From: (Mike.Dickison@vuw.ac.nz)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 11:19:13 +1200
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Subject: Greetings and introduction
Greetings all! (Assuming, that is, that there's more than two of us
subscribed.)
It's a nice feeling to gravitate from the rubble-strewn wasteland of
rec.games.frp.misc to our own mailing list. Many thanks, Shannon, from one
of the main agitators. I hope it proves as important to the development of
Nephilim as the Glorantha Digest has proved to be to RuneQuest. Here's what
I can see happening here:
* The rules themselves have some mistakes, contadictions and unclear
passages. This is probably a good forum to develop an Errata FAQ; as we
clarify or thrash out common problems, our more-or-less canonical opinions
can be compiled and available for ftp by newcomers. Sam will I suspect take
discussion here into consideration when putting together the next edition.
But I'll leave that for him to say.
* Because the genre is so new, the "style" of the game is not immediately
obvious. One great help is for referees to share news of their campaigns,
saying what works and what doesn't. We can swap cameos and scenario ideas,
and answer questions like "what do Nephilim *really* do with their stases?"
Since we're all new at this, at least using Chaosium's rules, we'll all be
coming across similar game situations, and can learn from each other.
* This is also the perfect forum to throw out snippets of real world
esoterica and oddness, and gather feedback on how they might fit into the
nephilim universe. Likewise with details of geography or politics. Because
the game concentrates on North America, those of us who live elsewhere are
no doubt working on different backgrounds. We can share these with American
referees who want globetrotting campaigns, and they can help us out when
our Nephs decide they simply have to go to Boston.
What I can see becoming very boring are long arguments about how much of
the game background is true, flame wars over whether the legal system
oppresses poor folks all that much, bickering about whether x was or was
not a nephilim (when x has no direct connection to the game).... let's all
keep a sense of proportion, and remember that it's only a game (but a good
game! A good game!).
Just a short introduction, so folks out there can see where I'm coming from.
I'm 25, caucasian (what we call pakeha down here), your typical bearded
game dweeb. Currently I scrabble together a living writing popular science
pieces for the local papers, and hang out at the philosophy department of
the uni, where I'm doing some work in evolutionary theory. The adzebill in
my address is a big extinct native bird, a research interest when I
eventually get round to it. I began playing RuneQuest a decade ago, after
the usual brush with D&D, and got back into it after a long break when I
discovered the internet. When not gaming you can usually find me listening
to R.E.M., gardening, imbibing NZ wine, or catching up on my SF reading.
My brother bought me Nephilim a month or so ago (isn't it great when your
players buy you things?), and I picked up the GM screen last week. My party
of three, two phoenix and an angel, have had a few adventures in Wellington
circa 1998, mostly concerned with getting a base and stealing their stases.
I'm finding that the act of embodying the rules in the real world raises
all sorts of interesting issues, which I'll no doubt share with the list.
My campaign isn't going to stay too close to home; they'll be shifting to
the Pacific Rim, visiting (I hope) Japan, Australia and Russia. I'm busy
working on indigenous nephilim, rules for traditional Maori magic, and the
occult history of Japan. I picture it as a nightmare place for nephs, with
two big orichalka plexi and immensely powerful secret societies. I'm not
sure how ths conforms to the official view - for one thing, it makes the
game harder to market to the Japanese :-) ...
_________________________________________________________________
Mike Dickison, science writer / John Locke invented common sense,
Wellington, New Zealand / and only Englishmen have had it
adzebill@matai.vuw.ac.nz / ever since! (Bertrand Russell)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Liam Routt (repulse@zikzak.apana.org.au)
Subject: Who am I
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu (Nephilim List)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 15:29:22 +1100 (EST)
Nephilim friends,
I figure that we might as well start, as Mike has, by giving a quick
description of who we are and what we figure we can get out of this list
and contribute to it.
I live in Melbourne Australia (unoffical heart and soul of roleplaying :)
), although I am a U.S. citizen.
My game interests began well over a decade ago, with D&D, and have
included: RuneQuests, Bushido, Call of Cthulhu, Skyrealms of Jorune,
several Leading Edge Games, Elric, Pendragon, Kult and Underground. No
one has a chance to play all of those at the same time, but I try to be
in the midst of at least a few all the time, as player or GM. Most
recently I have become excited by Nephilim.
I have been writing material for others to use with games for more than a
decade. Although I started my own rpg company (Darcsyde Productions) a
few yeasrs back, it fell apart, and I am now a freelancer. I am proud to
say that I work with Chaosium exclusively, as a writer, editor and doing
layout.
Some of you will recognize my name from the rules for Nephilim, which I
proof-read. I don't think that they are anywhere near fully cleaned up.
Judy Routt (my wife) and I wrote the scenario in the GM's veil, and are
proud of it. We are both continuing to write for Nephilim.
I hope that I can gain a better understanding of the way the game is
viewed by those who play it, and those who write for it. I belive that
Nephilim is more complex than many other games, because of the open
background, which, unlike Call of Cthulhu, makes it hard to predict where
characterss will come from, or where they will choose to go.
I enjoy discussing rules which need attention, as well as ideas which
might become scenarios or background. I belive in communication. And I
think that the character generation rules need work (Past Lives should
not just lower Ka - Sorry Sam :) ).
Finally, in the real world I am a computer programmer. I have serious
interests in music (jazz, pop/alternative, classical), writing, and
Japan.
There, more than you wanted to know about Liam Routt (hey, probably most
of you already know all this anyway!).
