From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Sat Nov 1 23:07:57 1997 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id XAA02138 for ; Sat, 1 Nov 1997 23:07:57 -0600 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.8.7/8.8.5) id WAA13508 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Sat, 1 Nov 1997 22:46:59 -0600 Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 22:46:59 -0600 Message-Id: <199711020446.WAA13508@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 #453 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, November 1 1997 Volume 01 : Number 453 In this digest: Re: IN> About Shedim... Re: IN> Relative Power Levels Re: IN>DV Mormons Re: IN> About Shedim... Re: IN> Fighting and forces Re: IN> About Shedim... Re: IN> Few questions, A Re: IN>DV Mormons IN> [DV] The President Re: IN>DV Mormons Re: IN> Fighting and forces Jordi & T-Rex (Was Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast) Re: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast Re: Jordi & T-Rex (Was Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast) Re: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast Re: Jordi & T-Rex (Was Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast) Re: IN> [DV] The President Re: Jordi & T-Rex (Was Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast) IN> [DV] Dark Victory PBEM Campaign Re: IN> Fighting and forces IN> Specializations (Comments?) Re: IN> Fighting and forces Re: IN> [DV] Cities After the Apocalypse ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 19:55:33 -0600 (CST) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: IN> About Shedim... >Speaking as a rank-newbie; How about assulting Shedim in the Celestial >sphere? Such an attack shouldn't scar up the host body too much. Or maybe >Etherially? If your player-shedim is concentrating simply on the Coporeal, >it's ignoring two-thirds of it's being. > A Celestial in Corporeal form is shielded from Celestial attacks. A Celestial has to be on the Etherial plane (e. g. the Marches) to engage in Etherial combat, IIRC. In short, while a Celestial is in one form, they cannot be attacked by assaults meant for its other forms. Redneck Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 21:39:27 +0000 From: "Nathaniel Eliot" Subject: Re: IN> Relative Power Levels > Cases in point: Hamet, the Duke of Secrets in "Feast of Blades". > He's only 15 Forces. Furfur, a Baron, is also 15 Forces before he > becomes a Prince. I'd point out that the power of the Superior may also influence the power of the Duke - Hamet gets away with being small because Aleamon is comparatively small. A Duke of Mammon is likely to be less powerful than a Duke of Baal or Kronos. Nathaniel Eliot temujin9@ix.netcom.com In the fourth grade, Mrs. Watkins gave me a D in Mathematics. I was not a happy camper. Now she's a blood thirsty demon from the seventh plane of hell, and I have a Mini gun with 2000 rounds of HESH ammo. Mrs. Watkins...Class is back in session. - Heavy Ordinance (http://members.iquest.net/~ericg/games/heavy.html) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 22:17:12 -0500 From: Frank Lazar Subject: Re: IN>DV Mormons > About this Seagull Society people are referring >to, I'm a Mormon, I live in Utah, and I have no idea >of who you're talking about. Never heard of 'em, >so I won't comment further. They don't exist, they're a fictional group of Soldiers described in the Marches supplement. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | _ | | We are dreamers, shapers, singers and makers. /_\ | | We study the mysteries of laser and circuit, // \\ | | Crystal and scanner, holographic demons, \\ //___\\ | | And invocations of equations. \\ // \\ | | \\__// \\ | | These are the tools we employ. And we know... many things. \\ | | \\ | | | Frank Lazar http://www.interactive.net/~fmlazar | \\ | - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 22:27:34 -0500 (EST) From: Pee Kitty Subject: Re: IN> About Shedim... On Fri, 31 Oct 1997, Keith Phemister wrote: > Speaking as a rank-newbie; How about assulting Shedim in the Celestial > sphere? Such an attack shouldn't scar up the host body too much. Or maybe > Etherially? If your player-shedim is concentrating simply on the Coporeal, > it's ignoring two-thirds of it's being. Impossible. Barring something REALLY special (like the Calibim of Andre attunement), you cannot do Celestial damage to a person in a vessel; the 'meat' protects them completely. Combine that with the fact that Shedim do not have to go Celestial to possess a new host, and you see what I'm a little worried about. Rev. Pee Kitty, of the order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Married to Rev. Unibomber on 11/15/96 - be jealous ;) Meow! - -= Windows 95 =- A 32-bit patch for a 16-bit GUI shell running on top of an 8-bit operating system written for a 4-bit processor by a 2-bit company who cannot stand 1 bit of competition. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 22:25:31 -0500 (EST) From: Pee Kitty Subject: Re: IN> Fighting and forces On Sat, 1 Nov 1997, Peter Frederick wrote: > >PS: No one ever replied, so I'll ask again: Anyone else think it's wrong > >and pointless to add Corporeal Forces to your Fighting rolls? > > Actually I like it. It lets celestials do the sort of damage that I think > they should be able to do, it makes the combat tilted towards offense so you > get a result and if you do the same with Ethereal and Celestial combat, > where I believe fighting is the appropriate skill (John, Beth??) then it > really sort out the celestials who have chosen to sepcialise in combat in > one Plane, and makes those who can do it all even nastier. But...all it does is make sure that no one ever misses in combat! That's just silly...if the goal is to make them do more damage, then they should get a bonus to the check digit directly (maybe, add 1/2 your CorpForces, rounded down, to the CD? that would partially offset the -3 power of a punch). BTW, celestials can't specialize in combat in one plane...they have different stats for Strength, Intelligence, and Will usually, but beyond that, it's all the same formula. Target number = stat (Str/Int/Will) + Forces + Fighting skill Rev. Pee Kitty, of the order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Married to Rev. Unibomber on 11/15/96 - be jealous ;) Meow! - -= Windows 95 =- A 32-bit patch for a 16-bit GUI shell running on top of an 8-bit operating system written for a 4-bit processor by a 2-bit company who cannot stand 1 bit of competition. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 22:32:03 -0500 (EST) From: Pee Kitty Subject: Re: IN> About Shedim... On Fri, 31 Oct 1997, Redneck Gaijin wrote: > >Speaking as a rank-newbie; How about assulting Shedim in the Celestial > >sphere? Such an attack shouldn't scar up the host body too much. Or maybe > >Etherially? If your player-shedim is concentrating simply on the Coporeal, > >it's ignoring two-thirds of it's being. > > A Celestial in Corporeal form is shielded from Celestial attacks. > > A Celestial has to be on the Etherial plane (e. g. the Marches) to engage in > Etherial combat, IIRC. > > In short, while a Celestial is in one form, they cannot be attacked by > assaults meant for its other forms. Well, Ethereal is possible, at least. Both the NC: Tongue and Eth. Song of Entropy allow one to do Mind hits. Actually, in THIS case that will be pretty effective...this Shedim is anything but high in the Mind hit dept (*one* lousy Mind hit point). Still, I really don't want to have to resort to someone tonguing his host every time I wanna get him under control. :) Plus, it certainly doesn't apply to ALL Shedim...anyone got any advice? Rev. Pee Kitty, of the order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Married to Rev. Unibomber on 11/15/96 - be jealous ;) Meow! - -= Windows 95 =- A 32-bit patch for a 16-bit GUI shell running on top of an 8-bit operating system written for a 4-bit processor by a 2-bit company who cannot stand 1 bit of competition. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 14:24:24 +0000 From: "A. Nachmias" Subject: Re: IN> Few questions, A Hello, > On a different note, I'd like to pose a question. :) A lot of times on > this list, and on the web and even in the books I think, people refer to > the eternal struggle of Satan Vs. God. But to me it seems a lot more like > Satan vs the archangels. In my game atleast, I see God as above both > heaven _AND_ hell... Satan falling was just as much a part of his plan as > anything else was. Does anyone else see things this way or am I just kinda > insane? :) Anywho.. thanks for reading. Yes, there is no free will. Celestials only *think* they have free will. Best Regards, A. Nachmias ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Nov 1997 10:54:14 -0200 From: Andre Ribeiro Subject: Re: IN>DV Mormons Frank Lazar wrote: > > About this Seagull Society people are referring > >to, I'm a Mormon, I live in Utah, and I have no idea > >of who you're talking about. Never heard of 'em, > >so I won't comment further. > > They don't exist, they're a fictional group of Soldiers described in the > Marches supplement. Remember: It's just a game... Andre, D>P. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Nov 1997 11:11:29 -0200 From: Andre Ribeiro Subject: IN> [DV] The President Redneck, what happened to The President of the United States following Armageddon?? If he vanished, is there someone still holding to a central government, claiming the rights to be The Prez?? Or there isn't even the presidency anymore?? Andre, D.P. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Nov 1997 08:35:31 -0500 From: speaks@mindspring.com Subject: Re: IN>DV Mormons At 10:54 AM 11/1/97 -0200, Andre Ribeiro wrote: >Frank Lazar wrote: > >> > About this Seagull Society people are referring >> >to, I'm a Mormon, I live in Utah, and I have no idea >> >of who you're talking about. Never heard of 'em, >> >so I won't comment further. >> >> They don't exist, they're a fictional group of Soldiers described in the >> Marches supplement. > > Remember: It's just a game... Remember that you aren't alone in the "bad" aspects of your religion being highlighted. As a Roman Catholic, I get it all around. Just roll with the punches and remember: You're *RIGHT*. ;) Speaks There are few situations in life that cannot be resolved promptly, and to the satisfaction of all concerned, by either suicide, a bag of gold, or thrusting a despised antagonist over a precipice on a dark night. -- Ernest Bramah (Kai Lung stories) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Nov 1997 00:54:27 +1100 (EST) From: Peter Frederick Subject: Re: IN> Fighting and forces At 10:25 PM 31/10/97 -0500, Pee Kitty wrote: >On Sat, 1 Nov 1997, Peter Frederick wrote: > >> >PS: No one ever replied, so I'll ask again: Anyone else think it's wrong >> >and pointless to add Corporeal Forces to your Fighting rolls? >> >> Actually I like it. It lets celestials do the sort of damage that I think >> they should be able to do, it makes the combat tilted towards offense so you >> get a result and if you do the same with Ethereal and Celestial combat, >> where I believe fighting is the appropriate skill (John, Beth??) then it >> really sort out the celestials who have chosen to sepcialise in combat in >> one Plane, and makes those who can do it all even nastier. > > Kitty Wrote >But...all it does is make sure that no one ever misses in combat! That's >just silly...if the goal is to make them do more damage, then they should >get a bonus to the check digit directly (maybe, add 1/2 your CorpForces, >rounded down, to the CD? that would partially offset the -3 power of a >punch). You sure can do something like that, I just thought that it worked pretty much as written and so didn;t change that bit of the system. Always hitting is only as silly as always missing, at least you know how the combat is going to go, and with always hitting it is going to go towards a conclusion. No one ever really gets -3 to punch, for a start you make your strength 9 and take 4 levels in fighting, both of which are easy to do if you were thinking of making a fisticuffs character. If you want to be really nasty in Corporeal combat you just take 1 level of Claws, that makes the power of your fighting +1, a net +4 over a bare hand. And if you can con your Ref into lettting you make it an "iron fist" or something you can even use it in relatively open view and no one might notice. > BTW, celestials can't specialize in combat in one plane...they >have different stats for Strength, Intelligence, and Will usually, but >beyond that, it's all the same formula. > >Target number = stat (Str/Int/Will) + Forces + Fighting skill Yes their fighting skill will be the same, but depending on where you put your forces you can stack your odds towards that Plane, and consequently away from the others. The T2 Cherub in my FTF campaign has 5 Corporeal Forces, and hence is a Monster in Corporeal fighting, and has as many body hits as a small armoured car, but is a relative lightweight in Celestial combat. And I am thinking of making people specialise to slow down the martial arts malakim in my campaign, yeah he has Fighting 6, but hs has done most of it on the Corporeal Plane. Other Planes at -2 is my first guesstimate, bnt have to talk it over with my players. I am glad someone is thinking about these things, this is a system that can be mucked with to put the slant you want on your campaign, I know that I have :) . Thanking you for your indulgence. Yours Peter. Reply to peterf@wr.com.au What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Nov 1997 10:08:13 -0500 From: Nana Yaw Ofori Subject: Jordi & T-Rex (Was Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast) > >Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 19:44:26 -0600 (CST) >From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) >The Dakotas, and indeed the plains from Calgary down to Oklahoma City, have >a unique problem; that's where Vapula unleashed Project: Carnosaur, Subject: >Velociraptor. > >(He saved T. Rex for Africa. Jordi likes T. Rex. }:-{D ) > Um, Why? Not why Vapula saved T. Rex for Africa, but why Jordi likes it? As I see it, there are four ways Vapula could plonk dinosaurs on Earth. 