Blog, Jvstin Style

Interaction Matrix in the ADRPG

The 20' By 20' Room: All Road's Lead to Amber . . .

Jim Henley talks about the ADRPG, and this portion struck me:

I find myself thinking that, actually, an Amber campaign could profit from adding a step between character creation and the first session of the campaign: a Dogs-style "What they want from the Youngers" list. But not "the Youngers" as a whole: a matrix listing what each elder wants from each PC. It could be anything from "Flora wants Brigit to be more ladylike" to "Bleys wants Alexander to help him conquer Amber" to "Corwin wants to keep Gustav from finding Yg."

Here's the mechanical effect I think the exercise assumes and promotes: The PCs have to have enough power relative to the Elders to be worth wanting something from.

That is a bugbear that many Amber games and campaigns have trouble with, in my experience. How do you balance the power of the Elders, as implied in the rulebook, versus the player characters.

I have had trouble with this as a player. A PBEM in which I am in has a much more balanced level between the youngers and the Elders than I am used to, to the point where I consistently undervalue my PCs strength and worth to the Elders. On the other hand, the GMs have made it clear that the Elders take the PC's abilities very seriously indeed.

As a GM, my main use of the Elders has been a relatively light touch, so that the PCs have *room* to do what they want without the PCs running to Mommy, Daddy, Uncle or Aunt every time and expect things to be solved. In my "Tales of the Regency" Convention serial game, since the game is set during Gerard's Regency,Gerard is the only elder, and thus the PCs *have* to rely on themselves, and Gerard *has* to treat the PCs with respect.

I don't like the Model of Elders completely outclassing the PCs in everything, and avoiding this model is key to trying to implement Henley's idea. You get some insanities in poorly run games like a martially focused Deirdre, not being known for Sorcery, still is a better sorceress than Fiona's daughter and protege, because she is an Elder. PCs should, in their sphere of competency (assuming they've spent the points), be strong enough that the Elders will respect them. Do that, and then the Interaction Matrix sounds like a fine idea. You wouldn't want to do it for a one-shot slot game, but a new campaign, absolutely.

Posted by Jvstin at September 3, 2006 8:53 AM