In Nomine – Page 15

In Nomine Revisited: Calcified Oracles of Demagogic Sagacity.

I was reminded of this one by this. Such a shame, really. It was an amazingly bizarre roadside attraction.

Calcified Oracles of Demagogic Sagacity – Google Docs

Calcified Oracles of Demagogic Sagacity

Down by the border of — never mind the state, just for the moment — there is what claims to be a historical park. It is unusual, even by the somewhat jaundiced standards of American roadside attractions: the centerpieces of the park are 12 to 18 foot high concrete heads of each President of the United States, arranged in chronological order (with a special note regarding Grover Cleveland). There is, of course, also a gift shop, a fountain and a banquet hall that intriguingly overlooks the park — but the obvious tourist draw is the heads, for a given value of ‘obvious.’ The park is not renowned, in any sense of the term. Its location near a much more mainstream tourist attraction powerhouse obscures it from even those interested in Americana; the site does not appear in the standard guidebooks, and is not widely advertised. The visitors at any given time are few, and seem mostly from the adjacent hotel.

And yet, the building is well-appointed, the parking lot a good deal larger than necessary, there is that banquet hall — and the site remains in business. Clearly, someone is visiting the park.

Someone is. Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Calcified Oracles of Demagogic Sagacity.

In Nomine Revisited: The Book of Recalling One’s Love.

I swear to God, not everything I wrote for In Nomine was grimdark. It’s just October Country right now, OK?

Book of Recalling One’s Love – Google Docs

The Book of Recalling One’s Love

This charming tome was first crafted by Hastur, a now-deceased Calabite Captain of the Infernal Hourglass and lieutenant of Hatiphas (Demoness of Sorcery). Designed to ease individuals into Sorcery, these relics can lead someone down the path of Fate subtly — and for the best of motives. After all, what could be more selfless than to attempt to bring someone back to life?

Needless to say, there are catches.

Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: The Book of Recalling One’s Love.

In Nomine Revisited: Horse.

I almost put this up last night, but the Hecate writeup intervened. I like to put things like Horse in games; sometimes it’s nice to look the players in the eye and go “I don’t know how it happened, either.” Not everything can be explained, hey?

Horse – Google Docs

Horse

Ghost

Corporeal Forces: 2 Strength: 4 Agility: 4

Ethereal Forces: 1 Intelligence: 1 Precision: 3

Celestial Forces: 3 Will: 8 Perception: 4

Skills: Dodge/6, Fighting/6, Running/6, Tactics/6

Focus: A stone torch-holder

Horse is, frankly, impossible. Horses don’t become ghosts. They also don’t have 7 Forces in life. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to explain this to Horse.

Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Horse.

In Nomine Revisited: Hecate.

Hecate – Google Docs

Hecate

Lesser Ethereal Goddess

Corporeal Forces: 2 Strength: 4 Agility: 4

Ethereal Forces: 5 Intelligence: 12 Precision: 8

Celestial Forces: 5 Will: 12 Perception: 8

Vessel/6, +2 Charisma

Elements: Life (Beasts); Information (Knowledge)

Affinities: Animals (primal), Divination (primal), Books (moderate) Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Hecate.

In Nomine Revisited: Glass Armonicas.

Fascinating things.

Glass Armonicas – Google Docs

Glass Armonicas

Strictly speaking, these items are not artifacts, as no truly esoteric knowledge is needed to either create or operate them. Indeed, that is the basic issue that both Heaven and Hell have with the items.

The first Glass Armonica was invented by Benjamin Franklin; he had been fascinated by the practice of ‘tuning’ wine glasses to produce music. The basic idea is to take a set of glasses, fill them with various levels of water and run a moistened finger along the edge. The level of the water dictates the tone produced by the finger, which means that it is a relatively straightforward matter to set up a scale and thus play music. Franklin’s innovation was to replace the glasses with bowls specifically designed to produce the correct tone, then mount the bowls on a spindle; the performer merely had to keep the bowls moving with a foot pedal (and keep his fingers wet, which was almost as trivial). As usual, his invention was wildly popular. Many listeners compared the tones to angelic music (actual celestials agree that it isn’t, but they do generally think that armonicas sound very pretty) and claimed that it had all sorts of healing virtues. That rumor is incorrect; so was the later one that Glass Armonicas were dangerous to one’s health. The major difference between the two rumors was that the former wasn’t deliberately spread, and the latter was. Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Glass Armonicas.

