[Sorcerer] How Do You Handle Failed Contacts and Summons?
Joel Rojas:
So the player does the cool narration, is moving the story forward, and engages the mechanics by having the character drop some LSD... picks up a bucket of dice when they turn against him and fails the roll. What now? I know the conventional wisdom: make failures interesting by addressing it as conflict resolution versus task resolution. Except, in the case of sorcery, I cannot divorce it from task resolution. The table itself is centered around micro-managing the parts: first contact, followed by summon, then bind. I'm pretty sure shrugging your shoulders to the player and announcing a failure is not it, but what then?
jburneko:
Hey there,
Context is SUPER, SUPER important. It's probably easiest to demonstrate with an example that happened in my play.
So the PC's daughter was kidnapped by some people he owes money to. So he gathers up some of her belongings and takes them into her room where he sets up a ritual. He's going to summon a demon to find his daughter. The Contact roll fails. So what happens?
His wife walks in on him. She sees all this stuff strewn around. This game is set it New Orleans and her family has strong voodoo roots. Roots she's worked HARD to get away from and now, here is all this ritualistic BULLSHIT. THIS? This superstitious NONSENSE is her husband's idea of what to do about their kidnapped daughter? The scene that ensued was the biggest demonstration of the PC's failings as a father in the entire game.
This is what I call The Universe slapping you in the face. Remember that in Sorcerer, demons do not "exist" in a fantasy-logic manner. Sorcerer's are outlaws who break the rules of reality. When a Sorcerous roll goes bad The Universe and its laws (the real laws as we understand them today) win. In that moment the PC was reminded that there are no demons. He was a man, in a room with a bunch of sentimental junk. It was a sad desperate act by a failing father.
Does that help?
Jesse
Ron Edwards:
Hi there,
Jesse's advice is tremendous and often more usable than it seems at first glance, but at times, I've found myself GMing and "Yeah, you fail," is about all I can come up with.
At that point, I like to think of those three rituals, but particularly Contact, as a kind of fight - which in this case, the sorcerer lost. I don't inflict mechanical damage, but I narrate fictional content that sure looks and feels like it.
It seems to be appreciated around the table, so I've stuck with it as a technique.
Best, Ron
Joel Rojas:
Okay, I think between those I can work something out that is good for the game. Thanks.
angelfromanotherpin:
I think a really iconic example of a failed Contact/Summon is the Elric brothers' origin story from Fullmetal Alchemist.
This isn't the best quality, but: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Snsvx3LG2Y
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