This past weekend, I played in my first Sorcerer game: Mike M.'s Urban Squalor scenario at A Gazebo of Games. As I expected, we got some nice meaty play out of it, and I thought I'd share. I'll be telling this from the perspective of playing my character, hopefully some of the others will jump in to share their thoughts.

The players were: me (playing John Caine), urbwar (playing Matthew Caine), and Andrew Morris (playing Jane Caine). A non-Forgite, who posts at rpg.net as Metallian, played Darryl Johnson. Mike M. played the other important character, Diane Miles, as an NPC, since we did not have a fifth player.

Here are the backgrounds of the characters, as supplied by Mike M.:
Jane Olivia Caine: Popularity-obsessed cheerleader.
Age: 18.
Jane’s mother died when she was just a baby. Her dad’s job forces them to move a lot and that means starting at the bottom of the social pecking order over and over again. Life sucks sometimes. Three moves ago, Jane found a few dozen pages of a book
her dad had seized in a raid, entitled “Solomon’s Cookbook.” It described weird rituals that would create an “eternal companion.” Always wanting a best friend, Jane summoned one. Gillian is devoted to her, and climbing the social ladder has
been so much easier since Gillian can cause “accidents” to befall those in Jane’s way. Unfortunately, Gillian is very demanding and jealous of Jane’s affections. And the book fragment doesn’t tell how to calm her down.
KICKER: Having just moved again, you’ve just learned that your father is here to find Solomon (of “Cookbook” fame) and
either recruit him or neutralize him. Can you get the rest of the book from Solomon first?
Jane's Demon, Gillian, had Need: Affection & Praise, Desire: Only me.

Darryl Johnson: Anti-social sk8tr.
Age: 16.
Darryl has no friends and gets beaten up at school regularly. It’s always just been him and his mom against the world. Dad skipped out before he was born. They’ve never had much money, and they’re about to be evicted. Life sucks sometimes. A few weeks ago, Darryl found some old books in his mom’s closet. They described rituals for the summoning of demons, all you needed was the right kind of bait! So, Darryl found a neighborhood kid, beat him up, and POOF there was Dominus to do his bidding! Things are looking up, ’cause payback’s a bitch.
KICKER: Your mom has just found out that you’ve summoned a demon.
Darryl's Demon, Dominus, had Need: Hear Begging, Desire: Power

Diana Miles: Barely-scraping-by single mom.
Age: 36.
Diana grew up in a poor, abusive home. When she was 16, she met the Caine brothers, Matthew and John. John was handsome and kind. Matthew was funny and intense. They both had the kind of power to pull her out of the slums—the power to summon demons. With the Caines and Solomon, the old man who knew all the secrets, Diana raised some hell and robbed some banks. Before long, she and John had a daughter, Jane. It looked like things could only get better. That’s when things fell apart. A bank job in Pittsburgh went horribly wrong, with John’s face captured plainly on a security camera, and Solomon having run off with the money. John blamed Diana for the foul-up and became obsessed with finding Solomon for revenge. Matthew tried to comfort her,
one thing lead to another, and John walked in on the two of them in bed. Telling them where Solomon was hiding, he took Jane and left. Diana has not been able to find them since. Having both ruined their lives, Diana and Matthew made a vow to defeat Solomon and then Banish their own demons. Solomon died in the conflict, but Diana couldn’t bring herself to Banish her faithful servant Fumes. She Contained him in an abandoned warehouse downtown. It’s likely still there. The money was never found. Since that time, Diana has struggled to make ends meet, but done it without resorting to sorcery. Eight and a half
months after John left, Darryl was born. She steered clear of sorcery for him. Even when things were hard, even when Matthew left to “better himself,” she’s stayed on the wagon. Now that there’s a 9-day-old eviction notice on her door, she’ll
find some other way.
KICKER: You saw a newsletter from Darryl’s school. In it was a picture of Matthew Caine, the new school psychologist. When you went to Darryl’s room to ask him about it, he had your old books open on his bed, and was chatting with a demon!
Diana's Demon, Fumes, had Need: Blood, Desire: Destruction

