Amber DRPG sans Zelazny

[Panjumanju]

I hope not to be tarred and feathered for this, but I was curious about how the Amber DRPG system would work if I kicked out Roger Zelazny. So, I retooled the system to fit another science fiction author, A. E. Van Vogt. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._van_Vogt. It's not much of a modification - I just had to switch out the Powers and change a few terms to fit the theme. Otherwise, Erick Wujcik's system works out remarkably well without Zelazny.

Although he was not Zelazny's contemporary, I chose Van Vogt because his main subject was superhumans, and his plots always had similar conspiracy and twist elements as Zelazny's writing.

I'm four sessions into running a game of this, and although it is less parallel-dimensions and more space-opera, I feel it still retains the feel and strengths of the system.

//Panjumanju

AEVV Space Amber, Powers & Changes to the Amber DRPG

These are the rules for a science fiction roleplaying game based on the novels and short stories of Canadian golden-age SF giant A. E. Van Vogt. Its structure is based on the Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game by Eric Wujcik, with only a few modifications in nomenclature, and replacement of Zelazny’s book’s Powers for Van Vogt’s book’s Powers.

Statistics: The game Statistics of Strength, Endurance, Psyche, Warfare, remain the same. The levels of the Statistics change in name only from Human, Chaos, Amber to Human, Meta-human, and Superhuman.

Artifacts & Creatures: These are renamed “Inventions”, and adjust according to theme on agreement between Player and GM. The rules for Constructs remain the same, they are simply different Inventions.

Shadow: Instead of the development of a “Shadow”, the PC has a secret base, laboratory, even entire hidden planet.

Allies: Clearly, an ally in the Courts will do no good in A. E. Van Vogt’s space. Allies change in the following ways: Ally in Earth Government, Ally on Venus or Mars, Ally in a galactic Empire (50 Suns, Isher, Pan-Galactic), Ally in the Weapon Shops, Ally in a secret society of your own, or one not of your own, from among: Dellian Robots, Mixed Men, Null-A, Silkie, Slan, Tendrilless Slan, or the The 35 Toti-potents.

Powers Summary
The average cost of Powers is greater here than in the Amber DRPG proper, encouraging players to drop their statistics below Superhuman level, to allow for a more varied play experience. There is slightly less reason for back-stabbery and betrayal in this variation of the system, so competition between Stats does not suffer for the variety of Human, Meta-human and Superhuman.

Immortality, 20
Mixed Men, 50
Nexalism, 25
Null-A, 25
Null-A Mastery, 40
Ptath, 65
Silkie, 50
Slan, 40
Space Ship, 20
Toti-potent Cells, 30
Toti-potent Mastery, 30
Weapon Shops of Isher, 35

Notes on Psyche: Using AEVV’s Powers, a Psyche vs. Psyche fight, or “Contest of the Minds”, or “Battle of the Minds”, is much more like a Warfare battle of melee weapons, with most of the Powers providing psychic weapons and defences. This represents a change in play style from Amber DRPG.

Immortality      20
From “The House that Stood Still”, aka “The Mating Cry”, 1950, one of AEVV’s middling works.
A human with mutated cells such that he no longer ages, an Immortal is also immune to most minor sicknesses and diseased that would interfere with good health. During immortality, he is in peak physical condition at age 35, but must still eat and sleep normally. An immortal receives injury as their human ancestors and may still suffer a violent death. Only a human may take on immortality. It is not available to a Slan, Ptath, Silkie, or Toti-potent.


Mixed Men      50
From “Mixed Men”, aka “Voyage to the Stars”, 1952, one of AEVV’s major works.
In the far future, primitive transporter technology had a side effect – gradually ridding the passengers of all creative thought, and replacing it with superhuman strength, endurance, and sincere logic. Thus they became known as the Dellian Robots, a slur after the man who developed the trans-matter technology, Professor Dellain. The Dellian Robots were driven from Earth and sought refuge among the stars, founding the “Empire of 50 Suns”, only 50 inhabited worlds spread over several thousand systems, so to hide from the Earth Empire. Many sympathetic humans followed the Dellians, known in the “Empire of 50 Suns” as Non-Dellians. Rediscovered by Humans 1500 years later, the Earth Empire seeks conquest of the Dellian Robots, an idea born not of racism, but that they cannot abide independent government. The only hope the Dellians and Non-Dellians of the Empire of the 50 Suns have is that when they felt Earth, Dellians and Non-Dellians were unable to breed. Due to the uncreative but highly intelligent minds of the Dellian Robots, society in the 50 Suns did not advance technologically over this 1500-year period – with one exception. The invention of the cold-pressure system allows Dellians and Non-Dellians to create a new species…the Mixed Men. Unknown to the Empire of Earth, the Mixed Men are the last hope of the hidden Empire of the 50 Suns. Dellian Robots are startlingly handsome and perfect specimens of their sex, and have passed this onto their children, the Mixed Men – or Mixed Women, as well as their Superhuman strength and minds, but the offspring also have some unexpected powers.

