This world is but one of untold many, a flux of chance caught between shadow and light. It is a world poised between great powers that shape and define all matter, one of many battlegrounds in an epic struggle between form and cacophony. This is the battle between the creators, shapers, and destroyers of worlds. Welcome to the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow!
Lords of Gossamer and Shadow is an original sourcebook and role-playing game using Erick Wujcik’s Amber Diceless Role-Playing, licensed from Diceless by Design. It is a standalone product, but remains fully compatible with the existing rules system and can be readily used in new and existing campaigns.
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I already donated. I'm curious to see to what extent it's addressed all my grievances regarding ADRPG :)
Edit: I see that there are still Attribute Auctions... grumble mutter grumble.
I understand how they can be useful if EVERY challenge is going to be between different PCs, but if we assume that a majority of the conflicts will be with people other than other PCs, and the GM is not going to include every character in the auction, then I don't really understand the point.
And now I see that it's the same old 4 attribute system as well. Have efforts been made to make Strength less of a 'dump' stat, and Warfare less supremely powerful?
(Yes, I do realize that I seem like I'm complaining).
I've played a of ADRPG's & I have never found Strength to be a 'Dump' stat. Strength is actually usually the 'tie-breaker' stat along with Endurance, which makes both of them anything but 'dump' stats. & I managed to the Beat the 1st in Warfare guy at least as often as he beat me...
Frequently with Strength.
That said, I can understand your complaints with the Attribute Auction if you are going for something other than a 'standard' Amber game. Several years ago I was in a decidedly non-standard game using the basic Amber rules mechanics but nothing else. Not certain exactly how the GM handled determining 'who was best'. Of course, as I said, it was a long time ago.
I was hoping that there'd be some changes based on (what I understand to be) 20 years of experimentation and tweaking. And I'm disappointed they kept "Stuff". It seems like such a complete cop-out of an attempt to balance things that actually manages to do precisely the opposite.
My reason for thinking that Strength is a dump stat (as I'm quite certain Wujick felt it was) is that the example used for why "it's the most important stat" is that everyone is afraid of Gerard. Which is simply laughable. Everyone considers Gerard to be slow, steady, loyal, and none too bright. People are afraid of him if they are within arm's reach of him. But I can't say I've ever thought of Benedict as being afraid of Gerard or heard anyone suggest this was true. Brand feared Benedict, but I don't recall him expressing any concern about Gerard at any point.
And then there's the way in which Elders' stats are assigned in the ADRPG book. Flora has a higher strength than Eric (in every example of each of them). Llewella is generally stronger than almost any of the brothers, for that matter.
My problem with the auction is really that it is only useful if PCs are only matched against each other. If they're not, and might be compared to other people, then how are they included in the rankings? Is every single Elder just operating on a different power level from PCs (whether above or below)?
Perhaps I've simply never played in any 'traditional' Amber gams, but I've never had an auction, nor have I ever felt that one would be appropriate. Perhaps if I were playing in a Throne War style game in which people were only ever competing against each other. But I would find a game like that to be uninteresting, to be honest.
I guess I'm sort of wondering what the point of this re-release is, if there doesn't seem to have been any actual tinkering with the mechanics. Perhaps the PDF is not a good guide, and perhaps the new Setting will reveal exciting new things. But I'm currently skeptical (as is doubtless obvious).
Yes there is an attribute auctuion and yes there are the same attributes. We are required by our liscence to be compatible with the original books.
We have added a second form of character generation and jason has added as many options for using say psyche as warfare.
Also this is not Amber, this is a new original setting.
More later.
@Thejeff
That is the problem, if I did not do the core that everyone recognizes with refinements of writing and design based on the skill of a 20+ year veteran designer like Jason Durall no one would have a baseline to work from. Also we have found that most people have never actually played with the original rules, so this allows all of the variants that have been developed to easily be adapted to Lords of Gossamer & Shadow.
This way it works for both existing players and new ones.
Well there is 50+ pages of material on the setting even before adding artwork right now. Beyond the core book there is also
The bonus 10 page pdf by Rob Donoghue
The Long Walk a 60 page sandbox adventure.
The 52 Card icon deck
We are also 43% of the way to a 30 page new gossamer world written by Matt Forbeck.
@kmal2t
Jason Rainville has done work for paizo, check out the Npc Codex :)
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I'm wondering what the plans are for the combat rules.
The Amber game system doesn't seem to have a combat matrix. On page 80, the primitive rules boil down to "the character with the higher attribute wins." Readers can come away with the impression that all the rest is for show, detail for the sake of story-telling. But, yep, Amber has a detailed Warfare combat system, buried in the text between pages 80 and 101.
Each fighter chooses among three defensive maneuvers, three standard maneuvers, two aggressive maneuvers, four Strength-based maneuvers, and three arcane maneuvers. Combatants each choose a maneuver and compare these to the relative skill level of the opponents (Amber rules, pages 84-89), with modifiers for their relative levels of Stuff, and the effects of magical equipment.
Combat results are rated on Wujcik's scale from 1 (a near miss) through 8 (a death blow) (pages 97 - 100).
I mention this, but it seems that nobody actually plays Amber by the rules. I'm wondering how Lords of Gossamer and Shadow will treat them.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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As a follow-up, I read your update today; "I’ve noticed over the years about Amber Diceless Role-Playing is that vast swaths of the core rulebook are mostly ignored or are unfamiliar to players, because so many GMs and players learn through actual play rather than reading the book."
I was glad.
That was actually a quote from the Designer Jason Durall
for those who want to read the whole thing they can find it HERE
And that is part of the challenge as a publisher
I have to think about the new players who don't know anything about ADRP and don't want to feel like they have to read 12 novels before they can play, hence going with a new setting.
I have to think about the vetern players who have all their own house rules, and will want to be able to easily adapt it to their current campaigns hence making it compatible with ADRP.
That was actually a quote from the Designer Jason Durall.My apologies; when I wrote "you" I meant "your project" rather than "your person".
No apology required, I am just big on credit ;)
Things are going very well, and I hope to have another update later today.