John Caine: Undercover Military Operative.
Age: 38.
John Caine works for a secret military unit that specializes in the use of “subterrestrial resources” for government purposes. John specializes in recruiting or neutralizing potential operatives. John was not always on the straight and narrow. He and his brother Matthew grew up in grinding poverty in Philadelphia. When he was 18, Matthew introduced him to Solomon, the old man who taught him how to claim real power—Summoning demons. Matthew & John raised a little hell and
robbed a few banks. Then, they met Diana Miles and John fell instantly in love. Although she took her time in deciding
between the brothers, she and John became involved, and in 1986 a daughter, Jane, was born to them. It looked like things
could only get better. That’s when things fell apart. A bank job in Pittsburgh went horribly wrong, with John’s face captured plainly on a security camera, and Solomon having run off with the money. John found Solomon hiding out in Philly and when he went to tell the others, he found Matthew in bed with Diana. Taking Jane, he left his old life behind. He later heard that Diana & Solomon died in the fight over the money. It wasn’t long before he was recruited for special ops.
KICKER: Your latest assignment is to go undercover in Philadelphia, your hometown, to recruit or neutralize a sorcerer called Solomon.
John's Demon, Mr. Bronze, had Need: Human Tears, Desire: Order

Matthew Caine: School Psychologist.
Age: 37
Matthew Caine has worked hard to make himself what he is today: an upstanding member of the community helping inner-city kids make their lives better. It was not always so. Matthew and his brother John grew up in grinding poverty in Philadelphia. When he was 16, Matthew met Solomon, the old man who taught him how to claim real power—Summoning demons. Introducing his brother to Solomon, the Caines raised a little hell and robbed a few banks. Then, they met Diana Miles and Matthew wanted her. Although she took her time in deciding between the brothers, John eventually prevailed, like he always did. In 1988, they had a daughter, Jane. It looked like Matthew would have to rely on himself for happiness. That’s when things fell apart. A bank job in Pittsburgh went horribly wrong, with John’s face captured plainly on a security camera, and Solomon having run off with the money. John blamed Diana for the foul-up and became obsessed with finding Solomon for revenge. Matthew tried to comfort her, one thing lead to another, and John walked in on the two of them in bed. Telling them where Solomon was hiding, he took Jane and left. Matthew has not heard from them since. Having both ruined their lives, Diana and Matthew made a vow to defeat Solomon and then Banish their own demons. Solomon died in the conflict, but Matthew cut the arcane tattoo from his chest, as a trophy of a hard-won victory. The money was never found. Seeing that he only brought suffering to Diana, Matthew
left to put himself in order. After many years of wandering, he finally landed a degree in psychology and has been working in
schools and dodging creditors for several years. His new job having brought him home to Philly, Matthew knows there's hundreds of thousands of dollars stashed somewhere.
KICKER: Last week, you took out Solomon’s tattoo while wondering where he had hidden the money. When you awoke, the tattoo had grafted itself to your chest! You’ve felt better than you have in years, but you’ve also suffered some “missing time.” This morning, you found a map sketched on your notepad, leading to the hidden money.
Matthew's Demon, Solomon, had Need: Use Boost Lore, Desire: Power.

The game began with John getting a call from military HQ, with orders to hunt down the sorcerer Solomon. Jane, and her "best friend," Gillian, managed to listen in on the conversation. After the call, Jane asked John's permission to go to the mall. After grilling her with the normal fatherly questions, John agreed. He then grabbed his street clothes and made for the Inferno, a local cocktail lounge Solomon was rumored to frequent. On the way, he called his demon, Mr. Bronze (a passer) and ordered him to investigate Solomon's old studio apartment for clues. I decided that learning Solomon, and therefore possibly Diana, might be alive had rattled John, so he wasn't that careful giving his orders to Mr. Bronze. "Turn the place upside down. If there's something there, I want to know about it."

Cut to:
Darryl, speaking to his tiny demon (inconspicuous) Dominus, about possible targets. Suddenly, Diana enters and is horrified to find her son speaking to a demon. She seizes the books Darryl had found, and tells him that they will banish Dominus together after she gets off work. The little punk agrees with her, and then sneaks out to raise a little hell after she leaves for work. Originally, Metallian had planned to send Darryl to the Inferno, but when he realized it was a cocktail lounge instead of a club, he decided to send him elsewhere. I think there was a bit of an unintentional "my guy" thing going on here, because Metallian couldn't find a reason to have Darryl go to the club. This took him out of the main action for a while, although Metallian ably rescued it and made Darryl into a critical player in the unfolding drama a bit later on.

Cut to: The Inferno
Only 15 minutes into the session, and things explode, as John, Diana and Matthew meet for the first time in 16 years at the Inferno (Diana's a cocktail waitress there). Matthew and Diana saw each other first. I could have had John wait in the shadows in an effort to learn more about Solomon, but decided that the pain of seeing his two betrayers catapulted him into action. "I just thought you were dead," he said to Diana, stepping out of the shadows.

