At the Crossroads

[Judd]

Sorcerers are people who went to the crossroads, met the devil and made a deal.  They got something from the deal and this is their demon.

Humanity is ?

Sorcery:  Y'see you already sold your soul.  But you can convince someone on the back of your sheet or someone else's that they should go to the crossroads with you to meet the devil. Once you do this, you make up that character and they become part of your community.  You can only play one member of your community in any one scene.

     Contact- Convince someone that they should go with you to the crossroads.
     Summon- Convince the old scratch to give you what you want.  If you fail, he still gives you something, it just isn't what you want.
     Bind-  To get power over that gift.
     Punish-  Bust the gift up, but not really.
     Banishment- Renounce the gift or convince someone else that they don't need it.  They might not be happy about it.

Descriptors are all Robert Johnson lyrics.  I will post examples soon.

It is up to the players (GM included) to decide on setting particulars.  Robert Johnson must be playing in the background when playing; this is not negotiable.

Cross Road Blues

©(1978) 1990, 1991 Lehsem II, LLC/Claud L. Johnson
Administered by Music & Media International, Inc.

I went down to the crossroad
   fell down on my knees
I went down to the crossroad
   fell down on my knees
Asked the lord above "Have mercy now
   save poor Bob if you please"
Yeeooo, standin at the crossroad
   tried to flag a ride
ooo ooo eee
   I tried to flag a ride
Didn't nobody seem to know me babe
   everybody pass me by
Standin at the crossroad babe
   risin sun goin down
Standin at the crossroad babe
   eee eee eee, risin sun goin down
I believe to my soul now,
   Poor Bob is sinkin down
You can run, you can run
   tell my friend Willie Brown
You can run, you can run
   tell my friend Willie Brown
(th)'at I got the croosroad blues this mornin Lord
   babe, I'm sinkin down
And I went to the crossraod momma
   I looked east and west
I went to the crossraod baby
   I looked east and west
Lord, I didn't have no sweet woman
   ooh-well babe, in my distress

[Judd]

When Humanity goes to 0 that character is taken by the Devil, its time, debt's due.

The player has three options when they reach 0:

1) They can go to the devil in an end scene, kicker written by the player.  The player can ask, in this scene only, for other players to take the roles of others in their community.

2) They can attempt to beat the devil at his own game.  The devil get's one die for every play at the table.  Each player can donate as many dice to give to the 0'ed out player as their Humanity if they want to; this represents that character helping them cheat the devil.  The 0'ed player states their case and the players give them dice or not and the player rolls against the devil.

If they win, they can keep their character at 1 Humanity and no demon.

If they lose they go with the devil to hades and each player who gave them any dice has to make a Humanity check.

3) They can roll their Lore against a character in their own community's Humanity and attempt to switch, switching out that character for the 0'ed character.  Everyone at the table can have a character in that scene if the GM wishes it to aid or deter as they see fit.

If they win, they start again at 1 Humanity and no demon.

[Robert Bohl]

I'd be curious about some wider setting stuff, like is this basically set in the Depression-era South?

[Judd]

I'd be curious about some wider setting stuff, like is this basically set in the Depression-era South?

I think I would leave that up to the players.  Do you want to play it in the Depression-era South or in Hard Rock Detroit?

Does it matter?

I'm not sure its important.

Or maybe I'm just getting lazy.

[Jaik]

Darn it, now I have to go watch "O Brother, Where Art Thou" tonight...*grumble*

[MetalBard]

I think Hellhound On My Trail would be an appropriate Robert Johnson song to play during this game.  Seriously, though, this is making me want to buy Sorcerer.

Heh, finally an excuse to play Robert Johnson why playing an RPG.  That'll show those other players in my group who always want their orchestrated Final Fantasy soundtracks or their Finnish heavy metal playing.

[Judd]

I think Hellhound On My Trail would be an appropriate Robert Johnson song to play during this game.  Seriously, though, this is making me want to buy Sorcerer.

Hellhound on my trail will almost certainly be a Lore descriptor.

[MetalBard]

I think Hellhound On My Trail would be an appropriate Robert Johnson song to play during this game.  Seriously, though, this is making me want to buy Sorcerer.

Hellhound on my trail will almost certainly be a Lore descriptor.

I guess I'll have to look at the book to find out what that means or implies.  Sounds cool though...  : )

[Judd]

I think I am going to use the standard in-the-main-book descriptors for everything but Lore descriptors.

Lore concerns the reason the PC believes they were driven to the crossroads.  It might be an honest-to-goodness reason or it could be a lie or an excuse.  Either way it comes with some NPC's, color and background that add to the Robert Johnson flavor.

Hellhound On My Trail: Old Scratch's minions have always had it out for you.  They regularly chase and torment you, have all your life, since you were a child, knee-high to your mama.

Drunken Hearted Man: You are lost in the bottle.

Me and the Devil Blues: The devil and you have always been social.  An exchange, your demon-gift from the devil in exchange for your soul was just a fine swap between old friends.

Kindhearted Woman Blues: You've got a fine woman (or man) who doesn't love you and you just want to be fine enough to deserve their love.

[MetalBard]

I think I am going to use the standard in-the-main-book descriptors for everything but Lore descriptors.

Lore concerns the reason the PC believes they were driven to the crossroads.  It might be an honest-to-goodness reason or it could be a lie or an excuse.  Either way it comes with some NPC's, color and background that add to the Robert Johnson flavor.

Hellhound On My Trail: Old Scratch's minions have always had it out for you.  They regularly chase and torment you, have all your life, since you were a child, knee-high to your mama.

Drunken Hearted Man: You are lost in the bottle.

Me and the Devil Blues: The devil and you have always been social.  An exchange, your demon-gift from the devil in exchange for your soul was just a fine swap between old friends.

Kindhearted Woman Blues: You've got a fine woman (or man) who doesn't love you and you just want to be fine enough to deserve their love.

Ok, cool, I get it.  I don't have the books yet (should be ordering sometime soon), but here's my little contribution to that:

I Believe I'll Dust My Broom:  The deal with the Devil was the ONLY way you could see to get your messy life back on track.

[Judd]

I Believe I'll Dust My Broom:  The deal with the Devil was the ONLY way you could see to get your messy life back on track.

How does this tie the PC to the world?  What NPC's are inferred from it?

Ya dig?

[MetalBard]

I Believe I'll Dust My Broom:  The deal with the Devil was the ONLY way you could see to get your messy life back on track.

How does this tie the PC to the world?  What NPC's are inferred from it?

Ya dig?

Hmm...  ok...  I think I see what you're saying... how about this:

I Believe I'll Dust My Broom:  The deal with the Devil was the ONLY way you could see to get out of ruinous debt, but really you probably only traded loan sharks for hellhounds.

My books are coming in the mail, so I'll have to look into this sort of thing more once I read them.  This crossroads thing, though, is definitely the kind of game I want to try Sorcerer out on.

[Judd]

I Believe I'll Dust My Broom:  The deal with the Devil was the ONLY way you could see to get out of ruinous debt, but really you probably only traded loan sharks for hellhounds.

My books are coming in the mail, so I'll have to look into this sort of thing more once I read them.  This crossroads thing, though, is definitely the kind of game I want to try Sorcerer out on.

That works for me.

Glad you like it.  If you end up playing it, let me know how it goes (or even better, post an AP thread and let everyone know how it goes.