Nobilis 8-12 Campaign

[Kyt]

Beyond the sky, the World Ash stretches from Hell to Heaven supporting countless worlds besides our own.  Between these strange realms the Angeles, the Fallen, the Light, the Dark and the Wild fight a war, against the Excrucians, to control and define the whole of existence one idea at a time or to unmake it altogether. 

The Nobilis stand in the front lines of this celestial struggle once they were human, now they are something more.  Each infused with a piece of creation’s power and given mastery over one part of reality.  Love, war, steel, thunder, agony, or any of infinity’s components: a Nobile is its incarnation, master and protector.

That is basically the blurb from the back of the book. This is also a dice-less role playing game that I and several friends have enjoyed in the past.  I would like to start a campaign probably at the October games day in the 8pm slot.

Any one that’s interested let me know. 

[Baron Von Harper]

Hey Clint, glad to see you are stepping into the GM arena, or should I say becoming the "Hollyhock God." (Name for GM of this system).

For those that have never tried a diceless game, and especially Nobilis, I heartily suggest trying this game out.  While some of you know my huge distaste for D&D at high levels (epic makes me go into conniption fits) this game is vastly different.  It is designed for playing out normal humans that are raised to an almost divine level.  I really enjoyed playing this game!

Getting a chance to play a being with "The Power of _____" was really cool.  When I played (yet another chaotic character of mine) I had the Power of Trees, and the Power of Lost Souls (as I paid for a second Power/Domain).  I could create trees, talk to trees, destroy them, and all sorts of other things.  I could also knew when my Domain was being threatened (Forest Fire etc). 

With the Power of Lost Souls, I tried to help wayward spirits find some closure, and several times I put a lost soul back into a Tree, and a human body.  I used Lost Spirits to do my bidding, and they were also my messengers.

For Powers, think D&D Domains and then multiply them by a million.  You can be the Power of almost anything in creation.  You could be the power of specific things (The Power of Gum Wrappers) to very broad and powerful things (The Power of Gravity, The Power of Water, The Power of Air/Wind).  I think the hardest part is trying to figure out which Power you would have the most fun playing with.  The Power of Parties is a fun-loving Power for instance, hehe.  You have the power to do strange things with your Power such as create it, destroy it, hide it, remove it, etc.  By erasing more dots, you can do really amazing things.  You can be conservative with erasing dots, or you can be like me and erase dots like there was no tomorrow, hehe.

In addition to there being lots of cool Mythological stuff in the setting, you get to make your own Pocket Dimension called a Chancel.  The Chancel creation system I thought was nice and detailed.  You can get a more defensible Chancel if you trap souls in it.  These trapped souls are normally nasty individuals that can sometimes play havoc with your Chancel, but that is fun as well (we had 2 trapped in our Chancel, and we "fixed" both of their problems with some serious roleplaying, and my character giving Clint's character a migraine, hehe).

At first the meshed Mythologies of many different cultures is a bit difficult to understand (they all work simultaneously, so you have angels, ancient gods, demons, etc running around).

We loved roleplaying so much in our Chancel (which essentially was a fantasy world, tucked away from the real mortal world) that we spent most of the game time there.

And the Excrutians are even more terrible than the powers of Hell, as they want to destroy EVERYTHING (including Heaven, Hell, the Mortal World, and all of the other thousand worlds attached to Yggdrasil the great tree with it's top in Heaven, and its roots in Hell).

You also have an Emperator (if I'm spelling that correctly) that is the divine being that raised you up to be a Nobile.  We had an Angel that raised us up.  Clint's character had the power of Paths, my friend Bill had the Power of Fire, one of the NPCs had the Power of Ice/Snow I believe, and mine with Trees and Lost Souls. 

You also have a sort-of-alignment, in that you have a code of ethics.  Light was for Heaven, Dark for Hell, Wild for more beastial/nature types, etc.  It is kind of fun to mix and match them, as long as there is a way for them to work together.

I've played in Clint's games before, and I know he will do a great job running this.  So sign up, as it is a real treat.  The book is almost impossible to find, and goes for a lot of money, but we can help out new players with that.   