1) Vapula builds a time machne, and grabs samples from the distant past. 2) Vapula sends agents to the far Savannahs once Heaven is in Diabolical hands, and grabs samples. 3) Vapula clones them from fossils. 4) Vapula reconstructs them from genetic scratch. Vapula doesn't seem an ancient enough Demon prince to have gone after T-Rex himself when they were around. I doubt he's much older than Humanity tp any significant degree. Any dinosaur he pulls off using methods 3 and 4 will be a science-spawned monster, with the standard level of "Acceptable variances," and bear as much resemblance to the original as Vap sees fit to give it. This is exactly the kind of thing I see Jordi vehemently against. It's bad enough that non-living technology is being messed with, but altering DNA would be completely unacceptable. Methods 1 and 2 beg the question, why /wouldn't/ Vapula alter them? To keep Jordi happy? Jordi's on the other side, and insane to boot. Vapula's never been one to curb his experiments to please anybody. I doubt he'd consider them "Perfect the way they are." Make them bigger, tougher, more controllable. Perhaps a nice acid-spitting ability, or hyper-adrenaline glands, or skin that functions like chobham armor.Camoflage ability. Regeneration. Yes, they'd be killing humans, but humans aren't a good food source for most animals. They have this tendency to fight back at a distance, and indiscriminately. Rexes are big targets. They'd wind up doing damage to the human population, but they'd be doing as much damage, if not more, to what ecosystems are left. Killing what few elephants remain, and competing with the remaining lions. Besides, if Jordi had decided he wanted to, he could have released real Dinosaurs himself, before Armageddon. Jordi, I think would see them as a prime example of everything he wanted to prevent humanity from doing. Humanity's purging is still his priority, but getting rid of Vapula's abominations should run a close second. = http://www.io.com/~beholder ===================== nofori@pop3.utoled.edu === Nana-Yaw "The Fish" Ofori, Freelance Soldier of Heck, presenty serving Legion, Party of six thousand. Smoking or Non? ===== ><{{"> ============ "Life's a Fish, then you Fry." ======= <"}}>< ====== ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 10:34:46 -0500 (EST) From: MarkDEddy@aol.com Subject: Re: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast In a message dated 10/31/97 6:12:43 PM, you wrote: >As for British Columbia, I'd be very concerned about Vancouver Island... >wish I knew more firsthand about its geology... > Vancouver Island is on the same plate as the Olympics. If you've got a decent map of the Pacific Northwest, run one plate edge up the Pacific Coast, the other down the channel, and down into Puget Sound. The truly wacky thing is that the San Juan Islands are on their own micro-plate. At least one apocalyptic story has that plate turning sideways and sinking in a huge earthquake. >Redneck Mark (who is thinking that Mt. Baker going up would do for Vancouver...) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Nov 1997 09:46:01 -0600 From: tom timberlake Subject: Re: Jordi & T-Rex (Was Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast) Nana Yaw Ofori wrote: > > > > >Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 19:44:26 -0600 (CST) > >From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) > > >The Dakotas, and indeed the plains from Calgary down to Oklahoma City, have > >a unique problem; that's where Vapula unleashed Project: Carnosaur, Subject: > >Velociraptor. > > > >(He saved T. Rex for Africa. Jordi likes T. Rex. }:-{D ) > > > > Um, Why? Not why Vapula saved T. Rex for Africa, but why Jordi > likes it? Actually, my question on reading this wasn't why Jordi likes it, but "did Vaps fix the problem mentioned by The Old Guy in IN/NM?" Namely, dinosaurs as lightning rods. See NM pg. 98, middle of the right column. tom timberlake sometimes role of James the Stone Malak ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 11:36:45 -0600 (CST) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast > >In a message dated 10/31/97 6:12:43 PM, you wrote: > >>As for British Columbia, I'd be very concerned about Vancouver Island... >>wish I knew more firsthand about its geology... >> > >Vancouver Island is on the same plate as the Olympics. If you've got a >decent map