The partial powers system:
The partial powers system allows players to buy up the powers granted with the rules book one at a time. This allows a bit more flexibility for the players (letting them define how experienced with a power their character is).

The holistic stat system:
The holistic stat system is a way for GM's to fine tune how conflicts are resolved. It also gives a reward to people who buy up good overall stats (take that, you "one-point-bidders"!).

Game setting:
Our campaign started under the regency of Prince Gerard: King Oberon was about to attempt to fix the Pattern, and the rest of the princes and princesses were away in Chaos fighting in what will be later known as "The Patternfall War" (thus the name of our campaign). So we're all using the information presented in the first five novels and we're pretty much left on our own to get into trouble, I mean defend Amber. Other than that, I (as a player in the game) have no clue as to what changes out GM has made (yet). I'll update everyone out there as soon as I spot a difference!

The map for Castle Amber:
The base for our game's Castle Amber map can be found here. Great for when you have no idea where to begin when designing the castle.

Blood curses:
When someone bearing the imprint of the Pattern activates their blood curse, they immediately gain 10 points of "bad stuff" (applied to their current total, so if you had 5 "good stuff" you're now at 5 "bad", but if you had 7 "bad" you're at 17 "bad"...). Usually, you don't care since you're about to die anyway. If aimed at a person, they gain 10 "bad stuff" as well, plus the effects of the curse as stated by the caster. See also our Blood Curses page.

Changes the Pattern makes to a character:
(This should explain some things about our background information if nothing else) The descendents of Oberon start off lif with boosted abilities (read higher stats) than mere shadow folk. So they are smarter, stronger, etc. from birth, but they age normally. When they take the Pattern, they get a slight boost to their attributes (this is a background detail only... we don't get free points or anything in game) and their ageing slows greatly over time (except Kyria, who is a special case).

A note on Shadow magic:
Shadows opperate on their own rules. This includes the types of magic that work, the typical points a character from that shadow is made on, and how powerful items are within that shadow. This is all just descriptive, as long as the item or creature stays in their home shadow. So if you want a world filled with spandex clad superheroes, and Superman should have a really high strength, you got it... as long as he stays in his home shadow. If you want Superman to be super in Amber, you have to buy him up the old fashioned way. However, you can do tricks like stating that Superman has the equivalent of a certain amount of strength in his home shadow (a really high amount), but when he leaves, he has the amount that you put into his creation.

A few more important rules to add, all of them about artifacts:
The dreaded "Morgenstern Rule"- If at any time your item has more points invested in it (as per the standard item creation rules) than you have in your stats, then you belong to it (so named from the joke that Morgenstern is the real brains behind Julian). How can a sword own you, expecially if you don't toss any points in intelligence? That's covered by the next rule...
The rule of names- If that item or creature has been made with 5 or more character points, it will have a name and a background story. In this game, items don't just grow on trees (unless you are in Oz and find a lunch-box tree), and names are very important. If the player doesn't give a name and story to the item or creature, the GM will, and you may not like what he comes up with. This also means it will have a slight amount of independant intelligence.
The artifact power limit rule- Items and creatures of power are supported by the shadow they come from. The amount of power an item or creature has is directly linked to the power of the shadow (as represented by the "shadow type" listed on the character sheet). A 1 point "personal shadow" can only create items or creatures that have 2 points in any category; a 2 point shadow is needed to get a 4 in a category. So to make a weapon with 4 point deadly damage, it has to come from a 2 point Shadow of a Realm. This dove tails into the next rule. (As a note, shadow types do not stop at 4 points in this game, but you better make a darn good deal with the GM to break that 4 point limit.)
The artifact support rule- Any given shadow can only support ONE, and only one, item or creature at the maximum point limit supported by the above rule. To continue the example above, if you get that 4 point damage weapon, you won't be able to get another supported by the same shadow. Nor will you be able to the artifact in a higher quantity, it will be unique.

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