So Clint, I would like to play.  I'll have to decide what Power I want to have.

Man, I'm excited by this!

[Baron Von Harper]

Hmm, how about the Power of Diseases?

That might be a bit too much, or it might not fit with the campaign you have in mind, but it just struck me as cool.  hehe.

A character with the Power of Grief or Sorrow might be a nice downer. 

[hellgod]

define the abilities for the Power of Awesome!

sounds like a fun game, too bad i am already committed to another game at that time.

[Kyt]

Glad to see your interested Tim.  You where close on the spelling they are Imperators.  At the moment I am thinking of either an old god or a lord of the light for the Imperator in this one. 

The Codes are:
Angels:
   Beauty is the highest principle
   Justice is a form of beauty
   Lesser beings should respect their betters

Fallen Angels:
   Corruption is the highest principle
   Suffering is a form of corruption
   Power justifies itself

The Light:
   Humanity must live and live forever
   What must be done ought to be done cleanly
   Humans must be protected, particularly from themselves

The Dark
   Humans should destroy themselves, individually
   Humanity should destroy itself, collectively, except for a few toys
   Ugliness to human eyes shows that one is worthy

The Wild:
   Freedom is the highest principle
   Sanity and mundanity are prisons
   Give in kind with a gift received

Plus if any of these do not fit the character players can make up there own, approved by the Hollyhock God of course.  If the character actively goes out and serves their Code they can increase their temporary power pool. 

Power of Diseases doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad person.  A power following the light would use it to enhance evolution by weeding out the people that are the least healthy.  A power of Angels could use it to eliminate the unjust.  A power of the wild might use this power to free tortured souls from imprisonment. 

Honestly I don’t want to discourage anyone but having several choices for their power would be good. 

As for Awesome, there are not really set defined abilities for a power.  Basically depending on your attribute and how much power you wish to sink into it defies in a broad way what can be done.  The player describes what they want to have happen and the Hollyhock God figures out what level of power is needed.  In Awesome’s case you could destroy the awe in sky diving and leave only terror or you could make a vista so inspiring that anyone who sees it is awe struck.  You could potentially make a water fall go up instead of down.  Granted these are examples using the definition of the word and not its usual popular usage but it illustrates the point. 

Basically you can use Divinations on your power, you can Preserve an aspect of it, you can Create it, Destroy it and Change it.  There are Lesser and Major versions of each of these.  It’s kind of an exercise in thinking out side the box or maybe changing the size of the box, to get the effect that you want. 

[Baron Von Harper]

Hmmm, Disease might work then.   

I'll try to think of a few others as well.

The Power of Luck could be fun, or the Power of Accidents. 

[Baron Von Harper]

I think I'll try to make my character the Power of Diseases, with a minor Power in Accidents.  That sounds like a lot of fun... >: )


With the Star Wars campaign dropping from the schedule, we might get some new players.

[Baron Von Harper]

Bump.

Trust me, this game will be a lot of fun. 

[Kyt]

Well I thought that since we have some time until the next GASP that I would go ahead and go over some Nobilis concepts.

Starting with the Characters:

   Each character represents a fundamental aspect of reality.  That is their power.  Whether they represent the power of paths, trees, fire, Halloween, debate, mathematics or diseases, they are given the responsibility to protect that part of reality.  The main idea here is that some divine being came down to earth and placed a part of it’s self into the character and that is the power that they represent/are. 

There are 4 attributes in the game that represent the character Aspect, Domain, Realm, and Spirit.  Each one can have a level between 0 and 5.  There are also miracle points associated with each attribute.  These allow the character to perform feats at higher levels of the attributes than their current level, including over level 5. 

