Xuphia - a Sorcerer and Sword campaign . . .

[Ron Edwards]

Works by the rules.

Best,
Ron

[Mike Holmes]

I'm aware of the idea of Taint going to Humanity zero as an excption to the normal ruels in that you come back when the taint subsides.

Uh, but in the example, if you hadn't lost that point to Taint you never would have reached zero. But I think I see what you're saying. If you go to zero you stop rolling, right? That is, you can't go to -1 or lower. So as long as one point is lost to Taint, no matter how many you might lose otherwise, you'll be at zero, and eventually recover a point and be at one.

Is that it?

Seems odd to me. I mean, what's the in-game rationale? What's the metagame purpose? Seems just an end around on the rules; kinda Gamist.  

Mike

[Clinton R. Nixon]

I'm aware of the idea of Taint going to Humanity zero as an excption to the normal ruels in that you come back when the taint subsides.

Uh, but in the example, if you hadn't lost that point to Taint you never would have reached zero. But I think I see what you're saying. If you go to zero you stop rolling, right? That is, you can't go to -1 or lower. So as long as one point is lost to Taint, no matter how many you might lose otherwise, you'll be at zero, and eventually recover a point and be at one.

Is that it?

Seems odd to me. I mean, what's the in-game rationale? What's the metagame purpose? Seems just an end around on the rules; kinda Gamist.  

Mike, you're right in that once I reached zero, I couldn't lose any more. (Just to note, as I recall, I would have lost another point if I could have.)

The in-game rationale? Easy - I'm about to enter a place alien and bizarre to the human mind. Dear demon - please break me down, fuck me up, and twist me sideways, 'cause I'm not ready for this yet. The ritual to enter, in which I employed Taint, involved my character slashing open his own arms and spraying the blood in an X in the air, which burst into flame upon the Taint and then opened the door to enter. The entire scene had a whole "be the demon to fight the demon" atmosphere about it where Taint was wholly appropriate.

That said, I guess you could construe it as Gamist, but I see few things in Sorcerer, because of the awesome currency mechanic, that you couldn't make Gamist if you really wanted to. Good Narrativism and Gamism are kissing cousins.

[Mike Holmes]

The in-game rationale? Easy - I'm about to enter a place alien and bizarre to the human mind. Dear demon - please break me down, fuck me up, and twist me sideways, 'cause I'm not ready for this yet. The ritual to enter, in which I employed Taint, involved my character slashing open his own arms and spraying the blood in an X in the air, which burst into flame upon the Taint and then opened the door to enter. The entire scene had a whole "be the demon to fight the demon" atmosphere about it where Taint was wholly appropriate.

Cool. You're saying that a messed up character is less likely to be affected by stuff that might otherwise mess him up. Inured, maybe. Works for me.

See I needed a potential in-game, or character-related reason. If not, then it's just the player wanting to retain his character despite the  character actions being of a story-creative mode that would normally militate against that. Pure Gamism (pawn mode, even). Which I wanted to avoid.

Sorcerer is Narrativist precisely because it puts a meaning on most actions automatically.

Thanks,
Mike

[Ron Edwards]

Beauty.

Best,
Ron

[Ben Lehman]

Hey--
Thought I would post my characters.
I really like the final form of the backstory and kicker -- it hints at all sorts of things but gives little away.

I wanted to create a close sorcerer/demon relationship, and I also wanted to play around with power struggles and egalitarianism in love.  Inspirations are pretty clearly FF6, FF9-10, and Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Either of these kids can be the "Sorcerer" to the other one's "Demon."  Neither of them likes to give up control, and so struggle for it constantly.  The "gain control" contest comes when they are either mistreated or treated "too well", and it is opposed will+binding or will+binding vs humanity + binding.

Despite the fact that their themes are essentially sexual dominance, I' trying to refrain specifically from explicit sexual content -- these are teenage kids, after all, and their love is shockingly innocent in its own way.

(note to Rod: I named the village.)

Ren and Rachel:

Background:
   Ren and Rachel are two young kids from the village of Blackflower -- a place where every married couple is a Sorcerer/Demon pair, the Sorcerer drawing out and controlling the monstrous nature of the Demon while supressing his or her own.  They have been newly engaged but, since they had trouble working things out, their parents have sent them out into the world to see if they can't settle their differences themselves.  So far, it's been a few months, and things haven't worked out well.

Kicker:
   Rachel just saw her beloved (and married) older brother, Ethan (Leviathan), chained as a slave to a strange man in a white mask.

Ren Stats:

Personality:  Ren is a bold, outgoing, arrogant young man.  He doesn't take no for an answer, thinks he knows everything, and generally spits in the face of most of the people that he considers "useless."

Appearance:  Ren has olive colored skin, spiky black hair, and rainbow eyes.  He is clearly still in the middle of adolescence -- he is rather short (5' 6" or so) and very self-conscious about that, but he is reasonably well muscled in a slim sort of way.  He tends to wear loose, tough clothes, and carries a very large sword with him everywhere he goes.

Stamina: 5 (Trained Warrior)
Will: 4 (Stubborn)
Lore: 1 (Apprentice: Village Lore)

Humanity: 5
Cover: Bravo 5
Price: Short-Tempered

Demon: Rachel/Rahab
Type: Passing Demon / Water Demon
Description:  Ren's fiancee.  Usually in her normal human form, but a kiss from Ren can transform her into Rahab -- a great flying snake made of water.
Telltale: Rachel's irises are rainbow colored.  Further, if her blood or tears land on the earth, black flowers spring up.
Desire: Fidelity
Need: Public Affection

Rachel Stats

Personality:  Never fond of people, Rachel likes to hang back and observe.  She was always the careful, studious, diligent child in her village.  Outside of the village, she is definitely the rational one of the pair, much more likely to plan and think things through.

