Amber

[Jon]

So I decided I want to run an Amber game. The question is "which system do I use?" So I'm asking for suggestions.

The game is based off the first five novels. So if you're familiar with the Amber Diceless system, what's most important is gonna be Pattern and Trump. Sorcery and such are less important.

Here's what I've already decided:

No diceless.
No d20.
No Exalted-type ruleset until I've had a chance to run Exalted or (which is more likely) play in several Exalted sessions.

Here's what I've got:
BESM 3rd edition: Looks like they've improved things over 2nd edition. They've taken some stuff from Tristat DX, but I don't think it's enough to make it a trainwreck.
Spirit of the Century: I've not yet played this system. But it looks incredibly awesome. It's also focused towards pulp adventure, which is not the genre I'm aiming for.
Hero System: Looking through the book, I think Amber Hero is entirely plausible. I also have no idea how this system works and I'm assured it's complicated.

And a handful of games that seem pretty tied into settings or genres: L5R 3rd, Weapons of the Gods, In Nomine, and so on.

So, please suggest rule systems!.

I'm not sure how many players I'm gonna allow. This is going to be on IRC, which means we have to all be able to be in the same place at the same time. I've already got three players lined up: breisleach, Brian, and Corwin. I'm pretty sure I won't allow more than three or four more on top of that.

Premise:
This world is not all there is. What speculative fiction authors call 'parallel universes' and what some mystics call 'shadows' exist alongside of this world, an infinity of possibilities stretching between the ever-shifting Courts of Chaos and the True City, Amber.

But you don't know anything about that. You are a student at insert snooty high school name here in insert country here. As far as you know, you're just an ordinary person. Albeit a highly skilled ordinary person at the peak of physical condition.

Funny thing, though. A couple of times in the past few weeks you've had an unexplained feeling that you were being watched. Nothing came of it, so you probably dismissed the idea. Until now.

Cause now it's kind of hard to ignore, what with what's happening to your campus. These monsters rampaging through it, for instance. And this weird guy who claims he's your relative.

Unbeknownst to you, you're a child of one of the Elder Amberites. Which one will be decided by me, and you (the player) won't know at start. You might never know. But you're welcome to make suggestions!

[Dracos]

As obvious, I'm interested in a slot.  I'm familiar with hero and read BESM 3rd ed.  Also with exalted.  Not yet with the rest of them.  Not familiar with amber, yet.  Corwin's fixin' dat.

Would we be students at the same school?  Knowing each other priorly?

Dracos

[Jon]

As obvious, I'm interested in a slot.  I'm familiar with hero and read BESM 3rd ed.  Also with exalted.  Not yet with the rest of them.  Not familiar with amber, yet.  Corwin's fixin' dat.

Any suggestions?

Would we be students at the same school?  Knowing each other priorly?

Dracos

Same school, yes. Knowing each other, maybe, depends on your characters. You'd probably know each other to say "hi" to; someone with Amber blood in his veins isn't the type to go unnoticed. But whether you know each other more than that is largely up to you, I think.

[Dracos]

What I know is always a suggestion! =D  I'm more up for BESM since its new to me, but hero rocks.

Dracos

[Brian]

I'm interested in playing. :3  I would also be interested in learning BESM, but I don't know that we should make this game be a test vehicle for it.  I'm always down with HERO, though, so....  :)

[Jon]

I am not yet dead!

Okay. BESM 3rd it is, unless somehow I miraculously get taught Hero in the next few weeks. Somewhere between 300 to 500 for CP. Expect to pay in the neighborhood of 70 to 130 of those points for the typical Amberite powers (shadowwalking and other things granted by Pattern, Trump, etc.).

You are students at an elite school in a shadow somewhat reminiscent of Elizabethan-era England. Your school trains the children of nobility in the arts of leadership, swordsmanship, and sorcery, among other things. You've been here ever since a man who insisted you call him Uncle Random took you from a different school, so far away that nobody's ever heard of it. But you don't remember much of that, anyway.

It had been six years since you last saw Uncle Random, and you are all now somewhere in your late teens. He must have made a significant impression on the headmaster, because despite the fact that nobody's paying your bills, you were treated just like any of the other students.

Then suddenly he showed back up again, and said it was time for you to return to Amber. He explained the basics about Amber and Shadows, and brought you to Castle Amber where you met all your relatives and learned more. You may have already walked the Pattern, and if not, you have the right to do so when you want to. Random has decreed that, and nobody is willing to countermand him on this.

You've learned that you're all illegitimate children of Random's brothers and sisters. At an early age you were abducted and replaced with duplicates out of Shadow, a deception only uncovered when one of your doppelgangers set foot on the Pattern and died instantly. The rest of your doubles are still around and may justifiably have mixed feelings about your return. As well, the elder Amberites do not trust you much at all, due to your abduction by what most believe were agents of Chaos. Random is very cross with anyone he feels is treating you with undue suspicion, but he's not completely trusting himself. And he may be having his own troubles that he's not telling anyone.

So, the usual sort of trust relationships in Amber, pretty much.

[Dracos]

*pokes*...not dead? o_o

As My schedule has changed from a month ago...when are we aiming for timewise?

[Jon]

As My schedule has changed from a month ago...when are we aiming for timewise?

Once a week, weekday evenings or weekends. Within that range, I'm pretty flexible, so we'll see when we can get enough people to show.

[Jon]

House rules and chargen guidelines are attached. Guidelines on magic to follow, as well as any revisions/clarifications that prove necessary.