As the box says, "Have you played any good stories lately?" It seemed natural to me to come up with the story of a tribe in my head, then make the set up choices to best match that, then to try and play with that history or "personality" in mind.
Since in Orlanthi culture reverence for ancestors is important, it seemed to me that using some of my own ancestors for models would make a good start.
My grandfather's parent were Finn's who homesteaded in norther Ontario around the turn of the century, eventually moving from subsistence farming to having a dairy farm, a situation with certain parrelels to the re-settlement of Dragon Pass, so they are the model for the tribe I'm playing right now. Although the Finns are frequently considered scandinavians, and have much in common, culturally, with their neighbors, they are not nordic, and pre-christianity did not follow the norse (storm) gods, so it seemed to make sense that the tribe should be Elmali. My great-grandfather was a tailor before he went up homesteading, so our tribes first event had to be the pot-making dance, reflecting his background as a crafter. They always dealt with winter in an accepting way, got along well with the wilds, and had no interaction that I'm aware of with the sea, but their house was always well lighted and they tended to wall the night out, so choosing the trolls as enemies seemed like slightly the best choice. And so on. When it came to playing, their rather independant, cautious and stoic approach was easy to put in action--focus on making the clan strong on its own ground first, then on making friends and allies, and only then on the broader canvas. Their first shrine was "steadfast," the first two heroquests brought Elmal's aid when they are attacked, and Ernalda's help in boosting crop output. Then they settled their closest feud, and built a string of allies between themselves and the horse nomads, so they always get warnings of raids and meet them in force. and so on.
Obviously there are lots of other ways to design and play a tribe, but I find this style of tribe building very satisfying.
-Bryan
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