[WOD 3.0] Borrowing Techniques from Sorceror

[Shael Riley]

Just about the best tabletop game I've ever played was a two-session campaign of Sorceror over this past summer. It worked amazingly well for our group for many, many reasons but the ones that stand out most to me are:

1) Player involvement in creating the setting
2) Clearly defined character goals on paper
3) A multiple-connecting-stories style of play, as opposed to the traditional adventuring party style of play.

I've since moved on to a new gaming group, unfamiliar with Sorceror, and am trying to incorporate those three elements that worked so well in the Sorceror game into a new World of Darkness game I started a few weeks ago. I asked the players to come up with a list of important people, places and things as well as a brief description of how each impacts the character's life; I asked that they each write up a kicker and, finally, I explained to them that, since each character has his own goals and they might not coincide, we would not be playing in the adventure partying style; we would be playing a game in which each character is at the center of his own story. I used a Mind's Eye Theater LARP as a point of comparison. Four weeks later, this is how our game's progressed.

The Player Characters:

Jamie St. Luc (27)(Wakeem)- Ex con drug dealer turned goth rock/Spanish flamenco fusion guitar player. Jamie lives in downtown Seattle with his vocalist, Alexis, and keyboardist, Myer, her fiance. He's been suffering memory lapses ever since his baby sister died in a bizarre hit and run accident three years ago, and they're gradually getting worse. Kicker:Bassist, Morgan Winchester, has gone missing shortly before an important gig; simultaneously, Jamie begins feeling ill and experiencing naseus feinting spells.

Rudolph Zelinski (30) (Devon) - Ex dentist turned crestfallen homebody. Lives uptown and alone. Fiance, Juliana, has taken a hiatus from their engagement as a result of Rudy's strange behavior as of late and moved down south to take care of her ailing grandmother. Rudy doesn't work and lives off his savings. A methodical person, Rudy makes a microwave dinner and calls his fiance every night at 9:00. Kicker Recently, Rudy accidentally killed a patient by administering nitrous, which caused an allergic reaction. Shocked, Rudy walked automaton-like out of the office, got in his SUV and drove through Seattle all day and all night. When he stepped out of his vehicle, he noticed a bloody dent on the fender. That was six weeks ago. No one has contacted him about it since. When he returned to his former practice yesterday, to claim his severance benefits, he found no body nor trace of evidence in his office and heard not a word of the incident from his co-workers.

Important people (created by Devon marked with a "D," Wakeem marked with a "W" and me marked with an "S.")

(D) Kenith Mattrello: Proprietor of Value Vinyl, a struggling mom-and-pop music store in midtown Seattle. Friend and former co-worker of Rudy's, during his time in medical school, when Kenith's father owned the buisness and the two young men worked as stock boys and clerks. Kenith filled in for Morg on bass guitar during Jamie's band's last gig, but quickly surrendered his position when a gun-toting Morg appeared on stage. Concerned for his friend Rudy's well-being after his recent mental breakdown, he advises Rudy to avoid any further contact with St. Luc and company after they both flee the debacle of a performance.

(W) Alex Winchester (25): Vocalist for the Skeletons of Cadavera (Jamie's band--shut up about the name) and sister of bassist Winchester. Though now engaged to Myer, Jamie and she were once involved in a one-night triaste(sp?), leading to sexual tension between her and Jamie, who's vice is Lust.

(W) Myer Pierce (28): Keyboardist and sometimes rhythm guitarist, Myer lives with Jamie and Alex. He spends a good deal of time at his job as a fast-food cook. He's generally laid-back and is unthreatened by Jamie and Alex's closeness. He's also bisexual. As a matter of fact, he's gunning for a three-way.

(D) Jacob Hennesy (31): Friend of Rudy's from dental school. Concerned about his current condition. Hasn't come into play yet. May not.

(D) Juliana Rutherfield (32): Fiance of Rudy; taking a hiatus. She's worried about Rudy and cares deeply for him but constantly considers breaking their engagement, in light of his recent mental breakdown. Has only been present via telephone calls thus far.

