From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Sat Aug 7 08:08:10 1999 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (root@lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id IAA08156 for ; Sat, 7 Aug 1999 08:08:10 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id IAA02700 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Sat, 7 Aug 1999 08:01:02 -0500 Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 08:01:02 -0500 Message-Id: <199908071301.IAA02700@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 #1301 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 Saturday, August 7 1999 Volume 01 : Number 1301 In this digest: IN> Do You Have A Degree??? Re: IN> Jokes and Cherubim and the Sword Re: IN> Jokes and Cherubim and the Sword IN> Rules questions . . . Re: IN> Rules questions . . . Re: IN> Rules questions . . . IN> Re: IN- Rules questions . . . IN> IN: Hacking Re: IN> Rules questions . . . Re: IN> Rules questions . . . RE: IN> Rules questions . . . Re: IN> Two bizarre questions Re: IN> Rules questions . . . IN> Fonts on the character sheet Re: IN> Rules questions . . . Re: IN> IN: Hacking IN> Combat Monster IN> CPG Cuts: Organizations ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 14:17:40 +0200 From: wrel09@aol.com Subject: IN> Do You Have A Degree??? UNIVERSITY DIPLOMAS Obtain a prosperous future, money earning power, and the admiration of all. Diplomas from prestigious non-accredited universities based on your present knowledge and life experience. No required tests, classes, books, or interviews. Bachelors, masters, MBA, and doctorate (PhD) diplomas available in the field of your choice. No one is turned down. Confidentiality assured. CALL NOW to receive your diploma within days!!! 1-212-465-3248 Call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including Sundays and holidays. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 10:32:41 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Jokes and Cherubim and the Sword At 8:01 PM -0400 8/5/99, EDG (and Orc) wrote: >Being a Vassal of the Sword doesn't turn you into an Elohite. It just >makes it so you can remain serious when you want to be serious. Right, what he said. O:> >It raises an interesting question, though - can a Vassal of the Sword who's >/not/ being serious (say, a Mercurian who's having a good laugh with his >drinking buddies) suddenly /turn/ serious at the drop of a hat with this >Distinction? It does say "remain serious"; does the Vassal need to be >serious in the first place for this to work? Seriously ... I'd say that said Mercurian can turn serious at the drop of a hat. (And even if serious, I doubt they _lose_ their sense of humor -- I'm sure they still have their normal ability to recognize humor (however well developed or atrophied it is), but they don't hear the World's Funniest Joke and collapse. Hm. Probably neither do they go into hysterical weeping.... Hm. I'll have to go see what we did with the GURPS version. If it's based on Unfazable, I'll go with that. O:> ) - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor GURPS, Roleplayers, In Nomine stuff; Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 10:45:03 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Jokes and Cherubim and the Sword At 8:01 PM -0400 8/5/99, EDG (and Orc) wrote: > Being a Vassal of the Sword doesn't turn you into an Elohite. And being an Elohite doesn't mean you have no sense of humor. It just means you don't let it get in the way of your judgement. In fact, Elohim and Vassals of the Sword probably DO have pretty much the same kind of control over humor -- not blind to it, but not prey to it, either. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 11:40:19 -0400 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: IN> Rules questions . . . I'm getting ready to run my first game of In Nomine (and neither I nor any of the payers have played it before) so I'm going to have several questions about the rules as this thing gears up. Here are a couple that I've thought of already . . . First, the rules say that killing a human causes a disturbance in the Symphony, and damaging objects causes a disturbance, but not damaging a human (p. 55). This doesn't seem quite right, and also tends to contradict the description of the Malakim (p. 99) where hitting a Balseraph is interesting because it *doesn't* affect the symphony. Which is "officially" correct? (Actually, no matter what the official position, I'm probably going to play it so that *any* damage causes a disturbance, because it just feels right to me) Second, the description of Numinous Corpus (Feet) says at level 1 you get Power +2, and at level 4 you get Power +4. What's the advantage of having levels 2 or 3, or greater than 4? Can angels buy it at level 1 -- and then as the description states they'll have hooves when they invoke the song? Can angels get "demonic" traits, and vice-versa? Finally, anyone have any general suggestions for how to assemble and run a group? Good adventures to start with? How to balance