History TabletopGame / CastleAmber

* FourElementEnsemble: The characters will encounter a monster based on each element in Stephen's tomb.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: There's no real in game logical reason why the Amber family are trapped. The information on how to break Stephen's curse is readily available in the castle and each individual member of the family is generally a high level NPC - a few of them should have no trouble getting to Averoigne, finding the PlotCoupons and breaking the curse. What might happen after that when they confront Stephen is uncertain of course. The only logical explanation is that the curse affects the inhabitants of the castle so they cannot leave, unlike the party who entered it after the curse took effect.

* BalefulPolymorph: The Amber's jester, Petit-Singe, after enduring years of abuse by various members of the Amber family, managed to learn the spells ''Polymorph Other'' and ''Charm Monster''. He then used these spells to polymorph three of the most abusive members of the family into white apes and charmed them to make them his servants.

->''"Trapped in the mysterious Castle Amber, you find yourselves cut offfrom the world you know. The castle is fraught with peril. Members of the strange Amber family, some insane, some merely deadly, lurk around every corner. Somewhere in the castle is the key to your escape, but can you survive long enough to find it?"''

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Ambers are a pretty good example. The curse on the castle went into effect when other members of the family assassinated Stephen, one member of the family buried his own sister alive by accident, the sister tries to kill him on breaking out of her grave and most of them will cheerfully ignore the party slaughtering other members (they often scry on each other with magic). Most of them are some combination of jaded, eccentric, mercurial, vapid and jealous and some are outright insane.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The adventure is unbalanced by modern standards, with many ways for characters to gain extra points in multiple ability scores and permanent magical bonuses of various types as well as instant death possibilities. Also many of the [=NPCs=] encountered are a much higher level than the party (up to 14th level!) and in newer versions of the game they would easily trounce the party if hostilities break out.

''Castle Amber'', written by Creator/TomMoldvay, is a classic ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure module, first released in 1981.

* RapidAging: Castle Amber has been trapped in time due to Stephen's curse. Assuming the party succeeds, the castle reappears in the real world and all the missing accumulated time strikes the castle at once, causing it and it's inhabitants to age hundreds of years in minutes. The castle becomes a broken down ruin and all the remaining inhabitants rapidly age and die.

* CoolGate / {{CoolKey}}s: The Gate of the Silver Keys which leads to Averoigne and normally requires three special silver keys to activate (though the DM can vary this if the players are struggling to locate this many - there are four scattered around the castle but one is very easy to destroy by accident).

''Castle Amber'' is a classic ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure module, first released in 1981.

* CoolGate / {{CoolKey}}s: The Gate of the Silver Keys which leads to Averoigne and normally requires three special silver keys to activate (though the DM can vary this if the players are struggling to locate this many).

* WhatTheHellHero: The players might have this reaction to Stephen on conclusion of the adventure, depending on who they encountered in the castle. While there are many evil and hostile members of the Amber family and mindless monsters who might deserve their fate, there are also many neutral and even benevolent creatures and people living in the castle. All of them regardless die from RapidAging when the curse is broken.

* ThisWasHisTrueForm: The Beast of Averoigne turns back into it's true form of an innocent clergyman when killed. Fortunately the locals believe the party's explanation and they are not arrested and hanged for murder. They do order the party to leave and never return to protect his posthumous reputation however.

* {{Kaiju}} / BodyOfBodies: During their time in Averoigne, the party will have to face off against a giant undead colossus made of hundreds of bodies in order to obtain a plot coupon (as can be seen on the front cover). Normally this would be suicide (a 100 hit dice level monster against a party of 3rd to 6th level) but the party can use a couple of special items to do a OneHitKill on it.

* {{Kaiju}}: During their time in Averoigne, the party will have to face off against a giant undead colossus made of hundreds of bodies in order to obtain a plot coupon (as can be seen on the front cover). Normally this would be suicide (a 100 hit dice level monster against a party of 3rd to 6th level) but the party can use a couple of special items to do a OneHitKill on it.