[SotC] Spirit of Amber

[Stormraven]

Yep - I did consider a truncated pyramid. But I looked at it this way. The Elders have their Apex skills at Fantastic, which puts all their non-selected skills at Average - which is pretty competent for skills they haven't bothered to really study.

The Superb apex pyramid is for the starting Amberites - the ones still young enough to have not gained that level of competence. If I truncate the pyramid for the younger, I need to do so for the elder, and give them a Good default.

I don't have any particular objections to that, but I liked the idea of a full pyramid of skills that they're 'maintaining', as it were.

One aspect of SotC that really works with Amber, as I see it, is the allowance of swapping out skills, suggested as a means of advancement. An Amberite can go to a fast time shadow and become a major expert in a skill while no more than a day or two passes in Amber.

I wouldn't allow changes in Apex skills, because those are defining skills, but otherwise, I like that aspect.

[iago]

Originally Posted by Stormraven

One aspect of SotC that really works with Amber, as I see it, is the allowance of swapping out skills, suggested as a means of advancement. An Amberite can go to a fast time shadow and become a major expert in a skill while no more than a day or two passes in Amber.

I wouldn't allow changes in Apex skills, because those are defining skills, but otherwise, I like that aspect.

That's a nice thought. I like the idea of the lower half of the pyramid being "fluid", and the upper half being "cemented". Interestingly, that perspective would also work well for a "skill upload" sort of thing ala the Matrix.

[Stormraven]

Yeah, it would. Like a 'skill-chip' scenario from Cyberpunk.

So, Amber fans - how would you define the Apex skills of the Elders? (One Legendary, 2 Superb, 3 Great)

Starting off, I have Corwin: Endurance; Weapons, Deceit; Art, Alertness, Fists

[Rel Fexive]

Benedict would have to be: Strategy; then Weapons and Leadership; and I'm not sure about the next three.

I'd put Strategy as a separate thing from Leadership, because knowing what to do and knowing how to lead are not necessarily the same thing.

For other skills I'd consider 'Technology' covering familiarity with Shadows with a higher 'tech-level' than Amber. Much the same for 'Magic'.

[Stormraven]

I would actually put Weapons as Benedict's Apex. With Strategy being an 'Academic' use of Weapons.

[Arref]

Benedict:
Weapons; Strategy, Leadership; Secrets, Intimidation, Cause/Effect

[Erick Wujcik]

Originally Posted by Antonidas

The damn thing's out of print, but hey, sure thing boss.

While the hard copy is out of print, you can buy a pdf (see www.phagepress.com for the link), or get a used copy. I just moved to California, leaving all my copies in either Shanghai or Detroit... so I got a copy from ebay, and another used one from amazon.com

So, please, please, please, please do not pirate Amber Diceless. It's hard enough trying to get it back in print.

Thanks!

Erick

Erick Wujcik
Phage Press
www.phagepress.com

[Stormraven]

And to raise this from the near-dead, here's what I came up with for Advancement.

Advancement:

Given the small number of actual skills in SotC, a practical limit on the number of Aspects a player is going to want to deal with, and the similar limit of Stunts that players are going to want to keep track of, Advancement in SotC Amber is a tricky prospect. And, frankly, the question that arises is, is it necessary? To an extent, yes – but not as much as some would think.

For one, skills in Amber are less a matter of learning new skills – as Corwin points out, that’s not an issue for an Amberite – as with shuffling current priorities. Thus, the Skill Pyramid as described above works fine, for the most part. At Advancement time, however, a player may choose to swap even skills in the second and third levels of his pyramid around. The nature of Amberites being what it is, the Apex skill can never be changed, barring a true change in focus of the character – which would be the focus of a dozen or more games.

There is one exception to this – as the characters gain in ability, they will actually be able to shift the entire pyramid up by one level – so the Apex skill goes from Superb to Fantastic. It’s not cheap, though – the cost is 30 Advancements. Why 30? That’s double the cost of advancing every skill in the pyramid by 1 Rank. I charge double because of the effect on non-purchased skills, which will also be increased, from Mediocre to Average.

Aspects will largely remain at the number the character starts with. More Aspects can be gained at a cost of 1 Advancement, once per story.

Stunts can be purchased in two ways. First, once the character has gained two new Aspects, the player can purchase one Stunt, at a cost of 1 Advancement. If the player doesn’t want more Aspects, he can still gain the Stunt, but at a cost of 3 Advancements.

The GM will hand out Advancements as appropriate. While Amber is very much a story type game, unlike SotC, it is not a pick-up type game, so Advancements should be, at the least, dependent upon showing up and playing. I do not recommend more than two Advancements at the end of each Story, however.

[Jvstin]

Originally Posted by Rob Donoghue

For Amber, I'm a big fan of powers being skills because that makes them nicely mushy and interpretive, and can allow for much more flavorful versions of magic than vanilla merlin-style sorcery. That's also the big arena for the GM to apply crunch - specific skill levels might equate to specific effects, or soem effects might requires complimentary skills - there are lots of ways to do it. The easiest is pretty open ended, but the big thing to look out for is that it's easy for magic and powers to be so flexible and subjective that they trump other skills. This can be dealt with in a couple ways:

1) Make everyone have a power, and go nuts.
2) Make magical skills cost 2 or 3 times as much.
3) Have magical effects be based on a number of steps down from the actual skill (So Pyromancy Superb can fight at great, and do other tricks at good or lower).

In any case, yeah, two great tastes that taste great together.

-Rob D.

See, I've been thinking about this, since although my print copy has not yet arrived (waiting very patiently! )I've been pouring over my electronic edition, since I am planning to try an SOTC-Amber cross at The Black Road.

I do like the idea of powers being skills, but I see your point, Rob: if Magic Powers are the same cost as other skills, then a sorcerer who relies on everything else being mediocre is going to dominate characters who go more for the pulp action possibilities. OTOH, Stunts are very cool.

I am still studying the issue though. Amberites are pretty impressive with the improved pyramid of skills, that adding stunts might make them overpowered against any adversaries who aren't similarly statted out. There has to be some challenge involved! In my games, Shadows can and do give Amberites difficulties--after all, Benedict did get to be what he was by fighting endless wars in shadow.

[mindstalk]

Aspects: Corwin regenerated his eyes. That could be Superb/Fantastic Endurance, or a Stunt, or something else.
Flora pulled a grenade out of her purse, and I think that was distinctive about her. Though with shadow manipulation it's not that big a deal.

A question: is modest shadow editing like that powered by fate points, or simply a skill? (Finding Grayswandir, that seems pretty Fate Pointy.)

Fate Amber: where the metagame is in-game!