Some retro-FRPG Sorcerer (comments highly desired)

[Clinton R. Nixon]

On Monday nights in Seattle, Alan Barclay and I run what we call "Indie Game Night," a session where usually enough people for two groups show up and we run a different short game each week.

This week, Alan's sick, so his Hero Wars game is cancelled. Being the partner in crime, I may well have to pull something out of my ass to run. In the shower, I got this idea for the most stereotypical D&D game ever, ported to Sorcerer, of course. Here's my ideas at 10am - feel free to comment, help me out with ideas, or say, "Dude, that's a stinker."

The characters:

Warrior (male)
Stamina 6 (Savage-raised, big and vigorous)
Will 3 (Aristocrat)
Lore 1 (Naive)
Past 6 (Barbarian + Mercenary)
Humanity 6

Price: bad with women (-1 to all interactions, including combat, with women)
Telltale: His sword's runes are burnt into his palms.

Demon: big freaking sword
Type: Object
Stamina 4
Will 5
Lore 4
Power 5
Abilities: Special Damage (lethal), Armor (user: warrior), Vitality (user: warrior), Armor (user: demon)

Telltale: Huge black sword covered in runes.
Need: destroy other demons
Desire: mayhem

Wizard (female)
Stamina 2 (Arcane regimen)
Will 3 (Brush with the unknown)
Lore 5 (Adept)
Past 3 (Fortune-teller)
Humanity 3

Price: creepy voice (-1 to friendly interactions with others)
Telltale: shadow has cat ears and whiskers

Demon: black cat familiar
Type: Passing
Stamina 3
Will 6
Lore 5
Power 6
Abilities: Psychic Force (user: wizard, special effect: streaking green fire), Link, Warp (user: wizard), Hint, Perception (needs and desires)

Telltale: Hermaphroditic cat
Need: to be fed milk from its master's mouth once per day
Desire: sensual gratification

Cleric (male)
Stamina 2 (Clean living)
Will 5 (Belief system, leader of men)
Lore 3 (Apprentice)
Past 5 (Priest of Elxan)
Humanity 5

Price: pacifist (-1 to any offensive combat action)
Telltale: golden hair and eyes

Demon: Avatar of Elxan
Type: Inconspicious (normally, a mote of light; can expand into man-sized being of pure light)
Stamina 5
Will 6
Lore 5
Power 6
Abilities: Ranged Hold (user: demon), Perception (pain and guilt), Vitality (special use: priest uses on others to remove penalties), Armor (user: demon)
Ron - can Vitality be used like this? I like it a lot, but it's a rules-stretch.

Telltale: it's a being of light
Need: to be worshipped in word and deed
Desire: Dominance

Half-fey thief (female)
Stamina 4 (Inhumanly natural vigor)
Will 4 (Zest for life)
Lore 3 (Half-breed)
Past 4 (Outlaw)
Humanity 3

Price: cannot abide cold iron (-1 to everything when touched with cold iron)
Telltale: pointed ears and hairy, wolf-like legs

Demon: fey blood
Type: Parasite
Stamina 3
Will 4
Lore 3
Power 4
Abilities: Cloak, Travel (from shadow to shadow), Shadow (all conferred on thief)

Telltale: same as thief's
Need: To steal
Desire: Mischief

The setup:

Notice I used four out of five demon types above. That's totally purposeful. I plan to use the fifth for the big villain. This scenario is actually based off of an Aberrant game I played in at a convention, and worked great for engaging players, by pitting them against each other.

A crazed sorcerer, Lum the Mad, has stolen the Key of Agthor, which he believes will open the gate to a hell-dimension which he can then rule. He is called Lum the Mad because he's willingly put a Possessor demon in himself, and his Humanity lives at zero pretty much all the time. His demon's needs and desires are pretty much his own, and either of them can be in control at any time. The only real difference is that Lum makes worse decisions.

Case in point: he's partnered with a huge Old One demon to steal this Key - the Old One is, surprise, a dragon. The dragon knows the Key will open a gate as well, but to the realm of his brethren, which Lum ain't controlling. Where do the characters come in? Their Kickers - which are a bit different from normal Sorcerer kickers, since I want to resolve them in one session.

Warrior: He just found out about this Key, which is, of course, a demon. He hunts demons for his sword to eat.
Wizard: This Key can supposedly open any portal, which will open the gates of her mind to greater and more powerful insights.
Cleric: Elxan himself appeared at the end of this guy's bed last night, commanding him to find the Key and bring it for safeguarding at the temple.
Thief: The thief was supposed to steal the Key herself, but Lum got it right under her nose - she even saw him for a second in the house where it was kept.

So, you've got four characters, all who want the Key for different reasons. All of these reasons are at odds - the warrior wants to destroy it, the cleric wants to safeguard it, the thief wants to steal it, and the wizard wants to get all arcane with it. However, none of them can get it alone - between Lum and the huge dragon, it's all sewed up in an abandoned mine outside of town. So - do they join together to get it, and then fight, or strike out on their own and face near certain peril?

That's it. Simple, direct, and straight from the pages of any D&D module. I actually think it'd be a great D&D game, but what I want to know is: would it make a fun night of introducing Sorcerer?

[Ron Edwards]

Hey,

The Vitality for which the demon is not the User is perfectly OK - the demon is Inconspicuous, so you don't even have to tweak the Parasite/Passer restrictions.

Best,
Ron

[Clinton R. Nixon]

We ended up with five people, so it was a Starchildren-only night, but as I developed this adventure today, it got damn good, with a sticky relationship map that made me crack up. I'm hoping to fill this out a bit more and present it as a finished Sorcerer scenario this week, suitable for taking to any game group.

[Nev the Deranged]

I have to say, that scenario sounds kickass.  I am particularly amused by Lum the Mad, who has some traits in common with my own Nev the Deranged, the main one being that you're never quite sure who's running the show behind Nev's hood and mask.  600 some odd years spent floating in the Void of Chaos (the nothing from which everything springs and to which everything returns) where naturally only demons can normally survive has left poor Nev with what I like to call an "open soul".  Anyone familiar with the real-life belief in "walk-ins" will recognize the concept- that Nev is there but has only a tenuous grip on his own mind/body.  At any moment, pretty much any aetherial entity flitting by can pop in for a spell and try him on for size, at least until he starts paying attention again and kicks it out.

But my character background aside, the game you describe sounds awesome.  I'd love to hear more when you actually get around to running it.

NtD