Converting the Demons of Gaiman’s Hell

Tags

Andrealphus, Asmodeus, Baal, Free Lilim, In Nomine, Kobal, Nybbas, Sandman

I’ve been thinking a bit more about the demons that appeared in the Netflix adaptation of The Sandman.

Having a collection of demons can, in many ways, make it easier to convert them into In Nomine characters, because we can compare them against each other. I discussed them briefly last week, but here they are again. This will involve some spoilers, so if you are planning to watch The Sandman and haven’t done so yet, I’d suggest you do so before continuing.

Songs of the Hours

Tags

Asmodeus, In Nomine, Kronos, Songs, Yves

Since being accepted into the “family” of Hell, Kronos has had an almost obsessive interest in the passage of time. Whether the dark prince discovered these songs himself, or one of his servitors stumbled upon them while humming their way through on of the Prince of Fate’s journals is immaterial. They exist now. Kronos does try to keep something of a lid on them, but at the very least Asmodeus has learned them and Dominic may have gotten ahold of some copies as well.

Bonus: Fate, Destiny
Essence Cost: 1 (2 for Celestial, Varies for Eldritch)
Disturbance: 1 (+ Essence or 10x Force)
Duration: 1 Hour

An Untimed Game

Tags

Asmodeus, Duchies, In Nomine, Liber Neglecta

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update that I haven’t forgotten about the update to the Duchies of Asmodeus that I started towards the end of last year. I’m fairly certain I’ve picked out the two dozen or so Celestial demesnes that I’ll be naming as Hadean Duchies, I’m just trying to nail down a few more of the Dukes, Duchesses, and Doge.

If you don’t like well defined duchies in your In Nomine games, that’s fine to. These are just some optional ideas I’ve been working on. Suggestions for high-powered Asmodean Words are still welcome!

Meanwhile…

Tags

Asmodeus, Dominic, In Nomine, LegalEagle, Real World

So, while I was throwing my temper tantrum at SEO, I actually had my best traffic day in months, and I missed a couple of interesting developments which could fairly easily be worked into a game:

LegalEagle explored the ramifications of suing God (and the Devil)

Father Arango retires after thousands of his baptisms are invalidated over a pronoun

Both strike me as good ways for an In Nomine campaign to examine the interactions between Archangel Dominic, Demon Prince Asmodeus, and their respective servitors.

The Songs of Dice

Tags

Asmodeus, In Nomine, Songs

It actually came as a bit of a surprise to me that not a single song in the entire Liber Canticorum grants a bonus to the Servitors of The Game, so I figured it fell to me to create those songs. While there might eventually be more than one Suite, we all have to start somewhere.

The Songs of Dice fiddle with chance and probability.

Bonus: The Game
Disturbance: CD
Essence: 1

25 Years of Asmodeus

Tags

Asmodeus, IN 2022, In Nomine, Wordbound

“Asmodeus” by Trows

For Asmodeus, 25 years is roughly equivalent to what we might call a second. In the time since In Nomine first came out, he’s had barely enough time to make one move in the Celestial Game. However, to The Game at large that same span amounts to nearly a month, and as the Prince of The Game he is always looking for moves within moves and games within games. So even if his actions haven’t all been cosmic in scope, you can be sure that Asmodeus has kept himself plenty busy.

Pretarajapura

Tags

Asmodeus, Duchies, Hungry Dead

Even though Infernal and Cthonic cities were the organizing theme when I first put together the list of Hadean Duchies, I always felt a bit awkward about including Pretarajapura. For one thing, there is no way to avoid the cultural appropriation inherent in placing a Hindu city within a Greek principality under the control of a Christian demon. Yes, I spun a story about how Asmodeus picked the name precisely because it would be an assault on the other mythology, but that’s really just a lampshade over the truth. Better to remove the duchy altogether and let the mythic Hindu city remain just that. Besides, the Hindu Pantheon is canonically the pantheon that both Heaven and Hell are least interested in confronting at this time because of the strength of belief behind it.

Black Diamond Express & The Suburbs of Hell

Tags

A.W. Nix, Asmodeus, Black Diamond Express, Dis, Duchies, Harlem Slang, Shal-Mari, Zora Neale Hurston

When I decided to revisit the Duchies of Asmodeus, I knew I would want to include African-American slang and folk-belief about Hell and its environs. As near as I can tell, the best catalogues of these are A.W. Nix’s “Black Diamond Express” sermon and Zora Neale Hurston’s “Story in Harlem Slang.” If anyone knows of any other sources, please let me know.

“I Was There” (Nativity)

Tags

Asmodeus, Blandine, Caganer, Christmas, David, Dominic, Gabriel, Herod, I Was There, In Nomine, Ineffability, Jean, Jesus, Jordi, Lawrence, Malphas, Marc, Nativity, Saminga, Uriel, Yves

Steve Jackson Games made a very intentional choice with In Nomine to make the setting agnostic to any particular faith. As such, the divinity of Jesus is never firmly established (though Dominic & Lawrence clearly believe it) and attempts to discern the truth of such matters will be foiled by the ineffability of the divine.

However, this isn’t necessarily going to stop players from trying to track down figures who witness moments key to individual faith traditions in order to determine what is correct for their individual game.

Amitiel, High Judge of the Fallen

Tags

17 Force, Asmodeus, Balseraph, In Nomine, Judge, Metatron, Wordbound

Amitiel was once the Angel of Truth, right hand of Metatron, and advisor to the one true Lord. Then he smote her and her sister Peace for speaking out against the creation of man. Now Amitiel is a burnt and bitter old snake whose raw skin is patchwork of char and scar.

The mortal world far to painful for the old soul to tolerate, so she sits upon the Bench of The Game as the voice of Vindication; the word Lucifer bestowed upon the Balseraph once mankind showed itself to be just as inimical to the Symphony as the one-time angel had predicted.