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You know those cavemen who invented fire, the wheel, and civilization?
You are not that kind of caveman.
Thus begins the blurb at the back of Og: Unearthed Edition, and it sets the tone for the whole book, and the game: comedy.
In this game, you are a caveman, and not a particularly bright one at that. The great achievements of early society, all of its progress has been done in spite of your great many shortcomings.
But before we go into big details about how the game is played,let me tell you how it is presented.
Shiny.
This is a small 48-pages book with blanck & white cartoon art depicting cavemen in various hairy situations. The subtitle Unearthed Edition refers to the fact that there was another game called Og before (which I have neither read nor played, so I couldn't possibly compare them); it also refers to the idea this edition of Og is the oldest role-playing game ever created. At various points in the book the author (or translator I guess) insists that game was explained in paintings in the de Moisi Caves and is therefore 30,000 years old. There are many gags throughout the book, it is an easy and a fun read. There's even a joke about RPGnet on page 20.
The Gimmick
What makes this game different from other games is not its mechanics (as simple as they can get) or the setting (it's left very opened - cavemen, dinosaurs, aliens armed with sleep rays).
What's special is the Words. The players' tribe collectively know only 18 words when play begin. Individual cavemen only know a few of those (between 3 and 8 or 10). These are the only words players can use to interact amongst each other (along with grunts and pantomime), which very early leads to a very pleasant confusion. These are mostly simple words, such as Food, Go, Fire and Verisimilitude. (In one game I played, one of the players only had You, Stick and Small. That was useful for insulting another caveman's virility, but little else.)
You may learn more words between sessions (in lieu of experience points) or through contact with cavemen from other tribes. They may even gain knowledge of words other than those on the original list.
Note: For clarity, players may address the GM normally, in full use of their regular vocabulary. They must limit themselves to their words only when speaking with each other or interacting with the game world. It is assumed that everyone can understand every word even though they can't speak them. Another thing: though every caveman (and cavewoman) has a name, they are incapable of speaking them. That makes the word You that much more valuable.
Characters
There are seven character classes. They are very iconic.
The Eloquent caveman simply knows more words than anyone else. At least TWO more!
The Strong caveman deals more damage. 100% more damage than anyone else. Everyone deals one point of damage when they hit, he deals TWO! If they have the Lift skill, they succeed when they roll anything but a 1.
The Banging caveman is good at hitting things. In combat, cavemen try to roll 5 or over on a d6 to hit. This one tries to roll over 4!
The Learned caveman has more skills than everyone else. They have six, the others only three. He is also better at Drawing and Fishing if he picks these skills.
The Fast Caveman subtracts 1 to attack rolls from adversaries, and succeeds at Running Away on a 2 or more.
The Tough Caveman has more Unggghh points (hit points with a robust flavor!) than anyone else, at least THREE more!. His Resistance checks succeed on anything but a one, as long as he bothers picking up the skill.
The Grunting Caveman has (maybe) some connection with some Higher Being. Maybe a Benevolent, Celestial Caveman who looks after him. When the Caveman is in trouble, he may grunt and roll two dice. If he rolls doubles, a miracle occurs.
Here I tell you of the only flaw in this book: all the different character advantages are spread about the book. It would be better should they all be in the same chapter.
Abilities
There is an Abilities list, but players don't choose their Abilities ahead of time. During play, if you need an ability, and either can't or don't want to use it untrained, you can circle it on your sheet. To use an untrained Ability, you try to roll 5 or more on a D6. When you are trained, you roll 3 or more.
Every one gets Run Away for free (why, I wonder?) and may have a total of three more through play. Learned cavemen get six.
When you roll a 1 on an Ability test, your character temporarily forgets how to use the ability, which results in dramatic (though highly comedic) failure.
Combat Rules
To hit something, you roll a D6, try to beat your Attack number (that's a 5, unless you are the banging Caveman, in which case that's a 4) and then you deal 1 point of damage (or 2 if you are the strong caveman). Then the enemy hits you too. Lather. Rince. Repeat. The winner eats the loser. Cycle of life.
They are some optional tactics, like the Purple Nerple and the Skull Thickness Demonstration. I don't really think I need to go into them, really. The rules are simplicity itself. I used this game to introduce role-playing to those who had never tried it before.
Conclusion
I highly recommend this book (or at the very least, the .pdf) as it is very inexpensive and worth every cent. It makes for a great introduction to role-playing as well as a nice distraction from a more serious campaign. This is a pick-up game that can be ready to play in minutes.
