Bad Boys

Yes, Chyna has been watching The Tribe again. Watching & remembering why I got hooked on this little show from New Zealand.

For me? Well, sure, great premise & great plot & creative approaches & a total package that compelled your attention ep after ep. Then again...ok, I admit it--hard to beat the attraction of all those Bad Boys.

C'mon, you know the type. Brash, uncontrolled, thoroughly unpredictable, slightly mysterious & totally charming. Bray, Lex & Zoot led the pack. (You had to wait for Season-5 to get another who qualified--Slade.)

Bray came on the scene a mysterious loner stuck with Trudy, trying to do the right thing. He just couldn't quite stay on track. Alas for us female viewers, the minute he & Amber hooked up he totally lost his "bad boy" qualities & moved to the "hero" category. He slipped back just once, in Season-3 after he gave up trying to find the kidnapped Amber. (Drunk-Bay-in-shades in the casino had to be a blast for Dwayne Cameron to play!)

Zoot was Bray's brother, leading one to believe bad-boy-ness ran in the family. At least Zoot never pretended to be anything else! As leader of the Locos, he could be as bad as he wanted. The "love of a good woman" wasn't about to save him--Trudy couldn't tame him & Ebony sure as hell couldn't predict him or even try to control him. Still thinking the show's Master made a HUGE mistake killing Zoot off so fast.

Then there was Lex. Ah, Lex. He started out as a classic bad boy & just got better 'n better. Will anyone ever forget his hooked-on-booze period after Zandra died? Priceless. Oh, sure, he slipped into "hero" mode every now & then. But he did it HIS way--never quite controlled (even by Taisan), and you were never ever sure when that twinkle in his eyes meant he was about to revert to type. Lex didn't wear a leash for anyone.

It's only right so many of the memorable characters in KTDARPG are modeled at least a little bit on one of our classic Bad Boys. "Xeno," "Sid" & "Prince" come immediately to mind. Quite frankly, some new characters in the game are showing great promise. :)

So you can keep your Good Boys. Dal, Jack, Ryan, Patch, even Pride & Jay--sure, we need these types for the story to run true & be full and rich. But, still... Sorry, guys. Too tame.

Hey, I'm entitled to my opinion. And quite frankly? If they would admit it, I'm thinking a lot of the girls reading this would agree with me. Ha ha!

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

What comes next?

We've had quite a few battles in KTDARPG during the past 3 seasons. Slavers, Brotherhood, Anti-kids--which reminded me that The Tribe also had its battles. Locos, Chosen, Technos--and made me curious. As hard as it is to portray conflict, it can be even harder to decide what comes next. Do you celebrate? Do you bury the dead & move on? Do you stand firm & dare the next set of challengers into the scene? And are you any better off, really, when the battle's done?

What happened in The Tribe? Well, let's see...

After Zoot died & Ebony took over the Locos, there were still skirmishes but no real battles. The tribes were too busy looking out for their own, and then the Virus started to appear again. After the Chosen were defeated, it was definitely party time! But almost immediately after, the internal squabbles started again. Mall Rats vs. Mozzies. People kidnapped. Contentious city elections. We went from major conflict to minor ones almost without missing a beat. And after the Technos were defeated? Again almost immediately, Mega took up the reins Ram left behind & continued to subjugate the city's tribes. The action continued without missing a beat. In that city, you just couldn't catch a break.

So what about in Fort River?

Our version of the Locos was the StormRiver Tribe who were slavers. When the smoke cleared from their battle with the El Diablos & others, it was left to the living to bury the dead & decide how to move on. Then there was the Brotherhood. It took a lot to get rid of them, but did we get time to party? No. We had to deal with the release of the 2nd Virus & the sudden onslaught of the Anti-kids. The AKs were almost as hard to get rid of as the BH. After that battle, there were decimated cities & crowds of wounded to care for. Then we're right back where we were in the beginning--with smaller gangs & tribes & mobs trying to take over or just bust everything up. [sigh] And we still don't know what's happening with this new guy "Dread" & his soldiers. Or what the hell Lion-F is doing back in town taking over the razed airport.

Does it ever end?

OK, just as in the tv show, we get a small bit of room before the next wave comes through. Sometimes a day. Sometimes we're lucky to get a few weeks or even a month or more...just to find out what life can be like if you focus on LIVING IT instead of defending it.

