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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:00:19 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:00:19 GMT -5
G1) What is this list about?
This list is for discussing the Amber novels and role-playing game. As long as a topic relates to the game or novels in any way, it is fine.
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:01:07 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:01:07 GMT -5
G2) What sort of etiquette should I use here?
Try to follow Usenet etiquette. Ignore spelling errors. Keep flames to a minimum. Include smileys when you are joking. (It is sometimes difficult to tell, no matter how clear you think you are being.)Only quote relevant portions of a message you reply to; especially avoid repeating a long message only to add a short comment. Always include AMBER in the subject of your messages: this allows people with mail filters to separate out these postings. Don't ask for people to send you electronic copies of Zelazny's works; such distribution of copyrighted material is illegal. Messages which are not related to Amber don't belong on the list. We understand that warnings are sent out with the best intentions, but if everyone sent out the latest virus, scam, or bad policy warnings, we'd be swamped with more non-Amber mail than Amber mail.
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:02:01 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:02:01 GMT -5
G3) What is Amber? (list of Amber books)
The Amber universe was created by Roger Zelazny in his very popular fantasy/sci-fi series: _Nine Princes in Amber_, _The Guns of Avalon_, _Sign of the Unicorn_, _The Hand of Oberon_, _The Courts of Chaos_, _Trumps of Doom_, _Blood of Amber_, _Sign of Chaos_, _Knight of Shadows_, and _Prince of Chaos_. The first five books deal with Corwin; the second five with Merlin, Corwin's son.
The little-known "Prologue" to his novel _Trumps of Doom_, which briefly describes Merlin's traversal of the Logrus, was republished in Amberzine #4. (Aug '93)
Roger Zelazny also wrote five Amber short stories: "A Salesman's Tale", published in Amberzine #6. (Feb '94) (see G4 for more about Amberzine). Rinaldo's POV.
"The Shrouding and the Guisel", published in the premiere issue of "Realms of Fantasy" magazine (Oct '94), as well as Amberzine #8. Merlin's POV.
"Coming to a Cord", published in Pirate Writings (Summer '95). Frakir(!)'s POV.
"Blue Horse, Dancing Mountains", in the anthology "Wheel of Fortune", edited by Roger Zelazny, ISBN 0-380-77423-2. (Dec '96)Corwin's POV.
"Hall of Mirrors", in the anthology "Castle Fantastic", edited by John DeChancie and Martin H. Greenburg, ISBN 0-88677-686-4. (Mar '96) Corwin's POV.
Although I haven't tried this myself, I have heard it said that one can get Roger Zelazny's books on-line. e. g.: www.amazon.com
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:03:02 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:03:02 GMT -5
G4) What is the Amber Diceless Role-Playing Game (DRPG)?
It is a game designed by Erick Wujcik and published by Phage Press in Nov '91. It contains a set of rules and background for running a role-playing game in the Amber universe. It heavily emphasizes role-playing, and uses NO dice at all. For anything. Ever. It costs $22. 95 US, and you can order it directly from Phage Press, PO Box 519, Detroit, MI USA, 48231-0519. It costs $25. 00 US with shipping and handling.
The supplement _Shadow Knight_ came out Dec 1993, after being delayed for a few years. It mostly covers the Merlin series (which was not in the core rules) and sells for $23. 95 US.
The other promised supplements have been not yet materialized, but the Rebman source book should be published "soon." (as of Apr '96)
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:03:23 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:03:23 GMT -5
G5) What other Phage Press stuff is there?
Phage Press also publishes the fanzine "Amberzine," which has a limited print run of 1000 copies per issue. It largely carries gaming fiction (i.e., other people's campaign logs, with all that implies) and a small sprinkling of essays and miscellaneous things. There are 9 issues now out.
Issues or back issues cost $10 US apiece. A subscription to Amberzine is $40 US for 5 issues; release dates are erratic. As far as I know, all issues are still available from Phage Press; write them to order back issues or request a subscription.
