Produktbeschreibung
SHADOW KNIGHT is the only supplement available for the AMBER Diceless roleplaying game. It covers Roger Zelazny’s second Amber series, aka « the Merlin saga » (Trumps of Doom, Blood of Amber, Sign of Chaos, Knight of Shadows and Prince of Chaos).
The Merlin saga is not really a sequel in the traditional sense of the term ; it’s more like a whole new story, with many (some say too many) new elements. Some Amber fans love it as much as the original series, others find it a bit « over-the-top » and some hate it as much as they love the Corwin saga - so far, I’ve never met anyone who actually prefers the second series, but then, it’s all a matter of personal tastes. Suffice it to say that the Merlin saga adds and changes a lot of things to the Amberverse – you get a legion of new characters, demons, ghosts, Broken Patterns (if you’re not familiar with Amber, don’t ask) and even a godlike trans-reality super-computer named Ghostwheel. At the end of the final book, it’s pretty obvious that the Amberverse is drastically changed and will never be the same again.
As far as the AMBER game is concerned, this means a totally different game – hence the existing schism between « first series purists » (whose campaigns do not take the Merlin saga into account) and « Merlinists » (you get the idea). In between these two extremes, there is considerable room left for a lot of variants and variations – in my game, for instance, I’ve borrowed some of the ideas and characters from the second series but with a very different perspective (does this make me a « first series heretic » ? I guess so). And this is exactly the way the SHADOW KNIGHT supplement is intended to work : not as a rigid, official background update but as a crucible of new concepts, new possibilities and new horizons.
Like the original AMBER game, SHADOW KNIGHT is a toolkit. It is also a toybox, full of things you may find wonderful, strange, interesting, boring or just plain silly – depending on your personal tastes. So let’s open the toybox and see what we find inside...
The first section is a glossary of new terms and concepts, which uses the same format as the one in the AMBER rulesbook. You also get new rules for two new Powers described in (or derived from) the Merlin saga : the aforementioned Broken Patterns (a lesser form of Pattern powers) and High Compelling (an advanced form of Conjuration enabling mental manipulation and control). You also get a whole section on Constructs. What is a construct ? To keep things as simple as possible, it is something characters can build to get extra powers or explore new applications of old powers. Ghostwheel, the godlike super-computer built by Merlin in Trumps of Doom, is the ultimate construct. In game terms, constructs can be described as a cross between artifacts, characters and powers – confused ? I was, at first. While this section contains many nifty ideas, the explanations are not always crystal-clear and the examples sometimes fail to illustrate what constructs can actually do and why they really differ from artifacts.
The book then examines several ‘Campaign Ideas’ taken from the Merlin saga (including extensive quotes from the books). All in all, it is a very interesting section, full of fascinating conjectures, interrogations and alternative possibilities – written in the same no-nonsense, GM-to-GM tone that seems to be the trademark of Erick Wujcik. For example, on the subject of Spikards (rings of cosmic-level power) : « It’s the perfect Amber set-up. Give someone the power they seek, and make it seem like the sacrifices are minimal and temporary. In other words, the ideal present for any careless player-character. »
More than 100 pages are devoted to the new characters introduced in the Merlin saga. Just like in AMBER, you get three different interpretations / power-levels for each character, each with a complete set of stats and variant descriptions of their abilities and artifacts. Even relatively minor characters and characters that are only glimpsed at or alluded to are extensively covered – sometimes, perhaps, a little too extensively (the lawyer Bill Roth, for instance, gets five full pages !). On top of all this, you get 15 pages of « revisited elder amberites » (ie new interpretations of old characters).
The next section (« Zelazny as Gamemaster ») provides various tips, advices etc for the Amber GM, using large excerpts from the novels as starting points for discussing various aspects of the game and its setting – an interesting departure from the usual « how to be a referee » fare.
Then we get to the Demons section – 15 pages of rules on how to create Demons and use them in your game. In the Amberverse, Demons are the servants of the Courts of Chaos, and most of them are less powerful than player characters – they generally act as guardians, servants, messengers etc. Frankly, this is one of the worst sections in the whole book. The rules for creating Demons are unnecessarily complex and awkward : the Attribute rank chart, in particular, is simply mind-boggling, with the same ranks having wholly different meanings (and different point costs) for different Attributes... On the whole, I feel Demon-creation could easily have been handled as an extension of the existing Conjuration rules for creatures and artifacts, rather than as a whole new sub-system.
The final section provides various worksheets, FAQs about the game as well as plot summaries of the ten Amber novels (a handy reference, even if you’ve read the whole series several times over). There is also a short scenario (« Quest for Frakir ») ; although the plotline is not very original (it’s one of those go-get-me-this-item stories...), it does include some interesting ideas (such as a dark reflection of Forest Arden) and also offers several possible explanations, as well as a few loose ends for the GM to build upon.
One of the most interesting things in this supplement is the stance it takes towards the Merlin Saga. Rather than presenting it as a mandatory, by-the-book evolution of the game setting, the game designer examines the Merlin Saga as Roger Zelazny’s own RPG campaign, with Merlin, Luke and other key protagonists as player characters. This is a very clever idea, because it makes this book worth reading (and using) even if you don’t like the Merlin Saga and don’t intend to integrate it in the timeline of your own campaign ; if so, you can still use SHADOW KNIGHT as a compendium of new concepts, characters, items and possibilities you’re free to either explore or ignore. |
