Re: [Sorceror] First Time Prep: Big Sky -- The New Primitives (split)

[Miedvied]

Will descriptors:
Daddy's Farm – this land's always been yours, and it's always gonna be.
US outta UN – resist authority, fight the man.
Lotus Eater (Will 2) – Don't have to work with the sunshine on your smile.

Silly question, here, and on an old post to boot - what does "Lotus Eater" mean, here? I mean, I know what the Lotus Eaters are (I know my Greek literature as well as the next guy), I just don't get the lil blurb next to it, or what that has to do with Will.

Stupid question, I know, but I really like this one-page (it lends itself to a post-apocolyptic setting, or cyberpunk, or just rural modern America; it's great!). And so, I'd actually like to get a handle on this descriptor, especially as I so like the rest of them.

[modified to indicate the split - RE]

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

Hey man, I want to welcome you to this forum, but take a couple minutes to learn the ropes. First, don't post to old threads. Second, don't ask questions that you consider silly or stupid, or if you don't think they're stupid, don't say they are in order to show how humble you are.

Let me take a wild guess ... you'd like to talk about Sorcerer, you like posting here, and you'd like to make a good impression. So you're looking around for easy, standard, interactive and friendly ways to ask questions so you'll fit in gradually - just like you would at some typical internet forum or chat page.

Dude - I tell ya, knock that shit off, pronto. It's only going to waste your time. Here's what to do.

1. Talk about anything that interests you about the game. Doesn't matter what. What matters is that it really interests you. Stand tall and have the thread topic be yours, from you, and totally arrogant in your estimation that the rest of us should have to read it.

2. Ask about anything that seems weird or off to you about the game. Same points apply.

So quit mincing around trying to find soft topics or funsy little questions that'll make everyone say, "Oh, what a nice new poster." You started posting here - why? What do you like about Adept Press stuff? What stuff would you like to know?

Everyone! Turn and look in this direction, now.

See? We're all looking at you. Speak up! We're interested!

Best, Ron

[Miedvied]

Hiya,

Hey man, I want to welcome you to this forum, but take a couple minutes to learn the ropes. First, don't post to old threads. Second, don't ask questions that you consider silly or stupid, or if you don't think they're stupid, don't say they are in order to show how humble you are.

Let me take a wild guess ... you'd like to talk about Sorcerer, you like posting here, and you'd like to make a good impression. So you're looking around for easy, standard, interactive and friendly ways to ask questions so you'll fit in gradually - just like you would at some typical internet forum or chat page.

I suppose it goes without saying that you nailed it square on the head.

Dude - I tell ya, knock that shit off, pronto. It's only going to waste your time. Here's what to do.

1. Talk about anything that interests you about the game. Doesn't matter what. What matters is that it really interests you. Stand tall and have the thread topic be yours, from you, and totally arrogant in your estimation that the rest of us should have to read it.

2. Ask about anything that seems weird or off to you about the game. Same points apply.

So quit mincing around trying to find soft topics or funsy little questions that'll make everyone say, "Oh, what a nice new poster." You started posting here - why? What do you like about Adept Press stuff? What stuff would you like to know?

Everyone! Turn and look in this direction, now.

See? We're all looking at you. Speak up! We're interested!

Best, Ron

What I like about Adept Press? Truth be told? I find it fan-fucking-tastic that there's a group of people out there (well, here) that get it. I got started on DnD when I was fairly young, and the dysfunctional play, social abuse, attention-grabbing and so forth that you at one point called "brain damage" could not have possibly been more accurate in describing my experiences. At the time, I had trouble with the fact that I tended to throw out rules left and right for the sake of telling an actual story, but by the same token couldn't get past the fact that there had to be some way to actually control what happened in the game-world (especially since, considering the dysfunctional play already mentioned, inter-character and inter-player conflict was the defining element). I actually have some astounding horror stories of this period, including things that were tantamount to sexual abuse, but... well, everyone's got stories about messed up role playing groups.

