From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Tue Jan 9 08:37:17 2001 Return-Path: Received: from lists.io.com (majordom@lists.io.com [199.170.88.15]) by pyramid.sjgames.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id IAA17761 for ; Tue, 9 Jan 2001 08:37:17 -0600 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id IAA17172 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Tue, 9 Jan 2001 08:37:17 -0600 Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 08:37:17 -0600 Message-Id: <200101091437.IAA17172@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 #2012 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 Tuesday, January 9 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2012 In this digest: Re: IN> Geases as Discord IN> Netbook Idea Re: IN> GURPS In Nomine (feedback) IN> The Nature of Loa IN> [New Prince] Urizen, Demon Prince of Grandeur Re: IN> Website sorting IN> January 8, 2001 Re: IN> January 8, 2001 IN> [Location] The Palace Guard Re: IN> [New Prince] Urizen, Demon Prince of Grandeur Re: IN> The Nature of Loa Re: IN> [New Prince] Urizen, Demon Prince of Grandeur IN> Vampire Slaying, In Nomine Style (NPC) Re: IN> Vampire Slaying, In Nomine Style (NPC) Re: IN> [New Prince] Urizen, Demon Prince of Grandeur IN> Suggestions Re: IN> Website sorting Re: IN> Website sorting ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 17:31:50 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Geases as Discord At 4:51 PM -0500 1/8/01, Walter Milliken wrote: >However, if the subject *voluntarily* enters into a deal with a Lilim, >she can exert her resonance to create an actual Geas to enforce it. (This generally does not require a roll on the part of the Lilim because if you have someone who _wants_ to enter into such a deal with a Lilim, it's a silly pain to sit around rolling the dice until the Lilim succeeds. However, the other party needs to be able to hear the Symphony -- she _can't_ do this to normal 5-Force mundanes. (Well, not without a house rule.)) >I think it's possible in canon to create "unspecified" Geases in this >fashion, Yes, exactly. This is essentially what you're doing when you promise Lilith a favor for better invocation modifiers. [...] >time of the deal. In our game, such things are full Geases, but not >actually active until the Lilim (or Lilith) calls them in. They're visible >as Discords, but as a GM I'd say they're probably distinct from an "active" >Geas which can inflict dissonance/body hits for non-compliance -- there's >no task set yet, and "the clock isn't ticking". Right -- they're "inert." - --emccoy@nh.ultranet.com // arcangel@io.com In Nomine Line Editor RPG links; Random name list, Art: http://www.io.com/~arcangel/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 17:42:02 -0500 From: "Rolland Therrien" Subject: IN> Netbook Idea Can I get dibs on the Ramnant of Michael? Yeah, I know what you're thinking: But Michael's Dead, right? Come on... Michael, Champion of Heaven, getting finished off FOR GOOD? Lucifer just got in a lucky final shot, destabilizing Michael's forces, but forcing what was left off to Earth to recuperate. And He's spent the past thousands of years wandering the Earth, trying to remember his past, while doing little else then fighting, "Conan the Barbarian/Man with No Name" style. He'd be traveling all over the earth, stretching his fighting skills to the limit, with the knowledge that he has an enemy to slay, and that his Destiny depends on it. And the day he remembers who he is... Look out, Lucifer: The War ain't over yet... Michael's just getting ready for Round 2. - -Exit the LoneWolf ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 18:26:32 -0500 From: Walter Milliken Subject: Re: IN> GURPS In Nomine (feedback) At 0:34 -0500 1/6/01, Perry Lloyd wrote: >[Essence & HT] >Hrm, and yet Impudites were allowed to drain Essence from humans, who don't >have Essence. Oh, but they just merely lack "Essence Control" . . . yeah, >and that's why humans in GURPS Basic Set are able to spend all their >nonexistant points all at once and get a bonus to their rolls. Actually, one explanation is that that "background" Essence expenditure is one of the reasons why GURPS humans have higher basic skill rolls than IN humans. Of course, that doesn't really work right for Soldiers.... Essentially, SJ's argument (if I remember it right) was that subconscious human Essence expenditure was just part of the statistics of die rolls, since characters don't actually *roll* dice in the game world. Or something like that -- I'm not expressing it very clearly. >-sigh- At least Blood Points make sense, since humans in basic GURPS *do* >have blood. I don't think anyone was particularly happy with this little conversion mess, but SJ himself (as GIN editor) and Kromm were involved in the discussion