Family
So during last game I did not count on the heroes being so violently opposed to doing things on their own. Which brings up a couple of things:
How do I run I game where I know very little about the social aspects of the culture..and the players seems to know a great deal.
How do the characters progress without involving the whole clan? It would seem to me that every adventure would end prematurely with "You tell the chieftess..and she thanks you and says the clan will handle things..go home". I doubt they want to be banished every time so they can be heroes.
What ties the group together? I think last time I asked to know what each character was known for. What are the characters as a group known for? What would the clan entrust them to do together? The alternative is for me to come up with goofy reasons why the three of you are stuck together ("You get a overwhelming feeling that you should go south...").
PITA players
You can always bring the characters out of their 'comfort' zone like you did with us in the mostali lair. This significantly reduces players falling back on their culture to solve problems. But I think as this game goes on your knowledge will grow also and it will become easier. Or you could wing it.
You're the chieftess right? I don't see any reason why each and everytime we tell the chieftess a problem she just says "go to Numbor and ask him for the horns of Liffin's Sheep to aid on the glowing green furred sheep problem" or "hmmm that is troubling. I don't want the whole clan yacking about this right now so I need YOU to go and fix that problem RIGHT NOW!" Or you could wing it.
We are tied by our clanship and I think for game purposes, our great success in the chaos taint quest. "There go the Thanes 3. Ever since they rid that chaos taint I wonder what important clan quests they will be given now". "You get an overwhelming feeling that you should go south...because the Chieftes told us that's where Numbor lives and well, WE need to fix that problem RIGHT NOW!" Or, you could wing it.
Sounds good. But if any
Sounds good. But if any character mouths off to the chieftess because she gave orders that don't follow typical clan custom (that Chris is unaware of) she will immediately order the execution of that character for being a traitor and heretic.
Defining Custom
So, there are a few simple things to say to give broad guidance about custom.
Kinstrife is the WORST THING. Stealing, lying, or hurting a fellow clan member, especially one related by blood, is the worst offense possible in Heortling society. It leads to Chaos.
Chaos is anathema. A clansman's word is his bond. Hospitality is sacrosanct. Cows are wealth.
Foreigners are weird and can't be trusted. Elves are the enemy. Beast Men can't be trusted. Tricksters should be killed.
Some of these are broad cultural mores, some are clan specific. (Elves and beast men are historical and legendary enemies of the West Hill.)
The only way I could see you stumbling culturally with the above is to have some kinsman be so belligerent that he tries to kill one of us. Doesn't mean you can't have such, just that anyone like that needs a powerful motivation to break the biggest taboo in our culture.
Turn it around
You're looking at the clan as a hindrance to adventure. Not at all! The clan can GENERATE adventures.
We are all Thanes. That means we are the enforcement branch of the executive authority. We are the trusted people the clan turns to when something needs doing. Everyone in the clan is busy. If we raise the fyrd during the planting season, there's a very real chance the crops won't be complete and we will go hungry the next spring! No, it is up to the weapon thanes to handle the problem. That's why they aren't farmers. So when we tell the Chieftainess, it should not surprise us to find ourselves told how to handle the problem, even if those instructions are "go see what is happening and handle it."
Strange tracks in the high meadows? Giant hawk stealing lambs? Clan priestess says she needs red hens for sacrifice on Loom Day? Strangers in the Tula?
As a group, I would think the Westhill think of us as those very very lucky people who were unfortunately sent to their likely death for the good of the clan, overcame huge odds, returned with blessings, new friends and treasure, and now know things about the outside world that few if any Westhill do.
One of the adventure books has a bunch of clan-based adventures. Let's make sure tonight that it is the one you have.
But really, my suggestion is to think about what the clan's goals and situation are. We want the clan to be strong, and that motivates us. Or at least Varu! Seriously, what threat is more worrisome to the Clan Ring than a crop failure? We could have a HUGE fun adventure trying to prep the ritual for a harvest blessing!
As far as being opposed to doing things on our own: that depends hugely on what the stakes are. Varu figured that burying an animated dead man in one of the taboo places on the Tula was the sort of thing that the clan ring would want to know. It worked out.
Ultimately, it seems to me that we can do anything you want us to do. The only significant problem for the Heroes last week was that there wasn't time to involve the Ring. That in and of itself was exciting and dangerous and could have repercussions socially if you think it would be interesting. Otherwise, it's just a matter of making the clan setting part of the Heroes' life--they don't always discover everything. Sometimes the priestesses or the war band leader do, and they then tell us.
I had a great time playing out the contradictory impulses of an Orlanthi warrior who is part of a Ernaldan clan. There is a huge tension between the action-oriented storm pantheon and the consensus-oriented Earth tribe.
What ties the group together?
The Clan! It is our strength, our home, our hope, our future.
Don't worry about us falling back on the clan to solve problems. The clan should rightly rely on us to do so! The fact that we are relatively green at this shows that the clan's resources are stretched, or that they recently had some losses that we are the replacements for, or there just isn't anyone better than us to fill these Thane positions.
Hungry Sheep
And if it will help, I'll run another session of the Hungry Sheep (perhaps out of order with the regular time line) to give you a better sense of clan-based adventure.