From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Sun May 24 19:12:20 1998 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 TAA22280 for ; Sun, 24 May 1998 19:12:20 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.8.7/8.8.5) id TAA16406 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Sun, 24 May 1998 19:12:53 -0500 Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 19:12:53 -0500 Message-Id: <199805250012.TAA16406@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 #795 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 Sunday, May 24 1998 Volume 01 : Number 795 In this digest: Re: IN>Demon Prince Auditions IN> IN INWO CotW #5 Re: IN> First Game Re: IN> First Game Re: IN>Demon Prince Auditions Re: IN> Historical plots & time travelling celestials IN> Restricted Acess Superiors IN> Word Forces Re: IN> First Game IN> Dark Destiny, Bright Fate (Ch 1) IN> Re: First Game ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 15:45:53 -0700 From: "Kevin Salicos" Subject: Re: IN>Demon Prince Auditions >Now what does that leave me with, oh yeah,Lilith, Saminga, Valefor and >Vapula (I decided to get this all finished in one go). Lilith: Traci Lords Saminga: The guy in Con Air who sings "He's got the whole world in his hands..." Valefor: Brad Pitt (Not a fan of his, but just saw the Saint) Vapula: Christopher Lloyd ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 01:17:41 +0100 From: Sam Kington Subject: IN> IN INWO CotW #5 [Well, it's been a *long* wait - my apologies for this; the amount of IN INWO cards has been daunting (over 200 now), and I got swamped. Anyway, here's the 5th edition of the IN INWO Card of the Week awards, covering weeks 5 to 12. Most of the awards go to Alex this time. Not that I noticed that when giving out the awards though.] Cards of the Week ================= Balseraphs of Nybbas Graphic: A person staring at a TV screen, slack-jawed. Quote:"And in news today, you took five dollars out of the office coffee fund. Yes, YOU. Wanna learn how to take more?" Text:A Balseraph of Nybbas can make a Media source say anything to a victim. On any direct attack to control a Media group, this Group has the same alignments as its target, for the duration of the attack (consider a Fanatic-Fanatic match as the SAME alignment for all purposes during this attack). Attributes: Media, Demonic Power 2 Resistance 2 Control arrows: In: (B) Out: (R L) Proposed by Alex Yeager (YeagerAW@maritz.com ). [The quote does it for me.] ---- Djinn of Baal Graphic: An eerie, surreal wolf creature prowling past a cemetary at night. Quote:"Hmm...smells like children!" -- The Child Snatcher, _Chitty Chitty Bang Bang_ Text:The Djinn of Baal can sense flesh around them, the flesh of both nearby people and nearby corpses. If they successfully attack to destroy, you may swap the destroyed group with a destroyed group from any other player's destroyed pile, taking credit for that kill instead! Alignments:Straight, Violent Attributes: Demonic Power 2 Resistance 5 Control arrows: In: (T) Out: (B) Proposed by Alex Yeager (YeagerAW@maritz.com ). [Good special ability.] ---- Impudite of Malphas Graphic: A little girl crying. Quote:"No, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus. And that white fringe around his collar? Baby seal fur." Text:At a glance, an Impudite of Malphas can know how to destroy someone's trust. By spending its action token, you may cancel the action of a group spending its token to defend another group. Attributes:Demonic Power 1 Resistance 4 Control arrows: In: (B) Out: (R L T L R) Proposed by Alex Yeager (YeagerAW@maritz.com ). [Again, it's the quote that cracked me up. This almost made Card of the Wack.] ---- Shedim of Asmodeus Graphic: A blowup view of inside a man's head. Within, the man and a gaseous demon share cake at a table; the cake says "Happy 1-Year Anniversary" on it. The demon looks MUCH happier than the man. Quote:It stays with me wherever I go / I can't break away from its hold / This must be my punishment / For selling my soul -- Suicidal Tendencies, "Possessed" Text:Shedim of Asmodeus may stay in their host's body longer than other Shedim are normally able. By spending all tokens from this group when a +10 booster is played on another group, it allows that booster to remain in effect until the end of the turn, for both defense AND offense. Attributes:Demonic Power 1 Resistance 4 Control arrows: In: (T) Out: Proposed by Alex Yeager (YeagerAW@maritz.com ). [Good special ability, fun graphic and quote, plus I *like* Shedim - this was always going to win] Card of the Weak ================ Djinn of Nybbas Graphic: A person in a stadium, smiling and drinking a beer. He has his back to the field; he's watching several fans fight it out a few rows back. Quote:"Professional sports almost always put on the most spectacular shows..." The