From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Tue Nov 30 13:15:30 1999 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id NAA25440 for ; Tue, 30 Nov 1999 13:15:30 -0600 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id NAA18370 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Tue, 30 Nov 1999 13:11:05 -0600 Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 13:11:05 -0600 Message-Id: <199911301911.NAA18370@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 #1437 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 Tuesday, November 30 1999 Volume 01 : Number 1437 In this digest: IN> [FLUFF] Nitpicking (WAS: Uh, hey.) IN> re:Angelic Heredity Re: IN> [FLUFF] Nitpicking (WAS: Uh, hey.) Re: IN> Uh, hey RE: IN> Using Canon, Especially Bad Expanded Choir Resonances IN> Nasty Malakite Trick Re: IN> Malakim IN> Mercurians, &, Malakites Re: IN> Malakim IN> Fun with Malakim. Re: IN> Re: Mercurian dissonance Re: IN> Re: Mercurian dissonance Re: IN> Re: Mercurian dissonance IN> Re: Mercurian dissonance IN> PBEM/Bored over Christmas Re: IN> Using Canon, Especially Bad Expanded Choir Resonances RE: IN> Uh, hey. Re: IN> Uh, hey. Re: IN> Mercurian resonance IN> Re: mercurian dissonance. IN> Re: uh, hey. IN> IN jewelry Re: IN> Nasty Malakite Trick Re: IN> Re: Mercurian dissonance Re: IN> Mercurians and Shedim Re: IN> She's like the Wind... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 01:14:02 -0600 From: Shadowstar Subject: IN> [FLUFF] Nitpicking (WAS: Uh, hey.) At 4:48 PM +1100 11/30/99, Leath Sheales wrote: >[NITPICK OF YOUR NITPICK] Unless you know everyone that he does and can >prove that he knows someone who likes RPGs, his statement is valid (and no, >I don't think the list counts. He's only a newbie, so he doesn't 'know' us >yet). "Where's your Nitpicking Rite? Huh? Well? I'm waiting. . ." };;;> At 11:15 PM -0700 11/29/99, Tim Groth wrote: >Ok this has gone too far, I may not be a powerful angel but the evil of the >Demon Princess of Nitpicking is out of control!! "Pheh. . . Remember that a) our esteemed LE (Line Editor) is in that wonderful and joyous state known as 'bun in the oven', b) she just got done editing Superiors 2: Sins of the Flesh; A playtest that ran well over a 1000 messages, a first for an In Nomine Playtest." >We must rally against her terrible influence!!!! "Just like a Halo. Always coming together, just because 'our' ways are immoral and 'sinful'. Like you feather-fluffs would see our side of things. If you can't do something by yourself, that just means you need the _group_ for _everything_. Now who'se the Immoral one, eh?" >And to prevent being squished for being totally off topic how many angels >do you think die in a given year for having a mentality like this? As many as you, the storyteller, wish so? Seems logical to me. . . >Now I'm prepared to be squished for totally different reasons. Glad to be a service! Be seeing you, - - Tafka J. = shadowstar@centurytel.net # Balseraph of Fate, Marquis of Delusions of Grandeur * http://home.centurytel.net/shdwstar/in-nomine ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 01:12:27 -0600 From: Michael Mihallik Subject: IN> re:Angelic Heredity Pulled out my old genetics books, and ran a few chi-squares to determine the probable results of the crossbreeding (and before anyone jumps all over me, I know that this is NOT canon...) CC = genome of full celestial parent Cc = genome of half-celestial, half-human cc = genome of full human #1: Cross of full celestial with halfbreed. C C C CC CC c Cc Cc This results in 50% full celestial offspring, 50% halfbreeds #2: Cross of two halfbreeds. C c C CC Cc c Cc cc This results in 25% full celestial offspring, 25% full human offspring, and 50% halfbreeds. #3: Cross of full celestial with full human C C c Cc Cc c Cc Cc Results: All offspring halfbreed. This is a simplification, but assumes no particular dominance of celestial genes over human genes, and also leaves out that nastiness about sex-linked traits. All human/celestial halfbreed offspring (by canon, in the CPG) would have a very real chance of mutating into Nephalim (1-in-6 or more...). Just a quick $.02. Dialas ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 02:23:24 -0500 From: "Gregory Gietzen" Subject: Re: IN> [FLUFF] Nitpicking (WAS: Uh, hey.) > At 11:15 PM -0700 11/29/99, Tim Groth wrote: >We must rally against her terrible influence!!!! There go the Angels again -- "We, we, we, all the way home!" Are you surprised so many of us in the Pit have opted to "Take the 'We' out of our diets?" >And to prevent being squished for being totally off topic how many angels >do you think die in a given year for having a mentality like this? Ooh! A riddle! Let me guess... As many as Your Boss says ? However many Gabriel charred in a psychotic fit of rage? However many that runt with the sword squashed for "stepping out of