A Sorcerous Month

[Judd]

I've been playing Sorcerer regularly these past four to five weeks.  Two different games of Mu's Bed, a one-shot of Blood Simple, a two shot with Grade-School Sorcerers and another one-shot of Gun-fu Ghost Story (links included below) have made for a Sorcerer heavy month.

It is a game that plays to my strengths as a GM.  When I read the book it felt like it was written right at me.  

I have played with a huge cross-section of the gamers I know and it has done well at several different tables with varying levels of experience and confidence.

I've written the Actual Play posts from the past weeks up for several reasons:

1) I feel like it is free advertisement for an indie RPG and try to write 'em up after I play, knowing the game's creator is reading and knowing others might buy the books after seeing what we've done with them.

2) It is valuable and fun to reflect on a game, pick apart what made it work and what didn't quite gel so well.

3) I like writing 'em.  They are a record of games and that's a nice thing to have.  The players often enjoy reading them and thinking about what worked, making the next game stronger.

I thought it might be good to think and reflect on this past month or so.  

Kickers and Character Creation:  I can't say enough good things about Kickers but it is really important to have everyone present at a character creation session before the first game.  Hopefully, up to a week before but I've done chargen on Monday and the game on Thursday.

The GM most of all, but the players too, need time to marinate and let the Kickers sink in.  A list of Bangs is a huge help and it is shocking how many fantastic Bangs I have let go to waste due to running out of time and space.  Sorcerer leads to dense gaming sessions with lots of events packed with dramatic shit.

When its firing on all cylinders its not just Story Now.  Its Story Now, motherfucker.

I've run games with no combat at all but lots of tension and sweating.  Hm.


The Book(s):  The language of the book is quite simple and clear but I have found that I needed to read and re-read the book several times to get a grip on the game's uses and rules.  I'm not sure why this is.  I admit that I'm not a great rules person and most rules elude me until I sit down to play them.

Threads like Art Deco Melodrama were quite helpful also.  I almost wish that bit was in the book.  Those threads, howing Ron setting up a game, helped that much.


So Many Flavors:  I've run so many different types of games with this one RPG and I feel like I am only beginning to scratch the surface of what it can do.  That's just cool.

The games I've run so far are still with the training wheels as far as I'm concerned.  I'm eager to run some of my odder ideas like using it for a Birthright type campaign with nations as Demons.  Hm.

Swords and Sorcery, Noir, Changeling inspired modern fantasy and Hong Kong action movie gun-fu were the games I've run so far and they've all more than worked.

The main lever I've used so far to creating a new world is the descriptors.  I can see my player's eyes light up when I hand them new descriptor lists.  If the lists are good their minds begin to formulate character ideas before your very eyes.  You can hear the tumblers rolling.

A stylish one-sheet with  the summoning tables on it and what Demons are and what Humanity is helps too but I've run good games without it.

I'm looking forward to playing with the game a bit more, toying with what the different sorcerous rituals mean.

Sorcerer, it is said, is a game about disfunctional relationships and once I internalized that, creating personalities for the Demons, coming up with new setting concepts for the game and all the rest just clicked into place.

I would like to play a mini-campaign, perhaps 6-8 sessions and see what the system does with that kind of game. So far I've only run one or two parters.

It is a fun game and I have just begun to play.

Links to the past month's sorceries

Mu's Bed (Jeff, Julie and JJ)

RPG.net: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=119085

Forge: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=10968

Mu's Bed (Robert and Paula)

RPG.net: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=122138

Forge: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=11172


Blood Simple: Demon from the Hell-side of Town

RPG.net: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=122399

Forge: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=11194

Grade-School Sorcerers

RPG.net: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=124665

Forge: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=11362

Gun-fu Ghost Story

RPG.net: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=125492

Forge: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=11519

Comments, questions and such are welcome.

Thanks for reading.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Judd,

I dunno even where to begin. If there were some kind of "You da man" Sorcerer award, I'd give it to you.

Let me think on this for a bit.

Best,
Ron

[Bret Gillan]

1) I feel like it is free advertisement for an indie RPG and try to write 'em up after I play, knowing the game's creator is reading and knowing others might buy the books after seeing what we've done with them.

I just did. Sometime yesterday after reading your threads I ordered Sorcerer. I read review after review saying, "Hm, that sounds sort of like something I'd be interested in." But honestly, none of the reviews I read (and I devoured every one I could find) gave me half the insight into how a Sorcerer game works as your session write-ups.

So thanks for writing them. Paka and Mr. Edwards, I don't think I've ever been quite so happy to buy game.

I don't want to hijack this thread, I'll make my own once I get the book, but from what I've read in your game sessions, Sorcerer encourages exactly the kind of game that I've been trying to run for years with the Storyteller and other systems.

Anyhow, thanks for the write-ups, Paka. They were really helpful.

[Judd]

Bret,

Glad that you read and enjoyed the threads.

Oswego?  You are right around the corner from me.  Ever hang out in Ithaca? (Let's discuss this over IM).

Judd

[Judd]

The following threads are Ron's Art Deco Melodrama.  They really helped me solidify ideas about how to set up a Sorcerer game.  I re-read them before this month got moving.  They should just about be in the Sorcerer main book, I found them that important.

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=770

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=828

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=876

I realized their importance after IMing with Bret about the Actual Play theads I've written over the past month.

Ron, the Art Deco threads are difficult to navigate.  I wish they had links to the part before and the part after in the thread.  They are important and should be easier to read.

[Judd]

Shit, the following link is the first in the series, Art Deco Melodrama:

http://indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=753

The following threads are Ron's Art Deco Melodrama.  They really helped me solidify ideas about how to set up a Sorcerer game.  I re-read them before this month got moving.  They should just about be in the Sorcerer main book, I found them that important.

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=770

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=828

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=876

I realized their importance after IMing with Bret about the Actual Play theads I've written over the past month.

Ron, the Art Deco threads are difficult to navigate.  I wish they had links to the part before and the part after in the thread.  They are important and should be easier to read.

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

For anyone who's interested, all the Art Deco Melodrama threads (including a couple more than the ones Judd lists) are available in order at the bottom of the Actual Play page at the Sorcerer website.

Best,
Ron

[hix]

This thread tipped me over the edge too - I just ordered my copy ...

"It's Story Now Motherfucker." Awesome.

Steve.