Started my new Campaign tonight

[Artifacts of Amber]

Well One player is out of town and another grew ill so I only had two players. We decided to do a prequel sort of adventure. With Marcuis and Caroline available they chose to go back to their time in Chaos with Trace. Since Trace disliked Chaos and had no interest in exploring he stayed at Marcuis family shadow ways.

Both Marcuis and Caroline were interested in the different Primal sources since this seems to be a source of power for the Shadow adversaries they are dealing with.

So we picked up shortly after initiating into the Pentacle the two are eating and talking with Mandor. They start questioning him on the origins of these Primal Sources. He explains they usually originate in one of three ways; A reflection of a Primal Power such as Broken Pattern or Fixed Logrus; an Interaction of two Primal Powers such as a path or place that lets one Trump or transport to Shadows of Desire; or an ancient power or result of shadow environment interactions (Such as the Keep of Four Worlds or the Blue Crystal Caves  in the Merlin series which have not happened in this campaign.). He admits to being aware of a few but information as always in Chaos has value. He offers to share two such places for each of them, one of specific interest and the other of general interest if they agree to do him a favor or if they help Merlin sometime in the future he would feel the debt had been paid.

He tells Marcuis of a Place called the Endless Siege which allows extended access to shapes and forms when shape shifting. He also tells him of a place called the Schism which is a reflection of the Abyss that has some power to sunder or destroy things.

He tells Caroline of a Place known as the Lodestone that allows one to perceive the connections between things. The other place is the Neverending Stairs. A place that one can stride through to find shadows of desire or objects but that exist outside or perhaps hidden within the normal shadow barriers.

So the bold adventurers set out first heading for the Schism as it is close to the Abyss itself. Marcuis throws Black threads out and only has one slip into the Abyss and begins reeling him in. Caroline uses a Pattern defense to reach out and snap the Logrus Thread connection before Marcuis is dragged into the Abyss. They find a creator/well/pit where Marcuis feels something similar to the nothingness of the Abyss he felt before. Within is a pool of slowly simmering Abyss that seems calmer than the roaring explosive interaction of reality being destroyed not so far away.  After studying it for a little while a small hunched backed and ebony skinned old lady wanders up the lip of the Pit and starts turning the almost volcanic rock around the pit to a soft powder and making herself a comfortable seat. The characters wave at her and she smiles waving back as she sits and seems to listen to something they cannot hear. Not music or conversation her face shows but perhaps something else. They approach her and she nods and smiles in somewhat tattered clothing. They ask her about the place. She says with smile that this is the Schism and doesn't it have the most beautiful sounds. All they can perceive is a low rumbling with the occasional pop of reality being consumed. She tells them this place is about the ending of all things nothing last forever even forever will end. That by truly listening to the sounds of the Schism they can gain mastery over that destruction. They Thank her not wanting to learn to much about this power.


Next they head fr the Endless Siege since it too is located near the Chaos Courts. After Marcuis throws out Black threads seeking something that has those characteristics. He spends hours skirting around the outer edge of the Courts and finally comes upon a Black Kingdom port seemingly run by House VanderGhast. After speaking to a Three mouthed Porter/Dock Laborer they learn that it is whispered the Siege lies on and island out in the Orange sea they are standing before. Marcuis shifts into a bat large enough for Caroline to ride. They cross this strangle undulating sea to find an island with a grey sand and an angled cave mouth. As they land they see the cave sone and sand has drawings/carvings in them of various animals, elementals, demons and primal creatures. The waters lapping against the shore do not seem to be changing these images. The cave mouth is at an angle and below the sun shines into what appears to be a cool pool of water. The sandy shore feels cool as well. As they walk though their feet sink into the sand normally, as they step away the images resurface leaving no prints behind. Once inside the cave They see the asymmetrical nature of the cave and multiple tunnels leading away of varying sizes. Nearer the pool a small Imp like creature slowly crawls forth from the sand. He looks at Caroline and shakes his head saying "No...No...No" (She has no shapeshifting) but he looks at Marcuis and ask if he is ready for the Endless Siege. He hesitates for a moment which is all the Imp needs to gesture and step back as a huge snake erupts from the pool snatching off Marcuis leg. As it tilts its head up to gulp it down more animals, Elementals, demons and other creatures poor from the tunnels and begin consuming Marcuis body. Birds circle and peck at his leg held by the Serpent and worms burrow from the earth and into his body. Even the Imp leaps upon his chest pulling out his screaming tongue. Caroline watches as he is literally torn to small tiny bits and various nameless and sometimes almost formless creatures consume her companion. Each time she steps to interfere the Imp wags Marcuis Tongue at her in a No-No gesture. After Marcuis is reduced to various component parts the creature start passing him or puking him up into a pile that slowly melts and shifts into multiple forms becoming Marcuis once again. Marcuis now feels as if he can call up any animal shape he may need and that is ability to auto shift has become more refined. They ready to depart as the Imp watches on smiling.

