| Author: | Clinton R. Nixon <crnixon@anvilwerks.com> |
|---|---|
| Date: | April 15, 2003 |
| Copyright: | This work is copyright 2002 Clinton R. Nixon. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA. |
| Colophon: | This document was created using DocTools. |
I didn't play Sorcerer for the first year or so that I owned it. I'd read it over and over, and while it always seemed to interesting to me, and gave me great GMing advice, it just seemed so serious. Look at the cover: "an intense role-playing game." Who typed that up?
(I did, actually. Apology the first.)
I finally got around to playing it, and I realized two things. One, it's damn good. Two, it's damn fun. Seriousness got chucked out the window as we told the story of three survivors making their way through a post-apocalyptic world that made Gamma World seem like Everytown, U.S.A. And, yet, it still worked. We still had chills every once in a while, and we stood up and cheered when characters kicked ass, and overall, it was a blast.
Yesterday (really - I'll date this at the bottom so you know when that was) I came up with a fun idea for a little Sorcerer scenario you can take to your friends' house or a convention, whip out with little preparation, and play. It's not too dark for most people, and it's not too gritty. It does feature a brothel, and a hermaphroditic cat that's slept with everybody in town, so it's a little sexualized. (Scandal! Keep the kids away!)
(It does kind of mix D&D and western tropes, though, so apology the second.)
It's the story of four people, one a huge warrior, another a powerful wizard, a third a pious priest, and the fourth a half-elf kleptomaniac, that all want something bad. This something is called The Keys of Uriel. Getting the Keys isn't as easy as it seems, though: there's Snake Gulch, a town full of oddballs, sex workers, drunks, gamblers, cheats, assassins, and madmen between you and them.
The Keys have been stolen by Lum the Mad (which is a registered trademark of someone, to be sure, since it's liberally stolen from an old TSR product.) He wants to open the gates to hell right below Snake Gulch and rule it himself. That shouldn't work out well, but he is Lum the Mad, so it seems like a great idea at the time.
For the player characters, you've got the warrior who wants to destroy the Keys (and Lum, and well, lots of things), the wizard who wants to use them, the cleric who wants to safeguard them, and the thief who wants to steal them. They can band together or rip each other apart trying to wrest them from Lum the Mad.
And that's just the beginning: this little document includes a location rife with interpersonal conflict to inject your own Sorcerer characters into or continue the adventures of Angus, Gwen, Theon, and Darcy.
Hope you enjoy it!
Going for the fantastic feel we have in The Keys of Uriel, sorcery is merely defined as the knowledge of anything arcane. Everything arcane has a pull on the soul, though: unlike some fantasy role-playing games where a magic sword is some sort of medieval stun gun, arcane items and spirits have intelligence, will, and power. Most of them have to act through people, though, so they fall into the hands of adventurers.
What's a sorcerer, then? It's anyone who has brushed up against the arcane. Take Angus, one of the PCs in this adventure. He's a huge guy with a bigger sword. (Penis fixation, anyone?) In terms of the world he lives in, no one would call him a "sorcerer," but in game terms he is: he's gone out into the world, hunted down this magical sword, and mastered its ass. In the game, the term is just avoided to prevent confusion. A sorcerous adept is called a magician, wizard, witch, warlock, or "fookin' bastard."
Given that, how do rituals work? Rituals, in many cases, work just like in Sorcerer. Want a demon to serve you? Contact and Summon that guy up. Gwendolyn, another PC in this adventure, has done just that with her cat familiar, Alex. Rituals don't have to work exactly like that, though: Contact can be used as a game reference for searching down the knowledge of where to find an old sword or a band of fey. Summoning can just as easily be going to the arcane. In these cases, the Contact and Summon rolls are not made as normal: instead, the character must just find the knowledge and go adventuring for it. For example, if Darcy, yet another PC in this adventure, wanted to find the Bloodstone, an arcane sphere that granted its user near-invulnerability, she could break into a wizard's house and look over his books, trying to find the location (Contact), then strike out on her path to get the item, fighting foes and avoiding traps along the way (Summon.)
Binding, Pacting, and Punishing work as normal, however. In the case of a "found" demon, the Binding must be done, no matter how it is transferred into metaphor. Using Angus as an example again, his Telltale is runes burnt into his palms. Note that his sword, Calibum, is covered in runes: perhaps he had to pick it up out of an inferno and hold it in his hands to wield (and Bind) it. Banishing also works as normal, and is often called "dispelling" within the game world.
