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Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:28 am Post subject: Amber Roleplaying... with Dice!

Alright, so I have a pet project that I will unleash upon players at AmberCon Arizona/CopperCon this year: An Amber game using the Houses of the Blooded dice-based system.

This thread will be a repository of modifications to the rules found in the Preview PDF of Houses of the Blooded RPG.
Feel free to comment on this...

Oh, and the game I'll run will be called 'Blasphemy' since it is an Amber game with Dice.
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Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:29 am Post subject:

I'm going to assume that most people here are familiar with the Amber Diceless Roleplaying and that little is known about Houses of the Blooded. Reading the Houses of the Blooded Preview PDF (free) is pretty essential, since I used those rules. Unfortunately, housesoftheblooded.com doesn't seem to be active. The preview pdf is only 6MB so if someone wants it emailed to an inbox that can handle it, let me know via PM.

I've tried to define concepts new to either rule systems clearly, and simply. Let me know if something is unclear or needs to be reiterated. Again, it's pretty raw and assumes a bit of knowledge on both systems.

Here goes:
~~~~~

Very Basic Rules (read Houses of the Blooded Preview PDF for more detailed rules):

When faced with a risk, add the Attribute, Aspect, Blessing, Power and/or Sovereign Name that comes into play for the resolution of the action/risk.
Each level or rank you have in the corresponding Attribute, Aspect, etc, counts as 1 D6 (six-sided die).
You must roll above 10 to gain 'privilege' (decide if the outcome is a success or a failure).
During a contested roll, you must roll at least ten and above your opponent(s) roll in order to gain privilege.
If you roll below 10, the GM has the privilege to determine whether the character succeeds or fails.
Wagers can be placed: every die set aside is a wager (an additional element to define the success or failure, AND, OR, etc...).
Wagers are set aside in secret and taken from the pool of dice available for that particular risk.
If it is a contested roll and you rolled at least a 10 and your opponent rolled higher than you, keep half of your wagers rounding up.
If you rolled highest, keep all of your wagers.
If you rolled below 10, lose privilege and all of your wagers.
If nobody rolled at least 10, the GM has privilege to determine success or failure.
Style points are gained when characters do something dramatic, something daring or very 'in-character'.
Style points are spent when activating an Aspect or Blessing.
Style points are used to add one additional element to a scene or count as one additional wager.

Special Rules (for this 'Amber' game only):

Potential:

Activating a Power uses 'Potential' equal to the amount of dice gained for the roll.
'Potential' is regained thusly: 1 style point restores 3 points of 'Potential'.
'Potential' is also regained thusly: After a full day of uninterrupted rest, the character regains points of 'Potential' equal to his Strength.

Places:

When in Shadow, Amberites roll 1 additional die.
In Amber, Lords of Chaos roll 1 less die. Amberites roll 1 additional die (Amber is the first Shadow, after all).
In the Courts of Chaos, Lords of Chaos roll 1 additional die.
In a character's Home Shadow or Personal Ways in Chaos (bought as a Blessing), the character gains additional dice equal to the level of the Blessing: Home Shadow. Other Amberites still gain +1 die due to the fact it is a Shadow.
In Primal Planes, Amberites gain nothing, Chaos Lords only lose a die if the Primal Plane has a Pattern. (Primal Planes cannot be bought as Blessings).

People:

To affect a Shadow person, or a creature or thing from Shadow, it takes 1 success or 1 wager each.
To affect a Lord of Chaos, or creatures or things of 'Substance', things that are real, it takes 1 success and 1 wager, or 2 wagers each.
To affect a Royal Amberite, it takes 1 success and 2 wagers, or 3 wagers each.

Character Creation Guidelines:

Players get 30 points to spend between Attributes, Powers, Aspects and Blessings.

Attributes should have a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5 (elder Amberites have a max of 6).
6 to 20 points are spent on attributes. One attribute should have a rank no higher than 1 (the character's weakness).
This 18-point array may be used as a standard: 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1.
Characters should have 1 to 4 Aspects. They each cost one point.
The Powers range from 1-5 or 1-3 depending on which one. Each level costs 1 point. Powers each correspond to one Attribute, except for Strength, which determines 'Potential'.
'Potential' is Strength x 2.
Style point maximum is the sum of all Attributes, divided by 2, rounded up. The character starts out with 3 style points.
Blessings are Home Shadows, Spy networks, Henchmen, Minions, Creatures, Items and Constructs. The players can spend from 1 to 2 points per Blessing. Some Blessings cost 3 points, but these are reserved for NPCs and the elder Amberites (Corwin's Pattern Sword, Oberon's Home Shadow: Amber).

That's it! Spend your points!

The Attributes remain the 6 original Houses of the Blooded virtues:

Strength: all physical actions (lifting things, running, jumping, unarmed combat, etc); Strength also determines the potential for powers, in the same manner that Endurance did in the ADRP.
Amber characters with a high Strength: Gerard, Julian.

Cunning: see what others are hiding, keeping your secrets, solve puzzles and mysteries, etc. To see and read people.
Amber characters with a high Cunning: Oberon, Caine.

Courage: to go on when all seems lost, to push one's limits, physical willpower, determination.
Amber characters with a high Courage: Corwin, Bleys.

Beauty: creativity, expression, natural charm. Sophistication, culture.
Amber characters with a high Beauty: Flora, Deirdre, Llewella.

Wisdom: memory, knowledge, understanding, metaphysical understanding.
Amber characters with a high Wisdom: Fiona, Brand.

Prowess: martial training, using weapons, maneuvering on a battlefield, strategy and tactics.
Amber characters with a high Prowess: Benedict, Eric.