Liam R.
--
"My name is Liam. I too am an agent Liam Routt
of the Lord. I ask your aid." Darcsyde Productions
- Xombi, Issue 3 repulse@zikzak.apana.org.au
Zikzak private access UNIX, Melbourne, Australia.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Laurent.Mynard@laforia.ibp.fr (Laurent MYNARD (equipe MUSTIL).)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 08:53:29 +0100
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Subject: Re: Greetings and introduction
Hi all!
It seems that it is better to introduce ourselves before really talking about
Nephilim. Therefore, I do it...
I am 24, french, lives in Evry (very near Paris), am phd thesis
student in artificial intelligence. As a french player, I use the
original MultiSim rules. Thus, I will try to never make any comments
on the rules themselves, since there are changes between the Chaosium
and the MultiSim versions. If I do it and it is confusing, tell me to
stop immediatly! It will be better for everyone. Well, therefore what
I expect from the mailing-list is a discussion about the background of
Nephilim, scenarios ideas, occult informations, and informations about
the possibility to transport my campaign and my player in another part
of the world if they wish.
I started rpg about 10 years ago, played a few french games you
probably never heard about (Mega, Feerie, Legendes celtiques), and was
a RoleMaster GM during several years,playing two 2 long years
campaigns with the same group of players. As a player, I play mostly
Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest and Ars Magica, but Star Wars,
StormBringer, MegaTraveller, James Bond 007, Flashing Blades, Space
Master too. I play Nephilim for about 2 years, but I have not as much
time as I wish to play. I played many scenarios with my players and
last summer a long campaign in Brittany. I am currently trying to
translate Selenim, with the help of a friend. And I own all the french
supplements, thus if anyone think that some informations in them could
be useful (?), I can help (I wish so).
Laurent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 01:39:35 -0800
From: Shannon Appel (appel@erzo.berkeley.edu)
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Subject: My Intro
My greetings to everyone on the list.
I've been happy to see the introductions of others. It's good to see
enthusiasm on the list, as sometimes it's darned hard to get that
initial momentum on a mailing list going.
To assuage Mike's fears, there are indeed more than two people
subscribed. There are 43 people, currently, with a bit more than half
of them subscribed via the Digest method.
I agree with Mike that putting together an Errata FAQ would be
terrific. We can also answer the one question that bugs me (and has
turned up on rgfm lately), which is why _don't_ evil secret societies
just destroy Nephilim stases when they get ahold of them? Is someone
volunteering to be the author and keeper of this FAQ?
I'd also like to put together a Booklist of fun fictional works that
give the "sense" of Nephilim. I've got a good number in my mind right
now, including: Foucault's Pendulum, the Illuminatus Trilogy, The
Philosopher's Stone, and several more that have been suggested by
people over on the Chaosium Digest. I'll put together an initial
listing sometime soon, and bounce it of this list to get more
suggestions.
As for a personal introduction:
I live in Berkeley, California, about a stone's throw from the
University. I work for one of the astrophysics labs on campus as a
computer systems administrator.
I also do freelance work, mostly for Chaosium. I had lots of fun
writing up new past lives and a new metamorphosis system for the
Chronicle of Awakenings (the next Nephilim supplement, which is
scheduled for April), and am currently working on editing the Nephilim
Companion.
And, I suppose I'd be rude if I didn't introduce erzo.berkeley.edu as
well. It's a 486, which sits under my desk at home, and is connected
to the 'net by a UUCP link.
Shannon
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Isaacs, Ross" (RISAACS@main.nlc.gwu.edu)
To: Nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 08:47:53 EST
Subject: I am Ross
Well, since introductions are in order....
I am Ross A. Isaacs, married, 27, living in Washington, DC. I
work for a University full time, but spend most of my free time
writing. I started playing games about 13 years ago, with AD&D.
I usually GM, and have run V&V, Star Trek, GURPS, James Bond, Judge
Dredd, Traveller, Marvel Superheroes, DC Superheroes, AD&D, Vampire,
and Call of Cthulhu. After all these years, I suffered serious GM
burnout and most of my players moved away.
That's when I started working as a free lance writer, primarily
for Chaosium. I've written some stuff of Elric, and a scenario of
mine should be appearing in the upcoming Serpent Empire book for
Nephilim. I'm currently working on some stuff for Shannon for the
Nephilim Companion. I like working for Chaosium, as their rules are
simple and intuitive, but by no means simplistic. Also, everyone
I've met has been really nice. (This sparks a thought - I already
know most of the people who have written in - Liam, Shannon and
Laurent. It's nice to see so many friends. I also noticed that
several of us work for Chaosium.)
It's good that there are so many writers here. As someone else
mentioned, there is a lot that is new about Nephilim, and sometimes
its difficult to get a handle on. I'm looking forward to discussions
about Nephilim, their goals and aspirations, their outlook, and their
enemies. I think there are a lot of people out there who ask "What
do I do with this game?" Hell, I've asked that questions a dozen
times! It's not really horror, and its not really fantasy. It is a
complex world, and I look forward to exploring it with all of you.
I think the game could use a lot of clarification and expansion:
more spells, new magic, new Metamorphosis, more information on the
Nephilim world. The rules have some holes in them, which could be
cleared up; Sam has mentioned a Second Edition and I hope we can have
some input (even if it's just acting as a sounding board for his
ideas). As someone else mentioned, I'm really not interested in
arguing over why some simulacrum have 600 points worth of skills and
others have only 250. I'm looking for a place to swap ideas and
discuss the setting.
