From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Fri Jun 9 14:24:01 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 OAA19549 for ; Fri, 9 Jun 2000 14:23:57 -0500 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id OAA21753 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Fri, 9 Jun 2000 14:18:30 -0500 Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 14:18:30 -0500 Message-Id: <200006091918.OAA21753@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 #1668 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 Friday, June 9 2000 Volume 01 : Number 1668 In this digest: Re: IN> Knotty Choir question IN> The toll collector Re: IN> Knotty Choir question Re: IN> Disturbance, and It's Disturbing Consequences Re: IN> Knotty Choir question Re: IN> The Final Frontier Re: IN> Disturbance, and It's Disturbing Consequences Re: IN> Disturbance, and It's Disturbing Consequences Re: IN> The Final Frontier Re: IN> The old Eli Re: IN> Disturbance, and It's Disturbing Consequences IN> On topic spam =) IN> I thought Baal was doing this... Re: IN> The toll collector IN> Addendum to the QBC thing Re: IN> The toll collector Re: IN> Addendum to the QBC thing Re: IN> Addendum to the QPB thing Re: IN> The old Eli Re: IN> Addendum to the QPB thing Re: IN> Knotty Choir question Re: IN> City Regions Re: IN> Disturbance, and It's Disturbing Consequences Re: IN> Knotty Choir question Re: IN> City Regions IN> A perfect Andre... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 01:31:39 -0500 From: David Edelstein Subject: Re: IN> Knotty Choir question Maurice Lane wrote: > Any suggestions? Or is there just no way to fit this > Word among the Host? :) You neglected Ofanim. Besides them, I think Elohim and Mercurians are both viable. A Mercurian is supposed to be a Friend of Man, but unlike a Kyriotate, he _can_ put people in uncomfortable positions, even get them into trouble, if it's for the greater good. And I think an Elohite would be perfectly suitable for Heresy; what other Choir could evaluate heretical ideas as objectively as a Power? They could calmly consider which heresies are useful and which ones are harmful, without recoiling in horror from ideas that would shock other angels on principle. So that would be my choice. (Of course, if the Elohite gets too attached to any particular heresy, or suppresses one he really doesn't like, a Habbalite would also make a perfect Demon of Heresy....) I'm not sure if Dominic and Laurence would let a Word like "Heresy" get past the Seraphim Council, though. - -David ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 02:40:07 -0400 From: Douglas Muir Subject: IN> The toll collector I pulled the Mercedes into the furthest left-hand lane at the toll plaza, one of the two that still had a human attendant (well... an attendant, anyhow). Beside me, Vexorg was poking holes in the plush opholstery of the passenger seat with his finger. "Stop that," I frowned. "Do you know how much a good upholstery job costs?" "It wouldn't be a problem if I was driving," he grinned back. Oh right. Like I would let one of the Calabim drive a car while my own precious hide was in it. I sighed inwardly. They're useful in a fight, but... "So what do we say?" Now he was fiddling with one of the window switches. It'd snap off any second now, of course. "Anything from parts three, four or five of the poem. And if you don't have them memorized by now, tough. You can beat up a couple of angels and get your Essence that way." I pulled the car up beside the toll booth. As I turned to the collector, I heard Vexorg chuckle. He knew perfectly well what to say; he just liked being annoying. "Hi!" The toll collector leaned out his window. He wore an ugly brown uniform and a beautiful white smile. "That'll be one dollar, sir, and won't you have a nice -- Oh. You." "Me," I nodded, smiling back at him. "Ah, ahem. 'Under the brown fog of a winter dawn, A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many'" I stretched my hand out to him, a single dollar bill between my fingers. The toll collector's smile had disappeared like a spark on snow, and with much the same sound. Lips thinning, he reached out to take the bill. Our fingertips brushed against each other, and... ...aahhhh, Essence. How I love getting Essence. I had burned up too much, skulking around that wretched Tether. This would bring me almost back up to full. I let my arm fall limply against the side of the Lincoln. I could feel my smile stretching wider... "Hey! Don't forget me!" Vexorg leaned across me. I pushed myself back into the seat, alarmed; the last time he'd done this, he'd spilled beer on a $1,500 Armani suit, and the stain had never come out. "Uhhh, 'Oh you who turn the wheel and look to windward, consider Phlebas, who once was handsome and tall as you.' Gimme!" Vexorg had his empty hand held out, palm up. I heard the toll collector hiss something under his breath. But he had no choice. Glaring, he slapped the Calabite's hand with