From owner-in_nomine-digest@LISTS.IO.COM Thu Oct 23 12:24:52 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 MAA05361 for ; Thu, 23 Oct 1997 12:24:52 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.8.7/8.8.5) id MAA31309 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Thu, 23 Oct 1997 12:09:10 -0500 Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 12:09:10 -0500 Message-Id: <199710231709.MAA31309@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 #426 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 Thursday, October 23 1997 Volume 01 : Number 426 In this digest: IN> Act 1 (humour) Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] General Observation Re: IN> Dark and Bright Victories Re: IN> Re: in_nomine-digest V1 #412 Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Requests (fwd) Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? IN> In_Nomine(live action) Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing Re: IN> toying with Kobal Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Return of Uriel? Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Andrealphus Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing Re: IN> PBEM... well, not. Re: IN> PBEM games Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing Re: IN> IN: Dice questions. Re: IN> B5 Victory Re: IN> When words collide Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Andrealphus Re: IN> toying with Kobal Re: Escaping dissonance (Was: Re: IN> Re: Redeeming Shedim: it c ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 11:18:42 +0100 From: "Hart, Joanna" Subject: IN> Act 1 (humour) On the summoning of demons (A play in 3 acts) Act 1. * A darkened cellar is lit by a bare bulb and 5 tall beeswax candles in rusting iron holders. A table is loaded with assorted cheap occult paraphenalia, a full block of (cheap) kitchen knives and some empty crisp packets. A tacky tapestry of the Kabalistic tree of life, drawn in garish colours, is pinned to one wall. The carpet is rolled back almost to one wall and a large and oddly detailed circle has been drawn on the floor in a brownish liquid (actually a mixture of blood, correcting fluid and tomato juice). Dave, a skinny kid in his late teens with an acne problem, is wearing a Marilyn Manson T-shirt and faded jeans. Jenny is about the same age with long greasy hair and identical clothes, she is dissecting something on the table with relish. Another male figure is standing in a dark corner and watching, a wide-brimmed hat obscures its face.* Dave: *pacing round* Damn, we're so close, so close. You done with that thing yet, Jenn? Jenny: This is so cute; I think it was pregnant! Wanna see? Yeah OK, OK, I know. No rest for the wicked. Ahh gotcha, my pretty. I think we have your little heart right... here. Oh shit. Dave: *spins nervously* What?! Jenny: S'OK, it just splashed my glasses. You'd never have thought something as small as a cat would have that much blood in it. I wish I'd put it into the ink mixture now. Dark Figure: *velvet-voiced, like a chocolate commercial* Generally with these pursuits, its the thought that counts, Jenny dear. Dave: Right. OK. This is it. Let me just get my head together. This is so crazy, we're just such a bunch of crazy dudes. *he catches something small and wet that Jenny tosses across the circle to him and flicks on the radio -- on cue, Elton John starts playing 'Candle in the Wind'* *Dave & Jenny start chanting along to the same tune, but different words. Audience can make out some demonic names they recognise. Lights flicker atmospherically, cue dry ice. Circle begins to glow, as does the heart that Dave is holding. Something begins to materialise in the circle and the cats heart glitters and pulsates.* Demon (inside circle): *sounds most ruffled* What the hell? Dark Figure: Its a song by Elton John, you must be the only person in creation who hasn't heard it yet. Dave: Yes! We did it! Right you scum, you're not getting out of there until we've come to a few arrangements. Demon Prince of.. whatever it was, indeed. This sorcery stuff is just too easy. Demon: *studies circle from the inside with some interest. As it materialises it takes the form of a hideous serpent* Dost thou realise that this is completely impossible, and unfortunately for you I think you will now find that the rest of your short and useless lives will be pointless, miserable and not worth living. Believe me, whatever you thought you would get is not worth the effort. Jenny: *whispers, impressed* Shit, will you look at that thing? Dark Figure: *prompting Jenny* 'Come not in that form' Jenny: Err.. come not in that form! Demon: This.. is impossible. My true names woven into the circle. *it shimmers and resolves into Sean Connery from 'Name of the Rose'. It is Kronos.