Just picked up my copy of Sorceror. I'm about half-way through.

Very thought-provoking. It also looks like a very, very playable game (as-in, "Yeah. I'm pretty sure I could run this.").

One quick question. The text mentions that you can "regain" humanity. Does this mean that you can only get back lost humanity, or can your humanity exceed its original score? If the latter, is there a maximum to it?

Stuart

Hi Stuart,

The starting score for Humanity isn't fixed in any way. "Regain," really, ought to be read as "increase."

So say you start at Humanity 4, it can go up, down, whatever, to any degree at all. Zero is zero (no such thing as negative Humanity, except in a mini-supplement tweak or two), and there's no upper limit. Although do note my game text about Humanity increasing steadily ...

Best,
Ron

Ron,

Thanks for the clarification - that's what I assumed, but the use of the word "regain" there threw me.

Finished reading. I really like a lot of the things you did here with the system. The way you handle skills and difficulties is very simple, but comprehensive. It gives me a lot to think about.

The only mechanic that I'm really unclear about is in combat. With everyone making their rolls at the beginning of each round, do full descriptions of actions occur before the rolls (so that all the bonuses and such would get added in)?

How does this work if there is a two-part action (frex, Stamina successes rolling over into a Cover attack)?

What if someone takes some damage before taking an action - would that action then be down dice (if so, then how is that done if the dice have already been rolled)?

Stuart

Hi Stuart,

Most of your questions have been addressed in forum discussions or through websites of one kind or another. Check out:

The Rules Questions, the (thankfully brief) Errata, and the Actual Play pages at the Sorcerer site.

Jonathan Tweet's somewhat acerbic Playing Sorcerer material is highly recommended.

I'll briefly answer here though.

1) Actions are described fully in terms of intent, not as completed actions. You can be very dramatic and exciting about this - the thing to do, though, is not to say how the action works out. "Stop" the extent of the description as the action becomes contingent on others' actions, but be very cool and exciting with it up to that point.

2) I'm a little puzzled about the two-part action - usually, bonuses rolled into a second action are applied in the next round. In other words, a two-part action requires a two-round sequence; typically, one doesn't stack a ton of rolls into a single round. (Some exceptions apply.)

3) When all the dice are on the table and someone takes damage, don't change his rolled dice at all. Just use those penalties as bonus dice rolled into (added to) the dice that oppose his next action. Of course, the lasting penalties do exist as penalties on his sheet from that point on.

Best,
Ron

Thanks Ron,

I read the stuff on the Sorceror site, but it didn't directly answer my concerns. Thanks for the other link. I will check it out.

Ron Edwards wrote:
2) I'm a little puzzled about the two-part action - usually, bonuses rolled into a second action are applied in the next round. In other words, a two-part action requires a two-round sequence; typically, one doesn't stack a ton of rolls into a single round. (Some exceptions apply.)

Hi Stuart,

Ah yes, the rigging-thing ... usually, here's what I do. I set a difficulty roll for the first action (say, 2 or 3 dice opposed to the "swinging down"), and then his victories, if any, become bonus dice for the real roll (the combat one), which is to say, the one that will be rolled along with everyone else's "doin' it" roll.

Effectively, the first roll doesn't take any notable in-game time for purposes of the round. Let me clarify.

We've all announced actions and are ready to roll. Oh, wait, we just take one quick moment for Tod to roll his character's Past against two or three dice, grab the victories, and toss him bonuses. OK, now we're all ready, Tod clutching a few extra dice along with his Stamina dice, and we all roll.

If the augmentation-action seems to be logistically too demanding to be instantaneous in game-resolving terms, then it becomes the only action of the round for that character.

This augmentation-style roll, which has been common in playing Sorcerer for a long time, turns out to be almost exactly like the augmentation device in Hero Wars.

Best,
Ron

The way I conceptualize what Ron just discribed is as a Random Modifier for special effects.

So straight basic Sorcerer might be:

Player: "I want to swing down from the rigging and attack"
GM "Ok that's 'cool' take 2 extra dice".


The Augmentation version works like this:

Player: "I want to swing down from the rigging and attack"
GM: <hmmm, I don't know how many dice I want to give...its kind of cool, but there are also skill vs effectiveness issues...> "Ok, roll Cover vs a difficulty of 3 to find out how many extra dice you get for your attack".

So it isn't REALLY a seperate action being carried over, its really just a normal GM given bonus that the GM decides to randomize rather than assign a value to (for whatever reason).


I actually like this because it allows for a huge range of explanations without having to model every possible modifier in detail. For instance, it can be cool to jump up on a table top while dueling your enemy (and perhaps an advantage from the added height). A game like GURPS might simply assign a +2 height advantage modifier. But is this advantage really a constant known factor? What if the table is rickety? Do you really need a table that includes a "-1 unsure footing" modifier too (such tables often wind up very very long)? Plus you now need to know in advance just how sturdy every table in the tavern actually is.

With a random modifier generator you simply Fortune in the Middle it. The random modifier for jumping on the table come up +4 in one round, than the action was a rousing success catching the opponent by surprise as he harmless slices where you used to be and you plant a boot in his face. The next round the random modifier comes up 0...because a body flying across the room crashed into the table upsetting it. That sort of thing.

That's how I see it anyway.