his own. I felt the Essence being transferred... "Ha ha ha!" Vexorg flopped back into his seat (I distinctly heard a spring snap, twang). His face had gone loose and drunken; I wondered if I looked that silly, and sat up and put both hands on the wheel. "Just like going to the gas station! Woo hoo!" "You're holding up the line," snarled the Impudite. It was true; there were a dozen cars behind us. I shifted gears and rolled forward. Vexorg was giggling madly. Behind me, I knew, the toll collector would be pasting his smile back on. I wondered how many human drivers it would take to fill him back up on Essence. * * * * * Feris Impudite of Baal 2 Corporeal Strength 3 Agility 5 2 Ethereal Intel 3 Precision 5 4 Celestial Perception 5 Will 11 Role (toll collecter) - 1 Vessel - 2 (twentyish white male) Vessel - 2 (fortyish black male) Skills Area Knowledge (city) - 3 Dodge - 4 Running - 3 Fast talk - 3 Ranged weapon (pistol) - 5 Lying - 3 Songs Celestial Attraction - 2 Celestial Charm - 2 Attunements/Distinctions Impudite of War Discords Cowardly - 2 Feris, an Impudite of the War, screwed up bigtime a little while back. It was the sort of mistake that could have gotten him busted down to emptying dumpsters in Shal-Mari for the next century or so, or worse... perhaps much worse. But his boss (a Balseraph Captain of the Infernal Armies, one Urhious by name) just smiled at him. No problem, said Urhious. You'll get to stay on Earth, my lad. And what's more, you're going to be privileged to participate in a _very special_ experiment in logistical support.. Feris has two vessels and one Role: He's a toll collecter on a highway just outside a major city. He works a shift in one vessel, then swaps to another and works another; with overtime, this means that he's almost always on the job. His job is to be a living Essence battery for the demons of the city. Feris' Role lets him chat briefly with hundreds of humans per day. As he greets each one, in the few seconds as he leans out to smile hello, he tries to Charm them; as he takes their change, he can try to drain a bit of Essence. Hundreds of humans pass him every shift, so Feris can acquire some startling amounts of Essence a day this way. Stop at his toll booth, recite a line from T.S. Eliot's _Waste Land_, and he'll give you 2 Essence. Recite one from Sylvia Plath, and he'll give you 5 Essence... but be careful; he reports these incidents to his Captain, and you may get a visit from a 12-Force distincted Balseraph wanting to know just why you needed that much. Most demons just take the lesser hit; he'll distribute Essence once per demon per day, so they can always just come back tomorrow for more. Feris is very, very unhappy with his job, but he knows better than to complain. Things are bad, but they could certainly be worse. His boss, Captain Urhious, is delighted; he thinks he's discovered a brilliant new strategy for generating Essnce *and* a clever new way to punish wayward Impudites. He hasn't gotten around to telling his Baron about it yet, though, because he wants to have a demonstrated success up and running. Indeed, he's toying with the idea of skipping the Baron and going directly to Baal... Well, it _is_ clever, but not as clever as he thinks. What Urhious doesn't know is that this trick has been tried before, and there are some problems with it. The biggest one, of course, is that Feris is a serious security risk. He now knows the appearance, favorite vehicle, and license plate number of every demon who's taken Essence from him (giving up Essence goes directly contrary to Impudite nature, so they're more or less branded into his memory). And he's a coward... so anyone who gets hold of him and twists a bit, will have a great deal of valuable information. (Originally, only a dozen or so demons of the War were supposed to have the password. But demons are demons; one of them passed it along to a friendly servitor of Saminga, and another got drunk and let it slip to a Lustie, and, well, by now something like thirty demons know about the "Essence ATM" out at the toll plaza... most of the demons in this particular city do, in fact. And Feris is starting to feel the strain, as demons are coming by for Essence almost hourly now.) Also it hasn't occurred to Urhious that an *angel* might drive through the toll plaza at some point. It is, after all, very busy; that's the point. And an angel would almost certainly realize that he was dealing with an Impudite as soon as Feris tried to Charm him (main book, pg. 154). _Feris_ has considered the possibility -- he's got nothing to do all day but charm human drivers and contemplate his situation -- but he's stuck; it's just one more thing to make him miserable. Another problem is the side effect on the humans who are being drained of Essence. The stretch of highway beyond the toll plaza has seen a sudden, mysterious spike in accidents; three people have died there in the last month alone. The police have noticed this, but are at a