[Sorcerer] Berkeley 1968
xenopulse:
I ran Sorcerer for the first time last night with my mostly-regular group consisting of Colin, David, and Matt. This comes on the heels of a whole season of Primetime Adventures and four sessions of In A Wicked Age (IAWA). The change in approach to running these games made me a bit nervous, so I called Judd to elicit some much-appreciated input. In return, he asked me to write about how it turned out, so here goes that.
In short, it went quite well! I felt like we all enjoyed the game, even with some stumbling over parts of the rules (i.e., learning curve).
***
First, the fictional setup. Our game is set in 1968 in Berkeley (and other parts nearby), California, at and around the university. Humanity is defined as concern and relationships with other human beings, and demons are summoned through achieving a state of extreme isolation.
We've got three Sorcerer PCs, and I decided to start with the scenes where the kickers came into play.
Frank Holloway (Colin), a fringe scientist who works for the university, just summoned his first demon in his isolation tank. As the raven-haired stunner of a passer demon, Lillith, is taking a shower in his apartment, the professor receives a call from the dean's office that his funding has been cut and his lab will be turned into a gym extension. Lillith desires competition and has a need for fistfights.
Dick Atkins (David), an ex-astronaut, found his demon on his space walk, all alone among the stars. It's a parasite living in his blood, driving him to seek sensual pleasure and requiring him to radiate himself with x-rays on a regular basis. He's in the middle of running for Senator on the Republican ticket, getting dressed to go out to a gala, when he receives a blackmail package containing tapes of him going temporarily insane in his space capsule.
Devin Love (Matt) is a young black Vietnam veteran whose mother is his mentor in all things sorcery. Thanks to her education, he was able to bind an inconspicuous, ancient Egyptian demon taken from a Sorcerer that Devin killed in the middle of a godforsaken patch of Vietnamese jungle. His demon desires mayhem and has a need for Devin to kill small animals and drink their blood as sacrifice to him. Devin is a Black Panther, his brother is a crook, and his girlfriend is a pacifistic peace activist. His kicker: his brother storms in, telling him that Feds, without a warrant, took their mom away.
***
We went around the table taking turns for scenes, but I'll group them by character for ease of following the developments. Frank was shocked at the news about his lab, but first had to find clothes for his demon. He managed to find out where his lab assistant, Anita, buys her clothes. He's got a big crush on Anita, and that was fun to see play out. After shopping for clothes, he and Lillith marched into the dean's office, finding only the assistant there.
Frank gave in to Lillith's urging to feed her need, unleashed his fury over the impending lab closing by wrestling ineptly with the assistant, and chased him out into the hall where he beat him down with the office phone (he then lost his humanity roll for this callous action). He tried to bully the assistant into staying quiet, realizing what he'd done. But when he went to see the dean the next day, security was right there. Thanks to Lillith discreetly psychic-forcing the guards into the wall, he managed to coerce the name of the company responsible for the lab closure out of the dean.
Dick's night and following day went much more quietly. He called his campaign manager to get him to investigate how the tapes got out. At the gala, he got a call from his mistress, Anita (the very same). She was upset about the lab closure and asked him to help. He, driven by his demon's urging, decided to meet her at their favorite seedy nightclub. He ended up spending the night at her place, despite not telling his wife or manager that he'd be gone, which might be trouble down the road. In the end, he told Anita to set up a meeting with Frank so he could figure out how to help her.
And Dick's campaign manager told him that he found a list of a handful of people who'd had access to his NASA files. This will work as the springboard for continuing his investigation into who's blackmailing him.
Now, Devin had a rough night. His brother told him he had a source who knew where the FBI safehouse was where their mother was being held, and persuaded him to round up a couple of Black Panthers, shotguns, and ski masks, and get mom back. It was interesting to me to see how willing Devin was to resort to violence; his service in Vietnam apparently made him more callous rather than opposed to fighting. He was supposed to meet his girlfriend Tamira at a peaceful sit-in that night and promised he'd show up later.
The group met at a bar, flirted with a lady there (Devin is paranoid and wanted to make sure she wasn't spying on them), then went to room 213 of an apartment complex with Delin (the brother), Isaac (Delin's partner-in-crime), and Michael and Tyler (two ready-to-rumble Black Panthers). Isaac stayed in the car (stoned as he was), Delin and Tyler watched the front and back entrance, and Michael and Devin went upstairs. They decided to kick down the door to room 211, where loud music was playing, to get on the fire escape there and surprise the Feds next door that way.
When they kicked in the door, they found that a camera had been set up to film what's going on in 213. A fight ensued with the man handling the equipment. Devin tackled him, Michael tried to shoot him, the man tried to pull his gun, and the demon (with prior orders from Devin) tried to take out Michael to avoid deaths. They struggled and ended up with Devin and the guy on the floor, before the demon took him out by order of Devin. People ran past the doorway from room 213; Michael shot someone in the thigh, but they made it downstairs, shot Delin in the shoulder, and escaped. There was no sign of mom--only lines of coke on the table. Now Devin is pissed, thinking that Delin set him up to take out a bunch of rival drug dealers. Still, mom's apartment is empty.
