Alternate settings

[Blake Hutchins]

OK, I have a group interested in Tribe 8.  (This is a different group than the X-Games crowd, for what it's worth.)  I'm intrigued by some aspects of the Silhouette rules put out by Dream Pod 9, but I'm more interested in using the Hero Wars rules set to explore the tribal environment and mythical flavor of Tribe 8.

It's a given that Hero Wars has the potential to work with any setting.  Right now I'm blocking for some reason on how best to integrate Tribe 8 Synthesis with Hero Wars magic keywords.  Thoughts?

Best,

Blake

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Blake,

Sorry to take so long to get back to this. I assume that Tribe and Outlook would be equivalent to theistic-magic keywords, containing affinities (Eminences). So my character keywords might be Tribe, Outlook, and then something like "Cell," perhaps, in which one's current role (trader, explorer, scout, freedom fighter) is defined.

The relationship rules in Hero Wars strike me as absolutely perfect for the Tribe 8 setting, giving character mechanics a lot more meat than the existing ones, which I find overly-layered and laborious. One can have family ties (back across the lines of exile), Outlook ties, and especially Cell ties.

I confess that Synthesis in Tribe 8 has always puzzled me a little. Maybe it's because, if I ran Tribe 8, the characters would have their hands full with the non-Synthesis stuff already. I'd like to get those mechanics understood first and then move on to the Synthesis later.

That said, I suggest that Synthesis be treated much like integrating spirits in the Hero Wars animist magic rules. I can see the Dreaming stuff would be much like the Spirit World using Other Side rules, and that some, emerging from that Other Side, now wield enhanced abilities. Some of them would merely augment pre-existing ones, and others would be novel. That seems to dovetail well with the Tribe 8 concepts, if I understand them correctly.

Best,
Ron

[Blake Hutchins]

Thanks for the response, Ron.

Synthesis seems a lot like a narrowly focused version of Mage's coincidental magic, using the Eminences in place of Spheres.  There's a lot of flexibility there, though practically speaking, it appears from the rules that Synthesis is extremely difficult to pull off unless you're trying something with a healthy attribute bonus.  The animist rules from Hero Wars could work, maybe adding a limited range of flexibility within a particular Eminence, with Aspects being the more static but more powerful bindings.  Certainly the dream world/Other side flavor is there in spades.

I agree that Hero Wars fits extremely well regarding relationships and the other volatile social conflicts inherent to the Tribe 8 setting.  That's one very strong reason I want to try using Hero Wars instead of the Silhouette system.

Best,

Blake