line?" One to hold the bulb and three Servitors of Judgement to charge him with heresy? To get to the other side? G Balseraph, aspiring to the service of Nitpicking ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 18:42:48 +1100 From: bichwa@telstra.easymail.com.au Subject: Re: IN> Uh, hey >Oh yeah, one (well, two) other things. I decided I liked a Malakim of >Stone best as a character, mostly for the solidarity, love & unity >street-punk thing thing they have going. So... I love how you can talk about love, unity, and street-punks in the same sentance, and everyone on teh list doesn't look at you strangely. "Oh, David..." >a) is it a complete rip-off to have a punk Malakim of Stone? Nah. at least not if you don't use it as an excuse - most people look at that, see punk, and think "wow! does that mean I can break things now? But it's in the book..." >b) are Malakim supposed to be totally bereft of humor and the ability to >have a good time when not in the presence of evil, or can they enjoy >themselves when they aren't hip-deep in demon guts? I've found that it's sometimes fun to play terribly chipper Malakim, and it completely throws off all teh other players. Then again, one of my Malakim aske for the theme music discord so he could listen to ride of teh Valkyries and all other sorts of terribly moving operatic stuff. Then again, I did once have an intelligence 5 perception 1 Son of Ether - Lord Blythington Smythe - who was both psychotic, and a peer. Who loved flashing lights. Oh, and his butler, Jenkins turned out to be a Nephadi High something. Not that he noticed. >I badly want to have the following conversation before I mash something. > >Demon: Who ARE you? >Me: I'm BATMAN! Then there's a tinkle in the symphony, and massive wings suddenly sprout from your back. Has anyone else ever used the lift and drop method of demon elimination? Kris, who's had way too much sugar today. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 23:46:34 PST From: "Jo Hart" Subject: RE: IN> Using Canon, Especially Bad Expanded Choir Resonances >From: "Leath Sheales" > >On the subject of expanded resonances for angels, could we have a bit of a >voice of opinion from people around the list about what they think would >make a good expanded resonance for each Choir? Sure, I like the expanded mercurian resonances. It seems eminently reasonable to me that the 'friends of man', on a stunning resonance success, should be able to figure out how to make friends with someone. It isn't at all the same as detecting needs! jo ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 01:39:48 -0600 From: Michael Mihallik Subject: IN> Nasty Malakite Trick This may have been done before: A Malakite has been seen wandering around town, beating up local demons, crushing Hellsworn, putting torches to the crotches of the odd Undead minion... you know the type. This Malakite is always wearing a backpack. Unremarkable. Leather or canvas, doesn't really matter. The jiggy is that the local demons are fed up with this crusading Virtue, and they want him put down. So, a bunch of them get together and open up several cans of whupass on the Malakite, who gives as good as he gets. Bleeding, broken and maimed, the surviving demons crawl toward the recently deceased vessel of the Malakite, when the flap on the backpack rustles open. Out jumps a very pissed-off badger (the Virtue in another vessel - the backpack is a Body Bag) who proceeds to take out his anger on the hapless demons. Remember, unless a celestial has the chance to really examine an artifact, the artifact is undetected as being such. As an alternative, I use an optional feature, "Masked Artifact", which works like a Role purchased for the artifact, in effect, hiding it from celestial treasure hunters. - -Dialas ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 19:00:07 +1100 From: bichwa@telstra.easymail.com.au Subject: Re: IN> Malakim > > >>Tip: never, ever fight one of these bad boys in a supermarket. Unless you >>want to report back to your Prince that your vessel was destroyed by an >>angel wielding a deadly bag of potato chips. > > I dunno...if you report back to Kobal with that story, he'd >probably give you a new vessel for it, and then go give the Malakite >an attunement, whether he wants it or not... Bwah ha ha! he he he! ho ho ho! > I like that. One of the better In images. HTen again, I've always found the thought of Andre and Asmodeous comparing torture impliments amusing. Kris. I'm not making sense am I? Sugar is the mindkiller. toothkiller. Very naughty thing indeed. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:06:13 PST From: "Jo Hart" Subject: IN> Mercurians, &, Malakites You know, it's quite possible that a Mercurian could talk to someone, give up, wave in the Malakite ... and the Malakite could turn round to him and say "No. Try harder. I can sense something better in this one, and you haven't got to it yet." jo ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 01:15:23 -0700 From: EDG Subject: Re: IN> Malakim At 11:58 PM 11/29/99 -0500, you wrote: >best example IMHO of the Malakite of Eli attunement is Jackie Chan. He >grabs a towel, a ladder or anything that happens to be sitting around and >opens up a family size can of whoop ass on whoever is around. Or Benedict, from the Amber series. Anyone who can kill a man with a cocktail napkin... And now I'm thinking of Cutstone, my Malakite of Eli. Who took a Seneschal's arm off with a clipboard. Who took out a helicopter with a tennis ball. (Hey, they were firing on us! Not his fault they were mostly mortals... shouldn't have been firing on Malakim. Hmph.) Who took a /hell/ of a lot of Discord through no fault of his own, went Dark (special thanks to whoever wrote them up - David, was that you?), and utterly shredded a Seraph for accusing him of defecting. Who proceeded to have his Ethereal Forces bamf away and drop out of the Ethereal Plane. Poor Cutstone. I miss him. :) - -EDG ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 03:22:34 -0500 From: Dan Weaver Subject: IN> Fun with Malakim. After much postponing of homework and consideration of the character I wanted, I think I've finally fleshed something out. Ernie, Malakim of Creation in service to Stone 3 Corporeal Forces: 9 Strength, 3 Agility 3 Ethereal Forces: 9 Intelligence, 3 Precision 3 Celestial Forces: 5 Will, 7 Perception Skills: Fighting/6 Tactics/3 Knowledge(Writing)/5 Knowledge(Punk Rock)/3 Role: Writer/3 (Status 2) Emote/5 Owns: Vessel/3 with Charisma/1 Attunements: Malakim of Creation Oaths: Standard Malakim kill-'em-all-no-surrender yakkety-schmakkety Unite humans to fight evil as often as possible. (it's tough to stop him from rounding up human support and bringing it into often awkwards situations.) Never suffer a creative work to be destroyed, especially a written piece. History: Arnakazel was right on the brink of promotion from Reliever status when Eli Took Off, and he ended up getting handed to David. After all, Eli told Arnakazel, "unity is cool." Since David had a pretty large backlog of cases what with a couple of World Wars and a whole bunch of revolutions and lots of people protesting and stuff, Arnak was basically an 8-Force Heavenly gofer for the next 70 years. "Shafted.", he mumbled. Eventually, though, David caught up to him in the early 80s. See, unity was really taking some nasty licks down on Earth and, well, things were starting to get desperate. Malakim were needed, and somebody who could, like, Create a little unity might help out a bit. However, since Arnakazel hadn't ever been down to Earth before, his vessel would start off as a child and grow to adulthood while he learned a little bit about the world. Arnakazel's vessel was placed in a foster home owned by a Soldier of David, allowing him to experience the world much like any other youth. One day early in his time on Earth he wandered into the room while the TV was turned on to Sesame Street's Ernie giving a spirited rendition of 'Rubber Ducky'. He was enthralled, became a large-scale Ernie fan, and ended up deciding to call himself Ernie when he got out into the world. As his vessel grew older, Ernie identified strongly with the punk movement because of their creative drive, their idealistic views, and their emphasis on "solidarity, love & unity". It seemed that these people were truly the servants of both Creation and Stone at once - in his words, "totally my people." As the 90s opened, however, things fell apart. The punk scene was torn apart by truly Malphasian political divisions and infighting, and it hurt Ernie badly. His half-heartedness about his assignments led him to disfavor with David, and he hit bottom, stuck on a terrible assignment to the Easter Island tiki-head Tether where he mostly sat in his room all day, listened to old-school punk, and wondered what to do now. Then two things happened - he found out about oi music and he discovered that he loved to write. The tough, honest, defiant, bond-forging nature of oi music was something that he loved, and Ernie found that writing was truly his Creative gift. He could express his feelings on the printed page in a way that dazzled and delighted humans, encouraging them to cast aside their differences and Create new bonds between themselves. He's just completed his assignment on Easter Island, his superiors have looked on his rebirth with delight, and he's ready to move into a more important setting Ernie prefers to spend his free time in one of three ways. Either he'll be in clubs and at shows, at home writing about the importance of unity among humanity, or (mostly at night) out prowling the streets, looking for ass marked 'KICK'. There's nothing he loves better than leading a group of righteously angry citizens to defeat