I've started up a play-by-email campaign using the DRPG rules as a base, although I've house-ruled a lot of things. For one thing, I've created my own dice system (heresy, I know! ;) ) for it, but it's invisible to the players. Also, for all intents and purposes, *if* it's actually in the Amber universe, it's inside Corwin's Pattern, and any visitations are a very long way away.
I started it low power (50 pts) and made Trump, Logrus & Pattern and their derivatives unavailable. Why did I even use the DRPG then, you are probably wondering? Three reasons: 1) I've always liked the idea of maybe running Amber some day, 2) I'm a long-time player, but not a lot of GM experience, and 3) it is very flexible for a play-by-email game. And because it's very dice-light, there's no need for the players to worry about any of that. I handle it all on my side and narrate the results.
The players don't even know what game system we're using. I asked them to tell me their character concept, and we built it together, one piece at a time. I didn't want them to be influenced in their character design by knowing it was the Amber system. Kind of like, if I told them I was using the James Bond rules, they'd all have made spies, even if the campaign wasn't intended to be that. I didn't want the characters to be directly influenced by the Amber books, especially since we're not interacting with anything obviously Amber.
I also had each player give me a villain concept. Between the PCs and these villains, I am building my story arcs.
And, finally, the actual question that brought me to this forum:
One of the villains is a Moriarty-style, behind the scenes manipulator. I was wondering if I needed to spend the points for this NPC to create the criminal organization? And if so, how? I thought the Agents of Benedict would be the best model for it, but I haven't figured out the math behind them costing 65 points. Each Agent has 20 points available, using what appears to be a custom point-buy list. Multiplied by 3 for Horde quantity, equals 60. Where does the extra 5 come from? Confer?
Thanks,
TMO
Keep in mind that the concept of character points is designed to put some measure of balance into the campaign; particularly so that PCs are roughly equivalent to one another and one strength goes with another weakness. If you create a Moriarty-style villain you don't need to create him/her in the same way that characters are created because there is no need to "balance" one bad guy against a whole group of characters.
Make him/her the way you want and don't stress over the points.
By the way, I would be interested in seeing what you did with the dice mechanic. I've run Amber as a pure diceless game and with some dice at various times and am always curious as to how others do it.
Probably true, but as a semi-inexperienced GM, the points helps me judge how much of a threat something is in advance (supposedly).
The dice system is made up from whole cloth, and really only works because it's invisible to the players. It's meant as a GM tool, so that it's not by my whim when a character with a worse skill manages to get a lucky break and land a hit on a superior opponent. Over the long run, of course, the better skilled should win.
There are a couple of parts to it. I have it set up in a spreadsheet with formulas and macros so that I just have to refresh the sheet for a new comparison to come up.
Stats: The stat being compared (usually Psyche or Warfare) for each person. At the moment, if there's more than one person on a team, I add them up. I've only used this once though so far, when a smuggler was rolling to avoid a blockade set up by two patrol cars (each with a 3 Warfare, so it added up to 6, vs his 11).
Skill: Another homebrew. Each character has 100 pts to spend on any skills they want. They never get more points, but as the campaign goes on, they can shuffle points. In effect forgetting an unused skill to learn a new one. It's basically the percentage of their interest and attention, and you can never have more than 100%. The example I use is that I used to know Photoshop fairly well, but haven't used it in years. My skill points from Photoshop have been moved to other interests.
Karma: How many Good or Bad Stuff points do they have, and am I burning a point to modify this roll? I'll explain this one later.
Environment: On a scale of 2-10, how chaotic is the environment the contest is taking place in? 6 is 'normal'. 2 is extremely chaotic, like in the middle of a pitched battle, with people moving all over the place. 10 is no distractions. The more chaotic the battlefield, the better the chance that something random might help out the lesser skilled. But, also the higher skilled has a better chance of just completely overwhelming them.
How does this all come together?
Stat + (Stat * Skill%) = # of dice being rolled. So a 10 Warfare + 10 Guns = 11 dice (10 + (10*10%)). Entirely possible to have a 0 skill for the situation. If a necessary skill is not one I think can be used untrained, I can choose to give a negative skill.
Environment = size of dice being rolled, from d2 to d10.
Karma: if I'm using up a Good Stuff point, roll twice, take the better result. If I'm using up a Bad Stuff point, roll twice and take the worse result. My decision when to use their Stuff, typically at important moments. As an arc goes on, they'll tend towards Neutral Stuff. Once an arc is finished, all spent points are restored.
This system has not been extensively tested yet. As the campaign goes on I may have to tweak things.
On to my next question, I guess. :) Thanks, btw, for taking the time to read these and answer my questions!
I'm looking at High Compelling from Shadow Knight. One of the campaign villains has that ability, and I want to be able to use it so that they can hand out items that can try to compel the carrier into doing the villain's wishes. It's not an overpowering compulsion. I'm using one against a PC right now, and I've just had it give them a dream and an unpleasant attitude for a day. But from a points and stats perspective, do I need to do anything further than buying a Horde of Items (x3) with Psychic Contact (1) and Compel (1)? (Compel is not listed in any of the books, but I figure it's roughly the same as being able to rack a spell.)
Would it make sense that Compel (1) would allow only a single command, while Compel (2) would allow up to 12 simple statements, and Compel (4) would allow a complex statement, with logical decisions (if this, or that, etc)? And the Psychic component would determine how strong the device is? 0 = Weak, 1 = Chaos, 2 = Amber, 4 = Creator's Psyche? With an absolute limit of the Creator's Psyche, so that if they had less than Amber, a 2 would be worth that much instead.