(W) Bo Harrison (55): Owner of Red Heaven, a club Jamie often plays and Juliana waitressed before moving down south to be with her grandmother. Bo's something of a father figure to Jamie, although the two don't know a great deal about each other's histories or personal lives; they simply share a deep respect and fondness for one another. Bo moved to Seattle after accidentally killing Francine "Rusty" Russles, his daughter's lesbian lover, during bar fight in Las Vegas, causing his daughter, Lisa Harrison's suicide.

(S) Lisa Harrison (20/30 [deceased]): Vengeful ghost in permanent possession of Morgan Winchester's body. Committed suicide after father, Bo Harrison, killed her love Francine Russles. Leads a small cadre of ghosts interested in regaining a mortal life by permanently possessing a mortal host, something thought to be previously near-impossible to the larger ghost community.

(S) Francine "Rusty" Russles (29/39 [deceased]): Former owner of Rusty's, a las Vegas cowboy-style bar and strip club, and Lisa Harrison's former lover. Trying to posses Jamie St. Luc. Part of a small cadre of ghosts trying to regain a semblance of mortal life by permanently possessing a mortal host.

(S) Sarah Barton Julias (19/20 [deceased]): Died in a car accident. Part of the same cadre of permanent-possession seekers. Believes, falsely, that her best friend and lover since childhood, Thomas Clayman, survived the accident that took her life and seeks a mortal host in order to find her lover.

(S) Dr. Sean Ottenkirk (55): Clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment and study of disassociative disorder. Ex husband of Olivia Newman. Former co-chair of the Sacred Heart Outreach Camp for Trouble Youths and Knotty Ferns State Park. Now practices by-the-book psychiatric treatment and cares for a handful of patients at his private practice in uptown Seattle.

(S) Dr. Olivia Newmann (56): Ex board-certified psychiatrist who lost her license to practice after publishing a controversial text on disassociative disorder which cited, amongst other things, ghostly possession as a valid explanation for several psychological conditions involving memory lapses and abrupt changes in personality. Now practicing as a "counselor" from her apartment in uptown Seattle. She is being coerced by Lisa Harrison, in the body of Morgan Winchester, into providing her cadre with suitable hosts, often by causing them undue psychological torment. Lisa promises Olivia that he will deliver the spirit of her dead lover, Adam Kato, to her upon reception of three completely processed hosts, suitable for permanent possession.

(W) Darnell Watts (35): Local drug dealer and long-time friend to Jamie, Darnell lives in an unremarkable apartment in downtown Seattle with his wife and two children. During times when Darnell has had to lay low or skip town, Jamie has given money to his wife and children to help them sustain themselves in the interim. When Jamie comes to Darnell suspecting he is being stalked by someone, he introduces Jamie to the Pusher.

(W) Daego: A different local club owner. Runs "Daego's," where Jamie's band has a big gig upcoming.

(S) Pusher (60): A living urban legend, children whisper about the towering, ancient man who makes no noise when he walks and takes bad little boys and girls back to his lair in the sewers. In actuality, Pusher lives in a well-furnished apartment in downtown Seattle and carries the favor of every organized crime figure from Made Men to gangbangers but is affiliated with none. He is an extraordinary shadow and information gatherer, and can perform a myriad of services for the denizens of the city who are brave or desperate enough to seek him out. Likewise, his price is extraordinarily high.

(W) Bobby Gilligan (19): The band's childish, chubby-cheeked drummer. He lives with his mother in Uptown Seattle and visits Jamie and company primarily to practice. He tries not to involve himself in anything dangerous or sketchy. He secretly has a crush on Alex.

Plot Synopsis

Session one:

Rudy is at Red Heaven, picking up his fiance's last check from owner Bo Harrison. Jamie arrives with Myer and Alex, looking for Morgan, who's gone missing for several days. Bo explains that he last saw Morgan borrowing money from a local loan shark, a friend of his, who confided in Bo that Morgan needed the money to buy a plane ticket to Las Vegas. Recognizing the members of the local band from his stint at a mom-and-pop record shop during medical school, Rudy mentions that he's familiar with the band's work and he knows a fan of their named Ken Mattrello who plays a mean bass. After a successful audition, the band decides to let Ken fill in for Morgan during his absence.

