Spoken Truths - Amber PBM

[Stormwind]

I believe the thread that jibbajibba refers to with examples of "Turn 0's" is PbEM Approaches.
Speaking for myself, I quite like the long narrative incorporating various aspects of the characters background (as with Trista), and the 'feel' for the character that I get from reading them (both Serge and Trista).

______________________________

@jibbajibba: regarding you skill system, although the creation process of the sample character Vincent was quite extensive, I still had a minor question regarding skills as follows:

- You mention three categories of skills, General, Broad, and Narrow, and you also mention the interactions between General and Narrow, and between Broad and Narrow.

What is the interaction (if any), between a General skill and a Broad skill?

For example, considering Vincent who has Science 40, Metalurgy 50, and Blacksmith 10. Now since Science is a General skill, and Metalurgy is a Broad skill, how would they interact (If they do)?
Would Vincents effective score in Blacksmithing be:

• 70 (Science 40(-20 for general) plus Metalurgy 50(-10 for Broad) plus Blacksmithing 10)
  
• 50 (Metalurgy 50(-10 for Broad) plus Blacksmithing 10)
  
• 50 (The Maximum of Science plus Blacksmithing (30) or Metalurgy plus Blacksmithing (50))
  
• ... or something else?

[jibbajibba]

I believe the thread that jibbajibba refers to with examples of "Turn 0's" is PbEM Approaches.
Speaking for myself, I quite like the long narrative incorporating various aspects of the characters background (as with Trista), and the 'feel' for the character that I get from reading them (both Serge and Trista).

______________________________

@jibbajibba: regarding you skill system, although the creation process of the sample character Vincent was quite extensive, I still had a minor question regarding skills as follows:

- You mention three categories of skills, General, Broad, and Narrow, and you also mention the interactions between General and Narrow, and between Broad and Narrow.

What is the interaction (if any), between a General skill and a Broad skill?

For example, considering Vincent who has Science 40, Metalurgy 50, and Blacksmith 10. Now since Science is a General skill, and Metalurgy is a Broad skill, how would they interact (If they do)?
Would Vincents effective score in Blacksmithing be:

• 70 (Science 40(-20 for general) plus Metalurgy 50(-10 for Broad) plus Blacksmithing 10)
  
• 50 (Metalurgy 50(-10 for Broad) plus Blacksmithing 10)
  
• 50 (The Maximum of Science plus Blacksmithing (30) or Metalurgy plus Blacksmithing (50))
  
• ... or something else?

A fair point and one I thought I could carefully avoid :-) In the exampel of matalurgy i am really using it as a broad craft skill not as a knowledge but what if someone had Craft as a skill.... Well my take is that you can't stack a broad skill with a generic skill. At the end of the day all applications of skills are narrow. That is the nature of a skill and all we need is a score in the final narrow task.
The system is supposed to be lightweight and simple and for that reason you can build a narrow skill on a generic or a broad skill but you can't build broad skills on generic ones.
This is a little inconsistent. If I were designing a skills system for a standard game ie one that doesn't have the breadth of Amber or the core diceless concept or the idea of immortal beings then a skill system based round this model would have generic, broad and narrow skills and you would be able to do things like have some skills in a related skill even if you have a similar narrow skills so someone with goldsmith woudl know enough about metal work to have a go at making a sword.
I chose to fudge the two issues and will decide individual actiosn based on  circumstance but at the character gen point you can't stack a broad on a generic skill.  

But an astute question I see we will have to watch you ... :-)

[jibbajibba]

I believe the thread that jibbajibba refers to with examples of "Turn 0's" is PbEM Approaches.
Speaking for myself, I quite like the long narrative incorporating various aspects of the characters background (as with Trista), and the 'feel' for the character that I get from reading them (both Serge and Trista).

