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Old 11-22-2011, 08:46 AM   #1
naraht
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Far Reaches ideas.

If you have a reason to take a party to the far reaches of the Ethereal Plane, an idea that might freak them out is to find powerful ethereals that never were in OTL. For example, a superman like ethereal with a 'U' on his chest who is Ultraman, a powerful Mortimer Mouse or ethereal gods at the same level as Olympians or Hindu Dieties who are from Madagascar, Kamchatka or Patagonia.

Whether the GM chooses to have further travel take them into the "vale" for an alternate TL (Dark Victory, INverse, etc.) or simply wants the party to think it is possible, is up to the GM.

For even more mind games, (especially if you are taking them to the INverse universe or making them *think* you are), have the roll that gives them an intervention start shifting. For angels have the positive drift from 11-1, to 11-2 to 12/21-2 to 22-2 etc and the negative drift equivalently.

And if you are having them travel to tattered, have interventions shift *only* if their superior is on the other side in tattered (so servitors of Lawrence and Nybbas don't shift, and servitors of Eli and Andrealphus do)
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Old 11-22-2011, 10:57 AM   #2
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Default Re: Far Reaches ideas.

Something ISDNorden does, when you roll a 3-3-3, it's an Ethereal Intervention. I did that with my boys and it was great for comic relief.

One time they rolled it, they heard on the news about how this Chuck Norris lookalike attacked and beat up Chuck Norris. A homage to the Chuck Norris jokes.

Another time they passed by a duck wearing glasses, my homage to Ranma 1/2.

At one point they were rooting for a 3-3-3, and for a short time, they behaved themselves.

My thought is that since Ethereals are created from human imaginations, then strange and crazy things can happen since human imaginations can run pretty wild. Whether good or bad, there is no reason why there can't be a bit of lighthearted comedy to break the tension.
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Old 11-22-2011, 06:34 PM   #3
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Default Re: Far Reaches ideas.

Well, honestly, I'm not particularly fond of the idea of alternate world Icons, because the systems worldview is very much Earth centric.

By opening that door, you raise a host of theological issues which are problematic. Is there a Christ in your alternate world? Are the players able to get there? You know they might want to try. Now you need to make up an entire world with gods, heros, social customs etc.

Now for most GMs who've build fantasy worlds, this is no problem but then it's not exactly In Nom, but Modern Planescape. And it cheapens the specialness of Angels and Demons.

What I personally use is GURPS Cabal as a background for the Far Reaches. The imagery is very cool and there is enough off the wall stuff to fulfill your uniqueness but it's still very much anchored to the Earth. Heaven is set to the Measure of the Man since they are in God's Image.

YMMV and this is only my opinion.
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Old 11-23-2011, 07:21 AM   #4
naraht
 
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Default Re: Far Reaches ideas.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JCD View Post
Well, honestly, I'm not particularly fond of the idea of alternate world Icons, because the systems worldview is very much Earth centric.

By opening that door, you raise a host of theological issues which are problematic. Is there a Christ in your alternate world? Are the players able to get there? You know they might want to try. Now you need to make up an entire world with gods, heros, social customs etc.

Now for most GMs who've build fantasy worlds, this is no problem but then it's not exactly In Nom, but Modern Planescape. And it cheapens the specialness of Angels and Demons.

What I personally use is GURPS Cabal as a background for the Far Reaches. The imagery is very cool and there is enough off the wall stuff to fulfill your uniqueness but it's still very much anchored to the Earth. Heaven is set to the Measure of the Man since they are in God's Image.

YMMV and this is only my opinion.
Given that default In Nomine leaves open the question as to whether there is a Christ in the one that you are actually playing in, just use the same answer for the alternate one.

And perhaps the plot can be set up where they need to get something specific from the Alternate World and bring it back (like a piece of the Archangel Andrealphus's heart to help redeem him in the Canon World.

If you don't like inventing weird things then keep your players out the Far Reaches...
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Old 11-23-2011, 08:09 AM   #5
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Default Re: Far Reaches ideas.

