Vortex's Amber

Creating Characters

or what do I use my points for

Introduction

Characters in an Amber DRPG are created the same way and yet differently from all other RPGs. The big difference is that the character concept and background, which is devised by the player determines what skills the character has and what their outlook in life is.
There are no 'skill' lists for Amber, no advantages, no disadvantages, no equipment lists, and no spell lists. Characters have attributes, Skills, Powers, and possibly items, all bought with points.
The one proviso in an Amber campaign is that either both of or one of your parents are different, not of the Shadow in which you were born. This makes you different. Whether you know this or not depends upon the campaign setting. .

Mechanics

Depending on the setting depends on whether your character knows anything of Amber, or the Courts of Chaos or their incarnation in the campaign setting. Dependent upon the campaign they may or may not know anything of their parents, real or otherwise - after all the parents they know may not be their real parents, they may have been adopted or fostered or grow up onw their own in the wild. Consult the setting background to make this determination.

The number of character points, CPs, available to create a character depends upon the campaign setting. Typically basic campaign start at 160 points, whilst campaign for experienced players start at 190. Whatever the campaign setting you get one of Blood of Amber or Blood of Chaos or their equivalent for free. If you want both the other must be paid for from these points. If you want Logrus powers or Advance Shapeshifting powers then you must have Blood of Chaos. If you want Pattern you must have Blood of Amber.

There will be an auction (seeThe Auction) at the game start. All rounds of the auction will be by secret bidding. I will collect the bids and tell you what the values for the various rankings are. All Rankings Count! There are 7 significant classified ranks plus a ‘ranked' classification which indicates you were in the auction for that attribute.

Only characters with an Amber Rank in an attribute may participate in the auction for that attribute. No attribute may be reduced below Chaos Rank and only two attributes may be ‘bought down' to Chaos Rank. Buying down to Chaos rank gains 10 point per attribute 'bought down'.

The number of CPs that must be allocated to attributes are also campaign dependent. Characters may use upto the set attributes point limit in the auction or they may keep some back  As long as the campaign set attribute limit is not exceeded  characters may secretly buy up their attributes after the auction. This will not change the rankings but may change the outcome of a fight occurs between siblings. If the attributes are equal the higher ranked character wins. If the attributes are unequal the character with the higher attribute wins! Note: Attributes are sub-divided, it is the points in the sub-divisions that matter; See Attributes and Abilities.

I will create a number of NPCs that will also take part in the bidding auction. Some or all of these may be available to players joining later in the game and some may remain an NPCs at all times. For some of these I have developed backgrounds and powers, but it is upto the player whether they wise to use the attribute ranks and write their own character story or use the pre-developed characters. The bid strategy for these NPC's is predefined prior to the auction. These characters will obey all the rules for character generation.

According to the campaign setting characters will need to allocate a number of points to should allocate named mundane skills. These skills should reflect their chosen background. The number of points determines the level of expertise in the skill and may affect inherent attribute skills (see below). The table below gives a rough description at critical point levels. No starting character may allocate more than 8 points to a single skill.

Points not allocated to Attributes and Mundane Skills are used to by Powers. All characters will be given the chance to acquire Pattern and Trump powers. If you don't have the points available then you won't be able to purchase them. This means if you don't have the 10 points necessary for Pattern Imprint you don't get to walk the Pattern. Those characters with Chaos parentage will at a later date be given the opportunity to Assay the Logrus and acquire Logrus powers.

All Items must be approved by me in Advance!

Choosing a Parent

I'm not going to pick your parent for you. You need to decide who you wish your parent(s) to be. However, there are a few things you need to bear in mind. To be able to walk the Pattern you must have a parent who is an Amberite or their equivalent in the campaign setting. To assay the Logrus you must have a parent who is or was a member of one of the Houses of Chaos or their equivalent in the campaign setting.

Additional information for selecting a parent is campaign specific - see the relevant campaign background page.

Good Stuff and Bad Stuff

Stuff in the Amber DRPG is a measure of how much the universe favours or disfavours you. Those with an abundance of good stuff are lucky, healthy, stylish, and outgoing, whilst those with Bad Stuff are unlucky, sickly, dowdy, and sullen. In this Amber campaign stuff is a real force, what we'd commonly call Chi. It can therefore be influenced and has real affects on the denizens of shadow.

When creating your character you can choose to have Good Stuff, Zero Stuff, or Bad Stuff. There is a limit of 10 points of Good or Bad Stuff at creation. Good Stuff and Bad Stuff are bought with CPs on a one for one basis, Good Stuff costing CP's and Bad Stuff gaining CP's to spend.
I treat 'stuff' as a permanent feature of the character. The only way to change it after character creation is via roleplaying. The universe is a fickle thing. Getting it to smile on you is difficult. Pissing it off is easy.
If you want an easy boring life take lots of good stuff, nothing will ever go wrong for you, but then you won't learn very much either. A couple of points of bad stuff and your life will be interesting, 3 to 5 points and you'll know the universe is out to get you, more than 5 points and even if you stay in bed something bad will happen and sooner rather than later.

Note

Just because you have 10 points of Good Stuff doesn't mean things in relation to the plot(s) won't affect you, they will! It just means that if you do nothing the bad guys will probably ignore you, you'll never get shot by accident, and you'll find that your Aunt suddenly needs you, meaning you just exit the building before the bomb goes off.

Gaining More Points.

Okay, so you've spent the minimum  points in the auction and the minimum  points on skills, got 10 points of bad stuff (See Good Stuff and Bad Stuff), and two of your attributes are Choas Rank, but the  points you've now got for powers and items are not enough. Well you can get a few more.

Writing a character history of 0.5 to 1.0 sides of A4 , single spaced, and type in 10 point Times new Roman will get you 2 points. 1.5 to 2.0 sides will get you 4 points, and 5 plus pages will get you 7 points plus depending upon how interesting I find it.

Producing an A6 or A5 Trump Sketch (ie Black and White) of your character will get you 3 points.

Producing an A6, A5, or A4 full colour Trump of your character will get you 5 points.

Producing a character diary of at least 1 side of A4 , single spaced, and type in 10 point Times new Roman will get you 2 points per diary when I receive it! Each diary should cover the sessions events in a day by day basis from the character's point of view.

All diaries and Trump will be published on the Internet on the campaign web pages. Characters acting on information or reacting to remarks in other characters diaries, will incur experience penalties and Bad Stuff.

If you can't produce your own Trump and you get somebody else to do it then I'll divided the points amongst the characters, with the majority going to the character of the artist. Photographs of famous people processed in Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, or equivalent are not acceptable.

In addition to all the above if you have Blood of Chaos you can take an Enemy and anybody may take a Disorder. Enemies range from a minor noble in an opposing house (1 point) to a Blood Feud with a major house (5 points). Disorders have to be something that have a permanent debilitating effect on the characters ability to perform day to day functions and must be consistent with your attributes, you can't be blind if you have 1 or more points in Endurance:Healing or schizophrenic if you have Amber or better Psyche .


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