A professional roleplaying group dedicated to pushing the envelope of tabletop gaming since 1987.
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Order of the Amber Die is a professional tabletop role-playing group that partners with companies in the tabletop gaming industry to both play and present material. Our focus is on playing published material while utilizing the complete rules set for whichever system we are presenting. Most notably, since 2014 we have collaborated with Paizo Inc., the makers of the Pathfinder role-playing game, to
present published adventures for their community. We are known for our unique Marathon style of play, which involves gathering our membership together for the longest sessions in the gaming industry (frequently 72 or 96 hours). As a professional organization, we consider it our role to push the envelope of tabletop gaming in an effort to help the game evolve. To this end, we have gone so far as to play on location, as well as setting several world records throughout the years. Consisting of the same GM and an active pool of between ten and fifteen players, we have been an association since 1987. To date, Order of the Amber Die has completed 152 published adventures across five editions of the game, which remains the current lead.
As a professional roleplaying group, we couldn't help but playtest our Pathfinder event for Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo this year. If you like this sneak peek from our studio, grab a seat while you still can. Do you have what it takes to survive Crown of the Kobold King -- run by Paizo's premier tabletop team?
Looking forward to another great year at PAGE 2, the best new convention on the east coast!
Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo
Adam breaks down our experience on level eight of the Abomination Vaults in our latest video!
This level, know as the "Farm," is the level that once provided food to the rest of the megadungeon. For us, it's yet another example of why the Abomination Vaults has earned its place among the most memorable megadungeons of the game's history -- regardless of which iteration you're playing.
After yet another marathon over the past few months, Adam gives a rundown of our experience on level 8 of the Abomination Vaults. This level was the first to...
New post is live! Four marathons in just nine months has meant for some crazy schedules around here, and a new project in November is around the corner. Much to tell!
Get more from Order of the Amber Die on Patreon
Our latest marathon is in the books, and the Black Powder Cadre met its match! Our all-gunslingers party was joined once again by our buddy Joe O'Brien from The Glass Cannon Network. We managed to reach level nine of the Abomination Vaults, where we left the traditional dungeon levels behind and found ourselves in a forest of bio-luminescent fungi -- which meant breaking out the black lights! Read our latest report to find out what happened when EVERYONE had to land their shots:
paizo.me/4bRomVp
Another marathon down, and our latest report is live! Throughout the weekend, feel free to ask us anything in the comments section over on the Paizo blog and we'll gladly chat about the project.
The Order of the Amber Die is back! The Black Powder Cadre arrive on the 8th level of the Abomination Vaults! Read about the 40 hr 30 minute marathon session on the blog.
https://paizo.me/49MkXpy
Get more from Order of the Amber Die on Patreon
Want to play Abomination Vaults with the Order?
Join us at the Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo this January!
Explore the top level of Pathfinder's biggest megadungeon with OAD as your guide. Characters are provided, just bring your dice. Select a party of Pathfinder's iconic characters, plan your approach, and head into non-stop action. We'll use Pathfinder 2E rules, but if you're new to the game our Player Captain and other OAD members will be on hand to lend assistance. As for the map, you'll play on the same gorgeous setup from our official Paizo Inc. project: The Abomination Arsenal. We'll give away free OAD merch either way, but do you have what it takes to survive against the Amber Die itself?
As a bonus, it's worth noting that our favorite way to vet potential new members is through our convention events -- but we don't offer these often. If roleplaying under the lights is something you think you're cut out for, play in one of our events and afterwards we can chat!
You can sign up for a slot here:
https://tabletop.events/conventions/philadelphia-area-gaming-expo-2024
In case you haven't caught up yet, our all-gunslingers project stumbled in this latest marathon and suffered a character death! Is it time to place bets on how close we are to a TPK?
Our newest report from The Abomination Arsenal is now on the Paizo blog:
https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6sifx?The-Abomination-Arsenal-Part-4
This party of gunslingers lost a member, but is one marathon closer to the bottom of the Abomination Vaults!
The Order of the Amber Die is back, continuing to conquer the Abomination Vaults. Check out everything from this latest marathon session (including a cameo from Joe O'Brien of the Glass Cannon Network) and a character death!
https://paizo.me/3sinEPA
Ever wanted to run your own marathon, perhaps a 3 or 4 day grinder like the ones we pull off for our Paizo projects?
Catch our Marathon Gaming seminar at the Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo, coming in January! We'll walk you through the steps you'll need to take to ensure you have a successful run of your favorite RPG -- without losing anyone along the way. Learn from our mistakes, hear some of our best and worst stories, and use our experience to create your own marathons. Hope to see you there!
https://tabletop.events/conventions/philadelphia-area-gaming-expo-2024
Our newest report from The Abomination Arsenal is live! Drop by the Paizo blog to ask anything about the project, and come see how our old buddy Joe O'Brien from the Glass Cannon Network fared at our session!
