Teenage Super-Heroes using Sorcerer Rules

[Judd]

I run an After-School Program and have been thinking about how I could introduce Sorcerer to middle school and high school students.

On my ride home from work I thought up this.

Humanity = Maturity

Lore = Street-Wisdom and World Savvy...I'd like a new word for the score but I just haven't come up with one yet...

Demon = Grown-ups, be it your English teacher, your parents or the cowled crusader you are a side-kick for.

Humanity of 0 means that you descend into a tantrum of some kind that will get you kicked out of the school in which the game is set or you turn into a Super-Villain or you use your powers blatantly and get taken away by a government agency.

Cover - You get Stamina or Will +3 because you will start with two covers, your mundane cover and your super-hero cover.  Yes, you get two and yes, you can use both at any time.

I am thinking of how Binding, Punishing, Contacting and all that jazz work...

I'm writing this and I really should be posting Actual Play about my Sorcerer & Sword set in the setting I've been working on...

Ah well, next post...

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Judd (Paka),

You're just a Sorcerer maniac, I see. I'll hold off on teen-sorcerer stuff myself, but check out some older threads, including Josh's Hellfire game (a search will find it) and .... I believe it's Benjamin (Bailywolf) who led a fairly extensive thread on Buffyesque Sorcerer. Thread links, anyone?

Best,
Ron

[Judd]

Was it Ron who wrote in a previous post that supplements are demons?  Well, so are half-assed ideas...

Now I must go, Marr'd is jealous and might grow angry.


Player Name:

Character Super-Hero:

Character Secret Identity:

Clues: something about your character that would let other super-heroes, Evil Masterminds and Gov't Watch-Dog Agencies know that you lead a double life as a vigilante

Stamina: (don't have descriptors yet)

Will: (ditto)

Know-How: your character's ability to get it done in the adult world, be it getting a hold of mom at work to scoring a job at the local video store

Mundane Cover:  your character's competence and niche at school and at home ( examples: Brain, Socialite, Goth Spookshow, Jock, Bruiser, Bully, Geek, Everybody's All American, Class Prez, ADHD Poster Child, Invisi-kid, Drama King/Queen)

Caped Cover:  your character's competence in the super-hero world of caped avengers and villainous thugs from using powers to calling the Justice LEague for back-up (examples: Vigilante's Sidekick, Mutant, Speedster, Brick, Deadly Kid with No Name, Ninja, Computer Genie, Mad Scientist, etc.)

Price: living two lives comes at a price and it isn't cheap.  examples: Alien, Awkward, Pompous, Tired, Spaced Out, Angry, Apethetic, etc.

Kickers: the same... but there'd be suggestions about starting a game at the end of one arc that leads into another and starting in an origin issue, etc.

Maturity: This is the stat that measures how well adjusted and balanced your character is on the inside, no matter how normal they might seem on the outside.

Parental Units:  Everyone has them, be it a mom and dad of a nuclear family, foster parent, step-dad, uncle, coach, teacher, therapist, friendly neighbor or psychotic rich man who dresses up like a bat when it get's dark out.

Hope: This reflects what they want you to achieve.

Needs:  This reflects what they want you to do every day or so to achieve these hopes.

Next Issue:

How Parental Units differ and are the same as traditional Sorcerer Demons.

Super-Powers explained.

Campaign idea.

Sample character, mayhap...

[greyorm]

Cool, looks like some good development here.

A couple of questions, if you don't mind:
Know-How replaces Lore, correct? Will there be descriptors here, and if there are, why not just kick "Mundane Cover" and use this in its place?

What is the difference between "Character Super-Hero & Character Secret Identity" and "Mundane Cover & Caped Cover"...it seems this is just redundant (same info could go in each).

What I find most intriguing, however, is how a character's super-powers have nothing to do with their demons or Lore...the game appears to be focused instead on balancing the two worlds and growing in character as a hero, rather than "neat stuff you can do."
Very nice.

Interestingly, I developed a somewhat similar idea some time back, but I don't believe I ever posted it:

You're a kid.
Demons are adults.

Some adults want to help you, some want to hurt you...regardless, they all want something from you. Adults don't respect you as an individual, you're a half-person, an owned thing to them, even when you aren't treated that way directly.

Think of all those things you were yelled at for as a kid by your parents, the grouchy neighbors complaining about you, your friends' disapproving parents...these adults weren't having their Need fulfilled by you.

You fulfill an adult's needs and you get stuff from them (power!).
You bargain with them for rights.
You slowly become an adult yourself, or a damaged child.

What frightens me is how easily this all fits into a Sorcerer framework without even needing to explain it.

[Judd]

Know-How replaces Lore, correct? Will there be descriptors here, and if there are, why not just kick "Mundane Cover" and use this in its place?

That is something I will have to think about.

My instinct is that Mundane Cover is more about what you do and where you fit in, while Know-How is how well your character plays the game that is junior or high school.

What is the difference between "Character Super-Hero & Character Secret Identity" and "Mundane Cover & Caped Cover"...it seems this is just redundant (same info could go in each).

One is where you write your name down and the other is where you write the stats.  

Your write up for a child's perspective on the Sorcerer-Demon relationship is just chilling.  I work with kids all day long and I found it just scary because it ain't far from any kind of truth.

Thanks for pushing me to think about this.  Now off to finish an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel...

[Grimlok]

Looks good. I don't know the system well enough yet for incredibly useful comments but the creative flow is there and I look forward to seeing it implemented (as in playing Judd!). :)