Wastelands Characters
Powers and Skills
Progression
Creating a Character
Sample character
Enclaves Characters
List of Characters
Players
Ask Not of Amber will be an unusual type of Amber game in that it will be essentially freeform.
In addition, combat skills and bravery are not the most important skills a character can possess - although they are pretty important in the Wastelands. Still, we would like to see characters that character are manipulative and entertaining, not to mention sometimes - if not invariably - willing to put his or her own desires and needs before those of his or her fellows or the common good.
In the Wastelands, we're not always rooting unreservedly for the characters to succeed. They are often selfish, greedy, or overconfident. Sometimes they may thwart or humiliate supporting characters even worse than themselves; sometimes they will fail,and must flee town ahead of an angry mob. What matters is not victory or defeat, but how well the story entertains.
However, to balance that, you won't be able to create (or enter the game later) with higher warfare than Benedict, better sorcery than Fiona and stronger than Gerard. Characters will be comparatively young, inexperienced and powerless when they enter the game. In the Wastelands, however, they will be pretty tough.
They can choose three skills - things they will be much better than average at - and this will determine their focus. The primary skill is what they are awesomely good at, the secondary is what you're very good at, the tertiary is something that you just do a lot better than average.
For example - Bill chooses to be an awesomely good fencer, a very good pickpocket, and a better than average balladeer.
Once these are chosen, players can discuss with the GM exactly what this will entail for their character. Bill, for example, will learn that his singing may get him a warm place to sleep in a tavern (but not the best room), while his pickpocketing skills will allow him to make a handy profit on market day - (but would not be good to use against that sorcerer selling some rather strange looking roots on the corner stall), and his fencing skills will allow him to defeat virtually everyone in this flea-bitten town (although he may be wise to avoid the cloaked and hooded stranger in the corner who is watching him with narrowed and oddly piercing eyes from within the darkness of his hood).
Players will also choose a single disadvantage. This will also give definition and colour to characters. Please avoid the obvious - we are expecting characters to be proud, haughty, arrogant. Also avoid the "Well, I think it's a disadvantage" sort of attribute - e.g. modesty, kind-heartedness etc. We are talking things that will really make your character stand out here - for example, being tone deaf, and yet being determined to sing on every possible occasion. A fear of water. A horror of spiders. A tendency to burst into tears whenever enraged.
Players can, of course, have more than one disadvantage. Anyone who wishes to possess three really grim disadvantages, rather than the standard one, will achieve an extra skill to be significantly better than average at.
At the same time, don't waste your skills on skills that you may not be able to write up to. I'm expecting players to be witty, charming, and relatively erudite. They should be demonstrating this through their writing - not insisting that they win an argument through their allocation of attributes.
One of the things this may lead to is negotiation between players (which can be more common in freeform games. This we encourage, as long as the GM is copied in.
You should consider a Wastelander if you like swinging a sword and being the 'wild barbarian type'...think Zardoz, Mad Max, etc. Wastelanders can go to Cyberia, and to the Enclaves to RP too, they are not confied to just the Wastelands.
Players get up to three powers to develop....
First, and mandatory, is Mutation - the physiological and pseudonatural evolution to try to adapt to the hostile Wastelands. Examples of Mutation are: Extra Eye (with special vision type), Rampant Musculature, Duplicate Organs, Leapfrog Legs, Dense Bones, Patagia, etc.
You should choose five different mutations that you will be able to use (these are the equivalent of elementals for Enclaves characters).
Second is Storm Riding - the ability to carve a path through shadow by summoning shadow storms.
The Last is Shaping - the ability to alter your environment slowly...it is through this power that Storm Lords can provide safe shelters for their followers...and why they are so valued by those who flock to them.
There will be two ways that characters can progress.
Firstly, there will be progression points.
This will be awarded periodically (probably every six months) for various reasons. Staying with the game will gain a basic level, but regular posting will gain a higher level - as long as the posting is of a good level (see Posting Guidelines). Inventiveness, consistency of character, interaction with other players, general good demeanour (such as a willingness to work with new players and support them etc).
Progression points can be spent on improving existing skills, purchasing new skills (their cost will be determined by the GM - a new Shadow language might cost one point, a very complex language two, or alternatively, the ability to learn languages swiftly and easily might cost five (with a little requisite role playing being done whenever you want to acquire a new language).
Additionally, you can purchase new mutations.
If you wish to join the Enclaves (or even visit on a long term basis, you might want to start investing in acquiring elements, or creating an personal elemental core. See Elementals for more details.
Note that Wastelanders cannot have Enclave elementals at the start of the game. They will have to earn them. The same would be true of an Enlclave character going into the Wastelanders. GMs may be prepared to discuss crossover characters however.
Secondly there will be fortune points.
Here, characters will be rewarded for making the game entertaining, for outstandingly good one-off posts, and for periodically reminding everyone of the style to which they should aspire.
There will also be a possibility of gaining fortune points for tag-lines. These can be as short as a single line of witty, pithy dialogue. We've all read posts that have made us gasp with their audacity, or laugh aloud at a put-down. In the Wastelands, this can be rewarded.
Fortune Points, therefore, will be awarded as a one-off (and should generally be expended in the same way). They can have financial value - a character might use a fortune point as a bag of gold, to purchase a new horse, a rather fine weapon, a jewel to wear (or to impress a Lady).