The Black Powder Cadre is STILL ALIVE! After a third marathon session of 56 hours 35 minutes, the gunslingers are deeper into the Abomination Vaults! Read about the third session here, or find links to catch up with the adventures of the Order of the Amber Die!
https://paizo.me/3D2AHWW
For nearly a decade, the community has been asking to see the inside of an Order of the Amber Die marathon.
Well, here it is:
https://youtu.be/mG08bbHNCRc
So you've seen us put a lot of large setups on our table over the years, and many are courtesy of our friends at Black Bard Studios.
What you might not know, is that the Black Bard himself has a way of fitting these into a single box each time.
If you happen to be hanging around Fort Rannick (OAD headquarters) when one of these setups arrives, you get to be part of the unboxing.
Join Erick & Theodora as they open up the Gauntlight from the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path!
https://youtu.be/K0ds2d3MzrY
On our latest episode of Amber Underground, Theodora drops by to chat about our favorite moments of The Abomination Arsenal so far — the halfway point of the project!
We'll also drop a few highlights from our upcoming Paizo blog report, and you just might hear why Tess is poised to become the new Mrs. Rajani, wife of the rightful mayor of Otari!
Listen here:
https://youtu.be/_3ECNP2jelE
Like these lines?
In our latest video, Adam talks about what it takes to make those super fine lines for our Paizo Blog reports. Seen here is part of level 5 of the Abomination Vaults: the Arena level.
This map is a big one, so plotting your points as you go is essential to avoiding errors, along with working from two sides of each subsection -- just let Adam walk you through it here:
https://youtu.be/tSVAbkJ7q4w
It took us 8 years to describe exactly what happened at the end of our world record run, but the last chapter is here. Sure, the PCs died, but now we can explain why it didn't matter. Their work had forever been enshrined in tabletop RPG history.
In the latest episode of Amber Underground, Adam also talks about what happened after our TPK in front of the community, and what became of that truly diehard team of players who accomplished something that no other group in the industry had done before.
After playing six marathons separated by less than one month between, the team had reached 292 hours, 15 minutes of session time -- an entire Pathfinder Adventure Path played and documented. It was borderline irresponsible, but no group has been able to follow in their footsteps.
The footsteps of giants.
Listen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZQMM_R0pzQ
Flip through the 51,000 words, photos, and stats from The Giantslayer Endeavor here in our library:
https://www.patreon.com/OrderOfTheAmberDie
In our new audio series, the true story of The Giantslayer Endeavor continues!
For volume 2, the group was dealt what we called "the easy marathon," which left us unprepared for the dire challenges ahead. Adam also talks about that massive map of Redlake Fort (seen below).
For volume 3, we were in for a doozy. While Forge of the Giant God took us to the Mindspin Mountains, Adam tells how the team headed to the most precarious real-life locale in the series.
We played a crushing 57 hours across 4 days, including a single 25-hour session to close out.
Listen here:
https://bit.ly/42oKRw4
The first kobold scouts have started to arrive for our new in-house campaign coming in June!
The project is titled The Crown Academy, and we'll be playing Paizo Inc.'s Crown of the Kobold King. We are using this campaign to matriculate new players into our roster for future projects -- hence the academy.
We'll be joined in the room by Enga (pictured left), a disciplinarian who should have these new players in good shape by the end of this campaign!
As for the other two life-size kobolds, feel free to name them here.
Back in 2015, our first series of reports went live on the Paizo blog. The gaming community had a chance to follow along as the Order attempted a feat of tabletop roleplaying that was not just overly ambitious -- it was borderline irresponsible.
Our new audio series, Amber Underground, tells the story of The Giantslayer Endeavor, and what it took to complete a fully documented Adventure Path in just 6 sessions -- across only 6 months!
After years of keeping the behind-the-scenes stories to ourselves, here's Chapter 1 of this record-setting project:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2qLbg0HFVs
Rob Pontious interviews members of the Order of the Amber Die about pushing the limits of the gamer lifestyle in the latest Investing In on the .
http://knowdirectionpodcast.com/2023/04/investing-in-order-of-the-amber-dies-abomination-arsenal/
Our latest report from The Abomination Arsenal is now LIVE on the Paizo Blog!
Head on over, and feel free to post any questions about what happens when you take an entire party of gunslingers into Pathfinder's most famous megadungeon!
The Order of the Amber Die is BACK! The Black Powder Cadre continue their way through the Abomination Vaults with a a 59 HOUR marathon session. Read all about their adventures in todays Blog: https://paizo.me/3o6qFjA
Map recap! Adam gives a review of what it took to render level two of the Abomination Vaults for our most recent Paizo blog project: The Abomination Arsenal.
Check it out: https://youtu.be/WWxXttOsszY
A professional roleplaying group dedicated to pushing the envelope of tabletop gaming since 1987.
Our latest Patreon post is LIVE, with a big dump of content for the Library tier! Adam talks about the origin of The Abomination Arsenal, and what influenced the decision to throw guns into a megadungeon.
Patreon is empowering a new generation of creators. Support and engage with artists and creators as they live out their passions!
