[Sorcerer] Training run: London, June 1966
John S:
Here are some questions that came out of the actual play:
Let me set the scene: Steve is playing a sorcerous FBI agent named Nitro, whose kicker is that he arrived in London to visit his girlfriend Annalisa, and she was kidnapped just before he got to her flat. Inside there was a note, inviting him specifically to the party if he wants to see Annalisa again-- "and bring your demon."
I'll skip over a lot of the action to the point where we had a problem. Nitro is in Yzor's library questioning one of the demon's spawn at gunpoint, who is sitting in a high-backed chair, swirling wine around in a goblet. The spawn betrays his Telltale (tongue darting in and out, lizard-like), and throws the glass down saying "Enough talk. Have at you!" Time for action.
This was the first combat or complex conflict. We started with intentions: Nitro is going to shoot at the spawned demon, and the demon is coming at him with claws out.
Then we had rolls for order. Nitro rolls four dice for his Stamina, and the demon rolls six dice, gaining two victories.
It was hard for Steve to suspend disbelief-- he had his gun trained on the thing, and he expected to kick ass, and now the demon got the jump on him. How did that happen?
At first I thought the problem was "my character isn't as cool as I wanted him to be", but now I'm thinking that the problem was that the fiction wasn't being fairly represented by the dice. A trained FBI agent with a gun aimed and ready to fire isn't going to miss unless the thing is seriously fast (and Fast isn't one of the spawn's abilities), especially when dodging or knocking the weapon away weren't declared as actions. Should I have given him a free shot before the demon could declare an action, giving the spawn one die for defense? Or should I have given Nitro an arbitrary amount of bonus dice for the attack roll?
Just now I realized how I should have done it the Sorcerer way: When he declared that he was aiming before the fight, I should have had him roll Cover vs. X dice as a helper roll. Since the target was sitting and the range was point blank, the opposing roll should have been one die. Then he could have applied any victories as a bonus to his attack roll when the action began. Am I on the right track there?
As it happened, we went ahead with the dice as they fell, without applying any bonuses for aim or readiness. I described his options: Nitro can suck it up, rolling one die for defense, or abort his action this round to roll full Stamina for defense. He had a handout with the roleplaying modifiers from page 19, and I reminded him that he could narrate richer fiction for bonuses either way.
He chose to duck and roll across the room, then reestablish aim, narrating a bit more colorfully than I am. He was trying for the "especially clever version of the action", so I gave him two dice which he added to his full Stamina for a full defense. Rolling six dice against the demon's original roll on six, the demon still had one victory.
Rather than dictate a fumble, I asked Steve if he could think of anything that interfered with the duck-and-roll defense, and how he got injured. He was in disbelief about the outcome, and he suggested that the thing could have clawed his heal, but that didn't match up with the amount of Lethal Special Damage he was taking-- 9 penalties on the next action, then 7 lasting.
This gave us a chance to learn about the sorcerous unmodified Will roll to hold your guts in and keep going, which he used to great advantage. Trouble is, we forgot to round up when halving the lasting damage, and we also forgot to turn the lasting damage into narrative effects. Oops.
Playing Trollbabe has got me asking this about every game now: Who narrates what happens in complex conflicts, apart from announcing actions? Do the consequences fall squarely on the GM, or do all the players contribute to interpreting the dice?
Oh, another question: Twice in the combat, Steve announced that Nitro would "empty his entire clip" in the demon. My ruling at the moment was that you get one "shot" off per round, but the only rule I can find about this is that "the rules are bound to be disappointing" (111). Are there any pointers I'm overlooking?
That's all I can think of right now. The other questions I had were clearly explained in the text and just not yet second nature for me.
The Dragon Master:
As far as the rolls go, like you discovered, the cover as helping dice and narrating bonus dice is definitely the way to go. And even on the duck and roll he probably should have gone for more than just two bonus dice (there's an entire list there, and it sounds like the two just brought him even with the number of dice the Spawn had).
It's my understanding that the consequences fall on the GM, but we'll let someone with more experience tell how they have found works best.
As to the gun's, I'd probably just have "empty his entire clip" translate to a bonus die or two, but others may have better (or more satisfying) suggestions. I would tend not to use guns overly much in combat against a Demon, since each time you aim you have to take a full turn to do so (though I imagine a helping roll of Cover, added to a will roll to aim, could turn up some nice bonuses for firing in the next round).
John S:
Thanks, Tony! I appreciate your feedback. The idea of translating "emptying the clip" into bonus dice seems consistent with the combat advice on page 112: "...most details in combat are best handled simply by giving bonus dice. [...] The GM should play it fast and loose, combining the above guidelines to assign quick bonuses and penalties."
Another question that is on my mind is about about perception. When and how do you roll for noticing things related to the sorcerer's descriptors? Take the Fenster example from page 102-- to notice the Telltale we roll Lore, and to notice suspicious inappropriate behavior we roll Cover (in this case). Sorcerer doesn't strike me as a game where the GM rolls "behind the screen" for anything, so how exactly do you play it?
GM: "There's something fishy here. Roll your Lore, and I'll roll these dice. You got no victories? Maybe it's just your imagination. Want to try rolling your Cover?"
From my experience so far, when the dice hit the table in Sorcerer, something happens and the situation changes. But I haven't figured out how to bring that to bear in perception rolls. "You don't notice anything" is kind of lifeless. Most games counsel the GM to roll "perception checks" in secret, but that seems counter to the style of Sorcerer. Any advice on that?
Thanks again!
The Dragon Master:
I'd stick with the basic "roll when something's going to happen" model. If he fails the roll, then he doesn't see the big slobbery toothed Demon with an axe sneaking up on him. If he does, then he notices it and can act accordingly, but then I've never played (any system) any other way.
What instances are you thinking of these perception rolls coming up in? What would happen if he were to succeed on them?
jburneko:
John
I took me a while to master the Perception thing. Here's how I think about.
Telltales completely change the dynamics of a scene. A to characters meet and interact if Telltales are spotted the scene is "charged" very differently than if they aren't. Notice I'm talking about real interaction that was going to happen anyway. Not something like do you spot the woman casually passing you on the street has a telltale.
So think of things in those terms. If you find yourself in a does he spot something and if the No answer results in "nothing happens" then the answer is an automatic Yes.
If it's a question of timing, like "Huh. If he spots the guy then he will have chance to do something but if he fails then X happens before he can react...." Then don't think in terms of perception. Go straight to the "combat" rules. Let the hidden thing announce whatever action. Let the player announce whatever action they'd do in response assuming they spot it in time. If the player's action goes first then they saw it in time. If not then they didn't.
The only time I ever roll "Perception" in the classic sense of the word is when it's an active activity by the player. Like if you have Cloaked guy throwing around Psychic Forces and the player wants to take an action to hone in the source. Then we roll, and if successful the player then rolls those victories over into his next action now that he has a bead on the target.
Jesse
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page