View Full Version : [Sorcerer, Actual Play] Return to Mu's bed
Jeff and Julie are a married couple and we did character generation tonight and will play on Saturday.
Jeff runs the local fantasy LARP and Julie has experience gaming there. She gamed with Jeff in his table-top Vampire game until he killed her character and now she won't play in games he runs.
I'm interested in how running a game for a couple is going to make the table dynamic.
<i>The e-mail sent to them:</i>
I'm writing a mini-supplement for an amazing game called Sorcerer. The supplement is called The Dictionary of Mu. I've included a taste of it below. If you have any questions or a thirst for more things Mu-ish (funny, he doesn' t look Mu-ish...sorry, bad joke) let me know and I'll gladly send you what I've got but I didn't want to overwhelm you.
We'll deal with character stuff on Monday, face to face. If you get ideas, that's fine but don't be in any mad rush or think that this e-mail was intended to give you a dozen ideas. This is just to give you a taste of the world.
This is a gritty setting. Picture the Scorpion King if it had been a rockin' flick, chock full of sex and violence, directed by David Lynch. It is inspired by old swords and sorcery fantasy stories like Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Elric of Melnibone, Book of the New Sun and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars books.
Sorcerer is a game where all of the players are -you guessed it- Sorcerers who gain their power by summoning and binding Demons. This doesn't mean that everyone in the party is a bearded wizard, far from it and it doesn't mean the Demons summoned from Mu will have horns and a red tail. Strike D&D archetypes from your mind. It is a game about what your character is willing to do for power and survival.
<i>Excerpts from the Dictionary of Mu: </i>
<b>Lemuria –</b> A dark land on the edge of the Red Waste ruled by the Witch-King and his consorts. Whores though his consorts may be, they are all powerful warlocks and witches who owe their power, their place in the world and their petty baronies to the King's cunning.
The Witch-King has gathered armies by tooth and claw and holds them together by devil and spirit. Lemurian opinion of their new King varies greatly with some seeing him as their own messiah and others seeing just as another blight from the waste.
Armies amass from all over Lemuria and word is out that war with the holy lands of Hy-Brasil or even that a siege on pristine Atlantis isn’t far in the future.
As a Lemurian it is perhaps a good time for a boy born in Mu’s Bed to fashion words concerning the Witch-King’s sudden rise to power and the changes to the face of Lemuria. However, this is not political commentary but a dictionary and opinion on matter would not be prudent.
<b>Mu’s Bed -</b> Mu's Bed is the capital city of Lemuria, seething in the red sand wastes like a pregnant beetle. When the giants Lemur and Mu fought, the Mu fell and this city was built on his body. Most take this tale as only a metaphor. Fools.
This is Oghma’s birthplace and it is a hodge-podge of desert cultures from the Red Waste, witch and warlock refugees hoping for a crumb from the Witch-King’s plate and Lemurian peasant-folk who no longer wish to be subjected to the harsh law of the waste. Any number of languages and songs can be heard on its streets as nomads barter with water stolen from a shallow oasis hundreds of glares away as their currency and seers offer to read your sands for only a few wheels.
Mu’s Bed is a bowl, the slums are around the rim of the bowl, where the wind is the most unforgiving and the Witch King’s keep is in the center of the bowl, where the wind only howls rather than the rending and clawing it achieves in the higher streets. Bonesmiths who wish to see a corpse picked of its meat and sinew need only leave the dead beast out during a sandstorm on the outer rim of Mu’s Bed, where only the plebians make their hovels. In the morning, when the storms have died down, only virgin white bones will remain.
Life on the Bed is particularly desperate. Children in Mu’s Bed play games that mostly consist of wrestling over the ownership of sharp rocks or throwing said rocks with deadly accuracy once they chip apart. If one is weak, there is always the choice to lie down, let the red dust crawl down your throat and join Mu.
Jeff has gamed with me several times in a few games I've run but this is the first time I've gamed with, or even seen Julie play. While they made dinner, we talked gaming and I explained some of the ideas of Sorcerer, Demons, Kickers and Humanity.
Jeff and Julie's experiences with White Wolf gave them definite opinions on a Humanity stat. Jeff particularly hated the idea of a stat that dicates how one is supposed to act and was relieved to hear how Humanity worked in this game.
