[Sorcerer] First Date: The Session

[Doyce]

Shannon immediately chastised Bister for not helping her out more and told it to get into the hallway fight now.

I meant to mention this before, but I keep forgetting -- We ran into a... well, suspension of disbelief problem during Shannon's fight because Bister was right there and didn't do anything to help Shannon because it hadn't been ordered to fight the demon or help her -- she hadn't had a chance to order Bister to attack, since she was getting smacked around.

How are folks playing this?  Recognizing both that Demon's are somewhat free-willed and that there are specific rules stating that ordering them to do something take an entire (valuable) action in combat, how much initiative can they be assumed to have in a situation like this?  I can see arguments for the teamster-union "it ain't in my contract" sitting-on-their-butt until ordered otherwise all the way to a more proactive 'retainer' type of thing.

Thoughts? How does it play in your game?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Doyce,

Remember: you play the demons. That means that they do things, or they don't do things, because you decide based on your own engagement with their presence in the imaginary situation.. Demons are never "uh, whatever" - they intensely, intensely contribute to situations. If a demon lets its master get smacked around, it has a reason.

Best,
Ron

[Doyce]

And that right there is why I need to stop playing combat-heavy sim games for a little while.

Nothing wrong with them, but they accustom me to (a) taking things literally (b) treating the demon as an unintelligent spell instead of a living, breathing NPC in a disfunctional relationship.  

As fun as the game is, it's so much MORE fun when I remember that.  Seriously, it just makes me grin every time.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Doyce,

I think you got it, but just for historical and more-angles-on-it thinking, check out Role-playing Object demons, That's a lot of demons, and Love, demons, and a desperate cry for help.

Best,
Ron

[Nev the Deranged]

Have you considered taking the cue from Sorcerer and Soul (or was it Sex and Sorcery? Someone's borrowing my copies or I'd look it up) of using BOTH Mastery and Empathy as Humanity definitions for BOTH (all) characters? Not sure how well this might work, but nobody else had mentioned it so I thought I'd throw it in there.

NtD