diff --git a/DearAdept.md b/DearAdept.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d685c40 --- /dev/null +++ b/DearAdept.md @@ -0,0 +1,83 @@ +# Dear Adepts +I am usually confident that anything I can think of wanting to do by magic can +be accommodated by canonical sorcery. By 'canonical sorcery' I mean sorcery as +described in the Annotated Sorcerer and the three Supplements. Of course +perhaps 'canonical sorcery' is a slightly misguided concept. I certainly +understand that the GM is tasked with the responsibility to define a great many +aspects the universe in any given game of Sorcerer. However, I think there are +things, which if allowed into a game of Sorcerer, would constitute unacceptable +'drift', such that any adept of any integrity would disavow that the activity +being pursued constituted 'playing sorcery'. (For example if a player summoned +a demon which conferred upon the player the ability read or control the minds +of other players' characters. If I am wrong on this point then all of my +illusions of understanding the spirit and the letter of Ron Edward's text are +hence dispelled.) + +So with that pre-amble let me describe my problem. As a player in a proposed +game of Sorcerer I have asked my GM to help me construct a demon which allows +my character, a sorcerer of mediocre or better aptitude, to live at least some +of their life as if they had been assigned a gender opposite to the one they +were assigned at birth. (I use the word 'opposite' with reservations, as a +player I eschew the false binary, but one of the points of this character is to +explore a form of wish-fulfillment that uses infernal magic to sidestep many of +the issues facing trans people in real life. Or in other words this sorcerer +character of mine treacherously embraces the binary as long as they get to pick +which side of it they live on.) So, my GM expresses doubt that sorcery can +achieve this effect. I on the other hand insist that sorcery can achieve +virtually ANY magical effect that can be imagined in fiction. The limiting +factor is often cost, but that's why we're here right? If I weren't interested +in grasping the glowing red hot issue of whether a wish is worth its price, I'd +be playing almost any other game. + +What I propose to do with the rest of this post is to describe solutions I +think would work and then solicit the opinions of other Sorcerer adepts about +whether I 'drift too far' from the spirit of canonical sorcery; If I do, then +does any one of you have another proposal or should I resign myself to saving +this question to be worked out in a different sort of game? Or are there small +adjustments to the proposal which might enhance my and my fellow players +enjoyment, assuming we ever get this game off the ground? + +So the idea I'm pitching is a passing demon with the "hop" ability taken twice. +Once for it to hop out of it's own demonic (but passing as human) body into the +body of the sorcerer, and once again to move the sorcerer's soul into it's +vacated demonic body. Really a "swap" more than anything. That's pretty much +it. No other abilities should be necessary but could be added. Perhaps 'cover' +to avoid giving away the game too quickly to the sorcerer's friends and family. + +Or perhaps only the sorcerer's soul gets yanked (willingly) into the demon's +body without swapping, leaving the sorcerer's body in a coma or similar state. +Then the demon and sorcerer have to share the demon's body in a manner similar +to a simple possessor demon and it's host. + +A different approach would be a demon with five points of perception accounting +for each of the five senses being broadcast to the sorcerer so that the +sorcerer can experience everything the demon does. Then add at least another +(if not two more) point of power for ranged perception allowing the demon to +feel or hear commands and impulses from the sorcerer, letting the sorcerer +control the demon body in a rudimentary way. Honestly this seems very +convoluted and possibly even more 'icky' than I want, but it could give the GM +a lot of power to fuck with me through demon rebellion. (Mind you the reverse +hop model above does pretty much the same). + +Lastly, I contemplated summoning one or more parasite demons to act as +biological prothesis, in that they could modify my sorcerer's sex organs and +possibly even supply me with hell-spawned artificial hormone replacements. +This has potential but might be needlessly weird; honestly it doesn't really +scratch the wish-fulfillment itch I want to get at. It feels a little too much +like real life with at best some idealized vision of medical advances in GRS. +So no I don't much care for this but I've included it here to let you know what +I've thought of so far. + +Well that's it. I acknowledge I'm really stretching to call this "actual" play +since it's all very prospective at this point. If we can't agree on this point +we'll probably re-think this particular campaign. I would go so far as to say +the social contract to play Sorcerer is incomplete pending the resolution of +this issue among others. + +I should add, if this influences anyone's response at all, that I really really +wish for the answer to be YES! You can do it! Partly because I want to prove my +opinion about sorcery correct, the one which says it can do anything, but also +partly because this issue is precisely one I want to examine through the +peculiarly skewed and fractured lens on life that Sorcerer offers. + +Okay for real I will shut up now and let you all school me. Thank you for listening! diff --git a/instorm.otl b/instorm.otl index 42c2f79..e298e00 100644 --- a/instorm.otl +++ b/instorm.otl @@ -163,15 +163,21 @@ Chapter Ideas Taking Poor Edward to Hell : As an aside, not necessarily useful to the story. What about the : dying. Becoming a kind of parasite on the back of my demon's head? - Coming out and validating the lie. + Coming out and/or validating the lie. faking my own death : absurdly cruel and inhuman faking GRS - : extremely tricky + : extremely tricky, literally too good to be true banishing the demon : also tricky redemption path - beginning a true path to transition + : beginning a path of mortal transition, surgical or otherwise. Settling down. - - - + Collateral Sorcery + : How much interest and capacity would I have to utilize Sorcery + : in other aspects of life? How much story would happen. + : On one hand it would be unnecessary to use non-gender quest + : related kickers to drive the story. The pull to keep pushing + : boundaries, once the first functional body was possessed will no + : doubt lead to enough complications on its own. However, incidentally + : some of these little events could easily + :