[Sorcerer] Dictionary of Mu

[Karl]

We created some way cool Binding scenes last night, introducing the basic Sorcerer dice mechanic, the use of Descriptors for bonus dice, and rollover bonuses. Afterwards we went quickly through an example combat to show sequencing, aborted actions, temporary and lasting penalties, etc.

We went through all the preparatory work for each character seperately and then did their Binding rolls together. That meant I had to roll 4 sets of dice at once, so it wasn't really 'simultaneous', but I thought it worked ok nonetheless.

I'll describe each ritual separately. Starting with....

Dom's character Brutus (Sta:2 Lore:4 Will:4 Hum:4), a defeated Black Rock Gladiator close to Nimrote, is Binding Cassius (Sta:4 Lore:4 Will:5 Power:5) a demon themed around the destruction of loyalty. It's Need is acts of disloyalty. Dom had the ritual worked out very quickly and only a couple of suggestions from the rest of us were required.

Under starlight on the sands of the Back Rock arena, Brutus focused on his bitterness and anger at being crushed in combat, and, vowing that it would never happen again, began the ritual.

Past (5) vs Humanity (3): [Past:Black Rock Gladiator and Price:Bitter (-1 to Humanity rolls)]
All 5 of Dom's dice were lower than mine! 3 penalties going into the next roll.
A Total Victory for our very first Sorcerer roll but I couldn't really see how to apply it.

Brutus smashed handfuls of wasteland scorpions and then used their poisonous green ichor to paint powerful mystical symbols on his face and body.

Lore vs Stamina: reduced the penalties down to 1 into the next roll

Brutus scrawled a powerful pattern of a wasteland beast that Nimrote had saved him from into the sand, and at its center he crushed Nimrote's favorite lucky charm (that Brutus had earlier stolen).

Lore vs Power: Dom's penalties increased to 2 going into the final roll.

Dom demanded a Humanity check for stealing the lucky charm! I suggested if he destroyed it rather than just burying it in the sand that would be more 'deserving' of a check. Dom rolled and avoided Humanity loss.

For the Binding itself Dom was rolling 5 dice for Brutus' Will (including descriptors) against my 7 for Cassius (including the 2 penalty dice). Given the way I had been rolling he wasn't very optimistic about the result.

Somehow Dom managed 2 victories! The Binding strength is +2 in Brutus favor.

More later,
Karl

[Karl]

Hmmm

I've just been looking over everyone's character sheets, focusing on the people in their lives (from the back of the character sheet and the Kickers and all). I just noticed something. At first I thought it was just Kamraan, cos he was who I was looking at. (Apologies to Narayan who I just PMed)

But unless I am reading some names wrong, all the people in Kamraan's life are male, all the people in Nikolaos' life are male, all the people in Brutus' life are male. And of course those characters are the ones played by the men.

Furthermore, all the people in Veshara's life are women - except for the Witch-King, who is a hermaphrodite, so doesn't really count as male either.

Damn I should have noticed that at the table last night. It's kinda stunning really.

Anyone want to change anything about their character's connections based on this knowledge? Change genders for any names? Extra names on your sheet? Not obligatory by any means. I'm sure there are other ways we can react as well.

How very interesting!

There are certain rules about player gender from Sex and Sorcery....

Hmmmm

More later,
Karl

[Blakmane]

all the people in Nikolaos' life are male, all the people in Brutus' life are male. And of course those characters are the ones played by the men.

Not true, Himiko and Karoliina are both female, with female names that you seem to have overlooked giving me a total of two males and two females in my past.

[Karl]

Hi

My apologies Felix for missing those two names. Sorry everyone for overreacting.

Sorry I wasn't been able to get to the computer last night, also I won't be online for most of today.

Cheers
Karl

[Karnath]

all the people in Kamraan's life are male, all the people in Nikolaos' life are male, all the people in Brutus' life are male. And of course those characters are the ones played by the men.

Furthermore, all the people in Veshara's life are women - except for the Witch-King, who is a hermaphrodite, so doesn't really count as male either.

Fair enough. I'll try and work on some more background characters, including female ones. For starters, i'll throw in my mother Constantia who disowned me after my humiliating defeat in the arena. This wasn't changed by Brutus's friendship with Nimrote, although for years she has obsessed over Nimrote and thrown herself at him.

