Personal Vision

In some ways it's true, art mirrors life. Or in our case, The Tribe mirrors KTDARPG.

Take the concept of Personal Vision. Each of us, as fans or players, has a personal vision--our view of the television show that inspired the game, and of the game itself. We come from different places, so of course our perspectives are going to differ. Differences are good. They make life interesting, exciting, fun!

Well...mostly they do. It depends on how we express our unique personal vision that sometimes causes a bit of conflict. Art mirrors life. Check it out.

Amber had a personal vision of a future worth fighting for. She believed very strongly in democracy, in not telling people how to live their lives, and in every kid having a right to a good life. (In some ways Danni was like her, except maybe Danni took it a bit too far at times insisting on a Bill of Rights and documents and "signing on the dotted line.")

If Amber was the traditional politician, Zoot was the total opposite. The Emperor. The Dictator. With him it was definitely MY WAY. No "highway" option. He saw the New World coming and had his own ideas about how kids would take control & survive. His was a vision of strength that would force the future to be what he wanted. His methods were...well, painful.

Then there was the Guardian. His personal vision was Zoot-ist but he went even farther: he worshipped Zoot as a god. He taught and demanded that others bow down. Generally, those who didn't bow down were either thrown off a building or burned at the stake. Talk about throw-backs to the dark ages.

A more all-encompassing personal vision was what Ram conceived. A world changed and forever controlled by technology. And he was capable of being more pervasive because hey! He had planes! He had trucks! He had dune buggies! He had a pretty large army with his Technos. He also restored electricity and television and then controlled them both! Now there was some power.

When it came right down to it, the show was about smaller personal visions too. Take Java. She had some relatively small but powerful visions for her future: Punish Ebony. Love Ram. The girl didn't need much more than that to be happy.

Just like the tv show and its characters, our rpg & its players also have their personal visions about the game.

First we start with the owners & moderators. Their visions were merged and formed into the game-rules that direct our play and, ultimately, our game-world. Oh, those rules are fluid. Definitely. Over the course of the last 3 years, rules have come and gone and changed. Just like our concepts and our views of our game-world have changed and evolved.

Players also have their personal visions. Each and every one of them do. That's how they play. That's how they craft and give life to their characters. And that's how some players have almost come to blows!

When one player thinks their way of player is the right way to play--and tries to coerce others into believing the same and acting the same...not exactly cool.

When the competition gets fierce, the off-game chatter can heat up exponentially. It's hurt some feelings a few times, too. Lots of damage control.

The key, of course, is to lighten up! To take people--and the game--as you find them and not insist people do things your way. Not insist that YOU know what's right and they should definitely listen to YOUR interpretations.

Because that's when Owner-Chyna has to step in and mediate. And that kinda sucks! Zoot & Java & Ram and all the others were fine when they were in the tv show. But in KTDARPG? No way!

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

That's Entertainment?

You gotta figure, in a world where all the teenagers are basically pushed back to the Stone Age, they're still gonna come up with SOMETHING to do for fun. But in a world with no movies, no tv, no pizza joints, no amped-up rock concerts, no pro or college sports, no cars to go cruising in ... what's a respectable teen to do for entertainment?

"The Tribe" was filled with quite a bit on that score. A lot of it came in Season-1.

The Dance Party was fun. Leave it to Jack to work magic with batteries, a cd player and some big speakers. Music, mood lighting, refreshments, dancing...yep, that was a good night.

With the right weather, there was always the standard Day at the Beach. Sun, surf, friends. Also good.

It was KC who came up with the idea for the Mallrats first literal Rat Race. Find a rat. Train a rat. Figure out a way to rig the race. Invite your friends. Make lots of bets. Yeah, that was our KC in spades!

Then there was the always-popular shopping. The tribe-meeting on the beach. The Mallrats own little shopping center inside the mall. Even in a world where you're pretty much down to bare necessities, you still have to shop for those necessities. And from "The Tribe" you could tell--shopping was way more fun than scrounging.

All of that pretty much describes how we've brought elements of entertainment into our rpg. Every Thursday is "market day" at Tango Lake, so you've got all the shopping you could wish for. Home has the cd-player going for customers who want a drink or a game of pool or darts. You want more? Head to the Mirage for live music along with the best casino gambling Fort River has to offer. There's swimming at Tango Lake or, if you're brave enough, in StormRiver. And you never know when you might find a pick-up game of soccer or baseball.

In other words, kids are kids no matter the situation. All work and no play? Not gonna happen. It's actually fun seeing how much fun we can find in a world that's upside down.

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

Betrayal

Isn't it interesting, how our definitions of things tend to change? Take "betrayal" for instance. The word signifies something very powerful--being betrayed, played for a fool, used. Not exactly pleasant. Even more interesting, depending on how we define it, is that the Betrayer can be seen either as a hero or a villain. Need some examples? No problem.

Trudy betrayed her tribe to the Guardian & The Chosen. Ergo, she was very much a villainous person. Because of her, the Mallrats were left vulnerable and finally subjugated by The Chosen. Yet to The Chosen what she did was magnificent. She was, indeed, Supreme Mother. Well, for a little while anyway.

May, Taisan and Ellie were also betrayers, but they were considered very much heroines. May played double-agent, finally siding wholey with the Mallrats against The Chosen. Taisan was a self-styled mole within The Chosen. She was their second Supreme Mother, and she used her role to sow confusion for the the Guardian and ultimately work to bring them down from the inside. Ellie used her "womanly ways" to snare Luke who was the Guardian's strongest lieutenant. Not only did she snare him, she turned HIM into a betrayer, too.

Ned was also a betrayer. He betrayed the hospitality of the Mallrats and even his love for Alice when he kidnapped Amber & Trudy and ultimately made off with the Guardian hoping to trade him for riches and power. He got what most betrayers usually get--he died at the Guardian's hand.

KTDARPG has seen extremely few betrayers, either as heroes or villains. I think it's because, among us players, it isn't so much in our nature to play "the betrayer" even when it's just play. But you never know. The game's come a long way, but there's still lots more to go!

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

The Good of the Tribe

"For the Good of the Tribe."

"For the Good of the Empire."

"For the Good of the Land."

To dedicated people, those phrases have meaning & purpose. Some focus their efforts, even their lives, to the belief that a higher good truly exists & has value. Such belief helps an individual endure even the most abhorrent circumstances, to win through harder...better...stronger.

Amber said: "I believe the future is worth fighting for."

It's a worthy premise, something that our rp-players might agree with if their writing is any indication of their character.

Here's to the believers.

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

Halloween is coming...

As it gets closer to Halloween, some of my "Tribe" friends are finding interesting sidelines. The latest one involves names. There's a website -- www.deadname.com -- where you insert your real-world name and it gives you your "goth" name.

Ok, ok, I know. But bored people do strange things sometimes.

Yep. I tried it. And my official goth name turned up as "Bloody Angel." (and I'll confess here that the 2nd choice goth-name for me was "Disturbed Angel." Interesting...)

See what you get.

-Chyna

Photo source: http://absolutestockphoto.com