<i>I said, "Humanity can mean a number of different things. If this was a kung-fu setting it could be some kind of medieval Chinese idea of Honor. If this was the Matrix, Demons could be programs and Humanity would be knowing that the Matrix is fake. In this world it is hope in the face of a dying world. But it isn't the measure of how nice you are supposed to be and never dictates role-playing decisions directly. It doesn't tell you how nice to be." </i>
We went over basic ideas, Jeff wanted to play a farmer who summoned a local diety of the harvest and death when his beloved son, the only relative he had left, died in an accident he blamed himself for.
Julie wanted to play a noble girl in a family of Sorcerers who had summoned and bound the wrong thing and thus wasn't the Golden Child anymore in the family.
Rock on, the game is afoot.
I showed the Relationship Map while the character ideas were rather vague.
<b>The Witch King </b>
Overlord of Stygia,
Master of Lemuria,
High Warlock of Mu’s Bed
<i>Father of The Prince and Lovers with Lady Dresda </i>
<b>Lady Dresda</b>
Witch-King’s Concubine
<i>Mother of The Prince and lovers with the Witch King</i>
<i>The Prince </i>
Witch-King’s Heir
<i>Son of Dresda and the Witch King and lovers with Carv </i>
<b>Carv</b>
Witch-King’s Assassin (formerly the Duke's Assassin)
<i>Lovers with The Prince</i>
<b>Duke Malteek</b>
Lord of Mu’s Bed
<i>Father of Kessen</i>
<b>Kessen Malteek</b>
Mu’s Bed socialite
<i>Daughter of the Duke and Lovers with Doggod</i>
<b>Doggod</b>
Slave-master of the Witch King
<i>Lovers with Kessen </i>
We inserted Julie's character right into the R-Map as the Duke's daughter, no disinhereted after her father found her summoning a disappointment, hoping for a more powerful spirit that would cement his hold over Mu's Bed, precarious since the Witch-King declared it the capital of his kingdom.
Julie's Demon took a while to create but we settled on a spirit of a now destroyed guard tower that once kept Mu's Bed safe. It manifests as a greenish fire in a lantern that can hop to wherever else there is a fire. We thought about how to pervert and twist its function as a guardian of the city.
Julie was having trouble coming up with a name and so we agreed she would think about it and come up with one during the week before the game.
Name - None yet.
<b>Stamina</b> 3
<b>Will</b> 6
<b>Lore</b> 5
<b>Telltale</b> Green tint to the flame
<b>Desire</b> Voyeurism
<b>Need</b> Create a network of watchers all over Mu's Bed
<b>Powers:</b> Boost-Lore, Cover-Guard, Hop-Flames, link, Shadow
<b>Name -</b> Keselle Malteek
<b>Player - </b>Julie
<b>Stamina</b> 3 Basalt-Hewn
<b>Will</b> 3 Survive This Rock
<b>Lore</b> 4 Stygian Schooled
<b>Cover</b>3 Witchling Princess
<b>Price</b> Arrogant -1 Perception
<b>Humanity</b> 3
<b>Telltale</b> Uncanny Grooming
<b>Kicker:</b> Her Demon has ascertained that her sister is having an illicit affair with the Witch-King's Slavemaster and she has gained an audience with her father in order to tell him.
I feel like her Kicker is a weak link in the chain but she's so entrenched in the R-Map that I'm not too worried. Perhaps I'm wrong.
We discussed Jeff's story and decided that his son was killed using an antiquated piece of farm machinery powered by the magic known as science. When he summoned the Demon to bring his son back, it came in the form of a local diety of the harvest.
He took up a scythe, an antiquated tool that since wheat died off in this area of the world, farmers only kept for harvest festivals. The object became his Demon, demanding souls in return for the life of his son.
I noticed Jeff didn't name his Demon either but I believe he did mention a few possiblities. Another detail to be cleared up over e-mail.
<b>Name -</b> None yet.
<b>Stamina</b> 4
<b>Will</b> 8
<b>Lore</b> 7
<b>Telltale</b> whispered wailing of souls eaten by the scythe
<b>Desire</b> To be reborn as ?
