Pokemon: feature or bug? And more

[Eric.Brennan]

The issue, as far as I have gleaned, is more about 'speaker time'.  Now if Pokémon had this problem, it would mean that the gamemaster would play up individual personalities for the Pokémon.  These (now non-player) characters require a certain amount of 'spotlight time' in order to be relevant as characters to the game (otherwise they'd just be decoration).  Since the gamemaster is their player, he has to play them; since all the rest of the game is about dealing with parties other than the player characters, the gamemaster has to play them too.  This results in the players spending an unusual amount of time watching the gamemaster 'talk to themself.'  That's the supposed 'Pokémon problem.'

That is indeed my interpretation of Mike's problem, as stated above.  

Wasn't it brought up somewhere that there were no mechanics for losing Humanity for actions not related to demons?  Furthermore, don't the mechanics explicitly state that banishing a demon rewards the character with a return of Humanity?  The reviewer, I think, points out that such banishment might actually represent even darker motives (that would seem like they should cause a loss of Humanity).  This gives the impression (however erroneous) that the core mechanic, Humanity, is primarily about demons, underscoring the impression that demons are also central to the resolution of events in the game.

You're the first person to mention that part of my review, which has surprised me, since it was the part of the review that I expected the most problems with from fans.  For the record, Sorcerer /does/ have a one sentence blurb about rewarding PCs with another point of Humanity if they do some other act that "confirms the character as a decent human being."  But if /that's/ the reason for Humanity's increase, it should be noted that the act of Banishing doesn't necessarily confirm someone as a decent human being.  There's no mention of other ways to lose Humanity--loss is wholly related to demon summoning and the like in the main rules (unless I'm forgetting something, which is possible.)

While I think anyone picking up Sorcerer is going to understand that Humanity is more than just about "demons," the rules do not press that fact when it comes to Humanity's rise and fall as a stat.  I know that "it's my game" and "a good Sorcerer GM" should reflect have other actions reflect in Humanity, but the reviews were, as Mike Z. pointed out to someone, on the rules as written, and I kept my playtest limited to them.  In any kind of campaign to come, I'd tweak to suit my own tastes.

--Eric

Addendum  After Ron's post below I rechecked the rules and there are indeed a couple sentences mentioning Humanity loss checks for evil acts.  I'll add a correction to my review, and apologize.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Some rules points.

1) Fang is incorrect in inferring that Humanity is only affected by interacting with demons. Both Humanity checks and Humanity gains are used in play regarding relevant ethical/moral actions, and if my play is any indication, the non-demonic Humanity ups and downs are more common than the demonic ones.

2) Banishing (some) demons gives the sorcerer a Humanity gain roll (the chance to get a point). However, what people are missing is that other aspects of the very same action may also get him or her a Humanity check (the chance to lose a point).

The rules are pretty simple - do X, get a check. Do Y, get a gain. The necessary application is that if you do XY, then get a check and a gain (two different rolls).

Best,
Ron

[Le Joueur]

Some rules points.[list=1][*]Fang is incorrect in inferring that Humanity is only affected by interacting with demons. Both Humanity checks and Humanity gains are used in play regarding relevant ethical/moral actions, and if my play is any indication, the non-demonic Humanity ups and downs are more common than the demonic ones.

[*]Banishing (some) demons gives the sorcerer a Humanity gain roll (the chance to get a point). However, what people are missing is that other aspects of the very same action may also get him or her a Humanity check (the chance to lose a point).[/list:o]The rules are pretty simple - do X, get a check. Do Y, get a gain. The necessary application is that if you do XY, then get a check and a gain (two different rolls).

Thank you; I stand corrected.  Now, if someone would do this favor for the reviewer(s)?

Fang Langford

[Ron Edwards]

Hey,

Eric corrected himself about this without being prompted.

Best,
Ron

[xiombarg]

And I'd like to congratulate Eric, as a quick aside, for being willing to put up with so many heads cross-examining his points at once. It's a Forge feature that takes some getting used to. ;-)