From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Wed Sep 2 14:25:38 1998 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 OAA24377 for ; Wed, 2 Sep 1998 14:25:38 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.0/8.9.0) id OAA04554 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Wed, 2 Sep 1998 14:03:55 -0500 Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 14:03:55 -0500 Message-Id: <199809021903.OAA04554@lists.io.com> X-Authentication-Warning: lists.io.com: majordom set sender to owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com using -f From: owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com (in_nomine-digest) To: in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Subject: in_nomine-digest V1 #936 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, September 2 1998 Volume 01 : Number 936 In this digest: Re: IN> Los Angeles Wordbounds Re: IN> Los Angeles Wordbounds Re: IN> Los Angeles Wordbounds Re: IN> Fufur Re: IN> Lilith Re: IN> Lilith RE: IN> The Tsayadim IN> [STORY] Complexity Re: IN> The Word of Freedom (was Re: Wordhounds) Re: IN> Lilith Re: IN> Broken promises etc. Re: IN> Broken promises etc. Re: IN> Broken promises etc. Re: IN> FotM Nitpicks, Kitty, Spoiler IN> Bright Lilim... again IN> Enosh again Re: IN> [STORY] Complexity IN> Demon of Rage Re: IN> A new way to compute disturbance...? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 12:19:55 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Los Angeles Wordbounds At 9:08 PM -0500 8/31/98, Eeyore wrote: >Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > >> Believe me, I looked at the setup. Note that Scamper and Scurvy had >> about 1000 Essence to start with, and by the end of the day, they >> were down to less than 100. > >Uhm, then you have a major league typo. On page 120, in the description of >Absinthia James death and return to LA, it says that the battery was "fully >loaded with 120 Essence..." That is most defintely a typo. To be "fully loaded," according to p. 50, it would be 1000. (And the strange thing is that there was *never* a stage when it was 120, full. Weird. Excuse me while I kill some of my demonlings who were probably somehow making the page number and this other number agree.) >How did Scurvy send Hopscotch to permanent death? Unless I've >missed something in the rules, he doesn't have any way to get >Hopscotch into his Celestial form to do Soul damage. I forget how this worked out, but IIRC, some good timing figured into it (such as just after someone goes celestial to flee, and before he can descend), as well as use of resonance, attunements and Songs. (One serious Prank!) >Also, I don't think that there's any chance that the PCs will ever find the >construct to gather an opinion one way or another about its legitimacy. The >section on a constructs Principles states that if it violates all of them, it is destroyed and dissipates. [...] "I >will aid the forces of good." I think I'd assume that it doesn't manage to actually break this one -- it hasn't been *asked by forces of good* to assist them, and probably hasn't learned enough to be required to do this itself. Somewhat hinky phrasing for it, on hindsight. >> And neither of the Seneschals were *in their Tethers* at the time. > >If they aren't any more powerful outside of their Tethers, I'd like to >get back to >the original question of how their Word's better defend LA. And why does Kevin >maintain his residence so far from his Tether? They are more powerful in general -- but they are *most* powerful in their Tethers. (They also have their minions at their Tethers, so somebody can do some serious Superior-summoning if necessary...) - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor GURPS, Roleplayers, In Nomine stuff; Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Sep 98 13:12 EDT From: Walter Milliken Subject: Re: IN> Los Angeles Wordbounds >A couple other things were learned during this exercise that are of interest. How >did Scurvy send Hopscotch to permanent death? Unless I've missed something in the >rules, he doesn't have any way to get Hopscotch into his Celestial form to do Soul >damage. The only possibility I see is that Hopscotch _chose_ to assume celestial >form because he is better at it than the Corporeal kind. Of course, with Scurvy >having the battery, he'd be nuts to do this, even for a Habbalite. I think Scurvy was the one with Ethereal (or was it Celestial?) Song of Entropy... someone hit by that might conceivably