loss to explain it. Someone may write an article about it in the paper soon... The deaths and accidents weren't _caused_ by the Impudite, exactly... he's just making them a lot more likely, statistically speaking. So instead of the "BONG" of Symphonic disturbance from killing a human, something else is happening, something rather strange. The stretch of highway just beyond the toll plaza has begun to gently hum with a continuous low level of Symphonic disturbance. The demons don't notice it -- their perceptions tend to be lowish, and they're too high on their Essence hit when they pull away -- but an angel might (-2 on the roll, as it's Very Hard to hear). The longer Feris stays, though, the more accidents he's going to contribute to, and the louder the noise will become. Feris carries a pistol (against toll authority regulations, of course), but if threatened he's more likely to run than fight. If caught, his Cowardly discord means that it shouldn't be too hard to beat some interesting information out of him. If the PCs are angels, or demons hostile to Baal, discovering and interrogating Feris would be a major coup; he'd be able to give them the appearance and license plate number of a couple of dozen demons. Keep in mind, though, that Urhious' Captain of the Infernal Armies attunement lets him know the location and health of his subordinates at all times. So if Feris is injured or killed, a very tough 12-Force Captain will be showing up to investigate. Once he belatedly realizes what a security risk Feris is, Urhious will be VERY determined to recover or kill him; otherwise, he'll be in Really Big Trouble with his boss, and his boss' boss. Alternately, demon PCs could be tipped off about Feris by a "friendly" Servitor of the War. In this case, they'll have the benefit of "free" Essence... for a while. But in the long run, they'll be the ones whose identities and Roles are at risk. Which may teach them a salutary lesson about taking gifts from fellow demons. If nobody interferes with Feris, eventually he'll be shut down, once Urhious tells Baal or his Baron (or once the Game finds out). Urhious may, depending on Baal's mood, get complimented for his creativity or have a Force or two ripped away. And Feris will be debriefed as to just who has been taking Essence for the last few months. If he survives, he'll remember always everyone who ever used him, and will quietly watch for a chance to do them a bad turn. (thoughts, comments?) Doug M. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 04:40:43 -0700 (PDT) From: "O. S. Kerr" Subject: Re: IN> Knotty Choir question > > Any suggestions? Or is there just no way to fit this > > Word among the Host? :) > > And I think an Elohite would be perfectly suitable for > Heresy; what other Choir could evaluate heretical ideas > as objectively as a Power? They could calmly consider > which heresies are useful and which ones are harmful, > without recoiling in horror from ideas that would shock > other angels on principle. So that would be my choice. Excellent choice. I concur, for what it's worth. > I'm not sure if Dominic and Laurence would let a Word like > "Heresy" get past the Seraphim Council, though. Makes for interesting gameplay, tho... ===== ** Lead Playtester for Storyteller: The Colon ** ** I minored in behavioral psychology. Tragic irony and human suffering are just hobbies. ** __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints! http://photos.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 08:40:01 -0400 From: neelk@cswcasa.com Subject: Re: IN> Disturbance, and It's Disturbing Consequences AngelPatriel@netscape.net wrote: > > My question: I've been explaining to my players how their angels will > have to show some discretion on Earth, to avoid disturbing the > Symphony. They've been pretty understanding about this, but it got me > thinking, why not disturb the symphony? Oh, I know it's bad form and > all, but humans don't notice, and the implication I seem to get is > that a bunch of Malakim will be likely to show up, spoiling for a > fight with something unholy. [...] > > My big fear is that I'll have the player characters facing a tough > situation, and my GM expectation (plot) is that they'll do something > subtle, then one of them says "Hey, let's just kill the henchman of > the Calabite. Or let's kill two! It'll broadcast a pretty big > disturbance, and I bet it'll attract some Malakim who'll proceed to > do some @$$-pounding! We'll just clear out until after the dust > settles." For my game, I explained to the players (all angels) that angels were a life form not designed to exist in the physical universe. Their supernatural powers were BAD for reality, in the same way that putting kerosene into a gas engine will wreck it; in fact, even their very presence on Earth was unnatural. That's what disturbance was; the sound of the universe breaking. (The book of Revelations was supposedly a literal description of what Armageddon would look like -- when