a starting party? How to introduce a group of people to the game? - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 16:54:02 +0100 From: hjalkar@redbrick.dcu.ie (Kevin Walsh) Subject: Re: IN> Rules questions . . . On Fri, Aug 06, 1999 at 11:40:19AM -0400, Chris Bergstresser wrote: > First, the rules say that killing a human causes a disturbance in the > Symphony, and damaging objects causes a disturbance, but not damaging a > human (p. 55). This doesn't seem quite right, and also tends to contradict > the description of the Malakim (p. 99) where hitting a Balseraph is > interesting because it *doesn't* affect the symphony. Which is "officially" > correct? The latter, I believe. (Actually, no matter what the official position, I'm probably > going to play it so that *any* damage causes a disturbance, because it just > feels right to me) Do so. > Second, the description of Numinous Corpus (Feet) says at level 1 you get > Power +2, and at level 4 you get Power +4. What's the advantage of having > levels 2 or 3, or greater than 4? You have a better chance of making the roll to sing the Song. > Can angels get "demonic" traits, and vice-versa? Yes. I'll leave the explanations as to why these traits aren't demonic to angels of Jordi. > Finally, anyone have any general suggestions for how to assemble and run > a group? Good adventures to start with? How to balance a starting party? > How to introduce a group of people to the game? > It's a good idea to make sure that someone playing a Seraph is a natural pedant. Kevin Walsh, Balseraph of Nitpicking, Demon of Off-Topic Trivia. - -- "... the expression "secret society" means an association, society, or other body the members of which are required by the regulations thereof to take or enter into, or do in fact take or enter into an oath, affirmation, declaration or agreement not to disclose the proceedings or some part of the proceedings of the association, society, or body." Offences Against the State Act, 1939, Appendix A, Section 3.2 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 12:05:14 -0400 From: "EDG (and Orc)" Subject: Re: IN> Rules questions . . . At 11:40 AM 8/6/99 -0400, you wrote: > First, the rules say that killing a human causes a disturbance in the >Symphony, and damaging objects causes a disturbance, but not damaging a >human (p. 55). This doesn't seem quite right, and also tends to contradict >the description of the Malakim (p. 99) where hitting a Balseraph is >interesting because it *doesn't* affect the symphony. Which is "officially" >correct? (Actually, no matter what the official position, I'm probably >going to play it so that *any* damage causes a disturbance, because it just >feels right to me) Every 4 points of damage to anything naturally on the corporeal plane creates 1 point of disturbance in the Symphony. This includes humans (including Soldiers, Saints, Undead - I believe - etc.) and corporeal objects, but not celestials in vessels. > Second, the description of Numinous Corpus (Feet) says at level 1 you get >Power +2, and at level 4 you get Power +4. What's the advantage of having >levels 2 or 3, or greater than 4? Can angels buy it at level 1 -- and then >as the description states they'll have hooves when they invoke the song? >Can angels get "demonic" traits, and vice-versa? It's been answered before, and I'm not sure this is the "right" answer, but it's the one that makes sense to me: The higher levels make it easier to do. (People always forget or overlook that.) The reason you'll want level 2 rather than level 1 is because your target number is higher. :) As for "demonic" traits - sure. Just don't let a Dominican see you wearing them... > Finally, anyone have any general suggestions for how to assemble and run >a group? Good adventures to start with? How to balance a starting party? >How to introduce a group of people to the game? This is a toughie... it depends almost totally on you, the players, and the tone of the game you want to run. If you want the War to be important, then have the characters be of the same (or of allied) Superior(s). If seeing how the characters interact through difficulty is the point, then give them unallied (even Hostile) Superiors; you might even consider making one a Renegade, or a straight demon (maybe working for the Game, trying to /capture/ a dangerous renegade...). Balancing a starting party can be difficult. Basically, try to play to every character's (and player's) strengths, and don't manipulate their weaknesses /too/ much. One way to do things is to not allow players to share character information outside of the game - though this tends to foster paranoia and is generally only applicable to an Infernal campaign. Also, review each character before you allow it into play. There's a fine line between skill concentration and min/maxing, and you'll want to make sure that the character is on your side of it. :) If you have the GM's screen, "Feast of Blades" has generally been known to be a good starting adventure - in my experience! :) If not, the best way - in my experience - to get a group together is to give them, as an unfamiliar group, a goal, and have them try to get to it. It's somewhat the "you're in a bar" approach, but it's tried and true. - -EDG too much free time... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 09:06:25 PDT From: "Miles 2 Go" Subject: IN> Re: IN- Rules questions . . . Hey Chris, I just started my first In Nomine game and it was easier than I feared. Let me answer some of your questions: > I'm getting ready to run my first game of In Nomine (and neither >I nor >any of the payers have played it before) so I'm going to have >several questions about the rules as this thing gears up. Here are >a couple that I've thought of already . . . > > First, the rules say that killing a human causes a disturbance >in the Symphony, and damaging objects causes a disturbance, but not >damaging a human (p. 55). This doesn't seem quite right, and also >tends to contradict the description of the Malakim (p. 99) where >hitting a Balseraph is interesting because it *doesn't* affect the > >symphony. Which is "officially" correct? (Actually, no matter >what the official position, I'm probably going to play it so that >*any* >damage causes a disturbance, because it just feels right to >me) Your gut feel is correct. Any damage to a human by a celestial (or ethereal for that matter) causes disturbance just as if an object was damaged. This adds to disturbance caused for killing a human. Which I believe is in the example of how distirbance builds, but I don't have my book in front of me. > Second, the description of Numinous Corpus (Feet) says at >level 1 you get Power +2, and at level 4 you get Power +4. >What's the advantage of having levels 2 or 3, or greater than 4? >Can angels buy it at level 1 -- and then as the description states >they'll have hooves when they invoke the song? Feet isn't the only NC with this characteristic. The advantage of having a higher level is that you are more likely to be able to actually activate the NC when you use the song. Another reason would be to try to reach virtuoso level with Numinous Corpus (see Liber Canticorium for virtuoso rules). >Can angels get "demonic" traits, and vice-versa? While most of the Numinous Corpus have a more demonic than angelic feel, angels are certainly allowed to take most Numinous Corpus. Liber Canticorium adds a few new Numinous Corpus that are restricted by Superior, so an angel wouldn't be likely to have NC: Mouth, but they can take any normal NC. > Finally, anyone have any general suggestions for how to >assemble and run a group? Good adventures to start with? How to >balance a starting party? Decide first if you even care about balance. I'm running a party with mixed celestials and humans. A six force human isn't balanced compared to a nine force celestial. Even if you have an all celestial group, In Nomine lends itself to min/maxing. It's very easy to design someone who kicks butt in a specialty. Just try to make sure the specialities don't overlapp too much. >How to introduce a group of people to the game? I tend to let the players generate characters first, and then try to build an introduction customized for the characters. Good Luck, Tim _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 09:44:53 PDT From: "Miles 2 Go" Subject: IN> IN: Hacking In my second game session I had a player want to make a computer ops roll to track down a person through their credit card useage. Now with their computer ops skill they aren't likely to miss a roll and they were successful with this roll with a CD of 6. That left me with a quandry, because it seemed way to easy to me to break into a very secure system with a simple computer ops roll. I ruled against it, but here are some expanded rules for hacking that I'm probably going to implement. Comments are welcome to tweak this before release to my players: A successful computer ops roll will allow access to information publicly available on the system. The amount of information avialable depends on the CD ranging from just a bit of information to everything public on the system. Attempts to find restricted information is played out by _hacking_ the system. Hacking a system is an attempt to find a flaw in the system to allow a user to have access of a more priveledged user on a system. This depends on their being an exploitable flaw in existence on the system. Make a d666 roll for the target system. The target number depends on the system... TN 4 Individual Person / Mom & Pop Shop (Bob's webshopping page) TN 6 Small Company / College / Generic Government Agency (census information) TN 8 Typical Company / Univesity (Frito-Lay sales information, transcript information) TN 10 Individual Bank / Government Protected Information (social security, tax records) TN 12 Major Financial Organization / High -Tech Corporation / Government Sensitive Information TN 14 Military High Security, Lightning / Technology secure system A failure indicates the existence of an exploitable hole in the system that can be used to obtain access to information. The