Slot 1: Friday 7:30pm till late

1/1 Burning Coal: On Her Britannic Majesty’s Service
GM: Vivek D
Description: 1901: The dawn of a New Century. The great imperial powers vie for supremacy, challenging one another overtly and covertly wherever ther is a prize to be won. Tensions have not quite spilled into war yet – but war is coming.
In Britain the Great Game is run from The Ministry – a gathering of the great and the good (or at least the capable and powerful) in service of the empire.
Characters: You are all agents of the Empire, extraordinary in some way, who work for the ministry. Returning and new players welcome.
Players: 8

1/2 Bleached Coral
GM: Tym N
Description: There is a rumour spreading throughout Rebma that Queen Moire is dying. While it is true that she hasn’t been seen in public since shortly after the death of King Oberon of Amber, her courtiers insist that she is fine and has merely sequestered herself in mourning.
The truth, known only to a few, is that she is dying and no-one knows why. Now a select group of Rebmans has been tasked with finding a cure. Will you succeed or will Rebma need a new Queen.
Characters:  Characters should be loyal residents of Rebma. 150 points, no advanced powers.
More info will be sent out before the Con.
Players: 4 – 6

1/3 Hostile Territory
GM: Simone P-M
Description:
Random’s rule is under threat. If he (which of course means you) doesn’t solve the problem of the poisonings, plague, riots and agents of Chaos soon, then his head is likely to be on the block. His loyal agents (yes, even you) will be next on the list.
Amber now has its lowest population for centuries. The harbour is blockaded, and full of bodies, the smell alone is keeping the docks empty. Hellhounds can be seen prowling the edges of Arden, and rumours suggest they have also been spotted running through the streets of Amber, though there are also reports of wolves and other strange creatures eating poor unfortunates.
So, Amber’s enemies have nowhere to run, it should be easy enough to flush them out, rescue the damsel in distress, and save the kingdom.
Characters: Whether you got here on your own merits, or because someone else engineered it, you are now right in the middle of Amber’s biggest crisis since Patternfall.
Characters could be career military, explorers, sneaky bastards or other interested parties. Some minor powers and abilities available. Character creation details will be sent out later.
This is a sequel to last year’s game, but new players are welcome.
Players: 6 – 8

1/4 Night Watch Amber
GM: Diana P
Description: PCs will be powerful or interesting sorts who are called on to act as troubleshooters. Game is set in Amber, some time before the disappearance of Corwin.Random is an asthmatic junior with pretentions to hoodlumhood. Major Benedict, said to be the son of the King, but not if you like your ears to stay attached, is the Captain of the King’s Guard. Princes are hard-working and competition between them is often acrid.
Characters: PCs should be citizens of Amber or people who have a solid reason to be Trusted by the Palace. Some Elders are available as parents. This should be considered as playing the game on Hard Mode.
Contact the GM with an idea or a concept. Game rules are at probstette.org – it is a game in which dice sometimes feature. Best to discuss the concept before the game starts, or the GM will make up a sheet and a reason.
Players: 6

Slot 2: Saturday 9am till 5pm

2/1 Galilee
GM: Damian F
Description: Since Dworkin’s recent death, everyone has been a bit down, and no-one seems to be able to shake the feeling that something is missing. In an attempt to raise spirits, King Random decided to hold a family get-together. Everything was going swimmingly until Fiona decided to entertain everyone with her party trick of foretelling the future using her trumps.
Just after she predicted the “the man from the sea shall retrun”, Benedict flew into a rage, vaulted the sofa and kicked the table over, shouting “enough of this nonsense!”
Nobody seems to know why, or at least no-one is talking about it. Benedict spends hours staring out to sea, and an air of melancholy has fallen over the castle as if the world is about to end. Oh and Random has a job for you.
Characters: Children of the elders. 70pts plus pattern for free, or 110pts plus a devotee for free, but you may be looked down upon by some NPCs (and maybe PCs). No Shadowknight weirdness. Further info to be sent out before the con with alternate stuff rules.
Players: 4 – 6

