The Forge Archives

Well, I finally got my very first Sorcerer game going last Saturday and  I have to say so far everyone in the group loves it - and to get 10 gamers (11 if you count me) to all agree, well... that's saying something.

We'd had two short sessions prior to this one to make characters, go over the system, layout the world they will be in and get answers to questions they had.  I must admit that the group and I were a bit nervious to try it out, but we threw ourselves at it this last game and it was a blast.

I'm using a lot of Delta Green with a touch of Nephilim and some Suppressed Transmission (Ken Hite) for source material along with my own creations mixed in, and so far things are working just the way the group and I wanted them to.

Quite simply I haven't been impressed by a system in quite a while so I wanted to throw a compliment to Ron and eveyone else on the Sorcerer forum - you guys gave me some good ideas and helped make my first Sorcerer game fun.  Thank you!

-Time

Hi Time!!

Good news all 'round - but Jesus eatin' beans, man, ten players?? How are you managing that?

Sounds like we need to be learning from you.

Best,
Ron

Hey Time,

I too would be interested to know how Sorcerer is working for you on the Mega-Group level.  My Deadlands game consists of about 10 players as well.  But, thankfully only about half of them actually work on the full-on 'I am a protagonist' level.  So really I have 5 PC protagonists and their 5 PC sidekicks which works out nicely.

However, the Deadlands system doesn't even come CLOSE to demanding the amount of emotional commitment that Sorcerer does from each and every single player.  God forbid there should ever be more than 3 players involved in a fight together.  So just how are you managing it?

Jesse

Time,

I must say I'm impressed.  I just started running a Sorcerer and Sword game, for three people.  THREE people,  I couldn't imagine running with 5 or 6 let alone ten.  All I can say is wow

The group I'm playing with I've been GMing for them for 10 years now.  We were a very solid White Wolf group for most of that time - playing Vampire mostly.  Durring that time the group has fluxed from 8-13 players.  10 is the solid number that we've been able to keep for a while now what with folks getting jobs, leaving colege and moving away.

How do we handle the large group?  Well the first thing (and I think it's the most important bit) is that we all want the same type of game - how do I know this?  I've asked them.

Everyone basically likes G/N type gaming and we are willing to work together to make that happen.  Every new player that wants in on the game will be told to first watch at least one session so they can get the idea of how we play and what our style is.  We also reserve the right to ask someone to leave if they are not fitting in - may sound harsh to some, but to me it's the best way to maintain a game group.  If we have the same goals we will all game well together.

The other thing that I have with the players is trust.  They trust me to be fair and honest.  Sure, NPCs lie, cheat, rob, murder, and so on, but they know that everything I do has a reason - even if the reason is simply a red herring or to throw them off track.  They players want (I know this because I've asked them and they've told me) a game with multiple layers of plot - deep philisophical ideas such as questioning one's soul and humanity.

Trust also works on my end of the table.  I trust them to follow the rules fo the game - sure they will push the edge of what the rules allow ("What if I do this?"), but I trust that they will not do it to simply be jerks, to see what they can get away with or to try and trip me up.  

The players are also very happy to "play amoungst themsevles" while I'm busiy with someone else.  While I'm off doing whatever with another player, the rest of the PCs will get together to compare notes, plot, plan and game - all the while staying in character as best they can.  I encourage this by giving each player in the course of the game different bits of the plot.  Each person often knows something the others don't so they have learned that it's helpful to try and get info from each other.

I try and run combat as fast and furious as I can.  I don't want to give the players time to think too long on anything.  Combat, to me, is quick and painful and I try and get that across to the players.

Me: "The agent spins towards you and levels his gun at your head - what do you do?"

PC1: "I'm gonna..."

Me: "QUICK or your dead!"

PC1: "I drop into a leg sweep and try to knock him off balance..."

I demand that decisions are made quickly.  If you take too long I skip you and you've lost that turn - I might even take dice away from your next acation.  The players have gotten very quick and descriptive to get bonus dice and stay alive.

What do we do wrong?  Obviously, we've got problems from time to time.  We've broken down into fits of Python, depating this author over that author or discussing the latest movie.  We've had a few personality conflicts over the years - but for the most part we are all friends and we are there to game.  We only meet once a month so we game for about 8hrs each session, taking breaks to let me pull my thoughts together and to let us relax and BS for a bit on things like movies and what's happend in our lives.

Well, that's basically what the group is like and part of what we do to make it work with 10 people.  I'll be happy to clarify if anyone wants more info.