And Tamira waited in vain for him that night.
The next morning, Devin then went out to the middle of nowhere, where his mother had told him ley lines lay, and summoned himself another demon: one with Perception and Hint, who could tell him the truth and help find his mother. When you can't trust your family and friends anymore, you turn to demons, right?
***
Alright, on to the rules. The first time we had a fight, I forgot that combat works a bit differently than simple opposed rolls. Basically, Sorcerer's combat is the precursor to IAWA. The initial rolls are made to determine initiative, and then characters can decide whether to abandon their action for a full defense with all dice or only use one die and keep their action roll on the table. Characters who've already acted get to use all dice for defense later that turn. So after we'd determined the result with a simple opposed roll, I realized my mistake and we went back to redo the exchange. Interestingly, the result was exactly the same (the PC's action succeeded by 1 victory, the opponent failed).
I really like it that both sides can get what they want and that you can prioritize how important your own action is as opposed to your defense. That's a choice you can't make in IAWA. But it makes the whole exchange that much more complicated (e.g., you have to deal with the impact of damage on already-made rolls). Still, the shootout at Room 213 felt quite intense to me because of all of the potential outcomes. As a GM, that uncertainty was entertaining and challenging to me, and the situation changed in ways we couldn't have predicted. That's great stuff. I think that, even though it's not easy keeping track of everything, multi-character conflict is where Sorcerer's die system really shines.
I think having played IAWA allowed us to grasp this system very quickly. Combat turned out to be quite deadly; characters get down to 0 dice in no time. Especially when demons are involved. Mental conflicts are just like IAWA as well: they are always backed up by the threat of violence, because in the end, your rollover dice are good for doing extra damage.
The contacting, summoning, and binding of Devin's new demon turned out to be the most difficult thing, rules-wise. That's probably to be expected the first time around. One thing that was confusing was the number of Humanity rolls required, which I couldn't find in the rules text but inferred from the examples given. Devin lost half his humanity, going from four to two, just by acquiring a new demon. I wasn't sure how successes in the ritual rolls worked regarding the Humanity rolls, for example. I'll take a look at the Sorcerer wiki with fresh eyes now and will probably figure most things out from that.
***
As a closing note, it's interesting that all three characters had different moods going on, I felt. Frank's scenes were often humorous. Devin's were intense in more ways than one and felt very gritty to me. And I couldn't quite get a handle on Dick yet--it felt more like we were setting him up, trying to figure out who he is first before we throw him into the midst of trouble. His scenes felt more introspective, especially in contrast with the others. I'm not sure whether I should have pushed him more this time, but I definitely will the next time we're playing. I still felt that his decisions, which were based on more low-key bangs (stick with your supportive wife or go see your mistress, for example), worked out well for revealing his personality.
But overall, despite the different moods, the game still felt like it held together just fine as a whole. If this was a TV series, I'd be interested in all three characters, though I wouldn't be sure at this point if all (or any!) of them are protagonists :)
Ron Edwards:
Hi Christian,
I love the setting. It's actually quite close to home for me, geographically, politically, in actual history, and culturally. Have you read much about the era, the Free Speech Movement, the SDS-CIA scandal, the origins of campus protest vs. the Vietnam War (not what most Americans think!), or the Panthers? I have some references for you if you're interested.
I'm glad you enjoyed the combat rules! Regarding the impact of damage on already-made rolls, it's not that tricky ... Take the number of dice corresponding to the penalty (i.e. how badly the attacking character is injured) and add them to the defending roll. Did you try it some other way, or did you know that and still find it cumbersome?
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... Combat turned out to be quite deadly; characters get down to 0 dice in no time. Especially when demons are involved. Mental conflicts are just like IAWA as well: they are always backed up by the threat of violence, because in the end, your rollover dice are good for doing extra damage.
Don't forget the halving rule at the end of combat. When it's all over, and it seems as if your character is facing six long-term penalties ... it's only three after all.
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The contacting, summoning, and binding of Devin's new demon turned out to be the most difficult thing, rules-wise.
Sounds like you did it right. Contacting, Summoning, and Binding a new demon usually requires a fair amount of consideration, preparation, and a good look at one's current Humanity score beforehand.
The Humanity rolls aren't intended to be modified by any results of successful ritual rolls. They should be rolled exactly as Humanity vs. Power without penalties or bonuses. However, successful ritual victories can be carried over as bonuses to the next ritual if that's the next roll and if the in-game sequence of stated actions makes sense.
I really like your comment about the different moods yet a single story. Looking back, I wonder why it took so long for this idea, and related "no party" ones, to become even considered in role-playing design culture.