<b>Need</b> Blood & Souls
<b>Powers:</b> Boost-Stamina, Boost-Will, Cover- Mid-Wife, Link, Special Damage: Rot, Vitality
<b>Name -</b> Ghiath
<b>Player -</b> Jeff
<b>Stamina</b> 4 Child of the Waste
<b>Will</b> 5 Lemurian Ox
<b>Lore</b> 1 Through the Epochs
<b>Cover</b> 5 Farmer
<b>Price Gullible -</b> -1 die at 1st meeting with Demon
<b>Humanity</b> 4
<b>Telltale</b> Nearby plants go through cycles as if season are rapidly changing
<b>Kicker:</b> Wanted man is killed by Ghiath. As he claims his first soul in the name of his Demon, the Duke's guards find them. He is taken to the Duke under an armed guard.
Jeff noticed right away that Carv used to be the Duke's assassin and that the position was now open. He also suggested that the two different Boosts related to the seasons somehow, Will in the winter and Stamina in the spring and summer.
Any thoughts on the Demon's Needs and the character's Kickers would be appreciated as I take the next few days to formulate Bangs for my bandolier.
In particular I wonder if Julie's Demon doesn't have its Desire and Need mixed up now that I take a look at it.
Scorpio Rising
04-27-2004, 08:52 AM
Judd,
Looks very smart. Let me go through and make a couple responses....
The Dictionary of Mu is a really nice idea. I'd like to see more excerpts from it, both here and in the finished product. Maybe also some discussion on ways that GM's can use the notion of "a dictionary" in plots. (I don't think Sorcerer need be inimical to a flexible, stylish dingus.)
Witches & Warlocks : So without wanting to be a pedant, it's my understanding that, per canon, there are fewer than 100 Sorcerers in your average Sorcerer game-world. But are Witches & Warlocks actual Sorcerers though, or are they something else? Is it just spooky terminology? Overall, I really like the image you've crafted here - the red wastes, the ragged witches and so on - so I'm fine with the terminology just being atmospheric. But presumably it should mean something specific to the people who use it. Maybe a dictionary entry?
The Relationship Map : Still haven't read Sorcerer & Soul yet, so I'm not really up on the way RE approaches relationship mapping. I know the way I use it is probably a lot more informal and codified. That said, I'm struck by two things that it sounds like you did here:
1) It seems like you pre-generated the map and then slotted the PCs into it, whereas my natural inclination would be to make the PCs first and then draw the map around them.
2) It seems you showed the map to the players and had them choose where to situate themselves.
Just out of interest, is this SOP for Sorcerer relationship mapping? How much of this was your call and how much was by-the-book?
(I think Mr Llwyd still has my Sorcerer books, tho' maybe not....)
Descriptors : One of the things that I've really had trouble wrapping my head around in Sorcerer is the meaning of the list of descriptors. There's some pretty stern text in the book about not casually altering or diluting the list, and I've also seen RE on the Forge comment that it's not okay to just casually let people make up their own descriptors. But why?
Do you understand this? What am I missing? What is it that the descriptors do for you? How did you generate the (obviously non-canonical) list that you're using here?
Finally, the tough question : Overall, this looks like a stylish, interesting setting with a lot of potential. But. If you'll forgive my saying, that doesn't seem to be the "point" of Sorcerer. I've only read one mini-supplement to date (Charnel Gods by Scott Knipe) and I'm not sure to what extent it accomplished this - I mean, really had a "point" beyond emphasizing Elric style play.
So what are you doing here? What are you shooting for? What is the unique or distinguishing feature of Lemuria that's going to make it playable and enticing?
Right. That should keep you going for a while.
I'll be back.
- Scorpio intrigued by this.
Nice questions, Robert, and good things to think about. As Jules said, "Allow me to retort."
Originally posted by Scorpio Rising
Judd,
Witches & Warlocks : So without wanting to be a pedant, it's my understanding that, per canon, there are fewer than 100 Sorcerers in your average Sorcerer game-world. But are Witches & Warlocks actual Sorcerers though, or are they something else? Is it just spooky terminology? Overall, I really like the image you've crafted here - the red wastes, the ragged witches and so on - so I'm fine with the terminology just being atmospheric. But presumably it should mean something specific to the people who use it. Maybe a dictionary entry?
Some are and some are not. I'd think that perhaps those without the ability to Bind for themselves might procure the abilities of a Sorcerer to make Pact for their family but this, as you can imagine, doesn't generally work out well.
The more powerful ruling families in Lemuria have Sorcerer's at their head.
