Here are the things I want from you.

If there's anything you're unsure about, just ask me. I'm happy to help. If you don't have an answer for some of these questions, just let me know. I'm not only happy to help, but I'm here to help.

You don't have to write a novel re: every question. I know that sometimes backstory stuff becomes clearer as you settle into your character's personality/really get a feel for who they are, but as much as possible I want to know who your character starts out being.

Parentage: One of these will likely be one of Oberon's kids. Don't neglect the other parent, shadow or Amber noble/citizen or Golden Circle noble/citizen, was there a marriage of any sort and did Oberon give it his blessing? Who is your family? Do you have any siblings (that you know about) or half-siblings? Extended family that isn't of Amber?

Birth shadow: Where were you born? This can be Amber, Rebma, a Golden Circle shadow, a Silver Circle shadow, your royal parent's personal shadow playground, some entirely different shadow of your own devising. Were you raised there? Do you still visit/have any connection to the place? Tell me about it in as much detail as you want. The more detail I have the more I can use it for your character's story.

Home: Amber? Rebma? Do you spend most of your time in shadow?

Status: Has your parent publically and officially acknowledged you? Are you an open secret, a secret-secret, or not at all secret? Do you have any Golden Circle political ties? Are you the heir apparent to a Golden Circle kingdom or duchy or an Amber barony or county? Do you have a title in the navy, army, ranger corps, as part of the castle staff?

Appearance: What'cha look like? Do you have "official colors"? What about a sigil or heraldic design?

Secrets: Everybody has secrets, even inconsequential ones. Give me three secrets your character keeps or has kept.

They can be white lies if your character is rash as the sun is hot and would never keep a secret. These can be very tiny secrets ("Jennet was the one who stole the silverware at the last family dinner, not Caine"), middle secrets ("Married my childhood sweetheart against Dad's wishes, what could go wrong") or really big ones ("Mordred is working to kill his uncle and already has two pledged to strike when the time is right").

Allegiance: To who or what does your character give allegiance? Amber, Rebma, their royal parent, a sibling, their Golden Circle, their non-royal parent, the people, a circle of friends sworn to protect one another?

You can tell me more than one thing, but if you do, let me know what primary allegiance goes to.

True Name: Optional, unless you're playing a Sorcerer. See 'Sorcery' for more about True Names in this game.

Attributes: I've tweaked/added to 'Attributes.'

Psyche (Will, Perception)
Endurance (Hardiness)
Combat (Weapons!)
Strategy (Martial Leadership)
Strength (Physical Power)
Manipulation (Social Subterfuge)

Some things you want to do might require a high score in more than one stat. Some things might give you an edge or blunt your edge, depending on the challenge at hand. This is to make for slightly more dynamism. Based on starting points, you may be below Amber level in a stat. That's okay. Everybody's got the same learning curve.

All Attributes Begin at Human. There is one exception - the Attribute you earmark for "Mythic Potential." That one Attribute (let me know which it is) begins at Chaos rank.

Your Mythic Potential Attribute does not need to be the Attribute you plunk most of your points into. it just happens to be one that, for whatever reason, you have the most natural aptitude for.

+13 points brings you from Human to Chaos rank. +7 more brings you to Amber.

Powers: This game is meant to be light on powers while also taking them seriously/making all powers very cool. If you want to buy a power, you need to justify that power in more ways than just point expenditure.

Are you an initiate of the Well? Then you darned well better be from Rebma, no exceptions. Do you know how to draw a Trump? Then who taught you, and what do you owe them for that, and why was your character offered a chance to learn? Powers include Pattern, Trump, Conjuration, Shapeshifting, Sorcery, Power Words, Well.

Items and Beasties: Do you have any super cool items? What about super cool beasties? I want to know how your character got these, too. When in doubt about the point value for something, talk to me and we can work it out.