Now they are done in Chaos and Marcuis flies back to the Black Kingdom and Trumps to his Shadow. In his shadow the war has gotten worse as his shadow dwellers are fighting using cybernetically enhanced animals and animal themed implements of war. Bear cavalry, Cow bombs, and any number of truly chaotically odd things. Marcuis enjoys there development as he talks to them they start running off on other tangents such as fruit based attack weapons. He request two mounts and they ride off into shadow looking for the Lodestone.  Soon the mounts start dying and falling apart as they expected. So Caroline finds more suitable mounts, a pair of armored horse sized wart hogs and they ride off. Caroline finds her ability to locate the shadow of the Lodestone (Desire) futile though they end up at the foot of Y'gg. There they find a young girl eight or nine playing with a stick hitting a pine cone. She engages them in a game of stick and cone making up rules as she goes along. They have fun and when she finally tires she sits down and looks at Caroline pointing her fingers at her own eyes and then at Caroline in the I'm watching you signal and says that Caroline is looking for the Lodestone, she can see it. She continues making the gesture as she speaks saying her mother is at the Lodestone and the little girl can see their connection. They ask if she can take her to the Lodestone but she says she has to ask her mom first and wanders off fading into shadow. Carline also uses the weakened barrier created by her rid eto send to wart hogs away as well.

So with some time to kill Marcuis reaches out into shadow with his tendrils and brings back some camping supplies including one tendril on fire with a camping fire. They set up camp and since they have time Caroline works on a Trump of Y'gg finding it a difficult / weighty exercise that takes a lot of her energy and time. Much more than usual. Meanwhile Marcuis explorers Y'gg climbing the branches and seeing that they each lead off to other shadows with central anchor points represented such as an oasis in the desert or a grand tree in the forest or a mountain peak looking over a valley where a small trickle forms a grand river etc.

After 4 days the Girl returns with a 30-35 year old woman and the girl starts teasing Marcuis and they play while the woman watches and talks with Caroline. She tells her that she can lead them to the Lodestone as it cannot be found unless someone shows them the path. The girl finishes playing and they then follow her mother through shadow in a slow almost methodical manner. Soon the reach a hill with a blue/green monolithic stone. Caroline ask how does one become an initiate. The woman responds that she merely faced away from the Lodestone laying her back on it allowing herself to slip into a trance and start feeling/perceiving as the stone did.

Caroline does so sitting before it her skin touching it gently and slowly sinking into a trance / hypnotic state where she can feel the forces in the universe tugging and pulling at her skin then each pull and tug grows deeper within her and she feels as if she is melting into the stone. It slowly pulls her apart along threads of power and possibility. She feels and sees the connections between all things as nothing truly exist except as a part of something else a reaction or interaction between all things. Soon she recovers having felt as if she was for a moment pulled across a spider web of reality.

Marcuis follows suit becoming one with the stone though his experience is slightly darker and more ominous and his connections are not positive ones.

They thank the lady and her daughter and head out once again into shadow seeking the Final Source the Neverending stairs. They relocate their mounts and ride across shadow finding themselves at a 1950-40's mall parking lot. Where it is snowing. They go inside with Marcuis slowly shifting himself to match their clothing and Caroline weaving through the crowd to find an abandoned bag of period appropriate clothing. They wander through the mall until the come to a door with "No Access". Opening the door they see a set of stairs winding upward and downward in a blue sk with clouds floating by. Their are landings and doors through out as far as they can see. They realize stepping across the threshold may strand them within this space. So leaving it there they travel back to Chaos to retrieve Trace and continue on their way back into normal time stream.

Highlights - Marcuis player indicated he was unhappy with his character so he developed another one but I was unsure of introducing another character when his was, in my mind, perfectly viable. So we talked it out and he felt he had roleplayed himself into a corner. He felt the character was an outsider and not really meshing with things which he admitted I had forewarned him of. I reminded him as a shape shifter and a Chaosian it was possible to literally become someone else in a sense. I told him since he had not to far in the past gone into Primal form that it could have brought him back "different". He played this session with some renewed enthusiasm for the character which I was happy about.

Highlight - Being able to run two players. One of the reasons I love Amber.

Highlight - Spending bad stuff on a cautious player/character. Marcuis initiated into 2 Powers putting him into some serious negative points for advancement. He usually is so very wary of Bad stuff or promises so between agreeing to Mandor's request for a favor and dipping into potential bad stuff it gets interesting. I give out points every session for advancement spending it when I feel the need and I will float a player a few points without penalty but dipping to far top fast means Bad stuff. I also run bad stuff differently as well. I use it as selling away part of your past or future bad things happen to you, not luck or impressions.