* Who would have that power? Who would have that knowledge? How can I not have seen....? Jenny: Cool. You were right, Meths, this is a doddle. Now, Prince of Fate, about a few things you're gonna do for us. *she pulls a loooong list out of a pocket* Kronos: *with dignity* Children, the fate of the universe lies in the balance. Twixt light and darkness, heaven and hell. Your words have no power save that we please to give them, and thus you have no such power over me. This is no game, these steps you have taken lead to a winding path down which I can be your guardian, protector and guide. Come to me and aught which you would ask shall be answered, for we can also be forgiving and rewarding of initiative. Dave: *impressed, he stands very close to the edge of the circle and looks the Balseraph in the eye* Thats more like it. So.. what can we get out of this? Dark Figure: *murmurs* Don't break the circle, David. Kronos: *smiles like a lizard in a lounge suit* Whatever your mortal heart desires, I swear it shall be so, but whilst I am encompassed here, that which I can accomplish is limited. Dave: Ohhh.. Hmm.. yeah. Admittedly most of the things I want aren't in this cellar. Jenn, lets grab some supper and talk about this. He ain't going anywhere. *Jenny tosses her list to the Dark Figure and leaves the room with Dave, wiping her hands on her T-shirt* Kronos: I know your voice. Dark Figure: *reads aloud, like a gameshow host announcing the prize-list* One night with Helen of Troy, a perfect red heifer, tickets for the 'Spice Girls', a working nuclear arsenal, immortality, total world domination, a bottomless bank account.. and the list goes on; you're going to have fun with these. Kronos: I /know/ this voice. What idiocy is this, Kobal? Canst thou not feel hell's forces tremble whilst I am held here as the balance shifts and moves? Kobal (for it is he): True. Were you planning on impersonating Helen of Troy yourself? Kronos: *soft* Traitor, thou art true to none and by this same mark hast sealed thine own doom. Every voice in hell will denounce and every eye will watch your paltry dissolution and everyone will see the Fate to which you have led yourself. Kobal: Really? But my friend, you are currently blind. You can't see anything outside that bijou little circle if I'm not mistaken -- you can't see my fate. In fact you never could, could you? Kronos: No. But they also serve who only stand and wait. Kobal: Good job really, as unless you can sort that attitude out it looks as though you have a lot of standing and waiting to do. *walks over to the table and sorts through the junk on it* Oh look, an unopened packet. Would you like some crisps? *Kobal tosses the packet of crisps onto the floor, just outside the circle. Kronos looks at them, with a burning eye that indicates he knows that if the packet had even touched the circle he would be free.* Kobal: *smirk* I guess salt and vinegar isn't your favourite. Kronos: *still softly* You've had your joke. Enough. Kobal: Oh no, not by a long chalk. *he laughs and leaves the room which falls into darkness* ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 08:07:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Emily Dresner Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] General Observation > >Kay so, forget hope, like i said, Despair or Depression would be a > >supremely powerfull word in a wrld gone to hell in a handbasket. If it > >dosen't belong to a wordbound of Saminga, it deserves its own Dp, if > >even an AA can get Depressed...... > > Well, this is a very good point... very, very good. My only problem with it > is that none of the existing DPs want another DP to compete with them for > the rulership of Hell. > > For -now,- unless I hear a compelling reason to change it or learn of a > pre-Armageddeon DP of Despair, I'm gonna hand control of the word over to > Kronos. I agree. *hand* > > If Saminga is pushed off the throne, though, the new occupant will almost > definitely want new DPs, with the threat of New Heaven having grown under > Saminga's oblivious leadership.... > > (See, Emily? I'm asking for input here! Let's here some ideas!) Yeah yeah yeah I see that. What I see happening is that new demon princes are going to evolve from the old remaining servants. Since new concepts are more important then old (is the demon of MTV really going to get anywhere anymore), you're going to end up with a set of new overriding concepts. I'm not sure "Depression" or "Despair" is going to be a demon prince. But I think there are better, large ones. I guarentee you "Madness" will come back in spades. *rub chin* If you need a whole fleet of new guys who are trying to oust Saminga, I suggest "Madness", "Oppression" (humans post-war always seem to end up this way), "Conquest", and "Fear". They seem to be doing a handy job of spreading this stuff. - - Em, Balseraph of Happy Fun Balseraphs ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 08:15:13 -0400 (EDT) From: Emily Dresner Subject: Re: IN> Dark and Bright Victories > >Dark Victory: I want the Kobal writeup. Pretty, pretty, please. I > >can just picture his undevoured forces, sitting in Hag's stomach, > > Not in Haagenti's stomach. He found him strangely less than filling. > > What -really- happened to him is a matter for the future... };-{D > > And until that future shows itself, no writeup for the Archangel of Laughter. Okay, so I ask a standard In Nomine question... Why does everyone mess with poor Kobal? :) Does he have a tag on him? "Hi. My name is Kobal. Please mess with my head. I don't bite." (It's just because I did it, I guess.) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 09:10:30 -0400 From: John Dye Subject: Re: IN> Re: in_nomine-digest V1 #412 Redneck Gaijin wrote: > > >Just as a question, is it, like, officially cool to Dominic-bash on this > >list? > So, we're talking about the DV Dominic here, not the IN Dominic. > > In IN, Dominic is anal-retentive, but a well-meaning anal-retentive. Perhaps the question should be "What is Dark Victory". I came in a bit late, and missed this "milestone" which is sending about a hundred messages a day about this. Any answers (besides, Luci wins, God loses, game over)? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 09:16:39 -0400 From: John Dye Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing Anthony Baxter wrote: > > >>> Redneck Gaijin wrote > > The world is unclean; it must be cleansed with fire and sword. Only > > the holy and righteous may walk in God's light. This is my ONE (1) post about Dark Victory. James Blish wrote a book, albeit rare, about a sorcerer who summoned all the demons of hell he could to earth, no restrictions. It was a very Dark Victory. Find it and read it. I believe it was called "Black Sunday" or some such. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 09:23:33 -0400 From: johnk@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com (John Karakash - Lucent ASCC) Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? > The only place I've seen this was in a _Gold Digger_ comic, > though.... Gold Digger, yeah! But to reference the song... it's the theme to MST3K (in case you didn't already know). Also the source of the (mis)quote ("Can God make a plot so convoluted that even He can't follow it?") - -- ___________________________________________________ / \ |John Karakash - Lucent Technologies (formerly AT&T) | | (919)380-4629 | | | | The power to tax involves the power to destroy. | | -Chief Justice Marshall | \___________________________________________________/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 09:38:36 -0400 From: johnk@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com (John Karakash - Lucent ASCC) Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Requests (fwd) > Right, Nybbas gets a writeup soon. It should be noted that Nybbas' Word is > still 'the Media.' Communication is partly delusion, partly a power ploy, > and only his through polite silence on the part of the other Archangels. It's one of those two-edged things. For example 'propoganda' has many negative connotations, but it doesn't have to _false_, per se. Propoganda is way to get people to believe what you want the to, true or false. Media is the same way. You are trying to influence people, but it could be for the good guys as well as the bad... - -- ___________________________________________________ / \ |John Karakash - Lucent Technologies (formerly AT&T) | | (919)380-4629 | | | | The power to tax involves the power to destroy. | | -Chief Justice Marshall | \___________________________________________________/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 09:35:37 -0400 From: johnk@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com (John Karakash - Lucent ASCC) Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing On Oct 23, 11:10am, Anthony Baxter wrote: > Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing > > >>> Redneck Gaijin wrote > > The world is unclean; it must be cleansed with fire and sword. Only > > the holy and righteous may walk in God's light. Speaking of fires... I'm sure the DV Dominic would have been _glad_ to pick up whatever parts of Fire were left when Belial was waxed and Gabriel reduced. 