on it, so it's about as solid a decision as you can get. >>So it had to be an attribute, or some combination. Of the four GURPS >>attributes, HT seemed the best fit, since it's the closest thing >>GURPS has to a measure of "life energy". > >ahhhhhhhh another reason why vampires in GURPS Blood Types drain HT I hadn't even looked at that, but yes, that's probably right. Certainly there was a *strong* desire to get rid of "new stats" like Blood Points from G:VtM (which is considered a bad example of a conversion nowadays). >>I also >>wanted something as a separate driver for HT in conversion, since Strength >>wasn't really a good one. > >Lessee . . . Total Forces comes to mind, but probably wouldn't work well for >uneven force-distributed characters. Yeah. I played around with a bunch of ideas, but most of them were too complex, even for the GURPS gearhead types (in which number I include myself, BTW). >>I suppose I could also have used the mechanic I finally would up with to >>replace Forces for Kyrios, which was total attribute levels, but the >>math would have been messier, and I'm not sure the result would have >>been much better. It would have to be something like (ST+DX+IQ+HT)/6, >>I think. > >Giving Corp Forces-heavy PCs a definite advantage, which appears to >currently be the case so far for the IN characters we've converted. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good way around that, since the balance between attributes in IN doesn't exist in GURPS -- three of the four GURPS attributes are pretty clearly derived primarily from Corp Forces. >>The conversion process is by no means perfect. It was the best I could >>come up with that wasn't terribly complex and did a fairly reasonable job >>with more or less average celestials. > >It's cool. In my case, I mean, overall, the conversion feels pretty solid >to me, it just has kinks. No question about that. I don't think it's even *possible* to create a truly accurate conversion, given the fundamental differences in the statistics of the two systems. And if it *were* possible, the result would likely be totally unplayable. But it's *very* hard to reproduce some aspects of the IN mechanics in GURPS. For one thing, a bunch of humans trying to use skills in IN look like the Keystone Cops after a heavy bout of drinking, while they tend to be fairly competent in GURPS. David's fixes in the CPG helped that problem a fair amount, but the fundamental mechanics are simply based on different statistical assumptions. Yecch. >>They still can't raise their Essence Control without a Superior's >>intervention > >what page is that on? I haven't found that yet. There should be a mention in Ch8 under "Typical Rewards" (I don't have a hardcopy here, but do have the final draft text, so I don't have page numbers). However, I note that there's a typo in the draft there that eliminated the words "Essence Control" after "an additional attribute level and a level of ", so I'm not sure what the final version reads. It's also implicit in the GURPS meta-rule that advantage levels can't be increased after character creation, unless explicitly stated otherwise (as is, I believe, true for the advantages that are the base for super powers and psi powers). In GURPS IN, Superiors *can* violate this meta-rule, and add arbitrary advantages (or disads!) to the character, at whim. But PCs themselves can't. Actually, this fails to correctly model the case where in IN, a PC can develop an additional Force through increasing the associated attributes by 4, though this is actually a GM call, not a true rule in canon as far as I know. >Oh, yeah, totally. Our angel of War is getting a Martial Arts package by >GM-Fiat. I would say that's perfectly reasonable, though I'd probably want to make sure the other PCs got some similar Word-related bennies from the conversion process, if I were doing it. GURPS martial arts are fairly powerful in game-effect. (Though not as big an effect as high-tech, as one GURPS Space GM of my acquaintance found out -- ask me in private email if you want the war-story.) >>So I had to construct all the effects of Forces in IN from other GURPS >>mechanics, and it had to work for un-tweaked mundane humans. This >>effectively >>decoupled all the various things that derive from Forces in IN, and >>adding a whole bunch of external constraints would have been far more >>klunky than the single one I did add. > >Power Investiture Actually, I was referring to the HT limit on Essence Control. "Native" characters don't have any limits on Power Investiture that I recall, other than the fact that it costs a fair number of points. >Bright Lilim of Destiny Attunement (from Fall of the Malakim, iirc): >I guessed the Lilim of Destiny Attunement as being a Symphonic Knowledge: >paths to Destiny/Fate ability with Limitations (only