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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.
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.
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.
Good deal! Though, I'm more concerned with how you got bullets on here. I want cooly-formatted goodness!
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.
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.
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?
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.
Kahn.
The more who know of Alric, the more likely his bad luck will find him. I bow out.
This is really fun, again. I might actually get my wife to play something like this with me, which would be pretty sweet.
"What is that strange circular water feature? Steer us towards it, lad; I want a closer look!"
Having the best warfare people at the borders leading the troops seems wise. It is indeed odd that the poorest of Warfare leads the might navy of the North. We should but hope our enemies seek elsewhere to strike at our home.
Same goes for anything I pay for, then. Say I buy a horse with points, and I'm riding along shifting Shadow, when suddenly I come to one where...I don't know, it's got an atmosphere composed of Arsenic. Horse dies. I move a couple more Shadows, horse is back, tied to a post and waiting for me. But if I just took a normal horse, it would be dead forever. And then, if James loans me his horse, in the same scenario, the horse would be tied up next to James; the item doesn't go away, but since it doesn't belong to Alric, it doesn't immediately go back to him.
And I think my last applicable question, or at least the last I can see at this point. On "losing" items. Eztil goes Trump Artisty, and we're pals, so he makes me a set, and I put them in my pocket. We go through a stroll through Shadow. No one bothers us, some invisible guy doesn't rob me, just a stroll. Is it possible to lose the item just by moving to a different shadow, or does it have to actively be taken from me, say by Joe the demon?
So then if one of you point-rich people buy Artistry, and you really like me, you could just give me a deck of Trump. But it wouldn't be mine, so if I lost it, it's gone?
On a note of Trump, if no one ends up taking Artistry, do Trumps not exist?
1 in each of the Admirals, and 1 in Forest Ranger.
Alright, ladies and gents, unless some question or other brings things to a screeching halt, the auction for the Positions of Power begins at approximately 7:30 AM PST (that's 3:30 PM GMT) this morning, 2/8/2016. I say approximately because it begins once I post saying we begin. Oh, I read this completely differently. Actually, I didn't read the times, I just skimmed through everything! It's not too late, I can delete it; it's not fair otherwise. Sorry everyone; I have the day off, so I just kind of rolled over and read these before actually waking up. Edit: Gone. We'll just pretend that didn't happen ;) Good to see everyone here; good morning and all that!
was waiting on the Viscount Oh, were they supposed to be secret initially, like the attributes? Oops, I thought it was just open funness.
It is war, and if I'm not mistaken, there were only us two left. But then there was one; I'll stand at 67.
Okay, 65. "And on I read until the day was gone; and I sat in regret of all the things I've done. For all that I've blessed, and all that I've wronged. In dreams until my death I will wander on." 67. Edit: Don't think those lyrics are right, but I don't have the album jacket.
"I have a story for you." The Shadow warped. Where once had been a tavern wall, with the children of Amber boasting of their deeds naught but a pace hence, melting panels gave way to a stone cavern, their waxy drippings forming ancient stalagmites. A weathered man stood before the gathered company, enormous beard nearly reaching he ground from his position hunched over a cane, gnarled hand gripping the handle tightly as he imposed his Will upon the Shadow. No mere Shadow-dwellers were the Amberites, and they knew at once they had not moved. Yet neither did the man appear to have walked the path of Shadow to seek their counsel; it was as though he had brought the Shadow to himself. "When you were naught but seeds ripe for planting, I came upon a Shadow far from the comforts of Amber. Upon this world, in days ancient before my arrival, the people had erected a great stone..." The Stone:
For centuries since, the stone stood, monument immemorial of lost days. The people of the world grew, and aged speciously, soon advancing beyond the dreams of their ancestors. Marvelous technology flourished across the land, machines and people becoming the new nature. Racial memories kept the stone alive, and as the peoples forgot much of their past, content to dally in the luxuries of their time, the stone was unmolested, built around and preserved. Yet as children are so wont to do, the people of this world grew arrogant, cocksure in their superiority and the righteous progress of their machines. They had raped their planet of every resource, eradicating all life but their own; in a breath, their machines had to turn elsewhere for power, harvesting the energy of their star. As the people grew, they built a massive dome around their planet, starving any chance of new life forming as they blocked out the sun. The planet was an eternal winter, but the people lived on in their homes, kept warm and fed by their machines. The stone bore the brunt of the climate with gall, and while primitive structures and mountains alike succumbed to the death throws of the ecosystem, the stone remained stalwart, keeping its constant vigil. Time wore on, and the people grew weary of their world. They moved onward, colonizing the rest of their solar system, without a thought of the home they left for dead. For great eons, their civilization flourished, yet the people did not. Never learning from their past, they continued to ravage all resources they touched, until in a last, desperate hour, they turned to the mechanisms of their star. In their audacity, they tried to tap the very core for energy. The resulting explosion was felt in Shadows far distant, their star obliterating all trace of their society in its fiery eruption. The planetary system was devastated; what had not been simply vaporized was rent asunder by the powerful waves of energy, scattering debris across their galaxy. A neighboring civilization, more astute, had also taken to the stars, and witnessed the explosion as a marvelous spray of color across their skies, a new beauty in their lives. Later, they sent exploratory craft into the region, studying the phenomenon with acute interest. It was there, amidst the rubble of what had been greatness, that they found a curiously shaped chunk of rock. It appeared to have been deliberately carved; their scientists speculated it may have been some monolith from a lost civilization that had once populated the desolate system. Astounded, they took the artifact to their home, and erected it in a place of honor at their capital, a monument immemorial of lost days. 64. Bring on the Bad Stuff.
