Psychic Residue redux, with more backyard meth labs.

[sirogit]

I'm setting up another Sorcerer game, largely based on my previous one-sheet but polished abit and set in a very poor, angry little town. Desperation, Bikers n' meth labs mixed with simple people in bad circumstances and people longing to get out.

I reworked the descriptors for the setting to be:

Stamina:
Simple Living
Scrapper
Hardened
Hopped-Up
Rough Job

Will:
Ragefull and Vengefull
Manipulative
Do-Gooder
Brush with the Unknown
Intimidating

Lore:
Spontaneous Outburst (Lore 1)
Abused (Lore 2+, Price +2)
Hereditary (Lore 3+, goes with Inhuman scores)
Initiate (Lore 2+)
Scholar (Lore 4+)

For the relationship map, I was thinking of basing it off of Norse Mythology, as its full of headstrong people fucking it up, plus has lots of sex/familial ties. Does it sound like it'd work?

[edited to fix the link format -RE]

[Ron Edwards]

It sounds great! I suggest staying minimal with the back-story, as Norse sagas tended to rely on relationship maps that span several pages. If you only have about five or six people on yours, I suggest that will work fine.

Best, Ron

[sirogit]

(Whew, thanks for fixing that)

I wrote up some sample characters, in the hopes that It'd clear up some
issues about writing kickers and the look and feel of demons like I
experienced last game. Has this been done before to good effect? Anywho,
said characters:

Name: Georgia Myers
Concept: Beaten up wife with a guardian phenomena

Description: Georgia Myers is a recently single mother trying to escape
her violent husband Eric. Through the years of abuse her latent
psychic ability has grown, and has cultimated with the creation of a psychic
barrier breaking the arm of Eric during a typical fight, causing him to
flee the house.

Georgia's daughter Sheryll has a chance of attending a gifted preschool
at the town across the river, but the stability of her house has been
placed in severe jepoardy.

Stamina 3 Hardened
Will 5 Do-Gooder + Vengefull
Lore 2 Abused
Cover 5: Beat-up Wife and mother

Humanity 5

Price: Scarred (-2 to casual interactions)

Kicker: Georgia finds a brick thrown through her window with a note
that says "I'm coming to get Sheryll".

Important NPCs:
- Her Baby, Sheryll
- Her husband, Eric
- Teacher at gifted preschool, Johnathon Stark

Phenomena
Name: The protection of Georgia Myers
Type: Inconspicious
Telltale: Rain, dust etc moves around her.

Need: To prevent harm to Georgia.
Desire: Power

Stamina 4
Will 5
Lore 4
Power 5

Powers:
Armor*
Special Damage: Stunning
Big*
Cloak

----------------------------------------

Michael Wait
Concept: Ruthless teenaged social climber

Description: Scrawny and weird, its hard to imagine that michael is
someone paticularly popular in redneck high school. But he's 'unnaturally'
respected and feared by the student body and within his cultish
followers, due in no small part to the strange powers he inherited from his
deadbeat dad.

Michael knows he has to rise out of this shithole into bigger and
better things, but lately he's been wondering if what he's becoming is
really better.

Stamina 1 Sickly
Will 5 Inhuman Manipulative + Intimidating
Lore 5 Hereditary
Cover 5 Highschool Social Magnate

Humanity 3

Price: Ill-tempered (-1 to resolving situations amicably)

Kicker: After breaking the heart of his childhood sweetheart, an old
mutual friend wrote some unflattering words about him in a school
bathroom stall. 

Important NPCs:
- Jacob, his most devoted follower, who has been willing to undertake
illegal activity for him.
- Tom, his ex-best friend
- Mary, the girl who's heart he broke.

Phenomena
Name: The magnetism of Michael Wait
Type: Parasite
Telltale: His eyes are unusually dark under any kind of light.

Need: To dominate others
Desire: Power

Stamina 7
Will 8
Lore 4
Power 8

Powers:
Psychic Force
Daze
Cover: The ideal of cool and desirable*
Boost Will

---------------

Side-Note: I also had trouble finding that archive of sorcerer
characters and demons on the website, which I thought was super neat even if
not many people used it. Was it taken down? If not, could someone provide
a link?

