I am doing a playtesting for an alternative time period as well in the Solstice history. It is approximately around Renaissance England or 500 years ago. It is prior to Corwin’s disappearance and 5000 years ahead of the Lammas era. Oberon is actively King of Amber in full control. Darlene is the discreet Royal Mistress while all Elders are in play.
Oberon’s ex-wives are not at Court, nor are encouraged to attend Court. Mandor is Prime Minister of Chaos, plotting secretly against Swayville in a passive aggressive chess match. He also plots against Oberon but secretly allies with both, against the other. Dara is not the political powerhouse though has been seen in Amber despite her mother trying to keep her out of Amber.
Much of this will follow the rules of Solstice in the wiki site – I have never worked out an effective list of partial powers – I do not like them in place of Basic Pattern/Basic Shapeshifting/Basic Trump Artistry. I do see Partial Power evolving in play as players work to earn a few beyond basic powers in those ADRPG powers. At this point in time, I am not wanting PCs to start beyond basic level powers. My recommendation is to make a character sheet and I can tweak it as much as my learning curve with my suggestions. The character story is more important than the powers/stats which is just a snapshot of the character’s starting abilities/powers and limitations.
With Allies, I avoid using points for allies as PC behaviour may impact this too easily. I would refrain from using points to buy Elder Amberites as allies but I do not have a problem with getting allies in GC states, Amber nobility, rural gentry, military. I see it as a passive advantage or a bail out in case things go afoul.
With items to start, I will restrict items of power to no more than 4 point damage/protection. I am never a big supporter of the increments in different items and would prefer a rolemaster style bonus system but I am still banging the system out there. As this still in playtesting, I am keeping the right to make amendments and changes but not at the expense of the player character. I have had a long policy of either refunding points or giving equal or more as compensation for changes to rulers, skills and items.
I am going to ask for character specific information. Not the easy quiz of the past but more focused on the character. I may have quizzes for points in the survey? Survey Monkey LOL?
Characters can come from any reasonable world /dimension though there may be greater or lesser culture shock in Amber. For the start of Beltane, it will be Amber focused with the development of rural Amber centres including a rich vast Amber unharmed by the terrible war with Chaos and Second Civil War as well as a Golden Circle and near Amber Shadow and the mysterious Lodes.
The only exception is Sorcery – I will keep the 50 point Sorcery. I may rename it from Advanced Sorcery. I had some really good discussions with Erich Wujick at 2-4 am walks to Meijers in 1990s ACUS on Sorcery and his dislike and my adoration of it. We got along though we disagreed on that subject but I remember our rich discussions. I will keep the annoying ADRPG sorcery in the book at 15 points. Perhaps it can be an “Elementary School Sorcery” as part of the learning path to real sorcery.
This is the nature of an experimental game structure, like an Alpha/Beta level of a video game, I am still not completely fixed on all the rules though any changes impacting PCs will be to the benefit of the PCs including compensation if there are changes that negatively impact characters.
I see it as ability to learn rather than knowledge. Just because anyone has a great ability to learn and a great speed in learning means nothing if they are isolated without resources and chances to learn that skill and develop that ability. Yes, I agree. I am still choosing that. It is definitely not knowledge but it can give more skills – ie Amber to 10 points – One gets 5 Superb Skills that can come with some knowledge specialization. I would approve the Superb Skills ie doctoral level ability or knowledge in a specialty.
It is not the supernatural, magical or sorcerous powers. It is what one has, when one devoid of powers, tools can use to overcome adversity using their mind and ability to learn. It gives clues, alternative perspectives, options and an ability to develop solutions. It includes observations. Not handed on a silver platter but also GM clues and suggestions and breadcrumbs. ie If one is stuck in a cell in Amber Castle one may notices that the feeding cycle is not routine, one can notice the spider web covering fragmented masonry, one can notice that the lock is a two way lock, that there is no barring of the cell door on the other side, that the solo jailor is tired and smells of rum etc. The player has to choose their actions, decisions including to seek out more information, do divinations (kind of a combo of skill, intelligence, psyche), or reason through it.