I guess we're not so different than the tv show that inspired our game. And, truthfully, the game would probably be pretty much a bore if all we focused on was who was having babies, where our next meal was coming from, and whether or not the price of clothes is fair.

--Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

Friends

It may sound crazy but, yeah, it's possible to make friends on the internet. Good friends, friends that matter. Epecially those of us who have been players with KTDARPG for almost 2 years now.

Ok, maybe not like friends you have in your neighborhood, or at school, or at work, or just people you hang with. That doesn't make our cyber-friendships any less real or less important to us.

Those friendships are especially precious as we all watch what's happening in the world. California is burning up. The Middle East is blowing up. Other places have floods or earthquakes, other natural disasters. Our KTDARPG friends are in so many of those places.

My friends are on my mind today, especially those who are in harm's way. Stay safe. -Chyna

Photo source: Webshots

The Trouble with “Evil” – Part 2

Dread, Lion-F, Brena…. All seen in game as evil characters, but unlike typical evil in RPG these characters have a background, have a reason for their actions, they all think that they are doing the right thing.

“I do as I see right”

This could be said by any of them, as already seen in the game.
Brena founded the Brotherhood along side Xeno to defend the kid’s rights, from mind-washing education (Pink Floyd – The Wall). But after the Virus struck the Brotherhood, began trying to create a new better future for the survivors, keeping the best of the old and fix the wrong. Or as many of us may say “Keeping the Dream Alive”. The problems began, when she began losing control of the Brotherhood, and each power hungry general began doing what they wanted, the Brotherhood became Bad, rotten, but Brena hung on trying to regain control and to put the Brotherhood back on the right path, again to follow the cause that it had excepted after the virus.
She failed miserably, but because she had tried to fix the Brotherhood, unlike Xeno, who had left, the evilness that the Brotherhood had caused, was her fault.

Lion-F, a loner, a follower when he was younger, had joined Brena, and Xeno when they first founded the Brotherhood. Because he was a founder he became powerful in the Brotherhood, but kept on trying to prove that he was a leader, and know what to do, always disobeying orders from his friends, and silently hating his best friend Xeno, because he himself had a crush for Brena. Eventually he had his chance, believing that the kids would only be free and the Brotherhood successful if the Adult-problem was solved, he thought of a “final solution” one that had already been thought of by the adults, to solve the problem of the Brotherhood and other groups of the same type. Breaking into the Adults government lab with Xeno, to steal this solution away from the adults, he convinced Xeno to change the virus and let it lose. All their actions streamed from this one action, but unlike Xeno, who felt the guilt of the action, and sacerviced himself and his love, because of the guilt, Lion-F justified his actions, he believed what he had done was right, and would do it again, if necessary. Which he almost did, with the second release, but then his path again crossed Xeno’s as Xeno released some of the guilt, when he shot Lion-F.
The Lion-F that survived was not the same one as before, his ways had changed, he had learnt how to become a leader, and that his previous actions, although correct in his eyes, had been wrong. A shell of a man returned, filled with pain, and hate, justifying his actions with simple reasons of revenge.

The greatest thing about the RPG is that the background is not in cement, it can be changed, other then what is already in the game, and so the Actions, can be explained by the past, but also vies-versa. We have yet to find out what reasons Dread has, and what will become of the others, but I can promise you one thing, just like KTDARPG is not a typical Role-Playing game, neither are its Evil characters. Just like in real life, True evil does not exist.

So does the Game need more evil? I think it has enough, for now.
-Xeno

History of KTDARPG

Once upon a time a long time ago, back when Yahoo ruled the web, in a small chat room, at TribeWorld (http://www.tribeworld.com/chat/chat1.html) some one mentioned that we needed a way to chat, when we don’t happen to be all online, and so the Web-Tribes were born. The first one was created by me called, and named by some of the members at the chat room KTDAtribe or “Keep The Dream Alive” and was set up at a Yahoo group (the group was closed, and erased last year) another shortly after was created at MSN groups with the same name (http://groups.msn.com/KTDA) among others with other names.
Other sites have appeared about the KTDA idea including (http://rap.midco.net/ktda), although none of these sites have been active in over a year.
A couple of months into the group of KTDAtribe it was again suggested that a RPG should be created, and as the founder of KTDAtribe, I created on Oct 17, 2004 10:59 am, another group at Yahoo groups called KTDARPG (http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/KTDARPG).
Today we have 61 members, 8209 messages, 4 Blogs, 1 Wiki (http://ktdarpg.pbwiki.com/) and are linked to from over 100 sites. A simple web search shows that we are the most successful Tribe based RPG online!

