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7/26/2019 Primeval RPG Promo

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G A R E T H R Y D E R - H A N R A H A N

A R O L E P L A Y I N G G A M E B Y


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WRITINGGareth Ryder-Hanrahan

CREATIVE DIRECTORDominic McDowell-Thomas

ADDITIONAL WRITINGJohn M. Kahane

EDITINGJenni Hill

GRAPHIC DESIGNLee Binding

ADDITIONAL DESIGNEdel Ryder-Hanrahan

LAYOUTSimon Lucas

Edel Ryder-Hanrahan

PLAYTESTERSJohn M. Kahane

Kathy BauerSteve Bauer

Joanne Clarke

Angela MarshDavid Matchuk

Douglas McMillanTammy Powers

Nick RobertsTom Robinson

Steven Ross

PROOF-READINGJohn M. Kahane

Gareth Ryder-HanrahanDominic McDowall-Thomas

LINE MANAGERGareth Ryder-Hanrahan

SPECIAL THANKSImpossible Pictures

Angus AbransonCraig Oxbrow

John M. KahaneAndrew Peregrine

Kit KindredNathaniel Torson

GAME SYSTEMbased on Doctor Who: Adventures in

Time and Space, DESIGNED AND WRITENby David F. Chapman.

PRIMEVAL is published by Cubicle7 Entertainment Ltd. (UK reg. no.6036414). Find out more about us andour games at www.cubicle7.co.uk

Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd. 2012PRIMEVAL (word marks, logosand devices) are trade marks ofImpossible Pictures and areused under license.

CREDITS

PRIMEVAL

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CONTENTS

CHARACTERS ............................... 4RULES ....................................... 6

SETTING ...................................... 7

CREATING A GROUP ................... 11

CREATING YOUR CHARACTER ...... 14

ATTRIBUTES .............................. 15

SKILLS ...................................... 17

SKILLS LIST ............................... 19

TRAITS ..................................... 24

TRAITS LIST ............................... 25

BAD TRAITS .............................. 34

STORY POINTS ........................... 40

OUR FINAL CHARACTER SHEET LOOKS

LIKE THIS: ................................. 42

FINISHING TOUCHES ................... 43

GROUPS & BASES .......................

GOOD GROUP TRAITS .................

BAD GROUP TRAITS ....................

THE ANOMALY RESEARCH CENTRE .

ARC CHARACTERS .......................

OPERATIONAL RESOURCES ...........

VILLAINS ..................................

PLAYING IN THE ARC FRAMEWORK

THE CRYPTID HUNTER .................

DINOSAUR HUNTER CHARACTERS ..

OPERATIONAL RESOURCES ...........

VILLAINS ..................................

PLAYING IN THE DINOSAUR HUNTE

FRAMEWORK ............................

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ADVANCED TECHNIQUES .............. 79

THE BASIC RULE ......................... 84

HOW A ROLL WORKS .................. 87

COMPLICATIONS ........................ 90

COMBAT & EXTENDED CONFLICTS .. 92

CHASES .................................... 98

LOSING A FIGHT: GETTING HURT ..101

MENTAL OR SOCIAL CONFLICTS ... 103

LOSING A MENTAL OR

SOCIAL CONFLICT ..................... 106

HEALING ................................. 107

STORY POINTS ......................... 108

GAINING STORY POINTS .............110

MAX STORY POINTS .................. 111

LEARNING & IMPROVEMENT ....... 111

LEAVING THE GAME ...................112

WEAPONS ................................115

FUTURE TECHNOLOGY ............... 129

EXPOSURE ............................. 135

INVESTIGATORS ....................... 139

A FIELD GUIDE TO ANOMALIES ... 147

TIME TRAVEL & ANOMALIES ...... 148

ANOMALY THEORIES ................. 152

TEMPORAL DAMAGE ................. 154

PRECAMBRIAN .........................161

CAMBRIAN ..............................161

ORDOVICIAN ............................161

SILURIAN ................................ 162

DEVONIAN .............................. 162

CARBONIFEROUS ...................... 163

PERMIAN ............................... 163

TRIASSIC ................................. 163JURASSIC ................................ 164

CRETACEOUS ........................... 165

PALEOCENE ............................. 165

EOCENE .................................. 165

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OLIGOCENE ............................. 166

