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Author Topic: In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules  (Read 5957 times)

Artifacts of Amber

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« on: June 25, 2015, 11:00:34 AM »
I love Amber and all the fun it has brought me. Eric was a talented designer but given that -

Where in the few rules of Amber do you diverge and do things different?  



I'll list mine and we can discuss everyone's choices and why :)

5 Stat system instead of 4. Had to split Warfare in two to warfare and dexterity.

Good/Bad Stuff - I have detailed my way several many times here on various threads, but basically it does not effect luck or how the universe views you.

How ranks work. I keep the number of points bid in as a deciding factor so a difference of 10 points in bidding shows a serious difference versus one being a rank higher than the other.

Advancement - no Wish list you get what you work at. And I tend to give a lot of small rewards.

Minor differences I better defined sorcery, conjuration and artifacts but they are still very recognizable as the orginials

and a small expansion I guess would be partial powers.

Evermasterx

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2015, 11:49:45 AM »
I prefer usually to stick to the standard rules.
The only thing I had to reformulate was Conjuration, which in my opinion was too confusing and therefore unusable. I didn't change it, only made clear what you can do and how long it will take.
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Artifacts of Amber

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2015, 08:57:17 PM »
My sorcery and conjuration rules both went through that. A clearer definition of what you can do.

The artifact cost rewrite is 90% like it was just with clearer measurements (Comparatives to characters not real world stuff) and fixed the Transferal rules.



How did you define Conjuration better?

RTrimmer

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2015, 10:49:01 PM »
I've made Advanced Pattern mirror the novels -- Fiona and JoJ tricks.

Shift shadow in Amber.
Nullify, glitch or aid other people's use of powers.
Shift shadow without moving.
Scry across many shadows for Pattern or Logrus traces.
Hide or make obvious traces of most powers.
Shortcuts through shadow.
Blessings and curses. (Not to be confused with far more powerful death curses.)

Used a simple skills system. Anything that fits background at a professional level. World class skills for 1-2 points. So, no, Warfare doesn't make you a super-thief, -driver, etc.

Used Madeline Ferwerda's take on Shapeshifting. http://www.z-amber.com/soad/soadrules.html

Cut the point cost of Trump Artistry to 25 and got rid of 'Trump powered items'.

Defined Control of Contents as effectively making the owner #1 in Psyche and any powers they have while in their shadow.
C o Destiny allowed the owner to banish anyone from his world -- the next step the banished one took exited the shadow, the banishee couldn't find it again, any location Trumps of the world the banishee tried to use were destroyed upon contact and anyone attempting to pull them through to it got expelled.

Pattern death curses didn't lay down Bad Stuff. They laid a new, narrow, fundamental law on the multiverse. Benedict got cursed by Dara with, "Never heal." Shortly thereafter Ben cursed the leaders of Chaos with, "Success." Meaning their enemies', against them. The only way to get rid of one would be for another Pattern initiate to die laying down a contrary blessing.

Artifacts of Amber

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2015, 01:55:11 PM »
Most of the Powers I use straight out of the books because they are still so loosely that I can interpret them any way I desire.

I hadn't seen Madeline's site before so Thanks for that something to look through and think/steal what is interesting :)

I keep Trump like it is because I have found it to be something people really miss if no one has access to it. I also make Trump sketches more powerful or more versatile than they have in the book because I allow it to be an almost sensory ability so if you sketch something you can learn about it on some fundamental level.

Why do you make it cheaper?

I don't use skills that you pay for just have Characters list 10-12 they are good at then look at their background and judge from there if they know how to do something or not. So they don't know every skill.

Have never dealt with blood curses so that one is still undefined in most my games.

RTrimmer

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2015, 06:32:37 PM »
Why cheaper?

I largely agree with this:
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?557693-Alternate-Amber-Settings/page2

TA as presented in the novels is a utility power. In most games players have or soon get Trumps of each other and most of the family. And it's easy to refuse a contact -- noob Martin kept Brand from contacting him after being badly wounded.

40 points might come close to making sense if only one PC could take it, if complete family decks were hard to replace and hoarded, and if getting more from NPCs was expensive, dangerous and iffy.

finarvyn

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2015, 07:18:20 AM »
I'm not sure I diverge from the rules so much as build onto them. That is to say, I try to keep the standard rules for attributes, powers, items, and so on, but I also allow for my creativity (and that of the players) to work side-by-side with the rules. I think overall that the ADRP rules system is simple and elegant, yet versitile and allows for interpretation. I find that its elements seem pretty well balanced overall.

I had tinkered with sub-stats, for example, but found at the end that having extra stats was nice from a character creation standpoint but seemed to get in my way as a GM. I ended up taking the sub-stats and creating an equation to combine them together for my own use, so the players felt like there was additional detail that never really worked its way into the actual play.
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jibbajibba

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2015, 01:26:16 AM »
Partial powers (I use Power trees but I redefine them each game and never show the whole tree to PCs) This also allows PCs to develop powers in abnormal directions. This means very different point costs for some abilities

Skill system

2 new attributes - Sucession = how close you are to the throne and acts as a pool of good stuff in Amber
- Political Influence - can be Amber or Chaos (or split) gives you allies in the castle , noble houses etc and The Sanctum
 
The Sanctum is Amber's parliament set up by Oberon to ensure no one can amass enough power to overthrow him and to delegate the tedious affairs of state. Divided into 3 tiers - Wardens, Dukes and Masters. Wardens tend to be princes, the others nobility. Assignment of positions becomes a big focus in most games and seeding the Sanctum with your allies from various noble houses is a game unto itself. The Overwarden acts as regent in The King's absence, Warden of Swords runs the army, Warden of Seals is Amber's spymaster etc ... 6 Wardens , 12 Dukes, 18 Masters.