Two Brains: The Mixed Man does not truly have two brains, but has a double protein molecule in each cell of his brain, whereas humans have only one. The Mixed Man can “switch” brains, between his emotional-primal monkey brain and his logical Dellian Robot brain. Because of this, a Mixed Man will never fail a lie detector, because he can always switch brains to an appropriately skirting response. This also provides Mixed Men a mind shield against psychic attacks, forcing a contest of the minds.  

Three Dimensional Hypnotism: Having greater brain power, the Mixed Men can use the power of their two brains to take over someone else’s one brain. The subjects of the mind control are not limited in numbers, but the Mixed Man must be able to concentrate, must be near the subject, must make eye contact, have the subject’s attention, and may only take control of mind at a time. Control must be upon someone who does not know the Mixed Man. The method of control is done telepathically over a short distance, and so requires no vocal component, but the argument ‘planted’ in the subject’s brain must be sensible. It must appeal to the subject’s reason on a sub-logical level, and cannot contain major contradictions, even as it may contain minor logical fallacy. Stronger brains will resist control. Once control is established, it is easy to maintain. Control is lost if the Mixed Man suffers injury, becomes unconscious, or is otherwise greatly distracted. When freed from control, the subjects will come up with excuses that seem logical to them, to account for the lost time.

Secret Society: The Mixed Men hide in great numbers in unnamed cities buried deep underground in uncharted planets among the Empire of 50 Suns, waiting for revolution. They communicate using secret written code, known only to them. It is impossible for a non-Mixed Man to break this code, because it uses the two parts of their brain simultaneously. The existence of the Mixed Men is secret, and further: the Empire of the 50 Suns (including the continued existence of the Dellians who fled civilized space 15, 000 years ago) is a secret to the other Empires of the Galaxy, most notably the Earth Empire, the Empire of Isher, and the conglomerate of Empires comprising the League (including the Greatest Empire).


Nexalism   25
From the novel “Voyage of the Space Beagle” 1950, one of AEVV’s major works.
The science of Nexalism is the understanding of the connection between all known subjects of information. Only the Nexalist is able to combat the over-specification of a particular intellectual subject, because only she can look at the totality of the issue knowing all subjects, and find a complete solution. Nexalism is the ultimate science, and a proponent of its methods is considered an expert in every area of human knowledge, from hard sciences like Physics and Chemistry, to soft sciences like Cultural Anthropology, Hypnotism, and Literature. The only limit to her understanding is that her knowledge only extends as far as the advancements in the field of study from which her information derives. The only new information a Nexilist assumes is derived from the connectivity of other subjects. Due to Nexalism’s variable nature, in the mechanics of the game, Inventions made by Nexalisms are treated under the standard Amber rules for Complex Conjuration, with two exceptions. One, the Nexalist must work in adequate working conditions for one day per Point of the Invention created. Two, the inventing process requires adequate tools and parts, such as one would find in any outer-space science laboratory.  This process can be accelerated to sacrifice quality-control, if the Nexalist wants to risk it blowing up in her face after one use, not working the way it was intended, or not working at all. Unless it blows up, Inventions constructed are permanent, because they do not have to worry about moving Shadow to Shadow, as in the standard Amber setting.


Null-A   25
From the trilogy “World of Null-A” (1958), “Players of Null-A” (1956), and “Null-A Three” (1984), two of which are AEVV’s major works…the other one isn’t so great.
The philosophy mind training of Null-A – or, Non-Aristotelian - has come to dominate large parts of human society, including an extensive enlightened secret colony on terraformed Venus. A proponent of Null-A is exceptionally sane, as her training allows her to control every aspect of her nervous system. She may suffer no shock nor surprise on a physical level, and rarely shows physical signs of fear. She is not emotionless, but has control of her emotions. This provides a mind-shield against Telepathy or Mind Control, subject to the power of her mind. The Null-A proponent has learned how to balance her cortex and thalamus, the emotional and logical parts of the brain, so she is not ruled by one or the other.

