Ribbons... Argh!

When I place ribbons, no matter how I rotate them they always appear facing top-down in the game. How can this be overridden?

Just like with particle emitters, ribbons have a default rotation that can be changed. WIth particle emitters, if you want the emitter to shoot in a direction other than vertical, you have to alter the rotation of the emitter. Similarly, if you want the ribbon to have a different orientation, you'll have to rotate it. Not having used the art tools, I cannot say how you do this with them, but I know this is indeed what has to be done.

Nope, rotating them have no effect (perhaps I should've explained that better).

I'm probably suggesting something you've already tried, but have you rotated along a different axis of rotation? Different axis have different results.

the rotation must have an animation key, just rotating it will not work.

So, in other words, rotate the ribbon the way you want to, go to the first frame of animation and click on the motion tab. Then click on "rotation" under "insert key". I may be a bit off on the names but thats about it.