Sorcerer SF

20 February 2016: 8 pm: Sorcerer SF

• GM: Judd Karlman
• Neal Tanner: Starship Captain: Robert Alvarez
• Kelly Ohlert: XenoArcheologist and Black Marketeer: Dr. Kate Warner
• David Collins: President of Mars: Kamol Chakkapak
• Me: Homeless Veteran: Mizraim

We were given the occupations by the GM, but created everything else about the characters ourselves.

Sorcerer is Ron Edwards's game where each PCs has summoned a demon before the game starts, each is in a tricky position, and each may or may not meet the others at some point. What a demon is, what Lore is, what Humanity is, and so on are defined at the beginning of each campaign or stand alone session.

For this game:

• Demons = Pieces of alien tech left behind
• Contacting a Demon = any of the following: doing research, archeological digs, black market. After *Contacting a demon, one needs to Summon and Bind it. (One can also Punish, Contain, and Banish demons.)

Demons have Needs and Desires, and for this game, they all had the same Desire and Need.

• Desire: Power
• Need: Pain

In addition to starting with a demon, PCs can Contact/Summon/Bind additional demons. Judd told us that we could totally do this and should feel free to. He also reminded us that we didn't have to play our characters like sociopathic fiends? It was okay to do so, you understand; he just wanted to make sure that if we did, it was by deliberate decision.

He told us to think about:

• What Demon does for you?
• What Demon looks like? (if anything)

My notes say that at 0 Humanity, "Aliens come back." I don't know if that meant when one PC hit 0 Humanity or all of them did, or what it meant for the aliens to come back. As none of the PCs hit 0 Humanity, that was moot.

Captain Alvarez's demon helped his ship get across the system faster. The player saw him as a brutal disciplinarian, I think, given the demon's Need and Desire, but this didn't come up in play.

The demon was an Object demon, and my notes have a very bad sketch of something blocky. It was shot through with red when it was in use, and the captain kept it in a safe in his office.

Dr. Warner, if I understand my notes, found her demon on a xenoarcheology dig, possibly even on Earth. She reached into the ground, searching for treasure, and found it. The demon was small in her hand, though it was sometimes bigger. It was an Inconspicuous demon, able to blend in to not be seen.

President Chakkapak of Mars had a demon as a prosthetic eye. He used it to read people's emotions and secrets. My notes say: "physical -- secret compartment, etc." I don't recall what that means.

Mizraim had what I called an "Artificial Borgish eye" which could target someone, determine the composition of earth (or Martian dirt), and likely do a couple other things. As this was my character, I saved the sheet.

Mizraim:

• Stamina: 5 -- More than human / military
• Will: 3 -- Recidivism (I needed this defined and was told it's a word for people who go back to prison.)
• Lore: 2 -- Test Subject. That is, Mizraim had been a test subject for some Martian military program that involved getting modified with alien technology, i.e., a demon.
• Cover: 5 -- Homeless Veteran. Cover isn't necessarily a fake identity. It's more like a day job or like one's place in the non-demonoid part of society.
• Price: Scarred (-1 to casual interaction)
• Humanity: 5

Next, certain NPCs were associated with some of the stats, as background which might or might not come up.

• Lore: Science Officer, Watcher / Handler
• Cover: War Buddy, Former C.O., Social Worker, Parole Officer
• Price: Addiction Sponsor, Spouse and Kids, PTSD Counselor (Mizraim's marriage was a casualty of having a demon eye -- iirc, there'd been a divorce and restraining order.)

Next were kickers, opening situations to "kick" the characters into action. I think we did this in collaboration with the GM.

Mizraim: Dead war buddy in my room in a shelter.

President Chakkapak: [crossed out: Town homeless shelter] Capital Building: Press Secretary says that a food riot is breaking out in the capitol.

Captain Alvarez: Pulled into Phobos orbital dry dock, and an MPS is going to escort him to the base commander.

Captain Alvarez: Apparently, there's a problem and they're seizing my ship.

Dr. Warner: Teaching, about to go have office hours. Her demon is getting bigger without any order to do so. The uncle who raised her was mysteriously dead.

