Friday, February 21, 2014

Why Castle Amber is My Favorite Module

It's impossible for me to discuss Castle Amber apart from my experience of it. I remember thirty-two years ago like it was yesterday. My best friend was the DM and in top form, putting me and three other players though a truly demented campaign. It was weird from the first room, but we knew we were in a loony universe when we ran afoul the ogre dressed in a nightgown who thought it was Janet Amber (whom it killed), and got increasingly homicidal the more compassionate we were. My friend's impersonation of the ogre and falsettos added up to some of the best DM role-playing he'd ever done; we felt like we were really in that castle.

Castle Amber is like something out of David Lynch: it has a fever-dream feel to it, and off-kilter encounters like the aforementioned ogre. The cover art of the Colossus epitomizes this theme, a staggering piece by Erol Otus which in my opinion is his best work ever. Those huge eyes still freak me out, and I remember them raising terrifying expectations. Our PCs were the recommended intermediate (3rd-6th) levels, yet we had this to look forward to? A fortress-sized 100 HD creature with 350 bloody hit points? The build-up to this encounter is fantastic, not least because the Colossus isn't even the focus of the adventure. It's just one of many nightmares to face in order to escape the insane world of the Ambers.

The Amber family is critical to the module's success, and I found their callous amorality far more chilling than straightforward evil foes. Moldvay describes them thus:
"The personalities of the lost Amber family set the mood for the adventure. The Ambers range from slightly eccentric to completely insane. For the most part, the family is [chaotic evil]. While they are proud of their name, they seldom cooperate with each other. Most of them believe they can do anything once they set their mind to it. They live magically lengthened lives, but they have seen too much and are bored. They seek anything to relieve this boredom... It amuses them to watch adventurers battle obstacles, and they are equally amused whether the adventurers succeed or fail. A good spectacle is more important to them than defeating the adventurers. The Ambers tend to be fair, out of the belief that a rigged game is too predictable and not much fun."
For the first time I realized the extent to which character and role-playing defined a good D&D game, and how a trait like boredom, of all things, could produce not only deadly results, but dangerously unpredictable ones.

The Ambers are as colorful as they are dangerous. There's the librarian Charles who buried his sister Madeline alive; the soul of Princess Catherine lurking inside a throne, waiting to possess someone (see upper left); the evil priest Simon, who feigns friendship and kills at first opportunity; Madam Camilla, itching to tell fortunes you'd rather not hear; Andrew-David the man-goat, who patrols the indoor forest with a Wild Hunt of dire wolves and sabre-tooth tigers; and many others. They exist in a cursed eternity, confined to their castle like incestuous wraiths.

But Castle Amber is a masterpiece even aside from all this demented creativity. It packs so much in short space -- well beyond what most 36-page modules offered back in the day. First there is the castle itself, with two large wings, an indoor forest, and a chapel, and not a room wasted (see above). Second is a dungeon, with hideous creatures like a brain collector, and potions that induce harrowing dreams that intrude on reality. The dungeon ends at a magical gateway to, third, Averoigne, the old home of the Ambers -- an alternate prime material world resembling medieval France, and where magic is a heresy punished by death. Here the PCs must acquire a number of artifacts (one of which can be obtained only by killing the 100-HD Colossus which is in the process of demolishing a town; another of which is an honest-to-gods potion of time travel) in order to return to, fourth, the tomb of Stephen Amber, which contains the means to break the castle's curse.

Incredibly, this module is scorned by today's D&D players. As far as I'm concerned, they're more insane than the Ambers; as always, the new school has it wrong. They want "realistic" modules, and this classic is surrealistic in the extreme. Castle Amber is gonzo pulp fantasy gone wild. And it offers more warped fun, and with such effortless economy, than any other module I know. That's why it's my favorite.

Next up: Vault of the Drow.

9 Comments:

Blogger paulgo said...