Pause: Harmonising the logical cortex and the emotional thalamus, the Null-A proponent can engage in a cortical-thalamic pause to regain control of her nervous system. This action relaxes her body and prepares her mind. It can be used to shrug off psychic control, deconstruct shock or pain to the nervous system, of cease panic.

The Games Machine: The base of Null-A activity is in “Machine City”, South America, Earth. There resides the “Games Machine”, the evaluating computer that tests all applicants in their knowledge of Null-A for one month of the year. This month is the “Lawless Month”, where there are no police or other law enforcement officers in the city. The Games Machine accepts submissions from all over the world. The greatest winners of the games are allowed to join the colony on Venus. The winners below them become the ruling class, running the portion of Earth controlled by Null-A. The Games Machine can always be counted upon as an ally of proponent of Null-A, or anyone determined to advance Null-A goals, however it has certain restrictions, such as an inability to harm human beings unless first attacked. Machines trained in Null-A are sane, motivated and intelligent in a very conversational, human way. Like Dellian Robots, the Games Machine lacks creativity, but is accustom to coming up with logical and intuitive ways to accomplish its objectives.


Null-A Mastery      40
The great mystery of Null-A is realised by very few – those who have been able to develop the extra organ ignored in all humans, the “second brain”, a nerve cluster located just below the brain, which is a actually a highly developed organic Distorter and can be used in the process of Similarising.

Nervous Master: A Null-A Master has such control over her nervous system that she can sense the nervous system of others, the level of complexity apparent in those systems and their condition. She may also sense what amounts to technological nervous systems, such as those found in complex electronic brains. In addition, Null-A Masters sense power conduits, energy flow, and power outlets as an extension of the mechanical nervous system.

Similarising: Null-A teaches that all things are different, but Distorter technology and its organic equivalent of a secondary brain teaches that if two things can be brought into twenty decimal similarity, the larger object will seek to fill the space of the greater – believing them to the same thing, as space and time are relative. Effectively, this is psychically powered object teleportation.

Memorisation of one location or object takes 30 seconds of concentration. This can be done from a short distance away as well as up close, but requires the visual component. Automatic processes can be pre-arranged, so long as their conditions for activation are personal. For instance, “Similarise to this pre-determined location if I feel afraid”. Energy can also be Similarised. If she memorises power outlets that charge can be redirected into an energy blast. Only one thing may be Similarised at a time, but multiple automatic processes may exist. Each location and object can stay memorised for just over 26 hours.

Travelling distances with Similiarisation is not instantaneous. The object or person is converted in location at approximately 9 times the speed of the fastest starship or a mechanical Distorter. Time still passes while the process is underway, but the Similiarised object or person has no sense of the time passing.

Back-Up Bodies: When a Master of Null-A is killed, she awakens in the body of one of her clones. Using the same principal as the second brain, and adhering to the General Semantics of Null-A, no matter how far away the clone is she awakens with all the memories of her previous incarnation. These clone bodies are placed in locations by some unknown galactic chess-master. It is seemingly impossible to know their motives in the galactic ballet of cosmic forces. If ever the Null-A Master dies without there being another body to inhabit, they will die utterly.


Ptath      65
From “The Book of Ptath”, 1947, one of AEVV’s major works.
He whose strength is unlimited, who tires not, and knows no fear. Ptath is the thrice greatest of the Gonwonlane, a god at the end of human time beyond the year 200 million A.D., who has chosen to distribute his being into time. This is the Ptath’s plan to better understand humanity - to invest his god-mind and share the body of a human in different incarnations, from the beginning of humanity until its end, when he reincarnates as himself again. Player characters with the Power of Ptath are a reincarnation of his god-form as it makes its psychic journey through history. During his ‘travels’, any of the Ptath’s bodies are mortal and aging. As the character develops, they rediscover the greatness of the Ptath on his way to the next incarnation.

Project Essence: The primary power of the Ptath is inhabiting the bodies of others. The Ptath may project his essence to control a body of the same gender. The host body must also be someone the character has not met, but may be human or animal, living or dead. If the character has met the intended host, then they engage in a contest of the mind. Extending the soul out of the Ptath’s body leaves it vulnerable and without attack. It enters a sleep-like trance until the essence of the Ptath returns.  When searching for a body to inhabit, the Ptath essence can sense water, but is otherwise blind. The essence passes through physical objects without knowing them, and can sense only relevant bodies. There is no way to detect the presence of the Ptath in the body it inhabits. The Ptath may read the surface mind and immediate memory of the host body. The body is under the complete control of the Ptath god-mind until the Ptath leaves, and when it does the host body retains no memory of the experience.  

