Castle NPC's

[Artifacts of Amber]

Does anyone have a favorite NPC that resides within Amber castle.

Also do you have NPC's that helped raise the Elders sort of like Nannies or such that the Elders revere or would be pretty upset if something happened to them or are they all truly disposable Shadows?


Gettin bored thought I would talk about something

[RTrimmer]

In one game I had an Amber Crown Agent named Tanitheel, a shapeshifting Lord Ruthvenesque vampire (blood and/or moonlight, especially lilght of the Moon of which all other moons are but shadows)/ sorceress. Halfway between Emma Peel and James Bond.

That particular Amber was low on shapeshifters outside of the Weir and a few swan maids, let alone a talented shapeshifting spy with magic. And basic Broken Pattern, standard for all Crown Agents.

[RTrimmer]

Castle pages can be fun. Baker Street Irregulars of a sort. Young, bright eyed, ambitious, star-struck or a little jaded...

[jibbajibba]

I have a very well defined Castle Amber set of stuff that I usually port into each game I run.

I don't use the Elder Amberites apart from Oberon and Dworkin. I also want Amber to feel like it makes sense politicaly so I have a group called the Sanctum which is basically Amber's parliament. Having this creates a political structure the PCs can work in without having to worry about vague promises of a Regency with no idea what that actually means.

Now I encourage the players to develop noble houses as allies which generate NPCs who fill these parliamentary positions. In addition the PCs themselves vie for certain positions, usually the top 7 know as Wardens. Each of these controls an aspect of Amber, the Warden of Storms controls Ambers Navy, the Warden of Dreams controls access to Tir, the Warden of Rebma controls Rebma, the Warden of Arden controls Arden, the Warden of Seals controls Amber's communication and diplomacy, the Warden of the Pattern looks after the Pattern and the Overwarden controls the Army and acts as the head of the Sanctum.
After the Wardens come the Dukes who control the city, the northern fleet, the rangers, the castle guard, etc... then come the Masters , master of the Hunt, master of the dungeons, master of the library etc

This generates a hierarchy the PCs can act within or against but most of all it defines the starting point for who controls what. So the Master of the Dungeons reports to the Duke of Swords (who runs the Castle guard) who reports to the Overwarden etc etc ... this puts a lot of NPCs in play. Players vie to put their guy in the right position of power or to corrupt those who hold a certain position.

I sometimes change the wardenships and the organsiation but I keep the base structure in place because its so useful in play.

I came up with the idea back for my first Amber game where I co-GMed. We basically hacked out a form that would give players something to aspire to without the game being one big obvious throne war. We really didn't think that idea from the rule book felt at all Amberite as it had zero subtly to it.

The Sanctum and with it the attribute Political Influence have remained stalwarts of all my campaigns since.

Some characters from the very first Amber campaign tend to recur. There are noble houses, Burgundy, Castile, Romanov and T'gat and a few faces Caspar the Court Chamberlain (officially Duke of Scrolls and reporting to the Warden of Seals), Martin Master of the Hunt, Bartholomew Mayor of Amber city (officially Duke of Stones and reporting to the Overwarden) etc.

Because I don't use the Elders I need to flesh the prince/princess population out a little as you want to approach 12 -ish . So I will create NPCs who participate in the attribute bidding war. Since I have a back catalogue sometimes I pull in old ones to fill a certain slot, I also pull in versions , shadows if you will, of old PCs if I feel that helps to felsh out the cast.
I tend to talk to the players about what sort of PCs they want before the auction so I know if we are missing a Court wizard, spymaster, diplomat, lothario etc. If no PC expresses an interest in say playing a magician I will add say Hugo, Cornelius, Prometheus or Ariel into the mix. If there are no obvious gaps I will create new NPCs but they might take on aspects of others.
So Charity is the most common NPC I think she has been in each of the major Amber campaigns I have run. She takes on the role of events organiser in Amber, running a kind of Flora path but generally more sassy and cunning and feels much younger. I have played her so often it feels like putting on an old pair of slippers and when you have an NPCs mannerisms and foibles down it helps create that roleplay depth.

Anyway ...long answer to a short question

[Artifacts of Amber]

jibbajibba

Appreciate the long Answer.

I haven't really gone that in depth on the political structure of Amber since none of my players have every been into the political side of the Game. So far no on has sough the throne seeing it as more a pain then a reward.

I see how having removed the Elders a structure needs to be in place to work within so you have everything covered before game starts.


I do a Similar thing with NPC youngers in filling certain archetypes and only make sure 3 make it in the game. Merlin, Martin and Christina. 2 because of the books (I usually start post 1st series) and Christina becuase she is like your comfortable Slippers. I love running her as an NPC too much.

