From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Wed Aug 9 07:57:42 2000 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (majordom@lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id HAA07490 for ; Wed, 9 Aug 2000 07:57:42 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id HAA24145 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Wed, 9 Aug 2000 07:55:57 -0500 Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 07:55:57 -0500 Message-Id: <200008091255.HAA24145@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 #1765 Reply-To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com Sender: owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Errors-To: owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Precedence: bulk in_nomine-digest Wednesday, August 9 2000 Volume 01 : Number 1765 In this digest: IN> Paganism in In Nomine Re: IN> New Campaign - and questions from my players Re: IN> Precision Re: IN> Faith and The Sword Re: IN> Faith and The Sword Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... Re: IN> Faith and The Sword Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... Fwd: Re: IN> Expanded Fire Attunements (somewhat long) Re: IN> Faith and The Sword Re: IN> Faith and The Sword Re: IN> Faith and The Sword Re: IN> Precision Re: Fwd: Re: IN> Expanded Fire Attunements (somewhat long) Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... re: IN> the Pictures Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... Re: IN> Great Books Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Colonel Maria Tzetke IN> Laurence & Christianity IN> The Archangel of Role-playing Re: IN> The Archangel of Role-playing IN> Thought experiment time... Re: IN> Thought experiment time... Re: IN> Thought experiment time... Re: IN> Laurence & Christianity IN> Essence Mines re: IN> the Pictures ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 15:17:05 -0400 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> Paganism in In Nomine >This has to be the broadest definition of "mysteries" I've ever >seen. Well I believe my only necessary retort to this friend is... IT'S NOVALIS. Her defination occasionally doesn't slake with the rest of the heirachys. I can see frankly this as a special prodject of hers for the next few hundred years. Should prove interesting if Nybblas doesn't blast it to ashes (though it may be part of his scheme with Andre that he's slowly breaking current trends....Novalis may just be picking up the pieces) plus Malphus. - -Charlemagne Minister finding irony in this...and amusing hand of the Big Guy. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2000 19:27:42 GMT From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> New Campaign - and questions from my players >From: sw@haven.eyrie.org >Reply-To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >To: in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >Subject: Re: IN> New Campaign - and questions from my players >Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 09:06:00 -0700 (PDT) > > The one MAJOR complaint I'm getting is about resources - and in > >specific, the Holy/Unholy bullets. > > > > To be brief, I'm getting grief from them on how, from a game design > > setting, it doesn't make sense to use their character points for a > >resource whose only purpose is to be used up, and which doesn't > >replenish. [snip] >Well, you're the GM. >I'd just have a set number that "regenerate" whenever there's a "...and >several days pass" jump in play, or between >sessions, or whatever, and adjust the rate at which they re-stock depending >on play, as a reward/punishment. "Bad angel! No bullets for you!" Flashing back to 4th edition Hero System here -- yup, using the "One-Shot Charges" rule would work just fine. (The # of charges you paid the point cost for isn't the # of charges over your lifetime -- just the # of charges you receive on each visit to your supplier.) - -- Chuckg > >Then again, I don't actually have the book handy to look at the rule... >That's just how I'd do it. > >--JT ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 13:30:11 -0600 From: "ben" Subject: Re: IN> Precision > Precision is the ability to concentrate and focus your mind. It doesn't > get used much in IN, admittedly. My angels get into a lot of car chases (or have to roll to get somewhere *fast*) and an occasional shoot-out. I'm pretty sure both skills are based on precision. Can't think of any other skills that use precision off the top of m'head, though. > -David Ben ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 13:45:06 -0600 From: "ben" Subject: Re: IN> Faith and The Sword > I still use Dominic, and Lawrence, just tone down their fanaticism a hair. I > will probably do the same with Kalid, now that it is possible to have him be > other then a raving zealot Why? If you want a non-Christian Archangel whose servants pass judgement on people, why not use Gabriel? If you want a non-Christian Archangel whose servants are warriors, why not use David or Michael? If you want a non-Muslim Archangel whose servants inspire faith in mankind, why not use Yves or Blandine? > I know