Sorcerer: The Flesh Market First Session

[Bret Gillan]

Previous threads:
Homecoming, Forming a Gaming Group, and Sorcerer
The Flesh Market One-Sheet


My players, Chadd, Josh, and Tom came over to my apartment for our first night of actual gameplay of Sorcerer last night. Our friend Jenn came over too to "observe" though she mostly played a PSP or something and doodled. Once Josh got done eating a sub he'd picked up on the way, the game began.

The Cast:
Eric (played by Chadd): Driven mad by sorcery, wants to regain the job he lost and loved.
Cagliostro (played by Josh): Member of a family that was once powerful (by Slums standards) before his family was killed. Wants to learn what happened and regain the status his family once held.
Vince (played by Tom): A thief. There's probably more. It's just late and I had a job interview this morning. Forgive me.

The demons are all parasites, and so didn't have as much of a presence in the game as I would've liked. I need to work on this.

Humanity is defined by your ties and commitment to your community, however that community is defined (your family, your neighborhood, your gang, etc.)

I'm going to go through the actual game content by character instead of chronologically because I was bouncing between players to keep things paced fast enough so that no player could get too bored before it was their turn.

Chadd's character, Eric, was an ex-factory worker who delved into sorcery after the loss of his job. He was seeking some sort of way out of joblessness, and sorcery ended up driving him mad making his situation even worse. His opening scene was that his door was kicked in by some game members after eyewitnesses had said that he'd gone into his neighbor's apartment (the gang leader) and come out covered in blood. He didn't remember doing it, not that that necessarily means anything. The gang members burst into his apartment and after a very brief conversation ("You're dead motherfucker") open fire. Eric dives out the window in a shower of glass.

A quick aside, at this point in the game, Chadd was like, "I make sure the window is open first," and I'm like, "Why? It's way cooler to dive out a closed window." Chadd was taking a lot of precautions to not do anything "stupid" and I was doing my best to show him that I'm not sitting there, waiting for him to screw up so that I can pounce which I suspect has happened to him in a lot of other games. I want his character to be as cool as he imagines him.

He got some information from his friend about why the gang was after him, and talked with his friend about whether he actually did it or not. Then he want and crashed in an alley on the turf of a seperate gang and talked to himself, trying to clear his head and figure out what was going on. At this point, a man sitting nearby dressed in rags started a conversation with him, knowing as much if not more of what was going on then he did. Then he disappeared. Eric wasn't sure if he imagined the man or not. Eric then went to a street doc to get some meds to try and calm his episodes, and he saw the man he supposedly killed walking out of the street doc's looking all fucked up - bloody, face smashed in, etc. Eric talks to the man who is cryptic and tries to get Eric to follow him. Eric does. That's where Eric's story ended for the night.

Josh's character, Cagliostro, was trying to track down information about his father. Growing up, his family were powerfully and relatively wealthy individuals in the slums. Then, things started going downhill, and then his family members died in a fire. Since then books and items of his father's had been delivered to him over the years. In the opening scene of the game, he receives a letter in the handwriting of the previous packages he'd received telling him to go to the Flesh Market. On the way to the flesh market he's attacked by some of the freakish thugs that linger around the area who he easily smacks around with his demonic abilities. When he arrives there he encounters Yellow Don who's accompanied by a group of dangerous-looking thugs. Yellow Don is there in the employ of the individual who sent him the letter, and says that she'll answer all his questions about his father if he brings her ten people to sell on the Flesh Market. Cagliostro, who leads a cult, complies and tricks some of them into coming with him to the Flesh Market. A trade is made, a Humanity loss roll is also made (and passed), and Cagliostro is introduced to a women who owns a huge assortment of weaponry. They talk, and he learns that his father was once an "official" of the Flesh Market. Him and several others made sure everything went smoothely and that the Flesh Market stayed in business. Eventually, he developed a conscience and was planning on shutting the Flesh Market down. She killed him, and the other members of Cagliostro. Cagliostro takes this extremely well. She informs him that her father's successor is growing too big for her britches and is trying to assert control over the other officials. If she were to have an accident, Cagliostro has done well for himself and despite his father's shortcomings, he has proven himself to be better than the weak man his father was. Cagliostro attempts to find this other official (named Eve) and kill her. Some of her agents find him first. Him and one of his cult members attack a pair of them, killing one and capturing the other. He lets the survivor limp away to tell Eve to meet him at an old construction site. He then goes to prepare an ambush. That is where Cagliostro's story ends for the time being.

