I have often said that one of the pivotal moments in my evolution of thinking about gaming was when I first purchased the TTRPG Amber: The Diceless RPG. I still remember seeing it at the store, and immediately and enthusiastically buying it because OMG OMG OMG OMG there was finally an RPG about Amber and I was so excited and I couldn't wait to play it and then getting home and opening it and reading it and beginning to devour it and then suddenly realizing, as if I had been driving at 80 mph on the highway and shifted into reverse .... oh. What does diceless mean? How does diceless? Why does diceless?
But today is not the day of that story. Instead, I am saying it because I wanted to go back to the reason I was so excited in the first place. It was a book based on the Amber series of novels by Roger Zelazny. This was a series that had a profound effect on me growing up, and a profound effect on the history of D&D (see also, Appendix N .... or, if you have a few hours to spare, I can talk to you about the Gygaxian multiverse). That said, while I had a good memory of the books in general, I hadn't actually read any of them since I finished the last book in the second series when it was published. Um, you can look that date up if you want. Because I'm not going to. I believe in the ostrich theory of avoiding the effects of aging. Ostriches and gin. Anyway -
During my recent sojourn to the stately pleasure palace of Xanadu- not Coleridge, Newton-John, I decided to re-read all ten books of the Amber Chronicles. And you know they're good, because they're not a series- they're Chronicles. Thomas Covenant gets Chronicles. Corwin gets Chronicles. Assistant Pig Farmer? Yep, Chronicles. George R. R. Martin? He just gives you an unfinished series. WHERE R THE PAGES?
I wanted to find out if my memories of Amber matched the reality of what was actually written. So here's my ... well, looking back at Amber, and see if it is still all that.
Note- The Amber Chronicles Consists of 10 Books, in two separate parts.
The First Chronicles (The Corwin Cycle) are about Corwin, and the five books are:
Nine Princes in Amber (1970)
The Guns of Avalon (1972)
Sign of the Unicorn (1975)
The Hand of Oberon (1976)
The Courts of Chaos (1978)
The Second Chronicles (The Merlin Cycle) are about Merlin, and the five books are:
Trumps of Doom (1985)
Blood of Amber (1986)
Sign of Chaos (1987)
Knight of Shadows (1989)
Prince of Chaos (1991)
A. What Did I Think of the Amber Chronicles Before I Started
This is pretty simple. The Amber Chronicles had an outsized place in my imagination. It contained a number of ideas that are borrowed extensively in D&D, other fantasy works, and that I borrow directly from in some of my games. That's not to say that everything in it is original, of course- everything has antecedents.
But my recollection was ... slightly more nuanced than that. Specifically, I remembered that the Corwin Cycle was an unassailable piece of fantasy literature, and Corwin was of the great protagonists of fantasy. And I ... okay. I remembered that I was so disappointed with the Merlin Cycle, a disappointment that bordered on antipathy. And that's the view that I went in to these books with. Corwin Cycle- better than fifty bards piled on a bonfire. Merlin Cycle- worse than finding out that someone brought a fire extinguisher.
B. Can You Just Tell Me If I Should Read the Amber Chronicles Without Spoilers or Jokes or More Words?
HA HA, NO! I live to disappoint people. Oh.... okay. Fine. I'll give that information here, and you can skip section C (detailed review) and section D (additional thoughts about D&D).
I will give a slightly qualified YES, YOU SHOULD READ THE CORWIN CHRONICLES and a very very qualified yes, you should read the Merlin Chronicles. Let me briefly explain without spoilers. Coming back to Amber, I was shocked at how readable it was. As in ... once I started reading, I couldn't put the books down. I had forgotten how much fun they were. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that there was a surprising amount of psychological complexity for a fantasy series- especially for the time. I had forgotten that- or, more likely, I had failed to notice it when I first read so long ago. Not to mention there's a fair bit of pretty heady stuff (in literary terms) going on that I'm 100% confident that I missed when I first read it, which makes it so much richer without taking away from the fact that it's a helluva fun read.
That said ... my slight qualification for the Corwin Chronicles is that there are times when you will note that the text ... is of the 1970s. So- I'd pick up the first book (Nine Princes in Amber). It's 175 pages that go by real fast. By the end of it, you're either going to be desperate to continue, or you'll know it's not for you.