the area is sticky, but I was using it as an example. I do see your > point, but does this mean that the big 3 are the only true religions in In > Nomine cannon, and all others are just feeding anti-heavenly forces? If someone is a practitioner of a religion that has an ethereal god, the essence does not go to Heaven. It goes to that ethereal god. If that ethereal god doesn't exist, it will soon if enough people worship it. So in In Nomine, one of two things is true about Wicca. Either a new Goddess has been born from the essence of her worshippers, or an old Goddess has reinvented herself and encouraged Wicca as a way to get essence. This is discussed in the Game Master's Guide in much better terms. :-) Some Archangels might like Wiccans, but Heaven's official policy on religions that send essence to ethereals is that these religions are a problem that must be dealth with; sending essence to ethereals only makes stronger ethereals, and stronger ethereals might be able to more easily sneak to the corporeal realm. And since Ethereals, with the exception of the Hindu triad, *do not like Heaven*, that's a big problem. So they might like Wiccans, but dislike *Wicca*, since it sends essence to the ethereal gods. Heaven and Hell are capable of creating religions, and these religions sent essence to Heaven or Hell. I suppose you could do your own thing and say that some Archangel created Wicca. Out of curiousity, why do you drop the 'h' in Khalid? > Shadowcat Ben ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 13:48:34 -0600 From: "ben" Subject: Re: IN> Faith and The Sword > But you still have to pull more then twice you weight if you are a > non-muslim, just to get favorable recognition. Servitors of Eli suffer this problem, too, when serving other Archangels. How would you handle them? Ben ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 15:55:00 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... At 7:43 PM -0500 8/7/00, David Edelstein wrote: >Graveyard Greg wrote: >> >> http://woundsunlimited.com/issue4/pages/beth.html >> >> If she's a Demon Princess, I've been fighting for the wrong side. Nice pic, >> Beth :) > >So Emily was wrong -- women DO describe their own bra sizes online. Only to make a point.* >-David (or does this mean Elizabeth is really a man?) Hmmm... I'm sure I can dig up your address... How many bags of my daughter's diapers do you want as proof.....? *The point is to be a sadistic tease. It's fun, low-calorie, and attracts the correct sort of male attention if done properly. - --Beth, typing w/a baby (iolanthe) on her chest. Vapitalizatoin & spelling difficult, typing w/1 hand & supporting baby w/other. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 16:04:59 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... At 3:44 AM -0400 8/8/00, BillionSix@aol.com wrote: >In a message dated 8/7/00 3:42:17 PM Central Daylight Time, >graveyardgreg@netzero.net writes: > ><< http://woundsunlimited.com/issue4/pages/beth.html > > If she's a Demon Princess, I've been fighting for the wrong side. Nice pic, > Beth :) >> > >Wow, Beth! I didn't know you were cute!!! All I've ever seen was a darkly lit >pic on your Real McCoy page! Sheesh... Okay, time for this URL again... www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/articles/AB.html www.nh.ultranet.com/~emccoy/Wings.html - --Beth, typing w/a baby (iolanthe) on her chest. Vapitalizatoin & spelling difficult, typing w/1 hand & supporting baby w/other. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2000 15:11:04 -0600 From: shadowcat Subject: Re: IN> Faith and The Sword ben wrote: > Out of curiousity, why do you drop the 'h' in Khalid? because I missed it once, and that is how my spell checker sets it now. Cat ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 17:01:19 -0300 (ADT) From: Philip Vincent Barkow Subject: Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... On Tue, 8 Aug 2000, Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > >Wow, Beth! I didn't know you were cute!!! All I've ever seen was a darkly lit > >pic on your Real McCoy page! > > > Sheesh... Okay, time for this URL again... > > www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/articles/AB.html > www.nh.ultranet.com/~emccoy/Wings.html I remember these. Did you ever find the ones with the whip? ^_^ > > > --Beth, typing w/a baby (iolanthe) on her chest. Vapitalizatoin & spelling > difficult, typing w/1 hand & supporting baby w/other. > > > Philip Shojou ai fan ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 16:16:29 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Fwd: Re: IN> Expanded Fire Attunements (somewhat long) >From: owner-in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 02:30:13 -0500 >To: owner-in_nomine-l@lists.io.com >Subject: BOUNCE in_nomine-l@lists.io.com: Admin request of type /\b c a n c e l\b/i at line 9 >Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 04:12:06 -0400 (EDT) >From: "Rev. Pee Kitty" >X-Sender: pkitty@SaneAsylum.Dobbstown >Subject: Re: IN> Expanded Fire Attunements (somewhat long) > > > >On Mon, 7 Aug 2000, Michael Walton wrote: > >> These three facts add