Amber Diceless Role-Playing: Diceless Role-Playing System [Paperback]

Erick Wujcik (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Phage Pr (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880494000
• ISBN-13: 978-1880494004
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diceless Rolplaying: A purist's dream, November 11, 1998

By 

chris ([e-mail] (Savannah, GA , USA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amber Diceless Role-Playing: Diceless Role-Playing System (Paperback)

So you play AD&D. Ever get upset when you tell the DM exactly, to the letter, how you want your character to perform an action, that should have worked, then got screwed on the die roll?

Play Amber.

Amber's diceless system emphasizes roleplaying above all else. Even if you should lose, sometimes you can still win. It's all in how you play the game. Character development is stressed above all else. There's just no place for power-gaming in this system. There is no limit to what your character can do..he or she is effectively a god. Consider:

GM: Okay, you're standing on a hill in Shadow. What would you like to do?

Power Gamer: I want to destroy the planet!

GM: Okay, it happens. What now?

Power Gamer: Err...what?

This kind of play obviously gets old. When nothing is beyond your character's power( except, of course, his siblings ) character relationships and development become foremost. In Amber there are no sure things: It's all how you play the game. Develop your character or get out.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great RPG for good roleplayers, December 23, 1999

By 

Scott Macmillan (Newton, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amber Diceless Role-Playing: Diceless Role-Playing System (Paperback)

After playing in a few games and running one myself, I find this system to be a great one. The setting is also one of the best out there. Zelazny wrote an incredible series, and Amber DRPG translates that world very well. The best thing is, if you don't like something, just change it. For the reviewers that complained about no dice... I've even seen dice variants using GURPS out there on the net. If you need ideas for your game, The Golden Circle Webring has many excellent sites made by dedicated Amber players and GMs. Although I found the system did not work for me in a couple ways, I just made my own house rules for those situations. Amber, IMO, is a game for people who are looking for a mature game - if you want a hack and slash dungeon crawl, go elsewhere. If you want to roleplay, and play some of the most memorable characters you have ever had, this is for you.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must for Zelazny or Roleplaying fans., November 10, 2003

By 

pj (Lagrangeville, ny USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amber Diceless Role-Playing: Diceless Role-Playing System (Paperback)

A book worth having even if you don't spend hours playing it like my friends and I did. I played this game before I ever read the Amber books and it got me interested in them. It does a good job of catching the spirit of the novels. For those who haven't read the novels the story deals with a family of dimension travelling imortals and their kingdom Amber. For Zelazny fans it offers an overview and in depth information about the books. For RPG fans it gives an interesting new take on character creation and conflict resolution. Yes the system does have some bugs but I think the innovation otuweighs some of the tehcnical misteps. As is billed there's no dice. Connflict is resolved by the GM looking at your ranking and assesing the situation. So if you're an Amberite and you're fighting some normal human off in shadow you'll win. If you're fighting another Amberite then, evertyhing else being equal, the guy with the better fighting ability will win every time. This means that you need a good GM who knows how to be fair and keep the story going. But the book has some nice hints on how to run a good session. Character creation is one of the most interesting parts of the game. Instead of simply rolling for, or purchasing attributes the attributes are settled in an auction wiith all players participating. Players are competing for ranks in one of four attributes (Warfare, Strength, Stamina, and Psyche). Whoever bids the most in an attribute is ranked 1st and they can automatically beat the other players in a straight up, contest in that attribute. layers can spend as littlle or as much as they like on these auctions (we had one guy once who spent 90 points out of 100 on the Warfare attribute). But make sure to leave points left over to buy powers (logrus, pattern, sorcery), objects (maical horses or armor, or even demon skateboards, you purchase the qualities you want for them), and extras (allies, family members, personal shadow realities to design to your taste). Any points left over after all this become "good stuff". Any extra points you spend beyond 100 (there's no limit) become "bad stuff". These are this games version of luck and can effect everything from combat, to personal interaction to your own perceptions. Some of this is a bit heady. Your average Amberite (unranked in any attribute) is superhumanly strong and better at combat than the best martial artist on earth. Magic items that you might salivate over in another game can come ridiculously cheap. Sorcery, a versatile if troublesome ability, is one of the cheapest of powers. The only catch is that there's always someone more powerufl than you out there. And the Amber game encourages the GM to through nasty tricks your way. The conflict resolution system leaves a lot of power in the GMs hands and somewhat forces people to think more about story and strategy than about the percentages. Since you don't now how the monster you're fighting compares to you there's a bit more drama. He could be a pushover or he could be able to kill you instantly. This is hardly the perfect game and it won't be to everyones taste. It does take a fairly skilled GM and players who are flexible and interested more in playing through a story than just hacking and slashing their way through stat books of monsters. But I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to try something different in RPGs or even someone who just enjoys a good RPG book.