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The AMBER DICELESS ROLEPLAYING (AMBER for short) is a different game, with a different approach to rules and to roleplaying in general. Even now, some 13 years after its publication and despite the fact that only one supplement is available, it has a very large community of devoted fans (including a very strong web-presence, with many Internet sites proposing campaign journals, house rules and other paraphernalia). It is definitely a « cult game » - just like the Amber books are cult novels. As such, it deserves special attention from the would-be RPG connoisseur.
This review assumes the reader has at least a passing familiarity with Roger Zelazny’s Amber books, on which the AMBER DICELESS ROLEPLAYING GAME is based. There are ten Amber novels ; the first five books (Nine Princes in Amber, Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon and The Courts of Chaos) form the first Amber cycle, also known as the Corwin saga ; the other five books (Blood of Amber, Trumps of Doom, Sign of Chaos, Knight of Shadows and Prince of Chaos) form a second cycle, also known as the Merlin saga. The game itself is based on the first cycle, while the Merlin saga (which has a very different tone and feeling) is covered in the only supplement ever published for the game, called SHADOW KNIGHT (which also has a « very different tone » and deserves a review of its own).
PRESENTATION
The AMBER rulesbook was published in 1991. Its overall presentation, layout and artwork are typical of the late 80s / early 90s period – back then, RPG rulebooks were not the exercises in graphic design they have gradually become, with full-color illustrations on every other page, textured page backgrounds or fancy genre fonts.
In AMBER, you get 250 pages of text, with a very basic layout and a few black & white illustrations, most of them of low-to-average quality. The main exceptions are the various « Trump » illustrations depicting the characters from the Amber series, which are quite good (in a 80s sort of way). As for the cover art, well... let’s just say it does not really convey the sense of wonder and weirdness generally associated with Roger Zelazny’s Amber saga.
By today’s standards, the AMBER game is quite unattractive. Unlike many post-90s games, AMBER clearly emphasizes substance over style – but it has a lot to offer in the substance department.
That being said, let’s move on to the game itself.
GAME SETTING
Most licensed roleplaying games (qv Decipher’s Star Trek games, Eden Studios Buffy rpg etc) include a more-or-less complete, user-friendly presentation of their setting ; this « world tour » generally helps potential players to get in the mood of the game and provides referees with a read-made compilation of important information. Not so in AMBER. If you have not read Zelazny’s books and think you can « digest » the setting simply by reading the game, think again. Right from the start, it’s pretty obvious this game was designed and written by Amber fans for Amber fans ; the author deliberately avoids to waste time by reminding his readers of things they already know (or should know). Actual background information is limited to a very short glossary of essential terms and concepts – you get no lenghty discussion of the cosmology of the Amber universe, no extensive history of the Amber royal family, no detailed description of Amber castle...
By now, you probably get the feeling I was put off by this lack of background information. I was not. The books themselves contain very little background information, as far as facts are concerned – Zelazny provides his readers with plenty of glimpses and conjectures but he also leaves many unanswered and mysteries unsolved.
In AMBER, detailed setting info is simply not needed. The Amber universe is a web of infinite possibilities and alternate pathways, with characters being able to shift and shape reality as they wish : the AMBER game aptly puts this freedom of creation in the hands of the players themselves, giving them the chance to create their own vision of Amber, a truly unique roleplaying experience (and a very inspiring one, especially in our times of official continuities and rampant metaplots). In AMBER, setting info is not presented as a body of facts but as a range of possibilities : the game, provides the prospective game master with a wealth of material, including conjectures on possible conspiracies and secret alliances, alternate interpretations of events from the novels and various musings of a more cosmic nature. This approach is also used with the main protagonists from the novels, which get not one but three distinct sets of statistics and powers, depending on the game master’s vision of that character’s abilities, motives and overall power-level.
Whereas most games give you a factbook, AMBER gives you a toolkit – and a very good one.
BASIC GAME MECHANICS
The AMBER system is a very unusual one. It has its staunch devotees, who view it as the most briliant and original game system ever devised. It also has its adversaries, who find it too abstract, too arbitrary and even unplayable. As an AMBER game master, I tend to fall somewhere between these two extremes - but more on this later.
