Let’s learn about what it takes for an angel to fall in the tabletop role-playing game In Nomine. In Nomine is a role-playing game designed by Derek Pearcy and published in 1997 by @Steve Jackson Games. You can learn more on the official website here: http://www.sjgames.com/innomine/ or the Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Nomine_(role-playing_game). You can buy In Nomine products here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/12199/Steve-Jackson-Games/subcategory/28908_30775/In-Nomine?affiliate_id=50797
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About In Nomine
Written by Derek Pearcy + Illustrated by Dan Smith
Edited by Jeff Koke, Steve Jackson, and Susan Pinsonneault
Cover art by John Zeleznik (first printing) and Christopher Shy (second printing)
In Nomine is a modern roleplaying game in which the players take the part of celestial beings – angels and demons – as they struggle for control of humanity and themselves. The celestials, powerful though they may be, are merely pawns in a much larger game being played by their Superiors, the Archangels and Demon Princes. Based on the best-selling French RPG by the wonderfully diabolical Croc!
In Nomine won the Origins Award for Best Graphic Presentation of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement of 1997.
Transcript
Cold Open
It takes quite a lot to fall from grace, you practically have to want it!
Intro
Welcome to In Nomine, a celebration of my favorite tabletop role-playing games. This In Nomine YouTube channel is a sister channel to Eviliv3. Subscribe if you’re new to the channel, because today we are continuing our In Nomine series with this episode, Falling.
Discussion
As this episode is about Falling as an angel, we have to start by not only explaining what resonance and dissonance is, and why it’s important to the celestial.
Resonance
To be a celestial being, is to resonate with the universal patterns of The Symphony, in all its beautiful and terrifying reality. We know that in In Nomine the definition of Resonance is two fold. First, it’s a celestial’s very nature, it’s the way a Choir of Angels or Band of Demons perceives and manipulates the world. Some hold a resonance for Truth, and cannot lie, other’s hold a resonance for a particular person and knows where they are at all times. A Celestial’s resonance is more than simply how they see the world, it’s who they are. This is why denying your resonance is to deny your very self–which generates dissonance.
The second definition of resonance is the celestial power you wield, in relation to your nature, like being able to tell if someone else is lying to you, or how to locate that person you resonate with, for example. Infernal resonance acts through the demon’s Will, reflecting their ability to impose their diabolical perspective on the world, and Divine resonance acts through the angel’s Perception reflecting their ability to attune themself to the Symphony. You don’t just have to follow your Choir or Band’s resonance, but your Superior’s also. Act against their resonance in any way, even if they are a different band or choir, and you may generate dissonance.
Dissonance
This is all to say that notes of Dissonance are very bad, and generating them through your willful acts should be dramatic moments in any game. You are not only acting against yourself and your Superior, but disturbing the harmony of the Symphony itself by this act. Because of this, the more dissonance you have, the harder it is for you to tap into the Symphony and use your resonance, your celestial power. Some celestials will intentionally redirect their notes of dissonance into a discord, a painful fracture between their soul and the Symphony, just to avoid the possibility of falling.
Every time a Celestial does something dissonant, the player must make a d666 roll to determine how it affects their player character or PC. This may end in becoming an Outcast or even Falling–losing their divinity and becoming demons. Dissonant Demons may acquire Discord. The roll is done in private away from the other players, between the Game Master or GM and the player. The results should always be kept secret. At least one of the three dice must be equal to or higher than the current amount of dissonance to avoid disaster. If the roll succeeds, the PC generates another note of dissonance. If all three dice are lower than the celestial’s current dissonance, you better buckle up buttercup, because it’s about to get messy.
For angels, a failed roll means the angel immediately becomes an Outcast. They lose their Superiors Rites and Rituals, they can no longer ascend to Heaven. Others run a risk of even associating with an outcast, as they are seen as nearly falling themselves. An Outcast can redeem themselves by removing their Dissonance through service at a Tether, or a location in the Corporeal Realm, or Earth that is linked to the Celestial Realm, or Heaven or Hell. You may also remove dissonance by volunteering as Servitors for other angels. A demon who fails their dissonance roll gains a discord and one note of dissonance!
The Outcast
While Demons sarcastically refer to Outcast Angels as ‘the Tripped’, it is not a joking matter for angels. For one, they have no support group, and that is exactly what a demon is looking for in the War: Easy targets. Demons will often hunt down outcasts, seeing them as an easy way to thin the numbers of angels. Even angels will hunt down Outcasts. It’s better to kill a would-be demon than allow them to join the fallen. This is just one reason why an angel abstains from interacting with the outcast, they don’t want the impending doom anywhere near them.
Outcasts are able to come back into the fold as it were, and while it is rare for an angel to become an outcast, it is rarer still for an angel to truly fall from grace and transition from being an outcast to a demon. But if we’re talking simply narrative, it can be a great story, though the PC will have a rough time of it, and the player may not enjoy the process at all.
Falling
If an Outcast angel fails another Dissonance roll, they will have truly cast aside their divinity and become a demon. At sunset they will begin to generate infernal Essence, and they will become their infernal band’s counterpart to their previous angelic choir. One quick note, Malakim do not ever fall. Instead they gain another level of Discord. Once an angel falls, all their dissonance is lost, but so are their attunements. They can not execute any divine rites either. This is where it gets interesting, because at this point, a demon cannot descend to Hell without following another Demon as they do not have a Superior who holds their demonic heart.
But not to worry, any newly fallen angel has information about Heaven and its side of the War, information that is closely guarded and jealousy sought after by the Princes of Hell. The PC will be courted and fought over in a bidding war by the Princes. Some want the PC simply because they don’t want another Prince to gain the information or soldier. This can end in disaster, as a Prince who doesn’t think the newly fallen will join them, may just decide to remove them from the war rather than let another Prince have them. Assassinations of a Fallen are not unheard of. Not to mention Dominic’s hosts wanting your head on a stick for changing sides in the war!
Once you grant your allegiance to a Prince, the dark lord will attune you, his new tool, to their Word and tie your soul to a new Heart. You will be granted Band attunements and access to your new Princes Rites. You are also bound to whatever dissonance strictures the Prince has set for their Servitors, so it’s not entirely dissimilar to serving an archangel in that aspect.
And that is how the divine can fall, becoming Demons in the In Nomine tabletop roleplaying game. Again, it is intentionally a difficult process as the Angel must consciously choose to act against their nature which starts the whole process, and there is forgiveness the entire way from an angel with dissonance, to an outcast. There are even opportunities for Demons to be redeemed and once again become angels, but that will have to wait for another episode.
Outro
Thank you for watching today’s In Nomine episode. Subscribe and ring the bell if you are new to the channel. Don’t forget to click the like button and comment to let others learn about this award winning role-playing game and this channel.
And as always, remember that evil spelled backwards is live, so get out there and Be Evil!