2/2 Pax Britannica
GM: Alastair J
Pax Britannica (Latin for “British Peace”) is the period of relative peace in Europe and the world (1815 – the present) during which the British Empire has become the global hegemonic power and has adopted the role of a global police force.
We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.
William Ewart Gladstone, PM
Description: It is the year 1872 and Britain is riding high with its technology and industry delivering advances in military prowess as well as for the economy. The power of steam, advances in clockwork and creation of difference engines have delivered not just economic changes but also social and environmental ones too, even resulting in flight. But there is no room for complacency though as other countries and empires seek opportunities to advance their various causes usually at the cost of others.
For various reasons which are unique to each character, you are working for the Government, in particular Viscount Lord Melbourne (nephew of the Queen’s first PM). You have been chosen because of your exceptional if not unique abilities and prowess which Lord M, as he is affectionately referred to, puts to use when complications arise that “require a certain degree of secrecy and tact”.
You will be briefed on your mission by Lord M on a strictly need-to-know basis.
Huzzah!
Characters: Characters are truly exceptional shadow dwellers that can be found in the fictional literature based in that period, or alternatively from your own imagination.
Although this is a continuation game, new players are very welcome.
Players: 6

2/3 Black Chamber: Strange is the night where black stars rise
GM: Pete M
Description: Your team has been selected for the exciting job of garrisoning, well, your team and a battalion of Marines, the shadow of Carcosa, yup that Carcosa. You are into the last week of the tour and nothing has happened so far.
(Actually, it might not be that Carcosa, but a city by a black lake, where all the inhabitants have been turned to stone sufficiently long enough ago that their features have all but weathered away is as close as you ever want to be to the real Carcosa…)
Characters: PCs are humans, with 20 points for stats starting from human, further 15 points for skills (mods to the underlying stats in suitable cases) and 15 for powers. Players will be sent notes describing character generation & other alterations to the rules.
Current time setting for this game is end May 2016
Players: 6 – 7

2/4 A familiar tale
GM: Jason P
Description:
Once upon a time, far, far away, there was a magical land called Amber. It was ruled by a group of powerful and noble Princes and Princesses who partook in complex games to see which of them would rule for a time. They played these games very earnestly and sometimes a few of the family would just disappear, never to be seen again. However, as is tradition, once the games had finished, they all vowed to serve the winner faithfully.
As it happens, many of the younger members of the family often had pets, sidekicks, servants or friends. Funnily enough, few of the older Princes and Princesses actually saw the need for such companions and perhaps even considered them as a liability, quite wrongly as it happens.
Anyway, these assistants would often be called upon to perform deeds of daring-do, whether as part of the complex games, protecting the realm or just keeping their patron out of harm’s way. Yes, it is a sad, but true fact that the realm of Amber had many enemies who would do what they could to cause Amber’s downfall and ruin.
However, I digress. One day these helpers awoke to discover that their patrons weren’t anywhere around in the Castle, well at least anywhere where they would normally be expected to frequent and thus began the quest to locate the missing Royals.
Characters: Characters are creatures, familiars, servants or the like created using a system that is (very?) loosely based on the Artefact and Creature Worksheet found in the the Amber RPG rulebook, and I will give more details after game allocations are published. If needs be, we might have to create the owners as well.
Players: 6

Slot 3: Saturday 7:30pm till late

3/1 The Tools of Diplomacy
GMs: Jonathan & Shadow A
Description: The King of Chaos is dead, and the circumstances are murky. Amber has been asked to send some impartial observers for the transitional period.
You are they.
Characters: All the books are loosely canonical. Players select their character’s grandparent.
The characters may divide into two or more  teams, and there may be competition between those teams.
The game is a continuation, but new players and characters are always very welcome.
Returning characters will a bonus which will depend on when they were last played.
New players should be aware that their characters MUST be created before the con, and it would be helpful to receive their grandparent and a trump image quickly.
New characters will be Amber + Pattern + 50 points to spend as you like – see http://www.ysolde.ucam.org/playersguide/ for details.
Players: 6 – 14