go celestial in response to some hallucinated situation. In other words, he got lucky. I did notice this during playtest and figured out somehow that it *was* possible, if perhaps a bit uncertain. >> And neither of the Seneschals were *in their Tethers* at the time. > >If they aren't any more powerful outside of their Tethers, I'd like to get back to >the original question of how their Word's better defend LA. Tethers typically contain additional resources and defenses, which would make the Seneschals much tougher. However, Word-bound Seneschals have the ability to tap the Essence-flow of their Tether, even from outside. This makes them quite formidable against any ordinary opponents, but they *are* somewhat more vulnerable without quick access to reliquaries and other artifacts they might keep in the Tether. > And why does Kevin >maintain his residence so far from his Tether? Possibly because it's more stylish to live there. And because LA is "safe" for demons. - ---Walter ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Sep 1998 13:23:00 -0500 From: Eeyore Subject: Re: IN> Los Angeles Wordbounds Walter Milliken wrote: > >A couple other things were learned during this exercise that are of interest. How > >did Scurvy send Hopscotch to permanent death? Unless I've missed something in the > >rules, he doesn't have any way to get Hopscotch into his Celestial form to do Soul > >damage. The only possibility I see is that Hopscotch _chose_ to assume celestial > >form because he is better at it than the Corporeal kind. Of course, with Scurvy > >having the battery, he'd be nuts to do this, even for a Habbalite. > > I think Scurvy was the one with Ethereal (or was it Celestial?) Song of > Entropy... someone hit by that might conceivably go celestial in > response to some hallucinated situation. In other words, he got lucky. > > I did notice this during playtest and figured out somehow that it *was* > possible, if perhaps a bit uncertain. Scamper is the one with the Ethereal Song of Entropy, not Scurvy. Scurvy has a couple of corporeal combat skills (Pistol-1, Knife-2) but no significant combat Songs. As far as I could tell, the only way for this to happen is if Hopscotch voluntarily goes Celestial. He _might_ do this if he doesn't realize that Scurvy has the battery, as he is significantly stronger at celestial combat. So if Scurvy is very subtle, he might start corporeal combat without using the battery and wait for Hopscotch to go celestial. There are two problems with this. First, it's a big risk; if something goes wrong and Hopscotch starts beating the tar out of him, he not only has to show the battery but is weakened for the later action. Second, if Hopscotch has any of the robotic guard dogs around, the risk of the first problem is greatly intensified. The really odd thing about this is that I'm not sure why it's important for Hopscotch to be permanently dead. He can blow the whistle on Scamper and Scurvy for the rampage, but those at Kevin's party can do the same thing. He knows about the videotape, but doesn't have any info to shed on what it means; he probably hasn't even watched it, given the split-second timing required for this whole caper. He can link Kobal's Servitors to the tape, and is the only one who can concretely do this. But it isn't going to take a genius to figure out that the players who are involved in one cataclysmic event of the evening are probably connected to the other. In short, the adventure probably wouldn't be any worse than it is if Hopscotch is still kicking around. and if he must be out of the way for a while, it's probably easier to rig up some reason that he's stuck in Trauma longer than the others. J. Michael Neal ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 15:16:36 EDT From: Akumsa@aol.com Subject: Re: IN> Fufur Whhops! Sorry, dont have Night Music ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Sep 1998 17:14:55 -0400 From: neel@cswv.com (Neel Krishnaswami) Subject: Re: IN> Lilith Elizabeth Bartley wrote: > >On 30 Aug 1998, Jason F. McBrayer wrote: > >> Yes, but remember that Lilith has the _demonic_ Word of Freedom. The >> freedom to swing your fist no matter whose face happens to be in the way. > >If that's all she is, why wouldn't she accept permanent servitors? What do you think Free Lilim are, other than Servitors who get all the dirty work and none of the beneifts of even being a regular demonic servitor? Free Lilim get Lilith's dissonance, but have to pay for Lilith's help in geasa, above