'Cleansing Fire' and all that... - -- ___________________________________________________ / \ |John Karakash - Lucent Technologies (formerly AT&T) | | (919)380-4629 | | | | The power to tax involves the power to destroy. | | -Chief Justice Marshall | \___________________________________________________/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 09:49:19 -0400 From: johnk@ascc01.ascc.lucent.com (John Karakash - Lucent ASCC) Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? > > 'Uriel should come down from Heaven' - The best rationale I've heard so far > on this is, 'Well, Uriel's really not so bad as he seems,' and I've seen no > compelling arguement against my points; not only would Uriel shift power > heavily towards Heaven if let in, he'd be just as likely to attack some or > all of the Preservers. I have a strong feeling (and nothing more than that since I didn't make up DV) that Uriel is a trump card being held in the upper heavens. Perhaps _he_ is the one that closed things off, not God. Where is Purity stronger than there, after all? And how better to preserve it? - -- ___________________________________________________ / \ |John Karakash - Lucent Technologies (formerly AT&T) | | (919)380-4629 | | | | The power to tax involves the power to destroy. | | -Chief Justice Marshall | \___________________________________________________/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 09:46:33 -0400 From: "Chuck Ryan" Subject: IN> In_Nomine(live action) Ok I am currently in the planning stages of a live action game here in providence there are two prime referee's myself on the angelic side ( I just can't wait for an excuse for Dominic to make a personal appearance) and my good ( though evil ) friend brian on the demonic. with both the referee's in the roles of the superiors. most of this will be done in the form of pre planned handouts( for each superior ) or pre-game private discussions but in the event of a player summoning a AA or DP both brian and I will be in for some frantic improvisation ( ah ok I dominic..no no david yeh david. ) witch should be great fun. at this point we are leaning toward the potable sets of individual dice( I just hate that rock paper ....crap ) the reason I'm posting here is because we still have some major problems to work out 1) Malikim . I have a great fear of the game ( at least on the angelic side being overrun with these fanatical Marines of god ) and I don't know weather to bane them for fairness or let them in on an individual basis trying to avoid mass munchinism here 2) Kryotites and there demonic counterpart ( forgive me I don't have my book here and I only had 1 cup of coffee this morning and my brian is functioning accordingly ) the kriotites are difficult to deal with unless they are in a human vessel and there demonic counterpart the shidem( yes ) are just down right evil so if anybody would like to offer any solutions to these problems or point out other pitfalls ( I'd rather find them now then halfway into the game ) I would really appreciate it thanks CHUCK DOMINIC is watching .......... God has a hard-on for Marines, because Marines kill every thing they see and keep heaven stocked with fresh souls .... Full Metal Jacket ....... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 10:12:27 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing John Dye wrote: > This is my ONE (1) post about Dark Victory. James Blish wrote a book, > albeit rare, about a sorcerer who summoned all the demons of hell he > could to earth, no restrictions. It was a very Dark Victory. Find it > and read it. I believe it was called "Black Sunday" or some such. The title was "Black Easter," and there was a sequel, "The Day After Judgement," which has many haunting parallels to the current Dark Victory thread. Earl Wajenberg ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 00:27:27 +1000 From: Anthony Baxter Subject: Re: IN> toying with Kobal >>> Emily Dresner wrote > Okay, so I ask a standard In Nomine question... > > Why does everyone mess with poor Kobal? :) Does he have a tag on him? > "Hi. My name is Kobal. Please mess with my head. I don't bite." > > (It's just because I did it, I guess.) Kobal's just such a _fun_ DP to mess with. Can you see anyone really messing with Asmodeus? There's not going to be a lot of entertainment there. Kobal's more likely to hit back in some horribly amusing way. Woe betide the sorcerer who summons Kobal and demands favours - they'd probably want to word those wishes _verrrrry_ carefully. ("when I said I wanted a night with Cleopatra, I didn't mean as one of her eunuchs!") As to not biting, I think he does bite. He just uses the small wind up novelty teeth. Lots and lots of them. Anthony, Habbalite Servitor of Sarcasm. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 09:43:26 -0500 (CDT) From: Donald G Bixler Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? > {'Course, what I REALLY want is a Plaid Victory.} (Or a purplish > greenish Victory with hot pink polka-dots and white spaztik stripes. > Yeah. Presumably when Eli gets all the other Superiors on that hot new > stuff he's worked up...) *spfffft!