[Doughdee222]

Ever read Raymond Feist's novels? He has an idea similar to your "Neverending Stairs": an infinitely long hallway with countless doors that connects to countless worlds. Technically the doors can be used by anyone but typically only advanced magicians can find and use them. Usually they are located in the back of bars, brothels, etc. A few times throughout the series Pug or a buddy has to use the hallway to get to some special world and find something or someone.
(Now there's an ugly powerful character. There's nothing Pug can't do. He's a demigod of magic.)

They wait four days for a kid to return? Now that's patience bordering on stupidity! I doubt I would have waited four hours. It worked out for them, but... geez!

Poor Marcuis, getting the outsider blues.
One of the things I thought about making a thread on was the squishiness concerning the Logrus tentacles and Pattern defense. The books don't really describe the things very well, I suppose so every GM and player can define their own uses and limits.
Can the (or do you allow) tentacles be used as long range fists to punch or whip with? Can you use them to lift or move objects (levers, buttons, steering wheels?) Can they entangle or trip up an opponent? And what range would that be? 20 yards? 100 yards? 1 mile? (Ever see the TV show Lexx? The character Kai has two claws he can shoot out a long distance and do multiple things with: grab items, crush hearts or throats, haul himself up a building.)
Same with the Pattern shield. How large can that thing get? How far away can you push it? Can you swing it around and block blows like a metal shield on the arm? How is it for bashing things with?
Maybe you just need to give Marcuis hints on how to use his Logrus tentacles, so he can see how neat they really are (if they are neat in your world.) Maybe he can watch two Logrus users dueling in an "Octopus Kung-Fu" manner, for example.

[Artifacts of Amber]

No have read some Raymond Feist but not that I think. I was inspired for that from some fantasy drawing so not like it was all that original an idea.

Yeah my players now me too well. They figured out waiting would be rewarded even for the kid, she did admit forgetting about the players.

Logrus and Pattern are not matter/antimatter in my game. They conflict but don't explode. I tend to describe it as a certain sensitivity to each other. They can interact but are a little harder to control. Since Merlin proves they can coexist I didn't feel they should be to dangerous to each other.

Doughdee222
"Can the (or do you allow) tentacles be used as long range fists to punch or whip with? Can you use them to lift or move objects (levers, buttons, steering wheels?) Can they entangle or trip up an opponent? And what range would that be? 20 yards? 100 yards? 1 mile? (Ever see the TV show Lexx? The character Kai has two claws he can shoot out a long distance and do multiple things with: grab items, crush hearts or throats, haul himself up a building.)
Same with the Pattern shield. How large can that thing get? How far away can you push it? Can you swing it around and block blows like a metal shield on the arm? How is it for bashing things with?

Yeah they can form physical weapons from fist to swords etc. You can use them for anything you would use your hands for plus you can even taste through them if you wanted. They are extensions of the user and the downside is they are extensions of the user anything really bad happens to them happens to the user. You could whip people, trip, lift things etc. Rhi likes to use hers to "Doc Ock" around since she is not stronger than an average Amberite. Range and most other factors such as strength and ability to manipulate things are based on Psyche.

The Pattern Shield (Defense) is nothing more than an anchoring of reality for that Character. I have had people try to extend them but it is difficult. it would be in a way making something else part of your personal reality. You could ram or bash someone with your Pattern defense I guess but it would be unpleasant. It is not like a physical shield, A separate part of you it is in reality you.


Doughdee222
"Maybe you just need to give Marcuis hints on how to use his Logrus tentacles, so he can see how neat they really are (if they are neat in your world.) Maybe he can watch two Logrus users dueling in an "Octopus Kung-Fu" manner, for example."


Yeah I had thought of that and I think he is starting to embrace all the things he can do. Not having other Logrus users handy makes it harder to highlight the abilities of what it can do. I just need to suggest more and remember not everyone has the experience in Amber that I do and having done or seen players do all sorts of neat shit with the powers. HE is still grasping the basics. I think part of it is a New to Amber player having two advanced powers. Maybe should have backed off on the number of points a new player campaign should start with.

Thanks for the comments though. Lets me know someone is reading this besides me and Marcuis Player.

[Artifacts of Amber]

This weeks exciting tale . . .

The group was short Rhi again as her player will not be back till next week.

So they settle on going for the ambush. They have dug in and since Caroline is going to provide cover fire with Marcuis's (now working) MLA (Magnetic Linear Accelerator). Marcuis and Caroline summons Imps to man the 50. Cal Browning. The Gunnery Imp appears with a WWII german spiked helm and overly large hands designed to operate the machinery. They also summon some more Imps to act as gun crew since they are afraid the Gunnery imp, only weighing a few pounds, may just end up spinning the 50 cal around in circles as he fires. So the Crew secures the weapon.  At this point Trace is maintaining some defensive spells and spells to prevent escape. Marcuis is ready to adapt and deal with any unforseen issues and Caroline is leading the attack and acting as Commander a role she does not want.