up to one thing: angels of Fire can >> *automatically* detect demons! The main limitation of this is that the >> angel doesn't know that the target is a demon. > >Er, those two statements pretty much c a n c e l each other out, Michael. > >Anyways, each choir can only detect one TYPE of cruelty, which means that >a demon who loves destroying people's minds, but has never actually gotten >off on PHYSICALLY hurting one, can walk right by one of her Kyrios, while >the human standing next to him will the resonance. > >Even if the demon is into that particular type of cruelty, it still >doesn't ring up a darn thing about 'em, except "This is a cruel person". >While that may cause the angel to follow the demon, and eventually find >out that it's a demon, it's anything but a "demon detector". > >If you're looking for demon detectors, grab some of Yves' Seraphim and >Malakim and go for a ride... > >-- >Rev. Pee Kitty, of the order Malkavian-Dobbsian, Q4B4L! > Meow! > >Some people desperately want to be a a part of the crowd. >Some people are special; they stand out in a crowd... >And then there's the ME PHI ME - WE STAND ALONE. > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2000 15:17:10 -0600 From: shadowcat Subject: Re: IN> Faith and The Sword ben wrote: > > > But you still have to pull more then twice you weight if you are a > > non-muslim, just to get favorable recognition. > > Servitors of Eli suffer this problem, too, when serving other Archangels. > How would you handle them? With Eli's servitors leave it as is. It is game balance, no dissonance condition etc. In the way of Khalid (see I remembered the h), I make him more Sunni and less Talabanish. (I don't like using "fundamentalist" since it gets use incorrectly so often). Like I said before the Wiccan follower of faith was a brain fart on my part of two characters. I don't think Khalid would accept that character, but he need not be so close minded on other religions. Shadowcat ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2000 16:19:01 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> Faith and The Sword shadowcat wrote: > But you still have to pull more then twice you weight if you are a > non-muslim, just to get favorable recognition. Yes. And? > P.S. David will you be at Gen-con this weekend? If so I would love to by > you a drink and talk this over in person. My last GenCon was in '94 or so. I don't have much time for cons nowadays. - -David ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2000 16:23:37 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> Faith and The Sword Emily Dresner-Thornber wrote: > Islam does not prosletyze, Huh? Yes, it does. Maybe not as actively as Christianity, but Muslims certainly actively seek converts. >>>(if you don't count the Taliban --> who are not really Moslems, by all accounts.) Actually, I don't buy "True Scotsman" arguments that seek to disassociate fringe lunatics from the mainstream religion. They are certainly not practicing what Mohammad preached, nor are their views reflective of most Muslims, but they are Muslims. (Also note that many Muslim organizations will, while acknowledging that they don't agree with many of the Taliban's actions, still defend them to a certain extent.) - -David ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 14:36:44 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Precision - --- David Edelstein wrote: > Marc Bowden wrote: > > > Precision is the ability to concentrate and focus your mind. It > > > doesn't get used much in IN, admittedly. > > > > > > > Ow. > > > Heh. I didn't mean it quite that way. > > -David (at least I didn't say it doesn't get used much on the IN > LIST...) Thanks, dude. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "And on the 8th day God created gamers, and he looked down from Heaven and said, 'It is... well... uh...'" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites. http://invites.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 14:49:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: IN> Expanded Fire Attunements (somewhat long) - --- Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > >> These three facts add up to one thing: angels of Fire can > >> *automatically* detect demons! The main limitation of this is > that the > >> angel doesn't know that the target is a demon. > > > >Er, those two statements pretty much c a n c e l each other out, > Michael. My apologies, I wasn't precisely clear. The point is that the Fire Attunements unerringly identify a demon as a legitimate target (but not necessarily as a demon). As to the fact that each Attunement only detects one type of cruelty, that was addressed in my original post on this subject -- in order to "ping" on any and all demons, the angel must have the Gabrielite Attunements for Seraphim, Cherubim, Elohim and Kyriotates. Anything less and somebody's going to be missed. However, IMHO, the Seraphi of Fire Attunement alone would catch most demons -- knowingly profitting from the suffering of others pretty much sums up what demons do... especially when they know that some of Hell's Essence is tortured out of damned souls. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "And on the 8th day God created gamers, and he looked down from Heaven and said, 'It is... well... uh...'" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites. http://invites.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 18:07:10 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... At 5:01 PM -0300 8/8/00, Philip Vincent Barkow wrote: >On Tue, 8 Aug 2000, Elizabeth McCoy wrote: >> www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/articles/AB.html >> www.nh.ultranet.com/~emccoy/Wings.html > >I remember these. > >Did you ever find the ones with the whip? ^_^ No. O:< I clearly must find time to take a new one... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 15:08:18 -0700 (PDT) From: "David M. Barr" Subject: re: IN> the Pictures Seeing these, as well as the previously posted baby impudite princess of cute pics (look to the archives, or the Feb. SJ Games daily Illuminator fo the link) I can think of something Walter and I very likely have in common... The mantra "I am a very lucky man." OB IN... Uhm.... Is there luck in the IN world? Canon states there is fate and destiny, and that there is free will to choose between them, to strive for one or the other. But is there choas? or is everything that appears random actually controlled by forces that cannot be seen? (Free will rolls the dice, but is it luck or intervention that makes it snake eyes or boxcars?) - -daiv ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 19:20:32 -0300 From: pbarkow@is2.dal.ca Subject: Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... On 8 Aug 00, at 18:07, Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > At 5:01 PM -0300 8/8/00, Philip Vincent Barkow wrote: > >On Tue, 8 Aug 2000, Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > > >> www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/articles/AB.html > >> www.nh.ultranet.com/~emccoy/Wings.html > > > >I remember these. > > > >Did you ever find the ones with the whip? ^_^ > > No. O:< I clearly must find time to take a new one... > It's one of the more effective methods of collecting large numbers of low level geases, after all. :) > > > "What are the sheep to do when the shepherd gets lost?" "Eat him." Philip Barkow pbarkow@is2.dal.ca http://is2.dal.ca/~pbarkow/ Harbinger of Keener-sama Vice President DPG Official Fashion Consultant and Hentai of the DGML Shameless Faith/Buffy shipper. Head of the Keiko-chanian faction ___________________________________________________ Want free email at the price of your privacy, your soul, and your first born child? Oh wait, that wouldn't be very free... http://cold.mail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 17:39:38 -0500 From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... - ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 5:20 PM Subject: Re: IN> This will get me in so much trouble... > On 8 Aug 00, at 18:07, Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > > > At 5:01 PM -0300 8/8/00, Philip Vincent Barkow wrote: > > >Did you ever find the ones with the whip? ^_^ > > > > No. O:< I clearly must find time to take a new one... > > > It's one of the more effective methods of collecting large numbers of > low level geases, after all. :) How? She can't look into our eyes. One of the advantages of 'impersonal cyberspace'. :) - -- Chuckg ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 17:42:38 -0700 From: "Robb-Escue" Subject: Re: IN> Great Books > I wouldn't say that, I am a veracious reader, I will read damn neer anything > as long as it is good. I didn't mean anything derogatory about comic readers. I'm a comic reader. I'm also a constant book reader. I also watch Johny Bravo. Power to comic readers! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2000 19:05:29 -0500 From: Kris Overstreet Subject: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Colonel Maria Tzetke At 04:18 PM 8/2/00 -0400, you wrote: >At 10:26 PM -0500 8/1/00, Kris Overstreet wrote: >Fun game. Are the logs still online? Sadly, the logs are lost, presumed forever, following (a) a web host system crash, (b) web hose installation of SSH and SKey, and (c) two personal hard drive crashes which eliminated all my records of the campaign. If someone saved them, I'd be grateful. Redneck Kris Overstreet, aka Redneck Gaijin publisher, White Lightning Prod. - www.wlpcomics.com I ***LOATHE*** Microsoft Outlook. Please get Eudora. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 10:26:06 +1000 From: "David Streeter" Subject: IN> Laurence & Christianity >difference. Laurence and Khalid are both devout to their religions: they >actively practice the tenants and the laws therein to the best of their >abilities. They follow the laws and codes of morality as written in their >religious codes. Interesting perspective. I wonder how Laurence reconciles "Thou shalt not kill", "Love one another as I have loved you" and "turn the other cheek" etc. I guess maybe demons don't count... but does that mean Angels of the Sword aren't to kill evil _humans_? SurturZ Habbalite of Factions, Angel of Constructive Criticism "The weak must be punished. The strong must be tested." - -Book of the Habbalah, chap 4, verse 22 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 21:21:20 -0400 From: "Charles Phipps" Subject: IN> The Archangel of Role-playing Hey this was an almost Pyramid submission I did but I thought it was too humorous and so thus I've instead of trying to make it decent have decided to go completely off the wall tongue in cheek; so here it is on the list, tell me what ya think of him... The Archangel of Role-Playing "Bob" God is the DM and we are all but his players...well technically NPC's....hmm got any more chips? I'm all out. - -A statement of Bob's philosophy The Arch-Angel of Acting was perhaps Heaven's most beloved figure with his gentle and often whimsical wisdom. Aiding the Greeks in discovering tragedy, humor, and courage through representation on the screens the Archangel fought the war on stage, on the airways, then on the Big Screen. In the early 1970's however, the Archangel perished defending his mortal lover from Baal. The mourning in Heaven was great but it was deemed that the word he held was too important to be divided up among the existing Superiors and a replacement had to be chosen. Who they found was Bob the Elohite. The choice seemed odder than Lucifer's bizzare elevation of Nybbas in the 1800s because Bob was the low ranking angel of board games serving Christopher in the service of Blandine. Bob mostly hung around colleges working on stories and holding competitions to lighten people's stress about testing and being in a new area. The fact that Yves gave his full support to the young servitor was enough to convince Dominic and Laurence of his cause, Jean not really caring about acting voted for the idea of another Elohite over the other impassioned canidates, and Christopher and Blandine cautiously gave their support because their servitor was better than one of Michael's getting the word. Bob was summoned to Heaven while visiting his buddy Gary and chatting about adding some more atmosphere to their minatures. Presented with the word of Acting (whose Celestial defination is exactly the same defination as Role-Playing) Bob shook his head and returned to the Earth to start recruiting servitors to help him with his spreading the influence of Role-playing. Mainly because it's what he knows Bob has been sticking with using board games, role-playing systems, and lately (with Jean's help) computer games to spread his word. Many of his predecessor's servants have since found service with other Archangels over the annoying lack of knowledge Bob has about the stage or theatre. Those servants who've stayed and helped Bob along though have discovered though a remarkable freedom to pursue their own interests and a willingness by Bob to give them the benifit of the doubt about the merits of their plans (the price usually is sitting down at a table top with Bob however). Surprisingly (though not to Yves) in the thirty or so years Bob has had to expand his proven himself a masterful storyteller and managed despite major setbacks (most specifically backlash by Nybbas and his foe in Jim the Demon of Gamers) to win a great deal of freedom in updating children's imagination for the 21st century. Unbeknownst to Dominic as well he's managed to make goody goody with a number of Ethereals which he hopes he can recruit to Heaven's cause (not realizing the difficulty of such). Dissonance Servitors of Bob take dissonance if they act "out of character" with whatever role they've adopted for their work on Earth. If Bob expects demon hunting or combat to take place in his servitor's work, he usually puts in the roles he prepared the stipulation "secretly he lives a life combatting evil with a flaming sword" or some other complicated explanation. For the most part however Bob expects the angels in their roles to act like humans and not angels when he orders them too. Servitors of Bob who must make an emergency move to Earth are free to make up their own roles but still take dissonance for acting out of character for the manner they prescribe (and it must have at least 4 characters defining traits). Choir Attunements Bob is still preparing his own Choir Attunements for his servitors so many of his servitors still get the old Archangel of Acting's attunements unless he wants to "play-test" one of his current ideas for a choir attunement with them. These are just his current attunements. Seraphim (restricted): Bob's Seraphim scare most other Seraphim....the reason being they resemble Balseraphs so much in their philosophy. A Seraph of Bob posseses the ability to say truthfully whatever he wants about his role without dissonance (My name is not Aslan but Johnathan Winters, I prefer mint tea not lava as my favorite drink, and I enjoy playing pool despite the fact Aslan hates it). Seraphim simply state whenever they are questioned about this (I'm not lying, Bob is saying what he's saying). It is rumored Bob is going to test out a Seraphim who is a compulsive liar role soon to test....but in all likelihood it's going to end up just like the Balseraph rules for self-contradiction. Cherubim: "The Party Gaurders" the Cherubim are primarily devoted to keeping watch over people Bob believes will someday develop greatly the idea of RPGing in the public consensus. So far they have displayed the remarkable ability to guess the HIT points or Stats of anyone they are attuned to in the form of whatever game they are most familar with. Olfalim: Since most gamers live out of their hometowns or apartments, Bob hasn't really developed any attunements for the substanial ammount of travelling actors in his service. He's considering though something along the lines of a V.R. world they can enter or travelling through books, however he has no idea how to work something like that. Elohim (restricted): Bob's Elohim are an odd group that seemingly memorize every concievable rule, law, or ideal that comes into existence for a game. Their resonance thus allows them to decide whenever a call is disputed (how Hamlet should be RPGed, whether or not summonings constitute sorcery, etc) what the correct answer is (if one exists) and with a 6 know all the precedents and exceptions to the rule that might be meaningful. Bob may or may not have overpowered his Elohim as the greatest rules-lawyers in Heaven. Malakim (restricted): Bob's Malakim are among the most violent Lawful Goods alive. A surprisingly large ammount of his relievers have fledged as Virtues and thus aid Bob in tracking down violent Ethereals, Demons, and other "Monsters" to destroy. At the start of Game Play Bob allows the Malakim to choose an ability to go along with his oaths to aid him including the ability to achieve critical hits, protection from evil, dispel magic or a specific discipline with whatever roll or essence cost to make it balanced. The players with the DM should confer about this but it should be reasonably what the player desires. Kyriorites: The Convention Goers are some of the oddest angels in Bob's admittadly less than normal service. They are the guys who are usually rolling dice by themselves or group that seem to communicate without talking. During tournament play they show the best teamwork certainly because the Kyriorites do not have to roll to possess any group of actors or players that are within their forces to dominate. Mercurians: Bob's Mercurians range from the original actors of his predecessor to the large number who feel immense pity for gamers everywhere. However they all share the fact they are among the greatest storytellers in Heaven and can weave a tale that will adjust the reactions of anyone they meet in a more positive direction depending on how well they do it (and if they have time to!). Bob refers annoyingly to his Mercurians as Bards. Servitor Attunements: LARP: This ability of Bob's servitors allows them to create roles on Earth with just a snap of essence to give them a full idenity on Earth complete with drivers liscense, I.D, and social security number...also a complete knowledge of how to play this person's personality and ideals (as made up by God). The level of the role requires spending of essence for 3 points per dot but lasts 24 hours before the information dissapears from wherever it was created and memories are fogged. Dice-Master: Okay the word cheating is so wrong when played like this, but Bob's servitors have the unique ability to control chance that frustrates DMs and craps dealers to no end. With the cost of one essence the dice master may cause any event of random chance (magic card dealing to dice toss) to end up the way he wants it to be. Whenever it's dramatically appropriate storytelling (DM's call) to effect the Dice roll for the cause of Heaven, the DM is encouraged to treat a roll of a six on the final dice as a divine intervention. Distinctions: Bob really hasn't yet created his heirachy properly and thus is having a bit of difficulty balancing who is higher ranking than who. This will hopefully change as Jean gives him advice on how to objectively judge his servitor's performances. Vassal of Lord British: The Vassal of Lord British can instantly detect how serious a person is about Role-playing and entering the "business". ("Grand") Master of Referees: The Referee instantly gains the ability to sculpt illusions to the point that they look, smell, taste, and (on a six) feel real. Considerably more potent than the Song of Light this powerful ability costs 3 essence and lasts as long as the 'scene' does. Relations Jean has taken it upon himself to mentor the boy in the fine art of micro-managing his servitors as well as help him straighten out what he wants his vision to be for the future of Role-playing. It will be some time before Bob is a perfect archangel and not just promoting the heck out of his favorite past-time but Jean is patient and advises the others to. Yves remains his most persistant defender and Michael his most implacable opponent (believing him to be completly incompetant) despite Bob's desire to promote militant solutions to everyday problems. Allies: Jean, Michael, Yves (Yves and Jean are allied to him) Associated: Blandine, Christopher Hostile: No One (Michael and Novalis are Hostile to him) Basic Rites: * Spend 2 hours Refereeing a game