Neal: Do we start with our demons summoned and bound?

Judd: Good damned question.

We did at least the binding.

Captain Alvarez: I found this thing on board when examining a ship.

His Lore vs Demon's Will: 3. The captain had the upper hand for now.

Dr. Warner: It kind of found me. I was pretty young.

Her Lore vs 4 for the Demon: The doctor had 1 success.

Mr. President: Before becoming president, he was head of the Research Division. My notes say something about biotech firms and private R&D, and I believe that he implanted it deliberately. I think the demon had 1 success.

Mizraim, to my surprise, had +2 on the demon.

We began as the kickers kicked in. Mizraim's war buddy Jet, was dead. As Mizraim had neither any memory of how this might have happened nor any memory gaps, he proceeded to search the body, finding a laser gun and a government ID for Jedediah Burke. That last confused me, as I thought for some time after that this meant "Jet" was a false name, but it was actually just a nickname, and the GM intended that Mizraim knew that and knew that "Jedediah Burke" was the full name.

Jet also had his cell phone (or future equivalent), and had sent a call. The phone rang with the tune of the Martian Planetary Anthem, and I think Mizraim answered without speaking, heard, "Jet, we got your 911 -- what's your situation?", and hung up.

Mizraim left the shelter, and I don't recall whether he took any of Jet's possessions. He saw smoke coming from the direction of the library.

The news about rioters near the library reached the president.

Mr. President: I am responsible for the great Library System!

Librarian: Good job Mr. President! As a librarian, I thank you.

Advisor: Mr. President, there is a food riot breaking out in the central square.

Mr. President: That is unfortunate.

I gather that a SWAT team (or the Martian equivalent) of the Martian Defense Force (MDF) was sent to quell the riot. That didn't go well. The MDF made a foam barrier and used tear gas. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the MDF van.

People started to gather. The MDF's efforts, while not a _total_ disaster, were not effective. The MDF or the president decided to "double down", i.e., send in more men. Rioters started pulling and pushing on the gates.

MDF Advisor: Mr. President, I think we need to move you to low Mars orbit.

Meanwwhile, Dr. Kate Warner was in her office for office hours. The news reported the riots. Then, her phone rang.

GM: The phone call is from your uncle's lawyer, and if he suggests something unlawyerly, I apologize, but Martian law is weird.

Player: So is American law.

Kate's uncle had a massive stroke, and also had a DNR ( Do Not Resuscitate) on file?

Kate: Where?

Lawyer: Olympus General Hospital.

Kate: I didn't even know he was on Mars right now.

Lawyer: He came to check up on some of his holdings -- may I send a hover to pick you up?

Kate: I'm going to need some proof that you are who you say you are.

At this point, my notes have three checkmarks. What that means I no longer recall, but I am sure that the lawyer was able to provide the appropriate proof. There was a hover pad on campus, and a copter arrived as promised. The lawyer was inside.

Lawyer: I am very sorry for your loss.

He didn't answer her questions.

Lawyer: It'll all be really clear soon.

The copter landed at a warehouse. Inside, Dr. Warner saw something that looked like some kind of launch pad. There was a xenoartifact on the launch pad. While Dr. Warner hadn't seen it, the GM noted that it was aesthetically similar to Captain Alvarez's cube.

The warehouse cube had three different uses. It could:

• gather information from orbit
• teleport a person or thing from surface to orbit
• bombard the surface with terrible radiation

It was a Demon, obviously.

Lawyer: This is yours now.

Meanwhile, Captain Alvarez was being questioned by Commander Lucas Anderson, who had put the captain's ship on lockdown. The commander said that the ship's departure dates didn't add up.

Commander Anderson: It's one month to Luna. Your logs say your trip was less than a month from Luna to here.

Captain Alvarez: She's a fast ship.

Commander: No -- don't give me that crap.

Captain: Desert Bloom is a prototype.

He claimed that the ship was a state secret and that the president had signed off on it. I think this was a lie, but that didn't matter. Or, as the commander said,

Commander: I don't give shit. Open up the ship.

And the captain returned to his ship to find men on it who were not his crew. Interestingly, they also weren't MDF.