Poles: The Ptath god-mind anchors its powers in two people of the opposite sex. These characters are known as “Poles”. The Poles orient the godpower for its journey through humanity. The player character does not get to pick their Poles, they will be assigned by the GM, however the player is given several clues to their identity. They must be of the opposite sex as the Ptath’s host body, and they must hate each other and/or be opposed in some way. The Poles draw on the Ptath’s powers, granting them both immortality, each the ability to Project Essence, and when working together the ability to interrupt the Ptath’s progress by summoning him through time and space. The Poles are implanted with 7 hypnotic suggestions to guide the Ptath through trials (see Spells) regardless of the Poles’ own plans or desires. They may not be aware that they are helping the Ptath, but in every incarnation they will aid him to regain his godpower.

Spells: Upon fulfilling each of the seven trials presented by one or both of his poles, the Ptath character gains in godpower. The trials are also interpreted as spells to break. Upon breaking all 7 spells, the Ptath regains all his godpower and moves on to the next incarnation in time. Though the spells are the same in each incarnation, the Ptath has no memory of them each time, which is part of why he depends on the Poles and their hypnotic conditioning.

Godpower: These are the many skills of the final incarnation of the Ptath, which he must gain each time in each human form. The Ptath already has power to superhuman levels in his Strength, Endurance, Psyche and Warfare because of the prayers of his devoted, who use a metal Prayer Stick. Only the prayers of the opposite sex count towards the godpower. These powers that grow as the Ptath undergoes his trials. As well, he may gain additional powers with each trial endured. For instance:

·   Teleportation through space, guided by water. Can transport his physical body great distances, but only over water. In the next instantiation of this godpower, the Ptath may do the same but with a passenger.
·   Transport through the past by moving through parallel points in time, slowly, but with the help of a Pole can move quickly up to a maximum speed of 200, 000 000 years.


Silkie      50
From “The Silkie”, 1969, one of AEVV’s minor but fun works.
Shape-shifting space-cops recognised by all major interstellar authorities, Silikies are genetically engineered superhumans prepared for any environment. The Silkie have no standardised law code – their rule is law, although they still must be accountable to the Silkie Authority. Though Silkies have only existed for 100 years, no Silkie has ever died a natural death. Their estimated lifespan is 1000 years.

Transformation: The cells of his body quickly expand and manipulate to change the state of the Silkie. Transformation between states takes approximately five seconds, and is a Silkie's time of greatest weakness. A Silkie is capable of three states, A-Skilkie: Human, B-Silkie: Aquatic, and C-Silkie Space-faring. The human from is the smallest at close to six feet, with the Aquatic from next in size at 7 feet, and Spacefaring form after at 10 feet in height.

B-Silkie: Even the most rudimentary Silkies (known as V's, or “Variants”) have a B-form, or an 'Aquatic Form'. Variants prefer this form as the most natural state. Around seven feet tall, this form is stronger and more agile than the Human form, or A-Silkie. The B-Silkie form is conditioned for water, complete with gills, webbed hands and feet, and the eyes required for low-light vision. The body is capable of withstanding most earthly pressures while maintaining a great agility. In appearance is alien-like and it resembles sleek scaling, like the “Guyver”.

C-Silkie: Often referred to as a “Full-Grown Silkie”, “Full-Silkie” or simply the “Silkie” form, this is the space-faring form, a ten-foot tall barely mobile bony and steel-hard chitinous casing. The skin can withstand and pressures and vacuum of space, and allow a Silkie to travel the stars. It has no limbs, but a shape of them, and has no orifices or sensory devices other than the Silkie’s normal energy manipulation powers. The C-Silkie state resembles a pink crustacean-like sarcophagus.

Line of Force: Silkies telepathically emit an invisible “Force Line” – a connection of energy to the subject of their Logic of Levels or Energy Manipulation. Establishing this Line of Force is limited by perception and weakened by distance. This line may be used as a carrier wave for any kind of energy, or to draw any kind of energy out from the target of the line. A Line of Force may only have one target, takes a moment to initiate, and is the requirement for any subjective Energy Manipulation, and the use of Levels of Logic.

Energy Manipulation: A Silkie in any form is capable of channelling energy, including absorbing, re-directing, or shooting. This is least potent in human form, and most potent in full Class-C. Energy Manipulation is necessary for space travel, where a Silkie is constantly bombarded by strange radiations, interstellar dusts and small space objects. Tied in with this is a Silkie's extra-ordinary level of sensory perception, with 184 common sensory organs rather than a human average of 5, including the ability to measure heat and radioactivity by sight. A Silkie may intercept and interpret television, radio and inter-stellar space message broadcast signals by the use of these extra senses. Other uses of Energy Manipulation include: To be undetected by robotic sensors, limited control over other energies such as Magnetic and Gravity, a raw energy blast, to channel chain lightening, a personal defensive or offensive (like an electric eel) body shield, and barriers to certain radiations or forces of energy.