After cooling it a day or two the see on the beach a Tendril start to emerge from the sand. It seems to look about moving in a sensory gathering manner sniffing the air and looking about. A second then third join it exploring the beach but too far away to sense the ambush. Slowly a scrawny thin man starts to push his way through the sands and rising up. Caroline decides to take the shot. She wavers for a moment about going for the head shot but decides against it.

So it is pretty devastating when a .75 cal tungsten ball impacts a target. The description is theer was a smallish hole in his chest but everything behind it was a crater in his back. Pieces of him were sprayed back across the landscape and his Logrus tendrils shrieked "Betrayer" as they too faded back into nothingness.

They waited a moment to see if anyone else emerged into the shadow. Non did. Marcuis roped the body and dragged it closer to them and they decided to take no chances of it reanimating so Marcuis transformed into a fire elemental and went about turning the body to ash. As he did something in the dead man's leg popped and snapped making his corpse invisible. Marcuis tore pieces apart to see if that changed things and they played with it a while before the determined it was most likely a stored spell that had been released (Much like the Demon Summoners had at the castle). He eventually destroyed enough of the target that the spell failed and the ashy burned parts of him returned. Marcuis cleaned the area to remove the evidence of his destruction.

Marcuis also pulled up a Logrus Lens to chekc the guy out before he was destroyed. He say the fading remnants of the "Bastard" Logrus like Rhi's except it made him think Trace was going to betray him. They comment about the Paranoia focused Fixed Logrus pointing out the places in the past investigation that pointed to its use. Marcuis also checked up and down the Black thread that remained the guy was using to travel but found nothing of interest except he seemed to come from the barrier Shadow.

The group debated on to stay or leave, finally settling on waiting to see if anyone came after him. A few days pass without incident. They decide to try to set up another ambush. Marcuis tosses his MLA rifle doubting it would survive a Hellride. The imps look disappointed that did not get to fire the gun. So Caroline allows them to. After about half a belt of rounds the .50 cal explodes blowing the gunner and crew to littler bits. Caroline realizes had she been firing it would have been bad for her probably losing a hand. Caroline trumps her warehouse and shows the scene to the Manager who acts evasive and sorry then says he look into it.

So they head out on a Hellride to set up another ambush, stopping at get mounts (Leopard/Lion mix with saddles and recently dead riders nearby.) Then after tiring herself Caroline slows and stops to find and inn (In an old west town with weird mounts that accept the players weird mounts) Caroline shifts some probability to find some Gold she steals off an old drunken bum. They bunk for the night. After another short Hellride, Caroline feels as if she is not getting closer. So they abandon the Hellride and Trump victoria to head report then decide after some discussion to head back to Amber.

Caroline sends Victoria a note who happens to be nearby, They plan to all meet in an hour and give reports and strategize. Trace heads to his Cell, Marcuis to his room and Caroline plans to take a bath. She finds several letters notes of interest from various Youngers and Elders.  Most are just friendly reminders if she needs help etc. But in taking time to answer them misses her bath.

Trace also finds something in his room. What appears to be a Trump of Mouse. He cast spells to see who had touched it (Fiona, Vialle and Christina) ,and who touched it last (Vialle). Some discussion was had why would someone do this kindness to him but I pointed out it may be a cruelty as the temptation to use it to run away is strong and being so much closer to Mouse is not necessarily a kindness.

Marcuis tries to reabsorb his Logrus creature who initially balks having evolved slowly but it eventually allows itself to be reabsorbed without a fight.

They meet and make their report with Victoria saying since Rhi si gone she will file it with the appropriate people. Victoria does wonder why the didn't try to capture the guy instead of killing him and why they did not at least search his corpse for information. Caroline says they didn't want to take chances and they didn't think to check him afterward but was afraid of him healing or coming back. Victoria merely reiterated that all the groups advisors said Intel was the way to win a war.

The Group then spent some time discussing tactics and how to approach the rest of the group the figure going after the Benedict shadow or the Oberon shadow (Obier) is dangerous but honestly the next logical step. But how to do that with some small chance of success.


Highlights - Caroline reading her Messages especially when she got to Christina's as the rest were upbeat and offering help hers started out "Sorry I won't get to see ya much. ..." She went on to say she missed them and tell Trace she is thinking of him etc.  One player was laughing since I switched voices telling her the letter contents in each NPC's voice including Christina's sad sack voice. Caroline told her to get a back bone and stand up to her mother. Yeah- Christina has never heard that before.

[Doughdee222]

"I've been waiting 120 years for retirement! Been carefully saving, found a nice quiet Shadow, plan to build a little tropical hut right on the beach. Will spend the rest of my days fishing, drinking mai tais, perfecting my sand sculpting. No more cruddy bosses, no more dirty floors to mop.