Somewhere around this point, Jane and Gillian sneak into the club, but take cover when they see John and the new school psychologist, talking to a strange woman. Jane takes note of the obvious hostility, and orders Gillian to protect her daddy. Jane comes in just as Diana asks John why he kidnapped their daughter. John's Price was "Scarred" (which I decided meant emotionally, not physically), so I decided it was time to kick things up a notch. "You didn't deserve to be her mother anymore."

My thinking went something like this: When we began, I only had access to John's write-up (above). I decided that John, like many people, had trouble taking responsibility for his own actions. Faced with betrayal by his brother and his lover, he blamed Matthew for introducing himself and Diana to Solomon. He also decided (ironically enough) that people that treat with demons are bad folks, and dragged his daughter out of there rather than allow her to be tainted by association with Matthew or Diana. He still held a flame for Diana, but when he saw that she was actually alive, all his old hurt and anger came bubbling to the surface. Of course, his obsession with hunting down other sorcerers led him to neglect his daughter, with predictable results.

Anyway, the nastiness of the "You didn't deserve to be her mother anymore" earned me one of the first Humanity checks of the game, which I failed. John dropped from 4 to 5. It also earned John a slap from Diana, which he took. She began weeping and moved in to pound on his chest. John succeeded in grabbing her wrists, but not before Gillian, seeing her master's daddy attacked, grabbed a chair and ran out to smash it across Diana's back. Diana was given a concussion and was knocked unconscious.

Outraged that his daughter and her "psycho friend" had disobeyed him, John ordered Gillian to "go home," and told Jane she was grounded. I rolled a successful Lore test against Gillian, and she had no choice to follow the order (though John still didn't realize she was a demon). Matthew called the police.

At this point, I decided John would take Diana to the hospital, and told Jane to get in the car. In the confusion, Jane slipped a note into Diana's pocket.

Meanwhile, Matthew begins to follow Gillian because he wants her arrested for what she had done.

While this had all been taking place, Darryl had gone to a club and picked a fight with a guy that was pushing around his girlfriend. Darryl was looking to impress the girl. The fight ended with Darryl delivering a 10 wound penalty kick to the groin (ouch!). The fight definitely provided some insight to the character, I think, but was more of a side-track than anything else. He did lose some major Humanity though. Fortunately, Darryl arrived on the scene right as John was loading Darryl's unconscious mother into the car.

The scene ended with John, Jane, and Darryl driving the unconscious Diana to the hospital. The doctor tells them that Diana will be fine, but won't able to see anyone for a few hours. At that point, Jane spills the beans to Darryl that they are siblings, and demands that John explain himself. I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do, so I stonewalled. Metallian bought me some time by having Darryl ask: "So are you supposed to be my dad or something?"

I decided John was too shaken and caught up with his own stuff to be sensitive in the matter, so he responded "when's your birthday?" Once Darryl responded, John replied, "It's possible."

Humanity Check number two! This time I rolled well, and didn't lose the Humanity point. Jane continued to push, joined by an increasingly angry Darryl, when John was saved by a call from Mr. Bronze, telling him there was a very angry, and very hungry demon Contained in the basement of Solomon's old apartment. Darryl asked John if the call had to do with demons and stuff, shocking John (and also making him realize that he'd done the right thing by getting Jane away from Diana's influence). John ordered Jane and Darryl to stay with Diana, and left to investigate, though not before Darryl sent Dominus to hide in his pant cuffs.

Jane drags Darryl out to the parking lot, insisting that they follow John. Jane wants a look at Solomon's books. It becomes clear later that Darryl has a bigger prize in mind.

While this is happening, Matthew has a pretty scary encounter with Gillian, which leaves him fairly certain that she's a demon. He checks his school records for Darryl's address, and decides to check it out.

Cut to:
The parking lot, where Jane and Darryl realize they don't know how to hotwire a car. Fortunately, that's when Gillian shows up, and she gets them a car. Jane and Darryl hop in and Jane tells Gillian to follow her dad's car (once again forgetting to tell her to be subtle).

Cut to:
Matthew pulling up to Diana's house, where repo men are dragging out all her possessions. Matthew begins to argue with them, and then dashes into the house to find the books Diana had seized from Darryl earlier. Urbwar slipped into author stance to do this, by declaring that Matthew was the one who gave Diana the books in the first place. He comes out just as Darryl, driving by with Jane and Gillian, orders Gillian to stop when he sees the repo men. Metallian rolled very well on his Lore roll, and Gillian slams on the brakes.