Oh and thanks for these comments I need to know if the players want these sorts of intros because at the end of the day its your game and I don't want to dictate player action and style although I do want to influence Amber style. My aim is always to create an Amberesque environment and I use the turn 0 stuff to , hopefully, reflect the character that has come from the player and put it into an Amber context so we all start from a similar page. I have played in Amber PbEMs myself whewre the GM has asked me to reconsider moves because they do not find them appropriate. This annoys me as they are my actions (well my characters :-) ) and I will do whatever I like and I will to the best of my ability never step out of genre as a character. Anyway I will never do that to a player but I find the turn 0 stuff helps set expectations and tone.

[gabriel_ss4u]

I like the turn zero.
I'm still thinking of all the skills my character may need, but I know it's best to see what the outcome of the bid is.
Torn between Chaos & Amber, yet there is even more.
I must say, thanx jibba, this is gonna be fun.

[Xenon]

so, will there be a better clarified power list made available? so far the sub-points of basic pattern and basic trump seem to have been revealed to us. also, i see the magic perquisite as 10 points on the example character, but only 5 on the webpage.

[Stormwind]

so, will there be a better clarified power list made available? so far the sub-points of basic pattern and basic trump seem to have been revealed to us. also, i see the magic perquisite as 10 points on the example character, but only 5 on the webpage.

My understanding is that jibbajibba is planning to keep the detailed lists secret until we actually ante up the points in character creation. i.e. If player 1 ends up spending 90 points on Pattern, and player 2 spends 40 points on trump, then our good GM will reveal to player 1 the partial tree for pattern up to 90 points worth and he will reveal to player 2 the partial tree for trump up to 40 points worth.

What this will really mean in practice is that none of us will really know what the others can do. We might have some general ideas, but as far as specifics go, we simply won't know. Consider the example above, as I understand it player 1, having spent 90 points on pattern, will have a range of basic, advanced and exalted abilities, however, there may be various exalted, advanced, or possibly even basic pattern abilities that player 1's character does not have.
i.e. just because someone has pattern and can walk through shadow, we (the players) can't assume that that player has any other pattern abilities, even if they have an advanced version of walking through shadow.

Personally I really like that approach since it keeps each of the other PC's as more of a mystery, and you may never find out all that another PC is able to do.

[Logos7]

Hey,

My name's logos you may know me from such greats as 'i'm a newb to amber please help' and 'amber oh my gosh'. Anyway I was wondering if you would be willing to tolerate an exceedingly inexperianced amber player and if you cannot (which I can understand your game seems quite popular ) if you would be willing to allow me access to the wiki/pick your brain in a kind of audit style position (maybe take place as part of character creation only/ audit it kinda deal).

Sorry if my request is impertinant, Thank you for your time.

[jibbajibba]

so, will there be a better clarified power list made available? so far the sub-points of basic pattern and basic trump seem to have been revealed to us. also, i see the magic perquisite as 10 points on the example character, but only 5 on the webpage.

Stormwind summarised most eloquently.
Basically I want to keep the trees kind of hidden. I don't mind making a couple of reveals especially stuff like basic pattern after all they are in the book. I have trees for all the basic powers and a few more beside and can quickly craft ones for new powers etc.
And its just to keep the players guessing about what everyone can do and to allow specialisms in certain areas of a power. the jewel thief compared to the Car-jacker if you will.

The magic thing I have increased from 5 to 10, as I say the site is goign to get a revisition and tidy up and I will remove the familiy tree, histories etc and replace with new. I decided magic was too powerful and flexible and the 10 point intro cost reflects this but I have pulled Power Words out of the magic tree so that will be as per the rule book except you can get words for individual costs.

[Stormwind]

Hey,

My name's logos you may know me from such greats as 'i'm a newb to amber please help' and 'amber oh my gosh'. Anyway I was wondering if you would be willing to tolerate an exceedingly inexperianced amber player and if you cannot (which I can understand your game seems quite popular ) if you would be willing to allow me access to the wiki/pick your brain in a kind of audit style position (maybe take place as part of character creation only/ audit it kinda deal).

