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Old 03-22-2011, 01:38 PM   #6
Azel
 
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: South of the Town across from the City by the Bay
Default Re: What Should I get?

Ok, you already have Core, Angel, Infernal, and Corp & Eth Guides. Where to next? That's easy, Game Master Guide (which should have come earlier, by the way. I made the same "mistake" myself), You Are Here, and the Liber series.

Now, there's two approaches you can take, and I'm going to ask you how you want to get into the game:

First, regardless of the two approaches, get the GMG. To start playing you always need to worry about People, Places, and Things. But before even then, you need to worry about Mood, Setting, Theme -- and canon boundaries with regards to the Big Questions (religion, Superiors' Limits, Nature of God & Lucifer, etc.). So, first you need GMG to answer for yourself "what am I selling to my players," because IN is very flexible in presentation. You can end up with frustrated players if you don't see eye to eye on the buy-in for your game.

From here there are two major paths to take.

One, you can focus on people and places. This would be You Are Here and Liber Servitorum (and later Liber Castellorum). Essentially this is narrative fodder; it helps keep the game going with plot hooks and interactive set pieces. Liber Servitorum is particularly useful in that it gives an example of characters for every character category, showing powerful ones and starting character ones. And it further explains the value of (and the responsibilities inherent in) Roles and Servants -- this is quickly understood later to be invaluable.

You Are Here is an excellent seed source for locations. I do find Liber Castellorum more useful personally because tethers should be a major setting fixture, even if it does not end up playing a major character role. However, I do find the book on tethers more for advanced IN gaming. You Are Here however is an excellent choice because so many great ideas can be ported over to other games; even if you end up disliking IN, this book along with Liber Servitorum, will still retain value.

On the other, you can focus on PC powers and loot. This would be Liber Canticorum and Liber Reliquarum. These are the power boosts, the new songs and tantalizing relics. They explain the game world conceit about songs and artifacts, and then further delineate ways to finesse songs and create artifacts. Finally they then provide new songs and example artifacts.

This is great stuff. Not only are there new toys, and rules how to make them, but there's also "forbidden fruit" dangling nearby. Restricted or forbidden songs, legendary or Superior level artifacts, whole batches of toys that scream "World Changing McGuffin plot hook here!" However, be warned that generosity on this path lies madness and frustration. These toys sound delightful with which to tease players, but know that you're playing with fire.

IN is not (usually) a power-for-power's-sake dungeon crawl. PCs have responsibilities. Too many of these toys, even the 'balanced' ones, and you're just asking for your game to fall apart. IN walks a delicate line in play balance. PCs start off strong enough to seriously mess with the world, but the game supplies the GM with enough soft and hard mechanics to rein in such behavior. Too many hard benefits however (forces, songs, artifacts, etc.) and many of those mechanics become impotent leaving you either having the PC turned in, or snowball into Armageddon. Even IN canon states that higher level gaming is beyond the scope of what was initially intended. So, just be careful.

Hope that helps, and happy gaming!
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