Notes for Bibliomania: A Sorcerer Session
I'll be running Sorcerer this weekend at Orccon here in L.A.
I’m posting the notes I drew up today. If anyone sees any red flags, let me know. Thanks.
The Session Agenda
I have no intention of trying to shoehorn this unique game into typical con session expectations. My goal is not to show off "bits and pieces" of Sorcerer and then explain, "And then there's more."
Insane. Yes. But what the hell.
It will be a "shotgun session," as in "shotgun wedding," with the fucking and ceremony all compressed into an emotional and dramatic whirlwind.
I want character creation. I want Kickers created by the players. I wanted Story Now. I want a climax. And then I'll do it again.
Major Prep Points
In my view, Sorcerer can't be run without the players participating in character creation. It will have to be done fast. I've discussed this with Ron and said, "You've often said to people trying to rush PC creation, 'What about a little foreplay?' Well, what I'm looking for is a 'quickie.' Lubrication is still required, but it is going to go fast."
So, the first half hour of the slot will be devoted to PC creation. I'll come prepared with PC Creation binders for each player. Each page will be a new step on the process. I'll be using what a Not-Lot's-Wife approach: Once we turn the page, there's no looking back. If at the end of creation players are about to freak out with some "mistake" they made, I'll let them make a quick and final adjustment, but that's it.
In regard to this matter, part of my script (and it will be scripted, to move it fast), will be to say, "There are no mistakes in Narrativism. There are circumstances. These provide the story. The character you have now is not wrong nor right. He or she simply provides you with the opportunity for something you can't anticipate. Remember that, and we'll build something you won't forget."
Players will go, page by page from the binder, down the Sorcerer Creation process. Attribute descriptors, Sample Covers, Sample Demon Needs and Desires and such will be on their binder pages.
Demons will be pre-packaged, with about five to choose from. Players will set the Desires and Needs. Demon Powers will be attached to their Demon sheets.
The final, new point will be the definition of zero Humanity. Once zero Humanity is reached, players will have some fifteen minutes of play to make sure that their character plays out the effect of this change in their character. Ron and I think this will do two things: 1) allow players to see the positive effect of hitting zero Humanity ("Oh, I get to do a scene instead of seeing it as a "lose" condition; and 2) let the players see we're heading toward closure of one kind or another within the time frame.
The first Binding roll scenes will be played out to a) let the players practice using the rules, b) set mood, c) focus us out of PC Creation into Story.
The Story will be played fast. I'll make it clear we're shooting for Short Story or single movie (depending on my vibe off the players and the characters they've come up with). Either way, the distinction will be made between this session (compact, swift) and most RPG sessions (open ended, slow ramp up).
My Prep
I'll be showing up with a blank Relationship Map (boxes, lines), and my swift storyteller imagination. As the players fashion their characters and references to NPCs, I'll be scribbling away in pencil, filling in boxes, adding definition to the stress points and so on, erasing and changing as necessary. Once the map's done and play begins, it can't be changed. (No Lot's Wife.)
I'll have the demons ready to god, doing Needs and Desires on the fly as defined by the players.
I see a lot of the R-Map being based on a the solid Lust & Envy in the Academic World of so many late 20th century novels. But that's open to change during character creation.
Bibliomania Humanity Matrix
Bibliomania is centered on the academic environs of Chicago. It is winter. The wind blows sub-zero air down snow plowed streets.
Premise: Is intellectual knowledge more valuable than other people?
(Quick example: Think John Nash from the movie version of "A Beautiful Mind". However, another Player might come up with the ten year old who take apart every appliance in the house to figure out how it works.)
Humanity is... emotional connection to other people.
At Humanity zero you are... unaware of the needs of other humans
Rituals are based on ... hermetic and arcane texts, reading, writing, experiments with either modern or ancient lab equipment. The actual type of work is up to the player: What matters is work that makes the PCs enter the "Zone" in work that they'd have a devil of a time explaining to anyone else.
Demons are... Books. Runes. Strange Letters that can move across pages. The Patterns formed by shadows and objects in an office. Graduate students. Old Professors. Lab equipment. Unfinished Doctoral Thesis. Drugs used to work "harder." Librarians. A library. A lab rat. A pickled brain. A cheerleader. A set of tools. A desktop computer.
