Dave's Sorcerer quickref project continues (long)

[Nev the Deranged]

Um.... yeah. I have no idea what that is.

I have yet to run my first game of face-to-face Sorcerer, or even play in one aside from losing my cherry to Ron way back. The whole point of me finishing this is so I can make sure I understand the game well enough to feel comfortable running it the first time. Once I've got a few games under my belt, then maybe I will think about mini-sups, but not before.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[James_Nostack]

Hi Dave, I may get around to posting that to the Sorcerer wiki.  It's pretty thorough!  My only concern--and this is purely personal--is that 8 pages of rules begins to get away from the Quick Reference (or at least, quick for me).  But otherwise it looks pretty excellent!

Sadly I can't comment on the Conflict Resolution stuff, because I'm new to the game myself and don't understand it completely.  But I'll certainly review it very carefully since it looks to break things down pretty well.

PS - if you do the on-line gaming thing, I'd like to play a few sessions of Sorcerer some time, just to get the hang of it!  You can PM me if you're interested.

[Nev the Deranged]

It's actually 11 pages, I just haven't finished posting it all yet.

And it's a lot quicker reference than trying to look things up in the book. At least for me *anticipatory cringe*.

I have my doubts, honestly, as to whether Sorcerer would survive the transition to PbP intact. Although I suppose plenty of folks have done it already. I just can't seem to get into playing systems online. If I'm online, I don't need a system, I've been freeforming since before the internet existed and I see no reason to clutter my imagination-space up with (comparatively) clunky rules and dice.

Plus I really would like to learn to play FtF, I've been away from the gaming table far too long.

But thanks for the offer. ^_^

[Larry L.]

Masses here. This is very long to be called a "quick reference."

It is, however, a nice reorganization of the rules and will probably be useful to me at some point in the future. Lower handling time is always a boon.

[Justin A Hamilton]

I must sing the praises of Nev on high.  This will help out greatly.

[Nev the Deranged]

Masses here. This is very long to be called a "quick reference."

It is, however, a nice reorganization of the rules and will probably be useful to me at some point in the future. Lower handling time is always a boon.

I will bow to the masses and rename it "Sorcerer QuickER Reference". =P

Hope it is helpful in any case.

  D.

[Nev the Deranged]

The rest of it.

The last post actually brought us midway through page 10. So here is the rest of it all in one swell foop:

*** The Rest ***

Force of Will
     So you're injured. It's pretty bad. You've lost a lot of blood, and that nasty compound fracture is really starting to hurt. Most people in your position would be either screaming "Call 911!" or finding an inconspicuous place to lie still and whimper until things quieted down. But then, most people haven't summoned a slavering, slime-coated, virgin-eating, nine-tentacled horror from the abyss and made it heel like a dog. You have. So you tie your shattered bones together with what's left of your shirt, grit your teeth, and start drawing the sign of Akkarshamon the Pale on the wall in your own blood. You're a sorcerer, and nothing in the universe is going to prevent you from accomplishing what you came here to do.

     Once a character has taken more Damage penalties than their Stamina score, they are effectively incapacitated. After all, if you have 4 Stamina and 4 penalties, you're rolling zero dice, right? Well... maybe not. As long as you haven't taken more than double your Stamina in penalties, you may still be able to act through sheer force of Will.

Roll the sorcerer's full Will vs. the number of Stamina dice they wish to use for their next action.

·   If the sorcerer succeeds, they may use the full dice they rolled against, regardless of the number of victories.

·   If the sorcerer fails, they remain incapacitated for that round, but may make a new Will roll on the next round.

·   EG. If a character has 5 Stamina, 4 Will, and 6 penalties; they may roll 4 Will dice vs. 1-5 Stamina dice. Say
they choose to roll against 3 Stamina dice, and succeed with 1 victory. They may then use 3 Stamina dice for their next action, temporarily ignoring the 6 penalties entirely.

·   The "Will override" roll and the actual Stamina roll for the action are made on the same turn, IE the Will roll does not take up any "in game" time, it just represents the character steeling themselves to act despite the pain.

     We've all seen movies where the hero (or the villain) seems down for the count, with nothing left in the moment of crisis. And we've all seen them steel themselves and do what needed to be done just the same. That's what Will overrides are all about. Piling on the role-playing bonuses is key to making Will overrides happen. You're a lot more likely to pull yourself together and act when you're acting decisively and with meaning supported by the story, after all.

Recovery
     After a conflict scenario has ended, if the character has a chance to rest a bit (with "a bit" depending on the setting and situation), any remaining Lasting penalties from the scenario are halved. Whatever is left after this is translated into actual effects, as per the chart above. Then if any special action, medical attention, etc. is needed, it will be up to the players what they wish to do to handle it.

Example: Frank has a Stamina of 3 and takes 5 penalties during one round of a fight, from a thug with a switchblade. According to the Edged/Handgun row on the chart, this puts him at 5 Temporary penalties and 5 Lasting. That means he's at a whopping TEN penalties for the next round. Clearly, he is down for the count. Not even a Will roll could get him up off the floor. However, the following round, assuming the thug turned his attention elsewhere, he's at a mere five penalties. Just under double his Stamina, which means he can try for a Will override. Let's assume he succeeds and manages to pull the fire alarm before collapsing behind a desk. Not only have the sprinklers ruined the ancient map the thugs were after, but the authorities will be here soon, and the thugs know it. They bail, leaving our hero Frank bleeding on the floor. EMS arrives and Frank's wounds are tended to. At this point the GM could rule that Frank is fully healed and back on his feet after a night in the ER. However, let's say Frank happens to be wanted by the police for that unfortunate incident with those tourists in the occult wing of the museum last night. Overcoming the pain with a few good Will rolls, Frank crawls down to the basement and is overlooked by the authorities. One fitful night of sleep on a stack of tarps in the mechanical room later, Frank's injuries don't look quite so bad in the morning light. The two remaining penalties translate into some painful scars on his abdomen, but it looks like his thick sweater actually saved him from any serious damage. If he can find a first aid kit in the janitor's office, he'll probably be fine.


