From owner-in_nomine-digest@lists.io.com Sun Jan 21 02:44:16 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 CAA05746 for ; Sun, 21 Jan 2001 02:44:16 -0600 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by lists.io.com (8.9.3/8.9.1a) id CAA10606 for in_nomine-digest-outgoing; Sun, 21 Jan 2001 02:44:21 -0600 Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 02:44:21 -0600 Message-Id: <200101210844.CAA10606@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 #2026 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 Sunday, January 21 2001 Volume 01 : Number 2026 In this digest: IN> January 19, 2001 (ML) IN> Re: Artifact Costs Re: IN> Artifact Costs IN> Re: Lucifer and Kronos IN> January 20, 2001 (ML) Re: IN> January 20, 2001 (ML) Re: IN> January 20, 2001 (ML) IN> January 20, 2000 (EDG) IN> Interesting coincidence ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 22:09:01 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> January 19, 2001 (ML) I apologize in advance. :) Moe Song of Blots (Ethereal) This Song is only useable in the Marches (more specifically, dreamscapes). It's considered odd, even there. Once sung, what looks to be a globule of black ink appears in front of the singer and follows him or her around. The 'ink' can be used by throwing it against the wall (a wall being defined, in a dreamscape, as anything that the singer decides is a wall). Effects are as follows: For one extra Essence, the inkblot is a portable hole: the singer can reach in and pull out random dream-fragments (and we mean random). The utility of this feature is obscure. Spending three Essence, however, is a better call. The Singer can climb into the hole: once inside, all attempts to detect the singer are at -5. The portable hole is usually ignored by searchers- lots of weird things in dreamscapes, and it looks too small to hide anyone. The most interesting thing to do with one of these blots, though, is to spend 6 Essence, throw the blot against the wall, back up and run through. The Singer pops out into another dreamscape. Pursuers roll one die: on even numbers, they just slam into the wall. Cherubic and Djinn resonances are, incidentally, disrupted by the impact. On odd numbers, a train, truck (or anything else that the GM has ever seen a Warner Brothers cartoon do in this sort of situation) comes out and does 1d6 Mind Hits to the pursuer from sheer cliched revulsion. Oddly enough, most players will violently dislike the idea of rolling dice when they don't like either outcome, so the GM should take pity on them and roll the die herself. This Song was first found as part of a very odd ethereal artifact in the shape of a Viking hammer. Users had to swing the hammer to get the 'ink' to spurt out, but that was more than counterbalanced by the fact that the user didn't have to spend any Essence. The holders of that artifact took advantage of this mostly by running a lot. Oh, yes, it took a _lot_ of time and dignity before Heaven was able to get the Thor-blotter properly studied... Duration: "ink" sticks around until used. Essence Cost: 1, plus above. Degree of Disturbance: none ===== 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! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http://shopping.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 03:23:18 EST From: BillionSix@aol.com Subject: IN> Re: Artifact Costs I think the cost is fair for Talismans. You can stack a skill level from really high to obscenely high. In addition to which, you have a skill which you can loan to a buddy. (If I am mistaken in this, some please tell me) I may have told this story before, but one game which I tried to run (it never got off the ground) had a rather munchkinny player who made a Cherub of Judgment with a level 6 Ranged Weapon(pistol) Talisman (a pistol, naturally) adding to his Ranged Weapon(pistol) skill of 6 and Precision of 12. Barring intervention, he always hit with a minimum check digit of 13. He had the word "NO" inscribed on the end of the barrel right above the hole. (It's little bad-ass touches like that that will let me allow anything. Wanna be a munchkin? Fine. At least be clever about it.) As for Relics, I think the cost is sometimes worth it, especially for ones that have fairly unique effects. Reliquaries are worth the price, I think, since a starting Celestial who has just had a slow couple of weeks doing routine Role maintenance, can have 15 Essence available to him, and effectively regenerates 2 points a day. Maybe it's not totally fair in some ways, since additional levels past the first cost the same, but In Nomine isn't known for its consistent fairness. After all, all choir and band attunements cost the same, no matter how