Hi Folks,
I have created a digest of the Amber sessions to date. The first two synopses were on the board "Next few weeks". I have also attached files to help with character and magic item creation.
Suggested experiance per session is 1 to 3 points.
Stav and Burg can each have 6 points for the last three sessions.
Stav can have a bonus point to spend his sub-shadow bar. Unless Stav uses addtional points from experiance there are only two options. A communication barrier which will restrict communication and some forms of access. Additional control over the contents of the bar such as being able to prevent invaders using certain items.
All game contributions count towards experiance. If you have a drawing of your character, shadow, a bio of your character or any other contribution you can earn upto 5xp per contribution. Most awards especially post character creation will be lower between 1 and 3 points.
GM Hint:
The top powers for finding specific items or people in shadow by cost are; Items, Conjuration, Trump, Pattern, Logrus, Advanced shape shift, Advanced Logrus. As you are looking for a specific item or person you will need some link to the item or person. The more tenuous the link the longer you will need to look and the easier it is to avoid the search.
If your link to a person or item is weak Pattern is the best all round power based on cost reliability and speed. The other powers just take longer and are less likely to achieve what you want.
Regards
Pericles
27th July 2016
I have long wanted to play Amber but may have to settle for being GM. Technically I have over 20 years experiance as a GM but that is only because I managed a stint at Uni over 20 years ago. I have attached the players section in word format and can email the full pdf including GM sections if anyone is interested.
players section.docx (267.48 KB)
There are two fixed points in the universe: The Royal court of Amber location of the Pattern; The Royal court of Chaos location of the Logrus. Except for a small number of island realities everything else is Shadow. Shadows are created by the interplay between the Pattern and Logrus. Each shadow is a different universe, whether each shadow exists or is created by someone imagining it and travelling to it is undecided. For all practical purposes a Shadow exists because someone with the power to travel between shadows makes it real by passing through it. Players in Amber literally create worlds by thier actions.
As there are only three players we will need to forego the Attribute auction and make some other ammendments. If you want to play Amber you will need to design your character by writing a page containing your character concept, history, powers, attributes, items and shadow.
Free Stuff
Concept - Anything you want including fantasy and sci-fy beasts. Yes you can be a dragon or dinosaur. Yes I am being serious. A humble ancient dragon from DnD is underpowered in this game.
History - You have all of the skills associated with your chosen history and if old enough be highly proficient in all your skills. If you have been a Benedictine monk for the last 1000 years you can meditate, pray and do little else. If you have adventured you will have more options. If you want leadership skills or streetwise fast talk options write them into your history. If you do not have the appropriate background you will not have the skill.
Stuff with costs. You have 100 points, spend them wisely.
Powers - There are five groups of powers Pattern, Logrus, Trump, Magic and Shape shifting. Each set of powers is described in the attachment.
Attributes - This is where people normally go completely wrong and the attribute auction helps them get it wrong. I am being kind letting you choose attributes. Each attribute contributes to different forms of combat. You need them all. Combat is based on rank of attribute rather than value. If you have a higher ranking you are probably going to win.
Items - Save some points for special effects. You will need items if your forego powers.
Shadow - Very useful as you can populate the shadow with all your desires and any goodie you can think of. The trouble with goodies are those troubling adventuring guilds who regularly raid your shadow for your goodies.
Credit and Debit - You do not need to spend all your points. Good stuff happens to characters in credit. Bad stuff happens to characters in debt.
As a GM I am always open to bribes and you can earn extra points with a decent concept and history.
28th July 2016
Part1.rtf (856.3 KB)
Part2.rtf (861.68 KB)
Amber Rule book. Hopefully you can read the whole thing now.
1st Aug 2016
Our heroes BiRG (Big Renaissance Giant) and Stav R'kul were destined for an easy life. Both had been born into connected families within the Courts and had every advantage a budding noble could hope for. Family close enough to the seat of power to have influence. Family far enough from the succession to avoid the pointed and often poisonous barbs of politics. Our gentlemen were educated in Politics, Etiquette, Combat, Trade, Arts, Theatre and Magic. Surprisingly both managed to keep their proclivities sufficiently hidden that only minimal objections were raised when they were deemed old and responsible enough to walk the Logrus. In public the parents and older generations frowned upon BiRG and Stav's misdemeanours of youth. In private both sets of parents took pride in the signs of independence and saw only good things to come. Who could not forgive the follies of youth and it was utterly unsurprising that after walking the Logrus BiRG and Stav absconded at the first opportunity to explore Shadow. In common with parents from shadow Earth having Teenagers leaving the nest, the parents of the courts were happy their children were out of sight and could get into trouble without embarrassing them.