I'm looking forward to lots of snippets of real world occult
phenomenon. And anything that could be used for Nephilim - books,
magazines, music, etc. Reading about people's campaigns would be
neat, too. Especially any problems that come up during play.
Well, looking over my letter, I find that I've essentially said
"Me, too," to everything everyone else wrote. So I'll wrap it up by
saying I look forward to the conversation and exchange of ideas.
Be well,
Ross A. Isaacs
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: (Chaosium@aol.com)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 12:00:43 -0500
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Subject: Hello
Hello folks!
Thanks, Shannon, for putting together this Nephilim mailing list. I'm glad we
have a forum for discussing the game without the annoyances so common on
r.g.f.m.
Let me tell you a little about myself, so you know where I am coming from. I
have worked at Chaosium for four and a half years, before which I worked as a
freelance author. My current job is planning, editing, assigning art for, and
laying out the Nephilim and Pendragon game lines. I spend more of my time on
the Nephilim side of the fence, but I did just finish _Beyond the Wall_ for
Pendragon. For most of the rest of this year I'll be able to devote myself to
Nephilim production. As you may be able to tell from the job description, I
don't have much time to actually write these things, so we rely very heavily
on freelance contributions.
About me personally -- I'm 33, recently re-married. I've finally discovered
what love is, and have looked beauty in the eye. I practice Shotokan karate,
and have been training in the martial arts for eight years. I used to be a
protestant Christian, became an agnostic, decided I was being wishy-washy and
went fullover to atheism. Then one day I realized is was the Christianity of
my upbringing I was offended by, and had foolishly thrown out the baby with
the bathwater by denying the realm of the spirit. Now I study Sufism with a
sufi master here in Berkeley, California (although I would not call myself a
sufi). I've only recently learned how to walk correctly, and now have just
discovered I've been breathing wrong all my life. I meditate every morning
(or almost every morning). I'm a vegetarian, have a personal grudge against
television, and think politicians should serve a mandatory year in jail for
every year they spend in office.
I may not be able to paricipate in this discussion group as much as I want
to, since my job requires I focus my time in actual production. If you've got
something you really need me to deal with, please mail it to me directly at
chaosium@aol.com.
I can tell I'm going to see a lot of interesting things come out of this
list. I'm very eager to see what people develop for Nephilim in other parts
of the world. I can tell you the sorts of things we have planned for other
places, but I don't want to act as a restriction on your creativity. One
major point we intend to follow for Nephilim of other culture, is that they
may be nothing at all like the Nephilim in the rulesbook. The Nephilim in the
rules are drawn from the western mystery traditions, with the five western
elements and the kabbalistic background as reflected in the tarot families.
Chinese Nephilim, for example, may have eight elements based on the eight
trigrams system, or taoist Nephilim may only have two elements. And they
won't have Arcanum families as in the rules, since these are very solidly
western; they'll have some other structure. And Nephilim from a tribal or
shamanic culture are another thing entirely, which I'll get into later.
Translating your Nephilm into another cultural system will require a
transformation of its spiritual nature. You'll take your dominant Ka
and re-figure your other elements for the new system. It will require
some sort of transformational ritual, but when complete, your Nephilim
will be of another type entirely, and you will be able to use the
spells, powers, whatever, of your new system, but you won't be a
Nephilim of the old type any more, and will no longer have access to
your old magics.
I like Mike's idea of an errata FAQ.
About Japan, I wasn't thinking that atomic explosions always result in an
Orichalka plexus, but that the bomb is a necessary ingredient in creating
such a plexus. But that doesn't mean you can't have two Orichalka plexuses in
Japan if you want to do it that way,
Sam Shirely
chaosium@aol.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 13:32:15 -0600 (CST)
From: Tim Besko (tbesko@cc.UManitoba.CA)
To: nephilim_list (nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu)
Subject: Another Introduction
Well, the list has been up a couple of days and I already feel like I am
falling behind. :)
I am 28, have a couple of business degrees and work as a LAN
administrator for the Faculty of Management at the University of
Manitoba, Canada. My core gaming group has 5 others besides myself
ranging in age from 22 to 34. I have been gaming for about 16 years.
Started out with Lake Geneva T$R stuff but luckily discovered Runequest
in 1981-82. Over the years I have run scenarios/campaigns for many
different systems but I prefer Chaosium games, Ars Magica and Over The
Edge. I spend about 85% of my gaming time producing materials and game
mastering and the remaining 15% as a player.
I am glad to see a number of subscribers to this list are associated with
Chaosium and Nephilim. It should lead to some lively and well informed
discussion. It is also nice to read about the French edition of the
game. Just reading Laurent's list and blurbs on the available French
products got my mind cranking on a number of ideas. With regard to
Chaosium's Nephilim can we be Gregged or can we now look forward to being
Sammed? Whichever it is it should be fun.
I have only run 1 Nephilim scenario, many months ago to pique interest in
my group, but with my Ars campaign going on hiatus for a while I will be
firing up a a regular Nephilim campaign soon. Needless to say I know the
list will be an appreciated resource.
I am not much of a rules lawyer, usually not necessary with Chaosium games
anyway, and will conveniently "forget" a rule if it will advance the plot
or make the game more enjoyable.
As others have also mentioned I am most interested in ideas and
materials that others are putting to use and how they interpret the game
background. For instance, it did not occur to me how American centered
the background info was until someone mentioned it on a news group. My
initial scenario included stops in New York, Wales, England, Hong Kong
and Turkey.