of the Pacific Northwest, run one plate edge up the Pacific Coast, >the other down the channel, and down into Puget Sound. The truly wacky thing >is that the San Juan Islands are on their own micro-plate. At least one >apocalyptic story has that plate turning sideways and sinking in a huge >earthquake. > That's what I thought. Vancouver's toast. Redneck Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 11:35:29 -0600 (CST) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: Jordi & T-Rex (Was Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast) >Nana Yaw Ofori wrote: >> >> > >> >Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 19:44:26 -0600 (CST) >> >From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) >> >> >The Dakotas, and indeed the plains from Calgary down to Oklahoma City, have >> >a unique problem; that's where Vapula unleashed Project: Carnosaur, Subject: >> >Velociraptor. >> > >> >(He saved T. Rex for Africa. Jordi likes T. Rex. }:-{D ) >> > >> >> Um, Why? Not why Vapula saved T. Rex for Africa, but why Jordi >> likes it? > >Actually, my question on reading this wasn't why Jordi likes it, but >"did Vaps fix the problem mentioned by The Old Guy in IN/NM?" Namely, >dinosaurs as lightning rods. See NM pg. 98, middle of the right column. > Only after a fashion; he didn't make any Brachiosaurs. Just meat-eaters. Redneck Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 11:33:06 -0600 (CST) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: IN> [DV] The President > Redneck, what happened to The President of the United States >following Armageddon?? If he vanished, is there someone still holding >to a central government, claiming the rights to be The Prez?? Or there >isn't even the presidency anymore?? > The President of the United States, Vice President, Speaker of the House, President Pro Tem of the Senate, and most of the Cabinet were killed during the massive Celestial battle which destroyed Washington D. C. The only person currently claiming to be President of the United States is Russell Johnston, former Secretary of Health and Human Services (alias Roshtandariel, Duke of Republican Democracy). He has set up a national government in Boston (see Northeast States of America), appointed 'representatives' and judges as per the old Constitution, and made contact with most of the city-states still holding on to some level of civilization in the old US and demanded their loyalty. Most of these cities follow Texas' lead and denounce Johnston's police state as a sham republic. Of the remainder of the surviving US, only Texas has outright renounced its loyalty to the USA on the grounds that the USA no longer exists. (At least, Texas is the only surviving political entity to do so- several tiny new principalities, as well as the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City*, have done likewise since). Most of the rest of the surviving cities are planning emergency elections for a new Congress- nobody knows where, or if, it will meet, but it keeps hope alive that the USA just might return and rebuild. * I wrote elsewhere that the Mormons expelled all non-Mormons from Utah (which they renamed the Republic of Deseret). This lasted about two weeks before the Mormons sent a delegation out to ask the non-Mormons to return, as they had taken a large chunk of materiel and manpower with them when they went. Non-Mormons cannot hold public office in Deseret, but they are permitted. Redneck Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 11:47:44 -0600 (CST) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: Jordi & T-Rex (Was Re: IN> [DARK VICTORY] Places - West Coast) > >> >>Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 19:44:26 -0600 (CST) >>From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) > >>The Dakotas, and indeed the plains from Calgary down to Oklahoma City, have >>a unique problem; that's where Vapula unleashed Project: Carnosaur, Subject: >>Velociraptor. >> >>(He saved T. Rex for Africa. Jordi likes T. Rex. }:-{D ) >> > > Um, Why? Not why Vapula saved T. Rex for Africa, but why Jordi >likes it? > Because Jordi can possess a few and stomp a small tribal village into paste. }:-{D > As I see it, there are four ways Vapula could plonk dinosaurs on Earth. > You might have heard about legends of dinosaurs still alive in the Amazon rain forests. They're true. Thing is, the only carcass taken from the region is hidden in a block of ice in Warehouse 23. };-{D Unfortunately, they're the wrong type of dinosaur- the four-footed planteating kind- so Vapula had to use their DNA as a base pattern while waiting for his human tools to figure out how to get DNA from