and beyond the normal groveling a lesser demon must offer a greater. I don't really think that Lilith would need to actually call in a creation geas, not when she can show up and not kill her daughter for another geas. ("Hi, dear." "Oh no, please don't kill me!" "Sure, but now you'll have to paint the Empire State Building green in return.") >Her expanded writeup says that she ignores murder but has been known to >stomp on slavers. Er, hypocrisy isn't exactly unknown among demons. :) >(It also implies she disapproves of gun control.) IRL I'm an NRA member, but playing devil's advocate I note that it's easy to oppose gun control when you yourself are bulletproof. - -- Neel Krishnaswami neelk@alum.mit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Sep 1998 16:53:18 -0500 From: Eeyore Subject: Re: IN> Lilith Neel Krishnaswami wrote: > What do you think Free Lilim are, other than Servitors who get all > the dirty work and none of the beneifts of even being a regular demonic > servitor? Free Lilim get Lilith's dissonance, but have to pay for > Lilith's help in geasa, above and beyond the normal groveling a > lesser demon must offer a greater. And she doesn't even give out attunements, to boot. > I don't really think that Lilith would need to actually call in a > creation geas, not when she can show up and not kill her daughter for > another geas. ("Hi, dear." "Oh no, please don't kill me!" "Sure, > but now you'll have to paint the Empire State Building green in > return.") This part I'm a little more iffy on. The information on Lilith certainly implies (or at least causes me to infer) that she cares more for the Free Lilim than this action indicates. Barring some sort of Official Pronouncement, I don't think she threatens them to effectively get extra geasa. If so, then she'd _never_ need to call any of them in. If she wanted a geas to sell to another Prince, she could just bully that one into existence as well. J. Michael Neal ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 13:57:19 -0700 From: "Steven Feldon (Exchange)" Subject: RE: IN> The Tsayadim >>>Possibly, as a first pass, this would mean that Joe can't incur any Dissonance from Bigguy's Dissonance condition without losing the connection. Does that makes sense?<<< The problem with that being that it makes the special quality of angels of Purity -- the inability to Fall -- irrelevant. If they automatically stop being angels of Purity upon acquiring dissonance, the fact that they can't Fall is moot. When Uriel was around, this "bennie" was balanced by the fact that compared to Uriel, Dominic spoiled and coddled his Servitors. Uriel would put a Servitor on probation doing s***-work for one note of dissonance, and at 2 notes (or a single level of Discord)....bye bye. No questions asked, no trial, no mitigating circumstances -- may your Forces find better use in their next configuration. Actually, while you're right about my suggestion voiding the benefit of being of Purity, so does yours, really. If you can't get more than one or two points of dissonance before your own comrades shish-kabob you, there isn't much of a chance of anything other than a Sudden Awful Experience making you fall without making you first Outcast. steve ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Sep 98 19:46:54 -0500 From: David Wood Subject: IN> [STORY] Complexity [Folks, I'm not even sure why I wrote this. But I like it. Hope you do too.] The little Swiss sidewalk cafe boasted any number of interesting characters throughout the day. Artisans, eccentrics, even lunatics sometimes. The lady at the corner table was not unusual, except that she was strikingly beautiful, and men did double-takes at her as she tapped idly at a laptop computer and sipped from a tall glass of red wine. A few minutes later, she was joined by a gentleman, white-haired and radiating benevolence, who sat across from her and started reading from a large old book. Here could be a father and daughter, or grandfather and granddaughter, it was hard to tell. They were merely mismatched, nothing unusual about them at all. Except that they were both looking intently across the street at a police station. "Well, fancy meeting *you* here," Lilith purred. "Do your friends know what kind of company you keep?" Yves simply smiled, "This is a chance meeting, nothing more." *Damn* him and that enigmatic little smile, Lilith thought. How she hated a mystery. But maybe it was an opportunity for some fun. "You can't say it was Destiny that brought