Wisdom is not a stat I want to create because Players through their Player Characters can make, like Amberites and Olympians, terrible decisions and it is part of their journey/story/epic/tragedy to experience the consequences of their decisions for good and for ill. While I am gentle and do not kill characters, acts of Sheer Folly cannot go without some consequences – Teutoberg Forest, Cannae, 1812 Russian Invasion etc. If one sails the Titanic into sea lanes for Iceberg, collision is highly probably. Odds are that the ship will go down but the player character will be fished from the North Atlantic looking like a popsicle, not dead but knowing they had lot the ship and all the passengers. If a 125 point Amberite decides to combat a 500 point equivalent monster, alone, armed only with their ego, a water pistol filled with H20 and a track suit, they will be lucky to be alive after such a mauling.
Part of my vision is to create a stronger player character journey through creating tracks for each Player Character to experience their own and interactive Monomyth following that part of the Joseph Campbell model:
The hero leaves the familiar, their old world and its life – their everyday world after receiving a “call to adventure”. This can be a fall of a civilization, or a desire for adventure/family/knowledge etc or a weariness of their own world (Into the West – a la Tolkien).
The hero undergoes a series of trials, tests, and transformative experiences in a “supernatural wonder” or unfamiliar world. This partially includes Amber, the mystery of the Pattern which I want to develop more and perhaps even have the Pattern Experience more intense or more temporally split than a practiced Pattern Walker like Corwin tells. I also always questioned if Corwin redacted much of the story.
The Amber of the Late Oberonic period is deceivingly stable. Oberon is bored. Unlike Uncle Swayville, and with his Kolvirii wanderfust, Oberon wanders off. Many times with barely a note. The cumulation of the Corwin-Eric feud has not reacted its terrifying crescendo of Eric dumping the Amnesiac Corwin in 1660s London in Earth Prime *yes I am reverted to that Equinox term. I am not going to allow player characters in the X axis of Solstice as it is not relevant as the only axes will be the Y Axis – ever developed in Solstice between Amber and Chaos. The Elder Princes/Princesses will be slightly younger versions of themselves. Deirdre has not become corrupted and Caine, while a deplorable human being, is not as rabid as the Second Amber Civil War had not happened yet. The Rilga era wars are tens of thousands of years ago but the warmth of Amber/Chaos relations has not returned to the Clarissa era.
Ancient Earth is in the English Renaissance but I have not pinned down the starting year yet. If PCs visit, they will learn it.
The hero achieves a decisive victory or gains a “boon” (a special object, knowledge, or blessing) and returns to the ordinary world with the power to help other. This is probably where the Amber interaction occurs both as the PC has a home in Amber, maybe their past home or a Node Realm in Shadow. This is where the challenges, faults and collisions occur.
So far, the elder character in the first series will be the only ones relevant. While I have a soft spot for Merlin, Luke and Martin, their existence was not known at this time. Dara and Mandor will be Chaos based for the most part though Dara will want to cause her mother, Darlene harm as she started many years earlier.
I see this as a collaborative action. The sons and daughters of Oberon, depending on their spouses can have any variety of humanoid appearance as a child of theirs. I am more interested in the interaction and impact of this on their upbringing and pre-Game story. PCs will have the same level of near immortal characters depending on their story. This is something that I am willing to entertain reasonable ideas as long as the possible reactions may also be considered as part of the equation.
The advantage of the developing the character at this stage is that they become a core character with some early plot flowing through or across them. While existential issues of the survival of the Kingdom of Amber are not at stake, there is opportunity to explore the infinity of possibilities with different layers of Amber/Kolvir history, new and existing Golden Circle States including their own politics, rivalries and dynasties. While Oberon would never tolerate the affront that Begma did when its leadership barged into Amber Castle in Random’s Reign in the Equinox future (Yes this happened in 1995 when Random was deposed in Equinox playing his drums by Finndo). Solstice and Equinox each have their history determined by players’ singular and collective action about 75% of the time though it takes time or is quieter.