Roger Zelazny's Amber: Any thoughts?

[Chasmodai]

Hello all. I am planning to run a game that is set in Roger Zelazny's Amber, after all that has happened in the last book, Prince of Chaos. The PCs (six of them), will be playing Amberites - bastard children of Oberon, or anyone of his get.

The major, overarching plot of this campaign will be about another force (a force outside of both Amber and the Courts of Chaos), that invades Amber, utilizing the Black Road (long thought to be inert). This force, if and when it has conquered Amber, will move on to the Courts of Chaos and continue its work (something akin to a force of Neutrality). However, I plan to start of the campaign a little more slowly, to get the PCs more familiar with the world, and the way things work.

The PCs will begin at level 5, with very few magical items. Amber may be a high magic world, but magic items are hard to come by. Sooner or later, the PCs will walk the Pattern, and gain the ability to manipulate shadow. This shall hopefully lead to them travelling to more exotic shadows in an attempt to slake the wanderlust that plagues each Amberite and thus allow them to find the first signs of the invasion. (There will be vague signs before that though - assassination attempts, riots, strange beasts appearing in the Forest of Arden...)

The question I post to you, my fellow DMs and DnD junkies, is what kind of adventures do Amberites - people who are able to walk through shadow and encounter the strangest worlds they could ever imagine - have? Do they dungeon-crawl? Do they create kingdoms in shadows and make war? Or do they start a detective agency?

I need suggestions, things that can help my PCs level up so they can actually get around to fighting the BBEGs .

Much obliged,
Chasmodai

 

[Deadly Puddingcup]

all i have to say is that i hate you for thinking of doing this before me! i love the chronicles of amber. i think that if you're going to follow the same pattern how oberon's children were in the books, then the characters are going to be in as much of an internal struggle as well as an external, and in both cases would probably start massing an army or some type of oposing force. be to keep or claim amber i guess would have to be seen. i also think it would be really great to have the characters design their own shadow before you fully play and later on implement it into the story. just a few thoughts i had. it sounds like its going to be a great game so please keep us updated.

 

[Piratecat]

There are almost no dungeon crawls. It should all be about politics and infighting, secret enemies and hidden passions.

Can you get ahold of the old game Amber? It had some great guidelines for this.

 

[Chasmodai]

I've been trying to get my hands on the game, but hardly anyone I know has even read the book, much less played the game. I'm giving it some time before the campaign actually starts, so my players can read the book to get to know the place and the background better, and for me to fully prepare for the game.

It would also be an interesting twist if one of the characters grew up in a 'modern day earth' shadow, so they're more used to technology and less used to peeing in a pot.

The roleplaying here is going to be incredibly heavy and as of right now, I'm trying to figure out how each of Zelazny's characters would play out. And I also have to give them stats and classes, just in case one of players gets it into his head to commit fratricide .

If and when this game gets on its training wheels, and appears to be promising, look out for a Story Hour coming your way .

 

[Greybar]

To contest Piratecat some: there are distinct dungeons and set-pieces in the books. People and items are on a particular shadow. Manipulating shadow just takes you away from where you want to be.

* The tower where Brand was trapped, surrounded by circling rocks.
* The cave where our hero is imprisoned.
* The faerie circles and the battles that happen there.
* Avalon

I agree that a great strength of a Amber game could be in politics, and that's where I'd try also, but I think that other approaches are possible. Maybe it would be good to even use a sequence like the books - start with action and some "dungeons", then lead into the politics deeper and deeper where the places become less and less important than the people.

Good luck representing shadow-walking in D&D (I don't mean that too sarcastically). I'd suggest using a very storytelling style and low mechanics. Off-the-cuff Will checks might be a good starter.

You may be able to order the Amber diceless game from the US, assuming you don't have too much trouble generally getting things shipped to Singapore.

You've got some good ideas there. I'm looking forward to hearing more.

john

 

[Softwind]

Politics. Politics. Politics.

It's all about interaction between all the "players" in the game. Courtly intrigue. In-fighting (you remember how much Oberon's get fought each other, directly or indirectly!). Struggles for power, especially in the Shadow, to compile an army capable of taking on Amber. And let's not forget the internal struggles as the characters strive to learn who/what they are, their place in the greater cosmos, and how to make friends and influence people, without losing (or gaining!) their sanity.

Now, since you are introducing a "3rd element" or power, the starting focus with lower level characters would most likely be more on a wandering spirit than on struggling to sidestep Aunt Fiona's mechinizations, or Uncle Brand's plans, or whatnot. Or perhaps that is *why* they are wandering. Trying to find their way, gain power, become a power in their own right, etc.

Because you can have any kind of environment in the Shadows, essentially anything you can imagine, you have great freedom for your campaign. If you want them "dungeon crawling" to discover something, hide something, or kill something, do it! If you want to start them in modern day UK, or Botswana, or medieval Spain, go for it.

Just pick a goal, and pick some ways to achieve it in the campaign. This gives the players some choices, all the while guiding them to hints of a distant threat, pulling them into the defense of their "native land". In your mind, is it better they gain power to lead an army to defend Amber? Or find/craft an item/gadget/geegaw that will allow Amberites to defend themselves? Or, research the Black Road, and mayhap learn to manipulate it/deal with it/nullify it?

Oh, the options are limitless. Ah, so, hense the asking for ideas!

/taps his nose and winks, knowingly.

Good luck! Sounds like it will be a awesome campaign!

 

[Chasmodai]

Looking through my campaign notes, rereading the book again and looking at the character classes available, I just realized that the DnD PHB has classes which are much too restrictive for Amberites.

Not restrictive, per se, but more one-track. Which is what an Amberite isn't. Corwin is a great swordsman (he managed to hold an angry Benedict off for a good ten miutes) but he's been a sailor, a minstrel and a doctor before.

I was thinking of an alternate character creation in which the players can customize the class to their liking using a Point buy system - somewhat like the White Wolf ST system, but with a d20 spin.

For instance, they can spend points into getting a d12 instead of d8 for hp, but might not be able to afford the spellcasting proficiency a mage has.

After getting the basics out of the way (BAB, Saves, Spellcasting, Hit Dice, etc, etc), they get to choose the abilities their 'class' has. I'm thinking of using something like d20 Modern's Talent/Feat thing.

They get a bonus feat every odd numbered level and a funky class ability every even level. Funky class abilites are any ability any existing class has (Rage, Sneak Attack, etc, etc) and class abilites from PrCs are available from level 7 onwards.

It sounds complicated, but it allows a character to be as customized and versatile the Amber characters are.

How's that sound to you?

 

[KnowTheToe]

Here is a link for the RPG. Even if you do not use the rules, merely reading them will make you a better role player.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3154634415&category=1183

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3153652519&category=1183

I did a rules light home brew Amber Game growing up (Early High School). My favorite quest was eliminating the black plague so these certain people would help me. I called it my quest for soap.

 

[xenoflare]

in retrospect..

...i would still want to play my Turkish Muslim alchemist sword-smith duelist!

 

[Hand of Evil]

What I would do is mod/create a template PrC that would give you the power of the pattern, those who walk it change into something more. The characters up to them may have plusses but nothing major.

As for conflicts, create power blocks - talk to your players to find out that they are interested in and together define ideas, laws, other places. This is things the players will support.