Many years went by and then a stranger appeared in the courts. Family politics were stirred: Big wins, high influence, a New Golden age. Then the stranger had the bad form to deliver on his promise by Creating the Black Road. An easy way to travel shadow for the masses. An opportunity to regain the Eye of the Serpent of Chaos. Families hungry for prestige and the spoils of Shadow rushed to join the Crusade.
Our story begins at the end of the Back Road at the foot of Mount Klovia. BiRG and Stav R'kul have been drafted by their families into battle. BiRG stands 60ft shouting orders to his troops. It is unclear whether the troops (commoners and lesser beings) are running to battle for the glory of the Courts or to avoid BiRG's mighty feet. Stav leads from the front charging ahead of a berserker horde of Crynos form Were-Wolves. The tide is clearly in favour of the Courts and an easy victory over Amber is assured.
Fate turns.
Suddenly there is gun fire. Amber has called on its reserves and unleashes automatic and tactical weapons against it's foe. What began as an assured victory becomes a rout. Our hero's are wounded and forced to flee. The Black road home is besieged before our heroes can get to it's safety. While hiding and recovering from wounds the first sign of trouble is a light breeze. The wind starts to increase, storm clouds gather. This is no ordinary storm. Soon it starts to hail. Lizards, reptiles and deformed creatures fall from the sky. A Tornado appears over Castle Amber. The tornado touches down and engulfs everything it touches, feeding on the very fabric of reality.
Our heroes recognise the Tornado as a pure manifestation of Chaos and attempt to escape, and Fail.
Everything is grey. It is like living in a black and white movie. It is Tir-na-nog. Awake and unable to summon the Logrus our heroes finally meet. In the week before the full moon our heroes recover, find the pattern, wisely test walking on the pattern before attempting suicide and learn to appreciate grey. Strangely neither needs food or water. On the night of the full moon Tir-na-nog appears over Amber. BiRG and Stav escape Tir-na-nog in bird form. Once back in normal shadow BiRG and Stav must fight ravenous hunger. With great effort they avoid swooping down on the first prey they can find (small children) and head into Arden. After glutting themselves Stav summons the Logrus and pulls BiRG to his home Shadow.
Home is different. Stav was last seen around 300 years ago. Around 100 years ago a military force has invaded and brain washed the populace into providing tribute. (Time should flow a little faster than Amber but not by much.) The invaders are using advanced technology. (No technology should exist or work.)
Stav immediately set in motion plans to regain his shadow by using his magic and connection to his personal shadow to spy on the invaders. A pre-emptive strike launching a lava flow up the nether regions of the majordomo failed when the majordomo detected the invasive magic. Within seconds the majordomo realised the mirrors were being used to spy on him and ordered all mirrors smashed.
9th August 2016
After the direct approach failed Stav briefly considered stepping through the invaders portal and tackling the cause of his problems at its root. However portal magic was at the heart of Stav's Pressurised Lava spell and stepping through a portal to an unknown destination could end in a quick death. Undaunted Stav and BiRG decided on a more subtle approach by gathering more information about the invaders. Whenever Stav and BiRG started plotting mega-death the invaders started getting jumpy and clearly had access to some form of danger sense.
Stav went into deep meditation and used the Logrus to passively eavesdrop on troops. Whenever a trooper received an order Stav would jump to the next host. The plan was very successful until Stav jumped to an officer. The officer was clearly a sensitive and kept checking whether he was being followed. The last jump to a Doctor ended in disaster. The Doctor recognised his mind being invaded and through up a barrier ejecting Stav. Stav retreated to the officer and using the Logrus pulled him to the Dragon Cave.
Meanwhile BiRG got to know the Dragons and more about the new Masters. It was clear the Dragons were in Thrall to the new masters but the mechanism was unclear. The ancients had left the world and Stav a relic of folklore. The masters were much more generous and freely gave of their approbation. To be approved by a master was a wondrous and highly coveted honour.
Stav was clearly happy with his new toy and immediately broke it by cutting off its arm. This was one of Stav's better choices. The arm was bonded to bio-techno-magical device with multiple spells and powers embedded within it. The device ran on a liquid fuel having the signature of the magic of shadow. Alarmingly the device had a self destruct. Even more alarming was the kidnapped officer had a second device grafted to his spine. At his point BiRG made a crucial observation. All of the dragons possessed similar though smaller grafts. Stav was oblivious in magic heaven and wanted to know everything about the bio-techno-magical artefacts he has discovered. Pride cometh before the fall and Stav inadvertently primed the self-destruct on the spinal graft.