Vince's story began with him sneaking into the house of a man called the Witch Doctor. After creeping into the house of the Witch Doctor, he sees a book on a table that says, "Feed me," on the pages, and he sees a horrific shape through a crack in the door feeding on someone. Vincent manages to grab the book and sees that the Witch Doctor is being consumed by some spiny, horrific creature. He leaves and watches outside until the creature leaves, then he returns to the Witch Doctor's house and ransacks it. He returns home, and has a conversation with the book. It's a demon and it wants to be bound. He sets it aside for the night and reads some of the books that he stole from the Witch Doctor's house. In the middle of the nigh he's awakened by a scream. His younger sister is being held by a black, spiny creature like the one he saw in the Witch Doctor's house. It wants the book, which he refuses to hand over. The creature begins to rend his sister. He attacks it and completely knocks the crap out of it, eventually killing it. He rushes his sister to a street doctor to be patched up. The doctor tells him that she likely won't make it. He threatens to kill the doctor if he doesn't. The doctor then tells him that he needs supplies and sends Vince to fetch them. When Vincent returns, his sister is dead and the doctor has high-tailed it out of there. He takes his sister's body to an abandoned building and collapses the building onto it. I had him make a Humanity gain roll at this point for the efforts he went to to save his sister, but I think he might need a Humanity loss roll for concealing her death from his parents (who were working night shift when this all went down). The Book promises revenge and the possibility of returning his sister to life. He binds himself to the book, and then sets off through the city streets, guided by the book, to seek revenge. His story ended there.

Everyone had a good time for the first session. Tom mentioned that the fact that there's no proper "adventuring party" makes it dull between turns, and I told him that I hoped everyone would be as interested in each other's stories as they were in their own so that it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Chadd and Josh agreed with me, but Tom still had misgivings. I try to pace the game quickly so we skip to the interesting stuff and there's not much downtime between turn changes. I'm hoping he'll get used to it over time. I also want everyone to be involved in other people's turns, offering suggestions to each other, commenting, etc. I mentioned this in the initial character creation session, but in a private conversation with Tom he told me that that's not what they're used to at all, and I should bring it up before the next game. And I shall.

Other things I need to do:

Willpower is a powerful stat, and I need to use it more. I need to have NPCs using it, and encourage PCs to use it.

I need more Humanity rolls! I really need to put the heat on the PCs communities and get those Humanity rolls going. Chadd had 0 this game, and Josh and Tom both only had 1. I need more Humanity-focused Bangs.

I need to really push the Demons. All the PCs started with Parasite demons, who have next to no personalities. The most personable and communicative demon currently in play is the Book who communicates through his pages. I really need to develop the PCs relationships with their demons. Perhaps Cagliostro's demon can decide that it doesn't want any involvement in the upcoming ambush.

And while Jenn isn't actively participating in the game, I know she really, really wants to play. I feel bad leaving her out, with female players being so far and between. So the next campaign I run will DEFINITELY be something she can play in. Three is just my comfortable limit, and the way I need to pace this game means that four players could slow things down a little too much. We'll see how it goes.

Anyhow, that was the first game. I think it was a good one. I see the first Story Arc wrapping up in a session or two.

[James Holloway]

A quick aside, at this point in the game, Chadd was like, "I make sure the window is open first," and I'm like, "Why? It's way cooler to dive out a closed window." Chadd was taking a lot of precautions to not do anything "stupid" and I was doing my best to show him that I'm not sitting there, waiting for him to screw up so that I can pounce which I suspect has happened to him in a lot of other games. I want his character to be as cool as he imagines him.

That's very common, and a darn shame. I've been in games like that: "you didn't mention locking your car! Now your car is gone! Ha ha!"

Now that I'm through venting, I'll say that this sounds like a cool and compelling game. I really like the classic intro in Chadd's case -- guys bust in the door, framed for a crime you didn't commit (or did you?), dead guy walking around ... all powerful crime-drama stuff, and therefore very dear to me.

I'd like to ask a question about Jenn, and I apologize if you mentioned this before and I missed it. You said that she "can't" be in the game -- is it just scheduling or something, or is there something else? Similarly, what kind of effect do you think an observer had on the game?

You might try to persuade players whose characters aren't present to become more engaged in scenes, with kibitzing or playing NPCs. I've found it to work very well for my group, but some people don't dig it. Anyway, the game sounds interesting. Keep us posted.

[Bill Cook]

Sounds like a very cool game. I like the scene at the Witch Doctor's abode and how the book became bound. Very Sorcerer. One thing that stood out to me was how accepting Cagliostro was of the weapon accessory woman's direction to conspire against Eve. To me, it breaks SOD. It's established that he's manipulative and has no conscience. But it seems too "I'm Lawful Evil, so there's nothing to reflect on." I mean, she murdered his father. So there's at least another Humanity check there, I think.

I like the vibe; there's some depth that's demonstrated, things are set in motion and the player's characters are filthy with it. You've got the lines established. Now weave relevant NPCs, confessing the back-story as the PCs eavesdrop, and cross, cross, cross!

[Per Fischer]

Hi Bret,

Thanks for the report. I was following your onesheet posts and was keen to see the actual play based on it.

You state that you would like more Humanity rolls (situations that call for them). Did you have any Bangs planned beforehand that would lead to such a situation. Did you get to use them and did they trigger Humanity rolls or not?
This should fx. be situations where players are forced to choose between hurting/killing someone or let them get hurt by others, or?

Did the demons' needs trigger such situations, for example?

I was also wondering: what does it mean to have 0 Humanity in your setting? And did you discuss the role of Humanity with your players before starting play (IIRC the onesheet doesn't say what 0 HUM is).

Eric's Kicker is very powerful, I like it. But what about Cagliostro, was his Kicker the attack by the thugs?

Per