Award the Tether: Guinness Book HQ

[DBloch2012]

Yeah, but I wonder how many people would join in a game where all you need to do to create a Tether to Heaven is to have a Fallen Angel. The Dissonance in the Symphony caused by this Fallen Angel is so great that it would tear a hole in the fabric of the universe, resulting in a Tether to Heaven.

Of course, the reason why Tethers to Heaven exist even if there are no current Fallen Angels can easily be attributed to Lucifer's original Fall, and the others who left with him. I am not sure how to go about explaining Tethers to Hell, though. I will get back to you on that.

People seem too content with In Nomine canon. And, I dunno, maybe I will be too once I get any kind of supplement past the Core Rules.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by DBloch2012

Yeah, but I wonder how many people would join in a game where all you need to do to create a Tether to Heaven is to have a Fallen Angel. The Dissonance in the Symphony caused by this Fallen Angel is so great that it would tear a hole in the fabric of the universe, resulting in a Tether to Heaven.

Of course, the reason why Tethers to Heaven exist even if there are no current Fallen Angels can easily be attributed to Lucifer's original Fall, and the others who left with him. I am not sure how to go about explaining Tethers to Hell, though. I will get back to you on that.

People seem too content with In Nomine canon. And, I dunno, maybe I will be too once I get any kind of supplement past the Core Rules.

If it's a good story, and you communicate your house rules clearly enough for people to follow what's going on, I don't see why players would have a complaint. I believe ISNorden's campaign is largely heretical, with ethereals playing a much more prominent role than the original rules and setting allow for.

Personally, I find myself attracted to the canon rules because there's a nice consistency of logic, and it makes it easier for my players to be on the same page as me. (And it doesn't hurt to encourage them to buy the original materials themselves, in the hopes more will get made someday.) That said, I like "heretical" campaigns too. In addition to my normal "angels" group, I run a campaign of humans, demons, and ethereals in a setting where angels disappeared from Earth in the 8th century.

[Acolyte]

Originally Posted by DBloch2012

People seem too content with In Nomine canon. And, I dunno, maybe I will be too once I get any kind of supplement past the Core Rules.

As for humans, I have to say that the IN Core (as well as every supplement) makes it clear that the importance of humans is that the War itself is ABOUT them. Nothing is more important to celestials (well, to most of them, and all angels not serving Animals) than humanity: the War will probably go to whichever side has the most souls in its camp (Heaven or Hell). More than anything else, angels are supposed to get humans to Heaven at death. More than anything else other than obeying their bosses, demons are supposed to get humans to Hell at death.

As for canon, everyone who GMs In Nomine has his (or her) own heresies regarding IN canon, but by and large we prefer to keep it as canon as possible when we don't have a strong opinion otherwise. It makes it easier for players to assimilate themselves into campaign settings, and since one of the largest draws for IN is its adventure-hook-rich setting.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by DBloch2012

People seem too content with In Nomine canon. And, I dunno, maybe I will be too once I get any kind of supplement past the Core Rules.

You may want to get the GMG fairly early in your collection as a good deal of it concerns tweaking the setting and your campaign.

[DBloch2012]

That I can definitely get, since it is on e23. However, most of the debates so far have been about things in the Angelic Player's Guide or Liber Castellorum. Those books still have yet to be converted into PDF format.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by DBloch2012

That I can definitely get, since it is on e23. However, most of the debates so far have been about things in the Angelic Player's Guide or Liber Castellorum. Those books still have yet to be converted into PDF format.

Unfortunately true (though the pace has picked up on e-conversions). The Angelic Players Guide will probably be one of the last, I imagine -- much of it was done before the current Line Editor took over, and there are a lot of errata.

[Archangel Beth]

I am hoping that there will be a way to get the APG fully rewritten before it gets to e23, yes. It probably will be the last to go up, either way, if I get my way about things.

Though, as usual, people get to play any dadgum way they feel in their own games. Just communicate the changes to the players clearly (or at least say, "I have Book X, and anything not in Book X is subject to being made up entirely to suit me and I will not look on "but Book Y says..." with favor, especially if it's during a climactic moment in the game"), because player/GM misunderstandings suck and are No Fun, and go to it. Play IN Backwards! Sideways! Inside-out! Stars know I have.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

I am hoping that there will be a way to get the APG fully rewritten before it gets to e23, yes. It probably will be the last to go up, either way, if I get my way about things.

When I last looked a couple of months ago, the APG was the only IN book not listed as "Low Stock," "Out of Print," or "Always Available on e23"... so there's no pressing reason for it to be digitized yet.

(And, honestly, I'd rather see new content before an APG re-write. Grigori and more Superiors, please!)

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

Play IN Backwards! Sideways! Inside-out! Stars know I have.

You play your IN in,
You play your IN out,
You play your IN in,
And you shake it all about ...
(And somewhere, The Angel of the Hokey Pokey earns an Essence.)

[DBloch2012]

I've thought of a slightly different idea about how Tethers might fit into my understanding of the mythology, now that I've had a few days to mull over how Tethers are created by human faith and belief.

Perhaps, instead of Words coming straight down from Lucifer and God, it's actually human Essence that gives Words their power in the Celestial Realm (much like it does in the Ethereal Realm).

And Tethers, other than acting as transportation between the Realms, also act as a sort of beacon or power source for a Word. So the Tether of War, for example, would be fueled by humans' Essence and anyone with the Word of War (and not just Michael or Baal) would draw their power from it.

This would explain a lot about the importance of humans and Tethers, because if the Tether is destroyed or if humans stop believing in the Word there will be no more fuel for the Word. It would also explain why Demons are so eager to corrupt humans so that their Words will gain more support and power in their Tethers, which consequently lessons the Angels' influence in their Tethers. And vice versa.