Survival, at its most basic, is finding a balance between resources & need. This season in the game is aptly named "Survival" as Fort River begins to experience shortages of many resources we've taken for granted.
To my KTDARPG comrades, as we struggle this season without an identifiable Big Bad but with the nature of survival itself ...
Experience is a great teacher. KTDARPG being my 1st role-playing game, I was thinking about what I've learned in 1 year with this crew. Quite a lot, as it turns out...--Chyna
Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"
I couldn't resist--Cincinnati spring is finally here! Tulips, magnolia trees, hyacinths, red-bud trees, weeping cherries, bradford pears, daffodils, creeping phlox...reds purples yellows oranges blues greens and the rest of the rainbow.
It occurred to me that there were some pivotal "Tribe" characters that we've yet to have anyone emulate in KTDARPG. I'll refer to them as The Missing: Dal, Jack, Danni, and Alice.
(her father helped create it), she was the voice of democracy & the author of Tribeworld's bill of rights. And then there was Alice, who Dal referred to as pig-woman. It was her family farm that helped provide food for the city. It was her fierce loyalty, her willingness to fight & her feelings for Lex that showed another side of humanity in this child-inhabited world.
character-types are not important.
again, bringing electricity back to Fort River. "Hawk" was the one who had the knowledge to make a Virus antidote until the cure was found and released. And actually it's the character of "Worm" who comes closest to Dal, if you consider that Dal adored the older Trudy even as Worm adores and helps "Jade."
"The Tribe" is coming back to the states to Dragon*Con this year, Sept. 1-4 in Atlanta, Georgia. For us American fans, this is pretty much the only time we get to visit with some of our favorite players, during North America's greatest scifi/fantasy convention. Here's the promo from the convention website:
Where the virus came from, no-one knew... from deepest space, bacterial warfare or some nation's scientific experiments gone horrifically wrong? All the Adults are gone... All the teachers are gone... All peace and regular meals are gone... Just tribal instincts and war paint survive....
Starting in 1999, "The Tribe" has developed a worldwide following, with fans young & old. The cast have made albums, toured internationally, and found their way into the hearts of fans everywhere. The Tribal Gathering returns to Dragon*Con for its 4th year, with a chance for fans to meet: Matt Robinson (Slade), Laura Wilson (May) & Tom Hern (Ram).
This year's event is sponsored by Tribe Red Dragon who are working hard to make this year's event even better than before. For more info, check out www.tribereddragon.com/gathering
In a very real way, "Tribe" mirrored teen life--there are ALWAYS girls around that truly need to be smacked. Smart mouth, outrageous attitude, smug, better-than-you girls who could use a little humility to make them live-with-able.
Zandra was Lex's first girlfriend who didn't make it past S-1, basically harmless but the quintessential beauty-queen-wannabe, all makeup & clothes & artificial. Ebony remains the perfect bitch-queen, always wanting what she can't have & wanting power more than anything else, no matter who she steps on to get it. And Cloe (sweet & smart as a pre-teen) when she hit puberty hit it a bit too hard--whiny, clingy, demanding, short-tempered. In other words, typical teenager.
KTDARPG again mirrors our inspiration. Cheeks we're just itching to slap include "Brena"--she who changes men & goals & targets as frequently as she changes her wardrobe--and until recently "Breya," who doesn't seem to get it when her man is dumping her, who wanders around with a bad case of the poor-pitiful-mes until reality hits home (thank god it finally did!). I also include "Banshee" here, a little sneak-thief who acts like she's indestructible & will never get caught, who lives in her own reality that doesn't resemble anybody else's. Then there's "Adear," always caught between a rock & a hard place, a slave of the mind or a slave in reality. Adear's coming along nicely, though--she had a huge breakthrough when she struck back at the skater-guys who abused her in the past...so I have great hopes for her living long enough to grow up! --Chyna
"Tribe" being very much a visual medium made it easy to determine who the HUNKS were from season to season. But for this girl, I always found it hard to beat the ones we met in S-1, Bray & Lex.
In KTDARPG? Well, since our role-play is text based, and since most of our players are a bit reluctant to put too many details out there (thinking a person's imagination is best), it's left to the individual to decide who's a hunk & who isn't. Going out on a limb here, I'll give you Chyna's picks. Some will disagree--each to his own imagination!
