A Silver Rose By Any Other Name

The Amber Diceless Roleplaying Rules in a Nutshell

by Leslie Lightfoot

This game starts with all players having points to spend on their characters. Things that cost points are Attributes, Powers, Abilities, Artifacts, Allies, Shadows and Good Stuff / Bad Stuff. Things that are free are Skills, Shadow Friends / Allies, Physical Appearance, Age and Equipment.

Attributes -

There are four Attributes: Psyche, Strength, Endurance and Warfare. Psyche governs one's mental strength and 'magical' ability. Strength measures raw physical strength, hand-to-hand martial ability and damage resistance. Endurance denotes one's ability to repeatedly use other Attributes and one's ability to heal or regenerate. Warfare indicates one's speed / quickness, one's strategic / tactical ability and how well one uses weapons - any weapons, from bo staffs to forward phaser banks.

Attributes are bid on in an auction, player versus player. Costs are one point gained for every one point spent. The character who 'wins' the Attribute auction for each Attribute becomes the absolute no-holds-barred BEST of their generation in that Attribute - for the length of the entire game. No matter how else points are spent afterward.

Bidding levels determine the 'Attribute Ladder'. Characters can only advance Attributes to the rungs on the Ladder - spending the points necessary to reach the rungs evenly. No partial steps may be taken. Thus, if after the bidding, the Ladder for Strength is determined to be:

25 (1st Rank)

13 (2nd Rank)

5 (3rd Rank)

0 (4th Rank)

A character would have to spend 8 points to advance from third to second rank. They cannot spend 5 points to reach a '10'. Because there is no '10', only a 5 and a 13.

One further note - there are no 'ties'. If two characters (or more) have both spent the requisite 13 points in the above example to reach 2nd rank. The character who reached it first - whether due to the Attribute Auction or later buy-ups - is the true 2nd rank. The character who reached it afterward would be considered a 2.5 rank. Good enough to whip 3rd rank soundly, but still not 'close' to 2nd rank.

As a GM I like to announce who holds First Rank in each of the Attributes. But other than that a Character's Ranking is their own secret. Other GMs may not announce who holds what Rank at all.

Powers -

There are four Powers. Powers are Real and work just about anywhere. Only Real People (and the things they create -- more later) can have Powers. Each Power has a Basic and an Advanced Form. Roughly put, Basic Powers give a rudimentary understanding and the ability to use the Power. Advanced Powers grant the ability to create and experiment with the Power. The Powers are: Pattern, Logrus, Trump and Shapeshift.

Basic Pattern is gained when an heir of Oberon (supposedly) walks the Pattern of Amber. It allows one to Shadow-walk to the person, place or thing of one's desire. Basic Pattern costs 50 points.

Advanced Pattern is gained when someone with Basic Pattern spends a great deal of time studying the nature of the Pattern. It allows one to control probability in Shadow, create Shadow pockets, and other truly deep icky things concerning the very nature of Reality. Advanced Pattern costs 75 points (50 for Basic Pattern plus an addt'l 25.) Ouch!

(Note: For my games, I change the rules for Logrus slightly. Usually Logrus requires the pre-requisite Power of Shapeshift and is vulnerable to both the Pattern and Trump Poswers. *And* runs the risk of driving the character insane. Basic Logrus costs 45 points. Advanced Logrus costs 70 pts.)

For a better balance in my games, I do not require Shapeshift, and Logurs is not vulnerable to either Trump or Pattern, but it definitely makes you mad. Use a little Logrus, be a little mad. Use a lot of Logrus... your relatives break out the rubber room. Though you do get better if you lay off the black tendrils for a while. Which Power (Logrus or Pattern) is stronger depends entirely on the arena in which the battle is fought, ie -- Deep in the heart of Amber, yeah, Pattern's going to kick Logrus butt. Buuuutttt, if one wants to try that on the edge of the Abyss -- the Pattern wielder's going to be yiping.

Basic Logrus is gained when one is sublimated into -- and escapes out of -- the Logrus of the Courts of Chaos. Logrus gives one the power to control black tentacle-like things that reach through Shadow and either reel one's desire to oneself. Or reels oneself to one's desire. Logrus costs 50 points.

Advanced Logrus is gained when a survivor of Basic Logrus spends a lot of time studying the Logrus. It allows one to create entire Shadows, and the Ways between them. It allows a Logrus Master to create actual servants born out of the Logrus and other very deep stuff that probably isn't very good for Reality. Advanced Logrus costs 75 points (50 for Basic Logrus plus an addt'l 25.)

