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TribeNet

play-by-mail fantasy game

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ110291477
Source-derived summary

TribeNet is an open-ended, medieval fantasy, play-by-email (PBEM) game. It was first published in the mid-1980s in Australia as a hand-moderated play-by-mail (PBM) game. After multiple gamemaster changes in the 1990s, Peter Rzechorzek took over as gamemaster in 1997, at which point the game transitioned from postal mail to email. Since its inception, the game expanded from the initial continent available for gameplay, adding additional continents such as Cyberia and Pelagoria.

The game is set in a context similar to Europe's Bronze or Iron Age where players assume the role of Chief of a Clan of people. There are no preset character types and players can choose how to gameplay their Clans in a manner of their choosing with tasks such as mining or exploring.

History and development

In the mid-1980s, TribeNet launched as a PBM game in Australia, hand-moderated by Jeff Perkins, drawing players from the Diplomacy and wargaming clubs of some of its major cities. Various people rotated through as gamemaster until 1997 when Peter Rzechorzek assumed the role. Eventually, the game shifted to a play-by-email (PBEM) version. In 2004, the game had 95 players.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “TribeNet” as play-by-mail fantasy game. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1997, 2004—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where TribeNet, play-by-mail and fantasy can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as play-by-mail fantasy game. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q110291477. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1997 and 2004.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “TribeNet”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow TribeNet primary sources, TribeNet archive and TribeNet research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “TribeNet”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from TribeNet” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.