Ravenloft-esque Sorcerer...again

[WhistlinFiend]

Just got done reading Sorcerer's Soul....very nice, very deep stuff. I kicked my wife out of the bedroom and put SoS and Charnel Gods on her pillow. I pretend they fight for my affection...ahem. Anyhow...

I know this is probably not the way to approach looking at a Sorcerer setting, but a rule mechanic related to Ravenloft jumped out at me. The demon in Ravenloft, the one that truly matters and can give you what you want is The Land. You ever hit 0 Humanity though baby and the Human-to-Demon rules kick in...you get Power, you get Skillz...but The Land then acts as a Sorcerer and Binds you. You got everything you wanted, but are cursed to spend enternity as someone's bitch.

There's my rambling thoughts before bedtime...night all.

-dave

[jburneko]

That's an interesting thought.  I take it you're thinking of the Power Check/Paths of Evil Ravenloft Mechanics.  If you do evil stuff, you make a Power Check.  If you fail a Power Check you get cool stuff (bonuses to abilities, etc).  If you fail too many times, you become Evil, a Darklord and get your own Domain.

I've never really been into the whole Ravenloft as Dark Power playground thing.  Although, that interpretation worked for me in the novel Vampire of the Mists.  I can see, however, you might go this route if you wanted to stick closer to the actual Ravenloft setting than I usually do.

Humanity is Being Heroic or perhaps the ability to be Heroic.  Since Ravenloft, as written, really IS a repetitious exercise in the futility of heroism, there is great temptation, not to be.

At Zero Humanity you are a Darklord and get your own Domain.  Here, it might be interesting to use some variation of the Charnel Gods End Game rules and perhaps a pinch of Trollbabe thinking.  Instead of destroying the world, the player gets to ADD to the world by desiging a domain, however, the construction of this domain must also involve, the ruining, damning, or killing off anything and everyone the Sorcerer cares about.

This kind of strays away from the whole Land as Demon thing but I think it kind of flows from your idea.

Jesse

[WhistlinFiend]

That's an interesting thought.  I take it you're thinking of the Power Check/Paths of Evil Ravenloft Mechanics.  If you do evil stuff, you make a Power Check.  If you fail a Power Check you get cool stuff (bonuses to abilities, etc).  If you fail too many times, you become Evil, a Darklord and get your own Domain.

I've never really been into the whole Ravenloft as Dark Power playground thing.  Although, that interpretation worked for me in the novel Vampire of the Mists.  I can see, however, you might go this route if you wanted to stick closer to the actual Ravenloft setting than I usually do.

I never got into the whole go-hunt-down-Evil...no-do-it-again aspect of Ravenloft. For me the game was always about the temptation of to do Evil in the name of Good or in refusing to take that route to watch Evil destroy what you care about.

Humanity is Being Heroic or perhaps the ability to be Heroic.  Since Ravenloft, as written, really IS a repetitious exercise in the futility of heroism, there is great temptation, not to be.

I was toying with Humanity as some definition of Self. How much of your life will you sacrifice to achieve your goals? Sure you can try to bring your father's murderer to justice through legal means, or you can go the easy path...crush anyone and anything that gets in your way by unconciously turning to the Land. I guess Humanity would actually be a measure of whther you master your desire or if desire masters you. You can't take down the guy's five body guards without a little Vitality Boost.

Some of this came from our email discussion a few months back when I made the assertion that if you want to destroy Azalin you have to become as powerful as Azalin, and to do that you have to make the same trade that Azalin did.

At Zero Humanity you are a Darklord and get your own Domain.  Here, it might be interesting to use some variation of the Charnel Gods End Game rules and perhaps a pinch of Trollbabe thinking.  Instead of destroying the world, the player gets to ADD to the world by desiging a domain, however, the construction of this domain must also involve, the ruining, damning, or killing off anything and everyone the Sorcerer cares about.

Yeah, Charnel Gods definitely sent me down this path. You defeated Azalin, and now you have the power to protect them from anything...even themselves, short-sighted little selfish SOBS they are. Ingrates! I'll show them...

This kind of strays away from the whole Land as Demon thing but I think it kind of flows from your idea.

Jesse

Land as Demon and then Land as Sorcerer...

-dave