all the angels and demons cut loose with all their powers the space-time continuum would curl up like cheap wallpaper.) The only reason that angels came to Earth was because demons were here too, and they couldn't let them hurt mankind unopposed. Now, since God had made the universe for a reason, the PCs would be expected to act with discretion and not try to damage Creation unneccessarily. And since they PCs were angels, I didn't have too many problems after that. If you have any PCs who are going to come to Earth for the first time, it might be fun to run a session where some gruff older angel gives the PCs advice on how to handle themselves on Earth. Mix explanations of metaphysical laws along with useless trivia for that touristic feel.... - -- Neel Krishnaswami neelk@cswcasa.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 09:48:05 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Knotty Choir question I agree with David; Elohite is a perfectly viable choir for an Angel of Heresy. Seraph and Kyrio would, indeed, be difficult. But most of the other choirs would work, with different resultant flavors: A Cherub need simply have the necessary intellectual talents and be careful with its attunements, which Cherubim have to be anyway. It would either not attune (which I gather is sort of contra-Cherubic) or attune to *several* disciples on *different* sides of schismatic issues. An Ophanite would probably manifest as a guest lecturer with a whirlwind schedule. A Mercurian could be *Excellent* as an Angel of Heresy, since its resonnance would give it insight into what heresy would appeal to which person, but its dissonance condition would induce it to teach people to argue doctrine *civilly*, which would probably help get this Word past the Seraphim Council in the first place. A Malakite could make a very interesting Angel of Heresy. Just shake the grim-heavenly-thug stereotype. Instead, this is a word-warrior, a debater and dialectition, perhaps more an Angel of Healthy Skepticism, whose oaths drive him to make sure people hunt out and examine hitherto-unexamined assumptions. Oh, and he always argues fairly. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 09:54:08 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> The Final Frontier Walter Milliken wrote: > Historically, Venus has sometimes been named two different objects, > the "evening star" and the "morning star". I'm not sure whether > the civilizations that did this really understood that it was one > object at different times, and just liked having multiple names, > or just didn't care. If I recall my history of science correctly, the different names were given when the morning and evening stars were believed to be two different objects. At least in Greece. Then the Greeks took over astronomy from the Babylonians, surpassed them in it, and passed it on to the Romans and the rest of the Classical world. The Babylonians seem to have known that the morning and evening stars were the same body, but probably any culture soon realizes this as soon as they take a firm interestin in observational astronomy. You watch the morning star weave back and forth across the sky, never straying more than a given amount from the Sun, then it vanishes in the Sun's glare and a few days later, hey-presto, here's the evening star, looking very much the same and doing very much the same dance in reverse. Earl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 10:10:57 -0500 From: Earl Wajenberg Subject: Re: IN> Disturbance, and It's Disturbing Consequences neelk@cswcasa.com wrote: > For my game, I explained to the players (all angels) that angels > were a life form not designed to exist in the physical universe. > > Their supernatural powers were BAD for reality, in the same way > that putting kerosene into a gas engine will wreck it; in fact, > even their very presence on Earth was unnatural. Here's another sermonette to use on Disturbance-happy angels: Too much celestial interference spoils the whole POINT of the Corporeal Realm. The more we reveal things to them instead of letting them find out themselves, the more we defend them instead of letting them win or lose their own fights, the more we shower them with immediate grace instead of letting them sin their own sins and make their own repentance -- the more we reduce them to the level of puppets. Which is what the demons want to do to them. You can't just "smite the world perfect" [1] in a glorious burst of Essence. Because the perfection of the world has to be a home- grown perfection, or it isn't "of the world." As C.S. Lewis's Screwtape said of God, "He cannot "tempt" to virtue as we do to vice. ... He cannot ravish; He can only woo." All that concerns moral free will, but it can involve the rest of the Corporeal realm as well. If Jordi and Novalis send servitors to nourish and protect every plant and animal, what's the point of ANY creature doing ANYthing for itself? Earl [1] A great phrase from "The