Darryl jumps out and has an encounter with Matthew, during which he asks Matthew "So are you supposed to be my dad." In a perfect bit of ironic play, urbwar responds, "When's your birthday, kid?" After Darryl tells him, Matthew responds, "It's possible." Perfect! And a Humanity check for Matthew, which urbwar fails.

Feeling slightly bad, Matthew then tells Darryl that he's going to take care of all of Diana's debts and get their stuff back. He knows just where to get the money! They set off for Solomon's old apartment.

Meanwhile, John saw Gillian and Jane in his rearview mirror when Gillian slammed on the brakes, and he drives back to them. He orders Gillian to hold it, while Jane orders her to "get us out of here!" John sees Gillian narrow her eyes at him, at which point his airbag goes off (Psychic Force: Bad Luck).

Determined to get rid of the demon at Solomon's old place, John heads there. He finds that Mr. Bronze has all but destroyed the building, with holes in the walls and floors. In fact, the building is now open to the sky. In the basement, he finds Solomon's paraphernalia, Solomon's skeleton, and a Contained and very hungry demon: Fumes, Diana's demon!

But Jane and Gillian have also followed John into the building, and Matthew and Darryl have arrived as well (though they're on the roof).

From there, we move into the explosive finale, as Jane moves to take a look at Solomon's books. John is horrified to realize that he is no worse than Diana: his daughter is a sorcerer too, and she's kept her demon under his roof in plain sight! His first thought is for his daughter, and he orders Gillian "Get Jane out of here!" I got a fair number of successes on the Lore roll, so Gillian begins to push Jane out. Meanwhile, Matthew's demon finally senses its chance, and gives Darryl a mighty Lore Boost.

John rushes over to Solomon's books, rapidly looking for some information to help him banish Fumes. Matthew moves quickly from the roof to the basement. Darryl uses his monstrous boosted Lore to Bind Fumes (who hasn't had his Need for Blood met in 16 years!). And then John and Matthew manage to forgive each other enough to work together on a snapshot Banishing for Fumes. I use the engagement ring that John never gave to Diana as a focus, plus successes from the previous Lore roll with the books, while Matthew lends John a number of successes, and together the two brothers manage to Banish the demon just as it breaks its Containment.

All in all, it was an extremely satisfying ending to the game. Andrew was scarily amazing as Jane, really bringing the evil cheerleader to life, and Metallian, I think, blew everyone away with his explosive decision to bind Fumes. There was some really great authoring flying throughout the game, especially once we got our feet under us.

This is long enough already, even though I'm sure I've missed some of the cool stuff that happened during the game. Hopefully the others will pop in to fill things out.

I just wanted to pipe in a few things of my own. I got to play Matthew Caine, John's brother

Thor Olavsrud wrote:
Urbwar slipped into author stance to do this, by declaring that Matthew was the one who gave Diana the books in the first place.

Thor Olavsrud wrote:
Darryl jumps out and has an encounter with Matthew, during which he asks Matthew "So are you supposed to be my dad." In a perfect bit of ironic play, urbwar responds, "When's your birthday, kid?" After Darryl tells him, Matthew responds, "It's possible." Perfect! And a Humanity check for Matthew, which urbwar fails.

Thor Olavsrud wrote:
Matthew moves quickly from the roof to the basement. Darryl uses his monstrous boosted Lore to Bind Fumes (who hasn't had his Need for Blood met in 16 years!). And then John and Matthew manage to forgive each other enough to work together on a snapshot Banishing for Fumes. I use the engagement ring that John never gave to Diana as a focus, plus successes from the previous Lore roll with the books, while Matthew lends John a number of successes, and together the two brothers manage to Banish the demon just as it breaks its Containment.

Thor Olavsrud wrote:
All in all, it was an extremely satisfying ending to the game. Andrew was scarily amazing as Jane, really bringing the evil cheerleader to life, and Metallian, I think, blew everyone away with his explosive decision to bind Fumes. There was some really great authoring flying throughout the game, especially once we got our feet under us.

Wow, nice writeup Thor.

I had Jane write the note to Diana while hiding behind the bar, before Gillian knocked her out. Basically, Jane was planning on playing off her parents' obviously strong emotions in an attempt to force her father to actually stay in one place, god damn it!

Oh, and I lost track of all the Humanity rolls Jane's callous manipulations forced upon her. If I recall correctly, though, she went from Humanity 5 to 2 over the course of the game.