"Ahhhh, here it is. No one about. Let the relaxation begin. Think I'll name the first sand sculpture Bet--" Traaahhhhhhhhhccchh! Gurgle. (WTF???)

(Later that week.)
"Grandma, where's uncle Thinbones?"
"I don't know. Pretty sure this is where he said to meet him. Look, here's the remains of a fire, bet he made some tea. He's probably just hiding with his invisibility trick again, you know how he always loves to surprise you with that."

[Artifacts of Amber]

Would be funny but she ID'd the dude from a previous encounter that is before she holed him

Funny thing is he was the weakest person in that group. Head and shoulders above shadow folk with some rather cool powers but still the wuss of the group. I think the characters were shocked how easy it was compared to the rest they have fought. Of course the only time they saw him he turned invisible and ran away more or less.

Thanks for reading though. Makes it worth it

[Artifacts of Amber]

Rhi and Marcuis could not make it but it proved to be an interesting session despite this. One of the many things I love about Amber.

So we start off just post the meeting and everyone returning to do things. Trace went back to his cell and Caroline went to see Sebastian in Rebma for dinner. She stayed in Rebma for the evening at the Palace.

Next day they decide to look into what has been going on in their absence. The "Symptoms" of the Terrorist at work. Caroline reviews the reports submitted to her by Victoria who has been the hub of information gathering concerning the current mission. Trace remains in his cell.

I point out to both players they have "staff" that deal with correspondence and such as well as ladies in waiting sort of help, They can personalize them or not as they see fit. Caroline chooses to have Abigail her lady in waiting/secretary who came from her home shadow to be her assistant, and Trace writes up a war wounded lady Valerra that he had saved during some skirmish. She of course like most his attendant (Mouse) have issues with his actions. As if he is insulating himself from his own stupidity.

While Caroline is getting reports Trace gets nothing. Having finally read the Proscripts that detail the rules of engagement for prisoners he knows that only other members of the royal family are allowed access.

Caroline spends time with Mouse that morning and checks in with Victoria to discuss the reports. Basically Caroline is concerned about Queen Jara taking over Kashfa again and reports of a Shapeshifter in Helicet. She schedules a meet with Caine after weighing asking other youngers for help or even Random. Deciding against pestering he King the decide to ask Caine for his input as his knowledge of the Golden Circle is stronger than theirs.

Caroline heads up to visit Christina after speaking with Trace who has the impression Christina is forbidden to see them. Christina is sitting u in bed and motions for Caroline to come over and when she reaches out for her hand starts a monologue while making mental contact with Caroline. The reason being that her lady in waiting followed Caroline in and seems to be Fiona's girl. They have a conversation about how Christina is subservient to Fiona. How despite others can say you need to get your own life they moment they take her out in the world, as soon as Fiona sweeps over her they abandon her fearing her mother. How do you think she must feel. Christina seems to be more mature and confident while in mental contact, sort of another face to her. They agree to go for a walk that evening after dinner.

Trace had sent for Valerra earlier and she waits for him outside the Dungeon and manages to intercept his guard as they leave for the meeting with Caine. The guards unsure of what to do allow them to talk for a moment before forcing the issue to continue on to the meeting as instructed. She waits for him outside.

When they arrive Caine is already their fixing tea. He follows a ritualized set of steps serving the tea. (My Caine loves to just do the unexpected and throw people off.) They begin talking and Caine mentions Jasra being a bitter bitch but an Ok ruler who dealt with Amber fairly well. The matter in Helicet he just laughs at says not be concerned they'll find out. (Marcuis is doing a PbeM that is him in Helicet helping the current Regime during the civil war.). He suggest that they steer the course and strike at the people who are causing the issues/symptoms.

When they mention that the opposition id quite skilled he starts to point out the true issue at hand. Something of a revelation to the players. If they fail in dealing with these shadow folk their whole generation may pay the price. He goes on to explain that Random did not choose them out of a hat but instead chose them to prove that the Amber blood line had not thinned too much. If he had chosen the perfect team then it might seem he is cheating so to speak but instead he chose competent youngers even going so far as to send his own daughter. The whole culling of the herd conversation is held by Caine in a matter of fact way.  Thinning of the blood is a concern and once you let the youngers continue to live you run some risk of them further thinning the blood. He ask casually if the thought had actually crossed their minds of the size of responsibility they care and they only say that it was a small thought in the back of their mind but it is quite different put so plainly before them. Caine says his intent was not to put more pressure on them but to let them no exactly what is at stake, it also goes o explain why the Elder's have not jumped in to help, in doing so they would be admitting the blood has thinned too much.  Leaving that hanging in the air he leaves.