Logic of Levels: In their role as space-faring police, a Silike is granted a weapon of the mind. If used correctly, the enemies of the Silkie find themselves caught in self-amplifying feedback from their own instincts and desires. To perform this, a Silkie must establish a Line of Force to their target then choose some inner logic of the subject to amplify. The Silkie chooses a concept assumed by the subject as an instinct, an unconscious must, and manipulates that deeper logic to use against them, by the suggestion of pictures and sounds, trapping them in a self-destroying delusion. The Silkie initiates a feedback loop for one particular sense of logic – for instance, the requirement for sleep, or food. Logic of Levels is a form of Energy Manipulation, and requires proximity and attention. The closer the object of the Logic of Levels, the more potent it is. A Silkie must win a contest of the minds in order to achieve a feedback loop. The more complex the organism, the more difficult this process is to realise.

Silkie Authority & The Special People:  Humans live in relative harmony with Silkies, but have put a few measures in place for keeping tabs on their super-powered betters. The Silkie Authority is comprised mostly of Special People – humans with no distinguishing trait other than the ability of Silkie-only planet-spanning telepathy. To one of the Special People, a Silkie's mind is an open book. All Silkies have one official contact among the Special People associated with the Silkie Authority. This human may hand out missions, but usually just fields the Silkie's reports and makes recommendations to the Silkie Authority on the Silkie’s behalf. The Telestar technology of the Silkie Authority is especially attuned to this Line of Force, allowing telepathic communication between a Silkie and their Silkie Authority Special People Agent whenever a Telestar satellite is in range.

Silkie Procreation: A Silkie enters a mating cycle every nine and one half years. During the mating period, the Silkie is trapped in B-Silkie state for two months, then in human state for an additional four, and is unable to use their powers of energy manipulation. Traditionally, mating is when any grievances brought on the Silkie by their policing actions are brought down upon them by the Silkie Authority, and so this time is treated as a kind of performance review. The penalty for abuse of power is death.

A Silkie is only permitted to mate with one of the Special People. Mating among Silkies is forbidden. A Silkie does not keep his children. They are rendered to the Silkie Authority to be raised. Most Silkie children are Variants, or “V's” and not capable of full Silike powers. Variants spend most of their time in B-Silkie form, unable to maintain A or C for more than a few hours, if they are even capable. To be able to attain the A-Silkie (Human) form is special among Variants, known as “Breathers”. Energy Manipulation is also rare among Variants. Variants have full family units and are not restricted to the Silkie mating cycle. Vs are hostile towards Silkies mostly due to jealousy, and the fact that Vs are considered unfit for service. The rare Silkie child is a full-Silkie, and trained by the Silkie authority since the authentication of their state to be the law of the galaxy. Even rarer is the full-Silkie offspring (more common in forbidden matings between two full-Silkie) that has mutated to express greater powers of Energy Manipulation, or perhaps more stranger or more fantastic powers. These mutant Silkie are destroyed immediately by the Silkie Authority. Any Variant Silkie children showing signs of mutated abilities are similarly destroyed, but Variants must seek the ruling of a full Silkie and have them carry out the sentence.

Sometimes a space-cop’s job isn’t easy.


Slan      40
From the novel “Slan”, 1946, possibly AEVV’s greatest work.
Human hysteria has it that the Slans were created by Dr. Samuel Lann, who put his children through a mutating machine to make the first Slans, and that successive Slans are created by stealing human babies and repeating the process. This is human propaganda! In fact, a Slan is a natural mutation into a superhuman stage first recognised by Dr. Lann, but that is not what the humans think. Under the leadership of human President of Earth Kier Grey, a Slan is to be shot upon recognition of the golden tendrils on the back of her head. Government employed Slan Hunters under the direction of chief Slan Hunter John Petty search the world for tendril scalps. Players have the option of being a true Slan, or one of the Tendrilless variety, incapable of Telepathy but unknown to humans.

