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This section puts the story elements of the Hunter, the Spirits, the Storyteller and the Stones into a framework. We look at the setting of TOTEM, at the geography of Ice Age Europe, the animals and the weather. We also look at the Tribe as a fundamental building block of any TOTEM campaign.

THE HUNTING GROUNDS
Mother Earth has taken some of her bounty out of the reach of the Tribes. Once glorious never-ending summers have been replaced with a weak summer sun barely warm enough to melt the winter snows for a few months. The World Ice forms a vast and deadly wilderness in the north, while ice-gripped mountains form a lofty barrier in the south. Between the two are the Hunting Grounds – a vast grassy steppe inhabited by all of the great herd animals of the world – bison, auroch, reindeer, mammoth. Their migrations spur the Tribes to follow, or to lay in wait for them on the migration trail – or both. Without these vast roaming herds, the Tribes would not survive. The hunting is good. Life is good.

Fragments of an ancient forest are found scattered across the Hunting Grounds. Most species of tree are represented: pine, fir, spruce, beech, ash, yew and so on, but the conifers predominate – they are adapted to the cold conditions and waste no energy shedding their leaves in autumn. In summer, the forest floors are filled with plants such as ferns, brambles, and mosses.

BEYOND THE BARRIER MOUNTAINS
There are ways through the Barrier Mountains, but beyond grows the Great Forest, which borders the northern shore of the Sea of Many Favours. Mother Earth favours these lands with longer summers and warmer weather, but the Tribes shun the tree-clad slopes and peninsulas. The hunting is poor, travel is difficult. Herds cannot roam the hills, slopes and islands of the Great Forest. What would the Tribes hunt?

WESTERN STEPPE
The Tribes do not wander across the Hunting Grounds aimlessly. On the Western Steppe, Tribes follow mammoth, reindeer and bison herds, often camping for long periods during the migrations of spring and autumn. As the herds pass through the area the Tribe can hunt successfully. At other times heavy snow or a change in the herd’s route can force the Tribe to the brink of starvation. Usually in these cases a Clan Spirit has been offended and commands its herds to go elsewhere.

WOMB OF THE WORLD
Three of the most successful Tribes on the Western Steppe have traditionally co-operated in their hunt. They have established semi-permanent camps north of the Barrier Mountains, in a range of rugged hills called the Womb of the World, hills that are located directly on two migration trails (for horse and reindeer). These three Tribes are the RainMaker People, the StoneTooth People and the ThunderFace People.

A special spiritual significance is attached to the Womb of the World. The caverns of these hills are deep and some penetrate into the interior of Mother Earth – each one a womb of the earth, each one a source of life, each one a temple for the Tribes. Storytellers can spend long periods journeying into the caves, communing (via their Spirit Guide) with the Earth Spirit and then making their return. The Earth Mother has hardened her heart to the plight of the Tribes, but deep in her womb she can be addressed and touched by the appeals of Storytellers. Because the first men and women sprang from these caves, they have mysterious powers of life and rejuvenation. This is the true nature of the womb’s special status.

Once in the life of a man or a woman of the Tribe, at a time when that life is in deadly peril, the Tribe’s Storyteller can journey into the Womb of the World and commune with the Earth Spirit. He will make his handprint on the cave wall and then paint an image of the patient’s Clan Spirit on the wall. Following a short ritual in the enshrouding darkness, lit only by a guttering lamp of animal fat, the Storyteller emerges from the cave. If the Earth Spirit has listened to the entreaties of the patient’s Guardian Spirit then she will have returned that dead or dying man’s spirit to his body. Her Blessing is Life.

This extraordinary Blessing can be received only once from the Earth Spirit (if we ignore the first grant of Life at birth!). It is just that – Life. A person might be dying from a terrible wound or a crippling disease, he or she may even already be dead but this Blessing restores that person to Life, to health and happiness. It is the ultimate gift. There is a disadvantage to being brought back to Life if already dead – the victim’s memories are lost. He is born again and must undergo his initiation ritual once more.

