Sorcerer by post.

[Hearthweru]

Hello all this is my first post on the Adept press forum. I’m partial to the odd tequila slammer or five.

Anyway having said hello Ron, I’d like to ask you (and everyone else) to put on hat number three as I’d like some guidance on the topic - applications of the rules for your particular purposes.

My particular purpose is running a play by post forum game. A few brief details. The game is over at RPGnet’s play by post forums. It’s a Sorcerer & Sword game. It will also be my first game having never played or Gm’ed Sorcerer.

It’s a post apocalypse setting Earth that has based its one true religion on the Star Wars saga. Sorcerers are called Jedi and enforce the laws of the Church. It isn’t a begnign Theocracy by any standards. Demons are mainly connected to toy lightsabres and other memorabilia is also important. I haven’t nailed a premise or theme yet and have only just started prep.

Details over with, my main point is this…are there any Sorcerer specific issues I should consider when playing by post as opposed to at the table.

Also, how do you think the game will translate to play by post? What problems might I encounter? Finally, as we approach prep anything in particular we should keep in mind?

By the way, If anyone wants to play I only have one player so far.


Spence.

EDIT: The RPGnet thread with more details on the game is here...http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=192494

[Selene Tan]

Well, you could take a look at Razing Arizona, a Sorcerer game on RPOL.net

[Hearthweru]

Hi thanks Selene. Unfortunately that link seems to lead to some place called the Game Garden, but I'll google RPOL.net and try and find Razing Arizona.

[Trevis Martin]

Hi Spence

I'm one of the players in Razing Arizona.  Lxndr is the GM if you want his input.  This is the link to Razing.

http://rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=1418

And you might really consider setting the game up on rpol because the site owner did a nice job of  getting together a die roller just for us.  Plus you have private threads for the rules and, as we have it organized, can use a thread per scene (there are always multiple scenes going.)

The main problem, as with all online games is attrition.  movement is pretty glacial.  We started out with a commitment to three posts per week.  It has since whittled down to one post per week, but I've been impressed because we have something like 40 scenes and we've been playing for almost two years now. (It will be two years in july).  We have lost two players.  One because he had schedule conflicts and couldn't put in the time and he told us up front and left.  The second is just MIA, which happens in internet based play of all types a lot.  How to counter this?  That's the oldest question in the book when it comes to games played this way.  There isn't anything keeping it together but the collective commitment of the players involved.

Encourage comment and kibbitzing in all scenes as much as possible and dedicate a whole thread to character creation like we did (or possibly do it live by IRC.)  The reason I say encourage comment is that people need that reinforcement to keep up their interest in the game.  Its harder than when you are playing live because you don't get the immediate visceral feedback of folks around the table so you need to take every possible opportunity to keep everyone engaged.

DO THE BACKS OF THE SORCERER CHARACTER SHEETS.  Yes it is really that important.  Have people scan it in or something or at least describe where things go.  There might be some drawing applets out there that people could use.

best of luck,

Trevis

[Hearthweru]

Hey thanks Trevis, I've started reading the roundtable thread it's all good stuff I like Ross and Lacey, Slade was good once he'd been developed. I'll keep reading no doubt I'll have questions at some point.

Cheers.

Spence.

[Hearthweru]

Well the Jedi Apocalypse game didn't get much interest. The idea of the game didn't seem to get much interest (perhpas a bit too weird). So instead I'm going to prep for a agme using the Clicking Sands setting from the book.

I've now had time to search down a few good threads about prep here. Mainly Art Deco Melodrama, and Paka's 10 step guide to game prep.

A quick Q on R-maps for anyone who has the time.

I don't own & Soul so I'm not 100% on R-maps. from what I've read here though it 'feels' like you take an R-Map from literature you're familliar with, change the names and fit the R-map around the characters and NPC's the players have created. Let the R-Map NPC's kind of start running the plot from their story, which makes them feel like real people within the setting, with their own desires, needs and of course relationships. Key thing being you have the NPC's pursue the goals from the literature, but the actual plot is abandond becuase the player characters are driving the action.

Is that anywhere near the mark? Also do you have to be careful when choosing an R-map that the source literature's plot isn't too big and epic?

I have lots of questions about R-maps, but I don't want to be cheeky in a kind of "hey I don't have & Soul but tell me everything I need to know here on the forum." kind of way.

Spence.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Spence,

You have the basic idea of relationship maps down, but using a literary source is only an option - and a training option, at that.

The actual technique relies on drawing lines based on kinship and sexual contact: parents, kids, siblings; marriage, affairs, infidelity, etc. After you do that, you can draw more lines or make big circles to indicate social ties which aren't covered already, or you can let this stuff just be "notes."

As far as what the GM in particular does with the map, you are spot on correct. Paul Czege has accurately described the effective technique as "grabby" - the people in the map consider the player-characters to be opportunities or threats to their own agendas and take definite actions accordingly; they do not try to keep the player-characters out of the map.

I want to emphasize as well that the map is not to be considered a "GM secret" which the players must winkle out of him or her. Instead, it's information which gets transmitted over time as a reasonable outcome of interactions. This concept should be preserved even if some of the fictional NPCs are trying hard to keep secrets from other fictional characters.

I can't help but make a capitalist plea for your purchase of The Sorcerer's Soul, which I'm sure you'll forgive. Other games which rely very heavily on the concept include Trollbabe and Dogs in the Vineyard.

Best,
Ron

[Danny_K]

I'll chime in to say that Soul is worth it on its own terms.  I mean, even if I donated my copy of Sorcerer to Goodwill, I'd keep "& Soul" and "& Swords" to use with other games.

[Hearthweru]

Thanks a lot for answering my R-map questions Ron.

I can't help but make a capitalist plea for your purchase of The Sorcerer's Soul, which I'm sure you'll forgive.

I'll chime in to say that Soul is worth it on its own terms.

& Soul, & Sex and most of the mini-supps are not only on, but at the top of my big big list of RPG must haves.


Right off to do some game prep now.


Spence