One of my favorite parts of the game was when Jane ordered Gillian to get a car, and deliberately didn't tell her to be nice, legal, or subtle about it. Sure enough, Mike seized the opportunity and had Gillian literally hurl an old woman out of her handicapped-tagged 1970s Buick. I think that might have been one of the points where Jane lost Humanity.

Also, in the confusion of the final scene, Jane was able to get control of Gillian (who'd been ordered to protect her by John) and grab Solomon's books for her own purposes. Once she talks her way out of her grounding and convinces daddy to stay in Philly, she's gonna summon up a whole mess o' trouble.

As to playing the evil cheerleader part, thanks for the praise. It was actually the first time I'd played a female character. Not that I have any problems with that, it's just that .... well, hell, I don't know enough about women to figure them out in real life, let alone roleplay one. Heh, I guess we all have a little evil cheerleader deep inside to access, right? I mean, right? C'mon, don't tell me I'm the only one. Please?

I had all kinds of fun playing Sorcerer for the first time ... I'm glad I had the opportunity. I'd previously purchased and read the rules, but never had the chance to play it. Trying a system out is infinitely better than just reading the rules. Kudos to my fellow players, and to Mike Miller. Good game, all.

Andrew Morris wrote: Oh, and I lost track of all the Humanity rolls Jane's callous manipulations forced upon her. If I recall correctly, though, she went from Humanity 5 to 2 over the course of the game.

One of my favorite parts of the game was when Jane ordered Gillian to get a car, and deliberately didn't tell her to be nice, legal, or subtle about it. Sure enough, Mike seized the opportunity and had Gillian literally hurl an old woman out of her handicapped-tagged 1970s Buick. I think that might have been one of the points where Jane lost Humanity.

As to playing the evil cheerleader part, thanks for the praise. It was actually the first time I'd played a female character. Not that I have any problems with that, it's just that .... well, hell, I don't know enough about women to figure them out in real life, let alone roleplay one. Heh, I guess we all have a little evil cheerleader deep inside to access, right? I mean, right? C'mon, don't tell me I'm the only one. Please?

Hi, Thor!

Thanks so much for doing this write-up. Everyone at the table did a great job of nailing the story issues (any game that ends with a Binding and then a Banishment is a good one, I think). I think I mentioned at the table that this scenario was based on, but modified from, my current Sorcerer game. The thread can be found here.

As far as prep went, I used the "world's smallest relationship map" model that Ron used for In Utero in Sex&Sorcery. With so many emotionally-charged personal relationships among PCs, I figured all I had to do was play the demons aggressively and things would soar from there. Looks like I was right this time.

Thor Olavsrud wrote: My thinking went something like this: When we began, I only had access to John's write-up (above). I decided that John, like many people, had trouble taking responsibility for his own actions. Faced with betrayal by his brother and his lover, he blamed Matthew for introducing himself and Diana to Solomon. He also decided (ironically enough) that people that treat with demons are bad folks, and dragged his daughter out of there rather than allow her to be tainted by association with Matthew or Diana. He still held a flame for Diana, but when he saw that she was actually alive, all his old hurt and anger came bubbling to the surface. Of course, his obsession with hunting down other sorcerers led him to neglect his daughter, with predictable results.

She began weeping and moved in to pound on his chest. John succeeded in grabbing her wrists, but not before Gillian, seeing her master's daddy attacked, grabbed a chair and ran out to smash it across Diana's back. Diana was given a concussion and was knocked unconscious.

Michael S. Miller wrote: I need to clue you guys into Gillian's psychology a bit. Her Desire is Worship from Jane. So, she wants to be the only individual of any importance in Jane's life. She didn't attack Diana out of any concern for John, but rather because she knew that if Jane met Diana--her mother--then Diana would become a rival for Jane's affections. Better to nip that in the bud.

This is also the reason Gillian kept targeting John at the end of the game. She wants to wipe out anyone close Jane. Sick and twisted and cathartically fun to play.

Thor Olavsrud wrote: On a different issue: I hadn't read Sex & Sorcery when I played the game (I picked it up at the con), but reading it the past few days, it struck me how the real story meat mapped to the zones in the male story Ron describes. They also mapped to the Female story, of course. But I see that John's animosity to Matthew had to do with tension between the Self/Mate/Offspring ring and the Kin ring. John (and I) had tremendous difficulty dealing with Darryl, because I had no idea which ring he belonged in.