Gods and Champions

[SKJAM!]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

In a couple of which backgrounds? You've mentioned them for characters already in play in the GGU?

 

By all means I'd like more information.

 

In the campaign background for Venture Institute itself, and Mr White (the VI librarian) and Redbird (just showing up to talk to Zach) are former members.

 

The Jesus Freaks group formed for the first time in 1968 when three deformed metahumans happened to meet at a Christian commune in northern Minnesota. They decided to put their talents to good use to raise funds for the commune by going around the countryside performing. Every once in a while they'd be able to use their powers to save lives or solve crimes too.

 

The group has grown (up to eight full-time members) and shrunk (down to one) several times over the decades. The membership requirements are being obviously physically deformed (angel wings don't count, devil wings do) and having accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior. Almost all of the members have had some sort of metahuman power, but usually at a low level. (50/50 up to 100/150 for the really impressive ones.) The group encourages all its members to learn some sort of performance skill, as their primary function is still fundraising for Christian charities.

 

While their official home is in Minnesota, the Jesus Freaks are usually on the road somewhere.

 

For those who haven't read the VI campaign materials, Mr. White is an eyeless albino who can read any form of print by touch. (He's also a skilled pianist.)

 

Redbird has red-feathered wings instead of arms, and the lower body of a bird. He can fly, and is pretty good at aerobatics.

[Pendaran]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

Thanks, it also makes for good rivalry or hunted for any PCs who ARE 'real' gods or champions of Gods. If say, Magni (son of Thor) finds out there is some guy falsely calling himself Odin or Heimdell in order to pull a con... or Horus' champion sees a group of gullible folks gathering around a female mastermind who's dubbed herself Isis... well, once they find out, watch the fireworks start.

 

All I will say to this, Hermit, is "great minds..."

 

Grr.. you know, in that Horus-Re has been divinely sanctified as a Pharoh way, way, way back when, he'd probably have something of a deep personal conflict of not treating something like that as having to be dealt with as Pharoh would given the specific affrontery..

 

Wait, of course you know that Jeff

[Blue]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

Do you have a writeup for this guy?

Not on this computer. Maybe on my laptop at home. I'll have to check.

[Vondy]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

I thought thor took the position that the asgardians were worshipped as gods once, a long time ago, but not anymore - hence implying himself that he was not a god, or at least, not currently being worshipped as one.

 

If so he's pretty much said that he's just a really ancient alien/extradimensional being who uses his age old tried and tested "norse-storm-hammer-guy" motiff when fighting the forces of evil.

 

Maybe some fringers would point fingers and call him the "tool of the devil" or a "false god" or whatnot, but I would think mainstream folks and the media in general wouldn't be too peeved or worried about it. His "flak" would be minimal, I think.

 

I mean, come on, I'm an orthodox Jew - have you seen what some of the websites (blood libels online) out there say about my faith and the things I don't actually believe or do that they say I do? I don't get much flak when I'm out and about - especially not from your average "man on the street" (or at least I didn't when I was living in the diaspora, here its a complete nonsequiter).

 

I mean - instead of the problems coming from weirdos who hate them, what if the problems came from weirdos who loved them? What if they had cultists running around shadowing their every move, or leaving offerings outside their door? What if the problem stemmed from the claims their unwanted worshippers were making?

 

I can see it now:

 

Its a rare cozy and quiet evening at the Avengers mansion. Just having finished his hundred-ton workout followed by a hot shower Thor has sat down at the kitchen table and begun to crack walnuts with mjolnir for the the scarlet witch's famous walnut-run sponge cake when Cap walks in and sits down across from him. The winghead sighed, looked concerned.

 

"Thor," he said. "Got a minute."

 

"Verily," norse-storm-hammer-hero answered. "Is something amiss."

 

"Well," Cap said, somewhat uncomfortable. "Its the god thing."

 

"God?" norse-storm-hammer-hero asked, curious. "I did not know you were a religious man."

 

"Its not something I talk about much," Cap answered. "My faith is an intensely private affair, and each man has a right to believe as he chooses..."

 

"Yet something troubles you," norse-storm-hammer-hero said, cracking another nut, a small zap being heard.

 

"Its Tommy Brown."

 

"Tommy Brown?"

 

"He's a boy who goes to my church," Cap answered. "His parents are very worried about him. He's become... confused."

 

"A crisis of faith?"

