AmberCon News :: ACN Now that ye humble GM has removed hisself as an obstacle--the games and player selections are out.
Apologies to all involved, especially Ian.
And welcome back to a crew of familiar faces who are gaming with me this year. Looking forward to it.
Sad news :: the RFL has been told by new boss--no time off in September--so it appears I will be traveling without my immoral support. Bleh!
itSoG Sometimes technology just quits for very good reasons. Comments here will be gone for a week, while a server is replaced. Sorta makes me realize I'm behind on getting this whole shebang off to another host. eTrump me if you have something you'd like to add here. I'm still listening to the carrier wave.
Note to self: Gotta find out if MaBarry has that blog domain ready to go.
IMC :: PC Romances By way of Jvstin, by way of House of Cards Log, by way of Tragic Glass...
The Eternal City has a tapestry of romances more or less woven through the campaign.
Much of the history of Amber revolves somewhat around intense relationships that are both romantic and romances. Dworkin and his Chaos House. Dworkin and the Unicorn. Oberon and Dworkin. Oberon and his search for powerful women of shadow to rule at his side.
Melinda :: who fell hard for Richmond, but was thrown harder into adventures and necessary escapes from the vengeance of Jasra. She had an unexpected affair with an uncle while she was out of her mind. Now one of the most desirable royals of her own young kingdom far from Amber.
Stargazer :: who married the woman that helped him from his earliest adventures, only to see her die years later in a counter-attack prompted by his own investigations into threats to Amber. Stargazer had his vengeance, but has never quite been the same man.
Owen :: a girl who grew up with fears of intimacy, and a visiting giant of a father who seemed to frighten her mum. She took her mother's path--that of gender equality to the exclusion of men. Years later, she found herself jealous of the attentions spent on a young gent of her acquaintance and shortly thereafter chased Kent Merton quickly to ground. She discovered her true powers through the eyes of men who loved her.
Cassandra :: who arrived in a small backward kingdom called Amber with no clue that it might have richness of emotion and character she had never experienced before. She campaigned for justice for the forsaken scions of Oberon and found her heart lost to Captain DeWinter.
Sebastian :: who found himself out of step with royal life, and so quickly established his charm with the 'good people' of Amber's town. Within months, he became engaged to an honest serving girl and a wedding was planned. A wedding he missed--leaving the girl at the alter. And then did so once again at a rescheduled date some months later. The girl was mortified and fled Amber under Florimel's wardship. The royal women of Amber were not amused.
Rhiannon :: who can't imagine a man as wonderful as her father, Julian, or brother, Shapir.
Jacynea :: who attracts proposals of marriage the way some folks do spring cleaning: annually.
Conflict Some folks don't game for conflict--and so 'diceless' gaming doesn't bother them at all.
There is that moment when conflict arrives. The classic, "what do you do next?" exchange between GM and Player.
Real life (unfortunately) trains us that these moments are the ones you will look back upon and say, "damn, I should have done that--or remembered this little thing--or realized that the whole thing was a ruse..." Life teaches us to regret conflict because there are more ways to do it wrong, than the brief moment to do everything right.
Well, I'm not sure. Writers understand---there isn't a nifty tale without conflict.
Dramatic actions flow from hard choices and missteps.
If everything works without conflict, something is really not right with the world.
Some Players are fine with that--but some want a tale's conflict to be visited on someone else, thank you.
They want to be "flawless" in a way unattainable in real life.
At the same time, if one Player is "hogging" the screen time by being the conflict magnet--the other Players aren't going to be thrilled. This is one of the criticisms of Good/Bad Stuff. Stuff is not a "get out of plot free" card. Bad Stuff is not a "get the most attention from the GM" wand.
I have two of my own PCs in conflict right now. The reactions are very different.
One sits back and watches over her steepled fingertips while others spin their wheels.
One is frightened and so outclassed that she may die, or perhaps worse, end her political futures before they have begun---even to imprisonment, exile, or other dark results.
Both situations are fun. Yes, fun. Either situation could overturn at a flick of fate and become much more dangerous than they already are.
But such is life.
Conflict.
My POV includes gaming with strangers, virtual acquaintences, relatives, children, friends, and lovers. That list doesn't all get the same level of gaming from me.
I don't make friends easily--I don't expect to--and I don't have the grace to maintain good friends--so my gaming is social in the scale of "community".
I don't like everyone in my town- but I do live there.
I also game there.