Note that each of the three Tribes favour certain Wombs of the World over some of the others, and this mysterious and magical location is not jealously guarded (at the present anyway). Tribes from beyond the area are free to journey here to make use of the caves under supervision of the local Storytellers. The three caretaker Tribes take goods in trade as a reward. A dead person can only be returned to life within three days of death, making this a prerogative of the local Tribes rather than visiting Hunters.

SACRED COAST
In the far west, in the rugged hills facing the Sunset Sea, one Tribe has discovered another series of sacred caves. Each of these caves is a womb of the Earth Mother and they all have the same mystical properties. The Tribe inhabiting the caves of the Sacred Coast is the RedFeet. The RedFeet are unusual in that they have penetrated beyond the Barrier Mountains and they subsist mainly on horses, ibex and mountain goats.

IVORY FIELDS
The Ivory Fields are the vast hunting grounds of the east. Mountains, rugged hills and caves suitable for habitation are not common. Often the Tribes here have to fashion semi-permanent huts from large stones, mammoth tusks and animal hides. These imposing huts are very sturdy and capable of withstanding the deadly gales that sweep the Ivory Fields. Mammoths are the most common herd beast out on these wide open spaces.

CRAGGEN HILLS
These hills and valleys form a traditionally accepted border between the Western Steppes and the Ivory Fields. The hills are wide ranging, heavily forested and cut by numerous valleys. The main Tribes here are the Blackhand, Speakers With Stones and the Tall Tribe. The Craggen Hills are one of the many haunts of ogre clans, forced into the poorer margins of the Hunting Grounds.

WEATHER & THE SEASONS
The world is in the grip on an Ice Age (to state the obvious). Northern lands including central and northern Britain, the North Sea, Scandinavia and northern Russia are covered by glaciers and thick ice sheets which have moved south as the climate deteriorated. This means that temperatures in Europe are an average of 10 degrees C lower than those of today. Although late spring and summer can be pleasant enough on the grassy steppes and in the scattered pine forests, winters are long and cruel. The land is covered with snowdrifts, and daytime temperatures can plunge to -10º for weeks at a time, freezing lakes and rivers. Most animals must migrate south to the wooded foothills of the Barrier Mountains to avoid the very worst of the winter. Spring comes late, and as the snow melts and the rivers run full spate, flowers bloom and animals return north to breed.

The deeper levels, beneath the steppe, do not always thaw out and melt water forms fly-infested pools and marshes. Water birds flock to these wetlands to offer the Tribes another food source. As the herds feast on lush grasses and on mosses and lichens growing on the frozen rocks close to the World Ice, the Tribe enjoys fine hunting. Most inter-Tribal gatherings and Clan ceremonies take place in this short summer. Without fail, however, the temperature drops, the winds blow and snow heralds the start of winter.

Some animals have already migrated south during the first few weeks of autumn, others, with perhaps shorter routes in mind, migrate much later. Lone bands of herd beasts walk the trail, meeting other bands also heading south. Often they stay together to form a huge herd (many thousands strong) travelling south. Other animals roam their summer grazing lands throughout the cold months, eking out a living shovelling snow with their antlers or horns, or surviving on evergreen plants and trees.

The GM should keep in mind that snows do not arrive one day and stay the entire winter. Spring and autumn might see plenty of snowfalls laying across the land to melt days later. Or autumn snows may have fallen in the higher land, but be absent on the lowlands. As the snow melts, it does of course linger on higher ground, in valleys and on slopes facing north. Create an interesting environment for the player characters by varying the landscape and by varying the effects of weather on the landscape. The popular image of the Ice Age (and one, I must admit I used to hold) is of a vast Arctic ice plain filled with mammoths and Cro Magnon hunters – and little else. The march of the seasons does allow the GM to seriously change the local landscape in a way I’m sure most Canadians and Mid-Westerners are intimately familiar with. In summer walk though fragrant meadows, fish at the lake, catch wild boar in the forests and bison on the plain. In winter it turns into a frozen hellhole, the lake is iced over, snow drifts make the meadows almost impassable, the bison are gone and cave lions scavenge for stragglers.

CREATURES OF THE STEPPE
The people of the Hunting Grounds considered themselves blood related to the animals all around them, if perhaps distantly. Clan members, however, thought of examples of their totem animal (wolf, bison, auroch etc.) as brothers and sisters (in a very literal way). Here we look very briefly at the various creatures of the European Ice Age.