Lastly, what's Humanity? Humanity is, as defined in Sorcerer and Sword, being good to those you know. Others can eat it.
Snake Gulch is an old silver mining town, once producing most of the raw silver for the entire realm. It was tapped out years ago, though, and now sits on top of the main mine shaft, empty except for the locals who hang on to life there and the wanderers that come to lose themselves. The population's still decent, but only a fourth of what it used to be.
To envision the town, think of a fantasy western set in Nowhere, Arizona. (Actually, feel free to think of Bisbee or Tombstone, Arizona. You can find some good pictures online.) You've got old saloons with the swinging doors, and monster-wranglin' cowboys with swords strapped to their back. It gets blasted hot in the middle of the summer, but is damn nice in the winter. The nights are always chilly, though, and find people indoors sipping on something with spirits to warm them up.
You'll note, looking at the residents of the town, that's it's brimming with demons and sorcerers. This is a bit different from your average Sorcerer game, but it's also wild fantasy. Still, Snake Gulch beats out every town in a hundred-mile area for most demons per capita. Why? That's really for the players to decide if it's used as an area for continuing play.
Left-Hand's an old grizzled foreman with one hand, although his right hand's been replaced with a mining pick. He runs Snake Gulch from his offices on El Diablo Real, the main street through town, and used to own the entire Queen of Hearts. It's not certain whether he gave it to his daughter, or she won it in a game of chance: both stories are believed. He hasn't talked to her in years, though.
| Stamina: | 6 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 5 |
| Lore: | 0 |
| Past: | 6 (Miner + Silver Baron + Mayor) |
| Humanity: | 3 |
Amelia is Jack's beautiful daughter. In her late 30s, she still looks like a million dollars. She owns the Vein and keeps a watchful eye on the girls there.
| Stamina: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 5 |
| Lore: | 0 |
| Past: | 5 (Rich Girl + Prostitute + Madam) |
| Humanity: | 3 |
Deuce is big, slow, and the Vein's bouncer. He's dumb as a box of rocks, but he hits like one, too. All the girls at the Vein think he's the cat's pajamas.
| Stamina: | 7 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 2 |
| Lore: | 0 |
| Past: | 7 (Mercenary + Bouncer) |
| Humanity: | 7 |
Salty's an old bum who is found just about everywhere, uncannily. He's always got a bottle in his hand, and speaks in riddles. Those in the know are well aware to not take an offered sip from his bottle.
| Stamina: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 3 |
| Lore: | 4 |
| Past: | 3 (Merchant + Drunk) |
| Humanity: | 2 |
| Stamina: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 7 |
| Lore: | 6 |
| Power: | 7 |
| Abilities: | Vitality (user: Salty) Daze (user: Agamammon) Travel and Transport (user: Agamammon, defined as teleportation while holding bottle) Perception (user: Agamammon, everywhere in Snake Gulch) Hint (user: Agamammon, can be used on anyone who takes a sip) |
| Need: | to be immersed in alcohol |
| Desire: | Corruption |
| Telltale: | He's a little demon that sits in the bottom of a bottle. |
| Binding strength: | |
| +3 in Agamammon's favor. | |
A cutthroat gambler, Mouse runs The Axe & Biscuit, better stated as he runs the big poker game there.
| Stamina: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 3 |
| Lore: | 2 |
| Past: | 4 (Bartender + Gambler) |
| Humanity: | 1 |
| Stamina: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 4 |
| Lore: | 3 |
| Power: | 4 |
| Abilities: | Perception (user: Mouse, what people most value, and what they most desire) Travel and Transport (user: Mouse, special - The Joker can literally take one person's attributes and give them to another. Some people have bet their eyesight, their strength, their alcoholism, and their fortunes around Mouse's table, and The Joker makes it happen. The Joker cannot take anything not lost in a game, though.) |
| Need: | to be played |
| Desire: | Mischief |
| Telltale: | Looking at the joker card in the deck makes most people nauseous, as it sways and moves. |
| Binding strength: | |
| +2 in Mouse's favor. | |
A gambler and assassin, and totally jovial and funny until he's paid to whack you. Always found at The Axe and Biscuit and never in the Vein.