You are right, perhaps an entry is in order here. Nice, thanks.
Originally posted by Scorpio Rising
The Relationship Map :
1) It seems like you pre-generated the map and then slotted the PCs into it, whereas my natural inclination would be to make the PCs first and then draw the map around them.
2) It seems you showed the map to the players and had them choose where to situate themselves.
Just out of interest, is this SOP for Sorcerer relationship mapping? How much of this was your call and how much was by-the-book?
1) I did pre-gen the map and insert the PC's into it. I was more than willing to re-write, re-format and change the map entirely in order to fit them into it. They were the prioritiy and not the map. As it was, the characters were quite different and the map is a valuable tool in getting them into the same game.
2) Yes, I showed it to them and let them know that I would take NPC's out and insert them in or whatever it took. Julie is deep in the map, her father and sister are both on it. Jeff's character isn't so invested in the map but his Kicker is a little stronger, I think, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
This was pretty much SOP S&S Relationship Mapping. I didn't use fiction to create my map. In S&S, it is suggested that you use fiction to create the map but I just whipped up a group of people with goals and drama and threw it on the table. We'll see how it works.
<i>(Private Joke - If you'd like you can always make the Relationships Map shaped like an almond.)</i>
Originally posted by Scorpio Rising
Descriptors : One of the things that I've really had trouble wrapping my head around in Sorcerer is the meaning of the list of descriptors. There's some pretty stern text in the book about not casually altering or diluting the list, and I've also seen RE on the Forge comment that it's not okay to just casually let people make up their own descriptors. But why?
Do you understand this? What am I missing? What is it that the descriptors do for you? How did you generate the (obviously non-canonical) list that you're using here?
Forgive me, these questions are answered out of order but I think I get to 'em all.
I generated this list with the setting in mind. I allowed the players to generate their own Descriptors and I think it made them less invested in the setting. Descriptors really tie the PC's to the world.
If a player came up with a new one that really said something about a part of the world that hadn't been delved into deeply, I'd probably be flexible. I told Jeff and Julie that too but they stuck with the list.
Originally posted by Scorpio Rising
Finally, the tough question : Overall, this looks like a stylish, interesting setting with a lot of potential. But. If you'll forgive my saying, that doesn't seem to be the "point" of Sorcerer. I've only read one mini-supplement to date (Charnel Gods by Scott Knipe) and I'm not sure to what extent it accomplished this - I mean, really had a "point" beyond emphasizing Elric style play.
So what are you doing here? What are you shooting for? What is the unique or distinguishing feature of Lemuria that's going to make it playable and enticing?
This is a setting about a world that is self-destructing and many of its inhabitants are attempting to leave like rats from a ship. Heroes stick it out, they stay on this dying red rock because they have hope for its future.
I think Sorcerer has a somewhat mis-guided and bad rap for being more high-brow than it is.
Yes, it is about what a Sorcerer is willing to do for power but if that struggle is framed in a boring way on a dull stage, fuckit, what's the point?
I think I've laid out the framework, in the Dictionary, for a compelling place to tell stories together and with an interesting Mechanic that uses the Dictionary itself in game play.
What am I trying to do here? I've got a setting that looks great on paper and I'm playtesting it to see how to make it shine at the table. I'm trying to find out how to bring out its unique-ness through play, so that someone can one day download the fucker and make dark fantasy stories with their friends.
Is that clear? Did I answer the question?
Thanks, Robert, good questions.
Scorpio Rising
04-27-2004, 10:02 AM
Originally posted by Paka
I think I've laid out the framework, in the Dictionary, for a compelling place to tell stories together and with an interesting Mechanic that uses the Dictionary itself in game play.
What am I trying to do here? I've got a setting that looks great on paper and I'm playtesting it to see how to make it shine at the table. I'm trying to find out how to bring out its unique-ness through play, so that someone can one day download the fucker and make dark fantasy stories with their friends.
Is that clear? Did I answer the question?
Well, yeah. Mostly.
But what you've really done is made me really curious about the dictionary and how you use it and what it adds up to, without really telling me much about that.
I figure either you're protecting product secrets, or you're deliberately using a "teaser" approach to hype your game or you just like driving me mad.
Hmmmm.
Could be any one of the three, really.
