First time running/playing Amber

[orodruin]

Hello. I am brand new to Amber and was going to try and run a game. After reading through some of the pdf, I'm wondering if the game will work as a 1 (or maybe 2) session thing just to try it. Thoughts on that? Also, does anyone have a premade adventure for 4-5 players that would help acclimate us to Amber? Thanks!

[Artifacts of Amber]

First of all welcome to Amber It's not easy but well worth the enjoyment you get out of it.

Well the ones in the back of the Amber book are not bad ideas to run short sessions on.

Brand is back is a familiar trope but still one useful to people who have read the bock and something people who have not, can grasp (The Villain returns for vengeance.)

I would pick a simple idea/plot and use the Amber world to explore that idea. What would it mean in Amber if This thing happened.

Throne wars are interesting but not always conducive to a Campaign intro. I think they are built to much on PC conflict which I tone down in a campaign though I have more than I do in say a D&D campaign in comparison.

I would would run something short term to let them know how things work then restart with an actual campaign because I think you end up with more player regrets in how the built the characters not knowing how the Amber universe plays out.

I would poke around some On-line forumns running PbP games to see what you can learn and to present questions to us. I think this forum is very helpful  in that regard.

A lot depends on what you have experience at so we have points of reference in offering more useful advice. So basically what else have you played/Run before?

[finarvyn]

Your questions are exactly the ones that vexed me at first. I found that it took me a bit to get the hang of diceless (and for my players to figure out how it works), but once I did it got really smooth to run.

A couple of thoughts:

(1) There really aren't any "modules" for Amber, at least not in the traditional sense. The scenarios in the rulebook are a great way to go, but they don't run like typical RPG modules because they are so open-ended.

(2) There is a bit of a learning curve, and it would be nice if you could participate in an Amber game as a player before trying to GM. What you will find is that the game mechanics essentially vanish and the ADRP game becomes almost like a LARP, except that the GM can adjudicate events as they happen. Basically, the GM has character information as a baseline but the players don't know much without trying things and finding out that way what they can and cannot do.

(3) A nice way to introduce ADRP is to run a quick "what do you do" storyline without getting hung up in the Amberverse. I might tell my players "you a in a bar and this guy is hitting on your girlfriend. What do you do?" What this does is start the player asking questions like "how tough does the guy look?" instead of traditional "what level is this guy" kinds of things. This changes the way the player perceives the game, and sets the stage for a real game of ADRP later on. Role players tend to default to "metagame" concepts of level or hit points or damage dice or whatever, and ADRP breaks away from that stuff.

(4) The GM's job is particularly tiring, as there are no "random encounter" events to kill time while the GM regroups and thinks about the plot. In most RPGs I can just throw a monster at the players and buy myself some time to think, but this won't work in Amber.

[Panjumanju]

The game is not at its best for 1 or 2 adventures. Heck, half the first game would be the character auction. You really need to sink your teeth in over a longer period of time.

That being said, I've run Amber Diceless at conventions before, and for that I used this quick little scenario just to give players a 'taste' of the system, and hopefully keep them hungry for more. It's not quite a Throne War.

1. Auction: First, do the character auction and in review assign each character a parent from among the elder Amberites. If you've read the books, this would take place at the end of Guns of Avalon.

2. Narration: "King Eric is dying after repelling an invasion from shadow with the jewel of judgement. On his death bed he asks not for his brothers and sisters but for their children. You have a sense that this has upset the elder generation, but they're not talking about it. You have been summoned home to Amber."

3. Enacted: The PCs gather in a musty room where Eric is dying. One other elder Amberite (someone nosey, like Fiona) is present. On his death bed Eric denounces the petty wars between his brothers and sisters and urges the children to rule Amber themselves, then dies, the jewel of judgement falling from his hand onto the carpet.

4. Passed Over: This part is key: then Fiona (or whomever) quickly ushers everyone out of the room, communicating to the players that she a) does not care about and will not give any regard to the King's dying wish and b) that the PCs are ultimately unimportant.

5. Mission: Then, give the party a errand - go fetch some flowers from shadow for Eric's grave. It will give the party time to process what just happened. (Also, sometimes this is the moment when a new player's head explodes. If they're only used to D&D, the realisation that they could have just been sent on in-universe busy-work to get rid of them can be pleasantly upsetting.)

With all this, the following will probably happen among the players:

* Some will start thinking about the old rights of succession and try to work out who is supposed to be ruling next if the Elder Amberites have their way.
* Some will start forming a cabal against the Elder Amberites (feeling they are now the recognised regency of Amber according to Eric's dying wish)
* Some will start trumping their parents to figure out what to do. Each parent will have their own scheme in accordance to their wishes. The conflict for the player is then if they want to go against their parent, or enact their over-demanding plan.
* One or two will start plans for the throne and try to get support.
* One or two will oppose any plans for trying for the throne.
* Most will just feel pulled every-which-way.
* At least one will have made off with the jewel of judgement.

This is a good scenario because it does not necessarily mean player-versus-player. Everyone could work things out. I've seen this situation play out in a million unpredictable ways. But it does communicate the tension of being caught between various people's manipulations and expectations, and trying to find your place in this crazy universe. I think it gets well to the heart of Amber.

//Panjumanju

[Doughdee222]

What I suggest is this: don't think of Amber as a fantasy game, although it is dressed up as one. Think of it as a superhero game with a limited number of powers. Amberites are tough characters who can survive anywhere. They are not superheros in the vein of Cyclops or Spiderman or Green Lantern. They are more like Captain America, Thor and Batman. Superior bodies, endless skills and experience and the ability to travel anywhere are their hallmark traits. (Note: with the artifact creation rules and/or sorcery you could simulate just about any superhero power.)

