Ambercon 2008 Game Book Slot 7
Game Types
AA (Alternate Amber) - It's Amber...sort of (i.e. Ambermaniacs).
EL (Elders) - Characters will be Elder Amberites from the books.
FF (Freeform) - A game run in near real time, does not have 'traditional' game structure.
KF (Kid Friendly) - Game is appropriate for younger players.
NA (Non-Amber Game) - Game does not take place in the Amber universe and is completely unrelated to Amber.
NC (New Campaign) - The start of a new game that will continue at future conventions, usually with the same players.
OC (Ongoing Campaign) - A continuing campaign played from year to year, usually with the same players.
SM (Seminar) - Event is a discussion of a specific topic, not a game.
SR (Series) - A series of separate, self-contained adventures, set in the same universe, often with different players.
SW (Shared World) - Characters are from existing or defunct campaigns but their histories are modified so that they are all part of the same universe and are usually familiar with each other.
TW (Throne War) - Everyone tries to kill each other or form alliances to attain a goal.
UC (Unique Characters) - Characters are created specifically for this game world, as opposed to being from existing or defunct campaigns.
XO (Crossover) - Characters are from existing or defunct campaigns and arrive from different universes with their history intact.
7-016: Aurellis (AA SR, 3-8 Players)
Description: Continuing adventures in the universe of the FBI Special Operations section, the British Regiment of the Keys, and parallel dimensions of worlds, where strange civilisations seem to think that Earth is either a resource or an opportunity for gain.
Mechanics/Restrictions: Existing characters are always welcome to return - new characters start on modern day Earth, somehow connected with either FBI or British army special operations, and characters are generated prior to the Con using a quiz I will send out.
This game will be different to the ones run in other slots. Players are welcome to sign up for one, some or all of them.
Players must have e-mail access.
Character Generation: Before Con
Play Level:
GM(s): Tim Hart
7-008: Candidate Day (AA UC, 2-6 Players)
Description: Today is a day of rest and reflection for many in Amber City. For the youngsters aspiring to the craft-guilds, it's a day of excitement, anticipation and in some instances despair. By then end of the day the Masters will have chosen their apprentices for the coming year. Fortunately you are not one of those.
Today is important because it marks the day that the Warden of Arden accepts new candidates for his Rangers. He does not limit the challenge to those adolescents vying for guild apprenticeship, but allows any citizen of Amber that's reached their majority to prove their worth.
They say that the test changes each Candidate Day and that he has never accepted more than a handful of recruits. Current rumors say that this year's challenge is the simplest in decades. How hard could it be to collect some back taxes from a hermit living a few hours ride into the great wood?
Mechanics/Restrictions: Cooperative more than competitive, something light and fun to start wrapping up the weekend.
Attributes can be bought down to Chaos rank. Characters submitted before the con will receive a character boon for use in the session.
Character Generation: Before Con based on 25 points
Play Level: Beginner
GM(s): Kris Kunkel, Tara Kunkel
7-036: The Enigma Society Diet (NA SR, 4-6 Players) CLOSED
Description: It is said that those who do not learn from history, are bound to repeat it. But what is to be done when those very same people will spare no expense to drag the horrors of the past, into the light of the present. Civilization as we know it, hangs in the balance. From the four corners of the earth they are gathered...their methods may be extreme...their pasts may be shrouded in secrecy...their lives enmeshed in scandal...but will they be able to stand before these tyrants, and survive? Once again, it is up to a group of remarkable individuals to try to set things right. Previous players (and characters) are welcomed to return, as well as new players.
Mechanics/Restrictions: Characters are historical or fictional personalities (examples: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Sherlock Holmes), which were alive around 1894 and would be initially willing to offer their services (their motives and actions may be suspect, though). This is not intended to be a very historically accurate game; the truth can be stretched for dramatic effect, therefore almost any person is possible (with a few exceptions). Please contact me with your character ideas.
Players must have e-mail access.
Character Generation: Before Con based on 0 points
Play Level: Any
GM(s): Jack Schleick
7-024: Force 10 from Avalon: "The Eregnor Sanction" (SR UC, 3-9 Players) CLOSED
Description: Brigands, outlaws, and renegades led by the rebel Dalt strike from a hidden fortress in Eregnor, the Begma-Kashfa frontier. With the stability of the Golden Circle threatened; Amber has vowed to restore order in the region.
General Benedict has assigned you, his finest troops, to this mission: neutralize or capture the enemy force and its leader.
Mechanics/Restrictions: PCs are non-Amberites/Chaosians. Characters are exceptional Shadow dwellers serving Benedict. Contact the GM for character creation guidelines. Characters are to be created and submitted before Ambercon.
