Let’s learn about the Superior: Saminga, Prince of Death 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
Time Stamps:
- 0:00 Intro
- 0:25 About the Superior
- 1:25 Dissonance
- 1:34 Band Attunements
- 2:43 Servitor Attunements
- 3:21 Distinctions
- 3:56 Relations
- 4:10 Basic Rites
- 4:26 Chance of Invocation
- 5:03 Outro
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
The world is dead; it just doesn’t know it yet.
Intro
Welcome to Eviliv3 Play, a celebration of my favorite tabletop role-playing games. This 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, Superiors: Saminga, Prince of Death.
Discussion
About
Saminga is a Shedite. He likes to wear a rotting corpse when he is in the Corporeal Realm. While he’s in the Celestial Realm he appears as a mass of decaying bodies! Three millennia ago, Saminga was a typical demon. He learned the secret of mummification from the ancient Egyptians and it changed his trajectory irrevocably. He created an army of undead sorcerers and his occult power immediately exceeded many Princes. He is arrogant and patronizing. He believes death to be the ultimate evil, and as the Prince of Death, he must be the ultimate evil. Lucifer doesn’t mind, as he can easily manipulate Saminga.
The Demon Prince of Death prefers dead puppets to living servants. He also prefers the death of intelligent living beings over animals or property, as the fear and agony fuel his dark symphonic theme. Saminga isn’t terribly bright but he more than makes up for it with paranoid savagery; especially if he thinks his Servitor is being insolent.
Dissonance
Dissonance is what you earn when acting against your Resonance, or nature. Servitors of Saminga also generate a note of Dissonance for encouraging life in any way.
Band Attunements
Attunements are supernatural powers fueled by your Superior. Balseraphs of Saminga may kill humans with their bare hands without disturbing the Symphony. Djinn’s attunement is restricted. They don’t generate dissonance for killing the object of their attunement. They can also detect the presence of undead within a number of yards equal to their Corporeal Forces times 10! Calabim know just how much damage a creature can take before dying. Habbalah can remote-control a corpse with a Will roll from 50 yards away. It lasts as long as they concentrate and can do nothing else or the corpse will suffer a -4 to skill rolls. Lilim begin play with an undead servant or servants worth 3 times their Celestial Forces in character points. Shedim’s attunement is restricted. They may possess a corpse for a number of days equal to their Corporeal Forces. They will earn the Corporeal Discord of Palid for as long as they are in the corpse. And finally Impudites attunement is partially restricted. They are the ultimate vampires. They can pull Essence from corpses as long as they have not been dead longer than the number of hours equal to their Corporeal Forces. They also don’t earn dissonance for killing humans.
Servitor Attunements
If you serve Saminga well you may earn a Servitor Attunement. You may also purchase them with character points. Zombi allows you to turn a fresh corpse into a zombi with a Will roll plus your Corporeal Forces, minus the original Forces of the Corpse. It will have the memory and instincts that it did when alive, but the soul is gone forever. There is also the attunement Vampiric Kiss. With physical contact and a successful Will roll, the demon may suck the life force out of a willing or charmed victim. The check digit equals the body damage taken and the Essence the demon gets.
Distinctions
There are three distinctions Saminga may bestow on his more favored servitors. Knight of the Dead allows the demon to know the cause of death of any corpse they touch, actually seeing the last thing the corpse saw. Captain of the Infernal Legion allows the demon to seem dead in every way for as long as he pleases. And lastly, Baron of the Undead Kingdom allows the demon to know the exact position and location of all corpses within a number of yards equal to his Celestial Forces. They also know the location of all undead serving them.
Relations
Relations between demon princes is tenuous at best. Saminga is allied with Baal and Kobal. He is Associated with Belial and Haagenti. Hostile to everyone else except his enemy Andrealphus.
Basic Rites
There are a few basic rites Saminga offers his Servitors to earn Essence. The first is to kill 10 humans. The second is to kill the vessel of a being with more than 5 Forces, and the third is to sleep in a cemetery for six hours.
Chance of Invocation
There is a base chance of invoking Saminga of 2. But you may employ some modifiers to help invoke him. Have a human bone, a human skill, a human cadaver, ten human cadavers, one hundred human cadavers or five hundred human cadavers. I think you see a theme here.
Saminga is a fantastic addition to any In Nomine campaign as an antagonist or Superior. You can easily play a World of Darkness styled campaign with him and dive into the dark paranoia of his servants and the dead. I highly recommend giving it a shot in your next In Nomine game.
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!