Rough Guide, USA Text:These demons revel in public exhibitions of group violence - namely, sports. While this group is in your power structure, you may use World Cup victory to benefit Media groups, as well as Nations! They are +6 to control Professional Sports (and linked Personalities, if any), Fussballprofis, or any other group that all players agree is sports-related. Alignments:Violent Attributes: Media, Demonic Power 3 Resistance 3 Control arrows: In: (T) Out: (R) Proposed by Alex Yeager (YeagerAW@maritz.com ). [And how often do you use World Cup Victory, or play with Fussballprofis? Although the fact that this is the only card I singled out for CotWeak is tribute to the great work Pee and Alex have put into this whole thing.] Card of the Wack ================ Balseraphs of Andrealphus Graphic: A man with a maniacal, crazed smile on his face putting up wallpaper in his home. EVERYTHING is wallpapered, including the TV, fridge, and what may very well be his wife. Quote:"Just one more room to go...then I can start on the neighbors' homes!" Text:Andrealphus' liars can make anyone find a single sensation or experience extremely pleasurable. When any group spends an action, the Balseraphs may spend theirs as well. If so, the acting group cannot use their action for anything other than what they just did until the end of their owner's NEXT turn. The action should be defined in fairly broad terms (i.e., "defending a group from attack", not "defending the Druids from attack"). Alignments:Straight Attributes:Demonic Power 2 Resistance 4 Control arrows: In: (B) Out: (T) Proposed by Pee Kitty (Pkitty@cris.com ). [This cracked me up the first time I saw it, and it still does. In fact, it's going to make its way into my In Nomine campaign - whether the Angelic or the Demonic one, I'm not sure ] [Anyway, that's it for this installment of the IN INWO CotWeek awards. I'll try and make the next ones more frequent ;-). ] Sam - -- Home page: http://www.illuminated.co.uk/ INWO Homebrew has moved: http://www.illuminated.co.uk/inwo/ Predestination was doomed from the start. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 22:19:43 EDT From: Gruzzle Subject: Re: IN> First Game If you don't want to drop this group, there are a few things you might want to try. 1) Reward *heavily* any roleplaying that might take place, and very little for crunching. (Hey, it might get them to roleplay for the wrong reasons but at least they're roleplaying.. and who knows, after a while they might actually *enjoy* roleplaying without needing the extra points). 2) Make up characters for them to play before-hand and have them choose one at random as their character for that gaming session (they probably won't go for this so you might want to tell them you're only doing this until they can get a hang of the game). When you make the characters, give them roleplayable skills instead of beastly skills. 3) Run an adventure which can't be accomplished with mere brute force, one which may rely mainly on wit to succeed. Dems just some ideas from da top of my head. Not saying they da best, just a few I gots right now is all. - -Gruzz (Gruzzle@aol.com) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 22:27:21 -0400 From: Neel Krishnaswami Subject: Re: IN> First Game Adam Gastonguay wrote: > >I seem to be having a problem that I havn't been able to answer for a >couple of months now. I love reading all the IN books and like the >storys I have read and thought up myself... but I still have yet to >actually play, or even GM, the game. The gamers in my area are, to >say the least, gamers, not role-players. The whole group sees the >game as a bunch of numbers on a sheet and a pile of dice. Here's an >example of some of my gaming sessions: [snip example] >Shortly after this seen, I went home one hope and one adventure less. >Because of this I am reluctant to start an IN campaign because I don't >feel that this game is for such number crunchers as they are. Does >anyone out there have an adventure that may make them want to >role-play, or should I just give it up? If your group is just some random people you met at the gaming society, then I'd advise you to just find a new group of players with a style more to your liking. But it's more likely that your fellow players are friends before they are members of your gaming group, and advice like "find a new group" just doesn't take into account the potential for hurt feelings and so on. In this case, you have to work with the material at hand. The first and most important observation is that passive-agressive behavior does not work. You can't trick people into roleplaying, and often people will dig in their heels and resist when they think they are being manipulated. You will just make yourself and your friends unhappy if you try this. IME, the best method for getting your friends to