With all the talk of sorcery and failed casting, I think it would be interesting to hear more about what people have done with unwanted summonings to add to their games (beyond “a demon shows up and attacks. RAWR.”). I’m always inspired to hear what others have done!
Three or four sessions ago, our group was fighting it out with a group of thugs in a warehouse. Our sorcerer failed to pull off White Fire, and there came the “1” on the DoF. The demon waited in the shadows until the thugs had been dispatched, congratulated the group on their victory, then informed them that they had 5 days to bring him the crown prince’s head, or he would return for theirs. They tried to fight, of course, but the demon just toyed with them until they left, battered and bleeding, with a promise to see him in 5 days… cue conflicted beliefs (and beliefs conflicted with self-preservation).
Next? I often feel like I hit a mental block when it comes to unwanted summoning; I’m hoping that hearing what others have done will help me use them better!
As I mentioned in said thread (/rage), my group recently had great experience with the Unwanted Summoning.
The game had started with goblins invading our town, and my town guard who was “That fucking weird kid in town” (Gifted but not trained) led the charge, anyway, several sessions later, I managed to kill my necromancer uncle, and stole his books, which I got a Beginning test for Summoning,
To expand from this, I wanted to find a teacher, and trying to summon one up (Restless Undead, with no tools and no preparation) led to this Unwanted Summoning. Instead of a slightly pissed dead necromancer, a Pillar of Flame shoot into the sky and The Flame that Burns Kyan, appeared (Minor Deity), and granted my character a boon. I asked for “Ultimate Sorcerous Power” and was quickly possessed by this deity, being granted a Sorcery B6.
In the end, character fell into a year and a half long coma, but it inspired the others to leave town (Something my character had been pushing for since two session beforehand) and try and raise awareness (We’re bad at this)
Also, as an aside, during a one-off where the goblins (Whom we had chased off) came back, our leader ended up possessed by said Flame and is now leading an army towards the city our characters are currently in.
In our long-running campaign, demons were slaves in hell. Unwanted summoning afforded them a chance at freedom. The untimely event happened twice (in eight years). Each time, the demon ripped himself free through the fabric of reality – usually from the summoner’s chest – and fled into the wilds. One of these creatures attempted to rip a massive hole in the fabric of reality and free all of his brethren. We played a grueling campaign to stop his wicked plan. Now he sits in a prison circle with a giant guarding him.
In Burning THAC0, we would often make the very stupid mistake of whacking a wizard in mid-cast. We did this often enough that the inevitable summoning occurred. But instead of demons, we somehow summoned angels. Since my character was a cleric, the angels would be servants of his god. Well, my little cleric received many, many lectures about how far he was from the right path and to straighten up or face the consequences. Thor’s wizard also managed to fail tests and these were perfect opportunities for more angels to appear. He became known as the Angel Summoner. It was great!
I’ve seen demons summoned that wanted to bargain instead of fight or cause trouble. Demon’s can offer A LOT to a power-hungry character of little moral fortitude, aka adventurer.
Recently one of the players got posessed by the ghost of an Orc summoner. As a result, he can test summoning using beginners luck. There is a restriction that all of the circles must be drawn in blood. This is in keeping Orcs being so bloody minded. The mechanics is that drawing circles causes tax. Tax on fort is the manifestation of lost blood.
Anyway, given that he is testing with beginners luck the first timehe tried, he failed. He was trying to draw up the circle. He failed. The result was that he was interrupted by a guard. A bloody versus ensued and the gurd was killed before he could call the watch on the necromancy he discovered. They then used the guards blood to finish off the circle. They were trying to summon the ghost of the guard that haunts the corkscrew stair at the entrance of the hold. They rolled the summoning and failed. The result was that instead of the old guard ghost, they summoned the enraged ghost of the guard that they had just slain and used his blood for the circles. Fun followed from there. . .