Anyway, I hereby submit myself for your playtesting pleasure any time after I manage to cosh our 7th Sea game over the head and get it to stay down. The rucker just keeps spending drama dice, but it can't have many left by now.
- Scorpio into this.
Ron Edwards
04-27-2004, 10:08 AM
Hello,
I've read the extensive document about the Dictionary of Mu and it's really cool, if still under development.
So yeah, Judd is teasing, but there's sure going to be a payoff.
Best,
Ron
Scorpio Rising
04-27-2004, 10:21 AM
Hola Ron,
Originally posted by Ron Edwards
I've read the extensive document about the Dictionary of Mu and it's really cool, if still under development.
Well, that doesn't surprise me overly.
So yeah, Judd is teasing, but there's sure going to be a payoff.
For which I'll be willing to wait.
Meanwhile, I look forward to your APs from this once you've run it, Judd.
And as I say, my playtesting abilities will be at your disposal by the end of next month.
Cheers,
- Scorpio heading out to get lunch.
Originally posted by Scorpio Rising
And as I say, my playtesting abilities will be at your disposal by the end of next month.
Mayhaps I'll run you and Sarah on a run, as I've already got Paula and Robert scheduled for another game on top of Jeff and Julie's, probably coalescing in a few weeks.
Originally posted by Ron Edwards
Hello,
I've read the extensive document about the Dictionary of Mu and it's really cool, if still under development.
So yeah, Judd is teasing, but there's sure going to be a payoff.
Best,
Ron
Thanks, Ron. That's nice. Appreciated.
Thomas T
04-27-2004, 10:58 AM
I'm afraid I've nothing constructive to add.
But Paka, your stuff is always really, really interesting. Thanks for carrying on posting it.
RobNJ
04-27-2004, 01:28 PM
I played a proto-version of the Mu-verse, and it was loads of fun. I am mostly ignorant of its influences, but it was great to play anyway. One of the best things about Judd is the level of flexibility he is willing to bring to any game. I immediately reacted to alternate interpretations of Demons in this system, and for my character we developed someone who if you saw him in a book, you'd never think "Sorcerer". But we made it work, and it was very satisfying. (even though I think we ultimately failed in accomplishing our "goal").
Giant centipedes as a mode of transportation is so much fun.
Originally posted by RobNJ
I immediately reacted to alternate interpretations of Demons in this system, and for my character we developed someone who if you saw him in a book, you'd never think "Sorcerer". But we made it work, and it was very satisfying. (even though I think we ultimately failed in accomplishing our "goal").
Giant centipedes as a mode of transportation is so much fun.
Rob and company, thanks for the kind words, fellas
Good time, good story, good game = Mission Accomplished.
Bangs in the Bandolier
I'm finding that Julie's character is easier to come up with bangs for.
- The sister is pregnant with the Slavemaster's baby. The Slavemaster is a Demon, bound to the Witch King.
- The Prince, the Witch-King's son and heir comes courting for the sister.
- The Demon of the Fallen Tower sees a beggar who was once a guard in his tower but now, maimed and disfigured, begs for food near an alley. The Demon will want Julie to approach him and ask him to begin his duties again, the beginnings of this Demon's conspiracy of Watchers to spread across Mu's Bed, hoping to create its Tower again.
- The sister goes into labor, despite only being pregnant for a few days, giving birth to a demonic child. Jeff's character's Demon's power (Cover: Midwife) will play into this as an Immenent is born.
This isn't a bang but I'm thinking that Jeff's character will be offered the position of Executioner to the Duke, a possibility that Jeff and I even discussed at character creation.
- He must swear to kill the Duke's enemies upon a headsman's stone in the courtyard of their manor and a successful Lore role finds a powerful Demon within it (the Demonic gestalt of all of the people slain here), waiting to be bound.
- Julie's character is invited to the Prince's mother's place for a meal in order to discuss the wedding arrangements. This is after all, first and foremost, a business deal between two powerful Sorcerous families. It is her duty to arrange it all since her mother is no longer alive, even thought it is an insult that her sister is being given this marriage instead of her.
Any thoughts on these bangs would be appreciated.
Other bits of Prep:
Other than writing The Dictionary of Mu furiously when not working on other projects or studying for the GRE's that I take this Saturday, there is one other thing I've done to get ready for this game.