So, what’s so special about this game system ? Well, first, it does not use dice – nor any other randomizers of any sort. No dice, no cards, no coins or anything else. No dice means, of course, no dice rolls – so how do we know if a character succeeds or fails when he attempts a difficult or dangerous action ? The answer is very simple : player characters generally succeed at what they are attempting, unless (a) the game master decides they should fail or (b) they are acting against someone who is better than them. While (a) may seem a bit too arbitrary, (b) is actually a very sound principle, especially in a universe where conflict occurs so often. One must also remember that player characters in AMBER are supposed to be very powerful, highly trained and extremely resourceful – they belong to the ruling family of the universe, after all.
Another very unusual feature of the system is the way a character’s abilities are rated – or, more appropriately, ranked. In almost all game systems, important characteristics receive a numerical value which makes it possible to rate each characteristic on a common, absolute scale (ie 18 is a bit better than 17 but a lot better than 10). Even in games that do not use rated characterisics per se use some sort of equivalent measurement : in Castle Falkenstein, for instance, abilities are rated on a scale of adjectives, ranging from Poor to Extraordinary. This way of measuring a character’s abilities is probably one of the most common features of roleplaying games, regardless of theme, mood or design philosophy. As the proverbial exception to the rule, the AMBER system does not measure a character’s primary attributes on an absolute scale but on a relative scale which compares them to the other player character’s attributes – thus, instead of having « level 5 Strength » or whatever, your character has the 1st Strength rank, or the second one, or the third one... For more on the various implications and intricacies of this ranking system, see Problems & Pitfalls below.
The third biggest oddity of the game system is the way it handles character creation. Rather than spending points as they wish, players must bid for their character’s most important characteristics. This is called the attribute auction and the name says it all : players enter a « bidding war » in which they compete for the best ranks ; the winner of an auction gets the 1st rank, the second one gets the second rank and so on. Players who choose not to bid on an attribute get a default « Amber rank » for free ; it is also possible to downgrade an attribute to Chaos or even Human rank, to get more points to spend on other things. The main point of the attribute auction is to create tension, competition (and even grudges) between the player characters right from the start – just like between Corwin and his various siblings. In theory, the bidding war is supposed to turn character creation into a game in itself. In practice, it does not work so well. First, it is obvious the system was devised for large (4+) groups of players – which is not everyone’s cup of tea. As it stands, the system also makes it impossible to create characters separately – or to run single-player games, for that matter. Welcoming a new player in an ongoing campaign also becomes a very tricky thing... An enterprising game master may devise an alternate creation system, but this will also require a different ranking system for Attributes, these two things being indissociable.
ATTRIBUTES & SKILLS
Apart from the Attribute Auction, the character creation process presents a mix of classic RPG concepts and novel ideas. Each player gets 100 points to buy Attributes and Powers for his character, as well as various extras, such as unique artefacts, special servants and even personal worlds – the ubiquitous Shadows of the Amber universe. Characters may exceed this 100-point limit by taking Bad Stuff ; conversely, leftover points are directly converted into Good Stuff – but more on this later.
A character’s physical and mental abilities are defined by four attributes : Strength, Endurance, Psyche and Warfare. Warfare represents a character’s overall mastery in the fighting arts – swordsmanship, tactical awareness, combat reflexes, battlefield strategy etc. In game terms, Warfare is used to resolve almost every type of conflict, from gunfights and fencing duels to castle sieges and chess games. Gamers who delight in defining their characters combat ability on a skill-by-skill, weapon-by-weapon basis are in for a shock. Even less-combat oriented players may, at first, find such a global treatment of a character’s fighting skills a bit too schematic and « unrealistic », but this approach actually works quite well in play and is totally coherent with the spirit of the Amber books : Amberites and their adversaries are quasi-immortal beings who are used to travel through an infinity of possible worlds – as such, they can (and must) practice the art of Warfare as a whole, to be able to defend their lives on any kind of world, with any type of weapon – there’s no point being a crackshot with a pistol if you’re stuck in a Shadow where guns just don’t work.
