Love Noir Sorcerer - Pregame

[jeffd]

Background
I've decided to take the plunge and run Sorcerer.  I've also decided I'm going to chronicle the progress of the game from my intitial conception and ideas (which I'll post about here) on to actual session logs (which I'll put into Actual Play).  The reasons I'm doing this are:

1)  Just for my own edification.  It'd be interesting to me to have a real record of what I was thinking about the game when I started and compare contrast that with how things turned out.
2)  In case anyone else is bored and wants to read about it.
3)  To get feedback from the Forge about what I'm doing - advice, criticism, compliments, whatever.
4)  When I'm done I'll link my players to the threads so they can have an idea of what went on "behind the scenes" of the game.  

Yeah, frankly this idea was more than a bit inspired by the old "Art Deco Melodrama" threads.  They were great stuff, I'm hoping that maybe I can contribute as well.

I've invited three players to play.  Wolf and Jen are from my Fading Suns game and are two of the finest roleplayers I know.  Bjorne is an acquaintence of mine I've played with and would like to some more.  All of us know each other socially seperate from gaming.  

Anyway, this is the first post in the series.  I'm going to spell out the Social Contract I'm proposing (at this point this is just stuff I want and its non-negotiable for the most part).  I'm also going to just note the ideas I'm having for the game as far as premise, setting, etc go as well as noting what's influenced me when applicable.  

Social Contract Stuff
1)  You are responsible for involving your character.  
2)  Everything happens at the game table.  In other words, there's no taking the GM or other players aside for private roleplaying.  We're all good enough to seperate our knowledge from our character's knowledge.
3)  We will collaborate on character backgrounds.  This doesn't mean that Wolf can tell Bjorne how his character has to be, it just means Wolf will be aware of it.  I want the players to be interested in one anothers characters and individual stories.  When I'm roleplaying one on one with Bjorne, I don't want Wolf and Jen to get bored and go talk about movies or books or grab more cheetos or go out for a smoke; I want you guys to be sitting there riveted by what's happening and rooting for Bjorne's character.
4)  We aren't going to have a set schedule; all I want is a commitment to play at least once per month.  We're all very busy with work, life, other games, etc - I don't want this game to be something we go to out of a sense of obligation.  That said, let's be commited to playing at least once a month.  I foresee the game being five or six sessions long.  At this point I don't know how long those sessions will be - that's largely dependent on you guys.  

Premise Stuff

Love Noir.  The Love part is the real theme - what is love worth, what do you do for love, how do you deal with love and it's attendant baggage (betrayal, jealousy, posessiveness, heartache, etc).  What's a Sorcerer do when he gets dumped?  Or when she finds out her husband was cheating on her?  Or when he wants a woman who doesn't want him?

The Noir part really has to do with setting and style.  We're in a modern day noirish NYC (if you've played Max Payne you've got the idea).  It's always nighttime - the closest you get to daylight is a rainy dawn or a cloudy dusk.  The city itself is alive - brooding buildings, steaming breath, wind groaning through the concrete canyons.  Passion, betrayal, secrets - all that stuff is what I'm looking for.  

For Humanity I'm thinking empathy.  Specifically I'm thinking of stuff like a humanity check when you betray love, or participate in its betrayal (seducing a happily married man and ruining his family).  Demons I'm imagining as being somehow emotion based.  This is all really sketchy though.  

So that's where I am right now.  The next step is to meet up with the players after the holidays and hash out the details of the premise and setting and start talking character.  One thing I'm going to do before then is email out a bit of a survey about their previous roleplaying experiences - just stuff like how'd they cut there teeth, what was their favorite game and why, what was their favorite character and why.  That stuff is mostly for the edification of the Forge readers - to get an idea of what kind of Creative Agendas the players usually pursue.  

Finally, Ron do you mind if I throw up a webpage explaining the basics of Sorcerer's rules?  I'm mainly interested in quick blurbs about exactly what's on the character sheet, what the different rituals are, etc.  Mainly so my players can come to the table with the background to be able to make good productive suggestions.

JD

[Ron Edwards]

Wow!

Jeff, this is great stuff.

Here's my one suggestion about your pre-player prep - come up with some kind of aesthetic framework for demons. What might they look like, smell like, be like? How would they be filmed or illustrated?

Let that description be subject to players' interpretations and feedback, but do come up with something for them to see.

And yes, go ahead and set up a website; just don't link to it from anywhere.

Best,
Ron

[jeffd]

Here's my one suggestion about your pre-player prep - come up with some kind of aesthetic framework for demons. What might they look like, smell like, be like? How would they be filmed or illustrated?

I was actually mulling this over earlier today - I was thinking that Demons could somehow be linked to emotions.  So say we've got a demon based on Wrath - as a Passer it'd be an angry, short tempered type.  As an object it would be a tool of violence - a knife or a gun or something.  As an inconspicuous it might be a roiling cloud of noxious looking gass.  Or we've got a demon based off of Woe - as a Passer we've got someone who just looks sad and morose; shoulders slumped, eyes downcast.  As an Inconspicuous we've got a gray cloud - the kind of stuff that when I look out my office window during the rainy season that just makes me sigh.  

I think though the way I approach the imagery of Demons is to first figure out what demons are.  Given that our theme is dealing with Love and all its baggage I'd like Demons to somehow be hooked into it.  

JD

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

the way I approach the imagery of Demons is to first figure out what demons are

Maaaaaybe. That has its merits, although with many role-players, I've found that their fascination with this kind of prep tends to take over, and they continue defining and refining long after the point to turn it over to the players has passed.

So, you have Passers who look like people, objects whose use parallels Desires, and clouds. Seems kind of mild, to me. What is especially, you know, demonic about these things?

If this were anime, you know they wouldn't just have "plain old boring" imagery. What would they look like, how would they be animated differently, what kind of squelching or howling or perhaps even pretty-music noises would accompany Summoning one of them?

I suggest anime as an imaginative kick-start because it's typically over-the-top. Once you get that under way, you can cut back to a more muted version ... the point is to have a version, however muted, of something.

Best,
Ron

[Judd]

This is kind of an odd one.  Bare with me.

What if Demons are disfunctional relationships.  Technically, the Demon is a Pass that goes from one lover, child, friend to the next and the character doesn't know they're the Demon.

Summoning is calling on an ex for a favor.

Lore is how well you think you know people and how to manipulate them.

Humanity stays empathy.

The players know what the Demons are and the Gm describes how they are lit differently and how the smoke from their cigarette arcs around them.  But the characters do not realize the preternatural hold these people have on them and even if they do, it doesn't help much.

I have a bad feeling this could end up making Sorcerer into a soap opera RPG and perhaps that isn't what you want.

An idea, thrown out there.

Good luck.