Valerra meets Trace outside, it seems the guards have confirmed their orders as to what he is allowed to do. She gives him his "mail" telling him that his social engagements have seriously dropped off since his imprisonment which is Ok with him but she sours saying associating with a known traitor has its drawbacks.

With much weight on their minds they go check on other things. Trace mentions that he would like to work out and improve himself to help with the mission but he needs permission. Caroline talks to Victoria about it who bounces it up to higher authorities to see. Caroline has dinner and then meets Christina for a walk. The wander around the royal gardens having pleasant conversation and Caroline passes her a note from Trace. Which is cute but Trace just says hi keeping it light. They have a light pleasant evening

Meanwhile . . .

Trace hears the guards shuffle and snap to attention outside his door. The door opens and Random stands there with two swords and tosses one to Trace "So you want to practice" He proceed to duel with Trace for an hour talking about his day but not really engaging Trace in conversation other than correcting him in his technique.

He disarms Trace commenting about his grip and telling him he may want to be willing to give up the blade and change tactics. Trace says he usually fights two swords. He tosses Trace his blade and drops into a martial arts pose and tells him to come on. Trace feeling honorable won't attack him unarmed. Random says he's an idiot and does he think Trace could actually hit him. He offers a three day furlough which Trace passes on then offers one for Mouse instead. Trace launches him self at him and Random hold shim off for about two hours before he starts chuckling and then disarms Trace. Trace comes to understand while Random is not terribly faster or stronger, he seems to be able to read and anticipate his attacks easily. He final ends covered in sweat says nice work out and leaves.

Here we stopped the session.

[Artifacts of Amber]

So everyone is in attendance this game. Unfortunately Rhi's Player will be moving away within the next week or two and will no longer be part of the game. This will leave the game often with only two players so I will have to make some adjustments.

Everyone I think was tired so the game moved along slowly, we are all sort of loopy I think but It came together at the end much better.


So we started with where we left off. Marcuis had been trying to learn more about Amber while Rhi had been wrapped up in personal obligations as the King's daughter trying to be diplomatic and keep the kingdom's nobles happy. They both caught up with Caroline after her walk with Christina.

Caroline filled them in on recent events. Rhi was interested in the exploration of Primal Sources. Then had to have Caroline and Marcuis explain the culling of the thin blood thing that Caine had shared. I think she never considered the possibility. They did go over shortly what plans they may have for the immediate future. They are torn between assaulting the barrier and dealing with whoever shows up to stop them or trying to ambush Frost as they know she is not physically very powerful just mystically so.

Marcuis goes to see Trace but is not allowed to without Caroline's, ok. So he goes to get it shape shifting parchment like materials out of himself which Caroline looks askew at and says she'll just use regular paper. Marcuis checks in on Trace and they have an almost civil conversation and them Marcuis says he wants to see Mouse and goes to get permission from Caroline who says why do you think she has any authority over that, She only has authority over Trace when it comes to Mission specific events.

They decided to meet with in the morning with Christina and take her for a surprise visit to see Mouse while they mulled over their choices. Marcuis heads to the Library to study what recorded order the youngers walked the Pattern. The official notices are not particularly telling though they can see Christina had walked it fairly early on compared to the rest. ( this mostly springing from my comment to them when they were mental contact with her that the first time when she was 17-18 or so and walked the Pattern it was not her first time.).

Next morning Trace gets woken up by someone kicking his bunk. He springs out of bed and faces Random who has brought in an advanced form of Go or Chess to teach Trace tactics. Random grabs a stool while Trace stands and they play for several hours with Random giving small bits of advice to Trace.

The rest meet at Christina's door which she answers and they all head out. It is suppose to be a surprise for Christina but she seems to know where she is going and when they arrive the servants let them in to Gerard's villa on the waterfront. After a few moments Gerard come sout with a huge mug of coffee and offers them some. Christina leads them all back to the kitchen showing how well she knows Gerard's house. Seems Marcuis loves coffee and Gerard gets down several large mugs and serves them coffee, calling Rhi and Caroline wusses since they wanted cream and sugar. He makes Christina some hot tea. He yells to let Mouse out who pads into the kitchen and lays his head in Christina's lap. She pets and talks with him. Gerard talks with them a while finally saying get off your butts get going (Concerning the current events) then he excuses himself as he needs to meet with Random. He heads off and they hear him showering then singing loudly in the distance.

They all head out to the yard to let Mouse run and Christina goes to a shed and pulls out a stool to sit and watch. Trace can feel Mouse having a good time including the scratching that Christina was giving him.

Fiona finally gets back to Caroline (She had been reported out of the Castle) to see her saying come her laboratory. Caroline gets Rhi, Marcuis and has Trace brought to meet her. They end up in a side corridor of the dungeons before an iron bound door. They knock and Fiona answers dressed in blue jeans, green cotton button up and a used /stained leather apron. She continues to work around the Lab while the talk, paying attention but keeping busy. The Lab has all sorts of arcane sigils, tapestries and other materials. A Frankenstein like place but not dark or cluttered.

