Sympathy for the Devil... and the Archangel, and the Powers and Principalities

An Interview with IN NOMINE Line Editor Elizabeth McCoy

By Kurt Wilcken

Since before the Time of Man the war has raged; the eternal war between Good and Evil, between Heaven and Hell. In Nomine from Steve Jackson Games, is a role-playing game that puts players in the middle of this conflict, playing angels, demons, or their mortal agents

Elizabeth McCoy is the Line Editor for In Nomine and its related supplements and was good enough to answer some questions about the game and about her life in RPG’s.

Tell me a bit about the game's premise. What is the background? What sort of characters can the players be and what sort of things will they be doing?

Beth: The premise is that there are angels, and there are demons. The angels are generally good but not always nice. The demons are generally bad, but some of them can be very nice indeed. When God and Lucifer had a falling-out over the issue of humans and free will... Well, the War started, and now angels try to help humans achieve their great destinies and be more selfless, and battle the demons who seek to lead humans to their selfish fates. There are some angels and demons who just try not to be too noticed (God and Lucifer both frown on the War becoming open) while they bash the celestial opposition directly, and there are beings who do all their work with humans and rarely, if ever, even see another celestial.

The background is Earth, with mythical and religious motifs. Aside from the Choirs of angels and Bands of demons, there are mortal Soldiers who fight for one side or the other, undead, blessed Saints incarnated from Heaven, and ethereal spirits which are born from the dreams and nightmares of humanity.

The campaigns are... very flexible. GMs can run it as "supernatural superheros," with lots of cinematic combat and disregard for consequences. It can be played fairly silly and fluffy. It can be dark and gritty. It can be subversion and spying, and knives in the dark. It can be plain and straightforward and talky, with deep philosophical questions. I know at least two "journal games" where the characters were mostly blogging at each other.

GMs can set campaigns on Earth, or in the Marches -- the ethereal realm of dreams, dream spirits, and pagan gods. Hell makes a better campaign setting than Heaven (for the right kinds of celestials, of course), but interludes in Heaven seem to work well enough when I've seen them.

It's really flexible, depending on how one adjusts Brightness, Contrast, and Humor -- actual terms defined in the Game-Master's Guide.

In Nomine was originally published in France. How did the English version come about?

Beth: I'm not entirely sure. I looked at some playtest drafts of IN and wasn't really sucked in by them. I only bought the core rules because it was Steve Jackon Games and I liked GURPS. So I got on slightly before Night Music was published, more as a potential author and playtester. From what I understand, Derek Pearcy was very enthusiastic about translating the game and Steve Jackson decided that it would be something worth adapting.

In Nomine has its own game system, based on the original French game. How does it differ from GURPS?

Beth: That's actually not quite accurate -- the concept of having a d666 is based on the French game, but INS/MV (In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas) uses look-up tables, with results depending on the interaction of all three dice. The "IN/SJG" adaptation has a binary success-fail with the first two dice, and a degree of success/failure with the third. It's much simpler.

As to how it differs from GURPS -- instead of a 3d6 where sometimes the degree of success or failure has meaning, it uses the d666 (2d6 for success or failure, and 1d6 for degree of either). Skills are also simplified a lot; one of my mantras is "Keep In Nomine Simple; In Nomine Is Not GURPS." Instead of skill-proliferation, In Nomine prefers to use more generalized things -- Knowledge (type) instead of independently named Biology, Anthropology, History, Area Knowledge, etc. Want Knowledge (Obscure SF Movies)? In Nomine can handle that.

Also, instead of using 4 characteristics (ST, IQ, DX, HT), In Nomine has three realms of Forces (Corporeal, Ethereal, and Celestial) which have numbers allocated to them (from 1 to 6), and each realm has subordinate characteristics: Strength and Agility, Intelligence and Precision, Will and Perception. How many Forces you have in a realm determines how many points you spend in each pair of characteristics for that realm.

