Running Amber again

[Nihilistic Mind]

Later this year, I might start running a face-to-face Amber Diceless game. Whether it will be a mini-campaign (throne war) or a long-term campaign remains to be determined.

I'm changing the rules up just a bit, so tell me what you think about this.

I have always liked how in Throne Wars, you can auction off items, positions, etc.
After discussing this with a potential player, I came to think that everything on the character sheet will be auctioned off, including Powers, cool items, allies, everything.

As an example, let's say I will have 4 players auction for Pattern (sounds crazy, I know). The one who ends up with Rank 1 will have advanced pattern and maybe one exalted trick, definitely rank 1 type things. The Rank 2 and 3 will have something akin to Pattern Imprint, or maybe know partial Pattern. No bids will probably have the option of buying something like "Amber heritage" fora few points, to make sure they have the opportunity to get Pattern later.

Everything would pretty much work like this...
What do you think?

[boulet]

I like it but it sounds like you assume a high level of familiarity with Amber DRPG. How would a beginner know which auctions to bid on? It's easy to explain what to expect of first rank in Warfare for instance. It seems more difficult and arcane to explain why a character should try and win other type of auctions. You might want to offer a written version of the char gen procedure to your players.

[Nihilistic Mind]

Yup, definitely going to spend more time on the auction as it is, so for this to work, I would have to determine what each rank 1, rank 2 etc gets, with variants depending on point gaps, etc.

And yeah, the players being familiar with Amber is definitely a big plus.

[warp9]

As an example, let's say I will have 4 players auction for Pattern (sounds crazy, I know). The one who ends up with Rank 1 will have advanced pattern and maybe one exalted trick, definitely rank 1 type things. The Rank 2 and 3 will have something akin to Pattern Imprint, or maybe know partial Pattern. No bids will probably have the option of buying something like "Amber heritage" fora few points, to make sure they have the opportunity to get Pattern later.

Everything would pretty much work like this...
What do you think?

That is a cool idea.

But if you did things in a way where many of the PCs start out without Pattern Imprint, that would create a different feel from most of the Amber games I've played in.

On the other hand, if the bids are low enough, it should make things much easier for people to get various abilities or to buy in at 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5.  

Also a part of it depends on the actual size of the group (and number of actual bidders in each auction). If there are only 3 people in a given auction, a player can achieve 3rd place bids with no problem at all (even 1 point automatically gets 3rd place), and if 3rd place means something equal to Pattern Imprint, and/or Logrus Imprint, you can pick up abilities really cheaply. It gets even better, if less than 3 people bid in a given auction.

[finarvyn]

It could be that the "default" would be basic Pattern (or Logrus) and the bidding could be for various Advanced levels. That would keep the basic style of the game the same, but give benefits to the high bidders.

[RPGPundit]

I've done something similar to this except that the auctions for everything other than attributes, the auction was only for the "first past the post", only the winner spent points and got the powers.

RPGPundit

[downeymb]

I've done something similar to this except that the auctions for everything other than attributes, the auction was only for the "first past the post", only the winner spent points and got the powers.

RPGPundit

This is exactly what the game Zombie Murder Mystery does.

They have two primary attributes that are normal Amber Auction style.

They have four secondary attributes that are bid on as an array.  First place gets the best spread (e.g. 35, 30, 25, 20) to allocate as she sees fit, second place gets the next best (e.g. 33, 28, 23, 19) and last place gets the worst (e.g. 25, 20, 15, 10).  What's interesting is how you allocate them.

Finally, items and powers are auctioned off with first place taking with no points spent.  Only catch is that all you hear is the name of the power or item and maybe other minimal information.  The only ones who know what it DOES is the winner and the GM.

Pretty sneaky.

[finarvyn]

This is exactly what the game Zombie Murder Mystery does.

Thanks for the information about how ZMM works. Sounds like some ideas that I might bring into an ADRP game.

I've been looking at ZMM and thinking about buying it. How is the game as a whole? Is it worth $19, or is it a silly party game? (Naturally the website has lots of favorable comments. What's your take on the game?

[downeymb]

Thanks for the information about how ZMM works. Sounds like some ideas that I might bring into an ADRP game.

I've been looking at ZMM and thinking about buying it. How is the game as a whole? Is it worth $19, or is it a silly party game? (Naturally the website has lots of favorable comments. What's your take on the game?

The game itself is a great way to get people into diceless role playing, especially Amber.  It uses the auction system and encourages competition, and one of the players is the One Behind It All, so you're really paranoid and turning on each other.  Very fun.

However, it's not something you can play a campaign with.  It's designed to get started with little to no prep, and it's definitely a one shot.  But the rules are fast and easy, the game changes based on the scenario and powers used, and who is the evil necromancer bent on destroying all life.  It includes one scenario (you can get another one from the website), a ton of powers and items to use, and suggestions on how to build your own scenario and keep the game moving.

The scenarios don't have all that much detail.  It's not like it's a canned adventure you get for other games.  It describes the threat, the place in which the players are trapped and why they're there, suggestions on various things that could happen, and the "ticking clock" that ultimately makes the players have to resolve everything or die.

Is it worth $19?  I got it as part of a deal when looking into other things they had, so I got it at a much reduced price.  With the support they offer on the website, you don't need the items and powers in the book, unless you want to run the game more than a couple of times with the same people.  The real thing you'd be missing are the specific advice on how to keep things moving, developing your own scenarios, how you pick the necromancer, and the specific rules (which can be explained in five minutes) for stats and powers.

It's definitely an incredibly fun game with a lot of replayability (assuming you can come up with scenarios) and I really enjoy it, as have all of my players.  But it's not something you'd want to do on a weekly or regular basis.  But I'm in the process of getting a new group of hardcore D&D players interested in Amber, so I find it incredibly useful.