2021-03-26 19:35:50 -04:00
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# Dear Adepts
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I am usually confident that anything I can think of wanting to do by magic can
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be accommodated by canonical sorcery. By 'canonical sorcery' I mean sorcery as
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described in the Annotated Sorcerer and the three Supplements. Of course
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2021-03-26 20:20:08 -04:00
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perhaps 'canonical sorcery' is a debatable concept. I certainly
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2021-03-26 19:35:50 -04:00
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understand that the GM is tasked with the responsibility to define a great many
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aspects the universe in any given game of Sorcerer. However, I think there are
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things, which if allowed into a game of Sorcerer, would constitute unacceptable
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'drift', such that any adept of any integrity would disavow that the activity
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being pursued constituted 'playing sorcery'. (For example if a player summoned
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a demon which conferred upon the player the ability read or control the minds
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of other players' characters. If I am wrong on this point then all of my
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illusions of understanding the spirit and the letter of Ron Edward's text are
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hence dispelled.)
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So with that pre-amble let me describe my problem. As a player in a proposed
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2021-03-26 20:00:30 -04:00
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solo game of Sorcerer\* I have asked my GM to help me construct a demon which allows
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2021-03-26 19:35:50 -04:00
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my character, a sorcerer of mediocre or better aptitude, to live at least some
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of their life as if they had been assigned a gender opposite to the one they
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were assigned at birth. (I use the word 'opposite' with reservations, as a
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player I eschew the false binary, but one of the points of this character is to
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explore a form of wish-fulfillment that uses infernal magic to sidestep many of
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the issues facing trans people in real life. Or in other words this sorcerer
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character of mine treacherously embraces the binary as long as they get to pick
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which side of it they live on.) So, my GM expresses doubt that sorcery can
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achieve this effect. I on the other hand insist that sorcery can achieve
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virtually ANY magical effect that can be imagined in fiction. The limiting
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factor is often cost, but that's why we're here right? If I weren't interested
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in grasping the glowing red hot issue of whether a wish is worth its price, I'd
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be playing almost any other game.
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What I propose to do with the rest of this post is to describe solutions I
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think would work and then solicit the opinions of other Sorcerer adepts about
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whether I 'drift too far' from the spirit of canonical sorcery; If I do, then
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does any one of you have another proposal or should I resign myself to saving
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this question to be worked out in a different sort of game? Or are there small
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2021-03-26 20:20:08 -04:00
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adjustments to the proposal which might more conventionally align with the game
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as designed.
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2021-03-26 19:35:50 -04:00
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2021-03-26 20:20:08 -04:00
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So the first idea I'm pitching is a passing demon with the "hop" ability taken twice.
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2021-03-26 19:35:50 -04:00
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Once for it to hop out of it's own demonic (but passing as human) body into the
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body of the sorcerer, and once again to move the sorcerer's soul into it's
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vacated demonic body. Really a "swap" more than anything. That's pretty much
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it. No other abilities should be necessary but could be added. Perhaps 'cover'
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to avoid giving away the game too quickly to the sorcerer's friends and family.
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Or perhaps only the sorcerer's soul gets yanked (willingly) into the demon's
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body without swapping, leaving the sorcerer's body in a coma or similar state.
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Then the demon and sorcerer have to share the demon's body in a manner similar
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to a simple possessor demon and it's host.
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A different approach would be a demon with five points of perception accounting
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for each of the five senses being broadcast to the sorcerer so that the
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sorcerer can experience everything the demon does. Then add at least another
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(if not two more) point of power for ranged perception allowing the demon to
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feel or hear commands and impulses from the sorcerer, letting the sorcerer
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control the demon body in a rudimentary way. Honestly this seems very
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convoluted and possibly even more 'icky' than I want, but it could give the GM
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a lot of power to fuck with me through demon rebellion. (Mind you the reverse
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hop model above does pretty much the same).
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Lastly, I contemplated summoning one or more parasite demons to act as
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biological prothesis, in that they could modify my sorcerer's sex organs and
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possibly even supply me with hell-spawned artificial hormone replacements.
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This has potential but might be needlessly weird; honestly it doesn't really
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scratch the wish-fulfillment itch I want to get at. It feels a little too much
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like real life with at best some idealized vision of medical advances in GRS.
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So no I don't much care for this but I've included it here to let you know what
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I've thought of so far.
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Well that's it. I acknowledge I'm really stretching to call this "actual" play
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since it's all very prospective at this point. If we can't agree on this point
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we'll probably re-think this particular campaign. I would go so far as to say
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the social contract to play Sorcerer is incomplete pending the resolution of
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this issue among others.
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I should add, if this influences anyone's response at all, that I really really
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wish for the answer to be YES! You can do it! Partly because I want to prove my
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opinion about sorcery correct, the one which says it can do anything, but also
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partly because this issue is precisely one I want to examine through the
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peculiarly skewed and fractured lens on life that Sorcerer offers.
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Okay for real I will shut up now and let you all school me. Thank you for listening!
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2021-03-26 20:20:08 -04:00
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---
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\* Yes you read that right. "Solo play Sorcerer" which I admit might be more
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accurately described as writing fan-fiction. And yes, the "GM" in this
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discussion is also me. Yes I can appreciate the irony. I hope this doesn't
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make you so mad at me that you refuse to read further since I sincerely want
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your opinions.
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