L.A. Con Report

[etnduroix]

I was one of the three players that Jesse ran through his con version of Sorcerer on Sunday.  Sorry we were a slight disappointment, GM, but judging from your description, I don't see how that Saturday session could have been topped.  :)

One of the struggles our GM dealt with was an attempt to bring together our three stories into the whole, as apparently he successfully did Saturday.  Of course, individual player choices also contributed.  But, with such an open-ended style game, this will happen.   It turned out we ended up playing through three separate stories that only tangentially bore on one another.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the game as a player.  I played the Lord married to a Passer Demon wife.  I guess I chose to play him in a more melancholic and tragic light, as devotion to his Demonic Wife and possibility of Love with Lady Fenris paralyzed him into "inaction" even Hamlet (at least in Acts I-III) would find pathetic.  As it turned out events led to a conclusion that was appropriate for this approach.

Our thief's story wrapped itself up, with little contribution from our other two players, except in passing mentions.  It became the "tertiary" story.

The story of the lovelorn Lord and both his Dames, Demonic and Demented, became "secondary" to the Vengeance Quest of our Sword-Wielding Warrior Woman.    Fortunately, this violent conclusion added elements I was able to work off of at the end.  My lovelorn Lord's indecision directly led to his own doom and the doom of the Lady Fenris, whom he failed to save as she fell to our Warrior's Sword of Vengeance.  While immediately afterward our She-Warrior battled Gorg to a standstill and then GM-acquiesced defeat (Gorg could have kept going according to rules, but it was late and our GM relented at a very appropriate time story-wise).  MiLord pulled the fallen Lady Fenris aside, composed her in death, and removed her wedding ring.  He summoned his Demonic Wife to come and claim her prize (and possibly protect him should Gorg kill the Swordswoman)--- the ring, and miLord's continuing servitude.  He felt it fitting "punishment" for his foolish heart, having to live on with this Demonic facsimile of a woman he once thought he loved while one he may have truly loved lay dead at his feet. How tragic. How melancholy. ;-)

Overall, the session did work best for the Vengeance Story, that culminated in an appropriate climax and affected the outcome of miLord's story (which really best fit the "pulp Sorcerer & Sword" approach the GM says he had in mind before the writing of the scenario took it in a more Gothic Romance direction).  But the game and our GM was flexible and open enough that I felt my "secondary" story was complete and satisfying as well.

Therefore, thank you, Jesse, for running the game and introducing me to what may possibly my first primarily "narrativist" gaming experience.  I've read Ron's theory and discussion of it on this post, but it was illuminating to see it "for myself."  I think due to the game and our GM's skill, that this approach to gaming can be a successful and welcome one.  I look forward to trying fresh approaches to GMing RPGs in the future along these lines.

[Ron Edwards]

Hey,

I've discovered something interesting lately about Sorcerer play, especially for conventions.

The players enjoy it a lot more than the GM thinks they do.

Several things seem to be contributing to this. (1) For all sorts of reasons, some people expect the heavens to open when they run Sorcerer. When the session ends up being "merely" painless and fun, they're still looking for the face of God. (2) The various nifty elements of the game, in terms of player input, usually don't sink into the players' awareness until after the session is over - "Hey, that was really great!" gets discussed a day later, but not in front of the GM, so the feedback isn't there for him. (3) Sorcerer is simply not going to reveal some of its best qualities during con or other one-off play, as we've discussed before.

Best,
Ron