Character Basics

You get to design all the most important things about your character, with hardly any restrictions.

Appearance

Now, imagine how this person looks. This includes height, weight, build, hair colour, eye colour, physical description, clothing styles and colours, and a personal symbol.

Some characters may have multiple forms, of course. Even subconscious forms that they don't realise exist. This is a good option for characters who may want to develop Shape Change at a later date.

Get comfy.

After all, you're going to be wearing this body for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. Fulfilling every fantasy, dreaming every dream, meeting every challenge.

You want to look good for the occasion.

Absolute Age

More than just a number, picking your character's age really says a lot about the character's persona. Picking a young age, under thirty, is best if you want young and brash. Middle age, between thirty and seventy, is a time of seasoning and learning for Amberites.

The older the character, the more cynical, more cautious, and more worldly they become. Older characters are less likely to have elder Amberites make allowances ( a pretty major concern, given the legendary tempers and powers of that bunch.) A young character has a ''puppy'' factor, and is likely to be treated better and even protected by the elder generation.

'Absolute' means this is the amount of time that the character has actually lived through. What with fast and slow time Shadows, a character may be a lot older, or younger than their 'Amber' birth date would indicate.

Twenty, or two thousand, it's up to you. However, a twenty year old character could have been born two thousand years ago, having been raised in a slow time Shadow. Or, just as easily, a character aged two thousand could have been born just twenty years back, in Amber years, and have spent all that time in fast time Shadows out near the courts of Chaos.

The SG decides how much time has passed in Amber since you were born.

Skills

The simple answer is, in Amber, if you want skills, you can get them. Why? Corwin has pointed out that every one of his brothers and sisters is the equivalent of a skilled surgeon. They're all interested in learning whatever skills are necessary for survival. And they all have had the time to learn. So time becomes the important factor.

Time is always available. Any character with the power to travel through Shadow can always take a side trip to a 'fast time' Shadow. For example, someone can spend eight years in a Shadow medical school and surgery residency, while only a lazy weekend passes in Castle Amber.

On the other hand, if you want your character to be young, and fresh, and inexperienced, it means limiting the number of skills that you've picked up.

Also, you may not want to pick up a lot of skills. After all, a millionaire may have tons of money, yachts, fast cars, polo ponies, and all the toys he can imagine. That doesn't imply wanting to learn how to keep books, trim sails, repair engines, or groom horses. Why should Amberites waste their time doing boring things, when they can do any fun thing they can imagine?

Rather than trying to list all the various skills you've picked up, it's better to list the experiences that the character has lived through.

Here's a few examples:
  • Two years of touring Shadow:
    		• Ability to quickly assimilate new cultures, how payment works in different places, using many different types of transport.
  • Five years of fantasy adventures:
    		•  Weapon skills, horse riding skills, probably minor lock picking, minor magical knowledge.
  • Ten years of civil engineering:
    		•  Dozens of special minor skills, can quickly learn related skills, and how to apply totally new but relevant tools.
  • Twenty-five years shipboard:
    		•  Technical details, leadership skills, morale, training, local Shadow geography, navigation, language fluency.

    In general, you need about two years for any technical or mechanical speciality (jet engine mechanics, automatic weapon design and repair, locksmith, or pharmaceutical chemistry).

    More formal schooling, say in sculpture, mathematics, or to gain skill in a musical instrument, can take four years for the basics, and another ten or twenty for really detailed specialisation.

    Really difficult skills, like the aforementioned surgery, or quantum physics, can take ten years or more of exclusive, intensive study.

    What has your character been doing since they were 15?

    Possessions

    Material possessions come ridiculously easy to Amberites. Start off stark naked, and at the end of a two-hour stroll through Shadow, a character can have accumulated enough gear to put any billionaire to shame. Feel free to make life in your home Shadow as opulent as you like. Objects are just objects, so help yourself.

    However, any creature or person, no matter what their origin, who comes to have ''real'' power, such as the Pattern or Logrus, automatically become non-player characters, and are the property of the Story Guide.

    Children, clones, or other living creations of player characters, will become independent, and even, perhaps, hostile to the ''parent''.

    Likewise, objects that contain Pattern, like the Jewel of Judgement, or Greyswandir, are not available to beginning characters (although they may acquire them through play).

    The SG will also inform you of what Trumps, if any, your character possesses. The presence, or lack, of Trumps will make some difference when communicating with you relatives. Of course, if you are a Trump Artist, you will have more say over this step.

    Tuesday, August 19, 1997
    Suhuy
    		Secrets and Lies Want more?
    Thanks to Erick Wujcik

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