The cover of the Amber Diceless Role Playing Game book
Key Designer: Erick Wujcik
Distributor: Out of Print, but you can purchase the PDF on DriveThruRPG.com
Amber Diceless is a role playing game based on the fictional universe of Amber, found in the Amber novels written by Roger Zelazny written between 1970 to 1991. The game is conducted verbally, requiring no game pieces, dice or boards. Games are begun with an attribute auction, where characters use a set number of points to bid on four different attributes (psyche, strength, endurance and warfare) and items. When the attribute auction ends, players have a better understanding of their characters’ unique skills and how they compare to other characters in the game if they were to meet in, for example, hand-to-hand combat. Scenes are set by the game master and conflicts are resolved through joint narrative description of action by the players and game master.
Amber Diceless was my first role playing game so I’m fairly new (to say the very least) to the role playing scene in general. I purchased the Amber Diceless book years ago, but learning how to play and/or run the game felt daunting, having never seen a game in action before. That’s what led to my decision to pack my staff and take an impromptu road trip to Livonia, Michigan after work at the end of March. I stopped in Waterloo along the way to pick up my cousin so we could attend our very first AmberCon.
When my cousin and I arrived at the Embassy Suites where the convention was being held, we were told that the AmberCon group reserved a board room on the far side of the hotel. When we visited the board room, we were surprised to find a tiny meeting room with only a handful of people in it. We weren’t scheduled to play a game until the next day, but were disappointed to think that we had driven six hours to a convention with only five people in attendance.
Little did we know that games were being played all over the hotel in attendees rooms. The Embassy Suites is perfectly suited to the convention due to having designated seating areas in each guest room. The next morning, my cousin and I arrived early to our game master’s room and waited as fellow players filtered in. There were five of us in total (not including our game master). Since we were joining a campaign that had been running for years, our game master communicated with us via email before our arrival to hammer out character details, forgoing the regular attribute auction.
Once our game master walked out, he dove right into the game, which consisted quite literally of a verbal description of our setting. I was amazed at the level of detail our game master placed into the setting, from the way the room looked that we were supposed to be standing in, to the smells and distinct colours around us, to the tiniest details of our uniforms and gear (we were playing as special ops team members combating descendants of Amber).
Our game lasted seven and a half hours. There were no props, no die, no boards – just six people in a room talking out a scenario as it unfolded before us. It was joint story-telling in action and reminded me of the days when I would get so into a series (ahem, yes, I was a big Potter fan) and would fall into intricate worlds of fan fiction on Potter forums where users each took turns telling another part of the story.
For me, the endearing thing about Amber Diceless was the way it took you away from conversation props (whether that be a smart phone, computer, or even a board and die) and put you face to face with your peers, forcing you to engage in a collaborative manner. Furthermore, just like the books that Amber Diceless is based on, literally anything can go in an Amber game if it makes sense within the parameters of the character you created. The whole concept of the Amber series rests on the fact that there is one world – Amber – and multiple, infinite shadows that exist based on this one world. This means that literally anything you can imagine can be true.
As a person who loves games, I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing Amber Diceless. I left with a deeply-rooted respect for my game master and fellow players, many of who’ve been dedicated to Amber Diceless for decades. As someone who enjoys adventure, I had a kick planning a last minute trip to Michigan. But, more than anything, as someone who loves writing, Amber Diceless rekindled a sense of excitement and possibility, particularly in the realm of storytelling, that I often have to try hard to hang on to. And with so much good in one game, I don’t know what else I can do other than recommend it. The game can strike one as a bit odd upon first hearing about it (even as a game lover, I wasn’t too sure how to wrap my head around Amber Diceless until I actually played it), but you can’t knock it till you try it.
If you’re interested in trying out Amber but don’t know anyone in your area running a game, consider visiting one of the conventions. I was nervous to attend, not knowing anyone and feeling a bit like a party crasher of a continuing campaign, but the Amber bunch is extremely welcoming and everyone I met seemed genuinely to meet new visitors. There are conventions held in Michigan, Portland and Ireland, that I know of. Road trip, anyone?