Thank you everyone for making this possible!

The trouble with "Evil"

I've noticed, over the months of the game, that while players often try to invent truly "Evil" characters? They fail.

I don't think it's that our players don't know what Evil is. And it doesn't matter whether they believe in "evil" as a concept. I think it's a distinct reluctance to be The Player whose character is The Bad Guy.

We've had some great candidates! Yet just when they reach the point of their Greatest Evilness, the players pull back. Decide that maybe they should "convert" their characters & make them Good Guys instead. Find their redeeming qualities. Turn them into forces for good.

[Yawn.]

This game is at its best when there's Evil to confront & battle & overcome. "Good," by itself, is actually pretty boring. Everybody going around, doing the right things at the right times in the right places. Just a vanilla world...

I took a turn, once, at creating a Bad Guy. His name was Nemesis. He liked to put dog collars on little girls & torture people. He was cultured, smooth, smart--toughest character I ever created. But I didn't convert him. No redeeming qualities there. No, he went the way Bad Guys often do--lived a short life & died a surprising fast death. (Actually, he was killed by one of those excellent "evil" candidates...)

So here's a challenge to any of our players who might be in a rut: Try your hand at creating a Bad Guy for a change. There are some wicked great candidates currently in-game who would be perfect for the part. Right now, game-world is a carnival & the kids are chowing down on cotton candy & watching some guy dance around with a flute. [Yawn]

We need some excitement! -Chyna

Fort River

Can a city be a character? Can the landscape have an identity?

In the beginning, there was Fort River. (Actually it didn't even have a name in the early posts. It took a player-poll to give the city a name & the beginnings of its identity.)

Everything started out small. Just Game Master's concept of a few city blocks, close to the banks of StormRiver. But each player coming in seemed to have ideas. Soon we needed more. More streets, more buildings, more landscape to accommodate the growing number of characters & NPC's interacting throughout the game. We needed to know little things too, like which way is East? Which direction does the river flow? What's the lay of the land outside this city?

Each new player, each new question...game-world began to grow. And to get battered. Most of it was because of war. The Brotherhood left Merchant Street & a good part of that neighborhood in ruins with subterranean bombs. The AK took their own toll on it, wreaking havoc from the army base to the ag-center. Mobs trashed buildings, started fires. Then there was the hurricane...

We've been pretty harsh on the landscape altogether, even outside Fort River. Bay View, another major city, was burnt to the ground by the Anti-kids. Ghost Town (closer in & way smaller) was left a smoking ruin. And the agricultural center on the east side of Fort River was pretty much left a wasteland at the end of the final AK war.

We've done a lot of things in-game to our poor city of Fort River. (We've even had to cajole players to keep them from demolishing her altogether, just for the impact!) If we'd done all this damage to an actual character, he/she would be dead & buried by now.

But Fort River endures. (And soon we'll have a new map that will try to chart out all our growth since season-2 of the game.)

Can a city be a character? Definitely. I'm just hoping we don't kill her off altogether. -Chyna

Photo source: Webshots

Ok, because you asked...

You caught me off-guard, all the offline responses to my last entry. Lots of game-questions. Many asked about the evolution/story of Chyna's love life (and I will NOT answer all those questions, you perverts). Anyway, because you asked...

In the story, one of those small but pivotal moments for Chyna was when she walked into StormRiver camp. Everything that came next can be traced back to those moments: Thorne, who in a lot of ways created her & who became her first kill. Hawk, who became more a sister to her than her own blood kin. The slave-war survivors, who became the River Rats & family. Sid, who both challenged & strengthened her. The Misfits, whose friendships led her in unexpected ways. And Xeno, who she came to love.

From StormRiver, Chyna's path was pretty much set. It was Xeno's role that was the most unpredictable.

Ater their gazes locked at the StormRiver stockade & then their first kiss (which Chyna pretty much shrugged off), it seemed like fate took over. These 2 found themselves intersecting more & more in the game. And the more she got to know Xeno, the more she found her own fears, angers, uncertainties, needs & loneliness mirrored in him. But in Xeno, all that was coupled with a strange mad strength. Xeno carried more mental & emotional baggage than most. The Brotherhood, the Virus, his father, his sister, Brena, decisions made, actions gone awry...yet he never gave up. He kept trying to do the right thing even when all of his attempts went wrong.

