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Jackals is Osprey's Bronze Age fantasy RPG, and Paleomythic is their Stone Age RPG. The reviews I've read have been mainly positive, but the opinion of those who have actually played the games as opposed to reading an advanced copy would be more valuable.

If you have played, please post what you think of the game(s), and what parts of the game make you like or dislike it.

I have Paleomythic, but have not played yet.

I am sure what I have to saw would mirror the advance copy reviews you read.

Paleomythic was the only one of their games I was really interested in. I have not played it yet, but it's a setting that gets basically no play from anyone else.

I have both. Just received my copy of Jackals yesterday so I haven’t yet taken a look at it. I have had Paleomythic for much longer. I am very interested in the prehistorical setting but the rules did not inspire me to start lobbying my group to try playing it.

For Paleomythic:
Part of me really liked the "Rules light" and Attritional combat BUT at the same time it felt a bit weird at the same time. Players would need to "cross-off" their traits as they got hit.

The success only on a 6 and no real degrees of success was also a bit off putting to me. It is a pass/fail system.

The way tools and armor worked was cool though. I loved the idea that your tools were essentially transitory.

For Jackals:
I did not purchase Jackals after reading some reviews as I was not grabbed by what I saw of the mechanics. Plus, the world seemed like it had a huge barrier of entry for players and GMs in vocab alone.

I would love to hear more from others on the game though.

Thanks for the replies.

The settings of both interest me. Paleomythic from a King Kull "Dawn of Time" vibe with serpent people. Although apparently one can play a more realistic game without the supernatural and fantasy elements and with other early hominids. Most groups I've played with in the past would not be interested in the latter type of game though. Even a King Kull type of game would be a hard sell.

Similarly, while I like the Bronze Age setting of Jackals, and find it evocative, the vast majority of players I've known over the years do not. So again, a difficult setting to get players for. Still ...

“Goddess, sing the rage of Pelias’ son Achilles,
Destructive, how it gave the Achaeans endless pain
And sent many brave souls of heroes to Hades—
And it made them food for the dogs."

or ...
"Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods."

I'd like to RP in a setting which encourages larger than life heroes and villains, and who may become archetypes for cultures yet to come.

Now while this wikipedia article is about a Copper Age mummy, it does provide some insight into early man, and what may be the earliest known murder victim, or warrior and victim of warfare. {There's traces of four other mens' blood on the body. One blood trace suggests he may have carried a wounded comrade on his back at some point.}
Otzi: Oldest natural mummy of a Chalcolithic (Copper Age) European man

There's not much setting in Paleomythic, just a few pages to help you if you don't have your own ideas. I think a lot of the rules look intresting and should play fairly well though did read it right after coming off a shadownrun campaign so about any ruleset seams light and easy to run compared to that.

It's on my to play list but we'll see when it pops up as I've got conan 2d20 pirate campaign and fallout 2d20 that I'm working on. Might do a one shot to see how Paleomythic plays though.