Tribe 8: Rulebook

I heard about Tribe 8 from a friend who happened to know the design team. He started a small group of us playing to convert us all to the glory of this game. Tribe 8 is exquisetly well done. The book is more in character than most White Wolf games. The system is creation heavy. You will spend a very long time making your character, but once you've done that everything else is incredibly simple. Where most games have one or two things going for them Tribe 8 has four: The setting is the narrowest (The setting of the corebook is about the size of a city with suburbs)I have ever seen which allows for extreme detail, the magic system is exceptionally flexible and intuitive and fun (how often do you get to say that about a rule set), both enemies and allies are detailed and complex with interweaving plotlines, the locality of the game allows for incredible expandibility due to the miniscule amount of space the game takes place in while giving you a good idea of what you'll probably find. There are several expansion books, but the core book is truly all you need to play for as long as you want. The only downside to Tribe 8 is that Dream Pod 9 has cut its production to minimum. Tribe 8 will provide you with an unique experience. It is a jewel hidden very off the beaten path of gaming. If for nothing else, try it for the magic system.

I don't quite remember where I heard about Tribe 8, but I do remember several people explaining to me this apocalyptic, sorrowful roleplaying world.A couple months ago, browsing through the books at my FLGS (friendly local games shop), I saw a copy of this, & picked it up based on all of the reviews it got.The game is absolutely amazing. The content of this book is broken up into two parts. In the first half of the book, you have a description of the setting. This is a world where humans have recently broken free from enslavement from a race of bizarre enigmatic demon creatures named the Z'Bri. The arks of this freedom were aspects of the "One Goddess", called Fantimas. In the final conflict with a Z'Bri lord, the 8th aspect of the Goddess, Joshua, died in an epic conflict, & proclaiming a prophecy that an 8th Tribe shall rise from the outcasts to lead humanity out of a dark age.You are assumed to play one of the 8th Tribe, a member cast out from one of the other 7 tribes due to some infraction you caused to the ever-distant-growing & seemingly uncaring Fantimas. Although the setting is apocalyptic, & guns do exist from the world before, the technology level of the setting is relatively typical fantasy, with swords & scrapped together armor.The setting is very fluid, & easy to play. The system feels akin to that of Shadowrun, using entirely d6s, & using a "roll the amount of dice equal to your skill level, & then add your corresponding attribute to that roll", making everything extremely fast-paced & easy to run. However, due to some high numbers, some players may want to have a calculator around them while they are playing.I would recommend this game to any roleplayer, but especially if you are into post-apocalypse settings, Shadowrun/Storyteller systems, or if you are just into dark games, where the heros really must strive against an overwhelming force of evil from all sides.