"The first rule is not to lose. The second rule is not to forget the first rule."
W. Buffet

Attributes

In contrast to the Amber DRPG's attribute ranks, Civil Blood will use a more standard RPG style, where there is a closed scale (in our case, 0 to 10) and you pay varying amounts of points for an attribute at a certain level.

This allows us to more precisely define the differences between the attributes. A one point difference (for example, 6 to 7) is considered a slight advantage. The more competent party will, all other things being equal, win a competition, but his victory will be neither quick, easy, nor without cost. Further, it is relatively easy to turn around a one point advantage with either secondarily important attributes or with situational modifiers. A canonical example of a one point difference in attributes might be Corwin and Eric's fight in Nine Princes in Amber. While Corwin has an advantage, he feels at one point that he will lose, and eventually, Eric is able to hold him off long enough for the guards to come. (Note that these examples did not actually occur in the history of New Mutiny, and may not be representative of the Elders' point values)

A two point advantage (for example, 6 to 8) is much more clear cut. While the two contestents are in the same general league, one has a serious advantage on the other, and will, if given some time and a relatively even playing field, probably win the contest handily and at little cost. However, it is certainly possible to turn around a two point advantage, and the more competent contestent might even do himself in if he underestimates his opponent, by, for example, pressing an attack too hard, too early. A canonical example of a two point difference might be Corwin and Benedict's fight in The Guns of Avalon. Corwin is able to ward off Benedict's attacks, and even wound Benedict slightly, but has to fight almost entirely defensively and would have eventually lost if he hadn't tricked Benedict with the black grass.

A three point difference (for example, 6 to 9) is pretty much decisive. Victory will be relatively quick and simple, and only the most herculean efforts will turn around the advantage. A canonical example might be Corwin and Strygalldwir's fight in The Guns of Avalon. Corwin handily wounds Strygalldwir several times, and then, even after suffering a reversal and being disarmed when he goes for a death blow that isn't mortal to Strygalldwir's anatomy, he's able to handily win the fight without notable injury.

There are three primary attributes in Civil Blood. While that may not seem like very many, each is divided into two secondary attributes. Further, if you want to more carefully detail your character, you may buy up to two specializations in each secondary attribute. Specializations aren't enumerated -- you may choose any reasonable subset of of a secondary attribute, so long as it's not a blatant attempt to get the entirety of the secondary attribute at a reduced price. If you have two specialties at a given level, the second one may cost less than the first.

The first attribute is Physique. It describes your character's physical conditioning and endurance. Activities such as heavy lifting, sprinting, marathon running, and damage soaking are purely controlled by Physique. Physique also plays a major role in combat of various kinds, though Warfare also plays a role. The secondary stats for Physique are Strength and Endurance. Some sample specializations might be, under Strength, Sprinting or Climbing, and, under Endurance, Healing or Going Without Sleep.

Next up is Warfare. Much as in the standard DRPG, Warfare covers all of reflexes, accuracy, and tactical/strategic thinking. Activities like chess and target shooting are purely controlled by Warfare. Obviously, it also plays a big role in melee and missile combat. The secondary stats for Warfare are Combat, which describes your skill in interpersonal fighting, and Strategy, which governs your ability to act in tactically sound manners. Combat-based specialties are generally a particular type of weapon (like rapier fencing) or martial technique (like wrestling). Specialties under Strategy are things like Small Unit Tactics or Cavalry Use.

Finally, we have Psyche. More than strength of will, Psyche is a measure of your accomplishment in the various esoteric arts, chiefly Pattern and Trump, which are the secondary attributes. I may consider other possible "power" like things in Psyche, but, in general, I'm trying to avoid flashy powers. Possible specialties under Pattern include Building Shadowpaths or Leading Armies. The various Trump Tricks would all be reasonable specialties for Trump.

Example of buying attributes: Robert wants to be a very competent warrior, but only a so-so general. He purchases his Warfare to 4, costing 18 points. He then purchases the Combat secondary attribute up two points higher than that. We can see that Combat 5 costs 6, and Combat 6 costs another 8, for a total of 14 points. He then, further, decides that he will specialize in the Broadsword to the tune of two additional levels and Archery to one additional level, so he looks at the First Specialty column for Broadsword: level 7 costs him 5 points, and level 8 costs him 6, for 11. Finally, his level 7 in Archery costs 3 points as a Second Specialty. Thus, Robert spends a total of 18 + 14 + 11 + 3 = 41 points. When he's leading troops, only his base Warfare counts, so he has an effective score of 4. When he fights with a battle axe, his Combat counts, so he has an effective score of 6. If he uses a bow, his Archery counts and he's level 7, and if he uses a broadsword instead, he has an effective score of 8. Had Robert wished to be generally competent to the tune of an 8 score, he would have had to spend 73 points.

