What is In Nomine?

[Ragitsu]

Is this a supplement?

[Turhan's Bey Company]

In a word, no. It's an entirely freestanding game.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

In a word, no. It's an entirely freestanding game.

Yep. It's a really cool roleplaying game about the War between Heaven and Hell and the humans caught in the middle. Most PCs are either angels, demons, or one of the aforementioned humans. The mechanics are pretty loose, and unlike some RPGs, hack-n-slash isn't a default mode; while you can spend an evening stomping demons, it also works really well as a "thinking player's RPG."

While some of the imagery comes out of classic Christian belief, the game itself is not tied to any one religion (unless the GM wants it to be), and often takes the stand that several faiths have a piece of the truth but none of them have it all.

That said, there is also a GURPS: In Nomine supplement that was written for Third Edition. It takes the game world and ports it into GURPS mechanics, which among other things, tends to make the human characters a bit tougher than they are in a "classic" game.

And yes, it's a favorite of mine -- just in case you couldn't tell. ;)

[Andygal]

if you want a quick free intro to In Nomine, there is an adventure available for free on e23 which contains a light version of the rules system. It's called "The Sorcerer's Impediments" If you want a quick intro without committing any money, you can take a look at that and see if you might be interested in buying the core rules.

In Nomine is very fun and the setting is very evocative and interesting and leaves a lot of room for people to be creative with it while still being "canon".

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

The mechanics are pretty loose, and unlike some RPGs, hack-n-slash isn't a default mode; while you can spend an evening stomping demons, it also works really well as a "thinking player's RPG."

This part is worth keeping in mind. The game is written with the expectation that moral dilemmas and the uplifting/downcasting of the human spirit (depending on side) will be as much a part of the game as laying the smackdown on the other side, so many of the powers and abilities are very non-combat oriented, and the combat rules, and indeed most of the rules, are fairly abstracted and tend towards the cinematic.

[Doctor Palpatine]

*Nods* One of the fun things I've found about IN is that there are rarely any clearly defined bad guys. Heaven is Heaven and Hell is Hell but in many ways they're both as bad as each other. A favourite saying amongst our group is that angels spend eternity with one wing raised towards heaven, and the other dipped down and utterly soaked in blood.

In short it's a very good game that lends alot to the imagination!

[Ragitsu]

That doesn't sound like Heaven, then.

[Archangel Beth]

Depends on the Heaven. There's also room for Heavens which are unarguably Good (at least, according to the values of the GM and the group) and Hells which are as horribly evil as the group can stand without nightmares and vomiting. There's even room for "playing In Nomine backwards," where Heaven is the lockstep, jackbooted thugs with flaming swords who want Everyone To Obey, and Hell is where you get the scruffy freedom fighters who seek to rescue humanity from spiritual slavery.

The original French In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas game that SJGames' In Nomine was based off of... Well, INS/MV is very satirical, and heaven and hell are pretty similar in many ways. Some of that rubbed off on the original core rules, but as the expansions came out, there's a tendency for Heaven to come through as "flawed but pretty darn good" and Hell to be "sometimes not as bad as you might think." Individual angels and demons span the spectrum, though the bell-curves suggest that you'd rather have an angel for a neighbor than a demon. (Well, actually, you'd rather have neither... PCs get into trouble!)

As others have said, checking out the free IN material on e23 would be a good idea for getting a "feel" for the system and whether you'd like it. I am, of course, biased towards thinking that The Sorcerer's Impediments is very good for that.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Ragitsu

That doesn't sound like Heaven, then.

Depends on how you play it -- not everyone plays as "low contrast" a game as Doc Palpatine. My current campaign very much has Heaven as the good guys .... but it's still possible for the good guys to make mistakes, or even Fall from grace, just as it's still possible for the bad guys to see the light and Redeem.

The GM's Guide goes into more detail, but there's two basic settings for a typical IN game: brightness and contrast (sounds like a TV set, doesn't it?)

High contrast means it's easy to tell Heaven and Hell apart. In an angel-centered game, this is usually because Heaven is the good guys and Hell the bad guys. A demon-centered game might instead take the position that Heaven is tyrannical and Hell a champion of individual liberty (that's Hell's official line, anyway; whether it's true is up to the GM.)

Low contrast means that Heaven and Hell are just team names, and that the two sides look very similar when you examine them closely.

A bright campaign means that whichever side is best for humanity is currently winning. (In a low contrast game, this can even mean low-ranking angels and demons working together to save humanity from their respective high commands.)

A dark campaign means that whichever side is best for humanity is currently losing.

In any event, what generally separates Heaven and Hell in a typical IN campaign is:
1) Selflessness vs. selfishness.

2) Whether humans are special beings whose Free Will must be respected, or just one more species of animal to be manipulated.

The official materials often give a low-contrast impression (since the person who buys them could end up running a campaign for either side) but usually include options for "brighter" and "darker" versions of each side.

Again, it's a setting where both the GM and the PCs do a little thinking rather than just pick out an alignment and go.

EDIT: Ninja'd by the boss! I feel honored.

[Havard]

The way I play it IMC is that Lucifer and most of the Demon Princes are completely evil. Not all demons are completely evil though, many obey Hell out of fear. God is good, but since he stopped talking to the Archangels, they are now working without direction and politics have taken over. Pretty much all have good intentions, but they feel lost without guidance. Many are also afraid that the other side is winning, giving ground to the inquisition of Dominic.

I think I will keep my campaign moderately dark, since I want my players to feel like they are making a difference.

Havard