Appearance:  Rachel is a small, almost slight girl with olive skin, straight dark hair, and rainbow colored eyes.  She tends to dress in simple clothes, in keeping with her cover, and rarely meets people's eyes or smiles.  She always has a blue stone necklace which was given to her by her brother, Leviathan.

Stamina: 2 (Tough as Nails)
Will: 3 (Stubborn)
Lore: 5 (Adept: Village Lore)

Humanity: 3
Cover: Shrine Maiden 5
Price: Shy

Demon: Ren / Peregrine
Type: Passing Demon / Wind Demon
Description:  Rachel's fiancee.  Usually in his normal human form, but a kiss from Rachel can transform him into Peregrine -- a great rainbow winged bird.
Telltale: Ren's irises are rainbow colored.  Further, if his blood or tears land on the earth, black flowers spring up.
Desire: Fidelity
Need: Public Praise

[Rod Anderson]

Ben,

To clarify, when I mentioned that the "contest for control" roll could be Humanity v. Will, I wasn't trying to say flatly "there's two options instead of one", so much as that "there's more than one way to skin a cat". Given that there will probably already have been a few Will contests between the two by the time a power struggle occurs, it could be prosecuted in a variety of ways, depending on how it's depicted in the narrative. Peregrine tries to wrestle Rachel into submission while she tries to shout him down with their village tradition's version of "the ol' fire and brimstone" . . . well, that's Stamina vs. Lore. Although I suppose it could also be Will (with Stamina successes rolled in) versus Will (with Lore successes rolled in). Whatever can be agreed upon as appropriate, when the moment comes up, will probably work fine.


Rod


P.S. When you say "olive skin", do you mean they're dusky, or they're green? Either is appropriate, obviously, I just want to know for the sake of my mental picture!

[Mike Holmes]

Hey, we forgot telltales for our Sorcerers. While I'm at it, I'll add a description, too. :-)

Zorleb is not old, but has a body with dimensions like he was, in fact, incredibly ancient. That is, he's just loose skin and bones held up mostly by the staff he leans on. He's so into his sorcery that he seldom takes time to eat or do the other things neccessary to maintain life. He'd be dead in fact if it weren't for his truck with Demons keeping him alive (hence the descriptior for Stamina). An enormously hawkish nose protrudes from under his hood, centered on a wizened and dirty face. His appearance is beyond unkempt.

He caries a small pack with him wherever her goes (with the demon in it), and besides some paraphenalia in that, his staff, and his extremely worn cloak, he owns nothing. Under his cloak he's covered with all manner of ink symbols. These record the names of the demons he's learned in a long dead system of symbols along with other notes. There's a demon he sometimes summons to erase parts so that he can have new space to record when he finds new names. The symbols are his Telltale.

Mike

[Bankuei]

Oh, good point, Mike....

Here's the rest of the Prince's stats:

Past- Prince

Stamina 2 - Just Healthy
Will         5 - Aristocrat, High Self Esteem
Lore       3 - Apprentice

Price: Arrogance
Telltale: Glowing sigils appear all over body(hands, arms, face, etc.) while committing any act of sorcery...  Sometimes they glow dimly whenever he is upset

Also, Mike, to quickly comment on the Taint/Humanity 0 thing, just think of the Incredible Hulk, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, or any of the typical transforming anime heros(Guyver, Yugi-Oh, or Devilman, in particular) as folks who go into temporary Humanity 0 zones, do crazy fucked up things, and then come back, either remembering nothing, haunted, guilty, racked with sorrow, but at least in the mind state that "its not completely their fault..."

Chris

[Nev the Deranged]

Just wanted to pop in and say "wow" again... seems like every time I read about someone's Sorcerer game it blows my mind and makes me anxious for the next installment.

I particularly like the nifty characters... the "legs with wings" demon is cool, I can just see it settling onto the Prince and... voila!  He's got an armored ribcage and wings sprouting from his back... can the demon carry him as if he was flying himself?  I am reminded of the cat-demon (Ura?) from El Hazard that wrapped itself around Makoto to protect him.  And one of my characters from way back had a similar demon named Etch that could wrap itself around him and carry him on it's own wings (which is why your description really hit me).    The enfianced demon couple is awesome too, you guys have really gone all anime/FF with these, which is very cool.

Anyway, I'm really hyped to hear about the game here or in Actual Play... I have to say no game system has ever gotten me as consistently enthusiastic as Sorcerer.  The openness and adaptability are right up my alley, since my creativity tends to run at bizarre right angles sometimes.  It's nice to see I'm in good company here!

[Rod Anderson]

Thanks, Nev! Game is this Thursday night, and I expect they'll be some Actual Play posting afterwards.

The funny thing is, when I mentioned the Final Fantasy thing in my writeup, I was imagining that people might go, "Yeah, I know what that looks like," or maybe not and I could give them some Web links if they were interested. I was a little surprised to hear from so many people who were galvanized by that specific aesthetic! But maybe it's not so surprising. The opportunity to play with that aesthetic, and use it in the service of a genuine dynamic role-playing experience, is pretty cool.

The other funny thing is, everyone who's playing has cited familiarity with multiple Final Fantasy games, whereas I've only played FFIX, and I played it well *after* I bought the art book, which totally blew me away in terms of craft and creativity.


Rod