Allies, Enemies, Contacts, Gossip Networks: They like you, they really like you. Or they really, really don't. Enemies will get you points, Allies will cost you points. Contacts have no real skin in the game (yet), but are reliableish NPCs your character already has a relationship with/can reasonably go for gossip and/or some knowledge. Gossip Networks can be used to spread rumors as well as to gain rumors. The members of said gossip networks may like your character or may not give a sh*t. Members may be enemies or allies. The point is specific social access - your character has been granted the 'one of us' distinction.

Sharpest Skills: You're playing an Amberite, so you have the potential to be good at an awful lot. I want you to tell me your character's top 5 skills. The things they're already really good at. The things they've put a lot of focus on. Be specific. Not 'fighting with weapons,' but 'mounted combat, esp. with a saber' or 'the dueling with light weapons.' Not 'healing,' but 'first aid, especially emergency first aid for duel wounds' or 'infectious diseases of the Golden Circle.' Not 'being charming,' but 'charming new people with rambling stories' or 'exuberant social engineering, everybody's equally important in this party!'

Things to Learn: Tell me three things your character doesn't know how to do yet. Characters in this game--including Elder NPCs--are growing. There are gaps in their knowledge. Maybe they don't care about a certain gap, or maybe it's something they're just not very good at learning, or maybe it's something they haven't got around to learning. Go into as much or as little detail as you want.

I Want More Points - What Can I Do?

Contributions are welcome! Make up NPCs. Give me a Shadow write-up, give me a Golden Circle Shadow write-up or a Noble House write-up. Give me a location in Amber City, or write a diary entry, or give me a crew / ship or a mystery out in shadow.

* NPC write-up can net you anywhere from 1-5 points.
* Noble House write-up can get you anywhere from 2-5 points.
* Shadow write-up can get you anywhere from 1-4 points.
* Golden Circle write-up can get you anywhere from 2-6 points.
* Gossip of the Day - 1-2 points per item of gossip, up to 7 items of gossip accepted for points. These are rumors. Tell me where the rumor is circulating, and who/what it's about. It may be true, it may not be true. It may come up in story, it may even spark a whole story. It may be sheerest fabrication, but good fun to talk about that time the Begman Diplomat and the Queen were seen holding hands on the balcony during that ball, right?
* You may 2 points for creating a 5-song playlist for an NPC, Shadow, or your PC.
* You may earn 3 points for creating a 10-song playlist for the same.
* Poetry & Diary entries. Point values TBD. If you have some game-themed poetry or a diary entry about a moment in your character's history, lay them on me.
* Good Show Helpfulness. If you offer another player a helping hand, i.e., get their permission and create an NPC for their PC to interact with or a Shadow you think that would be fun for their character particularly or Gossip (again, with the player's permission) about said character or you reach out to try to make a character tie or a Trump image for the less-photoshop skilled or there's a song you think would fit what you know of X's concept ... then you might get a point above what that contribution would normally net you. I'm pro-rewarding OOC friendliness and engagement.

At this point, there is no limit to the number of points you can earn from contributions, but you also will only earn points if the contributions are thorough. i.e.

No points: "Shadow Dandelion is a Golden Circle shadow in the Viking age."

4 points: "Shadow Løvetann is a Golden Circle shadow with a history of aggression, only under Amber's control in recent memory following a visit from Prince Corwin, Prince Bleys, and Prince Gérard. They went under the guise of diplomacy, but actually effected a coup. Løvetannian culture's best analog might be Viking Age Scandinavia/Scotland. Government is semi-democratic (though not as a person from modern Earth might call it) with kings and lords overseeing extended clans, thanes, shield-men, shield-maidens, etc. They are preliterate with a rich oral history. Their main export to Amber is timber, amber, wool, woven goods, and volcanic glass. Løvetann jewelry is rare outside of Løvetann but much coveted. They are known to like gold, brass, copper, but they will not part with it once they have it, rather dying than letting a crumb of gold go. There are two religions, an animistic one and a religion that has a Sun God.

