Amber Diceless RPG

Amber Diceless
RPG published by Phage Press 1991 Diceless By Design ?2009?
Authors	Erick Wujcik
First Publication	1991

Amber Diceless Roleplaying is considered the granddaddy of diceless RPGs, even if it wasn't the first, and even if the mechanics were never re-used again. Really, I don't know why people think of Amber first when they think diceless; must be a marketing thing.

The book is page after page about character generation, a chapter about setting, and like three sentences on conflict resolution.

It's all based on Roger Zelazny's "Chronicles of Amber," where everyone is immortal and have reality-hoppng solipsist powers like the Post Bros. Everyone is also related to each other; your worst enemies are probably your aunts, uncles and parents, or maybe it only LOOKS like they're trying to kill you so that they can secretly help you when your REAL enemy tries to take you out... but that's just what they WANT you to think! The Amber family makes Eldrad and Creed look like amateurs because those guys have only had a single lifetime to learn how to be total dicks.

No one actually runs the game as described in the book, but it has good DM advice, and the rules are often used as a foundation, to be tinkered with.

Character Creation

Characters have four stats:

• Psyche for telepathy and magic (EVERYBODY uses magic and has psionics, so it's the most important)
• Strength for lifting carrying, and hand-to-hand (this is what makes fights deadly, so it's the most important)
• Endurance for how long you can last (and this fuels any other endeavor, so it's the most important)
• Warfare for any kind of fighting, whether it be swords or guns or army tactics (and since this is used when you get into fights, this stat is the most important)

Yes, I see what I did there, but that's the way it's described in the book. I'm not kidding.

Going through each stat, the players bid points to auction who will be the best in that category. This is important because if another player has a better Warfare/Strength/Psyche, they will always win against you in a fair fight, doesn't matter if she bid just one point more. Any points left over can be spent on getting powers like Pattern (hopping to different universes), Logrus (like Pattern, but you pull bits of other universes to you), Shape-shifting (includes mind-shifting), Trump Artistry (magic tarot/cell phone cards), and Sorcery, in a few different forms, with most having associated "basic" and "advanced" packages. They are all fairly powerful and fucking expensive, so it's a good idea to try to have enough points left over after the auction to actually buy them.

For any of these stats, you can get more points to spend later by taking a less-than-immortal rank in them, but that guarantees that you are completely fucked because people will pick on that stat every goddamn time.

Equipment: anything. If you have Pattern, you just go to a universe that has what you want, and take/buy/earn/build it. If you have Logrus, you just send out a tendril and pull it back to you. The universe you're in may have different laws of physics (ie.: gunpowder doesn't work the way you expect at Castle Amber, which is why everyone learns swords).

Skills: anything. You're immortal, so it's nothing to hop to a universe of slow-time and spend 15 years to get a Ph.D. Every one in the Amber family is a surgeon by this method because it's too useful. The only limit is how bored your character would get studying.

Conflict resolution

Always comes down to comparing one stat against another. If you have the higher stat, you will win; maybe not quickly, but eventually. That's the diceless part -- thanks for showing up. If you're dealing with one of the older NPC Amberites, like the characters from the actual novels, you can pretty much assume they are better than you at everything. This is why it's very important for player characters to make sure they never get into fair fights.

Links

• RPG Site the official forum and Wujick memorial
• Ambercons They have conventions for this?
• A fucktonne of links about the Amber game and books