Character Design
The characters are humans to be generated before the con, by the players, and based on 50 points with no powers or artifacts, but Dragon power is free. Points are spent from a base of Chaos as you normally would from Amber. You can spend as many or as few as you like on any attribute; you are not limited to the -15 point Human and +10 point Amber levels.
Powers
- No powers except Dragon power.
- No Shadow Knight.
- No partial powers.
- No Artifacts.
- No Amber or Chaos affiliations.
Contributions
- New characters get +1 point per 100 words of background submitted prior to the convention.
- Returning characters get +1 point per 100 words of diary - what have you been doing over the last year?
- I will allow diary or game log, each worth 5 points. That is not ADRPG standard.
- No stuff.
- Other contributions only by arrangement with the GM, (who will probably not allow them.)
New characters are limited to 25 points from contributions. Returning characters are limited to 35 points, including last year's background. This will generally be 10 new points, but some of you didn't get all 25 last year, which gives you more headroom this year.
Parentage
No character, so far as they know, will have an Amber heritage. You can suggest all you want, but I will feel free to ignore you.
~ o ~
Wireshark
For an open-source, world-class network protocol analyser.
Ambercon UK
Diceless role-playing in four-star luxury.
~ o ~
This game ran at Ambercon UK 2006. It is only here for nostalgic reasons.
It Was One Year Ago…
In six days, they say, the world was created.
In three days it died.
One day for society to crumble.
Two days for TV, Radio and government to fall silent.
Three days for everyone you know to die.
And on the fourth morning the birds were singing but the roads were silent; their only occupants wrecked cars and decaying bodies. The cities vast charnel houses; their houses tombs…
Except for you. For you no coughing; no paralysing weakness; no delirium; no death. For you the infinitely harder course — to live on, and, perchance, to found a new age of Humanity.
The moving finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on; nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
And in that inverted Bowl we call the Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,
Lift not thy hands to It for help — for It
Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.
Earth could not answer, nor the Seas that mourn
In flowing Purple, of their Lord forlorn.
Nor Heaven with those Eternal Signs revealed
And hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn.
While the Rose blows along the River Brink,
With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink;
And when the Angel with his darker Draught
Draws up to Thee — take that, and do not shrink.
— Omar Khayyam
The Story So Far
Six people met in dream at the crowning of King Arthur and set out to reclaim the Dragon Power before the forces against them succeeded in destroying all mankind. They collected the symbols of Kingship and were enthroned on Glastonbury Tor, commiting themselves to the defence of the Land and gaining the Dragon power in time to defend themselves against the forces of Amber. In the subsiquent parley they discovered that the name of mankind's nemesis was Florimel, although Prince Regent Eric may not have been as blameless as he tried to portray himself…
[Few shadow-dwellers can claim to have defeated an Amberite in battle, and you can be sure Prince Eric will not let Princess Flora forget that, or that she opened a second front while Pattern-fall threatened the realm.]
A year has passed peacefully. A year of frantic activity making the Earth safe; disposing of six billion corpses, closing down nuclear reactors and securing resources against the ravages of nature. Finally you have a chance to investigate the dragon paths that lead out of Earth shadow to other universes.
Iram indeed is gone, with all its Rose
And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup — where, no one knows;
But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields,
And still a Garden by the Water blows.
Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,
And many Knots unravel'd by the Road;
But not the knot of Human Death and Fate.
There was a Door to which I found no Key;
There was a Veil past which I could not see;
Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee
There seemed — and then no more of Thee and Me.
— Ibid
Your few exploratory steps lead to a hundred other worlds, but nowhere have you found any sign of Prince Eric, or the forces he fights. With the Earth secure it is time to explore.
So… Where are you, and what are you doing?
New Characters
The events on Earth shadow have been reflected elsewhere among the several shadows that Earth casts. As mankind is extinguished from each, the shadows have merged with Earth, adding to its power and supplying a handful of refugees. They arrive in ones and twos, sole survivors of their particular catastrophy. That event can be similar to what happened on Earth prime or totally different, generally the further shadows will differ more in that way and others. The only fact that remains unchanged is that mankind was wiped out — very quickly. Your shadow has merged with Earth prime unless you buy it with points. It costs 2 points, plus any access barriers etc. You don't get control of shadow - that comes with Dragon power.
Dragon Power
You can see dragon paths. Actually there is no visual component, but the feel of the path is sort of overlayed on vision. It extends beyond vision –- depending on Psyche, but is difficult to interpret without the visual component.
Some dragon paths lead off-shadow, and there is enough of a hint of their direction that even low psyches can use them for travelling shadow.
You have an attachment to the Earth. The Earth talks to you and tells you things, helps you out. Not as words, but deep into your mind. If you need a hiding place you just know that there is a hidden cave a short distance that way.
Anyone wounded by the sword dies, if it is wielded in battle.
Drinking from the grail gives further but temporary effects: You can talk back to the earth and it will respond. Plants will ensnare soldiers, the dragons will arise, crevasses will open under soldier's feet.