Sorry if my request is impertinant, Thank you for your time.

@Logos7: I'm maintaining a list of interested players here. I have added you to the list.

[jibbajibba]

Last bit of my sample of play stuff. I am just about ready to ge the site revamped it will be done by the end of the week.

Wanted to post this here as a sample of play that was initiated by the players and run largely by the players. In this case there one NPC (Hugo)> the others are PCs who had wardenships except for Tyrone who Thomas invited for his own reasons.
The PCs are Thomas - Overwarden, Royce - Warden of Seals, Lysander - Warden of Rebma, Ettienne - Warden of Arden and Tyrone. The NPC Hugo - is the Warden of Dreams.
Cornelius, the PC who initiaited the meeting through a trump call to Thomas actually never made it as circumstances mounted against him.
The player controlling Thomas set up the page the security etc inside the wiki and kicked the whole thing off.

I think its a good display of how the wiki/forum model can work and how the various PCs do a good job of working on those Amberite rivalies without actually having a real table to do it over. (typos, spelling and grammatical errors are all from the original text). In the real site each character used a different colour of text

Thomas - This meeting is to discuss some information that Cornelius has learnt. I will summarize. Cornelius has received a message from Dworkin. Dworkin seems to be in trouble and under attack by an army of demonic creatures. Cornelius thinks this relates to Oberon's disappearance.

Tyrone - How was Cornelius contacted by Dworkin? Can we be certain that it was Dworkin? Why does Cornelius believe this relates to Oberon's disappearance? Sorry about the questions but I like to be as certain as possible before going on a "wild goose chase".


,Lysander - That is indeed important to establish, the means of contact that Dworkin used, it could be that with Trump contact he could either furnish us with further information or possibly should the need be great, he could escape via that means. Would Cornelius be able to elaborate?


Etienne - Okay I just trumped in from Arden. This better be as important as your messenger said it was Thomas. From what is said it sounds like we need to send a relief force to find Dworkin. Shall we try trumping him whilst we wait for the others to show up? Where is Cornelius and what's he already tried? I can get a force of a couple of hundred together and head out to any destination in shadow you wish.

,Tyrone - Etienne seems fully prepared to act whilst fully unprepared! Personally, you can count me out if that is the sum result of any planning this small group can come up with. I'll quite happily take a risk, but only if it's a calculated risk with a little more information available. Where the hell is Cornelius?


,Hugo - Greetings. I see we are gathering. My dearest Tyrone you seem to be somewhat perturbed, are we perhaps keeping you from some other more important engagement? Thomas your message to me spoke of Chaosite Demons and a threat to Dworkin, can you elaborate? Ah brother Lysander I did not see you skulking about in the shadows there and how goes your quest to rid us all of the foul taint of Sorcery?


Etienne - Hey I am ready. What I don't understand is why the rest of you are so slow to act. Look I have a trump here of Dworkin. Let's try to reach him surely it beats sitting round here waiting for Thomas to give us all little jobs to do or Cornelius to turn up and tell us what the fuck he was doing calling us all here in the first place.

,Hugo - Ah ah Etienne, do try and keep a civil tongue in your head or Lysander may get upset and have you exiled for swearing. I am sure Cornelius has good reason for summoning us here and will be along shortly. Ah I see Molo has kept the decanter full at least. would anyone else care for a brandy while we wait . Ah a fine year indeed though I find some of the later Burgundian stuff simply lacks the nose.


,Tyrone -


,Lysander - I must concur that Tyrone has the right of it, planning is what we need, I feel we should avoid any knee jerk reactions such as that which seems to have seized brother Cailin. Does any of you have any word from him, the only missive I had was that he would be unable to discuss his ducal candidates with me as he was rushing off to shadow on urgent business, mayhaps the 2 events are connected.