The rest of the system is actually fairly GURPSy -- you get points (based on a multiple of your starting Forces) to buy skills, attunements (supernatural powers), Songs (like spells), and supernatural artifacts. You get points back if you take Discord (disadvantages).

What aspects of In Nomine most appeal to you?

Beth: The characterizations and archetypes. I love the semi-alien mindsets, and getting into character for them. Finding where the ends of the bell-curves are in each Choir or Band -- how weird a representative of one's type can a character be? How typical? How does that affect them and make them act?

To me, one of the most interesting things about the game is how things are expressed in terms of music. Groups of angels are called Choirs; the powers they wield are called Songs; the corruption of either demons, mortals or the world is referred to as Discord. Would you care to comment on the essential role of music in In Nomine cosmology?

Beth: Apparently, the reference to the Symphony was a throwaway line in the French version, and it got spun into something else that weaves (sings?) through the whole setting. I think it adds a lot of flavor, and helps explain the way Words work. It's also useful when GMing -- one can do riffs (ahem) off of the music metaphors and "imagery," to give a good feeling of a situation.

It also leads to the Archangel of Song, but we shall not mention her just now.

As I understand, In Nomine gives the individual GM latitude to "adjust the settings" depending on whether the GM likes clear-cut moral distinctions, or prefers "shades of grey". Could you explain this a little more? What are your own preferences?

Beth: I babbled a bit about it up front, I fear... The Game Master's Guide offers a lot of customization tips for individual campaigns -- do you want dark, scary Archangels and angels which are barely distinguishable from the Princes and demons? Do you want EVIL demons and GOOD angels? Do you want In Nomine Backwards, with heroic rebels and stormtroopers with white feathers? All viable options. There are also options for making In Nomine conform more to one of the real-life religious views -- making one of those more "right" than others.

For myself, I tend to play a bit Bright (things are gen

You're in charge of quite an extensive line of supplements and material for In Nomine. What are some of the things the supplements cover?

Beth: Oh, lots of things. Relics (aka toys and gadgets), Songs, sample characters (NPC and PC grade both), Tethers, Game Mastering, places and adventure seeds... Humans are in the Corporeal Player's Guide, and ethereal spirits in the Ethereal Spirit's Guide (which in my opinion is probably one of the best books in the line, suitable for even non-IN campaigns), as well as the obvious Angelic Player's Guide and Infernal Player's Guide. There are also the Superiors books, for expanded Superior writeups.

Most recently, the Liber Umbrarum (Book of Ghosts) is available at e23.sjgames.com -- the future of the line, at the moment, is electronic. (I find this very exciting, actually; there are a lot of things that are more likely to see electrons than to see ink.)

A lot of the SJG library is going to electronic editions rather than atoms 'n' molecules books. Tell me a little more about Warehouse e23.

Beth: Well, they don't call it Warehouse e23 -- it's just e23. O:> I am not sure, not having puttered very hard yet, whether they've fully integrated it with Warehouse 23 yet in the order forms, but I believe that's one of their eventual goals.

Essentially, if you order from there, and have PayPal with a credit card number, or use a credit card, you get to download instantly! (If you have PayPal connected to your checking account, you have to wait for the virtual check to clear. If you have PayPal with a debit card linked to your checking account, it's just like a credit card...)

Browsing takes you to a page with a list of systems, a list of publishers, and a list of authors. Parentheticals next to the links are how many files they have of that (for instance, In Nomine currently has 6). Cross-system things are listed in each system page -- the In Nomine materials have the conversions for GURPS 3rd Edition in them, so that the GURPS In Nomine people can use 'em.

If you buy something while you're signed in, then the system keeps a copy of your total purchase lists -- if something happens to the file, you can print a new one, no questions asked. Just go to your previous-purchases page, click the link, presto! (One of my friends, new to iTunes and a staffer at SJ Games, was rather boggled that iTunes didn't do that, and one had to back up one's music files manually...)

Writing for e23 is very nice -- the only thing one has to worry about, regarding word-count, is how much the budget is. (The writing for e23 page is linked off the basic page, I believe...)