Auroch: The auroch is a (now extinct) species of very large wild cattle with great forward curving horns. They will act like cattle, but be far more skittish. Males will protect their cows, cows will protect their young. Territories are typically open grassland.

Bear: Bears roam the hills and forests scavenging for berries, grubs and favourite plants. They are fairly shy of humans, but if wounded or startled will attack. And bears can be dangerous, they are able to run faster than a man and stand up on hind legs to appear incredibly intimidating. Cave bears are an Ice Age species of similar size and temperament to the brown bears described above. They hibernate in caves and will not appreciate being roused by cold and wet humans seeking shelter. Cave bears are sometimes hunted by humans.

Bison: Looking much like the North American buffalo of today , the Ice Age bison has a distinctive hump and is covered with woolly brown hair. It grazes on the steppelands and like other herd animals migrates as winter approaches. Bison have short up curved horns and stand 2m tall at the shoulder.

Cave Lion: This now extinct species of lion is big and powerful, with heavy set shoulders and a white-grey winter coat for better camouflage. Treat in all other ways as a modern African lion with regards behaviour. Territories are typically open steppe where they hunt herd animals.

Deer: Red deer are very nervous herbivores that live in small herds, and a favourite game of Hunters. The males grow impressive antlers with which to fight for mating rights, and they shed these antlers yearly. Does do not have antlers. Territories are woodland, which provides cover.

Giant Elk: Now extinct, this enormous species of deer is hunted for its meat. Unlike red deer, the giant elk prefers open plains, mainly due to the trouble it would encounter in woodland with its fantastic antlers – together over 3m across! These giants stand 2m high at the shoulder and easily kill a man with a kick or twist of those immense antlers. They mate in autumn and are far more solitary in nature than red deer.

Horse: In the Ice Age horses are wild and untamed, fiery steppe animals that make great prizes for a band of Hunters. They are the size of sturdy ponies rather than the colossal selectively bred monsters we ride today, with short necks and shaggy manes.

Ibex: Ibex are a species of goat inhabiting the crags of hills and mountains, and living of off very sparse vegetation indeed. They are hunted by those humans able to scramble up to these rocky locations. The ibex is prized for its elegantly curved horns.

Mammoth: The Pleistocene relative of the elephant is a stunning and evocative symbol of the age. Herding, like elephants today, on the plains of Europe, the mammoth was afraid of nothing. It has no natural predators, most Tribes do not attempt to bring down mammoths but prefer instead to scavenge the dead. Only ogres try their luck with mammoth, sometimes using fire at night to drive them over crags. The mammoth is the king of beasts, majestic, proud, fearless. Each adult is coated with a shaggy red-brown fur growing up to a metre long in winter, and moulting in spring to be replaced with a thinner wiry coat. The mammoth is well known for its amazing set of curved tusks which it uses to scrape away snow from of off tasty grasses. Territories varied from steppelands in summer to the more sheltered forested valleys of the Barrier Mountains in winter.

Reindeer: This species of deer is much larger and sturdier than the delicate looking red deer, in addition reindeer of both sexes grow antlers. Reindeer inhabit the steppes sometimes in herds a thousand strong! Like all of the herd animals they migrate in winter to find safer and more productive feeding grounds.

Sabretooth Tiger: Sorry, wrong continent! There were no sabretooths in Europe, and the Hunters there would be very grateful for that fact if they knew!

Wolf: Wolves are far more numerous than today, preferring wooded territories, but also living in mountains and on the Hunting Grounds. Wolves are intelligent pack animals that are wary of humans. They work together and have a complex society. Most wolf packs venture out at twilight. Dire wolves are larger but slower relatives of the wolf, and operate in smaller packs as scavengers rather than hunters.

Woolly Rhinoceros: The woolly rhino must have been an awesome sight, standing 2m at the shoulder, covered with shaggy brown hair and sporting two sharp horns (one up to a metre in length!). Like the rhino today, this breed has poor eyesight but excellent smell. It lives alone and may flee from humans. Or else it will charge in and often inflict terrible wounds. The rhino is not an easy animal to hunt, its body being protected with rolls of fat and plates of armour. Territories preferred are steppelands and plains.

