Who's next?

[Archangel Beth]

Originally Posted by JCD

On a slightly different note, are the books only being put into e23 when they become out of print in W23?

Correct. I have little-to-no input into that process, though.

[JCD]

On a related note, you mentioned in "A simple question" that the GMG was a tricky...thing to put into e23. What makes it particularly more difficult to post in PDF?


Additionally, how difficult are pdfs to reformat, i.e. to add some coherence to the IN core? I doubt very much that SJG is looking forward to that task (we don't make enough sales to make a second edition...but because the first is so fractured, no one wants to buy. A conundrum) but being a publishing virgin, I don't know how difficult layout is.

[Archangel Beth]

Originally Posted by JCD

On a related note, you mentioned in "A simple question" that the GMG was a tricky...thing to put into e23. What makes it particularly more difficult to post in PDF?

Honestly? I have no idea. I'm not the one who does the technical arcanery required to get SJGames books into PDF mode. I'm operating from what Fox has said (I'm pretty sure it's Fox who's been tasked with turning books into PDF), which is that the easy-to-format ones are queued first. They need to be in a functional electronic format that is compatible with their PDFing software. To get more data, you'd probably have to ask over on the e23 section of the forums.

Additionally, how difficult are pdfs to reformat, i.e. to add some coherence to the IN core?

Ungodly difficult. A "reformatting" such as you imply would be a second edition, and if that happens, I am going to want to write bits of it from scratch. If you can pick up a GURPS In Nomine, you can basically see "edition 1.5" in the layout choices that we made. It is not easy to get everything you need into an easy, linear layout.

This does not excuse the editors at the time from accusations of "what were you smoking??" for some of the current core rules' placements, but it's still not a simple fix; even if it were a case of "move this paragraph here, this page there, that page over there, and bob's your uncle," it would still require an entire new layout and changing every page reference in the book. That's personpower which costs money and is in tight supply, that is.

I doubt very much that SJG is looking forward to that task

One of these days, I'm going to get something to crack the PDF and start rewriting it on my own. This may take a while, considering that I am nearly constantly kidstracted for large chunks of the day (and worse in the summer).

At least with PDF-searching applications, the issues with the Core Rules are much less annoying. The bookmarking on it is likewise pretty darn useful.

[Moe Lane]

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

A "reformatting" such as you imply would be a second edition, and if that happens, I am going to want to write bits of it from scratch.

"Bits?" :)

[Archangel Beth]

And bytes, even! O:D

[Rocket Man]

Arise, undead thread!

I know Rob and I have been trying to keep the "Are we there yets" to a minimum (well, mostly) but the curiosity has gotten overpowering. Dear Archangel, how close are we on Zadkiel and Marc? Are we likely to see them in '09 now that the bottlenecks of Munchkin Quest and Thaumatology are out of the way?

Look it at this way -- the sooner we find out, the sooner we can start bugging you about the next Superior, for a change. :)

[Acolyte]

The Superior I've always desperately wanted to know more about is, hands down, Jordi. By leaps and bounds the most alien of the Archangels (which, in a group that contains an insane prophetess/punisher and the embodiment of chaotic change, is impressive), from his tiny write-up in the core virtually no one wants to serve him, and even a GM has very little to go on. He has as many personalities as he has hosts, which means an encounter with Jordi could portray him as playful as a puppy, skittish as a gazelle, smug as a lion, or awkwardly placid as a cow. His are among the least fleshed out sections of Liber Castorellum and Liber Servitorum, which in my opinion are key books to understanding a Superior's methods and opinion towards Earthly operations.

Most Servitors are stereotyped by their Word (Flowers angels are hippies, Lust demons are sluts), and that's a large part true, but there's always room for variation. The Animals reputation (either an eco-terrorist or a crazy cat lady) is especially hard to buck, and if I told a player he had to play a Servitor of Animals, he'd probably say "How?" The Dissonance conditions of Jordi are vague and potentially impossible to avoid in an average game (though not as terrible as Litheroy's, which I hope were retooled in his expanded e23 book from "Feast of Blades" because they were essentially NPC-only there).

But it's not just his Servitors. The very Word of Animals presents problems--while it makes sense that animals, as a part of creation, deserve the protection and care of a Word-bound, how is it that Jordi is among the oldest and most powerful Archangels? How do animals serve selflessness and Heaven? How do they fight the War? What are the closest demonic analogues--Jordi's most hated foes? The Demon of Buggy Whips' canonical status notwithstanding, there's not a lot to go on, there.

But at the same time, Jordi has amazing potential. Animals can love humans just as readily as hunt them. And while it's stated that he regrets not hunting humanity to extinction, Jordi is the only Kyriotate Superior and thus the only one capable of thinking in the bodies and personalities (and from the viewpoints) of dozens of minds at once. Hell, he could operate from hundreds, possibly. Where was he when Legion arose? It seems like he was the only one really equipped to fight that fight. It's stated that Jordi had good relations with the Amerind Ethereals (and liked their people)--plenty of other Ethereals come from religions that stress the natural environment and a life without waste, and Jordi could have been their allies as well. Where was he during the Purity Crusade? Did he harbor them? Does he now?

There's so much potential depth to Jordi, and so very little mention of him in the books, that I feel an e23 Jordi writeup could be very instructive. I don't think the content so far has done justice to one of the only 13 major Archangels, and I'd like to see it. Or I'll have to write it myself. *grin*

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Acolyte

There's so much potential depth to Jordi, and so very little mention of him in the books, that I feel an e23 Jordi writeup could be very instructive. I don't think the content so far has done justice to one of the only 13 major Archangels, and I'd like to see it. Or I'll have to write it myself. *grin*

You're in luck - R. Sean Borgstrom did an expanded writeup of Jordi (roughly to the level of the writeups in the Revelations books), and put a copy on her website. You don't have to start your writeup from scratch.

(I'd like to see an expanded version of that webpage as a full Superiors supplement on e23, but considering how long we've been waiting for Zadkiel and Marc, I'm not holding my breath...)

Edit: She's got other IN stuff on the web, too...

[Acolyte]

Originally Posted by robkelk

You're in luck - R. Sean Borgstrom did an expanded writeup of Jordi (roughly to the level of the writeups in the Revelations books), and put a copy on her website. You don't have to start your writeup from scratch.

(I'd like to see an expanded version of that webpage as a full Superiors supplement on e23, but considering how long we've been waiting for Zadkiel and Marc, I'm not holding my breath...)

Edit: She's got other IN stuff on the web, too...

Interesting. There are definitely some angles there I hadn't considered (though, honestly, I hadn't considered it all too deeply), but I don't think that version of Jordi is quite as...multipersoned (?) as I envision him. I liked the Attunements and the Tether, though. Thanks for the link.

And what's the deal with Zadkiel/Marc? (are they in the works or something?)

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Acolyte

And what's the deal with Zadkiel/Marc? (are they in the works or something?)

Yes. They were slated to be the next Superiors written up after Asmodeus and originally scheduled for 2008. Unfortunately, that didn't happen ...