Sorcerer Play-by-Post

[Lxndr]

I'm running a play-by-post Sorcerer game right now called "Razing Arizona" and thought others might be interested in peeking at it.  If anyone wants to have posting access to the OOC forum, feel free to send a "Request to Join" and I'll hook you up.  The "pre-game roundtable" thread is closed now, but was basically my attempt at communal character generation.  I think it worked out pretty well.

It's set in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the punny name).  It's got a Kultish/Matrix "this world is an illusion" bent, with a Cthulhian "the real universe behind the illusion will drive you mad" aftertaste.  Demons are manifestations of the cracks in the illusion, of the glimpses into the beyond.  My four players are:

[*]Ross Kohlmann (played by Trevis), an artist (and rising star) whose demon is his paintbrush.
[*]Edward Slade (played by Delta1), an ex-biker now working as a mechanic.  His demon is his motorcycle, which he stole from the sorcerous leader of his former gang.
[*]Lacey Jackson (played by my gf), a woman whose goal is to be a world-reknown TV journalist.  She's pretty, and even has some minor talent, and is ruthless enough to have slept her way through school (and into her first job).  Her demon is her television, which just started talking to her one day.
[*]Evgeny Mancheyko (played by another person I know), a russian hit-man who's now on the run because he stumbled across something he wasn't meant to see (namely, a russian mob boss doing his own sorcerous stuff).  Using some half-forgotten russian folklore, he's conjured up a demon/kobold that has chosen to inhabit electronic devices.
[/list:u]

The game is going pretty swimmingly, all things being equal.  I don't really have any questions about it or anything.  But I thought that others might be interested in poking into the game, and examining it... so here it is, for all of you to see.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Alexander,

I really like this so far.

The Humanity opposed to the Truth thread seems right in line with what you're talking about. To some extent, these might be interesting too:
Where is "Not-Here?"
Not-Here, Not Here-And-Now Plus Demons, and NaN

Best,
Ron

[Valamir]

question, was the prevelence of object demons setting specific, or did it just wind up that way.

Personally, if I ever run Sorcerer again I think I'll ban object demons (except for Charnal Gods, oc), its just too hard for me as GM to roleplay a set of car keys or the like.

[Lxndr]

Valamir>  It just sorta... happened, that way.  Nothing specific to the setting, just what the players, as a group, seemed to gravitate towards.  The TV can talk, and the motorcycle can drive itself and make nifty revving noises (so it's like a demonic Herbie the Love Bug), and the russian's demon is technically an "Inconspicuous" (though it could have been created as an Object with Hop).  My biggest worry in terms of actually-running-it is the paintbrush demon.

Ron>  The "humanity opposed to the truth" thread was one of my big inspirations (over time, I've poked through every page of this forum, and most threads on each page).  I like the "not-here" stuff too.

[Mike Holmes]

My biggest worry in terms of actually-running-it is the paintbrush demon.

Well, if the powers are linked to using the paintbrush (hint comes to mind as paintings with a message), then it seems to be pretty straightforward. When "employed" the brush causes pictures to occur to it's whim - the painter can think what he likes. Anyhow, as they say about pictures being worth a thousand words, this should work well as a form of communication, I'd think.

Mike

[Trevis Martin]

Actually I, as the player, envisioned the paintbrush moving around when he isn't looking (not really like travel in a dramatic way, just that way objects have of moving when you aren't looking)  and leaving messages written in obscure runes that Ross would have to interpret with his lore rolls.  Or Ross doing a  form of automatic writing with it with similar results.  Oops, demon powers stopped?  Hmm...ask it why.

I really like it so far.  One of the advantages of the written medium I think is including thoughts in the postings.  Everyone check it out!

regards,

Trevis

[Tim Alexander]

Hey Folks,

I've only gotten as far as some of the character development, but I'm really excited to see where things go. I'll definately be tuning in for the play by play. Thanks for the inadvertent point in the direction of rpol.net, as well. It's a neat service.

-Tim

[Lxndr]

The point to rpol wasn't inadvertent, it just wasn't the central point of the post; trust me, I knew what I was doing.  I even fought long and hard over there, and now there's a "Sorcerer" dicing option in the dice roller, when before the designer of the board insisted that you only ever needed to total dice together or look at a fixed target number.  It even sorts the dice from highest to lowest!!

I like RPOL, overall.  It doesn't quiet work as he advertises it (especially the "you join a game, THEN you create a character" part, but I made that work anyway by giving the players characters with their own names), but it works pretty darned close.

Yeah, I don't think I'll have much problem with the paintbrush, I just feel that, of the three Object demons the players picked, the paintbrush is the "most difficult."  It's not going to be "very hard" I don't believe, just "harder than the other two."  In general, I think I'm getting a good handle on this game.  The play-by-post format, being slower, is nice 'cause you can think more before EACH ACTION...  and you can edit what you think/say before it goes out... (and sometimes even afterwards).

[Trevis Martin]

Another thing I like about  the play by post is the way we can organize scenes into seperate threads.  Something not easily doable in PBEM.  It handles the 'scattered but connected' quality of Sorcerer stories very well I think.  Though it is a bit more work for the GM.   I just switched my PBP Castle Falkenstein game over to a Wiki with a similar organization inspired by being in this game.  I like it much.

And definately Kudos to Alex for fighting for the Sorcerer Dice option (which of course could be used for Donjon, as its essentially the same mechanic.)


regards,

Trevis.

[Tim Alexander]

The point to rpol wasn't inadvertent, it just wasn't the central point of the post; trust me, I knew what I was doing.

Ahhhh, very subtle, but evidently successful. I hadn't even looked at the dice stuff, it's sounding nicer and nicer by the minute, even with the limitations.

The play-by-post format, being slower, is nice 'cause you can think more before EACH ACTION...  and you can edit what you think/say before it goes out... (and sometimes even afterwards).

As a soon to be new Sorcerer GM, this is really attractive. You lose some of the dynamic feel you get in person, but the measured pacing is nice when you're still settling things. I've also had mixed success with PBM, but have folks whose geography makes playing together in person impractical. This seems to take care of a lot of the relevent issues.

In any event, I'm interested to see how stuff works out, and especially interested to see where the rough spots arise if their are any.

-Tim

[Lxndr]

One of my four players had to bail (real life issues) and I wouldn't mind having a replacement.  If anyone is interested, please send a "Request to Join" to me through rpol.

[Lxndr]

And thank you for the quick response, Tim (talex).  Now you'll get first-hand experience in both the pros and cons of play-by-post.