roleplay more to your liking is to be up-front and explicit with them about what you are trying to accomplish with your campaign. They can't see in your head, after all, and once they realize that you are bored to tears by tactical gaming, they will often be surprisingly concilliatory. It's very important not to phrase your aims in non-aggressive language. If your players think that you are attacking them, they are very likely to get defensive and hardened in their positions. Saying "I want PCs who act like heroes in action movies" is less offensive and more precise than saying "I don't want any psycho-killer PCs like all of Bob's." One of the biggest obstacles to roleplaying is that people are afraid to look silly in front of their friends. Never mind that your friends are the people least likely to cruelly mock you -- fears don't have to make a lot of sense to be real. One of the best way to encourage people to roleplay is to do it yourself -- once the other players see that they can roleplay without getting laughed at, they will naturally follow. A genre that strongly encourages roleplaying is light-hearted action TV. Things like Knight Rider, MacGuyver, and The A Team encourage roleplaying because they demand simple but colorful personalities in the PCs, heroic rather than cold-blooded play, and have a low risk of death for the protagonists. Since the players will feel that they don't have a lot of risk of failure hanging over their heads, they are more willing to take bold chances and make in-genre mistakes. In fact, both types of failure are reduced: both the risk of failing to accomplish the scenario goal *and* the risk of portraying a complex character badly are removed. If you want to get advice from a broader range of people than just this list, I recommend posting this same question to the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.frp.advocacy. There are a lot of really solid GMs and players in that group, and this is exactly the sort of topic that gets kicked around all the time there. - -- Neel Krishnaswami neelk@alum.mit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 00:10:47 -0400 From: Robb Kidd Subject: Re: IN>Demon Prince Auditions [taking the dissonance to surreptitiously reply to an Auditions thread] I just couldn't let these go by ... Kevin Salicos wrote: > Lilith: Traci Lords [squint] Would be more appropriate for Andre's female form, I imagine. > Saminga: The guy in Con Air who sings "He's got the whole world in his > hands..." Steve Buscemi. Freaky fella, gotta love 'im. > Valefor: Brad Pitt (Not a fan of his, but just saw the Saint) [blink] [ponder] [blink] You mean Val Kilmer? Brad Pitt wasn't in _The Saint_ from what I recall. > Vapula: Christopher Lloyd ... with a lit light-bulb in his mouth? So -that's- how Fester did that! [shuffles off to find some Good Deeds with which burn off the D-note] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 15:01:31 +0100 (BST) From: Steve Jessop Subject: Re: IN> Historical plots & time travelling celestials On Thu, 21 May 1998, Walter Milliken wrote: > In my IN campaign, time travel almost certainly isn't possible, or if it > is, it would prove to be pointless -- the "immutable past" model. About > the best you can hope for in this model is to bring back artifacts and > information. Who's up for an IN vs. Indigo Prime crossover? Yves and Kronos start opposing each other through the timelines, sending servitors to all sorts of obscure places and times to do peculiar things that they are assured will have cosmic results. Then time-travellers start going missing, and a little research shows that there are operatives of Indigo Prime hunting down and blatting the time-meddlers. The question is, is IN imbedded in Indigo Prime as one particular universe, or is Indigo Prime imbedded in IN as a bunch of seriously whup-arse ethereals? Presumably at this point I get several dozen emails asking 'what's Indigo Prime?' Steve. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 14:24:41 -0400 (EDT) From: Casca Subject: IN> Restricted Acess Superiors > I don't think they'd mind the occasional summoning to turn the tide, but > the discussion has been more like "Why not summon your Superior whenever > there are opponents nearby?", which is very different, and what will make > the game crash, IMO. I've been running an IN game for about 9 months now, and my experience indicates quite the opposite: my players are very reluctant to summon their Superiors, even in situations where I feel it is justified. I think it boils down to two things: 1) It rankles their dignity to need to be bailed out of a situation. 