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Fans of the Amber series of books by Roger Zelazny may know that there is a role-playing system designed for the worlds of Amber. It is a novel design that uses no dice. I created a character for a campaign with this system about 20 years ago, but unfortunately, it folded before we could fully explore the possibilities.
The rule book is still available. Physical copies run around $60 at Amazon and there is a pdf version for $12 from Drive-thru.
This is just a toe-in-the-water post to see if there are enough people interested in a PBP campaign using this system to possibly give it a go. I'm not sure I can moderate but I would certainly like to create a character. If there are lots of people wanting to play but no one who offers to GM, I could give it a shot, but I already am GM of one PF game, so I'm not sure how quickly I could have something to offer.
Who's interested?
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Diceless roleplaying is, in many ways, superior to standard RPG gaming in my experience. And the more I see PbP games the more I think a diceless game would work very well on the Boards, here.
I don't know the system of which you are speaking though I'm familiar with Zelazny's Amber series -- and Very familiar with the old D&D module, Castle Amber which was written in homage to those novels.
If the system is easy to learn (How can it not be?) -- and someone else can DM -- and the campaign is heavy with background and setting and atmosphere, then I'm all-in.
You may have to send me a Private Message when the time comes -- it is very likely I will lose track of this Thread if it doesn't get some traffic in the next couple of days.
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....maybe?
Definitely interested. I've read the series (both of them), have both the main book and Shadow Knight. Should probably reread both series, as it's been a while.
I might GM it. This is one game setting that really benefits from proactive players. In a lot of Pathfinder games, players can afford to be more passive, responding to what happens. In Amber games, of course it depends on the GM style, but given how powerful the characers are within the setting, a good game means characters with goals who will strive to achieve them, and the GM weaving a plot out of that, rather than the GM building a plot and an adventure (or running a module) as a playground for the players.
I've been looking back over the rules. The one game I played in did not last long enough to have a lot of encounters, so I can't speak to how well the diceless aspect works. The philosophy is that when it comes to the powerful near-godlike characters such as the princes and princesses of Amber in any confrontation, random chance has little to do with who wins. While that might make it seem like results are foregone conclusions, as players, you never know for sure the exact strength of the other NPCs and not even the other PCs, so you have to decide if you think you are stronger at fighting or mental strength or whatever than your opponent.
It is assumed that the characters will be so much better at most things that they will automatically win in any contest with what we would call ordinary people. Even a 25th level character in a Pathfinder or D&D world would get beaten in any kind of contest or fight with an Amberite.
It does mean that most of the fun will be in describing what your character is doing and having a good GM who can take a very simple game mechanic (who has the highest warfare attribute, for example, usually wins) and turn it into a suspenseful, account, making the outcome hinge on things other than a simple comparison of numbers.
Since there seems to be a core of possible players and a possible GM or two, those who don't yet have a copy of the rules, get a copy and look it over and check back with a report on whether you are still interested.
Those who already have the rules, look over the examples of character creation and maybe sketch out an idea or two of a character.
The general idea is usually that the PCs are generally junior members of the family of Oberon. The senior members may be involved as NPCs and if so they can be pretty close to the way they are written in the books (the book has suggested builds for the main characters) or the GM can change them in small or large ways. Or the GM could replace them with a different set entirely.
When it comes time to create characters, there is an auction to determine who has the highest score for each of four attributes: Psyche, Strength, Endurance, and Warfare. Players have 100 points to start with. Anything not spent on attributes can be spent on powers and other resources.
Interested...
But the concept would be highly variable depending on how I do in the auction I think.
Indeed. We will need to work out a way to conduct the auction on-line, assuming we can't get everyone connected to an interactive audio program. I was thinking each person could place a bid under a spoiler and when all players had posted, the GM could do a random roll to choose one of the people making a bid. That would be recorded and revealed and then a new round of bids would be made.
If anyone can think of an alternative, method, please suggest it.
I have only played one game and I don't remember much about the auction, but I think one needs to go into it with a budget and some ideal levels, and then make adjustments as the auction proceeds.
The creator of the system recommends a few principles to follow: he suggests all players reserve enough points (50) to purchase the Pattern power. He also recommends never buying down any of the attributes below Amber level. Obviously some players may want to run a non-Amber character so other powers might be useful.
I would be sure to read the section on how good stuff, zero stuff, and bad stuff affects outcomes. This becomes like a substitute for dice rolls for things that might be random, making things easier or harder for the character to succeed.
I ran an online Amber Diceless game for many years and have played in many more. Feel free to ask for help. There are a lot of ideas that have been done a lot. Bad if you're experienced, but probably great if you're a neophyte.
So I'm pleased that there is interest in Amber PBP. What would really help is someone ready to commit to being a GM. I'm willing if no one else is, but I'd much rather be a player than a GM when I'm not very familiar with the rules. I love the concept of Amber and would love to run a character just to get to do hell-rides and contact people through trumps and all the other cool things that Amberites do.
I'd suggest people who seriously want to run a character submit some character concepts to give potential GMs some ideas of the characters. Maybe put things you'd want to keep secret under spoilers and don't peak at other people's spoilers. It might give a GM some interesting ideas about where the campaign might go.
If someone steps up and volunteers to GM, I'll transfer this thread to him or her.
Mmmmm, Aaaammmbbeeerrrr...
I've played a couple games of this IRL over the years, and I find it particuarly tasty. I actually do have the rules, and I'm pretty familiar with them (although a bit rusty). Honestly, though, in large part, they're pretty squishy rules anyway, highly subject to GM revision. I think that a lot of it could work very well in a PbP setting, actually, as there is a lot of hidden information and intrigue that makes for a weird (and sometime tedious) real life gaming session as everybody passes notes back and forth and drags the GM off to private conferences.
Tell you what, let me point a few friends of mine at this, see if they're interested - it's possible there's one of us who already has an idea for a story in mind, and if they don't, then I have a couple ideas percolating that might work out.
For those still interested: I couldn't get the idea out of my head, my brain got rolling on story, and eventually decided I'd run the thing myself. I've started a recruitment thread here.