A Zelazny "Style Guide"

[weilide]

I'm working on a kind of short stye-guide that I can distribute to my players the next time I GM Amber. The idea is not to force players to think only in the ways I permit but rather to give them an idea of how I try to approach Zelazny's universe creatively.

It's probably fair to assume that most everyone comes to the game because they love the books. The ideal would be to play in a campaign with Zelazny as GM. Of course that's impossible and somehow "channeling" him in your campaign isn't any easier. Probably the next best thing is more akin to something that Jane Lindskold writes about Zelazny on her website (http://www.janelindskold.com/): "Now I remembered something he had said about how he went about writing his part of Deus Irae, a novel he wrote with Philip K. Dick. He hadn't tried to write like Dick; instead he had studied Dick's prose until he could manage what he called a 'meta' style, blending his own and Dick's." Granted, that's still advice easier given than followed, but still, it gives us a starting point.

"Groundedness"

Despite being "mere fantasy," the Amber books are densely packed with real world and literary references. Zelazny draws on Shakespeare for plot, names, and numerous direct or indirect quotes. Beyond this, the Chronicles are filled with references to The Bible, Norse mythology, Arthurian legend, Edmund Spenser, Lewis Carroll, Jamaica Kincaid, John Keats, Jean-Paul Sartre, and notions of quantum mechanics, to name a few.

I think these references perform several important tasks: first, they underscore the notion within the books that all that we know on Earth is a mere shadow of a greater reality elsewhere; second, they constantly ground the reader in the world of the familiar and thereby make the fantasy elements of the books seem all the more fantastic by contrast.

It seems as though oftentimes players believe that they have to invent every element of their character from whole cloth. Actually, I think characters often work better when they have little snippets of references that I can latch on to and run with. For that matter, I'm tend to be most interested in characters who have spent time on Shadow Earth because their mundane lives in the world we now makes their fantastic sides seem that much more fantastic.

Blending Elements

Zelazny was a master at blending seemingly disparate elements to great effect. He particularly had a knack for creating characters with different identities that always seem to gel marvelously. For example, there are Merlin the Computer Programer and Merlin the Sorcerer. This encourages us to see magic in fresh, new light. Luke the Salesman and Rindaldo the Son of Brand. As Mr. Wujcik mentioned in Shadow Night, Luke comes with major family baggage but his choice of careers helps him address it head-on. Random the King and Random the Drummer. I think this one is especially beautiful and doesn't seem to come up as much. Aside from the odd solo here and there, drummers tend to exist in the background behind lead guitar, vocalists and the like, yet they're essential for setting the tempo and ensuring that everyone is in sync. King Random is much the same: he may not be the strongest or the best strategist but he does seem to have a knack for coordinating his siblings for the good of Amber.

I would say this is a good strategy for shadow creation as well: Civil War-era America with an overlay of near-Eastern Buddhist culture, ancient Greece with Lovecraftian horror entities, and the London of the roaring 1920's combined with magic and a punk rock sensibility are all fun possibilities to my mind.

Naming

Although Zelazny does invent names, more often than not he draws on existing names and repurposes them. Mandor, for example, is the name of an ancient Indian city. There's nothing wrong, exactly, with creating new monikers except that it's incredibly difficult not to make them sound fake and bland. This is often a problem with fantasy settings particularly, when invented names often end up sounding like pastiche of Tolkien elf names.

When in doubt, give it a personality

When something has a personality that means you can have a relationship with it, and relationships are interesting. Examples of unlikely entities with personalities include: The Pattern, the Logrus, Ghostwheel, Frakir, Werewindle, Shask (Corwin's chaos steed from the short stories), Ygg, Hugi the Crow, and, apparently, Castle Amber. Notably, almost all of the these examples are not only intelligent but also communicative.

Sci-fi, fantasy references

There's often this temptation to go off in shadow and find Middle Earth or the Star Wars galaxy or the Buffyverse. This is certainly understandable: most Amber fans tend to be sci-fi/fantasy fans. Again, there's nothing inherently wrong with this but to my mind it never quite works. For one thing Zelazny never does it. He constantly makes literary references but almost never refers to contemporary sci-fi / fantasy. I think this is because the Amber universe is already in some sense "saturated" as fantasy and to try incorporate competing fantasy worlds feels jarring in the same sense that online "slash fic" often can. The closest Zelazny comes is with Wonderland, which, I would argue, doesn't really count because at this point that world has become something akin to a fairy tale in the way it is established in the culture. I would say that if you must borrow from contemporary sources then simply use them for setting and try to avoid transplanting characters.

Anyhow, that's what I have so far. As I say, this is not intended to be a list of what's "right" and "wrong" in the creative process but rather just a crack at systematizing my own thinking. Would love to know what the rest of you think.

[gabriel_ss4u]

These are all good ideas. the pinnacle being to do it effortlessly without thought or too much pre-planning.
All of which comes with experience.
I agree that settings rather than characters are better for players as it helps them concentrate on the story rather than NPCs, but sometimes that NPC (LOKI, Raistlin, Shiva, Buffy even), lend a flavor that setting alone can't get. Of course, those who come before or after the charatcer could have aspects of their traits too. (Son of Loki, Luke, Dalamar, whatever. Even name them what you want, with similar personality traits/flaws.)

I'd just be happy to find some Amber players, I'm used to high-experienced players, but I'll adjust to newbie players too.

[weilide]

Ha! I forgot I ever started this thread…

[RPGPundit]

I'm surprised I missed it the first time around; its really very practical. Its the sort of thing that should be read by any and all first-time Amber GMs, players too probably. Well done!

RPGPundit

[finarvyn]

It's probably fair to assume that most everyone comes to the game because they love the books.

Actually, at least half of my players have never read Amber, or probably even anything else by Zelazny. (I keep pushing them, however.) They come to the game because I'm running it.

[RPGPundit]

That's true, practically everyone I've ever had as players had never read Amber before playing.

RPGPundit

[Lawbag]

It would be nice to see these ideas expanded on and more pages written to become almost a "Players Guide to Amber", seeing as the game is very different from most games you play.

[gabriel_ss4u]

Lawbag;
I believe there is a section in the Amber game books on playing in the Amberverse.
yes!
pages 76 to 79 in the 1st Amber game book; "A Player's Guide to Roleplaying in Amber" (as well as the rest of the book full of flavor)
Reading the novels are the best teacher though.

finarvyn, this is a great testimony to you as a GM, that is how I discovered Amber, by getting with my awesome GM, and having the game and world unfold before me.
I went to read the books immediately after, and am on the 8th or so reading of the first 5, 4th or so of the second five. (haven't picked them up in 1/2 a year)
But I always keep extra copies of the books as loaners to my players if they ever need.
I think we stated it a while back. e-bay you can sometimes find the "Chronicles of Amber" fairly cheap. $5 sometimes.