evil. Ernie has one especially striking peculiarity in this regard, however. Sometimes, when a fight is going particularly his way, he'll warble 'Rubber Ducky' while he smites. The one demon who witnessed this couldn't stop laughing, at least until Ernie made him stop laughing by giving the demon's Vessel an ersatz appendectomy with a nacho chip. Who says all laughter has to be Dark? Dan ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 04:21:25 -0400 From: Douglas Muir Subject: Re: IN> Re: Mercurian dissonance >At 1:32 AM -0400 11/30/99, Douglas Muir wrote: >> >>Um, not necessarily. If the other being is under the Merc's command, and >>wasn't planning to attack the human anyway, then the _motive_ is coming >>from the Merc. > >Two words: Free Will. Mm, one word... Servant. Those guys have to do what you say, unless they can make a Will Roll. Makes the free will issue pretty fuzzy. And then thre are Servitors of Laurence, who must obey orders or take Dissonance... I dunno. Even _with_ free will, every human justice system that I know of agrees that the person ordering an action shares in the responsibility for it. And the Symphony seems to work this way, too. Hitler and Goebbels, for instance, never killed a single person themselves. But it's canon that the Symphony sent 'em Downstairs anyhow. So the free will of all those other Germans didn't get the order-givers off the hook. >The Mercurian can state his intent, and even phrase it as an order, >but it's not the Mercurian executing it. The Symphony knows Free >Will. Then it knows Cause and Effect, too. >It's the only way it *can* work. Otherwise, a Seraph could order a >Mercurian to beat a man to death and the Mercurian *wouldn't* get >dissonance. "Just following orders" doesn't take the responsibility >from the person executing the violence. H'm. That raises some interesting questions, actually. If we take away a Merc's free will... 1) Merc is geased into hurting someone; he fails his Will roll and can't resist the geas. Dissonant? (I say yes) 2) Merc is a Servant of a more powerful angel... not a Servitor, a Servant, Will-bound. He's instructed to hurt someone and fails his Will roll. Dissonant? (I say yes, though it's a bit fuzzier than #1 IMO). 3) Merc is under the influence of a Balseraph, who has convinced him that he's attacking a _demon_, not a human. (I say dissonance, and the pain of it should snap the Merc free of the Lie, thereby inflicting dissonance on the Bal, too) 4) Merc is taken over by the Song of Possession (I say no Dissonance... otherwise this would make Mercs, and everyone else, way too vulnerable to this Song, which is powerful enough already). Thoughts? Doug M. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 02:50:29 PST From: "Jo Hart" Subject: Re: IN> Re: Mercurian dissonance >From: Douglas Muir >Reply-To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com > > >I dunno. Even _with_ free will, every human justice system that I know of >agrees that the person ordering an action shares in the responsibility for >it. I think it's more the case that the person ordering the action prolly takes a large share of the responsibility, but the minion is also responsible for himself -- 'I was just following orders' may be a mitigating factor, but isn't a defence. >And the Symphony seems to work this way, too. Not to the same extent. At least, not with regard to dissonance. And the Symphony is tougher on celestials than on mortals in some way -- it always places the responsibility on the individual. Anyway, a diplomat's job is to enable negotiation and make the wheels of foreign affairs turn smoothly. But the diplomat has to also know that his government has gunships to back him up with, and there may come a point at which those are also used (even if only as a threat). It isn't usually the diplomats who make the choice of when to call in the big guns ... but it could be. The Mercurians are just non-violent in general, they don't personally like to get their hands dirty with it (with an exception for demons). That doesn't mean that they think it's wrong, or always inappropriate. It just isn't what they were created to do. What they do have is an unparalleled ability to understand the circumstances around any one mortal's situation. ie. In a trial, the Mercurian would have a good handle on any potential mitigating circumstances (such as if the mortal is being abused by a spouse, or has 17 illegitimate children to keep). What we found in play is that they're great interrogators, because they can figure out a person's weak spots very very fast, and then pressure them. (What a shame if anything were to happen to your lover... Don't you think?) [This gets worse if they are in service to Destiny or Judgment...] They work brilliantly with Malakim. It's like the smooth-talker, and the tough. Nice/Nasty. You don't need to make your Mercurians this