This is Amber, the diceless RPG designed by Eric Wujcik and based on Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber series of novels.

Wujcik was a key designer at Palladium, perhaps best known for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Considering the reputation Palladium’s Megaversal system has for complexity, I find it delightful that Wujcik went on to design an RPG simple enough that it eschews dice entirely.

Amber came out in 1991 and its keen focus on relationships is, I think, unusual for the period. Characters are made of attributes which are purchased in auction with points, with players competing for higher standings (simulating, in a fashion, a long interpersonal history of competition between the characters). The attributes are ranked – the character with the top ranking will always defeat the lower ranking characters in a fair contest, with the gap between the scores signifying how length the contest lasts. The trick in Amber is to not find yourself in a position where your character has to have a fair contest – the smaller the numerical gap in the skills, the longer the contest and the more chance you have to change it involve something you have the advantage in. Make sense?

Zelazny’s novels detail the intrigues of the royal family of Amber as they fight among themselves (and an endless, mutable multiverse) for the crown. Following through, the RPG is unusual in that the point of the game is for the players to politic and backstab and war upon each other rather than cooperate toward a shared goal.

Amber has its share of problems – the ranking system is novel but forces a lot of number crunching during character progression. It also, I think, deceptively appeals to power gamers when, despite being a high powered game where characters can warp the fabric of reality, the focus is firmly on interpersonal interaction and narrative creativity, which would frustrate the hell out of munchkins, I think.