[5niper9]

Hi sirogit,
these sample characters seem pretty solid to me.

The first character is not as proactive as the second, so you should play the kicker hard and fast.
Additionally the need of her demon looks a bit hetched.
If the player tries to get away from her problems, the character and the demon will have nothing to debate about.
Especcially if you put pressure on her (through the backstory) it could end in much of this dialogue:
She: " We have to get out of here. Protect me!"
Demon: "Yep"   
And this could go on and on. No need to change the situation ... it could end pretty boring.

On the other hand if the player should have done this on purpose and to satisfy the need of the demon will catapult the character into problematic situations, that's fine.
So if someone would come up with this kind of character, you should look whether the player likes to play proactive and if not make the demon human relationship more problematic.

Micheal Wait is absolutely a sorcerer char: arrogant, problemloaded and with very high expectations.
I especcially like how his price interludes with the humanity definition, although this could lead to a quite short (but carthagic) end to the story.
Like before: his Kicker is a bit weak, but since he is more active this should be less of a problem.

I think the link you are searching for is this:
http://www.sorcerer-rpg.com/brochure.php/archives.html

Greetings,
René

[Ron Edwards]

Actually, that first demon's Need is eminently playable. The demon will expect the sorcerer to put herself in harm's way, so the demon can prevent the harm. If something external comes along to harm the sorcerer, the demon will not necessarily try to prevent it!

Do you see that difference? The Need is defined as something the sorcerer must provide to the demon. That's how the demon sees it, and how it expects it. If a bunch of muggers appear from an alley to attack the sorcerer, the demon is not impressed or interested. Stopping them from hurting the sorcerer does not fulfill its Need.

The listed Need is one of the most dangerous things for a character that a player might write on a sheet. It is exactly the opposite of guaranteeing the demon's role as a bodyguard.

It is perfectly legal by the rules.

Best, Ron

[GreatWolf]

Ron, that's evil and nasty.  Makes complete sense, though, plus it made me grin.

Does that make me a bad person?

[sirogit]

1) I think Georgia Myers would probably be a 'rorsarch' type character if someone were to play her, comparing her to the characters in In
Utero. Which is to say, how proactive she will be would dependant on the player's outlook on women in abusive relationships.

2) What does hetched mean? Was that a typo?

3) I don't personally see the kickers as weak, But its been awhile since I've run Sorcerer. If anyone's got a better kicker to throw in there I'd be much appreciated.

[5niper9]

Hi Ron,
yeah I didn't had in mind that the demon could just not accept the attacks that did not came from her actions.

Hi sirogit (what's your name btw?)
1) Perhaps it's just my view on the character, but Georgia seems to produce more work on the GM side than the other character does. I can not really see where I would want to go with such a character.

2) It's the combination of horrible and wretched.
As Ron pointed out the need is not hetched.

3) Just as a suggestion:
Georgia: Sheryll is missing. (Or any variation of it.)
For Michael: His old mutual friend hold his talk in front of him (in public).

I think these situations would get the game rolling since the characters are emotionnally tied in and it provides a first chance (for the players) to decide the flow of the game.
Your kickers would probably lead to these bangs and if these kickers can bring your players to the edges of their seats everything is ok, but I like to start the game with an emotional explosive.

Greetings,
René

[sirogit]

5niper:
Thanks. I like your kicker for georgia better, if nothing else it'd provide a sign that kickers are a good time to "self-hose" or "kick your own ass".

nd my for real real name is Sean Musgrave - I usually tend to sign my posts that nowadays but I was in a hurry.

Ron:
Total agreement on that focusing bit - If i tried to only use the lokesanna and take loki's word, the r-map like like a sweaty ball of yarn. I'm planning on having a rather tight r-map, with the possibility of more parts if it'd fit into the pc's backstories and npcs.

Here's what I have now, pre-adapted to setting: http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rmapih3.jpg

[5niper9]

Hi Sean,

if nothing else it'd provide a sign that kickers are a good time to "self-hose" or "kick your own ass".

I see Kickers as a part of Sorcerer that forces you to use author stance.
So it often resolves in kicking the ass of the character for the sake of the story.
What's nice about this is that you can choose in which direction the character is kicked.

Greetings René