Anatomy: A Slan has a two hearts. Between them they are the same size as a human heart, but together they are stronger to the extent that a Slan cannot suffer heart failure, and the greater blood flow process combined with a greater understanding of her nervous system accounts for her superhuman statistics. The other minor differences between Slan and human internal anatomy are not distinguishable by standard medical scans, except one. The most prominent distinguishing marker for a Slan is the golden tendrils on the back of her head, granting her telepathy and superhuman intelligence. The tendrils are hair-thin at birth, and thicken into a dreadlock width as the Slan ages during her average lifespan of 150 years. Though she cannot regrown appendages, Slans have increased healing capacity, recovering from most moderate wounds in half an hour.

Eidetc Memory: A Slan possesses a perfect photographic memory. She is capable of reading whole books at speeds only limited by the strength of the pages while flipping them, or retaining in perfect detail several sheets of information only glanced at, and recognising people and faces with uncanny skill.

Mind Shield: A Slan is well trained at guarding their thoughts and she can resist any intrusion or control into her mind at an advantage.

Telepathy: A Slan is capable of broadcasting her thoughts to others and receiving telepathic messages from even non-Slans, carrying on conversation in real-time. Further, she can cast open her tendrils to full thought awareness of every mind in range. Resistance to a Slan’s telepathy is a contest of the minds. In pairs or groups, Slan can also use their Telepathy to influence a weaker mind by planting suggestions or warping perceptions. These telepathic powers are limited by a range of 30 to 60 feet, relative to the power of the Slan’s mind.

Tendrilless Slan: In an attempt to avoid persecution, many hundreds of years ago Slans developed a tendrilless off-shoot of their race, to ensure survival with the removal of their most distinguishing feature. Humans have no knowledge of the existence of the Tendrilless Slans. Because they do not have tendrils, the Tendrilless are incapable of Telepathy, but otherwise have all the advantages of a Slan. The Tendrilless have their own political identity, and a scientifically advanced society on Mars, preparing for the invasion and destruction of all humans upon the Earth. Unfortunately, the Tendrilless are also at war with their racial parents, the true Slans. The Tendrilless remain ignorant that the suppression of tendrils will pass in a few generations – it is starting to happen already, but all they suspect is some Slan conspiracy. Eventually, the Tendrilless will cease to exist, but can they destroy humanity before this happens?


Space Ship      20
From “Voyage of the Space Beagle” (1950), “The Mixed Men” (1952), and countless others.
Every Empire in space has their own vast space-navy. The survival rate of a space ship is not high – a human ship in exploration of the galaxy has only a 50% chance of returning home again. One of the greatest dangers in space is weather – the thousands of miles wide interstellar storms that sweep through space, both destroying and redistributing the seeds of life to populate barren planets. To command a vessel among the dangers of space is no easy task. A Player may choose their position on the ship, but the ship’s allegiance in the greater politics of space – be it part of the Fleet of Imperial Earth, in the Empire of the 50 Suns, or another group entirely – must be worked out with the GM to fit the story.


Toti-potent Cells      30
From “Changeling”, 1967, one of AEVV’s minor works.
A human left to die of their injuries, slowly and without medical attention, has the possibility of arousing inside them Toti-potent cells, and awakening from their injury with all limbs regrown, as a healed and young superhuman.

Healing: Whenever an injury or wound would be fatal or disfiguring, instead or repairing cells the Toti-potent body creates entirely new cells, replacing the old body to create a new 35 year old without grey hair, scars, or muscle problems. Recovery from complete death from physical injury takes one week, and an amputated limb takes two weeks to regrow. The disadvantage is that the completely healed Toti-potent awakes with no memory, and no knowledge of the truth of her existence.

Even without suffering fatal injury, a Toti-potent undergoes rejuvenation every 35 years.  There are a limited number of rejuvenations, combined of natural cycles and violent deaths, and there is no way of knowing how many. At some point, the Toti-potent, instead of undergoing revival, just dies. Toti-potency is not hereditary.

Toti-potent Blood: With an injection of the same blood type of Toti-potent cells, the recipient gains the rejuvenation power of the cells, returning to age 35 if beyond, and suffers no loss of memory. All Toti-potents have AB negative blood.

Great Invention: For every life cycle, when under great emotional pressure such as the fear of death, a Toti-potent is capable of making one great invention. Using common found objects, she can construct nearly any device. For instance, a Toti-potent in prison awaiting trial could disassemble a radio to construct a ray beam that will shine like a flashlight destroying all inorganic matter in front of it and tunnel her way out of prison. The invention still costs Points in game-terms, but the materials and assembly time required is negligible. If a Toti-potent is killed before they can make the invention of that cycle, it is gone forever. When entering the next cycle, she has no memory of how she constructed this amazing thing.


