Summer '07 KTDARPG "Tribe Awards"!

Once again, the KTDARPG Council of Tribes presents their TRIBE AWARDS for stand-out scenes, character moments & accomplishments from the "Keep The Dream Alive" role-playing game. Our players have done a fantastic job in a game that keeps getting more complex, dramatic and riveting every month! And the winners are...

"Amulet" Award -- the editor & staff of "Fort River After Dark"
"Good of the Tribe" Award -- the Fort River Heroes
"Tribe Style" Award -- the Grimms
Amber Award -- Hawk
Brady Award -- Saphire
Bray & Amber Award -- Arianna & Scarecrow
Bray Award -- Sid
Dal "Little Trees" Award -- Shikra
Ebony Award -- Villa
Jack & Ellie Award -- Krystal & Jason
KC & Cloe Award -- Tresvant & Sable
Lex & Taisan Award -- Zero & Jade
Lex Award -- Prince
Locos Award -- Sid
May Award -- Eris
Mouse Award -- Krista & Reina
Mozzies Award -- Cricket & Villa
Pride Award -- Oliver
Ram Award -- Ace
Ruby & Slade Award -- Valentine & Vincent
Ryan Award -- Johnny Ohm
Slade Award -- Blasko
Teenage-Cloe Award -- Lily
Top Hat Award -- Jackie
Trudy Award -- Lady Arianna
Zoot & Ebony Award -- Villa & Marionette
Zoot Award -- Fanatic

Congratulations to all the winners!

-Chyna

Kids

It's something we forget about now 'n then, or lose track of ... that all our characters are essentially children. As young as 8 and 9, as old as 16 or 18. Kids rule our game-world, taking on the responsibilities of adults whether they're ready for it or not.

Finding food & clothes.

Finding shelter.

Making rules.

Fighting wars.

Watching their family 'n friends die.

In Old World, the rules were different. Kids had to wait until 16 to drive, 18 to vote, 21 to drink. Nobody really asked why; it's the way things were and there were always adults around to enforce their Rules.

New World, and kids ARE the adults now. There is no one else.

Law of the jungle? Strongest survive? Maybe, but we can hope not. Maybe that's why some of us keep playing the game, testing theories and trying new things. Inside the game your force of arms can get you a long way, but is that all you need to survive?

Our players are all ages, under and over 21. So I guess it is kinda easy to start transferring your own age and sense of self onto the characters you create. We try to keep that to a minimum but it's hard to truly predict what a 15-year-old would do under circumstances that would make a 30-year-old quake with fear. So who's to say?

That's just one of the things that make KTDARPG challenging. Ask our players. Better yet ... ask our characters. When it comes right down to it, it's THEIR perspective that actually counts, after all.

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

Theme Song

When you watched "The Tribe," you always expected it--music cues that told you who or what was coming next. Everyone & every place had theme music. If you were in the mall, if Bray & Amber were on screen, Ebony up to her usual tricks ... yep, music was key. Which is probably why I find music flitting through my mind as our game moves on. Ok, laugh if you want but it's not hard to do. Here's a song from the original Tribe cd that always seems to run through my head whenever Zero & Jade are in a thread. Sue me ... I like it!


"Everywhere You Go"

Is it me or my imagination?
I feel uneasy with this crazy situation
and nobody knows where it's leading to next.
All we can do is hope for the best.

These kinda things only happen in the movies.
It's all fools' gold, all your diamonds and your rubies.
There's no more books so let's write a new story
of passion and joy and looking for glory.

Everywhere that you go, I'm coming too.
Anywhere that you lead, I'll follow you.
Gotta feeling that we're gonna be alright.
I know that it will.

Anything that you want, I'll see it through.
Any place that you've seen, I'll be there too.
Gotta feeling that we're gonna be alright.

We've been full circle. We've gone round and round.
The twists and turns, all the ups and downs.
We can get what we want if we just understand.
Everything we do is in our own hands.

Gotta get ahead and find a new solution.
Work together, yeah, that's our resolution.
Gotta be one voice thats on the attack.
We gotta go forward. Never look back.

Everywhere that you go, I'm coming too.
Anywhere that you lead, I'll follow you.
Gotta feeling that we're gonna be alright.

-Chyna

Lyrics copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

The Dream Must Stay Alive

Music was always a huge part of "The Tribe" -- whether background music or party music or the original cd's that were released as part of the show's marketing. No, not a marketing ploy. At least I didn't think so. This one especially was a theme for several seasons. It's called "The Dream Must Stay Alive." When I read the lyrics now, I can't help but think of some of our characters in-game. See if it does the same for you:

Look into the future, what do you see?
I really need to know now,
is there a place for me?
Tell me where do we go from here?

Take me as you find me, for what I am.
When I make mistakes, please understand.
And as long as I know you're near,
there is nothing for me to fear.

Out of the darkness a light shines
Burning through the coldest night.
And we can find our way.
Together we'll make it.
With every step we take
Moving closer together.
If we're gonna survive
the dream must stay alive.

Baby will you hold me when I'm afraid?
See me through the danger
to the break of day?
If there's love there's a chance for me.
Just believe in yoursef, you'll see.

Out of the darkness a light shines,
Burning through the coldest night.
And we can find our way.
Together we'll make it.
With every step we take
Moving closer together.
If we're gonna survive
the dream must stay alive.

-Chyna

Photos & lyrics copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

Raw, Part 2

Fair is fair. Following what I said last time regarding Tribe Season 1, I will have to confess that season 2 had its moments.

It was the one & only time we saw something as intimate as Danni washing her hair ... just as Lex stopped by to proposition her.