Their relations with Amber are currently good, but there might be simmering resentment over Amber's recent interference. This might be where one of Oberon's queens came from if it fits the story? The current ruler is Helskald, a canny man in his middle age some people have called the Boar. Helskald is the firstborn son of the deposed ruler's brother. He is married to Gudrun, who though this maybe isn't common knowledge outside of the shadow, was for a long time a ship-wife aka captain of one of Løvetann's raiding ships, and she sailed as far as Amber's sea before clashing with the Rebman navy. She is wary of Rebma and urged Helskald to plot with the Princes. Unfortunately, some do consider Helskald to be a kin-killer, which makes things a bit difficult--still, dissent is the minority, and he's mostly well-liked. He has one daughter and two sons."


Yikes - How Many Points Do I Have To Create This Character?

No auction, 'ranks' will be kept secret. Reputations, however, we'll work out before game and I'll post publically.

145 points to spend on all the things. If you have a power, you must have a good IC reason (and - in some cases - a sponsor) to have that power. So if you want to play a child of Mirelle who has Trump Artistry, prepare to have an extremely convincing story for it.

---

I'll open character sheets up for people to work in, but I want you to C&P the following filled-out 'sheet' into a fresh PM thread with me.

Name:
Parentage:
Birth shadow:
Home:
Status:
Appearance:
Secrets:
True Name: Optional
Allegiance:

Attributes
remember to note which one is your "Mythic" stat

* Psyche
* Endurance
* Combat
* Strategy
* Strength
* Manipulation

Powers

*

Items and Beasties

*
*

Allies, Contacts, Gossip Networks

*
*

Enemies

*

Sharpest Skills
Top five.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Things to Learn: Needs Work

1.
2.
3.

Background

Lay whatever background you have on me. If taking a character quiz is helpful to you, give me those answers here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:49, Tue 26 May 2020.

Pattern - 20 points to have walked it, 10 points to have the potential to walk it. You must be descended from Oberon. You do not need to purchase these separately, so if you alread

If you've walked the Pattern, you must have Endurance and Psyche both at "Amber" level. Pattern Initiate means you can walk through Shadows, although you may or may not be very good at it. At low levels, you may be able to do other things (with enough concentration) like change your clothing as you walk, tweak probability to be more favorable to you within a single shadow, find a money in a pocket whenever you need it). There may be other things you can do.

Trump - 40 points. you know how to draw a Trump card and/or you have a deep understanding of the Trump deck you've been given and can potentially perform some tricks with it.

You may have a 20 point version of Trump where you can NOT draw your own Trumps, but you can tell who's Trumping you and have the option of trying to get a 'reading' on a caller before accepting. Maybe sketches work?

There is also a 10 point version of Trump which allows you to play fortune telling games with the Trumps that sometimes (perhaps 50% of the time) will give you true insight into things surrounding you or whoever you're reading for.

Sorcery - 20 points. You can work some cantrips across multiple shadows, including those which don't generally support 'sorcery.' You likely cannot work cantrips in Amber without great difficulty/to full effect, for whatever reason. You might suspect it is because Oberon is a Sorcerer King and has it rigged so nobody but he can work magic in Amber.

Conjuration - 35 points. You know how to create objects that are a little more Real and/or create animals that are a little more Real. These objects/beasties are wonders, and they take a lot of work and effort. But they do tend to last.

Shapeshifting - 35 points. You have discovered some proficiency in changing your shape. It's very hard to do this in Amber proper for whatever reason.

Well - 35-45 points. You are from Rebma and have been sponsored. If you aren't from Rebma, you don't know this exists. Even if Llewella's your best friend. If you're interested in playing a Rebman, great! I can tell you about this power then. :)

There is no Logrus.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:50, Sun 31 Oct 2021.

How To Make Ultra Cool Stuff
(with thanks to Jenny)

Everyone has possessions. That's just how life goes. One day you have nothing then suddenly, bam! Stuff everywhere! Some things are more important than others, however. Putting points into items, creatures, and artifacts mean they are less likely to be broken, stolen, or used against you.

These are the powers and qualities for building your unique things.

Quantity Multipliers

*1 Unique - There's only one of these.