As for the Merlin Chronicles... without giving any spoilers, I'd say this. If you read the Corwin Chronicles, then you're going to read the Merlin Chronicles because you're going to want more. And you'll probably enjoy most of it. And if you didn't read the Corwin Chronicles, then what kind of a creeper starts with the second series (please let us know in the comments!)?
C. What's the More Expanded Version of What You Encountered When You Dived Back Into Amber?
Let me start by saying that most of the time I have gone back to things I loved in the past, I was incredibly disappointed. So the first, and most important, thing I realized when I went back to the Corwin Chronicles is ... OMG these books were fun. I mean that in the pulpiest and page-turning-est way. If you've never read Zelazny before ... well, shame on you. But he does get highfalutin' sometimes, but the Corwin Chronicles are almost always propulsive, and combine fantastical world-building with mysteries that cannot wait to be unraveled with a central character who grows and changes during the books. There are real elements of psychological realism when it comes to Corwin (albeit less so for other characters) that are genuinely engaging.
And yet, what I also enjoyed immensely the second time through that I missed all those years back is how multilayered the references in the books are. From Shakespeare (duh) to philosophy to meta-references and literary doppelgängers- it's all in there. Heck, the main conceit of the entire series - that Amber and the Pattern are the one true world, and all else is shadows, is nothing more than a fantasy version of Plato's cave. However, the thing is ... what makes the books works so well (in my opinion) is that you can enjoy them purely on a surface level, or you can choose to read more into them- but you don't have to.
My final note on the first series is something I recognized when reading it closely and trying to make sense of what I originally thought was an unsatisfying ending. While the story is very much about the protagonist's quests the actual resolution of the plot of the Corwin Chronicles is about resolution for Corwin. I know, I know, his actions later form the basis for the plot of the Merlin Chronicles, but it's a very deliberate choice that the protagonist's actions are orthogonal to the final outcome of the series. But that leads me to ...
The Merlin Chronicles. This was a truly weird experience for me. I went in assuming I would hate it. The thing is- the first book (Trumps of Doom) is REALLY GOOD! The second book (Blood of Amber) is REALLY GOOD! And yet, by the last page of the last book, I was literally sighing out loud and wishing for the series to be put of my misery. So what's the problem?
Well, have you ever seen one of those old-timey plate spinners? And they keep putting more and more plates up? Because they're professional plate spinners (and probably in a plate spinning union) they know when to stop adding plates. Unfortunately, Zelazny did not know when to stop adding plates. That's the problem with the Merlin Chronicles. That, and the Star Wars problem.
SIDEBAR- THE STAR WARS PROBLEM. World building can be awesome when it evokes a world. When you see a cool bounty hunter and don't know anything about them. When you hear an alien race mentioned with few details. When your imagination in invoked so that you get to fill in some details. It's great to have some lore, but most lore can never be as good as what you can imagine it to be. So all world building has to leave stuff that is hinted at- not explained. Terra incognito and "Thar Be Dragons" is mysterious in a way Google Maps is not.
See, the Merlin Chronicles starts be adding some new lore (such as magic, and how it's used) and some new mysteries. That's fine. But the problem ... is that it just keeps filling in the blanks (e.g., the Courts of Chaos) and adding more and more and more mysteries and schemes and hidden powers and explanations and breaking prior lore with new lore dumps (Trumps that can be created, Living Trumps, etc. etc. etc.) and changing the rules of how things worked (how does magic work again?) and turning friends to enemies to friends to enemies until all the plates come crashing down.
And don't get me started on the identity and motivation of the big bad that's trying to kill Merlin. I.... yeah, no. It literally feels like the fifth book is basically Zelazny giving up and saying, "There was just too much. So ... it ends." I don't regret reading the Merlin Cycle ... the first three books were definitely worth it, but I felt good knowing that my younger self wasn't completely wrong.
D. I Play D&D. Why Should I Care About Amber?
Well, why should you care about the bond market? Or anything, really? I can't tell you what to do ... yet. That said, the series does have some rich veins to tap if you're looking for inspiration for a fantasy campaign. Some of the ideas that might appeal include the following:
1. Ideas about the multiverse
2. Magic swords (Grayswandir FTW!). Rings too, if you're into that. No shame.
3. Magic cards (tarot)
4. Magic casting systems
5. Intelligent items
6. Use / restrictions on gunpowder in fantasy campaigns
7. ...and more.
And that's it. Anyway, I just wanted to post this. I am always hopeful that someday, they will make a television series out of this because it is such a rich premise. But most so that I can complain that it isn't as good as the books.