hard-edged, but it's fun that they can be if you want. > >It's the only way it *can* work. Otherwise, a Seraph could order a > >Mercurian to beat a man to death and the Mercurian *wouldn't* get > >dissonance. "Just following orders" doesn't take the responsibility > >from the person executing the violence. Unless both the Seraph & Mercurian are servitors of Laurence. But any senior Laurencian who is ordering his minions into dissonance is going to be hauled up very fast as soon as anyone finds out. That's abusive. Mind you -- what an interesting scenario, if an angel of Laurence Fell, but his previous minions hadn't yet realised... Or if a demon impersonates a senior Laurencian using Songs of Form (classic setup for Balseraph of Fate, I'd think.) Of course, the junior angel won't actually take dissonance for disobeying (the imposter is not actually his senior officer), but it would take some guts to say 'no.' > >H'm. That raises some interesting questions, actually. If we take away a >Merc's free will... > >1) Merc is geased into hurting someone; he fails his Will roll and can't >resist the geas. Dissonant? (I say yes) Yes. Geases can make anyone dissonant (but I think they need to be high level geases to do that -- ie. you'd need a higher level geas to force a Mercurian to kill a mortal than you would to force a Seraph to kill a mortal) > >2) Merc is a Servant of a more powerful angel... not a Servitor, a >Servant, Will-bound. He's instructed to hurt someone and fails his Will >roll. Dissonant? (I say yes, though it's a bit fuzzier than #1 IMO). Yes, still dissonant. > >3) Merc is under the influence of a Balseraph, who has convinced him that >he's attacking a _demon_, not a human. (I say dissonance, and the pain of >it should snap the Merc free of the Lie, thereby inflicting dissonance on >the Bal, too) > Yep. More dissonance. (Although since most Mercurians dislike violence anyway, they might still try to find less direct ways to attack the 'demon') >4) Merc is taken over by the Song of Possession (I say no Dissonance... >otherwise this would make Mercs, and everyone else, way too vulnerable to >this Song, which is powerful enough already). > Yep. I agree :) Song of Possession shouldn't give dissonance. jo ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:30 -0500 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> Re: Mercurian dissonance At 4:21 AM -0400 11/30/99, Douglas Muir wrote: > >At 1:32 AM -0400 11/30/99, Douglas Muir wrote: > >> > >>Um, not necessarily. If the other being is under the Merc's command, and > >>wasn't planning to attack the human anyway, then the _motive_ is coming > >>from the Merc. > > > >Two words: Free Will. > >Mm, one word... Servant. > >Those guys have to do what you say, unless they can make a Will Roll. >Makes the free will issue pretty fuzzy. I can accept the use of a Servant as being a dissonance situation. Or not. Really, a Servant I could see either way. *Specifically,* if the Servant resists and fails his Will Roll, I'm willing to say the Mercurian takes Dissonance. He has become the one shooting the gun through another's body in that case. A Servant willingly doing it doesn't transmit dissonance to his Mercurian master. As much as I hate to use Nichole as an example, when she has her new protoservant kill a man in "A Bright Dream," specifically to avoid dissonance and disturbance, it does *not* make her dissonant. (Though I think she should have been dissonant for using a Song to slam the guy in a wall in the first place.) A non-Servant, I don't see as being relevant at all. >And then thre are Servitors of Laurence, who must obey orders or take >Dissonance... Which isn't relevant to the Mercurian's dissonance conditions. That the Mercurian is certain his order will be obeyed doesn't take the actual violent act out of the hands of the executor. And again, this implies that a distincted Seraph of the Sword could order an undistincted Mercurian of the Sword to kill a man, and the Mercurian *wouldn't* be dissonant because he was just following orders. Clearly, that's wrong. The Mercurian *would* take dissonance for obeying the order (and would face dissonance for disobediance otherwise -- catch 22). >I dunno. Even _with_ free will, every human justice system that I know of >agrees that the person ordering an action shares in the responsibility for >it. And the Symphony seems to work this way, too. Er... no it doesn't. >Hitler and Goebbels, for instance, never killed a single person >themselves. But it's canon that the Symphony sent 'em Downstairs >anyhow. So the free will of all those other Germans didn't get the >order-givers off the hook. Um.... Hitler and Goebbels achieved their Fate. Thus they went to Hell. The two situations aren't even remotely analagous. It's like saying "Hawaiian Pizza is both salty and sweet, so therefore Chicago Deep Dish style pizza sucks." The