Amber was written by award-winning writer Roger Zelazny, who is no longer with us. The books fall into the swords and sorcery genre, and it is not necessary for you to have read them to play this game. When I started, I hadn't read the books yet. There are five books in what is called the Corwin Chronicles, starting with Nine Princes in Amber. There are five other books in the Merlin Chronicles. This game starts at the end of the last book of the Corwin Chronicles. Zelazny also wrote short stories, and there are still some Amber campaigns out there on the internet and are played at tournaments like GenCon.

Save your dice for your next D and D game. This game will not use dice and instead relies on good storytelling, clever actions, stat superiority and the whims of the gamemaster.

If you want the rulebook, I believe Phage Press is out of business, but gamebooks are no doubt available on your favorite secondary market platform. Sadly, the creator of the game, Erick Wujick, passed away some years ago. If you want the books, Amber Diceless Roleplaying by Wujick with art by Mike Kucharski is the book you would need. If you want to buy ShadowKnight, the second book, it is by Wujick, with art by Kucharski and Ken Alves. Most of the powers in that book will not be available to player characters, so no need to splurge on both books unless you want to.