June 2, 2023: Tribes, By David Brin And Steve Jackson, Returns On Kickstarter

Tribes, an underground classic somewhere between a board game and roleplaying game, is about Stone Age politics and survival. As cave men and women, players gather food, make tribal laws, and deal with natural disasters. Ultimately, all that matters is survival; to win, you need to have the most living children. Now, Tribes is coming back in a streamlined and upgraded Second Edition – the Kickstarter has already funded, and will run through Wednesday afternoon.

 

For Tribes, I had the pleasure of collaborating with science fiction author David Brin, who shares my interest in exactly what it is that makes us human. It was a very satisfying project; David is fun to correspond with and to work with, and could become a game designer any time he grows tired of writing bestselling novels. He also worked with Stefan Jones to create a roleplaying sourcebook for his Uplift novel sequence; GURPS Uplift is still one of my favorites, though long out of print. A bit about my distinguished co-designer, then . . .

 

David Brin is a scientist, tech speaker/consultant, and author. A film by Kevin Costner was based on Brin's novel The Postman. Brin's 16 novels, including NY Times bestsellers and Hugo Award winners, have been translated into more than twenty languages. Several of them foreshadow global warming, pandemics, biotech, AI, cyberwarfare, and the World Wide Web. His Uplift Series is one of the most popular and influential in science fiction literature. In Earth and Existence he explores trends that may transform our world in a dangerous-but-hopeful near future.

 

 

As a scientist/futurist, David is seen frequently on television shows such as The ArchiTechs, Universe, and Life After People, with frequent appearances on PBS, BBC and NPR. A patent-holding inventor, he is in demand to speak about future trends, keynoting for IBM, Google, Procter & Gamble, SAP, Microsoft, Qualcomm, the Mauldin Group, and Casey Research, all the way to think tanks and public agencies.

 

With degrees from Caltech and the University of California-San Diego, Dr. Brin serves on advisory panels ranging from astronomy, NASA innovative concepts, nanotech, and SETI to national defense and technological ethics. His first non-fiction book – The Transparent Society: Will Technology Make Us Choose Between Freedom and Privacy? (1997) – won the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association.  His next – VIVID TOMORROWS: Science Fiction and Hollywood (2021) – explores the messages, clichés, and memes that often go unnoticed, but help society shift under the influence of SF films.

 

So if you'd like to see the game we did together, back when the Earth was young, visit the Kickstarter today!

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