Despite the title, this NOT a silly game. Think "The Black Company meets Sharpe's Rifles on the set of EXCALIBUR."
New and returning players welcome!
Players must have e-mail access.
Character Generation: Before Con based on 100 points
Play Level: Any
GM(s): Kit Kindred
7-047: The Gift (NA, 4-7 Players) CLOSED
Description: "Are you familiar with the writings of Shan Yu? No? Then let me introduce him to you."
You've been working the rim for a few years now, but pickings have never been so slim as this. You've finally reached the point where a job, any job, is the only thing between flying and not. It so happens that you are in range of Adelai Niska's Skyplex, and he has a job for you: deliver a gift to a wedding. It sounds simple, but these things are never so clean cut.
Mechanics/Restrictions: Players are *not* the Serenity crew, but a whole 'nother Firefly crew with their own sets of problems and joys, foibles and skills. Players will make new characters using GM's system, similar to Amber, before the convention.
Players must have e-mail access.
Notes: may run long
Character Generation: Before Con
Play Level: Advanced
GM(s): Kristen Schleick
7-066: Mazes and Monsters in the Dreaming City (NA, 3-6 Players) CLOSED
Description: The Dreaming City can be a rough place, however it is not without laws. Located in Faerie, the city of Murias is subject to a lot of unwritten laws that the police don't need to enforce. Reality does it well enough. One of the greatest laws of Faerie is, "Keep your promises." Bad things happen to people who break their promises. So, your not sure what ever made you think it was OK to promise Buck, the dog-faced Pookah, that you'd play in his Mazes and Monsters roleplaying game...but you and several of the roughest and toughest demon-hunters in the Dreaming City are about to sit down with Buck and his friends...and roll dice. At least its not as dangerous as the situations knowing Buck and his friends has gotten you into in the past...or is it? You better have your +2 knife of Ogre-slaying ready!
Mechanics/Restrictions: Characters are built on 120 pts using the Dreaming City Roleplaying System found here: http://www.geocities.com/nuadha_silverhand/dreamingcity/index.htm. Returning players will have additional points to spend on their characters. Pregenerated "Mazes and Monsters" characters will be provided by Buck.
Players must have e-mail access.
Character Generation: Before Con based on 120 points
Play Level: Any
GM(s): James Arnoldi
7-051: Nine Princes in Shadow: The Glory of Bleys (SR UC, 3-9 Players)
Description: If you were a prince of Amber, and could seek any world out of an infinity of Shadows, where would you go? Long ago, each prince of Amber used the Pattern to traverse the myriad Shadow worlds, eventually coming to a place of his desire that matched what was central to his personality and character. Some came to rule, some came to serve, some came for adventure, some came to escape, but each eventually found a world that he could call...home.
This is the fifth of a series of adventures set in the Shadow worlds sought long ago by the princes of Amber, each one a reflection of the ideals and aspirations of the prince who imagined it into existence. Players in "Nine Princes in Shadow" series play denizens of a Shadow world that at one time or another was visited for an extended period of time by a prince of Amber. Each adventure is separate from the others in the series, and you do not need to have played in other installments to sign up for this event.
On the peace-loving world of Avernus, an ancient prophecy foretold the day when the great god Bleys would come and lead the faithful in one last glorious battle against his brother-gods, a battle that none would survive. But what do you do on the day the prophecy comes true?
Mechanics/Restrictions: Characters are to be created by e-mail prior to the Con. Information for character creation is found at http://www.freewebs.com/9princesinshadow/.
Players must have e-mail access.
Character Generation: Before Con based on 0 points
Play Level: Intermediate
GM(s): Mike Manolakes
7-064: The Renegado: Issue #0 Ashcan Edition (NA UC, 3-6 Players)
Description: A Four Colors Al Fresco Game.
To quote the creators: "Four Colors al Fresco is a roleplaying game of pulp-style adventure, set in an alternate Renaissance. The setting is Renaissance Italy -- as it might have been. Had there been fantastic, pre-industrial advanced technologies in the hands of a few. Had the Black Death never come. Had reality been governed by mystical Forces instead of scientific laws. Had there been maniacal geniuses constantly plotting to take over the world. And, most importantly, had there been superheroes to thwart them."
Come try a new superhero game with a truly unconventional style. The characters will be pure Renaissance drama (disguised princes, cross-dressing ladies, and foolish knaves), but the plot will unfold with pulp-level super powers (think Green Hornet rather than Green Lantern). I will partially pregen the characters, and then let you do the finishing touches. I'm planning a player-centric romp with about as much authenticity as a Renaissance Fair. Huzzah!
