Shadowlands

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Welcome to the home of my FtF Amber campaign pages. There is still much I'd like to do in terms of this site but I never seem to have the time (too much time spent playing EGS-Reforged Eden, Minecraft^TM, RailNation^TM, Farm Simulator 2013^TM, Euro Truck Simulator2^TM or looking after my Bees - running 21 colonies takes one of my days off a week between April and July ). 

Whilst I do maintain this site years go by where nothing changes for various reasons - Real Life^TM has a habit of getting in the way of hobbies - and I only tend to update when I have the necessary inspiration or I'm running a campaign - which generally requires players (If you’re interested in potentially participating in a Discord/Roll20 or PBM campaign drop me a line..)...

As of now, November 2024, whilst much of  the website is pretty much on hold., various elements under my Adventures-In-Roleplay (non-canonical, Amber-Lite)  Introduction to Amber Campaign last updated for the second re-run of  my PBP version of my AiRP campaign might be in for a few more updates if a new attempt at a Discord campaign succeeds in getting enough players..

The PDF version of the Players Guide is now significantly ahead of most of the site due to various updates arising from my PBP campaign including some complete rewrites of some sections and a number of  fixes for rule anomalies/errors.

I have also made several updates to various background pages of the site, primarily the grimoire under Sorcery, since I last updated this introduction back in 2020. 

The Keep of the Thirteenth Hour Campaign stuff is as I left it after it's 3rd iteration in 2013, alhtough it might get a revamp if I decide to attempt to run it as a PBP on RPol and all the other stuff  relating to ideas for other campaigns is still very much as it was back in 2005. Maybe one day I'll get around to publishing some of it or find a group to run it with. 

For those of you who have never come across Amber, let me give you a brief introduction.

Amber is a Diceless Role Playing Game (DRPG) based upon the book's of Roger Zelazny. The books follow the affairs of the sons and daughters of Oberon as they fight one another for the Throne of Amber and in the latter books as those of mixed blood fight for the Throne of the Courts of Chaos.
Amber campaigns are mixed and varied but nearly all revolve around "lost" or "unknown" sons and daughters of the offspring of Oberon and some convoluted saga. History is not always as Corwin tells it in the books and often Merlin's saga never happens at all.

If you'd like a more detailed conceptual perspective of the game then I've written a "So What is Amber" page that deals with things from an RPG perspective.

If you've never read the books and you're playing in a Canonical Campaign (a campaign that stick closely to the books), especially a "Throne War" Campaign- then your only current starting point for background is Wikipedia - the Chronicles of Amber

I used to reference "An Introduction to Roger Zelazny's Amber Universe and the Amber DRPG" at www.thekeep.org but it looks like the whole of "TheKeep" website has evaporated into the Internet Ether where all things interweb go to die.

And there after

The Amber Dictionary Page
Canonical Amber Timeline - One day I'll get around to transcribing this into a better format with notes on how it aligns to my campaigns

There are also a couple forums which gets posts from time to time dedicated to Amber Diceless Roleplay

Amber DPRG Proboards
RPGNet : Lords of Olympus and the Amber DRPG

If you decide to play in Amber either in any of my campaigns or in anybody else's, just remember that because it happened this way in the books doesn't mean it happened that way in the campaign you're about to play in. Those that keep close to the books are said to be "In Canon" or Canonical  whilst those that just use Amber concepts as non-canonical. 

So that completes the introduction. The rest of this page acts as an index for everything associated with my Amber campaigns, both as a GM and a player. You'll find details on the powers system I use, example characters, campaign background, session logs, PC and NPC profiles and art work. At the bottom of the page you'll find diaries of my own characters in two defunct campaigns and some notes on some things I want to add to the site.

News / What's New / What's Changed

28/11/2024

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What follows now are the diaries of characters for each of the defunct Amber Campaigns I played in.
Cordelia's diary was written more of less as it happened, whilst Heather's diary is a record of where we got to in the game and was written to prod to GM to pick the campaign up again. If you want the ins and outs of what I'm talking about read the Windsor or Bracknell Roleplaying Club pages.
Cordelia as a PC in Pete's campaign has gone on to be an NPC in my Thirteenth Hour campaign. I've therefore done a lot more work in developing her background. One day I might even get to finish it.

Cordelia's Diary Pete's Amber campaign from the Bracknell Club
Heather's Diary Alan's Amber campaign from the Windsor Club

There's still a lot I want to do with this site. I'd like a fancy intro page with an background image that inspires thoughts of Amber. I'd like to get my Amber map up and write up my version of the Golden Circle. Then, theres a page I need to write on the Cosmology and representation of Shadow, Reality, and the Abyss, and where The Courts, Amber, Ygg, Drasil, the various patterns, Ghost Wheel (who becomes a signifcant player in my AiRP campaign), The Keep of the Four Worlds, and its counter part The Keep of the Thirteenth Hour fit into this. 

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