Anyone familiar with the Amber DRPG knows that rules are hardly the most important aspect of an Amber game. However, the rules do have an effect on what players will do with their character designs and what the characters can do during the game. Thus, to better fit the changed setting and to put some firewalls around a few things the GMs would rather keep starting characters free of, we present the following rule modifications.

Character Basics

• Characters will be based on 100 points. A normal auction will be held at the start of the game to create characters. Because of the more action-oriented nature of the game, Amber-level or better attributes are highly recommended. Chaos-level attributes will leave a character likely to get seriously hurt and Human-level attributes would be all but suicidal. Amber-level attributes are the minimum to allow a character to perform cool movie-style stunts.

• Up to 20 points of Contributions will be accepted from each player. We do plan on making a continuing campaign out of this start, so we encourage players to plan accordingly. The GMs are open to the idea of movie-related contributions.

• Good Stuff is limited to 10 points. The GMs strongly recommend Bad Stuff be kept below 10 points. While Stuff is linked to others' perception of a character, it is in no way linked to a character's attitudes or behavior.

• The first Primal Power (Pattern or Logrus) a character gains costs 25 points less than its listed cost. Players are strongly encouraged to have a Primal Power. Far more than just a way to travel Shadow, Pattern and Logrus are what separates the major players in this universe from the "third thug in the restaurant scene". Minor characters just aren't significant 'players' in this world and, as such, will be ignored by the GMs for long stretches of time. Think long and hard before playing a character without a Primal Power (and remember the 25 point discount).

• Advanced Powers (including High Compelling) and Exalted Powers are not available to starting characters. These are things to be learned or acquired during play! Broken Pattern is also not available.

• No Constructs. Artifacts made using the rules in the Amber DRPG will be accepted, however. One change to those rules is that "Resistant to Firearms" costs only 1 point while "Resistant to Normal Weapons" costs 2 points.

"Last kid that crossed tht line, I had to summon up the Spinach Monster with my Rock 'n Roll Magic. Spinach Monster grabbed him, pulled him underground, made him eat spinach all day. Rumor has it, kid, he's still there." - Buddy, "Six-String Samurai"
• Sorcery costs 20 points in this game, but is much more freeform than the system in the rulebook. Spellcasting is a 2 step process of drawing energy to power the spell then describing the desired result. It is much quicker than in the Rulebook, but still much slower than combat. Also note that subtle spells require much more energy than loud flashy spells.

"I do not like Rock 'n Roll music. It is too loud. I like folk music- soft, nice music. Eh? Polka, waltz, anything." - Russian General, "Six-String Samurai"

Little is known of Chaos, but that they seem to be more than a little... square.

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• Guns do work in this version of Amber. However, while they are quite effective against most people (possibly more so than in the real world, as anyone who has watched John Woo movies will attest), their effect (and, in fact, the effect of most ranged or thrown weapons) is dramatically reduced when used against targets who have a Primal Power (Pattern or Logrus). Guns used by normal people are much less effective against Primal Powered targets than a sword or other hand-to-hand attack would be. Guns used by one Primal Powered character against another are somewhat less effective. Note that it is possible to overcome this by enhancing the Weapon Damage of an artifact gun.

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• Album Cover design (?)
• Trumps exist, but are somewhat less common in this setting than in the Amber books. Trump Artistry does not include possession of Trumps of the Lords and Ladies of Hong Kong & Chaos. For every additional point spent, a Trump artist may start with 5 Trumps of the player's choice, but there is no guarantee how the subjects will respond if called. Trumps of minor characters and Shadow locations are free to Trump Artists. Please note the info in the section on Allies that follows.

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• Allies are a major part of this setting. Each character starts play with the Trump of one Elder of the player's choice. To have a Trump of someone is much like having the number of their private phone line. Thus, it indicates some level of familiarity and access as well as being the simple (and, by the way, entirely destructible) cardstock item. Your character will be considered as linked to that Elder in some way as part of 'general knowledge. Trumps of additional Elders (and the associated relationship) cost 1 points each.

Shadow Allies cost 1 point each.

Ally in Hong Kong or Chaos costs 2 points.

A Hong Kong or Chaos Devotee costs 5 points. Note that having a Hong Kong or Chaos Devotee in no way assures the ability to survive the Pattern or Logrus.

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• New Power - Chi Focusing

Chi Focusing is the ability to harness the always-present flow of Chi to augment a character's abilities. By using Chi Focusing, a character is able to perform feats beyond the limits of his or her attributes. Use of Chi Focusing is quite tiring, so a good Endurance will help make Chi Focusing a more usable power.

A character studied in Sorcery could strengthen or weaken the flow of Chi in an area (by changing the feng shui of the area), which would affect the function of Chi Focusing. A character with control of the nature of a Shadow could do likewise, potentially to the entire Shadow. However, the flow of Chi is so basic to reality that neither Pattern nor Logrus can directly change it.

Chi Focusing comes in 8 types, each of which cost 5 points during character design. Advanced forms of each are also possible, though not during character creation.

• Enhance Chi Focusing allows a character to exceed their normal abilities in an offensive/external fashion. Thus, a character with Enhance Warfare could use their Chi to give themselves a better chance of winning a duel with an opponent thought to have a better Warfare. Enhance can be purchased (separately) for each of the four attributes (Warfare, Strength, Psyche and Endurance).

Mechanically, Enhance does three things.

First, it allows a character to best someone of slightly higher rank. Thus, it can be thought of as a slight, temporary, and exhausting bonus in an attribute for offensive/external effect. Note, however, that the first ranked character is unusually hard to best in this fashion.

Second, if the character is not given a win by the first effect, Enhance creates fairly broad 'tie range' above the Enhanced character's attribute. This means that an Enhanced character that would normally fail in their attack will, instead, tie many targets. Ties will be broken by comparing a tiebreaker attribute determined by the GMs (frequently Endurance, since the Chi Focusing will have to be maintained to keep the Enhance in effect).

Finally, Enhance Endurance also allows a character to duplicate legendary 'Chi Healing' abilities, potentially projecting their own healing ability to others. All Enhance abilities can be used to produce similar "special effects" as the GMs determine to be acceptable, within the general rule that Enhance abilities are, as said above, offensive/external by nature.

• Resist Chi Focusing allows a character to exceed their normal abilities in a defensive/internal fashion. Thus, a character with Resist Psyche could use their Chi to give themselves a better chance of not being beaten in a battle of will by an opponent thought to have a better Psyche. Resist can be purchased (separately) for each of the four attributes (Warfare, Strength, Psyche and Endurance).

Mechanically, Resist does three things.

First, it allows a character to successfully defend against someone of slightly higher rank. Thus, it can be thought of as a slight, temporary, and exhausting bonus in an attribute for defensive/internal effect. Note, however, that the first ranked character is unusually hard to defend against in this fashion.

Second, if the character is not given a win by the first effect, it creates a fairly broad 'tie range' above the Resisting character's attribute. This means that a Resisting character that would normally fall to an attack will, instead, squeak by with a tie. Ties will be broken by comparing a tiebreaker attribute determined by the GMs (frequently Endurance, since the Chi Focusing will have to be maintained to keep the Enhance in effect).

Finally, Resist Endurance also allows a character to display stoic resistance to mundane pain and exhaustion, such as walking barefoot on hot coals or broken glass or running for days without any obvious discomfort. All Resist abilities can be used to produce similar "special effects" as the GMs determine to be acceptable, within the general rule that Enhance abilities are, as said above, defensive/internal by nature.

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