I had one about sinking to the bottom of an ocean, and having to walk out, but I couldn't get it to quite come together properly, so instead I'll just bid 59.
I really love your stories Nikolas; it makes me root for you to succeed. But the foolish noob in me make me want you to pay for it. I bid 55.
Good, good...now I see how soft the children of Amber have grown...
Thanks, I appreciate the responses. It honestly didn't occur to me at all until I got into the bidding on Psyche. I wasn't really planning on carrying it as far as I did, but coming in first at opening changed the game for me; then I started to worry, that, having lost that and being, at best, 3.5 in Warfare, I would just immediately die. I'm glad that isn't the case!
Can I ask a serious question without our pseudo-combativeness getting in the way? It goes back to the conversations y'all were having about the armor and sword I didn't understand at the time. Now that I've found a good version of the rules, I see that you really weren't just making up colorful euphemisms, and for 4ish points each, I really can buy invulnerable armor and a sword that cuts through anything. I think your discussion (because I'm too lazy to go back a page) was more philosophical than practical, but I should ask. I've got 60 points left, possibly more if I sell down Warfare. Do I have to buy a heap of powerful items now, because if I don't, three posts into the Gameplay, Chaney's going to throw a dagger from 10 miles away and kill me? I guess the underlying question really is, how focused are we on PvP? Should I expect at all times that anyone with a higher rank than me is going to try to kill me? At least in d20 games, PCs start at relatively the same power level, and it's all random anyway, so I'm not as worried about my party just going rogue as I am here. If I don't win this last auction, I'm not Dominant in anything. So, if my fears are correct, the best thing for me to do is go hide forever until someone else kills you all. That doesn't seem like much of an RPG. AFTERTHOUGHT: The auction really messed with my head, yo.
Oh I believe you; I had to stop in the middle there and make a table before I kept bidding, otherwise I had no idea how many points I needed to save to buy things! Glad I did, too; Viscount'd have too much fun with Bad Stuff!
(...)Will have to make some sacrifices. You mean, another 1? ;)
This is quite fun; I can see how it would be an absolute blast in a home game.
You can have it...unless one of the others chime in. I'll stand at 55.
In for a penny ... In for 53 Are you in for 56? You'll have to be to beat me, with my bid of 55.
Contrary to the opinion above, which may or may not possess any level of trustworthiness, I still feel Psyche is a far less valuable stat. Especially relative to Endurance, which we haven't even gotten to yet. Nevertheless, I could stand to put a couple more points in...so I'll bid 30. EDIT: Ninja'd, 33.
Also, Amber rank leaves us at exactly equal to the common Amberite, but just 1 point makes us far superior, ya? So unless we're selling down or desperately need 1 point, there's no reason for James and I not to spend 1pt on Rank 6.5 in Strength and Warfare respectively, even though we'd still be last?
Not at all; we wouldn't want anyone's plans to be ruined by having to take Bad Stuff after creation to account for their accidental over-spending. Best to just let it go as-is, I say!
Not at all! James fully understands the value of Endurance, and I'm sure he's planning on stealthfully "buying-up" his Warfare and Strength, and he'll of course need points for that as well as the powers you mentioned. I think James is perfectly fine with 23 Psyche. That still puts him well above everyone else! Right, James? Addendum: Oh, also, I have my laptop back now! So yay for actually being able to type out responses!
Color me surprised. I don't think I've ever seen initial bids for Psyche so low, even with a 100 point budget and Pattern not included. I'm not surprised at all. Psyche isn't nearly as important as Warfare, or Endurance, or even Strength. No one wants to bid on Psyche. We might as well just close the auction now and move on to Endurance.
Oh! I saw "King Random" in one of the introduction pages, but I thought that was their tongue-in-cheek voice they'd been using. So then Corwin and Brand and all of these other people are Random's brothers, or kids?
Welcome back James! With my Amber in Warfare and yours in Strength, we'd make a lovely pair! I have a lore question. Dworkin found/created Amber. His son Oberon ruled it for a while, but now Oberon's son Corwin rules it. Dworkin is a bit remote to worry about, but why is Corwin now King instead of Oberon? Did Corwin kill him, or did he die/otherwise abdicate and Corwin beat out his siblings for the throne?
