Returning Characters
I would be interested to know what you have been doing in the past few months, and how you have been changed by your adventure.
Those strange pendants that you picked up have some strange powers, some of which the mysterious dark queen Fiona taught you to control:
- Concentration, meditation
- Feeling the amulet, empowering the body
- Communication between amulets
- Shadow walking: fetch me a leaf from the next room
- Controlling the destiny of another amulet: have her fetch me a four-leafed clover from the next room.
- Probability: throw a six
You are pretty sure they have others too, but there is nothing you have been able to make them do reliably yet. Miss Trees has told you not to use them in school, so of course you don't use them in school… much.
New Characters
Pre-Design Considerations
Firstly, before you begin designing the character, please keep in mind that you'll be acting as a party a lot of the time. So sociopathic loners and loony rebels are probably a bad idea.
Be aware of the "Gifted" in the name of the school. All the pupils at the school tend to excel in several subjects, often to a great extent, and not just on the academic side. The school regimen takes account of that, so your character may not understand just how good they are.
Age
New characters should be eleven, twelve, thirteen or fourteen years of age. Returning characters will, of course, be the same age as they were last year as only two months have passed.
Primary Character Design
I need to know what your character looks like, (including their build,) what they like and dislike, how they are viewed by the staff and students, (that's probably at least two different things.) Then I need to know how proficient they are at the various school subjects, or at least which their best and worst subjects are, and the various skills they have picked up outside school. (Pickpocketing? Sailing?) Finally you need a shtick.
Shtick
The shtick is something you are better at than anyone you've ever met, and probably better than anyone on the planet. This can be anything you like. If your shtick is a normal human ability, then you'll be great, maybe phenomenal. If it is super-natural, then I'll probably rein it in somewhat; you're still young and still learning to control it. The more powerful the ability, the weaker it's going to be, simply for game balance reasons. I reserve the right to veto, but I don't expect to use it; I'll roll with it if I can. No shadow-walking or time travel, no Pattern or Logrus.
Secondary Character Design
I would like to know how long you have been at the Carlos Cory school, how you came to be there, and what you were doing before. How did you get to be an orphan? Who were your parents and what did they do? What do you remember of them? Do you have any other relatives? No plot-hooks please; I will ignore them.
~ 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 2012. It is only here for nostalgic reasons.
Read Harmony Ackerman's journal here.
Game Description
Title:The Strange Case Of Miss Trees
Players: 6
Mode: Tabletop
Life at the Carlos Cory School for Gifted Orphans is not a bed of roses; the academic regimen is punishing and the discipline is worse, but once a year you get to go on vacation. Two years ago you visited the school's biggest benefactor, Miss Flaumel, and instead of going to socialite balls, you rescued Miss Trees from a sabre-tooth tiger and a sticky end. Last year you went camping in the national forest, and instead of rock-climbing, white-water rafting and so forth, you defeated a dozen demons and saved the world. It makes a change.
A few months ago you followed the mysterious Misty Reese to spooky castles and strange blue caves, you watched beach vollyball in Hawaii and rescued Marisha from Sven, even if she did not want to be rescued. Oh and then there was the cabal of people who wanted to kill you, and in some cases had already killed your parents. That was quite a wake-up call. Maybe you should do something about that. Miss Flaumel said you shouldn't, but Miss Flaumel is not here, has not visited the school since and, if the recent cuts are anything to go by, has not even been sending funds. And then Miss Trees' last few lessons were taken by a supply teacher. Something, it seems, is up.
A game for six players. Characters comprising teenagers of between 11 and 14 years to be created by the players before the con. For Character design requirements see the right-hand bar.
This is a continuation game; new and returning characters are welcome.
The Carlos Cory School for Gifted Orphans
![The Carlos Cory School for Gifted Orphans - view from great drive](http://www.wellho.net/pix/ccourt1.jpg")
Set in one hundred, fifty acres of idyllic Californian countryside, the Carlos Cory School for Gifted Orphans offers a chance in life to those children who are so often failed by the modern world.
