Last Girl on Earth wrap-up (JB's Sorcerer game)

[J B Bell]

This is the final thread about my Sorcerer game, which ran 7-8 sessions, IIRC.  The most recent thread is here.

I had anticipated perhaps some more play, but the players wrapped it up with a hell of a bang.  As those following the story know, the infamous Dr. D. was shot to little bits.  Last night there was not a lot of dice-rolling happening.  In spite of the chatty tone overall, a really spectacular, Buffy-grade ending was delivered, and the UPS guy with the goods turned out to be the player I had pegged as "difficult", Eli.

I will avoid doing the "and then this, and this" stuff.  The really cool bit was the Kicker and character retirement in one go.  Eli's PC, Teh, had in his possession a rather impressively powerful Necromantic Token (the knife he had killed his girlfriend with, worth about 7 dice), and of course, a de-Humanized, undead girlfriend with a taste for blood (not too original, but blood as a symbol of r-map ties was a strong presence in the game, so it fit).  He had resolved his old Kicker ("I was tricked into killing my girlfriend by a nasty bad man") and been delivered a new one ("and I got her back, and killed the bad man, but she's . . . different").

People were deciding how to dispose of Dr. D.'s body before the cops show up, and Eli blurted out "what if I sacrificed my own life to restore Marie's?"  A moment of quiet at the table, I said, "yeah, what if?" or words to that effect, and everyone planned out a ritual!  Ai ai ai.  I had told everyone I wanted to try InSpectres and other stuff when we could get to it, but they decided to just wrap it up.  Teh was skewered to Marie by a tearful Morgan, the happy couple led a full lifetime together a la Last Temptation of Christ in a few seconds, and Teh expired happy.  The Theme we had worked out, "obsessive love and hate", was delivered in spades, from a radically different quarter than I had expected.

Leaving a way angsty Marie, of course.  With her Need & Desire eliminated and fully restored Humanity so she could suffer over it all good and hard.  Oh, and the Token, used to restore life by the only people it could have done it for, blew away into motes of light, unmade.

It's funny because the way we all told it was not terribly spectacular.  But the image in my mind--well, this is going to be just one of those Gaming Moments I'll talk about for the rest of my life.

There are plenty of loose ends left--the mob and some secretive Necromantic bunch will be after our stalwart heroes, for one thing--but it's what a friend of mine once called a "morally complete story."  Everyone was noticeably satisfied, myself not least, and all said they really enjoyed it.  If we play again, Eli has a new character concept ready to go.

So, I'm very happy with this all.  It's been quite difficult running this game and letting my tight grip on control of the Mystery As I See It Happening, but what a great outcome.  Sure, it was cheesy, but cheesy in a good, heartful kinda way.

Thanks to all the Forge, and especially Ron of course, for seeing me this far.  This bboard really made such a fun & satisfying experience possible.

Coming in three weeks:  InSpectres, the Vancouver franchise!  "What do you mean, we can't get the plasmic phase reverser through Customs?!"

--JB

[Ron Edwards]

Hey JB,

Aaaaahhhh .... now that's the sound of a happy game designer. You used the system for its strengths. You discovered what elements of your gaming habits were hampering your goals. You took a risk in letting go of some control, and it paid off.

And you know something? When all was said and done, who was the story about? Compare the current answer to the answer you probably would have provided just before the first run ...

Best,
Ron