File under: ▶ GM with too much time on his hands, ▶ Lonely fun.
I’m getting ready to run Sorcerer RPG for some new players. I made up an example character and kicker*; then I put on my GM’s hat and developed the hypothetical game’s backstory and situation. It was a surprisingly satisfying exercise, and I would love to play or GM for this character now! Here she is, for posterity.
First, the Two Statements about this hypothetical game:
| THE SETTING: Present-day Toronto from Bloor to the lake. Shiny downtown and the old neighbourhoods. Apartments over shops, million-dollar towns, sagging porches, busy parks, community centres, local grocers, old diners, bank towers, old factory buildings, new start-ups. SORCERY IS: All the classic demonic stuff: runes, candles, glyphs & sigils, bloodletting, chanting, true names, quoting infamous grimoires in ancient languages. Demons are: zoomorphic humanoid or goblinoid (horns, fangs, tails…), grotesque. Accurately described by Dante et al, but they all pre-date Christian mythos. |
*Kicker: A player-authored event that will happen at the start of play, and that presents an immediate problem or dilemma for the player’s character. The kicker provides the opening conflict that establishes a player-character as a protagonist, and is central to how the scenario is generated out of player input. It must be something that the character can not ignore, and can react to in one of several ways. An attack by a hungry demon is not a good kicker; it implies nothing more than one fight scene. Finding one’s mentor torn in half is a good kicker.
Now, here’s Alex.
Alex Exemplar
CONCEPT: Alex is a working boxer: she has a day job (construction), and has been boxing for too long now to ever be a champion. She lives frugally and saves every purse she wins. She has learned sorcery from her uncle, who is not the adept that her father was, and who is spending his inheritance on alcohol. Alex’s demon Nirar (parasite) helps her win bouts and has kept her competing long after most boxers retire. Its Need is making bets, which is risky business when its on her own matches, but is another source of income. Alex’s ambition is to buy back the family manor house.
APPEARANCE: Fix muscular woman, 30s, short blonde hair (dyed), crooked nose, boxing scars, impatient demeanor.
TELLTALE: Sorcerous tattoo
SCORES:
| Stamina | 5 | Sport (Boxing), Fitness Nut |
| Will | 3 | Driven |
| Lore | 2 | Apprentice |
| Cover | 5 | Boxer, Construction Worker |
| Price | -1 | , Impatient (-1 in lengthy interactions) |
| Humanity… | 5 |
KICKER: Alex needs just one more big win, and she can finally buy back the old family manor from the bank, reclaim her family’s legacy. But today, she learns that someone else has bought the manor. They’ve already changed the locks and moved in.
BOUND DEMONS:
| Name: | Nirar | Type: | Parasite |
| Telltale: | One red iris (host) | Need: | Make bets |
| Powers: | Stunning Blow Persuasive KO Fast Healing | (Boost Stamina) (Boost Will) (Confuse) (Vitality) | Nirar Nirar Alex Alex |
People, Places, Organizations, Things, Events
| COVER | Sully’s Boxing Gym (Little Portugal, TO) Sullivan “Sully” Cartwright, boxing coach Little apartment in Roncesvalles The upcoming fight – big purse, tough opponent |
| PRICE | Darren Pierce – ex manager, ex boyfriend Hanna Woelffer – bookie Boxing win/loss record – not the greatest |
| LORE | Nirar – my demon, parasite Austin – Uncle, sorcery mentor, alcoholic Austin’s demon (TBD) |
| KICKER | Stockbridge Manor – the family manor house, lost Cardew Exemplar – father (deceased), sorcerer |
THE DIAGRAM
The GM’s Part: Backstory & Situation
The GM takes what the player has given them (character and Kicker), and invents whatever backstory is necessary to put that character into an explosive situation. This is essentially the scenario for play. There is no pre-written “adventure” other than this. Play starts, the GM plays the NPCs, and story happens!
This is actually my second idea for a scenario based on Alex. The first one was alright, but would have been resulted in nothing more than a lengthy battle between Alex and some other sorcerers. But then I noticed a key word in the rulebook (I can’t find the reference now, but to paraphrase): “Turn the Kicker into a moral dilemma for the character.” Heeding that specific advice, I came up with the following scenario, which is waaay more interesting!
Backstory
Alex’s father Cardew was a big-time sorcerer. Alex refused training in the sorcerous arts, but her Uncle Austin (Cardew’s brother-in-law) was eager to learn.
Upon the father’s death, the family manor was sold to cover debts. The manor had been in the family for generations, and its loss was quite a blow. Alex, a young competitive boxer at the time, swore to win the big title and use the prize money to buy the manor back.
Life didn’t work out that way. Alex, though a fierce and talented boxer, accumulated enough losses to put her out of the running for the championship. As boxing promoters lost interest in her, she saw her only chance to buy back the family home slipping away.
That was when her favourite Uncle Austin proposed a sorcerous intervention. He is as keen for Alex to buy back the family manor as she is. He couldn’t be much help financially (not as long as most of his meagre income goes to the pub on the corner), but magically, he could turn her boxing career around. This time, Alex couldn’t refuse. Together they summoned Nirar, a parasite demon, to keep Alex fighting — and winning.
Alex’s conscience won’t allow her to steal the championship with the help of a demon, so she is careful to lose as many matches as she wins; but she always puts on a good show, which keeps the promoters interested.
Nirar’s Need is to place bets, which is how Alex got to know Hanna Woeffler, a bookie. Knowing ahead of time which matches Alex is going to win and lose has allowed her and Hanna to make quite a bit of money. They are careful to disguise Alex’s illegal bets on her own matches.