first statement has nothing to do with the second. > > >The Mercurian can state his intent, and even phrase it as an order, > >but it's not the Mercurian executing it. The Symphony knows Free > >Will. > >Then it knows Cause and Effect, too. So, if any Celestial orders a human to kill another human (Servant or not), there's disturbance, right? I mean, the Symphony must know the Celestial caused the death even if the human caused it, so by cause and effect, the Symphony will ring out in disturbance, right? No? Huh. Guess the Symphony doesn't know Cause and Effect. > > >It's the only way it *can* work. Otherwise, a Seraph could order a > >Mercurian to beat a man to death and the Mercurian *wouldn't* get > >dissonance. "Just following orders" doesn't take the responsibility > >from the person executing the violence. > >H'm. That raises some interesting questions, actually. If we take away a >Merc's free will... If you possess a Mercurian, I'd say it's not dissonant. But "just following orders" doesn't wash -- the Mercurian's pulling the trigger. And vice versa. - -- Eric Alfred Burns It was then I felt my heart break like a in-sabre@annotations.com fragile Scooby Snack upon the harsh teeth of http://www.annotations.com Reality -- and it's been broken ever since. http://www.annotations.com/~journal --Johnny Bravo ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:50:58 -0600 From: David Edelstein Subject: IN> Re: Mercurian dissonance >>>I recognize the difference, Dave. But I still don't see how this makes "I order you to kill this human for me" a non-dissonant action.<<< Committing *personal violence* is dissonant for a Mercurian. Not permitting, encouraging, or even ordering violence. They are non-violent by nature, but that doesn't mean they are anti-violence per se. Most probably dislike encouraging violence, but they don't have to oppose it, and they KNOW when it's necessary. >>>As someone else pointed out, if that ain't dissonant, then a Merc can shoot a human and claim that the bullets were the real cause of the damage...<<< A specious argument. Think of a diplomat. He's not going to pull out a gun and shoot an opposing head of state when diplomacy fails. But he might very well pull out his cell-phone and say "They refuse to listen to reason. Commence bombing." - -David ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 13:51:36 +0000 (GMT) From: Warsinger Subject: IN> PBEM/Bored over Christmas I've been wanting to run a PBEM for some time, in fact I asked for players here before (and got them), but it fell apart - largely because I hit a personal crisis, but also because I tend to generate plots once I see the PC's - but that once I hadn't - I had a setting in mind which was specifically designed for a mixed group - and I got all Angels - and I just didn't see how it could work like that. Anyway - my Christmas break is generally dull, because all my friends live elsewhere - and there is only so long I can spend being festive with my family :) So what I was hoping was that say 5 people could send me Demonic aligned PC's and I could write the plot over Christmas centred round those chars (going back to my normal style seems a better plan), and we could start the Campaign say Jan 10th. That's the date my Uni term starts - but the date is negotiable natch. But probably not much earlier would be possible. Please e-mail me privately with your replies etc etc. (Note: I have most, but not all the books, so let me know in the write-up if it contains stuff for other books and what they are. Also please tell me what sort of style of game you like etc) Warsinger Cute and fluffy....(with claws) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 09:14:28 -0500 From: neel@cswv.com Subject: Re: IN> Using Canon, Especially Bad Expanded Choir Resonances Douglas Muir wrote: > >And their dissonance conditions are tougher than the Elohim's. Not as >tough as the Mals, no, but then they don't get anywhere near the fear >and respect that the Malakim do. Nor do they have particularly nifty >attunements to compensate... some decent ones (Dominic, Michael), but >several lame ones (Jordi, Janus). None that make the average player >say, "Whoa! I wanna play _that_!" I dunno -- the Mercurian of War attunement is arguably the most powerful Servitor attunement in the main rulebook, since it works automatically on any pair of characters the PC has ever met even in passing. Even better, it has a lot of drama to it and effective use of it will tend to involve the whole party so there's no sense of guilt inhibiting its use on the player level: "Abraham, you go get a reservation at Vinny's for Wednesday night. Raguel, we need to get the two of them in the same car going down I-93 at 3:45 this afternoon. I also need you to take this Corvette and crash into them when you hit the exit near Pleasanton. Joseph, can you get me three jazz guitarists and smuggle them into the hospital? Thanks. "I love it when a plan comes together..." - -- Neel Krishnaswami neelk@cswv.