(Sorcerer) Demons of Light and Darkness

[Blasted Tower]

Greetings all,

I have a mini-supplement I am working on and was hoping for general comments or feedback before I totally commit to writing it. Also I'm not sure if this should be in the other forum or not but I'll post it here because it is Sorcerer related.

Here is the 1st draft outline with some of the text I've already written:

Introduction

SORCERER has a number of basic assumptions that I intend to break with this mini-supplement. The two major assumptions that are waiting in line for the headman's block are 'everyone uses the same sized dice' and 'you can't have both Humanity and Power'.

The first change occurred to me when I asked myself: How do you show that a god or demonlord are hideously powerful without giving them an unwieldy number of dice? And the answer came back: By giving them d10's or d12's when everyone else is using d6's. A bit more thought on the subject led me to realize that gaining a bigger dice size must be something rare and special, reserved for those beings that are fundamentally better than everyone else. Since the main theme of this supplement is becoming either super-human or sub-human through mystical effort a multiple dice size system feels right.

The second change expands upon the demonic halfbreed rules in the SORCERER'S SOUL. Is there something in between demon and human? Something that has Demonic Abilities but retains a shred of its soul? What about something that is more than human but less than an angel? These questions shall be addressed in this supplement.

The final change is more of an expansion on the existing rules. I intend to flesh out the suggested rules for human to demon conversations from the SORCERER'S SOUL, turning them into a more elaborate system that includes an entire spiritual hierarchy and can handle human to angel conversions as well.

I want to take SORCERER over the edge and explore the historical esoteric practices of occidental mystics and Gnostics in the context of a fantasy setting. I want it to be a game where a player can become a god and continue to play, dealing with celestial politics and smiting the wicked with bolts of lightning and terrible curses. Or if the player is a bit darker he could strive to become a demonlord and battle the old ones for the souls of mankind.

In many RPG's the ultimate reward for surviving to level 20 (or 30 or whatever) is immortality and godhood. The problem is that the player never gets to experience the reward. The character becomes an NPC because the base rules cannot handle deific characters. I intend to tackle this problem and beat it to death with a tire iron (or maybe a dead horse).

One final twist: I will be radically redesigning the Character Creation process. The player will start not with a mortal sorcerer but with a disincarnate human soul (mechanically this is treated somewhat like a demon but in a very loose sense). Then the player will roll up a sorcerer for the soul to incarnate as. If the sorcerer dies the soul is sent to the underworld to deal with the consequences of its last life (a sort of transitional "otherworlds" quest). Then the player can roll up another sorcerer and return to the land of the living. Think Nephilim or Whispering Vault.

Character Creation

Character creation is not handled using the normal rules from Sorcerer. Character creation is handled in two phases. In the first phase the player creates the character's soul. In the second phase the player creates their current incarnation. The soul and the body have separate scores:

Metaphysical Scores

Ka: The Ka Score represents the eternal spark of divinity. As you advance on the spiritual path you fan it into a blazing fire that consumes your mortality and changes you from man into God.

Ba: The Ba Score is both your reserve of spiritual energy and the substance of your astral body. It is used to power psychic abilities.

Past Lives: This score represents the social position and past occupations of a character's previous incarnation(s).

Unnatural Fire: The fuel used to kindle mortal sorcery. The Unnatural Fire must be called down from the heavens before a sorcerer can consume it and grow stronger thereby. It burns within the heart of the sky demon and she demands bloody sacrifice before she will bestow it upon a mortal. A single spark of Unnatural Fire is passed from master to student during initiation.

Hemingja: Your inherited power, luck, and sorcery. Fate grants each mortal a measure of Hemingja at birth, to use in any way they see fit. You may expend Hemingja to alter the course of your destiny, but each time you call upon the Fates, they take back a portion of your luck. When this score reaches zero you become a slave to your wyrd.

Humanity: The Humanity Score represents a character's compassion.

Physical Scores

Stamina: This score represents physical toughness.

Will: This score represents the character's ego, clarity of thought, and
charisma.

Lore: This score represents occult training and knowledge.

Past: This score represents the social position and past occupations of a character's current incarnation. A character may have a number of Pasts. Each Past is treated as a separate score.

PHASE ONE: Creating the Soul
1.   Allocate 13 points between Ka, Ba, Hemingja, and Humanity.
2.   Past Lives and Unnatural Fire start at zero.
3.   Select Spiritual Powers equal to Ba.

PHASE TWO: Creating the Body
1.   Allocate 10 points between Stamina, Will, and Lore.
2.   Choose a number of Pasts equal to Ka.
3.   Set each Past score equal to Stamina, Will, or Lore.

New Dice Mechanics
Spiritual Powers
Descriptors
Death & Reincarnation

   

[Ron Edwards]

You are well on your way. Sorcerizing Nephilim!

If you haven't already, check out Your own Sorcerer supplement. My current policy is very different from the one described in the books.

Best, Ron