This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

New Player - Any new games?

Started by JRC, December 15, 2009, 04:23:44 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

RPGPundit

Welcome to theRPGsite, Rainsford!

RPGpundit
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you\'ve played \'medieval fantasy\' until you play L&D.


My Blog:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/
The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

JRC

All,

Sorry for taking so long to reply to the thread.  My life has got a bit busy with a hectic job and trying to buy/move house!

I am still willing to GM a game but it may be a few weeks before I can dedicate any real time to it.  However over the next few days I hope to pull togeather a brief synopsis of the Amber 'reality' I would base the game in to see if the puts off the current 2ish players who have shown interest or brings in more.

I am happy to play with a low number of players, they will just have to be wary of more NPCs.

choccie_maus

I'm always up for getting involved in a new Amber game. Looking forward to reading your synopsis!

JRC

As promised, a brief synopsis.

This Amber universe is based on that shown in the Amber base rulebook with a few exceptions:

Close to half a century ago a war between Amber and the Courts of Chaos concluded.  Amber declared themselves the victors as their realms remained intact and still fully controlled by Amber.  However the war was bloody and the political scene changed.  Both Amber and Courts of Chaos received Embassies in each other's respective realms aiming at preventing future unnecessary costly conflicts.

Since then the Amberites have slowly disappeared from the corridors and grounds of Amber.  First the elder and then the younger, leaving only a few of their offspring behind.  They themselves often do not know where, or who, their parents have gone to.  There are many stories from exploring Corwin's Pattern, advancing their own schemes or countering others, having private wars in Shadow with the Courts of Chaos or have simply growing bored or tired of the current scene and have gone exploring elsewhere.

The Courts of Chaos themselves have been unusually quiet, at least compared to normal before the war with the constant probing of the Amber defences.  The external influence of Courts of Chaos on Amber has all but evaporated leading many to believe they are doing something out in Shadow. The Amberite Ambassador only reports on feuding between houses that may lead to a civil war and is unaware of any plot against Amber.  Apparently the failed war severly weakened some the major houses and now a power struggle has begun.  However internal to Amber the Courts of Chaos Ambassador has been a target for controversy and hatred.  At the start it was a single person, a countess from one of the more powerful houses, who had no power and had to haggle and beg for audience with the king as any other minor noble or merchant.  However, either through excellent diplomatic skills or some psychic power she has been slowly increasing her power.  She now seems to have the same priority as the high nobles of Amber to talk to the king.  She also now has a sizable entourage requiring three large houses to hold them all. Starting with the small increase of some retainers as befitting a princess of a major house, additional members have increased including guards after an unfortunate incident with some over zealous city residents demonstrating their distrust of members of Chaos.  She now has between 30 and 50 staff at her disposal, and her voice is carrying more and more weight in how Amber responds to inter-shadow decisions.  Some even claim she is also influencing on Amber only decisions

The king is causing the most concern.  His health has been deteriorating since the war.  Before he was often in the public eye and personally attending to problems and decisions.  However over time he has been delegating more and more of his responsibilities to stewards and now only personally seeing his most trusted advisors and high nobles.  He has not been seen in public for over a year and then he looked weak and ill.  


This is the environment the players will find themselves in.  An Amber been lead by a possibly dying king who is letting go the controls of power.  The other Amberites have disappeared and the Courts of Chaos possibly in a major power struggle with an unknown outcome.  And something big may be happening in Shadow.

The game will be mostly based on the core Amber rulebook, but powers/constructs etc. can be used from the Shadow Knight expansion.  The players will have 100 points to create their characters.  I guess I will be following the Throne War set-up using a blind auction but yet to figure out the details.

I prefer the 100 points rather than larger as it really forces the players to figure out what they really want to do.

Any questions?

choccie_maus

Sounds interesting! A few questions:

1. I assume you mean half a century since the war in Amber years? How long has it been in Chaos time?

2. Do you want all the characters to be children of the elder Amberites, or are you open to other options, e.g. Chaosians, children of Martin/Merlin? On the same topic, will you be allocating parents or are you happy for players to suggest who they'd like as their parents?

3. From what you've said, I'm guessing the first five books (Corwin's story) are canon, but the Merlin books never happened - is that right?

4. Assuming the King of Amber is Random, what about Queen Vialle? Has she been seen, and has she commented on the King's condition?

5. Is the game likely to be very Amber-based, or do you envisage the characters doing stuff out in Shadow or in Chaos too?

