Hunting Megafauna in Your Game – The Atlatl – and Weapon’s Design

A dart throwing device, the atlatl, is know to have been in use 20,000 years ago though it was likely used thousands of years before that. It’s a simple tool, consisting a shaft about the length of a forearm and a ‘cup’ at its base. The atlatl was used to throw a long thin dart that was anywhere between a foot and four feet in length or more. The dart could be thrown a considerable distance with average throw lengths of one hundred yards but up to two hundred yards is possible. The dart also carried considerable force on impact. Studies have shown the dart could penetrate the thick hide of an elephant and reach deep into the body. 

 

The atlatl is, apparently, very useful in taking down large prey.

I think the first and most obvious advantage of an atlatl is that it can be used at great distances. The average distance in tests is 100 yards (the length of a football field). That is a very long distance and gives the thrower distance and time between their prey.

It is also very accurate at great distances in the hands of an expert. If hunting large prey, one does not have to hit a specific part of the animal, just hit the prey. Several people in tandem could pinion a large animal at around a hundred yards and wound it enough that it could potentially bleed out eventually.

And as a final note on the atlatl, it has great penetrating power. Despite the darts being narrow with small heads, the power of the dart comes from its velocity. As mentioned, the dart can penetrate a foot or more into the body of an elephant (by comparison a 50-pound draw strength bow could only reach 2-3 inches into the hide of an elephant at 40 yards).  

The big stuff done went and died.

So why would anyone use an atlatl? The bow has its undeniably utility. This is also a chicken and the egg discussion, which came first the bow or megafauna extinction (hint, they coincided). It is excellent for close range small fauna hunting, warfare, portability, and rapid reload. Where the atlatl excels is long range shots and deep penetration. This would be perfect for hunting megafauna. At least, one might surmise that was its great utility. The atlatl began to disappear about 12,000 years ago (though is still in use today). Use of the bow became widespread shortly after and the Pleistocene megafauna were dying off.

So where does this leave the atlatl. In the famous words incorrectly rendered from some astronaut, “Houston, we have a problem.” Effectively, in the rules, we are limited to damage ranges; d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12. If one were to use an atlatl, what would its damage be? Another factor to examine is range. The bow has most effective ranges covered. Under what circumstance then would the atlatl have an advantage over the bow but not supplant it. 

 

I would have to say that the atlatl would have a very specific set of advantages against a specific set of targets in specific settings. Later today or in the morning I will offer up the atlatl as a weapon with tentative rules attached to it.