Opinions, feedback?
Thanks!
Quote from: Master TMO;963667Would it make sense that Compel (1) would allow only a single command, while Compel (2) would allow up to 12 simple statements, and Compel (4) would allow a complex statement, with logical decisions (if this, or that, etc)? And the Psychic component would determine how strong the device is? 0 = Weak, 1 = Chaos, 2 = Amber, 4 = Creator's Psyche? With an absolute limit of the Creator's Psyche, so that if they had less than Amber, a 2 would be worth that much instead.
I think your numbers sound pretty solid. The key with Compelling is that it should be subtle (which you seem to have addressed) and should have a scale by which it can be resisted (which you have also worked out). I like what you have done here.
Two more questions, both semi-random:
* I'm guessing it's not, but is it possible to hide this thread from public searches? I wouldn't want any of my players to find it by accident. 0:) They might learn too much.
* I've always been curious about Constructs. I don't plan on using any in this campaign, so this is just curiosity on my part. The rulebook has costs for purchasing them, but nothing describing what the players can do with them. Is it a case of 'they can do whatever the players dream up for them?'
No way to hide from searchers, at least that I have found.
I think that the key for Constructs, like all elements of ADRP is to remember that it's all about the points spent. If you buy a sword, you pay for it but may lose it. Constructs work the same way. You invest points into the thing and what the player can do is highly based on the point totals, but then the Construct can almost become an NPC without being controlled totally by the player.
I think that Erick liked to leave some of this stuff vague on purpose because he didn't want to guide players too much, instead giving a few little hints and letting his players run with it. The more rules, the more it ties up the hands of the GM.
Quote from: finarvyn;964467...but then the Construct can almost become an NPC without being controlled totally by the player.
Damn Ghostwheel...
Damn you for being so neato.
Hey TMO, maybe you can give us an update on your game and how your dice rules worked out for you.
Sure!
It's been pretty slow-paced, although that's been partially by design. I'm giving myself plenty of time to think about my responses before making them. There have been times I've just forgotten to respond as well, but that's sometimes come from the players as well. I've reached the stage now where I'm starting to respond faster now, so hopefully things will speed up a bit, although it'll never reach 'fast' speeds.
8 players started character creation, 7 finished.
I started each PC on their own, rather than in a group, as practice for everyone. 2 players dropped due to being too busy, 1 because he didn't enjoy the 1-on-1 call-and-response style. If his character is ever in position to join other PCs in group play, he might rejoin. Amusingly I was in the middle of joining him up with one of the other players when he dropped. But the other player was one of the ones who dropped due to being too busy.
Of the 4 players left, play appears to be going fairly well. 2 PCs are in the same location, although at different points in the timestream. I'm about to do a timeskip/montage for the one earlier in time to bring him up to the same time as the other. I'm also going to give him 2 plot coupons, that he can turn in and say 'during the timeskip, I did *this*' and have it apply. Whether he'll use it to cache gear, set up bombs, I don't know. ;)
Most of the play has been simple RP so far, not a lot of dice yet. One player has done a brief melee combat with 2 NPCs. I'm not sure how well the dice system worked, it wasn't very conclusive or clear. I'll need a few more of those before I'm sure. Another player is about to the final confrontation of his plotline, so there will be dice rolling and combat if it goes the way I foresee it.
Thanks for the update!
I've been thinking for a while about a randomizer for the game. Not so much for conflict resolution but for the actions of the NPCs, especially the elders. I haven't managed to try it out in a game yet, but my thinking is to do a trump reading for all the elders before the game starts and after every chapter then have the results influence what the NPCs do. Kind of like assuming that the edler Amberites are smarter and more resourceful than any GM so the cards can force me to think of new cabals and actions that I wouldn't be able to dream up on my own.
A Trump reading sounds interesting, if you're experienced with those.
Short update: one PC has discovered that cooking off area-distraction spells inside a moving vehicle while Dierdre (shadow of, copy of shadow of, or just modeled on her) is driving is a bad idea. She tends to be armed and not respond positively to Light and Thunder spells going off right behind her head.
Another PC is about to start a car chase with the antagonist of his starter story. Here's the method I'm using to resolve it:
- The stat used is Warfare.
- Both drivers have a Driver skill, so their stat is being buffed a bit by that.
- Their health and the health of their car can reduce the number of dice they have.
- The target car is 15 car lengths ahead of the PC. If the target can get to 30 car lengths, they escape.
- They'll divide their attention between 3 options: Speed, Attack, Defend.
- - Each success the PC gets over the target's Speed roll brings him 1 car length closer, while the target can pull away if they score more Speed successes.
- - Attack and Defend are for car-vs-car combat, ramming, bumping, etc. Although I will probably give the target a way to attack remotely, maybe every 2 successes in attack lets him put something in the way of the PC (skidding another car into the path, for example).
I have to say that your car chase example seems pretty complex for an ADRP campaign. Typically what I do is to choose a stat (probably Warfare would work, but maybe Strength since it represents most things athletic) and compare to the other guy's attribute. Factor in type of cars involved, any particular experience in driving (of any) from previous adventures, and then make a ruling.
If I want a randomizer I'd be tempted to use a single die roll (maybe 2d6 or fudge dice) to put in a modifier to the above.
Oh, it's absolutely too complicated for long-term usability. ;) This is the testing and experimental phase of the dice system. I'm trying things out, seeing what works for me, what doesn't, etc. Then when I get some more experience I can start streamlining things so they work better and cleaner.