Another news group thread that died out a little fast was running
Nephilim games set in earlier eras. This idea was brought up during
character creation by one of my players and the rest of the group really
got into it. I don't know if it is an ego thing or what but my players
liked the idea of playing, essentially, gods in Predynastic Egypt and
having their followers duke it out politically/economically/militarily
and just about any other way you can think of.
As someone else mentioned there is a lot of room to move with this game
and it should be quite enjoyable.
tim besko
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 28 Feb 95 18:31:58 EST
From: "Peter J. Whitelaw" (100102.3001@compuserve.com)
To: Nephilim Mailing List (nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu)
Subject: Introduction.
Hi all,
Not being one to pass up a chance to talk about myself...
I'm 26, married (to a non-gamer :-( ) and am a derivatives trader for the
Treasury dept. of a very large Japanese bank in London. I spend my days
thinking about RPG's and trying not to do the sort of trades that blow up
Britain's oldest bank - talking of which, I reckon the Templars or the Bavarian
Illuminati were behind that little fiasco .
I got into RPG's thru' tabletop wargaming in 1979/80 and after playing
D&D for a year or so took up RQ. I have pretty much played with the
same bunch of 4 guys for the last 12 years or so and RQ is about all
we play with the exception of the occasional late-night CoC session.
I almost did a degree in Astrophysics but now can only just about
remember the solution to Olber's Paradox (IIRC) - two of the guys I
play with are Classicists which keeps me on my toes vis-a-vis RQ. I
play squash, hate DIY, sleep late at weekends etc. etc.
I am an inveterate games collecter and am pleased that I felt moved enough by
Nephilim to want to run it as opposed to plunder it for material.
Nephilim is the most challenging context for a game I have come across in years
(since CoC, maybe) and I look forward to exploring its potential with you all.
It has its faults but these are not insurmountable and I have found that these
imperfections have lead me to think in new directions instead of just blithely
accepting the whole package as is.
What I know about the occult could be written on the back of a small
postage stamp which I see as something of a hindrance in writing for
the game as my initial impulse was to rehash old CoC material - this
is, on reflection, not the ideal solution. I have found that reading
Foucaults Pendulum helped a great deal in tuning in to many esoteric
theories and I have one or two other books (The Magical Mason, Myth of
the Magus et al.) which are giving me some ideas, however impenetrable
they may be.
I will show my colours and confess that I believe that:
1. humans with enlightened Solar-Ka should have access to their own magic
(perhaps on a permanent Solar-ka sacrifice basis like RQ divine magic).
2. trading ka off against experience points in character generation is
a cheap trick for the sake of game balance. I have discussed this
issue with others and hope to post some alternatives here at some
point.
3. the metamorphosis rules as they stand are a bit on the weak side
but that the new system, from what little I have seen of it, will be
very worthwhile.
I have GM'ed one session so far, the inspiration for which was broadly
from Liam and Judy's fine scenario. The PC's found their stases ina
private collection which had been started 60 years ago by a Nephilim
who was captured by the HV after being shot down over Germany during
the war. Whilst the HV had never gained control of the collection
they had always been able to arrange for someone to monitor it and,
when, the PC's popped out the wheels were set in motion to follow them
and attempt to catch a whole bunch of Nephilim.
Much of the enjoyment stemmed from the total lack of most of the characters to
be able to relate to their surroundings with out the disorientation of using a
new simulacrum's knowledge. One player was concerned over the total failure of
four supposedly supernatural being 'at one' with the multiverse to be able to
kick in a door, but they got through it in the end.
One of my players didn't really enjoy himself very much. He rather
felt that he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing. My answer,
whilst not much consolation, was that I thought that this was probably
how a Nephilim should feel when they have just been released from
stasis. Where am I, when am I, what is this place, what does this do,
why have I been released?
The players did decide that they ought to take their stases into custody which
was achieved with particularly splendid pyrotechnics and some very sloppy
driving. My fault in the scenario, I think, was in not really putting them
under any pressure - the 'bad guys' were just a couple of Renewed Order of the
Temple observers. I intend to remedy that next time by having the 'heavies' in
the form of the HV arrive.
After this I wish to introduce a thread for the campaign. This will probably
take the form of the quest to reassemble the fragments of some arcane relic
which will give the instructions to performing a rite which will, in turn,
prevent some awful astrological event from occuring. I'm not really sure yet
and will probably crib ideas from this mailing list with gleeful abandon.
campaign incidentals will take the form of simulacrum related complications, I
expect.
Sorry to have rambled for so long - I really like Nephilim and don't get to
play enough of it.
All the best,
Peter
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mikecap@sidehack.gweep.net (Michael V. Caprio Jr.)
Subject: Intro and threads
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 11:28:18 -0500 (EST)
Well folks, I'll make my intro as brief as possible, since I'm really,
really aching to get into a good discussion about the game. There are
actually a bunch of threads I'd like to get started as soon as
possible, and I'll detail them right after I finish the intro stuff.
My name is Mike Caprio, and I'm a third year CS undergraduate student
at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I'm a writer at heart, and I'm
hoping to get a piece of Sci-Fi I'm working on published soon (as soon
as I finish it). It's a neat little short story called "The Face of
Evil", but I won't get into it here as I am also notorious for
rambling.
