I know what you did in high school.... (long post)

[andy]

Sorcerer is a great game, even if Ron does disavow any interest in making us gamers happy.

I am in the nascent stages of putting together a Sorcerer campaign, set in the modern day and using the basic Sorcerer book plus Magic Cops. The campaign will not be a Magic Cops campaign, however.

At the risk of being flamed down as a heretic (a label that I'm not afraid of), my campaign will start with a backstory to which all of the starting players will be tied, one way or another. It goes something like this:


The year was 1979, and for the last three months of the year, Smallcity, USA (I'll use a real small city) was in the grip of fear. During this period, buildings burned, people disappeared, churches were desecrated and after the residents began turning on one another, the National Guard actually called out to attempt to restore order. The madness and mayhem ended with the end of the year, but Smallcity never recovered and is a shadow of its former self. While the nation has forgotten that dark period and moved on, the people who remained in Smallcity will never forget.

What really happened--

It started as a roleplaying game in some family's basement, not a lot different from thousands of others across the country--in fact, the only thing that set it apart was the odd, but outstanding quality of the Game Master Byron. Byron was a typical high school geek who passed through the high school system under the radar, ignored by all (including Heather, the cheerleader on whom he had an unrequited crush). While just an OK student, Byron excelled at history and drama, two interests that made him a superb game master. Together with his fringe buddies, Byron religiously played a bitchin' Dungeons and Dragons game every Sunday morning, missing only once (when his parents forced him to accompany them to Turkey to attend his grandfather's funeral.

Shortly after Byron returned, the game became more vivid and more disturbing. A couple of the fringe players dropped out, leaving just the core group of five.

Byron also changed during this interval. He seemed to get taller, by happenstance acquired a Camero that was the envy of the school and even attracted the attention (and affections) of the fair Heather. As the icing on the cake, he was accepted at Julliard with a full scholarship. Things were looking rosy for our friend Byron. Nobody noticed, or at least mentioned the untimely deaths of a few elderly nursing home residents in the community or the disappearance of a few pets.

At Byron's famous Halloween game, his gamer buddies were both happy for him and more than a little envious. Perhaps because it was hard to carry the weight of the secret, Byron came clean, and explained that one of his grandfather's books contained secrets that Man Was Not Meant to Know. Byron used these secrets to summon demons who gave him everything that he ever wanted. Although he was unwilling to part with the tome, he was willing to help his buddies by teaching them a basic ritual to get them their very own demons.

Who could say no? A few dead puppies later, the group metamorphosed into a coven.

At that point, Byron went off the deep end and began a campaign of terror that included arson and human sacrifice. He also became incredibly paranoid and convinced himself that his buddies wanted to kill him and take the tome--perhaps they did.

When the hysteria reached a crescendo, the National Guard came in, and Byron disappeared. The remaining gamers either left or went underground, and the "official" resolution arrived at by the FBI is that Byron was a sociopathic serial killer who left town and was never heard from again.

The year is 2004. The occasion is the Smallcity High School class of 79's 25th high school reunion. The players are there.


My only caveat in character creation is that the players must be somehow tied to the Smallcity Summer of '79 somehow via the relationship map. They could be one of the original gamers, they could be later student of Byron's (or one of the original gamers), they could be sent by the FBI (X-Files?) to circle back on one of the biggest overt supernatural events of modern times, they could be defenders of the faith sent by the Pope to erradicate the unclean or they could be Turkish Assassins who want their damn tome back.

After the initial scene, the players can do what they damn well please.

Humanity = your immortal soul. When you hit zero, you're one of the damned and, after a year and a day, you join the ranks of the NPCs.

Demons = minions of Satan/angels of the Lord (are they different in this game? only the GM knows)

What do you think?

Workable/unworkable?

Too restrictive for Sorcerer?

More heresy to come, as a crunchy gamist examines the Sorcerer combat system

[Ron Edwards]

Too bad Andy, nothing heretical here. Play the game, have fun, tell us how it goes.

Best,
Ron

[Rob MacDougall]

Hi Andy,

I strongly suggest checking out the novel The Quorum, by Kim Newman.  I wouldn't say it's a really good novel, but it starts out on exactly these lines (bunch of gamer geek buddies, whiff of brimstone in the air), it has a great demon, and it offers an original twist on the old sell-your-soul storyline.

Rob

[andy]

Just got and read The Urge.

Wow.

I think that I'm going to add it to my forming campaign to provide an option to playing a sorcerer. Has anybody tried this before? I like variety, but want to avoid the World of Darkness "monster mash effect."

Andy