~~~~~

Powers are next...
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Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:30 am Post subject:

The Powers are based on most of the ADRP powers (note the disappearance of the Pattern Lens):

The rules for Powers are simple:

You can achieve effects corresponding to ranks up to your current level.
You can roll up to your total rank even for lesser power effects (Hellride using your 4 levels of Pattern, even though Hellriding is only a level 2 effect).
Every die you roll from using a Power consumes a point of 'Potential'.
The Attributes associated with the Powers are guidelines. If you find a different use for a Power, apply it at your discretion.

Pattern: uses Wisdom.

Level 1: Walk through Shadow. Blood of Amber.
Level 2: Hellride. Royal Way. Leading others through Shadow (safely).
Level 3: Affect probability. Pattern Defense. Blood Curse.
Level 4: Alter Shadow reality (Time, Physics, Magic, Tech). Pattern Sense.
Level 5: Destroy Shadow. Tunnel Travel (Fiona's trick. Could be level 6).

Logrus: uses Prowess.

Level 1: Logrus Sight. Local Tendril manipulation.
Level 2: Logrus Tendrils (seek/travel).
Level 3: Logrus Defense. Logrus Sorcery (add 1 die to sorcery when Logrus is brought to mind).
Level 4: Manipulate Shadow (Alter Shadow Reality). Bind Chaos Servant.
Level 5: Summon Primal Chaos.

Trump: uses Beauty.

Level 1: Trump Sketch.
Level 2: Draw Trump. Imbue Trump energy. Trump Defense.
Level 3: Trump Sense. Trump Gate. Trump Memory.

Shapeshift: uses Courage.

Level 1: Natural Forms (Human, Chaos, Avatar, Animal). Shift physical features.
Level 2: Close wounds. Reflex Shapeshift. Advanced Shift physical features. Shift mass.
Level 3: Shift Persona. Shift Aspects (adopt other Aspects as part of the shapeshifting, temporarily replacing current aspects). Advanced Shift mass/organs.

Sorcery: uses Cunning.

Level 1: Local Shadow magic (limited to local magic potential and physics). Minor Sorcery.
Level 2: PanShadow magic. Universal Sorcery. Conjure Shadow Form (simple things conjured out of Shadow stuff).
Level 3: Conjure Aspects (Shadow things imbued with their own Aspects). Conjure Power (Shadow things imbued with a Power), must have 3 levels of Power in question.

Sovereign Names: this is kind of optional since it doesn't feature in the Amber novels, but it's an interesting feature of Houses of the Blooded so I thought it would be neat to add it in.
When a Sorcerer uses his secret name or Sovereign Name to empower his Sorcery, he gains an additional 3 dice (like an Aspect).
If another Sorcerer uses that Sovereign Name against him, that Sorcerer gains 2 dice.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 720 Location: Oklahoma

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:24 am Post subject:

Lol, that just makes too much sense now, doesn't it? Smile

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Saint&Sinner · Joined: 20 Aug 2008 Posts: 1

A suggestion.

Why don't you try basing Shape Shifting on Strength (since its a physical sort of thing) and base Logrus on Courage (since you got have 'em to step into the cave and come out again).

Just a thought...

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:48 am Post subject:

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 6:00 pm Post subject:

I need help.

Can you guys help me come up with Aspects for all of the elders?

I started writing some of them, but it's taking me forever to create every elder's aspects based on the books (rather than using Erick Wujcik's versions).

For instance, Benedict will have the following Aspects: Strategist, Swordsman, Commander(leadership), Followers.
Corwin would have: I knew that (his wonderful ability to bluff and extract useful knowledge out of others), Survivor, Enmity: Eric (bonus dice vs. Eric; Aspect he loses at Eric's death, of course)...
Oberon: Champion of the Pattern, Control Offspring (his wonderful ability to easily manipulate and overcome his children... All of them).

Stuff like that.

If you wanna help me come up with Aspects, I will greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
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Desert Sky Design

finarvyn · Joined: 24 Jul 2009 Posts: 6 Location: Chicago Suburbs

As a Chicago-type there's no way that I will make it to Arizona for any sort of AmberCon. Crying or Very sad

However, I joined up in the hopes that there might be some good Amber chat here, and I think I just found some. I have a copy of Houses of the Blooded, but am not that familar with the system yet. However, I'm finding your "Amber with Dice" concept interesting and just thought I'd give you a thumbs-up for it.

Looking forward to reading more on this!
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Finarvyn
Amber Diceless player since 1993.
OD&D player since 1975

"It´s better to enlarge the game than to restrict the players."
- Erick Wujcik

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:17 am Post subject:

Hey thanks! And welcome!

I used the Houses of the Blooded Demo rules to make this more accessible to people, and because I didn't have the book by then.

It played really nicely but I should probably revisit it at some point and change some things as well. Smile

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AmberCon Arizona Webpage
FabienBadilla.com
Desert Sky Design