The Complete Castle Amber Room List Thread

[RPGPundit]

Ok, this thread is to make a definitive list of all the possible rooms that could be found in Castle Amber.

I'd really like it if we started with the rooms we know exist canonically (ie. from the books).  I know that there was also a "guide to castle amber" published, and that could be considered a semi-canonical account for sure.


So: which princes have rooms there?
And what else is there?
Towers?

We know there's a throne room, right? A banquet Hall?
Kitchens?
Library, for sure.
The dungeons.
Pattern Room.
The Hall of Mirrors.

What else?

Once we have a complete list, step two would be to talk about how we've used these rooms in our games, and finally to add in rooms that weren't necessarily from Canon but that we've used in our games and were cool.

RPGPundit

[Erick Wujcik]

...I know that there was also a "guide to castle amber" published, and that could be considered a semi-canonical account for sure.

As for the "Guide to Castle Amber" I'd describe it as far more 'semi' than 'cononical.' Best not to dwell on it and move on to other aspects, and some of the more fun rooms in Castle Amber.

For the moment, because it's late and I'm feeling silly, I'll describe how one of the players in my Gencon Amber Campaign encountered an interesting room (the stories by Bronwyn in various issues of Amberzine are Carol Dodd's perspective on the Gencon Amber Campaign).

Basically, he ended up tagging along with one of the Elder Amberites (I think it was Bleys, but I can't swear to it). The player character was being somewhat of a pest, but he had recently shed blood in the defense of Amber, so he was in good odor with the Crown and all.

As they were walking and talking, he started to get a little alarmed, since they had been going progressively down and down obscure stairways... and the elder had strongly implied that what he was about to see was, to some degree or other, secret, and not to be shared with the rest of the young generation.

Then strange hollow sounds could be heard. Occasional unnatural voices. Sharp retorts.

As Game Master I did my best to spook him, and get him to back off. I didn't actually scare him off, but he did get pretty nervous, and the other players were divided in their opinions about the outcome.

Thus Childe Godfrey did come to...

...the Castle Amber Bowling Alley.

A dozen lanes, with a batch of young servant kids who set up the pins, a good-sized bar, changing room (with bowling shoes in various sizes), and pretty much everything you might expect in a Medieval bowling center.

While some of the players thought a bowling alley would be out of place, I'd like to point out that bowling was a sport of Medieval Kings.

Erick

[Trevelyan]

The are a number of sitting rooms one of which is, IIRC, described as being yellow. Whether this is a comment on the decor or otherwise is no clear.

There is at least on secret "room" hidden behind the wall in the library.

As far as rooms for the family, it seems reasonable to assume that every family member has their own suit. Two rooms seem to be the normal allocation based on what we see of Merlin, Corwin and Brand's private space, typically consisting of a sitting room and a bedroom. Corwin also seem to have a separate entrance for his suit used to hang cloaks and the like, but this may be limited to a few rooms held by the older family members who had first pick.

What about sealed rooms? We know that Brand's room was left locked after his death - does the same hold true for Eric, Deirdre and Caine or had Brand taken specific steps to ensure that his room was not invaded before he left Amber for the last time? Who might be able to grant access to a locked room (Random, or just any senior member of the household staff)?

[Otha]

Here's some play I'd love to use someday:

I can see leaving Brand's room locked until the topic comes up, then have Random assign some poor schmuck the job of going through the contents, noting what to sell, what to leave there for the next occupant, what to destroy, and what to lock away in the dungeons and throw away the key.

After performing this task, the poor schmuck is then assigned those rooms as his own.

[Arref]

I believe there is a 'Yellow Room' that has an informal throne for the King to receive guests.

There was a breakfast room separate from the banquet hall.

There would be staff quarters.
Clerking offices
Visiting suites (for ambassadors, etc.)

[SunBoy]

Bloody hell, Otha, that's two times a in a row. I had some girl run though Brand's "garage sale" once, and some guy did it too during a weird sort of Crown War I ran once. The girl was pretty smart and didn't got even to 10-foot-pole-poking distance of anything that might've been "cursed", but it was a really tense moment.

Now to the topic:
I've had got fun in Amber Castle wine cellars, and Bleys and Fiona's private library, and Bleys' even more private library.

Oh, and there was some more or less privvy sitting rooms around the Great Hall, Amber Guard barracks in the garden (I've alway pictured the garden like a huge park, with an enclosed "private" garden within for the Royal Family), and some sort of hospital-nursery-whatever, though that last one somehow doesn't seem to really fit now.