size of the failure indicates the kind of information that can be hacked. Example: Dilbertiel is trying to hack Wally's Web page. The GM throws a d666 to see if Wally left any exploitable holes and gets 7 with a CD of 3. Dilbertiel makes a computer ops role to hack the system and succedes with a CD of 6. He gets all the information that Wally failed to protect, ie, a CD of 3 in information from Wally's system. The GM informs Dilbertiel that Wally was sloppy and placed some files in a non-secure location. Important Note: This system is intended for attempts to hack a system from a totally external system. Most real life hackers don't depend entirely on flaws in security to break into systems. They instead rely on a variety of sneaky techniques to get access. These include dumpster diving (sorting through trash for passwords), social engineering (Hi, I'm calling from IM and I'll be by later to update your virus scanner. Would you please give me your password?), and other such sneakiness. These kind of attempts to gain access avoid this system entirely and should be roleplayed. ===== These rules may be too detailed for most games, but I've got two players with high level of Computer Ops and I wanted more structure. I hope that by limiting the ammount of information available from just a die roll, players will be motivated to role-play their attempts to gain access by stealing or bluffing passwords from the people who have access. _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 13:01:36 -0400 From: Douglas Muir Subject: Re: IN> Rules questions . . . > Second, the description of Numinous Corpus (Feet) says at level 1 you get >Power +2, and at level 4 you get Power +4. What's the advantage of having >levels 2 or 3, or greater than 4? Other people have already pointed out that this makes your roll easier. So, an angel with three corporeal Forces, and Numinous Corpus (feet)/1 must roll a 4 or lower to make the song work... pretty tough. But with NC(feet)/3, he only needs to roll a 6 or lower... much easier. Furthermore, getting the Song at a higher level makes it easier to sing. Look at page 47 -- the section on "performance". At level 1, the angel has to use both hand motions and vocal performance to do the song (verbal and somatic components, to borrow from another RPG). Details are he GM's discretion, but I imagine the angel spreading his arms wide and, well, singing. Pretty hard to conceal. At level 3, though, we're told that the singer can choose _either_ hand motions, _or_ a purely vocal performance, _or_ he can invoke the song with pure concentration if he's willing to stand still and concentrate for one round. This opens up all sorts of interesting options. >Can angels buy it at level 1 -- and then >as the description states they'll have hooves when they invoke the song? I'd give the option of having claws as well, personally. Like the talons of an eagle, frex. >Can angels get "demonic" traits, and vice-versa? I'd say yes, but this would reflect a pretty peculiar angel or demon. > Finally, anyone have any general suggestions for how to assemble and run >a group? Good adventures to start with? How to balance a starting party? >How to introduce a group of people to the game? Actually, I'd like to see more discussion about this. I'm thinking of starting a new campaign, and I have always found the beginning to be sorta tricky. Half the fun of IN is its unique atmosphere, so you want to establish this early... Doug M. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 12:01:51 -0500 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Rules questions . . . From: Kevin Walsh > > It's a good idea to make sure that someone playing a Seraph is a natural > pedant. Preferably by hanging them from the highest... Oh, wait, I thought you said "natural PENDANT." My mistake... *eg* Prodigal Demon of Calling In To Tech Support Without The Product Nearby ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 13:21:05 -0400 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: RE: IN> Rules questions . . . > One way to do things is to not allow players to > share character information outside of the game - though this tends to > foster paranoia and is generally only applicable to an Infernal campaign. Actually, I'm probably going to run a party of Angels, and players are definitely *not* going to be encouraged to share information outside the game. There's going to be plenty of paranoia if I'm doing things correctly, light side or no. > Also, review each character before you allow it into play. There's a fine > line between skill concentration and min/maxing, and you'll want to make > sure that the character is on your side of it. :) I'm not that worried about min/maxing, because anyone too far on one side of their skills are going to start running up against a lot of challenges on the other side of their skills. Heh. > If you have the GM's screen, "Feast of Blades" has generally been known to > be a good starting adventure - in my experience! :) If not, the > best way - > in my experience - to get a group together is to give them, as an > unfamiliar group, a goal, and have them try to get to it. It's somewhat > the "you're in a bar" approach, but it's tried and true. I'm expecting to run Feast of Blades, but not just yet. I was looking for some smaller adventures to ease them into the universe slowly. I may even run them through a few short scenarios one or two at a time before throwing everyone together, both to help them define their character and to give me a little practice. - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 13:32:59 -0400 From: Walter Milliken Subject: Re: IN> Two bizarre questions At 12:54 -0400 8/4/99, Earl Wajenberg wrote: >Since a spirit in Trauma is said to have its forces "regroup" around >its heart, this might imply that the spirit briefly falls apart >and ceases to exist, except as separate forces, now homing in on >the Heart. This, in turn, could mean there *is* no celestial to >trap (at the moment) within the Song of Seals. > >It would also explain why Trauma is so traumatic -- you've briefly >ceased to exist. I've always view it this way -- the Forces are dispersed into the Symphony as a whole, but gradually pull together. Or that they're "stretched" between the corporeal (the dead vessel) and the celestial (Heart or Limbo). The latter notion also explains why Trauma is worse for those with high Corporeal Forces -- they're more "attached" to the corporeal end of things, and have trouble "letting go" of a dead vessel. - ---Walter ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 12:42:20 -0500 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Rules questions . . . From: Douglas Muir > > Actually, I'd like to see more discussion about this. I'm thinking of > starting a new campaign, and I have always found the beginning to be sorta > tricky. Half the fun of IN is its unique atmosphere, so you want to > establish this early... In the case of my group's campaign, we had the ultimate reason to group together. The storyline revolved around a Fallen servitor of Yves who had stolen the secret to time travel from the Library (immediately prior to Falling, of course.) With the secret of time travel in their grasp, Hell had Vapula create a football-sized nuclear device, and sent it back in time to destroy the city of Jerusalem (you can probably guess exactly when.) This led to Hell achieving a near-total victory in the War, with Heaven sacked and the world thrown into chaos. But a few celestials could remember that this was not the way things were meant to be, and under the direction of Yves, were sent back in time to stop the demonic plot. And so, my Malakim wound up teaming up with a Mercurian, a Soldier, and a Free Lilim in what has forever after been dubbed the "Nuke the Baby Jesus Christmas Game." It was fun: Chasing an imp across a rooftop, blazing away with a silenced pistol; stopping the Wise Men to frisk their camels (and finding the bomb, which thanks to my Sheath attunement was promptly done away with; watching the Lilim rack of Geasa on all the other PCs (while avoiding the Malakim as much as possible); and playing out the act of standing guard over the birth. But the most delightful part of the whole thing was blowing all my Essence summoning Yves when we made a stop in the 1960s, to warn him of the theft so that he could prevent it. There was just a certain sick irony to having a Malakim resolve things with no combat whatsoever. Prodigal Demon of Calling In To Tech Support Without The Product Nearby ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 15:22:03 -0400 From: "Chris Bergstresser" Subject: IN> Fonts on the character sheet OK, so I've gotten copies of Skreech Caps and Morpheus (thanks, all) but I'm still trying to figure out what the other font on the character sheet is. Anyone have any ideas? - -- Chris ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 17:38:43 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Rules questions . . . At 11:40 AM -0400 8/6/99, Chris Bergstresser wrote: > I'm getting ready to run my first game of In Nomine (and neither I nor >any of the payers have played it before) so I'm going to have several >questions about the rules as this thing gears up. Here are a couple that >I've thought of already . . . > > First, the rules say that killing a human causes a disturbance in the >Symphony, and damaging objects causes a disturbance, but not damaging a >human (p. 55). Ah-ha! -- check the errata. Every 4 points of damage, to _anything._ (If it's not in the errata, tell me, because it _should_ be in the errata!) > Second, the description of Numinous Corpus (Feet) says at level 1 you get >Power +2, and at level 4 you get Power +4. What's the advantage of having >levels 2 or 3, or greater than 4? You get a better chance of it working, and, also, the performance requirements get easier. > Can angels buy it at level 1 -- and then >as the description states they'll have hooves when they invoke the song? Technically. >Can angels get "demonic" traits, and vice-versa? Yup. As GM, you can