useless. Its lack of fairness is one of the things I rather like about the game, actually. Reverend Brian A. Rogers ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 12:14:17 -0500 From: EDG Subject: Re: IN> Artifact Costs Yes, Skills and Songs are cheaper in their natural format, and they stick around longer and can be increased. However: you have to learn them. Imagine: A Vassal of Stone needs to send one of his subordinate Mercurians on a long-term mission to a city of which the poor Mercurian has never even /heard/. Does the Vassal: a) spend a month taking the Mercurian around the city, showing him the ropes? b) head Up to the Bazaar, pick up a wristwatch/3 (Area Knowledge: The City), and give the watch to the Mercurian, all within the span of about five minutes? I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes, from a points standpoint, skills and Songs are cheaper; in terms of gameplay, low-level artifacts are infinitely easier to get your hands on. - -EDG ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 17:15:44 From: "Sarjenka Aeristan" Subject: IN> Re: Lucifer and Kronos [snip] The only thing I can see you might want to consider in the vignette is to explain why Kronos didn't show up until about 1,100 years ago. Theories state that Lucifer held onto Kronos for sometime longer than this, but again an explination of sorts might come in handy.) ... Perhaps Kronos did fall away from Heaven immediately... but then walked the Earth an Outcast for a few centuries. He saw humanity, he saw the world... and eventually, finally, he could take no more, and Fell, plumetting like a rock into the deepest bowels of Hell, where Lucifer found him. [snip] Somewhere in the extended Kronos Superior writeup, it suggests that Lucifer found Kronos, badly Soul-damaged and not very lucid, somewhere on Beleth's side of the Marches... (If God has nightmares, Kronos would be it...) ___ "Your God is dead! And No One cares!!! If there is a Hell... I'll see you there!" -NIN _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 11:57:30 -0800 (PST) From: Maurice Lane Subject: IN> January 20, 2001 (ML) I'd thought that I'd actually do something under deadline for once: besides, loud raucous party tonight, so it's either this or something so under the influence of ethyl alcohol that everyone else would get a buzz just reading it... :) Moe Ulysses Malakite of Judgement Corporeal Forces: 4 Strength: 10 Agility: 6 Ethereal Forces: 3 Intelligence: 4 Precision: 8 Celestial Forces: 3 Will: 6 Perception: 6 Vessel: goldfish/1 Skills: Fighting/3, Large Weapon/3 (sword), Ranged Weapon/3 (shotgun) Songs: Might (Corporeal/3), Light (Celestial/6), Motion (Celestial/3), Shields (Corporeal/3), Tongues (Ethereal/3) Attunements: Malakite of Judgement, Advocate Oaths: "Suffer not an evil to live, when it is my choice." "Never surrender or allow myself to be captured by the forces of Lucifer." "Think before acting. Think before acting. Think before acting." "Obey the spirit, as well as the letter, of my Superior's commands." Dominic has his little ways to deal with angels with poor impulse control. Ulysses has poor impulse control: to his credit, the angel even realizes this. He's tried so hard to keep himself from doing stupid, idiotic things and/or going in to situations half-cocked and fully unprepared. Unfortunately, he's not very good at it. The last situation he was in ... well, let's just say that, while technically successful, the way he handled it was very, very sloppy. His Superior was not amused at all, especially since it was one of _his_ Servitors that had achieved minor immortality in Heaven as the architect behind the "Petunia Incident." There was even a ballad written about it. So, when Ulysses came before Dominic to beg him to put him somewhere, _anywhere_, where the angel could learn some self-control, the temptation would have been too much for anyone. Ulysses currently has the vessel of a goldfish. Said goldfish lives with all the other goldfish in an aquarium in a busy politician's main office. Ulysses swims around all day and watches the humans go past; occasionally, he gets fed some truly foul-tasting flakes. It's a boring life, even when he resonates those coming in and out of the office: you see, he's ordered not to do anything about it except make full reports every week (yes, Dominic stops by to see even him). Oddly enough, Ulysses is starting to get the point. Yes, he's bored, and yes, inaction is incredibly hard on a Malakite, but the angel is starting to learn how to control his actions and temper (it's not like he has much else to do). In the meantime, there's always the hope that a demon or three will attempt an armed assault, or something. He's cleared for action on that scenario - and it might take the attackers a _long_ time to work out where the death rays are coming from... ===== 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! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices. http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 16:23:31 -0500 From: EDG Subject: Re: IN> January 20, 2001 (ML) At 11:57 AM 1/20/01 -0800, you wrote: >"Think before acting. Think before acting. Think >before acting." This may have been more effective as two or three separate oaths. ;) >He's cleared for action on that scenario - and it might take the attackers >a _long_ time to work out where the death rays are coming from... *hideous uncontrollable laughter* It's true. I scared the Reliever. ;) - -EDG whose 1/20 is forthcoming, hopefully. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 22:44 +0000 (GMT Standard Time) From: jgd@cix.co.uk (John Dallman) Subject: Re: IN> January 20, 2001 (ML) Six guys named Moe wrote: > Ulysses > Malakite of Judgement > Vessel: goldfish/1 You're wise, Moe. You understand Dominic's sense of humour. That's a very strange thing for a mortal to do. Expect three guys at the door, about midnight, your time. > Oaths: > ... > "Think before acting. Think before acting. Think > before acting." He had this problem even before fledging? No wonder Dominic feels he did wrong, and is going to such lengths to reprieve this poor soul whom he has done harm to. - --- John Dallman jgd@cix.co.uk ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 17:57:00 -0500 From: EDG Subject: IN> January 20, 2000 (EDG) Just a thought that popped into my head. Yes, I'm borrowing just the /slightest/ bit from Piers Anthony, because I like the term. :) Unlike Moe, my gathering tonight will not include alcohol (well, not for the main part of it), but I might as well get this out of the way anyway. What's tomorrow again? Ooh... Husband Finding Day. >:) - -EDG The First Incarnation: Carrier Appearance and Goals He calls himself Carrier. Having a propensity for appearing when most needed, he is at the same time reserved and strong, recalcitrant and buttressing, helping those in need to get through their problems. Carrier appears as a short, somewhat thin man in the early stages of adulthood - these days, maybe 18 or 19. His dress seems antiquated: a belted red tunic, white leggings, and a green scarf. He also often wears a hat, though this changes with the times - he's been spotted in a turban, a three-pointed hat, and a New York Yankees cap. His probable descent is Middle-Eastern or Mediterranean, though he doesn't seem to claim any particular ancestry. His main goal is to help people overcome their problems without overcoming the people themselves. He is in turns compassionate and strict, depending on what his current subject needs, and - although he prefers to keep himself in check - he is not averse to lashing out, physically or verbally, in order to make a point. Nature Carrier is an Ethereal, one of the thirteen who call themselves the Incarnations. That being said, Carrier (and the rest of the Incarnations) has certain qualities peculiar to himself and no other Ethereals. Carrier cannot be summoned; any attempt automatically fails, and he never turns up on a random summoning. He appears where he pleases, although he will never appear on the corporeal plane unless he is attempting to aid someone. Often he will work through dreams; though he cannot enter dreams directly, Carrier has the power to soothe the person within the dreamscape, shifting that dreamscape toward Blandine's realm. Carrier may also prevent his subjects from being manipulated. After activation, the target cannot be the subject of supernatural emotional or perceptional manipulation; this effectively guards them from Balseraphs, Habbalah, and Impudites, and while Shedim can possess the target, they cannot do anything until the time limit on the power (hours equal to the target's Will) is up. Unfortunately, this power causes disturbance in the Symphony - 4 points for every hour that the protection remains. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 02:41:22 -0600 From: Santiago Subject: IN> Interesting coincidence Just now, I was playing around with the cover art to GURPS In Nomine in Photoshop, in an effort to crop and resize it for desktop use. I selected the actual picture, including the thin black border, but leaving out the margins, then switched to the info palette, and saw that the selection was exactly 666 pixels tall! - -- Santiago ------------------------------ End of in_nomine-digest V1 #2026 ******************************** The material here is (C) 2001 Steve Jackson Games, Incorporated. All rights reserved.