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Stuff and Nonsense
Argh. The air conditioning in my house cut out yesterday. It was a very warm day. But the guy came this morning and fixed it before anyone melted into a small puddle. So yay!
Apparently the hold up for getting my car was getting a part from somewhere. Holiday weekend and all that. Supposedly, it will be done today or tomorrow.
Finished the weekend thing on Brass and Steel. Whew. I love the MUSH, I love my fellow players, and I /greatly/ enjoyed the scene, but I'm so, so glad that it's over. Three days of doing almost nothing else will burn you out, eh? And my co-organizer was absent most of the weekend, as well...*sigh*
Speaking of In Nomine, in a tangental fashion, here are two things I've been rolling around in my head. The first is a suite of Songs. I don't have Liber Canticorum, so it might already be in there, who knows. The second is a Weird Idea. ;) LJ cut for those who don't care.
While these are relatives of the Songs of Shields, the Songs of Mirrors prove that sometimes, the best offense is a good defense. These songs all last a number of combat rounds equal to additional Essence spent (default is 1) times the CD of a successful roll. They have a range of the performer's skill in feet from the performer, except for the Celestial Song of Mirror, which is special.
Corporeal- The Corporeal Song of Mirrors forms an almost-invisible shield around the performer, a barrier of protection akin to the Corporeal Song of Shields. However, this shield does not work to deflect melee attacks; instead, any /missle/ attacks (including bullets) are halted at the shield and then returned to the attacker at precisely the velocity that they were fired at. The attacker-turned-defender can dodge as per normal rules, against his own attack roll. Whenever a missle is deflected in this fashion, observers get a Per roll at -2 to see a brief ripple of light from the Mirror.
Ethereal- Again, this Song is clearly related to the Song of Ethereal Shields, but with a small tweak or two. It reflects any resonance, attunement, or Song back onto the wielder, where such reflection is viable. Angelic resonances will get back information on the Angel using them, Demonic resonances will recoil back on the Demon, who can attempt to resist them as if they'd targetted themselves in the first place. Songs that normally could not be resisted (like Charm) /can/ be, when they're reflected by this Song...the performer-turned-target can resist with their Will, minus their skill in the Song.
Celestial- Celestial Mirrors does not create a barrier around the performer. Instead, it creates an entire new mirror-image of the performer, which is nearly indistinguishable from the orignial. This simulacrum reacts in precisely the same manner as the original, except that the actions are mirrored where possible. If the performer runs to the right, the mirror will run to the left, etc. It also mirrors any Disturbance made by the performer, and listeners have a -4 penalty on their Perception rolls to figure out which target is the real one. Note that the mirror /is/ simply an illusion, and if struck physically, will be revealed to be immaterial. Attempts at resonating the mirror will always fail.
Essence Requirement- 2
Degree of Disturbance- the CD
I believe that, at one point, I had a fancy name for this. Unfortunately, I have quite forgotten it. So Riding will have to do. A couple of notes, first off: this is not really meant for PCs. It's a combination of musing, adventure hook, and just something odd to throw at your players. But because someone will inevitably want to try it, I include mechanics for it, anyway.
Humans are special. Of course, we all /knew/ this; it's what the War is all about. But sometimes, something comes along that reminds the complacent Celestial just how strange and special humans really are. This time, it's the discovery that they've got a ticket to Ride.
Riding can only be done by Humans, and only by humans who have such deep faith (although not neccessarily in any particular version of God) that they are willing to essentially release their Will to the Symphony and trust that it will take them where they need to be. Amazingly, a Human does not have to be Aware to do this...indeed the Aware often have a more difficult time of it, for whatever reason. Riding appears to connect a soul to the Symphony with a deep, almost unconcious flood of information on what to do and when.
The Symphony, however, changes with every moment, and it does not follow the straight line approach. Those Riding will generally be called upon to do bizarre and nonsensical things, as the Music shifts and dances through reality. The only guarantee is that, should one be able to hang on, you /will/ get where you're going...even if you have to take a detour into Hell, first...
To Ride: First, you have to be Human. No getting around that. Second, you have to have a clear goal in mind, and be willing, down to the bottom of your soul to accept the Symphony's method of getting you there. The bigger the goal, the more difficult this is: in game terms, you have to be able to make a successful Perception roll, with CD equal or exceeding the degree of the goal's importance to you, GM's call (Getting a pint of ice cream would be 1, becoming ruler of the world would be a 6 or higher ;P). Assuming one succeeds, you begin to get promptings from the Symphony. Urges on what do to...these don't have to make any sense whatsoever. In fact, Riding is carte blanche for the GM to abuse you shamelessly. Any attempt to get around these promptings breaks the Ride, and you have to start all over again.
Sometimes, what the Symphony asks you to do will be not just silly or ridiculous, but dangerous. When a prompting puts a Rider into a situation of direct harm, he must /fail/ a Will roll with a CD greater or equal to the degree of threat. (Being prompted to let someone slap you would be a 1, walking into a gang crossfire would be 6, GM's discretion.)
Providing that a Rider can continue to do this, he will eventually reach his goal. That is the /only/ sure thing about Riding. Needless to say, it is incredibly rare to come across a Rider, and most Celestials don't even know that the possibility exists.
Oh, and what I said about Celestials being banned from Riding? Well, it's true. But if, say, a Mercurian Archangel were to tear out his memories of /being/ an Angel, head to Earth, and attempt it...well...who knows?