Sorcerers don't have to be teachers. They may never have gone to school. But each is in pursuit of obsessively understanding something.
[Is this too restraining? Am I stepping over my bounds as GM and into the realm of player choice with this?]
If Humanity reaches zero, the Player has fifteen minutes of session time to produces a scene where his or her PC's utter lack of connection to another human's needs is revealed).
Notes?
This will be my first time getting to GM the game. Any comments from the gallery are appreciated.
Thanks,
Christopher
Christopher,
Just a quick note. Your Humanity-Sorcerer-Ritual-Demon setup is almost EXACTLY what I came up with the very first time I read Sorcerer. I even have a few notes from a mini-supplement I tried to write called "Publish and Perish." Basically when I first read Sorcerer I thought, "Sorcerer's are all those professors I knew, who made vague references to families but never seemed to go home or look up from their work." So, I think your setup in terms of the game is dead on.
Your setup in terms of the con evironment is, well, brave. I'm a little disappointed I won't be at this con because I'd like to see this in action. I look forward to how it goes.
Jesse
Quote
I'll be running Sorcerer this weekend at Orccon here in L.A.
How do I make sure I run into you while you're doing this?
I suspect I'll be the guy running Sorcerer.
But we can get more specific about it as well. ; )
Hi, Christopher.
This sounds too cool for words. I hope it goes well. Please post about it. I'm scheduled to run Sorcerer at a con on Feb 21-23, and might follow your example, so I'm very interested in hearing the outcome, along with any cautions.
Hi Christopher,
This is amazing stuff.
QuoteI'll come prepared with PC Creation binders for each player. Each page will be a new step on the process.
Players will go, page by page from the binder, down the Sorcerer Creation process. Attribute descriptors, Sample Covers, Sample Demon Needs and Desires and such will be on their binder pages.
Demons will be pre-packaged, with about five to choose from. Players will set the Desires and Needs. Demon Powers will be attached to their Demon sheets.
In my early con games, I provided the following:
1. Sets of Stamina + Will + Lore values, both numbers and descriptors. These were passed out randomly. They included some mid-range sorts (3/4/3, 4/4/2, etc) and some extreme ones (2/6/2, 6/3/1, etc).
2. Cover descriptors. These were treated as a draft - I passed the list to the left, and people chose the one they wanted one by one. They included stuff like "biker," "hit man," "New Age musician," and so forth. Bear in mind that I was pretty heavily into Hong Kong cinema at the time, and that all this was pre-Unknown Armies.
3. Demons. These were fully made up (except for Need) and also treated as a draft, going to the left this time. However, all the players saw were a physical description and a non-rules-version list of what the demon could do; I kept the numbers and so on to myself.
4. Demon Needs were also pre-created and passed out randomly.
After we'd done all this, I then had everyone do Binding rolls and Humanity checks, and that allowed a bit of discussion about what these rules were about, and how to use them during play.
QuoteThe final, new point will be the definition of zero Humanity. Once zero Humanity is reached, players will have some fifteen minutes of play to make sure that their character plays out the effect of this change in their character. Ron and I think this will do two things: 1) allow players to see the positive effect of hitting zero Humanity ("Oh, I get to do a scene instead of seeing it as a "lose" condition; and 2) let the players see we're heading toward closure of one kind or another within the time frame.
I like this a lot, as we discussed earlier. It was way off my radar back in the days of the early demos, pre-Soul and pre-Schism.
QuoteI'll be showing up with a blank Relationship Map (boxes, lines), and my swift storyteller imagination. As the players fashion their characters and references to NPCs, I'll be scribbling away in pencil, filling in boxes, adding definition to the stress points and so on, erasing and changing as necessary. Once the map's done and play begins, it can't be changed. (No Lot's Wife.)
I like this idea a lot - although if it's to be public, I suggest showing the players that you are not filling in boxes because they exist, but rather are willing to erase lines if no one happens to have created (say) a third connection to Character X.
QuoteI'll have the demons ready to god, doing Needs and Desires on the fly as defined by the players.
I suggest one or the other, but not both. In fact, on reflection, I suggest passing out the Needs randomly, unless it violates the sense of player-driving that you're after; people seemed to like that in my con demos. If that's too programmed, then I suggest keeping the Desires to yourself.