Devil to Pay," a play re-telling the Faust story, by Dorothy L. Sayers ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 10:52:12 -0400 From: John Karakash Subject: Re: IN> Disturbance, and It's Disturbing Consequences Walter Milliken wrote: > In my own campaign, I decided this as a "campaign option" -- there is > no "sticky" disturbance in my game. But I have a player group that (mostly) > tries to be quiet. Both PCs and NPCs try to find an out-of-the-way place > *way* out of town if they need to make a lot of disturbance. (This also > makes sense if you want to avoid a lot of embarassing collateral damage > to the corporeal scenery that would raise questions with the human > authorities.) Maybe this explains crop circles and the like.... Walter, this is clever beyond belief. Why not say that Disturbance, non-canonically of course, causes _odd_ effects in addition to the direct sensing the Symphonically aware can manage. Rain of frogs, crop circles, seas turning to blood, everyone flushing their toilet at the same time, albino alligators, whatever. Crop circles are an interesting physical manifestation of the disturbance in the Symphony, much like complex ripples in a pond. By this paradigm, both sides _really_ don't want the attention of the various governments of the world getting 'aware' of the War. Probably best suited to a rare-celestial campaign, where the angels and demons try to fight in the shadows as much as possible. - -- +============================================= + John Karakash - geek, writer, cook + Code mangler for EMC CLARiiON + mib2300 +============================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 10:55:50 -0400 From: John Karakash Subject: Re: IN> The Final Frontier Walter Milliken wrote: > > At 11:37 -0400 6/8/00, John Karakash wrote: > > I believe, astrologically, the 'morning star' refers to > >Venus. Note that the sun appears in the sky throughout the day, > >and not just during the morning. =) Venus, IIRC, is brightest > >and most visible near dawn... and dusk. Something to do with it > >being closer to the sun than the Earth. > > Venus becomes brightest in Earth's sky when it's relatively close to > the sun, from Earth's viewpoint -- this has to do with the fact that it's > relatively close to the Earth at maximum brightness. And it never gets > very far away from the Sun in the sky. Also, when it's not dawn/dusk, the part of the earth you're on is pointed _away_ from the sun and venus as well. I finally remembered that tidbit. Use it as you will. =) > I actually like Garbiel better. Eli's just *too* easy an answer for any > question that starts "Who created...". I really don't think he should > be made responsible for everything corporeal. Saturn, now, looks like > something Eli might have done. Totally, impressively, beautiful, and > highly impractical. Good point. - -- +============================================= + John Karakash - geek, writer, cook + Code mangler for EMC CLARiiON + mib2300 +============================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 10:58:53 -0400 From: John Karakash Subject: Re: IN> The old Eli Ryan Elias wrote: > This is something I've wondered, on and off, for a while. Was Eli always > the flaky, slightly comical nice guy he currently appears to be? Or did > he use to be a stern serious Archangel, given to deep ponderings on the > nature of creation and such? Did he have distinctions and a hierarchy > and everything, which were simply abandoned when he left on his little > jaunt? (in the 1950's, if I recall correctly) > > (actually, on occaision I think that he used to be a Jesus-type, > charismatic and likable, but also pretty serious about his job) I don't think Eli was ever stoic, per se, but he probably at least gave the appearance of being more serious in the past. Yes, he had distinctions, but I don't have details on his hierarchy. It was probably pretty loose and free-flowing depending on the situation (creative, in other words). - -- +============================================= + John Karakash - geek, writer, cook + Code mangler for EMC CLARiiON + mib2300 +============================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 11:09:29 -0400 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> Disturbance, and It's Disturbing Consequences At 10:52 AM -0400 6/9/00, John Karakash wrote: >Walter Milliken wrote: > >> In my own campaign, I decided this as a "campaign option" -- there is >> no "sticky" disturbance in my game. But I have a player group that (mostly) >> tries to be quiet. Both PCs and NPCs try to find an out-of-the-way place >> *way* out of town if they need to make a lot of disturbance. (This also >> makes sense if you want to avoid a lot of embarassing collateral damage >> to the corporeal scenery that would raise questions with the human >> authorities.) Maybe this explains crop circles and the like.... > > Walter, this is clever beyond belief. Why not say that >Disturbance, non-canonically of course, causes _odd_ effects in >addition to the direct sensing the Symphonically aware can >manage. Rain of frogs, crop circles, seas turning to blood, >everyone flushing their toilet at the same time, albino alligators, >whatever. Crop circles are an interesting physical manifestation >of the disturbance in the Symphony, much like complex ripples in a >pond. Oh. I. *Like.