with Resonance use >-30%) for 21pts total. >It was either that or add an enhancement to the Bright Lilim Resonance, the >+% I'd be pretty clueless on. Suggestions anyone? I don't have the book here, but Elizabeth seems to have said roughly what I'd have said. Most of the Bright attunements that we came up with for IN were resonance enhancements, so should be adding to the core resonance cost, not creating a separate power. There should be a number of examples of similar resonance enhancements in the online Appendix. If Elizabeth's description of the attunement in her message is accurate, I'd probably put the value in the 10-25 point range, and probably toward the higher end, since it allows the Lilim to more easily avoid Yves' dissonance condition. A 20 point value would be a +66% enhancement to the Symphonic Knowledge part of resonance, which sounds reasonable to me. I could also see going with a +50% (15 points total). +100% (30 points) seems too high to me. - ---Walter ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 20:16:23 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: IN> The Nature of Loa - --- Maurice Lane wrote: > So, your average whitebread suburbian > housewife won't worship Legba? Fine. Give her Elvis > and Betty Crocker ... and sneak in the rest of the > pantheon later (maybe to her, maybe to her kids). She > may not _call_ it worship, but as long as the Essence > rolls in, big fragging deal (I'd say that this > particular pantheon is big on Essence sharing anyway). > > Hey, the August Prosperity Collective does it: why > can't the Loas? The way that the APC does it is through existing cultural metaphors. That's why they use anime and sentai instead of looney toons and MTV. The Loa (the proper plural has no "s") use the same technique in the U.S. -- who did you think was behind all those African-Americans rediscovering their heritage? Cultural icons like Elvis don't fit into existing pantheons; they're uniquely American creations. Now, the reason I'm making such a big deal over it is this; if I were to say that Elvis was one of the Faerie, I suspect that most of the people on this list would wonder what sort of chemicals I'd been indulging in. And yet, the Ethereal Elvis has enough similarities to the One True King that he's even been referred to as an incarnation of Arthur (who, you may recall, was part Faerie according to the legends). Clearly, Elvis (Ethereal or otherwise) is not part of the Faerie pantheon. We all know the mythology well enough to see that. But he's close enough to it that the spirit that is the One True King could easily subsume Elvis and make "the King" just another avatar. The approach that most of us take to the Loa is different -- they tend to get treated as a dumping ground for spirits that don't fit into any of the other major pantheons. I believe that this is because African and Afro-Caribbean folklore aren't that well understood in the West. The better known mythologies use cultural icons that we're all familiar with, so we can easily see when something doesn't fit those patterns. The cultural icons of African lore are unknown to most of us and not that well understood by the rest -- so it seems reasonable to classify anything that doesn't fit one of the other molds as Loa. This approach, while comfortable, doesn't do justice to a group of cultures that are older and more complex than our own. This is why I take such issue with calling any spirit that isn't an Olympian, Aesir, Faerie, Neter (the proper name for the Heliopolitans), etc. as a Loa. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "If you want someone to take off their armor, you must first put down your sword." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 00:26:03 -0500 (EST) From: Subject: IN> [New Prince] Urizen, Demon Prince of Grandeur Urizen Demon Prince of Grandeur "Lo! I unfold my darkness: and on This rock, place with strong hand the Book of eternal Brass, written in my solitude. Laws of peace, of love, of unity: Of pity, compassion, forgiveness. Let each choose one habitation: His ancient infinite mansion: One command, one joy, one desire One curse, one weight, one measure. One King, one God, one Law." from The Book of Urizen, William Blake It is said that Urizen was once an angel of Baal, who had followed his master down to Hell out of loyalty to him. It is said that he served loyally and well for numberless ages, and that one day his master sent him to bear a message to the Lightbringer. Urizen sought the Lightbringer (many do) and found him (few do) and executed his commission, as perfectly as he did everything he set his hand to. But as he was about to depart the presence of the Rebel, Lucifer called him to stop. Why, the Fallen Angel asked, did Urizen sneer at his master's master? What pride could make him disdain