Basic Trump is learned over the course of several years from an already established Trump Master. Trump allows an artist to imbue his creations with the psychic impression of their model, enabling fast (but not secure <grin>) cross-shadow communication and travel. Basic Trump costs 40 points.

Advanced Trump allows an artist to extend their creativity to different media and different communication / transportation... and other?... methods, and secure those loose lines of transmission. Advanced Trump costs 60 points (40 Points for Basic Trump plus an addt'l 20.)

Basic Shapeshifting allows one to change the shape of one's body as long as mass is conserved. A Basic Shapeshifter has three forms (Human, Chaos and Avatar) that they can move between easily and quickly. Changing to other forms takes concentration and time. Warning: Remaining in a shape other than the three mentioned above for long periods of time will cause personality degradation and loss. The more removed the shape is from any of the basic three, the faster the degradation.) Basic Shapeshifting costs 35 points.

Advanced Shapeshifting... hmmmm, how does one become a swarm of gnats? Or gain Powers (that's right -- Powers) that one doesn't have? And how does one completely lose their personality behind the psychic impression of the person they are imitating? And how else could one abuse their power such that they dissolve into a mass of undifferentiated cells. <grin> Advanced Shapeshifting costs 65 points (35 for Basic Shapeshift plus an addt'l 30.)

Abilities -

Abilities are influenced by the vagaries of Shadow. They work well in some places and not so well in others. There are three Abilities: Power Words, Sorcery and Conjuration.

Power Words are five -- that's all, no more, no less -- words, sounds or gestures that the character could have learned pretty much anywhere. These five words are draining and FAST instant spells of limited effect. Usually only useful to give a quick edge in a close contest. Power Words cost 10 points.

Sorcery is the ability to bend the magic of a Shadow to your whim. It takes a lot of study and time, but can be Very effective in the right Shadow. And you get to make up your own spells... Really! Sorcery costs 15 points.

Conjuration allows one to create Artifacts and People that are Real and independent of Shadow. It's time consuming but... hey, Grayswandir. Conjuration costs 20 points.

And speaking of Grayswandir...

Artifacts are Real creations, whether things or people, that are part of the character. As such, they cannot be permanently destroyed. Though they can be restrained or damaged in the same way that a limb or a sense can be restrained or damaged. Artifacts vary widely in cost. Simple artifacts like a really sharp sword can be 2 or 4 points. Grayswandir is 16 points. Morgenstern is 21 points.

(Note: The difference between an Artifact actually paid for with character points and an Artifact just made with Conjuration but not bought -- is that the conjured Artifact would not be a permanent part of the character until it was paid for. And thus, completely subject to the whims of the credit agen... uh, GM.)

The cost of Allies varies as well -- depending on how powerful they are, how interested in you they are, and how much they care about you. Costs vary between 1 and 6 points per Ally.

Buying your own personal Shadow means you always have a place to hang your hat... or raise your army. Or whatever floats your boat. Costs of personal shadows vary depending on how 'solid' the shadow is, where it's located and how much control over it you have. Each different bell and whistle typically costs 1 to 4 points.

(Note: Just like with Artifacts, the difference between a Shadow bought with character points and one created with Advanced Logrus but not bought -- the bought Shadow is considered part of the character, the unbought Shadow can be repossessed.)

Good Stuff / Bad Stuff is what remains after the flurry of point spending. Points left over to the positive are considered 'Good Stuff' or good luck or good karma. Points spent into the negative are 'Bad Stuff' or bad luck or bad karma. I would not recommend having more than 5 points of Bad Stuff -- for any reason. There's nothing that's worth it. Really!

But... but you say, I can't afford it all. Ahhhhh (the GM wisely strokes her chin). Now let us talk Player Contributions. These are ways for the players to eke out just a few more points, above and beyond the character points granted at the beginning of the game. However, you do have to pay for them. Player contributions are something that the player does to make the game better for everyone. This is in addition to the expected 'show up and bring snacks' standards. Examples of Player Contributions are:

• Keeping a log of the campaign -- 10 points
• Painting gifs (I mean, Trumps) of the characters and NPCs -- 10 points
• Writing short stories about various characters and NPCs -- 10 points
• Keeping a diary from your character's viewpoint -- 10 points
• Maintaining a Game website -- 10 points
• Etc.

Most GMs are also open to other suggestions. Now the above points are a one-time bonus, though the contribution is expected to occur ever game for the length of the campaign. If contributions start being missed, those 10 points will start gradually coming of the character's Good Stuff (if they have any) and start building up into Bad Stuff.

Experience points are few and far between in this game. So don't count on an immediate large buy-up. Of anything.

