Playing NAR for the First Time

[Yokiboy]

Hello,

I am about to try a NAR campaign for the very first time, Sorcerer specifically. What suggestions do you have for me, of things I must keep in mind?

I currently have 6 players in my group, but NAR games seem geared towards smaller groups, does your experience back this up?

Is there any sort of checklist of things I should make sure we've covered before commencing with the game?

Lastly, and this is my most troublesome question - but it might answer itself after campaign prep and character creation, what about the Bangs, how do you come up with them? I would've enjoyed a few potential, sample Bangs for the many adventure write-ups in the Sorcerer books, just as examples for how I do this myself. What did you do in your games?

[Like I said, the Bang question might answer itself upon sitting down with the group to plan out the campaign and create their characters, I'm sure my head will be spinning with cool scenes and events that will make up great Bangs, but I'd still like some more examples.]

TTFN,

Yokiboy

[Trevis Martin]

Hi Yokiboy,

Don't push it, just play the system as written.  It'll work all by itself.   Decide your definition of humanity, something simple like 'compassion for the weak,'Trust in other people or as Ron has suggested in another thread 'Don't be a dick.' and that you have a good instinct for what acts will cause a roll.  Make sure you've got a good idea of the backstory and that the characters have solid kickers.  Once the characters are all created get together your bangs.  Try to make them situations in which, whatever choice the player makes, the results will be interesting. Remember that not all scenes have to be bangs.  Several of them will be consequences and resoutions of bangs.  Watch for engagment at the table and play to it.  Tie in to the NPC's that the players make up for their characters and play them like they were your own, especially the Demons.   I find that in sorcerer I play NPC's more like they were my own PC's than usual

That's sort of a disorganized plethora of advice.  I hope it helps.

Trevis

[Yokiboy]

Hi Trevis,

I appreciate your input, thanks. We have yet to settle on details such as what constitutes Humanity and what are Demons, but we'll get there next session. However, how do you actually manage to tie some kickers to the backstory, or do you come up with the backstory together with the players, in such details that they already know what the Relationship Map looks like?

I was keeping the three sample backstories and Relationship Maps in mind when we as a group were discussing how much fun we could have with Kickers, but some suggestions I would have a hard time fitting into a the map. Must all kickers be tied to a Relationship Map, or could I have the character just stumble into the backstory and, hopefully, get sucked in regardless, while resolving his Kicker on the side?

Actually, reflecting on what I just wrote I would say you must tie Kickers to the backstory or the other characters or you'd have one lost PC. Things will probably get clearer as we actually sit down to design our campaign.

Anyone have feedback on the number of players in my group, do you think running a NAR game works for a group with 6 players? What's your experience running NAR games?

TTFN,

Yokiboy

[JamesDJIII]

Yokiboy asked:

Actually, reflecting on what I just wrote I would say you must tie Kickers to the backstory or the other characters or you'd have one lost PC.

As I have come to understand it, it's not that you tie player Kickers into anything at all. The backstory functions a context in which the Kickers occur. If anything, the backstory must be tied into them (the Kickers).

This is a massive, massive paradigm shift from modes of play where the GM provides "what's happening" and the players jump on. I'm still struggling with the details myself, but I'm very excited by it. Excited in a way I haven't felt for years by gaming in general. But that's another thread...

Keep plunging into the Forge. There are tons and tons of helpful threads regarding just this topic. Trust me, I'm in a good number of them asking the same sorts of questions. And so have many others. Welcome to the club of neophyte Sorcerer-GMs.

Based on the one instance of Actual Play with Sorcerer, I'd say any number of players are fine as long as they all show up commited to becoming active protagonists.

That help any?

[Trevis Martin]

I suggest, from experience, that coming up with some of this stuff as a group does not necessarily mean going in to them with nothing selected.  The first time I tried to decide humanity with my group they kinda just stared at me. Paralysis of a new system and too many choices. I think the best thing to do is to be a leader.  Decide what humanity definition, demons and sorcererous rituals are like, somehting that jazzes you, and then present them for any adjustments by the group.  You are a player too and  you have to be comfortable with whats being run or it'll be hard for you to do it well.  

Defining how sorcererous rituals look and feel is vital because the players will neeed an idea of that to improvise details that they need for getting bonus dice on ritual rolls.  We left it vague in my first game and players had a really hard time with it.

Collect the players and their kickers before the backstory, I think is the easiest. The players should come up with a few NPC's related to their characters (its in the char creation chapter, making NPC's relevant to different areas of thier lives.)  The back of the sorcerer sheet is really helpful for seeing how tightly these things tie together for individual characters.  The more tightly wound they are the more energy their interaction is going to have.  You'll also be able to see little 'knots' on that sheet, places where a lot of things come together, that gives you an idea of where the character is focused.

Once you've got that and the kickers you'll already have a lot going on and you'll have a good idea of what the players are wanting to see, if the kickers are weak then the players are asking you to spike it for them.  Figure out the backstory and r-map if you want to use one and tie the players into the rmap through the NPC's they made.  Then whatever event happens will reverberate through all of the players through their connections.   Remember that the people in the rmap will want to spill their guts to the characters for their own reasons.  You don't have to hold back on information.

The kickers don't have to have anything with the backstory but the elements and characters the kicker involves will cross with the others somehow.

BTW:  My first game had 5 players in it.  A little more than is recommended but it went pretty well anyway.

regards,

Trevis

[Yokiboy]

Hello,

Thanks for the help Trevis and JamesDJIII. I have worked out most of my issues in the Adept Press forum, but your input here was also much appreciated.

Please check out my thread in the Adept Press forum if you're interested in what I've come up with so far, I've shared the characters and a few other details, but with more to come.

TTFN,

Yokiboy