I got a little older, moved onto White Wolf, and ended up ditching the rules more and more. I'd buy the books, enjoy reading them, and some friends and I would write character sheets just to get an idea of who our characters were and what they could do. White Wolf - what a step up, I thought. My character didn't have to start off impotent; I could have him be a world-class scientist right off the bat, if I so chose. Finally, some control over the characters! Well, you can imagine how long that lasted. It was DnD, with more women and only slightly less swords. Most of the time, I ended up just free-form writing with friends one-on-one or three at a time (we tended to use online chat rooms);  actually playing by the book was horrendous. There was some garbled mess in there about "storytelling", but the only way I could get at it was to strip the system out completely.

Then, one day, I get knocked over here. I'd seen the sorceror preview sample, and had been unimpressed at the time. What hooked me at the time was people discussing narrativist stories - people who actually understood my inclination to try and get a story out of the game, rather than just a first-person shooter with dice. Sure, I love the fact that I'm playing a game - but to me, roleplaying had always been playing make-believe and collaborative fiction. Here were people that got that. Sure, the majority of the people here tended to bounce between being polite, helpful, and clear to rude, abrasive, and clear. That was cool with me; if I were posting three hours later in the evening, or twelve hours earlier, I'd probably be near my ass stage of the day, too.

I read some samples of actual play; I got to see the philosophy of Sorceror design in action. I browsed through the archives on the Adept Press website, and finally ordered the book. And I loved it. I loved it for a dozen reasons; because it wasn't written to appeal to twelve year olds. It wasn't written to appeal to twelve year olds wearing black and thinking that sex and madness made them "mature". It didn't try to blind-side me with flavor text, and most importantly: it was just such pure goddamned literature. I mean that in the sense that great literature is like an onion; you can enjoy the layer that's just story, but it's never just story. It's got an underlying exploration of ideas, and themes and relationships. And here was this game, with that very essence built right into it; was designed to do what all great literature does, explore themes and ideas and tell a story, and while you're at it, was a game to enjoy yourself with.

It was like coming home again.

Now, of course, the problem is that I can't find a group to play with. And that's a damned shame, now that I've finally got some games that are meant to be played instead of read and collected like comic books.

[Ron Edwards]

!

Thank you. That is nice to read. I get a number of emails like this, fairly regularly if not constantly, but it doesn't show up on-line very much.

Hey people, come up with useful links for this guy. He's still kicking around the forum looking for fun stuff.

Best,
Ron

[Andrew Cooper]

Hey, James!  Welcome!

Where are you geographically located?  There are lots of people here on the Forge in lots of places.  It might be easier to find someone to play with than you think.  I'm not sure if Clinton's FindPlay is still down or not but you could look into it.  I just ran into a fellow Forgite here in East Tennessee (of all places) when I was sure no one around here had even heard of The Forge, Adept Press or Indie RPGs.

I'm with you on the White Wolf situation.  I've chucked every Vampire/Werewolf/Mage book I ever owned into the trash.  Mostly because I really don't need any badly written gothic horror fiction.  Now I own Sorcerer for my horror gaming.

[Miedvied]

For the time being I live in Staten Island, New York. In the next six months or so, however, I expect to complete my transfer to Cornell University, at which point I'll be living in Ithaca, New York. I'm hoping to find some gamers at uni, which is usually a pretty decent place for finding people.

[Ben Lehman]

Oh, dude.

You are so in luck.  Ithaca has a hopping gaming community with a fair amount of Adept Press and other progressive games going on.  (And it didn't when I lived there two years ago -- grr...)

Ithaca Gamers is what you want to be looking at.

While you're still in NYC, check out NerdNYC, also awesome.

yrs--
--Ben

P.S.  Welcome to the Forge.

[Bret Gillan]

Miedvied,

Definitely drop me a line when you move to Ithaca. Yes, there are Adept Press/indie gamers here. I'm currently running a Charnel Gods game and would love to meet up with you.

[Miedvied]

I thank you all for your kind invitations and welcomes. I'll most certainly be dropping a line when I get up to Ithaca; in the meantime, I'll start perusing nerdnyc and see what I can find. Thank you for the links, again.

(I believe that'll be my last post to this thread; I think it's reached the point where I don't have anything worthwhile to add; I just wanted to thank you all at once rather than send out responses to the almost-dozen private messages that were sent to me. I do appreciate the big welcome.)

[Ron Edwards]

Aw, hug!!

OK, everyone, thread's done. I'll look forward to your next, MV.

Best, Ron