And now, onto the free stuff -

Skills - The characters can have any skill you want. Mean it. Starship piloting, cyber-programming, divine geometry, order magic, fencing, stealth... whatever. The way a player explains it, though, is in years. Skills are learned, either in Shadow or in one of the Real Realms, but they are learned. And while Real People learn a little more quickly than their Shadow counterparts -- no one becomes a neurosurgeon in a year. For highly technical, academic or creative skills -- Neurosurgeon, Starsinger, Order Master, Ambassador -- the characters have probably spent 10 to 15 years learning and mastering that art. Architect, Programmer, Chirurgeon, Ship's Captain -- maybe 5 to 10 years. Swordsman, Musician, Helm Officer, Madame -- maybe 3 to 5 years. 2 years is the minimum for any technical or mechanical specialty.

Age - The character can be as old or as young as you like. Characters under sixty-five generally have smaller skill sets, tend to be more brash, and have a lot less enemies gunning for them. Middle aged characters in their first century or so, tend to be a bit more cautious, have a lot of the first-aid and emergency skills down, and know people, and people know them. Older characters, looking at their first millennia, have lots of skills, are really good at some things, and have lots of enemies. Your choice.

Physical Description - Entirely up to the player. (As a GM, I'm not even that particular to 'human.' But you might want to check with your GM before going for that small dragon or intelligent plant.) And choose carefully. The character isn't going to change much. For millennia.

Equipment - Welcome to Shadow. The character wants it, it's theirs. That simple. But it might not work in all places and all times. In fact, the more complex an object is, the less places it will function in -- or even not explode.

(sigh) And so, having written all of the above, and thus guaranteeing that you all will get your Rulebooks tonight, I think I'll draw this exercise to a close.

Happy Ambering!

"Amber" is Rebma Spelled Backwards

An offering of possiblities by Britt R. Scharringhausen

Everything was to be seen through a green haze. There were buildings, all of them fragile and most of them high, grouped in patterns and standing in colors that entered my eyes and tore through my mind, seeking after remembrance. . . Inside the city, we were conducted up a wide avenue, lighted by pillar flames set at even closer intervals than on Faiella-bionin, and people stared out at us from behind octagonal, tinted windows, and bright-bellied fishes swam by. . . We were taken to the palace in the center of the city, and I knew it as my hand knew the glove in my belt. It was an image of the Palace Amber, obscured only by the green and confused by the many strangely placed mirrors which had been set within its walls, inside and out.

Nine Princes in Amber

Rebma, the reflection of Amber beneath the sea, is a whole watery playground for game master and player alike. The realm is mentioned infrequently in Zelazny's books, and in fact the reader has the privilege to visit Rebma but once, when Corwin, Deirdre, and Random ask Queen Moire's permission for Corwin to walk the Rebman Pattern in order to restore his memory. The information Corwin relates is minimal; he is fleeing before Eric's troops and seeking to restore his shattered past, not writing a travelouge. But these tantalizing glimpses plant the seeds of imagination. The very sketchiness of Corwin's description allows us to create our own Rebma, rich in invention and delicately contrasted with its Sister above the waves. Rebma doesn't have to be a second-class Shadow.

I have twice played Rebman characters, and in both cases the game masters have nearly given me carte blanc in fleshing out Rebma. Rebma is usually peripheral to the plot of an Amber game and supplementary material on Rebma (pending the release of the long-awaited Rebma sourcebook from Phage Press) is non-existant. Therefore, I was permitted to develop Rebma much in the same way as most players create their personal or home Shadows. This sort of cooperation is of benifit to all. The game master has one less detail-vacuum to fret about. The player can create a more solid character with a past, friends, allies and family. Finally, other player characters seeking information, romance, easy access to the Pattern, or just good sushi will find, not a ceramic bottom-of-the-fishtank kingdom, but a realm with some meat to it in terms of culture, politics, and geography. Of course, the game master retains editorial power and may delete, mangle, or exploit any feature of the player's creation.

To travel from Amber to Rebma, one decends Faiella-bionin (whose pronunciation is as open to discussion as Tir-na N'goth, Fiona, or Suhuy.) The top of this stairway is marked on the beaches of Amber with a cairn of gray, head-sized stones, piled into an eight-foot high truncated pyramid. This marble staircase is fifty feet across and has wide banisters at either side, and is about 350 feet long. Beginning a little more than fifty feet below the surface, there are torches with two-foot-high flames to light the way. Possibly because of these flames, the water is warmer. About 200 feet below the surface, almost no sunlight penetrates; Rebma is bathed in eternal night. At the bottom of the stairwell there is an arch, "big, shining like alabaster, and carved with Tritons, sea nymphs, mermaids and dophins." The arch holds a golden gate, and this is the boundary of Moire's realm.