MIOCENE ................................ 166PLIOCENE................................ 166

PLEISTOCENE ............................167

HOLOCENE ...............................167

IDENTIFYING A TIME PERIOD ..... 168

CREATURE RULES ..................... 169

SKILLS .................................... 172

THREAT ................................. 173

THE CREATURE LIST .................. 177

CREATING CREATURES ............... 201

CREATURE TRAITS & POWERS ..... 203

IDENTIFYING A CREATURE ......... 206

HUMANS ................................ 207

BRINGING THE PAST TO LIFE .......216

PLAYERS..................................219

COMPONENTS .......................... 222

BUILDING THE ADVENTURE ........ 226

TWO (AND THREE) PART STORIES

SERIES PLOTS ..........................

MAKING A CONSPIRACY ..........

INVESTIGATING THE CONSPIRACY

CONSPIRACY TRAITS .................

ConspiraCy: Christine JohnsoORGANISATION ........................

CONSPIRACY: FUTURE SURVIVORS ..

CONSPIRACY: CELAVA ..................

THE NEAR FUTURE ....................THE MER ERA ..........................

THE FAR FUTURE ......................

FUTURE CREATURES ..................

CREATING YOUR OWN FUTURE

CREATURES .............................

IV

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Dinosaurs.

Terrible Lizards.Thats what the word means.

When their bones were found, people wondered if they

were the remains of biblical giants and dragons.

Today, after decades of scientic investigation andresearch, we know that life on this planet is billions of

years old, and has taken many formssuch as the titanic,

savage dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs were wiped out in one of the periodic extinctions

that strike our world. Theyve been gone for sixty-ve million

years.

What if they came back?

PRIMEVAL

Anomalies are starting to appear, doorways in ti

to worlds we can barely imagine. The Anoma

are conclusive proof that the past exists in a fou

dimension as real and solid as those we alrea

know. Our job is to predict and contain them.

In Primeval, there are Anomalies, rips in the fabr

space and time that connect our world to the dis

past. Anomalies can open anywhere, at any time, drop

velociraptors into shopping centres and Mammoth

the motorway. These Anomalies are happening

frequentlyevery day brings more and more sighting

prehistoric beasts invading the present.

The Anomaly Research Centre (ARC) is a governm

run team of scientists, soldiers, explorers and o

INTRODUCTION

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specialists, tasked with investigating the origin

of these Anomalies and containing the threat to

the public. The existence of these rips in space/

timenot to mention the rampaging T-Rexes and

other beastsmust be kept secret or it wouldcause mass panic.

In their work, the ARC team has discovered three

vital facts about the Anomalies.

First, the Anomalies can go forwardas well as

back. There are gateways to our future as well as

our past.

Second, at some point in the near future, humanity

is driven extinct by an unknown catastrophe, possibly

a new species of super-predators. We may only have

a few years, or possibly only a few months left.

Third... time is mutable. History can be changed.

Extinction can be averted.

Thats where you come in.

Whats primeval?

Primeval is an action-lled science-ction TV series

about a team working for the Anomaly Research

Centre. Under the leadership of Dr. Nick Cutter (and,

after his death, ex-cop Danny Quinn), they investigatethe mysterious Anomalies and contain the ferocious

prehistoric monsters that have intruded into the

modern world.

Cutters estranged wife Helen is the teams

nemesisshe vanished into an Anomaly eight

years ago and now has her own agenda for human

evolution.

The rst three series of Primeval were shown on

ITV from 2007 to 2009; Series Four and Five were

shown in 2011. This book covers the rst three

seriesa future supplement will ll in details fromFour and Five.

Whats a roleplaying game?

Youre probably familiar with computer roleplaying

games, where you play a character in some fantasy

setting. You wander around doing quests, levelling

up, talking to other characters and getting new gear.

Tabletop roleplaying games are similar, but th

one key difference. Instead of a computer run

the game, theres a human Gamemasterand

changes everything.

