[Sorcerer] Training run: London, June 1966
John S:
After my wife's brother saw us playing Tunnels & Trolls with my daughter and nephew, he started frequently expressing interest in joining the game. He's been playing Dragon Age on the Playstation, and wanted to jump into tabletop role-playing, which he had experienced only once or twice some twenty years ago. He created his T&T Rogue, and after playing several sessions with him, I began to think he was interested in darker themes than what we were exploring with T&T. He also expressed some affinity toward the priorities of Story Now, without knowing that there are games that do that. In our last T&T session, his character descended into the tomb of the ancient Dwarven Wight Lord, and instead of fighting the entombed boss, he decided to free him from his iron-maiden armor and ask him for favors of wealth and power. As I processed that experience, I began to think he might be keen to play Sorcerer.
On Friday, I shared with him a one-sheet I've been working on, and he created a character. Initially I thought the story would be set in the 1890s, but he invented a bunch of details related to his character's cover and relationships that were both rich with bang-delivery hooks and anachronistic, so we moved it to 1966. While mulling over his kicker, I realized it was a perfect kicker for the "training run" scenario in the book, if I made some changes to fit what lore, demons, and sorcerer are in this setting. We played our first session last night, and he really liked the faster pace of conflict resolution and scene framing.
I may report more about the actual play later, but first I have a two rule questions related to Spawn:
The rule says that a spawn may not be bound-- does that mean a spawn is bound to no one, or that it's automatically bound to the same sorcerer who bound its "parent"?If a spawning demon has the ability "link" can it be "linked" with its spawn (as defined when the demon is created), or only with its master?
Ron Edwards:
Hiya,
A spawn isn't bound to anyone. A sorcerer can tell it what to do, but there are no bonuses standing there for one side or the other as modifiers.
That's an interesting question about Link. I may review the rules in a legalistic fashion, but until I do that, I think the best way to do it is to say that if the Spawn has Link, then the parent demon may be considered the linked party. However, the parent demon has Link as strictly described in the rules.
Best, Ron
John S:
Thanks for the rules clarification on Spawn! I'm using the Training Run scenario to work out the kinks in a onesheet I've been working on for the world of Bram Stoker's Dracula. I've drawn my inspiration mostly from the novel, supplemented by the Francis Ford Coppola film, with global color from the Hellboy comics by Mike Mignola. I'm also keen to convey some atmosphere from the Castlevania series of video games, especially Symphony of the Night.
In order to establish the Lore and Sorcery of this setting in concrete terms, I'm following advice I saw recently here on the forum: create a demon, and frame Sorcerous rituals in terms of the demon's desires and needs. Using the novel, I've written up Dracula as a kind of ultimate demon of the setting-- in Bram Stoker's fiction Dracula is not a species: he is described a sorcerer who became something like the Antichrist or the Beast of the Apocalypse. But even without apocalyptic assumptions, his powers alone make him bigger than any demon I've ever seen in Sorcerer supplements before, and I wonder if I'm doing something wrong-- here's what I have:
Count Dracula
Dracula has many forms, but his primal form is a foul cloud of darkness that emanates from the corpse of a Transylvanian noble.
Type: Inconspicuous
Telltale: Eyes flash with the the fires of hell, no reflection (all forms); Numerous flaming red eyes (primal form)
Desire: Power
Need: To rest with his corpse in the unholy earth of his homeland
"Inconspicuous" may seem like an odd choice, but I note that in the novel, Dracula only appears to his victims, who become identified with him, and later to those who are hunting him (sorcerers). Otherwise he is "hard to perceive": Jonathan Harker sees only his own face in the mirror when the Count enters his room, and the mother of a child devoured by the vampire recognizes Harker as the monster!
The Telltale for his inconspicuous form is the only bit I've taken from a source other than the novel-- the "numerous flaming red eyes" emerging from the shadow is visually ripped off from the Dracula character in Hellsing manga.
Stamina: 15 Unnatural Means
Will: 15 Aristocrat, Lover
Lore: 15 Inhuman
Power: 16
Because Dracula has the Cover ability, I've given him descriptors that apply to his human form.
Abilities
[*]Miasma of Darkness: Includes passive Cloak and Shadow
[*]Ravening Tooth & Claw: Lethal Special Damage
[*]Soul of the Night: Dracula can transform into a wolf, bat, rat swarm, or mist, traversing darkness with great speed in the manner of these animals. He cannot cross vast bodies of water. (Travel) [The impact of these forms on the novel struck me as color for the Count's Travel ability rather than Shapeshifting.]