For Chyna, Xeno saved her life (when she was about to commit suicide) & then he saved her soul. He showed her that hope was possible, that trying to do the right thing was enough, that she could love without losing herself...that she didn't have to be alone. (Even their arguments were fun!)

I have absolutely no clue WHY Xeno loved Chyna. You'd have to ask Xeno's creator that one. But Chyna grew to love him because of who he was--the 18-year-old conflicted, confused, desperate man with good intentions who kept finding reasons to TRY. Xeno made her a woman, and then he made her stronger. She became more than what she had been. She had lots of reasons to act, with all that was happening around her. Yet it was because of love that Chyna found the strength to confront her past & deal with it, to take charge of her own destiny as far as she could.

In-game, Chyna & Xeno had 6 weeks together. They were separated and then found each other again at the end. When death was the only option left, they fought furiously for each other. Their deaths propelled the story, keeping the enemy at bay just long enough for the city's defenses to get in place & ultimately win that war.

In death, Xeno found his redemption while Chyna finally found her peace. They died together, were buried together near the sea, and they entered game-legend.

The creative collaboration that brought those 2 characters together & wove their story was awesome. I have a feeling that's not the norm for an rpg. Then again, KTDARPG isn't exactly a normal game. :)

So there you have it. Chyna & Xeno -- lived, loved, fought, died. And in the process, they changed their world. Strong characters who still resonate through the story we have today.

RIP --Chyna

Chyna

I've written a lot of blog-entries about KTDARPG, our characters & players, but I haven't said much about the character that started it all for me...mostly because, in-game, she died. But "Chyna" was my beginning, so maybe I should say something about her.

When Chyna walked onto the scene, she broke all the rules. In-game & out of game. OK, so I was an rpg-newby--I had no clue. I read previous posts to get the story; I watched other players to see how they interacted. Then I do what I generally do in these situations--wing it.

In-game Chyna was a trader, a traveler, a fighter, a loner with a past (as all good loners should have). She was short, slender, dark-haired & blue-eyed. Mostly she took care of # 1, up until she ran into a war she didn't expect.

Out-of-game (and I truly didn't know it at the time), I trampled all over some of the rules, especially those having to do with NPCs (non-player characters). I used existing minor characters to create a backstory for Chyna. (Thanks for not yelling at me back then, Game Master!) Then everything took off.

Over the course of the months & the story, Chyna made friends as well as enemies. She started a new tribe, the River Rats, and she found a sister-spirit in the warrior Hawk. She fought in a cage. She fell in love. She was shattered the first time she made a killing strike. She fought some awesome battles, and that's how she met her end--fighting & dying beside her lover.

Chyna was only around about 6 weeks game-time. I like to think she made a difference & maybe inspired some of the great storylines that others have brought to KTDARPG.

Her spirit is still around. I still use "Chyna" as a handle, which is pretty much appropriate especially when I'm in a rebellious or bitchy mood (as my fellow players can tell you!).

So anyway, this one's for Chyna.

Feel it!

As important as your senses are in how you interpret the world? When it comes to making an rpg-character come to life, you just can't beat honest emotions.

Emotions that show.

Emotions that flow normally from a scene.

Emotions that tell the reader what a character feels inside...maybe even makes you feel it too.

Fear, relief, love, rage, disapproval, inspiration, plotting, anger, hope, confusion, etc. etc. etc.

Emotions spur the action of a scene. So how can a reader understand the action if they don't know the emotion(s) behind it?

Yeah, it's a whole lot easier when you're talking about watching a tv show where the most important thing an actor can do is convey the feelings that move his or her character.

In a written rpg? Much more challenging. And much more fun!

So remember--let your character express his/her emotions in a scene.

[NO--not talking about the drama-queen moments or those tender melodramas from the long-suffering kings! If you want a really good example of a KTDARPG character who consistently portrays emotions & lets readers see motivations... look at the character of "Arianna" of the Misfits. That lady has it all down pat.]

