Reality and Rule (Inactive)

Game Master Viscount K

Oooh. I like!

Times, they are a changing in Amber.

I hadn't thought of the positions in that way, but now I wonder where some of the elders have gone and which are left.

Now, should the Ape General be named Caesar, or Grodd?

Nah....

Now, should the Ape General be named Caesar, or Grodd?

Nah....

Kahn.

Furious George?

But then Chaney would need to wear a yellow hat.

** spoiler omitted **...Marjana, care to jump in?

I will, but it'll probably be tomorrow.

It took me a moment, but "Roc of Gib’s Alter" is truly painful. I'm not sure I can live up to that.

Just to be clear, this is all non-canonical now, right? I can make up the legend of Alric and the Honeyed Rucksack, or The Thing Beyond Whence Came From Within, and none of that has to actually have happened; whether Nikolas really carried an island or not is of no consequence right now.

Edit:

It took me a moment, but "Roc of Gib's Alter" is truly painful.

I actually laughed out loud in the middle of the office when I read it. That level of pun is right up my alley.

I believe everything here is non-canonical unless agreed upon by all involved plus Viscount.

Edit: Eztil can neither confirm nor deny exsanguinating anyone.

As far as I'm concerned, the stories exist.

How much truth they contain is open for discussion, very open . . .

It will be a while before Eztil talks about what happened to him in anything more than broad strokes (and even that will depend on parent and/or the king). I'm sure he will have to explain himself to someone.

Let's say Apocryphal.

They are the stories the children of Amber tell. And they are well known to have a loose relationship with the truth.

Except for me, of course. I am completely honest and can be trusted in all things.

I use these kinds of stories to help me get a lock on my characters, or when I GM to give players a taste and feel for the world they inhabit. In both cases it help the game feel more real to me. I love games which incorporate it easily into the narrative. Amber is one of the best for this. Over the Edge is great too.

Nikolas is coming together well for me. I hope I can eventually post a story only the GM has seen so far.

Looking forward to more stories. I've thought of collecting all of them somewhere.

Eventually I might share my background... well its a summary not a story. Pulled a part out of it for the story I posted. Been gathering inspirational art as well.

Edit: Amber and Lords of Gossamer are great for telling stories where anything goes. Maybe even more so with Lords as there is less people expect from canon. Only played over the edge once.

I look forward to starting the game proper. I have been creating as if I was the son of Julian. I hope that GM K is amiable to the idea. And I'm interested in how we all get to Amber. Again, I have some ideas, but I know the final decision is his.

Alright, so the South Seas position guards an important trade line.

With whom does Amber conduct trade? Do we rule over the entire "Shadow" of Amber, or are there other states?

Normally Amber rules over very little actual physical territory. The geography is somewhat vague. There is the city of Amber and Mount Kolvir that it sits partly on and partly at the foot of. There is at least something of a coastline. There is the forest of Arden. In the waters off the city is the underwater city of Rebma, Amber's reflection in the sea. Above Kolvir, on moonlit nights, is Tir-na Nog'th, it's reflection in the sky. (Both of these hold Patterns, reflections of the one in the basement of the castle.)
Arden spreads over multiple Shadows and guards the land approaches. Even by the time you enter Arden, you are not quite in Amber proper. The same happens as you sail away from the city. Whatever route you take you're moving away from Amber in Shadow as well as in distance.
There are metaphysical reasons for this.
It's also possible that it's just that no one really bothers to travel far from the city of Amber without travelling through Shadow, since it's so much easier to find whatever you want more quickly by short cutting through Shadow.
The simplest understanding is that it is possible, with sufficient effort and time to create a Path through Shadow that will endure and that others can follow even without power over Pattern. The immediate surroundings of Amber are covered with such Paths. Laid down by Oberon and his children long ago. They lead out into the Golden Circle, the Shadows closest to Amber, her closest trading partners and allies. Puppet states, really. Shadow Paths extend trade routes beyond the Golden Circle into other nearby Shadows, both by land and sea.
Amber is a mercantile power, essentially. Bolstered by the ability of no few of her ruling family to walk into Shadow and return with an army or to wreak magical havoc of one form or another.
One of those Golden Circle Shadows is Alhambra, from which Marjana comes. There are others named in the books, mostly in the Merlin saga, so I don't know if any of that is canon.

At least that's how I understand it, from the books and other passes at this over the years. The Viscount may well contradict it all, but those are the basic assumptions I've been working with. I've left out some metaphysics that wouldn't be common knowledge, even among the Family.

But, why?

I understand that the closer we are to Amber, the harder it is to change the Shadow. But there's also the "Royal Way" of traveling through. Wouldn't it be easier to simply, say, find a Shadow filled with nothing but perfectly ripened apples, and the Royally bring it back to Amber? Even if the conjured caravan had to stop a Shadow or two away, it'd be much more efficient to simply eradicate or enslave their neighbors and tow it in like that than play politics with Infinity.