Aspect is the characters physical and mental being. 
Level 0 is about equal to normal human level.
Level 1 is one step ahead of human and you are competent in all mental and physical tasks.
Level 2 at this level you represent in all tasks the very best that humanity can accomplish if they focused on one area.
Level 3 at this level a noble is, if not smarter, more capable than any human can be they have perfect self-possession, discipline, artistic and scientific ability, and super computer like speed in solving problems.
Level 4 are some of the strongest nobles they can resist all efforts to addict, hypnotize or physically dominate them.  They know many secrets that humanity does not.
Level 5 are powers of fable.  They can split mountains with their firsts, blow armies away, or wound the sun with an arrow. 
   
Domain is how much control you have over your power, what you represent is your estate. 
Level 0 have no control over their power.  These Nobles are at the whim of their estate.
Level 1 can work small miracles with effort but need to rely on stronger powers.  At this level Nobles are still more human than the representatives of their power. 
Level 2 can do divinations and miracles of comfort easily.  With effort they can do interesting miracles.  At this level you are a true representative of your estate. 
Level 3 these nobles are primarily about preserving and strengthening their domain.  The power of trees can keep a tree from burning and can make one resistant to axes.
Level 4 at this level Nobles can bring their estate into being.  The power of trees can make a tree grow from bare earth.  Fire can pull fire from a hat.  Sun can make a sunbeam at night or cause the sun to rise early. 
Level 5 they are forces of nature, the living gods of what they represent.  They can destroy aspects of their domain.  The Power of Paths can cause someone to get lost.  Since Paths exist to prevent this.  The power of the Sun could make an eclipse. 

   Realm is the power a Noble has over their Chancel and is in general their rank with in noble society.  A Chancel is a pocket dimension that is created by an Imperator, the divine being that put part of it’s self into a noble or group of nobles, that its Nobles are responsible for.  This attribute is similar to Domain and similar miracles can be performed at the same levels and covering any estate but only within the Chancel.
Level 0 have no gift of rule and are just citizens of the Chancel.  Threats form out side the Chancel can follow them in. 
Level 1 have control over superficial conditions within the Chancel. 
Level 2 have more control.  They can learn any thing they wish to about the Chancel with just a thought. 
Level 3 can make subtle and overt barriers and raise preservation protected troops to defend the chancel.
Level 4 can shape landscapes and inhabitants from the ether.
Level 5 a character can shape and reshape the chancel almost at will.

   Spirit represents kind of strength of character.  It also represents the characters auctoritas, the spiritual shield against other Nobles attack.  This also indicates the number of anchors, normal humans linked to the character through love or hate that they can posses at will, a Noble can have.  It also determines how powerful ritual magic will be.
      Level 0 is very week and can only have 1 anchor.
Level 1 only blunts weak attacks but is easier for other Nobles to be around.  They can have 2 anchors.
Level 2  their presence is impressive despite Aspect and Domain levels.  They can have 3 anchors.
Level 3 are strong willed and are likely to have some small rebelliousness against their Imperator or be very loyal to them.  They have significant protection against attacks and can have 4 anchors.
Level 4 everything they are, they are strongly, deeply and profoundly.  They are strongly protected this gives them a great advantage in power to power conflicts.  It is much more difficult to trace their magics.  At this level a Noble can have 5 anchors.
Level 5 act with the fury of a storm or the calm of a Buddhist master.  They can wear their anchors bodies as their own.  Their mastery of ritual magic is near to that of an Imperator.  They can have 6 anchors.


I plan on going over some of the other concepts in future posts.

[Kyt]

Well I thought that since we have some time until the next GASP that I would go ahead and go over some Nobilis concepts.

Starting with the Characters:

   Each character represents a fundamental aspect of reality.  That is their power.  Whether they represent the power of paths, trees, fire, Halloween, debate, mathematics or diseases, they are given the responsibility to protect that part of reality.  The main idea here is that some divine being came down to earth and placed a part of it’s self into the character and that is the power that they represent/are. 

There are 4 attributes in the game that represent the character Aspect, Domain, Realm, and Spirit.  Each one can have a level between 0 and 5.  There are also miracle points associated with each attribute.  These allow the character to perform feats at higher levels of the attributes than their current level, including over level 5. 

  Aspect is the characters physical and mental being. 

