[Sorcerer] Training run: London, June 1966

[The Dragon Master]

In that instance, I don't see that it's necessary to have the demons roll to notice the telltale, unless they have some reason why they personally would want to know, like if the Sorcerers had told their Demons to keep an eye out for other Demons and Sorcerers. But that's still a potential 4 rolls.

Does anyone see an issue with leaving checks for Demons out entirely till the Sorcerer is interacting with the Demon? Like until he picks up the Demon blade, or till he starts talking to the Passing Demon child? Basically, until the characters attention is on the Demon in such a way that the telltale would come into play? As an example, I recall a Passing Demon whose Telltale was a third eye between her breasts. I don't imagine rolling Lore to detect that until she takes off her shirt.

[Noclue]

Here's where my lack of experience with Sorceror comes out. Isn't this situation only interesting if one Sorcerer notices the telltale while the other does not? Why not make it a contested roll?

[John S]

Here's where my lack of experience with Sorceror comes out. Isn't this situation only interesting if one Sorcerer notices the telltale while the other does not? Why not make it a contested roll?

By the rules, every roll in Sorcerer is contested. A character's knowledge & perception of demonic stuff is "Lore". A character's supposedly mundane nature is its "Cover"; a "Telltale" is something about a character that will reveal her as a sorcerer or demon to those in the know, if they notice it. When a character might notice another character's Telltale, the noticing character rolls her Lore and the other character rolls his Cover. If the Lore roll succeeds over the Cover roll, the noticing happens.

After mulling over the conversation on this thread, I'm inclined to use the complex conflict rules when demons and/or sorcerers interact in a way that could reveal Telltales, using Lore rolls to set the order to resolve the Cover rolls.

As far as the passing demon with an eye between the boobs is concerned, my first impression is that I wouldn't require a Lore roll if something so bizarre was clearly visible. Then I thought of all the different kinds of eyes in nature and how a bug eye (for instance) could be mistaken for a mole or something. I guess it depends on how blatant it is.

[Karl]

here http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=26908.msg256749#msg256749
is a post of Ron's that seems relevant

[John S]

here is a post of Ron's that seems relevant

That's very relevant-- thanks, Karl!

Back to my question about Dracula, I'm no longer concerned about his immense level of power. In the fiction, Van Helsing's crew are very careful never to confront their enemies under conditions that favor the vampire; they set up Contains, and get what would be rollover victories by preparing their weapons and the ground. They know the Count and his spawn are virtually powerless during the hours of daylight. Anyone who wants to confront Dracula in straight-up combat at night would deservedly be ripped to shreds, unless they have serious preparation, roll-playing bonuses, and roll-over victories.

[Paiku]

Thanks Karl, a very enlightening chain of threads there!

It make me want to describe something quirky about the appearance of every NPC.  Nervous ticks, bloodshot eyes, funny birthmarks.  Is it a Telltale of sorcery?  *Roll*  "You don't think so..." ;-)  Good for player paranoia.

-John