[Sorcerer and Sword] Medieval Spain appropriate setting?

[Tor Erickson]

So I'm getting ready to run a &Sword game, and I pitched a handful of settings to the two players. Without thinking about it too much, I included this, as one option:

"- pseudo historical, medieval Spain. The Church, a dark hierarchical institution that controls almost everything. A far off emperor. Inquisitors. Witches pact with the Old Gods. Priests raise and control demons."

And right now it's the one the players are leaning towards, but I'm getting nervous. What I really want is Conan or Kane (of the Wagner variety), but I'm worried that what we're going to get is The Name of the Rose. I want the players to cut loose, pulp fantasy style, and I don't want to be hemmed in by a strict historical setting, but I'm not sure how to avoid that.

Any ideas, ye Sorcerer gurus? Ron? Jesse? James?

Tor

[Ron Edwards]

I think you're flinching at shadows. Why don't I add a few?

What if ... a player makes up a character who isn't a viable Sorc & Sword player-character at all? Or all the players do? Or they don't get anything about the point of these setting-phrases? Or they really really suck at everything?

You can wring your hands about stuff like this forever and a day. Stay focused instead on the step by step process.

Regarding this step, be honest with yourself. Is this about the players or about you not wanting this setting-blurb in the first place? Did you offer it because you really want to play it, or because you wanted to pump up the game by saying "look, it can do all this stuff?" You should have presented one that you liked. If you presented more than one, it should only be because you personally are equally excited about each.

Finally, what is all this about "leaning towards?" Is this some kind of big consensus discussion? It should take 30 seconds maximum.

Best, Ron

[Tor Erickson]

Hello Ron,

This seriously had me smiling all day - in the best way possible. This is nothing in this role-playing hobby quite so refreshing as an Edwardian bitch slap in the morning, and I mean that sincerely.

Of course, as soon as I read your reply I calmed down and came up with at least four totally bad ass things that I could do in Sorc and Sword medieval Spain, including:

- kick political correctness in the teeth and play the Moors as scary 'others,' perhaps closer to demonkind than the Christians were, perhaps with some powerful sorcerer leaders (was there a Howard analog for the Moors/Saracens/etc? there must be and it must be so obvious that as soon as you say it I'll be like 'duh')

- create a "Mystic Otherworld" that is entered by meeting a demon in a consecrated area, a church or a cathedral. Everything here is shadowy, candles gutter out, the stone is rimmed with frost and a sense of ancient evil permeates the room etc.

- have a pulp fiction villain based on El Cid: first he fought for the Christians, but when they turned on him he went and fought for the Moors. Possibly a Sorcerer. Arrogant, prideful, scary.

I'm still trying to figure out how necromancy might relate to this setting, and if the base descriptors from &Sword will be relevant.

Tor

[Marshall Burns]

Regarding necromancy, this popped into my head immediately: Christian relics, like saint's bones and crucifixion nails and whatnot, are TOTALLY necromantic tokens. Cool, messed up, and that way both the Christians and the Moors get to be scary and transgressive.

[Tor Erickson]

Hey Marshall,

Yes, that's great! Reliquaries as necromantic tokens. Awesome.

Also, I realized that Ron asked some questions, not all of which were rhetorical:

-"Is this about the players or about you not wanting this setting-blurb in the first place?"

Point taken. I came up with the idea, but then once the players got into it, I think I just spooked myself with concerns about historical accuracy.

- "Did you offer it because you really want to play it, or because you wanted to pump up the game by saying "look, it can do all this stuff?"

Probably some of both... but now I'm excited about it.

- "Finally, what is all this about "leaning towards?" Is this some kind of big consensus discussion? It should take 30 seconds maximum."

It was a less than 30 second discussion, so I think we're good in this arena.

Okay, I think that's all that needs be said about this particular topic. We're meeting tomorrow to decide on setting and to make characters. I'm going to review &Sword tonight, and go over the character generation rules again (argh, wish the annotated copy were here), and then we've decided on a time limited 2 hour session tomorrow to see what we can come up with.

Thanks Ron and Marshall for your feedback.

Tor