Rudy mucks about, establishing his daily routine, which involves shuffling to the store to buy a Hungry Man dinner, sitting down to watch documentaries and waiting until 9:00 to call his fiance. But tonight he doesn't make it; he blacks out sometime around 7:30 and wakes up after 10:00, in the pitch-black, dirt-floor basement of the Waterman, an historic theater in fictional downtown Seattle. He finds a plastic beret in his pocket.

Meanwhile, Jamie St. Luc finds, upon waking up after what had promised the night before to be a good night's sleep, dirt all over his hands and knees and on the seat of his car and notices that his shoes are soiled. Determined not to let anything detract from the band's upcoming gig, he decides not to tell his housemates and heads to the studio, where Ken is waiting to practice.

Concerned that he is losing his mind, Rudy heads to his former medical practice for the first time since the accidental death of his new patient Mr. Fergusson, to confront his former co-workers, who, much to Rudy's relief and dismay, do not mention anything about an accident. The weekday secretary explains that she has been very worried about Rudy and that she hasn't seen anything suspicious. Rudy cleans out his immaculate, corpse-free office. On the way out, he asks if he could take a look at some of his old patients' files. The secretary declines his request, citing that the files belong to the practice and that she's been asked to make Rudy's termination go as smoothly and quickly as possible. Outside, checking the dumpster for clues proves to be not only useless, but foul. Finding nothing at the scene of the crime, Rudy decides to look for a psychiatrist. He has an emergency meeting with Dr. Steve Ottenkirk, who specializes in memory-effecting psychological disorders. Convinced that Rudy is sane but suffering from extreme stress and anxiety, he advises Rudy to schedule a catscan and consider looking into anti-anxiety medication if his symptoms persist. Rudy schedules a catscan and another appointment with Dr. Ottenkirk for next week, then heads to the big show at Daego's, to see his friend Ken Mattrello perform with The Skeletons of Cadavera.

As the curtain rises, Morgan appears, armed with a magnum revolver and recovers his position as bassist from Ken at gunpoint. When Jamie confronts him on-stage, he levels the gun at Ken. In response, Jamie breaks his father's heirloom guitar over Morgan's head. Morgan crumples bleeding into the stage pit and begins emitting a choking, gurgling laugh, commending Jamie for his showmanship. Jamie kicks Morgan, requesting that he "shut the fuck up." In response, Morgan begins demanding demanding that he finish the job, spitting out classic lines such as "shoot me like you want to fuck Alex," Jamie picks up the gun and fires two shots into Morgan's head. They're blanks. As security separates the two, Morgan further admonishes Jamie, telling him "you're fucked," through a blood-spattered, grin.

Session two:

The police release Jamie with a warning.

Rudy goes to his old office and tricks an intern into helping him steal all of his old medical files. He looks up the late Mr. Fergusson's info and heads to his listed place of residence to look around. He finds it to be a condemned building. Mr. Fergusson's body is spread out on the bed of his apartment with a dental needle sticking out of his arm. The apartment contains nothing but a small cache of water, canned goods and magazines.

Jamie, Myer and Alex tear apart Morgan's room when he doesn't come home after the show. The discover a stack of posters and pamphlets from Vegas strip clubs, all dating back to the late 1980s. The only connection they can make between them is that they all feature a dancer named Lisa Harrison. They also find a book on Poker, which Morgan doesn't play, according to Alex, and a cache of dental needles and potassium cyanide. Dismayed, they all smoke up and some cuddling happens between Alex and Jamie when Myer's not lookin'.

Rudy stops in on Ken to see that he's alright. Ken advises Rudy to stay away from that band. Rudy agrees. Ken offers Rudy his old job at the shop back, just until he can pull things together. Rudy agrees. Rudy researches the band members' histories and finds that Jamie is an ex convict and drug dealer.

Jamie receives his dead sister's doll, which had never been recovered after the accident in the mail. Emotionally agitated, he drives to his sister's grave. The groundskeeper yells at him, claiming he told Jamie not to come here anymore and that he'd call the police he saw him there again. Jamie drives to the Waterstreet Theater, the site of the accident that took his sister's life. For reasons I am unsure of, he walks out onto the stage and starts playing his smashed guitar to the empty house in a triumph of melodrama. In the parking lot, Jamie sees Rudy's SUV and tries to pick the lock to its door, to access the medical files he spies in its backseat. Meanwhile, Rudy is investigating the theater in the light of day to see if it offers any explanations as to why he'd woken up in it the night before. Before he can open the door, Rudy returns to his car to see Jamie trying to gain unlawful access. Jamie confronts Rudy, accusing him of following him and  fucking with him. Rudy accuses Jamie of drugging him and explains that he knows he's an ex convict and a drug dealer and trying to steal his car. The confrontation ends with Jamie hitting Rudy, who stumbles backwards, threatening to call the police. Jamie responds by saying that he would have already called them if he didn't have something to hide and Rudy gets into his car and drives away.