In Nomine Revisted: Ultima Thule (Domain)

Ultima Thule (Domain) – Google Docs

Ultima Thule (Domain)

I would like to note for the record that I am well aware that there is a lot of pseudo-history enshrined below. To paraphrase Ken Hite, bad scholarship means good gaming.

Features: Common Tongue, Dream Magnet, Fierce Figments, Infinite, Malleable (+3), Hostile (Constant warfare), Oasis, Sticky (only worse: ethereals, once in, can’t leave).

You’ve heard the old saying “Old Nazis never die; they just move to South America?” Well, it’s not true. They die. And then, if they know the trick, they move to Ultima Thule.

Continue reading In Nomine Revisted: Ultima Thule (Domain)

In Nomine Revisited: Basic Celestial conversion (GURPS In Nomine) (4E).

Basic Celestial (GURPS 4E) – Google Docs

I ran across this while looking for something else: back in the day, I went ahead and converted the basic stats for celestials (angels and demons, basically) in GURPS In Nomine from 3rd to 4th edition. I also converted a bunch of Servitor Attunements and whatnot; I should collate them and put them up, too. Something to work on.

Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Basic Celestial conversion (GURPS In Nomine) (4E).

In Nomine Revisited: Mr. Alpu and Mr. Beytu.

Old favorites of mine.

Mr. Alpu and Mr. Beytu

Mr. Alpu and Mr. Beytu

Calabim of the Game

Mr. Alpu

Corporeal Forces: 6 Strength: 12 Agility: 12

Ethereal Forces: 4 Intelligence: 6 Precision: 10

Celestial Forces: 6 Will: 12 Perception: 12

Vessel: large man/6

Mr. Beytu

Corporeal Forces: 4 Strength: 6 Agility: 10

Ethereal Forces: 6 Intelligence: 12 Precision: 12

Celestial Forces: 6 Will: 12 Perception: 12

Vessel: Small man/6

Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Mr. Alpu and Mr. Beytu.

In Nomine Revisited: The Insidious Psionic Llama Conspiracy.

Mentioned it earlier.

Insidious Psionic Llama Conspiracy – Google Docs

The Insidious Psionic Llama Conspiracy

(Uses my fan-generated In Nomine Psionic rules)

Llamas (regular)
Corporeal Forces: 2              Strength: 3 Agility: 5
Ethereal Forces: 0                 Intelligence: 0 Precision: 0
Celestial Forces: 1                Will: 2 Perception: 2

Skills: Fighting/1, Running/1
Advantages: Psionic (Telereceive only)
Psionic Discipline: Telepathy/3
Psionic Skills: Emotion Sense/2, Telereceive/3

Llamas are domesticated quadruped herbivores indigenous to South America: like their close cousins the camels, they make useful pack animals (albeit ones that spit), but llamas are notably better-tempered about their lot in life. This particular species is generally used more for their carrying capacity than for anything else, as special variants were created for their wool. Llamas also make fairly decent sheep-herders, for herbivores. In other words, there’s not precisely a call for them in North America – a place already with all the horses, sheep and domesticated dogs that one could want.

So why are there llama-breeding farms cropping up here, anyway? Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: The Insidious Psionic Llama Conspiracy.

In Nomine Revisited: Salem, Mercurian Archangel of Civics.

This is over a decade and a half old at this point; it’s also based off of the canonical Angel of Cities for In Nomine. Nice to see that I was sensible, even back in the day.

Salem, Mercurian Archangel of Civics – Google Docs

Salem

Mercurian Archangel of Civics

The world is built from all of us. Build it anew each day.

She is the newest Archangel; and from her point of view, her apotheosis comes none too soon. For too long Heaven has permitted human governments and politics to develop and evolve without specific, Superior-level oversight. This is not a criticism of the Host, of course: there is a War going on, and when one’s back is to the wall one is well-advised to emphasize utility over elegance. Still, the matter required rectifying, and Salem is the avatar of that rectification. There will be changes made, wrongs redressed — and not a few of the Enemy are about to suddenly discover that their control of human society is perhaps not so secure as they may have thought.

These are indeed interesting times.

Continue reading In Nomine Revisited: Salem, Mercurian Archangel of Civics.