Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but I was wondering if there were any plans to release Sorcerer as a PDF or other electronic version?

I ask this because often it's not so conventient to pack up a box of books (I have paper books of Sorcerer, And Sword, Sorcerer's Soul, And Sex, Dictionary of Mu) but if I had this stuff on my computer it would be really helpful. I bought all of the PDF supplements but it would be nice to have everything on my hard drive.

Since I can't edit my post, I thought I would just add that I also bought PDF copies of Elfs and Trollbabe, and it's great having the rules portable so I can access them on my computer....

Hi Marvin,

It pains me a bit to have to tell such a good customer "no," but I guess I have to. Sorcerer was released only in PDF from 1998 to 2001, but after that, it became a book and is only available in that form.

Best, Ron

Understandable.

Is the 2001 edition the "apprentice" version?

Hi Marvin,

No, the apprentice version is a little PDF that I wrote in 1999, whose rules are a limited strip-down of the pre-book PDF version of Sorcerer. It was a supplemental promotional device, not "the game."

To be clear, here are the iterations of Sorcerer throughout its history.

1996-1998: a text file available through an automatic mailing button, not quite a download. It was "sold" as shareware, i.e., if a person liked it, they could send me $5 through the post.

1998-2001: a PDF available for $10 using an on-line credit-card service. Sorcerer & Sword and The Sorcerer's Soul were also made available during this period in the same form. The Apprentice was written in 1999 as a promotional device; its content matches this version of Sorcerer but is considerably limited and organized as if for a convention game, with less choices.

2001: Sorcerer was upgraded and released as a book. The two supplements were also upgraded and published as books in the next year or two, and a third , Sex & Sorcery, was written and published in book form only in 2003.

For some reason, possibly the Wiki entry, the Apprentice has received a great deal of attention in the past couple of years. This is unfortunate because the rules are (a) obsolete, (b) a bit of a failed experiment relative to the overall game, and (c) limited in a way which does not match any version of the overall game. I think a number of people may believe they have or know Sorcerer based on reading it, despite my constant statements that it's an artifact.

Also, you mentioned the PDF supplements, which makes me a little nervous. Neither of them are current; major rules changes and conceptual content were incorporated for the book versions.

Best, Ron

Ron wrote:
Also, you mentioned the PDF supplements, which makes me a little nervous. Neither of them are current; major rules changes and conceptual content were incorporated for the book versions.