certainly change that. (Servitors of Jordi should insist that hooves are perfectly nice! Look, horses have them, and deer, and goats... Likewise horns.) Admittedly, I don't tend to change the Songs, but do tend to have my angels stick with things like Wings and Claws. (I assume you mean "Songs" when you say "traits" above... If not, um...) > Finally, anyone have any general suggestions for how to assemble and run >a group? Online or PBEM, you'll have people beating your door down. > Good adventures to start with? I liked the Feast of Blades one, in the GM Pack. (The spouse ran it, and we jumped ahead of the timeline. Be sure to read it over so you can be prepared to ad lib.) Also... www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/articles has a lot of fan-written adventures. (It's all unofficial, but SJ Games agreed to host it on their site when I was maintaining it.) > How to balance a starting party? Ummmmm..... Balance the personalities, not the abilities, probably... Don't throw together people who want different things out of the game. I'd stick with a angel-only/demon-only group till I got a bit more feel for how to fit them all in. Do watch out for combat monsters vs wimps -- it's very easy for a non- Corporeal Forces heavy celestial to have pathetic hit points. This means that if you have enough combat to satisfy the monsters, they either sit out the combats in as safe a place as they can find, or they do Trauma a lot. >How to introduce a group of people to the game? Ummmm........ Depends on the people! I'll also plug the forthcoming Game Master's Guide... O;> - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor GURPS, Roleplayers, In Nomine stuff; Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 17:29:09 -0500 From: Uncle Wolf Subject: Re: IN> IN: Hacking Miles 2 Go wrote: > ===== > These rules may be too detailed for most games, but I've got two players > with high level of Computer Ops and I wanted more structure. I hope that by > limiting the ammount of information available from just a die roll, players > will be motivated to role-play their attempts to gain access by stealing or > bluffing passwords from the people who have access. Be very afraid of a servitor of Revelations in any game where a mystery is involved, and Seraphim are also generally bad for mysteries. But where computer-secured secrets are involved [schemes on a Vapulan website, with Infernal security measures that are [ahem] Hell on anyone attempting to hack them, for instance], Servitors of Litheroy [Revelations] in service to Lightning are especially to be avoided as PCs. Tom Timberlake, Cadre Cherub of Heaven ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 00:30:18 -0400 From: Douglas Muir Subject: IN> Combat Monster On the subject of minimaxing, a player of mine once came up with the following character: Joe, Calabite of Belial Forces: 5 Corporeal, 2 Ethereal, 2 Celestial Str 12 Int 2 Perc 2 Agil 8 Pre 6 Will 6 Discord Angry - 2 Vessel - 6 Fighting - 6 Dodge-1 Numinous Corpus (claws) - 6 Corporeal Song of Form - 2 Song of Thunder - 4 This still left "Joe" with a few points to play with -- remember, he started with 36 + another 6 for the Calabite discord. So, 18 for the Vessel, 6 for the Fighting skill, 1 for Dodge and 12 for the Songs left him with 5 points. Joe would have body hits equal to (Vessel level + Corporeal Forces) x Strength = (6+5)x12 = 132 body hits! In combat his tactics would be brutally simple. Given time in advance, he'd cast the Numinous Corpus and the Song of Form (for some armor), open with the Song of Thunder to soften 'em up, then charge, screaming, to rip them to shreds. If not given time to prepare, he'd simply cast the Corpus and then fight. Joe's claws rip things up with a Power of +6 -- equal to a sawed-off shotgun blast, and rolling against a 12 Strength means he doesn't miss too often. Furthermore, Joe will use his resonance on an opponent. A 6 Will means he only succeeds about 40% of the time, but when he does, his resonance does (2 x corporeal forces[5] + check digit)... or 11-16 additional points. Do the math, and you'll see that his average damage per round, ignoring interventions, would be about 15 body hits... Joe could kill an average human with a single contemptuous swipe of his claws, and an average 9-force celestial in 3 rounds or so. By way of comparison, imagine someone with Ranged Weapon-3, a Precision of 6 and an M-16 set on full automatic trying to stop Joe. Ignoring Interventions, this person would hit on a 9 or less: 5/6 of the time, doing (d6+8) damage per hit. This would result in an average damage of about 10 points per round... meaning that person would take 13 rounds to kill Joe's Vessel... and that's assuming that Joe does *not* pause to use the Song of Form and armor himself. If you index in Dodging, things get even worse; Joe's Dodge is 9, which is well above the celestial average. Combat lasts longer, but Joe comes out even further ahead. Okay, obviously this character paid for his power with plenty of weaknesses... he's dumb, he's unperceptive, and even his Will isn't all that strong. Thoughtful players will easily be able to come up with plenty of ways to stop Joe. Nevertheless, I was quite impressed by Joe as a demonstration of how to "minimax" using the IN rules. I didn't allow him as a character (too unbalanced; he'd win every fight while everyone else stood around doing nothing, but he'd be almost completely useless otherwise). However, I liked the idea enough that I recycled him as an NPC... a *real* combat monster, in the service of a particularly unpleasant Balseraph. I'm sure that some of you must have seen worse cases than this... war stories, anyone? Most appalling starting PC, developed PC, NPC? Doug M. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 08:57:28 -0400 From: David Edelstein Subject: IN> CPG Cuts: Organizations I've been going through my files, and found some cut material that never even made it to playtest in the CPG. I decided the ideas weren't sound enough, or weren't worth the space to polish and develop further. Here are some human organizations that might be worth a plot seed or two to someone. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---------------------------------------------------------------- Human Agencies These groups are unaffiliated with any celestials, but sometimes run into them, for various reasons. Matsuzaka Corporation Matsuzaka, Inc., is one of Japan's largest conglomerates, selling everything from steel to missile guidance systems to automobiles and consumer electronics. Matsuzaka is also collaborating with ethereals. Spirits, once revered as kami in Japan, now conduct corporate espionage in the Marches, spying on the dreamscapes of CEOs and engineers and marketers working for rival companies, and trade the information to Matsuzaka executives in exchange for Essence (provided by a pair of sarariman sorcerers) and worship. Matsuzaka management's inner circle is composed of militant right-wing extremists who long for a return to Japanese nationalism and reverence for the old ways. Matsuzaka's ethereal "helpers" try to keep their extra-curricular activities secret from Nybbas, as they don't wish to damage their relationship with the August Prosperity Collective (The Marches, p. 104). The Society for the Preservation of Myth One of the old pagan gods, his power greatly diminished since the Purification Crusade, had almost faded from existence when a sudden trickle of Essence rejuvenated him, and attracted him to the corporeal plane. It turned out a popular fantasy novel, in which he (or a reasonable facsimile) was a main character was spinning off computer games, movies, and other media imagery. Millions of people (mostly adolescent boys) were reliving his mythical adventures (albeit in greatly distorted form) and then dreaming about them at night, thus providing him with Essence and worship, of a sort. Alerted to the possibilities in modern storytelling techniques, where a properly packaged myth could generate millions of "worshippers," the god began looking for writers, game designers, and anachronists in the Marches. He recruited other ethereal spirits to help him, and soon they had inspired an organization on Earth: the Society for the Preservation of Myth. Ostensibly an educational foundation that collects world mythology and presents it in books and on websites (and has recently won funding for a video series), the Society continues to be guided by its ethereal patrons . . . who are now trading Essence and favors with other spirits, in return for attempting to influence their unwitting human minions to exert efforts on the ethereal client's behalf. The Necrosis Foundation Dr. Marla Green was an emergency room intern when the paramedics brought her a Zombi. It was newly zombified, but had no Ethereal Forces left; all it could do was blink and drool. Dr. Green spent a week trying to halt its spreading necrosis, but failed to save its life, not realizing that her patient died before she ever laid eyes on him. The demon of Dark Humor who laughed himself silly over the young doctor trying to resuscitate a Zombi didn't know the good doctor had an unusual aptitude for medical experimentation. Twenty years later, Dr. Green has learned a lot about undead. She's learned so much that she can actually restore some semblance of life to mummies, vampires and Zombis. She's become more than a little unhinged, being frequently exposed to the undead, but they keep coming to her clinic, informed through the underground that a mortal knows how to improve their condition. The Necrosis Foundation is dedicated to learning more about the bizarre condition that causes flesh decay, a stunning drop in body temperature, and a near-cessation of involuntary functions. Dr. Green hopes to someday find a cure, but is hampered by the fact that no one in the medical establishment believes her case studies. ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #1301 ******************************** The material here is (C) 1999 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.