Amber Clichés

[Tarion'sCousin]

What are the Amber gaming clichés? For campaigns, one-shots, or any Amber game.

I'm just going to rattle some off. Feel free to disagree.

1. Brand returns from the Abyss
2. Dalt attacks
3. Benedict is a Chaosian
4. Osric and/or Finndo is alive and well and living near the Courts of Chaos
5. Barimen holdings still thriving in Chaos
6. Flora is secretly a man (just checking to see how closely you are paying attention)
7. Oberon isn't really dead
8. Corwin's Pattern is screwing things up
9. Re-invasion by the Moonriders of Ghenesh
10. Everything important happens in Shadow Earth

What else?

[jibbajibba]

What are the Amber gaming clichés? For campaigns, one-shots, or any Amber game.

I'm just going to rattle some off. Feel free to disagree.

1. Brand returns from the Abyss
2. Dalt attacks
3. Benedict is a Chaosian
4. Osric and/or Finndo is alive and well and living near the Courts of Chaos
5. Barimen holdings still thriving in Chaos
6. Flora is secretly a man (just checking to see how closely you are paying attention)
7. Oberon isn't really dead
8. Corwin's Pattern is screwing things up
9. Re-invasion by the Moonriders of Ghenesh
10. Everything important happens in Shadow Earth

What else?

Dworkin in a fit of clarity has realised the Universe he created is flawed and he decided to erase it and start afresh

A faction of the Church of the Serpent breeds a race of demons that are able to copy the appearance of people and they inflitrate Amber copying Elders and PCs alike

Rinaldo finds that he Blue crystal can do a lot more than just hide things in travel it can be used to interconnect elements of Pattern and act as a conduit. He forms a complex plan to link the various Broken patterns that circle Amber to form a meta pattern ring, an Uber Pattern construct witht eh ability to manipulate even Amber itself

An NPC descovers that Shadow storms are due to a fundamental flaw in Shadow substance, something akin to the flaws seen in Broken pattern except these hairline cracks permeate all of reality. Using advanced computer techniques combined with Sorcery he creates a Meta construct engine that can exploit these gaps and release shadow storms into Shdows for him own benefit

It turns out that all of reality is a trump construct. The Universe is in effect the outcome of an interference between the Pattern and the Logrus, both Abstract Trumps. An NPC has learnt this and through applicaiton of abnormal advanced Trump artistry they find they are able to exit this construct and enter real reality



I am sure I have other old humbugs like these

[AshenHaze]

Its funny how many of these I've done.

An elder, either a reincarnated Eric, or Bleys takes the throne of Amber away from Random.

Merlin creates a construct of some kind that must be dealt with.  (Ghost Wheel or some variation there of)

[finarvyn]

I remember someone once posted some review of Shakespeare and said that he was surprised how cliche Shakespeare was. My reply was simply that it wasn't cliche when Shakespeare did it!

Keep in mind that cliches were original once. I think that many of us used a bunch of those ideas early on, and later we heard that others used them as well and we started thinking about them as tired, old ideas.

At the time they seemed fresh, and if you start a group of first-time Amber players they will seen fresh again!

[RPGPundit]

Exactly.  Most of these are "cliches" because they are either directly extrapolated plot hooks from the novels themselves, or because they were ideas Erick Wujcik was throwing around in the game books.

RPGPundit

[RPGPundit]

Oh yeah, and you forgot possibly the biggest one: "Caine faked his death (again)!"

RPGPundit

[AshenHaze]

Hey!, I don't think I've ever had him do that!  Yay!

I had Caine fake Julian's death once in a game that took place instead of the 9 princes of Amber.  In that game Eric and Julian had had Dierdre blinded rather than Corwin, and Dierdre's children took vengeance by doing the same to Julian.

The whole game was meant to be reminiscent of the corwin saga, but slightly different.  Probably the most fun Amber game I've run to date.

[Evermasterx]

I am using this plot in my current campaign:
Some millennia ago, Oberon chased Finndo and Osric to the edge of the world, near the Abyss.
There he defeated both, but Finndo promised to disappear forever in his personal shadow to have his life spared. Osric instead keep on fighting and Oberon threw him in the Abyss.
Benedict was there, hidden by some rock, watching, but did nothing.
Osric, as a shapeshifter and a sorcerer, managed to survive in the Abyss and began to take control of that power through the centuries, loosing his sanity day after day (I used here what Erick wrote in Opening the Abyss for Brand). Osric, in fear of Oberon, was waiting for the right moment to take revenge.
One day Osric saw to bodies falling in the Abyss: Brand and Deirdre. Brand managed to stop the flowing of the time for him and for her sister using the Jewel of Judgment: then the Unicorn came to take it.
Then Oberon died and his body was led to the Courts, passing above the Abyss. Osric saw everything and began to plot.
Next time the Jewel will sink into the Abyss, the Unicorn will come and I will kill her with all the power and the creatures of the Abyss!
He contacted via his Abyssal Messengers both Finndo and Corwin, with this message: "I am Brand, I live, and I can give you back your beloved sister and brother, Deirdre and Osric, if you bring to me the Jewel: I need it to do that. Then I will give you back the Jewel and will disappear. You know I am wounded and can't sustain a fight with the two of you."
Finndo felt guilty to have run away in fear for his life and Corwin, he always loved his sister too much. They agreed to do what requested. And used my players for obtaining the Jewel...

[Tarion'sCousin]

Keep in mind that cliches were original once. I think that many of us used a bunch of those ideas early on, and later we heard that others used them as well and we started thinking about them as tired, old ideas.

At the time they seemed fresh, and if you start a group of first-time Amber players they will seen fresh again!

Exactly.  Most of these are "cliches" because they are either directly extrapolated plot hooks from the novels themselves, or because they were ideas Erick Wujcik was throwing around in the game books.

I'm going to be running a game for a long-time experienced group of Amber players. I want to incorporate every cliche they've encountered.

The game will be somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

[RPGPundit]

Another reason most of these are "cliches" is because in gaming terms, they work.

RPGPundit

[Typhon]

Another reason most of these are "cliches" is because in gaming terms, they work.

RPGPundit

Aye, that they do. I've been playing in a Amber campaign for about 5 years now (housebarimen.net for some logs and extremely bad fiction from the last year's worth of sessions!) where we play the children of the senior members of the family, and I can pretty must honestly say that almost every one of the original plot devices mentioned (apart from the Fiona is a man one, she's much scarier in ours, she actually cares for the younger members of the family) has been used by the GM

I've lost count of the number of ways we've actually killed Brand, and still the bastard comes back. (plus in our campaign, he's got a borderline psychotic daughter)

Best,
D.

[RPGPundit]

That's a nice long campaign if those 5 years have all been the same game, Typhon.  Kudos to you.

RPGPundit

[Typhon]

That's a nice long campaign if those 5 years have all been the same game, Typhon.  Kudos to you.

RPGPundit

I only joined in the third year, but its been going on in one form or another weekly for at least 6 months of the year or so, every year for that time. Until now, as the GM has decided that his new babies have priority over us. Bah and humbug I say!

Best,
D.

[Croaker]

Wow, that's great! I wish you to keep playing for a loooong time!