The Design Of The Pattern?

[finarvyn]

I like the way this looks. It came from the Labyrinth Company page mentioned earlier.


Of course, Amber's wouldn't be stone but would be blue fire, but this kind of thing looks wide enough for a person to stand and sword-fight while walking it.

They key for me is that the Pattern has to be a single path and not a maze that forks. This particular one doesn't have the right-angle turns, either, but it is pretty.

[RPGPundit]

That one does look quite good too.

I also agree that the pattern just doesn't feel to me to be a conventional labyrinth.  I suppose, though, that it was a masterstroke on Zelazny's part never to have an actually sufficient description of the Pattern; it means that the way everyone visualizes how it looks in their head is different.

RPGPundit

[Sydius Mendoza]

Thanks Pundit. I've been a huge fan of Zelazny ( particularly the Amber series) for well over a decade. I've never played the DRPG before but I've been dying to try it out. The problem is the same that can plague any Campaign, time commitments and what not. But the bigger issue has been trying to find someone to GM. I finally got tired of not finding anyone, and decided to start constructing a campaign myself. This forum has been a great resource for story ideas and more importantly game mechanics. I have next to no GM experience so I'm "Flying blind on a rocket-cycle" so to speak.

[daniel_ream]

I find the speculation surprising; I thought it was fairly well known that Irish Celtic history and mythology were a huge influence on the Amber Chronicles, and the Pattern is just a supercharged version of your everyday Celtic labyrinth.

One thing that's true about all of Zelazny's writing is that it's very spare.  He gets a lot across by implication rather than explicit detail (a lost art in fantasy writing, truly).  Add to that the fact that the Amber Chronicles are demonstrably Unreliable Narrator (in spades) and trying to cleave closely to the text is probably an exercise in frustration.

[Bird_of_Ill_Omen]

Here's the pattern my brother came up with based on Corwin's description of it as he walked.  That arc in the 2nd lap that's a 3/4 circle is supposed to be The Grand Curve that Corwin mentions.

(A jpeg of the image should appear below if I'm doing this right.  If there's no image then I clearly don't know how to work this internet stuff properly.)

[warp9]

One thing that's true about all of Zelazny's writing is that it's very spare.  He gets a lot across by implication rather than explicit detail (a lost art in fantasy writing, truly).  Add to that the fact that the Amber Chronicles are demonstrably Unreliable Narrator (in spades) and trying to cleave closely to the text is probably an exercise in frustration.

Unfortunately, that is not the best situation to base an RPG off of. Sometimes it is good for the people in an Amber game to be able agree upon those details.

[warp9]

Here's the pattern my brother came up with based on Corwin's description of it as he walked.  That arc in the 2nd lap that's a 3/4 circle is supposed to be The Grand Curve that Corwin mentions.

I like that one.

[Malleus Aforethought]

Here's the pattern my brother came up with based on Corwin's description of it as he walked.  That arc in the 2nd lap that's a 3/4 circle is supposed to be The Grand Curve that Corwin mentions.

I think that would be an excellent starting point. I've always imagined it would be a bit more elaborate than that. But what you've presented is good given, as previously noted, Zelazny's relatively sparse narrative.

[BillionSix]

Here's the pattern my brother came up with based on Corwin's description of it as he walked.  That arc in the 2nd lap that's a 3/4 circle is supposed to be The Grand Curve that Corwin mentions.

(A jpeg of the image should appear below if I'm doing this right.  If there's no image then I clearly don't know how to work this internet stuff properly.)

I like that one a lot. I would like to see it expanded into a Pattern drawing, with a bit more artistry. Also, it should be slightly distorted to be less circular and more oval, like the Pattern was said to be.

[RPGPundit]

Here's the pattern my brother came up with based on Corwin's description of it as he walked.  That arc in the 2nd lap that's a 3/4 circle is supposed to be The Grand Curve that Corwin mentions.

(A jpeg of the image should appear below if I'm doing this right.  If there's no image then I clearly don't know how to work this internet stuff properly.)

That's very interesting. Very uneven, but on the plus side it looks more like something sci-fi, like some kind of a mathematical diagram, than a benedictine labyrinth.

RPGPundit

[Brent Not Broken]

One thing that's true about all of Zelazny's writing is that it's very spare.  He gets a lot across by implication rather than explicit detail (a lost art in fantasy writing, truly).

This is really one of my favorite things about Zelazny, and always has been.

Nine Princes in Amber was the first time I had ever come across his writing, and I remember being blown away by the scene when Corwin is leafing through the Trumps he stole from his sister, recalling his family members one at a time. I remember being amazed at how Zelazny conjured such clear impressions of all these characters with just two or three sentences about each one-- often doing little or no "real description", just throwing in some evocative words and nudging readers toward generating their own impressions.

That scene made me think a lot about communication in fiction, and it changed the way I run games and the way I write stories. I'm always striving to imitate that element of Zelazny's style.

[BillionSix]

This is really one of my favorite things about Zelazny, and always has been.

Nine Princes in Amber was the first time I had ever come across his writing, and I remember being blown away by the scene when Corwin is leafing through the Trumps he stole from his sister, recalling his family members one at a time. I remember being amazed at how Zelazny conjured such clear impressions of all these characters with just two or three sentences about each one-- often doing little or no "real description", just throwing in some evocative words and nudging readers toward generating their own impressions.

That scene made me think a lot about communication in fiction, and it changed the way I run games and the way I write stories. I'm always striving to imitate that element of Zelazny's style.

That reminds of of something odd. There is a small indie game called octaNe, by Memento Mori Games. Not the greatest game in the world, but geared towards silly, over-the-top one-shots.
Anyway, one of the things I remember in character generation was that it gave guidelines on how you describe your character. If you give a long drawn-out three paragraph description, everyone will be bored. So the rules say, "list three details."
So, if you your character has "a dusty overcoat, a scar on his cheek, and a gravelly voice," everyone instantly has an idea of what the character looks like.

This is why I don't read much anymore, unless it's by someone like Zelazny, who has a sense of literary economy. Seriously, I think this is why teen fiction has become a genre by itself, enjoyed by lots of adults. It's quick, punchy and to the point.

Brian

[RPGPundit]

Zelazny was a real master of literary economy, yes.  He was definitely of the Hemingway school.

RPGPundit

[Sydius Mendoza]

OK, slightly off-topic, but certainly an adjacent to the current thread/shadow. I embedded an image that is water marked in the first page of every chapter in the Merlin-cycle (In the big book). I always assumed it was supposed to be a symbol for Ghostwheel. However, during a recent re-read I had the thought that it could also be a representation of the Spikard.

Oh snap! I just thought of a third possibility, in that it could also represent a broken pattern. The last one is a bit of a stretch.

It seemed a bit thin to start a new thread, but I'll differ to Pundit's judgement on that.

That being said... It's Amber-Rorschach test time! Tell me what you see

[Panjumanju]

OK, slightly off-topic, but certainly an adjacent to the current thread/shadow. I embedded an image that is water marked in the first page of every chapter in the Merlin-cycle (In the big book). I always assumed it was supposed to be a symbol for Ghostwheel. However, during a recent re-read I had the thought that it could also be a representation of the Spikard.

Oh snap! I just thought of a third possibility, in that it could also represent a broken pattern. The last one is a bit of a stretch.

It seemed a bit thin to start a new thread, but I'll differ to Pundit's judgement on that.

That being said... It's Amber-Rorschach test time! Tell me what you see

I like your ideas...it's an interesting design, at any rate. I don't think necessarily it was intended to be any of those, but it's nice to have something in the content that ambiguously sparks the imagination such. Very Zelazny.

//Panjumanju