Fate Core and Tribe 8

I've been doing a lot of thinking about various implementations I've tried for adapting Tribe 8 to Fate. My first was using Spirit of the Century as a starting point, but I ran into roadblocks I wasn't able to work around. I backed off for a while, until I discovered Strands of Fate. I thought, "Yes, this one is what I'm looking for!" and was able to bust through a lot of those roadblocks. The result, which I've made available here, is something that I stand behind. I think it's a damn fine adaptation and brings a lot to the table in terms of capturing the tone and feel of Tribe 8 (or, at least, how I interpret it).

I love the Fate fractal, I think it's one of the most elegant, simple concepts since the first war gamer decided to name a character. Anything can be a character. Anything can have Aspects. The different ideas I've had for stress tracks, most of which I've written up here in support of Strands of Flesh and Spirit, are pretty awesome. They're not things I would use all the time, but it's great the capability is there. But there's still a bit of...heaviness...about the conversion. There's a lot of Aspects, multiple stress tracks, powers modeled after the framework provided in Strands of Power. I want it to be leaner, and that's certainly something that Strands can handle, but this has never been about being beholden to one implementation of Fate or another. It's about trying to capture the ephemeral feeling I have about how Tribe 8 should be. I'm like a bear standing on a rock in the middle of the rapids, looking for exactly the right salmon to pluck out.

Fate Core has brought together such an energetic, creative group of people with great ideas. Hunter Gatherer Games has a great post on tribes for their Apocalithic setting. Michael Moceri has come up with some absolutely genius ideas for his Exalted hack. I want my Tribe 8 conversion to be leaner, lighter and capable of supporting the vision I have for my Tribe 8 games. Fate Core, from the settings I've read as part of the Kickstarter, gives me ideas to see that vision through. It doesn't mean I'm done with Strands of Fate - the end result will have elements of both. Plus, I still really want to create a Mekton-worthy Fate hack and I think Strands of Fate is the perfect fit for the job. I'm also very much looking forward to Nova Praxis. But I want to take a step back, toward the type of game I conceptualized when I first read Spirit of the Century. In some ways, that means my Tribe 8 adaptation is coming home again.

I'm not going to remove or change any of the things I've already done. The Strands of Fate version of Dreams of Flesh and Spirit is pretty complete, and anyone who has really liked it and found utility in it can continue to do so. It's just personally, I'm going to move on toward catching that perfect salmon.  

Some thoughts on Banishment

A post on the Dream Pod 9 forum about how Fallen are identified as Fallen got me thinking - as part of my mild "style upgrade" to Tribe 8, Banishment should be a little flashier. We already have the personal aspects - visions, the Banishment ceremony, the Fatima withdrawing Her love from the Fallen. It's definitely not over the top, but it makes me wonder how much is too "Las Vegas" for the Banishment ceremony.

I have this image in my head of the Fatima appearing before the Tribe during the Banishment ceremony and plunging her hand into the Fallen's chest. Light begins to pour out of the accused's body, beaming out from his tattoos in all directions, eyes, and mouth in all directions, getting brighter until the tattoos begin to smolder and burn away. Finally, the brand of the Fallen sears itself into the Fallen's face from the inside out. The Fatima withdraws her hand clutching something a shadowy, dully glowing object and the Fallen collapses to the ground smoking and in agony.

The burning away of the Tribal tattoos is meant to symbolize disconnection from the Tribe. Depending on the individual, it may not be complete. For example, strictly Fatimal markings may burn away but more personal tattoos may stay. The tattoos could also still glow and smolder, but not actually burn away. In all cases, I'd assume that some kind of Fallen marking will be evident afterwards. For a Yagan, existing Tribal markings may crawl and flow into Fallen markings. The point is to make it a little flashy and visually dramatic.

Also, my description of what the Fatima pulls out is intentionally not bright and sparkly. It's not the character's soul (although the Tribals believe that it is), but more of a very small portion of the Fatima's own essence. That small spark allowed the Fatima to not only "jump start" the character's connection to the River of Dream, but also control and direct it to some extent. In my reboot, I'm assuming that all Tribals are Awakened by their Fatimas, barring unusual circumstances. Unfortunately for the Fatima, breaking the circuit by removing that small spark of essence only unfetters the newly Fallen. Those that already know Conjunctional Synthesis already have all of the skills and instincts necessary to reconnect to the River on their own. For those that do not wield Conjunctional Synthesis, they discover it was their Fatima that was holding them back. Unfortunately, the psychological and emotional damage resulting from Banishment is enough that the majority never repair the bridge to the River beyond a slightly elevated residual connection that isn't much better than those who have never been Awakened. For those that Awakened early (before the Awakening ceremony) or for some reason there was a delay (for example, they were born far away from the Fatimas), the removal of the Fatima's essence might do very little to break their connection to the River of Dream - if anything at all.