or 4 hours playing * Encourage someone to act out their frustrations than live them. * Get someone interested in Role-playing * Kill a monster and loot his corpse or lair (his rites are simple arn't they?) Chance of Summoning +1 Six sided dice +2 Another type of dice (1d10, 20s, 30s) +3 Roleplaying game paraphenalia +4 A group of people honestly acting their hearts out +5 The orginal Tomb of Horrors module or some other gamer Holy Grail +6 Gen Con P.S. Bob is known to post on the In Nomine list under a pseudonym. - -Charlemagne ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 22:06:34 -0500 From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> The Archangel of Role-playing - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Phipps" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 8:21 PM Subject: IN> The Archangel of Role-playing > Elohim (restricted): Bob's Elohim are an odd group that seemingly memorize > every concievable rule, law, or ideal that comes into existence for a game. > Their resonance thus allows them to decide whenever a call is disputed (how > Hamlet should be RPGed, whether or not summonings constitute sorcery, etc) > what the correct answer is (if one exists) and with a 6 know all the > precedents and exceptions to the rule that might be meaningful. Bob may or > may not have overpowered his Elohim as the greatest rules-lawyers in Heaven. Knights of the Dinner Table. Brian VanHoose. You gotta work him in here somehow... because he most *definitely* has this resonance. AAMOF, Brian blows 6s on his check digits like we eat hot dinners. [snip] And Sara is not a Mercurian of Bob -- she's a Seraph of Bob. (Remember the time Sara's character was cursed to be alignment-changed to Chaotic Evil... and how enthusiastically she threw herself into the role? And how *horribly* she spent the next four weeks torturing the party, unbenknownst to them? Hand Sara a Role, and by God she will *play* it. To the hilt.) - -- Chuckg ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 20:36:29 -0700 (PDT) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> Thought experiment time... Well, this has some bearing on a writeup of mine, so it's not quite a thought experiment... Anyway. Take a Balseraph of Fate. Turn him or her into a Remnant. Set adrift. Now, have an Archangel stop by and pump in a couple of guaranteed-Angelic Celestial Forces. What's the result, seeing as the celestial isn't going to be the same entity as before (and will be extremely confused)? Is there a good chance for a quick Redemption here? For that matter, would pumping up _any_ demonic Remnant give a consistent return, no matter how small, in refurbished (albeit slightly disheveled) angels? :) I can logically justify either yes or no answers here, so I'm just looking for something that sounds plausable to the rest of you all. Morgan (FAW) Kyriotate of Destiny Petitioner for the Word of Yeah, I know No Superior In Canon Bothers With Doing This Sort Of Thing. Good Thing I'm Not Writing Canon Then, Huh? :) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites. http://invites.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2000 22:43:43 -0500 From: "Charles Glasgow" Subject: Re: IN> Thought experiment time... - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Maurice Lane" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 10:36 PM Subject: IN> Thought experiment time... > Well, this has some bearing on a writeup of mine, so > it's not quite a thought experiment... > > Anyway. Take a Balseraph of Fate. Turn him or her > into a Remnant. Set adrift. > > Now, have an Archangel stop by and pump in a couple of > guaranteed-Angelic Celestial Forces. > > What's the result, seeing as the celestial isn't going > to be the same entity as before (and will be extremely > confused)? Is there a good chance for a quick > Redemption here? For that matter, would pumping up > _any_ demonic Remnant give a consistent return, no > matter how small, in refurbished (albeit slightly > disheveled) angels? :) I thought memory and identity resided in the *Ethereal* forces... And isn't there an in-canon case of somebody being reduced to 1 Ethereal Force (and no Corporeal or Celestial Forces), but eventually being restored into a fully-alive-if-mostly-amnesiac version of her old self? (Mira, the Bright Lilim victim of Malphas in "Final Trumpet") - -- Chuckg ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 02:26:55 -0400 From: Tim Groth Subject: Re: IN> Thought experiment time... At that point though its the same as ripping appart the soul, interigating the ethereal forces and then using said forces to build an angel. As I see it the ethereal forces hold memories, while the celestial forces hold the essential nature of the being. That's why remnants are such sad creatures, they're soulless. Not the creepy undead sorta soulless where their body is their soul, but the real kind. Even if you rebuild them and they keep some memories its not the same thing. Loss of all celestial forces = oblivion. Or more optimistically that last celestial force is your soul and it gets reincarnated. Its implied that rebuilding