Speaking of Lex, season 2 was powerful for him. Lex on booze and outa control, that was pretty dramatic stuff. Especially when he came on to Salene, got beat up by Ryan & got tossed outa the mall.

The barn fell on Alice.

Ebony was snatched by an old enemy, locked up & left to die.

And that was all before the Guardian showed up.

Yeah, good times in season 2.

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

Raw

I know I keep harping back on Tribe Season-1 but I can't help it. That season was so fresh, so new, so raw in its energy & its view of life. It was compelling.

You could feel the energy. Every nerve was on fire.

Amber & Dal skating through a ruined city desperate for their lives, chased by of all things a police car with its siren wailing. In this world, "police car" equaled the ultimate evil.

Life was intimate and no one was immune. When Trudy finally gave birth to her baby in the mall, everyone's life changed.

Death was personal. Zoot took a header over the railing in the mall but that was just the beginning. You can't just dump him in the alley. The Demon Dogz are camped out in the city cemetery. The alternative? A viking's funeral.

Food was complicated. Tough-guy Lex couldn't bring himself to kill Cloe's calf even though it would mean food for everybody. But in another scene no one seemed to have any problem slaughtering a baby pig for a feast in the mall. Need drives us, and it's amazing what we can adapt to.

Relationships were chaos. People switched partners so fast it was hard to keep up! Bray + Salene + Amber. Amber + Sasha + Bray. Salene + Bray + Ryan. Lex + Zandra + anybody who'd have him.

The little things counted a lot. Like the fact Lex couldn't read. Jack really did know science-stuff enough to get them a supply of water. If you didn't keep the mall clean, the rats would take over. The old world still had a hold on the kids, especially Salene who struggled with bulimia.

Tribe Season-1 was raw and compelling. No following season could quite match the vividness you could feel in easy season-1 episode.

KTDARPG? Ah ... we're almost there.

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

COMING SOON! New Tribe Awards!

It's been 6 months since our last round of Tribe Awards, so time to start thinking of nominees again!

There've been a lot of great scenes & threads & character moments since January. We added new players and new characters, ended one season and began another. Good times!

If you have special favorites you want to nominate for an award, let's have it -- just email me off-game with your nomination & the award you think he/she/it has earned.

To refresh your memory, here are a few of our past winning categories:

• Zoot Lives! Award for BEST FIGHT SCENE
• Tribe Style Award for BEST MAKEUP
• Locos Award for GROSSEST MOMENT
• Brady Award for the MOST INNOCENT TRIBE MEMBER
• Amber Award for RELUCTANT LEADER
• Lex & Taisan Award for HOTTEST ROMANTIC MOMENT
• Ebony Award for ME-FIRST MOMENTS
• Jack & Ellie Award for CUTEST COUPLE
• Guardian Award for BEST FANATIC
• "Good of the Tribe" Award

Lots more categories, and lots of possibilities! Send your nominations soon! We'll ship everything to the KTDARPG Council of Tribes for their decisions at the end of June ... so there's still time for new favorite scenes to be born too!

Just early warning, guys!

-Chyna

Before 'n After

In a lot of ways Season-2 of "The Tribe" remains one of my favorites for a very simple reason: that was the season we learned what the characters were like before the Virus changed everything.

It was surprising & it wasn't. Everyone was pretty much normal before their world turned upside down. For the high-school students, their biggest problems were familiar ones. Teachers. School. Boyfriends. Girlfriends. Sports. Parents. Yeah . . . normal as we might define "normal" today.

As I remember that season & then look to our game, damned if I don't wish there was more of a way we could play out what our current characters were like "before."

Oh we've done some with flashbacks. Some with "why I am the way I am" explanations in moments of crisis. Some with memories of what things used to be like. And those glimpses have just made me want more.

Greedy? Yeah well, sue me.

The characters in our game are great. Larger than life sometimes, and sometimes just. . .well, real. I can picture them in my mind. Even when they might not be active in a scene, I can almost see what they're doing when we can't see them. (Active imagination, yeah. And kinda fun.)

It would be fun to know the kind of little girl Arianna was. Or what Villa was like before she was crazy. It would be great to see the first meeting & courtship of Sid & Breya and Slash's birth. We've seen Hawk's early life played out in flashback but what about Krystal? or Valentine? It would be fun to re-live Prince's rock-star days or see what drove Marionette to his red sea.

Fun to think about. And if there's a way to get that kind of detail into our game? Well. . .you know I'm gonna be looking for it.

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"

89 days and counting down . . .

Dragon-Con's on its way back, boys 'n girls. Only 89 days until the Labor Day convention in Atlanta.

Last year we were able to have our very own KTDARPG "gathering" for the first time. Check out the photo: (from left) Hawk - Lex/Caleb Ross - Ransom - Hawk's sister "Pixie" - Xeno - May/Laura Wilson. (Chyna was there taking the photo, in case you wondered.)

Looks like there's no hope of any "Tribe" actors attending this year but still lots to choose from for fans. Whether you're into sci-fi, fantasy, anime, pirates, wookies, vampires or just about anything that comes under the "pop culture" label, you're bound to find something you'll enjoy.

The link to the guest list for this year's convention is at www.dragoncon.org

And if any of you are planning on being there, keep us posted. You never know who you might be able to hook up with!

-Chyna

Hurry back!

Just got notice we're losing our 1st player for the summer. Yeah, summer takes some people away for a little while . . . but they always seem to find their way back when autumn comes.

Anyway, Prince is counting down his last week to summer. We'll miss his wit, his timing, his off-the-wall humor. "Prince." "Tresvant." "Blasko." There've been others but those are the characters in-game that'll be going quiet for a time.

Just hurry back, babe. We'll save a place for you!

-Chyna