GAMING RESUME
----------------------
Games I have played in: Amber (dunno the company neat diceless game tho),
AD&D 2nd Ed. (TSR), TimeLords (can't remember the company that makes
CORPS and Phoenix Command), Over The Edge, Paranoia, Shadowrun
Games I have GMed: Chill (Mayfair), Nephilim (Chaosium)
Games I have read but never played in or GMed: Nexus: The Infinite
City, Wraith (White Wolf), endless supplements for games that I never
used.
LRPGs I have played in and run: Vampire: The Masquerade (White Wolf)
Warning: I really liked Chill, and am still prone to run it at a
moment's notice. It's a great little system, well written, and the
companion guide gives you even more neat stuff to play with. So don't
be surprised if I ever ramble about how neat Chill is.
Other than that there isn't a whole lot to me that's relevant to the
list. I consider myself something of a Renaissance person in the
sense that I tend to try and learn a little bit of everything
(sometimes as a consequence, I end up not knowing much about things in
specific, but I know a lot in general). Anyway, here's my thread list...
THREADS I HOPE TO SEE DISCUSSED:
-------------------------------------
1) A solar ka system for human magic. I see it this way - if humans
were "created" by Nephilim experiments and accidentally set free by
Prometheus's actions, why can't it make sense that humans are evolving
into their own magical prowess? Maybe the coming of the millenium is
fostering that somehow, maybe solar ka fields are coalescing and
awakening "psychic talent" in humans. I wouldn't mind seeing either a
psionic type system developed for humans, or a magic system that
somehow complements and/or augments the magic system of the Nephilim.
2) The path to Argatha. What is Agartha, and how does a Nephilim
achieve it? I think this is an integral part of the gaming universe
that must be developed to some degree. I view Agarthans as a kind of
Methesulah (to use the White Wolf Vampire term); they are beings that
are trying to influence the world now that they have become one with
the universe, etc. Agarthans are NPC characters that are quite
important but haven't yet been developed, in my opinion.
2a) The Subtle Planes. I want to know what these are all about as
well. Someone mentioned in a letter I caught something about
"flashbacks" as part of the game, and it sounded really neat. Imagine
though being able to travel through the subtle planes to that part of
history and remaking events so that they change history a little bit
for you. That's my impression of what Agarthans can do. So what are
the subtle planes like? Is it an infinite universe of Earths, like a
quantum realities type thing? Is there some astral plane aspect of
it, and are there _other_ creatures inhabiting it besides Agarthans?
3) Summoning. I feel that there's a little bit lacking in the
summoning aspect of things. Basically, to me, it seems a little
limited in the denizen department - I want a Rogue's gallery of extra
planar creatures at my commmand; there's a whole sourcebook to be
written about summoning and the effects of summoning extra dimensional
beings! I had this great scene in my campaign where a creature
composed entirely of black lunar ka had made a servant of one of my
Nephilim players - he ritually sacrificed two humans to it and
successfully summoned it so it could eat their solar ka. It scared
the beejesus out of my players, I must say.
I think that's good for now. I'll come up with plenty more in time,
these are just the ones that are kind of burning within me right now.
I've also been having all kinds of interesting thoughts about
Akhenaton's arcana and the Jesus Incident, but I'll leave those for
another time.
One last thing - I could post a description of the events that
occurred during three nights of gaming that have occurred in my
campaign, but it would be a really long letter, and I'm not sure if
the list wants to be bombarded with it. If people could send me some
indication as to whether or not they'd like to see it posted, I can do
my best to set it up. It's an all-original scenario I came up with,
and it's got tons and tons of plot stuff still to be developed within
it.
Anyway. Enough for now. :)
Mike
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Date: Wed, 1 Mar 1995 16:33:36 -0500
From: Geoffrey Lawrence Greenberg (gg256388@oak.cats.ohiou.edu)
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Subject: introductions
Hi--
Introductions. . . everyone's doing it why don't I. My wife and I recently
moved to L.A. after a dispointing grad school experience in Ohio. (Don't go to
Ohio University if you are in any way interested in art.) I am an artist,
which means that I make as much as some poets and philosophers, but it is fun.
I started playing RQ in junior high and have been playing chaosium games ever
since. My other intrests are aikido, which I've been doing for 8 years, and
playing frizbee with my small canine-american, Carbon. --geoff
--
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Message-Id: (199503030004.QAA09189@soda.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU)
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 95 16:54:03 +0000
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Subject: More introductions
As introductions seem to be in order at the moment, I'll add my
own. I'm 26, a "mature" student (that's what they call us, anyway)
at the University of Kent, Canterbury, England, and about to embark
(Oh God!) on my finals for a degree in history, before (hopefully)
departing for London University to do a PhD. My main speciality
is military history, with special relevance to the 20th Century,
Colonial Wars and medieval warfare (particularly the Crusades,
hence my interest in the Templars). Although I am an utter sceptic,
I am also interested in the occult, mainly through heavy playing
of Call of Cthulhu.
I've been roleplaying since 1980, mainly in a GMing capacity. Like
most gamers, I started on D&D, rapidly graduated to AD&D, and then
decided that I preferred games like RQ and Traveller. I bought CoC
a few days after it first arrived in my local games shop, and have
played it enthusiastically ever since (I'm currently running Masks
of Nyarlathotep). I am also particularly into Warhammer FRP, but
have played most things over the years. I must admit that I have
not yet played Nephilim (although I bought it when it first came
out), and am not actually likely to in the near future with exam
pressures almost upon me, but I'm always interested in discussion
about it and other matters concerning the occult.
Anyway, enough wittering on my part.