QuoteBibliomania is centered on the academic environs of Chicago. It is winter. The wind blows sub-zero air down snow plowed streets.
I resemble this setting.
QuotePremise: Is intellectual knowledge more valuable than other people?
Awesome. Immediately accessible. In fact, it's exactly what's missing from my In Utero scenario. The Humanity definition works well with it, and I suggest that Kickers be evaluated mainly on the basis of human, emotional connections within them.
QuoteDemons are... Books. Runes. Strange Letters that can move across pages. The Patterns formed by shadows and objects in an office. Graduate students. Old Professors. Lab equipment. Unfinished Doctoral Thesis. Drugs used to work "harder." Librarians. A library. A lab rat. A pickled brain. A cheerleader. A set of tools. A desktop computer.
That does it, I'm playing.
QuoteSorcerers don't have to be teachers. They may never have gone to school. But each is in pursuit of obsessively understanding something.
[Is this too restraining? Am I stepping over my bounds as GM and into the realm of player choice with this?]
No, you're fine. This is just nifty. Remember, someone has to lead, and as long as you're willing to get out of the way when the solos/jamming begin, then leadership at this phase is awesome. Think of the bass player's "four" before the drums kick in.
QuoteIf Humanity reaches zero, the Player has fifteen minutes of session time to produces a scene where his or her PC's utter lack of connection to another human's needs is revealed).
If you wanted to go more extreme with this, that'd be OK. The Schism notion that the character is guaranteed to die is too far, though - I think for new folks, they'll perceive that as losing, out-of-the-game stuff. So maybe specify what "revealed" means a bit more - think in terms of the
final fate of that other human. I'm thinking of the movie Requiem for a Dream, in which the horrific fates of all four protagonists may be seen as failures on the parts of at least one of the other characters.
Best,
Ron
Hi guys,
Thanks for the feedback.
Ron, when I thought of the zero-humanity fate, I was thinking of the scene in "A Beautiful Mind" when Nash is out back in the secret base garage while his infant son is in a bathtub filling with water. At zero humanity, the Sorcerer keeps fidling away while the son dies.
I would have hesitated to use this as an "example" -- for fear of riffing everything the same way. But now that I've typed it out, I think the player's brains will have a good time working on this and coming up with their own variation.
Also, I'm going to take your advice on Demon Needs and Desires. Everyone's going to be busy enough with their PCs and new rules. No need to get idiotic about this start up process.
Take care,
Christopher
Hi Christopher,
QuoteRon, when I thought of the zero-humanity fate, I was thinking of the scene in "A Beautiful Mind" when Nash is out back in the secret base garage while his infant son is in a bathtub filling with water. At zero humanity, the Sorcerer keeps fidling away while the son dies.
That's exactly the scene that I flashed on as well, for exactly the same reason, when you were describing 0 Humanity.
Best,
Ron
QuoteDemons are... Books. Runes. Strange Letters that can move across pages. The Patterns formed by shadows and objects in an office. Graduate students. Old Professors. Lab equipment. Unfinished Doctoral Thesis. Drugs used to work "harder." Librarians. A library. A lab rat. A pickled brain. A cheerleader. A set of tools. A desktop computer.
Sounds like a college version of Aronofski's Pi... 12:40 am...press return...
Chris
Hi,
I forgot to mention:
Ron wrote about Bibliomania's Premise:QuoteAwesome. Immediately accessible. In fact, it's exactly what's missing from my In Utero scenario. The Humanity definition works well with it, and I suggest that Kickers be evaluated mainly on the basis of human, emotional connections within them.
This last bit is, I think, the final piece that was holding me up. I knew the Kicker would be the vector we launched from that would define the adventure, but for some reason I couldn't see the need for defining the Kicker "on the basis of human, emotional connectins within them" as the vector that was going to make it work.
That simply is going to be a non-negotiable frame for any Kicker. Thanks.
Christopher
Thanks for this idea, Chris. A week from now I have to do a one-off session with my regular group. I don't think that I want to pinch your background (although I'm considering it), but I love the setup you're using. This group has always fixated on the idea that sorcery meant a literal calling of devils, and they weren't happy with that play scenario. Making sorcery into extreme perversions of the mundane world just seems to me so much more entertaining.