the Maker of Pride Himself? Urizen told the Father of Lies that it was the simplest and most obvious thing: Satan was a failure. The rebel angels had set upon their course in order to outdo God Himself, and when they were cast into Hell they failed utterly, turning the Void into a spiritual vomitarium. Though he prosecuted the War on Baal's behalf (he could not fail in this without losing his honor), he could not give the Master of the Pit face and call himself proud. Lucifer was intrigued: Urizen's thought was not all that unusual, but the daring to say it to him directly was. He asked Urizen if he thought he could do better, and when Urizen assented, he made Urizen a demon prince. Most people, whether human or angel, demon or ethereal, account that Virtue is the sole province of Heaven, and Vice the sole province of Hell. Urizen aims to disprove them, and disprove them with style. He is obsessed with greatness, and seeks to prove that the demons and damned souls of Hell can exceed the greatness of spirit of the angels. Dissonance: It is dissonant for the demons of Urizen to fail to act with greatness of purpose. Each demon of Grandeur receives some higher purpose from Urizen, and it may act treacherously only if it will immediately advance that purpose. At all other times, they must maintain a strict code of honor. This is all left deliberately underspecified in order to permit players and GMs to come up with interesting variations. Servitor Attunements Balseraphs Balseraphs of Grandeur whisper words of glory in the ears of heroes: they gain a bonus to their Will roll equal to their Celestial Forces to convince someone to attempt something bold or daring. Djinn A Djinn of Urizen knows where all her underlings are at all times: anyone who regards the Djinn as their master does not count against the limit of beings she may attune to. Calabim Calabim of Urizen gain a bonus equal to their Ethereal Forces to destroy any shoddy, mass-produced item, or lower-class item. Some of them carry this further, and refuse to destroy works of genius. ("I am a villain, not a barbarian -- come, let us depart and conduct our duel away from the museum!") Habbalah Habbalah of Grandeur punish those who fell from the stony path of greatness. They add their Ethereal Forces to their resonance rolls when filling someone with self-loathing for their smallness. Lilim Urizen does not permit any of the Lilim to serve him: He finds the haggling and bargaining of the Lilim offensive to His honor -- a true demon is generous to the point of madness, and so implacable that it would spurn the Throne of God if it came from an enemy's hands. Shedim The Shedim of Urizen do not have to roll against a victim's Wills if their attempted corruption is to warp their victim's morality towards a more self-destructive form of honor. Impudites Impudites of Urizen reek with elegance and power. They gain a Charisma bonus equal to their Celestial Forces. Relations: Allied: Asmodeus, Baal Associated: Beleth, Nybbas Hostile: Kronos, Kobal Enemy: Baal, Lilith Asmodeus has no problem with self-destructive codes of honor; they are merely the Game internalized. And demons of Urizen are often so insanely proud they *turn themselves into the Game* when they grow dissonant. Would that all were so foolish! Beleth has a cold appreciation of Urizen -- He embodies the Noble Villain, and the souls who flock to His light often find themselves living a nightmare of impossible, conflicting demands. Nybbas agrees, and thinks this makes great television. Kobal is sick of humorless, cold-fish Princes, and this one is an *Impudite* -- he should know better than that. Kronos just hates greatness of all kinds, even when it leads to Hell. Baal opposes his former Servitor, since he denies the possibility of human greatness and Urizen does not. One must be correct; the other must be destroyed -- this is plain. But both have commanded their Servitors to make their fights painfully correct and honorable, even at the price of defeat -- each is far are too proud to stoop to cheating against another honorable opponent. Even more, both have commanded their servitors to aid the other Prince, to show off their both their liberality and how little they account the other's power. Lilith hates Urizen for two reasons. First, his contemptuous refusal to deal with her undermines her power, as the other demons in Hell see him prosper without her aid. Second, and more importantly, Urizen's disdain shames her in the secret part of her soul, and that makes her very, very angry. - -- Neel Krishnaswami neelk@alum.mit.