us together now." "Oh yes I can," he said. "Just not yours. I believe we're here for the same reason." He pointed up to the doors of the police station. An officer had opened them, and a gentleman in an ill-fitting suit stepped out. Lilith looked up and smiled, because here was someone getting his freedom. What Yves said suddenly sank in, though and she looked over -- he was smiling too! She laughed, and asked "Are you kidding? This fits in with his destiny?" "Why do you sound surprised? He has quite a few good deeds to perform yet, and some would be impossible in prison." Yves flipped back a few pages and began searching for passages. "Ah yes, here we go..." "Well we'll see about that." "You're referring to the geasa you're holding over him, of course." "I'm referring to nothing." Lilith perhaps said that a little too defensively, but it was better not to give anything away. Yves responded without ever looking up from the book. "Interesting thing about humans, you know; they can be quite unpredictable. They can rebel against the most noble or ignoble of causes and defy the most reasonable or unreasonable of instructions. They bumble, stumble, and blindly feel their way along. Despite this, God considers them one of His greatest creations." "You don't have to tell me. I know all about that. I was human once. Remember, I walked away from the most beautiful garden in existance and spoiled the Great Experiment." Yves laughed at this, and laughed more heartily than Lilith found comfortable. She almost spilled her wine putting it down, and asked indignantly, "What?" Yves noted her ire and tried unsuccessfully (or simply didn't try very hard) to stifle it. "I'm sorry, my dear, but who said you spoiled the experiment?" Lilith was still angry, but she sensed some sort of point coming to all this that she dared not miss. "I remember several of the Archangels were shocked that I would walk out on that stuck-up chauvenist your side dared to saddle me with." Yves flipped back a few more pages and, without ever looking into the book, said "But God said he was satisfied with the outcome of the experiment." Lilith stopped being angry and smelled some sort of trap, she couldn't be sure what. "Yes, and until that doormat Eve accepted the word of that servitor of Baal, I bet they made quite a lovely couple throughout the entirety...what?" The way Yves was staring at her and shaking his head put her off. On anyone else, it might have been considered smug, and even on Yves it looked a little smart. Yves pinned her down with a discomfortingly sympathetic stare and asked, "Lilith, when did the experiment begin?" Lilith began answering "It began when..." but then trailed off. What if it started sooner than expected, and her walkout was part of the result? "Have you considered why humans, the least perfect of God's creations, should gain so much of His favor? After all, what do they have that we celestials don't? Complexity. They have the ability to appreciate free will, and use it as they see fit, even if they don't understand it." Lilith smiled slightly. The trap had closed, and she was nowhere near it. "Then it hardly applies to me, does it?" Yves smiled faintly too, a little less so than he had previously. "Don't be so sure. You're more human than you know. Don't ever change that part of you." Lilith nodded politely and said, "Even God couldn't sway me. What are the odds that anyone else can?" "No, I'm serious." Yves nodded again, this time staring at her solemnly. And if his enigmatic, quirky little smile were enough to aggravate her, then his deadpan look of concern was enough to put a little scare into her. "Don't change that part of you. I can't say at this time what your Destiny is, but if you ever hope to reach it, you'll hang onto as much of your humanity as you possibly can." He flipped some pages in his book and prepared to leave. "I have business elsewhere; I shall have to leave you." Lilith was still stunned by what Yves said, so the last declaration caught her by surprise. "What, is that your appointment book too?" Yves resumed smiling enigmatically again and pulled out a little glowing white square of paper. It was an angelic sticky-note. With that, he closed his book and began to walk away. Lilith called out to him, "What if I don't want to follow my Destiny?" Yves just looked back to her, shrugged, and said, "Lamentable, but I can't fault you for it. Ultimately, it's your choice." And he walked off. Lilith sat there for a minute or two, wondering how