,Hugo you jest of course in suggesting I have a problem with an uncivil tongue, you know better than any I am sure that there are far more evil pastimes to dabble in. Etinene is welcome to speak as he wishes after all he was actually invited to this meeting unlike others who have appeared since though I daresay your input maybe useful.


,Information is what we need, should we not attempt contact with Dworkin, Cornelius and Cailin so that we can all be furnished with a fuller set of the facts


,Hugo - Brother Lysander, I am here at Thomas's personal behest, you must have realized by now that you are not fully aware of all that passes int eh castle. As for your suggestion. I think that Thomas should give us a little more information and advise us as to when Cornelius is like to make a showing. It is of course possible that Cailin is involved in this business but I would prefer to get the full facts from Cornelius before we proceed. Contacting Dworkin does have merits but I tried before I came here and was unable to get a contact and I doubt very much if the rest of you will fare any better.


,Tyrone - Thomas is indeed rather quiet on the matter. Contacting Dworkin, whilst obviously a pertinent suggestion, is highly unlikely to be successful; otherwise it would be questionable as to how much trouble Dworkin is really in. The information from Cornelius can, at best, be described as severely lacking. Does anybody know what or where Dworkin's activities have been in recent years? In fact, does anybody have anything substantial and useful in the way of information pertaining to Cornelius' supposed contact with Dworkin?


Thomas - Okay I can understand that you need some more information. I was waiting until we had all gathered. Only Royce has yet to respond to my request but my messenger was unable to locate him and my attempted trump contacts have all proven fruitless. Therefore, I will tell you all I know. About three hours ago I received a trump contact from Cornelius. He was sitting in his Chambers in Amber, or so it seemed, and was quite stressed. Those of you who know Cornelius will be aware that he does not get easily upset. He advised me that he had been contacted by Dworkin and that Dworkin was in trouble and was asking him for assistance. He told me that the matter related to the integrity of the Pattern itself. Dworkin was apparently in some place where trump did not work, before you ask I do not know how he managed to contact Cornelius, and was under some sort of demonic attack. Cornelius also mentioned a shadow named Loch Caleon.

I determined to raise a group of us to discuss this who might have skills that could be useful. I called Etienne in case we needed to trace anyone through shadow, Royce because he has contacts, Hugo because of the trump and sorcerous elements, Tyrone because of the mention of Demons which leads me to think a Chaos connection and Lysander because with no Ernaux about he is probably our most able general.

Cornelius will be with us within the hour. Does anyone have any information that could help us? Like details on this shadow or how the Trumps might be blocked?

,Hugo - there are plenty of ways to block Trump contacts. Dworkin is certainly powerful enough to know of many of these should he not want to have a conversation. For others to block his abilites... there are few though one springs to mind immediately.


. Your meeting is interrupted when Royce Trumps into the library. With him is another man who wears a worn naval uniform that looks as if its seen better days. You all may also notice that Royce himself is looking less than his best. He appears a bit sweaty and smells strongly or horse. Noticing all of you, he frowns. "Brothers, I did not expect anyone to be here. I did not think we'd be getting together for a few more days. So, lets take inventory shall we? Lysander, Thomas, Tyrone, Hugo and Etienne... what dark conspiracy are we up to today? I would almost think this was a Sanctum meeting, except Father never saw a reason to give Tyrone a seat. Also, Cornelius is missing. So its not a Sanctum meeting. Hmmm... I am sure no one here is plotting against or towards the Throne. The few of you capable of the feat are the ones I know to be loyal. I think I know... you are discussing Tyrone's fondness for goats, yes? Oh, please excuse me for one moment." Royce goes over to a desk, takes some paper and writes a short note. He hands it to the man he Trumped in with. "Give that to any guard or domestic and tell him to find someone to fetch you quarters. Get some food and some rest. We can talk later, after my dinner with... my friend." Turning back to all of you, and seeing an open bottle of Bayle's best, Royce moves to pour himself some, and having completed the task, he sits in a comfortable chair, lights a cigar, sips the wine and gives his full attention to everyone. "Well, please don't stop talking just on my account. Without little Cailin here, we may actually get something profitable accomplished. So, whats the news?"

