[UA] (Completely OT) Tribe 8 (was: The Zone)

[Luke Walker]

>> I've been meaning to ask somebody about T8 for a while, and since 
somebody
>> mentioned it, I'm doing it now. Specifically, how much does the metaplot 
>> railroad players, and how much does it give them the "I can't effect
>> anything that's going on" feeling? Some of the setting seems pretty 
cool,
>> but other parts of it sound disturbingly WWish..

>From my own take on it the feeling of "I can't effect anything that's going 
on" really depends on the GM running it more than the story.  Tribe 8's 
story is very broad.  It spans over 10 years so far.  The books present 
about 10% of the time (mostly crucial events) and includes various events 
that the PCs could particpate in.  The story does move in a certain 
direction however that does not mean that it can't be easily changed. 
 Luckily due to it's breadth there is lots of room for the GM to add in 
motivations for PCs and to gently push the plot wherever they want it to 
go.

I really like the Tribe 8 story as it provides a really good toolkit for a 
long term campaign, something which is rare in today's RPG market.  Again 
there is plenty of room to write stuff for your PCs but the story helps 
provide structure and appropriate momentum which are more difficult to 
determine.  It also provides lots of ideas for you to use to create 
stories.

I think in DG there is a discussion on campaign creation being a series of 
points that move the plot and fuzziness in between.  The Cycle books are 
similar to this in many ways and are unique in this way as a toolkit for a 
long term campaign.  So the points that move the plot are fixed but the 
Weaver can both alter these points or add in plenty of other adventures to 
move the story through each point.

> My major gripe with T8 (apart from poor proofreading) is the
> layout.  Before you run scenarios from a given book, you really need to
> know the stuff backwards; it's hard to refer to information in-game when
> it's hidden somewhere in the narrative.  That aside, they're generally a
> good read.

This is true as the source books are written in first person for the 
majority.  They help get the feel and idea of the setting across very well 
but referencing is an issue.  Please note that the adventure books aren't 
written this way and are written like any other RPG book.

> As for WWishness, well, T8 has its splatbooks, although, thankfully, 
there
> were only three for the Tribes (rather than seven).  T8 tends to be more
> atmospheric than angsty, but for players to really get a hold of the
> background, they'll have to read about a hundred pages from the front of
> the rulebook.

T8 splatbooks are more like UA supplements than WW.  For example they cover 
broad areas of the setting rather than artificial metagame divisions.  The 
only exception is the Tribe books.  However they put all 7 Tribes into 3 
books and they are not so much player books as setting resources.  Players 
don't play Tribals but Fallen, though they interact with Tribals regularly. 



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