 

"You could say that," Cap answered, sighing again, still uncomfortable. "He thinks you're a god."

 

Hours later Thor is sitting next to Tommy on the couch in the boys parents home, his hand on his shoulder as the parents, reverened miller, and Cap listen quietly from the kitchen: "So you see Tommy," norse-storm-hammer-hero answered, "though mankind was once primitive and superstitious and worshipped my people as Gods we are in fact merely visiting alien beings with strange and amazing powers from a pocket dimension called asgard."

 

"Oh, I understand now Mr. Thor. Your a space alien."

 

"Er... Good Tommy."

 

Tommy's father walks into the room tamping his pipe, "thank you Mr. Thor for setting our boy straight. It was mighty neighborly of you."

 

"I am the mighty thor, it was my pleasure."

 

Cap and reverend miller look on, nodding sagely while Mrs. Brown rushes up, a fresh baked cherry pie in hand, and kisses norse-storm-hammer-hero on the cheek. "Won't you stay for dinner, we're having roast beef."

 

"I'm afraid I can't Mrs. Brown. Ragnorok is coming after-all." Throwing mjolnir and catching it by its strap and flying out the window and back towards the avengers mansion.

 

Reverend Miller looked at Cap: "Ragnor-what?"

 

Cap smiled with chagrin: "Don't ask."

 

----------------

 

Landing across the street from the Avengers Mansion Thor tucked mjolnir into his belt and started towards the gate, stopping in the street as his eyes fell upon a flyer tacked to a nearby power-pole. It advertised a cult of thor sponsored orgy and human sacrifice, a picture of his face used without permission was boldly on the copy. As he looked down the street the he norse-storm-hammer-hero's blood ran cold. All of the poles had such flyers on them...

 

"These people are all mad!"

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

instead of the problems coming from weirdos who hate them' date=' what if the problems came from weirdos who loved them? What if they had cultists running around shadowing their every move, or leaving offerings outside their door? What if the problem stemmed from the claims their unwanted worshippers were making?[/quote']

 

That is a great idea.

 

One of my current characters actually is an avatar of a Celtic/Roman deity. I have been planning to kill him off the next time I run, in dramatic fashion, so that I can recycle the basic character concept without all of the baggage the current character has accumulated.

 

I think you just provided my new character a Disad.

[Guest Worldmaker]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

Not on this computer. Maybe on my laptop at home. I'll have to check.

 

 

Cool! Thanks.

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

While I've never read the series' date=' is this the "Warrior Nun" where she wears a habit that reveals cleavage and shows off pretty much all of her legs?[/quote']

 

I've never quite understood the nun fetish thing, but I have to admit I liked Areala's costume.

 

Magdalena's too, actually. I guess it's the whole hood, cape, and skin thing they have going on.

[Archangel Gabri]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

I'd like to congratulate everyone on this thread. This is the most open, honest, thoughtful, and to-the-point discussion I've ever read on a subject like this. Makes me proud to be a member.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

I'm not Catholic, despite my nickname (annoyingly truncated), but I have always wanted to run a game that focused on religion and its impact, and never had the players to pull it off. I toyed briefly with an In Nomine Supers cross, but the players were too inexperienced and immature to grasp the real themes.

 

Has anyone tried writing up some of the lesser Words from In Nomine? I'd be curious to see folks' impressions of the Celestial in Hero.

[BishopofB&W]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

I've never quite understood the nun fetish thing, but I have to admit I liked Areala's costume.

 

Magdalena's too, actually. I guess it's the whole hood, cape, and skin thing they have going on.

 

 

To be honest, if I saw a woman dressed in Areala's old costume charging at me, I'd start looking for a weapon, not a motel phone number.

[Guest Worldmaker]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

I've never quite understood the nun fetish thing, but I have to admit I liked Areala's costume.

 

Magdalena's too, actually. I guess it's the whole hood, cape, and skin thing they have going on.

 

 

Nuns, particularly in the traditional carmelite habit, are a symbol of purity. A "sexy" nun is therefore a symbol of wickedness... particularly sexual wickedness.

 

Sexual wickedness can be a fun thing, occasionally.

[BishopofB&W]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

I'd like to congratulate everyone on this thread. This is the most open' date=' honest, thoughtful, and to-the-point discussion I've ever read on a subject like this. Makes me proud to be a member.[/quote']

 

You're all going to Hell!!!!!

Go sinners, and meet thy doom!