Enjoy the game! --Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

5 Senses

I've heard people complain that a written rpg is hard. They worry about spelling, grammar, punctuation--and I tell 'em bullshit. (pardon my french)

KTDARPG isn't about format or form. It's about ideas! New thoughts, new viewpoints, new perceptions. Nobody inside our game cares 2-cents if you have perfect grammar. But if your words take us some place new? Now that's what counts...

Our rpg has a lot of wicked creative talents. If you've been drawn to the postings of certain players? I'll tell you their secret: they engage all your senses when they craft a post. Sight, smell, taste, touch, sound--they create a scene that really comes alive when you read it.

What does a character see? On tv that's easy answered--pan the camera left or right so the viewer sees what the character sees. As a matter of fact, for our "tv generation," there's a lot of things we take for granted BUT you can't do that when it's written down. Then, you have to be specific.

What do you see? That's the one everybody gets instinctively. But how about the rest of your senses?

OK, picture a scene. New guy walks into town. Describe it. No, not just what he sees--the carnival or the kids walking or a fire burning. DESCRIBE IT.

What does he hear? The sounds of the kids moving, talking, laughing or maybe even arguing & fighting, or the pounding waves of the surf. What does he feel? The wind? Or is he focused on rain on his face, the raspy feel of his jacket against his skin, or the heaviness of something in his arms? What does he smell? Woodsmoke, someone cooking dinner, the stink of a cesspit nearby, or the scene of someone's perfume. What does he taste? The tang of seasalt in the air, or even the aftertaste of this morning's breakfast.

Action--which most players focus on to the exclusion of anything else--well, that's actually the easy part. You know a character moves, interacts with others, fights, lives, loves.

Smaller things--how the character perceives his world through all his senses--really make that world, and that character, come alive.

Try it sometime. -Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

Back to our regular blogging...

People have asked me why Chyna's Closet doesn't talk about The New Tomorrow, sequal/inheritor of The Tribe. My answer: Chyna hasn't seen it. Any of it. Here in the U.S. we're a bit handicapped that way. Hell, I didn't get to watch Tribe episodes until it had been on the air in most of Europe for at least 2 years.

Besides, KTDARPG was inspired by the original--the one we all were drawn to because of its unique look at a possible road to the future, and the possible results of our current stupidity.

The Tribal Gathering at Dragon*Con (53 days away!) includes The New Tomorrow & will present episode screenings for attendees.

I look forward to seeing it...but I don't have any illusions that I'll be drawn to it immediately as I was to its predecessor.

Recently I went back & re-watched some of The Tribe 1st season episodes. Do you remember? What you felt, the 1st time you stumbled on it? For me, it hasn't suffered any with time. The eps still hold up, are still powerful indictments of scientific overload & reaching for the stars when you've got no clue what the consequences are. And the kids who had to survive the consequences...yep. Powerful stuff.

If you don't have your ticket for Dragon*Con yet, what are you waiting for? You know you're gonna regret it if you don't.

See you there! -Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The New Tomorrow"

Pissing Contest

Not sure if it's a uniquely North American male rite of passage, or if all countries have their own version. For me, the ubiquitous "pissing contest" ranks right up there with writing your name in the snow.

I mean, come on, this tradition of one-up-manship is pure ego. It's the adolescent version of the child's "gotcha last!" (Grownups have their own version, but we won't go there. Trust me. It isn't pretty.)

And we all know it's not an exclusively male thing. Women may not have the appropriate equipment, but they have their own version. It doesn't matter if their opponent is male or female. They participate for the same reasons as men--ego, gotcha last, anything you can do I can do better...

Unfortunately, as with the activity for which it's named, innocent bystanders get caught in the...well, crossfire. Not only do bystanders have to witness the event, they usually find themselves cleaning up the mess afterwards.

At the risk of mixing my metaphors (because I can't think of a better phrase), once the smoke clears, was it really all that important after all?

What does the winner of a pissing contest actually win? In KTDARPG...or in real life? Was it worth it?

Inquiring minds... --Chyna

We don't need no stinking rules!

Ah, we're an unruly bunch! (Us KTDARPG players, I mean.)

Rules? Sure, we know they exist. Heck, on the 1st of each month, some kindly soul set up the website so we get a reminder that RULES are supposed to apply to our daily gaming. I read them, once. (Actually? I think I might have had a hand in writing 1 or 2 of them...)

Anyway. Our latest disagreement is TIME.