lithified dinosaur bones. They did figure it out, and Project: Carnosaur began, making living weapons out of carnivorous dinosaurs. Unfortunately, Vapula's 'alterations' hadn't gotten past the stillborn stage, and the mind-control experiments were going nowhere, when Armageddeon came. Vapula released the critters from their creche's in China, Tanzania and South Dakota, and now they're in the wild, highly territorial and not at all picky about what they eat, so long as it's meat. Velociraptors roam in packs in the non-citified Great Plains, from the outskirts of Dallas up to Edmonton. T-Rexes roam the savannahs and low jungles of Africa, but stay away from lakes, large rivers, and deserts. > Yes, they'd be killing humans, but humans aren't a good food source >for most animals. They have this tendency to fight back at a distance, and >indiscriminately. True, but a handful of humans with a gun versus twenty Velociraptors capable of speeds up to 40 MPH for brief spurts... the guns won't help that much, not for isolated farmers. Rexes are big targets. They'd wind up doing damage to the >human population, but they'd be doing as much damage, if not more, to what >ecosystems are left. Killing what few elephants remain, and competing with >the remaining lions. Thankfully one elephant lasts one T-Rex for about two weeks. Lotsa vitamins. }:-{D > Besides, if Jordi had decided he wanted to, he could have released >real Dinosaurs himself, before Armageddon. Don't think so, else he would have done it -and- prevented the extinction of other animal species. Jordi, I think would see them as >a prime example of everything he wanted to prevent humanity from doing. >Humanity's purging is still his priority, but getting rid of Vapula's >abominations should run a close second. > Vapula didn't do much changing with these guys; the only real adaptation he succeeded with was giving T-Rex an armored hide. Redneck Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 12:50:17 -0600 (CST) From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: IN> [DV] Dark Victory PBEM Campaign I'm considering running a Dark Victory PBEM Angelic campaign, starting with the mission to rescue/destroy the captive Hearts held in the heart of the Eternal City by the forces of Hell. If that one comes off well, the team will be entrusted to return to Earth to infiltrate the Northeast States of America. Characters wanted for the session are Angels, neo-Angels (demons in active service to New Heaven), and Orphans (Angels whose Superiors were killed or captured in the Last Battle). Orphans have no Rites or Distinctions and may not summon Superiors. Unlike Outcasts, they need not take Discord if they do not want to. Orphan characters may take 5 additional character points at creation for this campaign... but beware, as you may find yourself the target of one of Saminga's Press Gangs at any time... I already have one player, who is rewriting her Orphaned Mercurian of Dominic for the campaign. I need at least three more to run it, preferably a total of 6 or so. Please respond via private e-mail if you are interested. Redneck Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | Do not taunt Happy Fun Belial. http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck | * * * c/o White Lightning Productions | "I love the sweet smell of http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/wlp/ | humiliation in the morning!" Webmaster for Antarctic Press | --- Kobal reaffirms himself http://www.antarctic-press.com/ | ***QUESTION EVERYTHING*** ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 17:08:27 -0500 (EST) From: Pee Kitty Subject: Re: IN> Fighting and forces On Sun, 2 Nov 1997, Peter Frederick wrote: > You sure can do something like that, I just thought that it worked pretty > much as written and so didn;t change that bit of the system. Always hitting > is only as silly as always missing, at least you know how the combat is > going to go, and with always hitting it is going to go towards a conclusion. I don't think ALWAYS hitting *or* ALWAYS missing is a sensible default, actually. I think Fighting should be like any other skill; if you have it at a sensible level, you should swing and hit sometimes or swing and miss other times. If you want a combat monster, then you can put 9 into Strength and 5 into Fighting, to give yourself that Skill 14, Power -1 (net CD+1) that makes you a major asswhupper. :) See what I mean? It's easy enough to build a combat monster without adding Forces. Adding Forces just makes it hard *not* to build one without making a very weak character (fighting-wise)...and that serves to seriously accentuate the differences between