Tend to use points over ranks (so 30 points more in Psyche is a lot more than 5 points even if there are 5 ranks for the second gap)

Experience tied to objectives weighted to level of challenge. These can be personal or campaign based. So you can pursue personal objecitves ignore the plot and still gain xp.
You don't need to spend xp in quantum steps you can just put 4 more in Strength and the top guy isn't safe if they want to stay top they have to keep on spending points to stay there, or at least they think they do....

Demons and everyone else just use the same stat system and everyone sits on the same point/rank list

Rarely use the elders apart from Oberon and Dworkin

Tone down Warfare so things like invisible oponents and being shot by a sniper remain risks. In my mind I tend to have "points" these sorts of effects are worth though not published.

Stress Strength as hit points - makes it more popular in auctions

Sometimes split Warfare and Tactics into 2 separate attributes. With Warfare covering personal combat and Tactics covering, strategy, logistics and well tactics. Usually don't bother.

When I use the Amber engine to run a different setting I let the players vote on the attributes. So we might run Strength, Warfare, Endurance, Psyche but we might run Perception, Willpower, Prowess, Charisma and Mechanical Aptitude
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jibbajibba

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2015, 07:15:57 AM »
Quote from: RTrimmer;838737
Why cheaper?

I largely agree with this:
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?557693-Alternate-Amber-Settings/page2

TA as presented in the novels is a utility power. In most games players have or soon get Trumps of each other and most of the family. And it's easy to refuse a contact -- noob Martin kept Brand from contacting him after being badly wounded.

40 points might come close to making sense if only one PC could take it, if complete family decks were hard to replace and hoarded, and if getting more from NPCs was expensive, dangerous and iffy.


In play Trump tricks are always more useful that Trump artistry. One of the main drives towards partial powers is that in the books a lot of people have little special tricks they do with trump or pattern or whatever. Caine doesn't create his own trumps but he can eavesdrop on trump converstaion etc.
As I allow abnormal expansion of elements of each power I often end up with people who have some bizare little trump powers.
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Panjumanju

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2015, 11:45:46 AM »
I used to have a few deviations from the rules, but the more I play Amber and the more I run it, the more I return to the rules as written.

I've tried skill systems, I've tried breaking up stats, I've tried partial powers; for the longest time I maintained the relative value between the number of points spent for statistics, and I've found that all this ultimately detracts from the engine. (I must be the only Amber fan who does not approve of partial powers.)

Oh, except for this - I have worked hard to find a few good (and well-warned) monkey wrenches to throw into the plans of sorcerers with fast-time shadows and time manipulation spells. Because, boy, does that ever complicate things.

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RTrimmer

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2015, 08:32:23 PM »
Quote from: jibbajibba;839018
In play Trump tricks are always more useful that Trump artistry. One of the main drives towards partial powers is that in the books a lot of people have little special tricks they do with trump or pattern or whatever. Caine doesn't create his own trumps but he can eavesdrop on trump converstaion etc.
As I allow abnormal expansion of elements of each power I often end up with people who have some bizare little trump powers.


Those can be fun.

Croaker

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2015, 01:22:01 PM »
Quote from: Panjumanju;839055
Oh, except for this - I have worked hard to find a few good (and well-warned) monkey wrenches to throw into the plans of sorcerers with fast-time shadows and time manipulation spells. Because, boy, does that ever complicate things.

This.

I have no problem with people spamming up spells, but you have to pay for it.

And I am wary of C&A abuse, of course.
 

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #12 on: July 03, 2015, 03:02:45 AM »
For me, what divergence there was is visible in where the rules of Lords of Olympus are different from those of Amber.
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Minotaurians

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #13 on: November 23, 2015, 11:41:23 AM »
During my Amber DRPG campaign, which ran for almost 10 years, I experimented with various rule variants and alterations. Since I've recently started a new Amber campaign (a one-on-one campaign), I've decided to update / clean up those variant rules, which I've dubbed "ReBMA" (Revised Basic Mechanics for Amber):

http://amberway.free.fr/REBMA.html

In a nutshell, it keeps the same diceless approach but removes the auction mechanic (for reasons detailed therein), converts attribute relative ranks to absolute scores and gets rid of good/bad stuff. I know that removing the auction may sound like a total heresy to some of you (in fact, some years ago, Pundit expressed his utter contempt and disgust for an earlier version of those same variant rules - no need to bother again, thanks, you made your point back then) but remember that (a) these are just optional, variant rules and (b) even with these changes, it it still Amber and still Amber Diceless (the wonderful, epic game sessions full of mystery, intrigue and tension we played for all those years stand testament to this fact). I think one of Amber DRP's greatest strengths is its "toybox" aspect, which allows each gaming group to tailor and tweak the rules according to their preferences... In fact, there are probably as many different Amber games as there are Amber GMs (just like Shadows, eh :))  So this is not me reinventing the (ghost)wheel - just a gamemaster's own take on those fascinating, unique rules.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2015, 11:47:49 AM by Minotaurians »

Evermasterx

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In Amber DRPG - Where do you diverge in the rules
« Reply #14 on: November 24, 2015, 04:43:46 AM »
Even if I like to play Amber as it is and don't feel the need for changes (only for clarifications), I appreciate a lot your work: it is an act of love for Amber, it is well explained and presented. And it is your game: play it like you want.
"All my demons cast a spell
The souls of dusk rising from the ashes
So the book of shadows tell
The weak will always obey the master"

Kamelot, The Spell
--------
http://evermasterx.altervista.org/blog/tag/lords-of-olympus/