Overall, the idea is to put a little more pizzazz into the Banishment ceremony, via the Fatima putting on a show of ripping out the soon-to-be-Fallen's Tribal essence. Ceremonies are a big part of Tribal life and given the importance that the Awakening ceremony must have, the Banishment ceremony should be just as big (if not bigger). I think that applied correctly, it can make the world of the Tribals seem more fantastic and otherworldly.

Kicking Tribe 8 up a notch

So I'm coming around to my occasional and random musings on Tribe 8 in general, and I was thinking about some slight changes to the canon setting (specifically, pre-Capal Vimary) that might make things a little more interesting. Some of these things are inspired by my delving into other fantasy settings such as Game of Thrones and the Dragon Age series of crpgs.

The first thought I had was simultaneously increasing the amount of threat that the Z'bri pose and the capability of the Joanites to defend Vimary. Basically, the idea is to make an active "Cold War" between the Tribes and the Z'bri - which would fundamentally change the Pact of the Dome. It would also settle a slight incongruity in the setting regarding why the Tribes would completely back off from finishing the Z'bri off after the Liberation. So instead of a sudden and complete truce, the new history would have the Z'bri being actively pushed back into what is now the Hl'kar. Cornered by the combined might of the Tribes, the desperate Z'bri send out secret emissaries to the Fatimas and agree to a forced stalemate between them. This results in the the now familiar arrangements for the Z'bri to sacrifice the Baron if the Fatimas sacrifice Joshua (this part of the canon background still holds - with Joshua around, there's no way that a stalemate could have worked). To hold the Z'bri to their side of the bargain, the Fatimas commanded the Joanites to build the Seven Fingers at the edge of Hl'kar. These Seven Fingers are quite a bit different than the canon - they are bigger, better defended, better constructed, and actually imbued with Synthesis that both bolsters the power of the defenders and actively prevents Z'bri from crossing them. They're like a smaller version of The Wall from A Song of Ice and Fire.

The Pact of the Dome would exist to make sure that each group stays within their sandbox, with the consequences of breaking it a renewed all out war. The Joanites seldom if ever venture beyond the Seven Fingers, and the Z'bri can't cross into Tribal lands without assistance (more on this in a bit). I'd actually push Hl'kar fully back over the river past Laval and off the island. Abonom always struck me as being far too close to Tribal land, as did the Z'bri settlements shown north of Evan land on the south shore of the river. This creates a situation where it's believable that the Z'bri have somewhat fallen into the realm of bogeymen and the Tribes have no real inkling as to what threat they pose. I would then populate the island north of the Seven Fingers with Squat bands, which provide the Z'bri with a source of flesh. Those Squat bands are actually what pose a threat to the Tribes, as Z'bri raiding forces them to throw themselves at the Joanite defenders in desperation to escape. It also creates believable scenarios for Joanite scouts to move among the Squat tribes to determine if the Z'bri are holding up the Pact.

This new reality would need a few more tweaks to make it workable. I never really liked the idea of Jo'han Z'bri so close to the Tribes - particularly those in the Skyrealms. While I get that the upper reaches of Montreal's skyscrapers might be near inaccessible to the Tribes, that alone being a reason for the Tribes tolerating Z'bri living there doesn't jive with me. With better defenses (and the implied ability of the Tribes to ward areas against the Z'bri) that means the Jo'han would be absent from most places in Tribal lands. In their place, I'd actually place any Z'bri that a Tribal can come in contact with in Tribal lands underground. The Emporiums and the underground are where Tribal and Z'bri emissaries meet when needed; they're also where Z'bri that have escaped Hl'kar live. Known entrances in Tribal lands could be warded similar to the Seven Fingers but there's a lot of unknown entrances. Any large Z'bri assault on Tribal lands would come from underground as a result (at least until the Seven Fingers are torn down), and also provides the means for Squats from north of the Seven Fingers to get into Vimary undetected.

That's it for now...I'll have more when I get some more ideas on how I'd like to change the dynamics of the setting for the better.

Wiki is now (mostly) active

I've established a wiki for the rules on Wikia. That is going to be the primary repository for the rules...as such the blog is going to get a "reboot" of sorts. I'm mostly going to be posting thoughts, concepts, short fiction, converted material, scenarios, resources, etc. here on the blog.