Just curiosities. I realize it has little bearing on our gameplay, or the setting as a whole. I'm just trying to get into character. And I'm finding it difficult yet again to limit my thinking to a "normal" level when my PC is a God.

'Gods' is the key here. Gods don't deliver groceries, even if it is the best way to get them home.

But then, who would care about Amber, when we have Infinity? And I wouldn't mean "we" would tow it back; I assume it'd be the same Other People of Amber who fleet the ships and range the woodlands and mate with us. All we'd have to do is conquer the neighboring Shadows, which I gather is very easy and would be loads of fun for these people.

Edit: Let those peons in the unchanging world tend to themselves; who cares about them? We may have been born in the same land as they, but they are no better than the Shadows we exploit.

Edit again: I'm really not arguing for this approach, nor is it one I intend to take. But when I start putting myself in these shoes, I wouldn't care. Especially since it's assumed or implied we come from other Shadows ignorant of our true Amber heritage. I mean, sure, I'd stick around the castle for a while doing cool stuff, hang out, meet the folks. But they all sound crazier than hell. It doesn't sound like, given where I came from and my new-found control over all Reality, I'd stick around long, I'd just Go Somewhere Else.

Alric is invested in Amber. But Josh over here is fantasizing about ultimate power over reality. Sure, I'd live here until my wife and kid(s) died, but then I wouldn't have much reason to stick around, when I can just make any version I want.

Amber has a way of wrapping itself into the hearts and minds of its progeny.

Yes, anything you desire is Out There.

Yes, most youngsters spend centuries exploring their desires.

But it's all shadow, and Amber is Real.

Because travelling in Shadow is slow and hard and you have to do it yourself. Unless someone has already taken the time to make a more permanent Path, but that's even harder and you then need to guard such open Paths.
Sure, we could conquer, but then we'd have to rule and ruling is hard work. It's easier to let the nearby Shadows rule themselves, as long as they do what we want.

And we come back to Amber because Amber is Real. We've all gone out into Shadow and sought and found the fulfilment of our dreams, but it's all been somewhat hollow because it isn't real. And at least in the original books because this was where Family was. What was the point in ruling over Shadows when your only true rivals couldn't appreciate it. Winning your father's approval or rubbing your rival's nose in your success means more than all the pleasure gardens you could conjure up out in Shadow.

We're Gods in a way, but it's a very human way. A very dysfunctional human way.

Amber is where the Pattern is and the Pattern is the source of the family's power to walk through shadow (it created it after all). There are enemies out there who want that power or to destroy it so it must be guarded (Moonriders of Ganesh almost destroyed Amber).

But you don't want to sit there all alone on top of a magic drawing, so you build a city. The city has people who are probably more real but they still aren't family. Those people need to eat and as Nikolas said "gods don't deliver groceries" so you setup trade routes with nearby shadows. Marjana is probably right about basically wearing a groove.

I've never really bought into the "amber is more real so I want to be there" maybe you get a bit jaded going to one sex shadow after another and want some challenge so there is that. But Oberon basically twisted his children into infighting for the throne because it was better they fought each other than him. Problem is an immortal ruler isn't ever going to make a prince a king.

I think setting up the shadow kingdoms was something to do. But there are indications some of those kingdoms helped Amber in times of need. Also it is clear that some things (like the Riders) were around before the pattern. Seems unlikely that the pattern created everything.

Trade and wealth are purely for the common folk. Anyone who has walked the pattern can take a short walk and fill their pockets with gold and gems. The real reason to control the seas is political power.

I think I was turned off about living in Amber proper by the visual guide which sows the castle as a mostly normal castle... so tiny tiny rooms. From mt vision of an ideal almost fairy castle I found myself imagining a real world one complete with chamber pots.

But I'd definitely go on the shadow vacation :)

Edit: Indoor plumbing is the minimum I'll accept, real or not

The site that was linked earlier with the family tree has a Properly Grande Castle Map

Hey, guys, sorry I've been lame the last day or so, it has been a crazy day for me. That said, my weekend begins tonight, so I should be able to get my brain in order tonight and get to all your questions (so many PMs!).

For the moment, though, a couple quick group responses; the stories people have been telling may or may not be a little exaggerated, some of the details a little distorted, but I haven't seen anything so far that I wouldn't believe more or less happened.

Also, as others have said - Amber tends to lie at the souls of its sons and daughters. Sooner or later, they all find themselves returning to it, interested in its goings on. Absolutely, Shadow's infinite possibilities are tempting, as they would be for anyone, but sooner or later most tire of worlds that dance at their whim and they long for something more real. I have a whole bunch of metaphors for this phenomenon, check it out:

Good deal! Though, I'm more concerned with how you got bullets on here. I want cooly-formatted goodness!