*2 Named and Numbered - You have a quantity of these up to one dozen.

*3 Horde - You have a lot of these. On short notice, you can gather around 50, and given time, up to 1000.

*4 Shadow Wide - This item is found in a specific shadow, and it's everywhere there. If you are in the shadow of origin, it is feasible to get many thousands inside of a day's call.

*5 Cross-Shadow Environmental - This item is found in every shadow with a specific environmental condition. As an example, think of ants. Wherever there is land, there are ants.

*6 Ubiquitous - This item is everywhere, literally. There is no place in shadow that this thing does not exist. The item in question, however, must appear to be a normal, commonplace thing, like the light.

Transferral Costs

5 Points - Per Quality
10 Points - Per Power

Qualities

Vitality

1 Point -  Human Level
2 Points - Chaos Level
4 Points - Amber Level+

Movement

1 Point -  Confers Mobility
2 Points - Double Speed
4 Points - Engine Speed+

Stamina

1 Point -  Double Stamina
2 Points - Amber Stamina
4 Points - Endless Stamina+

Aggression

1 Point - Combat Training
2 Points - Combat Reflexes
4 Points - Combat Mastery+

Armor

1 Point - Resistant to Weapons
2 Points - Resistant to Guns
4 Points - Invulnerable +

Damage

1 Point - Extra Hard+
2 Points - Double Damage+
4 Points - Deadly Damage+

Intelligence

1 Point - Able to Speak
2 Points - Fluent Conversation
4 Points - Intelligent+

Psychic Sensitivity

1 Point - Psychic Sensitive+
2 Points - Danger Sense+
4 Points - Extraordinary Sensory Perception+

Psychic Resistance

1 Point - Chaos Level
2 Points - Psychic Neutral
4 Points - Psychic Barrier

Powers

Shadow Movement

1 Point - Follow Shadow Trail
2 Points - Follow Shadow Path
4 Points - Seek in Shadow+

Shadow Manipulation

1 Point - Mold Shadow Stuff+
2 Points - Mold Shadow Folk+
4 Points - Mold Shadow Reality+

Item Healing

1 Point - Self Healing+
2 Points - Rapid Healing+
4 Points - Regeneration+

Item Shapeshifting

1 Point - Alternate Form
2 Points - Named and Numbered Forms (12 max)
4 Points - Limited Shapeshifting+

Trump
Note: Every acknowledged Pattern Initiate gets a Trump Image of their Sponsor (usually their parent) for walking the Pattern free of cost.

1 Point - Contains Trump Image+
2 Points - Contains Trump Deck+
4 Points - Trump Powered+

---

Shadows

If your character begins with a "personal" shadow, they must have already walked the Pattern and you must describe the shadow in detail. Tell me what the character gets out of their shadow, other than a safe place. If that's all, tell me why that safe place.

Personal Shadow: 1 point
Shadow of the Realm: 3 points
Communication Barrier: 1 point
Restricted Access: 2 points
Guarded: 4 points
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:03, Thu 21 May 2020.

Allies

A Friend (Amber) - 2-4 points. This can be a member of court or somebody with some rank in the city guard/order of rangers/navy. The higher the points the higher and more influential the ally, but also the more likely the ally is to want something from you in return. Allies have their own goals and agendas, remember.

A Friend (Rebma) - 1-3 points if you are from Rebma. 2-4 points if you are from Amber.

A Friend (Golden Circle) - 1-3 points. At the lowest level, perhaps a ranking member of a Golden Circle merchant fleet or a famous privateer or renowned master craftsman, at the highest level, Golden Circle royalty.

An Important Friend - 5 points. This is an "Elder" NPC who's obviously friendly with you. They are not your parent. You and I will talk about your PCs relation to their parent during character creation and get it squared away.

Devoted Family - 7 points. This is an "Elder" NPC who is heavily, heavily invested in your well-being, to the degree that they'll actively help you out of a jam or flip-flop just to maybe help you out. Know that other Elder NPCs may or may not take an interest in you without points being spent. Also, love can be lost. You may suggest likely Elders who could fulfill this role based on your character's history, but there's no 100% guarantee you'll 'get' that person. This does not represent your parent, whose relationship with your PC we will discuss during char-gen.