It probably hit home because I'm a programmer on a massive professional certification trip at the moment. A computer would be my demon, without a doubt. My system actually does have little stickers with daemons all over it.
Well then. There it is.
Okay,
To help promote my last minute affair, I'll be making and distributing flyers. Here's my draft.
Imagine a tasteful choice of fonts and a nice layout is involved. Given that, how's it read?
*****
Imagine you could summon a Demon.
Imagine it could give you things you wanted.
Imagine it wanted things in return.
How far would you go? What would you do?
Ron Edward's
Sorcerer
An Intense Roleplaying Game
Winner of the 2002 Diana Jones Award
In Sorcerer you play men and woman who have tapped unnatural forces to gain their heart's desires. But there are prices to be paid, choices to be made. Your very Humanity hangs in the balance.
You choose what matters most to your character. You decide how he or she pursues that goal. You create a story by the choices you make. There is no scenario waiting for you. Your character's actions are the story.
BiblioMania
Join Christopher Kubasik in creating Bibliomania, a Sorcerer story.
You are Sorcerers in modern day Chicago, obsessively pursuing research that will gain you fame, fortune, love, wisdom—whatever your heart desires.
You are aided in this quest by a demon you have summoned: A book with letters moving across the page; a graduate student newly arrived from a foreign country; or perhaps a burned out and long unused laboratory on a university campus.
No one knows of your secret pact with this creature. But many are affected by it. For your demon has needs, and it's needs must be met if you will gain what you want. The question you will have to answer is: Is Knowledge More Valuable Than Other People?
Each of you is caught in a crisis. As sub-zero winds rush down snowplowed streets, as a blizzard blankets the city, each Sorcerer must decide: Damnation or Salvation?
Join Christopher in Room: Time:
Hi Christopher,
it's just sweet ! It reads like a movie trailer (I can heven ear the voice of that famous guy who make almost 80% of the US trailers).
One small thing, I would just add something about the book, to distinguish more from any other book. Something like... "an obscure medieval book with letters moving across the page"... or something like that. It instantly help to visalize it better.
Other than that, it's just great !
When does that movie coming out here, on the old continent ? ::smile::
Fabrice.
Hi Christopher,
Are you sure that "Damnation or Salvation" communicates what you're after? I think that coupled with "demon," people will very quickly assume an explicit soul/Christian context for play, as well as an attendant, damnation = loss puzzle-solving model. I've run into this before due to using terms like these without realizing their consequences.
Best,
Ron
Christopher,
Now, I see the difference in our Con tactics. You're very honest and upfront about it all; I use press-gang tactics. Mostly, I try to sell the concept and then spring the game on them when it's too late to go to another event. "Oh you like Ghostbusters? Well hey, I'm running a Ghostbusters inspired game called InSpectres at 2:00pm. What system does it use? Oh, just a little small press system. Nothing special. MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
But seriously, you might want to re-think this section:
"You choose what matters most to your character. You decide how he or she pursues that goal. You create a story by the choices you make. There is no scenario waiting for you. Your character's actions are the story.
"BiblioMania
Join Christopher Kubasik in creating Bibliomania, a Sorcerer story."
I know what you're going for but those who don't know the game will read this and think this is some kind of pseudo-larp or round-robin storytelling session.
If you're going to be that upfront about the purpose of play I think you should make reference to the system somewhere in here. Something like, "Facilitated all by a robust rule system that requires no fudging and no application of 'The Golden Rule'" That specifically is probably too much of a dig a White Wolf, but hopefully you get the idea.
Jesse
Hi guys, thanks for the replies.
Ron: yes, that's the one thing I typed that made me kinda anxious. But it was midnight, I couldn't figure out a better ending, so there it was. I think the key is to swing back to the premise somehow. What I'm going for is the breakdown you did in Sorcerer & Soul: the different kinds of endings stories often end in. But keeping it, as Fabrice suggested, "like a movie trailer."
The trick is, as discussed in the thread on open ended campaigns, there is and end to a Sorcerer story... And you better know that going in. I want to offer that up as part of the fun. How best to offer that up...? I'll work on that tonight.
Jesse: Yes on the up front. One thing I'm learing (due to GNS, actually), is I might as well be explicit about who I am, what I like doing. Then the people who like those same things will come toward me, and those who don't won't, and I won't have to spend a lot of time contorting myself to make room for those who have nothing to do with What I Love to Do.