Good deal! Though, I'm more concerned with how you got bullets on here. I want cooly-formatted goodness!

What's everyone else PMing about? Now I feel out of the loop.

Probably how their powers work and working out items or shadows.
Finalizing the builds, basically.

I know I've got some item stuff I still want to sort out.

I don't always use PMs, but when I do, I'll be having a Dos Equis.

Dammit, now I want a Dos Equis!

Edit: Dammit gets through the filters? Coool.

Viscount, of course, will also be filling you all in on the 10-Point Nacre Tax. For the ongoing effort to preserve Amber's mollusks.

Donations payable to the Chair, of course.

I can get taking game off hard mode. "But the bathrooms man!"
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My PMs have mostly been about the details of finishing the character. Now I need to go design some spells so Viscount has more things to review ;)

I can get taking game off hard mode. "But the bathrooms man!"

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My PMs have mostly been about the details of finishing the character. Now I need to go design some spells so Viscount has more things to review ;)

Amber has indoor plumbing and a good sewer system. The mechanics would be simple enough to work in nearly any Shadow (basic valves and water pressure) and enough of the family has traveled in tech Shadows to feel the same need you do.

I would guess there would be several technological anachronisms and the best of civilizations that had plumbing (Romans, Indus Valley, Greeks, etc); definitely not the actual middle ages. The amberites are used to luxuries and sanitation. The visual guide just left me with the impression of a standard middle ages world.

Its a joke in my head due to the visual guide coming out while I was playing an amber game. Most GMs have made the castle actually impressive and Amber not have sewage tossed into the street.

Could I heal others by using Psyche to either "absorb" their damage or to "transfer" some of my Endurance to them? The way I understand Psyche assaults, I'm essentially "draining" your Endurance to the point that you start being physically hurt by my attack. If that's the case, I don't see why the reverse wouldn't be true.

The other case of Psyche attack would be damaging you enough to "bypass your DR," in which instance my reasoning for the above falls apart.

No. Healing others requires Advanced Shapeshifting, Sorcery (maybe), or Artifacts. Most amberites are the equivalent to a doctor and pretty hard to kill.

Shapeshifting makes sense, I didn't take it into consideration.

And true, but say Eztil and Alric are out and about, and Eztil gets hit by a Disruptor or something; taking attributes as shown, Alric could recover from that far easier and faster than Eztil.

Shapeshifting though, I'll have to remember if I ever play this again and feel like being the benevolent healer...for some reason.

Mostly, we just heal. Or shrug the damage off and keep going until we get the chance. Given time, you can duck off into a Shadow that allows quick healing tech - either magical or science fiction style.
As Eztil says, Sorcery might work and is fairly common.

Or you can just have yourself locked in a dungeon for a couple of years to give your eyeballs time to grow back. But I wouldn't recommend it.

Hello all - sorry about the ongoing lack of responses. I had to go deal with a minor family emergency tonight; nothing that we couldn't handle, but it had to be dealt with pretty immediately, and now I'm just too exhausted to properly GM. I promise I'll start getting to stuff tomorrow evening, but for now I just wanted to let you know I'm still paying attention.

Hope everything is ok Take care of your family.

Yeah, hope it all turned out okay.
No worries about the delay. Real Life comes first. We'll still be here.

Yep, as others have said--take care of you and yours first. We'll wait.

I have a question about constructs,
Not so much as how they work but more of checking if I understand how they are priced.

A construct is sort of building a power (Ghostwheel) or an enhancement to a power (spikard).

So the first step is concept and having the power that would be incorporated into the construct.

No extra cost.

Step 2 is to define the Shadow it is located in and find the cost of that Shadow as a personal Shadow.

Apply a multiplier for more than one Shadow.

Step 3: Define access, whether by artifact, manifestation, or personification and apply a connection multiplier based on that.

The fourth and final step is to determine the Psyche of the construct (and thus it’s beginning level of sapience- later it can possibly improve on its own, even to becoming independent.).

Most important is to understand that points don’t create the construct, GM permission does, at each step of the way.

Ghost wheel was based on Pattern and Trump and could generate its own Trumps pretty much at will and send a manifestation and power through them almost without limit.

A spikard gives access to countless sources of sorcerous power throughout Shadow and can provide formulations of spells as needed, without spending the time to formulate and hang the spell before use.

An example given of a player built construct was a Trump Observatory.

Presumably based in a single Shadow and based on Trump, this construct would give the ability to look into other Shadows like a telescope looks at distant stars.

Cost: (the Shadow = 1 for personal Shadow + 4 for Guarded = 5) x (1 shadow) x (2 shadow conduit- likely a Trump access) x (1 no Psyche) = 10 points.