Enemies
You get points for building an enemy NPC.

A Rival (Amber) - +2-4  points. As above, but negative.
A Rival (Rebma) - +1-3 points if you are from Amber, +2-4 points if you are from Rebma.
A Rival (Golden Circle) - +1-3 points. As above, but negative.
An Important Rival - +5 points. As above, but negative.
Family Nemesis - 7 points. This is an Elder NPC who is invested in your downfall. You may suggest the "good" version of this above, but I will choose who your Family Nemesis is. You may not know who your Family Nemesis is when play begins, although never fear, they'll probably reveal themselves eventually. Know that other Elder NPCs may or may not take a negative interest in you without points being spent. Also, dislike or hatred or whatever motivates this relationship can (with great difficulty) be changed.


Gossip Networks

Your ear is to the ground. You can't actually count on people in your gossip network to DO things for you or even to provide succor should the shit be hitting the fan, but you can at least count on some information. Sometimes that information might even be more than just rumor, too! As they say, there's a kernel of truth behind every lie. You can also put information out into gossip networks and sometimes bring information back to you that-a-way.

Build your gossip network in the following way:

* Where (Amber, 2 points; Rebma, 2 points; Golden Circle Shadow, 1 point)
* Who (Let me know what gossip network this is. Servants in the Castle? Military vets? Artists? Golden Circle sailors? Nobles from Begma?)
* Expertise Level | 1-4 points, 1 being "new or casual" and 4 being "the experts talk around you"
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:52, Thu 21 May 2020.

Above was the basic "what this does," below is a more thorough expansion of what each power does in this game. They do not necessarily cleave exactly to the ADRPG.

Pattern Initiate

Endurance and Psyche are most important here. Please note: Any acknowledged kiddo gets a (free of point-cost) Trump Image of the relative who sponsored their Walk, courtesy of the Court Artist. Did Bleys present you to Oberon and then you got to walk the Pattern? Then Dworkin drew you a Trump of Bleys. You may request a Trump of Oberon or the Queen instead of your sponsor, but do note that the former is probably less likely to answer/be pleased and the latter isn't a role known for its permanence in Amber.

At 10 points, you are kindling in your blood untapped potential. You are a spark, waiting to be fanned. You may walk the Pattern and you may (probably) survive. You may know the theory of some uses of Pattern.

At 20 points, you've walked the Pattern! Yay you! You're ready to go forth unto adventure! You're free in a way others cannot be! You understand how to do very basic Pattern tricks - walking through Shadow, of course, especially if you're going to a Shadow you've already visited. Shadows of Desire are trickier and more draining to get to, although you may. You know how to tweak probability in Shadow to favor you, you know how to change your clothes or, say, the license plate of your vehicle without leaving the shadow you're in. You know how to reach into a pocket and find the right kind of money, although it's not likely going to be enough to buy a large country.

If you have a very strong relationship with another Pattern Initiate, you may reasonably be able to try and track them down in Shadow. At 20 points, odds of finding them if they're deep in and/or actively don't want to be found are low, but this is a skill you may develop. At very least you may find yourself following their True Path. Pattern use leaves wakes and ripples. You do, too.

There may be other things you can do. Please feel free to run them by me, or to have your character experiment. Experimentation is what drives cool powers like this forward. Try, fail, try again, succeed. You never know. At 30 points, you may have heard of some more theoretical uses of Pattern. Although nobody should begin game with more than 30 points in Pattern, after the 30 point mark there are branches of specialization you may buy up.