Since all I'm looking for is two to three people, really, for a con session block, I'm trusting that two or three people will read the flyer and have their interest piqued. "Hmmm... this sounds more like what I'd like to try than everything else that's running. Never heard of it before, but what the hell."
Excellent point about the rules though. Since I do see Narrativism as a kind of round-robin storytelling, I can see where this might be unclear. But adding something about actual, "robust" mechanics at the end of the paragraph would probably clinch exactly what I'm after.
Thanks guys,
Christopher
A minor editing bit: "In Sorcerer you play men and woman . . . " will be "men and women" in the final ver, surely.
I share the "damnation/salvation" concern, but in general - wow, that reads great! Wish I was in LA this weekend - and it takes a LOT to get me to say that :-)
Good luck,
Gordon
Thanks Gordon,
I actually didn't catch that.
Here's the revised version. (And unless there are any glaring errors, this is what I'm going to press with.)
****
Imagine you could summon a Demon.
Imagine it could give you things you wanted.
Imagine it wanted things in return.
How far would you go? What would you do?
Ron Edward's
Sorcerer
An Intense Roleplaying Game
Winner of the 2002 Diana Jones Award
In Sorcerer you play men and women who have tapped unnatural forces to gain their heart's desires. But there are prices to be paid, choices to be made. Your very Humanity hangs in the balance.
You choose what matters most to your character. You decide how he or she pursues that goal. You create a story by the choices you make. There is no scenario waiting for you. Your character's actions are the story.
Using robust rules that require no fudging of the dice, you'll create a Sorcerer story from scratch; a story called "BiblioMania."
BiblioMania
You are Sorcerers in modern day Chicago, obsessively pursuing research that will gain you fame, fortune, love, wisdom—whatever your heart desires.
You are aided in this quest by a demon you have summoned: An ancient book with letters moving across the page; a graduate student newly arrived from a foreign country; or perhaps a burned out and unused laboratory on a university campus.
No one knows of your secret pact with this creature. But many are affected by it. For your demon has needs, and it's needs must be met if you will gain what you want. The question you will have to answer is: Is Knowledge More Valuable Than Other People?
Each of you is caught in a crisis. As sub-zero winds rush down snowplowed streets, as a blizzard blankets the city, each Sorcerer must decide: How far will I go?
GM: Christopher Kubasik Location: Time:
****
Just a side note: more than other games, Sorcerer has me flipping around in Second, Third and First pronouns! I think this has something to do with Author stance -- which is innately tied to the conerns of thematic premise. Another thread, perhaps, but it confused me on a few occassions. I finally decided: top half third person reference to PC, bottom half: you are the PC, and finally, First Person. Nutty.
This is about the smallest quibble I can imagine, but since you're going to press and you might care...
QuoteFor your demon has needs, and it's needs must be met if you will gain what you want.
Should be its, not it's. Possessive pronoun, no apostrophe.
- Walt
Right'o. Thanks for that.
Christopher
Okay. Last stop. Here are my demons for the players to choose from.
I'll be using Ron's suggestion: Desires are defined, needs are chosen randomly.
*****
BiblioMania Demons
TAMAR is an object demon that looks like an old book. The pages are covered with a nearly indecipherable text germane to whatever subject the Sorcerer is obsessed with. It's Telltale is the leather binding: research reveals it is from a skin of a creature never known to have lived on this world.
Stamina: 2 Will: 5 Lore: 4 Power: 5
It's abilities are: Hint, Hold, Psychic Force and Perception (appropriate to Sorcerer's obsession).
It's Desire is to have its cover touched and caressed by different people.
RENEE is a passing demon posing as a hot graduate student "from France." She's sensual and actually has little interest in studying or research. Her Telltale are silver fleck in her eyes that, if looked at very carefully, reveal themselves to be alphanumeric characters of one kind or another pertaining to the Sorcerer's field of study.
Stamina: 3 Will: 6 Lore: 5 Power: 6
Her abilities are: Confuse, Fast, Perception (appropriate to Sorcerer's obsession), Special Damage (appropriate to Sorcerer's obsession), Shadow
She Desires Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll.