Sound correct?

Also note that more than one player can contribute points towards a Construct and that, unlike an Artifact, buying a Construct does not guarantee continued possession- it can be taken away.

(Another thing to remember is a standard reminder that GM's can create Constructs, too. Abuse of your power from a construct can result in abuse of you by a GM controled construct.)

A historical note.

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I'm getting back on track, and I apologize again for the delay. Just so you know what was going on with me, the emergency I had to deal with was nothing too big; my dad recently had major surgery on his foot (they basically reconstructed the whole thing), and he can't get around very well until it heals. My mom had to go out of town unexpectedly, and so my dad needed someone around to help him out for a bit. That, in conjunction with a play I'm helping out with going into actual production, meant my time/brain was pretty much eaten up. Nothing huge or life threatening, just time consuming.

Speaking of which, I'm working some overtime hours this week in preparation for a brief trip I'm going on come next weekend, so between those, I may well be going slow on playing catch-up, but I should have enough time to get in several decent posts and at least a few PM responses. Sorry about that, but it can't be helped. Without further ado, let's get to it!

First, long overdue - the official Positions of Power and the points spent (if I missed a post, sing out!).

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Sheriff of the City, Lawkeeper: James, 4

Warden of Forest Arden, Guardian of Shadow: Chaney, 2

Admiral of the Northern Sea, Serpentbane: Nikolas, 3

Southern Admiral, Summer Emissary: Marjana, 2

Captain of the Palace Guard, Pattern Shield: Eztil, 4
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On Constructs: Mostly right, James, but different in one bit of math as I understand it - you pay for the Shadow, Manifestation, and Psyche separately, rather than multiplying them all together. In fact, Constructs don't have to have a Manifestation at all, though that limits their functionality pretty severely. Also, the multiplier for Manifestations is applied to any abilities that the Manifestation itself has.
In your example, let's say the Manifestation was a very minor Item of Power, worth 2 points. The math would work out more like:

Shadow: 5 points = 1(Shadow)+4(Guarded)
Shadow Conduit Manifestation: 4 = 2(Shadow Conduit)*2(Item cost)
No Psyche: 0 points
Total: 9 = 5+4

My wishes for your father's speedy recovery. And good luck with the play.
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The worksheet in Shadow Knight for constructs breaks it down like:
Shadow * Quantity
+ Manifestation * Connection_Type
+ Psyche
= Total Construct Cost

You know, I never even looked at the work sheet.

Seeing it written out like that , it makes sense to me.

Thanks, guys.

Alright, friends, I've already been getting a pile of messages about this sort of thing, but just so we're clear - now is the time to build any Constructs you have in mind. If you want to keep them secret but need or want partners, PM each other about them and include me once you have it all finalized - but beware!

From this moment on, there is no such thing as Out of Character information.
Anything you share with your fellow players from here on out is considered fair game for them to know in game - clearly, you weren't as sneaky as you thought you were, and either you let something slip in your body language or intention, or perhaps there are spies in your organization, or even magic spies on you from afar. One way or another, be careful what you tell your siblings from here on out. One of the major guidelines for the Amber RPG in a face to face game is Always Be Roleplaying, and while that's extremely difficult in this situation, this is part of how I intend to push us towards that idea.

I should be clear that I am in no way intending to discourage you from being public with your abilities and stories. There are at least three major strategic reasons to go public with what you can do.

The first has to do with the possible sibling rivalry, and is all about intimidation. If they know how untouchable you are, they might think twice about making a move, and might even let you enforce your authority. As an example: In a previous game, I had a character who was First in Warfare and Endurance, and openly flaunted his magical gauntlet that protected him from mental attack while warning the others that he would tolerate no subterfuge or power plays.

The second is about teamwork. For those situations when you have to work together, it is absolutely invaluable to know your partner's capabilities and weaknesses. That same character from before let people know straight up that his abilities were on their side any time at their request, and that gauntlet made it very difficult if not impossible to reach him by magical means, so he set up alternate avenues of communication to summon him as necessary.

The third, of course, is that it's fun to talk about this stuff. I don't know about you folks, but I'm loving hearing everyone's tall tales, speculation about who can do what, or what people might do with their leftover points.

Not to mention that, of course, just because you heard someone let it slip OOC, that doesn't necessarily make it true. Heck, there is a very strong possibility that even I'll be lying to you at various points. Since this is so very possible in a game like this, I'd very much like everyone to keep in mind that at the end of the day, this is a game. Please don't hold personal grudges with one another because the person they made up was mean to the person you made up. I know that ought to go without saying, but it's human nature.

Anyway, my original point was that when sharing Construct ideas with one another, know that the people you share it with will know about your plans in game as well as out.