Customer Reviews

Shadow Knight (Amber Diceless Role Playing)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Amber's a big place, isn't it? You should already know that from Amber DRPG, also on sale from Amazon. If you don't own this great game, get it now! This book presents virtually all its content as options. For a game master short of new ideas, this is an absolute godsend: plug-and-play gaming! ADRPG and Shadow Knight are important to gamers because it demonstrates a new philosophy of games. As a supplement to ADRPG, Shadow Knight is unimportant. Most people I know who use it do so piecemeal and discard as much as they include. But it has a good style, lots of ideas and some pretty damn good artwork! So when's the third Amber source book going to be published, Phage? Erick? You listening?

This book is great. Yeah some of the things seem powerful, but when it boils down to it, the players are pups, and are quickly taken care of by their elders. Why waste a million points when any amberite can just destroy the constructs power base? High Compelling too powerful? Hardly, considering you need some really good skills just to get in an amberite's mind. I use the supplement a good deal, and it hasn't failed me yet. I read it over every once in a while and get some new ideas for my online campaigns. I recomend this book if you play AMBER DRPG.

SN has several useful parts to it, including versions of characters in Merlin's series, some "new" powers like Broken Pattern, and the Demon worksheet. But does anyone really allow High Compelling? Aren't the Construct rules a little vague (vaguer than usual!) and the price too cheap? Also, the GM section is somewhat pedantic: unless you haven't figured anything that's in there out already, you probably shouldn't do it. :-) Still, it's a good recourse.

Some years after releasing the Amber Rulebook, Shadow Knight came out. The Amber Rulebook spawned a legion - small but rabid - of players of the game, and Shadow Knight was eagerly purchased by said players.

As one of those players, I cannot help but be disappointed by the book. It's not because I don't like the source material (the 2nd chronicles), but it's because the book is just disappointing.

It's too little, too late. Anyone who is a serious Amber gamer already had their own rules and variants worked out, and the sourcebook doesn't seem to really be above them. I find it a lot worse in fact.

It's useful for the odd idea about adding to the game of Amber, but only buy it if you're a junkie who has to have everything on the topic.