As preview:

* Shadow Hunting: You're really good at finding "Real" things and "Real" people. When Corwin goes on a drunken bender, you can always find the real Corwin and get him home again.
* Shadow Building: You're really good at warping Shadow Stuff into a defense around X shadow. Nobody's getting into your Shadow, okay?
* Shadow Roads: You're super good at opening doors and building pathways between Shadows. You're working on bringing Avernus into the Golden Circle. Maybe you'll even let Bleys know, heh, heh... You might also be able to make it easier to get to X when shadow walking from Y. This is the carographer's skill.
* Use your blood to make a bird that'll carry message through Shadow -- eventually
* Use the Pattern to make other Magics stronger or weaker.
* Pattern Geases (1) Use the Pattern to Swear an Oath so Real and so Strong that you might get some Luck-style bonuses or some fortunate rainfalls or extra XP as long as, after the Oath, your PC takes steps to fulfill it. You may get really bad luck etc if your PC does not take steps to fulfill the Oath or, heaven forfend, actually breaks it. (2) Use the Pattern to put a geas on a minion. They might have a bit of extra juice in fulfilling the terms of their Geas, but there is usually a conditional that you are also responsible for, and it's written into reality.

---

Trump Artistry

Psyche is helpful. So is Strategy for some of the minor, but tricksy Trump abilities. One cannot be certain of drawing an accurate Trump if one does not know the person (or place) one is drawing a Trump of. The more intimacy, the better the Trump. One does not need to be descended from Oberon to have this skill, but it is not a common skill by any means, and may be very closely guarded. The undisputed Master is the official Court Artist and President of the Artist’s Guild of Amber, Dworkin.

Please note any Trump Artist gets two Trump Images free-of-cost, one of themself, one of their teacher.

At the 10 point level, you have been given some training in the use of Trumps. You might be able to resist a psychic attack using Trump with better skill than one who didn’t plunk in the points and doesn’t have significant Psyche up on you. You also know how to play fortune telling games with Trumps, which are sometimes accurate and may give you insights about the situation you (or the person you are reading for) happen to be in the middle of. This isn’t 100% accurate, but it might give you the edge you need if you’re stalling.

 At the 25 point level, you still can’t draw a proper-Trump, but there’s a chance you may be able to make a Trump sketch work once. (Players may introduce a dice component here if they wish, rolling 1d10. If you roll odds, the sketch doesn’t work. If you roll evens, it does. If you roll 6, 8, or 10, the sketch takes you exactly where or to who you meant to go. If you roll 2 or 4, there’s something off.) At this level, if you possess a Trump of somebody who is Trumping you, you are able to tell who’s calling. Before accepting a Trump call, you may also “listen” and try to get a very basic empathic reading on the caller. The reading may be no more than ‘Urgent’ or ‘Pleased’ or ‘Desperate.’ You may answer the call to find that Random (Urgent) really needed to pee and was too drunk to just do it on the shoes of the guy in the line in front of him so he thought of you. You may answer the call to find that Deirdre (Pleased) has a present for you. You may answer the call to find Gérard (Desperate) doesn’t know what happened to his girlfriend and he suspects you know and at this point you get yanked through for interrogation. Plus you get everything at the 10 point level.

At the 35  point level, you can draw your own Trumps! They work! Huzzah! You can go into business!! You can join the Artist’s Guild of Amber! Reputation and glory awaits! Or secrets. Some Trump Artists may well decide to keep their skill as secret as they can. This expands your fortune telling abilities, too, and you’re also better at quick sketches. (So if you’re forced to do a sketch, and you decide to roll, the evens/odds thing is still in effect, but if you roll a 4, the sketch works as with 6, 8, or 10, and if you roll a 1, the sketch sort’ve works.)

There are absolutely levels beyond this, but starting characters will not have access to them. There are some potential Trump powers that may work only in conjunction with Pattern or Well. You may have an idea for a coolnifty Trump power. Let me know. If your character is experimenting, they might just stumble on something cool and heretofore unknown. I come from a Mage the Ascension WoD background and like there to be flexibility and study to have advantages!

---

Conjuration

Conjuration is craftsmanship. Conjuration is a skill, learned from someone else who knows it, and an innate talent for shaping.

