The Amber Storyboard and Alternate Storyboards

[RPGPundit]

I've come to think that most Amber campaigns have a kind of general "story recipe", a storyboard if you would, that can basically be followed to say "the standard Amber campaign goes like this", or at least "has these elements".  Now, what would that Storyboard consist of? And what does changing one or more parts of it do to the feeling of the Amber campaign?

RPGPundit

[Otha]

You mean like a metaplot?

A storyboard is a kind of visual comic strip that moviemakers use to plan out the movie, beginning to end, shot by shot.

That can't be what you mean.

[RPGPundit]

What I mean is the formula, the "hero's journey" of Amber if you will.

I think the standard Amber storyboard can be described like this:

1. PCs are low-level Amberites with petty conflicts with each other.
2. Intimidated by the Elders, who involve them in the Elder's conflicts with each other.
3. Things stew until something comes to a head.
4. An outside menace is revealed, that leads the family to put aside certain differences and work together, but its unclear if all the PCs will really put aside said differences and could really trust each other, ditto for the Elders.
5. Somewhere along the line, one of the PCs manages to first beat one of the Elders, and suddenly the PCs realize they're operating on a whole new level.
6. The outside menace is eventually dealt with, and the PCs are found having to resolve or put an end to their original conflicts, by good or by bad. In many cases they find they cannot do so, and go into an uneasy truce with each other, maneuvring for position, the same way the elders do/did to one another.
7. Depending on the ambitiousness of the campaign, by now several of the PC's children might be around, and the PCs now watch the same story unfold all over again with their kids, who repeat the Amberite dysfunctional family cycle.

I think that is the standard storyboard. There are of course many variations (the most common being varying the degree of which the "outside enemy" matters: is it just someone with a beef against all the amberites, or is it some cosmic force out to destroy the universe?).

RPGPundit

[The Yann Waters]

Didn't Mike Mearls call that the "core story" of an RPG?

[Otha]

That's a bit more detailed than Mearls "core story".  Besides, Mearls is Swine.

[Cerulean Lion]

What variations on this "storyboard" are in use by Amber players, and how do the changes affect their games?

[Spike]

Not that I have a huge amount of Amber expirence, and mine was definitely non-standard in that we weren't really playing amberites, but I imagine that can't be the only way to play.

The FIRST time I ever heard of/played amber, "Elder Amberites" never came into the picture at all.  I don't know if outside menaces would have factored in because the game didn't last that long.

The Second time I played we were just superhumanly cool motherfuckers wandering around with a dimension hopping artifically aware galleon (don't ask) and basically playing second fiddle to the GM's wife (who, to be admitted in Koltar fashion, was cute and flirty and more than a little, er... well they aren't married anymore for obvious reasons so...) and the term Amber was just something written on the book.

The only other Amber Game I am familiar with of note (not one I played in obviously) is the one that provided the backstory/truth of SLA Industries. The 'Amberites' were the Kilneck and presumably the 'elder amberites' and 'evil outsiders' were Mr.Slayer and his other half Bitterness.... but I still think that fails to follow your core story.


So: Anecdotal evidence is:That's how YOUR amber games play out, and if they have a core story it's cause the same GM is running them.