This is the last version before it goes to the proofreader.
Sorcerously Advanced: Interregnum Edition (PDF download, ~80MB)
Page xx references and some typos will still be present. Everything else is, at least in theory, just about ready for publication.
Thanks! I appreciate the enthusiasm. :)
The listing on p. 112 lags Curses for Universal
Naming conventions are a very good addition. I like the little tidbits like the box on inheritance, how inventions should stay.
Thanks!
Fixed! Curses should be Universal; Lagged Curses are Exclusive.
What is the estimated time for the print version to be available, please?
March at the earliest.
If I can get it to my proofreader in early December (and assuming she's got time then), she can probably get it back to me in late January or early February. Then I'll have to do at least one proofing run to make sure the colors come out right. Those take 2 weeks under the best of shipping conditions.
Cool! And did I notice sneaky references to Blue Rose, Dark Sun, Ravenloft and the Wheel of Time in the section on the Unruly Lands?
Yup! There's also Dragonlance, Spelljammer, and one that's slightly Tad Williams inspired.
Tried to download it repeatedly, but the file seems unreadable with Acrobat Reader on my laptop. All pages but the first one are blank. Scrolling the document eventually yields an Error 14 message. Online help I googled (here) says it is often caused by an obsolete Acrobat version but this cannot be the case since I'm using the last AR version available (20.013.20066), according to my check for updates. The alternative explanation is the file is corrupt. I tried looking for additional details in the error message and it says it is missing a dictionary object. Again the hallmark of a corrupt file according to the help; it suggests the author of the file should fix the issue. Alternatively it suggests various workarounds with methods and programs I am unfamiliar with. The file opens correctly in Chrome but having to right-click and select chrome to open every time is sure annoying and unwieldy. Please provide a fixed version.
Thanks for the troubleshooting notes! Give it another shot. Same download link.
I suspect the issue may have been splicing together the cover with the rest of the document using Preview. I haven't had trouble with Preview before, but I tried putting them together with Acrobat this time. Hopefully the new version will work.
Two things I noticed on page 56.
In lateral strategies, "In order to use the “wrong” Nature for an action, you need to have a competitive advantage in that Nature (see page xx), which you normally receive from your Civilization." No civilization give CA anymore.
Also in lateral strategies, you say "Some substitutions make more sense tan others" "tan" should be than.
Page 44. It says in the last paragraph of the Examples section that it costs 1 reserve to change Traditions and if the new Tradition uses a different Path and Fount to the previous one then a further 2 Twists must be spent. Is this cost in Twists correct? It seems to contradict what's in the sidebar on the same page.
1 Reserve to change Traditions, pay 1 Twist when you use a new Path or Fount (max of 2 Twists). I'll see if I can clear up the wording.
P.56 The boxed text on Lateral Strategies mentions that Competitive Advantage comes from Civilisations which I understand is no longer the case. I'm guessing that Societies was meant as those can provide Competitive Advantage.
Fixed. I also added a note that having competitive advantage in a Profession lets you swap around Nature scores when dealing with that Profession, because before it was pretty unclear what CA in a Profession would do other than a +1 bonus.
I downloaded the file, but in one of my apps (Adobe Acrobat Reader for PDF v 20.10.00, iOS 14.0.1, 1st gen 9.7 inch iPad Pro) all pages except the front cover are blank. I can read it fine in the iOS Books app. I’m not sure if there’s a problem with the file or just something goofy going on in Adobe, but I thought I’d let you know.
Thanks for the heads-up (and the troubleshooting details). I'll try setting the PDF compatibility back to an earlier version next time. Acrobat Reader on my Android actually did the same thing.
Ok - remade the doc with a different process. Give it another shot and let me know how it works for you.
Looks good. Thanks!
I am liking Sorc the more I read it. It's what I would call an almost perfect game (perfect games only exist in the Platonic Realm). Oh, here's a sample Unruly Land:
Service vs Despite:
The inhabitants of this land defend its health and beauty against a wicked demigod who holds nature and humanity in contempt for not measuring up to his impossible standards of perfection. His being trapped there doesn't help his mood any.
Path of Peace: Belief → Earthpower
Page 88 in the section on Infrastructure. The word Capabilities is used instead of Natures.
Thanks. I ran a find-and-replace to catch the rest of the Capability references - I apparently missed more than I thought.
I've noticed there's no Scrying expression listed. Is this covered by other arts or is it a game balance thing?
I had considered a general "scrying" expression at one point, but decided on Psychometry as Mystery's primary information-gathering method instead. There were a lot of reasons:
I should probably put something about scrying into either "What Magic Can't Do" or the "Not impossible, just underdeveloped" section. It might even deserve its own "can of worms" sidebar, since there's some empty space available on the next page.
Page 92. Scrying Networks. I'll be adding this to my notes but I may as well say that now since I'm here.