Session three:

Rudy receives a phone call from his fiance, asking him to pay her psychiatrist's invoice. He didn't know she was seeing a psychiatrist. When he arrives at Dr. Olivia Newmann's loft, she explains that she's heard all sorts of things about him from his wife and, with the tact of a veteran psychiatrist, implies that Rudy is the source of all his wife's problems and that she would like to begin treating him at once. Guilt-ridden and enthusiastic to solve the problem that's causing his memory lapses, Rudy agrees and they begin therapy at once. Dr. Newmann teaches Rudy a technique involving a "power item," in which he puts all of his negative emotions in the item, thus unburdening them from his person. Olivia gives Rudy a locket with a picture of a teenage girl inside and the inscription "S. B. Julias," and tells him to use that in Power Item exercises when feels like he's under stress at home or about to black out. Rudy is surprised, because he didn't tell Dr. Newmann about his blackouts. Dr. Newmann explains that his fiance told her about them. Rudy hadn't told his fiance either.

Jamie sees his friend Darnell Watts, who sets him up with Pusher, who owes Darnell a favor. Jamie asks Pusher if he could both track Morgan and Rudy, who he believes are conspiring against him. Pusher explains that Darnell paid him for one favor, not two and Jamie settles on having Pusher Track Rudy.

Rudy goes to the public library to do some heavy research. As an aside, this actually took most of our out-of-character time for this session. I blame myself. At the library, Jamie learned that Dr. Olivia Newmann is the ex-wife of Dr. Steve Ottenkirk, and that they used to run a camp for troubled youths called Sacred Heart Outreach at Knotty Ferns State Park. The couple split after the camp was closed down in 1999. Pusher is shadowing Rudy and reports everything he researches to Jamie. Later, when Jamie mentions the camp to Alex, she admits that Morgan went there as a youth. Rudy researches blackouts and find a private listserv run by Mark Adler, the former lead singer of Godstar, Ken Mattrello's old band. He applies for membership. He finds that Olivie Newmann once published a book on dissociative disorder entitled "Life in Darkness," but it's out of print and near impossible to find. Having started in the early evening, he heads home in the wee hours of the morning. He falls asleep and wakes up bruised with scratches all over his hands and knees.

Pusher calls Jamie and explains that Rudy drove out to Bright Peak last night and rolled down the hill. Pusher's phone call awoke Jamie from his own sleep, and he finds himself naked, in an unfamiliar room, every inch of it painted blue, with a soft light coming from a Chinese lantern-covered bulb on the ceiling. There's water running from what sounds like a shower through the thin bedside wall. Jamie gathers his pants and coat and examines a blue dresser and nightstand, filled with blue women's clothing. He looks in the bottum drawer and sees needs, pills, bottles and perfumes, and a red velvet case, left open to reveal the faded imprint where a revolver once rested. Jamie makes his way into the adjacent room, a bright kitchen, where the heavy white light from overhead assaults him. In the center of the room is a crystal coffin with two brass claw legs. A kitchen chair is pulled up to it and it houses a long-dead woman's corpse. The sound of water stops abruptly. Jamie clamors for a doorknob to the next room, just in time to see Morgan step out of the bathroom and address him as "lover." Jamie leaves the apartment with great haste. Jamie takes a long shower.