One other thing ISNorden introduced in our own campaign is the Grays -- not the aliens, but celestials who have walked away from both Heaven and Hell so forcefully that they have changed into something else that is neither angel nor demon. They tend to identify most closely with the dreams of humanity itself ... and so, appropriately, their hidden City is deep in the Far Marches.
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Old 11-23-2011, 10:00 AM   #6
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Default Re: Far Reaches ideas.

Quote:
Originally Posted by naraht View Post
Given that default In Nomine leaves open the question as to whether there is a Christ in the one that you are actually playing in, just use the same answer for the alternate one.

And perhaps the plot can be set up where they need to get something specific from the Alternate World and bring it back (like a piece of the Archangel Andrealphus's heart to help redeem him in the Canon World.

If you don't like inventing weird things then keep your players out the Far Reaches...
No, I don't mind inventing weird things. I am saying that opening up the issues of alternate worlds is problematic in the theme of the game as stated. Now, if you don't mind breaking the theme, that's fine. And I won't even say it's not a derivation of In Nomine. What I am saying is that you are going into territory which can quickly change the very nature of the game and should be mindful of that fact so when the wheels fall off, you're prepared.

And IIRC, the existance of a man eventually called the Christ isn't in question. What the heck he was, IS. So far, no one has an answer.
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Old 11-24-2011, 05:18 AM   #7
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Default Re: Far Reaches ideas.

Actually though I could see this being a great demonic plot perpetrated by Nybaas, Kobal, or Beleth. They obviously couldn't change up the real interventions, but if they were watching the PCs they could toss out some signs of fake interventions to make them wonder. A cast of highly trained actors. Some PC Angel's having their faith in how the world works shaken. Sounds like a good time.
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Old 11-29-2011, 08:46 AM   #8
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Default Re: Far Reaches ideas.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JCD View Post
And IIRC, the existence of a man eventually called the Christ isn't in question. What the heck he was, IS. So far, no one has an answer.
No offense, but the uninformed onlooker may get the impression that you were taking the whole god thing a little too seriously... I'm pretty sure I qualify as a hardcore atheist, but even I would say that IN has no bearing on theological discussion... it's religious fantasy, and best left as such.
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Old 11-29-2011, 03:54 PM   #9
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Default Re: Far Reaches ideas.

Well, in IN, I recall that J.C. existed -- but celestials either don't know his True Nature, or if they do (OH HAI YVES!), they aren't talking. So unless I've timeline hopped again, that statement is canonical.


Personally, side-slipping timelines is (obviously) something that intrigues me. It can be done for (mostly) humor: http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~maya/nomine/fiat.html, bottom of the page, series marked "sliders." (One of the ones that amuse me most contain "Dominic, Archangel of Creation" and "Eli, Archangel of Judgment." (Also Jordi, Kyriotate Archangel of Lightning...) My other favorite is Tech Heaven/Nature Hell, with the GodHackers of Judgment.

It can be done with... hm, more enigmatic stuff; I had Vapulans collaborating with Yrth "dark" elves, opening a portal which the angels busted -- but which got the angels stuck there. Then an elf tried a Banish, got a 111, and perceived the angels as, well, servants of the whatever-it-was Yrthian elves venerated. (I'm blanking on the term.)

And then I did IN IOU, which is both fluffy as heck, but can also have serious bits.

Basically, I do think it's possible to do multi-world stuff and continuing to incorporate the elements of In Nomine that resonate with the GM and players. The GM (and players) just have to figure out what those elements are and how to incorporate them. (In my case, the meta-universe idea for IN Yrth was that God had many universes going, which were presumably all accessible... from the Higher Heavens. Any Archangels exclusively in the Lower Heavens were out of the loop. Yes, this did mean that Uriel might've been reassigned (or not!), and Yves might've shown up if they'd gotten lucky. In the meantime, they had to track down some Vapulans and figure out how to get home...)
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