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:04:12 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:04:12 GMT -5
G6) What non-Phage Press stuff is there?
There used to be several non-Phage press Amber fanzines which were dedicated to the Amber DRPG. Among these were _Hellrider_, from the UK, and _Trump Call_, edited by Cort Odekirk. Unfortunately, they have all since died out to the best of my knowledge.
There is, however, a WWW fanzine, "A Pattern in the WEB", at http://www. mcs. net/~grizzly/pw. html
Other potential sources include _Roger Zelazny's Visual Guide to Castle Amber_, co-authored by Neil Randall, who is also the author of two choose-your-own adventure style books called _Seven No Trump_ and _The Black Road War_ (ISBN 0-441-11537-3, published by Ace Books, 1988). The first casts you in the role of Random; the second places you in the shoes of Derek, son of Eric; they are both out of print. The _Visual Guide_ is somewhat reviled on the list, as it not only contains art which charitably may be said to be not particularly inspiring, but it also suggests the Amberites were extremely influenced by Earth, of all places.
_The Complete Amber Sourcebook_, by Theodore Krulik, ISBN 0-380-75409-6 (Jan '96). This has some uses as a book where one can find various parts of the series summarized, but the author's extensions of Zelanzy's universe (e.g., his treatment of the Moonriders) read like something out of someone's personal campaign, and an uninteresting campaign at that.
In 1985, a graphical computer adventure game called, unsurprisingly, "Nine Princes in Amber" was published in 1985 by Telarium Software. It was based on the first two books; you took the part of Corwin. It was available on the Apple II, Commodore 64, Atari ST (possibly the Amiga), and IBM, but is presently out of print.
There was supposed to be an Amber boardgame which was worked on by some people at Eon Games. Unfortunately, it was never released.
DC Comics has an adaptation of NPiA in three parts; the first part was out in late May '96. It has also published a complete adaptation of GoA illustrated by Christopher Schenck, also in three parts; the first part shipped in late August '96. ambre@anv. net is in touch with the GoA artist and has volunteered to field questions regarding it.
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:04:41 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:04:41 GMT -5
G7) Is there an anonymous FTP site for this list?
The Amber list FTP site is run on a volunteer basis by Kevin Bremer. It is at ftp. visi. com, and the directory is /users/kbremer/amber. If you're using the WWW, http://www. visi. com/~kbremer/amber
Older archives of the list starting from 92-06 and recent archives are preserved there; there is a gap from 95-03 to 95-12 for which no archives exist.
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:05:19 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:05:19 GMT -5
G8) How about a mail server for those without internet access?
There are some alternatives. The best way is to try the ftpmail server run by DEC. Just send a message containing "help" in the body to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com. You should get back a message telling you how to use it.
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:06:02 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:06:02 GMT -5
G9) How to I subscribe/unsubscribe to this list?
The list is administered by Lisa Leutheuser. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@logrus.org with:
[subscribe/unsubscribe] amber [your e-mail address here]
in the *body* of the e-mail message. You can also go to the URL www.us.itd.umich.edu/users/eal/amber/email-list.html. If you have questions about or problems with the the functioning of the list itself, send e-mail to amber-owner@logrus.org (not to Lisa).
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:06:32 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:06:32 GMT -5
G10) What are all those funny acronyms or words?
Book abbreviations: NPiA - _Nine Princes in Amber_ ToD - _Trumps of Doom_ GoA- _Guns of Avalon_BoA - _Blood of Amber_ HoO- _Hand of Oberon_SoC - _Sign of Chaos_ SotU - _Sign of the Unicorn_ KoS - _Knight of Shadows_ CoC- _The Courts of Chaos_ PoC - _Prince of Chaos_
Others: :-) or:) - a sideways smiley face, meant to indicate a joke AFAIK - As Far As I Know BTW - By The Way FAQ - Frequently Asked Question flame - verb. To violently vocally disagree. FTF - Face-to-Face (as opposed to PBEM) IIRC - If I Recall Correctly IMC - In My Campaign IMHO - In My Humble Opinion (there are variants) IMOC - In My Other Campaign IOC - In Our Campaign LOL - Laughs Out Loud OTOH - On The Other Hand PBEM - Play by E-Mail ROFL - Rolling On the Floor Laughing YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:07:16 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:07:16 GMT -5
G11) What is this "second series canon" stuff?
