[Sorcerer} Has anyone tried this with Demons?

[Eric J-D]

Hi all,

In addition to welcoming any comments on the "Playing Sorcerer with my Daughter" thread, I would really appreciate some feedback on the following idea.

Has anyone ever tried running Demons who are ignorant of their own nature (i.e. who don't know they are Demons)? 

In the backstory I am working on for the game with my daughter (cribbed in part from some elements of various plays by Shakespeare), I am thinking about making the daughter of two of the principal NPCs a demon, produced from the dysfunctional relationship of the parents.  I'll say more about this in the followup to the previous thread, but for now I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has:

1) Had experience running Demon children in Sorcerer, and

2) Had experience running a Demon who was unaware of its own demonic nature

Basically, what I have in mind with the backstory is in creating a situation where it is at least a possibility that the most sympathetic character in the r-map would be a Demon.  Has anyone done that before?

So, if anyone has the time and/or inclination I'd love to hear how either 1 or 2 worked in actual play.

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

It's easy to run a demon who doesn't know it. Just play accordingly; no special rules necessary. One of my early games spent a lot of time on an NPC with a Passing demon who'd been guarding her throughout her life but who they both thought was just an old friend of her dead father's. As long as the demon got its Need met by the contingencies set up by its Binder (the dead dad), it was fine.

As far as sympathy goes, I think you'd do best to consider that a completely independent variable from the demon's self-knowledge.

And for demon kids, geez ... I wrote a whole ton about that in The Sorcerer's Soul, based on play-experience, so let me know if there's a question proceeding from that text.

Finally, I have a piece of advice - forge boldly ahead and don't concern yourself too much with gathering every possible backstop through pre-play discussions here. We're not a bunch of trainers and coaches, but rather you are playing that role to us by telling us about your game.

Best, Ron

[Eric J-D]

Ron,

Thanks for the reply.  It helps a lot.

Before I got your response, I had a suspicion that the answer to the question about demons who aren't aware that they are demons was probably going to be something like, "just play it out."  Nice to have that confirmed though.

On the demons as kids thing, I honestly have no excuse.  Shit, I own a copy of The Sorcerer's Soul and yet somehow I managed to completely forget that there is a wealth of material in the book on this very issue (as well as stuff addressing the issue of demons who think they are human and vice versa).  Dumb dumb dumb.

Finally, thanks for the advice.  I hope this post and the other one didn't come across as whiny demands for coaching.

I admit that I am a bit more hesitant and self-doubting with this game than I've been in the past--probably because it is my kid's first gaming experience and (since I love her and all that junk) I want it to be really enjoyable for her.  Also, I don't want the fact that she is really bright and emotionally mature for her age (I know all parents probably say that) and has shown an ability to deal with some fairly heavy emotional content to blind me to the fact that she is still a kid.  In other words, I don't want my sense of her maturity to lead me to develop a backstory that is heavier than she can handle.

So, you see my predicament.  Sorry to air all this self-doubt and second-guessing in public.  I know that everything will be fine and that I will also make mistakes as we go.

Cheers,

Eric

[Ron Edwards]

One thing I'm really enjoying with Dan and Christopher is that Dan isn't trying to guarantee that Christopher has fun.

You want her to have a good time, that's great. But making sure or being sure or any of that is what has destroyed the GMing fun of ... well, a whole lotta people.

Seems like you managed to wrestle most of the way free of that conundrum already, so good.

Bset, Ron

[mneme]

It's a good point; one I try to keep in mind when running a LARP. (with difficulty)

Sure, it's great when, running a 10-25 person game, everyone has a great time.  But in the end, there's no way you can make sure of this, sometimes, one way or another, someone's going to have a bad time (especially since LARPs the way I run them, at least, are quasi-adversarial -- everyone can have a great time, but it's going to be impossible for every character to accomplish all their goals), and if almost everyone has a great time, that's almost as good.