Rudy, realizing he's had another spell, makes an emergency appointment with Olivia Newmann, who teaches him more power object exercises and advises him to get the GPS on his cellphone activated. She asks Dr. Newmann about her book and she is visually disturbed. She explains that it isn't hers; it's the property of the Washington State University School of Psychology and advises that it's all old information and theories which have since been disproved. She suggests that reading that book would be bad for Rudy's treatment and he ought to get the idea out of his head. In response, Rudy drives straight to Dr. Newmann's al ma mater (sp?) and retrieves the book from the university library. As he's beginning to read, Jamie shows up, having followed Rudy with Pusher's help. Jamie tries to make peace with Rudy, explaining that he thinks they're in the same situation but Rudy's having none of it and storms out of the library without reading the book. Jamie, however, does. The book contains theories about dissociative disorder, multiple personality disorder and a number of other documented psychological conditions as being attributable to what she calls "negative impressions," left by traumatic experiences in which someone died in a given area. People who are sensitive to negative impressions, or "sensitives" may have their normal brain functionality interfered with by negative impressions and may act out the traumatic experience that caused it, or their own past traumatic experiences, or they may simply become irrationally violent. Items of former emotional importance can also contain negative impressions.

Session four:

Rudy, at the end of his rope, drives to Knotty Ferns state park. It's quiet and cold. As he stands, looking into the lake, he notices ripples, like those and insect would make, following him in the water. His cellphone rings twice but receives only static. The call comes from his fiance Juliana. He calls Julianna to confirm that she didn't call him. She is concerned for his sanity and begins a lengthy discussion, which is interrupted by another incoming call of loud static. Unnerved he turns his cellphone off. When he turns it back on, he has 999 unread text messages, all underscores. When he reaches into the still water, his hand comes out frostbitten. A park ranger sneaks up, unintentionally, and explains that his cellphone doesn't work out here. It's the same model. He offers Rudy a ride back to the parking lot, but he declines, preferring to walk.

Meanwhile, Jamie looks up supplemental information on Knotty Ferns. He verifies that both Morgan Winchester and Mark Adler were attendees at the camp, and reads that several children disappeared for months during one summer and were found dead, floating in the lake. He scan recent news articles involving Bright Peak, where Jamie found himself. He finds that a young couple died in a car accident there a year prior: Thomas Payne and Sarah Barton Julias. He then goes to make an appointment with Dr. Olivia Newmann.

Dr. Newmann is glad to see Jamie and explains that most of the theories in her book are outdated, but she is impressed nonetheless that his dedication to wellness caused him to seek it out and she would be happy to take him on as a new patient. She runs Rudy through the same power-object fixation exercises and gives him a silver-plated Ace of Spades to focus on.

Rudy gets to his car and focuses on his power object to try to steady his nerves. On the ride home he loses consciousness. When he comes to, he is in the same blue apartment building Jamie found himself in, listening in on a conversation between Morgan and Dr. Newmann in the other room. Morgan proposes that if Olivia can find her just one more host, she will return the body of Adam to her. They refer to each other as "Lisa" and "lady," respectively. After a few minutes, Olivia leaves and Rudy hears Morgan's heavy footsteps approach the door to the bedroom, where he lies, fully clothes, under the covers. He closes his eyes and pretends to be asleep. He hears Morgan sit down next to him and light a cigarette. Then he smells his hot acrid breath on his face as he talks and strokes his head. "Sweet little Sarah, we won't let the world forget that it would have forgotten about you." Morgan goes back into the kitchen and Rudy checks his person. He's cut up again but he seems to have all of his possessions, he even has a second locket that matches the first in his pocket, then he realizes he's missing his notebook. Rudy sneaks to the dresser and sees the women's clothing, a cache of posters and pamphlets advertising Lisa Harrison, and a box of dental needles with a chemical he quickly recognizes as potassium cyanide. Mustering every ounce of will, he sneaks to the bedroom. In the kitchen, Morgan is asleep face down on the crystal coffin, his palms flat against the corpse's through the lid. Underneath his left hand is Rudy's open notebook. Thinking better than to disturb him, Rudy finds his way into the apartment complex, taking note of its name and address. He returns to the university library, reads Olivia Newmann's book and finds that she is, in fact, the renter of that apartment building.