Cheers,
James K.
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Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 20:01:26 GMT
From: Jamieson Norrish (Jamieson.Norrish@vuw.ac.nz)
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Subject: Magic as metaphor
First up, my introduction. I'm a 21 year old university student,
studying mediaeval Latin for my MA (Hons), and more importantly am a
player in Mike Dickison's group. I've been roleplaying off and on
since about 1983. My favourite games are Harn and Jorune, though
Nephilim could easily become one also.
This idea is a little half-baked at the moment, so bear with me.
Since the Nephilim think in analogies, and the see the world in those
terms, it makes sense to me for their magic (in which the world is
changed in some definite way) would be seen as/accomplished by means
of metaphor. Now, this isn't a very revelatory idea in itself, but it
does have some role-playing potential. Given the idea of the planes
(I've forgotten the exact name) which Agarthans can travel on, and the
fact that Nephilim must in essence use magic as naturally as
breathing, it's not impossible to somehow link the two.
How exactly this is done is still somewhat hazy in my mind. I
originally thought that the mechanics of magic might be altered
slightly to allow for players who were willing (or forced by the GM)
could ignore the mechanics in the rules and instead use the following
guidelines: the player describes the situation as the Nephilim sees it
(that is, in terms of analogy - preferably one which is both "magical"
in some sense (or simply more related to the Nephilim perspective than
the human) and related to the past), then decides what change or
changes the Nephilim will make (in terms of "object/property x *is*
object/property y" - a metaphor). The GM then judges whether this
change is consistent with the analogy created, and how difficult a
transformation it is given the analogy. Based on this, the dice are
rolled (or the GM simply decides relative success or failure), and the
results are determined.
The advantages of this system are that role-playing and thinking like
a Nephilim are pushed to the fore, and there is no longer the
dependency on set spells - any effect can be created if the player is
ingenious enough. This is a goood thing, in my mind. Nor does it
entirely rule out spells described or explained in magical books -
these are analogies and metaphors which are known to work, and have
been set down. It also explains why understanding spells could be so
difficult.
Unfortunately, I haven't come up with a single example of this system
in use yet. I'd love to hear other people's ideas, since I think this
has some potential.
Jamie
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From: (SmallQM%DFYC%USAFA@dfmail.usafa.af.mil)
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 95 12:43:44 MST
Subject: Test
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
This a test. This is also an introduction, me being Q, you being?
Q (Who got his copy of Nephilim secondhand for five bucks.)
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Date: Sun, 12 Mar 1995 23:04:14 -0500 (EST)
From: Matthew J Ruane
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Subject: Starting a new campaign...
Well, I guess I'll introduce myself here after being a "lurker"
from day one. My name is Matthew Ruane, and I am a senior doctoral
candidate at the University of Delaware, completing my dissertation on
British Physicians in the First World War. I have long played Chaosium
RPGs, and in fact am currently using a version of Elric to run a Lace and
Steel campaign (brilliant world and setting, crappy rule system). I've
just begun a Nephilim mini-campaign, to introduce some players to the
game. I have five players, each from a differing arcanum and every
element but water (a doubling of earth, but a satyr and a elf metamorph),
and we went through the extensive character background generation. It
took about five hours to get all of the players' characters generated,
but in the process, I noticed that many of the players have very high
sorcery skills or summoning skills. Now summoning I'm not too worried
about mainly because most of their begining Ka is in the 12-14 range.
But sorcery worries me. Two of my players have 90s in both lower and
higher magic (I didn't allow them to begin with any Grand Secret
knowledge) and they left enough points over to have about 8-10 spells apiece.
Is this unreasonably high? I understand that they don't have very good
chances to cast these spells, but if some of the higher level spells should
go off, their effects can seriously derail an adventure. Any suggestions
to correct this if this is a problem?
I've decided to borrow the idea of having them begin in a museum,
this time the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The basic
plot idea is to have them escape from the museum with their new
simulacrums: a Marine touring the museum with his buddies, a photographer
trying to earn some extra cash, a fisherman with his wife on tour of the
Big Apple, a New Age mag publisher looking to do some research for an
article, and a welfare mom with her children enjoying an inexpensive day
out. I don't think the players have yet figured out the consequences of
their current situation, but allowing them to see for themselves should
prove highly entertaining. They will discover a plot by one of the
secret societies that involves transfering stases to the Cloisters (a
branch part of the Met focusing on the medieval era) to be entombed in a
magically sealed display of Cathari relics. Eventually the head of the
operation will be discovered to be part of a major international brokerage
firm on Wall Street, with strong ties to the Masonic and Templar
communities. That's about as far as I have gotten so far, and would
welcome any other comments or possible suggestions to advance the plot
should this turn into a full time campaign.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael_A._Schumann@mit.bison.mb.ca (Michael A. Schumann)
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Subject: Me
Date: 10 Apr 1995 13:29:38 GMT
Just so you know:
I'm 29, live in Winnipeg Canada. I work in a bookstore and am married
(Sandy), have one son (Kieran), have another on the way, and two cats and one
reincarnated tibetan monk in the form of a Lhasa Apso.
The games I GM are Nephilim, Call of Cthulhu, Skyrealms of Jorune,
Mechwarrior, and re-vamped AD&D. I play Runequest, Vampire, and Mage. I do
not do Live Role Playing.
Michael S.
PS Welcome to the list Clint!
PPS Next Bio?
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Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 11:33:36 -0500 (CDT)
From: Knarfolotep (UFHPREVATT@msuvx2.memphis.edu)
Subject: Bio, anyone?
