#WizardWeek
The Sorcerer. Bloodline magic. Mystic Lineage. Family.
These are the ideas that I’m thinking of right now, after reading Tim Franzke’s ideas for the sorcerer. I’m going to a very different place with my ideas, although I liked what I read.
I’m drawing on the above (bloodline, family, lineage) and also thinking of some throwaway text in D&D and Pathfinder that acknowledges the bad rap sorcerers get (because of their monster blood). I’m likewise thinking of the Witchbreed in Marvel 1602.
All of this makes me think of a social misfit. Someone trying to fit in, get by, or make do. Which sounds good enough for a dungeon delver and adventurer for sure (so I say I’m on the right track)! That makes me think of Neverwhere or Don’t Rest Your Head.
All of this together paints a very different image of the Sorcerer, but one I’m intrigued by!
The Sorcerer has a monstrous bloodline that they take power from, literally and figuratively. It takes a village to raise a sorcerer, and you learn some good stuff when you’ve got an ogre for an uncle, or a fire elemental as a baby sitter. The sorcerer is sociable, but oppressed by those who don’t “get” their unconventional family. They scrape by, supported by and supporting their weird family, and they learn their ways around.
I’m writing up a Sorcerer. They’re part grifter, part street urchin, part cosmic latchkey kid. Their main class move is Jonathan Walton’s heritage move — meaning my Sorcerer works best when Dis is a locale but not the main setting. Besides having heritage moves, they’ve got a move to know the quickest route between Dungeon World and Dis, and a move to practice petty, simple magic with the power in their mingled bloodline. Some advanced moves allow them to meet up with Dissian family outside of Dis, or let them exhaust HP to trigger that heritage moves, or give them access to basic wizard spells in return for magic running wild or exposing their bloodline at the wrong time.
I’m still working on it, but these are some ideas. An outline, of sorts, trying to capture what I’m going for. My Sorcerer isn’t a fountain of unlimited arcane knowledge — that’s the Wizard. The Sorcerer is a conjurer of cheap tricks, focused on pride in their lineage, getting by in a world that thinks they’re a monster, and magical power found in their beautiful, unique blood.
I look forward to seeing your sorcerer. I like the idea of a magic user as huckster.
Following
Count me interested in seeing where this goes.
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Maybe have a look at the Mutant from Dungeon Planet?
One move I’m proud of right now. This is a starting move for the class (for now). My Sorcerer is a citizen of Dis, runaway from home, out to see the world, or whatever. Their ways are strange and weird, and they know their way around. This move is a little bit eladrin but fits for what is supposed to be an almost ephemeral Sorcerer…
Dungeon Above, Dis Below (WIS)
You know the hidden trails between Dungeon World and Dis, perhaps learned from a youth spent bootlegging. When exploring a place of doorways, passages, or portals, tell the GM the specific place you want to get to on the other side, then roll+WIS and rush headlong in.
>On a 10+, you’ve found the doorway that will take you and those close behind where you want to go.
>On a 7-9, there is a doorway somewhere near, and choose two:
• It will take you where you want to go.
• You don’t need to know Dissian rhyming cant to get it open.
• It won’t lead you into trouble on the other side.
The choice actively works out to: Go where you want to be easily but get into trouble (1 & 2, quick, accurate, and dangerous); go where you want to be but you’ve got to take time and talk everyone through the passageway but at least you’re safe (1 & 3, slow, accurate, safe); or go somewhere quickly and easily (2 & 3, quick, random, safe).
So really, if I wanted to open it up to more vagaries I could simply leave it at, choose one on a 7-9: passage to the other side is slow, random, or dangerous. That loses flavor, though. Anyway, yeah, here is one of the moves so far.
A thought:
Racial Moves can be heritage moves, defined as you define your “family”. You ditch the start of session move for gaining Heritage, however, and come up with a way to gain it through other moves (10+ on Spellcasting?) Then come up with other ways to spend and gain Heritage through advanced moves.
Right now, I’ve got the Heritage Move as the first class move Sorcerer gets. The Racial move is simply:
Dissian
When Discerning Realities, add this question to the list: “What monsters here are my extended family?”
I definitely like the idea of additional ways of spending and gaining Heritage. I have a move called Petty Magic with effects like “Empower a heritage move”, “extend a heritage move’s reach” and “add +1 to an ally’s roll if your petty magic could possibly help.” That move operates a bit like an extended list of Heritage Moves, which you spend Hold 1-for-1 to trigger.