* Don't do that! We've actually sometimes referred to it as the Plaid Victory, but that involves some of the sillier ideas for the timeline, such as the Morrigan and Samedi out getting plastered and Eris and St. Gulick giving wedgies to Dominic and Asmodeus. Needless to say, those aren't likely to make it to the final cut, but please stop picking up some of our terms through the aether. Oops da Ogre, where'd I put my tinfoil hat? mudgb4@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 00:43:25 +1000 From: Anthony Baxter Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Return of Uriel? >>> "Nathaniel Eliot" wrote > That would be essentially his idea anyway - no way is he going to let > Vapula take his Malakim, and no way is he going to pull back while > Saminga is still a viable entity. So his agreement with God is > pretty moot anyway - he's not coming back. The fact that he provides > cover for the other AA's is secondary, too - he is there primarily as > the sword of God, avenging the torture of his Malakim. Uriel's unlikely to be able to wipe out _all_ of Hell, but he's going to have a good try at it :) Hm, who's he going to try to stomp first? And how far will he get? (Mmmmm, Seraph. *buuurp* oh. that far.) From the whole 'purity' side of thing, Dominic would be someone he'd dearly like to meet up with. I'd imagine that having him take out any major bad guy would not fit into Redneck's master plan :) but he can certainly make a heck of a lot of noise. > Thats the only way I can see him in DV, too - he's too hard-line to > support New Heaven, and too powerful to be running around. Plus, it > fits his character, and closes the book on him rather nicely. It gives him a bit of a chance to "redeem" himself. His turning up won't do good things to the little bit that's left of Dommie's sanity, either. (An aside - did Litheroy's fate get mentioned anywhere? I'm assuming from the comment in the Seed of Fate story about Seraph AA's that he was toasted) Anthony ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 11:23:29 -0400 From: Highway Star Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Andrealphus At 1:55 -0200 10/22/97, Andre Ribeiro wrote: > That's enough to put him on the Preservers side - but not for him to be >redeemed. After writing that, I realized it, of course. Oh well. > > Why? Do you think Brazil is a lustful place? ):-9 > Just rather...uninhibited, and perhaps racy - at least, that's the impression I've always got, from mass media and from the one person I knew here at UVA from Brazil (she had a hard time keeping her clothes on, a lot of the time). SeanMike - -- Sean Michael Whipkey, smw4s@virginia.edu Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, Publications Div. 804/924-4185 (or -4188) voicenet, 804/982-5536 fax http://www.virginia.edu/~cpserv/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 11:13:53 -0400 (EDT) From: Thomas Davidson Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? On Thu, 23 Oct 1997, John Karakash - Lucent ASCC wrote: > > > > 'Uriel should come down from Heaven' - The best rationale I've heard so far > > on this is, 'Well, Uriel's really not so bad as he seems,' and I've seen no > > compelling arguement against my points; not only would Uriel shift power > > heavily towards Heaven if let in, he'd be just as likely to attack some or > > all of the Preservers. > > I have a strong feeling (and nothing more than that since I > didn't make up DV) that Uriel is a trump card being held in the upper > heavens. Perhaps _he_ is the one that closed things off, not God. > Where is Purity stronger than there, after all? And how better to > preserve it? > Ooooo.... Now, wouldn't that be ironic? :) By that one act, Uriel cut off any means the AAs had of winning the war in the first place. Heh. 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: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 16:02:16 GMT From: w_mazur@primenet.com (Walt Mazur) Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing On Wed, 22 Oct 1997 23:59:53 -0500 (CDT), redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) wrote: >>JFWIW, Dominic is +3 for vessel death. Gabriel is +3 for "death", whether >>vessel or soul isn't specified--I'd guess vessel to match Dominic. Soul >>death is *really* hard to manage. >> >I know. However, if I made Celestial death higher, I'm afraid it'd get absurd. I don't know. It's pretty darn hard to soul-kill a celestial single handed. I wonder if IN (dark or light) should have some rule about what happens when celestials manage to do that. Where do the forces go? Back to the Symphony, i'm sure; but what would be the effects on nearby celestials? >And remember, Dominic wants everything permanently, no doubt about it, -dead.- Yep. Here's another question: Demonic Words used to be assigned on the personal authority of Lucifer. What happens now? Somehow, I can't see Saminga handing out Words... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 12:07:45 -0400 From: Charybdis GreyDragon Subject: Re: IN> PBEM... well, not. [Charybdis] >> Yeah, I know... Sometimes I can actually use that to my advantage >> though... Without the more active posters to drown them out, sometimes I >> can draw out the more reserved players and help build up their confidence >> to where they'll post more often... Not as often as I'd like, though. [Rob] >True; I think that the quiet people in my games, though, aren't quite out >of lack of confidence so much as out of either lack of enough interest, >or lack of enough time. Yeah, I get a lot of that too... Though my once every 4 days posting rule does tend to week out most of the worst slackers. [Rob] >(In fact, I finally just got one guy to admit that he didn't have time to >keep up with the game; I'm hoping to replace him with another guy I know >who is a good roleplayer and who keeps up well with all the games he's >in.) Good for you! And good luck! :) Peace, Charybdis GreyDragon charybdis@krilion.cnchost.com http://www.krilion.cnchost.com ** God is an Iron ** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 12:05:32 -0400 From: Charybdis GreyDragon Subject: Re: IN> PBEM games [Charybdis] >> It can be hard in Combat... and while I do still generally have everyone >> post to the group as a whole, I usually enforce things like Combat Rounds >> and Action Phases and the like to help keep things straight. I make sure >> that everyone knows to let me resolve each combat action before posting >> their replies... Which tends to slow things down quite a bit, though... [Rob] >Yes, Combat is a challenge. I generally get a tactical approach from the >players and run a few rounds at a time. Even still, combat can drag on >forever. The trick is to find a balance between having the combat not >drag to the point where everybody gets bored and the players being able >to speak for what their characters are doing enough that they are >actually the ones playing the combat. Yeah, I know... But finding that balance is one of the hardest (for me, anyway) aspects of GMing PBEM... Peace, Charybdis GreyDragon charybdis@krilion.cnchost.com http://www.krilion.cnchost.com ** God is an Iron ** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 12:16:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Emily Dresner Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Bright Victory? > > {'Course, what I REALLY want is a Plaid Victory.} (Or a purplish > > greenish Victory with hot pink polka-dots and white spaztik stripes. > > Yeah. Presumably when Eli gets all the other Superiors on that hot new > > stuff he's worked up...) > > *spfffft!* Don't do that! We've actually sometimes referred to it as > the Plaid Victory, but that involves some of the sillier ideas for the > timeline, such as the Morrigan and Samedi out getting plastered and Eris > and St. Gulick giving wedgies to Dominic and Asmodeus. Needless to say, > those aren't likely to make it to the final cut, but please stop picking > up some of our terms through the aether. I thought a Plaid Victory was where all the ArchAngels and Demon Princes came together for a Final Battle/Fashion Show, and they all stand around commenting on each other's hair. "But Dahlink," Kobal says to Novalis. "The flowers are just so you. I like the floral prints, all of my servants will be wearing them this year." I suddenly have a vision of Lilith and Dominic. "Just because the hemline has risen again this year," she says to the fashion disaster with the six blinking eyes, "Doesn't mean you have to run around, calling people heretics and tossing them out of heaven. Can't a girl choose what she wants to wear?" Armeggeden comes, no one dies, but everyone walks out with Good Hair. There are no more crappy fashions, clothing becomes reasonably priced, and on MTV people are required to dress like human beings from no own. It's all very Utopia like. The End. Okay, I'm done now. - - Em, who has Bad Hair ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 18:27:10 +0000 From: "A. Nachmias" Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Dominic, Demon Prince of Cleansing Hello, > JFWIW, Dominic is +3 for vessel death. Gabriel is +3 for "death", whether > vessel or soul isn't specified--I'd guess vessel to match Dominic. Soul > death is *really* hard to manage. And as I gathered, pretty rare since the victim can always run away from the celestial battle. Still, we're talking about the DV world where Archangels souls were demolished exactly as tons of angels were. Best Regards, A. Nachmias ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 12:03:50 -0400 From: Charybdis GreyDragon Subject: Re: IN> IN: Dice questions. [A. Nachmias] > I'm beginning a new In-Nomine campaign and I was >pondering about the repeating diceless/diceful question every GM in >almost every RPG deals with. Okay. Shoot... [A. Nachmias] > Basically, the book gives details about everything you >might want to use the dice with. I don't plan to use the dice on >every single event, that's silly, but some more significant events, >like ascending to heaven, singing songs, etc. are meant