Trading Shadows was an Amber Diceless Role-Playing Game
run by myself, Leslie Lightfoot, at Ambercon NW 2004.
This site has been set-up as a memoir for the players and other interested parties.
Game Book
Description -
Two Shadows... Two Designers... One Carpenter... Two Sets of Shadow-Owners... 4.8 Hours... and a Budget.
Two Shadows... Two Designers... One Carpenter... Two Sets of Shadow-Owners... 4.8 Hours... and a Budget.
Tonight on TRC (The Reality Channel) Trading Shadows reinvents design with two Shadows from the opposite ends of Reality.
Game will be semi-LARP with heavy prop useage.
Setting:
Characters, locations and situations will be based on a loose 'feel' of
Amber without being strictly linked to a particular time and place in
either the Corwin Chronicles or the Merlin Saga. We're looking at
Amber-flavored Trading Spaces here, as opposed to Trading
Spaces-flavored Amber.
| The Shadows - |
|
Rebma |
Keep
of the
Four Worlds |
| Damp
dour Rebma has finally
gotten on everyone's nerves. I mean, really! It's just a
moist copy of the upstairs. Definitely time for a redo.
(Queen Moire may disagree, but she's just a tenant, right?) |
Talk
about 'been done,' the Keep
of the Four Worlds is just crying out for update. A definite
fixer-upper with great potential, the new owners are hoping that
Trading Shadows can breath some life into the gloomy old place. |
| The Teams - |
|
| White
Team |
Light
Blue
Team |
| Brand Chaos Shadow-Owner  Played by Amy Edwards |
Random Amber Shadow-Owner  Played by Linda Cottrell |
| Jasra Chaos Shadow-Owner  Played by Karrin Jackson |
Vialle Amber Shadow-Owner  Played by Karen Wells |
| Mandor
Walker Chaos Heritage Designer  Played by Andi Blija |
Florimel
Santo-Thomas Amber Heritage Designer  Played by Carla Arnoldi |
| The
Staff - |
|
| Host Pagie Unicorn NPC |
Carpenter Dworkin Pennington NPC |
And Here's What Actually Happened -
| Queztlcorebma |
"It's
the Four Worlds After All." |
| A
Gor-inspired slave realm, featuring a hungry volcano and lurid murals
of Jasra and Brand de flagrante built from the souls of Aztecn
warriors. The piece de resistance is a retooled Pattern shaped as
though a trip down the gullet of a giant serpent with fully realized
digestive experiences. |
An
elementally divided Theme Park complete with monorail and luxury
hotel. The singing faires of Snowland are not to be missed.
And cannot be, as the atmosphere of the entire shadow is lightened by
the park's theme sing repeating in a delightfully endless loop. |
 |
 |
Quotes
(as compiled by Amy Edwards) -
Mandor and Jasra discuss ways to spice up Rebma.
Mandor: Turn the sand into tapioca beads that look like fish eggs.
Jasra: They could be eggs for something.
Mandor: Like what?
Jasra: Like anything.
Jasra (to the GM): What would be the hour equivalent for surprise me?
Combination of Brand, Jasra and Mandor in a room leads to some uncomplimentary observations.
Jasra: Fiona is the fag hag of which all other fag hags are but shadows.
Brand doubts the taste of a redhead who wears red and orange together.
Brand: Bleys is working on my house?
Mandor: And somehow, a lightning bolt comes out of nowhere and kills Bleys.
One of Jasra’s ideas is to change the social structure of Rebma from a matriarchal society to something resembling Gor.
Host: Looks like an interesting carpentry day.
Jasra: (as Dworkin) I have five thousand sluts to make.
Brand and Jasra are to be the new gods of Rebma. They consider whether or not to allow Mandor into the pantheon as a messenger god.
Jasra: (on Mandor) … the gayest god of them all.
Jasra still appreciates the artistic design.
Jasra: You can’t go wrong with Aztec soul.
Mandor can’t leave the room for long before the other two make jokes.
Jasra: I bet (Bleys and Mandor) are really harmonious – and by that I mean having gay sex.
Moire attempts to assassinate Jasra. After stopping the attempt and tracing the mental energy to its source, Brand reflects that they are redecorating this woman’s home…
Brand: (on Moire) I was going to mindrape her, but I can just do it the other way.