Caroline ask about the Barrier and since she lacks knowledge of Sorcery and magical things. Fiona explains that it is a physical and metaphysical barrier, much like any other out in shadow and is stronger than most because of the level of Reality it holds. Caroline ask about methods of Breaching it. Fiona says she had been over most of that with Trace and the biggest secret since it seems to be based off Broken Pattern is that it must, therefore, have a flaw like the Broken Pattern does.

They all head up stairs to talk and try to figure this entire thing out. So the group makes a list of everyone they have knowledge of in the shadow Cabal and start to try to think of the common thread. Rhi thinks that since they all have Primal source powers that may be it. They say they are all terrorist and cover several other common threads but like in a murder mystery they lack one fact, Motive why are they terrorist. They finally go back to the Benedict shadows conversation of why they attacked, Because Amber was out to get them. Finally they key on that they group is Paranoid, convinced that Amber will destroy them without evidence.  So with that information we ended the session.


Interesting notes

No one noticed Christina answered her door not the hand servant or others. Seems they would have but, Guess not.

Playing the Elders as real people is fun, catching Gerard in the morning, Fiona in her lab and not dressed in more formal ladylike clothing.

[Doughdee222]

There might be a way that Rhi can continue playing. Have you considered using Skype or some such service? (Are there other skype-like services? I dunno.) It depends on how your play area is set up and what people have. Is your PC in the same room? Do you or someone else have a laptop? You might have to buy a good video capture camera and microphone. It would be awkward but doable. (Raiding in WoW is near impossible without a guild Ventrilo account.)

"Seems Marcuis loves coffee." Uhhhh... he's a Shapeshifter! "I hate coffee!" (Shift.) "I love coffee!"

"Trace can feel Mouse having a good time including the scratching that Christina was giving him." Gives new meaning to "threesome."

You know, instead of learning tactics through Chess or Go I think the group needs to learn better what they can and ought to do through direct practice. Have one of the elders drag them to a generic bad guy filled Shadow. He observes while they squash an increasingly difficult series of foes. For example: go to the Forgotten Realms and first clean out an orc cave (maybe use TSR's Keep on the Boarderlands and the "caves of chaos.") Then they move onto a band of slavers. Later they take out a castle of Hill Giants (G1) and a glacier of Frost Giants (G2.) Maybe toss in a McGuffin to help motivate them: The Scepter of Oberon has been stolen! We must find it! We've tracked it to... (Perhaps Lolth, the Queen of the Demonweb Pits, is just a nasty Chaosite with a spider fetish.) It may take a few play sessions but it will help solidify how good their sword and magic skills are, what Logrus tentacles can do, etc. Maybe at the end the elder gives each a graduation gift of some sort, a silvered hardened weapon for example. (You can put this in a speeded up time Shadow so it wont adversely affect your main course of events.)

Just a thought.

[Artifacts of Amber]

Thanks for the Reply Doughdee222.

We game in the store I work at which is a hobbystore with some gaming stuff. So I don't have access to any means to play long distance. I know she does since she plays in another game via Remote.

I found the Threesome comment funny especially since it would be Anonymous since Mouse is still pissed at Trace and is not telling him anything that he can't get from the Mental connection as his Item. So Trace in character has no idea why he is happy, just that he is.

Well they Game Random was playing was to see where he is flawed at. I picture it as being ranked in Warfare means you don't make the common mistakes anymore. It is more about overcoming their inclinations personality wise. Overconfidence, lack of confidence, Brashness etc are the things that get in the way. His advice was to watch out how he approaches situations. Taking big risk is okay but you better know the odds even then.

By example this is why Corwin beat Benedict (in the book) along the black road. He was angry and emotional not listening to his Warfare. Or he would have seen the trap coming. But that is just my interpretation.


As far as running training episodes. I have played with them for a while and the players are not gonna improve drastically as tacticians. Secondly I run 2-3 hour sessions and have learned my plot/pacing has to be more like a Movie than a series. I don't do any intentional Red Herrings (players provide enough of their own), I can't stop and change the campaign but have to keep it rolling. I have run games on a week night for like 6-8 years now and with that time frame and these players I sort of Know how off the rails I can allow the game to go before it loses energy and enjoyment. Third I don't want the to Play Amber like a D&D adventure game. I am trying to get the out of that vein as is.


If I had been smarter I cold have used something like you suggest in the beginning and built them toward the campaign. I have done that in the past and it works fairly well. Starting with shadow folk and advancing them to Amber status. But like I said the Short session time kills a lot of possibilities unfortunately.

I do appreciate the comments and advice though, It helps me consider things I haven't.