[*]Predatory Senses: Dracula can see in darkness, hear heartbeats, and smell living blood (Perception)
[*]Carnal Dominance: Daze (applied to Social rolls to resist the demon's seduction or terror, not perception)
[*]Feed on Living Blood: Dracula drinks the blood of his prey, restoring his youth and vigor; the victim looses a point of Humanity, triggering the demon's healing. (Includes Taint and Vitality)
[*]Devil's Contagion: Embrace a victim, drinking each other's blood; the victim is Tainted and becomes the host of a Possessor-type Spawn Linked to its sire. (Includes Taint, Spawn, and Link)
[*]Power of Sire: Command vermin and beasts of prey
[*]Invulnerable to unconsecrated weapons: Includes Armor, and Big
[*]Soul of Prince: When sated on human blood, the Count can take on the form of a young, vital human male with the skills of a highly cultured foreign noble. (Includes Shapeshift and Cover)
[/list]
Dracula's spawn: the Un-Dead
The vampire's spawn is powerless during the day, but its host may be weakened by the Count's feeding. The spawn makes a new Power vs. Stamina roll to take over the host every night. If the host dies or reaches 0 Humanity while the Count lives, the spawn becomes a Passer.
Type: Possessor while its host lives, becoming a Passing demon when the host dies or reaches 0 Humanity
Telltale: Severe anemia and a bite wound while the host lives, becoming pallor and fangs if the host dies
Stamina: 6
Will: 7
Lore: 6
Power: 7
Abilities
[*]Ravening Tooth & Claw: Lethal Special Damage
[*]Predatory Senses: The Un-Dead can see in darkness, hear heartbeats, and smell living blood (Perception)
[*]Devil's Trance: The vampire's spawn is Linked to its sire.
[*]Carnal Dominance: Daze (applied to Social rolls to resist the demon's seduction or terror, not perception)
[*]Feed on Living Blood: The Un-Dead drinks the blood of her prey, restoring her youth and vigor; the victim looses a point of Humanity, triggering the demon's healing. (Includes Taint and Vitality)
[/list]
Banishing the Count & his Un-Dead spawn
Dracula can only be banished by decapitation or incineration. The following ceremony offers several "helper rolls" which may add their victories to the Banish ritual:
[*]A sorcerer drives a wooden stake through the vampire's heart. [If the stake is made of white oak, add rollover victories from the Lore roll of locating the wood.]
[*]A sorcerer stuffs the vampire's mouth with garlic and holy water or relics.
[*]The vampire's body is drawn and quartered.
[*]The vampire's remains are burned and a sorcerer spreads its ashes to the four winds.
[*]A sorcerer buries the vampire's head in hallowed ground.
[/list]
Banishing the vampire or its spawn must usually include staking, decapitation, and garlic in the mouth.
Containing & Punishing the Vampire
The vampire can be punished or contained by the liturgy of the Latin Rite or Eastern Rite. Punish or Contain rituals must usually include garlic, communion bread, or holy relics.
Binding the Count
To bind Count Dracula, a sorcerer must drink the Count's blood and offer her own blood for the count to drink, as in the "Devil's Contagion" ability, and then the demon's Link ability confers to her instead of its Spawn.
The description of Monicus (in the core rules) indicates that a Lore 9 demon is one of the "bigger demonic heavies". That would certainly be true of Dracula, but I'm wondering if I've made him too powerful. Do you use demons this powerful in your games? Do you see anything above that jumps out as a red flag?
I have a couple other rules-related questions that came out of actual play, but I'll post those another time.
John S:
Oops, I found a typo: the Count's Will should be 16, not 15,
Marshall Burns:
Quote from: John Paul on September 07, 2010, 09:53:12 AM
The description of Monicus (in the core rules) indicates that a Lore 9 demon is one of the "bigger demonic heavies". That would certainly be true of Dracula, but I'm wondering if I've made him too powerful. Do you use demons this powerful in your games? Do you see anything above that jumps out as a red flag?
I'm also interested in this issue. A while ago I statted up Howl and Calcifer from the film version of Howl's Moving Castle, and Calcifer had like 15 Lore too. (And Howl had the vigor + self-esteem + adept descriptor combo that the book suggests is weak, but I think his Price (heartless: -1 in any situation requiring courage, especially in an emotional arena) makes it work). So, yeah, I'm wondering how playable that sort of thing is.
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