Welcome to Madeline's Proto-Amber Page!

 

After a 4-year hiatus, I'm back with a minor update. All the links work now, and the "characters I'm playing" bit has been removed for lack of contemporality.

On the other hand, I'm now running a campaign! The fine folks in my Buffy group signed on to play a short Amber campaign which they decided was set in England, 1943: they're resistance fighters against the occult Nazi occupation, and they don't know that they are Amberites... As is their patroness, United States President Eleanor Roosevelt. Will discovering what they really are distract them from saving Britain? Shadow of a Doubt: Coming to the Bay Area, Summer 2006.

Previous Amber work I've done includes:

The Annotated Amber

 

And a rough timescale of the events of the first series (How long ago did Oberon "abdicate"? How long did Benedict really have his silver arm? You [and your character--] may be surprised...):

A Canonical Timeline of the Events of the Corwin Chronicles

 

You may also be interested in my treatment of an Amber Airforce.

 

Offsite Writings:
Amber is a vivid world, and a high proportion of the people who love it seem to be smart, funny, and talented. The combination gives us some remarkable feats of literature. If you haven't read these yet, the time is now: these are the absolute cream of the hundreds of pages of Amber stuff I have seen.

  • The Tragical History of Eric, King of Amber : Many years ago Maya (Genevieve Cogman, who has written many gaming books, including, I hear, the coming GURPS Vorkosigan) reworked the reign of Eric into a Shakespearean play, in what is in my opinion the finest tribute to Roger Zelazny on the web. Her grasp of character is impeccable. I recommend her beautiful poetry treatments of the elders as well.
  • Nine Rednecks in Amber : Karen Alfrey says by way of introduction:
      "Write what you know," they say. Scary how this one just seemed to write itself.  
    I cackled all the way through this reworking of the first bit of Nine Princes in Amber. The characterizations of the elders are unique and appropriate, the white trash detail perfect... And snideness, entirely absent. Absolutely the most amusing Amber writing I've seen.

There are a good many other bits of Amber-inspired writing which are delightful as well, certainly more than I've remembered to bookmark; e-mail me with stuff I've missed.

  • The AmberMUSH Gilbert-and-Sullivanesque Operetta is, like any satire, funniest if you know the subject matter: in this case, Amber, MUSHing, and Gilbert and Sullivan. But, like any well-written satire, it's got great bits even if you don't know any of these. (I loved the Bleys song.)
  • Tiffany's AmberMUSH Humor Columns have dashes of hilarity like the "Pretend Logrus Imprint" ("Characters with this power...can wiggle their hands around, and pretend to summon things"). For some reason, her "Furniture Ranking of Bad Stuff" has stuck with me all these years.

And, though diceless we may be, we are yet gamers, heir to a vast richness of gamer humor. If, through some sad chance, you have failed to hear of the pearls without price found below, I beg that you do not hesitate to relieve this wretched state...

  • Eric and the Gazebo. I make everyone I know read this one, even the non-gamers. Aronson has a gift for humor. "But that was a plus-three arrow!" Heh.
  • The Head of Vecna, a tale of greed, slapstick, and people summoning carnivorous apes to cut off their own heads. From those heady high school DnD days.
  • The Dead Alewives present... Dungeons and Dragons! Download the mp3 of... An actual gaming session! "I'm attacking the darkness!" Oh, it's so true. Ow.
 
 
Got questions or comments? Send them to me at webmaster06@z-amber.com
Last updated 21 June 2006