Castle Amber?

[RPGPundit]

How big is your version of castle amber? How many floors? how many people can it house?

I would imagine it would obviously have a lot of adjacent buildings for the staff and the guards, since its up a freaking mountain and the commute would otherwise be murder.  How many servants/guards does it actually have?

And do you put anything special in the castle that is of your own devising that you'd like to share?

RPGPundit

[ColonelHardisson]

I have this book about Castle Amber from the late 80s. Apparently Zelazny actually provided input. The book has overhead views of rooms in the castle, much like a module would have, and it also has illustrations of all the Trumps up to that time. The art is good, but not as good (in my opinion) as that of the Trumps in the Amber DRPG book.

Anyway, what struck me about it was just how small it seemed. I'd kinda imagined a huge, almost neverending place like Camelot is described as being in Pednragon.

If I can dig up that book, I'll see how much detail it provides. Given Zelazny's approval of it, I'd have to say it would be definitive, if that's of any import to anyone.

[Erick Wujcik]

I have this book about Castle Amber from the late 80s.

It's called the "Visual Guide to Castle Amber" and it was created by Neil Randall and Todd Cameron Hamilton, along with a couple of other guys, based on some conversations held at Roger's home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Here's a link with various cover illustrations:
http://zelazny.corrupt.net/book.php?book=visual

Apparently Zelazny actually provided input.

I've listened to the audio tapes of the information gathering session, and most of the contents of the book were suggested by voices other than Roger  Zelazny's.

...what struck me about it was just how small it seemed.

My impression is that the book's format, and the scale of Castle Amber, was more a result of publishing contraints than anything having to do with Roger's vision.

When Roger and I discussed the creation of a Castle Amber sourcebook for Amber Diceless, we spoke at length about the awesome scale of his various visions of Castle Amber, and how cool it would be to have different artists and writers each come up with their own version.

Given Zelazny's approval of it, I'd have to say it would be definitive, if that's of any import to anyone.

Since Roger and I were both very well versed in the scale of real castles (I drew the detailed version of Castle Harlech for Palladium's Castles book, and spent hours walking it in Wales), neither of us considered the Visual Guide to be a serious attempt at depicting Castle Amber.

Erick

[olivier legrand]

Personally I use slightly modified versions of the following maps :

http://marcheombre.free.fr/en/CASTLEMAP.htm

(BTW, this is an excellent bilingual (french/english) site with many other goodies & stuff for the Amber rpg).

[Otha]

I personally find that trying to pre-define the castle too strongly is a bad idea.  Is there a sauna?  The answer is, "If the story needs it, then yes."  Is there a wine cellar?  Sure.  Which level is it on?  Whichever level makes the most sense at the time.  How big is it?  As big as it has to be for the story.

[olivier legrand]

I personally find that trying to pre-define the castle too strongly is a bad idea.  Is there a sauna?  The answer is, "If the story needs it, then yes."  Is there a wine cellar?  Sure.  Which level is it on?  Whichever level makes the most sense at the time.  How big is it?  As big as it has to be for the story.

True - but such maps can also make things easier for the GM and players, especially in campaigns where Castle Amber is one of the most frequently visited places.

I had been running my campaign for some time using an "impressionnist" approach like the one you suggest until the need for a map really made itself more and more needed  - notably to keep track of various decisions made during or between sessions regarding the presence or general location of specific rooms etc.

If you are running a campaign using an extended Amber family with many children of the elder Amberites, a map is still the most convenient way to know/decide once and for all where a specific room is supposed to be - not for the sake of detail per se but to know, for instance, where a specific NPC's or PC's apartments are supposed to be or if you and your rival cousin live on the same floor etc. Such information can have a very important impact on events during a game. Moreover, in a campaign where PCs have their quarters in the Castle, using a map is a very simple way to make them feel "at home", allowing them to really become familiar with the place and take decisions during play without always having to ask questions like : "Can you remind us where the armoury is supposed to be ?" and so on.

[JohnB]

One GM I played with had a version I really liked. It was more of a Ghormenghast type structure (i.e. HUGE) where wings actually extended deep into shadow or even under-shadow. Only a tiny fraction was ever used, but it offered all sorts of plot hooks (e.g. find the missing/lost family member).

I also have the Visual Guide to Castle Amber and have used it in my game, but I found it somewhat bland and architecturally uninteresting.

[Otha]

You can have a map, but there's no reason to have one UP FRONT.

Have a page where you keep sketch maps of the castle, and gradually elaborate as the game goes on.  Start with a simple sketch and build it up.

That's how the rest of the game tends to go, right?

[Schattensturm]

Personally I use slightly modified versions of the following maps :

http://marcheombre.free.fr/en/CASTLEMAP.htm

(BTW, this is an excellent bilingual (french/english) site with many other goodies & stuff for the Amber rpg).

Cool maps, but I hope your modification includes scaling. Whoever put the thirty meters below the ruler, didn't think a bit about that this would make the smallest room 900 m² and the doors 15 m wide. Anything between 2 and 3 m would be more fitting.

[jibbajibba]

As I noted before I let the players build their own castle amber each game.
Start from Oberon's basic keep and then ...http://www.jibbajibba.com/Amber/castle_amber/index.html

(wow i realy need to do another game and refresh all these pages .. the wiki ahs ben brutalised beyond recognition.)