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Thinking of Amber
I was thinking about Erick this afternoon and thus, to avoid getting mired in sadness, I started to think about Amber and TMNT, those places that I can still communicate with him.
I really loved running Amber in HS. My games had an intense, focused, hard-core adolescent energy that I haven't been able to recapture since (using Amber or anything else). Ultimately, this comes down to the fact that I'm not 15 anymore, and my friends aren't 15 anymore either. It's a good thing.
But I'm thinking about ways to approach Amber as an adult, particularly an adult who really doesn't have the physical or mental fortitude to GM like that anymore (High School, I had the luxury of drifting through. Grad School not so much.)
But I also don't particularly care to "do Amber" with a different system. Amber is Amber. Please don't turn the comment thread in recommendations for such.
So here's my thought: One of the big stresses of the Amber GM is figuring out how each attribute works, and how each power works, and what beats what else. Here's my idea: what if the highest character in each attribute gets to adjudicate how that attribute works in contests?
So, for instance, if the character with 1st in Strength decides that Strength is all about being a big, huge dude, successful strength contests are going to be about throwing boulders at each other (correspondingly, if he had a different approach, it might be about grappling and pressure points.) If the guy who's big into warfare thinks that a single good solider is all it takes, you're going to have a lot champion challenges (whereas if he pursues a different approach, you'll have bold champions getting punked by a couple of archers). Etc, etc.
Not only is this a cool reward for taking the high spot in the bidding, it also takes a huge load off the GM.
If you use Yi-mei's husband's "bid for powers" rules, you could also have Pattern, Trump, and Chaos work this way.
Thoughts?
P.S. Yes, yes, Corwin beat Benedict in a duel. But, seriously, there's totally room in this for a top-ranked player to say to a cleverer opponent "Heck. You beat me on my own terms. Good show."
P.P.S. This also gives an informational advantage. Which is awesome.
I really loved running Amber in HS. My games had an intense, focused, hard-core adolescent energy that I haven't been able to recapture since (using Amber or anything else). Ultimately, this comes down to the fact that I'm not 15 anymore, and my friends aren't 15 anymore either. It's a good thing.
But I'm thinking about ways to approach Amber as an adult, particularly an adult who really doesn't have the physical or mental fortitude to GM like that anymore (High School, I had the luxury of drifting through. Grad School not so much.)
But I also don't particularly care to "do Amber" with a different system. Amber is Amber. Please don't turn the comment thread in recommendations for such.
So here's my thought: One of the big stresses of the Amber GM is figuring out how each attribute works, and how each power works, and what beats what else. Here's my idea: what if the highest character in each attribute gets to adjudicate how that attribute works in contests?
So, for instance, if the character with 1st in Strength decides that Strength is all about being a big, huge dude, successful strength contests are going to be about throwing boulders at each other (correspondingly, if he had a different approach, it might be about grappling and pressure points.) If the guy who's big into warfare thinks that a single good solider is all it takes, you're going to have a lot champion challenges (whereas if he pursues a different approach, you'll have bold champions getting punked by a couple of archers). Etc, etc.
Not only is this a cool reward for taking the high spot in the bidding, it also takes a huge load off the GM.
If you use Yi-mei's husband's "bid for powers" rules, you could also have Pattern, Trump, and Chaos work this way.
Thoughts?
P.S. Yes, yes, Corwin beat Benedict in a duel. But, seriously, there's totally room in this for a top-ranked player to say to a cleverer opponent "Heck. You beat me on my own terms. Good show."
P.P.S. This also gives an informational advantage. Which is awesome.
no subject
I'm not sure whether you'd need things in writing or not. It would interesting if it was a thing that other people had to explore. Of course, they could learn by watching how the prime attribute people did things. This does rely on the prime attribute people being honest, but, eh. I'm generally in a habit of playing with people I consider honestly.
As for "what is Amber, really?" I mostly just like the whole book itself, and don't want to replace it with something else. Generally, I'm thinking that I'd want a few ways to take stress off the GM, in terms of running the game.
yrs--
--Ben
P.S. Really, I just didn't want "oh, here's my hack for using Dogs to run Amber!" I don't give a fuck about your (the general you, here, not you specifically) hack for using Dogs to run Amber. I really, really don't. Were I to want another game system to use for the setting, I imagine I would be more than capable of producing it on my own (cf Polaris).