[Sorcerer] - Help - Slaves to the Rhythm

[Darcy Burgess]

Hi,

I'm working on developing a sorcerer game.  In fact, its genesis is detailed here.  I'm pretty stoked about the basic idea, but I'm at loggerheads about the definition of humanity (I've always had trouble with that one -- it always seems 'overworked' by the time I'm done with it.)

Two questions:

• Help me with a Humanity definition, please.
• Suggestions for Bangs for the 4-hour game would be great.

If you have suggestions or thoughts about running this as a con demo, please post them in the thread I linked to above.  This thread is for discussion of the game itself.


Slaves to the Rhythm

Setting: High School -- default is circa 1990 (aka when I went), however, player(s) may customize this by concensus.

Demons: are music.  In fact, they're the pop music of the day.  They're parasitic and invest their hosts with eerie powers.

Sorcerers: are kids, and only kids.  Kids with wild hormones and strong emotions.

What Sorcery looks like/is: nothing that we (from our current frame of reference) would pigeonhole as all that unusual.  Think of a time when you and your friends said "I can't believe that so-and-so did such-and-such!".  That was sorcery.  Although demons (in terms of game mechanics) make characters wildly more powerful, that power manifests itself in the fiction as completely "believable" acts, although most would characterize them as "extreme".  However, the conceit is that these actions only happen as a result of sorcery.

10-minute demo
1 or 2 players (2 preferred)
Both main characters are sorcerers.  One is the picked-on wallflower, the other the secretly self-conscious Jock (who of course, picks on the wallflower).  It's prom (which means that the music is pumping!).  Bang: The Jock's girlfriend feels sorry for the Wallflower and asks him/her to dance.

4-hour game
Picks up exactly where the demo leaves off.  Characters are friends and enemies of the 2 PCs from the demo.  Some retooling of specific era will be possible (say, if players want to shift it from 1990 to 2000 or 1970 or whatever).  I'm expecting the events of the demo to factor very highly into characters' kickers.

[James_Nostack]

Humanity is . . . Self-Respect.

You earn rolls to gain Humanity by:
* Telling off your unfair parents, sadistic teachers, and bullies
* Engaging in self-directed art (i.e., forming a band/writing poetry/painting, but not for school)
* Doing really well in sports
* Sticking by your friends when they need you
* Having your romantic feelings reciprocated
* Getting your Driver's License

You're saddled with rolls to lose Humanity by:
* Going along with particularly absurd high school rituals
* Dealing with people who complement you on your performance w/o understanding it
* Doing really poorly in sports (if male); I'm not sure what the equivalent is for high school girls
* Squealing on your friends
* Having the romantic feelings go unreciprocated, and humiliating yourself in the process
* Being so sexually promiscuous that nobody respects you
* Publicly mock/deny your own less-cool family or friends

At Humanity 0:
* Your character commits suicide.

...etc.  There's probably grounds for using a double definition of Humanity, like Sanity, because the whole High School thing is completely insane in retrospect, and it's possible that sanity and reason are, in fact, hindrances in making it through.  But whatever, that's too complicated for a Con Demo.

Stamina Descriptors:
* Jock
* Couch Potato
* Skank
* Stoner
* Clean-cut

Will Descriptors:
* Captain
* Nerd
* Lover
* Goth
* Delinquent
* Believer

Lore Descriptors:
* Comfortably Numb
* Jeremey
* Gin & Juice
* Loser
* Fu:r Elise

I'm not sure what the Sorcerous rituals should look like here.  I'm thinking that maybe sorcerers are the most famous (or infamous) students at school: the ones who get written up in the newspaper, either for academic achievement, criminal activity, family scandals, or whatever.  But I'm not sure how that translates to the demon concepts you have in mind.

[Darcy Burgess]

Hi James,

Very cool stuff, thanks a million!  That's got the wheels spinning, and in fruitful directions.  I'm thinking of taking the Self-Respect angle and opening it up -- Survival?  Play on that whole notion that High School is something to be overcome?

That doesn't work though, does it?  Because it circumvents the "at what cost" question.

Hrmph.

I guess what I'm resisting is the very targeted nature of "self-respect".  It's so...narrow.

On the other hand, I love the idea of musical flavours playing a role in lore.

Cheers,
Darcy

[James_Nostack]

Darcy:

Two ways to think about Humanity definitions.

First way - the operational way - what are the behaviors you'd like to see in the game?  Which ones are things that you'd like to reward?  Which are things you'd like to punish?  Figure out what connects them, and go for it.

Second way - the personal way - think back to high school.  Who are the people you (now) admire most?  Who are the people you (now) despise?  Figure out the common thread, and go for it. 

The difficulty I often have with Humanity definitions is that a single word is seldom captures the richness of the connotation, and I'm like, "Eh, well, kind of, but more like, you know, (waves hands in a vague gesture)."  But sometimes the obvious choice is the best one. 

Looking back on it, high school was a desperate attempt to develop and maintain my integrity and human decency in an environment where those qualities have almost zero value.

[Arturo G.]

Sounds very nice.

Sorcery rituals could be associated with many teenager's initiating rites and gang behaviors. Social acceptance based on listening to what others listen. But even other derived activities, like ripping your clothes like the fans of a given group are possible. Compulsively preparing at home collages with the photographs of artist, etc. Of course, attend to discos and concerts may derive in great communal rituals.
Many nowadays common things may get a lot of meaning. Like listening music using an MP3 player while on the bus.

But what really makes me shiver is the radio stations' role. What are their intentions?

[Darcy Burgess]

Hi James,

I'm starting to think in terms of Self.  This has a number of interesting touchstones:

• self-control
• self-respect
• self-knowing
• self-assuredness

Which all naturally lend themselves towards Humanity gains & losses.

Cheers!
Darcy

[Darcy Burgess]

Hi Arturo,

I like your suggestions -- the concept of using an initiation rite as a ritual is grand!  What I really like about your suggestions is that they aren't flamboyant or "sorcerer-ish".  That fits in very well with the concept of what demons & sorcerery look like (the special effects dial turned down low).

Although I'll probably script out what the demo PCs sorcery is like, I think I will leave the exact nature of the long-format game in the hands of the players.  However, you can bet that I'll be mining your suggestions!

Cheers,
Darcy

[Darcy Burgess]

I've had some more exciting thoughts about Slaves...

• Given: various demos will end differently.
  Also given: players from various demos will likely be playing in the same 4-hour game.
  Result: potential contradiction in the "facts" about what went on.
  Awesome way to use this: each different demo result represents the "truth" from a given character's perspective.  Obviously, some minor editing of the facts may be necessary (ie: Little Johnny had his neck snapped, rather than his head bashed in...)  This approach was inspired in no small way by the way Jason re-characterizes Rose Cleveland in Grover Cleveland, based on who is playing her.
  
  
• Add self-expression to the list of key Humanity elements.
  
  
• The whole "sense of self" as something to be preserved really speaks very loudly to the sorts of bangs to start throwing at players.  I need to start finding ways to make the sorcerers buckle under peer pressure.  This also reinforces the whole "teen ritual" / "sorcerous ritual" parallel -- sorcery as manisfestation of peer pressure.  Yay!