amber: kill puppies for chaos

[Eric Minton]

Hey there!  This is my first post to the Forge, though I've browsed for some time now.  Now, the subject of this post isn't Actual Play yet, but it will be shortly.  To explain:

I used to run Amber DRPG one-shots at gaming conventions in my area.  After running into some enthusiastic former players at I-Con a couple of years back, I got back into it last year and ran another Amber game.  I promised I'd come back this year, but I'm not really in the mood to run Amber.  As it happens, I've also borrowed a friend's copy of kill puppies for satan (yes, I'll be buying my own copy at GenCon).  One chocolate-fueled hallucination later, I wound up with this:

amber: kill puppies for chaos

in amber, there rules a royal family with the power of gods.  their passions are legendary, their schemes machiavellian.

you are not one of them.

you are one of the ordinary schlubs who slave away for your immortal overlords in the one true city.  but you don’t clean toilets and file paperwork for demigods without picking up a few things.  now you work for chaos.  they aren’t much nicer than the amberites, but they do give you all sorts of cool powers.  all you have to do is kill some puppies.  that ain’t so hard.

(this game is set in the amber universe, but uses the “kill puppies for satan” rules.  contains adult content.  not suitable for children.)

Now, kpfs looks like one of those games for which preparation is only of the most limited utility, so I'm fully prepared to wing it.  However, due to my total lack of shame, I'm flogging this out here in the hopes that y'all might post some Really Cool Shit that I could take advantage of.  And if not, well, it's still a placeholder for putting up an actual play description after the game.

Well, that's my piece.  Thanks for listening!

- Eric

[clehrich]

Hi, Eric, and welcome to the Forge!  (Hey, I actually got in first with that for once!)

Couple thoughts.  I love the concept, partly because I like kpfs and partly because while I like the Amber series I think it needs some piss-taking.

I'd suggest that there be a classic Amber-style plotline running, involving the big guns (the demigods as you call them) and the Lords of Chaos and whatnot.  This you can more or less sketch in a linear fashion.  Then the players cause incidental annoyance and chaos by killing puppies.

One important point about this would be that, if you recall, the big guns never really seem to notice minor folks around Amber.  They're just there, part of the scenery.  So they'll never suspect that the various bits of annoying chaos that keep creeping in are actually under their noses.

You say the PC's don't clean toilets.  Why not?  I love the idea of some of the servants in Amber being puppy-killing twerps.  If nothing else, it gives them a great reason to be underfoot in the palace and dungeons and whatnot.

Frankly, I see this as a kind of low-level revolutionary game, where the PC's aren't actually causing revolution so much as being a pain in the butt.  Because the PC's are our focus, and they're basically scumbags, we'll enjoy it especially if Fiona looks for her favorite new puppy and finds it horribly maimed.  She's going to assume that Someone is Up To Something.  She's never going to think that the guy who cleans her chamberpot, you know, the one with the acne and the hygiene problem, is actually the killer.

In short, torture the demigods.  You want them to say, "Why?" and have no answers, and go haring off after Big Plots that just don't exist.

Sounds like a blast, in a sick, twisted way.  lumpley should be proud.

Chris Lehrich

[Andrew Norris]

I just wanted to note that although the phrasing is a bit weird, he actually says  the PCs do clean toilets in Amber. That's excellent.

Amber is so much about hubris (or maybe just pride, since I suppose hubris implies there's a fall after the pride) that this concept makes me cackle.

[lumpley]

I don't know Amber very well, but that doesn't mean I'm not proud!

It might be worthwhile to give each Amberite his or her own stat names, as though each were an npc type, not just an npc.  Like:

jimbo the amberite
hidebound 4
suspicious 2
ruthless 5
indomitable 3

-vs.-

ermentrude the amberite
wise 2
really fucking twisted 4
can kill your ass 6
takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin' 4

If you see what I mean.

-Vincent

[beingfrank]

As an Amber player, can I just say that I adore this idea?  Evil, evil, evil.  I must try it myself.

[Eric Minton]

I'd like to thank y'all for your replies!

Chris, I particularly like your suggestion about sticking the PCs in the middle of a traditional Amberite plot-n-scheme session.  I ran a quick little game of kpfs last night to shake it down, and I think that it may well run better with a planned scenario than when I'm just pulling everything out of my ass.  :)

Andrew correctly points out that I do indeed mean to have toilet-scrubbing as a PC career path.  A prepped list of icky career suggestions for the players might be in order.  Barnacle scraper?  Living archery target?  Garderobe sanitizer?  The possibilities are endless!

A list of potential critters to kill might also be handy, especially if I can tie most of them in to Amberites.  I can figure out which Amberites have cute little puppies, which ones have mean killer attack dogs, and so forth.  And other animal-related plot hooks, probable responses by the Amber Secret Police to mass zoöcide , etc.

The Amberites, like Satan, probably have lots of stats in the double digits.  But they'll make good examples of high scores, like, Caine has a Fucked-Up of 17, Corwin has a Relentless of 23, etc.

- Eric

[jrients]

I ran a quick little game of kpfs last night to shake it down, and I think that it may well run better with a planned scenario than when I'm just pulling everything out of my ass.  :)

Details, man!  Tell us!

[Eric Minton]

I ran a quick little game of kpfs last night to shake it down, and I think that it may well run better with a planned scenario than when I'm just pulling everything out of my ass.  :)

Details, man!  Tell us!

You got it!  I've posted it as "kill puppies for elvis".  Check it out!

[beingfrank]

The Amberites, like Satan, probably have lots of stats in the double digits.  But they'll make good examples of high scores, like, Caine has a Fucked-Up of 17, Corwin has a Relentless of 23, etc.

Julian has The Sulks 21.

Or is that just how I play him?

I'm going to work up this idea myself, and maybe inflict it on my own group.  Will report on how it goes, if it happens.

[clehrich]

Incidentally, doesn't Julian have a whole team of killer puppies?  I mean, they're killer hounds or something; they must start as puppies.  Wouldn't he be pissed....  :-P

Chris Lehrich

[beingfrank]

Incidentally, doesn't Julian have a whole team of killer puppies?  I mean, they're killer hounds or something; they must start as puppies.  Wouldn't he be pissed....  :-P

Chris Lehrich

This is, of course, the genius of the idea.  Killing Hellhounds for Chaos.