I recall leafing through this module back in the day. Couldn't quite wrap my head around it. I've always wanted to run through it as a PC since then...

2/21/2014  
Blogger Mattia said...

Hi Loren,

thanks for the good post, I always read your reviews with attention and pleasure. More than that, in fact since you published the list of what you consider the best 30 modules ever done for D&D, I wanted to go back and re-read some of them. Unfortunately, and that’s why I am leaving this comment, I was disappointed with “Castle Amber”. Maybe this confirms your theory regarding new players (or sort of) as I am a son of that generation of D&D that started playing in the 90s.
Castle Amber might be gonzo pulp stuff, as you are saying, however the issue is that it is so much grotesque to result somehow childish: this is a totally different pulp from the one of the Vault of the Drow. I understand the hysteria of the Ambers and their weird approach, you might have fun reading it, but playing it again just as it is written would be impossible for a grown player (the boxe ring was really too much for me). My 2 cents obviously…

Keep up with the good stuff you are writing!
Mattia.

www.ortodelgrognard.blogspot.it

2/28/2014  
Blogger Loren Rosson III said...

Hi Mattia,

Thanks for the comments. As much as I disagree with you I understand, in the same way I understand objections to David Lynch. You either love or hate Castle Amber, and needless to say it works for me on every level, even as a grown-up now. If anything, it's aged even better for me over the years -- the weird castle and the alternate France-like world of Averoigne, etc. If I were DM'ing the thing today, I'd enhance the phantasmagoric feel with all sorts of demented Lynchian supplements.

But again, I respect your view. Unrestrained gonzo pulp definitely doesn't work for everyone.

2/28/2014  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am actively running this game in a 2nd edition setting. The great thing about this content is that it gives you some great creative work while demanding more of the DM than just about any module of its kind before or after it. I won't give anything away, but if you know the module, you know what I mean.

As for Averoigne, I have truly enjoyed reimagining it and fleshing out every piece of the map, inlcuding the ruined keeps. While it is actually easy to create a ton of content here, as this module is really just integrated into my current 6-year long game, I cut it off to a degree knowing that the group is ultimately trying to get back to Tilverton - on the northern border of Cormyr before it gets destroyed by giants in another famous module. See what I did there?

Also, The White Kingdom? Yeah, I went ahead and fleshed that out too - because I'm like that.

3/21/2014  
Blogger Loren Rosson III said...

Sounds great. I'm glad to see someone else getting such good use out of this thing. It's funny how you mention this, because right now I'm in the process of revamping the module for a summer campaign I'll be running. So I'm reimagining a lot of it myself.

3/21/2014  
Blogger Kersus said...

I've played it and DMed it multiple times. What fun. After reading this I think I'll convert it to Gary Gyggax's Lejendary Adventure or maybe SCHWA and run it again!

2/24/2016  
Blogger Kersus said...

I've played it and DMed it multiple times. What fun. After reading this I think I'll convert it to Gary Gyggax's Lejendary Adventure or maybe SCHWA and run it again!

2/24/2016  
Blogger Unknown said...

My favorite too. Built it in Minecraft. 😀

11/06/2016  
Anonymous merrick said...

This is the one module that still fully lives in my head as an adult as a complete world. I couldn't figure out how to DM it when I was 11, but that is not the module's fault -- it was aimed a lot higher than Keep on the Borderlands and even Barrier Peaks and White Plume Mountain. It is in no way playable as a series of enemies to kill and treasures to loot. It is a complicated weird novel to inhabit as an experience. If I'd been 15 I could have done a better job. Especially if I'd read some Clark Ashton Smith and maybe watched Lost Highway first (I like your Lynch comparison).
I wish the cover image of the colossus was available for purchase as an art print, I would hang that framed and be reminded of Castle Amber every day. And I suggest to everyone who finds this webpage: Go read "The Colossus of Averoigne" by Smith, it's an 8-cylinder banger.

9/04/2023  

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