Jamie receives a call from Bo Harrison, asking that he meet him at his bar. Bo asks if he ever found out about Morgan's whereabouts. Jamie explains that Morgan was staying downtown, in an apartment near Waterstreet, with a corpse. Bo thanks Jamie and says he has to leave. After a lengthy argument Jamie convinces Bo to tell him his story. Bo explains that he accidentally killed his daughter's lesbian lover in a bar fight in Vegas and that he believes she's been haunting him ever since. He's moved all across the country to get away from her and studied everything he could about ghosts, from the Catholic church's doctrine to the writings of alleged Voodoo priests. He believes that ghosts draw power from their corpses, as well as other fetishes, and that Lisa has possessed Morgan and unearthed her corpse from Las Vegas and brought it here somehow. He's surprised that the possession has lasted this long, as he's never encountered a possession that lasted longer than a few hours. Rudy asks if he's ever seen any ghosts other than Lisa's, Bo says he believes he's never seen a ghost and he's never encountered any possessing anyone other than Lisa, but he couldn't be sure of that. Bo confesses that he was going to try to start a controlled fire to burn out the apartment building. Rudy points out, correctly, that that is a terrible idea. They discuss the situation.

Jamie calls Rudy and tells him that they need to talk.


~fin

And that's where we left off.  Any feedback or comments on the implimentation of the techniques would be appreciated. What I wish I'd done now is drawn on BANGS, another Sorceror convention, which would have helped us to play up humanity. I may try to prepare some BANGS before our next session and if you have suggestions that might help me there, I'd be more than happy to hear them as well. Thank you for reading.

[Mike Holmes]

How did you feel that the WOD mechanics impacted the play? Were they helping the style, hurthing it? Did you make any adjustments as you went?

Mike

[Shael Riley]

How did you feel that the WOD mechanics impacted the play? Were they helping the style, hurthing it? Did you make any adjustments as you went?

Mike

Good points, Mike. I should have expanded on them in the original post.

On the gamist front, Whitewolf's extended and contested action rules really delighted me and my players in providing situations that called for protracted and strategic thinking, allowing players to draw from their characters list of abilities without putting them in a situation that would end the game were the player's strategy to fail, IE. deadly combat.

An in-game example that we found ourselves revisiting several times, is the conversation with agenda; a sort of communicative combat, under the Whitewolf system. This is how it played out:  A PC would approach an NPC (or vice versa) wanting something out of the conversation the NPC did not, like an admission of guilt or the secret adress of a conspirator, or the relinquishing of property; all are good examples. Each turn, each character involved would choose the method they would use to meet their goal, such as persuasion (socialize + wits + equiptment), intimidation (socialize + presence + equiptment) or fast talk (socialize + manipulation + equiptment), and then speak a few lines of dialogue in-character; this was the construct of their method. Something like "I know I don't work here anymore, but Mr. Fergusson was my patient and I have every right to see his files under the law" could be the embodiment of a fast talk roll. Alternately, intimidation and persuasion could be emodied as "I don't want to have to tell the doctors who still work here about your affinity for nitrous," and "It's not a big deal; I've seen his files before and I just want to make sure they check out with his police records. Besides, I'll make it worth your while," respectively. Blackmail in the former and a bribe in the latter would constitute additional bonus dice as "equiptment." In response, the person being acted upon in the conversation would make some refutation of the actors offer/threat/suggesion--"I don't know what you're talking about. Nitrous habbit?" "I'm not sure you're up to date on current state law regarding patient confidentiality," or "You'll have to go a little bit higher than $250 dollars, Mr. Zelinski."--and roll their own socialize + composure + equiptment roll and the turn would conclude, with a success granted to the character with the most successes. Then the next round of exchanges would begin. If the actor accumulated a number successes equal to the actor's compusure, the character being acted upon would crack and have a slip of the tongue or change of heart. If the character being acted upon got a number of successes equal to his opponent's composure, then the conversation would come to its natural conclusion without the actor getting what he wanted.

Similar prolongued exchanges occured when a character was shadowed or in a foot chase. The prolongued and strategic nature of these exchanges pleased our group in a way that only combat had in the past.

I found that the rules were intuitive enough to apply to most situations without referencing the book and versatile accomodate almost every situation that came up. The only thing I made up on-the-fly were rules for resisting ghostly possesion, and they followed the same formula as any other contested and extended action.

The mechanics I borrowed from Sorceror facilitated situations in which each PC was pursuing his own goals and, consequently, often in compromised situations alone, with his own secrets to protect. This, in turn, was more conducive to the atmosphere of dread that the whitewolf rules are written for than the party-style game.