Alice Moonflowyr Posted November 10, 2014 Report Share Posted November 10, 2014 [spoiler=Original Post]So, for those of you who know me pretty well, I've probably mentioned Amber a few times. Maybe by one of the titles of one of the books like Nine Princes in Amber or Guns of Avalon. Or maybe you're a really cool person and have already read the epic saga by Roger Zelazny. Either way, the story of Amber, along with its beautifully constructed universe, has always been of great interest to me. And then I stumbled upon something great. The Amber Diceless Role-Playing Game, a set of rules published by Erick Wujcik that lets us explore the world of Amber even further. I've always wanted to try doing that on here, but I was afraid it wouldn't garner enough interest. But screw it, I'm giving it a shot anyway. [spoiler=What is Amber?]Okay. I know that barely anyone knows of Amber, so this is where I clear a bit of that up for you people that haven't read it. In the words of Erick Wujcik, here is a very good summary of Amber. In the beginning there was nothing at all. Then there was Chaos. A spinning, complex maelstrom of change, Primal Chaos. Pure destruction, pure fury, the essence of change. At the fringes of Chaos, where it interacts with the great Abyss, the remnants of the original nothingness, are small regions of habitability. Shards of worlds, shreds that are not stable, but constantly changing, appearing and disappearing. Into these primal fragments of reality came life, and then sentient life. Only Shape Shifters can survive in these places, those who can continually adapt to ever-changing worlds. And the Shape Shifters formed the Courts of Chaos, and they learned to tame the Logrus, the representation of Primal Chaos, and use it as a tool. They discovered arts and powers, including Magic, the casting of spells, and Trump, creating artistic images used to communicate between worlds. They are the Lords of Chaos, they were masters of the universe. Were, until, for some unknown reason, one of their number rebelled against them. He is named Dworkin. Dworkin somehow found, forged, or stole a very special artifact. A device of unknown properties called the Jewel of Judgement. With the blessing of the mythical Unicorn, against the violent raging of his elders, Dworkin remade the universe. He inscribed a force that opposed Chaos. In his own blood Dworkin drew, or wrote, or conjured, the Primal Pattern. The Pattern was an imposition of a different kind of power onto the universe. Where all is fluid and changing near Primal Chaos, order and stability dwell in Pattern realms. Between these two great symbols, of chaos and order, of Logrus and Pattern, there came to be an infinite number of Shadows. Each a possibility, a different mirror image. Each Shadow, an entire physical universe, is a reflection of the Primal Pattern, but each is unique, each warped in its own special way by the distant fluctuations of Chaos. Surrounding Primal Pattern is a region of great power. And, following those apocalyptic days, it came to pass that a kingdom was formed, to be named Amber. Its ruler, King Oberon, son of Dworkin, initiate in the ways of Pattern, fought wars, built a dynasty, fathered heirs, and founded a Castle, known also as Amber. Oberon had sons and daughters, each of whom had a measure of their father's power. In each was born the power to walk the Pattern. These Princes and Princesses of Amber, each carry in their veins the blood of Amber. Having walked the Pattern they can move through the Shadow universes, and shape Shadow itself, to their own ends. Theirs is the power of life and death, creation and destruction. And then the children of Oberon bickered and fought among themselves... Was it because they were chlidren of a rebel's child? Or were they manipulated, set one against another, by their father? We'll probably never know. They plotted against each other, and their father. And one of them even dreamed of remaking the universe. That evil, or insane, brother calculated the the Primal Pattern could be erased. He predicted the blood, the blood of any of Oberon's children, or Oberon's children's children, could be used to black out the Pattern, damage it, and ultimately destroy it. With the original Pattern gone, it would be possible to draw a new Pattern, a Pattern more to his liking, a Pattern where he would have absolute power. For the full story, you'll need to read Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. Suffice to say, the evil brother did not succeed, the Pattern was restored, and the threatening forces of Chaos were beaten back.[/spoiler] The ADRPG, Amber Diceless Role-Playing Game, is designed to let you take control of the sons and daughters of Oberon's children and to go where your heart pleases you. The way the ADRPG works is after your character is created, you are to choose where you start, whether it be out in Shadow, the Courts of Chaos, or in Castle Amber herself. You will have absolute control over your actions. This RP will work very differently from what you are used to. [spoiler=IC and OOC]In a normal YCM RP, there is an IC thread and an OOC thread. In the OOC thread, you discuss the IC thread. In the IC thread, you go off of the latest post and move the story along a bit with your character(s), with the GM popping in with their charachter(s) to move the plot along themselves. But it was always post-by-post, with not a whole ton of inter-character interaction outside of the posts themselves, and even then, it's awkward. The ADRPG will work differently. There will still be the two threads, as normal, but a vast part of the RP will take place in a Skype group chat. Two, actually. An IC one and an OOC one. Because, see, the ADRPG is much more focused on how you act with your fellow RPers, your environment, and making choices to do so. IC posts on YCM will be coordinated between players after hashing out details with each other and the GM, myself, and IC posts will be made to further the general story. But to gather enough info to create these IC posts, a D&D like interaction will take place in the IC Skype chat. You dig? To explain, a chat in the IC would go something like this. I address your character, let's name them John. I would fill you in on the bare-bones basics of your situation. Let's say you're at your house. "Alright John," I say. "You're at your house. What room are you in and what are you doing?" Now you fill me in. Details. Finally, I'm satisfied with your description. "Suddenly," I shout "the door