What's to argue about? When you have more than a handful of Players, and when those Players live in different time-zones or only have limited times they can play...let's say that some Players get a tad impatient. What you wind up with is one storyline going slow, with Players lingering over breakfast or conversation or physical attractions that may be blooming. Another thread can have faster action, with Players posting more often & moving logically through their story. Then you have a 3rd thread that's fast-n-furious; action is intense, Players are posting back-to-back or doing joint posts, and the story develops quickly through the time-scape. Each in its own little bubble...no problem.

But what happens when you need to have one story cross the next? Or a new thread is developing--where does it start? Morning? Night? The next day?

It gets confusing. And yes, we do have a rule about trying to be considerate of other storylines & trying to keep our pacing as close together as we can.

But unless there's something date-specific involved? (Rare, but it does happen...) I say, so what? As long as we can coordinate ourselves & move from one thread to another as needed, what's the big?

Ok, yeah, we need SOME rules or this gang we play with would get TOTALLY out of hand! But when "rules" get in the way of our creative binges, we tend to toss 'em until somebody yells. (And all you rule-readers who patiently point out when we divert from the straight 'n narrow, you know who you are! Ease up, ok?)

And, yeah, Chyna breaks the rules with the best of 'em. I don't know one Player in this game who's any good who HASN'T stepped on 1 or 2 in his/her day.

That's my rant for now. Play nice, children--play nice!

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud 9 "The Tribe"

If wishes were horses

Thinking about the upcoming Tribal Gathering in Atlanta, and thinking about the actors who'll be there to talk to . . . the one person I'd really, really like to have a chance to pick his brain is the Creator of "The Tribe" -- Raymond Thompson.

To have an opportunity to do that, it'd be like having a chance to talk about "Star Trek" with Gene Roddenberry.

It's the writer in me, got to be.

I would really like to know how the series was born, where it came from, what kickstarted it into existence. Questions like "Did it turn out the way you wanted it to?" & "If there had been no production or budget worries, what would we have seen on-screen?" & "If there had indeed been a Season-6, where would that have taken us?"

I guess I could ask similar questions of the handful of people who were there to create our "Keep The Dream Alive" Tribe-inspired role-playing game. I know the game has come a long way in almost 2 years--different personalities, different characters, screwy plot twists and some genius storylines.

What do you say, guys? Prince, Arianna, Xeno, Ransom, Kava, all the rest of you who might be reading this? Has KTDARPG lived up to the expectations you had when you started?

Because I gotta tell you, I'm glad you all invited me in. It's been a wild ride. I'm definitely looking forward to what comes next.
-Chyna

Drama Queens & Long-suffering Kings

In KTDARPG, we seem to have uncovered a jackpot in drama queens lately. You know the type--panicky, swooning females desperate for a strong male type to take care of them & protect them from the big bad world. (And as for our drama queens in the game...you know who you are!)

Nothing wrong with that. We take our examples from "The Tribe," after all. And who was a better drama queen than Season-1's Trudy? Or Season-5's Gel? Good bookends to the series, actually. Faint-hearted, new-mom Trudy desperate to lasso Bray & lock him in for her own security. Ditzy Gel all a-twitter about her 3 handsome knights-in-armor in Liberty--Jack & Slade & Lex--though they didn't quite see themselves that way. Ah, well...we can't all be warrior-women now, can we? What would be the fun in that?

And it's not all about the girls, either.

Guys go into their own version--the misunderstood, long-suffering male. You know the type. At any stressful or tragic or passionate moment, we get "a single tear slowly drops down his cheek." Yeah, you've seen it. We could also call that the Luke Syndrome. Remember him? Season-3's "mea culpa" boy who wanted to take on all the sins the Guardian committed and sacrifice himself for them. Sometimes, you just wanna take him by the...neck...and shake him until he snaps out of it! There's no talking to the long-suffering king. He won't hear you.

Fortunately we have fewer kings than queens in the game. They add a bit of spice (usually in the form of unintentional humor-by-cliche). But as with spice, a little bit goes a long way.

So here's a salute to the Drama Queens & Long-suffering Kings in our version of Tribe-world. Sometimes I think we could do without you, and then I realize--the game wouldn't be near as much fun. So just keep being yourselves & emulate our Tribe predecessors. That can never be bad.

And by the way, thanks for the laughter you bring us! --Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"