GM Commentary

There was a friend that introduced us to Amber back in 1993 and none of us knew much about it except that it was Diceless, but that game grew to 3 GMs (simultaneously) and 14 players playing every week for a whole Saturday for almost two years. That friend did back the Kickstarter but he's been strangely quiet - I don't even know if he's reading the forums. I've lost track of the number of diceless campaigns that I've run or been part of - I think this might be No.16 or No.17 - but the critical factors have been a) a GM who knows how to run diceless and understands that the game is all about information and the quality of relationships between the characters; and b) mature players. 

One of the most memorable games which spun out of that original game was an alternate Amber called "Jade". There were six of us, we used to go to the local pub for a few pints, and then stop gaming when the band came on. It changed the dynamic of the group from a gaming group to a group of friends who also did gaming. That's why I really like Diceless games - because you can play them anywhere, start and stop them whenever you like, and there is always a plot to explore, uncover or develop. The players get really good at spinning their own stories and GMing other players. But that's not something that you typically get from your average Dungeons and Dragons game - the players are there to play, not GM. In the best Amber (or now LoG&S) games, every player is a GM. That's an awesome concept where everyone can be a storyteller. 

Lurker37 (David) is part of that original Amber group.

Anyway, Session 25 was completed this evening. Grant talked to Mordecai and learnt a lot, including about how cross-reality warfare works. He's been returned to Marindar, convinced that there are Dwimmerlaik agents in Marindar, and that Dwimmerlaik agents are responsible for destruction of Shatterlight and the conflict between Drake and Mordecai. I won't say if he's right or not because that would be a spoiler, but the truth is rarely simple. When Grant said that he thought Drake had been misled, Mordecai said that Grant does not know Drake, and Mordecai believed that Drake would challenge Vala herself if he believed he was right and there was no other way. So was Drake deceived into destroying Shatterlight, or did he knowingly do it? Did he do it because he's working with the Dwimmerlaik, or for some other reason. As Mordecai said, "No one hates the Dwimmerlaik more than Lord Drake. No one." If that's true, then why would Drake have done it?

Hmmmm..... there's a mystery there for sure! Stay tuned.