-Time

So what happened in that first run? What sort of Sorcerer stuff is going on - demons, rituals, Humanity? Now I'm interested in some of the details.

Best,
Ron

The PCs were set up with their first demons during character creation, but they did want to try it out in the "live" game so they were all waiting for a chance to give it a shot.  They were worried about it, but wanted to try it - kinda like "the first kiss."

Every chance they got they were playing up their demon's needs and desires (they didn't want to give me a chance to have their demons refuse orders).  It was great.  One of the PCs was designed as a total neat freak - compulsive to the point of mental illness - his demon, of course, likes chaos.  
In the middle of a very fancy dinner, lots of rich and powerful around him, he gets up and yanks the table cloth out from under the plates.  Food and wine everywhere, guests covered in food.  The other PCs were at the dinner and as they'd never seen him act like this before, and had no idea of his demon's need, they were all starring at him, mouths open as he then calmly sat back down and started eating again.

After meeting and dealing with some of the NPCs a group of the PCs decided they wanted to form a little coven of their own for protection/self preservation.  They wanted a demon that would live in each of them and allow them to have some "cell phone" style communication between each other - they called up a parasite with spawn powers (along with some things that they haven't found out yet, heh heh) and got that job done.

They ran into a nasy item demon named Joshua that has them scared to death.  He's a pair of Thumb screws (the kind they used to bind witches) and from what they can tell he's built to destroy Sorcerers.  

Two of my PCs are shaman types so when they wanted to banish an enemy Sorcerer's demon that was causig problems they each showed me they had done their homework.  They created a native style ritual on the spot - based on the beliefs they had layed out for me durring character creation and worked up some serious bonus dice.  I was very impressed.

A few players realized that seeing a Sorcerer isn't the easiest thing in the world, and they didn't like the fact that they were in the dark - they thought it would be easier to simply summon up a demon that would help them spot others.  They rolled very well and the summoning and binding went off without a hitch... this time.

So far they have met 2 NPC Sorcerers and they think they may very well be the only ones in the world (or at least they understand that Sorcerer skills don't come in a box of Cracker Jacks).  The players are being very secrative with their demons - no one fully trusts anyone else in the group nor the NPCs and they don't want to loose their edge (even those who formed a coven did it to basically follow the old saying "Keep your friends close, and your enemys closer").

Humanity was close for a few of them, but they are doing their best to work with "weak" demons (weak as far as they know that is) to try and hold on.  After summoning a few demons the group saw how important it is - but it won't take long and someone is going to loose a few points.  Humanity is being used as Sanity and Ethics (right and wrong) - the PC don't want to loose their Sanity, but they are having a lot of ethics struggles due to the situations they are finding themselves in.

As a side note I'm very happy with the level of role playing that the game is bringing out in my group.  They were able to make PCs that they really wanted and they are doing their best to get into the PC's head and try to do as the PC would.

-Time

Hi there,

I can only say that it sounds like a really great time.

OK, I lied. I can also say a couple of other things, which you probably already know. It helps playing Sorcerer a great deal if the players are rock solid on them too.

1) No Humanity score above 0 has any necessary impact on a person's behavior. It's not like Sanity in Call of Cthulhu or Humanity in Cyberpunk or Obsidian, which model behavior.

2) Reversals of moral standards, in either direction, are a very cool element of play - when someone decides either to straighten up and fly right, or conversely to damn the torpedos. With the number of people you have in play, a few player-characters may be pulling these reversals at the same time, which strikes me like an astoundingly good time.

Best,
Ron

"1) No Humanity score above 0 has any necessary impact on a person's behavior. It's not like Sanity in Call of Cthulhu or Humanity in Cyberpunk or Obsidian, which model behavior. "

That was difficult to get across at first to the group.  Having been Vampire gamers for a long time we were all thinking Storyteller system when we thought of Humanity - I think we've got it down now.  I beat the Sorcerer definition into my mind and the players are all fairly solid on it too, but I think it would be good to remind them from time to time.  Doing that will help get their minds focused, and help me stay focused as well.  Good point.

Reversing moral standards is very cool.  I do have some players pulling the reversals at the same time.  Peaceful and non confrontational and then suddenly hateful and wanting to kill the offending party.  Two of them actually pulled that on another player - it was fun to watch.  I do try and do this type of thing with my NPCs as well - helps to make them more multi-dimentinal I think.

-Time