Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > In Nomine

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-01-2012, 07:58 PM   #11
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Ethics and setting oddities

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalillama View Post
Nope. It's the Seraph Resonance that gives truth.
I kind of knew that, but thought there were songs that at least kind of mimicked resonances.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2012, 08:08 PM   #12
dataweaver
 
dataweaver's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: Ethics and setting oddities

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocket Man View Post
To add to the scariness -- an Elohite assistant could predict which techniques will get the victim to give an answer at all (whether true or false is for the Most Holy to decide) and which ones would be fruitless.
There's also the matter of "what counts as an answer?" Does it have to be verbal, or does reading someone's body language count? (Admittedly, the notion of "body language" strikes me as something with which most angels would be unfamiliar.
dataweaver is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2012, 08:11 PM   #13
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Ethics and setting oddities

Saying, "yes" while shaking your head no? Saying it sarcastically? Sign language?

Crossing one's fingers behind one's back?

Deceptive but technically true statements?

(The word, "is" is present tense...)
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.

Last edited by Flyndaran; 12-01-2012 at 08:18 PM.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-01-2012, 10:31 PM   #14
Dalillama
 
Dalillama's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Default Re: Ethics and setting oddities

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
Saying, "yes" while shaking your head no? Saying it sarcastically? Sign language?

Crossing one's fingers behind one's back?

Deceptive but technically true statements?

(The word, "is" is present tense...)
The resonance determines if you think you're lying. On better rolls, it can also tell them what you think the truth is, whether you actually know the truth, why you're lying, and on a really good roll what the truth is regardless of whether you know it, although there are limitations on that last one.
Dalillama is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-02-2012, 02:49 AM   #15
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: Ethics and setting oddities

Lying with all its vagueness, or just deception?
Big difference.

"Do you have any sexual perversions?"
"No, I do not."
(Because I don't consider "loving" park benches perverse. They just don't understand our love.)
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-02-2012, 08:12 AM   #16
Archangel Beth
In Nomine Line Editor
 
Archangel Beth's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Frozen Wastelands of NH
Default Re: Ethics and setting oddities

Remember the resonance check digit tables... AND remember any penalties to check digit (or target number) that might occur with non-verbal communication. (I recall there's something useful about Seraphim in the APG, for this sort of thing?)

The thing about check digits is, of course, that sometimes all you get is "the person is saying X to get your buddy to stop hitting him."
__________________
--Beth
Shamelessly adding Superiors: Lilith, GURPS Sparrials, and her fiction page to her .sig (the latter is not precisely gaming related)
Archangel Beth is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-02-2012, 10:27 AM   #17
Dalillama
 
Dalillama's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Default Re: Ethics and setting oddities

At least with a Seraphic investigator, when you tell them "I don't know the answers you're looking for!" they'll stop hitting you. (Assuming that was the truth, anyway).
Dalillama is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-02-2012, 08:16 PM   #18
Captain Midnight
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Baltimore, MD
Default Re: Ethics and setting oddities

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
There's no song of truth? I'm not very well versed on In Nomine. Sorry.
Liber Canticorum, pp. 59-60. Corporeal penetrates disguises, Ethereal lets you know if someone thinks he's lying, and Celestial imposes a Seraph-like restriction on the target, though it can be resisted.

There are certainly ways that torture can be used to create a certain mindset in a victim, where you give him a lesson in what happens when you discover him failing to tell you the truth, for example. It's very unlikely to be effective in a quick-and-dirty "tell me the secret codes before the bomb goes off" situation, which is generally what RPGs are going to cover.

Note that there's a definite difference in the limited effectiveness of damaging a celestial's "meat suit" and the potential effectiveness of inflicting such catastrophic damage on a normal human that it would take a miracle to survive... and providing that miracle, even when death would be a mercy.
Captain Midnight is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-03-2012, 08:38 PM   #19
Rocket Man
Petitioner: Word of IN Filk
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Longmont, CO
Default Re: Ethics and setting oddities

Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Midnight View Post

Note that there's a definite difference in the limited effectiveness of damaging a celestial's "meat suit" and the potential effectiveness of inflicting such catastrophic damage on a normal human that it would take a miracle to survive... and providing that miracle, even when death would be a mercy.
Oh, yes. Some NPC Demons of Gluttony did this with a human prisoner in my campaign, continually carving off strips for a "snack" and then healing the damage. As you can guess, she was close to insane by the time of rescue. This was not helped by the fact that she was hanging by an infernal meat hook that would keep her alive so long as the hook was not removed ... but would not stop the pain of its presence.

(Two harrowing missions into the Marches, a fortunate invocation of Eli and some post-recovery care by our angels have gotten her to the point where she is functionally adult again but partially amnesiac and quite confused ... which is still a vast improvement over where she was.)
__________________
“It's not railroading if you offer the PCs tickets and they stampede to the box office, waving their money. Metaphorically speaking”
--Elizabeth McCoy, In Nomine Line Editor

Author: "What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stronger"
Rocket Man is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-03-2012, 09:33 PM   #20
Dalillama
 
Dalillama's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Default Re: Ethics and setting oddities

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocket Man View Post
(Two harrowing missions into the Marches, a fortunate invocation of Eli and some post-recovery care by our angels have gotten her to the point where she is functionally adult again but partially amnesiac and quite confused ... which is still a vast improvement over where she was.)
Not to mention the mission to get her out in the first place, which came within inches of killing better than half the party.
Dalillama is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
meta, seraphim

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:43 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.