I have a one sheet made up, just a cheat sheet. Its centerpiece is the Summoning table from the back of the book with Ron's blurb descriptions of what each action is paraphrased from his Necromancy hand-out.
Also on the hand-out are the Dictionary entries for Demons and the Witch-King.
A small banner with the quotes:
Role-playing during combat rules the dice!
- Ron Edwards, Sorcerer
"...but theirs is a hard and pitiless struggle for existence upon a dying planet..."
-Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars
And for the cherry on the cake, I also threw on some of Zak's beautiful art that he drew up back in the day when this project was young.
The Ent
04-29-2004, 02:40 AM
This looks very good! :)
I think I remember the first description of this world from way back - the city of Mu built upon the dead giant's body, etc., and I really liked the ideas back then too...:)
Good luck with the game! :)
Originally posted by The Ent
This looks very good! :)
I think I remember the first description of this world from way back - the city of Mu built upon the dead giant's body, etc., and I really liked the ideas back then too...:)
Good luck with the game! :)
Yup, good memory. Wow.
Thanks, I'm really looking forward to the game. Should be fun.
If anyone has any thoughts on the Bangs listed, that would be appreciated.
This game goes live on Saturday.
Thanks.
Geburah
04-30-2004, 01:45 AM
Not having Sorcerer - although after seeing this thread I'm as near as sold on it as I'm ever gonna be - I'm not quite sure what Bangs are, but the events you listed for Julie's character are pretty good...
Just a question: how would such a pregnancy like Kessen's be viewed in Mu's Bed? If you're going for a decadent society, this is probably not a major issue, but the Witch-King's son might have something to say about it, if he discovers it... He might even take issue at it and have Carv intervene. The Prince is also Carv's lover, so he/she (?) might have a problem with Kessen's engagement with the Prince, especially if there is bad blood between them from when Carv was the Duke's assassin. This might in turn trigger a confrontation between Jeff's character and the assassin.
Originally posted by Paka
Bangs in the Bandolier
This isn't a bang but I'm thinking that Jeff's character will be offered the position of Executioner to the Duke, a possibility that Jeff and I even discussed at character creation.
Since he's an outside element to the little nest of vipers, he may be an element to stir them up: have him walk in on something he shouldn't have seen, like the Slave-Master and Kessen doing the dirty/Kessen giving birth (which he will probably witness anyway, because of his demon's cover). Jeff's character might not even know the importance of what he has just seen... Since the affair is illicit, the lovers can't just have the new assassin dismissed: they're going to have to do something more radical about it, like off him - or at least try. Plus, letting him in on the lover's dirty little secret might link him up better with Julie's character, since they may realise they share knowledge of the secret.
Oh, and a health rivalry between the Duke's new assassin and the Witch-King's new assassin is always a good thing. ;) Plus, there might be other candidates for the position of Duke's Assassin, like one of Carv's apprentices (do apprentice assassins exist?) or some strange out-of-towner fresh in from a sandstorm he should not have survived...
OK, that's about it. The game seems really cool, and I hope you'll keep us posted on the actual play events... Please? :)
Originally posted by Geburah
OK, that's about it. The game seems really cool, and I hope you'll keep us posted on the actual play events... Please? :)
Absolutely, I will.
Thanks for the feedback and suggestions. Its really appreciated.
Geburah
04-30-2004, 11:03 AM
Hmmmm, I've been thinking about this some more, and looking at the situation from the point of view of the "big players", i.e. the Duke and the Witch-King.
In this business, the Duke's interest is pretty clear: he was hoping to cement his crumbling power base thanks to Julie's character summoning a powerful demon. This plan having failed, one way to get back in the running is to arrange a political marriage between his other daughter and the Prince. So it's quite clearly in his best interest for everything to go smoothly. As such, he is unlikely to take the news of his daughter's relationship with the demon slavemaster calmly... Which can play both ways for Julie's character if she brings her father the news - he could decide to shoot the messenger and then she's really in deep trouble, or he could come right out and say "you can be reinstated if you deal with this situation sub rosa. You can use the services of my personal assassin if needed" (a good chance to have the players team up). This gives a bit more power to Julie's Kicker.
The Witch-King's interest is harder to ascertain: his son is a valuable commodity - possibly a successor, and as such, he should not be wasted. Is it really in the WK's interest to have his son wed the Duke's daughter? Somehow, I think not... Therefore, if the son is wooing the Duke's daughter, it is probably of his own volition. If so, Carv is likely jealous, especially as the rival is his/her former mistress and they may have baggage.