CRAFTING A CAMPAIGN
What do the player characters do in this game? This is the central question that should be answered by every set of roleplaying rules. TOTEM, like most other games, has a long list of activities and plot hooks that might kick-start a scenario. Many of these plot hooks do not involve hunting mammoth, bison and reindeer – which might surprise some players and puzzle others. Survival on its own is not a long term option for a roleplaying game. After trying out tactics on a few hunts the campaign will enter the realm of boredom.

All stories need conflict to work, physical conflict works in a pinch and is often fine for a session or two, but for anything more satisfying and more long term the conflict must be social and emotional. The day job of hunting, trapping and gathering goes on of course, but this merely forms a backdrop for the central story, whether it be about Clan betrayal, the illicit love of a couple from rival Clans, the Tribal chief who only has three days to live (and to determine a successor), and so on. These are Tribal affairs and as already noted to Tribe acts as a source of such plot hooks. Another area that provides a viable source of story seeds is the world outside the Tribe, the realm of the spirits, of exiles and other Tribes. All provide ‘human’ elements that can interact with the player character Hunters in a hundred different ways.

USING THE TRIBAL STRUCTURE
The players’ own Tribe acts as ‘society in general’, as a patron, as a source of conflict and plots and also as a ‘dependant’ toward which the player characters have a sense of duty. The Tribe was a crucial life-giving social structure in the Pleistocene Era, in TOTEM it is crucial to the structure of any TOTEM campaign. It provides any Hunter with a reason for his existence and can provide him with a motivation and series of goals. Because of the Tribe’s importance to the wider game, we look at it as a campaign tool. It can impact on the player characters in the following ways:

Tribal Organization: The Tribe is an inter-related group of men, women and children who can usually trace their line back to a common ancestor. Tribes vary in size depending on their success and the resources available to them. Assume a moderate Tribe has around 75 adults within it (and typically an equal number of children) separated into maybe four or five Clans. Clans represent separate familial traditions within the overall Tribal relationship.

Each Clan is led by the Clan Chief – a mature and respected male of the family. He is fit and able, and he can consult the older members of the Clan (the Elders) for advice. In times of urgency the Elders can veto a decision, but the chief is under no compulsion to follow their alternative suggestion. Clans co-operate, feud, inter-marry and forge alliances with other Clans in the Tribe. It is rare that they all get along together, or that Clan Chiefs are universally liked, respected and obeyed. It is common for the Clans to camp in separate locations from time to time, perhaps a member is ill or crafting some important objects, perhaps the Clan has remained in a certain spot to exploit local resources (flint, game, fish, etc.). But much of the Tribe will stay together if possible.

A typical Clan has around 15 adult members (that is over 14 years old). Let us postulate a Reindeer Clan made up of the Clan Chief, his brother, uncle and aging father, as well as his oldest son. Each has a wife, bringing the total to 10. We can also include the chief’s sister and her husband, and three more adolescents. There will be approximately as many children as adults in a typical Clan. The Clan camps together in the same group of tents or cave, often erecting the symbol of the Clan atop a pole or a tent.

Clan Chiefs form the Tribal leadership, each has a say in the way the Tribe is run. The oldest and wealthiest chiefs have a greater say. Ultimately the Tribal Chief must make his own decisions. He will listen to his own Clan, the other Clan Chiefs and the Tribal Storyteller. Of course he is also the chief of his own Clan. When a chief dies he often has an heir from his own Clan waiting to succeed him. Sometimes he might designate another Clan Chief as the new Tribal leader if there are no suitable candidates. If the old chief dies suddenly without nominating an heir then the spirits decide. The Storyteller will arrange for a ritual combat or test of skills between any nominated candidates. Or sometimes a simple show of hands or drawing of stones decides the matter (though it’s not as dramatic!). All depends on the Tribe, its customs and its current situation.