Demons and Conflict
     Demons are NPCs. They act and roll during conflict scenarios just like any other characters, regardless of whether they are acting at their master's bidding or of their own accord. Further, commanding a demon requires an action, so if your demon is faster than you are, there's a good chance it will already be doing something by the time you tell it what to do. Unless maybe it's irritated with you and won't act until you make it. Either way can be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on the situation and your relationship with your demon(s). Keep in mind that since demons don't exist, anybody who isn't a sorcerer has never seen one, and is likely to be quite startled, to say the least, upon their first meeting. If this meeting occurs during a conflict scenario, it's pretty likely the person will be extremely surprised and possibly discommoded when a demon suddenly shows up or acts openly. Even sorcerers may be shocked the first time they run into a particular type of demon, or under unexpected circumstances.

The first time a character faces a demon, the GM may roll the demon's Power vs. the character's Will.

·   If the demon wins, the character has penalties to their first action equal to the demon's victories.

·   Officially, these penalties last until the end of the scene, but the GM may reduce them if they so desire or it seems appropriate. Optionally, penalties are reduced by 1 per round until the character has "adjusted", or the GM may require a roll to overcome the penalties, either a one time roll or each round, or whatever the GM decides according to setting.


Demonic Abilities
     Many demons will have Abilities that will be useful in conflict situations. And as long as using them isn't going to betray their existence to the world at large, they may or may not be shy about it, depending on the setting. Regardless, demon Abilities aren't unlimited, or free.

A demon can use Abilities a number of times per scene equal to its Stamina before reaching its fatigue threshold.

·   This means if a demon has a Stamina of 6, it may use any 6 of its Abilities in any combination or order, not six times for each Ability, before growing fatigued.

·    Once the demon's fatigue threshold has been reached, it starts to weaken. For each use of an Ability beyond its Stamina score, one penalty is assigned. These are cumulative, so a demon with a Stamina of 6 that has used 9 Abilities in the same scene is working with 3 penalties, and the 10th Ability used will have 4 penalties, etc.

·   Once a demon has accumulated penalties equal to its Stamina (IE. used Abilities equal to double its Stamina), it has burned out and can no longer use Abilities until it has had a chance to rest.

     Recovery rate for fatigue penalties depends on the setting. Generally it's safe to assume a demon is back to full strength within 24 hours after burning out, unless the setting or situation suggests otherwise.


Demons and Death
     Demons can be damaged and injured, and even killed, just like humans (unless otherwise specified by the setting). Whether or not demons feel pain, fear, or death anxiety is dependent on the setting as well. Damage effects may be tailored to the type of demon, especially if it is incorporeal or otherwise unable to sustain ordinary physical injury.
If a demon suffers more than twice its Stamina in lasting damage, it is slain.

·   Demons leave no forensic evidence when they expire, unless determined by the setting. They explode into nothingness, or evaporate, or get sucked into a black hole, or whatever, leaving no trace that they ever existed- because of course they don't.

·   The results of killing a demon depend on whether it was Bound or not when it expired.
If the demon was unBound, it has been Banished, just as if it had been the subject of a successful Banishing ritual.  If the demon was killed by a character, the character may be subject to a Humanity gain check according to the rules of Banishing. The demon may be re-Contacted and Summoned again just as any other Banished demon.
If the demon was Bound, it has been utterly annihilated. It can never again be Contacted or Summoned. A sorcerer might contact a demon with identical scores and Abilities, but it would be a new entity. Once annihilated, a demon is forever gone.

*** EOF ***

[Justin A Hamilton]

Whoa, just in time for my proposal of Sorcerer on Sunday.  This is great!  Thanks a ton Nev.

[Nev the Deranged]

If you PM me your email I will send you the actual prettified file.

Unless one of the people I emailed it to has posted it somewhere already? Yes? Please?

[Justin A Hamilton]

I made a pdf preformatted copy which is at my house, when I get home I'll throw up a link to it.

[Nev the Deranged]

Uh, right... is it a PDF of this thread? Because that will look like ass. You need the original Word document with the formatting already done. I put a ridiculous amount of work into making it come out the way I wanted. I only copied it here so people could look it over and make sure it was error free and sense-making.

I think Andy is the guy on this one... Andy? You've had it for days, man. Hook us up, eh?

[Justin A Hamilton]

Uh, right... is it a PDF of this thread? Because that will look like ass. You need the original Word document with the formatting already done. I put a ridiculous amount of work into making it come out the way I wanted. I only copied it here so people could look it over and make sure it was error free and sense-making.

I took the "pages" you listed in this thread and formatted them page by page to look nice and neat.

[Nev the Deranged]

Riiiiight. And the reason you didn't just get the file from me like I offered is.... what then? Because trust me, your formatting, nice as it may be, is not as good as mine.

But whatever, as long as it works for you I guess.

[droog]

Gee, I was going to format it for myself too, but now I want to see yours. I'll PM you. Thanks for the service, by the way.

[Nev the Deranged]

Okay, I hunted down a PDF converter and made a PDF of the file. It's beautiful.

Anyone who would like one, email me at nevthederanged@aol.com, cuz I never notice messages in my box here.

I also have PDFs of my Pretender and Pagoda character sheets available, my Pretender Quickref, and eventually my Universalis and PTA quickrefs will also be available but who knows when.

Anyone who gets one feel free to post it or link to it or whatever, it's free to all.

Any comments, questions, suggestions, or fixes should be sent to the address above.

  Thank you.

D.