Hello,

This stuff was originally announced at GO, so it ought to be here too.

A mini-supplement is any combination of the following for Sorcerer: a setting, scenarios, rules tweaks, Humanity and other key concept interpretations, art, fiction, or story materials.

If you put together such a thing, you may sell it in PDF form from my Sorcerer website. Just set up some kind of buy button (e.g. PayPal or whatever) and we'll put it there.

I don't get a dime from this. I get supplements and good press. You get the credit and the profit.

I suggest $5-7 per copy, given the scope that the current entries have tackled. If it's comparatively light, $3-5 seems more reasonable.

To be sold this way, a mini-supplement may not be sold elsewhere. It must pass my editorial approval (which current authors might comment about).

Mini-supplements that are just about to hit the website include:
Hellbound by Dav Harnish
Schism by Jared Sorensen
Demon Cops by me
Electric Ghosts by Raven

I encourage unique and interesting takes on the usual Sorcerer mechanics.

Best,
Ron

This is mainly for Clay and Clinton, as I know they have great ideas waiting for them to put hands to keyboard:

"My experiences with Ron as editor"
-by Dav Harnish

Well, I will only say that the skin on my back is still healing, and the doctors say that it may be up to three years before I can sleep on my back again. Combining this with the emotional and mental torture that he put me through, I must say that this was probably the most disturbing and scarring occurrence of my life.

Every day I would awaken to Ron Edwards perched above the headboard of my bed, my apartment keys dangling serenely from one of his fingers. I have no idea how he kept getting inside, what with me changing the locks constantly. But there he was, smiling, laughing. He would allow me ... sometimes, to go to the bathroom before chaining me to my computer, his barbed wire whip cracking downward at break-neck speeds whenever I misused a comma.

And the screaming, and the abuse ... I think that Ron must speak at least five different languages, because there are not possibly enough insults within any given language to contain all of the horrible insults he heaped upon my entire family line. And through it all, that mad maniacal laughter ... I shudder to even consider it for too long.

However, I know he is still out there. Even after I gave him a finished version of the supplement, he sometimes comes back, scratching his blackened nails across the door to my apartment. I have taken to sleeping with a shotgun. My girlfriend left me long before I was able to reach chapter 2.

I'm pretty certain that most of the damage will heal, however, and the doctors all say that the plastic strips they implanted look and feel 56% like normal skin. The internal bleeding didn't last too long, and Ron was kind enough to give me a detailed description of why the wounds to organs and skin were not fatal from "a biologist's perspective".

On the up side, I have learned some new and interesting phrases, including "Ia, Ia, the Black Goat of the Woods!" Which, for some reason, Ron kept chanting as he flayed the skin from my bones. And how many people can claim to have seen, much less tasted, their own spleens?

Come on! Write for Ron, it is an experience you'll never forget.


Dav

Hey! I have one mini-supplement 90% finished (waiting for art and one last chapter), and the second got the first draft written today. (Being trapped in the hospital has its advantages.)

Ack, Clinton, you're making me look like a real slacker. My supplement is still in the rough notes stage. The only good thing I can say about it is that I will have started the requested short story this week, and will have had it reviewed by next.

However harsh Ron may have been on Dav, it probably won't be that bad compared to dealing with my boss.

The vast..no...unfathomable darkness of Space...

Where *did* you think demons came from?


Sorcerer & Space - What will man have to sacrifice to reach the final frontier?




Whadda ya say Uncle Ronnie? Can I do it? Huh, huh? Can I?

Mike Holmes

Hey Mike,

Pre-approval is not required for mini-supplements. If you write it, I'll check it out (hey Clay! this means you too).

Best,
Ron

I'll have to get off my sorry slacker behind and get to work on writing it. You've actually seen everything that I've done, save for the map. Obviously, it's a long way from making a mini-supplement at this point.

Re: supplements...

Schism is done! It should be available tomorrow (?)

Cool! Page count? Price? Art count? Other nifties?

Info...

Page count?
36 pages

Price?
$5.95

Art count?
4 (1 cover image, 3 interior illustrations)

Other nifties?
No fiction (there are some fragments on the Schism site if yer into that kinda thing). There is a short prologue, some design notes masquerading as "what the hell is this game about?" text, a references list (short blurb on Cronenberg, some movies and books and a detailed list of music that inspired the game), character creation (and character destruction!) rules, lots o' psychic disciplines (broken into the three types -- Telepathy, Psychokinesis, Clairvoyance), rules for using your power and losing control, trancendence (as in, transcending the limitations of your power at the cost of your humanity), gaining new disciplines, drugs!, sample cabals & characters, how to run Schism, lots of pithy quotes, an "about the author/artist" section and a glossary of terms used in the game.

