Post originally by Casey Day at 2003-06-03 13:44:58
Converted from Phorums BB System

After some hard thinking about the subject, I've decided that I'm a Simulationist GM, if one has to label it. Nevertheless, I would absolutely love to play Sorcerer.

The rules of Sorcerer are Narrativist because they carry the theme intrinsically. The theme is about characters making choices and sacrifices for power to change their world. If you decided to run a game on that theme in D&D, for example, you could declare ground rules on which deities the group could follow, and create opportunities in the game for characters to grab power which they would have to work to maintain. However (and note that I'm speaking from a Simulationist POV, as a GM inspired by a theme but not railroading my Player friends) the PCs could always refuse the easy power at every turn, counting on their own Skills and Feats to turn the tide without that self-aware supersword or strangely powerful familiar. If the dice side with the PCs then all that extra power will do is make the adventure easier to defeat, never allowing the concept of sacrifice and hard choices to enter into it. On the other hand, Sorcerer rules carry the theme inside them, so that the PCs have to work to keep their Demons under control and make rolls to maintain that control. Also, the PCs won't die from a lucky poisoned arrow hit from a skulking goblin before the Demon calls for its due -- that PC will only lose if Humanity is lost, whatever that means in your campaign. The GM only needs to keep choices coming, of any kind, and the game will stay on its Theme automatically.

That's my take on it, anyway. That's what I got from Ron Edwards' "System Does Matter" idea, that a good system can help stay the thematic course so the group doesn't have to work hard just to stay on track. Even a group diverted into puns and laughter over a plot point will still be playing the role of sorcerers who might lose more control over their Demons in the very next scene. That's the kind of responsibility and danger that keeps players in the game.