Thread: Starting amount of Sorcery spells?

I don't know if it's me, but I just cant find any suggestion on how many sorcery spells a new character would begin with in his Grimoire except. Been rereading the book several times now and I just can't find anything about it.

Only suggestion I can find is the Grimoire from the sample Order of the Black Serpent.

Is it just me being blind as usual?

Any help is appreciated!

As I understand it, a new character has access to the grimoire of the
organization where he learned sorcery, so the number of spells avail-
able to him depends on the number of spells in the organization's gri-
moire and on the organization's rules for learning spells from its grimo-
ire - two setting specific factors, so in the end it is a referee decision.
The way I handle it, a character starts with three or four spells, and
has to serve the organization well to be allowed to learn any additio-
nal spells from its grimoire.

Yeah thats what I guessed.
Just felt a little more hands on info on creating different grimoires would have been nice. But I guess 4-6 spells would be ok for most grimoires.

Originally Posted by Chorpa

Yeah thats what I guessed.
Just felt a little more hands on info on creating different grimoires would have been nice. But I guess 4-6 spells would be ok for most grimoires.

Yep, you really need a setting sourcebook to flesh out the spells found in respective Grimoires. Actually, they really ought to make a Big Book of Grimoires as a supplement.

Some alternative methods of determining number of starting spells found in each Grimoire:

1) Roll a D6.
2) Have the player write a description of the contents of his Grimoire in game world narrative. Then draw out the various key words and ascribe spells that fit the themes therein.

Man, I just have to stop reading these boards. It would certainly make my wallet happier. I'm now curious as to how organizations are arranged...

I found the MRQI Guilds, Factions and Cults and MRQII Empires books very useful for determining organisations.

For example in my Lankhmar game:
The House of Red Lanterns
The courtesans’ guild
The House of Red Lanterns is run by a small ‘council’ of madams that oversee the accounts and actions of the whores’ guild. The order is named on account of courtesans walking the streets with candle-lamps of red paper or lanterns with red glass, identifying their trade.

The House of Red Lanterns has strong ties to the Slayers’ Brotherhood. The murder of courtesans is punished in kind and almost all Red Lantern girls are protected by nearby Slayers or guild-employed pimps chosen by the madams. Unlike the Thieves’ Guild, the Red Lantern members do not frown on freelance competition, since the guild’s courtesans are generally a cut above the average streetwalker and receive the lion’s share of the attention and business on the cobblestone streets of sinful, decadent Lankhmar.

Characteristics
SIZ 10 (130 members)
INF 16/11/0
WTH 11
MIL 8
COM 13
POP 13

Attributes
Affinities: 12 (12 spent on Affiliations and Traditions – see below)
Initiative: 15
Reputation: 14

Capabilities
Bureaucracy 33%, Combat 18%, Commerce 67%, Credit 54%, Diplomacy 56%, Favour 26%, Lore
(Society of Ardent Entrepreneurs) 59%, Seduction 53%

Affiliations
Requirements:
Characters must be female with a CHA of 10 or above.
Skills:
Athletics, Dagger, Influence, Persistence, Streetwise.
Duties:
Courtesans must work a minimum of four nights a week.
Special Benefits:
Guild members tithe 50% of their earnings to the guild, keeping the rest. They are appointed a member of the Slayers’ Brotherhood stationed nearby while they work.

Originally Posted by Chaot

Man, I just have to stop reading these boards. It would certainly make my wallet happier. I'm now curious as to how organizations are arranged...

It's the least well defined portion of the game, and in my mind the most fun and challenging. You can set up shamanistic cults, mainstream religious organizations, sorcerous guilds, mercenary troops or anything else that might provide benefits (and obligations) in exchange for following their rules and meeting their requirements. It can help define what spells you have access to, what skills you can get trained on inexpensively, and provide endless plot hooks for the GM.

I am in the making of an adventure based on the 0one's Blueprint Vale of the Mages that will also serve as a small school for sorcerers in my campaign. Guess I'll get started on a campaign document where I type down Grimoires and Guilds/Factions and Cults as I create them. The question now is if I should create one Grimoire for each Mage Tower or one for the entire Vale?

As for the beginning characters I think I might just let them create their own grimoire they can stat with from the beginning that contain 4 spells with a short background on where they have acquired it. That way I get some free help from the players creating new organisations and grimoires. For more spells they would have to search out new grimoires/organisations to gain new spells. As the above Vale of the Mages I am creating at the moment.

When this thread has come up on Mongoose's and The Design Mechanism's forums I have suggested getting the ridiculously cheap pdf of Cults of Glorantha from RpgNow. It may be based in a setting some may not be fond of but it does give a very wide range of Spirit traditions, Divine Cults, and Sorcerous orders with their Grimoires as examples to help your own design.

Originally Posted by Chorpa

The question now is if I should create one Grimoire for each Mage Tower or one for the entire Vale?

I do not know Vale of the Mages, but I would think that the mages living there have
different personalities and interests, and therefore learn or invent different spells for
their grimoires. Besides, I think it would be more interesting if some spells could only
be found in some few or only one single grimoire, instead of being known to every
mage of the region.