The same reasoning can be applied to non-combat skills : in a universe where a character can very easily mix skills from any type of setting or culture, describing every possible skill in game terms is an almost impossible and utterly pointless task. In AMBER, a character’s skills (apart from the all-important fighting skills, which are represented by Warfare) are treated as « freebies » : the player simply decides which skills his character could reasonably have learned during his pre-game existence. This totally freeform approach works surprisingly well in play (at least as well as more ordinary skill systems), provided you’re not plagued with players who seek to exploit every possible way to maximize their character.
PROBLEMS & PITFALLS
While it may seem refreshingly different, this system causes a lot of problems in the course of the game. To begin with, the ranks attributed to characters are only pertinent within the limits of the player characters group : this means these ranks cannot be used directly to compare a player character’s Attributes with a non-player character’s Attributes. If you want to do this, you’ll have to compare the Attributes’ point costs. Thus, the Attribute ranks are extremely important when dealing with other player characters but become virtually meaningless when dealing with NPCs – so why bother with ranks in the first place ?
The whole thing also adds another layer of undesirable complexity to character advancement, since the ranks bought at character creation actually sets the entire framework of Attribute improvement for the whole campaign : this means, for instance, that « 1st rank Warfare » and « 1st rank Strength » may represent very different degrees of power, depending on how much was paid for them in the first place. It also means that the actual « ability gap » between two ranks may vary wildly from an Attribute to another and for the same Attribute : it is entirely possible, for instance, to have a 1st rank in Warfare worth 50pts and a 1st rank in Psyche worth 5pts, or to have a very narrow gap between 1st rank and 2nd rank and an enormous one between 2nd and 3rd.
All this creates a lot of number-crunching – and pointless number-crunching, for that matter. A standard numerical system or a rank scale à la Castle Falkenstein (or at least a system that does not require the game master to constantly shift between two different scales) would have been a simpler and sounder option here...
POWERS & MAGIC
The way the AMBER system handles Powers is far more satisfying. There are four major Powers in the Amber universe : Pattern Imprint, Logrus Mastery, Trump Artistry, and Shapeshifting. All may be acquired at either « Basic » or « Advanced » level, for a variable amount of points. These Powers provide characters with a variety of extraordinary abilities – even by roleplaying games standards. Pattern Imprint, for instance, enables a character to shift reality as he wishes, travelling through an infinity of alternate worlds (« Shadows ») which he can manipulate at will... and this is only the basic version. You may also consider Trump Artistry, which enables you to create trump images (similar to tarot cards) of people you know : these trumps can then be used as two-way psychic communication devices (much like a trans-reality cellular phone) or even as dimensional gates between two Shadows... Even Shapeshifting offers a wide array of unsuspected, fascinating possibilities, such as creating living beings from your very blood or « shapeshifting » your wounds so they instantly heal. Powers in AMBER go beyond the scope of special abilities ; they are an essential part of every character and can influence every aspect of a campaign. Their definition in game terms is extremely flexible, leaving plenty of room for creative players to develop their special tricks or stunts.
These four major Powers co-exist with a fifth force : Magic, which is clearly presented as an inferior alternative. In game terms, Magic actually encompasses three distinct powers : Power Words (instantaneous low-key spell effects), Conjuration (for creating and empowering items and creatures) and Sorcery (more complex spells). The rules on Sorcery are quite disappointing : spellcasting is a meticulous and time-consuming process, with a lot of restrictions and limitations which add nothing to the game, aside from an extra layer of complexity... Furthermore, the sample spells described have a strong « generic fantasy » feel which make them quite tasteless and uninspiring – especially when compared to the possibilities offered by other Powers. Strangely enough, the author himself seems to consider the study of Sorcery as a waste of time and energy – so why bother at all ?
CREATURES, ARTIFACTS & SHADOWS
The rules offer a fairly comprehensive system for building artifacts and creatures ; this system is intended to be used during character creation as well as during play, characters with Conjuration being able to mold the rough stuff of Shadow to create almost anything – enchanted weapons, magic rings, flying steeds, hordes of devoted followers, you name it. These rules are quite good, although a bit heavy on number-crunching and technicalities. Players can also give their characters personal Shadows as their personal fief, kingdom or haven – all this for only a few points, which is a nice touch and a great way to encourage player creativity. In AMBER, a sword with a few special powers or a supernaturally fast horse will generally cost much more than an entire world – this may seem very odd at first, but is actually very consistent with the general philosophy of Amberites, who tend to be as materialist as they are self-reliant. On the whole, this aspect of the game system is very well thought out and provides creative players and game masters with a myriad of possibilities to explore.
