Primal Quest – Essentials by Diogo Nogueira is a role playing game published by Old Skull Publishing.
The supplement is available as a 32 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. The PDF comes in two versions, one of them optimised with a smaller file size. Two pages are the front and rear covers, four are the inside covers and two are the front matter and credits. There are also two single page PDF character sheets, one in black, one in red.
The Preface explains that the game came about through a passion for dinosaurs and has a list of inspirations for the game from different types of media. It’s also explained what will be found, The Primal World of Thaia, a weird stone & sorcery setting, making compatible products and safety tools.
Playing the Game has the rules. When outcomes are uncertain and impactful, a Test is made. Positive Dice and Negative Dice are rolled, with the highest ND subtracted from the highest PD, then the appropriate Attribute is added for the Result. The Difficulty is then determined and the Effect is determined by subtracting the Difficulty from the Result; 0 or over is a success, with higher results being better successes, whilst under 0 is a failure, and lower results giving worse failures. More PD and ND are possible and a natural 6 on a PD is a Boon that can be sent to generate effects. Conversely, a natural 6 on an ND is a Setback, which the Referee spends to generate consequences. By making Effort prior to a roll, a player can sacrifice Vitality for PDs.
Character Creation explains that three points are divided amongst three Attributes; Body, Mind and Heart. Attributes can be reduced to -1 to increase another by +1 and none can start higher than +3. Tags for Concept, Talent, Motivation, Relationship and Trouble are used to define the character. Characters begin with one of three different selections of equipment and have two other stats, Vitality and Defence. Characters can advance by gaining XP, which is done at a low rate, and which can be used to increase an Attribute, acquire a new Tag or change or rewrite an existing one. Equipment and encumbrance are then covered. Depending on what equipment is made of, it is more durable.
Combat is round based, with two actions every round, and happens in Initiative order. There are three range bands, Close, Far and Distant, and combatants can move between them. Combatants can attack, defend and block, and after combat can heal, but are always at risk of dying.
Sorcery requires an Arcane Focus, with the default one being associated with only one magic word. Spellcasting requires the spell’s effect to be described, the Referee to decide what type it is and, once any Vitality is added, a roll is made to determine success. Failure just means the spell didn’t work. There are four different categories of spells, which take longer, are harder to do and have more effect.
Running the Game gives a general overview of things to take into account, making a Luck Test when unsure how things will unfold and rolling for random encounters. Opponents are all NPCs and have much simpler stats.
Exploration is how the world is explored, using a hex map. Characters can explore at different rates and get lost and will need to camp to rest.
Mother’s Vale is a mini-hexcrawl that takes up the rest of the supplement. It has a hex map with twelve hexes described. Each hex has a name, description, either problem and special or secret and danger, and d6 random encounters.
Primal Quest – Essentials
The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of illustrations, up to full page in size, with black, red and white being the primary colours except for the full colour map. Presentation is decent.
This is described as an OSR game and indeed it is a very simple one. The mechanics of it are not at all complex and can be condensed down a lot. In fact, a large amount of the supplement is taken up by the hex crawl. The hex crawl itself, as part of this game’s description is “weird” incorporates science fiction elements. More material on Thaia is published on the publisher’s site. Overall, this is a simple system with minimal mechanics and a setting that is a bit unusual. Primal Quest – Essentials can be found by clicking here.
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