* This. We could even break it down a bit. Certain "Neutral" effects (Crop Circles, the odd Frog Rain, suddenly discovered Stone Circles and the like) could be Disturbance from either side. Certain "Positive" effects (Sudden disease remissions, various religious statues being seen crying, crucifixes bleeding from the stigmata and the like) would be angelic. Certain "Negative" effects (anything seen in "The Amityville Horror") would be demonic. - -- Eric Alfred Burns | in-sabre@annotations.com | Writer - Manager - IT Type - Poet Boy - In Nomine Freelancer ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 11:10:09 -0400 From: John Karakash Subject: IN> On topic spam =) Now there's a subject line for you. Heh. But, seriously. I just got an offer from one of these book club things. Normally, I just flip through them so I can see what they think will catch my interest and then toss 'em. This time, however, I noted a lot of things that might be of use to an IN GM or player. The company is call Quality Paperback Book Club and has a website at http://www.qpb.com Their initial offer is 4 books for $4 plus shipping and no commitment after that. Plus you can order/cancel membership/etc all online. I don't know how much S&H is, but if you've been looking for reference books, this seems like a good deal. The books that caught my eye were: Dictionary of Angels by Gustav Davidson Don't Know Much About the Bible/ The Hidden Book in the Bible The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus American Indian Myths and Legends Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages and, for the Andrealphans out there, The Illustrated Kama Sutra =) - -- +============================================= + John Karakash - geek, writer, cook + Code mangler for EMC CLARiiON + mib2300 +============================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 08:41:16 -0700 (PDT) From: Guy Royse Subject: IN> I thought Baal was doing this... Here's the Top 16 Signs You've Been Chosen to Lead Hell's Army... http://www.topfive.com/arcs/t5091597.htm I'm sure, however, that we can come up with some In Nomine specific ones... Guy __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints! http://photos.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 10:18:50 -0500 From: "David Rodemaker" Subject: Re: IN> The toll collector > (thoughts, comments?) > Doug M.< Doug, your NPC's keep getting better and better. Kiara keeps swiping these for her campaign and I just have to keep my mouth shut when the other PC's run into them. Keep up the great work. BTW, I love the concept of the "low-level Symphonic disturbance" that the toll-booth is causing. The Other David ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 11:53:55 -0400 From: John Karakash Subject: IN> Addendum to the QBC thing Oh, they also have Dead Sea Scrolls and a six-volume set (The Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Way of a Pilgraim, Tao Te Ching, The Essential Kabbalah, The Bhagavad-Gita, etc.) I don't know how _good_ these books are, but they should be useful. =) - -- +============================================= + John Karakash - geek, writer, cook + Code mangler for EMC CLARiiON + mib2300 +============================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 12:07:40 -0400 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> The toll collector At 10:18 AM -0500 6/9/00, David Rodemaker wrote: > > (thoughts, comments?) > >> Doug M.< > >Doug, your NPC's keep getting better and better. Kiara keeps swiping these >for her campaign and I just have to keep my mouth shut when the other PC's >run into them. Keep up the great work. > >BTW, I love the concept of the "low-level Symphonic disturbance" that the >toll-booth is causing. Agreed on both counts. An interesting (and *very* non-standard) NPC. The ones that push away from expectations are among the best, IMO. - -- Eric Alfred Burns | in-sabre@annotations.com | Writer - Manager - IT Type - Poet Boy - In Nomine Freelancer ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 12:08:22 -0400 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> Addendum to the QBC thing At 11:53 AM -0400 6/9/00, John Karakash wrote: > Oh, they also have Dead Sea Scrolls and a >six-volume set (The Tibetan Book of the Dead, The >Way of a Pilgraim, Tao Te Ching, The Essential >Kabbalah, The Bhagavad-Gita, etc.) I don't know >how _good_ these books are, but they should be >useful. =) The heck with those. They have a 1000 strip Peanuts Anthology. Now *there's* your spirituality. - -- Eric Alfred Burns | in-sabre@annotations.com | Writer - Manager - IT Type - Poet Boy - In Nomine Freelancer ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 12:12:21 -0400 From: John Karakash Subject: Re: IN> Addendum to the QPB thing John Karakash wrote: > > Oh, they also have Dead Sea Scrolls and a > six-volume set (The Tibetan Book of the Dead, The > Way of a Pilgraim, Tao Te Ching, The Essential > Kabbalah, The Bhagavad-Gita, etc.) I don't know > how _good_ these books are, but they should be > useful. =) Sorry, it looks like my original email got filtered out for being 'processed meat that comes in cans'. =) Anyway, to cut it real short, I got an advert for a book club that has good prices ($4+shipping for four books with no other commitment) and IN related books such as: The Dictionary of Angels Don't Know Much About the Bible Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus etc. I don't know how good the books are, or how much the S&H is, but I can give an update when my books get here. http://www.qpb.com - -- +============================================= + John Karakash - geek, writer, cook + Code mangler for EMC CLARiiON + mib2300 +============================================= ------------------------------ Date: 9 Jun 2000 16:19:12 -0000 From: "-=|horsefly|=-" Subject: Re: IN> The old Eli On 8 Jun 2000 20:38:05 -0700 Casca wrote: >On Thu, 08 June 2000, Ryan Elias wrote: [snip] >> (actually, on occaision I think that he used to be a Jesus-type, >> charismatic and likable, but also pretty serious about his job) >I've flat-out stated in my Endgame writeup (first chapter out! Please >comment!) that Eli is the angelic equivilent to Jesus. One can then reverse- >deduce the notion that he didn't have Distinctions because "Angel or >Archangel, all are equal in the sight of God." comment from my fiancee, "He came that all angels might have Essence, and have it more abundantly? ;)" -=|horsefly|=- God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 12:33:30 -0400 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> Addendum to the QPB thing At 12:12 PM -0400 6/9/00, John Karakash wrote: >John Karakash wrote: >> >> Oh, they also have Dead Sea Scrolls and a >> six-volume set (The Tibetan Book of the Dead, The >> Way of a Pilgraim, Tao Te Ching, The Essential >> Kabbalah, The Bhagavad-Gita, etc.) I don't know >> how _good_ these books are, but they should be >> useful. =) > > Sorry, it looks like my original email >got filtered out for being 'processed meat that >comes in cans'. =) Um... no it didn't. At least, I got your original message. In fact, by the time your followup came through, I'd ordered the Peanuts book, the Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, a cookbook and a Science Encyclopedia. So, my In Nomine purchases were minimal, but hey, you can't have everything. (Besides, I *own* the Dictionary of Angels already. And the six volume set counted as two purchases.) - -- Eric Alfred Burns | in-sabre@annotations.com | Writer - Manager - IT Type - Poet Boy - In Nomine Freelancer ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 11:51:23 -0500 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Knotty Choir question From: "Maurice Lane" > > Any suggestions? Or is there just no way to fit this > Word among the Host? :) The only choir I could see being capable of handling a Word like Heresy would be the Elohim. But I don't think that Dominic would fight against the granting of that Word to his dying breath, as would Laurence. And most of the other AAs would probably be at least sympathetic to those two, IMO. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 13:27:11 -0400 From: neelk@cswcasa.com Subject: Re: IN> City Regions Whistling in the Dark wrote: > At 10:43 AM -0400 6/8/00, neelk@cswcasa.com wrote: > > > >I'll use Cambridge and Boston as an example. > > > >Let's suppose that I'm running an In Nomine game where the PCs play > >Vapulan demons masquerading as grad students at MIT. Then I'd want to > >break the city down so that the places where the PCs spend a lot of > >time would have a lot of distinct locales: I'd break MIT into Kendall > >Square, the Media Lab, LCS, the AI lab, the Infinite Corridor, and the > >Student Center. All of these places are distinct places, In contrast, > >Beacon Hill would be Beacon Hill, with undifferentiated boutiques, > >expensive houses, and the state house as a one-line piece of scenery. > > > >If the PCs were instead spending a lot of time trying to manipulate > >state officials, though, then I would break Beacon Hill into a lot > >more explicit locales, and MIT would become a one-sentence description > >("You pass by MIT as you go up Mass Ave into Cambridge -- hopefully > >their nuclear reactor isn't as badly maintained as the buildings.") > > All very true. However, my own take's slightly different. What I did > was figure out where the major players had their strongholds (by > Tether). That gave me five fast 'regions' of the city and their > control. (Jean-Cambridge; Marc-Quincy Marketplace; Haagenti-North > End; Lilith-Waterfront/Lexington & Concord; Michael-Charlestown.) How many celestials are in your game? I found it hard-to-impossible to define zones of control in my game because there were too few celestials and related minions to patrol an area effectively. As a result, angels and demons tended to roam pretty freely. It was a pretty cool dynamic, since the angels and demons made only limited efforts to destroy each others' mortal lives: if you know a celestial's Role it's easier to keep track of them. Destroying the Role meant the enemy could vanish into a new life that you knew nothing about. - -- Neel Krishnaswami neelk@cswcasa.