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Old 01-05-2010, 04:48 PM   #1
The Final Door
 
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Default In Nomine and real religious reactions?

I just had an interesting talk about a game world idea for another game in the making. It has serious religious tones. Like "God is a living entity punishing the globe" tones. It does not tread lightly.

It made me think, did In Nomine ever (unintentionally) provoke any reactions from the religious community? The representation of angels and demons, with players being able to play demons, or angels questioning God's Plan, would seem like a carrot dangled in front of religious commentators, and something that might even offend religiously inclined roleplayers. I know the old "dem games are eveeel" meme is not as thriving now as in the days when Jack Chick stood tall, but are there any real reactions to a roleplaying game using (un)holy texts and concepts so openly? Not to mention rewriting some things from scripture?
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Old 01-05-2010, 05:01 PM   #2
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Default Re: In Nomine and real religious reactions?

Jack Chick. Strange and wonderful memories.

Yes I did. "darquay" is a friend of mine and wonderful roleplayer, and I tapped her to play The Corps for my PbP in a chat session. She did, but opted out of any long term RP in In Nomine. A devout Christian, she took exception to one thing in particular: Michael being convicted of Pride. An AA doesn't have such vices IRL. Unfortunately that's a major part of canon and highlighted in my game.

She also found PC angels much weaker and more flawed than real angels. Real biblical angels apparently strike people senseless by their mere presence (at least in some passages, though I remember others where they just kind of hang out with people until they reveal themselves). I was always specifying "game angels" there.
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Old 01-05-2010, 07:33 PM   #3
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Default Re: In Nomine and real religious reactions?

I don't know about reactions from real religious people, but there's a livejournal ficlet out there describing the reaction of a Fundamentalist Christian ending up in IN's version of Heaven. :D. Quite amusing. And unfortunately very short. There is so much more that could be done on that theme of various religions colliding with the reality of the IN world.
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Old 01-05-2010, 10:02 PM   #4
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Default Re: In Nomine and real religious reactions?

I've had a few friends of various faiths who were uncomfortable playing In Nomine and one or two who were OK with In Nomine--so long as they didn't have to play demons. It's not a game for everyone and I get that. ...It might also be part of what makes the game so special for me.
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Old 01-05-2010, 10:43 PM   #5
Rocket Man
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Default Re: In Nomine and real religious reactions?

To be honest, I had to do a little soul-searching when I first started playing because of my own Christian faith (especially with the initial "take" on Yves and Kronos in "Heaven & Hell"). I finally decided I could still play it comfortably, remembering:

1) The fundamental rule of any RPG: This is not the real world!

2) That in a game GM'd by me, the universe can be set up however I want.

Today, it's one of my favorite RPGs, period. To be honest, the way it portrayed angels, demons, Archangels and Demon Princes in general never bothered me all that much; it was some of the specific questions and "big picture" details that raised an occasional eyebrow. (As it happens, I love the "selfless/selfish" dichotomy, especially with how it's been elaborated under Beth's guidance.)

Like some of Attercap's friends, I still prefer not to play demons, though. The current "In Noir-mine" play-by-post is the first exception I've ever made, largely because the noir conventions obviate a lot of the usual conflicts.
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Old 01-05-2010, 11:00 PM   #6
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Default Re: In Nomine and real religious reactions?

I'd figured my mom would have had a worse reaction when I first mentioned IN to her. She's one of those who believes D&D teaches witchcraft, but after hearing the description of IN her response was "It is a fictional setting following its own rules. Nothing wrong with that as long as you can tell the difference between fiction and reality."
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Old 01-06-2010, 12:00 PM   #7
Archangel Beth
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Default Re: In Nomine and real religious reactions?

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Final Door View Post
It made me think, did In Nomine ever (unintentionally) provoke any reactions from the religious community?
I never heard of any. And I got email from people wondering how to cast real satanic spells, and from one of the three incarnations of Lilith's Daughters complaining about how Lilith was depicted. (For the second, I explained that In Nomine was just a game and wasn't intended to capture reality. For the first... http://archangelbeth.livejournal.com/9977.html )
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