Quite a few people on this list disagree with things in the second series (_Trumps of Doom_ through _Prince of Chaos_). As such, they simply ignore it as not canonical, usually starting their games at the end of CoC. This is a stylistic preference.
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:07:57 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:07:57 GMT -5
G12) Are there any conflicting statements in the books?
Yes! There are comments about family relationships and other things which are contradicted in other books or in the visual guide. Zelazny claims some contradictions are due to Corwin's amnesia. Perhaps the rest are outright lies by the Amberites. If people want to tell me about them, I'll add them to the list. Here's a few:
a.) Corwin states that Random is his full brother in NPiA, but this is contradicted everywhere else (including by Corwin). This is probably the result of wishful thinking by Corwin or his subconscious.
b.) When Corwin and Benedict are fighting, Ganelon is casually brushed aside. Yet Ganelon managed to take Gerard down in a fist fight when even Corwin couldn't.
c.) Corwin mentions wildly different numbers when counting relatives in NPiA and GoA.
d.) Caine's parentage is controversial. (See A7 for full details.)
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:08:42 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:08:42 GMT -5
G13) What/Where is AmberMUSH?
AmberMUSH is a MUSH (multi-user quasi-realtime virtual reality) based on Amber. You play by telnetting into muds.okstate.edu, port 5150. You need to send mail to amber-request@muds. okstate. edu in order to request a character. You can find the new player guide through the WWW at www.cis.upenn.edu/~lwl/guide/guide. html (preferred), or via FTP from ftp.cis.upenn.edu in /pub/lwl/amber/amberguide. It also has a homepage: www.math.okstate.edu/~hfreder/ambermush.html
Then you wander around talking with other people and generally having fun. For more information on Mushes, Muds, and the like, see the rec. games. mud newsgroups.
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:10:58 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:10:58 GMT -5
G14) Should this list be a newsgroup instead?
The activity level of the list varies from several dozen messages daily to less than one a week. This question generally arises when the list is in one of its busier phases. There are several reasons why the list has not become a newsgroup:
1) a newsgroup would produce a lower 'signal to noise' ratio due to things like spamming and an increase in the number of 'dice vs diceless' and 'is Zelazny a good writer'-type conversations (which while sometimes interesting aren't really on topic and are the sort of thing some people can get very fanatical about) and
2) any newsgroup would have to be an alt. * group which a good proportion of the list does not have access to. In my opinion, if someone would like to start a newsgroup on this topic, fine. I'd probably read it. I'd also continue to subscribe to this list, though, because I feel that it offers a much higher ratio of "interesting stuff" to "things I'm tired of seeing" than any newsgroup ever will.
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GENERAL
Dec 21, 2014 11:11:44 GMT -5
Post by Finarvyn on Dec 21, 2014 11:11:44 GMT -5
G15) What's important to know about copyright for the list?
Adapted from a message from the list admin: - Don't ask for electronic copies of RZ's or any copyrighted material on the list. It's bad. It's wrong. It causes people to detonate. - Don't propagate electronic copies of RZ's stories or any copyrighted material (including other people's unpublished Amber stories and diaries) without permission. If you do have such permission, attribute the author. - Formal copyright notice (i.e., Copyright Name Year) has not been necessary in the US since 1989, but it can help in court cases. - If you're not from the US, this doesn't mean you can copy at will. It's likely your country honors US copyrights, and the US honors yours.
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