Three's a Crowd

[Lance D. Allen]

So, our third session of sorcerer has just ended. Let me give a brief synopsis of the last scene...

My sorcerer, Vincent Ashmore is a cop with a parasite demon named Seethe. My girlfriend plays Angelica, a private eye/demon hunter with a demon-eating inconspicuous demon who manifests as a wolf. She's been hunting this one possessor demon who seems to have a propensity for young pretty female hosts, and having indiscriminate sex. My character's demon has a need for blood and a desire for sensual gratification (anything from good food to the obvious sex) so Vincent went out to a club, and guess who he ran into? Angelica and the aforementioned possessor demon.

Vincent failed to notice that the demon was a demon, and that Angelica was a sorcerer, though he did notice, upon closer interaction, that she was wearing a demon on her finger. He decided to try to get Angelica and the Unnamed Goth Girl (possessor demon's host, whom he hoped, for Seethe's sake, was into bloodletting) into bed, so back to UGG's apartment they went.

Upon entering the apartment, Angelica set Phillip (her demon) on the UGG, and pointed her gun at Vincent. Vincent called upon Seethe to kill the lights (Shadow). As Phillip went after the UGG, Angelica tried to shoot Vincent, but he stepped behind her (shadow-step, his Travel ability) and put her in a half-nelson... Just as the possessor demon hopped into Angelica. Not yet understanding that there was even another demon involved besides the two PC's demons, he disarmed Angelica, and tried to save the mauled UGG. She was pretty much beyond help, so after licking the blood off his fingers, he had Seethe bring the lights back up.

At that moment, Phillip pounced on Angelica, growling "let go of her!" Vincent tried to command him off, but failed. So after realizing belatedly that there was another demon involved, and it had apparently possessed Angelica, he called upon the demon to come out of her, and succeeded by a margin of two.

Which wasn't enough of a margin to resist the demon from possessing him. So now, Vincent is a passenger in his own body, sharing it with his Parasite demon Seethe and this possessor demon. We established during character generation that Seethe *could* communicate vocally, but only by speaking directly through Vincent's lips. This has led to many.. interesting situations where Seethe has spoken to other people things that Vincent may not necessarily want to say.

Regardless, while this will assuredly be solved in group, I'm curious if any one else has had similar experiences, and would like to know what your ruling would be on whether or not the sorcerer, trapped inside his own body, can communicate with his parasite demon? Or with the possessor demon?

[Ron Edwards]

Wow! This is similar to scenes from my very first, slam-bang, Hong Kong crime drama style game of Sorcerer. I've also seen it in Demon Cops play, and in the Azk'Arn game. Did you see my paragraph in the rulebook, in the Currency section, framed as a question to the reader?

So, answers ...

1. The default concept in Sorcerer is that demons can always communicate. Even Objects, which only takes a little bit more imagination. So if a Possessor or a Parasite is in a given character's body, they can communicate with one another.

Vincent can talk, but he will have to beat the possessor demon with a Will vs. Will role to do so.

Seethe can talk using Vincent's mouth, and can do so without fighting the possessor demon. (Seethe is not possessed)

The possessor can communicate with either or both of the other two through whatever means you have already established for how this demon communicates.

2. If a sorcerer and a demon can communicate, then the sorcerer is perfectly free to try to command the demon ("get out!" is a favored one in these circumstances) or to attempt any ritual toward it (Binding runs a close second). In this case, Vincent's options are subject to his initial "try to talk" roll mentioned above, but if he succeeds, then the victories will be a bonus for his next action, such as the options described here.

3. Make sure to treat all of this, and including actions taken by other characters in the vicinity, using the complex conflict resolution. Everyone rolls at once, setting the order, and just take it from there.

It's reeeeeeaally fun.

Best,
Ron