To: Nephilim Digest (nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu)
Guess it's my turn...
I'm 22, and have been gaming for WAY too long, am a
communications major at University of Memphis (groan quietly to yourself,
please) and act more than I should (bummer!). I play and/or GM: AD&D,
Ravenloft, Over the Edge, Kult, CoC, Nephilim, Vampire, Wraith, various
Palladium (only for laffs), Toon (still more serious than Palladium...),
and the old TSR bomb The Adventures of Indiana Jones (don't even ask
where I found players).
While I'm here, I must say I like the idea of relating the
Salamander to technology. Somebody expound on that...
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Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 12:49:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: Brilliant Mistake (n8448238@waldorf.cc.wwu.edu)
Subject: Re: Bio, anyone?
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
I guess I haven't introduced myself formally to the list yet, so here I am...
My name is Ian Young. I am a 30 year-old graduate student
working toward my Master of Science degree in Environmental Engineering
from the Geology Department at Western Washington University in
Bellingham, Washington. I got my undergraduate degree in Psychology and
worked as a counsellor and therapist for years before deciding rocks,
dirt and water made better company. Un-married, though working
diligently toward that goal.
I have been playing RPG's since I was 14. My first introduction
was the classic version of AD&D, though from the start it seemed to leave
something to be desired. Not long thereafter, my friends and I discovered
Chaosium's RuneQuest and were all tickeled pink. About this time I took
up the original Traveller, and within the next couple of years we found
Call of Cthulhu. My friends and I still play RuneQuest and CoC to this
day, along with Chaosium's ill-fated Superworld. We all got pretty
excited about the Story Teller games for a bit (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage,
etc.) but ended up junking them as pretentious and silly after only a
year or so. Then I discovered Nephilim...
I like to include years of religious and philosophical study in
my games, compelling players toward intellectual bents rather than
die-rolling and gun-toting. My players are a fortunately well-travelled
lot, and many of our travels to obscure little places are immediately
subsumed in the adventures we create for one another. Toward this end,
Nephilim seems to be a fantastic forum for playing with our travels, our
educations, our ideas and our fantasies. Rah-rah, huh?
Oh...I love dogs, too. I just bought myself a black lab last
night. Cute li'l fella.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: None
Date: 13 Apr 95 12:30:00 EST
From: "SLAUGHTER"
To: "nephilim"
Hello, my name is Bob Slaughter, and I'm mostly a lurker here on the list. I
am currently out of school, I have a Bachelor's in History, and was working for
five years on a graduate degree in Anthropology when I found out I had no clue
on having a thesis topic. I am 33, and have been gaming since I was 17. As
most folks did back then, I started on original brown-box D&D, and classic
Traveller. I also remember the first edition of RuneQuest. Other games I have
run or attempted to run include Space Opera, Star Wars, Pendragon, several
GURPS fantasy campaigns, and 2300AD. I also have interest in, but have not yet
run, Vampire, The Wispering Vault, Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0, and Mekton. I have also
had a great deal of interest in the Occult, having a large collection of books
on various subjects (bibliography available). I'm *still* looking for a set of
role-playing rules that would allow me to run games with caharcters like Adam
Sinclair (the Adept series by Kurtz and Harris) and Diana Tregarde (Mercedes
Lackey).
I like Nephilim a lot, though my current set of players aren't probably well
suited to it, so I'm forced to just sit and read and plan. I think it's a
great game, but then I like most of Chaosium's stuff for its attention to
depth.
I'm definitly interested in seeing more metamorphoses, and more rules for using
books (I'd like to see more books too, but let's get the ones they suggest
working first).
**************************************************************************
* Bob Slaughter * Model Railroading *
* InterNet: Haldane@Pine.Circa.Ufl.Edu * is Fun!! *
* * *
* Bitnet: Haldane@UFPine * ask me about lojban *
**************************************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: curtiss@netcom.com (Curtis Shenton)
Subject: Hello
To: nephilim@erzo.berkeley.edu
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1995 11:08:19 -0700 (PDT)
I've just subscribed to this list and thought I'd intruduce
myself. My name is Curtis Shenton and I've been roleplaying for 15 years
now. I've played quite a few game systems but I mainly stick to GURPS,
though I like the BRP system of CoC, Elric, and Nephilim.
I picked up Nephilim when it first came out and have to say I
was quite disappointed with it. While I think it's got alot of great
ideas which I'm quite willing to steal(and which is why I'm here) I
think the actual Nephilim setup up is flawed.
Someone mentioned that there was a long discussion about
Nephilim being an analogy for human enlightenment so I hope I'm not
beating a dead horse. I saw a post on the r.g.f.misc when Nephilim first
came out from someone at Chaosium to the effect that
Nephilim=enlightenment. Either I misunderstood the that post or perhaps
it was ambigous, either way I can see the analogy where as I can't see
Nephilim being literally a form of enlightenment.
Which brings me to my favorite Nephilim discussion. IMHO the
Nephilim as an analogy for human enlightenment is pretty weak. Now I
confess I've never played or GMed a Nephilim game and after my first
read through I've only gone back to the rule book to plunder ideas for a
ampaign I'm working on, but it seems to me Nephilim are the most
psycopathically evil characaters that have ever been presented for play
in an RPG.
