My Dream: e-Nomine

[Blackwing]

Originally Posted by cappadocius

All Malakim have 9 Forces, and so do all Cherubim. What if Malakim got 10 Forces, and Cherubs 9? Or what if Laurencian Malakim got a bonus Corporeal Force, and Novaline Cherubim got a bonus Ethereal? Stuff like that, I think.

Huh. That's what the Attunements, Songs and different Realms of Forces are for. I think that a 4/2/3 Malakite of War with Howl and Seraph of War attunements and some Numinous Corpus and Form Songs is a very different character to play than, say, a 1/4/4 Malakite of Destiny with Divine Logic and lots of knowledge skills. One Force here or there is pretty minor. But that's just me. :)

Most GMs will probably let a starting player buy a Force if s/he wants to. After that is a matter of how the player spends the Cp.

Also, I love the fast and cinematic d666. It's part of the flavour that the humans are physically weak (for once!) and I've seen no reason to change the core rules in that way.

In the two IN LARPs that I've run, the second hardest resonance to simulate after the Kyrios/Shedim were the Cherubim/Djinn. We couldn't find a way to simulate it without a lot of off-game stuff. I tend to agree that IN doesn't actually translate smoothly to LARP and I wouldn't want to see the table top game mutilated to a LARP form. We had to mutilate the Malakite and Mercurian resonance a lot! Demonic resonances were actually a lot easier to simulate...

[ScaredofScissors]

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

I don't think the core rules could handle that without getting really bloated, and the CPG is really the human expansion part. (Just as the EPG is the expansion that deals with ethereals in all the gory detail they both deserve and need.)

But I do have certain notions about Soldiers in other contexts.

My vote's for opening the range to 3-18, GURPS style, and making the Check Digit the margin of success. That way you can make humans, Soldiers, and Undead competent while still allowing Celestials to be mighty powerful. Not GURPS all the way, of course (because eventually you might as well just play GURPS IN), but steal that. Also the GURPS "Frequency of Submission" rules work wonderfully for Discord, and Power Investiture, while it doesn't have the elegant simplicity of the force system, DOES allow for more flexibility as far as stats are concerned.

[Archangel Beth]

I think if I took all that, it might as well be GIN -- especially the Frequency of Submission stuff...

I'm rather twitchy about completely changing the 2-12 thing and losing the check digit -- having an open-ended range instead of a 1-6 would be a pretty severe change.

I'm thinking here, mind.

[RadLilim]

I will cast my vote in for keeping it as is. The fast and loose rules style is a) unique to In Nomine (which in a world of D20 games, nice to still see) and b) fits well with the concept as a whole. To me, an In Nomine game where there is a lot of comabt (which is where good hard rules are important) isn't a very enjoyable experience. This game, to me, is a great setting for deep character development and interaction.

I've been playing online RP games for that last few years and In Nomine is one of the table-top games that translates best, IMO.

There has been some talk of how someone with a really good skill can suceed with a low check digit. I think that adds realism to the game, actually. No matter how good a shot a character is, if the gun wasn't cleaned before, or you end up with a dud bullet, even the best crack shooter will only barely hit.

[Fedifensor]

Originally Posted by RadLilim

There has been some talk of how someone with a really good skill can suceed with a low check digit. I think that adds realism to the game, actually. No matter how good a shot a character is, if the gun wasn't cleaned before, or you end up with a dud bullet, even the best crack shooter will only barely hit.

The thing is, the best crack shooter will have made sure to clean his gun and only use the highest-quality ammunition. Part of being the best is knowing all the tricks to make sure you're at your peak.

If you did go with the 3d6 option instead of 2d6+CD, you could still have a bad day - while it's not as likely, rolling a 17 or 18 on 3d6 comes up about 1% of the time. But since there's a greater middle range with 3d6, skills would be more reliable for those who put points into them.

[Corvus]

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

I'm rather twitchy about completely changing the 2-12 thing and losing the check digit -- having an open-ended range instead of a 1-6 would be a pretty severe change.

I'd have to vote in favour of keeping In Nomine -

a/ Distinct from GURPS (Althought GIN was a great sourcebook, giving information from a different perspective/style)

b/ with the d666 mechanic. I'm a big fan of any game system that has a unique core mechanic that actually fits the system (
Castle Falkenstein is the other good example I can think of.)

Honestly, If I tried running In Nomine without the d666, my players would kill me :)

-Chris

[Fedifensor]

Originally Posted by Corvus

Honestly, If I tried running In Nomine without the d666, my players would kill me :)

Interesting parallel - since the gamers I know who I could get to try it are d20 and HERO system veterans, I think running it with the d666 (including the wonky check digit) would cause them to kill me...

[Archangel Beth]

Ask them if they'd like to play a game that had its cute little mechanic, go for a game or two of it, and then help you convert it to something else? (Since it's hard to convert systems if you don't understand how one of them works, I feel.) Then they play it, don't kill you for the d666, and if they like it you can keep it, and if not, they help you make a conversion everyone likes...?

It's a win-win-win situation!

[Padre]

I like the d666 mechanic lots.l I don't want to lose any of it's essential simplicity, or it's more charming features (the interventions with 666 and 111). But the problem of degree of sucess being almsot decoupled from ability grieves me. I'm working on my own fix...