Do You Play It Straight Or Mixed Genre?

[Shiftkitty]

I'll spare you the lengthy background on my campaign world. Suffice to say it's consistent and my guys really like D&D 2e. After a couple of runs at In Nomine they started talking about how it might mix with swords & sorcery fantasy. I could have easily just gone with Epic Level D&D, but we all liked the Biblical aspect that we all grew up with. Sooooo...

I had a sorceror on a far distant world summon one of the PCs and trap him in a magic circle. Due to the magic field on the planet, the angel's senses were going haywire. He did, however, pick up the vibes of a distinctly diabolical influence. (Lucifer's boys were already screwing with this guy, who was innocent of the dangers he was toying with.) After a brief role-playing session while waiting for the the rest of the guys to show up with the beer & pizza, the PC (played by my husband) had been released after frightening the poor sorceror out of his wits. (Literally, the guy went insane.)

This disturbing revelation of mortals summoning Celestials and trapping them in magic circles called for immediate attention. This world of strange gods had to be investigated and secured from the ravages of Hell. (Why the existence of this planet is a surprise to the Host is something I haven't worked out yet.) Cue the PCs...

Angels suddenly appearing on a world the Diabolicals considered theirs caused Hell to send in a small squad to find these angels and deal with them. The locale was a typical pseudo-medieval fantasy city. The wizard's tower screamed of power, and the angels headed right for it to see what was powering the magic. Was it a naturally occuring phenomenon or was it diabolical in nature?

The demons got there first, intending to "deal with" the wizard who lived there and set a trap for the angels. However, just as the Lilim knocked on the tower door, the church bells rang, summoning divine protection for the town (according to old wives' tales). The wizard opened the door just as the demons' allergic reactions to divine influences of all sorts triggered the arrival of the angels.

Then Satan got hold of the dice. In summary, the wizard believed he was under an arcane attack and retreated into his tower, setting up his magical defenses. The Celestials, all very sensitive to magic, apparently got their senses screwed up as nobody could hit anything save the (rare!) Malakite of Novalis, Dera, who wrapped the Calabite up in a wall of ivy while the Ofanite of Janus swiped his swords, swords that had been used to kill a person earlier in the session. (Never saw so many bad rolls!) About that time, the local guards showed up to investigate the ruckus. Dera vanished into the wizard's small flower garden at the side of the tower while the demons swore that the angels were demons and they were demon hunters. (One good Balseraph can really screw up your evening!)

The angels gambled that they could talk some sense to the town leaders. They didn't have anything to hide, really, since the town guard didn't even flinch at the mention of demons. However, Dera could overhear from her hiding place that the local inquisition was about to go Old School Torquemada in an attempt to weed out all evil spirits infesting the town. It didn't sound promising. She tracked her companions to the holding cell, slipped past the guards, and informed them of the situation. Kane (the Ofanite) slipped out of his restraints quite easily and freed the others. Just as they got the cell door open and were starting their escape, the less-than-tolerant-of-evil-spirits-and-quite-fanatical-about-his-job Bishop Cadroc appeared with his equally zealous and intolerant guards.

Cliffhanger ending tonight!

Anyway, that's how I meshed D&D and In Nomine. Roles were unnecessary as people didn't generate much in the line of a paper trail, and the angels are certain that God's rules apply to all of creation, so they can't just hack and slash their way out, like they could in D&D. The last order they got was to keep it low key so as not to embroil the innocents of this world in a Heaven vs. Hell Steel Cage Deathmatch, and there's the problem of the local gods to deal with. It's a big bite from a gaming angle, but since everyone had fun, I think I meshed it well enough!

Anybody else take In Nomine out of the modern world?