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I was pretty excited about getting to read through Tribes of Mother Night, by Better Mousetrap Games. The setting sounded interesting, and it used the F20 System, a variation of the d20 System that I wasn?t familiar with. That said, I?ll tell you a little bit about Tribes of Mother Night. It?s a fantasy setting, complete with magic and monsters, and revolves around the interactions between two peoples, the Haeloti and the Ehkaet. The Haeloti are a numerous people, and are named after Haelot, the sun god; they more-or-less run things, in one fashion or another. The Ehkaet, by contrast, are a nomadic people who have the unique ability to assume animal form. The two groups aren?t overly fond of each other (and, beyond that, Haeloti of different countries tend not to be overly fond of each other), and that?s where the conflict comes in.
As I?ve said, it?s an interesting-sounding setting; however, the book, itself, doesn?t really do justice to what it could have been. For one thing, the text (at least, so far as the setting, itself, is concerned) is peppered with clich?s, spelling errors, and muddy language. In addition, the text often jumps from subject to subject without any kind of transition, and the author doesn?t even break the text up into chapters (to be fair, there is a fairly exhaustive table of contents). Not only that, but much, much more could have been done to flesh the setting out. As it is, the Ehkaet are very clearly the misunderstood, downtrodden protagonists, while the Haeloti are the authoritarian, corrupt, and prejudice-ruled bad guys. It?s interesting that, for a game that uses prejudice as a central theme, so many stereotypes permeate the setting. All of these things combine to make a rather unprofessional-seeming product that isn?t exactly easy to digest, or really particularly interesting to read.
Worth mentioning, also, is the section dealing with the F20 System, itself. I found no egregious flaws with the system, though it does seem as though some skills are far more useful than others, even though they all cost the same number of Option Points to purchase (Running, for example, seems far more widely applicable than Art Appreciation). What really struck me about this section of the text, however, was the fact that the writing was so much better, and that there seemed to be a number of references to things found only in modern-day Earth, not in a low-tech fantasy setting. There were numerous references to concepts like the Olympics, SWAT officers, the CIA, and even Wal-Mart, and these seemed pretty anachronistic given the setting. Further, this is the only fantasy setting I?ve seen in which weapons like brass knuckles and police batons are given stats. In short, it seems as though the entire section on the F20 System was lifted from another text and pasted whole cloth into Tribes of Mother Night, with very little consideration given to internal consistency (though, thankfully, there were no modern firearms on the weapons list).
<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The F20 System seems interesting and somewhat flexible, though far more complex than the standard d20 System. In addition, the core concepts of the setting, itself, have a fair amount of potential.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Sadly, that potential is never realized. Far more effort is put into detailing the world?s creation myth than into detailing the state of the world and its peoples. The writing is some of the least professional I?ve seen in a published product, and the entire text lacks any real degree of polish.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>
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Tribes of Mother Night isn?t your typical fantasy roleplaying game, revolving around the exploits of the Ekhaet, a shape shifting race of people able to assume animal form at will. Set in the world of Eurshanaem, most of the action in Tribes of Mother Night specifically takes place in the country of Ylosia, a rough analogue to the Ceasar?s Rome of our own Earth. Like the Christians of that early Rome, so are the Ekhaet persecuted by the followers of the Ylosia?s state religion. It is in this manner that Tribes of Mother Night manages to differ significantly from the dozens of Middle-European fantasy settings on the market, while remaining familiar enough that players won?t be overwhelmed by the more alien aspects of the setting.
While I have a great interest in further exploring the setting and cultures presented in Tribes of Mother Night, I feel that the F20 system leaves a lot to be desired in terms of mechanical balance. Built piecemeal from the well-loved, but commercially unsuccessful, Fuzion system and the extremely popular d20 system, F20 takes the character creation and combat structure from the former and marries it to the basic task resolution mechanic of the latter. While the system is by no means unplayable, it fails to appeal to me for lack of mechanical balance in character creation (which inevitably effects balance in other parts of the game). What do I mean?
Where character balance is concerned, being able to purchase degrees of legal authority and political influence over others (including fellow PCs) as Perks during character creation runs roughshod over the concept. A direct outgrowth of options presented in previous Fuzion products (most notably Wildblades, wherein you could buy ranks of nobility, including kingship) I would have liked to see this option disappear altogether, as I feel that it is an invitation to create both in-character conflict with other PCs and out-of-character conflict with players who feel overshadowed by the character whose authority over others is ?respected worldwide?.
As it happens, an attempt at adding some additional balance in terms of ranking Perks according to their potential to impact play has been implemented. While a welcome (and long overdue) evolution of the Fuzion system, this is a somewhat loaded fix for an otherwise unbalancing aspect of character creation as it is entirely subjective. On one hand, that makes it easy to scale to a player?s personal campaign - on the other hand, it doesn?t really fix the problem. While it provides some insight into the fact that the authors is aware of the Perk system?s failings, it ultimately leaves the responsibility of addressing those failings up to the individual referee.
Having addressed my primary complaint with the mechanics underlying Tribes of Mother Night, I wanted to touch on my single complaint concerning the setting. With the exception of a very short 5-page piece of opening fiction and an 8-page setting summary (both of which would probably fill a combined total of six pages if the massive 4" left-hand margin were reduced to a standard 1" margin), there is precious little setting information that isn?t presented in terms of mechanics. Hopefully, we can expect to see an expanded Tribes of Mother Night supplement in the future that focuses on the setting at the expense of mechanics, rather than the opposite.
Ultimately, I think that Tribes of Mother Night is a worthwhile purchase for anybody interested in a departure from bog-standard fantasy based upon the Middle-European stylings of early TSR products, as well as a worthwhile purchase for fans of both F20 and Fuzion. Fans of the d20 System may find some useful information here, but despite making use of that system?s basic resolution mechanic, F20 material remains largely incompatible with standard d20 System products short of some serious conversion work. If you?re happy with your current fantasy setting and have no love for Fuzion, then you should probably give Tribes of Mother Night a pass.
<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: I really liked both the setting and the premise of the game, and hope to see future supplements that explore it in more detail.
<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The rules to setting ratio and the inclusion of character creation options that have the potential to unbalance the entire game.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>
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