The water upon this stairwell and throughout Rebma proper, has a number of peculiar properties. Foremost, it is breathable. It also protects those within it from the horrible pressure of the sea above, as we discover when an ill-fated Amberite soldier is shoved over the banister of Fiaella-bionin and is crushed as surely as he is drowned. The curious water of Rebma appears to provide no bouyancy. As the Corwin decended the Faiella-boinin, he commented that "my body was not natually bouyed up above [the steps], for I continued to remain erect and each step bore me downward as though on a natural staircase, though my movements were somewhat slowed." Bouyancy pushes up on a submerged body with a force equal to the weight of the liquid displaced by the body. It is quite a nuisance to divers, who must wear lead weights so that they do not have to constantly fight their bodies' natural tendency to rise. The lack of bouyancy in the water must be a great boon to non-Rebmans, allowing them to maneouver much as they would on dry land.

Yet, later, as the trio of Amberites and Moire begin the descent to the Pattern room, Random, impatient, leaps off the stairwell and swims to the bottom. If, in fact, he was relying on bouyancy to support him, he should have plummeted to the bottom and suffered the same injury as if he had leapt from the stairs in Amber. Perhaps it is not the bouyancy, but the viscosity of the water which prevents this, as Corwin does speak of his movements being slowed by the water. Viscosity acts opposite to the direction of motion, and is what brings us to a halt if we push away from the wall of a swimming pool and then neglect to exert futher effort in order to keep moving.

The currents in the water are variable. In the streets of Rebma, Corwin says "There came a cool current, like a wind, as we turned a corner; and after a few steps, a warm one, like a wind." At the foot of the stairs leading to the caverns below the Rebman palace, there were no such currents, yet as Corwin assays the Pattern, in the filagree before the Grand curve, currents arose which threatened to sweep him into a misstep.

The water is, undoubtably, wet. Corwin speaks of the difficulty of eating in Rebma. Certainly, measures must be taken so that one's drink doesn't diffuse right out of your glass! Is the food eaten raw in Rebma, or are there stoves like the torches which provide sufficient heat, and other devices which contain the heat (for remember that water conducts heat far better than air!)? What is a belch like in Rebma? Does a large amount of water consumed with dinner disrupt the digestion? Later on, Corwin wishes he could have a cigarette. Why the torches throughout the city will burn but a sodden a cigarette will not is a mystery. When Cowin wills himself from the center of the Rebman Pattern to the center of the Pattern in Amber, he says he is cold and dripping.

Corwin asks, "Why is this part of the ocean, within the double of Amber, so different from waters elsewhere?" Dierdre's response was "Because that is the way it is." This could be the Elder Amberite equivalent of I don't know or it could mean that this is an intrinsic property of the area surrounding Rebma, molded that way when Amber and Rebma were created, or effected by forces beyond human (or Amberite) ken. Perhaps it is an enchantment maintained by Rebman sorcerors for their own convenience. Moire leaves his question unanswered.

Do the people of Rebma require this breathable water? There is no hint in the books that the Rebman citizens are possessed of gills, webbed toes, or any other adaptations which would make life underwater more convenient. On the other hand, several times Corwin sights fish swimming through the waters of Rebma, indicating that water-breathers have no more trouble there than air-breathers (although again the bouyancy issue is troubling; fish use an internal bladder of air to regulate their bouyancy and maintain a constant depth . . . how do they stay afloat instead of flopping uselessly on the sidewalk?)

Elsewhere in the books, various exotic aquatic fauna are mentioned-- sea monsters and dragons. It does not seem beyond the realm of possibilities that real mermaids posed for the carvings on the arch at Fiaella-boinin. In fact, at the entrance to the Pattern room, Corwin entertains the thought that the castle in Rebma was built to accomodate the titanic proportions of the Tritons. If from the beginning of time Rebmans were no more than land-dwellers in a particularly moist environment, could there still be communcation and interbreeding between Rebmans and other oceanic races, as there has been between Lords of Chaos and Unicorns? Have some or all Rebmans aquired the more useful traits of the undersea races, or are they imprisoned in their tiny dome of breathable water, beneath the great ocean?

The Rebmans are described as being pale-skinned, with blue, green, or black hair and eyes restricted to shades of green and hazel. This sampling is small, consisting only of a handful of Moire's footmen. A great array of coloration may exist among the general population. The guards were mostly without body hair, but, thanks to Corwin, we do know that Rebmans have pubic hair.