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 14:51:41 -0000 From: Meehan Anthony Subject: RE: IN> Uh, hey. >b) are Malakim supposed to be totally bereft of humor and the >ability to >have a good time when not in the presence of evil, or can they enjoy >themselves when they aren't hip-deep in demon guts? I badly want to >have the following conversation before I mash something. > >Demon: Who ARE you? >Me: I'm BATMAN! > >Dan > Well, An NPC of mine, Bob - Malakim of Creation in Service to Novalis Utilises the Malakim of Creation Attunement to use fruit and vegetables as weapons. What do you do when someone attacks you with a Punnet of Loganberries? You get badly hurt (when its necessary of course). And servitors of Kobal will never look at a banana in the same way again. At least _I_ found it amusing Starsurfer ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 09:55:49 EST From: BillionSix@aol.com Subject: Re: IN> Uh, hey. In a message dated 11/30/99 8:53:52 AM Central Standard Time, EEEAMEEH@livjm.ac.uk writes: << Well, An NPC of mine, Bob - Malakim of Creation in Service to Novalis Utilises the Malakim of Creation Attunement to use fruit and vegetables as weapons. What do you do when someone attacks you with a Punnet of Loganberries? You get badly hurt (when its necessary of course). And servitors of Kobal will never look at a banana in the same way again. At least _I_ found it amusing >> What if someone attacks you with a poin-ted stick? Rev. Brian A. Rogers ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 11:26:05 EST From: MarkDEddy@aol.com Subject: Re: IN> Mercurian resonance In a message dated 11/29/99 10:29:51 PM, douglas.muir@yale.edu writes: >Not talking "mini-maxing munchkins" here. Talking cool. Mal of Creation, >Kyrio of Stone or Lightning, Ofanite of Fire, Cherubs of Lightning or >War ... cool. The ones that *inspire* players. > For some odd reason, my players loved the Mercurian of Destiny attunement. Don't ask me why. Mark ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 10:45:17 CST From: "jonh smith" Subject: IN> Re: mercurian dissonance. >I think we can all agree that if a Mercurian is in charge of a Malakite, and he says, "Mal, beat up this human for me," then the Merc will take dissonance... yes?< Well, as people that have observed my coments on here might have intuited, my character is a malakim of mike. My character have worked with several mercurians, but I have never taken orders from them. I generally think that it is their place to try getting us into parties, charm the non-combatants, and generaly keep things calm. But when things start going down hill, I'm going to bust out the colts and start attacking. Our groups two mercs had better just stand clear until the bullets stop whizing. Should they take dissonance for my actions? I dont think so. - -Onaxthiel aka Roger Oglethorpe. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 11:45:57 CST From: "jonh smith" Subject: IN> Re: uh, hey. For the gentleman who was asking about malakims sense of humor: yup they can very definetly have them. Even if you don't want to play it up to heavily, there can be a certain humor in being the straight man. My malakim never comes down with the same vessel twice. In our last adventure, he had a from that bore an uncanny resembelance to Doctor Ruth. No one saw it coming. We encountered a lilim in the role of a police officer. Afterwards, her partner filled out a report in which he stated; "It appeared that Doctor Ruth was standing on the hood of the car, firing an assualt shotgun through the glass. When oredered to desist, she steped down stated that officer Kale had been feeling represed, and proceded to flee the scene...." The point is, there is no wrong way to play a malakim. even a dishonorable malakim might be playable, if not appropriate and long lived. As in any RPG, the limit is what you can come up with. I would say however, that very few malakim would let their sense of humor conflict with their overall sense of duty. If I can't throw of a cool tag line when I'm killing the demon, I'm still going to kill him. -onaxthiel AKA Roger Oglethorpe ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 13:21:23 -0500 From: Walter Milliken Subject: IN> IN jewelry At 20:10 -0500 11/28/99, Shadowstar wrote: > On top of that, she also has mentioned that Band Sigils are in the works! Apparently -- a certain Archangel received (from an unnamable source) what appears to be a prototype Lilim pendant. Very nice. - ---Walter ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 12:29:27 -0600 From: Shadowstar Subject: Re: IN> Nasty Malakite Trick At 1:39 AM -0600 11/30/99, Michael Mihallik wrote: [. . . Snippage of Stupid Malakite Trick with BodyBag Backpack . . .] Cute