I'm reading Nine Princes in Amber for the Nth time, and it occurs to me that Charisma might be an important attribute not covered in ADRP. A few semi-random thoughts:
1. Corwin spends a lot of time early on giving his impressions of the Princes and Princesses of Amber. Clearly some like Flora come off as being highly charismatic, whereas others like Julian do not. This may be a slanted viewpoint as it's Corwin's instead of that of an impartial narrator, but it does appear that some characters gain social advantages due to attractiveness or oration or other factors that might contribute to charisma.
2. I know that my campaigns historically have been very true to the rulebook, and I try to stick to PSEW attributes with almost every campaign I run, however using Psyche to represent Charisma seems lame. Also, just saying "play it out" is okay if the players happen to be extraverts, but not all of my players do that well. This means that a wallflower type player is always stuck playing a wallflower type character, as opposed to characters whose other attributes may have no correlation to the player's abilities.
Anyone work with a charisma stat, or use psyche, or have any thoughts on the issue?
There's no way around this issue. Not in a randomized game and especially not in Diceless. You either have a stat a skill and a roll or you play it out. Each side has ups and downs there are any number of threads discussing them.
But the proper stat for charm and charisma in Amber is stuff. Good stuff charcters are charming and likable. Bad stuff charcters are alouf and distant.
Random is a baaic good stuff charcter. Any player can play him. Benidict is a basic bad stuff charcter. Any player can play him. Brand is a bad stuff charcter who can be charmin when he wants to be. He is a bad stuff charcter played by a charmasic player, to play him ypu neec to be able to turn it on.
Yeah, I've used "stuff" as charisma in most of my campaigns. I guess I was trying to overcomplicate things.
You grearing up for a new game? Where do you live? Need an extra player?
Unsure. I go through periodic planning of campaigns that often don't materialize, but I like tinkering and thinking about the ADRP rules. I'm near Chicago.
I have a buddy in Chicago. I've been to see Sue, and the Ghost and the Darkness. But its a bit of a comute. I'm in Nova Scotia.