Jack Chick In Nomine - BACKWARDS!!!!!
"Now, I don't recommend it, mind you - but it can
be done."
-Tom Wolfe, The Right
Stuff
Yes, it can.
Several different ways, in fact: it all depends on just how badly you
want to warp In Nomine in the first place. Of course, if you didn't like the idea of warping In Nomine,
you probably wouldn't be cruising my site, so let's just get started on the
Deep Hurting, shall we?
1). First,
go to David Edelstein's "regular"
Jack Chick In Nomine site: indeed, it may be Deep Hurting enough for some
of you, all on its own. If so, more
power to you.
2). Go read
some of Jack Chick's immortal work: words
cannot do justice to it. It really,
truly is that bad and he really, truly is that barking mad: it's an open
question whether the site gets more hits from lunatic religious bigots or
sarcastic mockers. Feel free to email
the fellow, too: (you can start with webmaster@chick.com,
and see if you can worm in closer), maybe if enough of us drop him a line he
might see fit to write a 'special' strip about the perils of In Nomine. Hey, one heavily publicized
book-burning will be enough to draw in the solidarity sales like flies: we
might even be able to finagle a commitment for the long-desired Second Edition
Core Rules out of the entire deal. Now
that I think of it, be sure to mention the upcoming Ethereal Players Guide
while you're there...
3). There is
no three.
The Fairly Straightforward, yet Not Too Innovative
Backwards Jack Chick In Nomine
I mention this one only out of completeness: play it
the way that you would play any High-Contrast Backwards game, subject to the
rules suggested by Mr. Edelstein. As it
stands, his version is a pretty interesting case of Dark, Low-Contrast where
the angels are all powerful drones and the demons are all weak bastards:
playing the latter would be a real hassle, considering that they are condemned
to little more than mugging for the cameras, then disappearing in a cloud of
sulfurous smoke (perhaps with a convenient Dupe in tow).
High Contrast, on the other hand... well, there's
more to play with. First off, turn down
the Doing Nasty Things to People Because You're Bored control, turn up the God
Ain't Nice dial and lock the We're Trying To Make Everybody Free lever at its
highest possible setting. You may also
want to make it fairly obvious that angels are, well, kind of dumb: playing
them as fairly robotic wandering monsters is good for both bad jokes and
faithful to the source material. Be
sure to have them drop entire Scriptural passages at the drop of a hat, too
(although your players may end up lynching you).
So, what's the point for demons in this brave new
world? Why, to have a good time, of
course: let the celestial zombies have their Christians, you're in it for the
corporeal duty. All the Demon Princes
have three goals:
1)
Play political games with each other.
Yes, this can include gunfire.
2)
Enjoy the corporeal plane.
3)
Keep Heaven from setting off the Final War.
Well, it'll come eventually... not that Hell plans
to show up for it. Why bother playing
in a rigged game? Get as many humans out
of the way as possible (they may not be as cool as demons are, but they're
pretty good at coming up with new stuff) and soak up the rays while there's
still a sun. Pretty soon you and your
buddies will be stuck back in Hell while the Saved humans (all fifteen of them)
get to have all sorts of ecstatic raptures about what kind of torments all of
you must be going through.
And they call demons perverted.
Of course, if that's not your cup of tea, well,
there's always this,
or even this.