Anyway, that's the sort of stuff I think about.
Apparently the hold up for getting my car was getting a part from somewhere. Holiday weekend and all that. Supposedly, it will be done today or tomorrow.
Finished the weekend thing on Brass and Steel. Whew. I love the MUSH, I love my fellow players, and I /greatly/ enjoyed the scene, but I'm so, so glad that it's over. Three days of doing almost nothing else will burn you out, eh? And my co-organizer was absent most of the weekend, as well...*sigh*
Speaking of In Nomine, in a tangental fashion, here are two things I've been rolling around in my head. The first is a suite of Songs. I don't have Liber Canticorum, so it might already be in there, who knows. The second is a Weird Idea. ;) LJ cut for those who don't care.
While these are relatives of the Songs of Shields, the Songs of Mirrors prove that sometimes, the best offense is a good defense. These songs all last a number of combat rounds equal to additional Essence spent (default is 1) times the CD of a successful roll. They have a range of the performer's skill in feet from the performer, except for the Celestial Song of Mirror, which is special.
Corporeal- The Corporeal Song of Mirrors forms an almost-invisible shield around the performer, a barrier of protection akin to the Corporeal Song of Shields. However, this shield does not work to deflect melee attacks; instead, any /missle/ attacks (including bullets) are halted at the shield and then returned to the attacker at precisely the velocity that they were fired at. The attacker-turned-defender can dodge as per normal rules, against his own attack roll. Whenever a missle is deflected in this fashion, observers get a Per roll at -2 to see a brief ripple of light from the Mirror.
Ethereal- Again, this Song is clearly related to the Song of Ethereal Shields, but with a small tweak or two. It reflects any resonance, attunement, or Song back onto the wielder, where such reflection is viable. Angelic resonances will get back information on the Angel using them, Demonic resonances will recoil back on the Demon, who can attempt to resist them as if they'd targetted themselves in the first place. Songs that normally could not be resisted (like Charm) /can/ be, when they're reflected by this Song...the performer-turned-target can resist with their Will, minus their skill in the Song.
Celestial- Celestial Mirrors does not create a barrier around the performer. Instead, it creates an entire new mirror-image of the performer, which is nearly indistinguishable from the orignial. This simulacrum reacts in precisely the same manner as the original, except that the actions are mirrored where possible. If the performer runs to the right, the mirror will run to the left, etc. It also mirrors any Disturbance made by the performer, and listeners have a -4 penalty on their Perception rolls to figure out which target is the real one. Note that the mirror /is/ simply an illusion, and if struck physically, will be revealed to be immaterial. Attempts at resonating the mirror will always fail.
Essence Requirement- 2
Degree of Disturbance- the CD
I believe that, at one point, I had a fancy name for this. Unfortunately, I have quite forgotten it. So Riding will have to do. A couple of notes, first off: this is not really meant for PCs. It's a combination of musing, adventure hook, and just something odd to throw at your players. But because someone will inevitably want to try it, I include mechanics for it, anyway.
Humans are special. Of course, we all /knew/ this; it's what the War is all about. But sometimes, something comes along that reminds the complacent Celestial just how strange and special humans really are. This time, it's the discovery that they've got a ticket to Ride.
Riding can only be done by Humans, and only by humans who have such deep faith (although not neccessarily in any particular version of God) that they are willing to essentially release their Will to the Symphony and trust that it will take them where they need to be. Amazingly, a Human does not have to be Aware to do this...indeed the Aware often have a more difficult time of it, for whatever reason. Riding appears to connect a soul to the Symphony with a deep, almost unconcious flood of information on what to do and when.
The Symphony, however, changes with every moment, and it does not follow the straight line approach. Those Riding will generally be called upon to do bizarre and nonsensical things, as the Music shifts and dances through reality. The only guarantee is that, should one be able to hang on, you /will/ get where you're going...even if you have to take a detour into Hell, first...
To Ride: First, you have to be Human. No getting around that. Second, you have to have a clear goal in mind, and be willing, down to the bottom of your soul to accept the Symphony's method of getting you there. The bigger the goal, the more difficult this is: in game terms, you have to be able to make a successful Perception roll, with CD equal or exceeding the degree of the goal's importance to you, GM's call (Getting a pint of ice cream would be 1, becoming ruler of the world would be a 6 or higher ;P). Assuming one succeeds, you begin to get promptings from the Symphony. Urges on what do to...these don't have to make any sense whatsoever. In fact, Riding is carte blanche for the GM to abuse you shamelessly. Any attempt to get around these promptings breaks the Ride, and you have to start all over again.
Sometimes, what the Symphony asks you to do will be not just silly or ridiculous, but dangerous. When a prompting puts a Rider into a situation of direct harm, he must /fail/ a Will roll with a CD greater or equal to the degree of threat. (Being prompted to let someone slap you would be a 1, walking into a gang crossfire would be 6, GM's discretion.)
Providing that a Rider can continue to do this, he will eventually reach his goal. That is the /only/ sure thing about Riding. Needless to say, it is incredibly rare to come across a Rider, and most Celestials don't even know that the possibility exists.
Oh, and what I said about Celestials being banned from Riding? Well, it's true. But if, say, a Mercurian Archangel were to tear out his memories of /being/ an Angel, head to Earth, and attempt it...well...who knows?
Anyway, that's the sort of stuff I think about.
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