I was worried about this exact thing when I first started pinging in about it, but then I realized it didn't really matter If this guide is right, Princes of Amber came out in 1970. So by saying "modern tech," you're representing two vastly different worlds from then to now. Also, they're an author, trying to make money with a unique invention. It wouldn't behoove them to include other works in theirs, nor to take the "infinite worlds" idea to multitudes of directions, since that not only overcomplicates their narrative, but also brances down metaphysical paths most fantasy authors only trod scantly. But we're out for ourselves. K is trying to do much as the original author did, but his story is forced to coalesce with the stories of seven other real people, something the Amber author didn't have to deal with, not to mention the massive explosion of media the past 46 years have brought, including the inception of our favorite dice-based RPGs, and given this system is called "diceless," I can only infer that it was invented long after D&D became popular. I'm not sure where I was going with this. I don't plan on having Jedi show up, nor have a debate on the nature of reality with Deadpool; I picked SW as an effort to equate something I'm familiar with (or not, since I'm wrong on lightsabres) to this world that I'm not. Edit: It's also amusing you mentioned Worf and Strength. My example was originally going to be Klingons, but I figured SW had a generally-broader audience and I wouldn't have to explain Klingon culture to whoever wanted to answer. So in light of all this, let me ask you: If Dominant Strength and Dominant Warfare were trying to impress the Klingons(which in my correlation equals the rest of us, all Ambers): DW would whoop up on them with a Bat'Leth, but his wimpy Strength and Endurance make them laugh at him during their version of arm wrestling and bloodwine drinking contests. They would be much more impressed with DS and his decent Endurance, or in my flowery imagery find him "more Klingon" and he'd ultimately "win." But, if we are our characters in Shadow Klingon universe, even my Amber rank in Warfare makes me better at the bat'leth than Khaless himself, barring unusual Shadow magic GM-fiat stuff.
Yeah I'm speaking solely from a movie standpoint, and I thought I'd remembered something about Luke's force training being necessary for him to build a lightsabre. The only example I remember of a non-Force user wielding them is Grevious, and he was 90% robotic. But, okay, the real meat of my question got answered anyway. However, there is this bit in the guide I'm using:
Sounds to me if Vader and Chaney were in a sabre duel, and Vader flicks Force at him, Chaney wouldn't have time to react. But I really don't know this system (obviously!), so I'm trying to get many of the questions out of the way before I have to stop us mid-fight and figure it out.
So taking it from these perspectives, we found ourselves in the fight to control Star Wars Galaxy. Chaney innately understands the pulse rifles, AT-ATs, and even Death Stars. But if Chaney doesn't buy Psyche, then your average Jedi could really mess him up with the Force. Conversely, I win Dominant Psyche, and even The Voice, or whatever the new Sith lord called himself, would be hard-pressed to Force me anything. Then there's a light sabre debate, but that's unnecessary for now (but, to mention it, they're weapons that require Force Sensitivity to operate, so Chaney many or may not be able to use one). That about right?
Don't the "super powers" only apply in Shadow anyway, and even then only in certain ones (or maybe always -except- certain ones)?
As a side comment while we're talking about different things, and without wanting anyone to play their hand too much, is anyone looking at any of the positions for that auction, once we get there? They seem interesting, with a trade-off of prestige/power and responsibilities. Admiral of the South Sea seems neat. We can argue with each other over who is stronger or smarter, but money is money, even in Amber (I assume anyway xD), and control of a wealthy trade route seems like a delightful power ploy.
That brings up something else. I know that PvP is extremely likely, perhaps even encouraged, but are we actively trying to kill each other? I was operating under the impression that we're all going to have shared goals, but the means of achieving them might put us into conflict, not that we're in the Amber Hunger Games.
If I get enough princess Bad Stuff, will Bowser-I mean, Nikolas-cart me off to another castle?
All of those helped immensely. Just one more clarification. Say I wind up with some Bad Stuff, and then get some amount of points. Can I then spend those to get rid of Bad Stuff? Is it ever an option, or does Bad Stuff automatically get paid off before we can buy something new?
I'm good at where I'm at; with beard of this magnitude, Alric surely couldn't possess great strength. I don't see the trickle bit in my little guide, but I follow the concept. Leads me to another question though; do we have to spend all of our points? I assume more "trickle in" so we can get Artifacts down the road, but if after the auction, the secret buy-up phase, and then saying "I'll take Words of Power and a Personal Shadow," if I still have points left, can they be banked for future purchases (say, adding Guardians to my shadow or making a little slave or magic sword Artifact)?
No. The only Ranks that exist are the final ones. Good question. But, we could spend 23 points, and be 3.5 Rank? Or is it limited to 75pts/1.5 Rank?
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