Dungeons & Demons

[greyorm]

Here's a couple more standard, off-the-cuff dungeoneers.
Since you asked for them, Ron, I would appreciate commentary (though I also realize you are busy).

Name: Thom of the Dale
Cover: 4 (Dale-lands Warrior)

Thom comes from the Dales, a land of small hamlets and villages known for crop farming and general peacefulness. He was a member of a small local militia.

Stamina: 4      Military Training
Will: 3      High Self Esteem
Lore: 3      ~
Humanity: 4
Price: Uninvolved (-1 to any roll concerning knowledge of local customs, history, etc)

Telltale: Treasure Hunter
Kicker: Thom's companion, Leetha, thought she snuck the necromancer's spellbook from their foe's lair without her companions knowledge, but Thom saw and now fears for her safety as well as for that of the Dales should she delve into its practice.

Thom fights with a longsword (Edged Weapon), wears chain and a shield (converts Edged damage to Fists). He can use his Cover to determine if he has any other standard equipment when needed (difficulty based on the rarity of the goods), and thus will tend to have rope, torches, water & rations, flint & steel and etc. available when needed.

Thom's first demon was the exploration of a small, sealed crypt near his home village. With a few other locals, he destroyed the undead hiding in the crypt and the low-level necromancer who was controlling them.

Demon: Parasite (experience)
Stamina: 2
Will: 3
Lore: 2
Power: 3
Abilities: Cover (Warrior, confers to master), Vitality (confers to master)

Binding: accomplished by destruction of the undead & necromancer in the crypts
Telltale: Thom recieved a medal from the elders for his accomplishment, and a few scars from the slain

Need: Destruction of the undead near Thom's home village
Desire: Cowardice and fear

-----

Name: Leetha
Cover: 5 (Apprentice Wizard)

Leetha has spent most of her life as a common servant to her Master, Gyph the Elder, only recently gaining some measure of freedom with her successful studies in the magickal Arts.

Stamina: 2      Arcane Regimen
Will: 5      High Self-Esteem, Vow
Lore: 3      ~
Humanity: 5
Price: Overconfident (-1 to the first roll in any conflict)

Telltale: Greedy Wizard
Kicker: Leetha snuck a book of foul spells out of dark crypts she helped cleanse of their undead guardians, hoping it would contain secrets that would let her best her master and cut the final ties she has to his service by proving her superiority. She hasn't fully studied the dark contents of the book yet, but give her enough time and she may.

Leetha can fight with a staff (Blunt Weapon) when her magic fails her, and has access to a large dagger (though being untrained in such matters, she rolls 1 die when using it as a weapon). She can use her Cover to cast spells to overcome obstacles, defend herself, or attack others.

Leetha's first demon was the exploration of a small, sealed crypt with a few other locals and successful the battle with the necromancer hidden there. Inside the crypt, she found a book of dark magic.

Demon: Object (Tome of Necromancy)
Stamina: 1
Will: 2
Lore: 1
Power: 2
Abilities: Cover (Wizard, confers to master)

Binding: accomplished by destruction of the undead & necromancer in the crypts
Telltale: It is a necromancer's spellbook

Need: To be studied and mastered
Desire: Corruption

[greyorm]

If that's not occuring in any way, then they all ought to be Passers. Even moreso possibly because they then get Covers automatically.

This brings up a bit of errata not listed on the website: the main book states that Passers get Cover automatically; however, it states in the description of the Ability Cover that Possessors get the ability automatically (and does not mention Passers).

Regardless, you've presented a good argument for NPCs being treated as Passers, but I see equally reasonable arguments for treating them as Possessors (one of which you make in your post following the above).

I personally don't see a Passer as having quite the same impact. OTOH, a possible solution is for Passers to be all NPCs, and Possessors relating to the character only in terms of "loss of control" of the character for short periods.

Examples: Helms of Alignment Change, the Rage ability, certain spells, and etc. The idea being that in exchange for the Power provided, the player is willing to give up control of the character for a short period of time to the demon (in this case, the GM), sacrificing their construct for more mechanical power exactly as if they had reached Humanity 0.

Ultimately, for me it boils down to this: the player is making use of the NPC as a resource in some fashion, whereas before he/she/it was not a resource for that player. I almost said "taking control of" but that has some connotations I'd like to avoid, despite that "taking control of the resource" is somewhat an accurate view, though not "taking control as an element/character." This just screams Possessor, and while Passer fits too, it doesn't fit as well, in my view.

In my version Hop would represent the idea from D&D of having a limit on number of henchmen. That is, you would control X NPCs in game, one for each that had been summoned as a possessor. Then, if you wanted, you could "fire" one NPC, and "Hire" another, represented by the Hop ability.

That's an excellent solution, and I hadn't thought of it, though I'd been pondering how to handle it.

PS:

BTW, your kneejerk reaction to the term simulate is comical (your characterization of me as a hard-core simulationist is inaccurate ...{etc.}

Whether or not I did such, I am offended by your unnecessarily derisive response. If you feel like discussing this further, let's take it to private.

Here, I would instead prefer to concentrate here on the fact that you find your interpretation intuitive and I do not, and vice versa for my interpretation with you, because the discussion of the interaction of the demon with the theme, and how it serves that theme, is very interesting to me.

[Nev the Deranged]

As a sort of side note, (which seems to be all I can offer since I haven't yet gotten the chance to play Sorcerer in any incarnation) the concept of "demon-as-increased-abilities" is fairly common to console RPGs.  The best example I can come up with off the top of my head is Legend of Legaia (which IMHO would make a kickass Sorcerer port) in which each adventurer character had a "ra-seru" symbiotically bonded to their body.  Each time a leg of the quest was completed (represented by healing a Genesis Tree, the source of ra-seru power), the symbiotes increased in power, which they conferred directly to the humans to whom they were bonded.

Now, this does put the "demon-as-power" at one remove, since the characters were conscious of the physical "demons" that provided the powers, but mechanically speaking it was no different.

That's pretty much it... if anyone wants to hear more about the game itself and why it would be cool Sorcerer-wise, I'll start up a separate thread rather than continue to pollute this one =>

 NtD