The captain had hidden the demon in a safe in his office.

Station man: We need you to open up your quarters.

Before the captain did this, he moved the demon, hiding it in engineering. My notes have a comment about "So much extra radiation", likely because of where the cube currently was, and "then paperwork", which may or may not refer to Captain Alvarez trying to get his ship the clearance to leave.

The captain returned to engineering, presumably after station staff were gone. His XO (executive officer) and science officer were there, staring at the cube.

Executive Officer: Captain, what _is_ this?

GM or Player: Apparently, the XO and Science Officer know?

If I read my notes correctly, the Desert Bloom was greenlit for departure -- and, 30 seconds later, it was redlit. I believe the President was on his way to the station, and that was the reason for the sudden change.

Meanwhile, Mizraim went to the library to do research on Jet, trying to figure out what was going on and why he had been killed. I think he learned something about the disappearance of a decorated marine veteran who was officially a Martian ward. My notes mention a Will check and a "weird article".

The library staff and patrons realized that a riot was going on outside and did things like moving away from the windows and trying not to panic. Mizraim asked to be shown a semi-obscure way out, like, say, roof access. Library staff weren't happy about this, fearing for his safety, but were willing to accept that he was a soldier and thought it reasonable to take the risk.

I am not sure if I had a plan of any kind in mind for Mizraim. Even if Mizraim did have a plan, it got lost as he looked down at the situation. His demon wanted to know who Mizraim wanted to take down, and when Mizraim declined to fire into the riot stopped cooperating, because by its standards, Mizraim was being a wuss, not hurting or killing anyone.

Mizraim quickly acted to feed the demon. I don't think this was shooting anyone from the rooftop. I mean, it might have been, but it also might have been him wading into the middle of a small group of rioting students and MDF forces. Whichever it was, Mizraim helped the MDF, stomping on rioters and basically being a jackbooted thug, minus decent jackboots. I figured Mizraim didn't much care whether he was causing pain or suffering it; it was all one to the demon.

Meanwhile, President Chakkapak was on a shuttle to the station, and I think he got a tour. And I think he got a call from the station's commander.

President: Is there a problem with traders?

He was focused on food shortages and riots.

Commander: No, this is something else, Mr. President.

He explained about Captain Alvarez's fast ship and the captain's claim that it was a prototype and state secret. The president was intrigued and may have made a call to try to verify this claim.

President: Take me to this ship. I wanna see this.

Bodyguard: This might not be the definition of keeping a low profile.

Captain Alvarez received a call from the President's press secretary, Rob Koto (I think).

Captain: What does he want, a personal tour?

Press Secretary: Yes. That is exactly what he wants.

When the two men met, there was a Lore vs Lore roll to see if either would spot the other's demon. The president noticed that the captain's aura glowed the same color as the generator.

Meanwhile, Dr. Warner looked at the huge pile of demonic xenotech she had just inherited. She had her little demon check out the big demon.

The big demon was a satellite that had been left in orbit around the planet long ago. It may have crashed; I'm not sure. The doctor pondered her options and ultimately decided to banish rather than bind the big demon. The player rolled 9 dice, that being the sum of Will + Humanity + previous successes against the demon versus the demon's Power + Will. The doctor was successful.

Banishing the demon meant that she had taken it apart, scattering the pieces all over the warehouse floor. It also meant the player could roll to see whether the doctor's Humanity went up. I forget whether this was successful.

It also meant that she had a massive amount of xenotechnology, as the pieces that made up the demon didn't simply vanish. She set up a meeting with Natalia Gones, a local crime boss, to deal with the logistics of making a profit from this.

Meanwhile, Mizraim's new MDF friends thanked him once they had extricated themselves from the students and Mizraim showed his ID. They were impressed by his cleverness, infiltrating undercover, and Mizraim didn't correct them. They parted ways at some official MDF barracks or checkpoint.

Mizraim used Jet's phone to call the last number Jet had dialed. He got someone who seemed official / government. I think he may have said that Jet had sent him or told some other lie that didn't involve saying that Jet was dead. Whatever he said, the person on the other end offered to send a copter to collect Mizraim. Mizraim said that wouldn't be necessary, but it was clear that the offer was more of a command, and Mizraim waited too long to shift location successfully. Also, the copter arrived remarkably fast, in under a minute.

