Amber: The Game Storygamers Love To HateOn the
Amber Forums over in theRPGsite, we've more than occasionally had members of the Forgie-sect, the Storygamers crowd, and Swine in general trying to claim that in fact, they love Amber, that they put it down only because they care, that they really don't get where my claims that its a game despised by the Swine comes from, etc.
Don't believe it for a second, folks. As usual, the Swine engage in a two-faced discourse, saying one thing in front of the general public (or the "Unwashed Masses" as they like to call them) and another thing entirely when they feel they are in a sufficiently private venue, like their Storygames forum.
And on that forum just recently has popped up a thread where the real feelings of the average Storygamer has come out. Here are a few choice quotes:
"no official ADRPG system exists in anything but theory" - "Doyce"
""Mechanics: Players compete to persuade the GM to let them do whatever they want. GM ultimately decides everything. Setting: Read the novels." -"Valamir"
"Benedict sounds like an outright asshole" - "Eero"
"(the Amber novels) aren't great literature" -"GeekGirlsRule"
(like the Swine would know great literature if it bit them in the ass...)
"It's not a game, it's a Rorschach Blot" -MarkW
"the game is so schizophrenic about whether the main deal is inter-sibling conflict or exploration"
"in play, it's never been anything but a total disaster" -MarkW
"Amber is a real transitional design that doesn't necessarily have all the tools to play like its designer wanted" -Komradebob
And finally, some choice quotes from the primary instigator of this hate-fest:
"Under no circumstances should anyone actually play Amber Diceless. Not in this day and age."
"So, deep flaws? Yeah, there really are. Has the cutting edge moved away? Yeah"
"The conflict resolution really boils down to GM fiat."
"the game never really provided a complete framework for play. Is it that another game does better what does this one tried to do? Not really, but knowing what we know now it wouldn't be hard." -Marhault
I won't bother to respond to most of these absurd allegations, I've done more than enough responding to that sort of thing in the actual Amber forums; but to all of these (and particularly to mister "it wouldn't be hard to do it better" Marhault) I'd respond that not only have none of the people commenting above ever created an RPG that came even close to being as successful and enduring as Amber, but NO ONE in the entire fucking "storygames/forge" movement have ever managed to do so, and this is likely the source of their hatred.
In the interest of fairness, I'll note that there was a minority of voices on that thread that were speaking up for Amber, including Levi Kornelsen in his usual somewhat wimpy and non-committal way, and TonyLB who seems to sincerely love Amber (and gets that the very core of the game is that its about a big dysfunctional family conflict), and right now ought to be questioning his rabid commitment to the whole "storygames" scene, if he had any sense in his head.
Anyways, meanwhile my own Amber game is developing into that total "sweet spot" where the players are starting, slowly, to form into cabals of rivalries and alliances. On the one side, you have Caine's two sons, and Ewan (a mysterious amberite who may or may not be the son of Eric), and on the other you have the daughter of Bleys, the son of Benedict, and Drake (an Amberite who has no idea who his parent is). These alliances are, as is usual in Amber, not entirely by choice but more by the weight of circumstance and the meddling of Elders (in Drake and Caine's sons case, Drake was essentially forced by Flora into a position where he's now obliged to be their enemy, and by default will need Benedict's son as an ally. And of course, these alliances have their own internal problems; Caine's kids are increasingly squabbling with each other over, for example.
A spectacular time is being had by all.
RPGPundit
Currently Smoking: Blatter freehand rhodesian + Germain's Special Latakia Flake
Comments (3)
You definitely can say Ewan and Maximo along with Julian and Gerard could be considered a cabal. Not sure if i agree on the other side, though they have no quarrel, they dont seem to agree on everything or even deal with the same things. Basically, they just havent fought about anything yet.
However Starton is not part of that cabal, since Ewan appeared he has not talked with his brother, Gerard or anyone. He has slowly started to get away from the Julian, Ewan, Maximo and Gerard cabal. It started on a specific day for a specific set of reasons i wont mention on public blog but lets give the hint that it happened before you went to Canada. :)
If i had to say on whose side Starton is, i would say Random's side for 2 reasons. First, Random is the best representation of order in this crazy world he hates and second, he is one of the few he empathizes with (though now Starton found Merlin with whom he empathizes even more, will see how that goes). Just like in the opposite direction Starton envisions redheads as the embodiment of everything wrong with Amber (his adversion to even be near Fiona or Diana). Though granted at the very moment his lust for revenge has gained ground and is seeing eye to eye with Cain's point of view on the means to be employed to get what you want, in my case, what needs to be done to protect Amber even from internal enemies.
That's an interesting point, Marcos. Remember that Caine, for all his faults and questionable methods, was remembered as also being absolutely loyal to Amber. It sounds like your point of view is already identical to your character's father, and perhaps now your methods are slowly starting to resemble his. You may be starting to realize your father's wisdom.
By the way, something I forgot regarding the email I sent you: before you get too discouraged, I should note that Caine in the context of the elder amberites was in a very similar position to where you are in the context of your generation. Caine was by far not the best at combat, or magic. He had nothing statistically going for him as far as an overhwhelming advantage. In fact, in that context you're starting from a stronger position than your dad. The point is that Caine managed to be one of the truly major players of his generation, and not because he was either the best combat hog or the best power-monger.
I just disagree so much with so many of those statements, its hard to find a starting spot.
I always thought Amber taught me a ton about intrigue, running a game, and keeping things moving as a GM. Its simply one of the best games I've ever played.