Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game

[Widgetcraft]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y253/perigon/amber-diceless-rpg.jpg

So, in a couple of months me and my friends will have our first session of our new Amber Diceless Roleplay Game campaign. It will be my first time playing, but everyone else has played at least one campaign, most of them several. Everyone either just read, or reread the books in the past few months, so we're all pretty hyped. I thought I would start a discussion thread to see if anyone has any experiences with the game that they would like to share.

I will be making a game log, as well as character diary entries (detailing my character's background) as part of my commitment to the game (it gets me twenty extra points!) I will post them here as I create them. Currently I'm still deciding on a character, I've made one, and most of another. I'll let you guys check them out:

Name: Bernard (meaning Strong or Brave as a bear)
Parent: Gerard
Age: 65
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 220 lbs.
Build: Fit/Bulky
Style: Black/Yellow
Personal Symbol: Bear

=====Attributes===== [38 points]
Psyche: Amberite
Strength: Amberite (15)
Endurance: Amberite (8)
Warfare: Amberite (15)
====================

=======Powers======= [50 points]
Pattern Imprint (50 points)
====================

======Inventory===== [27 points]
Null (False Tooth) [23 points]
-Invulnerable to All Conventional Weapons (4 points)
--Confer Quality on Wearer (5 points)
-Regeneration (4 points)
--Confer Power on Wearer (10 points)

Shadowshatter (Greathammer) [4 points]
-Deadly Damage (4 points)
====================

=======Shadows====== [2 points]
Olympus (Shadow Earth) [2 points]
-Personal Shadow (1 point)
-Control of Contents (1 point)
====================

====Contributions===
Diary
Game Log
====================

=======Stuff======== [3 points]
Good Stuff (3 points)
====================

=======Total========
120 points
====================

That is the first one I came up with. He's pretty direct, just a big strong guy with a magical item that makes him hard to kill, a lot like his father. In terms of back story, Gerard had him grow up in many different shadows, teaching him everything he needed to know (like not to trust the other members of the family). He took a liking to comic books while on a shadow Earth, and after he had walked the pattern he went off to find a world similar to those that he had read about. He came upon a shadow Earth in the 50's, and using his natural powers as a Amberite (along with the power of a magical item) he was able to start a revolution of super heroes in this shadow. He was basically their Superman. He ran into a lot of trouble over time though, which will be detailed in the diaries.

This next one I just whipped up today on my lunch break, seeing what I could do with 120 points:

Name:
Parent:
Age:
Hair:
Eyes:
Height:
Weight:
Build:
Style:
Personal Symbol:

=====Attributes=====
Psyche: Amberite
Strength: Amberite
Endurance: Amberite
Warfare: Amberite (8)
====================

=======Powers======= [92 points]
Pattern Imprint (50 points)

Trump Artistry (40 points)

Advanced Trump Artist
-Trump Memory (2 points)
====================

======Inventory===== [20 points]
Personal Trump Deck (2 points)

Jacket (18 points)
-Tireless (4 points)
--Confer (5 points)
-Alt. Shape: Sword (1 point)
-Deadly Damage (4 points)
-Powered by Trump (4 points)
====================

=======Shadows======

====================

====Contributions===
Diary
Game Log
====================

=======Stuff========

====================

=======Total========
120 points
====================

The eight points in Warfare could be redistributed, I just wasn't sure of what to do with them yet. I was thinking of him being a lot like Random, a card player, a hedonist and a wanderer. I'm a bit conflicted on who I want to play, though I already showed Bernard to the GM and he liked him. I fear that he may get fucked though, the other players are known to be ruthless in Amber campaigns. Also, while making this guy's items I ended up finding that bit about being able to be tireless, and I'm now considering putting that onto Bernard's tooth using the points from Endurance and some of the Good Stuff. That would be damn handy, I think, paired with the regeneration abilities.

Speaking of the campaign, it is set up like this: 25 years after the events of The Courts of Chaos the family is bringing all of their children to Amber for the first time to meet the king and the rest of the family. No one in the family but your parent knows who your character is, and the parent is assigned by the GM according to his stats and character concept. That is all we know.

Anyway, feel free to share your Amber stories, discuss Amber itself, or whatever. If not, I will be posting my character diaries and game logs here once the campaign actually begins. Any input on my characters would be welcome!

EDIT: Also, Shadowshatter is a stupid placeholder name, I haven't made the effort to come up with a better one yet.

[Karak]

Not much to add. I just got Amber on your suggestion in the other thread. But I love me some diceless gaming. Sounds like a freaking blast!

[Widgetcraft]

Not much to add. I just got Amber on your suggestion in the other thread. But I love me some diceless gaming. Sounds like a freaking blast!

Are you enjoying Amber? I basically tore through the last three books in a week's time, that's how much I enjoyed it.

[Karak]

Are you enjoying Amber? I basically tore through the last three books in a week's time, that's how much I enjoyed it.

I haven't started I got it and will read it after we are through with our deadline at work. Lots of OT and early mornings and late nights. But its the next book for sure. I will report back.

[Hawkzombie]

I am intrigued.

[Panthera]

So, how does the dicelessness actually work? I've heard of this before and I was always a bit curious.

[Widgetcraft]

So, how does the dicelessness actually work? I've heard of this before and I was always a bit curious.

On the simplest level, let's say my character above was challenged to a duel by another member of the family. Let's say the other guy had a warfare of 16, where-as Bernard has a warfare of 15. The other guy has the advantage, but not so much that he can just overpower/kill Bernard. I could play defensively, and then it might come down to Endurance, it would really be up to the GM. There is also the matter of Good Stuff, which Bernard has a fair amount of. My character could try to get in close and turn it into a more strength based fight, and if he were successful he might have a greater advantage if the other guy doesn't have a high strength.

Of course there is also the matter of magical items. I mean, if the other guy doesn't at least have a Deadly Damage weapon, he isn't going to do dick to Bernard, and my character could just rush him. A lot of it just comes down to what the GM wants to do, though.

[Karak]

Ya diceless is cool. The easiest way to describe some of the systems is simply.

Stat 1
Stat 2
Stat 3

Versus

Stat 1
Stat 2
Stat 3

And let the GM go down the list and compare and tell a story based on the stat comparison + bonuses + stances which are usually small numbers so its almost instant which is my favorite part.
Its a bit different for each game that's uses diceless but it usually falls down to that. With the right GM who can really add mystery to the NPC stats and keep it fair, diceless or games like this offer such a great playing field for good RPing. It takes a certain type of gamer but man it really "feels" right. We use these systems when camping and so forth when all the extras just sort of become hard to lag around. We used to drive my car up into the boondocks and play diceless ravenloft from 10pm-5am every friday night from 1993-1999. Probably the best gaming memories ever. Just so much going for that kind of system.

And Heretic I am about 200 pages into the first book of Amber. Starting to dig it a great deal.