Thanks Again

[Artifacts of Amber]

Finally had another session after almost a month break due to holidays and personal events. It started slow as the two players were reminded of what had happened last session and we slowly got traction.

No huge reveals or events this week well except one, since Rhi's player has moved had to introduce the means of keeping her player "occupied" but not incapacitated as she may be PbeM or occasionally visiting.


So the session started out with a meeting of Caroline and Trace deciding on a course of action and realizing that perhaps they need to get some more help since the started with 5 people in the group and are now down to 2 sometimes 3. The run through their list of youngers finding reasons most are not suitable to ask for aid. The settle on trying to recruit Christina again and asking Cynthia to help as well. Though they realize though know very little of what Cynthia would bring to the table. Agreeing to speak to Christina one at a time and for Caroline to speak with Cynthia since they have an already established relationship. As the meeting goes on the notice a disturbance in the castle as servants scurry to look busy or away from the central concourse and halls. A heavy rain starts to fall and thunderous lightening sounds. A storm unlike most others starts to rage outside Amber. An unusual occurrence, though foul weather happens it is not common for it to come so quickly and harshly.

Caroline finds out through her secretary that something has upset Random. Trace gets permission to go see Gerard outside the castle. Caroline has to assign guards and sign paperwork for him to be allowed outside the castle were before she could just give oral consent for his travel within the castle. As they leave the meeting room they see the Chaos Delegation leaving or at least a large portion of it.

Caroline contacts Cynthia through her secretary and agrees to come see Caroline soon. They meet and talk for a while. Cynthia agrees to join the group and Caroline fills her in on the current events. (While Trace's player comments on committing treason ).

Meanwhile Trace weathers the storm to see Gerard who is busy securing the ships in harbor and tells Trace he will see him when he is free sometime after the storm. So then Trace goes to see Christina.

Caroline receives a Trump call from Rhi telling her that she is to be Chaos's "Guest" due to the number of attacks on Chaos delegation members and other "Incidents" that indicate the delegation is not safe with out some assurances. Rhi packs up her trumps and such, putting them away.  General Talon is waiting ion her room with her, his arms crossed watching as she packs.

As Trace and Christina sit down in the library and start to talk, Trace expresses how he misses her to which she blushes and he explains he would feel more confidant if she could come along to help them in their duties. As they are talking Random burst in shouting at Trace "Practice, Now!!" and storms out. The guards file in frog marching Trace along to the courtyard. Christina says she will come see Trace later in his cell.  Random strips off his shirt in the muddy courtyard as the storm continues to rain down and spends the next hour wrestling with Trace. Though he shows that his mind is else where he still soundly whups Trace, even when Trace tries to take advantage of his distraction he still gets batted around. Finally after an hour Random grunts and tosses Trace 20-30 feet then stalks back into the castle. Trace slowly follows after Victoria helps him up and smirks saying something about being seen with a traitor.

So by the time Trace gets cleaned up in his cell he realizes it is late and gives up on Christina making it that night. Caroline has her breakfast with Christina explaining how much she needs Christina's 'Badd assery" though Christina thinks while she may be powerful she is not a "badass" like her mother. Caroline does manage to convince her to help out and come along on the next outing. She seems shocked when they say that Cynthia will be joining them. Christina exclaims not to trust her, she's Caine's daughter and one that follows his "ways". She is not to be trusted. Christina goes on about this for a while.

So Trace, Caroline Christina, and Cynthia meet to discuss what to do next. During the casual dinner Trace tries to quiz Cynthia on her skills but she evades him handily and turns around pumping him for info.

They agree to head out for the Barrier and attempt another run at it but should gather some ground forces. With each getting a small unit, quality over quantity then trump to a point to start the attack.

This is where they ended things. Next week should be moved along at a better pace.

[Artifacts of Amber]

We had a session and Trace's player was Being extremely difficult so Caroline's player is done trying to game with him so The Game is officially Over.

Thanks for reading.

[finarvyn]

We had a session and Trace's player was Being extremely difficult so Caroline's player is done trying to game with him so The Game is officially Over.

That's always a sad thing. Too bad they couldn't work things out, but this kind of thing seems to happen a lot in an Amber campaign.

[RTrimmer]

Damn. It was fun to follow.
I can see Caroline's point though.

We had a session and Trace's player was Being extremely difficult so Caroline's player is done trying to game with him so The Game is officially Over.

Thanks for reading.

[Artifacts of Amber]

Yeah does suck.

The Players for Rhi, Caroline and Marquis all want to do something Amber related on line. trying to decide what.

When I let Trace's player know we were stopping game he just said OK, No questions why. Trying to decide if he just doesn't care or was trying to sabotage the game. Since he is a freind otherwise it sort of sucks I suspect that though to be honest this was like his second role-playing game. I don't think he really ever got it. Oh well live and learn