[BishopofB&W]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

 

Has anyone tried writing up some of the lesser Words from In Nomine? I'd be curious to see folks' impressions of the Celestial in Hero.

 

Can't say I have, but I draw a good bit of influence from it. I liked their take on Ethereal spirits.

[Hermit]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

You're all going to Hell!!!!!

Go sinners, and meet thy doom!

 

Whew... my sense of order is restored...

 

Oh, and if folks don't mind me tooting the MC-8 horn again, between a youth music minister, a Pre Homo Sapiens Sapiens shaman, a mystic in red white and blue, and a greek goddess' champion that's one ecletic group... spiritually speaking. They actually managed to mesh well IMO which surprised me.

[Chuckg]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

Can't say I have' date=' but I draw a good bit of influence from it. I liked their take on Ethereal spirits.[/quote']

 

My two favorite Superiors are Michael and Novalis.

 

... and yes, that does a bit of mental gymnastics, admitted.

[nexus]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

Has anyone tried writing up some of the lesser Words from In Nomine? I'd be curious to see folks' impressions of the Celestial in Hero.

 

I've tried, am trying, but some of the Celestial abilities are a real headache to write up (Like Kyros, yikes!). The In Nomine cosmology has been a big influence on the way the Celestial realm works in my Bay City Game.

[Guest bblackmoor]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

Issue #1 of DC's "Fallen Angel" came out last Wednesday. It's a FREE issue. Not much skin' date=' but got the hood/cloak thing going, and from what little you see of her (mouth, nose, and hair) she's kind of a hottie too.[/quote']

 

The comic itself has been out a while, although I have never picked up a copy and read it. The first six issues are available in

trade paperback for $10. Maybe it's worth checking out. Thanks for the tip.

[BishopofB&W]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

Did Avengelyne go out of print? I picked up the first trade paperback a few years ago. Soon after, I stopped seeing it on the shelves. Did I somehow kill the comic?

[BishopofB&W]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

Here's a cosmology I'm still thinking through, trying to hammer out any inconsistencies (at least as much as you can in a comic book reality:))

 

I borrowed a few concepts from In Nomine, as you can tell.

 

From a lecture by Archmage Sun Haifeng to his apprentice, Harrison White:

 

Have you ever tried to comprehend the sheer vastness of the universe, my son, with its countless stars, planets, moons, and other wonders? Yet for all its grandeur and mystery, it is but a drop in the cosmic ocean of the multiverse. Do you know what this is? It is a gui gong qui. In English, that means “devil’s work ballâ€. It is a spherical puzzle made by Chinese artisans. It consists of many intricately carved shells carved each inside the other from a single ball of ivory. The gui gong qui is a very simplistic depiction of the metaphysical nature of the multiverse. Our universe resides in one of the outer shells. The outer shells are called the Material Realms. They contain everything physical, including all alternate universes and dimensions. Each has its own physical and metaphysical laws. Some are like our own while others are very different, as you will discover.

 

Inside the Material Realms lie the Emergent Realms. They contain dimensions that manifest the transition between concept and the physical reality of the Material Realms. Babylon, the Great City, exists there. Babylon contains all ideas of cities and city life ever imagined by mortal man. Should you visit, you will also find many beings of species you have never imagined. Babylon draws its substance from the ideas of many more races than just humans of Earth. Everything you can imagine and everything you can not can be found in some form in Babylon.

 

The Astral Realms are the shells inside the Emergent Realms. They contain all the unrealized and yet-to-be realized possibilities in distinct forms. Dreams, powerful memories, spirits, the ancient gods and other icons exist here depending on the strength of belief in them. The Astral Realms have their own distinct properties but reach into all the Emergent and Material Realms. The Land of Faerie is there as well as the domains of every god that was ever sustained by belief and worship. The Astral Realms make the powers of magic, spirit and mind possible in the Emergent and Material Realms.

 

The Realms of the Dead exist at the border between the Astral Realms and the Foundation Realms. The souls of the living gravitate there before passing on to the Foundation realms. The Realms of the Dead are divided into regions known as the Cradle of Harmony and the Netherworld. They correspond to traditional ideas of Heaven and Hell. Both extend into the Astral Realms. The denizens of the Foundation Realms try to influence living souls. The Celestials try to integrate a soul into the Creation Symphony while the Infernals try to corrupt the soul until its energies can be harvested and consumed. The degree of success on each side determines whether the soul ends up in the Cradle or the Netherworld.

