From owner-in_nomine-digest@LISTS.IO.COM Wed Oct 1 11:36:21 1997 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id LAA09519 for ; Wed, 1 Oct 1997 11:36:21 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.8.7/8.8.5) id KAA07088 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Wed, 1 Oct 1997 10:22:04 -0500 Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 10:22:04 -0500 Message-Id: <199710011522.KAA07088@lists.io.com> From: owner-in_nomine-digest@LISTS.IO.COM (in_nomine-digest) To: in_nomine-digest@LISTS.IO.COM Subject: in_nomine-digest V1 #371 Reply-To: in_nomine-l@LISTS.IO.COM Sender: owner-in_nomine-digest@LISTS.IO.COM Errors-To: owner-in_nomine-digest@LISTS.IO.COM Precedence: bulk in_nomine-digest Wednesday, October 1 1997 Volume 01 : Number 371 In this digest: Re: IN> Las Vegas and Archangels (was Chicago and Lilith and Marc) Re: IN> In Nomine Live-Action Re: IN> More Prophecy stuff Re: IN> Jordi & Humans IN> Boo Berries (fluffathon) Re: IN> Janus, Valefor, and ...?! Re: Re: IN> Re: IN A thought - opinions wanted Re: IN> Tilimok & Werewolves Re: IN> A thought - opinions wanted Re: IN> Las Vegas and Archangels (was Chicago and Lilith and Marc) Re: IN> Jordi Re: IN> Re: A thought - opinions wanted Re: IN> A thought - opinions wanted Re: IN> Lilim and Malakim (fwd) IN> In Nomine and HOL Re: IN> Jordi IN> What's the Buzz? (was Re: IN> Tilimok & Werewolves) Re: IN> In Nomine Live-Action IN> Heaven and Hell, soon to ship! Re: IN> Count Chocula's trial Re: IN> Count Chocula's trial IN> Bill Gates in heaven. (fwd) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 22:30:32 -3000 (MDT) From: Kingsley Lintz Subject: Re: IN> Las Vegas and Archangels (was Chicago and Lilith and Marc) > >Jean doesn't -need- to study Vapula's works, he already has the Secrets of > >the Universe on his bookshelf. He doesn't want to disseminate Vapula's tech, > While Jean may have the Secrets of the Universe(TM) on his bookshelf, he > is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. I figure he can make anything he > wants, but doesn't necessarily think of everything that's possible. Besides..Jean's stuff always works, what with that bookshelf...he CAN'T make mistakes. And as history shows well, the really NEAT things usually come about from mistakes... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 04:10:07 GMT From: w_mazur@primenet.com (Walt Mazur) Subject: Re: IN> In Nomine Live-Action On Tue, 30 Sep 97 23:37 EDT, Walter Milliken wrote: >Why stop at a simple die-roller? IR stuff is pretty easy and cheap >these days. Should be possible to build a wand-like remote control sort >of gadget with a small LCD on it. Be easy to prototype on a PDA of some >sort, like a Newton, though a Newton is both too expensive and too >cumbersome. Some pocket calculators have a random function. Mine generates a random number between .000 and .999. The low tech equivalent would be 3d10 in a clear container. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 09:27:48 +1000 From: Jason Mulligan Subject: Re: IN> More Prophecy stuff lugaid@seanet.com wrote: > darn... maybe it will yield up some bits, though, that can be used... Maybe. I'll be waiting awhile though, The Prophecy never made the movies here and only came out on video about 3-4 months ago. God knows how long I will have to wait for the sequel. > does the database say who wrote the sequel? who directs? Ummm...I think it did. Just do a search on The Prophecy and it has a link to the sequel. The Internet movie database is at (I think). - -- Jason Mulligan "The path of my life is strewn with cowpats from the devil's own satanic herd!" - Edmund Blackadder ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 04:42:59 GMT From: w_mazur@primenet.com (Walt Mazur) Subject: Re: IN> Jordi & Humans On Tue, 30 Sep 1997 23:54:22 -0400, David Edelstein wrote: >I think Jordi thinks the world would be better off without humans. He may >not hate humans, but he has little use for them. Except those rare few who >devote themselves to helping animals. I think Jordi thinks humans have overpopulated 1000:1 or so, but he values humans as a part of God's Creation like any other species. But humans aren't endangered: other species are. >One example: there is a woman in California who runs a facility for the >housing and care of mistreated and abandoned zoo and circus animals and the >like. These are animals that could no longer survive on their own in the >wild. I'd say Jordi almost certainly has some of his Servitors watching >over her. Agree. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 00:58:45 -0400 From: Colin Fredericks Subject: IN> Boo Berries (fluffathon) >But just so I can open myself to Pot-Kettle-Black, let me confess, I also >play far >too much Werewolf for my own good, since it's about the only game I can >stomach from White Wolf. I mean, let's face the truth: any game with an >/Angst/ attribute for PCs is just... too much. Eh, I thought Wraith was pretty cool. Unfortunately, I seem to be in a very small minority. It always struck me as being one of those games which would be amazing if I could just figure out how to run it right. Sort of like D&D's Wrath of the Immortals set. In Nomine luckily has no such problems. I'm fond of doing rules adaptions, and I actually had one for using angels in the WoD before In Nomine came out. Had one for the Wheel of Time books using standard WoD rules, too. >>only female and with bits of text clinging to my forearms. You can >>keep the image shirtless if you want.) > >*mrow* Now there's some artwork worth having, he says, after having the >priveledge (yes, I suppose it is) of playing one of the GURPS IOU games at >GenCon this year. Let me explain (ObPrincessBride: No, there is to much.) Let >me sum up for those of you who could make it: Chain link becomes her nicely. And I quote, from of all sources, HOL: "...we here at Dirtmerchant feel no need to promote the all-too-popular 'Armor? (giggle giggle) No, this chainmail teddy and leather G-string will protect me *fine*.' image of women in RPG's." Shirtless + chainmail = no skin left on chest (ouch). :) For those who haven't seen it, HOL stands for Human Occupied Landfill, and is the most hillarious but profanity-filled and screwed-up game I've ever seen. It's written by Dirtmerchant Games and published by Black Dog, an imprint of WW. Now that I think of it, angels and demons (or at least demons) would actually fit in quite well in HOL. That would be a very interesting setting to run in.... Stay Cool; -Sir Colin P.S.: upon reading this, I realize that I, in a way, defended White Wolf. Everyone just be glad I don't have my game out on the market yet, or I'd be yacking about it non-stop. :) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 00:54:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Thomas Davidson Subject: Re: IN> Janus, Valefor, and ...?! On Mon, 29 Sep 1997, Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > At 4:20 AM -0400 9/27/97, Thomas Davidson wrote: > >On Thu, 25 Sep 1997, Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > > > >> [...] > >> Lessee... Thor was last seen holding off six Malakim. Loki and Odin > >> are definitely kicking around. Valkyries and Einheriar are around. Hugin, > >> Munin, Freke, Gere & Sleipner made it. Heimdall & Hela survive. And as > >> for the rest, "many of the Aesir" escaped. > > > >Thanks for the info. That helps a lot. (I hope to have Marches by > >Sunday...) > > Luck! > Hooray! Success! I finally have this in my hands! :) > >> >> [...] > >> >> >But what if there's a group of humans who knows -- or perhaps suspects -- > [...] > >> >> Hrm..... Maybe they're the ones who corrupted the Grigori? > [...] > >> >Sure.... why not? Who would it be? It would most likely be a secret > >> >society of some sort, on the order of the Illuminati, or the Knights > >> >Templar. And what would be their motivation for doing such a thing? > >> > >> Gain allies, topple the structure that an Ethereal Jehova created? > > > >Hmmm... yyyyeeeahhhh..... I can do something with that.... Heh... >evil GM grin...> > [...] > >More than a plot seed.... a campaign direction. > > Oh, good. (Hm. Was that a Need?) > Ummm.... No. (but then it's in my best interests to say that....) :) > >> >> [scribbles down stuff] > >> > > >> >I start to sweat when an LE starts scribbling.... usually means > >> >trouble's-a-comin'! :) (you wouldn't do that, though, would you? :) ) > >> > >> Who, me? > > > >LOL. > > Everyone does that to me. It's just not fair. Nobody > believes me when I try to be innocent. Of course, this gives > me a great way to make people paranoid -- try to Emote it when > I really *am* innocent. > > >(I knew there was more than one reason I subscribed to this list...The > >people here have sparked *more* than their fair share of latent neurons > >since I joined, and made me laugh while they did it...) :) > > It is a good list. I like it muchly. > I just hope it doesn't degenerate like other various lists I've been on. Just *don't* get onto hero-l@omg.org (The Hero System List) and ask, "How does Linked work?" Flame wars have started there for lesser things. I think, though, the reason for this is the subject matter. The Hero List is full of people who are extremely passionate about Champions and the Hero System. But the 4th Edition has evolved since its first release in 1989. The direction of the evolution has been different for each person. But with IN, the rules are still in their larval state and less resistant to change. As Dennis Miller would say, "That's just my opinion -- I could be wrong." Thomas Davidson tdavidso@suffolk.lib.ny.us MUSIC: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Rush, Jimi Hendrix GAMES: Champions (old and new), In Nomine, Nephilim TV: The X-Files, the Simpsons, Superman, The Tick, the Animaniacs OTHER: Religion, Philosophy, mysticism, the runes, the Tarot, writing. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 23:13:25 -3000 (MDT) From: Kingsley Lintz Subject: Re: Re: IN> Re: IN A thought - opinions wanted > However, that's not canon; it's creative people thinking about the game, > not decreeing official revisions to the game, and it certainly doesn't Actually, I speak only Ultimate Truth in All Things. Honest. > everything something else. (Besides, the "x, whom you always knew was a > y, is actually a z" device can make for a good surprise and plot twist, > but it gets old if you overuse it. If you're gonna use it, pick one or > two of your favorites to do it with, and do it well.) Aww...I like applying it to all BUT one or two favorites. That *REALLY* surprises them. ("What do you MEAN, Michael's the Archangel of War? But that's preposterous. He LOOKS like the Archangel of War, for crying out loud..") ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 15:29:40 +1000 From: christopher.stevenson@aihw.gov.au (Christopher Stevenson) Subject: Re: IN> Tilimok & Werewolves >Interesting. My wife and I wrote up Beelzebub as having the word >"Beasts". WE didn't get much response, but I still have it if you'd >like to see it. I would. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 00:31:43 -0500 (CDT) From: Donald G Bixler Subject: Re: IN> A thought - opinions wanted > >>>However, I have noticed a trend wherein it is becoming fashinable on > this list to blast WW and its products. I would like to remind the list > that there are some of us who -do- like WW and its products.<<< > Well, stick around, we'll cure you of your afflication. ;) That's it. One more shot at the Pale Puppy or something similar and I'm chompin' off digits... > -David Donald G. Bixler, rather annoyed mudgb4@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 00:03:00 -0500 (CDT) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: IN> Las Vegas and Archangels (was Chicago and Lilith and Marc) >>Jean doesn't -need- to study Vapula's works, he already has the Secrets of >>the Universe on his bookshelf. He doesn't want to disseminate Vapula's tech, >>he wants to squash it like the hideous flesheating bug it is. > >While Jean may have the Secrets of the Universe(TM) on his bookshelf, he >is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. I figure he can make anything he >wants, but doesn't necessarily think of everything that's possible. >Some of Vap's gadgets may surprise him. And it's always useful to know >how close Vapula is to some of them more dangerous bits of understanding >or knowledge. After all, spies don't stop spying on the other side >because they know the answers -- they want to know if the other side >does.... This gives Jean more credit, actually, than I give him. I interpret the SOurcebook writeup for him as making him the Archangel version of the Pointy Haired Boss. In -theory- he knows all technology and therefore has no need to study the Enemy's work. In reality, he doesn't know nearly as much as he thinks he does, so when in doubt he squashes or eliminates or marginalizes strange new tech. (COnsider this: the first fax machine was invented in the 1860s as a side effect of the telegraph. A clear case of Jean squashing a bit of tech until he thought mankind was ready (and until Vapula could get the computerized fax into the marketplace).) Redneck Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Marc sponsored the first http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | Chinese buffet restraunt; c/o White Lightning Productions | it was Haagenti who came http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | up with MSG. Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Celestial folklore http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 23:01:25 -3000 (MDT) From: Kingsley Lintz Subject: Re: IN> Jordi > > Jordi doesn't give a damn about educating human children, except to provide > > 'object lessons' where he can. The only major note I'd have on this is that, by that view, he probably just doesn't HAVE Mercurians...(since their official `purpose' is to educate humans to live better with animals; he may still have them to deal with primates, but ignoring that aspect of it.) > Humans have their space in God's plan just as the animals do - > Jordi's problem is that he thinks humans are overstepping and > taking over in a very bad way. What you suggest (in the > process of giving me the wave-off) is that Jordi advocates the > discontinuation of what certainly has to be a PIECE of God's > symphony. Probably a necessary piece in some way. I don't see that as so much of a problem, though. Jordi doesn't see humans as intrinsically more necessary than any OTHER, and since humans rather casually genocide various species of animals all the time, he may well consider getting rid of them to be, by far, the lesser harm to the Symphony. > Dogs may be great but they don't have opposable thumbs so they > aren't gonna help plant trees and stuff. Even if that is Sure, but without human logging, trees plant themselves just fine. (Hard to believe sometimes, but there ARE forests that weren't planted. You can tell, generally, if they don't all line up so you can see straight through from the right angle..) If anything, trees, like animals, do a lot better WITHOUT our influence...even our `helpful' influences, like anti-fire programs. Personally, I tend to see Jordi as a bit more removed from Celestial politics even than the book presents him. As far as the other Archangels are concerned, he's nuts. As far as he's concerned, 98% of the Powers that Be are busy fighting over about 2% of the planet's population, and he gets the rest... (Considering that insects seem to fall under his domain as well, he gets a hefty chunk there, all to himself. Even the Bixlers' Beelzebub was concerned more with the animalistic aspects of humans.) I think Jordi thinks they're at LEAST as nuts as they think he is. [It's easy to think, "Sure, but humans can wipe out everything anyway," until you remember that technically, Jordi holds the roaches... {Though personally, I think they deserve a Demon Prince quite in themselves.}] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 23:26:40 -3000 (MDT) From: Kingsley Lintz Subject: Re: IN> Re: A thought - opinions wanted > of text and reorganize the whole thing. Think of the Michael picture, > only female and with bits of text clinging to my forearms. You can > keep the image shirtless if you want.) Oooh...are you going to come out with one of those paper dolls with the little tabs to hold clothes on? (Heh..actually, an In Nomine paper doll line would be fun...putting Jordi's animal skins on Kobal and Dominic's robe on Novalis and..and...just make sure they include the official Archangel of Archives as Dominatrix, and I'll be happy..) [Y'know, with the whip and the little speech bubble about just HOW overdue this book is...] > like. ) So I don't mock WW for edition > stuff. Just some of the places where I think the atmosphere Me, neither. Mocking WW for edition stuff just leaves far too much mockable potential untouched... [Oh, alright, I'll say it; check out http://www.a-ztech.com/lintking/presto/index.html and http://www.a-ztech.com/lintking/wearrug/index.html The former being a Mage parody, the latter Werewolf. I'm working on the Vampire one...we should have a small `preview' in the next issue of JNM(mnj)... Okay, I'm done now.] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 00:30:02 -0500 (CDT) From: Donald G Bixler Subject: Re: IN> A thought - opinions wanted > Not to mention we'd be guilty of making the world almost as incoherent as > the World of Darkness. > > -David (oops, sorry, couldn't resist ;)) Okay. Am I going to have to dust off my threat to bite the thumbs off of anyone who starts White Wolf bashing on the In Nomine list? We have plenty to talk about with In Nomine without having to resort to childish swipes at other games. I will stand against indescriminate flaming of WW. Now, a discussion of the relative merits of the d66 vs the Storyteller system, I consider perfectly acceptable for this list. If, however, someone starts bashing on a game (Any game: GURPS, In Nomine, Call of Cthulhu, Amber, SenZar- well, maybe not SenZar...), I will be forced to bite your thumbs off. I hate to list.cop here, but it seems to be acceptable of late and I think that the behavior is unneeded and rather unbecoming of the members of this group, whom I thought to be above such activities. Donald G. Bixler mudgb4@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu PS- I would like to apologize to those who have not felt the slightest urge to hop in and start in on the anti-* game threads; I felt that something needed to be said about this and doing it publicly on the list makes sure that it reaches all of the contributors. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 23:38:39 -3000 (MDT) From: Kingsley Lintz Subject: Re: IN> Lilim and Malakim (fwd) Em noted; > I started with a few presumptions - WHICH MAY BE WRONG - that I worked Nonsense. > 1. Malakim are demons. Thus, they cannot fall. The idea is that you > cannot fall off the floor. I can see you need to meet our cats... > 2. The second is the specifications for "What are Lilim, exactly?" I > considered Divine. "But Lilim are greedy little love buckets! They > start in Hell!" you say. Well, I keep the following in mind: Well..."greedy little love bucket" sounds divine to ME, but... > So what if.... Lilim are actually divine beings who live out their lives > in Hell, like the Malakim being infernal living out their lives in heaven? Oooh..symmetry! It does offer the interesting possibility that such a balance is NECESSARY, for Symphonic purposes. That, in effect, Lilith didn't leave in rebellion from God...she left because God asked her to, so that there would be the `divine' counterbalance in Hell allowing him to hold the Malakim in Heaven...{Alternatively, of course, she may have rebelled against God, but it was all set up by God without her knowledge anyway.} [MaBarry wants to point out that when Lucifer rebelled, he changed. When Lilith rebelled, given that her purpose had been to bear children for Adam, maybe she changed as well, such that all her children are Lilim..] > Very bad Lilim. Very bad Lilim are likely to be consumed by > Discord like any other angel Falling, from the whiplash of > too harsh failed Geasa, to themselves and others. "Kill your > wife," has a possibility of failing... That's a good point...I know we've already had the debate here on whether the Lilim Resonance tends to the evil or not, but I don't remember anyone pointing out that the evil uses are the more likely to be resisted... > So where do the Malakim come from? I don't know. Maybe Lilith plays both > sides of the fence. It would permenantly solidify her power base - in > Heaven and in Hell. Who, LILITH? Er... MaBarry just suggested `Eli', which is a fun thought...