Secrets
Austin, behind the lovable-uncle act, hides a resolve steeled by fear (of poverty) and pure self-interest. He knows he is a useless alcoholic and his inheritance is about to run out. He has no marketable skills (let alone any desire to work for a living), and his sorcerous education was incomplete. He has Cardew’s grimoires, but key bits of information are missing. He has subtly prodded at Alex’s memories of her father. She doesn’t seem to know where the missing lore is hidden. Austin is convinced that the secrets he needs remain inside the manor house itself. He supported Alex’s boxing career and her dream to buy back the house as his best chance to get inside it again and find what he needs. Alex knows none of this.
Austin is sadly not worthy of Alex’s admiration. His back-up plan was a mark at the local pub. When Austin learned that this friendless sop was comfortably well-off, he poured on the charisma — and the whisky. Through demon-boosted charm, Austin convinced the man to put him in his will. Austin recently arranged for the old drunkard to have a fatal accident.
As soon as Austin had secured this new inheritance, he bought the old manor — through his lawyer and a shell company. He has access to the manor house now, and is searching for the “true” secrets of sorcery which he is sure are there. He has NOT told Alex this, and will feign dismay when she tells him the manor has been bought up.
Two things Austin is looking for:
- Austin knows that Cardew didn’t trust him with his greatest sorceries. Austin is currently Lore 2 (same as Alex) and can not raise his Lore further without new sorcerous doctrine. He believes that the needed secrets are hidden in the house somewhere.
- BUT: The main thing that Cardew held back from Austin was the true names he knew of the most powerful demons. In fact, he memorized them and destroyed any written record of them. He arranged the names into a nonsense rhyme and taught it to Alex when she was a child. She could still recall it with a little effort, but doesn’t realize the significance of the random-seeming syllables.
- BUT: The main thing that Cardew held back from Austin was the true names he knew of the most powerful demons. In fact, he memorized them and destroyed any written record of them. He arranged the names into a nonsense rhyme and taught it to Alex when she was a child. She could still recall it with a little effort, but doesn’t realize the significance of the random-seeming syllables.
- The Demitrius Grimoire — an ancient grimoire on achieving eternal life. Cardew had it, which he acquired on a research trip to Rome, but after reading it he decided it should never be used. The techniques are too horrible (see below). But, being unable to bring himself to destroy knowledge of any kind, he hid the grimoire in the house. The grimoire rests within a Contain in a completely enclosed hidden closet without doors or windows.
What else is in the house? ▶ A great big summoning circle etched into the basement floor, inlaid with gold and basalt, and covered by removable wood flooring. ▶ A scary-powerful object demon (a family heirloom) in a Contain.
Austin knows of the Dimitrius Grimoire. He wants to use it to prolong his life and, eventually, to take over Alex’s body.
The Demitrius Grimoire
- Contains the name of a cadre of parasite demons that all have similar powers. This name is enough to summon one of them.
- The demons all have the following powers:
- slow aging to a crawl, 1yr/10yrs (Vitality)
- become younger (Shapeshift), duration = 1 scene
- have the health and vigor of youth (Boost Stamina), but not its acuity
- Allow the host to jump into a new body (Hop, Cover, Mark)
- Details of that last ability. The master and host (the same person) must have known the ‘new host’ for at least the past 2 years, and interacted often with that person during that time, and must Mark that person before the transference. To achieve the transference, a ritual must be conducted which includes a human sacrifice. The demon will hop to to the new host, and bring the sorcerer’s mind with it. To make the transference permanent, the sorcerer (now in the new host) must kill the old body/host with their bare hands. The ritual is detailed in the grimoire.
- These demons’ Need is to drink human blood. Their Desires are various. Telltale is extreme sunlight sensitivity. The demons go into Need several times per week if the master is using their youthful appearance and vigor daily, so sorcerers with these demons tend to be reclusive, with regular outbursts of social activity to charm new lovers or achieve new business or political arrangements. Such outbursts are often coincident with the discovery of exsanguinated bodies.
- Deep Lore: the grimoire is actually an object demon. It will only share its contents with a sorcerer who Binds it; to everyone else, its pages appear blank. It will not permit its contents to be copied. Its Need is to be read (for at least an hour). Along with the lore and ritual described above, the book contains many accounts (some of them possibly fictional) of previous users who have lived long, luxurious and fulfilling lives thanks to these techniques. The sorcerer who commits to weekly readings from the grimoire is allowing the book to talk them into using it.
- (Cardew placed the grimoire in a Contain; the book is still Bound to its previous master, see below.)
More Backstory: Cardew, The Coven, The Grimoire, The Murder:
Cardew belonged to a loose coven of sorcerers. It was more of an association of shared interest. The sorcerers gathered every few years to share research and learnings in sorcerous lore, and to help each other with mass rituals.
At the last meeting which Cardew attended, one of the members presented the Dimitrius Grimoire and an overview of its contents. This sorcerer was obviously keen on trying it out, and other members were interested as well. Cardew was horrified. To him, it was nothing more than a recipe to turn oneself into a body-hopping vampire. As the meeting drew to a close, he stole the grimoire and fled.
Cardew summoned powerful demons to ward the family manor against intrusion. He built a Contain in a hidden chamber in the house, and then used Warp to completely enclose the hidden chamber. There are no doors or windows into this chamber where the Dimitrius Grimoire rests.
While trying to get at Cardew, the coven went after Austin. Austin agreed to help them, to their surprise, in exchange for membership and the opportunity to use the grimoire. Although Austin was far from a master sorcerer, they agreed to let him join the coven if he would recover the grimoire for them. Austin eventually killed Cardew and searched the house, but did not find the grimoire.
The coven are still monitoring the property and the family loosely, i.e. they know Alex and Austin, they know the manor has been purchased. One of their members will eventually come poking around town and the property to ascertain whether Alex or Austin has found the grimoire.
Outside The Red Box 
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