 

All religions contain some element of truth, however tenuous. This is what the Celestials work with to nurture a soul into the Light. The Infernals, on the other hand, try to conceal this element behind a screen of lies, distortions, and half-truths and draw a soul into darkness. When a soul reaches the Cradle of Harmony, it finds itself in whatever it imagined Heaven to be during its life. This is, of course, not really Heaven, but rather the last remnant of mortal preconceptions and limitations. When the soul matures enough to cast off this remnant, the Celestials guide it to its place in the higher Celestial Realms. Some great souls are marked for a special destiny and are able to return to life by being born into new bodies. Other such souls eschew reincarnation to remain in the Cradle, ready to help receptive beings in the Material Realms with small moments of inspiration and wisdom.

 

The Netherworld is another matter entirely. Souls that end up there are tortured and deceived until their fullest potential for corruption is realized. Then their energies are harvested to feed the Infernals. They become livestock for their masters. As in the Cradle, these souls see the Netherworld through the lens of their mortal preconceptions. The Infernals encourage this by making themselves and their domains appear as the soul expects them to appear. As in the Cradle, some great evil souls can be reborn to continue their evil work from lifetime to lifetime.

 

The Foundation Realms lie inside the Astral Realms and the Realms of the Dead. They are the homes of beings known on Earth as angels and demons. Metaphysically speaking, the Celestial and Infernal dimensions are at opposite poles. The Celestials seek to enlighten every soul and guide it to its place in the Creation Symphony. The Infernals were sundered from their Celestial cousins in a time before Time and, lacking the sustaining glory of the Creation Symphony, seek to enslave souls and harvest their energies through all eternity.

 

At the very center of the multiverse is the entity that created the Realms. This being goes by many names such as God, Creative Principle, Lord of Creation, and Eternal Emperor. The Celestials say that this being created the multiverse, the angels and those angels that rebelled to become demons. They say this being also made possible all the incredible varieties of life that exist and that it desires that each eventually take its place in the Creation Symphony. The Infernals deny this. They say there is nothing there. They say that this entity lost interest soon after creating the multiverse and moved on, leaving its servants to manage it as best they could.

[zornwil]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

That's really well-done, Bishop, quite good!

[BishopofB&W]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

Thanks:). I’ve found it’s easier for me to work this stuff out as an NPC narrative. I liked pretty much everything in The Mystic World except the presentation of the “higher†realms as just a manifested hallucination. It also irked me a bit in The Turakian Age that someone could spend his entire life doing good and following the main good god and have it count for nothing when the evil god snatched his soul for his own purposes (food, presumably). So, I added in a good bit of In Nomine, a smidgen of What Dreams May Come and a dash of Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. I know, B&TBJ was a horrible, cheesy movie. However, I liked how they took the idea of God having infinite form to its logical conclusion: All creatures are made in God’s image. In the film, that meant that Heaven had people from every species, not just humans.

 

Speaking of B&TBJ, the scene where Bill S. Preston is forced to confront his guilt over making his sister fall down a flight of stairs was pretty good. I thought it was a great depiction of a child’s nightmare. I know when I was a little kid, seeing that monstrous stuffed rabbit would have kept me awake for several nights afterward.

[zornwil]

Re: Gods and Champions

 

Thanks:). I’ve found it’s easier for me to work this stuff out as an NPC narrative. I liked pretty much everything in The Mystic World except the presentation of the “higher†realms as just a manifested hallucination. It also irked me a bit in The Turakian Age that someone could spend his entire life doing good and following the main good god and have it count for nothing when the evil god snatched his soul for his own purposes (food, presumably). So, I added in a good bit of In Nomine, a smidgen of What Dreams May Come and a dash of Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. I know, B&TBJ was a horrible, cheesy movie. However, I liked how they took the idea of God having infinite form to its logical conclusion: All creatures are made in God’s image. In the film, that meant that Heaven had people from every species, not just humans.

 

Speaking of B&TBJ, the scene where Bill S. Preston is forced to confront his guilt over making his sister fall down a flight of stairs was pretty good. I thought it was a great depiction of a child’s nightmare. I know when I was a little kid, seeing that monstrous stuffed rabbit would have kept me awake for several nights afterward.

I like writing up things like this as an NPC as well, though I often prefer "white papers" with a particular opinionated bias to give flavor.

 

Good mix of things. And actually I liked B&TBJ.