[quote=@RickyG85] Brace for feedback I can tell you from personal experience, assigning homework is a deterrent, and the ones that show interest- and I'm sure they will, this is kind of a cool idea- well, don't be surprised if most/all of them just don't do it. hand gestures to try and aid communicating an idea is still vastly more realistic than anything presented in 10,000 B.C., my guy. I'm not saying pick a lane; mixing realistic and fantastic elements is fine, but this initial presentation doesn't provide enough definition to what is or isn't allowed. This is a cool idea, but for myself? I'd definitely wait for a proper interest check, with more clearly defined setting/boundaries for character stuff. Edit: Again, my own experience, on both sides of a GM screen, this is a [i]really[/i] bad idea. I'm sure it's possible that this play style can work, I just haven't seen evidence to suggest it can work [i]here[/i], on this site. [/quote] First I want to thank you Ricky for your feedback. Much appreciated, this is exactly the kind of criticism and feedback that I am looking for, so thank you. Also please forgive me in advance for not having the same ability ATM to break down every statement as you have, I am new to RPGuild and I am still learning how this site works. I'm a veteran RPer but obviously not a master of coding, so I hope this will suffice for now. #1 - Of course I understand that this might not be the story for everyone. Everyone has different interests and sure, not many new-school players are interested in a more educational, history-based RP story that requires a good understanding of the time period. Honestly I find that sad to be quite frank, but not concerning seeing as there are at least 90,000 users who could potentially take an interest. That's more than I am looking for so even if only a small fraction are interested, let's do it. Of course if they even need to do "homework" on this project, then perhaps this isn't the story for them. But then again, if anyone is so interested that they are willing to do some research, then heck yeah, those are the kind of people I'm looking for. Knowledge is power. #2 - The main reason for this particular reply to be honest is moreso to do with your comment/claim that hand sign language is more realistically accurate to the time period. This simply is not true, not for the inaccurate movies like 10,000 BC, and certainly not for the whole entire Cenozoic Era in general. By this time humans, neanderthals, even denisovans would have been very similar to the way we are today. They were primitive in a technologically advanced way, but not in a physically anatomically modern human way. Neanderthals themselves have medicine, religious beliefs and rituals, man-made tools and quite an impressive culture for the time period. Artwork and rock carvings, special care for disabled members of their society, these are things that would have required verbal communication and a complex language of sorts, no different from modern human beings. #3 - As for waiting to see what happens, well, that's exactly what I'm doing. I don't have the know-how on this site specifically to do everything that is required for such an idea, which is why I'm inviting others like yourself to contribute in the long term creation of this story. Personally, I have been involved in some very awesome RP groups throughout my years, both strictly ruled and others more open to user input, and from my personal experience some of the best RPs that I have ever been a part of involved a more open table where every player has a say in the way those stories progress. Sometimes the very uncertainty of what happens next is what draws people to the table. Of course in such free environments, being a GM becomes more difficult and so I will agree that RPs can have a tendency to die with such experiments. But that never happens quickly from my experience, and some of the longest RP sessions I've ever been in started and ended in this very way, not to mention that they have been some of the funnest RP group stories I've ever been involved with. Again, if anybody wants to help contribute to this project, this is the place to do so. I am presenting a basic idea and loosely open guidelines on what to expect, but I also agree that there should be rules and a clearly defined setting/boundaries for character stuff. I'm intentionally leaving that area open for more comments at this time, so I can get more feedback and information, and recruit players who might have the skills to work on such things. Again, I really do appreciate your comments and that is why I'm leaving this thread open to help and suggestions, before we actually turn it into an official RP session. Thank you again. 😎🤠❤️ P.S. - I forgot to mention the denisovans in my first post, and perhaps we could add them in. So instead of just having 2 races to choose from, we would have 3 races: humans, neanderthals and denisovans. Just food for thought. I look forward to hearing what others have to contribute.