Subdirectories: HomeFires.
2007-08-31
Sessions of Keep The Home Fires Burning
The GM has chosen to give each session a title, as if it was an episode in a TV series or the like.
- Intersections in Real Time (April 15th 2007)
A series of little vignette scenes, one for each character from each of the five years since things have started. We put together a list of them for our reference, which is in FiveYears.
- Convictions (April 29th 2007)
In which our protagonists accept Dorian's invitation to go hunting in Arden, Tharsk impales himself on a handy boar spear, Pandora fails to bag a deer on her own but kills quite a bit of alcohol that evening for no reason at all (just ask her), Mordred cares for his relatives, Aidan demonstrates he can carry an Arden deer single-handedly (if messily), and Ginko goes for a walk in the dark and becomes the first character to be attacked over a Trump call.
(PS: the deer was dead at the time. This makes Aidan the only one to successfully hunt something on the trip. Okay, technically Mordred got some rabbits.)
Update: I forgot that preceeding this was Dorian's drunken (maybe) rampage in the portrait room, and a semi-successful attempt to contact Deirdre by Trump.
- Visitors From Down The Street (May 6th 2007)
In which our protagonists successfully contact Deirdre by Trump and rescue Deirdre and Bleys by pulling them through the contact, only to find out that we had instead actually rescued Deirdre, something possessing Deirdre, and someone impersonating Bleys, and that Tharsk had been colonized by a bit of Brand after the last time.
Upshot: 'Bleys' disappeared and probably walked the Pattern (someone did, although they did not look like Bleys at the time), Dorian assaulted Tharsk until the bit of Tharsk that was Brand decided to drop off and slither off to recover later, and the thing possessing Deirdre moved to the infirmary nurse and may or may not have died when she did.
Oh, and we worked out a reasonably accurate ranking of people's Warfares due to the melee.
- Appearances And Other Deceits (June 10th 2007)
- The Illusion Of Truth (June 29th)
- And The Rock Cried Out "No Hiding Place" (August 5th 2007)
2007-05-19
The results of the statistics auction
Stat Value Who Strength 40 Aidan Warfare 100 Mordred Psyche 70 tie: Pandora and Helena Endurance 75 Tharsk Good Stuff 6 Aidan Bad Stuff -3 Tharsk Since stats go up to 150, Warfare went quite dear while Strength went for a relative song. We are pretty certain that Tharsk is the only PC with Bad Stuff.
(See also Characters.)
Events in the third session established that the Warfare rankings seem to run (top to bottom): Mordred, Dorian, Phantome, Helene, Ginko, Pandora, Tharsk, and Lucien. (Lucien is a one-trick pony, with huge Psyche that is better than the first ranked PCs Psyche.)
2007-05-06
The characters of HomeFires
These are various bits and pieces on the third generation in Home Fires, both PC and NPC.
PCs
Aidan trump He comes from an 18th/19th century British Shadow, and is now a leading light of the Amber Navy. Ginko A humble monk. He vehemently denies being an Amberite. Helena A type-A businesswoman from (a) Shadow Earth. Mordred The best fighter among us, and the son of Moire and Corwin. Pandora From another Shadow Earth. Tharsk Disreputable, because he has Bad Stuff. (Better summaries may appear sometime if the applicable players want to give me some.)
Which PC got first rank in each stat is public information, and can be found in AuctionResults.
NPCs
Dorian trump He has an eyepatch and a ship and is rarely seen in the castle, and is said to be the son of the tragically deceased Caine. Lucien trump 1, trump 2 Fiona's son, a long time inhabitant of the castle, and the de-facto or official castle librarian. Phantome trump Not much is known about the mysterious Phantome, not even really her actual name (she just told the characters to call her Phantome). She keeps turning up places in Shadow, but never when you expect her to. Rinaldo trump Rinaldo/Luke is not known to be an Amberite at this point in time, but he still is one. He hangs around the Golden Circle.
2007-04-28
Session 1: The Five Year Project
Since session one was just a series of vignettes, we actually put together a summary of each year. For our later usage:
Year One
In which we are confined to the castle and go stir-crazy.