3/2 The Dead of Winter
GM: Herman D
Description:
Amber in winter. The snow lies deep on the streets, the roofs, the biting cold keeping most inside, or around the few braziers which are set out on some of the squares. No-one goes outside who has no reason to.
The docks are quiet, eerily so, the crews of various ships on board or (more likely) having found some warmer place to stay in some of the store-houses, empty of cargo, quickly converted to doss-houses for the sailors and vagabonds usually roaming the streets. The sea-paths to the Golden Circle are closed, a tempest blocking all sea travel for the last month or so.
Queen Vialle weekly holds a lonely court. Nothing has been heard about the King or his brother Corwin, gone these many months, last seen heading towards Arden Forest. There are whispers that this is a plot by Corwin to do away with King Random. Also, some people think that it would be wise to appoint a Regent while Random is gone, suggesting that this is all too much for this blind Queen from Rebma.
The lands around Amber are also covered in deep snow. Villagers from the nearby places to the East, where the land still lies dark and shadowed from the Black Road have fled into the City proper, claiming they have seen “things” moving on the road.
And still the snow falls…
NOTE: This will be an Amber City story. This story is more of a continuation of last year’s game, “A Winter’s Tale”, and plays on the same “stage” as my earlier games “Fear itself”, “Soul of the City”, “The Sleeping City”, “What lies beneath… “, “Ill-met in Moonlight”, “Sung in Shadow”, “Through a Glass, Darkly” and “Tinker, Tailor” (which were more loosely connected). The game is essentially a horror-mystery, the style tends towards “lighthearted horror”, if something like that exists.
All players (new and old) are certainly welcome.
Characters: You will be playing “normal” people living in the City or Castle of Amber. 50 points, no Pattern or Logrus, no exalted powers, no constructs, “0” point level for stats is Human.
More info will be sent out before the ‘Con.
Players: 4 – 6

3/3 Amber Zero Dawn – The Frozen Wilds
GM: Alan W
“Do you really have no idea how monumental are the discoveries you just made? I expected more of you.”
“So, you have a face. Got a name to go with it?”
“Of all the questions you could ask right now that’s the one you choose? I’ve spent decades searching the ruins of the Old Ones, trying to solve the mystery of what happened to them. In minutes, you uncover more ancient knowledge than I have in a lifetime
…and what you want to know – is my name?”
Description:
Nature has reclaimed the ruins of forgotten civilisation but humanity lives on in primitive tribes. In this new wilderness, they fight for survival against the machines; ferocious mechanical creatures of unknown origin.
Characters: Continuing last year’s story, with new or returning characters welcome. PCs are a disparate group of outlanders hoping to make sense of the strange gifts they have inherited from the Old Ones.
Details from the GM.
Players: 6 – 8

Slot 4: Sunday 10am till 6pm

4/1 Black Chamber: Song of my soul, my voice is dead
GM: Pete M
Description: Right,  no more Boris, no more Donald, but there is something “iffy” in GB or at least that is what the Oxbridge type keeps muttering about, between endless cups of tea, or little glasses of sherry. Why did the Chamber ever hire Prof Rupert Giles?
Characters: PCs are humans, with 20 points for stats starting from human, further 15 points for skills (mods to the underlying stats in suitable cases) and 15 for powers. Players will be sent notes describing character generation & other alterations to the rules.
Current time setting for this game is end May 2016
Players: 6 – 7

4/2 Amber in the Springtime
GM: Mel M
Description: This game is a continuation of PG Wodehouse /Amber crossover game, set in the Wodehousian universe, with elements of the thrillers of the 1930s – Dornford Yates, Sapper, John Buchan and Bulldog Drummond.
It’s springtime at Blandings Castle and various plots are doubtless afoot. But the arrival of a circus camped in the lower meadow occasions some surprise (and wrath in the case of Aunt Flora). It has something to do with Uncle Eric, the prodigious size of the elephants and whether their food could be adapted for mastication by pigs – or rather, a certain sow. Never ones to waste their opportunities, Brinkers and his cohorts in the boy scouts are keen to learn circus skills.
And then a message from a certain notorious girls’ school arrives… “One of our French mistresses is missing!”
Characters: 100 point characters. New and returning characters are welcome.
We’ll be using a variant of the Gentlemen and Players rules here, created by Timothy Ferguson (see http://timothyferguson.wordpress.com/ephemera/amber/gentlemen-and-players/). As ever, I’ll supply full notes.
Players: 8 – 10

4/3 Descendants of Amber
GM: Andy R
Description: You always knew you were different, special in some manner, but you didn’t know why until you were contacted by a mysterious stranger calling himself Ghost. He told you you were not alone that there were others like you and what’s more there were also people hunting you!
A game based on Shadow Earth with a slightly Heroes-esque (as in the TV show) flavour.
Note this is a new scenario and while it will build on the events of last year’s game, no previous knowledge is required, new and returning players welcome.
Characters: Characters are all of the blood of Amber but grew up on shadow Earth with no knowledge of Amber or shadow. Powers and abilities will be limited to those you could have inherited or learned while growing up on Earth (basically no Pattern/Logrus/Trump or Shadow travelling abilities).
Full rules for character generation to be provided before the Con.
Players: 6