| ORIGINS The idea for an Ice Age game came to me as I was pondering how to run an effective demonstration game for a group of nine-year olds. I needed something without a modern urban setting, full of intensive social interaction. I needed a setting that might pose a threat to the characters. And I needed some sort of survival situation with which I could test the children's mental resources. I came up with a short Ice Age game, which soon developed into TOTEM. INSPIRATION Of course it didn't come out of nowhere. I was struck by the magnificent images of Mammoths and Cro Magnon's in the BBC's final episode of their 'Walking With Beasts' show. I'd also communicated with Ian Young about his own Ice Age roleplaying game, Cold Mountain. Cold Mountain can be found here and is richer, deeper and eminently more suited to a group of more mature players than is TOTEM. I tried hard not to cover the same territory as Ian. Another inspiration was Kirk Wilson Tate's book 'GURPS Ice Age', written as a supplement for the GURPS line by Steve Jackson Games. That book is now out of print, but I believe the information on early man is reprinted in 'GURPS Dinosaurs' instead. Other works I found useful include: 'Cave Art' by Andrew J.Lawson and the 'Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistory of Europe', edited by Barry Cunliffe. LINKS Further information of use can be found at the following websites: The Mammoth Saga The Chauvet Cave The Cave at Lascaux BBC's Walking With Beasts And I can't resist linking to another Steve Jackson Games product, a game I've heard good things about, but never actually played, a game called Tribes. PROJECTS Because TOTEM was designed to be used within a school environment I wanted the game to include more than just verbal storytelling, but also some kind of hands-on aspect. As explained in the section entitled 'The Stones' I created my own leather bag of beach stones, see a picture of this here. I've also created a number of Ice Age related craft projects for my students to carry out to alternate with roleplaying sessions. There are four craft projects ready to try: Spirit Rattle - Using a forked twig, twine, seashells and feathers, the students will create a North American Indian-style rattle with which to summon their ancestor spirits, or to ward off evil spirits. Leather Painting - I bound my copy of TOTEM in mock-leather that I made using thick brown paper stained with tea and coffee, gently scrunched and left to dry. Once dry the paper resembles leather, I even used leather cord to bind my pages to the cover and finished the job off with an Ice Age-style hand painting on the cover. See a picture of this here. My students will make a leather hide and paint a picture on it. Ivory Carving - I can't get hold of ivory, or let my students use knives in the classroom, so instead we're going to use bars of white soap and carve animals from them using plastic knives or clay-working tools. I've already made a mammoth while my son experimented by carving a mouse. Cave Painting - The first idea to come to me was that of a cave painting. Using a long roll of paper pinned up on the wall, students will draw their totem animal using appropriate colours in pastels, chalks and charcoals. After completing their animal they will 'sign' their work with a handprint stencil as the Ice Age artists did in France and Spain. As the game progresses week-by-week they will add to the painting, depicting spirits encountered in the form of their animal guises. I tried it with my son, see it here. If anyone has any further suggestions for craft projects, I'd be most interested in hearing them! Paul Elliott zozer@btinternet.com |
 |
 |