Non-Linear Sorcerer (Part 2)

[Dav]

So I ran my second session of Hellbound Cops tonight.  It was to be Monday, originally, but work intruded.

Anyway, to the few who have played in a campaign of mine, you know the drill...  I start by just throwing shit all over until there is a bite, then, over the course of the next couple of runs, I try to weave as many of the tossed shit together into the "bitten" thread as I can, then I build to a fast climax, with much gore, excitement, and mayhem.

Running something in non-linear fashion fucks with my chi.

So, we are running along fine, having discovered that the slumbering demon of Del Ray Diablo is a female, and it is somehow pregnant (how?  don't ask, not sure).  It is awakening because it is nearing term.  

The main bad guy(s) of the story (Adam Misegates, and his wife, Hevra Misegates) think they have a way to enslave both mom and baby by trapping the baby in a specialized prison-style thing.  They essentially want mom to become a breeding factory for many little baby-spawns that will form the army of world domination...

Problems: (1) Damien, the Ruler of Dis (see Hellbound), had a thing for mom some millenia back.  Never got over her.  Has this whole "protective ex-boyfriend" stance toward things, thinks he can rekindle the flame.  (2) Chokmah (again, see Hellbound), is the father of the baby.  One night of passion, you know the deal.  He has little interest in mom or child, but knows that Damien does.  He figures he can wheedle some sweet deals by letting Damien claim paternity and stepping out of the picture.  (3) Hevra Misegates just wants a child she can raise as her own (she's barren, and Adam is a "ladies' man"... she thinks the two facts are connected (not so much, in fact)).  (4) Adam is generally one of those sociopathic, emotionless, conniving bastards that wants power, secretly hates Hevra because she represents his weakness (he loves her, and hates the hell out of that fact)... besides which, Hevra is a demon, but she doesn't even realize it, and the Binding is in her favor, and Adam is REALLY afraid of what might happen if she finds out (Hevra has constructed this whole denial fantasy to explain away the fact that she is a demon).  (5) One of the player-characters (Paul) has decided that his new kicker is that he loves Hevra.  (6) Another player-character (Gretchen) has decided that she loves both the first player-character (Paul) AND Adam (has this thing for the "bad boy" image... though it ain't an image), and desperately wants to be with them both and can't understand why they can't all "just get along".

We begin with this psychomess of emotion and sex and demons and such, and continue forward.  BUT!  We discover quickly, due to the fact that Gretchen has flubbed just about every roll known to man, but built some okay stores of Karma Points that one of the nearing-the-end scenes of the game contains Gretchen, Hevra, and Paul in the same room.  Gretchen has a gun, she's crying, Paul is wounded, but pleading with Gretchen about "something" (the dialogue cuts in the middle of the argument), and Hevra is shaking her head is terror and disbelief and seems to want to rush to the arms of BOTH PC's.  The scene fades to black, we hear a single gunshot and a scream...

Now Paul is a newcomer to the game (meaning he wasn't there the first session, and thus, is NOT in the end battle).  Gretchen IS in the end battle, but only marginally, and in a possibly very unusual roll (NECROMANCY!).  Hevra is not in the end battle.  Hmmmm.

Now everybody is working just as hard to figure out what the hell is happening in that scene (which Gretchen used as a means to escape potential death from a rather malignant Parasite daemon sent by Damien to prevent them from finding out who the real father of the child is).  

I think some of the most fun I am having is watching the focus of the game shift drastically as new scenes are inserted toward the end of the game.  Resolving these "cloudy" scenes seems as important to the players as resolving the overall conflict against Adam is to the characters.  AND, they do not necessarily match AT ALL.  This means, at some point, character vs. player conflict must be resolved, which is WAY fun.

That, my friends, is where it stands.

Dav

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Dav,

having discovered that the slumbering demon of Del Ray Diablo is a female, and it is somehow pregnant

I think Orkworld scarred us both, don't you?

I really like this game. Not only is it stinkin' full of pure textual Sorcerer, most especially the relationship-map stuff, but it's also putting amazing amounts of creative pressure on the players ... which is paying off. After decades of hearing, over and over, that "players couldn't handle it," and me saying, over and over, "Have you tried?" - this is great.

Best,
Ron