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 13:05:36 -0500 From: "Prodigal" Subject: Re: IN> Disturbance, and It's Disturbing Consequences From: "Whistling in the Dark" > > Oh. I. *Like.* This. > > We could even break it down a bit. Certain "Neutral" effects (Crop > Circles, the odd Frog Rain, suddenly discovered Stone Circles and the > like) could be Disturbance from either side. Certain "Positive" > effects (Sudden disease remissions, various religious statues being > seen crying, crucifixes bleeding from the stigmata and the like) > would be angelic. Certain "Negative" effects (anything seen in "The > Amityville Horror") would be demonic. And when Interventions occur as a result of the use of Songs and the like, it gets REALLY weird... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 13:43:01 -0500 From: Uncle Wolf Subject: Re: IN> Knotty Choir question I disagree; it is not that uncommon for heretics to be imprisoned for their heresy, in which case, having a patron Angel that no prison can hold [take a look at the Passage Janusite attunement, then look at the OoJ attunement; now put these two together {simple logic when designing the Angel -- this is a monster combo} and no lock, not even a retinal scan with finger- and voice-print crossmatch can hold this angel, at the cost of a simple Agility roll {please tell me this Angel is maxed out on Agility!} with no disturbance]. Thus, it is nearly impossible to stop the spreading of Heresy, since these attunements can be used to liberate others, and not just the Angel him/herself. How do you stop the spread of Heresy when you can't imprison the Heretic spreading it? Tom Timberlake, Cadre Cherub of Heaven - -- "We are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream." -Schmendrick Peter S. Beagle's "The Last Unicorn" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 15:08:12 -0400 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> City Regions At 1:27 PM -0400 6/9/00, neelk@cswcasa.com wrote: >Whistling in the Dark wrote: > > >How many celestials are in your game? > >I found it hard-to-impossible to define zones of control in my game >because there were too few celestials and related minions to patrol an >area effectively. As a result, angels and demons tended to roam pretty >freely. Whereas IMC, Boston is *very* unusual, in that it has an inordinate number of Tethers (Boston and the surrounding region, collectively, that is). So there's a disproportionately high celestial population to go with it. And one that's stalemated, because the Superiors are focusing their efforts far more on New York. >It was a pretty cool dynamic, since the angels and demons made only >limited efforts to destroy each others' mortal lives: if you know a >celestial's Role it's easier to keep track of them. Destroying the >Role meant the enemy could vanish into a new life that you knew >nothing about. > Which often is the case. Or the higher level mission of trying to minimize the effectiveness of one's Role while not invalidating it entirely, and forcing the other side to abandon it. - -- Eric Alfred Burns | in-sabre@annotations.com | Writer - Manager - IT Type - Poet Boy - In Nomine Freelancer ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 15:30:49 -0400 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: IN> A perfect Andre... On the Pyramid boards, someone started a casting thread. (They can do that there, it's not moderated, or so I assume.) Besides being long, it did have one amusing bit of usefulness. http://www.general.uwa.edu.au/u/andreias/dilll.html is my favorite of the pictures on http://www.general.uwa.edu.au/u/andreias/jaye.html -- the dilll.html picture is what the picture on Superiors 2 _should_ have been... Or maybe http://www.general.uwa.edu.au/u/andreias/starra.html . Only more smirky. Consider this, not a casting thread (those are bad, and I will kill them with my mace of SMITEing), but an art thread. O:> - --Beth, catching up as she can, typing with a baby (iolanthe) in her lap. But now with a computer desk! Vapitalizatoin and spelling still difficult, typing w/ 1 hand (and often a wigglebaby in the other). ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #1668 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2000 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.