[Otha]

More than a dozen princes and princesses grew up in that castle.  I imagine there has to be a nursery, though in the (present) I imagine that it's mothballed.  Births are rare, even to the staff.

In the Tir-na Nog'th game I'm currently playing, there's a comfortable sitting room near the front doors where visitors who arrive claiming to be from some distant place can be kept comfortable while their credentials are checked and while the King or Regent can decide whether he wants to see them immediately, admit them to a guest room, or throw them out on their keisters.

Needless to say there are easy means of spying on this chamber.

[Erick Wujcik]

...this thread is to make a definitive list of all the possible rooms that could be found in Castle Amber.

Here's a description of one of my more unusual Castle Amber chambers; one that I've used as the focus of a scenario I used for newcomers to Amber, a few years ago.

Location: Several levels deep, although not nearly as deep as the dungeons. Perhaps the next level down from the wine cellars, in an area with wide corridors, a lot of storage, and where servants often take shortcuts from various wings of Castle Amber.

Exterior: A single hallway, covered with beautiful marble and tile, widening at the end, where six steps go down to the gigantic double doors. The metal doors are covered with a huge mural depicting a Triton (picture the King from "Little Mermaid," but with Oberon's coloring and features) in full combat with an over sized twelve-legged octopus. The doors do not lock, but there is a secure latch (can be used from either side) high enough off the ground to keep it out of the reach of children.

Interior: Picture a swimming pool, of Olympic Size (see below), with a broad tile floor all the way around. Lighting comes from overhead windows, so that the place always seems lit from sun shinning through ocean water.

Door Wall: To the left and right of the double door are large valves. The one on the right opens and closes the fill spigot, while the one on the left opens and closes the drain. In addition to smaller valves and glassed-in dials, there are metal levers that can be fitted to the valve wheels (someone of Amber or greater strength can turn the valves unaided; others will need to use the leverage provided by the metal levers).

Far Wall: On the far end of the chamber is the map area. Between the pool and the far wall is wide metal map table, with many shelves and drawers, topped with six glass covers. One can lift a glass over, place a map or chart underneath, and clearly see through the glass... using the colored grease pencils (found in the drawers) to make temporary notes. The far wall itself is covered in well-fitted (waterproof) glass doors, behind which are thousands of maps and charts, mostly of the seas and coasts of the Golden Circle, and with the central area devoted to those of Amber.

Left Wall: The long wall is fitted with shelves, and on the shelves are scale models the entire fleet of Amber, past and present, all rendered in extraordinary detail, down to the cloth patterns on the sails, the figures on the bows, the oars on the triremes, and even the stained glass in the portholes of the luxury cabins.
   Left Wall Center: A set of beveled glass double doors over a set of narrower shelves. Inside this cabinet are individual figures, in the same scale of the boats, each perfectly rendered, down to individual clothing, facial features, armament and weapons. Two shelves are devoted entirely to Amber naval figures, from swabbies to admirals, another shelf completely to pirates, and others to various other sailors, fishermen and merchant seamen, human and otherwise. On the bottom shelf are various non-humans, including merpeople of Rebma, tritons, and various sea creatures and monsters. On the very top shelf is the complete Court of Amber, including Dworkin, the Unicorn, King Oberon, all of Oberon's various wives, the various Princes and Princesses, and even (at the Game Master's wim) the various player characters (either in adult form, or as children in royal garb).

Right Wall: Like the opposite wall, this one is also covered with shelves, but with even more ships. Not quite as detailed as the fleet of Amber, these models seem to be more generic versions of ships, boats and submarines, from a wide range of Shadow (a few even have the appearance of WWII vessels, complete with cannons and radar dishes).
   Right Wall Center: Three sets of double glass doors contain a variety of poles, wooden pallets and other implements useful for manipulating toy boats on the water, as well as various metal structures that can be used for constructing artificial reefs, islands, beaches and so forth.

Decorative Tile: Most of the room is covered in beautiful tile, in varying shades of green, blue and white, with abstract patterns of ocean waves.

While the room could be used as a swimming pool, it is clearly intended for naval purposes, with sufficient models (of both boats and crew) to simulate battles at sea or along shore.

That completes the description of the room.

The scenario requires a few more notes...