| Stamina: | 5 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 7 |
| Lore: | 0 |
| Past: | 7 (Assassin) |
| Humanity: | 5 |
Violet is one of Amelia's girls, and quite possibly her daughter. (It's also rumored Holiday's her father.) All of 17, dewy like a flower, and beautiful beyond compare, she's in high demand. She's, unfortunately, in love with Deuce, who's never expressed an interest in a woman in his life.
| Stamina: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 3 |
| Lore: | 0 |
| Past: | 3 (Prostitute) |
| Humanity: | 4 |
Harcourt is the high priest of Elxan in Snake Gulch. He and Deveral came to town several years ago to set up shop. He is a hard, angry man because of the scorn he's received.
| Stamina: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 4 |
| Lore: | 2 |
| Past: | 4 (Priest) |
| Humanity: | 3 |
Deveral was trained under Harcourt, and is completely subservient to him in every way. He likes the fact that Harcourt has put him above Theon, but believes that Theon is in contact with Glory, which pisses him off to no end.
| Stamina: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 2 |
| Lore: | 4 |
| Past: | 2 (Priest) |
| Humanity: | 3 |
Miz Molly is a sweet older lady. Don't think of her as plump like most grandmothers, though: she's rather devastating in that Susan Sarandon way. She's not exactly human, either, but a demon without a master that's set up shop. Summoned and Pacted hundreds of years ago, she was commanded to do one good deed a day in order to remain in this existence. In her early days, she loved to bend that rule (leaving a town with one survivor was a favorite trick of hers), but in her older age, she finds she really likes this town.
| Stamina: | 8 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 9 |
| Lore: | 6 |
| Power: | 9 |
| Abilities: | Armor Vitality Special Damage (non-lethal and lethal - she can choose between the two) Protection (against psychic damage) Cover (boarding house matron) |
| Need: | do one good deed per day |
| Desire: | Mischief (normally expressed as gossip) |
Rake is one bad-ass sorcerer. He does not screw around. He'll also sell you anything in the world you want, though, so it's nice to know him. Reneging on a deal with him is not a good idea: his demon, Memory, will rip you apart and take what Rake wants as quickly as his other demon, Thought, can get it. He and Salty do not get along at all.
| Stamina: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 7 |
| Lore: | 6 |
| Past: | 7 (Merchant) |
| Humanity: | 2 |
| Stamina: | 7 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 8 |
| Lore: | 3 |
| Power: | 8 |
| Abilities: | Travel (teleportation) Transport Perception (the location of any item named to him) |
| Need: | to eat silver |
| Desire: | Corruption |
| Stamina: | 8 |
|---|---|
| Will: | 9 |
| Lore: | 5 |
| Power: | 9 |
| Abilities: | Travel (exceptionally quick flight) Perception (the location of any person who's made a deal with Rake) Special Damage (lethal) Armor Vitality Big |
| Need: | to kill |
| Desire: | Destruction |
Of course there's other places and people in Snake Gulch. There's got to be a restaurant besides the Vein, for example, or some sort of horse stable. The locations and people listed above are the most important ones in town, and the rest are a fun exercise for the players to make up.
Stamina: 6 (Savage-raised, big and vigorous) Will: 3 (Aristocrat) Lore: 1 (Naive) Past: 6 (Barbarian + Mercenary) Humanity: 6 Price: Bad with women. -1 to all interactions, including combat, with women. Telltale: The runes of Calibum are burnt into his palms.
- Demon: Calibum, big freaking sword
Type: Object Stamina: 4 Will: 5 Lore: 4 Power: 5 Abilities: Special Damage (lethal) Armor (user: Angus) Vitality (user: Angus) Armor (user: Calibum) Telltale: Huge black sword covered in runes Need: destroy other demons Desire: Mayhem
Kicker: Just recently, Calibum grew intensely warm, and the runes on his blade read in Angus' barbarian tongue, "Dinner grows / in the night below."
Stamina: 2 (Arcane regimen) Will: 3 (Brush with the unknown) Lore: 5 (Adept) Past: 3 (Fortune-teller) Humanity: 3 Price: Creepy voice. -1 to all friendly interactions. Telltale: Shadow has cat ears and whiskers.