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 20:24:35 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> Website sorting - --- Maurice Lane wrote: > I need some advice. I'm planning to revamp my site a > little with the next update tomorrow (note the use of > the word _planning_), and I can't decide whether to > sort Servitors alphabetically, by Word, or by > Choir/Band. > > Seeing as _I_ don't need any help finding stuff in my > own site, I'd thought I'd ask: what's easiest for you > guys? :) Alphabetical, definitely. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "If you want someone to take off their armor, you must first put down your sword." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 20:28:07 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> January 8, 2001 I know that this one's reaching, but I just started a net.book today* and besides, as it stands you can't even MAKE a plow in In Nomine without a Song or Attunement. :) Moe *(unnerving smile) And it's so much FUN! (/unnerving smile) Anyway... Craft Skills These skills are mostly for making a living, but they might prove useful in other contexts. Note that they all can be taken as a Knowledge skill: however, those versions emphasize theory over practice. All Craft Skills are at -3 for a lack of proper tools: lack of parts can be anywhere from -1 to -4. These modifiers are cumulative. The Scrounging skill may modify this total. Agronomy (Precision) Default -2 - This skill covers most of the day to day skills involved in growing crops, from sowing to plowing to reaping. Animal Handling (higher of Precision or Perception) Default -3 - Use this skill to care for domestic animals. If the user also has Medicine, he or she may also diagnose and treat common veterinary diseases. A roll at -1 to -4 will also allow the user to deal with wild animals. Blacksmith (higher of Strength or Precision) Default - -3 - This skill is used for repairing or making simple metal tools or objects by hand. If the user also has Artistry (sculpture), he or she may attempt to make decorative work at the same time. Carpentry (Precision) Default -1 - This skill is used to make large wooden structures, from a box to a house. Ornate or complicated wooden structures require the Woodworking skill. Mechanic (higher of Precision or Perception) Default - -3 - The user may diagnose and repair mechanical devices. A specialty must be taken: possible ones include electrical motors, clockwork or internal combustion engines. Skill rolls for something outside the specialty are at -4. Plumbing (Precision) Default -1 - This skill will allow the user to make, repair and replace pipe networks designed to carry fluid (-2 or more for toxic conditions). Scrounging (Perception) Default -0 - Not a Craft skill per se, but very useful. A successful roll on it (modified for location, general availability of parts, danger of acquisition and whatever else the GM deems necessary) will reduce the penalty for lack of parts on any Craft skill by the check digit (this can lead to a bonus to the roll). Woodworking (either Precision or Perception) Default - -1/-2 - Use the first characteristic to create furniture or wooden tools: use the second for delicate work (it's really Artistry: woodworking). ===== In Nomine stuff: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 11/25/00 (this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 20:37:16 -0800 (PST) From: Michael Walton Subject: Re: IN> January 8, 2001 - --- Maurice Lane wrote: > Craft Skills Consider these added to the skills list for my campaign. ===== Michael Walton, #9805-068 "If you want someone to take off their armor, you must first put down your sword." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 20:45:15 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> [Location] The Palace Guard Could someone send me a copy of this? It was in Digest #2008, apparently now lost in the ether forever, and my interest is piqued. For that matter, if anyone _has_ Digest #2008, I wouldn't mind a copy... :) Moe ===== In Nomine stuff: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine.html Last updated 11/25/00 (this is usually way out of date) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! http://photos.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 23:39:07 -0500 From: Whistling in the Dark Subject: Re: IN> [New Prince] Urizen, Demon Prince of Grandeur At 12:26 AM -0500 1/9/01, wrote: >Urizen >Demon Prince of Grandeur > >"Lo! I unfold my darkness: and on > This rock, place with strong hand the Book > of eternal Brass, written in my solitude. > > Laws of peace, of love, of unity: > Of pity, compassion, forgiveness. > Let each choose one habitation: > His ancient infinite mansion: > One command, one joy, one desire > One curse, one weight, one measure. > One King, one God, one Law." > > from The Book of Urizen, William Blake > > Anyone who quotes the Four Zoas as a part of an IN post is cool beyond belief. Good writeup too. - -- Eric Alfred Burns - Habbalite of Belaboring the Point ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 22:10:57 -0800 From: "Bevan Thomas" Subject: Re: IN> The Nature of Loa I see your point, of course. However, in order to play Devil's Advocate, here's a couple of points 1) Firstly, Voudoun is actually not older then our religion, it's quite young. Vodoun was born in the Caribean, and it is a combination of the African tribal faiths of Black slaves mixed with the Roman Catholicism that their White masters tried to convert them to and the remnants of the Amerindian religion that had previously existed on Haiti. Incidentally, this is probably why Voudoun is the most accepted of the Ethereal faiths by the Celestials. It draws a lot of stuff from Christianity. Because Vodoun is already a gestalt religion, it would probably be more open to integrating further stuff into it. We already have African spirits working alongside Christian saints, why not add pop icons into the mix for some modern Essence? 2) Secondly, since Voudoun is more accepted then the other Ethereal Faiths, it is more able to go through the Marches, gathering up dream images into its pantheon. If angels saw the Aesir or Olympians prowling the Vale, they would be attacked. A loah might be able to talk his way out of it. Therefore, they would more likely be there recruiting. - ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Walton To: Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 8:16 PM Subject: IN> The Nature of Loa I believe that > this is because African and Afro-Caribbean folklore aren't that > well understood in the West. The better known mythologies use > cultural icons that we're all familiar with, so we can easily > see when something doesn't fit those patterns. The cultural > icons of African lore are unknown to most of us and not that > well understood by the rest -- so it seems reasonable to > classify anything that doesn't fit one of the other molds as > Loa. This approach, while comfortable, doesn't do justice to a > group of cultures that are older and more complex than our own. > This is why I take such issue with calling any spirit that isn't > an Olympian, Aesir, Faerie, Neter (the proper name for the > Heliopolitans), etc. as a Loa. > > ===== > Michael Walton, #9805-068 > "If you want someone to take off their armor, > you must first put down your sword." > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online! > http://photos.yahoo.com/ > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 22:14:48 -0800 From: "Bevan Thomas" Subject: Re: IN> [New Prince] Urizen, Demon Prince of Grandeur Really neat. Quite a Miltonian demon. - ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 9:26 PM Subject: IN> [New Prince] Urizen, Demon Prince of Grandeur > > Urizen > Demon Prince of Grandeur ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 16:30:55 +0800 From: Manny Nepomuceno Subject: IN> Vampire Slaying, In Nomine Style (NPC) With apologies to BTVS fans... Mimi Winters "Vampire Slayer" Corporeal Forces 4; Strength 8, Agility 8 Ethereal Forces 1; Intelligence 2, Precision 2 Celestial Forces 1; Perception 2, Will 2 Status: 2 (Cheerleader/student) Charisma +3 Toughness 1 Skills: Acrobatics/2, Dodge/2, Fighting/3, Knowledge( Cheerleading/4, Vampire Lore/1 ) K, here's the 411: Mimi's a Vampire Slayer. Yup, exactly like on TV. Scoreboard so far is Mimi 8, Vampires 0, and that's not even counting the other types of undead and the two demons she's taken out so far. Okay, so maybe Mimi looks like a typical Valley Girl. And maybe she acts like a typical Valley Girl. And maybe she couldn't think her way out of a paper bag if her life depended on it. Fact remains, she's a Vampire Slayer. Nathaniel says so. And Nathaniel knows everything there is to know about it. Got any gum? Pravin Balseraph of Secrets Corporeal Forces: 2; Strength 4, Agility 4 Ethereal Forces: 3; Intelligence 6, Precision 6 Celestial Forces: 4; Perception 6, Will 10 Vessel: human male (Caucasian)/3 Role: "Nathaniel Hedgwick", English sociologist/2 (Status: 2) Songs: Projection (Celestial/2), Shields (Celestial/2), Light (Ethereal/3) Skills: Fast-talk/4, Fighting/2 Attunements: Balseraph of Secrets, Chalk Outline It's generally well-known in Hell that Alaemon and Saminga don't get along very well. As a matter of fact, Alaemon loathes Saminga. At least, he said so to Pravin when he gave the Balseraph its assignment: "Get up there and kill undead...but do it quietly." Pravin's moment of inspiration came when he discovered Mimi Winters, a sixteen-year old cheerleader who seemed rather...easy to manipulate. In the course of his investigation, he also discovered that she was perfect Soldier material. He also uncovered her secret -- an abortion no one was supposed to know about -- and set about turning her to his dark Will. Eventually, he managed to cut her loose from her