[Sorcerer One-Sheet] Alien Ghosts

[Gabe McKean]

I'll be running my first game of Sorcerer pretty soon. I have an idea for a sci-fi flavored game that I'll present to them later this week. This is my attempt at a one-sheet; if my players are jazzed about it I'll get their help to flesh the world out a bit more.

Alien Ghosts

Humans have begun colonizing a barely hospitable planet known only as SS-348. This planet likely would have been ignored if it were not for the discovery of deposits of magnetic monopoles on its surface. Monopoles, previously only available through an expensive artificial synthesis process, are vital to the construction of the jump gates that connect the colony worlds to Earth. Thousands of colonists have come seeking their fortune, settling in one of the newly constructed domed cities that provide protection from frequent energy stroms. People often venture out, to find and stake their claims to the monopole deposits, or for other reasons, but when some of them come back they are... changed.

You are one of them.

What Happened to You:
You were caught in an energy storm while outside, and were contacted by some kind of... entity, composed of energy from the storm. It spoke to you, told you it has the ability to take any form you wish, to give you any power you desire. It explained that it chose you because you have a potential that other humans lack, and that all it wants in return is the opportunity to learn about you and your race.

You took it up on its offer, and returned to the colony a changed person. Why?

Rules Customizations:
Your "demon" is used to represent the alien entity that has become bound to you. All demon types and ablities stay the same.

Your Humanity score represents your ability to relate to other humans, and their ability to relate to you. When it reaches 0, you are no longer fully human, and your presence will not be tolerated by other humans.

All entities have the same Need: to learn something new about you personally, or about humanity in general, on a regular basis. You may chose your entity's Desire.

The Rule of Secrecy is in full force; the aliens aren't ready to reveal themselves to the rest of humanity, yet.

Scores: Stamina and Will descriptors should be chosen from the list in the main Sorcerer book. If you want your character to be genetically or cybernetically enhanced, you may use the Humanity trading option from Sorcerer & Sword. Lore is replaced by Potential, a measure of whatever quality it is that draws the entities to you.

Rituals:
Contact- Used to find and travel to one of the energy storms that the aliens seem to come from, or alternately to "call" such a storm to come to you. Remember that the storms can be quite dangerous.
Summon- I don't think this one will be included in my game.
Bind- Unlike the book version, you specify the form and powers of the entity at the time of binding; before that point it appears to be just a blob of sentient energy. Only Potential may be used as a binding score, since that is what attracts the entity to you.

Central Premise:
Do humans really belong on SS-348?

I'm looking for any comments or critiques anyone has. Some specific issues I could use help with: I can't really come up with any good descriptors for the Potential score; in some ways I want it to stay kind of vague, but I realize that may end up hurting the game. I'm also not sure whether the extra restrictions I put in regarding Need or Binding are a good idea; they make sense to me given the setting, but I'm worried about them being too restrictive on the players.

[greyorm]

You'll need to come up with different descriptors for Potential (Lore), as obviously the ones for Lore in the main book will in no way suffice.

Second, what the heck does being bound to an alien entity have to do with the Premise and with Humanity? For the latter, define why being Bound to an alien entity and performing "sorcery" are antithetical to Humanity and put you in danger of losing it.

Finally, you may wish to tie Humanity to the premise, otherwise, you risk the "Nice premise, but what does it have to do with the game?" effect.

Basically, while it sounds interesting and has potential, I'm not seeing an obvious connection among these central items, given that connection is what makes the game play.

[Gabe McKean]

Basically, while it sounds interesting and has potential, I'm not seeing an obvious connection among these central items, given that connection is what makes the game play.

Hmm. They actually are connected, at least in my own mind, but if I can't get the connections to come across while explaining the game then I have a problem.

Try this: The aliens are antithetical to Humanity because they're, well, alien. A "sorcerer" is in a close relationship with a being that thinks in a way completely different from any human, and is given powers no human has ever wielded before. This puts a strain on any "normal" relationship the sorcerer might have with other people. This might be kind of hard to play, but I'm thinking of the PC actually taking on some of the thought patterns of his bound alien as he loses humanity; I'll have to see if I can think of a way to have that come out in actual play.

The premise does need more explanation then I've given, partly because I wasn't sure how much to reveal to my players about the aliens' intentions. Basically, they are sitting in judgement of humanity, to see if they really want to share the planet with them, and if there are any "changes" that will need to be made to the humans to make them better neighbors (like possesing all of them). Their final decision, and the outcome of that decision, is of course going to depend on the choices and actions of the players.

Examples of the kind of story I'm thinking about: the "Imaginary Friend" episode of Star Trek: TNG, or the novel Nemesis by Isaac Asimov.

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

It all works for me. I see how the definitions and concerns work together, and I expect that character creation with committed players will throw it all into a concrete expression.

So, I say, go ye and play.

Best,
Ron