Amber Diceless: Gauntlet TGIT

[edige23]

This is for four September sessions of Amber, a diceless game based on the works of Roger Zelazny. Familiarity with the setting is not required, but helpful. Attendance at all sessions is strongly encouraged, but not required. Rules will be taught. In session one we will create characters and get our story started.

Note: Amber character creation can be a little more involved, so we may take some shortcuts to make that easier. Also classic Amber involves some serious pvp-ish elements. I will likely lean away from that but be aware of that. Amber can involve backstabbing and betrayal.

*From Wikipedia: *
The game is set in the multiverse described in Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber. The Amber multiverse consists of Amber, a city at one pole of the universe wherein is found the Pattern, the symbol of Order; The Courts of Chaos, an assembly of worlds at the other pole where can be found the Logrus, the manifestation of Chaos, and the Abyss, the source or end of all reality; and Shadow, the collection of all possible universes (shadows) between and around them. Inhabitants of either pole can use one or both of the Pattern and the Logrus to travel through Shadow.

It is assumed that players will portray the children of the main characters from the books – the ruling family of Amber, known as the Elder Amberites – or a resident of the Courts. However, since some feel that being the children of the main characters is too limiting, it is fairly common to either start with King Oberon’s death before the book begins and roleplay the Elder Amberites as they vie for the throne; or to populate Amber from scratch with a different set of Elder Amberites.

We will record the session and use the X-Card for safety. If you sign up and your attendance or RSVP changes, please also send me a message at edige23 at gmail. I will send out a group email a week before the session with set up and invite details.

The Gauntlet Inclusivity Policy will be in play and the X-Card) safety tool will be in use.

Friday, September 6, 2019 12:00 AM → Friday, September 6, 2019 3:00 AM Session 1

Friday, September 13, 2019 12:00 AM → Friday, September 13, 2019 3:00 AM Session 2

Friday, September 20, 2019 12:00 AM → Friday, September 20, 2019 3:00 AM Session 3

Friday, September 27, 2019 12:00 AM → Friday, September 27, 2019 3:00 AM Session 4

[shane]

The videos for this:

[Simon_Hibbs]

I just started watching the episodes on YouTube and listened to your thoughts on the podcast. I played a ton of Amber in the 90s and I’m starting up a game with my kids at the moment.

I do understand where you’re coming from with the novels and misogyny, it’s there, and I may be wrong, but I still think you’re missing the mark. The Amberites, particularly the male ones are a bunch of jerks. They are A-holes on multiple dimensions, so are we surprised they’re somewhat mysoginist? To me it’s just another reason they’re jerks. Their flaws are what propell the story. Maybe I’m seeing this through male tinted sunglasses though.

As for the game, I was introduced to it by a female friend, my second, third and fourth GMs were female and I attended Ambercon UK a few time run by a woman. After all these years, the Amber community has easily, bar none, had the largest proportion of female gamers and women in leading community roles.

The game seems like it’s setting up PvP, and throne wars particularly are definitely PvP, but by and large it’s really not a material part of the game in campaign play. At least not in my experience. There’s fictional positioning about it, but that’s really all.

Contrast to modern games which you say have shunned PvP. Ok read the Apocalypse World rulebook examples and sex moves, and Hx mechanics and say that to me again. Don’t get me wrong, AW is a masterclass in how PvP can work well, it’s a huge leap forward, and you’re right Amber is a product of its time. There’s a lot that could be done differently building on later advances. However I suspect some of those advances would, like Apocalypse World, be more about generating and managing interesting and dynamic PvP rather than closing it off.

The game I’m running with my kids will I hope give them plenty to get their teeth into, that they really won’t have any time to bother with PvP. So far character generation has gone great, so we’ll see.