(though personally, I'm leaning towards Laurence. Partly because they both start with `L', but mostly because if there's going to be a single `source' of Malakim as there is for Lilim, it'd be him. Though I gather they've since noted the Malakim as originating with Uriel, so perhaps Lilith had to fake a recall for some reason...which has the interesting corollary that Heaven would no longer be being supplied with MORE Malakim, and might start running out as they get soul-killed. At which point my natural thought is to do a Mystic/Skeksis connection between the two and have a Lilim go every time a Malakim dies...) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 00:46:15 EST From: "PERRY M. LLOYD" Subject: IN> In Nomine and HOL >Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 00:58:45 -0400 >X-Sender: fredec@pop1.rpi.edu > > Shirtless + chainmail = no skin left on chest (ouch). :) For those >who haven't seen it, HOL stands for Human Occupied Landfill, and is the >most hillarious but profanity-filled and screwed-up game I've ever seen. >It's written by Dirtmerchant Games and published by Black Dog, an imprint >of WW. Now that I think of it, angels and demons (or at least demons) would >actually fit in quite well in HOL. That would be a very interesting setting >to run in.... Personally, I don't really consider Dirt Merchant Games ("producers" of HOL) to be all that connected with WW. Except for the obvious shared publishers thing... Hmmmm... Running a HOL version of In Nomine... I imagine that the phrases "Praise Jesus!" and "Corn-Holed by God" would take on a whole new meaning. Not to mention "Wrath of God" You've just rolled sssssssssnake-eyes!!!! Let's see what the Hol-meister has up his sleeve to make your existance a LIVING HELL!!!! There's Nybbas with his Spiders (those creepy roving videocameras that strap themselves to your head and explode if the action is lacking), Vapula is ALL-OVER this one, from the Flesh-Tenders to the Bots, this whole planet might be his domain!!! One big mass of technology gone terribly, terribly wrong. Yet, entertaining. Baal and Lilith would have to have stakes in the place, as would Gabriel with the Dickin's Boys. Yee-Haw!!! Praise Jesus!!! (and pray for that Grace of God point...) - -Perry Perry M. Lloyd "Aside from the pollution and bad hair styles, Jersey's _so_ cool." Sam Bean ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 01:12:44 -0500 (CDT) From: Donald G Bixler Subject: Re: IN> Jordi > Personally, I tend to see Jordi as a bit more removed from > Celestial politics even than the book presents him. As far as the other > Archangels are concerned, he's nuts. As far as he's concerned, 98% of the > Powers that Be are busy fighting over about 2% of the planet's population, > and he gets the rest... (Considering that insects seem to fall under his > domain as well, he gets a hefty chunk there, all to himself. Even the > Bixlers' Beelzebub was concerned more with the animalistic aspects of > humans.) I think Jordi thinks they're at LEAST as nuts as they think he > is. [It's easy to think, "Sure, but humans can wipe out everything > anyway," until you remember that technically, Jordi holds the > roaches... {Though personally, I think they deserve a Demon Prince > quite in themselves.}] Beelzebub is switching over to humans because he wants to have his bases covered. Natural selection seems to be favoring humans, what with them reproducing like mad and other species, even ones like the mighty grizzly bear or alligator, are being devoured in mankind's search for ever more and more resources. Put your money on the favorite and all that. If the human _do_ end up nuking the planet, well, that's all right. He's got first dibs on the roaches, too. ;'} And he hasn't really abandoned the other animals for the plucked chickens, just making sure he's not left behindfor leftovers, like Sloth. We didn't want to give the servants of Beasts the ability to possess swarms (See Captain of the Wild instead) since multiplicity seemed to be reserved for the Kyriotates and the solution we came up with seemed much more interesting. Of course, ol' Buzzy's likely to be able to do that himself (are _you_ going to tell him he can't?), but it's something that only much more powerful beings can do IMHO. As far as the Word of Roaches, why what do you think has been one of Hermes' projects in his spare time? "Hiya Gulik!" Oops da Ogre, buggin' out of here mudgb4@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 01:22:02 -0500 (CDT) From: Donald G Bixler Subject: IN> What's the Buzz? (was Re: IN> Tilimok & Werewolves) > I would. Sure. I guess I'll send it to the list, since you didn't leave an email address and it will give everyone another chance to criticize our hard work. ;'} Incoming! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beelzebub, The Lord of the Flies Prince of Beasts Quote- "The world is savage, red in tooth and claw." The Word of Beasts is an example of how a word, as well as its possessor, can change over time. Originally, Beelzebub detested modern technology and the urban environment; this way of life left no place for the feral creatures that he held close to his cold, Djinni heart. This inevitably led to a significant loss of power for him as humanity slowly covered the face of the Earth. Lately, however, his views have begun to change. Beginning with this century, Beelzebub has been inspired. After listening to some of his servants' reports of the calm, business-like way that gangsters were conducting their alcohol trade and the attendant murders during the Roaring Twenties, he was intrigued. He came to realize that the city had given rise to the most callous killer of all, the human predator- who more often than not targets his fellow man. Beelzebub began to start the laborious process of reorienting his servants during this time, but the end of Prohibition stalled his resurgence. The Lord of Flies, patient as only one of the Stalkers can be, bade his time, slowly building up a new version of his gangs. These new groups , like the Prince of Beasts, saw their influence wax and wane. However, in the eighties, these new gangs renewed their efforts and have achieved an apparently unshakable grip on today's urban sprawls. His power had fallen greatly, from once being worshiped as a god to being merely a kitschy staple of low-grade horror films. Now though, Beelzebub is regaining some measure of his previous might, making many Celestials, both Divine and Infernal, very uneasy. Dissonance- Those who serve Beelzebub gain Dissonance for failing to cull the weak out of the herd, human or not, whenever these poor creatures make themselves known. They also are forbidden to submit to one who has not proven their right to rule by besting them in battle (physical or otherwise, with staring contests being common). Choir Attunements- Balseraph- Ever the most evasive of bands, Balseraphim of Beasts add their Ethereal Forces to their Stealth rolls and impose a like penalty on any attempt to Track them. Djinn- These servants can use the supernaturally sharp senses of Beelzebub's animal vessels to great effect. They add the level of their vessel to Tracking rolls or hunting down their attuned while in animal form. Calabim- The Destroyers have an ability somewhat similar to that of Malphas'. With the successful use of their resonance, the target will be required to make a Will roll with a penalty equal to the check digit of the resonance roll to act according to society's rules over his animal instincts. This lasts for a number of hours equal to the demon's Corporeal Forces. Habbalah- Instead of mere disgust or anger, Habbalah of Beelzebub may attempt to invoke a Blood Lust. If successful, the target will, for a number of minutes equal to the check digit of the resonance roll, require a Will roll to restrain from attacking viciously (often to the point of attempted homicide) any who annoy the victim in any manner. If the victim succeeds in a Will roll prior to the duration's end, the effect ends immediately. Lilim- Lilim can attempt to obtain Geasa on animals, but this is rarely worthwhile, because most animals aren't that bright, nor do they often have a great Need. They also add their Ethereal Forces to any attempt to geas someone to act out an animal instinct that they are suppressing. Shedim- Shedim can possess a wild animal for a number of days equal to their Celestial Forces without the need to corrupt the host. Impudites- These are the servants that best embody Beelzebub's new focus on the callous human predator. They receive a servant of level equal to their Corporeal Forces from some group who work towards their Master's will. (IE- gang members, militia members, survivalists, etc.) Impudites of Beasts make excellent gang leaders. Servitor Attunements- Riot- In any gathering of more than 10 people who are watching or participating in an event that they are emotionally involved in, a demon of Beasts may incite a number of people into mindless violence. This costs 2 Essence for each person so affected and lasts for a time equal to the instigator's Celestial Forces. It only takes a few people to start a riot though... Feral Mask- For the cost of one Essence the demon can call upon his knowledge of beasts to bring an unholy light to his eyes and a predatory snarl to their smile. Those who witness this display will be struck with such a fear that they will automatically comply with the demon's wishes. Soldiers and Celestials get a Will roll to resist. Distinctions- Knight of the Fang- At this level of Distinction, the demon may choose one specific animal form, such as raven or timber wolf. While in this form, the Infernal causes no disturbance. Captain of the Wild- The rank of Captain brings with it the knowledge of how to control natural groups of animals, such as the proverbial pack of wolves or swarm of flies. Unlike Kyriotates of Jordi, the demon does not actually possess the creatures, but merely commands them. This direction lasts for a number of minutes equal to the demon's Celestial Forces minus the average number of Forces of a single member of the group controlled. Only animals that naturally travel in packs are eligible. Baron of Beasts- Barons may take an anthropomorphic or enlarged version of the animal chosen in the Knight distinction, still retaining the stealth of