Overview of
"Pressure Which Refines"

GM : David Cooke

"To be under pressure is inescapable. Pressure takes place through all the world; war, siege, the worries of state. We all know men who grumble under these pressures and complain. They are cowards. They lack splendour. But there is another sort of man who is under the same pressure but does not complain, for it is the friction which polishes him. It is pressure which refines and makes him noble." -- St. Augustine

This campaign is the spiritual descendant of "Relative Difficulties". The majority of the characters from that game appear in this one, albeit in a slightly altered state. Some do not, however, altering the lives of a few characters to some degree and severely altering or removing some of the plots that appeared in that game. Additionally, the rules governing the use of the powers and attributes have been overhauled to allow more flexibility, avoiding the primary roots of The Power Craze. Specifically characters no longer require a lens to investigate things. Concentration and a little patience will give much the same information as using a lens would; only one's understanding of that information is limited, by how much one knows of a power or of Shadow.

In effect, Pressure Which Refines is a sequel based on Relative Difficulties but separate from it; this campaign can be said to be set in a "parallel universe" of the original Relative Difficulties campaign.

Much of the game to date has revolved around what has come to be called by some the War of Usurpation. Eric, somehow back from the dead, directed numerous forces to confuse and distract, eventually imprisoning Random and driving the rest of the family into Shadow. His occupation of Amber, however, displayed signs of being only a holding action; he was stalling for time so he could complete some scheme.

Into this conflict appeared the newest generation of Amberites.

Eric was finally defeated before his plans came to fruition; only a few individuals have even an inkling of what his intentions were. Since then the family has been busy tidying up some loose ends and investigating the activities of an unknown party in Shadow...