Tribes are different. Although we have generalized a little here, the GM is encouraged to play things differently from Tribe to Tribe. Maybe the Tribe’s chiefs are all women, maybe the Storyteller is sacrificed to the Great Spirit in his 30 th year. Maybe Hunters are both male and female with an equal split. Maybe new chiefs are decided purely on omens and the favour of the spirits. Make every Tribe unique.

The Tribal Chief has the place of honour. Surely he works as hard as every other Hunter (he must do or lose the Tribe’s favour) but his tent is more splendid, his Clan a little richer, his women the pick of the crop, his wealth composed of far-flung treasures.

We must mention the Storyteller here. Clanless – the Storyteller devotes his life to the heritage of the Tribe, he knows the rules and customs, the myths and legends, the taboos and curses that dominate Tribal life. He is neutral in his dealings. Tribes have their own peculiarities when it comes to Storytellers. Some are men, some are eunuchs, some women, some are cripples only – in a few Tribes Storytellers of either sex are allowed. In some Tribes the same hereditary name is adopted by the Storyteller, turning him or her into a perpetual myth figure.

Who does what in a typical Tribe? Again this can and should vary with each Tribe. Generally the adult males are Hunters and the adult females are Firekeepers. Hunters fabricate weapons and go into the wilderness to hunt game, often for several days at a time. Firekeepers tend the precious camp fires, forage for firewood, berries, roots and raw materials, rear the young and prepare clothing and food. But this is a broad generalization. Hunters can make their own clothes, cook for themselves on the trail and look out for herbs and berries. Likewise Firekeepers often join the hunt or expeditions to collect raw materials. In this era, everyone has a knowledge of the basic skills of life. Everyone. Some are more able than others – but all the skills of life are taught to children. Often there will be some cross-over. Unmarried women may live as Hunters until marriage marks an initiation into the life of a Firekeeper. Some men give up hunting to become Firekeepers. They may have some minor disability, or perhaps a talent for crafts or cooking.

Customs & Taboos: As already stated, every Tribe should be different. The GM is advised to pick a good name for a new Tribe, and then to develop a short list of customs and taboos. These are rules passed down to the Storyteller from the spirits he has contact with. In addition each Clan will have its own customs and taboos. Rather than complicate the player's lives with too many rules and regulations, create a single custom and taboo for every Clan, and three customs and taboos for the Tribe as a whole. Let's consider the StoneTooth People, an amalgam of the Horse, Wolf, Bison and Rhino Clan.

The Horse Clan has an initiation ceremony for Hunters which involves capturing the tail hairs from a wild horse. The Clan taboo prohibits the eating of nuts. The Wolf Clan hunt a wolf pack leader and feast on the body at midwinter. The Clan taboo prohibits any Wolf Hunter seeing his children for the first year. They are usually adopted by other women in the Clan. The Bison Clan dance before every meal and the first cut of the main evening meal is determined after the males have wrestled for the honour. The Clan taboo prohibits speaking of the newly dead for six months. The Rhino Clan has a woman as its chieftain and follows descent through the female line. The Clan taboo forbids sex before marriage. Unmarried men are not allowed to talk to any unmarried girls and are refrained from even looking at them.

What are the customs and taboos of the StoneTooth People? There are three of each:

· The StoneTooth Tribe is in possession of a Womb of the World, which it uses for rituals and regularly dresses with flowers.

· The StoneTooth Tribe always buries its dead face down, with green leaves all around the corpse in honour of the Earth Spirit he or she is going to meet.

· The StoneTooth Tribe fabricates very beautiful and distinctive flint axe heads that are sought after by neighbouring Tribes.

And for the Tribal taboos we come up with:

· No-one may enter the Womb of the World without the express permission of the Storyteller - on pain of death.

· The Tribes' females are not allowed to see the dead, participate in funerals and so on.

· The Tribe must never eat the unborn of an animal killed on the hunt, but must offer it to the Great Spirit.

This is actually an impressive list of customs and taboos! But it took ten minutes work to come up with, and will give the campaign a great deal of texture. I advise GM's to let the spirits decide at the time how they propose to punish the transgressors of a taboo.

And don't forget the endless feasts and rituals which will be a feature of any nomadic Tribe. Rituals for birth, for initiation into adulthood, for marriage, for pregnancy, for death and for the honouring of the dead. These rituals will invariably involve feasting (the exact dishes vary), dancing (the exact costumes and themes will vary), and sacrifice (of items, food, drink, animals or even humans - possibly transgressors or cripples).