Not all trust and fuzzy feelings on the Rebma set.
Jasra: We love you, Mandor.
Brand: Yes, we do.
Jasra: You’re our friend.
Mandor: I… don’t believe you.
See what I mean?
Jasra: (to Mandor) Don’t you stab me, you little bitch.
Time was not supposed to be an option, but Brand’s bad moods slow the time in Rebma back to normal. Deciding on a preference between the Gor culture and changing the water to oxygenated gel:
Jasra: I don’t care if they can breathe as long as they’re enslaved.
Getting outside help from minions is against the rules (except where it says otherwise on the character sheet), but what about incorporating people or parts of people (read souls) into the design?
Host: Yeah, human material is fine.
On homework.
Mandor: (Jasra and Brand) are working on pain tonight.
We get some guests in watch us work.
Chris Lightfoot: (on the Rebma design) It’s featherlicious!
Mandor describes his style.
Mandor: It’s Chaos flair, honey.
Jasra is sometimes a fan and sometimes not.
Jasra: Mandor and his cute.
The badmouthing (and the innuendo) continues.
Jasra: (on Mandor) I don’t think the curtains match the carpet.
Brand: You know from past experience?
Jasra: Please. You think he’s gonna go barking up that tree?
After finishing Mandor’s project, but only an hour into Flora’s, Dworkin gets bored and takes off.
Flora: What did you do with (Dworkin)?
Mandor: I find it an amazing compliment that you actually think I could do something to Dworkin.
Suspecting the wrath of Brand, Mandor isn’t certain he wants to be present for the reveal.
Mandor: I was going to save my trick for when we go to the Keep of the Four Worlds. Leave a body there to die in the explosion.
During homework, Brand injures himself with a glue gun.
Mandor: He probably put the glue gun in his mouth… now he’s the primal mushmouth.
Brand: And if you even look at him funny when he says anything, your brain explodes.
The basic idea of the Quetzlcorebma design is revenge on Moire.
Brand: No one harpoons my wife but me.
Jasra is good at this sort of thing.
Jasra: Start making pain.
No one can say that Mandor isn’t creative. After drugging Bleys enough that he is incapacitated so that he can no longer do work for Flora…
Mandor: We could have this flailing, naked Bleys like in a lava lamp… that’ll be my personal touch.
Rebma's projects are over, but we still want to use up carpentry time so Flora can’t have it.
Mandor: ‘Cause Dworkin likes Brand. I’ll just say, “It’s not for me, baby, it’s for Brand.”
Sharu Garrul can help Jasra with carpentry, so we put him on the Gor project.
Jasra: (singing, as Sharu Garrul) Working on the slut mines…
Brand appreciates the idea of Bleys in a lava lamp, but isn’t too keen on the naked part.
Jasra: Let’s get some dancing girls in front of that. Your god doesn’t want to see that shit.
After being expressly forbidden by Brand, Jasra and Mandor decide to cut corners anyway so as to incorporate the final touches of the design. Things go horribly wrong and they turn on each other.
Jasra: (to Mandor) Are you pointing that glue gun at me? Because nothing you do to this shadow will hurt you as bad as pointing that at me.
More of same.
Mandor: You can just keep slapping me. At this point, the endorphins are making me high.
The Host comments that no one has utilized throw pillows. Mandor has an explanation.
Mandor: Brand is all about cold, hard stone.
As we head to the reveal:
Host: Do you need your balls, Mandor?
Mandor and Jasra discuss ways to spice up Rebma.
Mandor: Turn the sand into tapioca beads that look like fish eggs.
Jasra: They could be eggs for something.
Mandor: Like what?
Jasra: Like anything.
Jasra (to the GM): What would be the hour equivalent for surprise me?
Combination of Brand, Jasra and Mandor in a room leads to some uncomplimentary observations.
Jasra: Fiona is the fag hag of which all other fag hags are but shadows.
Brand doubts the taste of a redhead who wears red and orange together.
Brand: Bleys is working on my house?
Mandor: And somehow, a lightning bolt comes out of nowhere and kills Bleys.
One of Jasra’s ideas is to change the social structure of Rebma from a matriarchal society to something resembling Gor.
Host: Looks like an interesting carpentry day.
Jasra: (as Dworkin) I have five thousand sluts to make.
Brand and Jasra are to be the new gods of Rebma. They consider whether or not to allow Mandor into the pantheon as a messenger god.
Jasra: (on Mandor) … the gayest god of them all.
Jasra still appreciates the artistic design.
Jasra: You can’t go wrong with Aztec soul.
Mandor can’t leave the room for long before the other two make jokes.
Jasra: I bet (Bleys and Mandor) are really harmonious – and by that I mean having gay sex.
Moire attempts to assassinate Jasra. After stopping the attempt and tracing the mental energy to its source, Brand reflects that they are redecorating this woman’s home…
Brand: (on Moire) I was going to mindrape her, but I can just do it the other way.
Not all trust and fuzzy feelings on the Rebma set.
Jasra: We love you, Mandor.
Brand: Yes, we do.
Jasra: You’re our friend.
Mandor: I… don’t believe you.
See what I mean?
Jasra: (to Mandor) Don’t you stab me, you little bitch.
Time was not supposed to be an option, but Brand’s bad moods slow the time in Rebma back to normal. Deciding on a preference between the Gor culture and changing the water to oxygenated gel:
Jasra: I don’t care if they can breathe as long as they’re enslaved.
Getting outside help from minions is against the rules (except where it says otherwise on the character sheet), but what about incorporating people or parts of people (read souls) into the design?
Host: Yeah, human material is fine.
On homework.
Mandor: (Jasra and Brand) are working on pain tonight.
We get some guests in watch us work.
Chris Lightfoot: (on the Rebma design) It’s featherlicious!
Mandor describes his style.
Mandor: It’s Chaos flair, honey.
Jasra is sometimes a fan and sometimes not.
Jasra: Mandor and his cute.
The badmouthing (and the innuendo) continues.
Jasra: (on Mandor) I don’t think the curtains match the carpet.
Brand: You know from past experience?
Jasra: Please. You think he’s gonna go barking up that tree?
After finishing Mandor’s project, but only an hour into Flora’s, Dworkin gets bored and takes off.
Flora: What did you do with (Dworkin)?
Mandor: I find it an amazing compliment that you actually think I could do something to Dworkin.
Suspecting the wrath of Brand, Mandor isn’t certain he wants to be present for the reveal.
Mandor: I was going to save my trick for when we go to the Keep of the Four Worlds. Leave a body there to die in the explosion.
During homework, Brand injures himself with a glue gun.
Mandor: He probably put the glue gun in his mouth… now he’s the primal mushmouth.
Brand: And if you even look at him funny when he says anything, your brain explodes.
The basic idea of the Quetzlcorebma design is revenge on Moire.
Brand: No one harpoons my wife but me.
Jasra is good at this sort of thing.
Jasra: Start making pain.
No one can say that Mandor isn’t creative. After drugging Bleys enough that he is incapacitated so that he can no longer do work for Flora…
Mandor: We could have this flailing, naked Bleys like in a lava lamp… that’ll be my personal touch.
Rebma's projects are over, but we still want to use up carpentry time so Flora can’t have it.
Mandor: ‘Cause Dworkin likes Brand. I’ll just say, “It’s not for me, baby, it’s for Brand.”
Sharu Garrul can help Jasra with carpentry, so we put him on the Gor project.
Jasra: (singing, as Sharu Garrul) Working on the slut mines…
Brand appreciates the idea of Bleys in a lava lamp, but isn’t too keen on the naked part.
Jasra: Let’s get some dancing girls in front of that. Your god doesn’t want to see that shit.
After being expressly forbidden by Brand, Jasra and Mandor decide to cut corners anyway so as to incorporate the final touches of the design. Things go horribly wrong and they turn on each other.
Jasra: (to Mandor) Are you pointing that glue gun at me? Because nothing you do to this shadow will hurt you as bad as pointing that at me.
More of same.
Mandor: You can just keep slapping me. At this point, the endorphins are making me high.
The Host comments that no one has utilized throw pillows. Mandor has an explanation.
Mandor: Brand is all about cold, hard stone.
As we head to the reveal:
Host: Do you need your balls, Mandor?
The
GM wishes to thank all of her players for a truly great experience!