And now without further delay is the second half of the report, split due to length
Slot 5: Ghosts of the Past. GM: Me
My :big idea: of the con and the game I was consequently most nervous about, and anticipated the most. The plot was heavily influenced, I can now reveal, by a phat fantasy novel I recommend to you all and you might have remembered from elliptical discussions of same, The One Kingdom by Sean Russell.
In short, before Cymnea, Oberon had a Queen Laura, who bore him his first children, Caibre, Sianth and Sianon. He also once had a junior Pattern like design, the River Wyrr ("were"). The children were rebellious, and the father culled them. Since their power was strongly attuned to this shadow spanning river, Oberon destroyed the River and then dealt with his children.
Or so he thought. The rewrite of the Pattern caused the River to eventually reform...and the Trio to have a chance to return to Amber...but only by fusing with already dead Amberites...Eric, Deirdre and Brand. As I arranged it, the most "friendly" of the three, Sianth, wound up fused with Brand.
The game was a lot of fun and I wish that I had gotten the quotes. The PCs journeyed down the river, sent by Random to determine its nature and once they learned of the Trio from the river itself, of them as well. Bridgette played Priya, a Rebman who was sent by Moire to add in this endeavor. (She had read ALL of the Treaties and found the right to do so. Random was not happy...)
Magical attunements to Rivers! Conversations with "dual fused personality" amberites! And even a good old Patricide. GHOP was all that I had hoped, even if I think it could have been better. But that's just me.
Slot 6: Wizard in the Attic, 2003 Edition. GM: Me
The game I did to help out Liz, a rerun of my first ACUS game that I ever ran (with the exception of co-Gming Storm Chasers).
The Amberites had a completely different skill set this time around than my original group (which included players including Ray and Anne playing Rebman Twins, Matt and Nicole, and, yes, Bonnie). This time I wound up with TWO children of the evil Fiona raised by Brand. Even funnier, one played a Water based Unity Sorcerer, and the other played a Fire based Sorceress. I also wound up with an unknown parentage Amberite who could walk into Mirrors, Theodore Michael Trout's war veteran Thomas, and a roustabout son of Corwin.
So...things ran a little differently, actually a lot. This group had much more capacity to run around the universe than the first, winding up in mirror worlds, a stable region of the Abyss, and even an area of House Helgram. I also changed the scenario somewhat, changing the "villian" to the Chaosian Brand, rather than the "wounded" one. The PCs solved the problem as handily as the first group though, even if no furniture was involved this time.
But it was as lighthearted in spots as the first, including such goodies as "Rapmaster Brand" and "hide and seek" chases through the Mirror Realm, and oh yes, trying to fly over a portion of the deep Abyss.
Slot 7: A night Admist Wolves. GM: Chris Kindred
A lot of fun, I debuted the newest member of my character family, Arkantos, son of Benedict. In this game, based on Jeremy Zimmerman's Humble Wayside Flowers, there were two distinct groups of PCS...the Amberites, and everyone else.
The Amberites were asked to do the "diplomatic thing" with a dark, steampunk nazi totalitarian shadow Weirmonken, to try and soothe over a recent diplomatic incident. Arkantos accompanied Random's daughter Adela, Bleys' children Melusine (half sorceress, half florimel groupie) and Mattheieu (a darned good fighter) and Zachary, a son of Flora who dabbles in swordplay and magic.
The other group was a mixed lot, including Bridgette's Amberite Tabitha (although she was tight lipped about her origins). Her group was far more intent on mayhem. Chris had everything set up for us to start an incident, especially when we learned Dalt was about, but we instead used our diplomatic skills to annoy him and Weirmonken...and leave no room for retribution.
And Arkantos invented "tactical dancing" in an attempt to keep Dalt away from his unhealthy interest in Adela. Although our half was "dry", I stayed once our half was done to listen to the other group cause mayhem...and find some surprising answers to who was behind recent developments in Weirmonken.
Slot 8: To Live and Die in Texorami. GM: Chris Kindred
The famous Texorami got a few new faces this time around, although I had to leave far before the game ended because of a need for sleep (early flight back to Minn.) I played Jonas Asherton, a man who despite looking like Doc Holliday was a real doctor...and a real alchemist as well. From what I understand the real plot involved a variation on Tim Powers "Last Call". The poker game in Texorami was indeed for souls and such...but I learned afterward that the beautiful woman who invited Jonas to be the official doctor of the tournament in exchange for bed, food and an entry into it for free was none other than Sand...and yes her brother was around as well. I had a good time for the limited amount of play I had. The backstory between Bridgette's Guen Blackhawk and my PC never played out. Maybe next year.
Posted by Jvstin at April 3, 2003 8:30 PM