You can make cool Items or breed/create cool Beasties. You can take them out of their origin-Shadow and they won't immediately lose their power. Their strength will diminish the "further away" you get (ideologically) from its origin shadow. The good news is that Nifty Sword you made in one Shadow, which lost its abilities to Cut Through Everything and Give Tactical Advice when you wandered through a couple more Shadows, can be 'woken' without needing to go through the whole time it would take to imbue/reconjure it. That sword remembers being magic, deep in its metaphorical marrow. Some conjured items may even be eligible for a True Name, which makes them harder for Sorcerers to ensorcel.

You can temporarily imbue something with Power, i.e., make the horse you're going to ride through a Hell Shadow resistant to heat with extra hard hooves. Imbueing something takes time, skill, and a degree of cooperation from the thing you're imbueing. If you try to imbue an object that does not belong to you, it might "take" better if you have its owner's permission.

You need Sorcery for the item to include spells.

You need to know a Power Word for the item to include that Power Word.

You need to know Trump Artistry for the item to include a Trump.

---

Shape Shifting

You can change your form. Any form that has is an extreme difference in your normal mass (say, 50% less or more) requires a point expenditure. For instance, Lark is usually a lanky young man. He wants to turn into a crow. Not a giant crow, a normal-sized crow. The ability to take that form will cost 5 points on top of shapeshifting, and there is a very real danger of forgetting himself. If he has Pattern, the danger of forgetting himself is less. The good news is once you buy a form, it's yours forever! Unless something happens in game that cuts you off from your ability to shapeshift or you bargain it away to the ghosts in Tir-na-Nog'th or something particularly unlikely and epic.

You may use shape shifting to throw off a drunk or try and cure moderate wounds.

You may use shape shifting to change your features. If you are attempting to look like an actual person you know, the nature of your relationship with them may inform how well you are able to try and look like them. There is a danger of accidentally giving yourself a hollow back or an animal tail in these cases. Why, nobody knows, but so it is, and there are stories in Amber and its surroundings of shapeshifters out of the woods who look like one's wife but then there's that fox tail poking out from under the skirt.

You may use shape shifting to try to harden your skin or give yourself talons or dog ears or eagle eyes. These shifts do count toward total number of shifts you may make in a given period of time.

You may change into an animal, although keep the mass rule in mind and again the more study you've made of the animal the more successful your shift will be. For instance, if you've never seen a leopard before except in a picture from an illuminated manuscript, the thing you shape shift into will likely not recognizably be a leopard.

Any skills the animal might have will still be informed by your stats. If you're a wolf going bite-bite-bite, your bites will be better placed with combat or strength.  If you're a giant eagle and you're going to fly, you better have the strength to back your wings up, or else...

Be Wile E. Coyote and don't look down?

You will still smell weirdly like yourself when in your shapeshifted form. A wolf will recognize you for a wolf, but also as a not-wolf. That same wolf might run across you in your human form later on, and treat you like a wolf. Or a not wolf.

Limitations:

With Human Level Endurance, you can shift only under very specific circumstances. We’ll discuss.
With Chaos Level Endurance, you can shift twice a day. (Unless, in theory, you are in The Courts of Chaos. which may or may not exist as a metaphorical mythic pre-Cymnea place only scribbled in the oldest and dustiest of library books. If you’re there, you can shift a lot more often.)
With (basic) Amber Level Endurance, you can shift four times a day. This is the stuff of wizard’s duels.
With (higher) Amber Level Endurance, you can shift more often. There will still be some limitations, to better provide characters with this power for growth.

The higher Endurance the quicker the recovery time after shifting, too. For instance, if Lupin has basic Amber Level Endurance and shapeshifts mid-battle into a wolf, he’ll be able to fight of course, but after the battle he’ll be very weary, and may find his mental reserves (Psyche, Manipulation, Strategy) less sharp than usual until he rests again—preferably in his natural form.

---

Sorcery

Sorcery in this game is similar to how it is in the ADRPG, with a few tweaks for flavor or caveats re: potency. Basic spells in the ADRPG might work better or a little less well than you expect. If you're curious about one, let me know and we can work out the effects. I want a dynamic, interesting system.