The first report from our newest project, The Abomination Arsenal, is live! It's been a wild ride so far, as taking an entire party of gunslingers through a megadungeon was bound to produce some extreme results. That being said, we're trying to test the theory that party balance is a necessary thing, and that would require a few bold players willing to put themselves out there for this one!
Meet the team, see how they're faring, and feel free to ask about anything we didn't cover in our report:
https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6si7l?The-Abomination-Arsenal-Part-1
Yes, one of the sickest photos in OAD history.
Yes, a new project has launched.
Yes, you can give your prediction on whether we'll TPK or prove that party balance isn't necessary.
The Abomination Arsenal is LIVE!
Catch it here: https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6si55?The-Abomination-Arsenal
Ever wonder what goes down during a 4-day marathon with upwards of ten professional role-players stuck in a house together? Now you can hear the stories from one of the most extreme series of tabletop RPG marathons we’ve ever played – including playing on location. GM Adam Smith and OAD veteran Erick Germer relax and reminisce in this teaser episode of Amber Underground, our new audio series available in our Patreon library this winter!
https://youtu.be/EQ5ptcVzLKs
Join Order of the Amber Die on Patreon to get access to this post and more benefits.
With all this talk about upcoming characters for our newest Paizo Blog project, we wanted to stop and focus a bit on the players as well. Let’s call this the first of many entries in a “Player Profile” series, starting with our esteemed Castellan: Sean Linville.
Sean is a veteran of many Paizo Blog projects over the years: The Giantslayer Endeavor, The Strange Aeons Experiment, The Pathfinder Playtest, The Runelords Relay, The Azlant Odyssey, and The Slithering Salve. We first met Sean back in 2015, when we were running events at a convention in Philly. He walked up to the table pulling a large DeWalt tool case on wheels; instead of it being filled with tools, the case contained every single Pathfinder hardcover to date. His character sheet was spot on, his rules knowledge was tight, and one look between our Player Captain and GM said, “This guy is OAD.” Oh, and when we break something in the house during a Marathon, Sean will show you how he can spackle with one hand and roll for initiative with the other – that’s why we call him Castellan.
It was Sean who first named OAD HQ, “Fort Rannick.” It’s essentially the house we play most of our Marathons in, and over the years it’s seen some damage. Four days of play with upwards of ten gamers sleeping in the same house will rack up some stories.
There was the time the hot water heater broke on the first day of a 4-day Marathon, and we handed dice to Sean while he was lying halfway underneath it. From the pantry we could hear “Natural 20 baby!!” Sean fixed the water heater and the Marathon continued on, with warm showers as an option.
There was also the time that the side of the house melted, because one player was too focused on his recent character death and forgot to pull the grill away from the house. Sean had new siding up for Fort Rannick within a week. Perfect match too.
Then there was the “toilet incident of 2017,” during a 5-day Marathon. We’ll leave most of the description out, but suffice it to say that we learned just how valuable a working toilet is when you have nine people wanting to use it. We made a few drives to McDonald’s to borrow their bathroom, and play continued in the meantime until Sean had it back up and running for us. Next to his tools on the tile in the bathroom the entire time? His character sheet, dice, and a broken pencil.
All this leaves out perhaps the most important work of Sean’s that you see every time you look at our play area. He is the creator of our backdrop/lighting setup, and everything that goes into turning a living room into a fully functional studio for a week. Almost anything cool that you see about our setup for gaming? Sean probably did it, and we wouldn’t be here without him.
Outside the game, Sean is a trusted friend who has been with many of us through the challenges life can bring across seven years. He is a confidante for some, a sage to others, and even someone you could call if you just needed a ride home from the hospital. He'd give the shirt off his back, and the extra one in his truck.
Here's to the Castellan of OAD!
Meet Rome, our fourth character in the Black Powder Cadre, a party consisting of ALL gunslingers headed into the Abomination Vaults for our upcoming Paizo Blog project! Rome will be played by OAD veteran Erick Germer, a member since 2007. Erick is our strongest grid player, and in a nail-biting combat you should feel safer if Erick's mini is standing in the square next to yours. He also holds the title for the highest number of published adventures completed among all our members. Still, these aren't the things that Erick would want you to know about him. He'd want you to know that not only does he enjoy those rare moments for PvP combat when his character is charmed or dominated, but that no player in the history of OAD has more notches on his belt from slaying other PCs than Erick does...
See Rome's stat block here:
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43nlj?The-Abomination-Arsenal
Meet Maloika the Miserable, our third character in the Black Powder Cadre, a party consisting of ALL gunslingers headed into the Abomination Vaults for our upcoming Paizo Blog project! Maloika will be played by OAD veteran Sean Linville, the Castellan who maintains OAD headquarters as our base for marathons. Sean has been on plenty of elite rosters for our Paizo projects dating back to 2015. When the dust settles after a 4-day marathon, it's Sean who shows us how to piece the house back together. We wouldn't be here today without you, bro.
See Maloika's stat block here:
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43nlj?The-Abomination-Arsenal
Maple Shade, NJ
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