Rebman costume shows little variation. The soldiers wore shorts, cloaks with cross-braces, and seashell-decorated belts. The Queen wore similar scaled trunks as well as a circlet, rings, and a necklace with a sapphire pendant. Among other denizens, perhaps bare backs and chests display elaborate tattoos. Ornament is doubtless prevalent: girdles, armbands, bracelets, barrettes, and other jewlerly. Also tempting to the mind's eye are filmy cloaks drifting on the currents, though day-to-day apparel would be designed to prevent entanglement of the limbs, as both arms and legs would be used for swimming.

In dress as well as architecture, there seems little need to accomodate the weather. The water seems to be uniformly warm and tumultous currents in the ocean are probably warded off by whatever facility maintains the breathable water. The perpetual night necessitates the use of copious artifical lighting. The city and palace are replete with mirrors and highly-polished surfaces which probably help to distribute the light efficiently, lending, if you will, the luster of midday. It may be that some of the lights are extinguished in the evening, separating day from night. Or, perhaps, Rebma never sleeps, or at least not all at once.

Corwin describes octagonal, tinted windows. Rebma as a whole must strike the land-dweller as an amalgam of strange, but hauntingly familiar shapes. The city is bathed in light which comes from unfamiliar angles. Buildings have large doors and balconies at impossible heights, from which Rebmans launch themselves carelessly, twisting and coursing through the water like dolphins, or drifting casually as though supported by invisible hands. The city is cloaked in misty green and is in constant, subtle motion as currents waft past banners and ornamental plants.

Rebma is in a perfect position to harvest the bounty of the sea. If the Rebmans cannot breathe underwater, they doubtless have among them "divers" trained to swim up or out to harvest fish and aquatic plants. Perhaps water-breathing charms allow one to bring a sphere of breathable air along to work or play in the seascape. Within the boundaries of Rebma, farming and husbandry may be practiced, with trained dolphins shepherding schools of fish.

Materials which must be mined may be harder to come by. Depending upon the exact properties attributed to Rebma's enchanted waters, smelting, blacksmithing, pottery-firing, and other industrial arts may be difficult or impossible. Nevertheless, glass, which is produced by melting sand, is prevalent in the form of mirrors and windows, and each of Moiré's guards carries a short sword, presumably made of steel. Pure gold, which can be worked cold, is doubtless a highly-prized medium. Stone sculpture is also viable, assuming one can secure the tools required, but masonry must depend on peculiar materials or else be non-existant. Materials scavenged from the seafloor after shipwrecks and other drylander mishaps provide malliable metals and other treasures. Rebmans have either adapted through ingeniuty and enchantment to industry-under-the-sea, or depend heavily on trade with the world above.

The character of Rebmans is another mystery. Aside from Moiré, Vialle, and Llewella, we rarely have the opportunity to observe the Rebman. Rebmans in game play have sometimes been protrayed as cold and harsh, probably in response to Random's death sentence and the society's treatment of Vialle. But in condemning Random, Moiré is reacting to the loss of her daughter and abandonment of her grandson, Martin. She is avenging her own after the transgressions of an outsider. And, after all, the sentence was commuted. Vialle would have been unable to marry, due to prejudice against her blindess. However, her fate would probably not have been much kinder amongst the Amberites or the nobles of the Golden Circle. The fact that Moiré took an interest in the case indicates a higher level of sensitivity than one would expect from, say, Oberon.

Both Vialle and Llewella seem gentler and more reserved than the rest of the royal family of Amber. Moiré is surprised by the sentiment expressed by Corwin, praising his skill as a poet and musician and declaring that he must be the only son of Amber who has the capacity for love.

This may be the bitter view of one who has always been on the periphery of Amber, forced to weather all its misfortunes but powerless to influence what comes to pass on Kolvir. However, her realm becomes a safe (if momentary) haven for the Amberites who can woo her favor. Also, it should not be forgotten that, as she controls a reflection of the Pattern which is not subject to quirks of astronomy and meteorology, she can be a helpful ally to someone out of favor in Amber.

Moiré refuses to commit troops to an attack on Amber, though she supports Corwin. She wishes to keep conflict in Amber to a minimum, as what occurrs in Amber is reflected in Rebma. The extent to which this is literally true is up to the game master. It may be simply that Amberites are haunted by deja vu as they walk the streets of Rebma, or they may encounter kindred spirits or even dopplegängers. Events in Amber, even those involving player characters, may find analogs in Rebma. As Tir Na N'Ogth offers possible futures, does Rebma reflect the past? Or can the wary observer glean prophecy in the depths, as well as in the clouds?

In Rebma, as in Amber, one can find intrigue, magic and mystery. Play in Rebma can reinforce or contrast events above the waves, and could be an important part of any game. . . or simply provide a retreat from the hubbub above.