Importing Aspects and Fate Points from FATE into Sorcerer?
Ron Edwards:
Hi Marvin,
You've asked some great questions and raised some fundamental issues. I think most of the advice you got was accurate in the most basic sense, which is that Sorcerer is built actually to function without a formal improvised factor involved in the currency equation. However, I think you knew that already - I think what you are after is investigating why the system works without it, and whether something else could introduce it. That wouldn't result in Sorcerer play, but it might result in functional play of a slightly different kind. Am I right in understanding your question?
If so, then I'll start by pointing out that all your observations strongly agree with my own experiences about how it's a stretch for long-time role-players to pick up the concept of play for games like FATE and Sorcerer - but the more so for the latter, which has no training wheels, so to speak, and in which player responsibility lies wholly within the realm of chosen character actions and reactions. So in some ways, I can see that introducing the spend-my-die technique makes sense at that introductory level. Again, not for purposes of playing Sorcerer, but for some other setting or driving function of play.
If I did that, I'd probably remove the Humanity mechanic and introduce, instead, some mechanism for gaining more points for spending into the equation. The problem then is that that reward mechanic should be interesting in some fashion, or at least thematically weighted in some way. To do that, some redesign is probably useful. And in fact, here, one can find both Dogs in the Vineyard and The Shadow of Yesterday as good examples, in which both damage and "yay, new points" are deeply embedded in the existing resolution mechanics.
As you can see, we are basically talking about designing a new game. The problem with stopping halfway and playing, basically, with the Sorcerer resolution system with spend-my-die added in, is that it's pretty boring. You get points to spend them, and effectively, by playing (and spending), you get more points. Unless the whole point is to revel in some genre convention, there's not much juice there.
About now, people might be wondering why I removed Humanity so casually a couple of paragraphs above. The answer lies in the brutal consequentiality of the no-FATE-feature Sorcerer resolution system. When you make a decision to do something in Sorcerer, either you abort it at the last second, or you're committed to it - and then, what happens, happens. Re-rolls are not permitted because you don't get to "do over" the results of such decisions. They're fine in other games, but in Sorcerer, the strength of the Humanity mechanic absolutely relies on the knowledge of this inevitable, uncontrollable outcome for one's dice.
After all, if one does X, and incurs a Humanity check for doing it, and if it fails ... then spending a point and getting to re-roll for that action softens the true failure of that action. You don't have to live with its outcome, necessarily.
Does that make sense?
Best, Ron
Manveru:
Ron, you got where I was coming from EXACTLY. I really appreciate the thoughtful response, all your points make sense to me and your summary i's a great touchpoint for looking at Sorcerer's fundamental mechanic.
I'd like to clarify one aspect (pun, heh) of my query: no rerolls. What I'm curious about is sliding Fate Point invoke/compels into the existing Sorcerer currency. In a sense, this may be like the time I put Himalayan black salt into a risotto. That time it worked, but it did taste a little funky. I like funky, so it was OK for my "p-game", as it were.
So, NO REROLLS! Perish the thought for a Sorcerer game, I mean honestly. You put it so nicely, Ron, but .. no, no rerolls in Sorcerer for me. ;^P
Drop the rerolls utterly, but use Fate Point invokes/compels in accord with the existing currency, so, for example (only a pinch to start):
1 Fate Point invoke/compel = 1 score point = 1 die (NOT a reroll, evah!) = 1 victory = 1 bonus = 1 penalty
Sure, maybe this means that a player could roll an ADDITIONAL die on a test, by invoking an appropriate Descriptor with a Fate Point. But don't change how the currency or dice essentially work in Sorcerer.
As an aside, not to put the cart before the horse .. but kinda to put the cart before the horse .. I can't bear the thought of losing Humanity, so I was considering tying Fate Point refresh to the Humanity score.
In a sense, trying to think this through outloud, the Fate Point economy would add another vector into the currency AND an additional "do cool stuff but take a fall at some point" concern, alongside Humanity.
Will this approach utterly break down into wittle pieces? I don't think it'll break everything, but it WILL definitely change the flow and focus, necessarily. I think it could be fun, and maybe even serve as useful "training wheels" (I _almost_ used that phrase, :^) for game paradigm shifting. However, I'm KEENLY interested in any gotchas that come to mind, so yeah, hit me! ;^P
Cheers!
Manveru:
Hmmm .. I should also point out that I'm not really considering this option for a 'stock' Sorcerer game at all. Sorcerer is just dandy for that. I'm only considering this option for exploring non-stock Sorcerer gaming, such as something derived from Sorcerer & Sword or some sick mashup of mini-supplements.
wreckage:
The character-aspect die mechanic you're moving towards sounds a little like The Burning Wheel, which seems to be hovering around the same Sorcerer <---> Fate mid-point in terms of being able to "push" probability by invoking character traits (freedom), versus grim finality (risk and challenge).
Yeah, I read more stuff than I play, due to a multi-layered combination of long-term illness and dependents. I've devoured Sorcerer and two incarnations of Fate. If you ALSO like to read stuff, try reading The Burning Wheel. It provides lots of "training wheels" type stuff- lots of play/procedural rewards for noting, playing to, and inventively exploring "your character".
I know that you might be thinking "That wasn't my question, fool!" but your description of your conceptual "Forcerer" or "Sate" balance point resonated very strongly with my interpretation of The Burning Wheel text, so I thought I'd speak up.
Manveru:
Yep, got BW! It's actually on the shelf here next to the other handies, like SotC, Theatrix and Sorcerer/et. al. I agree with your comments, BW feels a little 'heavier' than SotC, specifically due to the pre-made lifepaths and tactical conflict resolution. But is it nummy? Totally. Unfortunately, it appears that Sorcerer has rather killed my taste for anything crunchier for at least some time here. I have picked up DitV and IaWA, though only very recently and have not yet played either.
Cheers, may the road rise, amigo.
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