- Demon: Alex, cat familiar
Type: Passing Stamina: 3 Will: 7 Lore: 6 Power: 7 Abilities: Psychic Force (user: Alex, special effect: streaking green fire) Link Warp (user: Gwen) Hint (user: Gwen) Perception (needs and desires, user: Gwen) Shapeshift (into a male or female human, user: Alex) Telltale: Hermaphrodite Need: to be fed milk from its master's mouth Desire: Sensual gratification
Kicker: You saw a stranger in town with an odd set of keys in his hand. Looking at him with your Perception was like looking in a pair of mirrors: doors opening to infinity. Whatever he wants is something that would blow a mind wide open.
Stamina: 2 (Clean living) Will: 5 (Belief system, leader of men) Lore: 3 (Apprentice) Past: 5 (Priest of Elxan) Humanity: 5 Price: Pacifist. -1 to any offensive combat action. Telltale: Golden hair and eyes.
- Demon: Glory, Facet of Elxan
Type: Inconspicuous (normally, a mote of light; can expand into a man-sized being of pure light.) Stamina: 5 Will: 6 Lore: 5 Power: 6 Abilities: Hold, Ranged (user: Glory) Perception (pain and guilt, user: Theon) Vitality (user: Theon, special use: Theon can use on others to remove their penalties.) Armor (user: Glory) Telltale: It's a being of light. Need: to be worshipped in word and deed Desire: Dominance
Kicker: Glory appeared in its full form at the end of your bed last night and gave you a command from Elxan, "Safeguard the Keys of Uriel, for they open the locks of heaven and hell."
Stamina: 4 (Inhumanly natural vigor) Will: 4 (Zest for life) Lore: 3 (Half-breed) Past: 4 (Outlaw) Humanity: 3 Price: Cannot abide cold iron. -1 to any activity when touched with iron. Telltale: Pointed ears and hairy, wolf-like legs.
- Demon: Her own fey blood
Type: Parasite Stamina: 4 Will: 5 Lore: 4 Power: 5 Abilities: Cloak (user: Darcy) Travel (from shadow to shadow, user: Darcy) Shadow (user: Darcy) Fast (user: Darcy) Telltale: same as Darcy's Need: to steal Desire: Mischief
Kicker: Salty - of all people - hired you to steal the keys to the Queen of Hearts mine from Left-Hand Jack. You wouldn't have done it, but Salty actually had a lot of coin in trade. Right before you could get 'em, a black figure leapt out of the darkness, grabbing the keys and leaping through a window.
These PCs are ideal for running the enclosed adventure, but that doesn't mean they're set in stone. Notice that none of them or their demons have a description, for example. The players are the artists here, working from a rough sketch provided. Before play, they must fill in the blanks. Here's the important points to hit:
Each player should definitely illustrate this before play. Maybe Angus had to hunt far and wide for Calibum, finally finding it in an inferno in a deep cavern, and Binding Calibum was actually lifting that burning blade out, scarring his hands with the runes. Maybe Theon fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights to Summon Glory. Darcy was born with a demon in her, but what about Binding it to her will? Maybe that happens at puberty, with her first menstruation. What did she have to do - meet with some real fey, or run with the wolves, or just steal something for the blood?
Binding strength should definitely be determined at this same time, as well as a Humanity roll for that Binding strength. The scores used to make the Binding roll will be determined by the player's description of the Binding process.
The PC's Kickers are easy, quickly resolved things. In long-term play, they'd have to get new ones soon. How they react to the Kickers is completely up to the player! The easy route is that Angus now hunts something below the city to feed to Calibum, Gwen seeks the Keys to open her mind, Theon seeks them to hide in the temple, and Darcy seeks them because she got out-thieved. Players can come up with their own reactions, though.
Note that each of them has a piece of the puzzle. Angus knows where the Keys of Uriel are, Gwen knows what they can do, Theon knows what they're called, and Darcy's seen 'em.
These are PC "tie-ins" into the townspeople. It's not a comprehensive list of who the PCs know: in fact, I recommend letting all the players read the descriptions of the town's denizens. Instead, they're concrete ties of special information and connections the characters have with different townies.
A crazed sorcerer, Lum the Mad, has stolen the Keys of Uriel, which he believes will open the gate to a hell-dimension which he can then rule. He is called Lum the Mad because he's willingly put a Possessor demon in himself, and his Humanity lives at zero pretty much all the time. His demon's needs and desires are pretty much his own, and either of them can be in control at any time. The only real difference is that Lum makes worse decisions.
