[Sorcerer] Escape from New York One-Sheet

"In 1988, the crime rate in the United States rises four hundred percent.

The once great City of New York becomes the one maximum security prison for the entire country.

A fifty-foot containment wall is erected along the New Jersey shoreline, across the Harlem River and down along the Brooklyn shoreline. It completely surrounds Manhattan Island.

All bridges and waterways are mined.

The United States Police Force, like an army, is encamped around the island. There are no guards inside the prison, only prisoners and the worlds they have made.

The rules are simple: once you go in, you don't come out."


"Attention. You are now entering the Debarkation Area. No talking. No smoking. Follow the orange line to the Processing Area. The next scheduled departure to the prison is in two hours. You now have the option to terminate and be cremated on the premises. If you elect this option, notify the Duty Sergeant in your Processing Area."


"Some of them have cars. They took old junkers that were left behind, converted them to steam. We think they also may have a gasoline source in there, and power, greenhouses, rigged-up generators, some areas have streetlights.

The Crazies, live in the subways, complete control the underground, the night raiders."

Sorcerer: Escape from New York

"Shoot a cop
With a gun
The Big Apple is plenty of fun"

Setting: New York Maximum Security Penitentiary, Manhattan Island.

In the early 1980s, the crime rate in the United States went through the roof. The island of Manhattan was sealed up into the largest, and only, maximum security prison in the country. Criminals are transported and incarcerated in the prison for life. There are no guards in the prison itself, the criminals have the run of the place. The guards are all along the containment walls around the island and all the waterways and bridges are mined. Escape is impossible but many try and die in the attempt. Either that or die in the city.

"Stab a priest
With a fork
And you'll spend your vacation in New York"

When: Now.

The prison has been in operation for over twenty years. Plenty of time for children to have been born into the life. Plenty of time for some sort of society to exist, including those built by the hard case criminals and the murderers.

"Rob a bank
Take a truck
You can get here by stealing a buck"

Sorcerers are: criminals to connect with the entropy of the universe in order to feed their basest of needs and individuals who use their vision to change their world.

"This is bliss
It's a lark
Honey, everyone's coming to New York!"

Demons are: the entropy of the universe in forms that can interact with the real world.

"No more Yankees
Strike the word from your ears"

Lore is: a mix of criminal knowledge and pop-culture, watching the tea cup as it smashes to the ground and seeing the Entropy that can never be turned back.

"Play the roulette
There's no more opera at the Met"

Rituals are: actions that feed into the Entropy of the universe, either through creation of mad art or music or destruction.

"This is hell
This is fate
But now this is your home and it's great"

Humanity is: compassion and respect for human life.

In the Rotten Apple, life is cheap. Criminals rule the roost and it's a dog-eat-dog prison. More and more crazies are made by men and women who lose their humanity to complete savagery.

"So rejoice
Pop a cork
Honey, everyone's coming to New York! (1)"

When Humanity reaches zero: you've become a Crazy.

You'll either join in with other Crazies, living in the subways as a night raider, or go it alone. Life as a Crazy is nasty, brutish and short. Survival is dog-eat-dog. And few last long but do a whole bunch of damage to others before they shuffling off this mortal coil.

"Once you go in, you never come out."