With that in mind build an Amber scenario or campaign as you would a superhero one. Design a Big Villain who has some secret, dastardly plot and is putting it into motion. Somehow the PCs stumble upon the plot and become involved with it. Give the Villain a lair, some minions and followers, contacts and spies and you'll have a guy who is tough to stop.

Sample Amber scenarios/adventures:

1. A daughter of Caine wants to become Queen of Rebma. She plots to assassinate the current Queen and then ingratiate herself with the mourning King.

2. The son of Fiona decides he wants to stitch together a dozen shadows into one super-shadow (much like what we see with the Keep of the Four Worlds.) Shadow Earth is one he intends to destroy/merge with the others.

3. Great C'Thulhu (or Sauron, or Dracula, or Paul Muad'dib) has captured the son of Benedict and learned the true nature of the Multiverse. He decides he wants the power of Shadow-walking for himself.

4. A Prince of the Courts of Chaos is still angry over the loss of the war. He builds universities on a dozen shadows to train a force of magicians that can slay Amberites.

5. Some great artifact has been stolen from castle Amber. Who did it? Why? What does the artifact do?

6. Shadowstorms are increasing in frequency and intensity across the multiverse. Some people are being injured in their travels. Whole sections of Shadow are disappearing. Why? What is causing it?

7. A message from a lost child of Oberon (Osric? Finndo? Someone else?) arrives: "Beware of X!" What does this mean?

8. Benedict disagrees with Random's rule of Amber and decides to challenge him for the throne.

Etc.

[jibbajibba]

I have run Amber at GenCon a couple of times and as a taster I use a very narrow setting.

i. Auction - pregenerate the characters, provide a description of them entirely ripped off Corwin examining the trumps he finds in Flora's desk but no actual stats until a player gets the charcter sheet.  Add 3 positions of importance and 2 or 3 items to the auction. So typically a military rank with troops, a diplomatic role with influence, and an espionage role with intelligence but keep all of them very vague before the auction. Items might be a weapon, or a key, or a magical gem whatever fits your adventure.
The reason I pregen the characters is because whilst in Amber you could create any character from James Bond to Superman to Helen of Troy most sucessful Amber PCs have a certain feel to them. Getting the players to experience this before plunging them in to char gen is very beneficial.

ii. A narrow premise - typically focused on one shadow, the golden circle states are ideal, with a deadline set by an event of some kind. Focus on intrigue over combat, brains over brawn, roleplay over stats. Again the reasons are fairly obvious in Amber you can go anywhere and do anything but in most games the important stuff happens in a few locations and is based on Power and its acquisition and exercise. In an open game its easy for the players to slip off into their own shadows and engage in massive large scale space opera or totalitarian world creation or whatever, you have to set in their heads that Real Power is found is a very small number of places and that is the driver.
Avoid Throne Wars, the throne war idea at the back of the book is rubbish. All Amber games are throne wars but a throne war isn't about I will use troops to guard the pattern room whilst you capture Dworkin. Its about I will foster alliances with the noble houses of Amber that control the import of Spice from the golden circle and in doing so gain the friendship of Duke Samdis's son who now serves as first mate on the Serpent Bane the flagship of the Northern Fleet so I can keep unobtrusive tabs on the actions of Brother Felix... etc

iii. Hint at much but reveal little. PCs should rarely meet their actual foes they meet dupes and catpaws and agents and occassionally they might see a hint of the puppeteer. So in a typical con game I have run the PCs are all on a diplomatic mission to a Goldern Circle state. A murder occurs and Gerrard is in the frame. Now the party coudl simply leave, they could bring down the host of Amber and destroy the city, they could just kill everyone themselves, but diplomacy is important and Amberites don't destroy Golden Circle states without provocation so they investigate and they have a set time to track down the real murderer. they uncover plots and counterplots etc and they can take many actions. Eventually they uncover the perp and bring them to justice, but they should notice the hints and the warnings and heed the little tidbits that don't add up to work out that the whole thing is staged to create a war or hide another deeper action.

iv. Don't overplay the Elders - if you are going to use them, I do at cons but not in Campaigns, then less is more. There is a real danger of the Elders becoming the worst sort of uber Mary Sue DM PCs. If you can hit the right tone with Fiona or Jullian or Bleys they are great for sponsers or cameos but too much exposure to them will dilute their mystique.

So some ideas for tight short games
Diplomatic missions
Criminal Investigations
Hunting down escaped prisoners or stolen things
Being Hunted
Being sent to investigate a phenomena in shadow

[RPGPundit]

To me, the best way to run a one-shot that isn't itself meant to become a long-term campaign is to run a simple throne war.  Use the PCs, and only two or three of the Elder Amberites (who for whatever reason are ineligible for the throne themselves; they would be major tools to try to recruit or use against the other players), and four or five significant NPCs who are not at that same power level but can also be very useful pawns.  This way neither you nor the players get overwhelmed with the whole big setting background, but still get a taste of it.

The best one-shot if you think it might potentially blossom into a full campaign is to run some kind of adventure where the PCs start out not knowing they're Amberites, and the adventure involves them somehow discovering this (maybe they're brought into the family fold because of some emergency, maybe some chaos lord has been killing lost scions of amber, etc.).