to the (insert room) bangs open and a winged figure rushes you with a knife! It's no bird, even though it has large feathered wings. The body has a human shape, and is possibly female. What are you doing?" Now things are left up to you. Gather information, grab a weapon, grab a Trump, run, or whatever. You tell me what happens, I tell you the results. Rinse and repeat. Once you feel this has gone on long enough, you make an IC post that is a little more detailed than our interaction, including the thoughts of your character, minor details that are unimportant, and so on. Flesh out the bones of what we discussed in your IC post. But that's when you're interacting with me. When you interact with another character, interact with them as if you were actually in that situation. For example, lets say John is clinging onto a cliff, about to fall off. He calls for his cousin Lacey using the Trumps, which, if that wasnt clear, are a special means of communication between the sons and daughters of Amber. You, as John, would say something along the lines of. "Lacey!" I shout. "I'm in a bit of a bind right now, care to lend a hand?" Now, the player controlling Lacey has a few options. Do they save John? Do they bargain with him? Strike a deal? Or do they let him fall? This is just like the interactions between you and the GM, except you're simply dealing with another player. Once you two have sufficiently interacted enough, go into the OOC chat and wring out the details of your individual IC posts. Again, flesh out the posts to be much more detailed than the bare-bones roleplaying of the Skype chat.[/spoiler] Now, lets say you just read all that and you're just sitting there scratching your head. Trumps? Shadows? What? So I'll give you a quick list of keywords and the rundown of what they mean. [spoiler=Keywords used in Amber]Trump - A tarot card with artwork depicting a certain character on it. By studying the trump, one can initiate a mental contact with the depicted person. The two can then step through the Trump, with Person A going to the location of Person B, or Person B going to the location of Person A. One can also launch a mental attack through a Trump. Contact via Trump is ended by moving ones hand over the card. Shadows - Each Shadow is its own universe. Characters with the ability to Shift Shadow can move through these shadows, adding and subtracting whatever details they wish to design their perfect universe. Provided no one interferes, of course. Pattern - The Pattern is hard to define. The physical embodiment of the Pattern is in 3 places. Castle Amber, the underwater kingdom of Rebma, and a spiritual place known as Tir-na Nog'th. In each place, the Pattern is inscribed on a massive section of the floor in a special place, and those of the blood of Amber may walk the Pattern. Walking the Pattern is no easy task, but once completed, the person may teleport themselves to anywhere in the known world. Whether that be somewhere in Amber, the Courts of Chaos, or somewhere deep in Shadow, they can go there from the center of the Pattern. More will be added as necessary.[/spoiler] [spoiler=Character Creation and How That All Works] Each character is created using 100 Points. How you spend those points is up to you, but they are divided into 3 distinct catagories. The first is the Attribute Auction, where you bid points to rank yourself among the other players in the four attributes of Psyche, Strength, Endurance and Warfare. The second is Powers, where you spend points to give your character certain Powers, like that of Pattern, or Trump, the ability to draw magic pictures. The third is spending your points on various items, pets, shadows, and other various knickknacks your characters can have. Also, this RP is going to work differently from others on this front too. Instead of posting a character application, all you need to do is say you wish to join, and voila. You have joined. Once all the slots are filled, then the real character creation starts.[/spoiler] NOTE This is a very, VERY bare-bones, basic description of how this RP will work. Ask me questions and I will give you answers, and I will list these questions in the OP. This RP is going to have a maximum number of 5 people in it, along with me as the GM. http://www.scribd.com/doc/94126259/Amber-Diceless-RPG This is a PDF of the official published rules of the Amber Diceless Role-Playing Game. I highly suggest perusing it. So yeah, what do you guys think. Post with questions, post saying you're interested, whatever. [spoiler=Questions and Answers]From Kazooie: I am currently on my phone , so I can't look at the entire thing yet, but I just wanted to say that this is a really, really interesting concept. Even if I don't know what Amber is yet, I'm pretty interested just from how this would work. Kinda curious since I know nothing, but what kind if things would interfere with someone walking the Pattern? :'o Answer Walking the Pattern is already a pretty huge ordeal, so any large distraction is sufficient. They could be pushed, shot with a bow and arrow, anything to make them stumble off their path. However, anyone not of the blood of Amber stepping on the Pattern usually gets incinerated, so that's something. In the books, the main character Corwin actually got into a swordfight whilst walking the Pattern. The trick is basically to never step off the path, and if you do, you're kinda screwed. [/spoiler][/spoiler] So, I don't really know if I need to do anything special when turning an Interest Check thread into an actual OOC thread, so I just put the original post in a spoiler and I'm just gonna put a normal OOC setup here now. Thing is, this RP differs a LOT from normal ones, so this is gonna look a bit odd. [spoiler=Rules of the RP]1. I have final say. On everything. IC and OOC. You do not contradict the GM. Or rather, you can, but don't expect it to go well. 2. One character per person. Obvious, considering the method of character creation. 3. No salt. This RP will have betrayal, conspiracy, and backstabbing galore. I don't want to hear of any OOC salt. 4. Be active on Skype, as the skeleton of this RP takes place there.[/spoiler] [spoiler=Character Creation] Special case scenario. After the Attribute Auction, all aspects of a character are secret, and the property of the characters owner, who may divulge that information as he/she sees fit. However, the following details are mandatory and public. Name: Absolute Age: Personality: At least 2 paragraphs. Appearance: At least 2 paragraphs. Other: These will be profiled in the OP, however Attributes, Powers, and other such things are private and will not be displayed.