Instead of being limited to what the game a

you to do, you can do anything you can imag

Lets say you need to get past a guarded do

computer game might only give you the optio

ghting the guard or stealing a pass. In a tab

game, you can try anythingmaybe you

persuade the guard to let you past, or bribe him

sneak through the sewers, or forge a fake pas

even convince the guard that he should be on

side. The Gamemaster (or GM) describes the w

the players decide what they want to do, and

the GM decides whether or not they succeed.

In Primeval, you can play Nick Cutter, Co

Abby and the other familiar characters from

Anomaly Research Centre, or you can create

own characters to work alongside Nick & co. in

ARC. You can even explore other possibilities i

Primeval universe, like dinosaur hunters or

wanderers.

THE BASICS

Firstly, you need a few friends to play the Prim

rpg. One of you will be the Gamemaster, and the

of you will be the players. The game works witfew as two people (one GM, one player), but its

with three to ve players. (By the way, if you ha

decided whos going to be the GM, then the own

the book should take on that responsibility.)

Secondly, youll need to be familiar with

contents of this book. You dont need to mem

the whole thing, but you should understand how

basic rules (Chapter 2 The Basics) work, and

to make characters (Chapter 3 Genesis).

Thirdly, youll need a few dice (the normal, six-s

ones). When an outcome is in doubt, youll be rodice to see whether or not your character succe

Lets say you want to scramble over a fenc

escape the slavering gorgonopsid thats hot on

heels. Youd add your characters Coordination

Athletics scores together, and then roll two

If the total of the dice plus your Coordination

Athletics is higher than a difculty number set b

GM, you make it over the fence in time. If you

badly... well, youre a gorgonopsid snack, unless

spend a Story Point.

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Wheres matt?

SERIES 4 & 5The new characters and monsters from Primevals

fourth and fth seasons arent in this book. Matt,

Jess, Emily Merchant, Gideon and the other new

characters will be covered in a future supplement!

Fourth, youll need a way to keep track of Story Points and

Threat Points. Story Points are a way for you to change a

bad roll or alter the story in your favour. Youll be getting

and spendinga lot of Story Points, so youll need a pile of

tokens. Threat Points are for monsters, and measure how

aggressive and dangerous a creature is. Pennies, glassbeads, jelly beans, cardboard chits, anything like that will

do.

Fifth, youll need a few pencils, and copies of the

character sheet (page 284). Alternatively, you can use the

pre-generated characters on pages 51 60 if you want to

play the characters from the TV series.

Got all that? Good. Lets get moving.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

The first part of this book (once you get past this

introduction) is all about set-uphow to come up with

a framework for your group, and how to roll up your

individual characters. A framework explains why all

your characters are working together, and how they

deal with the temporal Anomalies.

All Primeval games involve time travel and ferocious

monsters, but you dont have to be part of the

Anomaly Research Centre. You could be independent

researchers, or a group of hitch-hikers who got lost in

the past, or a secret government team dedicated to

preserving our timeline. There are some suggestedgroup frameworks on page 12.

Next, theres the rules section. This covers everyth ing

hazardous and nasty that your characters might

come acrosswhat happens when you try to shoot

a dinosaur, what happens when the dinosaur tries

to eat you, sneaking around, investigating mysteries

and gaining new Skills and Traits. There are also

detailed rules for two of the most important aspects

of Primevalconcealing the truth from the public, and

dealing with Anomalies.

After that, the Dangers section describes many diffe

prehistoric monsters and time periods. Players can

read that sectionassuming their characters are ex

palaeontologists or are just really interested in dinosa

Finally, theres the Gamemasters section. This is

of advice and tips for running the game, suggestion

series outlines, rules for dealing with Anomalies, time tand alterations of the time line, and other strangen

along with a sample adventure to get you started.

Gamemasters section also covers the Future time pe

Players are allowed to read everything apart from

GMs sectionif you spoil the secrets in there, the g

might not be as much fun for you.

Gamemasters can read the whole book.

PLAYING THE GAME

Primevals designed to be played in a series of g

sessions. Each game session takes up an evening. T

of each game session as an episode of your ow

series. Most of the events in a game session will be

containedyoull ght the monster-of-the-week and

with the problems surrounding the current Anomaly

there will be plot elements, mysteries and conspira

that continue from episode to episode. Keep the meta

of the television series in mind as you play the game

a good guide for both players and Gamemasters.

THEROLE-PLAYINGGAM

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