Daily Life: The Tribes often use natural caves as shelters or semi-permanent homes, but tend to rely on tents made from wooden poles and tanned hides. Some utilise grass thatch or moss in the summer. Most shelters are grouped around a Tribal camp and are sited in sheltered valleys, within woods or the lee of cliffs. The Tribe is often on the move following the migratory paths of herd animals. But even then the Tribe has pre-marked camp sites that it uses with seasonal regularity – and it might put up a carved wooden pole to declare as much to other Tribes.

GMs should understand that these Ice Age Hunters draw upon generations of wisdom and follow set-patterns of movement and behaviour. From riverside camp to hilltop camp, then down into the woods over winter, then out on to the marshes to catch the reindeer, then to the riverside camp, and so on … Every Tribe has a pattern like this, but will break this pattern as frequently as the situation dictates. Camp sites are particularly favoured, but not fought over. There is no clash of territories in TOTEM. A traditional camp can be shared with a strange Tribe but it will be grudgingly shared, with a custom of hospitality taking precedence.

Hunting is done with spears, tipped either with flint, horn or bone-carved heads, or at worst just fire-hardened. Unlike the ogres, the human Tribes know how to craft bows and arrows, slings and spear casters. The Tribes are adept at creating useful tools from flint. Slicers, borers, cleavers, shavers and scrapers are all found in the Firekeeper’s tool-kit. Flint, a hard, sharp stone, is used, but obsidian, black and capable of being knapped into an even sharper cutting edge, is preferred. Flint daggers are made, but have no hilt – being held by the dull edge. Axeheads however, are commonly bound to wooden handles and are wonderful tree-felling tools.

Although flint keeps a sharper edge, bone, ivory, horn and antler are far more versatile. The Tribes are able to manufacture fish hooks, needles, tent stakes, figurines used as Foci, small oil lamps, spear straighteners and awls. Weapons and other items are made on days that are spent in camp (about which, see later). After a good hunt, the Hunters need not hunt again – although scouts from each Clan are sent out to watch the herds. This free time between hunts can be very productive.

The hide from an animal is also used extensively. In fact nothing from an animal is ever wasted. Hides are tanned and used to fabricate tents, bags, pouches, tunics, hats, leggings, boots and rawhide thongs. Fur is left on hides that will be used for winter clothing. Sinews are used for thread for sewing, making bowstrings and fastening arrow and spear-heads. Intestines make good general purpose bindings, bladders are waterproof and make good water-carriers or water-proof bags. These waterproof bags can be hung from a tripod and the water inside made to boil for cooking by dropping in fire-heated rocks (‘pot-boilers’).

To move from place to place the Tribes go on foot since no animals have yet been domesticated (except the faithful hound). A useful innovation is the sledge. Small sledges (much like the light-weight Inuit sledges of our world) can carry enough kit to sustain a group of Hunters out on the ice for many days. Of course they must all pull the sledge themselves.

In summer, some Tribes close to rivers or marshes build canoes from a single large tree. These dug-out canoes can be crafted to carry either a couple of people, or up to six! They are very effective in calm waters and used for fishing and perhaps an occasional communication.

The Issue of Free Time: The player character Hunters can be assigned a particular quest, investigation or adventurous duty by the Clan or Tribe, but what about the Hunt? Let’s assume that not all the Hunters go out chasing game at any one time. Scouts will be sent out at first light and return to make a report to the chief and the elders. The Hunters are then given their tasks. Some will be sent out to catch bison that have been spotted, others might be sent to the frozen river where seal have been seen. Still others will stay with the Tribe as guardians to protect it from predators. They are also able to help any group that needs it, perhaps to take out sledges so that a bison can be returned to the camp. Guardian duty is rotated amongst the Hunters, and it allows them to get on with any craft jobs they have on-going.

So, how much free time can we assume our Hunters have for manufacturing objects? Give out free time after a game, not before, this is generally when players will want to craft items anyway. It also allows the GM to give out free time as a reward for a successful mission. Missing out on death defying hunts could certainly be viewed as a suitable reward!