Meanwhile, the president was pretty sure he knew the secret of the Desert Bloom.

President: Although I have no proof -- which is unusual -- I need food, and I need food _fast_.

I think he and the captain came to some accommodation, although there may have been logistical issues, such as explaining to the public where the food came from, as everyone knew how long the trip to and from Earth was. My notes say:

Your logic has spoiled my joy ride. 
[Perhaps the president reacting to the logistical issue]
Deimos?
A little potato shit hole! 
[Perhaps a suggestion that the food officially came from Deimos?]
Earth has space elevators. 
[Probably just a background detail.]

The president returned to Mars, I think? I don't think he was on the Desert Bloom.

Four hours out from Mars| I think Lt. Pascal informed Captain Alvarez that one of the shipment containers wasn't scanning out correctly. I cannot tell from my notes what the situation was, but another demon seems not unlikely.

Meanwhile, Dr. Warner was meeting with Natalia Gones, also known as the Godmother of Olympus Mons, about certain, ah, items to be sold on the black market.

Natalia: Small things are good. Big things draw attention.

Kate (clearly not one for false modesty):You'll just have to take the word of the most prominent xenoarcheologist.

I think the sentence continued, saying something about how Natalia wouldn't have to worry about college tuition for her grandchildren (and I'm not sure she had any yet, which was rather the point).

Natalia: How many can I put on the market?

Kate: I don't think the question you want to ask is how many _could_ you put on the market, but how many _should_ you. I don't want to flood the market.

Natalia: Ten to fifteen?

Kate suggested working out an algorithm to figure out a 0-6 week cycle. Eventually, Natalia understood the scope: Kate was talking about thousands of pieces of xenotech.

GM: You've just changed her life

Meanwhile, President Chakkapak learned that food might not be his only headache.

Advisor: Mr. President, we have a problem.

There had been a program for exposing Martian army personnel to xenotech. And, one off the handlers and one of the assets had gone missing in the last 48 hours.

Advisor: Sec [unsure whether that is supposed to be "Secret" or "Security"] forces are not happy with your rise to power.

The president cynically noted that thes forces were suddenly no longer happy with, I think, a program they had previously supported, possibly even advocated for.

President: Damn it, what idiot signed off on that? Oh... it was me, wasn't it?

Also, his advisor said, there has been an uptick on xenotech artifacts sold on the black market. The president decided to visit the Godmother of Olympus Mons, with whom he'd gone to school. I don't recall who's idea the school tie was, but it fit very well.

Dr. Warner was with Natalia. The two women were having lunch on the highest tower restaurant on Olympus Mons -- indeed, the highest altitude restaurant in the solar system -- when the president swept in.

Dr. Warner succeeded on a Lore check and had a realization.

Dr. Warner: The president is a fucking sorcerer.

Godmother Gones: Not a surprise. He was a fucking asshole when I was in grad school. (as the president joins them) Mr. President, is it fund raising time?

President Chakkapak: No, no -- well, it's always fund raising time...

Godmother Gones: Whatever you would say to me you can say to Professor Warner. She's my right hand man.

President Chakkapak: Military assets have been going missing.

Godmother Gones: Tell me what you need.

He did, using certain circumlocutions that fooled no one. But, he stuck with deniability, plausible or not.

President Chakkapak: Therr absolutely isn't and I'm appalled you would think that Mars would experiment on its citizens with xenotechnology that probably doesn't exist.

Meanwhile, Mizraim was taken to a police station and questioned. I think he consistently denied not only having had anything to do with Jet's death, but also even knowing Jet was dead until his interrogator told him. He demanded ti know who had killed Jet.

I think this is where my confusion about the whole Jet / Jedediah business came out and got addressed. As things got more heated, Mizraim flipped the table and attacked his questioner, not caring that he got taken down. After all, _any_ pain fed his demon.

Captain Alvarez made some inquiries about President Chakkapak, who was clearly more than he seemed.

Captain: What can you tell me?