One last complication, then we're through with attributes. Amberites are, as we all know, physically superhuman. However, they are more superhuman in some areas than in others. That is, while a, for example, 3 in Physique might be significantly beyond human ability, a 3 in Warfare is merely quite talented. At the bottom of the page are tables describing the capabilities of each of the attributes. Note that, in stating one's maximum abilities, it's easy to get a false impression of their competence. Despite the fact that your maximums may seem grossly higher than someone with an attribute one level below you, when it comes to practical applications of your talent, you have only a slight advantage. Also note, particularly with the Psyche capabilities, that these abilities are paradigmatic examples, and that the list here does not exhaust the extent of the attributes.

Quirks

Quirks are a catch-all term for things about a character which are unusual and don't really fit into the standard attributes. Quirks are intended to have relatively little game effect and are mostly to round out a character or add flavor than to create huge game effects. Quirks generally cost 1 to 5 points.

One category of Quirk is particular skill at something not covered by an attribute. For example, Corwin was an incredibly talented song-writer -- many of Amber's best-loved songs are his, even 150 years after his death. Eric was a remarkable able blacksmith, able to create arms and armor of preternatural quality.

Another category of Quirk is small variations from the human norm. The most obvious example of this is the Rebman Quirk -- Rebmans can breathe water and are somewhat resistant to hypothermia and pressure. In essence, they can live underwater. Llewella and Victoria both have the Rebman Quirk.

Some people also have particularly valuable unique items that are strongly associated with him -- Julian used to have nearly invulnerable white scale armor, for example, and now Tsark wears the guantlets from it.

Other categories of Quirk are possible. Talk to me if you have ideas. Remember, the watchword for Quirks is "of limited game effect."

Character Creation

There are two tiers of characters in Civil Blood. Older characters are ones were alive back during the New Mutiny era and participated in its feuds. They are 125 point characters, with 115 points of that made public.

Younger characters are those without experience in Ambers' wars, and they are made with 105 points, only 50 of which are public. They are also allowed some free Quirks, the value not to exceed 5 points, if they choose to take them.

Older characters receive one XP point every two sessions. Younger characters get one point per session.

Advancement

You may spend XP before or after any session, but in the middle of it, you may not buy permenant attribute points (but see Luck, below). Experience points for a session are gained after that session concludes.

If you're buying a container stat when you've already bought one of its substats, you only pay the difference in price between what you've already bought and the total cost of the stat. So, for example, if you have Warfare 4, Combat 4, Broadsword 6, and you want to buy Warfare 5, you've already paid 3 points as a part of buying your Broadsword specialty, so the total price would be only 7 more points, after which you'd have Warfare 5, Combat 5, Broadsword 6.

Miscellaneous Rules Issues

Blocking Trump: If you have sufficient Psyche/Trump/Specializations to not accept a Trump call in the first place, neither hell, high-water, nor anything else can force you to take it. At most, you may be annoyed, but not seriously distracted, by constant attempts to contact you. If you do accept the Trump call, you are at risk of mental attack with no particular defensive benefits.

Jamming Trump: If a Trump card is dropped onto a line of one of the Patterns, it bursts into flame and slowly disintigrates. It takes about six hours for a card to totally burn. In that time, it is impossible to contact the person represented by that card via Trump. The person can still make outgoing Trump calls as normal.

Blood Curses: Blood Curses are to do something in particular. You aren't just generally cursed, you're cursed to have some particular doom befall you. They are not too specific, and often manifest somewhat symbolically, not literally. Past Blood Curses have included, "You will never know peace," and "As you have betrayed me, so will you ever be betrayed."

Luck: This game includes no Good or Bad Stuff. However, if you have unspent experience, you may use it to temporarily increase an attribute for a single action -- be it a stroke of a blade or something longer term, like the creation of a single Shadow-Path. One point of XP will give you a +1 to a single attribute for the purpose of that action only, or +2 to the attribute if your action is purely defensive in nature.

© 2005, Michael Sullivan. Contact the maintainer at e@apparentlynot.com