The better the player characters do, the more free time they gain afterwards to craft whatever they want. Think of it in hunting terms; when the Hunters do well and bring back plenty of meat for the Tribe they need not go out again for several days – why bring in more meat then you can eat, and you all deserve a rest after the hunt anyway! If player characters haven’t been given enough time to finish their craft projects then keep a track of where they’re up to and they can finish up at a later date, maybe after the next adventure.

Here are some brief guidelines for awarding free time:

· Scenario Failed                                    No free time awarded
· Scenario Succeeded/Moderate            1 day
· Scenario Succeeded/Difficult                2 days
· Scenario Succeeded/Formidable          3 days

If a successful outcome also saved lots of Tribespeoples’ lives then add on another day. Don’t get too generous, by the way. Firstly, the player characters will be knocking up all kinds of items for trade (i.e. becoming very rich very quickly), and secondly (and realistically the Tribe cannot spare an able-bodied Hunter for too long).

ADVENTURE POSSIBILITIES
What can you use to build a TOTEM scenario? Use all of the same rules for constructing them as in any other roleplaying game. Mix wilderness challenges with social obstacles and magic. Perhaps one of the most common types of Ice Age scenario type is the quest – the Tribe has a problem, someone (the Hunters) must go out into the wilderness to battle with fantastical forces (spirits, magical elements) and return to save the day. It can be used effectively, or misused as a trite fantasy quest. But it does illustrate the three building blocks of a good TOTEM scenario.

Something is happening within the Tribe itself
This is important because the Tribe is society, it is the Hunters’ world. They are not outcasts or mercenaries wandering the landscape. They are part of a social group. To make it feel like a very real social unit, make sure things are always happening and that these things spark adventures.

A wilderness journey is required
This is important because the Hunters are tiny specks in a vast untamed wilderness, without cities, towns, farms or fields. The Tribe is a tiny band of humans clinging together for protection and support. And for nomads life is on the move, in tents and temporary shelters and caves. Players should feel that their characters are in this wilderness, never sat at home warm and safe. A wilderness journey is any journey, to fetch firewood, collect reeds or water, hunt an ibex, reach an old abandoned cave, explore a haunted wood or reach the World Ice. Any of these has the possibility of threatening the Hunter with hostile creatures, physical challenges, wounding or death.

An element of fantasy is involved
This is important because this is fantasy. An historically accurate version of TOTEM could work and work well, tribal intrigue on its own, for example, would make an effective ‘realistic’ game. Imagine ‘Macbeth’ or ‘Romeo and Juliet’ set within the Tribal context. But as with running a basic survival-only game, this lack of fantasy might not capture the interest of the players. In fact without the insertion of supernatural elements, a ‘realistic’ game doesn’t really resemble the mindset of the Ice Age Hunters at all. They believed implicitly in the existence of magic and spirits – it just makes sense that they be portrayed in scenarios as very real elements. Without the fantasy, TOTEM games become (to my mind) less realistic.

These three adventure elements are obviously not de rigueur. They are the three useful elements for scenario creation, but one or even two might be left out and the game could still prove entertaining. As long as there is variation! You could run a Tribal politics game one week, a trip to find honey the next and in the third week try to help exorcise a spirit haunting a comatose boy. Each game focuses on a single adventure element, but the focus changes every week. I think that could work quite nicely. The problem with this approach is that, ten minutes into the game, everyone knows what is going to be involved “uh oh, the chief’s son has been found murdered, its Tribal politics today …”. Using more than one of the elements keeps everyone guessing and of course provides some interest throughout the scenario. The adventure suggestions below try to incorporate a number of the elements.

Feud – One of the Clans is upset and fallen out with other Clans in the Tribe. It has moved up to another campsite nearby. The Hunters are chosen as ambassadors to sort out the grievance. They might stumble upon a dead member of Clan on the way there, and then be discovered by Clan members looking at the body. Have things just got even more complicated?

Werewolf - There is an evil spirit preying on the Tribe, a werebear or werewolf that appears as a friendly stranger by day, but who, at night, stalks the land killing the unwary. Will the Hunter’s unmask him?

