5. Julian/Benedict, the taciturn two. I've seen this done with Sane Benedict and Insane Benedict, and in some ways I prefer Insane Benedict because, this is a great trainwreck of a twosome. Julian is, of course, played by rikibeth because she somehow manages to show why some people see the Master of Arden as a complete jerk while at the same time managing to portray his immense strength of caring and character. I also like the dichotomy of Benedict the warmaster being completely out of his depth in romantic relationships. The whole, "All's fair in love and war," gets amusedly let onto its head.

4. Julian/Fiona, the unarranged match. I think of it with Fiona being the older sister, the "perfect one" that Julian aspires to, the one he sees as clever. He wants her to see he's smarter than baby-brother Gerard, and he knows she likes the snark. At the same time, he knows he can't compete so instead he'll make a place for her, a place of beauty away from the cold stone walls of the castle, a place where Oberon does _not_ rule. And girls like ponies. He can give her the pony she always wanted. Erm. This is going to go to a really bad place now.

3. Caine/Fiona, daggers in the night. I have this ongoing theory about the green-eyed siblings being the aggressors, and the blue-eyed being the peacemakers. I love the competition in this pairing, and the potential as they orchestrate their plots. Even if it's never consummated in physical passion, I could see the intellectual pairing having intense erotic tension.

2. Llewella/Florimel, the mirrors. The lion of the water versus the flowers of the surface; a not quite perfect opposition. I did write a short fic about this pairing suggesting that Llewella and Florimel are almost reverse-video images of each other. The light jade hair versus the strawberry blonde started the visual.

1. Fiona/Brand, the venomous pair. The funny thing is that they both get what they want from this pairing, but usually I paint Brand darker in this situation than in any other, because his only motive here is poisonous. I know I kid around by pointing out how much Brand needs recognition for his actions being because Fiona and Bleys never made time for their kid brother, but add a dash of ambiguously-consensual sex, and it becomes quite, um, twistedly amusing.

Bleys/Fiona is one that almost squicks me, and I'm not sure why (after all, I used it in a story once), but probably for the same reasons I like Fiona/Brand: I like my Bleys to be almost perfect, and the combination some how has to be as painful as it is passionate, and that just doesn't fit Bleys' charm for me.

So I'm considering House Rules, and I've come up with one that I want to poke at:

1) The rule of limited resources in Amber.

I talk a lot about how Amber gaming isn't about limiting your resources; you have your lower hierarchy of needs taken care of, you have jabs in the second level, but now you have the opportunity to take care of the kinds of things that can only come of interacting with other people. So why limit any resources?

The resources I limit are threefold:
Time, Trump, and Personal Energy.

Time

Time is limited and it only moves forward. Personally, it has to be an awesome time travel story for me to be interested, and there's just not enough awesome out there. "Fast Time" and "Slow Time" shadows are wearing on a person - the form is based on a Pattern-norm. Enough of either and you can age your form past your recuperative capabilities.

Trump

Trump must be created: it cannot just be "found," although Trump-like magics certainly exist in Shadow. I have reasons for this in every world I develop. Part of the problem is that they're a pure reflection of the crossroads of Time and Personal Energy, just like any other unique magic. What's Dworkin's secret? He doesn't have to invest his Personal Energy into Trumps.

Personal Energy

Which isn't to say that this isn't the best reason in the world that Endurance is the Most Important Attribute, but Personal Energy is what powers most things of interest. It's most of what we play out. So I have no compunction looking at someone and saying, "Shame you didn't buy up in Endurance. You can do it, but it will take Time, and it will take Time to recover your Personal Energy."

Why limit these? Because they create conflicts that interest me as GM to give to the players to get the most out of their players. "You have limited time, and energy for maybe one more spell before the demon eats your face. How are you going to spend it?"

Is, "Looking for more time," an Awesome Answer? Only if it's what the Players really want to do.

Thoughts?

After catching Princess Elaine and Prince Haven in a state of scandalous flagrante (by which we mean, being flagrantly scandalous? Or flagrantly disobedient?) King Oberon chose to exile the two of them to "a place of his choosing." He was remarkably calm, even after Prince Haven scored a mark on him. Prince Haven and Princess Elaine were flung through Shadow into a clearing somewhere near a road of smooth yellow brick. The King called for the execution of his wife, Lora, presumably to raise "a more obedient generation." Prince Morombath was given leave to follow up his duties in a place of repose. Instead, he followed his instincts (and, incidentally, a lover) to Chaos, where he became the guest of Duke Isaac "the Silver-Tongued" and Isaac's lover, Duke Trahern of Celestine City.

Time Passes. The son of the Lord of the Moonriders Akonisho and his siege against Rebma is broken by the Baronness Calypso. He disappears, presumed dead. What Princess Elaine and Prince Haven were supposed to be doing for Rebma was accomplished by Prince Thomas of Celestine City, who also disappears after the fight.

The Unicorn has not been seen in Amber in over a century.

In the official history, the King's next wife, Rilga, has a son, Xavan the Misfortunate. Rilga and Oberon have many falling-outs, and she spends more time away from the Castle than in it. Oberon has an affair with Dybele that leads to no children. Rilga leaves Oberon, swearing some form of vengeance. In the meantime, Oberon spends more and more time dallying in Shadow. From one of his dalliances, Prince Bernaise is brought to Amber, to lead the Rangers and other forces Oberon has begun to build in order to better defend his Realm.

Dworkin Trumps Haven to give him the signet ring that marks him as Prince of the City. Haven and Elaine respond in tandem. Dworkin, perplexed as to Elaine's being there, offers her a ring from his own finger as it would be impolite to give Haven a gift without him having more to share. Dworkin says he hopes to see them soon, but leaves quickly. Haven does a little bit of sorcerous poking about the rings, to find that, actually, its better to leave off that poking.