family and friends, convincing her that he was a "Watcher" come to teach her how to kill vampires. Together, they roam the United States, slaying vampires and mummies and zombis wherever they can find them. She hasn't been enlightened about the nature of the War, though, so he hasn't set her against any angels yet, but so far she's done good work -- which he takes credit for whenever Alaemon calls to check on his progress. Saminga, being Saminga, hasn't really noticed the loss of a few of his undead. Some of his Servitors have, though, and are trying to track down the mysterious "Vampire Slayer" who pops in from out of nowhere and causes trouble. Those who don't suspect Heaven first suspect Kobal or Nybbas -- and that's exactly how Alaemon likes it. :) Manny Neps ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 05:47:52 -0500 (EST) From: "Rev. Pee Kitty" Subject: Re: IN> Vampire Slaying, In Nomine Style (NPC) On Wed, 10 Jan 2001, Manny Nepomuceno wrote: > Fact remains, she's a Vampire Slayer. Nathaniel says so. And Nathaniel > knows everything there is to know about it. > Got any gum? Wow. This is DAMNED good. Consider it stolen. - -- Rev. Pee Kitty, of the order Malkavian-Dobbsian, Q4B4L! Meow! Q: How many roleplayers does it A: 3d6 take to change a light bulb? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 09:34:59 -0000 From: "Laurent" Subject: Re: IN> [New Prince] Urizen, Demon Prince of Grandeur > Urizen > Demon Prince of Grandeur wow. It just became one of my favorites. Good work! Laurent. PS: any Rites, Servitor Attunments, secret Songs? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2001 21:51:55 +1030 From: gnezda Subject: IN> Suggestions Howdy folks! :) I'm back again. :) Anyway, now that the In Nomine campaign is finally looking like it'll actually start in a couple of weeks, I really need to get a character sussed out. I've had a few ideas over the last 6 months but, since we never started the campaign, I never bothered to make them up. Anyway, the main purpose of this post is to get your opinions on my character idea. I have the basics thought out, but have so many conflicting ideas for his detailed story, that I'm having a hard idea choosing one. I'll give you the basic concept, and we can throw around ideas until I get something I *really* like, if you guys are willing. :) Anyway, the character is a nephallim serving Baal. Baal has done something quite unprecedented and granted Lox (my character, and no Ada this is a *different* Lox to the one you know; the person this is directed to will know who they are ;)) the rank of Knight. Lox looks fairly ugly and is also covered in various cybernetic attachments, wires, etc all over his body (has no game effects, purely cosmetic). Where do these cybernetics come from? My first idea was that Vapula got hold of him and experimented on him, but that's too easy. Perhaps my character is the offspring of Vapula and these cybernetic attachments are natural for him? Perhaps this 'Nephallim' is really a semi-artificial construct, combining living tissue with cybernetics? Being a Knight in Baal's ranks (and a human Knight at that!), he is given quite a lot of respect from other demons. Even though he's a human, all Baalites of less than Knight rank have been instructed specifically by Baal himself that Lox is to be accorded the same respect as a Demonic Knight. In addition, his reputation is quite considerable and most demons know not to mess with him, lest they incur Baal's wrath. Why is Baal so protective of this Nephallim? In addition to this, Baal has given him quite a few interesting toys to play with (artifacts). Why was he entrusted with these? The character has the Blessed advantage, so he's the sort of character who has an almost unshakable will and will pursue his goals to the ends of the earth. He was promoted to Knight when Baal discovered he had quite a knack for tactics. However, despite this, he is still a warrior at heart and obeys a warrior code of sorts (given that he *is* a demon, he doesn't have the same degree of honour and loyalty though as warrior Malakim). Also, due to his rank and the way Baal treats him, Lox has grown quite used to this treatment, and likes it. However, being a Nephallim on the run from angels and never trusting any demons, he's learnt to tread a fine line between pushing the limits of his authority and survival. So, there's are a number of very disjointed ideas, but I'm still pondering how to put them together (and also nutting out the fine details with his history). My first idea was to say he was actually the child of Baal (accounting for the way Baal treats him), but *only* Baal knows this (not even Lox knows it). He was born a fairly normal boy in a fairly normal, but adopted, family (since his mother 'died in childbirth', perhaps?). However, around