to be >diceful. Exactly. You have to decide where and when it matters enough to roll the dice... [A. Nachmias] > Yes, when I think of it, In-Nomine can very easily be >played diceless, hell, I don't see what reason is for an Angel or a >Demon to fail a song. The way I see songs, they are the expressions >of the angel himself, he's reciting his own essence - How can someone >actually *fail*? When countered by another Celestial (or even a human for that matter)? When trying it in a long-shot situation? [A. Nachmias] >Of course, having a song at level 1 doesn't mean the >celestial failed, only the effect was so meek, noone noticed it. But even in RL there are situations where someone who is relatively unskilled gets lucky. [A. Nachmias] > Divine/Infernal intervention? You probably ask >without stating it. Umm, I can picture a scene: The angel tries to >open a door and gets a 111. Holy christ! God appears as a waiter, >you can hear heaven's choirs sing loudly, as he open the door for >you! Amazing? I think not. My point being: Divine/Infernal >intervention should not be completely random and limited to certain >significant scenes as the GM sees fit to prevent from ridiculous >scenes where God/Lucifer helps/damages opening a miserable door, or >other silly scenes. Again, I think a bit of randomness is cool... Sure God and Lucifer have grandiose plans, but we (and even the Celestials) don't know what those plans are and what is significant to them. Now I agree that your above situation is a bit ludicrous, but then, I wouldn't call for a die roll in an automatic action... As weird as it is, the Over the Edge system did a really good job of explaining how and when to use dice... They define 3 kinds of action-- automatic, chancy, or impossible. You only have to roll dice in 1 of those 3 cases... If an action is automatic-- if there is no way it could fail-- there is no need to roll dice. You already know it will succeed. If an action is impossible-- if there is no way it could succeed-- you again don't need to roll dice. You already know it will fail. The only time you need to roll dice is if the action is chancy-- if it falls into the middle somewhere... if it might succeed or might fail... Then you roll the dice as an impartial bit of randomness... [A. Nachmias] > Dice are bad. Well, mostly bad. I admit some games >can't be played without the help of randomness, dice. Still, dice, as >I see it, takes some of the role-playing - When you waste time on >throwing dice, calculating check-digits, damage points, >characteristic points lost and so on, you actually waste time where >you could have developed your character. On the other hand, some play >more for the battles and less for the role-playing (not munchkins, >those play only for the battles, and for the +19,000 two handed >sword, of course. ;-)). I think it really depends on the situation. True-- you don't want to overuse the dice. Then you get stuck in a situation where mechanics push out the story. But having a random element at times can add a lot to the game-- both for the GM and for the Pcs. Sometimes, having a long-shot pay off can be beneficial-- swinging things in ways neither the GM nor the player imagined. Likewise, having a relatively easy task fail also moves the plot in unplanned for ways. And it can be more fun for the GM if he doesn't always know how *everything* will turn out. (Come to think of it, maybe that was the idea behind God granting Free Will-- a chance to relieve the monotony of omniscience). Peace, Charybdis GreyDragon charybdis@krilion.cnchost.com http://www.krilion.cnchost.com ** God is an Iron ** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 12:20:31 -0400 From: Charybdis GreyDragon Subject: Re: IN> B5 Victory >Redneck (Superpowerful aliens v. superpowerful aliens, humans in the middle, >humans win, short version, Oops) Well, actually, that short silly snippet could explain a lot... With the big powerful guys busy wacking on each other, humans tend to get overlooked and ignored... And we're a rather creative and resourceful bunch. Once we know about Celestials, don't you think we could foster their taking each other on-- weakening both sides... and come up with some handy tools to take the survivors down and maybe even out? Peace, Charybdis GreyDragon charybdis@krilion.cnchost.com http://www.krilion.cnchost.com ** God is an Iron ** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 18:27:10 +0000 From: "A. Nachmias" Subject: Re: IN> When words collide Jo Hart wrote: > Does anyone have any thoughts about how celestials manage to coexist on the > sade 'sides' when they have words that naturally conflict with each other? > > For example, I'm sure there is an angel who has the word 'Peace', how > could it co-exist when there was an AA who claimed the absolute opposite of > their word? Take Novalis and Micheal. They're on the same side