Haven and Elaine subvert the Emerald City to become their personal stately pleasure dome. The (not-so-)Cowardly Lion is left as regent, while they raise an army of elite, if eclectic units in the fast time Shadow of Valdemar.

When alerted by certain measures he had put in place, Dworkin informs Oberon that he believes the King has a son in a place far off near Chaos. The King retrieves this son, Kaathan, a tall noble of the House of the Dragon. Rilga's child. It will be seen if Kaathan is truly of the noble blood. Dworkin thinks there are others Oberon has left scattered, and goes on a quest of his own to consolidate them. After all, war is moving through Shadow. Bernaise and Xavan are brought in to take this strange man's measure.

Prince Morombath is brought in to investigate a strange visitor to Sways, one from a seemingly high-tech shadow, who is confused and alone except for a powerful artifact. The stranger has the Mark of Doom.

Prince Haven's preternatural army is nearing a readiness for war. Soon they can march. He has consulted the Jewel of Sunlight, Ama, who promises her blessing for some of his vampiric troops, in exchange for some of his lifeforce.

In our last session, upon investigation of a strange psychic portal in Prince Haven's bedroom, in Haven and Princess Elaine conspired to have Prince Morombath take a non-consensual journey through it. Strange dreams continue to occur, as has at least one unusual Trump call. Prince Morombath found himself drawn to the Ways of the Sourceress Patricia and Patricia's personal guest (Guest Star: the LintKing!) and granted Courtizan approval of his plan for Revenge. (With a capital R!) The Royal Trio were then summoned to Court to be part of Baronness Calypso's plans, with Prince Haven made Heir to the City, and the Princess Elaine and Prince Moro to be the guests of the Rebman Queen in "assistance against the City of the Sky." After Princess Elaine stormed out in protest of her father's misogyny, the Queen followed begging the Princess to show some restraint. Instead, she and Prince Haven met up to do some Shopping, while Prince Morombath did some more restrained purchasing for the trip. He made it back in time to be escorted to the Komori-Uta Dance Troupe, whereas Princess Elaine and Prince Haven made a spectacle of themselves at Duke Kraig's Rebman-style BBQ. (A joke, a joke, I promise.) They returned together and made quite sure the servants would spread the word that they were last seen in scandalous proximity, if nothing was specified as happening.

The heir to the throne is the Princess Elaine, whose response when King Dad tried to marry her off for political influence was to blackmail him fairly successfully. She's human ranked in Warfare, but first in Endurance, so while she might not catch everything, she's at least awake and alert to handle it. Elaine got a reputation of being a bit of a fashion plate and flirt during the session, as well as having a great deal of eye candy hanging around her. (Lots of play on "pieces of art.") There's a political argument that says whoever she marries will be on the Throne, rather than her, and she seems to be ruining her father's chances for political prowess by playing outside the gentry.

Her brother Morombath ("Moro") is her dramatic opposite. First in Warfare, he's the sneaky sort with connections. If there's a shady deal in town, Moro knows about it and is probably making a profit from it, if not in cash it's pounds of flesh he's getting. King Dad knows a kingdom needs people like this, even if it's not what he's looking for in an heir. He was always chatting with one of his "spies," although he'd probably call them "friends," and they were giving him information. He was also quickly controlling the sources of information, many of them in very deadly fashion.

The other brother was Haven, the sorceror, and a bit of a pyromaniac. He started the game with a bad dream and a sorcerous attack, and it hasn't let up since for him. There's dark magic about, magic from the elements that seem to be protecting them, despite the rumours of goddesses at war, and more primitive magics, such as those of blood and bone. Someone is targeting Elaine and he's the only magician who can stop them.

I've cribbed a bit of shorthand from Imajica and the Darkover series so far, although the serial numbers are filed off pretty well. We've got at least three gems (matrices) of Power wandering around with different affinities, and some very dark deals being made. I want to remind them that promises are power, sometimes especially when they're broken.

A synopsis:

Upon the three of them waking up from disturbing dreams, Prince Moro was approached by a cultist who wished to trade an Artifact in exchange for Family power, while Prince Haven was attacked by sorcerous means. Word got around to a courtier that part of this power was directed at the Princess Elaine, and he lost a scuffle with the Guard trying to get through to warn her. An unusual gem was found in his belongings, and it was given to Prince Haven for investigation. After following up on some leads to other clues, including those of the feuding goddesses, Susuru and Sharra, the Princes and Princess returned to join the Rebman Baroness Calypso's fete, where upon the blue gem was stolen, and the place set upon by fire and water both. His things mostly destroyed, they were told that the lost words of Earth and Air were their only hope. In search of more answers, they greeted the Baroness with a gift of Prince Moro's that had cut Princess Elaine's fingers, and were given a sunlike gem in return that burned Prince Moro's hand. The gem was retrieved by Prince Haven, and Prince Moro was instead given some form of power in return, and a private audience with the Baroness. They returned home without incident, to pick the story up again next Thursday...

Funniest bit from GM's perspective: King Dad's monologue to his son, Prince Haven, about why to stay away from Rebman Women. He finally got to saying, "Just...think of vagina dentata. Don't go there. Stay away from even thinking about their pretty parts. They're poisonous."

Weakest bit from GM's perspective: Queen Mom & King Dad as NPCs. They're not intended to be on stage very long, but they ought to be real people.

I had a lot of fun. It's been a while, and we needed to warm up a bit, especially with the whole diceless idea, but I think this has some good potential and I expect next session to improve.