(Sorcerer) The Fires of Naacal

[Blasted Tower]

I thought I'd post a quick summary of my first Sorcerer campaign.

My first campaign was modern day. The players looted the Vatican for holy relics and then blew it up, so I gave them humanity gain checks.Then  they stole Dr. Dee's Seeing Stone from the British museum. The angel Raziel made contact with them through the stone and later manifested during the climactic battle. Raziel praised the two characters who had blown up the Vatican and rewarded them for the good work they had done destroying such an evil organization.

One of the players had a particularly kick ass character named Penelope. She was a radical feminist computer hacker. Her demons were the ghosts of Lacrezia Borgia and Lizzie Borden (both shining examples of feminists as far as she was concerned). The ritual to summon Lizzie was particularly entertaining. They kidnapped Rush Limbaugh and gleefully axe murdered him to get the human sacrifice bonus and simultaneously strike a blow against the oppressors of women.

Everyone had a great time except one player. He's the type who always has to play a lawfully good paladin (or whatever the equivalent is in the game he happens to be playing). The angel rewarded him for his goody two shoes-ness by teleporting him out of the climactic battle (where all the legions of hell were riding through the sky above  Elko Nevada to do battle with one of the old gods who had burst out of the villain's flesh and grown into a cycloptian pillar of slime and eyeballs). The angel set him down a biker bar in Bakersfield, put Dylan on the jukebox, and bought him a beer. Than the angel took off and left him stranded.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi, and welcome to the Adept forum! That game sounds hilarious and satisfying, in a wonderful-horrible way.

How many player-characters were involved? Did their interests tend to coincide, or I guess another way to put it is, did they work together? (with the exception of the paladin-player's character)

I especially like to see material from Chapter 3 of The Sorcerer's Soul being used. I think I did a pretty good job with that material as both designer and author, and I don't see enough of it get utilized in real play at all.

Best, Ron

[Blasted Tower]

The players with the serial killer & hacker Got along splendidly. The teamed up and preceded to cause as much mayhem as possible. One of the players joined the group late and his character never really fit in the story. The paladin-esque player was running a Harry Dresden clone looking for his wife's murderer. He was the one who followed all of the plot clues and thus ran afoul of the Black School (an ancient cabal run by Lucifer himself). He came too close to learning the Black Schools awful secret (that the Lucifer running the school was an impostor. An immortal Lamurian sorcerer who had imprisoned the real Satan and taken his place). Once he got this far most of his Bangs involves attempts to kill him, frame him, and ruin his life.
The entire group of players was on a plane when one of the engines mysteriously exploded. They manage to get out using the Travel power. The doppleganger demon went around impersonating him, committing crimes and nailing the bodies of prostitutes to hotel doors (always in view of security cameras of course). A couple days after the plane crash he was arrested and grilled by the FBI. Some fast talking, hacking of an airline records, and pulling of political strings within the department got him an alibi. During the murders he was on the plane that crashed and so should have been dead. Penelope fixed it so that the computer records said he was on another flight.
The Angel was more of a background/Dues Ex element. It did take a particular interest in the serial killer and they entered into a sorcerous (binding) relationship after the climactic battle (at which point the game ended so it was never played out). The serial killer also entered into a relationship with the true Satan granted him immortality. His character was heading toward being a champion of the balance, moderator between heaven and hell kind of thing.
During the final battle the god of the Lamurians (an Old One) and all the demons of the Black School demolished the town of Elko Nevada (as the characters were preparing for the battle there was some talk of stealing a nuclear weapon and burying it somewhere in the city so that they would have a "final option". They settled for a shipload of C-4 instead). The characters retreated to a nearby mountain that they had earlier discovered was important to Lucifer. The angel manifested and with their help destroyed the mystical prison contain within the mountain. The true Satan was released and the angel embraced to him as a brother. The character that he never really fit had earlier hit humanity zero and been dragged into hell. When the prison was smashed he along with several dozen other damned sorcerers crawled out of the wreckage (the false Lucifer had been harvesting the souls of any sorcerer he could get to sign on with the Black School, eventually he would transform them into demons that he could bind into his service). With the help of the newly released sorcerers they managed to banish the old one and save the day.
What was interesting was that the events of the climactic battle changed the world's definition of humanity and what humanity zero means.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi,

Now that is playing The Sorcerer's Soul. it reads to me like the stuff the game In Nomine (the American version) was supposed to produce, but I suspect rarely did, if ever. I'm impressed! And again, very pleased to see Chapter 3 of that supplement actually get a workout at the table.

it's interesting to compare personal or group styles. For example, few if any of my Sorcerer games include the degree of blockbuster cinematic action you're describing. My style is definitely "down low" in comparison, with action more like the fights and shoot-outs in the film A Better Tomorrow. But the game can do either, so I appreciate where you took it.

Best, Ron