Long live the New Flesh!

Hey all,

I need to emphasize one thing:

*Mini-supplements are to be sold only from the Sorcerer website.* The money goes to the author, but the place o' business is that website alone ...

Best,
Ron

Ron (et al):

I asked Jared, and now I put it to the ether.

Does anyone know a method of order fulfillment that will not constitute me emailing orders to customers (some way of allowing those who pay download access)? I ask because my modem sucks and emailing attachments will be a major suck-festival for me. If that is the only way, so be it; but I thought I would check before going whole-hog.

Dav

I suggest the simple method: E-mail a reliable friend with better/more reliable/faster access and see if you forward the requests for your supplement to them, if they would be willing to send them out.

Alternatively, if you can leave the .pdf on a faster server, and attach it from there (by connecting to the server from home), it never actually has to travel over your phone lines.

- James

Create a Yahoo email account and send the thing to that address one time. Then you can forward it from that account as many times as you need to.

[ This Message was edited by: Paul Czege on 2001-06-13 19:34 ]

Damn! I thought I was an evil genius... I got nothing on you folks. Tahnks for the advice. I think I will take it.


Dav

PS: Hellbound is online!

For those who hate e-mailing supplements from home, drop me a line via e-mail. I have a couple of working options that I can put in place for you.

Sorceror in Four Colors...

C'mon, someone out there has to be doing a superhero Sorceror mini-supplement, right? I mean heck, Ron practically begs for it in his rules. Kickers can be resolved as individual subplots to the main story (can Whisperwind prevent the troublesome reporter from publishing her secret identity), Telltales can be as obvious as you like (Swamp Thing is the coolest!), and Abilities can be defined as anything from generic superpowers (with great Power comes great Responsibility) to literal Demons (Faust, Ghost Rider, etc.).

If someone's not already doing this, I might take a shot at it. It'd give me a great excuse to re-read Watchmen (like I should need an excuse for that). If someone is doing it...you got one guaranteed purchase right here.

Moose:

I have a friend who was thinking along these lines (but not quite so exactly). I say go for it. Go for it hardcore!

(And buy Hellbound ... I need to eat!) :wink:

Dav

Originally I was thinking about an open-ended sourcebook that would enable players to play any kind of Supers game with the Sorceror rules - but I think interpreting generic "powers" as Demons, even if I managed to keep the Need and Desire elements, would still be missing the point, somewhat. I'm starting to slide more towards a standard Sorceror game, just painted in bright, four-color glory. This would be modeled after the occult styled comics of Ghost Rider, Faust, Dr. Strange, the whole Vertigo line, Witchblade, Darkness, Spawn...you get the point. Every Super would be a Sorceror in his own right.

What would make it different from a normal Sorceror game would be the Rule of Secrecy - there wouldn't really be one, or it wouldn't be enforced as heavily. Furthermore, Telltales would be bold and vivid, helping to create the super-hero identity. Instead of Cover, each character would have an Alter-Ego. Humanity measures two extremes: Good (high Humanity) and Evil (low), with most PCs falling into that huge gray area in between. It all fits so nicely into the Sorceror structure, almost like it was meant to be.

Sound good? No? Any suggestions or comments?

And Dave, I'll be picking up Hellbound and Schism, if not tonight, then this weekend. Can't let my friends starve, afterall.

Take care,
Scott

Scott,

Do it. I'd put a twist toward the Dr. Strange and Ghost Rider end rather than the (e.g.) Swamp Thing end, because Clinton and Jared have pretty "done the deed" when it comes to internalizing the concept of "demon." If it doesn't interfere with your current vision, I'd go with a more external-entity approach to the demonics.

And sign me up. This stuff is what my li'l mind is all ABOUT.

Best,
Ron

Actually, I'm almost of the opinion that Swamp Thing is actually Abigail (was that her name?) Arcane's Demon. I'm not sure what type he'd be though...maybe a Passer in a world where the Rule of Secrecy doesn't count. Maybe a Possessor who eventually replaces all of Alec Holland's identity. Same thing with Brandon Lee's character in the movie The Crow - he's the little girl's Demon. Is that external enough?

Maybe that's the twist...the Demon's are the Sorceror's guardians, protecting them from whatever Evil plagues them. I could stay away from Parasites entirely, focusing on Passers, Possessors, and the Inconspicuous ones. I hate to make the comparison, but it would be like very dark Pokemon, or something...

I need to go check out some anime...let me know what you guys think.