the "made for combat" and "average at combat" celestials. > No one ever really gets -3 to punch, for a start you make your strength 9 > and take 4 levels in fighting, both of which are easy to do if you were > thinking of making a fisticuffs character. If you want to be really nasty > in Corporeal combat you just take 1 level of Claws, that makes the power of > your fighting +1, a net +4 over a bare hand. And if you can con your Ref > into lettting you make it an "iron fist" or something you can even use it in > relatively open view and no one might notice. I always thought Claws improved the power of the fist. What I mean is, if your hand does Power -2 (because you have Fighting 5, let's say), and you grow three levels of Claws, your Power jumps to +1. Have I been doing this wrong? Otherwise it seemed like going from a flat -3 to a full +1 is a VERY big jump for just putting one character point into a song... BTW, I think one of the integral parts of the NC songs is that they *are* noticeable. No way I'd let someone take "Iron Fist" in my game...for angels, I changed Claws to "Smiting Fists"; the hands don't change, but they GLOW. Noticeably. :) > And I am thinking of making people specialise to slow down the martial arts > malakim in my campaign, yeah he has Fighting 6, but hs has done most of it > on the Corporeal Plane. Other Planes at -2 is my first guesstimate, bnt > have to talk it over with my players. I've had a few ideas for Specializations. I'm gonna put 'em in a seperate message for people who've skipped over this one...let me know what you think; I think it might cover what you're doing. > I am glad someone is thinking about these things, this is a system that can > be mucked with to put the slant you want on your campaign, I know that I > have :) . Any system that can't be mucked with ain't a system worth running. :) Rev. Pee Kitty, of the order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Married to Rev. Unibomber on 11/15/96 - be jealous ;) Meow! - -= Windows 95 =- A 32-bit patch for a 16-bit GUI shell running on top of an 8-bit operating system written for a 4-bit processor by a 2-bit company who cannot stand 1 bit of competition. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 17:56:06 -0500 (EST) From: Pee Kitty Subject: IN> Specializations (Comments?) A rules idea I had... SPECIALIZATIONS IN _IN NOMINE_ For any given skill, the GM has the option of allowing a player to specialize in a certain aspect of it. Not all skills are suited for specializations; the GM must decide if a skill is eligible and what general aspects are available. The most common situations are covered below; others can be extrapolated from these. Note that EFFECTIVE skill can often go above 6, but only six character points total may be put into a skill. THREE-WAY SKILLS Many skills, like a lot of things in In Nomine, fall into three categories. Fighting (and Dodge) can be broken into Corporeal, Ethereal, and Celestial, for example. Medicine can be broken into Diagnosis, Treatment, and Theory. One can specialize in two aspects of a skill, leaving only a rudimentary knowledge of the third aspect. In this case, add +1 to effective skill for those two aspects, but subtract -2 from skill for the third. EXAMPLE: Tami wants her Cherub to be a good fighter when unencumbered by a vessel. She buys Fighting/4 and specialized in Ethereal and Celestial combat. In those two realms, she effectively has Fighting/5, but on the Corporeal realm, she merely has Fighting/2. One can also specialize in just one aspect of that skill. To do so, add +1 to effective skill for that aspect, but subtract -1 from skill for the other two. EXAMPLE: Tami wants her Cherub to have First Aid. She takes Medicine/4 and specializes in Treatment. She now has a skill of /5 for treating wounds, but has only a /3 for diagnosing problems and general medical knowledge. TWO-WAY SKILLS Some skills have two aspects. Lockpicking covers Mechanical and Electronic locks, for example. To specialize in one half of a skill, add +1 to skill for one aspect, but subtract -1 for the other. EXAMPLE: Tami's Cherub is good at picking locks, but doesn't understand electronics well. She buys Lockpicking/3, specializing in Mechanical locks, in which she now has a skill of /4. When picking electronic ones, however, she only has a /2. MANY-WAY SKILLS Any skill can, with a little thought, be broken into half a dozen or more specialties. One could whittle Medicine down to categories like "treating burns, diagnosing colds, writing prescriptions, closing large wounds," ad infinitum. If a player wants to specialize in just ONE of several aspects of a skill, add +2 to effective