that Distinction. A wolf would become a werewolf, while a scorpion would simply become a man-sized version. Final description is GM discretion, of course. Relations: Allied: Saminga Associated: Beleth, Lilith Hostile: Asmodeus, Haagenti, Malphas Enemy: Nybbas Basic Rites: - - Successfully hunt and kill in animal form - - Convince someone to lash out against civilization's constricting rules. (Join a gang, strike an enemy, kick someone when they're down, etc...) Invocation: Basic Chance:1 Modifiers- +1 Wall with gang graffiti +2 Tracks of a hunter +3 While hunting +4 Scene of a recent drive-by shooting +5 Corpse of a human mauled by an animal +6 Free all of the predators from a zoo! Oops da Ogre, "Nice doggy. Nice doggy... RUN!!!!" mudgb4@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 10:58:01 +0100 () From: "David.Evans" Subject: Re: IN> In Nomine Live-Action Someone said that:- > > I would prefer not to see Rock-Paper-Scissors as the determinant for IN-LARP. > I knew many of the original playtesters for the Vampire LARP (Back when the > Camarilla {tm} was local to the Seattle area...), and the only reason they > thought it was workable was because their scenarios were mostly political > rather than combat oriented. I've a confession to make, I play in two LARPS in Glasgow. One is the official Glasgow Camarilla UK MET LARP and the other is run a serious fan of VtM. As most of you know the Cam LARPS use MET's good old fashioned Rock-Scissors-Paper system, and I think it works *fine*. Due to the MET system, blood is at a premium in game, so that combat rarely, if ever, takes place, and is almost never lethal (well, to PCs anyway). The other one, run by the Glagow Vampire LARP society uses the tabletop character system and people in this LARP have a disturbingly cavlier attitude to combat (particularly the players who produce munchkin combat characters with silly amounts of Celerity). I think the RSP system works *fine*, but I'm open to anyone who can think of another way to work it... > I *like* the idea of a dragonbone type electronic die-roller. I've seen > children's games with a die the size of the keychain mentioned above. > Yeah. Cute aren't they? > Mark (who has been gaming since 1980, and feels old.) > > Be seeing you... David. (No, not that david, nor the other David; I'm the OTHER other David, see..? :) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 08:31:34 -0400 From: johnk@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com (John Karakash - Lucent ASCC) Subject: IN> Heaven and Hell, soon to ship! The interiors and cover art went to the printer a month or two ago and we are expecting an early October ship date. Vilela has done the cover again and, IMO, it's his best yet. Oh, yeah, the stuff on the inside is pretty cool, too. ;) - -- ___________________________________________________ / \ |John Karakash - Lucent Technologies (formerly AT&T) | | (919)380-4629 | | | | The power to tax involves the power to destroy. | | -Chief Justice Marshall | \___________________________________________________/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 97 07:59:27 -0500 (CDT) From: kestre1@airmail.net (Andrew Getting) Subject: Re: IN> Count Chocula's trial At 07:43 PM 9/30/97 -0500, in_nomine-l@lists.io.com wrote: >>I already have one or two... Yes. (And I look forward to the official >>second edition, wherein I can sink my arms to the elbows in bloody bits >>of text and reorganize the whole thing. Think of the Michael picture, > >But there's no annoying Rein-splat-Hagen taint to remove. > >But just so I can open myself to Pot-Kettle-Black, let me confess, I also play far too much Werewolf for my own good, since it's about the only game I can stomach from White Wolf. I mean, let's face the truth: any game with an /Angst/ attribute for PCs is just... too much. No. Help me "face the truth". While I happen to find it amusing, I don't think it makes the game bad. Explain it to me. Kestrel, not amused that someone's opinion on his favorite game is "the truth" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 10:31:14 -0400 (EDT) From: IQJason@aol.com Subject: Re: IN> Count Chocula's trial "But there's no annoying Rein-splat-Hagen taint to remove." True...but think of all the questions we've been answering for the past year, amongst ourselves. Think of all the people who don't have access to the electronic logs or erratta sheets. The second edition isn't for us, necessarily, it's for them. yours, - -J ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 16:50:03 -0500 (CDT) From: Shadowcat Subject: IN> Bill Gates in heaven. (fwd) Sorry this one is just TOO good. Shadowcat - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Bill Gates died and, much to everyone's surprise, went to Heaven. When he got there, he had to wait in the reception area. Heaven's reception area was the size of Massachusetts. There were literally millions of people milling about, living in tents with nothing to do all day. Food and water were being distributed from the backs of trucks, while staffers with clipboards slowly worked their way through the crowd. Booze and drugs were being passed around. Fights were commonplace. Sanitation