Etienne - Okay Thomas called us here because something has spooked Cornelius and he thinks it affects the Pattern. . Now I suspect that like me you want to try and sort this out sooner rather than later. Well we could all try to force a trump contact or we could put together a posse and track Dworkin down. If you knwo anything about Lock Caleon Royce then speak and tell us what you know.

Thomas - Hugo you say 'one springs to mind immediately'. I don't suppose you would be willing to share that someone's identity would you?

,Tyrone - I doubt very much if Royce knows much about anything. Heck, he doesn't even know when he's been summoned by the Over Warden! BTW Royce, it's you that smells of horse; perhaps you should stop pestering them and try and get a woman. As for Dworkin - instead of sitting here trying to come up with a plan based on knee jerk reactions, perhaps we should all be assigned certain duties and endeavour to attain as much information as possible. Thomas - you mentioned demons; Hugo is as perfectly capable of enlightening you in that department as I am. Considering the animosity Royce as indicated towards me, I think my skills can best be used elsewhere.


,Hugo - Yes Thomas of course I am able to share that person's identity. Would you have me do that now or shall we wait a while longer to see if this might develop into a full blown fight


,Lysander - Mayhaps there will be time aplenty to resolve disagreements between brothers of the blood at a later junction, Hugo please refrain from trying to suggest that my brothers would circum to such petty squabbles here in the library. For though i feel we should focus on the matter in hand, let us assume that a threat to Dworkin is a threat to Amber. Or that investigation into his peril could give a clue as to the whereabouts of Dad. Thus being of great interest to those gathered. Should he really be in trouble time could be of the essence as who knows the speed of passage of time where he is assailed. Let us consider the facts.


Thomas has been informed by Cornelius that Dworkin is in peril in shadow under attack by demonic creatures.


Cailin states he also has been party to a distress call but left before elaborating further.


Hugo has stated that he has tried contact and was unsuccessful but also states that he is aware of one way that this contact could be blocked.


,The logical next steps would seem to be for Cornelius to elaborate of the means and format of the contact from Dworkin, including if possible description of locale and forces abroad there, Hugo could then furnish us with the information that he is thus far holding back relating to the blocking of trump contact that Thomas has rightly requested. Finally we could ask Cailin what he pursues as it mybe contact with him will be more successful than with Dworkin. Once gathered and assimilated this information can then lead to further lines of interrogation.


However if we decide that the mitigating a threat to Dworkin is removing a threat to Amber or a means to locate Dad then I suggest we call an end to the meeting and go back to whatever and whoever we were doing before the invite after all I for one I never liked his art lessons.


,Hugo - I don't think I said I was holding anything back I was just waiting for approval from Thomas before proceeding. Sequence and order, stress and balance and all that. Your steps do seem logical brother, logic was always your strong suit. Shall we attempt to trump Cailin and pull him into the debate or would you like me to fetch Cornelius?


Royce: Tyrone, as always you are too sensitive. I was referring to your digestion. I had heard the other day you were ill after eating too much goat. Really brother, you need to control your impulses to speak out. And Hugo, if you are going to summon someone, please make it anyone but Cailin. I am having a nice day and would prefer it stay that way. Trumping someone or not, please out with the news as to the "big problem"; unlike some here, I have a great deal of work to do and don't want to waste time sitting here, even as much as I am enjoying this cigar.

Thomas - I don't think that Cailin will be of much use to us currently although I think we will need a full debrief of his actions when he returns. When I spoke to Cornelius he asked for 6 hours to complete some investigation before he presented everything. I gave him 4 and he has about 45 minutes of that time left. He knows where we are meeting and will be with us as soon as he is able. I think it would benefit us to pool what knowlege we have of the situation and Hugo if you have information about a way of blocking Trump then I think it would benefit us all to hear it.