Mechanics/Restrictions: Go to the website and read the game rules with the understanding that I will tend to ignore anything I find cumbersome, or relies too heavily on random modifiers: http://www.tiltingatwindmills.net/alfresco/
E-mail me if you have any questions: rachel.holmberg@mail.wvu.edu
Character Generation: Pregenerated
Play Level: Intermediate
GM(s): Rachel Holmberg
7-013: Riddles in the Attic (AA KF UC, 3-6 Players) CLOSED
Description: Your family is less than ordinary. Your parents, your aunts and uncles are all among the beautiful people. Well-to-do, dashing, daring, long lived and quick witted. Nobility even, though so far from Her Majesty's throne that it's not worth counting the line ahead of you. Of course, Great Uncle Bleys says, you don't want that one anyhow. But it's no time for silly, cryptic jokes. The year is 1942 and the world has descended into war again. This time the trouble has crossed the sea and planes pound the cities. Father is off to war and Mother has decided that you are going to Grandma Fiona's. A holiday in the country, she calls it, but lovely as Grandma might still be, she is a bitter old woman, made so, they say, when her youngest daughter vanished from a locked and secure house. Coincidentally, that was also when the family fortunes soured...along with the whole of the world's it seems.
A generation later the mystery has never been solved and the family has scattered, venturing into the cities and leaving the old manor, its memories, and its secrets, to gather dust.
Character Generation: Set in WWII England, PCs are the grandchildren (or even great grandchildren) of Fiona, Bleys, Gerard or Flora, age 5 - 13 yrs. Based on 80pts, create the Amberte you ideally see your child growing up to be. No Pattern, Logrus or Artifacts in play.
Restrictions: Players must have e-mail access.
Character Generation: Before Con based on 80 points
Play Level: Any
GM(s): Bridgette Ruggles
7-034: The Roaring Ripples (SW, 3-6 Players) CLOSED
Description: A new foe has attacked Amber, and that attack is echoed alarmingly throughout Shadow. It is all Oberon's children can do to defend Amber and the Golden Circle; it falls to the younger generation to defend Amber's interests in Shadow, and try to track down the source of these new enemies.
Mechanics/Restrictions: Post-Merlin books. No Shadowknight, no exalted powers. If players provide information on a favorite Shadow before the Con, I will do my best to work it into the game.
Character Generation: Before Con based on 100 points
Play Level: Any
GM(s): Sol Foster
7-029: Tales from the Banzai Archive: Buck Needs You! (NA, 4-15 Players)
Description: Attention all Blue Blaze Irregulars! Attention All Members of the Banzai Institute! Buckaroo Banzai needs you!
As you all know, Buck has been missing for some time now, but thanks to a recent Banzai Institute Operation (Ambercon 2007's "Boys from Springfield"), his whereabouts have been revealed. We need all of you in the vicinity to converge on Checkpoint Pierre at 19:00 Hours this evening! Anyone who arrives by then will be able to accompany the strike team to Buck's present location and help us get him back from the forces of 'Lotus', Hanoi Xan's daughter (presently in custody thanks to the earlier team's efforts).
A Thrilling sequel to last year's "Boys from Springfield" (and to a lesser extent the "The Screaming Jungle" using the Storycard System version 2 (updated for this year's game). Players from either game last year are welcome to bring their characters along and will be given experience awards. Knowledge of Buckaroo Banzai is a plus, not a requirement. Banzai Primers will be disbursed (with update inserts for folks who have them from either of last year's games).
Fair Notice: This adventure, will place an emphasis on combat. Players will receive the plans of the villa where Buck is being held in advance but should wait until gametime to discuss their plan.
Mechanics/Restrictions: The game will be run using the Storycard System, Version 2. The Storycard system debuted in Ambercon 2006 in "Demon Under Glass", was later refined in Ambercon 2007's Banzai games and "The Complex: Downtime" and has been further tweaked following input generously provided by those players. The Storycard rules will be provided to characters prior to Con by e-mail.
There will be a pool of pregenerated characters (largely stats, Players will be expected to breathe life upon them) selected on a first come/first served basis. Players who make arrangements in advance with the GM however may have input on specifics of their characters or even swap out the pregens for characters of their own design. Please keep in mind that all characters are from The Banzai Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Strategic Information and should be appropriate to that organization. Thus a Sweeny Todd or Punisher clone need not apply.
Players must have e-mail access.
Notes: Save Buck!
Character Generation: Pregenerated
Play Level: Beginner
GM(s): John Lees, David McCreless