Anyway, the whole Slavemaster deal may actually be a plan on the WK's part to break up the potential relationship between his son and the Duke's daughter, possibly discrediting the Duke and breaking his power base for good. He may even be manipulating things so that Carv will crack up and kill his/her former employers... After all, why hire away this specific assassin? The WK must have access to dozens of people skilled at killing at his beck and call.
If the WK is not currently aware of the situation, he will soon be looking for some way to break any potential match... This might actually give the players a chance to attempt a cover-up, rather than the damage control that the previous scenario implies. In addition, it could give the guardian demon some things to do checking up on what the WK's agents are doing, so the players can anticipate their moves...
As for Jeff's character's Demon, it might actually start asking for the souls of specific beings, possibly creating some serious conflicts of interest (frex. asking for the soul of the newborn, of some other semi-important character)... He might actually have to find ways so he can trump up charges against people in order to justify his executing them, which makes for some interesting moral decisions...
I took the GRE's this afternoon and went directly from the test to the game. When I showed up, a buddy of mine and Jeff's, JJ, was at the game. JJ's a single dad who is an asset to any gaming table he sits at. I couldn't say no to him in good conscience.
I was worried about making up a PC with JJ and playing that same day but fuckit, we did it anyway and it turned out to work really well.
JJ made a scribe to the Duke's court who is in reality a spy for the Witch King's Stygian spymaster, an old man JJ dubbed the Master of Webs. His Demon is a scroll made of flesh that is a Demonic representative from an old library from ancient Mu's Bed that was burned down. The scroll is all that's left and its Telltale was that it was made of skin and had a pulse.
Jeff's character was very much a country bumpkin suddenly elevated to the role of Lord Executioner and it made for some great interactions.
Julie's character was a cold bitch seeking the approval of her father and it really worked, a neat character.
JJ managed to play a scared, paranoid spy, whose act as a dutiful servant was so complete that he really was a rather dutiful servant.
There were two things from Sorcerer's supplements that really changed the game. The part of Sorcerer and Sword about what happens when a failure is rolled really rocked the game twice.
During this bangish thing:
Jeff's character was spilling his first blood on the Duke's family execution stone, in order to be properly ordained as the proper Lord Executioner of Mu's Bed. He rolled for the beheading and failed the roll.
Rather than not kill the victim I had him knock the head off and spray the entire crowd, including the Duke, with blood.
neat.
The other interesting story-driving failure was when Jeff's PC was trying to summon the spirit of a courtier who died after some time in the Duke's dungeons. He attempted to Contact the Demon and failed miserably.
Rather than nothing, I had the spiritof his dead son's voice come through on the wind. It led to a ton of good role-playing, with Jeff eventually Banishing the Demon when he thought that the ghost wuldn't aid him in getting his son back.
Julie and JJ then summoned the ghost back and Bound it to Julie, in order to have leverage over the Lord Executioner. Mean!
Bangs
- He must swear to kill the Duke's enemies upon a headsman's stone in the courtyard of their manor and a successful Lore role finds a powerful Demon within it (the Demonic gestalt of all of the people slain here), waiting to be bound.
As noted above, this went alright but Jeff failed his Lore roll, as did everyone at the table, so the Demon was left unfound but I'm sure there will be more opportunties to discover it and I wasn't too terribly excited about it anyway.
- Julie's character is invited to the Prince's mother's place for a meal in order to discuss the wedding arrangements. This is after all, first and foremost, a business deal between two powerful Sorcerous families. It is her duty to arrange it all since her mother is no longer alive, even thought it is an insult that her sister is being given this marriage instead of her.
Thsi went really well with Jeff's character having a little psych-out face-off against Carv, the Witch-King's assassin and Julie getting to flex her social muscles with the aid of her trusty scholar.
I'm sure there were more impromptu bangs than this. It is a theory that I've used subconsciously for years but didn't know what to call it or how to go about putting it to use in a productive way. Knowing that the players were invested in their kickers allowed me to come up with Bangs, many of which I didn't even get to tonight's 5+ hour game.
The Kickers were resolved fairly well and I think they weren't as strong as I would have liked but that didn't make the game any less enjoyable. For a first game, the Kickers were fine. I will be pickier with the second game's Kickers, no doubt about it.
