CanadienneBacon
Explorer
Credit: Wizards of the Coast, Art by Erol Otis
In 2004, Dungeon magazine ranked X2 Castle Amber (Chateau d'Amberville) as the 15th greatest D&D module of all-time. Characters explore the haunted mansion of the demented and at times insane d'Amberville family. A strange grey mist shrouds the castle; the adventure leads off with characters encountering the fog-shrouded Castle Amber. DriveThruRPG has this to say about X2: "Some suggest that the Castle and its denizens, and in particular room #25, were influenced by Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' (1839). The connection with room #25 is especially clear, since it includes a sister named Madeline calling out from her grave, just like the short story . . . Though the adventure focuses largely on the eponymous Castle Amber, which was created for this supplement, it also has connections to the Province of Averoigne - a fictional area in Medieval France that was created by 'weird fiction' author Clark Ashton Smith for a series of short stories, most of them published in Weird Tales magazine (1930-41).
Pulp Stylings: Because of the connections to Smith's fiction, James Maliszewski identifies 'Castle Amber' as the second book in Tom Moldvay's Pulp Fantasy Trilogy, the other two being X1: 'The Isle of Dread' (1981) and B4: 'The Lost City' (1982). Pulp adventure was a common module style at TSR in this era, with interest in the topic being shared by Tom Moldvay and David "Zeb" Cook.
Literary Licenses: 'Castle Amber' was published with the approval of Clark Ashton Smith's estate, and thus was one of the earlier RPG products officially based on a literary property."
Rules System: 5e.
Party Size: 4. A smaller party better accommodates the desired faster posting rate.
Character Submission Deadline: Noon U.S. eastern time zone, Tuesday, September 29, 2015. I will announce selections on Tuesday evening.
Character Selection: Not first come first served. Please submit one character only.
Game Duration: October 1, 2015 through November 1, 2015. One month. I'm running this for Halloween. If we are not done with the adventure by November 1, we're not done, but the game will end regardless. The intent is to enjoy a something different on a temporary basis without locking people into a long-term game.
Posting Rate: My expectation is that players will be present Monday through Friday and will post SEVERAL times PER DAY. Players may, at their discretion, post on Saturdays and Sundays, but this is not a requirement. This game is set to last one month. If you do not think you can maintain the posting rate, please consider not submitting a character. Please be advised that Thursdays and Fridays are my busiest days at work, and that through October I have Saturday morning chauffeuring duty to get my children to cross country meets. I expect, however, to make myself available to meet the stated posting requirement. If I will be unavailable, I will announce so ahead of time, and when possible you should, too. I want a fast-paced game, but not at the expense of health, work, family, and friends; please prioritize those first.
Starting Level: 3rd.
Genre: Roleplay-intensive horror with a splash of pulp and camp. Humor welcome.
Ability Scores: Players may arrange the following array as they wish: 18,17,16,15,14,13.
hp: Max + Constitution modifier at 1st level. For subsequent levels, use PHB average + Constitution modifier (e.g., 1d10 = 6 hp).
Alignment: Any. I don't care if you play an evil character. You will be expected to respect social norms and be a team player, however.
Gold: Standard starting equipment per the PHB, plus 500 gp of non-magical equipment of your choice.
Source Material Permitted: 5e PHB, 5e Basic Rules free .pdf. If it's in the PHB, you may use it, and that includes variant Human, multiclassing, and feats. I will not be entertaining Unearthed Arcana source material.
Inspiration: Yes, will be used.
Background: Please include a trait, ideal, bond, flaw, and no more than three sentences about your character's personality that tells us who he or she is and how he or she views the world. I appreciate when players provide a picture of their character (with credit to the source), but if you do not provide a picture of your character, I ask that you instead write one or two sentences about his or her appearance. Please do NOT provide a background for your character. My games favor roleplaying over combat, but in my experience the only person who reads and makes use of a character background is the author. Might as well save your time and mine. The expectation is that you will have thought through your background and it will inform your roleplaying, but the group will not need to see the background.
Maps: No. This one will be theater of the mind, folks.
Level Ups: Awarded at DM discretion based on milestones. We will not be using XP.
A note about character submissions: Please break down by level what attribute increases your character acquired. I'll be vetting character submissions and will be grateful to folks who do so.
Last edited:
