in_nomine-digest Tuesday, November 6 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2425 In this digest: Re: IN> Converting Hardcore to Destruction Re: IN> Slew of Questions Re: IN> Use Question, again (was: Vapulan Time Travel) Re: IN> Use Question, again (was: Vapulan Time Travel) Re: IN> Horror Month/The First day is the hardest - Nightmares IN> Yet More Insomnia: Force Catchers Re: IN> Use Question, again (was: Vapulan Time Travel) Re: IN> Use Question, again (was: Vapulan Time Travel) Re: IN> Converting Hardcore to Destruction Re: IN> Use Question, again (was: Vapulan Time Travel) IN> Horror Month - The Pyramid of Mars Re: IN> Horror Month - The Pyramid of Mars IN> STAR IN NOMINE IN> To Your Health ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 00:55:42 -0800 From: "Perry Lloyd" Subject: Re: IN> Converting Hardcore to Destruction > An update on an old idea of mine with reactions on how people might change > with their prince's word shift > > Providing Furfur wins his "word battle" with Belial and is able to ascend to > the Demon Prince of Destruction title (a move that while it may take years > even centuries to solidify-may make him among the most powerful of princes) > it will necessitate quite a change on his followers. Interesting to watch Furfur go from the Prince of Heavy Metal (ala INSMV) to the DP of Hardcore (ala IN) to the DP of Destruction (ala Charles Phipps). I'd say he's *definitely* moved up in the world. :) - -Perry perrylloyd@hotmail.com pl312993@oak.cats.ohiou.edu http://www.geocities.com/perrylloyd Qu'est qui de vert devient rouge et frappe frénétiquement à la porte ? Un scout dans un four à micro-onde. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 06:39:31 +0000 From: "Jo Hart" Subject: Re: IN> Slew of Questions >From: jgd@cix.co.uk (John Dallman) >Reply-To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >CC: jgd@cix.co.uk >Subject: Re: IN> Slew of Questions >Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 19:28 +0000 (GMT Standard Time) > >In article , emccoy@nh.ultranet.com >(Elizabeth McCoy) wrote: > > At 2:26 PM -0700 10/26/01, Jim Burzelic wrote: > > >How many celestials are usually in a city? State? > > >How many Tethers are usually in a city? State? > > > > This depends on the GM. The Game Master's Guide has some > > suggestions. In our games (this not-be canon), we generally > > have a dozen celestials on each side and a selection of Soliders > > as support staff ... > >It depends on the city, too. There seems to be a tendency for older cities >and cities which have more-than-average influence (eg, national or state >capitals) to have slightly more celestials. > >Rhodri is running London, England, which fulfills both of those criteria. >The PCs are essentially the angelic troubleshooters for West London, and >there's half-a-dozen of us. There seem to be quite a few more angels based >in Tethers, although we don't know how many of them are there full-time. >And we /definitely/ don't know how many demons there are in London. > Heh. In my version of London there would have been a lot more celestials than that (maybe even by an order of magnitude), because it was the centre of a cold war and had been since the Civil War, when the demonic factions picked up the balance of political power (centred around whitehall) and the angelic power blocs centred around the City (mainly centred around the stock exchange.) jo _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 01:41:41 -0800 From: "Perry Lloyd" Subject: Re: IN> Use Question, again (was: Vapulan Time Travel) > On Sun, 28 Oct 2001, David Edelstein wrote: > > > The comments of posters on this list indicate there is a market for > > virtually anything you could name with an "In Nomine" label. Propose "In > > Nomine Bodice-Ripping Romantic Fantasy," "In Nomine Senzar," or "In > > Nomine Granola Bars with Vitamin C added" and there will be a contingent > > here vocally insisting that they'd buy it immediately. Unfortunately, > > that market is likely to turn out to be in the double digits out in the > > real world. > > Um, yeah... what he said. > > I'm going to buy In Nomine Anime. I'm going to buy it for two reasons. > Primus, I really want to encourage the production of new In Nomine > material, enough to throw money at SJG to make that clear. Secondus, it's > fairly cheap so it's a decent value considering that I'll never do > anything but flip through it. > > I don't plan on running it. I've read the playtest file, and it seems like > a good primer on Anime. I might use it, actually, if I ever run a mecha > game. Otherwise, it's not useful to me. > > If it were a $21.99 sourcebook, I wouldn't buy it. Frankly, if I wasn't so > concerned about the status of the In Nomine line, I wouldn't buy it. I'm > thinking of my $10 as an INVESTMENT in keeping the line going, not as > buying a product that I don't need or (really) want. What he said, only doubly so. At least some of my players are /dying/ to have IN Anime in their hot little hands, "if only for the art. It's going to soooooooooo cool" says one of my players. bless her heart > A direct translation of the INS/MV line would neato. I'd probably even pay > for it. But it's the last thing you want to release when you're trying > just to keep In Nomine afloat... (I consider the release of all that > Deluxe Illuminati stuff a sign that INWO was abandoned, frankly...) Unfortunately, SJGames can't risk releasing such a thing unto the American public (if only they'd do it for Great Britain!!!!), because while the American public can tolerate games where their kids play Demons, Vampires, Werewolves and Witches, Monsters, and self-declared (Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic) Evil characters, if you dare to assert anything that might tarnish Jesus . . .. may God have mercy on your company. Hell, I don't even think Black Dog goes there . . . On top of that, the game does two things very problamatic for Americans (1) it asserts that Catholic Christianity is the True religion, (2) while at the same time tearing said religion to shreds, mocking it easily and often. This is fine in France, since Catholocisicism (sp? mind tired) enjoys dominance. This means that it's not really all that threatened by the mocking, and that status quo is merely maintained when it's portrayed as the sole True religion. This doesn't work in America, where for the most part "Christianity" is the majority, but there're big enough minorities for /someone/ to get upset and make a big stink about such a game. (Not to mention lingering anti-Catholic sentiments . . .) So . . . no, INS/MV's background doesn't work well in the states. However, its Superiors, powers and dice system don't suffer from the religion thing much (a few Superior description alterations - you're in the clear). So, why SJGames hasn't decided to use those 375 or so new abilities, or the 15 or so Superiors that aren't included in the American game, I don't know. (Well, as Liber Canticorum proves, who needs fun, flashy combat powers when you can control the weather and be "harder to see" ?) It would be nice to have an AA of Communication and a Prince of Messengers, or see the Prince of Animals (you ever wonder why Jordi is portrayed being insane?), not to mention Crocell, Prince of Cold; Shaytan, Prince of Ugliness; Scox, Prince of Souls; Catherine, AA of Women; Ange, AA of Converts in all her voodoo splendor; Alan, AA of Cultures with his secret Egyptian magic; or my favorite: Emmanuel, AA of Double Agents, whose Angels appear to be Demons, that is, until they break out the Holy Knives and cut all their Demon "buddies" to shreds, heh heh, I bet Michael would like to some of his agents under his command. Alas, these ideas have not been looked into (though we did see Furfur, Christopher, and Khalid, that was nice). Maybe once I finish my personal english translation of INSMV I can stop complaining and do something about it. - -Perry perrylloyd@hotmail.com pl312993@oak.cats.ohiou.edu http://www.geocities.com/perrylloyd "Être aimé n'est rien, c'est être préféré que je désire." - -André Gide ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 02:37:55 -0600 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> Use Question, again (was: Vapulan Time Travel) Perry Lloyd wrote: > Unfortunately, SJGames can't risk releasing such a thing unto the American > public (if only they'd do it for Great Britain!!!!), because while the > American public can tolerate games where their kids play Demons, Vampires, > Werewolves and Witches, Monsters, and self-declared (Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic) > Evil characters, if you dare to assert anything that might tarnish Jesus . . > . may God have mercy on your company. Hell, I don't even think Black Dog > goes there . . . Oh, please. The "RPGs are Satanic" crowd hasn't looked at anything published since the late 80s (and for the most part they've moved on to frothing about Pokemon and Harry Potter), and with stuff like Black Dog or SJG's own "Vigilante" out there, a satiric game that makes fun of Jesus wouldn't even be a blip on the radar. (And if it was, SJG would probably be delighted, because it could only boost sales.) INS/MV isn't not being translated for fear of public reaction. It's not being translated because it just probably wouldn't sell very well. The humor and satire wouldn't translate well, and if the SJG version is struggling, there's no reason to think the French version would do better. > So . . . no, INS/MV's background doesn't work well in the states. However, > its Superiors, powers and dice system don't suffer from the religion thing > much (a few Superior description alterations - you're in the clear). So, > why SJGames hasn't decided to use those 375 or so new abilities, or the 15 > or so Superiors that aren't included in the American game, I don't know. You think adding 375 new abilities and over a dozen new Superiors would be a GOOD thing? SJG has from the beginning tried to AVOID letting In Nomine become a munchkinfest powergame. (There was actually some concern about the Liber Canticorum adding too many powers to the game.) But if you really want to throw everything and the kitchen sink into the setting, there are plenty of web resources. - -David ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 05:53:28 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Horror Month/The First day is the hardest - Nightmares Now this is friggin' _awesome_. Love that ending! ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "The surest way to keep a secret is to make people believe they already know the answer." - -- Fremen saying __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 12:52:14 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: IN> Yet More Insomnia: Force Catchers Force Catchers. Let's discuss Force Catchers. They're in the LiberR. (You don't have the Liber Reliquarum? Here, go to www.warehouse23.com. I'll wait. Back? Great. Here we go.) Now, everyone knows that they're good protection from Kyrios and Shedim, right? But does everyone know that they're good _possessions_ of Kyriotates and Shedim? Didn't think so. Here's how it works. The body-hopper gets one of these little doohickies. The body-hopper bonds with it, paying the character points required. To start with, it keeps other people from trying to possess one's host out from under one. Neener, neener! But there are other uses. Now, if the owner is a Kyriotate, it can keep a Force or two in the Catcher, and either communicate with its buddies, or (GM's option) _keep_ those Forces in _its_ Catcher if another Force Catcher starts sucking it in. If it needs its Forces, it simply releases them -- it _is_ the owner, after all, and it can do that! So it's got a parachute for other Force Catcher problems, _and_ it can provide communications between people without having to worry about endangering hosts. If it tacks Summonable onto the Force Catcher relic, it's golden. Shedim get less milage out of owning Force Catchers, since they can't split their Forces around, but any Shedite who _really_ can't afford to be outside a host (Renegades, primarily, but others come to mind) can probably either possess, or "ooze into" their personal Force Catcher. Once they find a new host, they release themselves from their artifact and possess! (If the Shedite _doesn't_ have Summonable on the thing, permitting it to take celestial form, vanish the 'Catcher, zoom off celestially for a while, manifest the 'Catcher, and possess it again... Well, a funny shiny crystal could lie a long time in an unnoticed place...) Of course, there's another use for this trick. See, Force Catchers are celestial artifacts as well -- you can keep prisoners in them even in the celestial realms. Just think about it. Sneak someone down to Hell/up to Heaven, carrying a bunch of Force Catchers with angels/demons (anyone with the Song of Possession can play!) in them. Hide the Force Catchers. And when the signal comes, they will burst forth in glorius sneak attack! Of course, they're going to get awfully bored in there. Better find some way to get deluxe Force Catchers, with an Internet connection and Gameboy (Playstation?) equivalent. O:> - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 13:08:00 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Use Question, again (was: Vapulan Time Travel) At 6:45 PM -0500 10/28/01, ydobyns@princeton.edu wrote: >On Sat, 27 Oct 2001, David Edelstein wrote: >[...] >> By the same principle, the fact that SJGames owns the license for >> translating the French edition of the game does NOT mean that Joe Random >> Fan is allowed to post copyrighted Asmodee materials to the list. You'd >> be violating Asmodee's copyright, and pissing off both Asmodee and SJG. > >I find the phrasing here interesting. *Does* SJGames, in fact, own a >license for translating INS/MV into English? Translating and/or adapting, from what I've been able to tell. >Because the actual >English-language In Nomine game published under the licensing agreement is >a distinctly different beast from a translation of INS/MV; with different >mechanics, different Superiors, etc., it is at best a "derivative work". Most of the Superiors are the same. (Indeed, the first version of Khalid was practically word-for-word translated! Dominic's description is likewise closely matched to the original.) There are more French ones. IN/SJG adds Choirs and Bands, and has amalgmated some Superiors (Asmodee/Andromalius spring to mind). In the recent "Spiritas Encyclopeias" (spelling mangled), the Blandine- Beleth relationship (which was added over here) got back-added into the French. Which I thought was nifty. O:> >If SJGames' existing license would also cover simply translating INS/MV >into English, otherwise as-is, the comments of some posters would suggest >the existence of a market for such a product... > >...though not, perhaps, a market big enough to make the product worth >producing. This would appear to be SJ's opinion on the subject. I'm sure that he would have figured a direct translation would be easier, if it'd sell! (I believe Derek was hoping for a more direct translation.) The French version also seems more suited to "railroad" GMing -- sort of a Paranoia with angels and demons, from the adventures I've heard about. Beer-and-pretzals, where you _expect_ the characters are going to get shafted, and that's part of the fun. I love hearing about the adventures and stuff, and With The Right GM... But I like the IN/SJGames version better. At 9:07 PM -0600 10/28/01, David Edelstein wrote: >ydobyns@princeton.edu wrote: >I'm not privvy to the details of the license. I don't think even Beth >is. Nope. About all I know for _sure_ about it is that the fiction license was not included. >[...] Propose "In >Nomine Bodice-Ripping Romantic Fantasy," "In Nomine Senzar," or "In >Nomine Granola Bars with Vitamin C added" and there will be a contingent >here vocally insisting that they'd buy it immediately. Unfortunately, >that market is likely to turn out to be in the double digits out in the >real world. Double digits? In Nomine Senzar? Methinks you over-estimate horribly! O:> - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 15:28:34 -0500 (EST) From: ydobyns@princeton.edu Subject: Re: IN> Use Question, again (was: Vapulan Time Travel) On Mon, 29 Oct 2001, David Edelstein wrote: [...] > You think adding 375 new abilities and over a dozen new Superiors would > be a GOOD thing? SJG has from the beginning tried to AVOID letting In > Nomine become a munchkinfest powergame. Well, SJG certainly accomplished *that*. Frankly, I think that IN as written leans rather too far in the other direction. > (There was actually some concern > about the Liber Canticorum adding too many powers to the game.) As I see it, adding more Songs to the game cannot possibly make it a "munchkinfest powergame", or even unbalance it (any more than it is in the core rules, anyway), as long as the individual Songs all have reasonable effects. The reason being that Songs cost Essence to use, so that the total number of Songs a character can *sing* in a given situation is completely unaffected by the number of Songs it *knows*. (Oh, yeah, if you're really good at it you can manifest a Song without spending Essence to power it. The combination of increased invocation time and decreased effect/duration makes this pointless or nearly so with the vast majority of Songs; it's far from a game-breaker even on the rare occasions when it accomplishes something other than wasting the character's time.) York Dobyns ydobyns@princeton.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 14:30:15 -0500 From: "Jeffery Watkins" Subject: Re: IN> Converting Hardcore to Destruction I like it! The more details the better. This helps as this version of Fufur is the one in our game. [gives Essence off to Charlemagne] Jeffery >From: "Charles Phipps" >Reply-To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >Subject: IN> Converting Hardcore to Destruction >Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 16:35:57 -0400 > >An update on an old idea of mine with reactions on how people might change >with their prince's word shift > >Providing Furfur wins his "word battle" with Belial and is able to ascend >to >the Demon Prince of Destruction title (a move that while it may take years >even centuries to solidify-may make him among the most powerful of princes) >it will necessitate quite a change on his followers. > >Given loyalty is one of the few things Furfur does care about it is likely >he may award many of his followers with the new attunements but for the >most >part they will simply have their present one's converted to the (mostly) >more powerful ones. > >Dissonance > >Furfur's peculiar fascination with the Truth has dissapeared as his >obsession with rage and devastation has become ever greater. A follower of >Destruction must ALWAYS choose the road that will lead to more destruction >in the long run and if it turns out that it does not then they suffer >dissonance unless they "make up for it" in spades (three times over-no >Wiccan jokes). > >Balseraph of Hardcore to Destruction > >A Balseraph of Hardcore will find his ability to crush a human's hopes with >brutal truth mutate into an ability to add their celestial forces to >inspiring any being to acts of destruction. The perception of truth becomes >much like other Balseraphs at this point with a firm of leaning toward "All >systems tend toward Entropy." > >Djinn of Hardcore to Destruction > >In ADDITION to being able to harm the objects of their attunements as much >as they want they will be able to determine whatever sort of weaknesses it >may possess whether physical, mental, or emotional. > >"Hmmm he's vunerable to a specific rock from his homeworld and has thing >for >someone named L. Lane." > >Calabim of Hardcore to Destruction > >Be very afraid, no longer do they need loud music playing to triple their >resonance. The Demon Prince of Destruction is a beacon now to virtually >every Calabim in every rank and they will soon outnumber his other troops >by >legion. > >Habbalah of Hardcore to Destruction > >Habbalah become much more focused on negative emotions that they find their >previous skill with emotion stunted as their ability with negative emotions >heightened greatly. They may add their total number of forces times two to >leading a person to violent or destructive behavior. > >Lilim of Hardcore to Destruction > >Lilim of Destruction are no longer restrained by the need to violent >actions >or performing violent favors. They're works are all to the ultimate end of >destruction anyway but can still add their ethereal forces to any resonance >roll. > >Shedim of Hardcore to Destruction > >Hardcore Shedim in addition to adding their celestial forces to guiding >their hosts toward violent action need no roll to possess someone in the >middle of destructive behavior. > >Impudites of Hardcore to Destruction > >While Impudites of Hardcore still love metal they no longer are quite so >music based as any human in the Middle of Violent action they can >automatically charm. The Impudites of Destruction consider for the most >part their position as "the muses of destruction" and consider the death of >humanity an art...but one their friends do for them. > >Servitor attunements: > >Overdrive to MAXIMUM Overdrive > >Overdrive is now much more powerful as it now works on Celestials and >beings >with more than five forces as long as said being ultimately has less forces >than the being in question. Futhermore Maximum Overdrive's bents take a >particularly destructive bent as a sexual response becomes increasingly >risky (S&M or risky places, promiscious, unprotected) and violence ever >more >wrathful (A man hitting his wife beats her and destroys everything around >her-and quite possibly on her) > >He also gains several new powerful attunements best left to the imagination >of the Referee. > >Distinctions > >Knight of Rock to Knight of Hardcore > >Quite simply he bestows all of his knights with the Baron attunement >instead >of the rather 'mild' ability to communicate over loud concerts. The >contempt >also becomes slightly revoltionary and riotous as well though not >especially >so. > >Captain of the Mosh Pit to Captain of Rampage > >The ability is increased quite a bit to a frightening degree that while >they >may cause disturbance otherwise naturally any destructive action or violent >one causes NONE as long as they are in corporeal form. > >An ability of frightening implications > >Baron of Destruction > >All Baron's suddenly finding their ability a knight attunement will have >their promotion include the ability to incite those same feelings over a >block radius per force but like with the Knight distinction very >destructive. > >Relations > >Nybbas and Furfur's relations have soured given Furfur's new emphasis on >violence rather than the propagation of it. Furfur is still interested in >propagating violence through the Media but his "good buddy" is taking it >way >too slow for the Demon Prince of Destructions taste. Perhaps unfortunately >his major geas to Lilith has gone to the back of his mind and he's ordered >the lilim who treat his men poorly to be "manhandled appropriately" which >is >only slightly less violent than his usual cussings. Belial as a minor >Prince will likely soon be destroyed though Furfur is considering >"forgiving" the old man if he'll beg for his life...fat chance. On the plus >side on the establishment's way he's found some fairly cool folk whom he's >willing to hang with as he plots the destruction of Earth. While he's >currently approaching Valefor relatively reasonably as a fellow Calabim, >the >Theft prince finds the man a loathsome algamation of his Band's worse >attributes magnified a hundred fold. Otherwise quite a few Princes are >willing to kiss the Brat Prince of Hell's ring as a brother even as he >begins to wonder if the position of "Commander of the Armies of Hell" would >fit him....Baal has yet to realize the threat is even remotely serious. > >Allied: Malphas, Saminga (Saminga is allied to Furfur) > >Associated: Lilith, Fleurity, Valefor (Malphas and Haagenti are associated) > >Neutral: Nybbas, Andrephalus, Kobal, Haagenti > >Hostile: Everyone Else except Baal (Valefor is hostile to him) > >Enemy: Baal (the Establishment Incarnate man) > >-Charlemagne > >_________________________________________________________________ >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 15:37:08 -0500 From: "Robb Kidd" Subject: Re: IN> Use Question, again (was: Vapulan Time Travel) ydobyns@princeton.edu wrote: > As I see it, adding more Songs to the game cannot possibly make it a > "munchkinfest powergame", or even unbalance it (any more than it is in the > core rules, anyway), as long as the individual Songs all have reasonable > effects. The reason being that Songs cost Essence to use, so that the > total number of Songs a character can *sing* in a given situation is > completely unaffected by the number of Songs it *knows*. Not to mention disturbance as another limiting factor on Song use. I know in our campaign we walk on egg shells even for little Essence expenditures, nevermind the klaxon wail of something like Song of Thunder. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 01:34:55 +1100 From: "james walker" Subject: IN> Horror Month - The Pyramid of Mars Almost anybody can become a Mummy; from the stupidest to the smartest, the rich, the poor, the completely strange... ....so it's not really surprising that an alien hunter would end up being Mummified. Alfred Nobel has "known" that there were aliens living on Mars since he was a small child. This quirk wasn't a problem, as this was still considered a possibility at the time. Similarly, his desire to become an astronaut when he grew up was quite acceptable, with people assuming that he'd grow out of his belief that the reason to find aliens was to conquer them. Alfred was only 9 years old when he learn about the Undead, and choose to be Mummified. His response of 'cool - so you don't need to breathe - so I could go to Mars!' amused a Kobalite Shedite who asked an allied Samingan to Mummify the boy. It wasn't difficult to smuggle the boy aboard the Viking probe - or more accurately, his Mummified head; the Samingans can calculate very precisely how much damage a Mummy can take, and carved him down to the minimum - and remove an equivalent amount of sensors (as no one expects every piece of machinery on a probe to work, this went unnoticed). The Viking probe headed to Mars successfully, Alfred healed himself of the damage taken, and went looking for aliens to conquer. That was 25 years ago. He got lost within the first few weeks, and has no idea where the probe is. He has been battered by storms, fallen down crevasses; once he was frozen under the dry ice; but no aliens - anywhere! Even an abandoned city, so that he could zombify a few servants would do. Sheer loneliness has driven him mad, and until recently, he wandered the landscape screaming threats at the Universe. Now, however, he has a new plan. Humans will return to Mars one day; they will also expect aliens, surely? If Alfred can pass himself of as the alien ruler of the planet....the aliens will reveal themselves to protest, and he can conquer them. Alfred has begun to build a pyramid for himself out of a mountain. It's not easy; even with his undead strength and Mars' low gravity the practical limits are huge. He has abandoned his attempt to construct a Pyramid, and is instead chipping away at the mountain, turning it into a Pyramidal shape, and trying to quarry corridors into it. He works feverishly, beating on the rock with other rocks, or cracking it with his Song of Ice, smoothing over cracks with Healing - horribly afraid that humans will arrive before he has finished; but refusing to reduce the size of his project - it must be massive! - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALFRED NOBEL Mummy and fruitcake (Alfred has 6 Forces, despite his youth, as he was sworn in with Oathtaking [gaining a 5th Force] before being mummified). CORPOREAL FORCES: 3 Strength: 9 Agility: 3 ETHEREAL FORCES: 1 Intelligence: 2 Precision: 2 CELESTIAL FORCES: 1 Will: 1 Perception: 3 Vessel/6, small boy. Skills: Area Knowledge(Martian Landscape)/3, Dance (strange bouncing action he uses when Healing)/3, Knowledge(Astronomy)/1, Singing(maniac chant)/2, Survival (Martian Landscape)/6. Songs: Healing (Corporeal/6), Ice (Celestial/6). Attunements: Zombify Disadvantages: Discoloured(solar radiation and repeated storms have, despite his Healing Song, turned him an rust colour), Obsession (Conquer the Martians)/2. Also his understanding of English has diminished over the quarter of a century since he heard it last. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- James. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 20:24:53 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Horror Month - The Pyramid of Mars I am filing this under "R" for "Really Weird." You need help, James. 0:> ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "The surest way to keep a secret is to make people believe they already know the answer." - -- Fremen saying __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 02:52:21 -0500 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> STAR IN NOMINE A Long time ago in a Symphony Far Far Away... Betrayed by the Return of the Evil Uriel as the monstrous Darth Impurity after Michael-War-Obi laments his lost student by raising his offspring young Laurence Puresword and Princess Blandine Dreamstuff on a far away distant world. Laurence Pure Sword growing up raised by his Uncle Khalid and Aunt Novalis wastes away until circumstance dumps him in the comical duo Jean-PO in his mechanical vessel and spunky sidekick Christopher who by accident has been bound in the vessel of a trash can. Picked up by Michael-war-obi after Uncle Khalid and Aunt Novalis are slain by the evil forces of Darth Kronos's shock soldiers the Storm Calabim (noted because they fire their resonance so often like a hail of rain-unfortunately it's because they can't hit anything) Sadly Darth Impurity suceeds in destroying Michael-War-Kenobi as they struggle to escape the Belial-Star the only Moon-sized machine vessel ever adopted by a Superior. Laurence Pure Sword suceeds however in eraidcating the Evil battlemoon and Darth Impurity barely escapes. Not long after Laurence Pure Sword with his new found friend Janus Solo captain of the Millenieum Kyriotate with his furry companion Jordibacca have a near brush with as the frozen former tether of Oannes is crushed under Darth Purity's boot. Contacted by the corporeal forces less remanent of Michael-Wan he is lead however to the secret world of the Archangel who instructed Michael...Yves (didn't even have to change the name) Due to a swamp diet the once pleasant looking old man has become a shrivelled green gnome who can't speak proper grammar and Laurence is reluctant to accept his tutelage to become a true Archangel. His concerntration is further disrupted when the mercanary Kobal Fett with 5 minutes of screen time (edited 49 minutes of whacky gags) suceeds in capturing Janus Solo and Laurence is horrofied to discover his true parentage! Finally rescuing Janus Solo from the horrofically fat Mammon the Hutt (having gorged himself so much on Pizza that the Chain was said to still exist in his stomach) the awful slug meets his fate as Haagenti's plant vessel (trapped there by the fat slug who stole his word) devours Kobal for the betrayal in a humorous end for a very whacky guy. The Good guys escaping they discover to their horror that Archangel Yves has decided to join with the Symphony fully and rather stupidly sending young Laurence Pure Blade against the two Demon princes who mastermind Hell. Confronting the Dark Malakim on the slowly being restrored remanant of the Belial-Star Darth uriel is cured of his dissoannce and suceeds in destroying Darth Kronos at last but is himself destroyed. Laurence Pure Blade also discovers to his annoyance the hot babe he's been dating not only is a former Lesbian but is currently dating Janus admist some insist issues about Uriel's forces. Thus Laurence gets drunk among some teddy bear cherubs long thought lost but in truth being Jordibacca's lost servitors. *** Nybbas: So what do you think? Lucifer: It seems a bit....derivitive. Nybbas: Oh bah! No one will recognize the source material with all the changes I've made. Did you see the subtle political satire? Lucifer: Yes, actually I did. Nybbas: I'm thinking for the Prequels we can have Uriel getting down with a cute little Zadkiel and trained by Dominic-Don-Jinn who dies facing Darth Baal with young Michael-war. Lucifer: Really? Nybbas: Yeah and in the sequel book series we'll have Laurence eventually end up shagging down bad this combination chick I'm naming Lilith Flame....haha you'll never guess who I combined to come up with the red headed pyromaniac girl obsessed with freedom! Lucifer: Your right, I won't guess. - -Charlemagne _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 02:33:01 -0800 (PST) From: Jim Burzelic Subject: IN> To Your Health These are my first npc write-ups to the list. I'm not too good at coming up with stats yet, I'm not familiar enough with the system, but I wanted to share the backgrounds. This is the first half, I will post the other half as soon as I can. Tell me what you think. Brya Angel of Gesundheit Seraph of Protection "The body is a temple" and few angels understand this as well as Brya does. Unfortunately for Brya few humans understand this concept as well. As a Seraph of Zadkiel he used his resonance to find people abusing their bodies and get them to stop. He also liked to help folks figure out new ways of keeping themselves healthy, whether it be new medicines, better sanitation, or regular exercise. Brya was content with his job up until the dark ages. Everything was going smoothly when bubonic plague started rolling in. At first, it seemed insurmountable. Everywhere he went piles of the dead waited for him. Those who remained were locking themselves up in fear. Paranoia and hypochondria spread faster than the black death itself. At first, Brya thought that maybe the virus would run its course and fade away. So he did what he could where he could and let things be. But then came the Flagellants. Those damned Flagellants. Brya couldn't believe these people. As if the plague wasn't spreading fast enough before, here were these zealots wandering the country-side whipping themselves to "purge the evil" but doing the same to others, infecting perfectly healthy people. Attempting to work his way around these fanatics, Brya sought physicians and scholars and clergymen to find cures and hold communities together. To this end he was appointed nearly two dozen angels and quite a number of relievers. Eventually, their efforts helped pull them through this dark era and into a new age of medicine. On top of this Brya was blessed as Angel of Gesundheit, Protector of Salubriousness. But there was still the problem of the Flagellants. Despite the populaces disdain for them,the overall disapproving attitude, and condemnation of the church Brya still couldn't keep from confronting them himself. When he found a group flogging themselves and beating a group of gypsies to death in a small town outside the Black Forest he planned to show them exactly what Heaven thought of their "holy purge". It was unfortunate for Brya that they fled into the nearby darkness, and even more unfortunate Brya gave pursuit. Once inside he lost all sense of direction and was ambushed in his confusion. Corporeal death was the mercy given to him. In Heaven, Zadkiel could give little sympathy; Brya's trauma lasted four centuries. Finally waking in the eighteenth century he took stock and reevaluated his battle plan. Walking amongst the people, dispersing home remedies was fine, sure, but it wasn't fighting this new battle of sickness. Besides, with the Falgellants gone his mind wouldn't be preoccupied with their insanities. The new battleground would be in hospitals and labratories and pharmacies the world over. And so it's been for the past three centuries. Brya's been hard at work making cures and concocting new health care systems and designing exercise programs. He and his angels are responsible for pretty much everything from nation-wide pharmaceutical chains to Your Local Ab Freak to health food crazes. There are a couple problems though. He's still battling new plagues and epidemics, but Brya's very, very disturbed by the Black Death's return. It's not that he doesn't know how to battle it or that man isn't intelligent enough to do it himself, it's the rumors of Flagellants. Only, they're not publicly beating themselves. He's hearing stories about cults dedicated to De Sade taking up flagellant belief. He's hearing stories about people purposely poisoning themselves and then contaminating others. He's hearing stories about how they are organizing together to spread disease and plague. Brya's not happy about these "rumors", so he's taken to the streets again and doesn't like what he sees. His programs seem to do nothing, his cures are taken for granted and kept from where they are needed and people embody a mockery of his word by overdoing it or not at all, and someone seems to be leaving signs of openly mocking him. Once Brya finishes his reassessment of his word on Earth he's going to kill those Vampires tailing him, find and cut the tick from his achilles' heel and get to work on making this machine of his work again. Brya's Personality: As above, he's not happy with what he sees. Normally, Brya has no problem with a cigar once in a while or a glass wine each day. But when he's walking around amongst man. The excessive amount of abuse in health that he sees makes him mad at even the slightest indulgence. Right now, he's touring the planet, trying to figure out what he needs to do next. In the meantime, he's ripping cigarettes out of people's mouths and lecturing them on their effect. He's making barflies go to AA. He's literally chasing fat people. He's force-feeding thin people. He's working the lazy. He's essentially power-training the populace. But he's looking for two distinct types of people, both commit self-mutilation. The first are people who derive pleasure or satisfaction or redemption or whatever from it. Brya has a sort of angry compassion for those people. He can't understand why they would do that to themselves when their body screams out in pain. He tries to make them see the truth; they are hurting themselves in ways that are unhealthy, in ways that are against the natural truth of their bodies. The second are those who do it because they have Flagellant beliefs and connections. Brya thinks that they have become an underground cult and are actively attempting to destroy him. He has only shared this with three others. One of his trusted Soldiers, one of his associates an Elohite of Emotional Health, and Zadkiel. All three rang of disbelief and fear the worst for their friend. But Brya knows better. Something's hunting him and he's going to find out very soon. Zombi Bobb __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals. http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2425 ********************************