,Hugo - Very well . As you are aware each of us can block incoming trump connections by simply refusing to accept them. In this case the Trump will retain its cool feel when activated and a sense of something akin to contact will be felt. It is even conceivable that those with strong minds could force a contact, although I have never seen it done myself. It is also possible for others to construct Trump barriers of varying sorts. These can be done against individuals or locations but the effectiveness of such barriers depends on the skill of various parties concerned. Now a trump artist with some skill might well be able to turn off a trump especially one he has drawn himself, or to render a subject hidden from the Trump's power. There are very few of these, perhaps a handful in Chaos, Dworkin himself and of course our dear brother Prospero, sworn enemy of Oberon and us all.


Royce - So, Thomas... you want us to sit here and do nothing for the next 45 minutes? If thats the case, can we at least have food brought in? I've had a busy day and could use some food. Hugo, while I am glad of the fact that you are a wellspring of knowledge, I would appreciate it if you would spring faster and get to the point. I hate to be rude to you, as I am different from some of our brothers, but we all...well, most of us have busy schedules, being Wardens after all.

,Tyrone - I do feel that we could be making far better use of our time than waiting for Cornelius. Every minute spent waiting is time being wasted. That said, if we must wait, then I must support Royce's request for some refreshments to be brought in.


A servant is summoned and fetches a light supper (note the Amber time is approximately 6:30pm). Roast chicken, bread, olives salad a few vegetables and a little ham and cheese.

Royce hands the servant a note. "Please see that this is delivered immediately."

Thomas - Okay Royce what information do the Messengers have on Loch Caleon if any and what do we know of the location and activity of Prospero?

,Hugo - I mean nothing more than I say Royce. There is one power that has the skills to block trump and the motivation to do away with Oberon, Prospero. Of course he may have nothign to do with this situation. He might be away in shadow doing good deeds and helping rescue lost puppies but I suspect that that is not the case.


Thomas - Hugo, please allow Royce to speak.

Royce - No information on either Prospero or Loch Caleon has been brought to my attention. In fact, until I happened upon this meeting, I had not heard of Loch Caleon. Who or what is it? If one of you were to present some facts, I might be able to assist.

,Hugo - You missed Thomas's briefing. It's a shadow that came up in his discussion with Cornelius as relating to this whole business. We can't tell you much more without Cornelius as from the sound of Thomas's tale his conversation with Cornelius was brief and short on detail.


Royce - then lets Trump Cornelius here, already. I have a ton of crap to get done. I don't have time to sit around waiting for him to grace us with his presence.

,Hugo - Very well Royce. Since I also have business to attend to and it would entertan me I shall summon him to me. It appears that brother Cornelius is already involved in another trump conversation. Perhaps I can however offer a more profitable way for us to pass the time however. Well that is surprising.


 

Royce - Hugo, far be it from me to criticize you... but will you get to the damned point already?

,Hugo - Indeed Royce I appologise unreservedly for my provarication. As you can see from the reading Cornelius is coverd by The Emperor and crossed by brother Tiberius, I wonder how he is involved in all this. This section of the reading tells us that Cornelious must use logic, rational thought and his own capable logic to solve his present dillema, he must shy away from instinct and gut reactions. Tiberius crosses tells that Cornelius has to deal with Tiberius in order to reach this goal. Tiberius in in this case an immediate impediment for Cornelius to get past before he can proceed. Behind Cornelius we see his family , that would be all of us I presume and at the root of his query Dworkin and his recent contact that has brought us all to this place. In the near future we see brother Prospero, trump master and exile and above Cornelius a journey, whether this is a journey to Prospero or a journey to Dworkin is unclear although both will be involved.


