Do you run Amber the way Zelazny went about writing it?

[RPGPundit]

So its a well-known fact that Zelazny wrote Amber on the fly, essentially introducing new characters and elements into the books without really knowing where he was going with them, and then tying it all together retroactively.

So obviously when he started the series he had no idea how it would end; when he introduced Ganelon he didn't know it was Oberon in disguise, but found all kinds of stuff after the fact that you can read in retrospect that would seem to show he had planned it that way all along.

When you RUN Amber, do you run it that way? Do you introduce new stuff, new characters, menaces, etc, without really knowing where you're going with it? Or is that too hard?

RPGPundit

[Sidrick]

Yes, thats how I run the game.  I'll agonize for months before hand, trying to plot out all the happenings in the game, then either run through what I've got in a matter of a game or two or have the players ignore everything and go off in their own directions.  So I've got to work on the fly.  My last two games I literally had no prep-time, getting conned into running by my friends when we were just all hanging out together.

[Croaker]

I start like this:

1) Find a problem, like "A big monster dog swallow shadows"
2) Find a cause behind the problem, like "It was created by delwin"
3) Find a motive to the main NPC menace, like "he just wanted to get rid of this annoying dog, and dumped it in shadow"
4) What are the main NPCs réactions and attitudes to this?

And from then, I go, on the fly.
This is the base. From this, when I have ideas, I integrate them, worrying later about how I'll tie them to this. Like, the big monster bears egyption symbols. Why? do I ask myself? Because he's in fact an entity from whom anubis was but a shadow, reduced to the state of a puppy by forgotten forces, unleashed by the shadowshift, and who now gorges itself on whole shadows, because it's so hungry after all these millenias without any worship.

And on and on it goes. Sometimes, I forget my explanations, and craft new ones, until the players find the reason and remember it for me :oops:
(And yes, I was very lazy with my very bad and stupid exemples )

[boulet]

At least you didn't choose Fiona's beaver.

[waylandfr]

That's my way of running my campaign. My player are really imaginative and I need constant adjustment to keep on with them.
I carefully note down everything and between the game I settle everything and plan the next game according to the new developement.

That's the beauty of this game : limitless imagination.

I also need to reflect the fact that the plotters (elders mainly) are insanly smart, more than me. I think very Ambre GM need to cheat to reflect that.

[Seanchai]

Nope. Not really. The elements may grow and interact in a manner I didn't initially plan, but I do have some initial thoughts as to what they mean and where they're going...

Seanchai

[RPGPundit]

For me, the answer is mixed. Half the stuff I introduce has a definite direction, while the other half is stuff that I'm essentially connecting to prior events as I go along.

RPGPundit

[Kevin]

I run Amber a little differently from other RPGs, but my basic formula is this: 1st, present a mysterious occurance that I have mapped out reasonably well. Be pretty generous with player ideas and let them be as creative as they like dealing with the situation. Once they have put that to bed, the REAL game can start, which arises as the ramifications of the actions and interactions of this first dilemma. This can create a real emotional buy-in for characters who A) already have the investment of their first win under their belts, and B) are dealing with changes they themselves have made to the landscape.

So I guess the answer is both. It starts out planned, and grows very organically from there.

[Croaker]

Welcome, kevin! I'm happy to see you here

[Kevin]

Thanks! I'm glad to be here.  

[Lawbag]

If RZ did create Amber in the vein the Pundit claims, then this pretty much is how I run most of my own homebrew campaigns, on the fly, stealing ideas, situations and storylines.

When I do finally take the plunge and run Amber it will be on this basis as well.

As Ive mentioned previously and elsewhere, even thought Ive never run or played Amber, I take some much from the rules and novels that I feel Im running Amber anyhow.

[RPGPundit]

That is indeed how he wrote it. It was mentioned often in interviews.

RPGPundit

[Trevelyan]

I tend to have a very vague idea for a story with some initial events and half an idea who is behind things, but other than that I just see where the players take things.

In my experience any group of players is likely to come up with at least half a dozen possible explanations for events as things progress any one of which could be better than something I'd thought up or which could provide me with ideas as things progress. Settling everything in advance just seems like too much effort for too little reward compared with working with the players' imaginations.

[boulet]

Settling everything in advance just seems like too much effort for too little reward compared with working with the players' imaginations.

I agree. OTOH it means you gotta stay on your toes so the events and protagonists keep some coherency. It's easier said than done when improvising among a bunch of rabid grand children of Oberon...

[Trevelyan]

I agree. OTOH it means you gotta stay on your toes so the events and protagonists keep some coherency. It's easier said than done when improvising among a bunch of rabid grand children of Oberon...

I don't really need to improvise the Amberites, I know them all pretty well these days. And being kept on my toes is half the fun