Everyone at the table was really happy with the game and I think we will play out this first period, seeing who the Prince ends up marrying and how things with the sister plays out before going to another period of the character's lives, perhaps resuming with JJ's character as Spymaster of Stygia, Julie as Witch-Queen of Lemuria with JEff as her Unholy Warlock Executioner.
I'm still having thoughts about this game.
I think reading and re-reading my Sorcerer books really tightened up my GMing game. The game was lean and tight. Encounters were designed to compel the players to make dramatic and difficult decisions.
I've had the problem in the past of having lots of role-play time that was mildly entertaining but didn't put anything other than some improv play-acting between the players and players or palyers and the NPC's. I feel like tonight's game was more driven. Not driven as in railroaded to a plot point but the players were driven to make decisions on their way and decide how to react.
It made the game more unpredictable for me and I think it created a game that saw its PC's grow and evolve in the first session.
The idea of giving players extra dice for good descriptions of their actions really shined through. They were really doing amazing stuff and at one point Julie oculdn't think of anything and I went to hand her some dice for effort and she said, "No, don't give me anything, I don't deserve shit for that. I'll do better next time."
And ya know what? After going around the table and coming back to her, she really did. It was nice.
At one point Jeff's PC had to go to the Duke's Dungeons and decide which prisoner to execute for his inauguration as the household's executioner. I had each player come up with a prisoner to role-play as he went up to the cell's doors.
Everyone shined, Julie played a zealot of the Damsel Messiah and JJ came up with a multiple amputee who didn't even remember what he had done to get in there, just begging to not have anything else cut off. GLORIOUS.
I should have given them dice to apply to their PC's somehow but I didn't. Next time, I will just give them a floating die or two for contributing to the table like that.
As things are occuring to me while doing good ole spring cleaning around the house, I'll post 'em.
I found the character sheets from the previous time I ran Sorcerer in Mu's Bed.
What set this game apart from the earlier effort was the descriptors. They realy cement the game in the setting, giving the players ideas on how their characters fit into and are affected by the world around them.
Anyone running Sorcerer should pay close attention to their available descriptors.
During the last game I allowed players to make up their own. Note that we didn't get together and create a list as a group, that would have been cool too. No, each person made up their own for their character.
It made the group even more disjointed and seeming to be characters from the wrong novel stuck in a dark fantasy setting. Some worked better than others and there were glimmers of brilliant character work that I expect from those gamers but the effort and energy didn't come together.
Having re-read the Sorcerer rules, I know that the players are supposed to choose from a fixed set of Descriptors but I threw that away during my first game. I freely admit that I'm used to reading the RPG rulebook, eyeing the rules as written and throwing the shit away I think might not be to my liking.
I am not saying that Sorcerer is a holy text that shouldn't be touched but the game, as written, works for me, I now realize. The way creation and fiddling with what the game means is written into the text is all of the editing I need for now.
For this session, I showed the group the list of descriptors and that was that. With the Pasts, I was more forgiving, allowing them to really make up their own from scratch. Descriptors seemed to help find the character's place in the world, while the Past, created by the player, seemed to give the player room to find their PC's niche in the setting.
The pasts the players chose were pretty good: Witchling Princess, Lemurian Farmer and Witch-King's Spy.
Just more musings on the game with more to come, no doubt. Jeff and Julie will be heading to England for a few weeks and so I'll be starting up another game of this with a different duo in the coming weeks, just to see how different folk react on the dark windy streets of Mu's Bed.
Thanuir
11-04-2006, 12:07 PM
Necromancy, thanks to actualplay.com.
Jeff's character was spilling his first blood on the Duke's family execution stone, in order to be properly ordained as the proper Lord Executioner of Mu's Bed. He rolled for the beheading and failed the roll.
Rather than not kill the victim I had him knock the head off and spray the entire crowd, including the Duke, with blood.
neat. What was the player's intent here?
Necromancy, thanks to actualplay.com.
What was the player's intent here?
Man, that was a while ago but I believe it was to make the execution neat and clean.
But jeez, that's asking me to go way back.
Thanuir
11-05-2006, 01:49 AM
Okay, that makes sense.
If you remember (I think trying to remember your past play is useful; it is for me, at least), how did the process of play happen?
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