The *house* is a demon...

[Jake Norwood]

We just wrapped up our second session of sorcerer (see this thread for pre-game discussion and set-up), in a story based on the "Training Run" scenario from the Core Rulebook, where all the PCs end up in a House-Demon named Yzor, lulled there by a trapped sorceress.

The first game which wove the kickers together and led the characters to the house for different reasons went well, if not exceptionally. After some thinking and a little bit of discussion with Ron, I decided to review the power of humanity with my players and really focus on it more for the second game. Two of the players were down to 2 humanity from previous summonings, etc, while the last had remained at a pristine 5.

At beginning of tonights session all of the players had allready figured out that something wasn't right with the house, and shortly all hell broke loose. I won't go into details (the gist of which are in the rulebook), but instead present some strong moments.

- When the high-humanity character realized that the house was eating people (this is during the subtle stage), she tried to get the person that came with her out. This was a failed humanity gain roll. Later, when things were clearly not good, and the spawn were making their move, she tried to get everyone out, and gained a point of humanity, as did the others as they tried to rescue people (one of which a character had come to the party planning to kill). This was a humanity gain for him.

-The high humanity character, who's player I wasn't sure was fully "in" the game, suddenly opened her eyes and said, "It's a demon, the house is a demon, and WE can banish it!" She was gung-ho for the rest of the game. She figured out what she could really do. They tried to get Yvonne to help (they had figured out her role in the mess), but she was hesitant, so the 3 PCs and 2 novice sorcerers that they had "rescued" helped out in a mass banishment, lead by the high-humanity character. It was massively successful.

- One of the low humanity characters, after the banishment, sicked his demon on Yvonne out of anger. The demon drowner her in globule of floating dirty water. It was a nasty death, and pretty cold-blooded. The other characters didn't help, but they all turned away and couldn't watch. It took several minutes to kill. He lost a point of Humanity, taking him back to 2.

- The same demon that did the drowning was disrespectful to the third sorcerer PC, and older lady. She "punished" the demon on the spot, reminding the demon of who was in charge and that sorcerers were to be respected. This didn't go over well with either the demon or its master, but it was a defining moment of sorcerous arrogance and power.

Each of the players really figured out what their power could be, and all summoned and banished as needed. Some good moral choices were made, and our working definition of Humanity as Mercy started working very well as soon as I started pushing the demons toward vengeful behavior and gave the players opportunities to be either saviors or judge-jury-and-executioner.

All of the kickers were essentially resolved by the end of this, so we did improvement rolls and wrote new kickers (all of which seemed to spring from tonight's game). There hadn't been enough character development to warrant full re-writes in any case, however, due to the introductory nature of the "adventure."

Jake

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Jake,

By the most remarkable coincidence, I just posted the new thread Learning the interface to Actual Play. You seem to have carried out exactly what needed to be done to avoid the bat-shit psychosis problem.

The one thing that strikes me about your game isn't anything to do with your players - but with you.

Who was Yvonne to you, as GM? Did you like her? Care about her? Have her throw herself into anything?

"Hesitant" is not the adjective I would have chosen for this character, so it interests me that it's the only one that seems to have emerged from your account.

In playing this scenario, I've found that she's the key - however I present her turns out to be what the characters hinge their own decisions on (not what they decide, just what they use as a hinge).

Best,
Ron

[Jake Norwood]

The one thing that strikes me about your game isn't anything to do with your players - but with you.

Who was Yvonne to you, as GM? Did you like her? Care about her? Have her throw herself into anything?

"Hesitant" is not the adjective I would have chosen for this character, so it interests me that it's the only one that seems to have emerged from your account.

In playing this scenario, I've found that she's the key - however I present her turns out to be what the characters hinge their own decisions on (not what they decide, just what they use as a hinge).

Best,
Ron

The players were really moving faster than I was in this, and--as players can do in Sorcerer-they moved to the climax with great force and quite suddenly. Yvonne, up to this point, had been setting everyone up to get eaten. Now, when the mayhem is about to start she stands at the top of the stairs looking down at the sorcerers that had decided to banish the demon. In her mind she was trying to figure out who would win--the demon, or the sorcerers, so that she wouldn't end up on the wrong side of the equasion. At first, she bet on the demon, but as the banishment starting going well, she changed her mind, and the walls reached out and grabbed her, preventing her from helping in the banishment. She hadn't gotten closer before because the PCs had set up some of their demons as protectors, fighting the walls and the spawn to keep the circle from being broken.

In great measure, therefore, her hesitation was largely my hesitation--I wasn't sure where I wanted this character to be quite yet, as there hadn't been sufficient interaction between her and the PCs yet for the answer to be more obvious to me. I then decided to "make the most" out of it by making her into an opportunity for Humanity Loss or Gain--it was clear that the PCs hated her for her role in what had happened to them (the PC that ordered her death had, in fact, just lost his "favorite" demon to the house). So even though Yvonne didn't reach her potential as a character, she became a wonderful prop and test of the PC's character. One killed here, the other two couldn't watch, but wouldn't help, either. That's a pretty defining moment morally, and it's the moment that I wanted to happen when I realized my window for Yvonne as a major player had come and gone.

Does that make sense?

Jake

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Jake,

It makes a lot of sense. I do agree with you about the defining moral moment, and in my view, you are now set up for some outstanding Sorcerer role-playing for a good long time.

If you're interested in advice, though, it'd be to get those NPCs deep into your own gut from the word go. I suspect that you do that already, and have for years; maybe the only issue is that it'll be automatic once the NPC in question is one of your own.

Best,
Ron