Toti-potent Mastery   30
There is an organisation of only 35 other Toti-potent mutants, dedicated to reminding each other of their history whenever one of them suffers the cycle of renewal every 35 years. They have great storehouses of past inventions, the inner workings of which are all forgotten.  Training with the organisation for a time grants advanced techniques, only available if the Toti-potent has already been through at least a few cycles. The Toti-potents also develop a simple mind shield in this training.

Memory Download: A Toti-potent master can download the knowledge and entire memory of weaker minds and review that information in only a few seconds, but only for human subjects of the same sex. Those downloaded cannot be personally known to the Toti-potent.

Mind Suggestions: A Toti-potent master can make suggestions to appeal to personal logic, and the subject must obey. There must be a verbal component involved in the mind suggestion, and opposition is resolved with a battle of minds. Mind shields defeat the Toti-potent’s mind suggestions almost out of hand.


Weapon Shops of Isher      35
From the novels “The Weapon Makers” (1947) and “Weapon Shops of Isher” (1951), two of AEVV’s major works, and some of the most critically acclaimed.
The store appears out of nowhere, and the glowing sign upon it reads: “Fine Weapons”, then, “The Right to Buy Weapons is the Right to be Free.” In the display window is an array of guns, rifles, small arms and a little sign that reads: “The finest energy weapons in the known universe.” For generations the gunmaker’s guild has existed in this age of devastating energies as the common man’s only protection against enslavement. The building itself is indestructible to harm against any known weapon, energy or otherwise, and its interior looks like some kind of space age hardware store. The shop’s rectangular door is closed to all military, police and government officials, otherwise anyone may enter, and buy a gun.

Guns: The guns of the weapon shop are the most powerful in the galaxy. No guns may be fired in aggression or murder. Weapon Shop guns can only be used in self defence, which in itself is somewhat subjective. They are keyed to the individual, so no one may use the gun of another. Every gun generates a personal energy screen that can withstand up to the force of an atomic cannon. The screen offers no resistance against clubs, spears, bullets, or other matter. The gun must be in hand for its energy screen to be in effect. However, the gun draws on mind control and, upon the slightest alarm, leaps to its owner’s hand at greater speeds than can be seen. How much do they cost, do you ask? Well, using the Shop’s Information Centre, they always know exactly how much money you have, and will always charge exactly what you can afford for the right to be free. One gun per visit. Analysis of need by the Shops is done on a case-per-case, need-per-need basis. No ammunition needed. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Politics and Courts of the Weapon Shops: Secretly founded and run by the immortal man Robert Hedrock, the Weapon Shops have set themselves up as a balancing principal in civilisation, not in opposition to any government. The credo the Shops is that “People always have the kind of government they want.” The Shops will endorse no steps that contravene the law. However, they offer a secondary legal procedure available to all customers and members of the Weapon Shops. The Shops keep a comprehensive “Information Centre”, a database of all human’s histories. It may take a while in line, but a case worker will hear your injustice and rule on behalf of the Weapon Shops. The Shop’s resources, such as the guns, and matter transportation technology far in advance of the rest of the Isher and galactic civilisation, are available to exact their justice.

There we have it. Let me know if you decide to use it for a strange, spacey game of Amber.

[RPGPundit]

Fascinating! I'm not actually familiar with the author you chose, but its a very interesting set of twists.  Maybe you've got the makings of a Clone game there!

RPGpundit

[finarvyn]

My initial response was going to be to start warming up the tar and ripping open the feather pillows. Then I read beyond the title and actually read the post. Cool.

1. I have not read the Null-A series, although a friend in the 1980's highly reccommended it to me.

2. You have put some great thought into this, and I like the way you've written it all up.

Sadly, since I haven't read the series I can't attest to the accuracy of your model, but I like the way it reads.

I've also run some ADRP games with settings not Zelazny (Dresden Files, Star Wars, Middle-earth, Barsoom, generic scifi, and others) and I agree that the system works great for those as well. The secret (to me) is that you have to select a setting which is more cinematic than gritty. ADRP isn't designed to count bullets or sword thrusts or hit points. It's designed to run exciting storylines which are larger than life. Big heroes doing big things. Then it works just fine.

[Arref]

As a fan of the original works and the ADRPG, my compliments on a good summary and nice translation.

[Sydius Mendoza]

World of Tiers by Phillip Jose Farmer would be a good candidate for something like this as well.

[Panjumanju]

World of Tiers by Phillip Jose Farmer would be a good candidate for something like this as well.

I have that on my shelf, yet-to-read. I've read "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" of his and liked it very much.