much of a Destiny a demon princess could have, before she went back to her laptop and pondered how she would call in the geasa on the man just released from jail. The dilemma Yves presented to her she hoped to put off resolving for a good long time to come. - --David http://home.bluecrab.org/~dwood "I know everything about him: where he was trained, what kind of gun he uses, the dresses he wears..." --"Dramatica" introductory comic book ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 01 Sep 1998 20:32:41 -0400 From: Neel Krishnaswami Subject: Re: IN> The Word of Freedom (was Re: Wordhounds) Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > >At 9:18 AM -0400 8/28/98, Neel Krishnaswami wrote: > >>>Elizabeth McCoy wrote: >>> >>>Strict control. Lilith. *In the same sentence??* >> >>Why not? You don't think that Lilith actually believes in freedom for >>anyone but herself, do you? After all, if other beings' rights have to >>be observed, that would impede her own freedom of action -- and she >>can't go against her word, after all... > >Ah, but look at it this way: > >The power of one's own Word is dependant on how much one's Word is >represented in the Symphony. Lilith requires at least a minimal amount >of power to remain free herself. There are times enough when strict control >would be more trouble than it's worth -- if you are exercising strict >control, then you're tied down *doing* that! You can't be going off >sunbathing and sipping drinks with cute guys. > >Conclusion: Lilith believes in Freedom -- mind you, when a Freedom >of someone else treads on *her* toes, she'll deal with that, but >otherwise? The more Freedom in the universe, the more power she has >to remain free. I take demonic Freedom in a somewhat more expansive sense. To Lilith IMC, freedom is the absolute and total absence of /any/ restraint on any of her whims; besides the obvious restraints of custom and morality, she is opposed to things like the laws of physics and the law of the divided middle. It's only the tyrannical will of God that prevents her from having absolute control *and* the time to pick up cute guys. The limits imposed on creation by God are the ultimate restriction, which must at the last be shattered and cast aside. As long as there is any distinction between what she wants and what actually is, she isn't /really/ free of all control. This explains the origin of her power to geas IMC, actually. Thinking of a geas as a trade is exactly backwards. Fundamentally, it is the power to force someone to do what a Lilim desires regardless of their own will. But before a Lilim can do this she needs a way into her victim's soul. This is what fulfilling the Need does; if the victim has acknowledged that the Lilim has changed the world to match their desires, it opens a doorway that the Lilim can use to command her victim. Lilith has no servitors because she is hungrier even than the other Princes. Where the servants of the Princes come to share the natures of their masters, any servitor Lilith took would be absorbed by her voracious hunger for dominion. The Free Lilim are the only (partial) exceptions, uneaten because they already contain a fragment of her nature. Incidentally, Bright Lilim do lose the ability to lay geases IMC. - -- Neel Krishnaswami neelk@alum.mit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Sep 98 19:41:44 CDT From: redneck@detnet.com (Redneck Gaijin) Subject: Re: IN> Lilith >> I don't really think that Lilith would need to actually call in a >> creation geas, not when she can show up and not kill her daughter for >> another geas. ("Hi, dear." "Oh no, please don't kill me!" "Sure, >> but now you'll have to paint the Empire State Building green in >> return.") This particular action doesn't seem in Lilith's style (Asmodeus or Baal, but not Lilith). However, the task named gave me a thought. *** "Zee Schtachuu uf Liberte, she iz all planned. But, quelle materiel shoold eet be zee made uf?" "(Make it of copper.)" "Coppair? Reedeeculoz. Zee steel, she iz more sturdy. Zee marble, she is more decorative." "(The copper will last longer.)" "Fah! Coppair -corrodes!- Zee schtachuu, it will be un eyesoree." "(It will look distinguished... venerable... majestic.)" "Eet will look -green.