BiRG departed for a nearby shadow while Stav tried to extricate himself. The self destruct contained a dead man's switch and simply running for shadow could easily set the device off. With no other option Stav used a defensive shield spell to encapsulate the bio-techno-magical device and set it off. The explosion was impressive, shattered the defensive shield and threw Stav across the Dragon Cave. The Dragons did not react to the explosion rather they were still and silent as statues. An alien presence had invaded each dragon and was watching Stav.
A perturbed and injured Stav retreated to shadow to find BiRG to discuss tactics. After a brief search BiRG and Stav found each other. BiRG repeated his observation about the Dragons having a graft similar to the officer. Stav was overwhelmed with a memory of of an adventure in the Many Coloured Land recounted many tales of Felice, Aitken Drum, Mark Remillard, Fey beings and Torcs.
8th March 2017
After a tactical withdrawal from Stav’s shadow to a fishing town somewhere in shadow having incredible food and a sufficient touch of rough urban chique and menace to satisfy Stav and Burg’s mood, the pair tucked into a welcome repast. While the food and atmosphere met all expectations the insect life was unusually attentive. Most animal life and certainly insects have sufficient instinct to avoid intruding apex predators such as shapeshifting nobles of chaos. After being fed on by the locals both Stav and Burg were on edge. As a precaution both shifted harder skins and scanned the area with Logrus sight. Stav quickly identified a menace spying on them from an upper room. Forgetting to communicate Stave grabbed the bottom half of the spy and attempted to pull the observer through the wall. Meanwhile Burg lashed at the upper half of the observer. Predictably the observer was torn in half decorating a large area with blood.
The threat level receded for small period of time before more assailants arrived. The new arrivals were poorly prepared and attired in designer distressed clothing rather than distressed through wear and tear. Being on heightened alert Stav and Burn automatically shifted to combat forms. While the assailants were stronger than your average shadow born they were small inconvenience and merely feints for tranquiliser darts. Hardened skin prevented the attack and the true threat revealed.
Stav and Burg immediately switched targets to the gentleman with an air rifle and bio-magical tech console on his arm. Unfazed the gentleman raised a wall of force and retreated into shadow taking all evidence of the attackers with him. Stav attempted to trace the small rifts caused by magical teleportation using Logrus but had insufficient skill for the task.
A longer and more convoluted tactical retreat followed to the high magic shadow Begnar. At the end of the journey Stav and Burg took the precaution of checking for magical tracers. Both Stav and Burg had been infected with parasitical fungal growths. Direct use of magic or the Logrus against the parasites provoked a defensive reaction which drained the victim. A disastrous shapeshift to a water elemental allowed the parasite to deeply penetrate Stav.
The parasite was eventually destroyed using a combination of an anti-magic zone to starve the parasite and shifting to magma to burn the parasite. The excessive measures destroyed several buildings by fire, killed many shadow dwellers and rendered Stave and Burg unconscious.
Burg recovered first having had a lesser infection and found herself restrained by a shadow magic containment field. Barely inconvenienced Burg Logrus stepped to an empty room, located Stav and pulled him from his containment. While chatting and Logrus lifting fashion items from near by retail outlets and residences a mysterious woman stepped through a portal into the room.
The woman was clearly a sorceress of some distinction and fine training. Logrus sight revealed a mystical veil floating in front of her face laced with true magic spells. The sorceress welcomed the travellers and extended an invitation to dine with her master Balthazar. Noting the destitute appearance of Burg and Stav the sorceress directed Burg and Stave to the hotel Maifayre where a valet would be provided to cater for their needs and run interference with the locals.
Slinking off into shadow with the least possible civility, our larcenous and rude nobles convene in the truly stunning Bar Europa, a favourite of the racing elite in Stav’s shadow. Situated far beneath the icy surface of Europa the cavernous Bar Europa is double tiered for racers and dragons alike. The under surface of the Europa ice sheet is artificially lit and forms the sky.
Surprisingly the Bar had been shut down and placed in stasis. Many drinks, reminisces and plans later Burg and Stav began their offensive. Cryptic messages were posted to the aether. Nature was co-opted to spy on the intruders. And then …