[Amber] Playings Hiding Powers

[Panjumanju]

I'm running an Amber Diceless game right now. We're in our fourth week of regular play. The group is 6 players, 3 of whom have experience playing Amber, 2 of whom are entirely new to roleplaying that isn't Dungeons & Dragons, and one of whom only played Amber once at a con.

Every one of them has been entirely sneaky about their powers, making sure other players don't know what they have. I'm wondering how common this is in an Amber game.

This game's premise is: You are all cousins living now and here on Earth, and are all perfectly normal. Except, each summer your parent (you only have one) takes you to Lake Amber, a retreat in the woods owned by your Aunt Flora. There your parents meet and bicker behind closed doors while you play in the woods. You are 16 when they gather you together and reveal your heritage - you are Amberites, and part of a pact that this generation would be raised ignorant of Amber, free of the in-fighting of older generations, wiping the slate clean. You are being told now, because King Random has been assassinated, and you are to go to Amber, for the first time, for his funeral and to embrace your heritage.

The setup has the advantage of:
* The PCs know each other as family.
* They therefore still have a sense of each other's "ranks" for Attributes.
* They don't know what powers their cousins have, because nobody is supposed to have any.
* If a PCs has a power, it means their parent broke the pact and told them about their heritage, and snuck them away to walk the Pattern early to give them an advantage. This may be the case for *every* character. In each case, it is now up to the child to keep their parent's secret.

It just strikes me as interesting that even among players entirely new to Amber, they still want to keep everything close to the chest. The trump artist is keeping all the trumps to himself, only one of the pattern walkers has volunteered that they are capable (and only then after walking the pattern a second time, pretending it was their first) and the logrus master is only using his powers when alone.

This is usually how Amber players play in my games - at least early on, but it makes me wonder... is this the way people play in your games?

//Panjumanju

[finarvyn]

I think it's a wonderful concept, with sort of a "Percy Jackson" twist of not having characters grow up in Amber. I like the whole Lake Amber thing and may swipe it for a game sometime.

Hiding powers is always amusing, and it will be interesting to see if you can put characters in situations where they are forced to reveal any powers that they might have.

[jibbajibba]

Excellent idea and I am totally stealing it.

My players always hide powers. As I allow movement on attributes upto 1st bid) after the auction they always hide that as well. They woudl also generally hide allies, items and any background information.

In fact all my players typically know about other characters is something like ....

Reuben - The King's Right Hand
During Luke's long absence from Amber Reuben was Oberon's heir apparent. In this role as favoured son Reuben has had access to a lot of things banned to the rest of us but a life plagued with misfortune his wife Clarise was killed in Arden protecting their two sones from an assassin or at least that is how Reuben tells the tale.
He has acted as father's steward whenever the old man was away in shadow and the current situation, with Cassandra as Regent and Dane named as hier, must really cut to the quick. I wonder what the unemployed ex-steward will do to pass the time?


Dorian - The Lady Killer
Dark, brooding and mysterious Dorian was seldom seen without a beautiful woman on his arm and the tears flowed when he fell trying, unsucessfully I may add, to prevent the usurper Blackavar walking the pattern of Amber.
There are rumours his death was not all it seemed but I myself viewed the body and can vouchsave for his demise. One thing is certain if he does return from the grave no woman will be save, so lock up your wives and daughters just in case.

Ernaux - The Stalwart Defender
Strong of arm and short of temper. Ernaux was Amber's guardian for as long as most of us can remember. To him the most important single thing was the defense of the realm a facet that served to make him boorish, tactless and monocular on occassion despite these faults he always remained loyal which one supposes is cause for praise.
In these dark times his blade would be of great use to us so it is a pity that he chose them to get himself turned into a statue.If you feel like it why not pay him a visit. I am sure even he has grown weary of the conversation of pigeons.

Janaya - Tyrant of Rebma
Here is a strange one and no mistake. Imposed as queen on Amber's watery reflection by an Oberon in need of stability in that place she was ititially reluctant but soon grew used to the post.
Janaya was the surviving child from a set of twins. Amber's only known case of such a thing. She supports her full brothers without hesitation and was the first to leap to Dorian's defence following his breach of protocol in allowing the renegade Blackavar to walk the pattern. With Ernaux out of the way, Luke and Dorian dead and Reuben dispossed she must feel somewhat at sea at the moment, if you pardon the pun. Who knows how far her watery arm can still stretch?


Prospero - The Wayward Exile
Always one for an argument Prospero was the only Amber based child of Oberon not to walk the pattern. This in itself could be put down to childish petulence, but when he confronted father over the issue accusing him of controlling power with some foolish initiation rite Oberon threw him out never to return on pain of death. Prospero fled, as well you might expect using some of the Trump skill he learnt under Dworkin.
Ten years ago all trumps of Prospero burnt up and as far as I am aware no one has been able to recreate one since though why anyone would want to is quite beyond me.

Tyrone - Shadow of Amber
Behind every kingdom there is a  darker power seldom mentioned; the Finder of Lost Things, the one the king sends on the grubbier missions. Amber is no exception for we have Tyrone. These last ten years have been hard work for him and rumours still persist that the information he gave about the Battle of Angels could have been a little more...precise perhaps. Yes rumours abound about brother Tyrone not least of which that he is still in contact with fated brother Prospero, what an alliance that would make!
Still he cuts a dashing figure through Court and spends most of his time playing chess, a game he claims to have invented, which I always felt gave him something of an advantage.

[RPGPundit]

The only real power in Amber is information.  What (regular) powers you have is a kind of information.  Holding onto it is a basic survival/success strategy.

[Panjumanju]

For those who want to use the idea, the second part of the pact among the Elder Amberites - which they will try to keep from the younger generation as long as possible - is that it was decided the King or Queen of Amber would not be chosen from among the older generation, but from among the younger generation.

Unfortunately, the timeline of this was accelerated by the assassination of King Random, and none of the Elder Amberites think any of the younger are ready, at only 16 years old. They Elders would see the younger generation go off into shadow for a couple hundred years at least, first.

This setup creates a fertile ground for parental scheming, piques the interest of some players towards the throne - if they find out (and makes them nicely upset when they do find out), and is a great excuse to get characters out in shadow.

It's working very well for the game so far.

//Panjumanju

[RPGPundit]

I would hope that such an 'agreement' among the elders was only because at least half of them wanted a weak king or queen to use as a puppet.

[sir brad]

I think most of them may have decided that the Throne is not a comfy enough chair to compensate them for taking on the job.

[RPGPundit]

I think most of them may have decided that the Throne is not a comfy enough chair to compensate them for taking on the job.

Hence the value of them having a pliable puppet on it.

[Panjumanju]

Hence the value of them having a pliable puppet on it.

In this particular situation the Elders all have complex schemes for their own benefit. It wouldn't be Amber without it! Already they've been tricked into doing several things "for the good of Amber" they would not have done if they had all the information. You know, par for the course.

//Panjumanju