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Old 02-02-2014, 10:03 PM   #1
cptbutton
 
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Default In Nomine in the oWoD Storyteller System

My current gaming group is heavy on Pathfinder and Vampire: The Masquerade.

I did run GURPS Werewolf 4E for them a few years back, but there's been a lot of turnover since then.

After our last game, I drove home considering an In Nomine game using the Storyteller system.

Googling found me a good Pyramid article, but not too much else beyond general discussion. It is a very good article but is necessarily just an outline.

Does anyone know of any other existing articles or discussions of this idea?

I am interested in working out the general mechanics and how the various realms and supernatural "species" interact. Keeping close to the default IN setting is not a big priority, so things like the ban on Ethereals in the Corporeal Realm may be greatly modified or omitted.*


* My personal take on it is that Angels regard the ban on Ethereals the way people regard illegal immigration. With enormous variation, from the hard line "Kill them all" faction to the "as long as they aren't hurting anyone, turn a blind eye" faction.
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Old 02-05-2014, 05:26 AM   #2
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Default Re: In Nomine in the oWoD Storyteller System

Quote:
Originally Posted by cptbutton View Post
My current gaming group is heavy on Pathfinder and Vampire: The Masquerade.

I did run GURPS Werewolf 4E for them a few years back, but there's been a lot of turnover since then.

After our last game, I drove home considering an In Nomine game using the Storyteller system.

Googling found me a good Pyramid article, but not too much else beyond general discussion. It is a very good article but is necessarily just an outline.

Does anyone know of any other existing articles or discussions of this idea?

I am interested in working out the general mechanics and how the various realms and supernatural "species" interact. Keeping close to the default IN setting is not a big priority, so things like the ban on Ethereals in the Corporeal Realm may be greatly modified or omitted.*


* My personal take on it is that Angels regard the ban on Ethereals the way people regard illegal immigration. With enormous variation, from the hard line "Kill them all" faction to the "as long as they aren't hurting anyone, turn a blind eye" faction.
Damn--I did that many years ago, don't know where my notes are, and am in the process of moving so it's hard to look for them right now. So just offhand...

Celestials can mop the floor with vampires. We started calling them "the sickboys" for that reason.

The only thing scarier than watching a Sword sharpen his blade is knowing that he's gaining Essence by doing it. Let's see a vampire get Blood while sitting there looking cool...while sitting there guarding the door for that matter.

Motion is one of the sickest Songs out there.

We played live, so I made players sing. It was awesome. Your takeaway on that might be that Songs are audible, unless the celestial spends even more Essence doing them silently.

If I manage to find my old notes--it won't likely be for a couple of weeks from now--I'll add them here.
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Old 02-06-2014, 06:21 PM   #3
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Default Re: In Nomine in the oWoD Storyteller System

In general, I think converting anything to an exception-based system is just not worth the effort, especially one that's near as clunky as d666 in the first place. That said, you might enjoy porting setting elements over from IN to Demon: the Fallen - or visa-versa, for that matter.
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Old 02-06-2014, 06:24 PM   #4
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Default Re: In Nomine in the oWoD Storyteller System

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In general, I think converting anything to an exception-based system is just not worth the effort,
Exception-based?
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Old 02-06-2014, 06:34 PM   #5
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Default Re: In Nomine in the oWoD Storyteller System

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Exception-based?
A system where there are a bunch of tiny little rules, for instance one each for many hundreds of powers, as opposed to one where there's a set of meta-rules that determines everything. Compare converting to Dungeons & Dragons to converting to baseline FATE, for instance: the latter is exponentially easier.
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Old 02-06-2014, 08:15 PM   #6
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Default Re: In Nomine in the oWoD Storyteller System

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matthias Wasser View Post
In general, I think converting anything to an exception-based system is just not worth the effort, especially one that's near as clunky as d666 in the first place. That said, you might enjoy porting setting elements over from IN to Demon: the Fallen - or visa-versa, for that matter.
I have heard of D:TF, but never read any of it.

On reflection, the first thing I realized after posting was that I really need to learn the Mage oWoD setting, which I am only vaguely familar with. Most of my experience has been with Vampire and Werewolf.
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Old 02-07-2014, 12:35 AM   #7
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Default Re: In Nomine in the oWoD Storyteller System

There is a lot unsaid by this post which needs clarification.

Are they interested in playing Vampires or Celestials?

Do you envision Celestials being just another generic 'monster' or are they significantly more powerful (on par with IN) to the vamps and claws of oWOD, i.e. do you see A vampire being able to go toe to toe with A Celestial? (If so, you need to answer why God's/Satan's Minions are so weak)

Are Celestials going to be used as NPC 'big bosses' or as PCs?

How does this integrated with your world's mythology (imo, a HUGE issue)

Angels in oWoD were MONSTEROUSLY powerful. Consider that it was the angels which stuck the curses onto Caine.

But for a quick comparison

oWod characters had stats maxed out at 5. IN characters max out at 6

oWod has a 'power pool' of 10 (blood, rage, Quintessence etc.). IN has one of 9 (one per force)

Does this suggest anything to you? File off the names, use the dice pool as used, maybe give Celestials one extra dot in the Physical aspects, make vessels a merit to buy with freebies, and use Songs as is. Yes, they are more powerful than the powers of Vamp, but they also have less latitude: i.e. a vamp with protean 1 can see in the dark. A Serpah with Corproeal Motion can fly...but he never gets to turn to mist as he advances.

