WHat is it?

[Mordacc]

Hey all, ive been playing THe Riddle of Steel for some time now and i saw the add for Sorcerer in the back of the manual and it got me curious.  the website diidnt really tell me much about the game and i havnt found the manual so if anyone could maybe give me a brief explanation of the game and mechanics and all that i would greatly appreciate it.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Thanks for coming by! I think you may not have used the website very well. It's full of information; you're expected to browse around and find things that interest you.

Check out the Apprentice download; the rules are a bit out of date, but you can see how the basic dice system works. There are also several pages which explain the basic point of the game, like "About the Game" and "What is Sorcerer." And don't forget the Actual Play page, with tons of links to people's discussion of their games.

On the other hand, I'll answer any specific questions for you, no matter what. I need something more concrete than "tell me about the game," though. What would you like to know?

Oh - one question at a time, please. Don't fling eighteen questions at me.

Best,
Ron

[M. J. Young]

Ron's right. A brief overview of a game as innovative as Sorcerer can't really do it justice. But I'm going to go out on a limb and give you a starting point, I hope.

Sorcerer is a game that allows you to explore through characters the question of what you would risk or sacrifice to achieve what you want. The flexible nature of setting and definitions makes it possible to define the costs in a number of ways, but overall it is a matter of enlisting "demons" (which might or might not be supernatural) at the risk of your "humanity" (which also may have quite a range of definitions) to try to reach your goals. In connection with this, much depends on the relationships between characters, which are one of the most important aspects of character generation.

As Ron says, get the materials and read them, and come back with specific questions. I think you'd agree that "a brief explanation of the game and mechanics and all" would not really do justice to any role playing game, least of all one that is further from the norms of the hobby.

--M. J. Young
And hey, Ron, how did you get an ad in the back of TROS?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi M.J.,

I helped Jake with the re-write of the Sorcery chapter for the second printing, mainly some editing and also a short (too short!) essay on using Spiritual Attributes with the Sorcery rules.

You do know that I provide free blurb advertising in all my games, right? I just grab a bunch from the mental Rolodex, faulty as it is on occasion, and list their names, a paragraph, and a URL. Multiverser has been getting free advertising in the back of Sorcerer & Sword since, oh, November 2001. Plus a couple of full-pages if I have the space, one of which is usually reserved for Hero Wars/Quest.

Best,
Ron

[M. J. Young]

You do know that I provide free blurb advertising in all my games, right?...Multiverser has been getting free advertising in the back of Sorcerer & Sword since, oh, November 2001.

That's what I get for having like zero budget for role playing games; hopefully that will change with the release of the novel, if 1) we can get the printer to do the cover right and 2) people like it enough to buy it.

Thank you sincerely for passing the word around.

--M. J. Young