GOOD STUFF & BAD STUFF
When creating characters, players may spend more points than they normally have by taking a « debt » in Bad Stuff points ; conversely, players who are left with unused creation points can convert them to Good Stuff. A good idea – it may seems, but one that is sure to cause many problems in practice.
The first problem is that Stuff does not have a fixed scale : like Attribute ranks, its value is intended to be interpreted in a relative way rather than an absolute one – so that, 5pts of Bad Stuff may be « a lot » in some groups and « a little » in others. The second problem is that Stuff covers too many different things, since it represents a mix of charisma, perception, luck and everything that is not represented by the character’s basic four Attributes. In practice, Stuff may influence almost everything a character does, so that Good Stuff characters will be successful, lucky and popular, while Bad Stuff characters will be systematically hindered by their bad luck and bad reputation.
The only aspect of Stuff that works quite well in practice is its ties to character advancement, since it can be used to « accelerate » the acquisition or development of Powers, ie characters may get extra advancement points by converting Good Stuff or by accepting Bad Stuff – a swell idea, that should have been given more significance.
All in all, the concept of Stuff just didn’t work for me. My guess is that the game designer created Stuff as a kind of « personal variable » used to compensate the system’s lack of randomness and to add an element of uncertainty and unpredictability to the game. Unfortunately, Stuff does not really resolve this and even makes the game more arbitrary, by adding a further layer of predestination to the characters actions. Moreover, this concept does not reflect very well the very ambiguous nature of the protagonists from the novels – something the designer may well be aware of, since most of them are presented as balanced, « zero-Stuff » characters.
COMBAT & INJURIES
So how do you run combats and keep track of wounds in a diceless system ? This question is discussed at length in a section titled A GAMEMASTER’S GUIDE TO DICELESS COMBAT.
AMBER does not use « hit points » or any other abstract rendition of physical damage. Instead of the usual damage tables, wound charts or whatever, the game offers a very complete description of various degrees and types of injuries, complete with gory details and medical considerations.
The way combat is resolved mostly depends on a game master’s style of play – as well as on the dramatic impact of a specific combat scene. Much like a writer who describes a fight scene in a story, the GM might go for maximum speed and simplicity (the guy with the best Warfare wins, period) or, at the other end of the scale, for maximum detail and realism. If you select the latter option, the section provides you with an extensive analysis of various swordfight maneuvers : how to execute them, what advantages they might give you over your opponent and how they might be countered or avoided. Using this information in a dynamic way during the course of a game requires quite a lot of tactical skill – not from the characters but from the players themselves – here, the game clearly shows its « old school » roots, from a time when most roleplaying gamers were generally assumed to possess a certain degree of tactical expertise (and a corresponding degree of interest in tactical simulation). This approach may not appeal to all gamers – especially those who favor a more dramatic and story-oriented approach to gaming, since « maximum realism » (a very debatable concept in itself) is always gained at the expense of playability and dramatization.
FINAL WORD
In my ongoing AMBER campaign, I use a modified system of house rules and variants, like a lot of AMBER game masters do. I’ve dumped the ranking system and attribute auction, but I have kept almost everything else – but that’s not really important. What’s important is the inspiration you get from reading, running and playing the game. Despite its very high power level, AMBER is not a game for powergamers or munchkins ; it’s a game for people who love to create – create characters, worlds, wonders and legends. I’ve been gaming for more than 20 years before trying AMBER and, so far, AMBER remains one of my most rewarding experiences as a game master. If you’re beginning to get bored with games that cannot exist without metaplots and splatbooks, or if you’re just looking for a different kind of roleplaying experience, then you should definitely give this game a try.
One last thing : Phage Press has recently announced the transfer of all AMBER DICELESS RPG publishing operations to Guardians of Order – which means a new version of AMBER is on the way. Will it keep the same rules, use a revised system or even (shudder) « go D20 » ? All these questions (and lots of others) are currently discussed on the forums of the company’s website. One thing is sure : despite its flaws, AMBER is a great game, which truly deserves a briliant and triumphant rebirth.
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