Contact: You can look at his resume. Rumor do exist...

I forget what the rumors were. My notes say:

people about
pres shot --

Contact: Stay clear, man.

My notes also say:

Spend a summer in Europa or something
War college buddies

I think that had to do with the president. I don't know if he had spent a summer on Europa or was being advised to do so, or who his war college buddy was, if not Natalia Gones.

Player: Am I the first president of Mars?

Someone: I think you're the second.

Someone: You're George Washington.

Someone else: You're the John Adams.

Someone: John Quincy Adams?

Somewhere in here, I think Dr. Warner learned that President Chakkapak had somehow been responsible for her uncle's death. I forget the details, except that the president clearly had not personally killed the man.

My notes say something about Future Tech, a company with a lot of classified contracts with the Martian government.

Meanwhile, Mizraim had spent some time cooling his heels in a cell and was now back in the room with his interrogator, although this time, Mizraim was handcuffed to either the chair or the table. I think his interrogator said that the next part wouldn't be pleasant for either of them. Mizraim was pretty sure he was about to be executed, which would be a problem, or beaten, which wouldn't. He was therefore extremely surprised when the wall of the building exploded, his interrogator was killed, and he himself was freed and hurried into a copter.

I think his rescuer's name was Carda Feljundum. He'd been sent by Godmother Gones.

Carda (as the copter flies over the building Mizraim was rescued from): This really does look like a police station.

It was news to Mizraim that it hadn't been. He was flown somewhere under the Godmother's control, likely Olympus Mons, and show to a comfortable room, like a nice hotel room.

Carda: Make yourself at home.

I forgot whether he or Mizraim said, "Maybe shower?" in any case, Mizraim was happy to clean himself up and change into something fresher. Godmother Gones called him on the vid screen, with Dr. Warner beside her. I think the Godmother made it clear that she had retrieved him for the government, which had invested considerable resources into him. Mizraim tried to make it clear that he was well aware that he was a government asset and that he'd never had a problem with that. This might have been a slight exaggeration, but it was substantially true. He was certainly more comfortable being back in a context with which he was familiar.

The godmother called the president.

Godmother Gones: So, I have your asset. I have a recommendation for her new handler.

President Chakkapak: Oh?

Godmother Gones: Dr. Warner.

I believe the president agreed to this.

Godmother Gones: It's a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. President.

President Chakkapak: Likewise.

I forget who said this and to whom: Me and all of my bros were vets in war for independence.

It sounds like something the president would say. What neither he nor the godmother realized was that Dr. Warner now wanted the president dead, and was hoping to convince Mizraim to kill him.

The rest of my notes are a little confusing after all this time. I think the oddity in Captain Alvarez's shipping container led to the captain trying to bind a demon near Mariner's Trench, something that could:

• Detect other demons
• Boost Lore
• Boost Will

He made a Lore check versus the demon's Power of 14 and wound up down 2 on the initial roll. I think he Contacted a diamond shaped crystal floating, with some kind or red essence.

The player succeeded in a Humanity check and proceeded to Summoning. The roll for that was his Will minus his Humanity. This was 0, but he got the minimum number of dice, which is 1, and rolled against the demon's massive Power, winding up 6 down. Again, he made the Humanity check.

Finally, he rolled to Bind the demon, winding up down 2. He also made his Humanity check.

Player: It could've been worse.

GM: But it's not what you think.

The red diamond was the controller of a huge cube that now rose out of Mariner's Trench.

And there we ended.

I asked if I was too over the top, and Judd assured me I'd been fine. I remember I was wearing my jacket, and I may have been somewhat hoarse. If so, I don't recall whether I was fighting a cold or the room was just freezing.

Judd said online that he thought the game went very well, and that this was at least partly due to his reminder that we didn't _have_ to play sociopaths or psychopaths. He also noted that while this was a very good session, if he'd been able to run second session for us, it would have been amazing, I think because we'd have established the basics and could build on them. This means a Longcon game of Sorcerer would probably work well if everyone could commit to all the sessions (likely 3) at a Double Exposure convention. I don't think it would work as well with different players in each slot, but perhaps I am wrong.