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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kookalouris" data-source="post: 4495946" data-attributes="member: 23872">Thanks to all who responded.  Let me answer your questions as best as I can...    I believe that the Amber Diceless system and the setting of Amber are very well suited to a PbP setting.  Most pen-and-paper games can be adapted to posting but Amber DRPG is particularly easy to do so.  The rules are simple, based on interpersonal bidding, not dice.  And when creating universes at will is one of a character's minor powers, game balance can't really be abused...    Let me praise the late Mr. Zelazny, his characters are well-written and perfect for the story he was trying to tell.  But for my purposes, here are the problems I have with Royal Family of Amber.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The characters are ruthless opportunists at best, sadistic psychopaths at worst.  I prefer to GM people trying to be heroes, even flawed heroes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">With literally every imaginable universe at their beck and call, the entire family fights for a merely political prize, the Crown of Amber.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The characters are rather similar and terribly WASP.  Oberon seemed to have a pretty narrow view of what his family should be like and the kids haven't fallen from the tree.</li> </ul>    I realize that these sentences have probably alienated true Amber fans.  This is one reason why I am not promoting the game at a purely Amber-related forum or message board.  But I want to be honest with you.  Purely canon Amber games are available for those who want them (and I mean that in the best possible way).  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" />So, what kind of fake jewel am I offering, if not real Amber?First, when the game starts with the characters being godlike immortals, there is nowhere to go but down.  So I want the game to start as Nine Princes of Amber did, the protagonists believing that they are human, in a perfectly ordinary world, slowly learning how 'shadowy' that understanding is.Secondly, I want the characters to at least feel young.  We change more in the first decades of our lives than in the later decades.  And I imagine immortals stay pretty consistent over the centuries.Third,  I want to start the game with a strong family bond.  In the end, the only real threat to the characters is each other.  So let's give the characters something to lose.My basic pitch is this,This characters start out as a collection of orphaned siblings.  They have no particular reason to believe that they are special at game start.  The world they start out in is probably here and now, Shadow Earth, but whatever shadow they are in, it is dull and humdrum.  They are raised by caring foster parents who take the place of the parents the kids barely remember.Powerful magics have made the characters seem as normal, perhaps even boring, adolescents.  This magical masking hides the children from pursuers, but necessarily prevents the children from knowing their true selves.Of course, as in these kinds of stories, something goes terribly wrong and the kids are forced to realize their destiny early...Think of Luke Skywalker just before his family buys those two beat-up droids on Tattooine.  There's no reason to think he is anything special at the start of the movie.Doctor Who fans may be reminded of the episode 'Human Nature' where the Doctor took on a human identity so convincing even he believed it so as to escape powerful enemies.Who are the children's parents?  Who is hiding them?  Who is pursuing them?  What disaster made this all necessary?  The good news is that those answers can be tailor-made to the characters and the game.  Let any probable players tell me what period of the books and what parents they would like for their characters.  The important thing is that the game starts out with the kids thinking that they are normal in a perfectly mundane setting...That's enough for now.  If anything I have written is a deal-breaker, I understand...Also, DT, it's good to hear from you again...  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Gerry</blockquote>

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