Case in point: he's partnered with a huge Old One demon to steal this Key - the Old One is, surprise, a dragon. The dragon thinks the Keys will open a gate as well, but to the realm of his brethren, which Lum ain't controlling.
Lum, who has stolen the Keys, will use them to get into the Queen of Hearts and open the door at the bottom, which he hopes will open a gate to a realm of demons that he can rule. The dragon's there to help him with muscle.
That's the whole adventure. How will this take more than an hour to sort out?
The Key is in the way Sorcerer is run. It's not a linear process: the characters won't join together, find out where Lum is, enter the mine, fight some snakes, and then fight Lum and the dragon before the gate can be opened. To begin with, the characters definitely won't sign up together immediately, and some may never. They each have their own agenda, and the GM should respect that and cut between the characters instead of forcing them to join together.
Second, finding out where the Keys are and where Lum is should not be a process of finding out who has the information and then getting it from them. The GM should let the characters ask whoever they want, and if there's a reasonable chance they have information, let that lead the characters forward. It's a subtle difference, but comes down to this: if the player has a good idea, go with it.
I've put together a reasonable relationship map for characters to fool around with, as well. You've got Left-Hand Jack, who runs the joint; his possible daughter, Amelia; her possible daughter, Violet; and her possible father, Holiday. Amelia's making it with Alex (as is everyone else, apparently), Violet's trying to make it with Deuce, and Holiday's trying to whack Gwendolyn, which only Theon knows about.
Considering the door to the Queen of Hearts (the main door, at least - maybe there's another) is in Amelia's bar, both Lum and the PCs will have to get past her at some point. GMs - make this the focal point of the adventure, not the ending fight. If asked directly, she'll probably want something - which could be anything from revenge on her father to the truth about Alex. There's other people you could ask for help, of course - if Violet could either get help with Deuce or find her father, she'd be willing to help anyone.
So, instead of your linear adventure, which says go here, then go here, then go here, I'm suggesting that you run the game in three acts, each of which has a major theme. The first is discovery - the characters find out exactly what the hell is going on. The second is opening the path - the characters work together or separately to get into the Queen of Hearts. The third is the big slam-bang fight, which I haven't touched on yet.
With the big slam-bang fight, you have to remember that Sorcerer combat is fierce and deadly. You can't throw a bunch of critters at the characters and expect them to survive. So, their trip down the mines can't be littered with wandering monster checks or anything. Throw a trap or two at them, maximum, and if all four are together, a nice group of big-ass snakes. Once they get past that, if things go as planned, they'll meet Lum and his friend, the dragon. Note that because the adventure isn't linear, and so many variables could change, they might actually run into Lum alone, the dragon alone, another PC, or any combination of the above. Here's the stats for Lum, his demon, and the dragon.
Stamina: 3 (Unnatural means) Will: 3 (Brush with the Unknown) Lore: 6 (Insane) Cover: 3 (Wandering babbler) Humanity: 1 Price: mad. Babbles incoherently much of the time. -1 to all social interactions. Telltale: His eyes have no pupils.
- Demon: Dam the Mul
Type: Possessor Stamina: 6 Will: 7 Lore: 6 Power: 7 Abilities: Cover (completely normal and self-possessed traveler, user: Dam) Vitality (user: Dam) Hint (user: Dam) Mark (user: Lum) Confuse (user: Lum) Fast (user: Lum) Need: eat meat as raw as possible Desire: Power
Name: real name unpronounceable, goes by Zeke Stamina: 7 Will: 8 Lore: 6 Power: 8 Abilities: Shapeshift (into human) Control (snakes) Big (only when in dragon form) Armor (only when in dragon form) Special Damage (non-lethal, flame breath) times 2 - that is, two people can be caught in the blast simultaneously
As the final bit, and the focus of the adventure, you've got the Keys of Uriel. They are an ancient, worn set of keys that mundanely will open any lock. Demonically, they allow any Summoning to work if used in the Summoning. The GM's victories on a failed Summoning - which still brings the demon to reality - are used as penalty dice on the Binding roll. (That's just the beginning - they're an Immanent Demon, and can have any powers or abilities the GM and players decide on. The abilities described above are special and work for any holder.)
What lies behind that door?
Well, I'm not giving a clear answer. By the time the adventure is over, it's doubtful anyone will want to open it. There is a black iron door Lum attempts to get to, and as for what lies behind it, any of the following, or something the GM makes up, will do: