Characters
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Players will portray residents of shadows somewhere between Argent and Chaos. They cannot say they grew up in Argent, Chaos or affiliated realms, but they otherwise have pretty good freedom.
Characters built off of a starting pool of 40 points. By popular request, there will be no auction. We’ll just get together and hash out characters. Maybe watch a movie. Players will have the chance to choose from a limited selection of powers (listed below). None of these powers involve shadowshifting.
There will be a fast-and-loose item creation system, inspired vaguely by Everway and Nobilis. Be afraid. Keep in mind that any point-paid-for items are significant items of power. Each item has to have a myth explaining its creation and how you obtained it. Compare Greyswandir, the sword forged on the steps to Tir-na Nog’th, to your average 4-point invulnerable longjohns. You’ll want to think more along the lines of Greyswandir. Think about what you want your item to be able to do. The point value will be based on versatility, level of power and influence, how often it’s likely to be used and how rare I’d like such an ability to be.
Allies will be handled in a similar fashion to items. Shadows are not available for purchase. Enemies and other disadvantages will be handled by assigning Plot Points. Basically, your characters will have a pool of points that he can draw off of in order to gain boosts in a stat. I haven’t determined the exact mechanism for this. In addition to taking disadvantages and enemies, you may gain PPs by doing contributions. Like Journals and Quote lists and all that. You can still take Good and Bad Stuff, as well as sell down attributes.
Future Sessions -
The first four sessions will be prelude sessions, with big time jumps in between. The first will be all characters being brought to Amber, and the next three will cover intervening years. After each session, players will receive 15 points for advancement. After the preludes, you will be 100 point characters.
Where are the Elders?
To lend a sense of exploration and wonder, or something resembling it, players will not start out knowing where all the Elders went. Or even much about Argent. There will be some handouts before sessions during the preludes to explain information that could be discovered between sessions. Characters likely know Corwin (often under some stupid pseudonym) as a concerned uncle or friend of the family who has helped their character along. Players who have learned powers like the Lite versions of Trump and Mirror Wrighting have likely met incognito versions of either Fiona, Merlin or (in the case of Mirror Wrighting) Llewella.
Corwin looks like he’s in his 40s. Fiona looks to be at least 50 and has a streak of white in her red hair. Llewella probably didn’t look like Llewella. She probably looked like she belonged in whatever shadow you grew up in, and she may have even looked male.
My Amber
I’m one of those snooty bastards who have developed a lot of belligerent opinions about their views of Amber. I especially dislike many of the Wujicisms that become common parlance. Here are some common terms that will receive special treatment in this setting:
House Rules of Note
Players will portray residents of shadows somewhere between Argent and Chaos. They cannot say they grew up in Argent, Chaos or affiliated realms, but they otherwise have pretty good freedom.
Characters built off of a starting pool of 40 points. By popular request, there will be no auction. We’ll just get together and hash out characters. Maybe watch a movie. Players will have the chance to choose from a limited selection of powers (listed below). None of these powers involve shadowshifting.
There will be a fast-and-loose item creation system, inspired vaguely by Everway and Nobilis. Be afraid. Keep in mind that any point-paid-for items are significant items of power. Each item has to have a myth explaining its creation and how you obtained it. Compare Greyswandir, the sword forged on the steps to Tir-na Nog’th, to your average 4-point invulnerable longjohns. You’ll want to think more along the lines of Greyswandir. Think about what you want your item to be able to do. The point value will be based on versatility, level of power and influence, how often it’s likely to be used and how rare I’d like such an ability to be.
Allies will be handled in a similar fashion to items. Shadows are not available for purchase. Enemies and other disadvantages will be handled by assigning Plot Points. Basically, your characters will have a pool of points that he can draw off of in order to gain boosts in a stat. I haven’t determined the exact mechanism for this. In addition to taking disadvantages and enemies, you may gain PPs by doing contributions. Like Journals and Quote lists and all that. You can still take Good and Bad Stuff, as well as sell down attributes.
Future Sessions -
The first four sessions will be prelude sessions, with big time jumps in between. The first will be all characters being brought to Amber, and the next three will cover intervening years. After each session, players will receive 15 points for advancement. After the preludes, you will be 100 point characters.
Where are the Elders?
To lend a sense of exploration and wonder, or something resembling it, players will not start out knowing where all the Elders went. Or even much about Argent. There will be some handouts before sessions during the preludes to explain information that could be discovered between sessions. Characters likely know Corwin (often under some stupid pseudonym) as a concerned uncle or friend of the family who has helped their character along. Players who have learned powers like the Lite versions of Trump and Mirror Wrighting have likely met incognito versions of either Fiona, Merlin or (in the case of Mirror Wrighting) Llewella.
Corwin looks like he’s in his 40s. Fiona looks to be at least 50 and has a streak of white in her red hair. Llewella probably didn’t look like Llewella. She probably looked like she belonged in whatever shadow you grew up in, and she may have even looked male.
My Amber
I’m one of those snooty bastards who have developed a lot of belligerent opinions about their views of Amber. I especially dislike many of the Wujicisms that become common parlance. Here are some common terms that will receive special treatment in this setting:
- “Elders”: In general, the children of Oberon do not thing of themselves as “Elders.” Players can use this term, but Corwin and his siblings will make it clear they don’t like it. As Flora would sum up, “Dear, please don’t be boorish when discussing our age.”
- “Barimen”: Dworkin took the name Barimen in Amber so that his relationship to Oberon was distanced. It has as much bearing on naming conventions as “Carl Corey.” Neither Oberon nor any of his children refer to themselves as Barimen. Players may refer to themselves as Barimens, but it will be viewed as an affectation.
- “Shadow Earth”: The long-time home of Corwin is sometimes referred to as a “Shadow Earth,” but the planet that Amber (and now Argent) was on was also referred to as “Earth.” In general, Corwin and his siblings refer to shadows by specific locations or country names. This is a bit of a spoiler, the place Flora dwells in now is called “New York.” Calling it “Shadow Earth” will only prompt Corwin’s generation to ask, “Which Shadow Earth do you mean? There’s quite a few.”
House Rules of Note
- Psyche: This attribute is not the same as ADRPG at all. Much of what people consider to be Psyche abilities will be covered by the power “Empathy.” Perception/Insight, the ability to read body language, and manipulate people's emotions. Charisma, social talent and grace. Subtlety. Warfare is good for stabbing people from in front, Psyche is good for stabbing people in the back.
- Power Battery. This is the only thing from ADRPG that survives.
- Strength: In general, I think this stat gets very little mention. For close combat, I’m going to give this attribute more weight than it usually gets. Warfare is fine if you have a gun, but if you suck at Strength, your character will get hosed in a sword fight. Or a halberd fight. Or thumb wrestling.
- Trump Artistry requires a shadow-traveling power source. Pattern, Logrus, or the like.
- Walking the Pattern: I’m using Cort’s rule of dice rolling for the Pattern. It’s sacrilegious, but I’ve found it’s a great deterrent. Quite simply: if you walk the Pattern, you have a random chance of dying. Depending on how well rested you are, this could range from rolling a d20 to flipping a coin. You can spend a Plot Point to avoid this roll. Yes, it’s a tragedy for people who hate dice, but it’s really good for keeping people from doing regular conga lines down the Pattern in hopes of teleporting themselves somewhere to solve a problem.