- Pandora makes Music, because there's not much else to do
- Aiden shows he's a Flat thinker
- Lucien uses magic to keep the Library Organized
- Ginko discovers sparring can mean many things
- Dorian Breaks a few legs
- Mordred duels someone with his mind
- Thrask Offends Llewella, outed as Fiona's
Year Two
Where we are allowed to go to the city, but with a pile of guards.
- Pandora shops a lot!
- Dorian moves out of the castle, into the city
- Tharsk shortchanges sailors, starts a Riot
- Mordred quells the Riot
- Lucien discovers Trumps stolen, Library damaged
- Ginko mixes Medicine and Horticulture
- Phantome plays hide and seek with her Guards
- Aiden host Dinner aboard the Madness [his ship]
Year Three
Where we are allowed to go to the Golden Circle, but still with guards.
- Aiden joins the Navy, starts learning Trump
- Pandora studies sorcery in Begma, Returns with a Black Cat
- Dorian meets with the Arden Rangers
- Ginko Spends a tour aboard a Naval Vessel
- Phantome back flips off a Balcony, but is okay.
- Tharsk returns to Amber with Luxury Goods
- Mordred supports Guthrun Norfolk as new head of Castle Guard
- Lucien rejects House Demands over the Throne, uses Majesty
Year Four
Where tensions ratchet down, and we stop trailing guards like overgrown ducklings, much to some people's relief.
- Ginko finally gets to do some Charity in the City
- Lucien has a conversation with a White Raven
- Pandora enjoys Blueberry Pancakes with Mom
- Aiden makes Captain, begins doing Trumps of Cousins
- Tharsk gets beat on by Goons, but keeps going until they wear out
- Dorian hosts dinner on the Albatross [his ship, a dirigible]
- Phantome has her papers stolen in the Castle
- Helena found her Shadow of Desire, save the Food
- Mordred declares all the worlds are real and Oberon was wrong
Year Five
In the fifth year, we were finally let out into Shadow on our own. We were also forced over the Pattern if we hadn't already walked it on our own power.
- Ginko is required to Walk the Pattern, despite his protests
- Pandora has a wonderful time Gardening and Sketching
- Aiden makes Rear Admiral
- Phantome here, Phantome there
- Mordred has his Sword stolen
- Lucien lays out 'The Facts' on the state of castle politics
- Helena brings her Servants back from Shadow
- Dorian throws himself of the Cliffs of Kolvir
- Tharsk is spotted Shapeshifting and Vanishing
(Note that these summaries are not intended to make sense to anyone but the players.)
Information on the setting of HomeFires
(All of these are in Microsoft Word .doc format.)
Amber Houses The noble houses of Amber, which have been rising in influence with no Elder Amberites around to do things. Golden Circle The Shadows of the Golden Circle. Timeline The timeline of events up until the game's start. Handy Amber information This includes time and the calendar, Amber coinage, and information about noble titles. Some additional material:
- 3rd floor castle map (with grid), by Andy Armstrong.
2007-04-08
Amber DRPG things you probably want to know
(Almost everything here is in Microsoft Word .doc format; I'm not going to bother noting it for each file.)
Character generation The character generation information, including character quizzes. Stats guide What the various stats do and how they're combined and so on. Stuff guide A guide to Good Stuff and Bad Stuff in the HomeFires campaign. Pattern The partial powers system for Pattern. Trump The partial powers system for Trump and for Trump Tricks, which can be bought without Trump Artistry. Magic The RPG rules for Magic. Shapeshifting The partial powers system for Shapeshifting. Magic overview A relatively number-free overview of the magic system HomeFires uses. (This may be obsoleted by the full magic rules; I'm not sure.) Some additional reading for players:
Dworkin Doesn't Like You A possible look at Dworkin's perspective on everything. Roleplaying an Amber character Some suggestions on roleplaying a character in the Amber DRPG.
Links to relevant places of interest
These are various links of interest from Paul Phillips, the HomeFires GM. Note that not all of them may be directly applicable for HomeFires; these are resources.