skill for that one aspect, but subtract -1 from all the rest. EXAMPLE: Tami's Cherub is good at throwing small (1/4 pound or less) knives. Given all the different things that can be thrown, this is definitely a "many-way" specialization. She buys Throwing/3, which becomes Throwing/5 for small knives, but Throwing/2 for everything else. ONE FINAL RULE If a player wants to REALLY specialize, he can get a little bit more of a bonus. By cutting the effecive skill level of all non-specialized aspects in half (rounding down), he can add an extra +1 to effective skill. EXAMPLE: Tami decides the Cherub really ONLY knows basic First Aid and wants to specialize more heavily. Her skill was Medicine/3 for most things, and Medicine/5 for treatment. She cuts her effective skill of 3 in half, giving her Medicine/1 for diagnosis and knowledge; this gives her Medicine/6 in treatment. In fact, if the player wants to completely eliminate all other parts of the skill instead, he can add +2 to his specialization. Note that he cannot do this if any aspect of his skill is already /1 (in that case, use the rule above) or /0 (in that case, he is as heavily specialized as he can be). EXAMPLE: Tami decides that the Cherub ONLY knows how to throw those knives. She completely drops all other aspects of Throwing, giving her Cherub Throwing/0 for almost everything (-3, actually, with the default penalty), but Throwing/7 for small knives. If the GM feels that these rules are being abused (to regularly raise skills to 10 or more, for example), he is well within his rights to limit effective skill to 6. Rev. Pee Kitty, of the order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Married to Rev. Unibomber on 11/15/96 - be jealous ;) Meow! - -= Windows 95 =- A 32-bit patch for a 16-bit GUI shell running on top of an 8-bit operating system written for a 4-bit processor by a 2-bit company who cannot stand 1 bit of competition. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 19:03:36 -0700 (MST) From: Kingsley Lintz Subject: Re: IN> Fighting and forces > actually. I think Fighting should be like any other skill; if you have it > at a sensible level, you should swing and hit sometimes or swing and miss I don't know...it may be an easy way of incorporating that "point blank range" modifier into wrestling...(In general, when someone swings a punch at someone else, unless they're drunk, the reason they miss is because the target ducks. I can hit a wall 9 times in 10, no problem, and that tenth is just a problem because my hand bloody HURTS by now... Or, I suppose, I've met one of those rare Ducking Walls...) > I always thought Claws improved the power of the fist. What I mean is, if > your hand does Power -2 (because you have Fighting 5, let's say), and you > grow three levels of Claws, your Power jumps to +1. Have I been doing this > wrong? Otherwise it seemed like going from a flat -3 to a full +1 is a > VERY big jump for just putting one character point into a song... I read it as just having a +1 Power, but consider that with only 1 point in it, you're going to have a hard time invoking the stupid things...not just because you'll need all the full invocation song and dance bit, but also because you don't have a very good roll for it. (C'mon, a basic Angel with CorpF3 is going to have to get a 4 or less..) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 23:37:18 -0500 (EST) From: Mark Kinney Subject: Re: IN> [DV] Cities After the Apocalypse On Fri, 31 Oct 1997, MarkDEddy wrote: > My view on Portland, on the other hand, was actually directly affected by > David Brin's _The_Postman_, (coming soon to a theatre near you...). Portland > is built essentially on the flats where the Wilamette River meets the Columbia > River. The Columbia is extensively dammed for electric power. With the > amount of tectonic activity involved in the Dark Victory, Portland will be > pretty much toasted through flooding from broken dams. (Yet another movie You know my (ex?)girlfriend mentioned this once when I was visiting (she lives in Portland)... That, I suppose it another reason not to move there. :-) Of course, she may have brought it up from reading the book. Don't know... I read something else recently... not only is Mt. Hood a dormant volcano, but isn't there one in one of Portland's city parks? alberich@iglou.com | Mark Kinney | http://www.iglou.com/nations "This, I suppose, is the logical extension of having a pizza sent to someone that didn't order it?" -- Me, don't ask why. :-) ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #453 ******************************* The material here is (C) 1997 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.