A Nephilim will wake up, possess some poor human and use their
knowledge and skills until the body wears out. And then they will repeat
the cycle again when the body wears out. That's bad enough, but to top
it off the poor human essence within isn't just shut off, it gets to
feel pain. This disturbs me, as the only option to play a character I'd
like is for that character to take a stand and kill itself. And yes I
know the Nephilim are alien beings, but so are Shoggoths and Serpent Men
in CoC and I don't have much interest in playing them either.
I'm just curious if I'm a lone nut who has totally misread
Nephilim or if anyone else has been turned off by the setup for PCs.
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From owner-nephilim@erzo.ORG Mon Sep 25 11:43:00 1995
To: nephilim@erzo.ORG
From: jrm09@students.stir.ac.uk (Joseph Murphy)
Subject: A New Person (tm), and some ideas...
Hi - I'm a new addition to the mailing list, so I kept back from
posting until I saw what was interesting in general (like a good newbie
should). This place is like a ghost-town:)
Deader than a coterie of WoD frothers.
So, I'm taking the bull by the horns and starting off a topic. I've
played Nephilim briefly, and I'll be running a game for about five ppl
sometime in the future - probably a long campaign. I've always been
interested in the occult or Forteanic, and Nephilim is an ideal game for
covering everything from the Quabbalah to the face on Mars. Joy:)
The topics I'm thinking of covering in the game are sme of my my
own passions - ufological stories. Ideally, the PCs will be involved in
nuts-and-bolts aliens, telluric force, electromagnetic radiation effects on
the human temporal lobe (causing hallucinations), ancient astronauts,
'earthlights', missing time and stone monuments, as well as the usual
govermental conspiracies, Nephilim politics and mysticness. How could I
leave them out?
Has anyone run a game that dealt with these kind of stories before?
Naturally, I'll throw in some alchemy, secret societies, and all those
elements that make Nephilim such a *tangible* and easy-to-relate-to
setting. I'd love to hear any suggestions, advice or hints from people
(anything to get something in my mailbox from time to time=)
I'm working on half a dozen new Metamorphoses and such, and I'll
send them through to y'all when I get them done. I'd love to hear about any
other game resources you have that isn't in the archive or on the Web page
- I'm a sponge for new ideas.
Joe.
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Date: Sun, 10 Mar 1996 21:07:01 -0500 (EST)
From: The Raindog
Subject: Introduction
To: nephilim@erzo.ORG
I was just reading through the Threaded Archive tonight, and I
realized I'd never introduced myself formally to the list, so here goes.
My name is Geoffrey Colin Grabowski, I'm 22 years old, and have
been gaming for about the past 15 years (yes, honestly, since I was
seven). I'm currently a fifth-year senior at the University of Pittsburgh,
but not for long, as I'll be finishing my degree in the next two months.
when I get around to filling out my graduation application, I'll be
recieving a degree in Political Science with a related field certificate
in Economics. My areas of study in my major are primarily Middle Eastern
Political History and Defense and Security Studies, with a touch of
Political Theory. My economics studies focus mainly around International
Trade and Banking. I'm a dedicated misanthrope, cynic and hermit who needs
to improve his RL conversation skills.
I've chosen to spend he next year (at least) off from from
academicia, because I've become so totally cynical about politics and the
people involved with it that I can no longer imagine working in the field.
Unless that changes, I'm a member of the elite fraternity of deluded
madmen (and women) who think they just might be able to support themselves
by freelance work in gaming. So far I've done work for Ars Magica, and
have had the pleasure of working on the last manuscript submitted for Ars
Magica at both White Wolf and Wizards of the Coast. I've also got
proposals in various stages between submission and contract at several
other game firms. I'm also working on a novel, "Hunting Down the
Unicorn", that I may yet finish and get published.
I keep a television only to watch natural disasters on, am an
aggressive omnivore, and spend most of my time reading, working on
material for different games, and writing up proposals to bug line
developers with. I have two or three thousand books in my library. My
favorite authors are Helen Zahavi (_Dirty Weekend_. Find It. Read It.),
Vernor Vinge, Melissa Scott, K.W. Jeeter, Jack Womack, Umberto Eco, Lord
Dunsany, H.P. Lovecraft and David Drake. My favorite games are (in no
particular order) _Nephilim_, _Everway_, _Ars Magica_, _Aria_, _Mekton
Zeta_, _Kult_ and _The Whispering Vault_. My favorite musicians are Leonard
Cohen, Tom Waits, Kate Bush, David Bowie, and The Mystic Knights of the
Oingo-Boingo.
I'm currently invovled in a relationship that's likely to end in
marriage, which makes me happy, since my last relationship was a
disasterous two-year descent through progressively lower circles of Hell,
the least effect of which is the mailer name I currently use.
My religion is an eclectic syncretion of Christianity, Islam and
Ras Tafari. I think organized religion is to spirituality what government
is to human freedom, that is, anathema. I'm not currently active in
occultism or esoteric studies at the moment, but this year has seen the
death of both my father figures, and I suspect I'll be back on the trail
of Enlightenment shortly.
Oh, and, if you're wondering, no, nobody calls me Raindog. I just
go by Jeff, or Geoff/Geoffrey, if you speak the Queen's English as your
first tongue.
G.
|Geoffrey C. Grabowski|gcgst1+@pitt.edu|Undergrad, U.Pittsburgh|Swing Heil!|
[O] Freedom of Speech (just watch what you say)
[O]Support Freedom of expression in electronic communication. Protest the CDA.
[O] militia|nuclear|Islam|IRS|NSA|FBI|fuck|EFF|bomb|rifles|freedom|liberty
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