bigblackcatmail :
> First, does Sorcery differ mechanically from Wizardry and, if so, how?
Not usually no, but it _can_. The basic use of Grimoires et cetera is virtually the same, as is the magic that they use, plus Talismans etc.
Given that basis, sorcery is not centred on Churches and Congregations, although it may (or may not) use Liturgy or something like it. Rituals would feature more heavily, to counterbalance the lack of a big Support Bonus. Enchanted paraphernalia are of course an absolute MUST !
The way I would look at it, Sorcery is often a top-down version of veneration. Instead of congregations pooling their worship up towards the Church leaders and to God, Sorcerors directly derive their powers from the essences of the World and Otherworld, and so provide magic to themselves and their followers. Most (but not all) use tapping to connect with the essences, I think, although alchemists have a more time-consuming but less apparently destructive method (except when something goes wrong, and the accumulated/manipulated essence is suddenly, dramatically, and explosively released : Ker-BOOM !!).
Of course, some sorcerors would trafick with Underworld entities, except that this is demonology, not sorcery per se.
The key, and here the Wizardry chapter does a very good job, is that any sorcery school must have a clearly defined power flow that it uses : for instance, the Vivamort sorcery school teaches vampiric powers that suck the magic out of its victims for use and abuse by the vampire.
As long as you can come up with a mechanisme where magical power flows from some source(s) to the sorceror (the word "sorceror" is derived from "source"), then you have a valid base for a sorcery school. Tappping is the simplest and easiest method, and therefore the most common basis for a sorcery school, but other methods certainly exist.
> Second, what is Tapping, beyond what is listed in the brief mention in HQ?
Read the conversion notes at www.heroquest-rpg.com where tapping is briefly described.
Briefly it is a magical process where the sorceror causes magical power to flow from some source to himself. There is a wide range of tapping spells, but they all permanently weaken the source, so that tapping a man's vitality will produce magic but permanently devitalise the victim.
The most effective sources are members of your own race who have concentrated their wizardry, but many variants exist.
Some Churches allow the practice, provided strict rules are followed about who/what can and cannot be tapped.
The most powerful variant is to directly tap the essence planes, but technically that would not be called "tapping", and the Resistance of the Otherworld barriers is VICIOUS.
> And, third, how do you handle Tapping in your games?
I myself have so far tried not to, as I disliked the old RQ mechanics, but the HQ model makes much more sense ...
> Do you treat Tapping as a Skill or a Magical Ability?
Spells.
> What effects do you adjudicate on the thing or person being tapped? How do you arrive at your results?
IIRC the HW to HQ conversion notes have basic information.
> I know this is a lot of questions,
No problem, that's what we're here for.
Julian Lord
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