I found some Amber in my D&D

[Panjumanju]

I was hunting around on dndclassics.com after getting a free coupon as a prize at a local gaming convention, and found this: http://www.dndclassics.com/product/17088/X2-Castle-Amber-%28Basic%29?src=FrontPage&it=1

Castle Amber is Basic module X2. The castle itself is described as being a mysterious place shrouded in fog where "Members of the strange Amber family, some insane, some merely deadly, lurk around every corner. "

Is this whole thing a reference to Zelazny's Amber? The written work on the webpage (actually quite detailed) explains the source material is from an Edgar Allen Poe poem....was Zelazny's inspiration, at least partially, this poem as well?

Can someone with more experience in the matter shed some light?

//Panjumanju

[jibbajibba]

I was hunting around on dndclassics.com after getting a free coupon as a prize at a local gaming convention, and found this: http://www.dndclassics.com/product/17088/X2-Castle-Amber-%28Basic%29?src=FrontPage&it=1

Castle Amber is Basic module X2. The castle itself is described as being a mysterious place shrouded in fog where "Members of the strange Amber family, some insane, some merely deadly, lurk around every corner. "

Is this whole thing a reference to Zelazny's Amber? The written work on the webpage (actually quite detailed) explains the source material is from an Edgar Allen Poe poem....was Zelazny's inspiration, at least partially, this poem as well?

Can someone with more experience in the matter shed some light?

//Panjumanju

Nothing to do with Zelazny's Amber. A mate had a copy years back but we never played modules so ..
It relates to Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Amber_(module)

Unliek the 1985 Nine Princes text based computer game which is all Amber to the core.

[Doughdee222]

I love the X2 - Castle Amber module from TSR, one of the best they published, I think. Remember fondly running a couple groups through it back in the 80's. Still have it in fact. Managed to save a few boxes of childhood artifacts before my old home was sold.

No, it has no relation to Zelazny's Amber books. An inside note says it is somewhat related to Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories, but was not created by Smith. Apparently the module writer, Tom Moldvay, just wanted to use the land of Averoigne in his work.

You could use it as some sort of Amber shadow however. The characters in it are powerful members of a magic using family that has mostly gone insane. You could keep the names as stated (Helen, Isabelle, William, Isidora, Madeline, etc.) or change them to represent shadows of known Amber RPG characters.

I'd advise buying it. Whether you want to run a standard fantasy game or a side adventure in an Amber game it would be fun to use. Lots of fun stuff to role play through in that one. (If you use it for Amber you'd have to make up some excuse to keep the characters there: "It's a wild shadow surrounded by storms that block shifting and Trump use." Whatever. In other words: only by completing the adventure will the characters be free to go.)

[finarvyn]

It is a great module, but I'll confess I was bummed when I first got one and realized that it wasn't Zelazny.

CAS has some cool stories, if you like that kind of thing.

[RPGPundit]

Yeah, great module, not Zelazny's Amber.

[Panjumanju]

Yeah, great module, not Zelazny's Amber.

Awesome, thanks everyone.

//Panjumanju