Life's tragedies are harsh on all children, but how much harder is it for their intelligence to be quenched by the unfeeling and under-funded behemoth that is the state welfare system? These children, who may be tomorrow's great men and women — scientists or politicians, doctors or artists — are welcomed by the Carlos Cory School for Gifted Orphans. Whoever they are, whatever their background, we are here to see that they achieve their full potential.
The Carlos Cory School for Gifted Orphans is a private foundation, funded by private donation. None of our children pay fees of any kind, and all truly gifted children are welcome.
But it is not just in school-time that the Carlos Cory School for Gifted Orphans excels. All of our pupils take part in a wide-ranging programme of activities. Our founder, Carlos Cory, worked his way up from lowly ranch-hand to millionaire horse-breeder. He felt strongly that caring for horses taught many great life-lessons and determined that every pupil of his school be taught to ride. It is a tradition that we are proud to continue to this day. We own thirty horses, which are cared for by the pupils and used by them on frequent outings and vacations. Not to mention their use during lessons as varied as art, genetics and mathematics.
We accept all children who come to us. We have a good relationship with the California State Welfare Department, but many of our children come from other states and even other countries. Some are brought to us privately. Whoever the child is, whatever their background, whatever their needs, however they are gifted, bring them to us. We wont let them down.
This Year (click here)
This year those odd pupils did not come camping, instead they hung around the school being boring. So why do they jump every time a car pulls into the drive. Why have certain of them been heard crying themselves to sleep? And why does Skye Roberts keep staring at John Nelson?
Last Year (click here)
Everyone had a wonderful time camping in the Sequoia National Forest. There was white water rafting and fire building and survival training and bird watching and all sorts. Of course some guys went off on horse-back right at the beginning and missed everything. Almost everything anyway; when everyone else got evacuated because of the forest fire, they seem to have stayed and helped to fight it. How cool is that? But if the police have no idea who started the fire, how come those pupils say it was a group of really odd women? How likely is that?
The Year Before (click here)
One would think it was difficult to lose someone on an aeroplane, but somehow Miss Trees went missing while chaperoning seven pupils on a visit to the school's benefactor Miss Evelyn Flaumel in New York. They returned some days later on horseback accompanied by Miss Flaumel. Various rumours of alarming and fantastic adventures circulated the school for a while. Nobody believes any of them, although the fact remains that Miss Trees is now scared of elephants, and the smell of oil makes her sick. There is probably some perfectly rational explanation that does not involve prehistoric tar pits, saber-toothed tigers and a New York socialite wielding a longbow. And where does being burned as a witch fit into all that?
There have also been some unexplained events in the past couple of years concerning those pupils. How does someone walk straight past a hall monitor without being seen, or always seem to have exactly enough money for a candy bar? How can someone go out and buy hairspray at midnight and be back twenty minutes later?
Something Is Up
And so you returned to school, like you did after both of your other adventures, and term started as it unfortunately always does at the beginning of September. But you did not kill the saber-toothed tigers or the Chaos demons this time. That Eternity Society is still out there and if they ever found out about you, you know they wouldn't hesitate to kill you, or maybe even blow the school up. The only security you have is secrecy, and Miss Flaumel working under cover, and Miss Trees (who you are sure knows everything) keeping an eye on things in the school. So when the school suddenly imposes unprecedented expenditure cuts in everything from exercise books to hot water, you can't help wondering. When Miss Trees doesn't turn up for class you find yourselves increasingly jumpy. And then the police car pulls into the drive…
Matters Arising
This is an Amber game, set somewhere within the books' sequence, although the characters know nothing of Amber, Chaos or anything else.
The date is the 22nd of September, 1982.
Copyright
The images used on this page are:
They are used without permission for private, low-volume, non-commercial use, in the hope that a little free advertising will satisfy.
Matters Arising
| File name | File type | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family Tree 1.pdf | PDF document | 94.57 kB | Info |
| FamilyTree.pdf | PDF document | 92.39 kB | Info |