his teens he started hearing voices and mutating and stuff (ie his becoming Symphonically Aware and his developing discords). Very soon angels of Dominic were after his corse, but he managed to keep evading them, until Vapula got hold of him. Noticing his incredible potential, Vapula began experimenting on him (thus the cybernetics). Eventually escaping from this too, Lox was again on the run until Baal appeared to him (now realising he had a son) and offered him solace if he joined him (actually, Baal wasn't concerned with 'paternal' instincts, so much as he wanted 'what was his back' and saw Lox's potential as a soldier of Hell). So, that's where Lox is today. Then I had another idea: Again, he was born normal looking (but this time he was a Vapula/Vapulan child, rather than a child of Baal), and at around the same age he began mutating and stuff. The cybernetics in him are actually a semi-organic phenomena; they laid dormant in his body until he reached a certain age. Then, when he reached that age and was able to handle the 'cybernetics' safely, these cells began to grow and gradually take over his body (he looks about 1/3 or half cybernetic). After running away from angels, he again ran into the arms of Baal. In this scenario I'll have to think of a different reason why Baal is so protective of him. Perhaps Kronos has seen his Fate; he will lead the armies of darkness on a great conquest, or do some great service for Baal. Baal now wants him safe (but where he can do some good, or evil... ;)) in order to safeguard this Fate. Lox knows nothing of his true upbringing and is constantly on the hunt for any information he can find about who he is (perhaps that is part of the reason he desires to rise in power so much; the more authority he has, the more he can find out hopefully), while also having to do his job. I thought maybe Alaemon once offered to give him information on his past but, when Lox fell for it, Alaemon actually destroyed the information (sure, not a very nice thing, but since when have demons been nice? ;)). Also, when he meets up with the other PCs, they end up capturing him (not part of their plans initially) and they're then told by one of their superiors to encourage him to stick with them. Yves has seen that Lox has a *very* bright Destiny, but needs someone to help him along. At first Lox is forced to stay with them, but later seems to stay by choice. However, what the characters do not know is that he spoke to Baal and the two decided that he'd stay with them, in order to work as a spy. Whether he remains loyal to Baal or the PCs no-one can say... ;) Also, I'd like it if he spent a fair amount of his time in Hell before meeting the PCs. Being a nephallim, he won't be able to hide on Earth very much and, while he does have some means of disguising himself through artifacts, they're all temporary and unreliable. He is really more use in Hell, or among people he *knows* are celestials. I'm pretty sure one of the books said how humans can enter Hell before their death, but I can't remember which. Anyone know how? :) So, I know this is long, but what do you guys think? Any ideas you have? Thanks, Milan ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 08:43:54 -0500 From: Elizabeth McCoy Subject: Re: IN> Website sorting At 12:53 AM -0500 1/7/01, Casca wrote: >> I need some advice. I'm planning to revamp my site a >> little with the next update tomorrow (note the use of >> the word _planning_), and I can't decide whether to >> sort Servitors alphabetically, by Word, or by >> Choir/Band. > >The INC sorts them by Choir/Band, but also gives the option of sorting by >Superior. I like having this choice, and maybe you can steal the source code >for your own implementation. Unless you're talking about something other than what I think you're talking about, that "source code" is two separate pages, each done by hand... (I like both options as well, but generally prefer to group by Word, and include the Choir/Band in the link...) - --Beth, typing w/a uncoopertive baby (iolanthe) causing typos. "I'm nursing a TROUT! With legs!" ------------------------------ Date: 9 Jan 2001 06:34:52 -0800 From: Casca Subject: Re: IN> Website sorting On Tue, 09 January 2001, Elizabeth McCoy wrote: > Unless you're talking about something other than what I think you're > talking about, that "source code" is two separate pages, each done by > hand... *shrug* Whatever. I don't do HTML. If I did, I'd have had a webpage up long ago. - -- Casca "...I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying...At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke." -- Isaiah 6:2,4 _______________________________________________________ Are you a Techie? Get Your Free Tech Email Address Now! Many to choose from! 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