-" *disrobe* "(Do you have a problem with green?)" *blink* "Not -zat- colour." *some sweaty minutes later* "(So you will make the statue out of copper... as a Favor? For me?)" "... mas oui, mon Libertine. America, she will have zee green Madame Libertee." "(A second one, anyway.)" - -Redneck Kris Overstreet's email has changed... http://www.detnet.com/redneck/ - Redneck Gaijin Online http://www.wren-spot.com/wlp/ - White Lightning Productions http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/dvpbem/ - In Nomine: Dark Victory PBEM http://www.wren-spot.com/wlp/milkmaid.html - The Magnificent Milkmaid ... respond to redneck@detnet.com please ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 02:56:39 +0100 From: Julian Breen Subject: Re: IN> Broken promises etc. CaelinR Writes: > > What they *have* done is play the Game. >> > > What they've done is acted in a typical Balseriphic fashion. If you >count all >typical balseriphic actions as falling under the game, Azzie is going to be >even more of a power-house than he already is... > Well,'Broken Promises' and 'Promises never Intended to be Kept' *are* Bal Words (in canon). But that aside, the example that I gave could fit any band of demon. The difference being that other demons would actually be lying about their excuses of course. And no, I wouldn't see *all* typical Balseraphic actions as falling under the game. Take Vanity, for instance. That's a biggie balseraph trait and firmly in the camp of Lust. Balseraph Words under the Game are those that have a strong tie to rules, laws, oaths, words, etc. Insincere Apologies Perjury Fine Print etc, etc. - -- Julian jules@bigjules.demon.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 02:03:08 +0100 From: Julian Breen Subject: Re: IN> Broken promises etc. Elizabeth: >At 8:51 PM +0100 8/29/98, Julian Breen wrote: >>Anyone got any suggestions for which Prince the Words of 'Promises Never >>Intended to be Kept', and 'Broken Promises' fall under? >>I can't make my mind up :) > >Factions, both of 'em. After all, Factions likes isolating people, >and promises are bonds -- bonds that should be broken as soon as >convenient. > Promises are not generally broken or, in fact, disregarded outright with the express intent of engendering hostility though (although that can of course be a side effect). They are more likely broken in order to spare an inconveniance to the breaker. Even so, the offending party is usually forthcoming with an excuse or at the very least an apology to lessen the blow somewhat. Admittedly, somebody that doesn't offer either *will* cause division and hostility but this is surely a lot rarer. That person is also placing large amounts of TNT beneath their bridges, and not simply slowing burning them. - -- Julian jules@bigjules.demon.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 02:53:26 +0100 From: Julian Breen Subject: Re: IN> Broken promises etc. Redneck Gaijin writes: >>>I'd say that's all part of the Game, myself. >>> >Well, maybe, and then.... > >Demon of Promises You Don't Intend to Keep- Andrealphus > That's a very limited interpretation of this Word though. It's not only invoked by those persuing Lust. What if you ask me how to teach you how to play chess for example and I say, 'Sure, you'll have to come 'round one night when we've both got some time spare.' never intending to actually honour my promise (for whatever reason, but maybe with a notion toward not inconveniencing myself), and giving myself that get out clause. >Demon of Broken Promises- any number, but I prefer Malphas > All demons of the Game I'd say, in service to others depending on what the Broken promise concerns; e.g. The Demon of Broken Promises about Finishing Work Early - Game in service to Lust. >Demon of Betrayal- Asmodeus > Ooh, here's the biggie. I know that Asmodeus is a traitor par excellance, but Golden Rule #1 'Do as I say, not as I do'. I can't see the Demon of Betrayal -anywhere- in the Game's heirarchy. Now you might say that it would be the best place *for* such a Word-bound (so that Azzie can keep tabs) but that demon would have to go against his very nature in *not* betraying his boss. 'Betrayal' could be one of those so-called Hell-Jobs, but personally, I'd put betrayal under Malphas. Double-Agents is a Game Word though. >Demon of Warranties- switches between Nybbas and Vapula > The Game in service to Media/Tech >Demon of Breaking Parole- originally one of Baal's servitors, he went >Renegade and then came back under Valefor's sponsorship Nice. >Demon of the Check Being in the Mail- Kronos. When you -really- need that >money, can't you just -feel- time slipping away... > Also Nice. >and finally > >Demon of the Fine Print- Mammon. > Again. A bit limited. Fine Print doesn't only exist as a way to acquire more than your fair share. It also manipulates the law by providing 'loopholes' and get out clauses. I'd go for the Game, _in service_ to Greed - -- Julian jules@bigjules.demon.