,Then to the staff. In Home we have defeat, so in his current environment Cornelius faces a defeat, whether this is a physical defeat or a defeat of his mental skills is unclear, The position of the 9 of Staves in the Hopes and Fears position is obvious. In self we see the Magician Cornelius's skills in that area are beyond question and it is these skills that will come to the fore. Fianlly the outcome the result of his endeavours, The Tower. This does not bode well for poor Cornelius Destruction but possible the destruction of false ideas which reveals an inner truth. In either case a painful process.


,I hope that all makes sense to you all.


,Lysander - A flamboyant parlour trick, thanks Hugo for providing no further facts to this venture.


,So we have completed or discounted the 3 immediate courses of action, of a fashion. Firstly the update from Cornelius is not likely to be immediate as he is otherwise engaged in conversation. An update from Cailin has been discounted in favour of a full debrief when and if he returns. Finally Hugo has suggested that Propero could block the power of trump. An elaboration on the comment that 'there are few in Chaos' that could also do this maybe appropriate now.


,I further suggest that we need new actions however this is almost impossible based on the thus far scant information. We should also decide whether to continue in this locale listening to idle chit chat and amusing jibes or split into groups to pursue our investigations. Maybe Cornelius could call us together when he is free to update us further. However this is after all Thomas's party, what is your wish Overwarden, should reconvene at a later time?


Royce - "I agree. Why don't you Trump or message me when you need me. In the meantime," Royce stands, "I have work to attend to. Brothers." Royce gives you all a polite head nod and exits the library.

,Tyrone - Well, this is all very entertaining and irrelevant. Hugo, you never could resist an opportunity to play parlour tricks but thank you for the flamboyant style of your delivery. For what it is worth I don't work in "groups". Considering this meeting is of very little use, and that I have a pressing dinner engagement, I will take my leave. Thomas, I will make some enquiries and contact you very shortly. In the mean time - Gentlemen, good evening.


Etienne - I can not believe that you are walking out of a situation that might be of great importance to the realm just to have dinner with some doxy! God no wonder father wanted nothing to do with you. Can't you see how important this might be to ua all!

,Tyrone - My dear Etienne; some pointers for you. The finer things in life should be savoured and appreciated at every opportunity. A beautiful lady should always be afforded the attention that the universe has seen fit to make her worthy of! Oh, and please do not make the mistake of thinking that I date doxies. As for father not wanting anything to do with me, be careful what you say. Just because he didn't recognise me as his son does not mean he had nothing to do with me. As for the issue at hand; what exactly is it you are doing to solve the problem Etienne? Nothing - just making a lot of noise and telling people that you're prepared to go rushing in. Oh, but wait; do you know where to go rushing in? No! As I have already informed Thomas, I will be making enquiries. Be in no doubt, when I make enquiries they are very detailed. I will ascertain where and what Loch Caleon is and inform Thomas accordingly. If that is all I will now take my leave. As before, good day gentlemen.


,Lysander - For me too work and pleasure call for me though I find the two often synonymous. Thomas I will ensure that I am still able to rapidly answer to parly once Cornelus has freed himself from whatever entanglements have trapped him, just notify my man Adustus of your need and I will be there. Until such time I suggest that we keep our eyes and ears open for refernces to Loch Caleon, the whereabouts of Dworkin or the machination of the wayward rebel, who Hugo has skillfully dropped into the frame for the whole affair. Until we meet again, farethee well brothers


,Hugo - Well I have nowhere better to be and am fresh out of doxies so anyone fancy a game of cards Let's wager votes at the next Sanctum Meeting.


Thomas - Well all in all I thought that went better than I had hoped. I will skip the cards Hugo, it's not that I don't trust you you understand. I dare say Cornelius will turn up he still has 10 minutes to go.

Etienne - Thomas, trump me if it's urgent otherwise I have stuff to get on with. .

