[Sorcerer] Down and out on the Waterfront!

[Joshua Bearden]

Too late and too tired to write a full APR  but damn that was a good session tonight.  I had 3 out of 4 players present which I actually find ideal because It's easier to keep everyone in the action, (I refuse to play with more than one absentee though).

The three players tonight included Shake, a destitute can-collector (actually he's been hoarding money and saved 49g); Tasha a driven homicide cop; and Stephen, an embittered computer science prof. The previous session had ended with an accident involving an ambulance driving into the ornate Victorian garden at the center of town; spilling forth an unbound demon and the fourth sorcerer, (he's now in jail) and the demon went on the run.

In todays session the prof and the can-collector both encounter demons they had not summoned.  The prof agrees to snap-bind an overpowered possessor, with a desire for power and a pretty weird need - to spend 1-3 hours howling, sobbing, and cursing with rage.  The can collector meets a very tangible ghost/incarnation of a 17th century able-bodied seaman named Wimpi with a desire for sensualality and a need to get utterly plastered with a drinking companion.  The binding ritual is a drinking contest.

Prior to this Wimpi, had encountered Stephen who tried but failed to banish him.  Wimpi responded by gutting the prof with his cutlass. Stephen's new possessor confers vitality and gets him out of intensive care by the next morning.

Later that day, Stephen and his new demon spot Shake and Wimpi running toward the waterfront.  Stephen snap banishes Wimpi in an ambush, then using his possessors psychic attack pummels Shake to a standstill.  Shake is desperately trying to escape into the harbour.  Stephen brings his second demon to bear... but then Tasha arrives on the scene with an MD from the coroner's office  in her car.  Quickly everything devolves into a 4 way fight with demon attacks, banishes, commands, and bullets flying. Shake escapes into the water. Tasha manages after 3 attempts to banish the prof's starting demon (he had earlier punished it down to 2 power in an attempt to impress the coroner.) The coroner tries to shoot Stephen. Tasha then guns Stephen down but not before his possessor brutalizes the coroner.  Stephen lost a point of humanity for his unprovoked attack on poor Shake. Tasha passed a humanity check for gunning down a crippled civilian.

I can't really be surprised that there is so much inter-sorcerer conflict.  The prof's kicker was the murder of another sorcerer.  The cop's drive for justice includes a desire to eliminate sorcery.  Essentially both characters are intensely hostile to anyone beside themselves practising sorcery. Both had been dealing with the coroner to try to garner a list of suspected sorcerers in the city and the coroner eventually had to pick a side.  What I really like is that the players are pretty comfortable even while at each other's throats. As scary as it was for them this session, they were all still pulling their punches to a degree. I'm very interested to see where things will go next.

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One observation about combat.  Everyone announces action, then rolls based on appropriate stats. Then we compare rolls simply to determine order.  When someone finds themselves targeted they can abort to defend, but this means re-rolling doesn't it?  In some cases the full-defence roll was worse than the initial roll and gave the attacker even more victories.  In other cases in meant rolling a different sized pool of dice.  For example the coroner was firing a gun with her 3 stamina at a demon who was attacking with psychic damage.  The demon went first so the coroner aborted to defend with wisdom (5).

Another observation. In the rules, annotations and in this forum Ron, you warn about the need for characters to be 'combat ready'.  I failed to heed this and get to watch the professor drop like a fly immediately in almost any fight.  He chose to start out "severely maimed" and "crippled" and put a single point into stamina.  Its now the second time that he's been down more than double stamina.  However he's wisely chosen(?) to fight in the presence of emergency personnel each time.

It is fitting that he agreed to host the most dangerous demon in the game. I'm pleased how that worked out with no effort on my part. He was actually the demon's third choice, having approached first the cop and then the sci-fi writer seeking a master. But both rejected him.

[Ron Edwards]

This is so weird, I love it. And yes, the character concepts seem to have generated almost an inevitable "last man standing" situation.

One observation about combat.  Everyone announces action, then rolls based on appropriate stats. Then we compare rolls simply to determine order.  When someone finds themselves targeted they can abort to defend, but this means re-rolling doesn't it?  In some cases the full-defence roll was worse than the initial roll and gave the attacker even more victories.  In other cases in meant rolling a different sized pool of dice.

All that is correct. I only caution you to avoid the term "re-roll," because it carries certain implications that do not apply. If one aborts one's action to defend fully, then the first roll is not re-rolled, but rather gone away, and the dice rolled for defense are an entirely different roll. Thinking and speaking about it this way also eliminates all confusion about whether it's the same or different number of dice.

[Joshua Bearden]

Yes that does help.  It provides a nice gestural way to commit to abort and defend, by grabbing your dice and clearing them off the table.

[Joshua Bearden]

One of the players did a really thorough write up of events last session. I can't get over how much I'm loving this game!
http://higs.motd.org/2014/04/04/sorceror-double-pandemonium/