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1998 06:33:12 +0100 From: Jo Hart Subject: Re: IN> FotM Nitpicks, Kitty, Spoiler At 00:44 01/09/98 EDT, you wrote: > > On the *other* hand, he did effectively imprison (and torture- force >stripping's gotta hurt!) a lilim for his own amusement and sense of irony... >which, bright or no, is a much worse thing as far as the Demon Princess of >Freedom is concerned... > > I don't know. Surely a Demon Prince should have some freedom to express himself artistically through gratuitous torture without the powers-that-be interfering? It isn't as if the lilim didn't have a perfectly able superior of its own who was supposed to be looking after it. Evidently Lilith should just present Blandine with a bill for damages (if she ever finds out). jo ps. There is another comic playlet which is too long to post (so you are spared that). http://www.btinternet.com/~jhart/IN_french.html (It's on the long side. Comments welcome, as ever.) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 01:50:13 -0700 (PDT) From: -=|horsefly|=- Subject: IN> Bright Lilim... again On Tue, 1 Sep 1998, Neel Krishnaswami wrote: [exhaustive snip of rather neat points] > Incidentally, Bright Lilim do lose the ability to lay geases IMC. so, what do they get as a Resonance? -=|horsefly|=- "Back off, preacher, I don't care if it's Sunday. I ain't no angel, but I never felt better!" --FREEDOM, Alice Cooper ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1998 06:05:44 -0500 (CDT) From: Titus 3 11 Subject: IN> Enosh again <> Enosh ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1998 09:40:47 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> [STORY] Complexity A very nice little vignette. Thank you. Care to do an encounter between Yves and Michael (who notoriously doesn't like him)? (You could do a whole series: Yves Discomfits the Superior du Jour.) Earl ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1998 11:53:58 -0400 (EDT) From: gantr@NKU.EDU Subject: IN> Demon of Rage BOLAGG Demon of Rage CORPOREAL 6 Strength 12 Agility 12 ETHEREAL 5 Intelligence 8 Precision 12 CELESTIAL 5 Perception 8 Will 12 Vessel: Human/6, -2 Charisma (Broad, squat, oriental male) Skills: Climbing/4, Dodge/5, Fighting/6, Large Weapon (Axe, Sword, Mace)/6, Move Silently/2, Running/1, Survival (All)/2, Throwing/6 Songs: Form (Corporeal)/3, Light (Celestial)/4, Numinous Corpus (Claws, Fangs, Feet)/5, Thunder/6 Artifacts: Mace of Devastation - contains Large Weapon (Mace)/3; wielder may spend Essence (but no more than the wielder's Celestial Forces) to increase damage (muliply the check die by the Essence spent). Psi Blade - contains Large Weapon (Sword)/4 and Entropy (Ethereal)/6; acts as a Reliquary/6. Discord: Angry/6, Murderous/6 Attunements: Demon of Rage, Calabim of the War, Calabim of Gluttony, Calabim of Death, Art of Combat, Firewalker, Unstoppable, Vampiric Kiss, others as desired by the GM. Special Rites: Bolagg gains 1 Essence any time he gives in to his rage and kills or destroys something. He does this a lot. Theoretically, any Servitor of Rage could recieve this rite. In actual fact, Bolagg tends to kill would-be Servitors who approach him. Special Attunements: Demon of Rage - Bolagg may inflict the Angry or Murderous Discords on others with a successful Will roll (which may be resisted by a Will roll). The target gains Angry or Murderous (Bolagg's choice) at a level equal to the check die, for a number of minutes equal to the check die. Unstoppable - Bolagg also may not be stunned or knocked unconscious. Again, theoretical Servitors of Rage may purchase these attunements for 10 character points each (but see Special Rites, above). Dissonance Condition: Bolagg earns a note of dissonance any time he grows angry and does not act on that anger. Little is known about Bolagg. It is known that he is one of the oldest of the Calabim, having fought on the side of the rebels when the great War began in Heaven. It is also known that he was granted his Word by Lucifer shortly after the Fall, and that he has never served a Demon Prince. He remains a solitary figure in Hell, used by the Demon Princes and Wordbound, and feared by all else. Bolagg has never been a Servitor of any Word but his own. No Demon Prince has ever attempted to force Bolagg into service; he