yet they're very hostile. And what's hostile actually? Respectfully nodding in celestial meetings, gossiping on each other with their friends, and basically staying out of the other's way. As I see it, they can co-exist. Best Regards, A. Nachmias ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 12:38:08 -0400 From: Highway Star Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Andrealphus At 12:48 -0400 10/22/97, Ozmodeus wrote: > >unfortunately he's a balseraph. He's just really, REALLY >deluding himself. But then again, what's a balseraph for? > Oh, btw, Dan, I'm actually God. And Haagenati just ate your Calabite. And Dominic just soul-killed your Mercurian. First thing we do, we kill all the lawyers. "Of course, some lawyers are very nice people, and they are valuable for the protection of our freedoms." Snicker. SeanMike desperately trying to recover his alias list - -- Sean Michael Whipkey, smw4s@virginia.edu Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, Publications Div. 804/924-4185 (or -4188) voicenet, 804/982-5536 fax http://www.virginia.edu/~cpserv/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 12:33:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Emily Dresner Subject: Re: IN> toying with Kobal > > Why does everyone mess with poor Kobal? :) Does he have a tag on him? > > "Hi. My name is Kobal. Please mess with my head. I don't bite." > > > > Kobal's just such a _fun_ DP to mess with. I wholeheartedly agree. > Can you see anyone really > messing with Asmodeus? There's not going to be a lot of entertainment > there. Kobal's more likely to hit back in some horribly amusing way. No no no, it's Kobal's job to mess with Asmodeus, and no one elses. It's on the job description, under wearing floppy shoes. I bet it's even on his itinerary for the day. Now, lessee. 1. Review the new video, "Sex and Bubble Wrap" from Agent Erlithan. 2. Try on new pair of floppy shoes. 3. Mercilessly taunt Azzie at the "Chief Executive Officer Advisement Committee" board meeting for all us big shots. 4. Have dinner with Malphas. 5. Bed good looking Lilim secretary, on loan from Andre. See? He's a funny guy! And organized! *grin* > > Woe betide the sorcerer who summons Kobal and demands favours - they'd > probably want to word those wishes _verrrrry_ carefully. ("when I said > I wanted a night with Cleopatra, I didn't mean as one of her eunuchs!") Ah ha. High amusement factor there. > > As to not biting, I think he does bite. He just uses the small wind up > novelty teeth. Lots and lots of them. I thought it was the highly toxic rubber dog poop, myself. But there's a whole box here labelled "Fun Gadgets for Assasination" next to my desk, so I'll have to look. I think it includes the killer joke from that one Monty Python sketch. > > Anthony, Habbalite Servitor of Sarcasm. > - - Em, Bal of the Game, workin under the table for the Happy Fun Prince today. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 18:27:10 +0000 From: "A. Nachmias" Subject: Re: Escaping dissonance (Was: Re: IN> Re: Redeeming Shedim: it c Walt Mazur wrote: > >I don't think it should be like that - sit around wondering if you did > >enough this day, the clock strikes midnight, the daily rush of Essence > >comes in and, oh damn, what's this? a note of Dissonance comes in as > >well. There are, IIRC, two types of dissonance (Choir/Band or Superior): > > 1) You get dissonance for doing something you're not supposed to > > 2) You get dissonance if you don't do at least [foo] every so often > I'm not sure you do necessarily. Suppose you're a Cherub, and gain > dissonance for harming your attuned. You disarm his gun because he's clumsy > and might shoot himself. So far so good. Later he's in a situation where he > needs the gun for self-defence, and he dies because it's been disarmed. > Should the Cherub get dissonance then? > What if a Mercurian plants a landmine? Does he get dissonance when it kills > a human, however much later that is? Basically, I believe it's to the interpretation of the GM. In my IN game I would give a dissonant note to the Cherub, without anything to do with him taking the gun from his attuned human. *He* should have protected the human, not the gun, he should have been there to save him, tough. The Mercurian, if I had been the judge of it, would be a tougher one. Why didn't he plant that landmine? Planting landmines is basically a violence promoting act, therefore, if he did that for those causes, he would get a dissonance note when a human'll die. On the other hand, if he planted that mine to escape a pack of demons, I wouldn't give him a dissonace note since he didn't explicitly, wantingly and directly promote violence. Best Regards, A. Nachmias ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #426 ******************************* The material here is (C) 1997 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.