Then there's 2 I'm not real sure about. My vision of them changes from one scenario to the next. "Sid" could be a hunk but he keeps changing on me. First he's the Ghost of the City & then leader of the Travellers & then leader of the Reapers (and his clothes as well as his personality change with each incarnation). There's also that infamous capitalist "Tom-F" who started out as the fat man everybody loved to hate. But then along came "Jade," and suddenly Tom-F was losing weight and changing his ways. Hard to get a handle on either one of these, so who knows?
Another identifiable character type is the surrogate mother, and "Tribe" had 3 very good ones: Trudy, Salene & Alice.
KTDARPG has its mothers too. The best of the bunch is "Lady Arianna," whose well-known in Fort River for taking in strays, especially the smallest ones. She has a generous heart & finds it hard to turn down a small, needy face. I include "Krystal" in the ranks of mothers; her talent is healing, and she doesn't hold back when someone is hurt or in pain. Whatever she can do for you, she'll do it. I also include "Jade" here, though she might not consider herself the mother-type. Jade has the kind of heart that leaves her open to people in need, like refugees. She loves easily, and caring for someone means taking care of them.
Sure, our game has other "caring" types. But for these 3, it's part of their nature from thread to thread. The rest of the care-giver characters fall more into "protector" mode, a different category altogether.
I'm in a bitchy mood.
fights or bailing. Another friend reminds me that I am indeed the sister of chaos and "Chaos rules!" Problem is, that chaos is supposed to be done unto others--not internal.
Should probably follow my standard m.o., stay outa sight until this thing passes. Post quietly when no one's around, let my characters reflect all this moodiness. At least inside the game it all comes off as "pretend" and, yeah, creative crazies. That could work.I've been re-watching some of my favorite "Tribe" eps, and it struck me that characters in the tv show (as well as characters in KTDARPG) tend toward definite types. Not sure if this was planned. As we say, the story often writes itself & takes a life of its own. So I think I'll draw some parallels & see if it holds together.
First up: LEADERS. From "Tribe," here are a few of everybody's favorite leaders ... Zoot, Amber, and Bray.
Zoot ran the Locos. Amber ran the Mallrats & then the Ecotribe. Bray ran the Mallrats. So what do they have in common? Well, they were definitely kids. And each had passion. Zoot's passions are well known--POWER & CHAOS! Amber's passion was for justice, fair play, doing what's right. Bray's passion was...well, hmm. I guess his passion was for Amber. The most noble things he did were because of his feelings for her. These 3 leaders also were very charismatic. People were drawn to Zoot because he exemplified how crazy life was & the extremes people'd go to to survive. People were drawn to Amber because she just made sense. The reluctant leader, she brought order into an extremely 
disorderly world. People were drawn to Bray because...well, hmm. I guess because he was tall, dark 'n handsome? Or seemed so damn needy that you just wanted to help him make things ok? Not sure on that one.
Anyway, parallels in KTDARPG...a bit hard to draw because we're careful not to have our characters directly mirror the tv characters. Let's see, we had "Chyna" who might be an Amber-parallel, a reluctant leader who tended to make sense out of chaos. We had "Xeno" who could've kinda been a Bray-parallel, the dark loner who did things and took charge because of Chyna. "Sid" was kind of a Bray-parallel too. Then we have "Lion-F", very Zoot-like. And there's "Brena" who's sort of the
Ebony to "Lion-F" as Zoot. And while she'll argue like crazy that she's not a leader, we also have "Arianna" of the Misfits who has some definite Amber qualities.
Other leaders in the game? They're strictly unique -- "Hawk," "Jamie," "Jean," "Tom-F" and others -- leaders/quasi-leaders who developed as the game went forward. If the tv-leaders tended to grow as a part of the life of the series, then we can certainly say that our KTDARPG leaders have grown--and continue to develop--because of the unique story we're telling. --Chyna
Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"
Something I never really considered before I got involved in a role-playing game: building a character is hard, focused work.
Not so in a role-playing game. You may be the creator, but you're not solo & you're not in charge.
And even You affect you. You don't create a character full-blown in a day. As the game progresses, you'll find out more & more about your chacter as s/he gets involved in the story & has to react to unforeseen circumstances. You change each day too. You create a character on Day-One, and you're not exactly the same person when you go back to working on that character again in Day-Five or Day-Ten. (not sure that actually made sense, so you'll have to take my word for it.)
