TSOY Tribe - players play tribes

[davidboze]

I posted this on rpgnet and someone suggested there might be interest here.  I might run it as a pbem there if anyone is up for it.

TribePools

Might      (Endure)
Anything where physical power is required;  covers most military applications.  Is refreshed when the tribe engages in athletic tournaments or funeral games with another tribe.

Diplomacy   (React)
Covers negotiation, commerce, exploration and spying.  Is refreshed when the tribe has a holiday or religious festival.

Wisdom   (Resist)
Covers cultural advances and learning.  In games where it is relevant, Wisdom also governs magic and prayer.  Is refreshed when the tribe produces a great work of art e.g. statue or totem, or a work of tragic theatre.

Possible skill levels:

0   Primitive   (default)
1   Competent
2   Expert
3   Advanced
4   Legendary



Skills:

[Hans]

This is a really interesting idea; TSOY as boardless campaign war game!   I can also see how integrating this into a normal game would be a lot of fun.  For example, in my current Pirate game, I could have the Spanish Empire as a TSOY character, representing the entire culture whenever the player characters are interacting with its official arms (customs inspectors, island governors, etc.), instead of each character individually, or in addition to each character individually.  For example, the player characters must negotiate with Don Reynaldo, Governor of Cartagena.  But in the actual conflict, there are really two NPC's, Don Reynaldo and the Spanish Empire (representing Reynaldo's ability to call on troops, money, officious bureaucrats, etc.).

I routinely use a single character (usually with one good size pool such as Vigor) to represent a number of people ("Crew of the Rosy Cross", "Troop of Escaped Slaves"), this is taking that idea to a whole new level.