2) They suspect that if they get bailed out, their adventure awards won't be as high. (And if they'd be right, if they summoned to "get out of jail free.") So if you'd like to cut back on Superior invocation during The Big Climactic Scene, perhaps like light heckling would be in order. When the Malakite airstrike shows up, have a Virtue make an offhand comment about "Real angels don't -need- to be rescued by their Superiors,", and then dock them some XP. Note that this may be too heavy-handed for some groups. > > Comment2: For the reasons roughed out above, I prefer some other > > explanation of why Superiors keep out of PC affairs. "This is a cold > > war, and the Sups are the big guns" seems to be the second most popular > > explanation. It hinges on their being a good reason for hte cold > > war, but I think that is easily satisfied by: "AAs are afraid of massive > > Symphonic damage, and DPs are just afraid." and similar lines of > > argument. Certainly Sups are comparable to nukes, the source of the RL > > Cold War. I liken Superior invocation to be along the lines of requesting an airstrike or artillery barrage. When you're on a mission, you have access to that resource, and if you need it, by all means use it....but it is a - -finite- resource. Strike bombers can only loiter for so long, and an artillery division may need to shift its fire to another grid square to support another operation. What this means, at least in my game, is that a PC can expect to summon his Superior -once- with reasonable accuracy. After that, the resource is used up, and the difficulty increases. Such as the -4 mod for futile demands. Also keep in mind that superiors can be used for things other than bailing out of combat, such as: healing the group, passing on useful information, recharge of Essence, the granting of a Song/Attunement vital to the completion of the mission. If your group makes use of a Superior in this way, combined with the "one reasonable use" policy, I think you'll have less plots being hijacked by AA/DPs. - -- Casca, Seraph of Archives (bertishg@db.erau.edu) "...I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying...At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke." -- Isaiah 6:2,4 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 14:56:41 -0400 (EDT) From: Casca Subject: IN> Word Forces On Thu, 21 May 1998, Redneck Gaijin wrote: > (4) Corporeal Forces affect a Celestial's body, Ethereal Forces affect a > Celestial's mind, Celestial forces addect a Celestial's essence. What do > Word Forces affect, except the Word? Except for the ability to hold > additional Essence, they don't seem to give the Celestial any actual added > capability, and by your definition they -hamper- them by restricting their > capacity to choose and adapt to a given situation. Stealing blatantly from teh Star Wars RPG, two traits that immediately come to mind are Sense and Control. Sense, in this instance, would allow a Word-bound to perceive the relative strength of its Word in the Symphony, whether its existence was being threatened, the condition and location of its Servitors, any related Attunements/Rites being performed, and generally the sensitivity of how the Word related to everything else. Control would be the manipulation of aspects of that Word, such as creating new Servitors, creating new Attunements/Rites or granting them to others, and generally the 'muscle' of the Word. Put simply, Sense would be Word-Perception and Control would be Word-Will. - -- Casca, Seraph of Archives (bertishg@db.erau.edu) "...I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying...At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke." -- Isaiah 6:2,4 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 15:31:59 EDT From: MarkDEddy Subject: Re: IN> First Game In a message dated 5/22/98 5:38:08 PM, you wrote: >Shortly after this seen, I went home one hope and one adventure less. >Because of this I am reluctant to start an IN campaign because I don't >feel that this game is for such number crunchers as they are. Does >anyone out there have an adventure that may make them want to >role-play, or should I just give it up? Get the GM screen, and make then the Munchkins in Feast of Blades. Then role- play them to death. If they don't want to role-play, let them munchkin. Otherwise, I'd suggest BattleTech or Warhammer. (Sorry...) Mark ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 May 98 15:47:49 -0400 From: Shadowstar Subject: IN> Dark Destiny, Bright Fate (Ch 1) Greetings, Here's a continuation of a little short story I'm using as the background for that dreaded LARP thing. Eventually everybody will get to see the short story to completion -- oh, and what a diabolical end it is - -- but I still have to be wary of Malphas' agents. *grin* >For Archangel Beth spoke from the stylesheet, and the world trembled: >>destiny and Destiny -- one is a noun for someone's ultimate disposition >> in life, the other is a Word. Be kind to editors and >> capatilize the Word, but not the mere noun... >> Note: destiny = GOOD future. (Do not say "dark destiny.") Yes. I know, there cannot -really- be a dark destiny. Unless you consider the fact that if you're a Diabolical, and your Destiny is to redeem and shine selflessly... Then I'd say that's a pretty Dark for Infernal concerns. Besides, it promotes the Word of Delusions of Grandeur... *evil grin* Also, this is with appologies to fans of Roger Zelazny, and residents of Austin, Texas. Kobal made me do it. - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Dark Destiny, Bright Fate - ------------------------- by Josh V. 05-24-98 Chapter One: Reflections on a plain A bitter wind sweeps across the horizon. I don't know what has brought me here, but I am none the less. This is it, -the- place to be when Gabe toots her horn. The ultimate punchline. "Apocalypse?" I turn my head to see a wizened man kneeling down, reaching his hand into the cursed earth. "Yves? What's going on?" He smiles, pulling a small clump of earth up with him as he rises. "Child, the passage of time cannot stop." As he steps toward me, the sand begins to slip between his fingers. Cast adrift by the breeze. "The end. The beginning. Points on the circle of time. The wheel spins, and spins." Damn, cryptic as ever. "Dominique would get her cloak in a bind, if she saw you talking to me. What the -hell- is going on?" He just stands there, smiling. I wasn't laughing. - -------------------------------------------------- The world stood on the brink once more. India, always thought as a minor world power, completed tests that would send shockwaves across the globe. With but a spark, Atoms were split apart. And woe the earth trembled, for she had the bomb. From the four corners, the armies have gathered. A new cold war has come about. May the Lightbringer have mercy on our damned souls. - Reflections 6:1-5 - -------------------------------------------------- * * * "Hey, Drew? Earth to Drew?" "Yeah?" "Have you seen this flyer?" She shoves the cheerfully pristine flyer to Druiel. "They're all over, so?" She gives him an annoyed look. "Campus Crusade for Christ. They're having a midnight vigil at the UT campus. It's this Saturday. I think we should go." "Marty..." he sighs, "Okay. We'll go." He's hiding a grumble. This weekend was all planned for him. Hugo gave him everything he needed. Saturday was the last night he'd see her... So innocent. So pure... ...So very mortal. * * * I was laughing so hard, tears began to soak into the parched soil. The old coot had finally flipped. My, this was too amusing to keep to myself. Alas, I had too. Otherwise, I wouldn't have the last laugh. - -------------------------------------------------- All around, the war raged on. But here? Sometimes, the mortals surprise even us. This is Austin, Texas. City on the edge. Always ahead of what is now. - Reflections 6:18-19 - -------------------------------------------------- * * * "M'Lord?" Brand squints into the darkness. Above, the clock in the tower read one minute before midnight. "Oltorf. Do you have it?" "Yes M'lord." Brand smiled. "Good. It is time we prepare." Oltorf smiled broadly, reaching into his trenchcoat for a small glittering gem. Brand knew that there would be no turning back now. Once fallen, he was determined to rise again. At midnight laughter rang out, and was gone again in an instant. "What was that?" asked Brand. "M'Lord?" Brand grumbled, "Nevermind. We should go inside. It is far from safe out here." "Yes, M'lord. Indeed." * * * "Gabe, baby... Time to fatten yourself up. You're about to sing." My snickering echoed long into the twilight. - -------------------------------------------------- And so it came to pass. It all shall end. Not in a bang. Nor disappear in a whisper. But end it shall... ...End in tears. - Reflections 6:34-36 - -------------------------------------------------- - - J. - - Blaseraph Marquis of Fate, the Demon of Delusions of Grandeur = shadowstar@centuryinter.net ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 16:51:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Adam Gastonguay Subject: IN> Re: First Game >Just out of curiosity, what's your area? Butler, Pennsylvania, about an hour north of Pittsburgh >there's always the >geographics-transcending option of PBeM or some other >online version of >gaming. Would you happen to know anywhere this is done? >Just my two cents, - Stavro Thanks, but I'm a dime short... Deacon, Elohim of Yves(getting more dissonant by the hour), under the role of Adam, student writer. P.S. To the other reply about this mail: I've already tried the two other existing groups in this area, and they are either the same way, or too hocked up on drugs to care. _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #795 ******************************* The material here is (C) 1997 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.