Each Choir/Band gets an automatic 'power' from whatever discipline is closest to the end result. For example, a Seraph would get Auspex 2: an ear for lies, an Impudite a level of Presence, and a Ofanim Celerity.

All Celestials get 'body of mist' to mimic Celestial Form, but they can only stay that way for a short time, it takes a die roll and it is ENORMOUSLY LOUD to do.

Other powers would be trickier.

An off the cuff, no math or statistical analysis, gouge I'd use is Dissonance cuts one die from the dice pool per note. This will probably be a lot more crippling in WoD than in IN.

Recall Disturbance. This is huge in IN.

There is a generic 'we don't want to admit that angels are cool, but they are so we HAVE to include them anyway, but we'll we'll call them something else so as not to offend the Goth Girls' WW spin off of Angels in Mage and Nephilim can fill the bill of Demons and demon spawn.

Magic would be the much lower power rite stuff from Sorcery and the other Lesser Paths for human mages and not the heady "I am God" reality altering stuff of Mage to maintain the flavor.

This is a start.
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Old 02-08-2014, 06:47 AM   #8
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Default Re: In Nomine in the oWoD Storyteller System

Quote:
Originally Posted by JCD View Post
There is a lot unsaid by this post which needs clarification.

Are they interested in playing Vampires or Celestials?

Do you envision Celestials being just another generic 'monster' or are they significantly more powerful (on par with IN) to the vamps and claws of oWOD, i.e. do you see A vampire being able to go toe to toe with A Celestial? (If so, you need to answer why God's/Satan's Minions are so weak)

Are Celestials going to be used as NPC 'big bosses' or as PCs?
I am thinking of Celestials as PCs, high-gen vampires as mooks, and werewolves as possibly friendly mooks. Mages as unaffiliated Soldiers, sort of.

Quote:
How does this integrated with your world's mythology (imo, a HUGE issue)
I am thinking the oWoD as being roughly the same, only with yet another set of supernatural players mucking about in the shadows.

Angels, in theory, are only supposed to be counteracting demons and other "external" forces (demons, vampires, restless dead). Shapeshifters and Mages are a gray area, depending on how much they seem to be distorting the Symphony. But in practice there is a lot of slop in the rules of engagement.

Demons are out for whatever they can get, of course.

Quote:
Angels in oWoD were MONSTEROUSLY powerful. Consider that it was the angels which stuck the curses onto Caine.
I am not familiar with angels in canon oWoD, but that sounds more like Archangels to me.

I am vaguely thinking that starting Celestials will be roughly the power level of Elder to Methuselah vampires.

Quote:
But for a quick comparison

oWod characters had stats maxed out at 5. IN characters max out at 6

oWod has a 'power pool' of 10 (blood, rage, Quintessence etc.). IN has one of 9 (one per force)

Does this suggest anything to you? File off the names, use the dice pool as used, maybe give Celestials one extra dot in the Physical aspects, make vessels a merit to buy with freebies, and use Songs as is. Yes, they are more powerful than the powers of Vamp, but they also have less latitude: i.e. a vamp with protean 1 can see in the dark. A Serpah with Corproeal Motion can fly...but he never gets to turn to mist as he advances.
That is one idea, to say Corporeal Forces = Physical Attributes, Ethereal Forces = Social Attributes, and Celestial Forces = Mental Attributes, with a different multiplier than the 2 in IN.

The other idea from the Pyramid article is:
Code:
* Corporeal Forces determine Attributes.
* Ethereal Forces determine Abilities.
* Celestial Forces determine Willpower, Celestial Perception, and Songs.
Quote:
Each Choir/Band gets an automatic 'power' from whatever discipline is closest to the end result. For example, a Seraph would get Auspex 2: an ear for lies, an Impudite a level of Presence, and a Ofanim Celerity.

All Celestials get 'body of mist' to mimic Celestial Form, but they can only stay that way for a short time, it takes a die roll and it is ENORMOUSLY LOUD to do.
Basically yeah.

Quote:
Other powers would be trickier.

An off the cuff, no math or statistical analysis, gouge I'd use is Dissonance cuts one die from the dice pool per note. This will probably be a lot more crippling in WoD than in IN.
This is a great idea, thank you!

Quote:
Recall Disturbance. This is huge in IN.
Most if not all uses of supernatural powers cause Disturbance. A vampire using Potence to rip off a car door generates a little, running with celerity more, etc.

Shapeshifters changing form does too, and vulgar magic.

In general, Disturbance and Paradox are closely linked if not identical. Which give Celestials additional problems to worry about, besides just attracting attention.

Quote:
There is a generic 'we don't want to admit that angels are cool, but they are so we HAVE to include them anyway, but we'll we'll call them something else so as not to offend the Goth Girls' WW spin off of Angels in Mage and Nephilim can fill the bill of Demons and demon spawn.

Magic would be the much lower power rite stuff from Sorcery and the other Lesser Paths for human mages and not the heady "I am God" reality altering stuff of Mage to maintain the flavor.

This is a start.
My thanks to you and everyone for your comments.
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