INTRODUCTION
Section I: Gamesmasters Editorial by Tony Pi
Section II: Rumours from Amber and Chaos
Section III: Would you make a good monarch of Amber?
Section V: Positions Taken & Vacant
CONCLUSION
This months newsletter is smaller than last months, due in part to Real Life (tm). While Tony seems to be the only person to have received bomb threats, everyone else has been very quiet also... or at least so it seems to me.
Without further ado about nothing in particular...
Real Life and the Game
January has been a particularly trying month for many of us. Yours Truly has been visited by ice storms and taxes and bomb threats and computer crashes this month alone. I'm sure a lot of you too have had crises and bundles of joy (congrats, Deb!) And sometimes I forget that certain storylines might be too close to events in the Real World to be comfortable. It makes me wonder if I've gotten Bad Stuff because I'm making all of you guys make contributions instead of doing it myself! (ha ha)
So, I was initially going to make some decisions about character advancement for February's editorial, but I think I will leave that for April (since Ambercon is in late March, and I want to do advancement after that. I can also get feedback from players directly on a few ideas during breakfast, etc. By the way, we're all sitting at the same table at the banquet, right? :) Ambercon players should also bring their most current versions of their characters.) Thanks for your input, though. It will help me figure out the fairest way. I have some modifications to the character design system that I'm contemplating at the moment.
A topic for next month's newsletter, then: how does the structure of a PBEM influence the way we play Amber? What changes in the game system would you like to see which will make the game easier to play over email? Comment on contributions, websites, turn rates, etc. If you've played in other PBEMs, how do they differ from this one? Perhaps someone could volunteer to solicit information from people and write an article on the topic.
Also, I'd like to ask someone going to Ambercon to tape the session and to do a Con report of the events.
'Til next timecrash,
Tony
Amber politics continue their shaky course, with Martin barely holding a cohesive kingdom together. Rumours of his death last week started a mass panic in the streets...
Jaunquille has agreed to act as an agent in Amber for Queen Julia of Chaos, which has made some of Amber look askance at his islands in the south...
Morgan and Raven had a brief affair in the recent past, and Raven only returned to Jacob because Morgan chose Laurel over her...
Opinion on the streets of Amber is that the current king of thieves had better watch his back... REAL close...
Andelia is in love with Thalion, but doesn't want to show it. Methinks the lady doth protest too much.....
Jacob's cheating on Raven, he's been seen in the company of several women other than his wife. Looks like Corwin's blood is running true at last....
Look for a wedding amongst the scions of Faiella's line in the near future. Two branches of the line will be rejoined in marriage...
Jacob has been replaced by a biological construct duplicate, devised by Mandor, in a fiendish attempt to gain mastery over Urda. The real Jacob works feverishly to escape a Chaosian Puzzle-Way Trap...
Jacob and Raven are seperated...
Jack Morgan has regained his memories, and seeks someone's death...
ANDELIA:
"That depends, I suppose, on who you compare me to. Because I've
only been there for about 6 months of my life, and I wasn't raised on
tales of it, I don't have any particular feelings for Amber, which is
probably a good enough reason not to put me on it's throne."
"If that didn't suffice, then I suppose we'll have to look at it some more. A serious problem is that I've never ruled anything, the closest I've been was the heir apparent. Is this the time for Amber to have another inexperienced ruler?"
"If the answer to that question is not an unequivocal no, then I suppose we can go a little further. My personal relations with the Elders remaining in Amber are mostly good, though Julian and I have never encountered one another. Of the Elders outside of Amber, I get along well with Fiona, whose exile I'd rescind immediately. While Delwin and I have our problems, Sand and I get along well enough, so perhaps relations with the Diamond Axis would be improvable. As to my uncle Corwin, while I have a long-standing dispute with him, that is personal, not a matter of policy, and I am able to separate the two."
"Another advantage, I suppose, is that I'm not married. That means that a marriage alliance, were one proposed that I was willing to embark on, between Amber and some other realm or power could be arranged."
"I guess in the final analysis I'm probably in the middle of the road. I do not bring any great alliance to the table, nor do I have any particular experience to bring to the throne. On the other hand, I've always gotten along fairly well with most of the surviving elders of my family, in particular with those members now in Amber and in Chaos, and that's no mean feat."
Gamesmaster Tony PI (cpi@po-box.mcgill.ca) Webmaster Scott Olson (sdo@visi.com) Paradoxical Times Craig Wright (sorrow@netspace.net.au) Secretariat Sara Willig (mooncalf@gis.net) Heraldic Devisor Dean Bailey (taffy@netspace.net.au) Trump Director vacant Mythographer? vacant
That is it for January. Tony has proposed several new questions for the February edition, so perhaps next edition may be slightly larger. Everyone have a good month, and congratulations to D. and her husband for their recent new arrival. :)
Craig Wright
Editor