The Amber Dungeon Crawl

RPGPundit · October 27, 2009, 06:05:57 PM

What would a "dungeon crawl" session in an Amber game have to look like?

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Klaus · October 27, 2009, 06:24:20 PM

It would look like this:
Part 1
Part 2

These are the public chat logs from an online Amber campaign. The PCs, some NPC allies and some NPCs recruited locally have tracked a spikard to Mystara, straight out of D&D. To jump to the start of the pyramid dungeon search for "23:41:02" and read the log from there.

RPGPundit · November 04, 2009, 03:13:39 PM

Interesting that it would be Mystara. My favorite D&D setting; and I always thought that the Mystaran Immortals had a very Amberite thing going there. I still have considered running an Immortal D&D campaign using Amber rules.

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gabriel_ss4u · November 06, 2009, 12:45:53 AM

My GM has been such an Amber enthusiast that his original AD&D game had elements of Amber in it, kind of like Pattern walking through reality and circumstance, and his character name was Oberon. That game has gone on now for over 28 yrs I think. I've had an adventure or four in that world system of his, but by far it is his main game since before I knew him.

scottishstorm · November 06, 2009, 08:50:43 AM

Twenty-eight years?!

Um, wow. I'm really not sure what to say other than.. "wow". It's not really a compliment, nor is it an insult. My longest-running game spanned some five years, though it was semi-over in half that time.

boulet · November 06, 2009, 09:02:56 AM

When I read dungeon crawl I hear "resource management". In D&D it would be about keeping track of health, equipment and knowing how to get out when you're over your head... from the players side at least. I have trouble imagining how ADRPG PCs would get stuck into a dungeon together without some slight railroading. Also the pieces in Zelazny's work that kind of look like dungeon crawling (Merlin exploring the out of shadow space and meeting ghosts after ghosts for instance) bored me... a lot. I'm not perceiving the point of the OP. What's the purpose of an Amber dungeon crawl?

Klaus · November 06, 2009, 05:42:32 PM

Quote from: boulet;342457Also the pieces in Zelazny's work that kind of look like dungeon crawling (Merlin exploring the out of shadow space and meeting ghosts after ghosts for instance) bored me... a lot. I'm not perceiving the point of the OP. What's the purpose of an Amber dungeon crawl?

It's long been known that while D&D campaigns are fun to play, they're boring to read about, so the novel boring you doesn't really reflect on the utility of the idea.

QuoteI have trouble imagining how ADRPG PCs would get stuck into a dungeon together without some slight railroading.

Don't bother railroading; just put something shiny in the dungeon and watch them scramble for it.

To make sure they go in after it rather than spending a lot of time preparing to just bypass the dungeon, make sure they have some NPC competition.

gabriel_ss4u · November 07, 2009, 12:21:06 PM

Quote from: boulet;342457When I read dungeon crawl I hear "resource management". In D&D it would be about keeping track of health, equipment and knowing how to get out when you're over your head... from the players side at least. I have trouble imagining how ADRPG PCs would get stuck into a dungeon together without some slight railroading. Also the pieces in Zelazny's work that kind of look like dungeon crawling (Merlin exploring the out of shadow space and meeting ghosts after ghosts for instance) bored me... a lot. I'm not perceiving the point of the OP. What's the purpose of an Amber dungeon crawl?

Yeah, most people do, I thought that too, I was just mentioning how I discovered AD&D (my GM and his crew consider those who call AD&D D&D an insult) and the fact that it could be different than that hack/slash/roll/cast/count/open/check traps/etc.
They were actually playing a sort of 'Amber' back then in the AD&D system.
I could see an adventure going on in a dungeon easily, provided the mission dictated and the players were interested enough. imagine the end of the dungeon a new Pattern, a relative in need, or some treasure worth fighting for. Even a test for Aamberite newbies to be assessed by their elders watching from some secret means.
You are only limited by you imagination.

gabriel_ss4u · November 07, 2009, 12:22:16 PM

Quote from: scottishstorm;342452Twenty-eight years?!

Um, wow. I'm really not sure what to say other than.. "wow". It's not really a compliment, nor is it an insult. My longest-running game spanned some five years, though it was semi-over in half that time.

They started in high school, and have kept it up across the distances they've spanned, same characters for a loooooooong time.

(I'm going on 23 yrs for my Champions character)

scottishstorm · November 07, 2009, 03:11:01 PM

Quote from: gabriel_ss4u;342596(I'm going on 23 yrs for my Champions character)

Um, seek help...

Err, I mean congrats!

Tongue-in-cheek with no malice. Good stories and characters survive the passage of time, of course. No one here's going to argue against that, I don't think. I honestly don't think I'd have the 'game stamina' to withstand a two decade plus rpg, though congrats to you and your friends who do.

RPGPundit · November 08, 2009, 11:18:03 PM

The longest campaign I ever ran was about 8 years.

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gabriel_ss4u · November 09, 2009, 09:03:50 AM

Quote from: scottishstorm;342615Um, seek help...

Err, I mean congrats!

Tongue-in-cheek with no malice. Good stories and characters survive the passage of time, of course. No one here's going to argue against that, I don't think. I honestly don't think I'd have the 'game stamina' to withstand a two decade plus rpg, though congrats to you and your friends who do.

Thanks, well...
I'm 41 now, (though I look 35)LOL, and I don't get to game as much as I used to. My main campaigns only get 4 or so major FtF game sessions a yr. since we are separated by great distances. Everyone who gets greatly into Champions super-hero roleplaying games and eventually GMs it, goes through a phase of 'character building' where they create tons of cool char. concept villians/heros, etc. this led to my creation of a laaaaarge supporting cast of NPCs for Amber/Chaos.