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... If this was a TV series, I'd be interested in all three characters, though I wouldn't be sure at this point if all (or any!) of them are protagonists :)
Excellent point. It's kind of complicated because Sorcerer was at the center of our 1999-2002 discussions of "protagonist first" play, which I think is today most powerfully stated as a given in Primetime Adventures and Polaris ... but actually, one of the key points of Sorcerer is that your character may not, in fact, be a protagonist. That's pretty much what you play to discover, especially in light of the four possible outcomes described in the book. All that's guaranteed is that he or she is not furniture. I guess the best term would be Joshua's, from Shock: *Tagonist.
Best, Ron
Christopher Kubasik:
Hi Ron and Christian (and anyone),
Could you all explain more what you mean by protagonist. (I wasn't around for the debates!)
And, Ron, you seem to be suggesting that a character's "protagonism" is partially defined by the conclusion of the tale. Is this what you're saying? If so, could you unpack that a bit?
Thanks!
xenopulse:
For me, protagonists are main characters that I root for. :) Mostly because I identify with their struggles in some way and because, even if they're anti-heroes, they're not so evil that they lose all of my sympathy.
So, figuring out who's a protagonist isn't always easy. Not all of them are Luke Skywalkers. Many of them are Han Solos and Rorschachs, and some of them are Riddicks or the likes (in Pitch Black, not that godawful sequel).
But there are some that writers, filmmakers, or whatever, try to make protagonists but fail (for me)--like the Spartans in 300. They're just too evil to carry my sympathy.
So, in our game, I'm not quite sure yet that I'm rooting for these Sorcerers. They haven't necessarily earned my sympathy and shown me that they care enough, have enough relatable qualities, that their quest for power keeps them within Protagonist territory most of the time.
Christopher Kubasik:
Hi Christian thanks!
I'm about to lay in some ground-work about my question to Ron about how the ending of a story informs "protagonism."
Christian:
Do you consider Shakespeare's Macbeth a protagonist?
Do you consider Oedipus from Sophocles' Oedipus Res to be a protagonist?
On a related note, what made the guys from 300 evil?
I'm thinking a lot about this because my views on the PCs from Sorcerer have changed a lot over the years. I used to see them as people troubled by demons, and the whole point was to finally dump the demons.
But, over time, I've come to ask, "Why did they summon their first demon anyway? What was the crux of their life that made them go that far?" It seems to me that in that gap of "Why summon a demon?" we have the easy access to empathy -- something in the PC's life that we understand, "Yeah, if my back was up against the wall, I might go there, too."
Interestingly, just last night I was fishing around for an example from literature or pop culture that would be a VERY sympathetic version of a sorcerer. (This is the game you play where there are in fact NO demons in the source material, but you can easily see them being there.)
In a flash I thought of Showtime's DEXTER. Dexter is one of my favorite shows right now. But I hadn't thought about him in terms of Sorcerer before. But the minute I did, it was all clear....
I'll give away no spoilers below....
Dexter is a sociopath and serial killer. He suffered a horrific trauma at the age of four and was adopted by a local sheriff, who recognized the signs of a sociopath in the boy, and trained him to learn the skills of police work to a) never get caught after he's killed someone, and b) chase down and murder OTHER serial killers.
Dexter was taught to fit in and not be that lonely guy who attracts attention. So he has a good job as a forensic tech at a Miami police station. He has a girlfriend (a single moth with two kids) and behaves like a great boyfriend and doting father figure. He's a loyal brother to his step-sister (also on the Miami force). And, sometimes he goes out and kills people.
Dig it:
Dexter refers to his other half, the half that needs to kill as his Dark Passenger (!). (Possessor Demons? I think so.)
When he goes and kills he wears a ritual set of cloths -- nothing fancy, just a specific pair of pants, shirt and gloves.
When he kills he has a specific ritual involving -- well, lots of plastic sheets and other things. But there are other specific ritual elements as well.
Dexter has almost preternatural strength, agility and the ability to sneak around and not be noticed when he's in "hunt mode."
I hammered out some of the details for translating Dexter's setting into a Sorcerer game. But that's not important here.
What is important is that Dexter summoned a demon so he would never be hurt again. He saw something horrific and by summoning it he has a leg up on anyone who means to do harm to others. Always. (This same demon, however, keeps him at a remove from other characters on the show. The show really is about dropping the masks we wear and connecting to people. The above sound all dark, and maybe a little too sly. But strange, DEXTER is one of the sweetest shows I've ever seen. I mean that. The relationships between Dexter and Rita, his girlfriend, is the heartbeat of the show and is what makes it tick and you WANT them to somehow be a couple.)
My question to you, Christian (aside from those above), is how did the PCs acquire their Lore? What was the chasm in their lives that required they bend the fabric of reality to try to fill it? Or was there any such thing?
Christopher
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