I have a system of royalty and such that runs the same range as you of dukes, archdukes, counts etc and often the Elders have a list of titles and pass off some to recognized children or sometimes I give them out as rewards to Pcs.  following englands set up.  where the prince is also duke of this or that etc.

Since Random's reign he has given title to some of the Elders. which is something Oberon never did so what would equate to your Wardens are jobs the elder's now "Officially" Have. I like the idea so will probably steal it.


RTrimmer

Yeah I thought Pages would be the one but I find Secretaries fill that niche in my game. Since players get tons of correspondence and I try to discourage just trumping for every lil thing, Secretaries provide an interesting look at things from the servants view point especially as their relationship has a higher level of interaction/causal nature to it.

My Crown agent is  Old John. Can't say anymore about him cause it's a secret

[jibbajibba]

jibbajibba

Appreciate the long Answer.

I haven't really gone that in depth on the political structure of Amber since none of my players have every been into the political side of the Game. So far no on has sough the throne seeing it as more a pain then a reward.

I see how having removed the Elders a structure needs to be in place to work within so you have everything covered before game starts.


I do a Similar thing with NPC youngers in filling certain archetypes and only make sure 3 make it in the game. Merlin, Martin and Christina. 2 because of the books (I usually start post 1st series) and Christina becuase she is like your comfortable Slippers. I love running her as an NPC too much.

I have a system of royalty and such that runs the same range as you of dukes, archdukes, counts etc and often the Elders have a list of titles and pass off some to recognized children or sometimes I give them out as rewards to Pcs.  following englands set up.  where the prince is also duke of this or that etc.

Since Random's reign he has given title to some of the Elders. which is something Oberon never did so what would equate to your Wardens are jobs the elder's now "Officially" Have. I like the idea so will probably steal it.

If you create a political structure the players will step into it naturally.
My experience point model which rewards PCs for achieving their own goals which they set themselves also drives the political side.
If you set up a goal to become the Warden of Seals and the Gm says okay that is worth 5 XP to you. Then you work quite hard to become Warden of Seals fuck chasing those demon guys to shadow earth I have important politicking to attend to

[Artifacts of Amber]

I guess it is mainly a function of Players to me. Every time I introduce politics in any game they shy away or don't "get" it well enough to function. They don't get duplicity and half truths very well, they are not natural at lying at all.

I've tried. They don't do mysteries either. Not kick in the door and kill players but sort of in the middle.

[RPGPundit]

I had one game where Edmund, Majordomo of Amber Castle, became a major player; he turned out to be behind a plot to try to overthrow the entire royal family, having grown to despise them.  The game ended with the destruction of Amber, so in a certain sense, he won.

[Panjumanju]

As everyone else has touched on, I also think it is important to generate your own set of standard castle NPCs with whom your players can become familiar.

I would swap them out with every Amber campaign for different NPCs if you are playing with any of the same players. I find you cannot repeat the same territory easily. Repeating NPCs confuses second-time players if they cannot reconcile multiple views of the character.

//Panjumanju

[Artifacts of Amber]

RPGPundit
I had one game where Edmund, Majordomo of Amber Castle, became a major player; he turned out to be behind a plot to try to overthrow the entire royal family, having grown to despise them. The game ended with the destruction of Amber, so in a certain sense, he won.

I would count that as a win indeed!

So far my Majordomo or castle Castellan has been largely ignored despite his lofty position.


Panjumanju
As everyone else has touched on, I also think it is important to generate your own set of standard castle NPCs with whom your players can become familiar.

I would swap them out with every Amber campaign for different NPCs if you are playing with any of the same players. I find you cannot repeat the same territory easily. Repeating NPCs confuses second-time players if they cannot reconcile multiple views of the character.


Mostly I have reused them with different groups or if they were never used beyond maybe the name.

[RPGPundit]

RPGPundit
I had one game where Edmund, Majordomo of Amber Castle, became a major player; he turned out to be behind a plot to try to overthrow the entire royal family, having grown to despise them. The game ended with the destruction of Amber, so in a certain sense, he won.

I would count that as a win indeed!

The funny thing was how he took the players all by surprise.  No one suspected the butler, in this case.

[Artifacts of Amber]

Yeah sometimes the cliche works for you.

"Couldn't possible be the butler"  As the world falls apart around them.

[RPGPundit]

Apparently, George R.R. Martin (who was a literary disciple of Zelazny's) used this very method with Littlefinger.

[charis]

I had one game where Edmund, Majordomo of Amber Castle, became a major player; he turned out to be behind a plot to try to overthrow the entire royal family, having grown to despise them.  The game ended with the destruction of Amber, so in a certain sense, he won.

I know it's off topic, but how exactly did Amber get destroyed in that campaign? I'm always curious about other people's methods of obliterating it.