That's all for now :)

JRC

Chccie_maus,

Good questions, here are my replies:

1) Depends on which bit of Chaos :o)
2) I was using the 'Children of Amberites' very loosely, yes you can be a child from the Courts of Chaos ... or perhaps both.  I am not prescribing parents to any player and the player is more than welcome to suggest who there parents are or leave it as unknown.  If they purchase Allie points etc their beliefs on who their parents might actually be true ...
3) To be honest no books are 'cannon'.  THis history is removed from the history in the Corwin and Merlin books.  I suggested the Amber based rulebook as the basis to give all the players the 'flavour' of the game and provide a level playing field.  I am doing this so not to unfairly discriminate against players who have not read, or cannot remember all of those books.  It also makes my life a lot easier.  The game will be following the same feel as those books, but will not follow the history.  For those who have read all the books they get the advantage of learning all sorts of ways to 'win'.
4) Queen Valle has not been seen for almost a decade.  THere are many conspiracy theories surrounding her departure.  From Amberite assassins, Courts of Chaos Kidnappings, been sent away for her own safety, to juicy love triangle relationships.
5) I am playing this as an open field, no holds barred Amber game.  Do what you will.  If the game turns into a Throne War, let the blood flow.  If the players team up to give the Courts of Chaos a darn good thrashing, great fun.  If they all go off on their own individual adventures so be it.  That is what the NPCs will be doing ... their own thing following their own agendas.

All,

Feel free to ask any more questions or place any comments.

choccie_maus

Thanks for the answers. No more questions from me!

Rainsford

Quote from: RPGPundit;364446Welcome to theRPGsite, Rainsford!

RPGpundit

Thanks...

Rainsford

Sounds okay with me.

Just out of curiosity are you interested in getting players who have not read the books yet. I am about to run a campaign with my friends and I think two of them might be interested in this. Unfortunatly they have not read the books but should grasp the concepts easily. I on the otherhand have played a bit after high school but read the books several times....

JRC

Quote from: Rainsford;365363Sounds okay with me.

Just out of curiosity are you interested in getting players who have not read the books yet. I am about to run a campaign with my friends and I think two of them might be interested in this. Unfortunatly they have not read the books but should grasp the concepts easily. I on the otherhand have played a bit after high school but read the books several times....

'Non-readers' are more than welcome, this is why I am not using the books as 'gospel and verse', nor following their history, to keep it open to all.  The only book I would highly recommend to read is the base Amber roleplay book as this gives the flavour and ideas for roleplaying the game.  The Shadow Knight book can also be used for other powers, constructs etc, but is not necessary.

Rainsford

I'll bring it up with them. Let you know what they think. Take care

JRC

I suppose I should also mention how I currently plan running the game as this could also change people's opinion whether they wish to play or not.

If it was a traditional, around a table with beer/sundries of choice RPG, I would play it in some detail.  However as this will be done by e-mail I don't want one minute game time to take several months real time.  THe emphasis will be one pushing forward the story, not on a detailed analysis and roleplay of characters thoughts and deeds.

To achieve this I propose the 'standard' along the lines of:

A player, or each of the players if in a group together in a single place or by trump, respond to an e-mail from me detailing what has happened.  The player will pull together a respondng e-mail of three paragraphs.  the first paragraph commenting on the latest instalment.  Perhaps asking for further detail on specifics, or perhaps reinforcing how their character was portaid or even pointing out where I went wrong.  The second paragraph is to document what their next actions are gong to be in the immediate term.  The third chapter will detail what they hope to achieve in the longer term and any other issues.

After receiving all the e-mails I will then respond with the next instalment.  The first section revisiting the previous instalment adding additional colour and more details in responce to players e-mails.  I will not change the result but can change the colour to be more in-lone with the players expectations.  This goes to highlight peoples character description, and their descriptions in their e-mails need to be well thought out.  THis does not mean sending me a novel, but a well thought out e-mail.  For instance you could say "I will attack him", or "I will remove a glove and slap him across the face with it.  Calling him a coward a a disgrace to his family.  I will go for a quick kill if he responds violently.  If he does not I will mock him more to destroy whatever credibility he has".  The second section will detail what happens next based upon my understanding of the characters and the 'orders' their players have provided me.  The third section will be some suggested 'what to do next'.  This is not concrete, players can still choose to do something completely different.  It is there to highlight some of the important aspects of the instalment to try and make sure in their response players mention the minimum detail to allow the story to progress.

I cannot promise to be a great GM but I will do my best to be fair.  I want the players to have fun, and for me fun is when the story progresses.

Any questions on a very brief and sparse description of the basic concept.  Open to any comments and recommendations

THere is of course trump calls, character on character plots etc. that can be worked out in slower time but this gives a good understanding On

narilia

I'm still interested in playing.

Rainsford

Doubt my friends are in. I am still interested in.

JRC

Sorry I have notposted in a while.  Dealing with real life I am afraid.

The house buying saga has got more interesting with the seller pulling out leaving me to find a new property.  I currently live in a shread house and my housemates girlfriend (both of them are buying me out of my share) has moved in with all her stuff.  It is now a very small house with three cats trying to kill each other and two rooms they are now filled up been used up as storage .  Hoo hum could be a lot worse.

Any way we should get this show on the road.  For those that are interested  please PM me to confirm you want to play and I will try and pull togeather a system for the player stat/power/other auction.  

Thank you for your patience