CARTESIAN HALL is an inconspicuous demon that usually appears as the burnt out remains of a century old library at the north end of the Northwestern University campus. Nestled in trees at the border between the campus and hoity-toity suburbs, no one much pays attention to it. It's Telltale are the strange runes marked out along the floor—they look like burn marks at first, but actually form ancient formula appropriate to the Sorcerer's obsession. When the Hall vanishes on dark nights, it takes the form a menacing shadow behind the Sorcerer.
Stamina: 4 Will: 7 Lore: 6 Power: 7
The Hall's abilities are: Armor, Boost (Will, for Sorcerer), Travel, Link, Spawn (shadows of rustling pages), Special Damage (cutting attacks that slash across opponent's skin)
Cartesian Hall desires fear
WILLIAM is a Possessor demon in the body of a homeless man named William. Before the Possession the man was an autistic-genius-fuck-up. During the summoning, the sorcerer put the demon in William to take advnatage of the man's intelligence. However, the demon not only ramped up William's intelligence and perception, but got fucked up along with the man, and now can't distinguish himself from the man. He's a fucked up homeless man with demonic abilities bound to a sorcerer. William's Telltale is speaking in tongues.
Stamina: 3 Will: 5 Lore: 4 Power: 5
William's abilities are: Perception (appropriate to Sorcerer's obsession), Psychic Force, Boost (Stamina, conferred onto the mortal William), Hint
William desires the company of beautiful women
THE EXTRACT is a parasite demon in the form of a drug formulated along the lines of the Sorcerer's obsession. (In this case, even Literature could be a drug—some sort of mainlining ancient poetry that, once injected, runs through the Sorcerer's mind.) The Extract's Telltale is a bad smell on the Sorcerer's breath and body.
Stamina: 1 Will: 6 Lore: 5 Power: 5
The Extract's abilities are: Boost (Will, for Sorcerer), Boost (Stamina, for Sorcerer), Command, Hint, Perception (appropriate to Sorcerer's obsession)
The Extract's Desire is Chaos
*****
The one question I have is this: There are a lot of demons up there with Hint and Perception. This makes sense to me given the Premise of the game.
That said, I wonder if there should be less of this, to encourage the PCs to seek each other out, work together, or summon more demons once they see what cool things other players can do.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Christopher
Oh. And one thing I found interesting -- the demon's desires are all very lusty and physical. It's almost as if they're the repressed side of the Scholar expressing itself as a Jungian shadow. But that's just me.
Whoa Nelly!
Most of the Desires you've listed are Needs.
Desires = general, overall, multiply-applicable principles.
Example Desires: Ruin, Mayhem, Amusement, Knowledge
Needs = specific actions or substances.
Example Needs: get covers stroked, get laid, drink blood, watch TV
Cartesian Hall and The Extract have Desires; the others' Desires are better understood as Needs. Although Renee's might easily be rewritten as Sensation.
You wrote,
QuoteThe one question I have is this: There are a lot of demons up there with Hint and Perception. This makes sense to me given the Premise of the game.
That said, I wonder if there should be less of this, to encourage the PCs to seek each other out, work together, or summon more demons once they see what cool things other players can do.
Nope. That's fine. What you should consider is what you say as the GM, playing the demon, when it is Hinting or Perceiving. That's what you need to monitor and it's where you provide solid meat for them to sink their teeth into.
I'm also a little concerned about the larger context - why do you want them to seek one another out, work together, or summon more demons? I've played tons of successful Sorcerer in which none of these three things happened even to a tiny extent. Are you sure you're not falling into Call of Cthulhu assumptions by habit?
Also, and related, consider very strongly whether Perception is used by the sorcerer or by the demon. It's a big deal.
Best,
Ron
Hi Ron,
Thanks for the heads up. I had begun to understand the difference between Need and Desire (finally) last night while working on the demons... but couldn't quite committ to what I'd figured out. You said it it black and grey.
As far as your concerns go... Let them go. The activites I've listed for the Sorcerers are simply more story -- more activity and goals. I have no agenda for them to seek each other out, summon more demons or whatnot.
As for the Perception... I had assumed the Demons do the percieving, so the Sorcerer have to drag the info out. Also, I don't end up saying, "You feel..." "You perieve..."
If you want to add anything about this to clarify, that'd be great.
Christopher
Nothin' else to add, you're all set. Have a great time!
Best,
Ron