:: Zelazny :: [polish] :: sparks that fly from the ironsmith's hammer ::
::. Friday, August 22 .::
WISH 61: Characters for Other People:
Come up with a character concept for one to three other gamers you know. System, genre, stats (if you even bother with stats) up to you. How did the gamer(s) influence the concept(s) you came up with? Would you play the character(s) you came up with yourself?
Hmm. The questions are getting tricksey, they are.
Well, this hasn't really happened before--and that's saying something. I've been in the online community for several years now, and have a better feel for some of the Players behind the screens. Yet, I don't design Characters for Players--I want them to do that.
Here goes:
I'd love to see Jvstin pick up and play a Rebman man of destiny. For too short a time, Jvstin portrayed just such a very dynamic part in a game that had to close (Thy Kingdom Come.) Watching him run a man from a woman's world was interesting--and the noble hero is something that suits the Player very well--and is also rare in Amber gaming. I think a combination of undersea magics and political prowess would be a nifty combination with a dash of warfare. I think the reason I suggest this combo first is because Jvstin really kept surprising me (and perhaps himself) with the intensity that Laertes was capable of.
Could I play that character? Not sure, I immediately think of women when I think of Rebma, but I'd give it a go.
Next, I think I'd ask Meera to play Harla, the most forgotten queen of Amber. Harla, the enigma. Harla, the woman who walked out on Oberon. Harla, who disappeared into shadow never to be seen again. Why? Because I think that I'd ask Meera to play her as the most incredible and tantalizing person--full of contradictions--attractive, elegant, gutsy, and always a bit more intense than you knew she could be.
Because I think Meera could do that, and convince me that Oberon really wanted that woman, and then explore why he couldn't keep her. Could I play that woman? No, don' t think so.
Finally, warming to the subject, I'd try something completely off-the-wall, and ask Kindred to play an important pivotal figure from the Empire of the Gleaming Banner. There is civil war brewing in the Empire with the confused succession--and since Chris usually GMs, has a feel for intrigue, and can do panache--I'd love to see him go full out on a guy from Darrheabarr.
Could I play that? Sure. But it's my game and it wouldn't be nearly as much fun as having a PC do it. And Kindred has said many times that he wants to play in one of my games.
--- Randal Trimmer wrote:
> How did the Mirrorverse work out for you? In a First Series based game
> access to the MV could be terribly unbalancing if closely held. Not so
> much in a game with Pattern and Logrus Shadow Editing.
Recent Eternal City in-game conversation between two experts in primal powers: "So the mirrorverse is connected to us how in your estimate?"
"An unnatural buffer. I believe it only exists at those places where Shadow is held from its normal relationship with Undershadow."
"Places such as...?"
"Well, the Courts and Amber, for instance. Ordinary shadow would not support the stress."
"Ah, protected Realities, not anchored to Undershadow."
"Yes, in floating atop Undershadow there is arcane pressure. My idea is a 'slippery' layer of strange quality is created between Shadow and Undershadow. In this layer, a compressed state of dimension exists, compressed in many senses, such that ordinary energy states are forced into odd conflicting relationships."
"..."
"Well, its a theory anyway. We need someone to test it."
"Who were you thinking of?"
"Some younger. We pop someone through a mirror and see if we can track them this time. Let them bang about and see what we make of the results."
Well, fifteen year old niece is gone back to Portland, Oregon. Visit seemed to go so quickly. I suspect we will do this again next year for two weeks instead of one.
Still happy.
IMC :: Shroudlings Introduced another teenager to Amber this week.
And since handing out 'niche' spots is always fun, Castle Amber had the strange arrival of Lady Quiet, rescued from a blackened version of Castle Amber accessed through a trapped mirror in the castle library. Lady Quiet has a secret connection to the Royal Family that might be yet uncovered--and she is a Shroudling.
Exactly what Roger Zelazny would have revealed about the Shroudlings is pure guesswork, but IMC, they are a proud and ancient race, scattered remnants of the civilization preceeding the Courts of Chaos. The universe of the Shroudlings has not existed for nearly half a million years. The Shroudlings have Bad Stuff. Their time in Reality is done and the universe is built without regard for them. Unlike the elves of Middle-earth, the Shroudlings have no place to go.
There are no ships waiting to take them to the western shore.
They are most comfortable drawing power from the odd energies of the mirrorverse where some few things from their own time remain.
They are a lost people.
Dwindling.
AmberCon North 2003 the game selections are up :: go choose!
The selections at ACN are thin. This isn't a banner year, but I assure you all that Toronto is fun and worth the trip all by itself.
IMC :: Patternwalk Pattern is usually harder each time you walk it--but this is specific to the individual. Every Royal doesn't walk the same resistance as Corwin.
Yep, Pattern is a self-adjusting workout machine. And if your concentration is a tiny bit out of adjustment, or you haven't rested enough before you try it... you burn to cinders. Now that's a dramatic challenge.
[update] This does mean that the more you walk it, the harder it gets. So Endurance mavens and Advanced Pattern types have a harder time, since those are the folks that have usually walked it more than anyone else.