is simply too destructive to keep around, and Demon Princes often have a use for the other demons he would kill. Instead they bargain with him (after all, Bolagg offers small and large scale murder and destruction in a competant and deniable package), in much the same manner as they would bargain with a Free Lilim; favors are offered in exchange for services rendered. Bolagg always demands payment up front, but has never failed to carry out his part of the bargain. He isn't stupid, and crossing a Demon Prince is about as stupid as it gets. Many demons are surprised that a demon as old and powerful as Bolagg is not a Prince in his own right. Most Demon Princes are not surprised. Bolagg's Word, and the way he promotes it, is inherently self-defeating. His rage leads him to kill demons who approach him, seeking to serve Rage. His attempts to promote it in the Corporeal Realm do as much to injure his Word (by driving people away from Rage) as it does to advance it. The Hierarchy ("Lowerarchy"?) of Hell sees him as a useful, but foolish, tool. Bolagg may be found in the wastes and backwaters of Hell, venting his rage on anyone and anything in his path. The various Demon Princes tolerate this when he is in their domains (they order their Servitors to stay out of his path, and those that do not were too stupid to be of any use to the Prince) as long as the destruction is kept to a minimum. Eventually, however, their patience wears thin and Servitors (typically those the Prince wants punished) are sent to drive him from the domain. He rarely travels to Earth; when he does, it is because he has been hired by a Demon Prince or because he is attempting to promote his Word (this is messy and unpleasant to be around, no matter the reason). Game Use: Bolagg is bad news when he is around, no matter which side you are on. In an angel campaign Bolagg could have been hired by a Demon Prince who is personally offended by the actions of the PCs, and who wishes to express that offense in a very spectacular fashion. Alternatly, Bolagg could just be a side encounter; he could be attempting to promote his Word (noticable as simple disagreements escalate into fistfights and attempted murder), or he could have been mistakenly summoned by a (very skilled but not too bright) sorceror. In a demon campaign, the PC could be assigned to "watchdog" Bolagg, making sure he locates his target and finishes his assignment. They could become Bolagg's targets, by upsetting a Demon Prince (see above) or by just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. No matter what sort of campaign he is used in, Bolagg is bad news. Use him like a dragon or Godzilla; he's a nearly unstoppable killing machine who shows up to destroy buildings and trample innocent bystanders. Richard "Mr. Uriel" Gant PS: I wish I could take credit for this character, but I just adapted him from the wargame "Inferno: Battles of the Abyss". - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit my web page. The Gaming Ghetto, at In Nomine: The Last Days, at Walking the Planes, at - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1998 15:04:23 -0400 From: John Karakash - Lucent ASCC Subject: Re: IN> A new way to compute disturbance...? Walter Milliken wrote: > However, the great disparity in range of detection between low and high > Perception characters is now gone -- the difference between Perception 2 > and Perception 12 (for the same probability of detection) is roughly 1/2 > mile, for reasonably large disturbances. > > Note that this isn't proposed canon (yet -- though Elizabeth would like > an alternative to the existing disturbance rules). Heh. I like this suggestion... probably because it matches one I was doing on my own! Yours is a bit cleaner, though. I'd add a new row (mile), then have each additional mile increment be another -1. I think that anything that does 50 disturbance _should_ be heard about 50 miles away! ;) Besides, miles are easier to work with... Despite all this, I'm not going to argue for miles since 100 yd increments work just fine. - -- ___________________________________________________ / \ | John Karakash - Lucent Technologies/Bell Labs | | (919)380-4629 MIB2300 | | | | The power to tax involves the power to destroy. | | -Chief Justice Marshall | \___________________________________________________/ ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #936 ******************************* The material here is (C) 1997 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.