I must be insane for doing this. Where am I? On Gaming Outpost, stomping
grounds of the famously anti-reviewer John Wick. What am I doing? Writing a
review. Is gaming swag really worth the heartache?

Swag is worth any heartache, dammit.

The swag in question is Tribe 8, a mystical post-apocalypse fantasy game
from Canadian mecha guys Dream Pod 9. It seems to have a small but fiercely
loyal fan base (at least on the internet), but I didnt know anything about
it other than that until it arrived on my doorstep. Lets crack this bad boy
open, then, and look at what you get for your $29.95.

Well, the book is 208 pages long - not a lot for a complete RPG. Stuck next
to, say, Vampire 2eR or CoC 5.6, Tribe 8 looks a little skimpy. Itll take a
glance at the table of contents to change your mind about that - those 208
pages are packed with stuff. The typeface is quite small, and there isnt
too much art, so a lot of information is packed on a page.

The first 109 pages of this book are all setting. There is next to no game
system content - indeed, most of this stuff is information which players
might conceivably know. Its divided into short vignettes, told from several
different viewpoints. The first thing that struck me about this section was
that it seems designed to be flipped through on a game-store shelf; if
thats true, its a canny decision on DP9s part. The other thing is that
the separation of setting material from rules material might help in
converting Tribe 8 over to another system. In fact, Im considering it
myself.

The setting itself takes a little explanation. A long time ago, civilization
just went to the dogs. This coincided (or caused, or was caused by) the
arrival of the ZBri, strange spiritual beings who enslaved and tormented
the helpless humans. The ZBri built huge death camps into which they herded
their human playthings. The nightmare was ended by the arrival of the
Fatimas, eight beings of immense power who led the humans to freedom from
the ZBri. Of the eight Fatimas, six survive to the present day. Aided by
the daughter of the seventh, they rule the seven tribes of humanity,
teaching them to channel the power of the River of Dream. Joshua, the eighth
Fatima - and the only male one - was slain during the final battle with the
ZBri. His followers are outcasts and renegades - the Eighth Tribe of the
title.

The seven tribes inhabit an island called Vimary. They have little idea of
what goes on beyond the shores of their world. The small scale of the
setting allows the book to describe Vimary and tribal society in a lot of
detail; Im sure later (or even existing) supplements will describe the rest
of the world - until then, I plan to make stuff up as I see fit. Vimary was
once a great city; now it is a maze of ruins and ramshackle new
construction. Technology is long forgotten, except to the strange sect known
as the Keepers, whose libraries and laboratories still hold many of the
secrets of the World Before. Humans outside the tribes are known as Squats -
barbarians whose only thoughts are for rape and plunder.

Theres a lot more to the background - this summary only scratches the
surface. This is both Tribe 8s greatest strength and one of its greatest
weaknesses. The tribes are one of the most important elements of the game:
the way they relate to the Fatimas and to each other determines how Vimarian
society works. Player characters (who are assumed to be Fallen - members of
the Eighth Tribe) begin life in one of these tribes, learning its powers.
When they leave their tribe, they join a faction among the Fallen, learning
new and different abilities. Almost all player characters, therefore, are
going to have lived their whole lives in tribal society, necessitating a
pretty good familiarity with it. Many other games with complex social
structures - Werewolf, for example - allow for the possibility of starting
player characters off with zero setting information and letting them learn
along the way. I cant think of a way to do this with Tribe 8.

This isnt a fatal weakness, but it is something to bear in mind. If you are
looking for a game which you can just pick up and play with a couple of
friends on short notice, Tribe 8 is not it. Players will definitely have to
read through the first part of the rulebook, unless you want to explain the
whole setting to them yourself. This might mean that its a good idea for
players to have their own copies of the book, as well.

On to the second half of the book, which is the GMs section (although the
GM is called the Weaver in Tribe 8). This includes not only the rules, but a
section on how to a run a Tribe 8 campaign (called a Cycle) and information
on the internal politics of the Fatimas and the ZBri.

The rules are the Silhouette System, which is (I assume) DP9s house rules
set. Theyre pretty simple - players roll a number of dice equal to their
skill, adding bonuses for relevant attributes and for doubles. They aim to
meet or exceed a target number. The greater a margin of success over the
target number, the better the outcome. Character creation is point-based;
attributes average at zero; theres an advantage/disadvantage system, and
some funky powers. Nothing out of the ordinary, really. Character creation
may seem a little daunting to begin with, but Im at the point where I can
do the rules part of a character in 20 minutes while watching TV. Thats
after creating three characters.