Alternatively, these fortune points can be spent in getting your character out of a tight spot ... a sudden quick burst of a fire elemental in a dark cave, for example. This is the only time Wastelanders would have access to elementals - unless they were earned and paid for (and outlined above), and these can be used only as a one-off - once the elemental has been used, you would need to spend another fortune point to use it again.
However, the advantage of fortune points is that you can use them to 'buy' a whole element, and you can 'buy' at point of need - you don't have to have it racked in advance. You do need to have the agreement of the GM, though - who might permit a fortune point to be spent on a brilliant burst of light that dazzles and confounds your enemies, but who draw the line at your using a single fortune point to send out a fireball that destroys an entire army.
Creating a character is very simple. You need to fill in the character sheet below (a text version of it is available here) and send it to me.
Some points to note:
1. Wasteland Players will all have Blood of Amber or Chaos. No non-Amberites.
2. You cannot choose your parent/progenitor. You can choose your hair colour ... but in this game, that will be no guarantee of who your parent is.
3. At the start, it is quite likely you will not know any of the other characters. You will, however, meet them fairly soon. This will be a game that will allow for considerable interaction between players. You will rarely be in one-to-one threads with the GM after the game has started.
4. In the creation process, you may be asked to make considerable changes to your character's background. Be prepared for this - in the long run it will:
a) make sense
b) be worthwhile
5. Most characters will start fairly powerless. Be prepared for that. It's intended that characters in this game should learn and grow over time. And it is intended that there will be plenty of time to learn and grow ...
Character SheetNAME:
AGE:
SHADOW OF ORIGIN:
SEX:
HEIGHT:
WEIGHT:
HAIR:
EYES:
APPEARANCE:
BACKGROUND/HISTORY/ETC:
(Be warned - this section is especially up for discussion with the GM).
SKILLS:
Primary:
Secondary:
Tertiary:
MUTATIONS:
(Give name and description)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
DISADVANTAGE:
HOPES AND FEARS:
EQUIPMENT:
***************
DEFINITIONS:
NAME: Just a name. Pick one you like.
AGE: You have to be at least 16. You will be young for an Amberite - no older than 40.
SHADOW OF ORIGIN: You can create a "Home Shadow" of your liking ... 'liking', of course, being a somewhat qualified term in the Wastelands
SEX: Male or female, basically. Your choice. If you want to cross gender, you should have a really good reason for it. The Enclaves is not really a place for harridans claiming their rights as women are not recognised.
HEIGHT: Within reason.
WEIGHT: Within reason.
HAIR: Color and style, please.
EYES: Color and, if you want to comment on it, shape and size.
APPEARANCE: What your character looks like - attractive, or with a limp, a scar on the left cheek etc. You might also want to describe the clothes your characters wears if they further a certain style. The more vivd the better. We could also add, the more extravagant, the better.
BACKGROUND/HISTORY/ETC: Anything you'd like to tell us about your character and where he/she came from. It's nice if you start by stating a keyword for your PC - like "smuggler", "prince" or "dancer", for instance. Remember, the GM might, in discussion, ask you to change some of this. Please be prepared to be flexible.
SKILLS: You get to pick three skills that you are much better than average at. This is mainly so that the moderators can see what your PC is aiming at. The primary skill is what you are awesomely good at, the secondary is what you're very good at, the tertiary is something that you just do a lot better than average.
This is one of the things that define a PC from an NPC - the PCs are tougher and better than the "ordinary" person. But if you don't like to play it that way, you can always give your PC odd skills, like cartoon-drawing or keyring-collecting. Good skills can (but doesn't have to) be: Navigation, Engineering, Diplomacy, Gunplay, Quickdraw, Swordplay, Martial Arts, Sniper, Acrobatics, Multilingual, Playing Cards, Archaeology, Psychology, Driving, Cooking, Business Economy...and just about anything else.
MUTATIONS: These are the five shapeshifting elements that you
possess when the game begins. You may expand on them later. They are the
physiological and pseudonatural evolution to try to adapt to the hostile
Wastelands. Examples of Mutation are: Extra Eye (with special vision type),
Rampant Musculature, Duplicate Organs, Leapfrog Legs, Dense Bones, Patagia,
etc.
DISADVANTAGE: We want to encourage PCs that aren't altogether perfect. Therefore, please pick a disadvantage. If you like, your PC can of course have more than one (after all, most real people have) but you only need to pick one here. Disadvantages can be things like: Short temper, drinks too much, limps, has back pains, can't read and write, morose, absent-minded, coward, can't trust people, is terribly ugly, or just about anything else you can think of.
HOPES AND FEARS: This is where you tell us what motivates your character. Is it starry-eyed idealism? Is it greed for money, or possessions? Do you want folks to laugh or cry at you character - or be appalled - or terrified? Do you hope to be known for your rapier wit, or hated as a bullying thug? Where do you want your character to be at the end of the game? Monarch of all s/he surveys? Finding true love?
You can also add in any game preferences you have here - such as frequent posts, interaction with other players (as opposed to one-to-one posts with the GM). This will allow us to see which area of the game you might prefer.
And conversely, what do you want to avoid? Perhaps you hate a certain style of game …
We know that we can't please everyone - and we're not even going to try
to. But hopefully this will ensure the best possible game for our players.
EQUIPMENT: What does your character own? A little freighter perhaps? A cottage? Or just a backpack and some gum? If you can motivate why your character has something, it's ok. The GM will tell you if you've overdone it. A good player can have as much fun with 'robes and stuff' as with a full set of cybernetic implants (if you want cybernetic implants, by the way, you'll be happier playing in the Cyberia area of this game, rather than the Enclaves),