It's so very simple, I find, that it's hard to say much about it

How did you come to work for Steve Jackson Games and what are some of the other things you have written?

Beth: Oh, that's a long story. I'll do this in reverse order. My other gaming works are: GURPS In Nomine (co-author), GURPS Illuminati University (aka GURPS IOU), and a chapter of GURPS All-Star Jam 2004 -- all co-written with my husband, Walter Milliken. I've also got quite a selection of Pyramid articles, not all of which have In Nomine references.

How I got to write for Steve Jackson Games... Long and long ago, I was just getting into fandom and went to a "floating convention" (Eclecticon) which was championed by a few SJGames staffers. That, and other things, led me to the SJG-BBS as a fangirl. I helped Walter with his Sauhudese Fire Drill and loosely chaperoned the IOU board, and when I married Walter, we got an offer to write IO

What are some of your other favorite games?

Beth: For my sins, MMORPGs World of Warcraft and EverQuest (for the Mac). Also, I have a fond spot for the ElfQuest role-playing game (that being the fandom that brought me to conventions and BBSs). GURPS, of course. SPANC and Munchkin are also found over here -- our five year old _really_ likes those.

What is one of your most memorable gaming experiences, either playing In Nomine or another game?

Beth: Oh, just one? There are so many! Interventions are always great in In Nomine, and Ann Dupuis' Old West/Horror convention game where I practically made a Fright Check, and the sweet, sweet three rolls where I had to get one lower each time -- and did...

I like gaming, what can I say?

I understand that you are one of those rare but blessed creatures, a parent who also games. (I have two daughters myself, one will turn 12 this summer, the other is a year and a half old). What are some of the challenges and rewards of juggling the dice with the diapers?

Beth: Oh, I wish I gamed more! Having an "Impufanite" daughter of attention-seeking age cuts down a lot more than I'd like. Mostly, I do some on-line gaming during her nap. When she was younger, I could get a drape and nurse her to sleep during a game.

Yes, it's much easier when they're in the Doorstop stage. Lately I've been putting our toddler in a high chair and letting her sit at the table while we game. As long as she has a book she can turn the pages on, she's relatively happy. May I add that the pages of GURPS Magic are very well bound.

Beth: *laugh* Eventually, we may figure out how to get the minx over to a grandparent's for the day -- now that she's fully potty-trained, this is an easier proposition. (Some of our time has also been eaten up doing guild events in EvercrackQuest...)

However, she's got a couple characters (In Nomine ones -- an Ofanite and Elohite) and occasionally shows signs of wanting to game with us, and she certainly knows the jargon! She also loves playing SPANC and Munchkin, and has actually played a game of Munchkin with Steve Jackson. She won. No, I wasn't helping much.

So I anticipate that when she gets out of the "I'm the GM" phase, we'll get more gaming. Some of our old friends, who we don't get to game with often enough, have a pair of gaming kids -- ours is getting closer to the age where we can manage to have real face-to-face games more.

Mind, after she's in bed, sometimes some one-on-one roleplay can happen with Mommy and Daddy....

I can remember back when D&D was considered Satanist. When I was in high school, my friends and I gamed behind our parents' backs. Have you had any difficulties because of the religious nature of In Nomine? Or have you found the opposite, that the greater interest in religion in our culture has been good for your game?

Beth: Depressingly, neither. Despite my ready, pre-planned retort of, "I don't worship Satan! Satan is my little NPC!" I rarely get much feedback pro or con. Jack Chick has not written about the game (though some of the fans have written Jack Chick versions of In Nomine, much like the variations in the Game Master's Guide). I got one letter, which I've since posted (with my reply) on my livejournal, asking about satanism... but for some reason I never got a response to my reply about how jealous demons were, and how if the books started bleeding he'd have to buy new ones.

Angels and Demons have been the subject for works as varied as Paradise Lost, The Screwtape Letters, the Hellblazer comic, K

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Nil Desparandum.

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