The funky powers deserve a little elaboration. Synthesis is a skill
available to everyone who comes from a tribal background (Keepers have their
own powers, which allow them to operate high tech in a non-industrial
society). Each tribe has two Eminences - areas in which they can use
Synthesis to change the world. Eminences are broad concepts like Devotion,
Fury, Sensuality, Wisdom, or Conviction. There are some guidelines on how to
use them , but its a system which is going to require some thought on the
part of the player, and some cooperation on the part of the Weaver. Aspects
are special abilities of particular tribes. They can be quite powerful, and
are uncommon.

Synthesis will play an important role in any Tribe 8 Cycle, since it’s
available to any player character. Weavers may want to discuss its possible
uses with players, since no one likes deciding whether an effect is possible
on the fly.

There are a lot of other rules in Tribe 8 - for things like combat,
vehicles, animals, armor, the funky powers of the ZBri, and so on.
Personally, I cant see using them very often myself, but theyre there if
you want them.

The Weavers section also contains information on the ZBri. There are four
sorts of ZBri, one for each of the Four Humours of ancient medical thought.
The ZBri are fiends all right, but theyre fiends for a neat metaphysical
reason, which I wont go into here. You can even negotiate with the ZBri,
but its hard to tell the ones you can talk to from the ones who want to rip
your head off or the ones who want you to die a thousand agonizing deaths.

The section on how to be a Weaver is interesting; unlike many games (but
like another game I really enjoyed, Puppetland,) Tribe 8 has a point. One
day, the Eighth Tribe will rise, fulfilling a prophecy which Joshua spoke as
he lay dying. When that happens, otherworldly heads are going to roll - and
the player characters are likely to be a big part of it. I understand that
this storyline has been further explored in recent and forthcoming
supplements, but I dont particularly see the need to buy them. After all,
the rise of an oppressed chosen people is a story with a thousand sources to
steal from. Its a directed storyline rather than a meta-plot. Its pretty
clear where the plot is going, and its left to the Weaver to fill in how it
happens. This means that the storyline information in the rulebook is useful
even if you dont buy supplements - a central beef for me about metaplot
games.

Where I feel I could use some more information is in the day-to-day life of
the Fallen. I get the impression that the Fallen live a precarious
existence, perpetually one step ahead of disaster. Every day is an adventure
for the Joshuans. But I must admit Im having some difficulty thinking of an
actual scenario to run my players through. Thats why I like story seeds or
full-grown scenarios in RPGs. I almost never run them as is, but they always
help me decided what kind of game Im going to run. I know a lot of people
wont miss a scenario, but I did.

Bonus: Theres an index, and its pretty complete.

Thats about it for the objectives. Here we go with the subjective stuff.
This is where the hurting commences. I like the games atmosphere - its
post-apocalyptic without being Mad Max-like. It reminded me a little of
Games Workshops Necromunda, with the same combination of medieval
Christianity and post-industrial punk style. The religious stuff in Tribe 8,
however, is a lot more than just a straight ripoff of medieval Christianity.
It certainly has strong Judeo-Christian elements: the ZBri camps recall the
enslavement of the Israelites by the Pharaoh, but the impact is strengthened
by their sickening association with the Holocaust. All in all, I think the
metaphysical element of the setting maintains the requisite amount of
strangeness and mystery, while being recognizable enough that the players
arent left entirely without a frame of reference. This is a very nicely
judged thing, and I recommend having a look at the setting material
yourself.

As to the society of the tribes, I applaud the games decision not to have a
lame set of future slang. I only wish they had skimped a bit more on the
Capital Letters. I think it might be interesting starting the game with the
characters still in tribal society, then playing the bit where they get
chucked out. It might make the tribes a little more sympathetic in the eyes
of the players. There are a number of stylish touches in the tribal society.
As you might expect in a goddess-worshipping culture, women are the dominant
sex. The majority of decision leaders are female, mixed-gender religious
orders are called sisterhoods, and so on. But, we are assured, men can
still get good jobs. The tribes judge on merit. This point could have been
made heavy-handedly, but instead its amusing and well-made.

Im not sure that the rules set really works to implement the feel of the
game. Its definitely meant to stay out of the way rather than to
integrate with the setting. The game is about redemption and prophecy and
all these Biblical-type concepts, but characters are defined in terms of CRE
and BLD and PSY and System Shock and whatnot. Its no big thing - many
people will enjoy the lack of system-setting integration. But a little voice
in my head keeps telling me that I really want to run Tribe 8 with the rules
from Green Knights Pendragon.

The Verdict

For my money, the setting’s a winner - it captures an interesting blend of
religious high drama, Mad Max-style action, intrigue, mystery, and horror.
You ought to check it out yourself before you buy it, but don’t overlook it.
It might even make a good idea mine for GMs running other science fantasy or
post-apocalypse games.