In what way does the setting of "World of Tiers" lend itself to a Zelazny-like gaming structure?

//Panjumanju

[Sydius Mendoza]

In what way does the setting of "World of Tiers" lend itself to a Zelazny-like gaming structure?
//Panjumanju

In so far as Zelazny cited it as a direct influence on the Amber series. God like beings that create their own worlds and scheme against one another. The protagonist starts off unaware of his true nature. That sort of thing.

I've only read part of the first book in the series, but it was rather good. Lost the copy that I had (e-book) and haven't had a chance to pick up a hard copy yet.

[jibbajibba]

World of Tiers is a great fit - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Tiers

Also by Farmer Riverworld is a good fit.

Aside from that -

Historical games set in Ancient Rome, Rennaiseance Italy etc where schemes and plots are the nature of the game - you don't need superpowers to run Amber you need intrigue.

Superheros - if you can add the intrigue factor so more Planetary than JLA

Obviously Zelazny's own Jack of Shadows and Lords of Light and I think These were touched for Lords of Gossamer and Shadow.

Vertigo comics stuff specifically Lucifer with various lords of heaven and Hell vieing for power and control, but also an Invisibles game with teams of powered inviduals taking on a super bizarre sub plot.

And as it came up a couple of weeks back The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, multuple dimensions, powerful exceptional agents dowble twists and the like.

Plenty of stuff out there.

[RPGPundit]

I think what you need setting-wise to support the mechanics is:

1. A game where the PCs are generally much more powerful than the typical person in the world.
2. Something where there are strange and wondrous powers, including things capable of allowing you quick transport all over the place.
3. Multiple realities or levels of reality.
4. A setting where its not implicit that the PCs all work together, and possibly where it is implicit that the PCs can be in competition with each other.

I think these four are basically in order of importance, too!

RPGPundit

[jibbajibba]

I think what you need setting-wise to support the mechanics is:

1. A game where the PCs are generally much more powerful than the typical person in the world.
2. Something where there are strange and wondrous powers, including things capable of allowing you quick transport all over the place.
3. Multiple realities or levels of reality.
4. A setting where its not implicit that the PCs all work together, and possibly where it is implicit that the PCs can be in competition with each other.

I think these four are basically in order of importance, too!

RPGPundit

That is a good summary of the Amber DRPG but no I don't thnk you need 1-3 at all.
I have played a Star wars using Amber diceless with Warfare, force, Technical and Pilot as the attibutes where the PCs were all bounty hunters searching for a rogue rebel agent.

I have played a game in Rennaisance italy where the attirubutes were, Warfare, Guile, Political Influcence and Religion were the PCs were members of the Medici's (guile didn't work very well by the way).

And others

None of these were campaigns just couple of sessions but they had Ambers feel and in none were the PCs superhuman, had magical powers or access to different realiites. They all had a far more similar feel than playing games with your 1-3 setting requirements using different systems.

[Panjumanju]

I have played a game in Rennaisance italy where the attirubutes were, Warfare, Guile, Political Influcence and Religion were the PCs were members of the Medici's (guile didn't work very well by the way).

That sounds amazing. Perhaps something like "Espionage" may have worked better? Even so, it's a really great premise for a roleplaying game.

//Panjumanju

[RPGPundit]

You might be right about number 4 being more important, jibbajibba.

RPGPundit

[finarvyn]

While you don't "need" superpowers to make ADRP run, I think that you need to have exceptional characters and not just "average joe" types.

The problem is the lack of randomness.

If characters are amped up compared to the general population it's easy for a GM to figure out the answer to the "who would win" scenario. If they are equal, this question is a lot harder. Particularly when we move away from swords and into the realm of firearms, which tend to be more random than swords.

Star Wars works fine because Jedi tend to be a lot more cinematic and heroic, but if all of the characters are Han Solo types the game is a lot more challenging to judge fairly. Six characters and six stormtroopers in a blaster fight, who would win? It's complex because any given character and/or stormtrooper could theoretically shoot at anyone, whereas if it was a battle with swords each combatant takes on a single foe and they fight directly.

I think that the randomness of firearms messes up the elegance of ADRP. Zelazny chose a setting where gunpowder doesn't work so he avoids much of this issue.

[Panjumanju]

The problem is the lack of randomness. [...]Particularly when we move away from swords and into the realm of firearms, which tend to be more random than swords.

I've never thought of it in those terms, but that makes a lot of sense to me.

//Panjumanju

[RPGPundit]

Surely, randomness can be emulated by "Stuff"/Luck, the great and ultimate tiebreaker of the game.

RPGPundit