Lost Child – A child from the Tribe has run away and is trapped in a cave. The occupants of the cave (a family of cave lions) have arrived to spend for a day or so there. Can the Hunters get to the child before it is noticed? The lions must not be harmed.

Honey – The Tribe want some honey! A sacrifice of some type will be made to the bee spirit, and once done someone very brave (with a good grip) must climb one of the tallest trees in the wood to retrieve the honey. If they are not careful and the bee spirit is angered or unimpressed by the sacrifice, a cloud of bees will emerge to sting the climber, making his grip on the tree untenable. Got any plans?

Thief ! – Mysterious thefts plague the Tribe. An outcast or exile is preying on the Tribe. Is he just trying to survive? No, he is a Storyteller from a rival Tribe trying to steal certain artefacts he needs to cast a spell against the players’ Tribe.

Magic Berries – A special purple magic berry is needed to cure the strange illness affecting the chief. The Hunters must go and find some, and may have to negotiate one of more physical and magical obstacles first. The berries will eventually be found in a grove guarded by powerful spirits who must be tricked or appeased. They declare that “no man may step into the grove” and they will kill any who do. But a woman? A child? And what if they crawl, hop or run into the grove?

White Hart – An albino deer, a holy spirit, has been spotted in a high valley. If the player characters can some of the antlers that it has shed then they will be able to manufacture magical items. The hart’s antler is powerful!

Clever Lion – The Tribe is being stalked by a cave lion that is solitary and attacks when it finds a straggler or undefended Tribesperson. It seems to be intelligent. Is it the wrath of Fang the Guardian Spirit of the Cave Lions? Communing with Fang at a special sacred spot reveals the machinations of an exiled Storyteller from many years ago. He is seeking revenge on his home Clan and has a hidden lair that is protected by magic and his cave lion ally.

Red River – The river has turned red and is undrinkable. Terror! The Hunters must discover the reason for this cosmic aberration by journeying upstream. There they find that the river flows from a cave in a gorge, a sacred grotto. When the Hunters enter this cave they discover that it has been desecrated and now possessed by evil spirits. The cave needs putting in order before the river can be ‘cleansed’ – they need to fashion new idols from raw materials that they must scavenge for in the gorge.

Forever Sleep – A Tribeswoman is in a perpetual sleep and the Storyteller declares that the woman’s spirit has wandered away during her dreams. In fact it has been captured! The Storyteller gives the Hunters a magical amulet fashioned of badger bone to ‘sniff out’ the spirit of the woman. Where is it? There is a great hollow tree at the centre of the woods inhabited by a spirit called the MistMaker and this spirit draws in wandering spirits. It thrives on the dreams of others. In the deep base of this tree far underground is a pool filled with bright swirling bubbles – each one the spirit of a trapped dreamer. The cavernous chamber under the hollow tree is guarded by huge bat spirits, hanging hidden and silent out of sight.

Magic Stones: The Tribe have moved off after reindeer, but the Storyteller realizes that he has left something very important behind at the campsite – his pouch of magic stones! A Hunter is sent back to get it. Between the camp site and the Tribe is an angry auroch that must be avoided. At the abandoned camp site the stones are no where to be seen, but tracks in the snow lead away to the south. The tracks lead up a rough and rocky slop that drops suddenly on the other side into a deep, snow-filled gorge. There are brambles growing here and there on the cliff faces and on the canyon floor. The ogre that has stolen the magic stones is hiding here, in a little cave behind a tangle of brambles on the cliff nearest the Hunter. In fact it is likely that the player character will miss the cave altogether. On the gorge floor, waist deep in snow it is obvious there are no tracks here. But the ogre springs into action and begins hurling stones from his hideaway. If the ogre is driven off or defeated the Hunter finds the magic stones inside the ogre’s cave along with some stinking furs, a handaxe and a length of sinew cord.

Scout – One or perhaps two Hunters have been sent out to track an older reindeer that has fallen behind on the hunt. As they enter a stand of pine trees they see the reindeer, now dead, with a cave lion laying claim to it. It’s tough, mean and big! Do they try to outrun it or do they fight the lion for the carcass?

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