a remnant keeps the being the same in terms of previce choir/band. So angelic forces might give them a selfless leaning, but its all too possibe that redemption will blow them appart just like it would any other demon (assuming they even want to undergo redemption). The memories of demonic existance from the ethereal forces, plus the sudden regaining of celestial nature is probably strong enough to overcome any inherint good in angelic forces. Possibly if an Archangel used their own Word forces then the resulting demon's selfish inertia would be overcome. Timothy, Angel of Rambling Ofanite of Creation ArchRival of Mathus ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Aug 2000 06:55:35 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> Laurence & Christianity David Streeter wrote: > Interesting perspective. I wonder how Laurence reconciles "Thou shalt not > kill", "Love one another as I have loved you" and "turn the other cheek" > etc. I guess maybe demons don't count... but does that mean Angels of the > Sword aren't to kill evil _humans_? He probably reconciles it the same way Christians in the military do. - -David ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 07:24:20 -0500 (CDT) From: EDG Subject: IN> Essence Mines Special thanks to Traci for her inspiration. (I hope I remembered that right!) - -EDG what happens when humans lose Soul Hits? Essence Mine a relic Essence Mines are powerful and costly relics - especially for ones that can only be used once! An Essence Mine is a device that can be placed anywhere on any of the three planes, even in midair; simply place the mine where you want it to stay, spend a point of Essence to activate it, and walk away. Mines are dull gray hemispheres, about a foot across, when unactivated; once active, they become invisible on the corporeal and ethereal planes, though their edges glow slightly on the celestial plane. When an active Mine is touched by a living creature, it goes off, reducing the Essence pool of any creatures in range by a number of Essence equal to its level as a relic. If any creature affected doesn't have enough Essence left to lose the full amount, the "overflow" removes Soul Hits at a rate of 1 Hit for every 2 Essence over the creature's limit (rounded up). Example: Bob, a 10-Force demon with full Essence, accidentally triggers the level 6 Essence Mine he just placed. The explosion strips him of 6 Essence, leaving him at 4. The 5-Force demonling standing next to him also is hit for 6 Essence; however, since the demonling has just spent 3 Essence to invoke the three Mines these two have placed, he instead loses all 3 Essence that he has left, and in addition is stripped 2 Soul Hits (3 overflow / 2, rounded up). After Essence Mines go off, they return to their original gray color (and gravity starts affecting them once more). They cannot be recharged. (Actually, there are rumors among the demons that either Vapula or Jean has developed an Essence Mine that not only can be recharged, but self-recharges, over a number of hours equal to its level. It does not need to be reactivated; it simply slips from view as it replenishes its energies - but it can only be set off when it's fully recharged.) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 05:55:22 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Walton Subject: re: IN> the Pictures - --- "David M. Barr" wrote: > Seeing these, as well as the previously posted baby > impudite princess of cute pics (look to the archives, > or the Feb. SJ Games daily Illuminator fo the link) > I can think of something Walter and I very likely have > in common... > The mantra "I am a very lucky man." I feel your "pain;" my wife doesn't fit the stereotype of female gamers, either. > > OB IN... Uhm.... > Is there luck in the IN world? Canon states there is > fate and destiny, and that there is free will to choose > between them, to strive for one or the other. But is > there choas? or is everything that appears random actually > controlled by forces that cannot be seen? (Free will > rolls the dice, but is it luck or intervention that > makes it snake eyes or boxcars?) This is a tough call (and ultimately the GM's headache, as I suspect that this is one of those issues of canon doubt that will never be officially resolved). IMC, there is no such thing as _true_ randomness -- everything that happens is part of God's plan. This doesn't negate free will; if an individual chooses not to fall in line with the plan, God compensates ("If I can't work with you, I'll work around you"). In this cosmology, Luck is the visible manifestation of God working in mysterious ways. And since such things are ineffable, even Superiors can only shrug their shoulders and roll with the punches. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "And on the 8th day God created gamers, and he looked down from Heaven and said, 'It is... well... uh...'" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites. http://invites.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #1765 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2000 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.