Psyche is helpful, especially when it comes to invasive/combative spells, but other Attributes may lend a certain something.

Be creative. Consider where your character believes their ability to do sorcery comes from. Do they believe it's something anybody can learn? Do they believe they gained the ability from some mystical experience out in Shadow (or in Amber)? Did they jump off a mountaintop reputed to give powers, and find themselves passing through a rainbow, and when they landed--completely unharmed--they had a spell in their hand? Did they study?

Do tell me what your sorcerer's personal 'signature' is. Do know that hiding that personal signature when a spell is cast requires another Lynchpin.

You get two Power Words, one of which is a specialty. The 'specialty' Power Word works with extra oomph and/or does not drain you when you use it. Tell me which.

The book says you may hold one spell in your mind at any given time, with the rest needing to be hung. In this game you may hold two spells in your mind, but by doing so, your Psyche is taxed (effectively dropping you five points or a rank until the second spell is deployed. You may, if you tell me in advance, choose to say the distraction drops you in any other Attribute instead). The higher the Psyche the better you at focusing.

The more complicated the spell the longer the casting time. Most spells near Amber take at base an hour to cast. In Amber proper, especially if permission has not been obtained from Oberon (and who would ask?), base casting time might take up to three hours. Lock that door.

As in the book, you cannot "hang" a partial spell indefinitely, although the higher the Psyche the longer it will stay "fresh." At base Amber Psyche, you must refresh every fortnight. The good news is you can 'refresh' it without having to do the entire spell from scratch. Quarter the initial time it took to cast the spell, and provided you have one component you used in the original, the spell is refreshed.

As in the book, you need an appropriate talisman to hang a spell. Buying Sorcery in this game 'comes' with an artifact capable of hanging 1 spell. If you want more than that, spend the points.

True Names and How They Work in this Game

Sorcery works best on those with the blood of Amber or Rebma's royal family if the sorcerer possesses at least a part of their true name. Otherwise, the magic might behave not-quite-as-expected. Good thing that 'Gérard' is part of Gérard's true name. The more you have of a true name the more potent a spell will be against that person/creature. In this game, True Names are complete birth-names (for instance, Gérard Barimen, or if Gérard has a middle-name, Gérard Jean Barimen) + potentially family connections (+ ab Rilga and ab Oberon) + identities they've worn for a while ( + Jerry, Jerald) + titles they've been given (Champion of Strength, Regent of Brinefall, Knight of Amber, Prince of Amber) + if the character is a sorcerer, a Secret Name.

True Names can grow. For instance, Corwin (in the Corwin Chronicles) earned the identity "Creator of the Second Pattern," which became a very important part of his True name.

That's a lot, yes. If you have the entirety of somebody's name, you can really really do bad things to them. You may build most of the True Name into a spell so you aren't pausing in the middle of a battle to speak a name that could take a long ol' time to say, but part of it must be a spoken or written Lynchpin.

And if you just have "Gérard Barimen, Prince of Amber" that gives you foothold enough to do some damage. Some things and people have less complicated True Names.

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Power Words

As in the book. Make up your own! Use standard words! If you wish me to provide a ready-made list, let me know.

Power Words are brief, instantaneous effects. If they directly attack another, they may take more energy. They may be defended against, and you may find some sorcerers are prepared to dispel your Power Word.

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Well Initiate

Rebmans only.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:48, Sun 31 Oct 2021.

Quick Links for Setting Stuff:

Middle Amber - Culture: link to a message in this game
Middle Rebma - Culture: link to a message in this game
Atlas of Shadow: link to a message in this game
The Cast: Link back to this game If you click through NPCs on The Cast, you hopefully get a (very) basic 'feel' for them as they exist in this game.

Minor Arcana: forthcoming, a thread of NPCs, player-created and not
Timeline of Events in Paulette's Reign: forthcoming. As you create your characters, I'll be building a loose Timeline for my own reference. I may post this (sufficiently edited and vagued-up) for everybody to reference. :)