On the Radar: Diceless Lords

Amber Diceless Roleplaying was a game I'd only read about, but had never  played. A friend owned the books, so I only got a quick look through, but never really tried it. A shame, really, since I'm a big fan of the Zelazny books.

But now, there are now a couple of games based on it. Well, one's already out. The other one's got a Kickstarter to complete it.

First, there's Lords of Olympus by Precis Intermedia. Using the core system from Amber Diceless, they created a setting based on Greek Myth.

Portray gods and demigods -- children of Olympian Gods, Titans, or Primordials in this diceless roleplaying game of multi-dimensional mythology Fantasy. Explore new realms or the classic worlds of Earth and Mythological Greece. Visit Zeus' Olympus, Poseidon's Seas, or Hades' Underworld. Mix politics with intrigue, alliances with wars as power-struggles and vengeance drive stories. Or, go the route of lesser power with mortals and heroes. 

Just enough to make me want to use to add some lovely REALLY high level play for a fantasy RPG setting. Perhaps for Mystara -- which has some of the Greek / Roman-inspired Immortals in it. Perhaps interesting enough to supplant the original Immortal mechanism in D&D's ruleset for it and put a different spin to the task of becoming Immortal.

Next, there's the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow with its own ongoing (at the time of this writing) Kickstarter. A bit more like Amber in setting, but with the numbers filed off. Well, that's unfair. I've heard bits of the setting and read some of the preview, and it's really intriguing. Enough difference and depth to be its own setting, and similar enough to have similar themes to the original game as well. I particularly like the concept of the Grand Staircase -- I envision it as an equivalent of the World Tree, actually, translated into modern understanding. But you can find out about it yourself.

This world is but one of untold many, a flux of chance caught between shadow and light. It is a world poised between great powers that shape and define all matter, one of many battlegrounds in an epic struggle between form and cacophony. This is the battle between the creators, shapers, and destroyers of worlds.

Ah, I hope to be able to play either of these games one of these days.