The Tribes of Crane was the first commercial play by mail game to be moderated by a human game master (at first entirely, and later with the assistance of a computer). This allowed players – who adopted the roles of leaders of particular tribes – to submit special orders with their turns, instructions which were processed by a human being and could thus include any action imaginable rather than being restricted by a predesigned set of rules. This flexibility, combined with occasional opportunities to enact the role of a particular individual rather than that of an entire clan and the potential for games to continue indefinitely, made Crane‘s game play resemble that of a tabletop role playing game far more closely than that of a board and counter war game.