[/spoiler] [spoiler=Cast of Characters][spoiler=Blue Amoongus's Character][/spoiler] [spoiler=Lord CowCow's Character][/spoiler] [spoiler=D I G I T A L's Character][/spoiler] [spoiler=Giga's Character][/spoiler] [spoiler=Lolilord's Character][/spoiler][/spoiler] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kazooie Posted November 10, 2014 Report Share Posted November 10, 2014 I am currently on my phone , so I can't look at the entire thing yet, but I just wanted to say that this is a really, really interesting concept. Even if I don't know what Amber is yet, I'm pretty interested just from how this would work. Kinda curious since I know nothing, but what kind if things would interfere with someone walking the Pattern? :'o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted November 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2014 I am currently on my phone , so I can't look at the entire thing yet, but I just wanted to say that this is a really, really interesting concept. Even if I don't know what Amber is yet, I'm pretty interested just from how this would work. Kinda curious since I know nothing, but what kind if things would interfere with someone walking the Pattern? :'o Walking the Pattern is already a pretty huge ordeal, so any large distraction is sufficient. They could be pushed, shot with a bow and arrow, anything to make them stumble off their path. However, anyone not of the blood of Amber stepping on the Pattern usually gets incinerated, so that's something. In the books, the main character Corwin actually got into a swordfight whilst walking the Pattern. The trick is basically to never step off the path, and if you do, you're kinda screwed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kazooie Posted November 10, 2014 Report Share Posted November 10, 2014 Oh, I derped! xD It didn't register as an actual path you walked to me even though it pretty clearly states that. I'm going to have to look at this series sometime, this is pretty interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted November 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2014 Yeah, its a pathway that you walk that gets increasingly difficult the further you get. But stopping or stepping off the Pattern usually ends in bad things, however backtracking is possible if you aren't a derp. And I highly recommend reading the books, as they are really freaking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kazooie Posted November 10, 2014 Report Share Posted November 10, 2014 How exactly are the Trump cards obtained? Do they have to be crafted and have a spell put over them, or is there some kinda of mental-emotional thing that has to happen between two people? If this is answered in the PDF, I'm sorry, I'm just started the introduction now. ;-; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted November 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2014 As a Prince/Princess of Amber, you start out with a full deck of Trumps, containing the trumps of the Elder Amberites, along with all the other PCs. Players that choose to spend points on the Trump ability can create their own Trumps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 Okay fine fine you win, I'll give it a try..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kazooie Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 As a Prince/Princess of Amber, you start out with a full deck of Trumps, containing the trumps of the Elder Amberites, along with all the other PCs. Players that choose to spend points on the Trump ability can create their own Trumps. Aaah, that makes sense, good to know. :'D If, for some reason, you can't get enough people interested, I'll keep this in mind for sure, cause it's really unique and certainly a fresh idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted November 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 I only need 3 more people, although I could get away with 2. So I hope it wont be too hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
вєgσттєη ιηѕαηιту Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 I am in. I still have to read more indepth but this sounds cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted November 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 YUS! 3 out of 5 people! Sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(GigaDrillBreaker) Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 That was the 8th advertisement. Guess I am on board, as promised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted November 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Sweetness. Now I just need one more person! Time to go bug people to come join! =D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolilord Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 Well I am not a Yugioh player, I am a MTG veteran, but every once in a while I take a stroll through YCM just to see how different the two games are. And now I find this. Well, since I'm pretty sure this doesn't actually have anything to do with Yugioh, I count myself extremely lucky to have stumbled upon this topic. While I don't have time this moment to go over the complete rules, I plan to tonight, and I will say this: I have done something of this sort before, only it was an in real life dice-less conversation role playing me and a friend came up with. I'm still trying to rap my head around some of what you said about Amber, but I think I'm getting the basic story. I'll save my questions until I have thoroughly examined the post and the rule book to make sure I don't ask anything that has already been answered. This feels rather awkward... I'm posting in a Yugioh forum for the first time without knowing anything about the game, and the post has nothing to do with the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted November 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 As long as you have a Skype, you're in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Amoonguss Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 This sounds interesting. Do you mind if I join in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted November 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 Yep! That closes it off, we're full now. WHOO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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