[Sorcerer] How to play a sorcerer
John S:
It was rude for me to leave this thread hanging without thanking you all for the insight and advice. I don't have an excuse, but I am expecting a new child this Spring, and I've been very preoccupied.
Jesse, and Ron, your posts were helpful. The issues you talked about, Jesse, came very close to Steve's trouble in grokking the game I think, although I didn't realize it at the time.
We met up again a week after Ron posted and spent a long time going over each point, discussing each idea. In fact, we talked about it the whole time we would normally play, maybe three or four hours.
He pushed back a little about the notion that his character might not be a hero. I think his appreciation for darker themes that I picked up on is predicated on the safety net that at least his character would be heroic. I might have divined this when he wanted to play an FBI agent, a role that he idealizes, but it didn't occur to me.
His eyes lit up when we talked about the difference between winning in a traditional challenge-oriented game, and creating story with Sorcerer. He never had any problem identifying his character's most pressing drive moment-by-moment in our game, since his Kicker was that the character's girlfriend was kidnapped. We didn't have a single scene that his character wasn't jumping into the action. He enjoyed both the narrative freedom provided by having a score for "Cover" instead of a skill list, and he seemed to enjoy the intensity, even if it left him a little beleaguered by the end of each session, seeing how every choice he made heightened the tension.
That's what got him asking "What are my moves in this game? What are my tools for playing this game?"
On the other hand, he said he wasn't sure "what to pick" when I asked him what matters most to his character, in the big picture. From our actual play, I thought he had a vivid picture of what makes this character go, and this answer was kind of deflating. It struck me that was weighing this choice in terms of Step On Up: "Whatever I pick will have advantages and disadvantages for game effectiveness."
So I took the hint that although he seemed enthusiastic about the color and a lot of other things about Sorcerer, he wasn't so keen on dealing with the premise. Next time we got a chance to play was almost a month later, and we went back to the Tunnels & Trolls game we had on pause. He said he still wants to play Sorcerer, and maybe we'll come back to it in future. But with everything else going on, T&T is about my speed too. Preparing for unscripted T&T play is so easy, and it can easily be "skinned" with the thematic color and narrative freedom without requiring the characters to be protagonists.
John S:
Quote
Preparing for unscripted T&T play is so easy, and it can easily be "skinned" with the thematic color and narrative freedom without requiring the characters to be protagonists.
Oops, Edit: It can be skinned with whatever thematic color you want, allowing narrational freedom. Maybe that's not a word, but what I'm talking about is distinct from narrativism; what I meant was that the abstract combat, Saving Roll mechanics, and Monster Ratings provide ample space for collaborative narration, with or without narrativist concerns.
Ron Edwards:
Hi John,
I make that distinction between narration and narrative all the time, as I think it's incredibly important for this medium. The fact that the two thing are almost identical, and spoken of as identical, in other story-type media causes a lot of trouble. So I'm with you on that.
Thanks for getting back to the thread!
Playing Sorcerer characters is best understood as productive arrogance. Not on the character's part (although there too), but on the player's, and I refer specifically to some of role-playing culture's long-standing standards.
I'll explain myself in detail when I get some time. This is a tough crunch period in my life at the moment, and I don't think it'll let up until after Thanksgiving.
Best, Ron
John S:
Quote from: Ron Edwards on November 11, 2010, 03:33:00 AM
This is a tough crunch period in my life at the moment, and I don't think it'll let up until after Thanksgiving.
"Tough crunch period" is a pretty succinct way to sum up my life right now too. ;) I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[*] Previous page