conditions were appalling. All in all, the scene looked like Woodstock gone metastatic. Bill lived in a tent for three weeks until, finally, one of the staffers approached him. The staffer was a young man in his late teens, face scarred with acne. He was wearing a blue T-shirt with the words TEAM PETER emblazoned on it in large yellow lettering. "Hello," said the staffer in a bored voice that could have been the voice of any clerk in any overgrown bureaucracy. "My name is Gabriel and I'll be your induction coordinator." Bill started to ask a question, but Gabriel interrupted him. "No, I'm not the Archangel Gabriel. I'm just a guy from Philadelphia named Gabriel who died in a car wreck at the age of 17. Now give me your name, last name first, unless you were Chinese in which case it's first name first." "Gates, Bill." Gabriel started searching though the sheaf of papers on his clipboard, looking for Bill's Record of Earthly Works. "What's going on here?" asked Bill. "Why are all these people here? Where's Saint Peter? Where are the Pearly Gates?" Gabriel ignored the questions until he located Bill's records. Then Gabriel looked up in surprise. "It says here that you were the president of a large software company. Is that right?" "Yes." "Well then, do the math chip-head! When this Saint Peter business started, it was an easy gig. Only a hundred or so people died every day, and Peter could handle it all by himself, no problem. But now there are over five billion people on earth. Jesus, when God said to 'go forth and multiply,' he didn't say 'like rabbits!' With that large a population, ten thousand people die every hour. Over a quarter-million people a day. Do you think Peter can meet them all personally?" "I guess not." "You guess right. So Peter had to franchise the operation. Now, Peter is the CEO of Team Peter Enterprises, Inc. He just sits in the corporate headquarters and sets policy. Franchisees like me handle the actual inductions." Gabriel looked though his paperwork some more, and then continued. "Your paperwork seems to be in order. And with a background like yours, you'll be getting a plum job assignment." "Job assignment?" "Of course. Did you expect to spend the rest of eternity sitting on your ass and drinking ambrosia? Heaven is a big operation. You have to pull your weight around here!" Gabriel took out a triplicate form, had Bill sign at the bottom, and then tore out the middle copy and handed it to Bill. "Take this down to induction center #23 and meet up with your occupational orientator. His name is Abraham." Bill started to ask a question, but Gabriel interrupted him. "No, he's not that Abraham." Bill walked down a muddy trail for ten miles until he came to induction center #23. He met with Abraham after a mere six-hour wait. "Heaven is centuries behind in building its data processing infrastructure," explained Abraham. "As you've seen, we're still doing everything on paper. It takes us a week just to process new entries." "I had to wait three weeks," said Bill. Abraham stared at Bill angrily, and Bill realized that he'd made a mistake. Even in Heaven, it's best not to contradict a bureaucrat. "Well," Bill offered, "maybe that Bosnia thing has you guys backed up." Abraham's look of anger faded to mere annoyance. "Your job will be to supervise Heaven's new data processing center. We're building the largest computing facility in creation. Half a million computers connected by a multi-segment fiber optic network, all running into a back-end server network with a thousand CPUs on a gigabit channel. Fully fault tolerant. Fully distributed processing. The works." Bill could barely contain his excitement. "Wow! What a great job! This is really Heaven!" "We're just finishing construction, and we'll be starting operations soon. Would you like to go see the center now?" "You bet!" Abraham and Bill caught the shuttle bus and went to Heaven's new data processing center. It was a truly huge facility, a hundred times bigger than the Astrodome. Workmen were crawling all over the place, getting the miles of fiber optic cables properly installed. But the center was dominated by the computers. Half a million computers, arranged neatly row-by-row, half a million .... ............... Macintoshes ........ all running Claris software! Not a PC in sight! Not a single byte of Microsoft code! The thought of spending the rest of eternity using products that he had spent his whole life working to destroy was too much for Bill. "What about PCs???" he exclaimed. "What about Windows??? What about Excel??? What about Word???" "You're forgetting something," said Abraham. "What's that?" asked Bill plaintively. "This is Heaven," explained Abraham. "We need a computer system that's heavenly to use. If you want to build a data processing center based on PCs running Windows, then ................... GO TO HELL!" - -- Rodney And Cathy's Joke List To subscribe: By e-mail: 1rodney@geocities.com On Line: http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/3821/jokepage.html ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #371 ******************************* The material here is (C) 1997 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.