[Sorcerer] Las Cruces

[Per Fischer]

Hi,
This is the one-sheet I intend to present to my players in my Mythical Wild West Sorcerer game I started developing with the players last week: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=17192.0

Sorcerer: Las Cruces
Once Upon a Time in New Mexico
Influences: Unforgiven, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Wild Bunch, Dead Man, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
1) What is Humanity?
Being civilized, law abiding, emphatic, humane.
Belonging to the human world, reality, as opposed to the realm of spirits and demons.
0 Humanity means the character becomes a mindless, uncaring brute, or simply trandsends into the realm of spirits, lost to the human world.
Humanity loss check: inhumane, unlawful or violent actions. Taking something by force that doesn't belong to you. Allowing the weak or helpless to be mistreated or abused. Spending long periods of time in isolation, away from fellow human beings.
Humanity gain check: stand up for yourself to protect yourself or your peers. Enforce positive social contact and human bonds.
2) What is a Demon?
Spirits, mythical creatures, totems or magical items. Some call them God, some call the spirits, others call them the Devil or demons.
3) What is a Sorcerer?
A human that has chosen to use demonic/spiritual powers to get by in life, for good or for worse.
4) What do Rituals consist of?
Rituals breach the barrier between the human and the spiritual world. One way to do that is by doing inhumane, unlawful or uncivilized actions. Or spend a long time alone, without food or water, perhaps drinking alcohol or other hallucinogenic drugs. Stripping in the desert and dancing around in only body paint. Chanting old Indian chants. Tatooing or burning yourself.

Stamina descriptors
Sickly. Your health is poor and your resistance against disease is weak.
Soldier. You are trained to handle combat.
Naturally healthy. Your health is good and resistant against disease.
Wildcat. You life has been shaped by physical violence.
Unearthly Gifts. Your body works in ways the Lord never meant for bodies to work.
Cowboy. You are used to and shaped by outdoor life, the Sun and the weather.
Medicine man. You hold your body up by means of alcohol, elixirs or other drugs.

Will descriptors
Aristocrat. You know you have intrinsic value. People call you arrogant.
Zest for life. Life is short. You just want to enjoy it.
Rageful and vengeful. You feel the world is out to get you. Your are determined not to let it.
Vow. Your commitment gives you direction.
Belief System. You can explain why there are demons. This could be an agnostic, atheist or any religious belief.
Preacher. You can make people listen and get what you want.

Lore descriptors
Prophet. Lore 2+. You have an insight into the depths of fate.
Wise. Lore 2+. You carry an ancient knowledge the rest of the world have forgotten.
Apprentice. Lore 2. You have a mentor who is a sorcerer.
Damned. You carry a curse and it makes you stronger.
Crazy. Lore 4 or higher. You have a deeper knowledge about the spiritual world, which has made it hard for you to function in society. Price comes along as -2 and needs to be serious.
Simpleton. Lore 1. You know demons exist and you have got one.

Setting
New Mexico after the American-Mexican war, not historically correct. The border town of Las Cruces, Doña Ana County, close to Rio Grande, the White Sands desert and the Organ Mountains. The state has recently been included into the United States of America.
Las Cruces is on the American frontier, a community trying to establish law and order in the middle of the wild. The railway is prospected to reach the town shortly, and the town is frequented by groups of cowboys off-duty from their work herding cattle across the prairie.

Per

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

Oh, I'd play this for sure. Here are two suggestions, which may or may not fit for you, so ignore or season to taste.

1. Play down the mythical stuff. Stay away from the gamer-culture notion of taking a historical period and adding "magic," and aim more toward the celebration of the look and feel with haunting echoes or implications.

2. Play up the demons. This does not contradict #1. Demons are not "magic," or part of the setting in any comfortable way. A related point: your description of "what is a sorcerer" is pretty weak, and I anticipate that players will either stick to gamer-like magic ("I'm a medicine man") or toss it all in your lap ("Uh, I found this demon and Bound it, I dunno why, and I dunno what it is").

Best,
Ron

[Per Fischer]

Yup, I hear ya loud and clear. I struggled with the Sorcerer definition, and it is damned weak. I am just re-reading the introduction to the game in the first Sorcerer book - that's the exact part I think the players don't get yet - and I haven't been able to convey it to them until now.

As I don't know the players at all, really, I need all the anti-gamer-culture ammo I can get. I do need to get them all away from the notion of their sorcerer being a "magic user".

The historical fundament was chosen because one of the players, who was opposed to "westerns" initially, was afraid that it would al lead to a lot of western cliches and get stale quickly. This way I can throw Billy the Kid, the Pinkertons, railroad barons, mexican soldiers, Apaches and Navajos and pueblos into the mix if necessary.

Per