Thanks! Fixed.
Or you could simply expand Sovereignty to not only forbid mind control but also to forbid direct remote surveillance. It ties into Sovereignty because just try plotting against unjust authority if saud authority can follow your every move.
Interesting idea. Not sure I'm going to take it, but it would be a way to at least slow things down if scrying were discovered. But does it prevent someone from seeing you if they're looking at the town square you're in? Does it block the whole town? Can you follow someone as they walk around even if you don't know who they are - and they keep going into one specific house, so now you know where they live - and you can read their notes so now you know who they are…
I think you'll need to come up with a good in-universe reason for the lack of scrying. Because almost certainly civilisations would develop it as a matter of the business of state. Some civs would employ it against their own citizens.
A possibility is that an ancient civilisation developed a Great Work that blocked Scrying. Scrying defined as direct perception outside the line of sight or outside a certain distance. Defense against Scrying is more valuable than Scrying, really so this seems quite plausible.
If Scrying does exist in the game it would likely require a mystical connection like long-distance rapport. This would make it useful but far from direct mass remote surveillance. Also, Scrying should be restricted to the remote use of the senses of sight and hearing when applied to a subject which is out of line of sight or out of earshot.
Or it could just be… One of those metaphysically impossible things. Like Soul Obliteration.
We've already got safe instant teleportation as impossible just because.
Well if Colin wants to put it in, I think it's sufficiently nerfed so that a panopticon state is unlikely to arise. Magic is not reliable in this universe and a police state would prefer more dependable means of spying on its citizens.
Also, with everyone able to do magic a would-be police state would have to expend resources against sousveillance from its own citizens. In other words, it might not be worth the hassle.
It's the threat that the state can see you that makes panopticons possible. Select a random citizen to spy on every now and then displays the threat with minimal infrastructure.
I think if Scrying requires a mystical connection and can be blocked by The Shroud that this sufficiently nerfs it so a panopticon state doesn't arise. Also, it's worth noting that forced Rapport is a thing in the game and it's a damn sight more invasive than mere Scrying.
The Shroud probably would protect people against scrying, but man do I not want to walk around in the mindset that enables the Shroud at all times. Oof.
Stepping this out as a new sub-topic:
Magic that controls the flow of commerce (Poromancy, as the book currently calls it) is possible but obstructed by the Travel lattice. What if the Red Space used to be a compact (rather than expanded) dimension that was used for scrying, but someone flipped it inside out to use it for storage instead?
(And they ruptured it by accident at the same time, which is why the flow drains right out of it.)
From a weirdness and evocativeness standpoint it's great. From an implications standpoint IMO if you combine it with the Travel Grid it seems like it hints pretty strongly at some transcendent, heaven-shattering(When I say that I don't necessarily mean literally. Things just got really anime/Xianxia/other really overpowered settings territory and hot-blooded like Gurren Lagann) magical revolution in a bygone era. Or the bygone magical era being forcibly ended by Aum due to something horribly wrong happening and nobody possessing the power to stop it. Or a metaphorical giant space flea from nowhere ending the era by force.
Love the idea. It does address the lack of Scrying and adds yet more gosh-wow awesome sauce to the setting.
So I was playing around with the expressions by fount and I discovered something. If the fount expressions are meant to be the suggested exclusive expression pool with maybe one exception for somebody making a tradition from scratch instead of using an existing tradition and its recommended list… Transcendence isn't actually used anywhere. None of the founts use transcendence.
Huh. Transcendence was a relatively new addition to the game (it was split out from shapeshifting after those bits were written) so I probably just forgot.
I'll add it in. It should be comparatively common for Elementalism and Oneiromancy.
Also Glory, I should think.
I dunno; the word lines up with Glory, but the effect is a little different, because it's about changing your aspect or other parts about your Earthly Form. I feel like most Glory adherents would use Reserve to access Transubstantiation once, and then leave their Earthly Form it that way.
Definitely.
One thing I noticed is the part on 'Not Impossible, Just Underdeveloped'. Below it there's a paragraph talking about possible ways to use the Arts that's not yet used in the setting and some ideas for that, and going to the Advice section for more details, except there never was any details on that idea in the Advice section, I think.
Page 273, the "A World in Flux" header and the next few pages.
Ah, I see. When I read that section I thought it was more 'Setting Questions and Plot Hooks for the GM to decide/use' than 'Ideas for possible magitech'.
<farnsworth>It can do both! Why shouldn't it!</farnsworth>
Yeah, it's definitely more plot seed than magitech. I feel like I should do a whole supplement some day on more-techy-magitech, but any time I talk about a supplement before it's written I curse it, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Aaand my proofreader has COVID. :( Just letting folks know that the Interregnum (edition) will be extended.
Fingers crossed for her and her family.