My father Valerius was a famous gladiator who reigned as arena champion for many years before being horribly (and fatally) disembowelled by the female slave gladiator 'Medusa'. It is said that he doubled over laughing upon seeing the puny stature of his opponent and she leapt in with a lightning quick spear strike to finish him before he had even prepared. For this apparent 'cheating' Medusa was abandoned in the depths of the waste with only a short sword and a single waterskin. She hasn't been heard of since and is assumed to have died, either at the hands of the wastes wild beasts or of thirst.

[Narayan]

In case I don't remember, someone remind me tomorrow: first thing we have to do is Humanity checks for the Binding rituals.

Hmmm, it looks like my character may be starting the game with a Humanity of 1. What are my chances of losing more Humanity, I wonder?

[Karnath]

Hmmm, it looks like my character may be starting the game with a Humanity of 1. What are my chances of losing more Humanity, I wonder?

What, you? Never!!!

[Narayan]

Hmmm, it looks like my character may be starting the game with a Humanity of 1. What are my chances of losing more Humanity, I wonder?

What, you? Never!!!

Yes, I think the first thing my character will be doing is building an orphanage for all the lost children of Marr'd. Of course, he might need to ensorcel others in order to get it built, but what price Humanity?

[Narayan]

Yes, it was good game and quite different to the other games. It was hard to get into at the start since we had to frame the scene for our characters, but once things got rolling it became easier to get into the scenes.

I thought it was good how Karl connected the four separate story arcs through the use of NPCs common to the player characters. I liked how my character, Kamraan, stumbled across his arch rival and former flame, Eremeda in the Citidel of BattleHymn, who was also Dinear, the arch rival of miryai's character, Veshara. I also like that Kamraan was trying to convince Eremeda/Dinear to help me secure an audience with the Damsel Messiah while Veshara was trying to pin her poisoning of the Damsel Messiah on Eremeda/Dinear! Very cool.

Also, I enjoyed playing a total bastard in the game. I find it funny that Kamraan is capable of great evil but is held back by the fact that he cannot commit evil acts without risking his last scrap of Humanity.

I am looking forward to seeing more of the mechanics of the game come into play.

Should we start another Actual Play thread to track the story of the game?

[Karnath]

I've enjoyed myself so far. I like the way that despite the fact that we have no direct connection to one another, Karl has drawn our stories together and made them interlinked. It will be interesting to see how events pan out, and how conflicts arise and are resolved. I still think it's going to end in Narayan going beserk and trying to kill all the other PCs in a massive showdown.

Cheers all.

Dom

[Blakmane]

Hi guys

Sorry to say, but my brother is coming up from melbourne on teusday, just for the day/night, so I won't be able to attend the session this time. Please go ahead without me, and i'll just slot in next session

[Karl]

Hi everyone

Sorry I've been a bit quiet, too much stuff to do!

So I didn't realise when we planned next week that it was a public holiday. I'm still ok for it though.
Anyone else have issues with that Tue night?

We can go ahead without Felix or we can try another night. At this point the most likely option for me would be the following Tue.

Cheers
Karl

[Karl]

OK

so I guess I wont be posting any big 'what happened last session' thing.

But I do want to say a couple points:

+ what went well

It seems like the base level scene-framing went ok, and also the material I introduced re potential ways for the characters to connect .

+ what should go better next time

Better scene-framing: we should definitely have a clearer end-of-scene point, and probably more explicit what-will-be-the-new-scene discussions.

Demons: (and NPCs in general) I have to play them stronger!

Cheers
Karl

[Narayan]

Hi Karl,

I'm fine for next Tuesday. The following Tuesday should be okay as well.

I think we are all fairly new at the scene-framing activity, but I think we were getting the hang of it by the end of last session!

Yes, I walked right over a few NPCs in Kamraan's march towards the Damsel Messiah. I think Kamraan has a pretty significant obstacle to overcome now, though.

I hate to keep bringing this up, but would I be able to borrow a copy of the Solar System booklet off you sometime? I'd get a PDF version if I could, but it seems that it only exists in hardcopy!

[Steve]

Sorry this is more discusson but I thought a few of you would be interested in hearing* Judd Karlmann talk about creating and publishing Dictionary of Mu.

http://independentinsurgency.com/index.php?post_id=388107

*When I say hear I mean it literally, this is a podcast.