the vein of Valley of the Gwangi, The Land that Time Forgot and The Lost World. And 'Neanderthal' can easily be swapped for 'Morlock' for games based on H.G Well's The Time Machine.
Thanks for the review! I've got the rules and am striving to meet the shortfalls.
ReplyDeleteNo problem at all! Hopefully it aligned to your expectations of the game and gives you the motivation to get it to table.
ReplyDeleteDo let me know if you manage to get any games in!