First off, the scenario also included models of ships and crew clearly originating from the Courts of Chaos. Second, two of the scale model figures were animated, and attempting to get the attention of the player characters. I called them the Princess and the Pirate King (the Princess on the royal shelf, and looking a lot like one of Oberon's daughters, the Pirate King on the pirate shelf, with no way of reaching each other with the glass doors closed). Both the Princess and the Pirate King had the ability to animate (or turn off the animation) of any of the other scale model figures...

Thanks to Karen Moreno and Jon English, who have played the Princess and the Pirate King every time I ran the scenario... always to everyone's huge enjoyment! This was years before Johnny Depp became such a well-known pirate, and Jon's Pirate King, role-played off the cuff, was every bit as colorful as he captained his scale model ships, and commanded his scale model crew, in battle after miniature battle.

Erick


Olympic Pool Dimensions (from WikiAnswers):
Length 50m = 164.042 ft
Width 25m = 82.02 ft
Depth 2.0m = 6.56 ft
Surface area = 13,454.72 sq ft
Volume ~= 88,263 cu ft
~= 660,253.09 gallons of water
...That's about 5,511,556 lbs (2755.8 tons) of water

[SunBoy]

Niiiice. Did any of your player take a dive? I probably would.

[Trevelyan]

Here's a description of one of my more unusual Castle Amber chambers; one that I've used as the focus of a scenario I used for newcomers to Amber, a few years ago.

*snip room description*

Absolutely fantastic. Consider it yoinked for future use.

[Erick Wujcik]

Did any of your player take a dive? I probably would.

I've had players swim in the water, with or without the boats around.

On a more casual basis, what if someone was looking for a particular Elder Amberite, and tracked them down (by questioning servants) to the 'pool room'? It would be interesting to find one or more of them swimming laps (likely in the nude), with servants standing by with refreshments, towels and clothing... Or, if there were a war in the offing, standing at the chart table, directing young squires in pushing poles and splashing around amidst the model ships, putting together an elaborate simulation.

Erick

[SunBoy]

It would be great to see the face on the poor sod... "uh, I'm sorry, Uncle Bleys... I'll come back later... bye Auntie Fiona..."

[jibbajibba]

In my Current Campaign I let the players design the castle themselves then sort of combined the various elements into something like a whole.

I for one think that even Zelazny's concept of each Amberite has a two room suite is a bit weak. After all if I am an all powerful godlike being whose old man often nips off into shadow for a few months who is going to stop me building a Tower, new wing etc. If you wander round European castles at all, and I have to say when he wrote Nine Princes I am fairly certain that Roger had never been within a few hundred miles of one you see that royals don't have a suite of 2 rooms they have an apartment, bedroom, sitting room, antechambers etc etc . And if you have gotten used to decent plumbing why not install it yourself. That says nothing of the Amberites who have a little magical power to enhance their chambers with .

You can check out our current castle here http://www.jibbajibba.com/Amber/castle_amber/

Obviously I can't describe each characters rooms in too much detail here but they all have their own descriptions as well just not for public consumption

[Otha]

Well, there are reasons why not... in some folks' versions of Amber magic and technology don't work too well, but that's very much a YMMV type of thing.

Personally, I think for the efficiency of the cleaning staff, any Elder who isn't around much gets shunted to smaller quarters than ones that are in residence all the time.

[Trevelyan]

I for one think that even Zelazny's concept of each Amberite has a two room suite is a bit weak. After all if I am an all powerful godlike being whose old man often nips off into shadow for a few months who is going to stop me building a Tower, new wing etc.

For one thing the lack of space to build on (the castle is pretty much surrounded by a city and a garden), for another there are your siblings (Benedict might be particularly fond of the section of the garden that you want to build over - do you really want to annoy him?), then there might be standing orders from Oberon that no contractor in Amber is to build an extension to the castle without his expressed permission (although you could always try building that extension yourself). Hell, in the Merlin series teh castle itself might object to anyone making unplanned changes!

If you wander round European castles at all, and I have to say when he wrote Nine Princes I am fairly certain that Roger had never been within a few hundred miles of one you see that royals don't have a suite of 2 rooms they have an apartment, bedroom, sitting room, antechambers etc etc.

Bollocks. OR rather it depends on the period in question. If we assume that the core of the castle is medieaval then two rooms per family member is exceedingly generous, for later periods it is merely reasonable. Remember that there are a large number of communal rooms for the entire family so the two rooms are really just private space.