It's true. After much reflection and helping of witty banter from 8bit Emma, I have decided that revisiting my old 3.5 setting through the new Pathfinder system shall be the best way to assist our new recruit into the pen and paper world. This decision does not come without some reservation, for I have not touched the setting, let alone a 3.5 variant in over two years. What's even better is that my old notes are mostly on my previous HP desktop, the victim of a transformer overload critical failure. However, as providence would have it, I located the old website where numerous bits of information had been previously uploaded. I have established the shell of a wiki and should have the migration complete in a matter of weeks.
I must begin preparations immediately...
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Game Nostalgia Friday...On Monday
Yes, it has been a few days since the previous posting for this article. When the weekend strikes, shit usually hits the fan and this weekend was no exception, albeit some laziness does apply. Without further delay, I wish to discuss my topic of choice: The Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game
Background
One of my many games attributed to the local college gaming club, Amber represented one of my longest investments in a roleplaying game. While the group was often turbulent and I left halfway through the campaign due to school obligations, I still have some fond memories of the campaign and the motley bunch of misfits causing chaos throughout the realm. For those of you who are unfamiliar with game, it revolves around adventuring through Roger Zelazny's world of Amber, in which godlike beings (Amberites) use their powers of reality manipulation, sorcery, epic strength, and shameless Machiavellian politicking to battle against the forces of Chaos. In this game, you play one of the young neophyte spawned by one of the named characters in the series. You spend much of the time plotting against one another and striving to amass a certain level of power over others.
System
As stated previously, this game is diceless, completely and utterly diceless. Moreover, it also lacks a distinct resource allocation system as well, although the attribute rankings can serve as a crude model. Essentially, you have four major stats (Psyche, Strength, Endurance, and Warfare) into which you sink character creation points and set up a system of rankings against other players. Often, this system is run in a fairly blunt fashion, so the person with the top rank in Strength is simply stronger than all other PCs, and likewise with the other stats. The only way to defeat the top rank is a careful strategy that renders their stat complete useless or hampered. Putting zero points into an attribute still makes a character quite competent against any normal threat, as a zero point Warfare PC could survive most mortal battles with only a few residual scratches. In addition to these four stats, players can also buy numerous other bennies, including powers to manipulate order or chaos, items of true power, personal shadows, which are universes completely modeled to the PCs tastes, and allies to help protect you. Essentially, after spending your allotted points, that is the last you have to deal with the rules. The rest is fairly freeform, allowing a highly narrative experience without relying too heavily on die rolls.
Why I love this game
Since it was one of my first heavily narrative games, I fell in love with the sheer requirement of making my character stand out through well-developed, articulated description. I had the responsibility of making the character jump off the page with my own storytelling abilities rather than rely on die rolls to talk for me. Zelazny's world has a number of strong structures, but the game allows you to explore aspects undiscovered through the ten novel series.
Why I hate this game
This game is an obvious example of early generation attempts at diceless systems, and its age is unmistakable. While the system is simple, it is also quite janky and left entirely up to interpretation. The Power System for example is very loose on its interpretation, and given that Pattern abilities, the set most readily available to the PC, involves reality bending hijinks, it is disheartening to see such poor attention devoted to it. A Google search for rearticulations of the powers system will lead one to multiple interpretations that create a web of confusion. Furthermore, even Wujick's system stipulates that a GM can adapt the system and setting in any conceivable way. While sandbox lovers might rejoice, believe me, given how complex the setting is, such ill-conceived discussion does not help for newer and/or unfamiliar players. Is it possible to play the game without any knowledge of the universe? Yes, but the side effect is that much of the smaller nuances of the setting are often lost in the translation.
Verdict
The system is good for a test run, but be very cautious about investing wholeheartedly into this vintage model without a good look under the hood.
Background
One of my many games attributed to the local college gaming club, Amber represented one of my longest investments in a roleplaying game. While the group was often turbulent and I left halfway through the campaign due to school obligations, I still have some fond memories of the campaign and the motley bunch of misfits causing chaos throughout the realm. For those of you who are unfamiliar with game, it revolves around adventuring through Roger Zelazny's world of Amber, in which godlike beings (Amberites) use their powers of reality manipulation, sorcery, epic strength, and shameless Machiavellian politicking to battle against the forces of Chaos. In this game, you play one of the young neophyte spawned by one of the named characters in the series. You spend much of the time plotting against one another and striving to amass a certain level of power over others.
System
As stated previously, this game is diceless, completely and utterly diceless. Moreover, it also lacks a distinct resource allocation system as well, although the attribute rankings can serve as a crude model. Essentially, you have four major stats (Psyche, Strength, Endurance, and Warfare) into which you sink character creation points and set up a system of rankings against other players. Often, this system is run in a fairly blunt fashion, so the person with the top rank in Strength is simply stronger than all other PCs, and likewise with the other stats. The only way to defeat the top rank is a careful strategy that renders their stat complete useless or hampered. Putting zero points into an attribute still makes a character quite competent against any normal threat, as a zero point Warfare PC could survive most mortal battles with only a few residual scratches. In addition to these four stats, players can also buy numerous other bennies, including powers to manipulate order or chaos, items of true power, personal shadows, which are universes completely modeled to the PCs tastes, and allies to help protect you. Essentially, after spending your allotted points, that is the last you have to deal with the rules. The rest is fairly freeform, allowing a highly narrative experience without relying too heavily on die rolls.
Why I love this game
Since it was one of my first heavily narrative games, I fell in love with the sheer requirement of making my character stand out through well-developed, articulated description. I had the responsibility of making the character jump off the page with my own storytelling abilities rather than rely on die rolls to talk for me. Zelazny's world has a number of strong structures, but the game allows you to explore aspects undiscovered through the ten novel series.
Why I hate this game
This game is an obvious example of early generation attempts at diceless systems, and its age is unmistakable. While the system is simple, it is also quite janky and left entirely up to interpretation. The Power System for example is very loose on its interpretation, and given that Pattern abilities, the set most readily available to the PC, involves reality bending hijinks, it is disheartening to see such poor attention devoted to it. A Google search for rearticulations of the powers system will lead one to multiple interpretations that create a web of confusion. Furthermore, even Wujick's system stipulates that a GM can adapt the system and setting in any conceivable way. While sandbox lovers might rejoice, believe me, given how complex the setting is, such ill-conceived discussion does not help for newer and/or unfamiliar players. Is it possible to play the game without any knowledge of the universe? Yes, but the side effect is that much of the smaller nuances of the setting are often lost in the translation.
Verdict
The system is good for a test run, but be very cautious about investing wholeheartedly into this vintage model without a good look under the hood.
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