Level 0 is about equal to normal human level.
Level 1 is one step ahead of human and you are competent in all mental and physical tasks.
Level 2 at this level you represent in all tasks the very best that humanity can accomplish if they focused on one area.
Level 3 at this level a noble is, if not smarter, more capable than any human can be they have perfect self-possession, discipline, artistic and scientific ability, and super computer like speed in solving problems.
Level 4 are some of the strongest nobles they can resist all efforts to addict, hypnotize or physically dominate them.  They know many secrets that humanity does not.
Level 5 are powers of fable.  They can split mountains with their firsts, blow armies away, or wound the sun with an arrow. 
   
  Domain is how much control you have over your power, what you represent is your estate. 

Level 0 have no control over their power.  These Nobles are at the whim of their estate.
Level 1 can work small miracles with effort but need to rely on stronger powers.  At this level Nobles are still more human than the representatives of their power. 
Level 2 can do divinations and miracles of comfort easily.  With effort they can do interesting miracles.  At this level you are a true representative of your estate. 
Level 3 these nobles are primarily about preserving and strengthening their domain.  The power of trees can keep a tree from burning and can make one resistant to axes.
Level 4 at this level Nobles can bring their estate into being.  The power of trees can make a tree grow from bare earth.  Fire can pull fire from a hat.  Sun can make a sunbeam at night or cause the sun to rise early. 
Level 5 they are forces of nature, the living gods of what they represent.  They can destroy aspects of their domain.  The Power of Paths can cause someone to get lost.  Since Paths exist to prevent this.  The power of the Sun could make an eclipse. 

   Realm is the power a Noble has over their Chancel and is in general their rank with in noble society.  A Chancel is a pocket dimension that is created by an Imperator, the divine being that put part of it’s self into a noble or group of nobles, that its Nobles are responsible for.  This attribute is similar to Domain and similar miracles can be performed at the same levels and covering any estate but only within the Chancel.

Level 0 have no gift of rule and are just citizens of the Chancel.  Threats form out side the Chancel can follow them in. 
Level 1 have control over superficial conditions within the Chancel. 
Level 2 have more control.  They can learn any thing they wish to about the Chancel with just a thought. 
Level 3 can make subtle and overt barriers and raise preservation protected troops to defend the chancel.
Level 4 can shape landscapes and inhabitants from the ether.
Level 5 a character can shape and reshape the chancel almost at will.

   Spirit represents kind of strength of character.  It also represents the characters auctoritas, the spiritual shield against other Nobles attack.  This also indicates the number of anchors, normal humans linked to the character through love or hate that they can posses at will, a Noble can have.  It also determines how powerful ritual magic will be.

Level 0 is very week and can only have 1 anchor.
Level 1 only blunts weak attacks but is easier for other Nobles to be around.  They can have 2 anchors.
Level 2  their presence is impressive despite Aspect and Domain levels.  They can have 3 anchors.
Level 3 are strong willed and are likely to have some small rebelliousness against their Imperator or be very loyal to them.  They have significant protection against attacks and can have 4 anchors.
Level 4 everything they are, they are strongly, deeply and profoundly.  They are strongly protected this gives them a great advantage in power to power conflicts.  It is much more difficult to trace their magics.  At this level a Noble can have 5 anchors.
Level 5 act with the fury of a storm or the calm of a Buddhist master.  They can wear their anchors bodies as their own.  Their mastery of ritual magic is near to that of an Imperator.  They can have 6 anchors.


I plan on going over some of the other concepts in future posts.

[Baron Von Harper]

So, no one wants to play a diceless game where you all have a God-Complex? 

So far I'm the only player.

Any takers?


As I said at GASPCon, I always despised high level games, but this is so simple and easy, and the game seems designed for such play.

It also helps, that there are things that are so beyond human understanding, that fill the "bad guys" role in the game.  Excrutians don't even like evil, because that is a fabric of reality...

[Kyt]

I know I only had one interested party here but Nobilis 3ed is soon to be released with a limited edition available now http://eos-sama.com/nobilis/    

[Baron Von Harper]

Cool.