trick. >Remember, unless a celestial has the chance to really examine an >artifact, the artifact is undetected as being such. As an alternative, I >use an optional feature, "Masked Artifact", which works like a Role >purchased for the artifact, in effect, hiding it from celestial treasure >hunters. Impossible to detect (as an artifact) in the corporeal realm - 5 point Feature (Liber Reliquarum, p. 23). You'd be surprised at the amount of Stupid Artifact Tricks you can pull with this book. . . Be seeing you, - - Tafka J. = shadowstar@centurytel.net # Balseraph of Fate, Marquis of Delusions of Grandeur * http://home.centurytel.net/shdwstar/in-nomine ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 12:37:02 -0600 From: Shadowstar Subject: Re: IN> Re: Mercurian dissonance At 6:00 AM -0500 11/30/99, Whistling in the Dark wrote: [. . . Snippage of silly Mecurian Debate . . .] >As much as I hate to use Nichole as an example, when she has her new >protoservant kill a man in "A Bright Dream," specifically to avoid >dissonance and disturbance, it does *not* make her dissonant. >(Though I think she should have been dissonant for using a Song to >slam the guy in a wall in the first place.) Yes, she probably has a point or two of dissonance by this point. On the flip side, she also probably works it off at Tethers. . . All the _time_. (Remember that vignette's aren't necessarely CANON. Especially those vignette's written before they got a stable LE. As far as I know, Nichole was written at a time when SJG In Nomine was closer to INS/MV than it is now. . .) [. . . More Snippage of silly Mecurian Debate . . .] Be seeing you, - - Tafka J. = shadowstar@centurytel.net # Balseraph of Fate, Marquis of Delusions of Grandeur * http://home.centurytel.net/shdwstar/in-nomine ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 13:33:53 -0500 From: Walter Milliken Subject: Re: IN> Mercurians and Shedim At 21:24 -0500 11/28/99, Douglas Muir wrote: >This has popped up occasionally IMC... and on one memorable and humourous >occasion, led to a strange game of brinksmanship between Merc and Shed. > >Angel: I'll kill him! I mean it! >Demon: You're bluffing! >Angel: [pounds on immobilized human host a bit more, reducing it to last > few Body hits] I'm warning you...! >Demon: You're not getting me out of here! > >The angels, you see, had a couple of PCs who were killers in Celestial >combat... they'd chase down a demon, whale on it until it went celestial, >then go celestial themselves and try to rip a Force off it before it could >descend to Hell. A crude strategy, and LOUD, but when it worked it worked >well. > >This particular Shed, therefore, was understandably quite reluctant to >leave his safe hidey-hole... Actually, there's a perfectly good tactic in this instance -- knock the host out with a blow to the head. (OK, so there's no rules for that, but....) If the host is unconscious, then the Shedite is forced out in (I recall) 30 minutes. Bad news for the slimeball.... He doesn't get dissonance, but it's otherwise a decent tactic. If you have a Kyrio in the group, they can also pry the demon loose by taking over the host, themself, pushing the Shedite out. A much nastier tactic is to knock the host out, and then cart the host to the nearest Tether before the 30 minutes. The poor Shedite pops out and gets burned (not to mention the crowd of angels hanging around to pound on it.) I'm assuming here that the Shedite goes unconscious with its host for the 30 minutes, gradually floating loose from the host's mind. I don't know if it goes to the Marches with the host mind, or just blanks out. (For that matter, I don't think it's clear what happens if a Shedite goes to sleep in a host to deliberately travel to the Marches. I think I'd say it stays embedded in the host's mind in the host's dreamscape, where it can suggest fun things to do in the dreamscape....) - ---Walter ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 14:09:42 -0500 From: Walter Milliken Subject: Re: IN> She's like the Wind... At 17:18 -0500 11/29/99, Douglas Muir wrote: >Songs > >Ethereal Form - 4 Corporeal Healing - 2 I think you mean Celestial Form -- Ethereal is the "shadowform" Song, not the shape-changing one, if I remember right. >Iola travels from place to place, changing her appearance with the Song of >Form I think there's a major problem with this -- as far as I recall, Celestial Form only lasts a few minutes; it's hard to keep up any sort of long-term change using it, since you quickly run out of Essence as you keep re-performing it. To do this on a long-term basis, she'd probably need the Kyrio of Creation attunement, but she can't have that, since she's not a Creationer or a Kyrio. - ---Walter ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #1437 ******************************** The material here is (C) 1999 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.