[boulet]

For a game you didn't plan to start before Autumn it looks pretty active already, Jibbajibba

I read with interest this scene of brotherly social fencing. If it wasn't for the very very 1st person voice of the players (most fail to describe in a detailed way their character gesture, interaction with the room and other characters...) it could be comparable to an equivalent scene in the books, that's great. I have several questions for you :
1 - How long did this scene took to be written in real life time ?
2 - Is the apparent animosity between Tyrone and Royce something that has been cooperatively developed or did it just pop up out of the characters interactions ? (I'm trying to gauge how much about the initial situation and later as the plots develop has been discussed between players, including Jibbajibba)
3 - Is there any arbitration about when players can post their next piece in a communal conversation like this one ? Was some paragraph re-arranged after play in order to improve readability ?

To me this extract feels like a regular tabletop AP report, which is good since we all love to play Amber face to face. Though I wish the specificity of pbem/pbp would show up : a little more descriptive prose, a little more sparkle of life in the way characters are portrayed, I think those are the due to be paid to this medium.

[jibbajibba]

For a game you didn't plan to start before Autumn it looks pretty active already, Jibbajibba

I read with interest this scene of brotherly social fencing. If it wasn't for the very very 1st person voice of the players (most fail to describe in a detailed way their character gesture, interaction with the room and other characters...) it could be comparable to an equivalent scene in the books, that's great. I have several questions for you :
1 - How long did this scene took to be written in real life time ?
2 - Is the apparent animosity between Tyrone and Royce something that has been cooperatively developed or did it just pop up out of the characters interactions ? (I'm trying to gauge how much about the initial situation and later as the plots develop has been discussed between players, including Jibbajibba)
3 - Is there any arbitration about when players can post their next piece in a communal conversation like this one ? Was some paragraph re-arranged after play in order to improve readability ?

To me this extract feels like a regular tabletop AP report, which is good since we all love to play Amber face to face. Though I wish the specificity of pbem/pbp would show up : a little more descriptive prose, a little more sparkle of life in the way characters are portrayed, I think those are the due to be paid to this medium.

This is is from my last PbEM which finished about a year ago I guess
The scene took 2 weeks to pan out which is slow I know but that is always a risk with multiple Pcs in the same location. I hope that the added tool of this forum will help to reduce times.
Tyrone and Royce did not have any animosity until Royce took the position that Tyrone wanted at the Sanctum. But Tyrone totally had a choice he could have spent more on political influence So in any case Tyrone had a personal objective to obtain that Wardenship.
In fact Royce did had a well established antagonism to Cailin which we had spent a couple of presessions on to flesh out in more detail and the sailor that Royce has just brought back to Amber, Captain Dover, had just been relieved of Duty by Cailin as he inspected the flleet in the Golden Circle. Royce only brought him back because he knew how much it would piss Cailin off, and becuase a broken man like Dover could be a very useful tool.

The piece is totally as was written no rearranging. No prearrangement either one PC called the meeting and sent invites to the others. He then set up the page in the wiki and protected it adding names of the invitees. When the meeting finished I trimmed the list of readers down to those that had attended and sent a copy to the PC who has a spy network in the castle (in fact there were 3 networks but Tyrone and Royce were already present.

I know what you mean about the prose I guess that you get that more when players are describing their own moves and this was more of a coversation. My aim is always to go the books so this sort of thing which really has the tone of the novels I was really pleased with. As a GM its odd to day but the bits you are not involved with that really work are the best bits becuase it means that the players have really got it.

I am sure of course that your meetings will be just as intruiging

[gabriel_ss4u]

Thank you for the extreme effort jibba, I have no experience in wiki gaming and look forward to the experience of such meetings in gameplay.

[boulet]

This is is from my last PbEM which finished about a year ago I guess

Who got crowned ? And what was the winning strategy ?

[jibbajibba]

Who got crowned ? And what was the winning strategy ?

sadly the game petered out

3 of the charcters actually identified the plot and tried to hunt down the Loch Caleon shadow where Dworkin was besieging Oberon and Ernaux. They were just about there when the game kind of died

3 others got emeshed in a side plot in Amber which kind of got bogged down, my own fault there.

The others just slowly petered away