4.0 out of 5 stars
It's all about the Rock n Roll, June 2, 2009
This review is from: Revelations I: Night Music (Paperback)
"Night Music" is the first book in the Revelations Series for the In Nomine roleplaying game publised by Steve Jackson Games.
The book is a combination of source material for the game and an adventure for the players to undertake. The book expands greatly on the material provided in the base rulebook, making for a richer world and a more believeable setting.
The book is broken down into the following sections:
1 - Superiors
2 - Mortals
3 - Resources
4 - In Nomine Austin (as in Texas)
5 - Things to do in Austin when you're Celestial
6 - The Demon Prince of Rock n Roll (Adventure)
The first section provides a much more indepth look at three superiors: Laurence, Archangel of the Sword; Samniga, Demon Prince of Death and two new superiors: Christopher, Archangel of Children and Fleurity, Demon Prince of Drugs. Unlike the core rules, the write-ups for the superiors is much more indepth, providing fuller histories, politics, personality, outlooks as well as providing new servitor attunements, and higher distinctions. Included in Laurence and Samniga's profiles are a couple of example Servitors.
As this is a sourcebook that focuses on the corporeal realm, the second section deals with mortals. Firstly, Soldiers of God are given a very indepth look and then there is an overview of Saints. The section goes on to look at Soldiers of Hell and then the various types of Undead that also populate the corporeal realm. The details on Undead however is seriously lacking - while there is some nice flavour text and a stat block featuring the undead creature in the narative, there is no explanation about how Undead are creatated or how Mummy's and Vampires sustain themselves (since they don't last very long, I guess there's no need to explain the life-cycle of a Zombi...)
The third section is titled 'Resources', which is a bit of a misnomer. The resources are esentially for the GM as they consist of new forms of Dissonance and descriptions/rules for the use of poisons, disease and drugs.
Since the adventure featured in the book is based in Austin, Texas, the fourth section features Austin as it appears in the In Nomine game world. Theres the usual blurb about history, climate, map and culture all with an In Nomine twist. Then there are descriptions of both Angelic and Demonic tethers in Austin as well as some of the cities favoured servitors. Some of the notable ones are Druiel, Angel of Teenage Suicide and Tomas, Angel of Catchy Tunes. On the Hell side you have Lauren, Demon of Strippers. These are some of the major NPC's in the adventure so they rightfully receive a fair amount of attention.
The fifth section covers all of the official Superiors and what some of their agenda's are and motivations that their Servitors would have to visit Austin. Fleshing out this section are the occassional sample celestial servitor or mortal. This section provides more of an orientation tool for servitors should the GM need an insight as to why a particular player character is in Austin (as well as providing a few GM secrets).
The last section is an adventure from where the book draws its title, "Night Music". The adventure essentially revolves around Furfur, Demon of Hardcore and Baron of Fire. Furfur thinks the current diabolical political situation is unfair and has hatched a plot that he thinks will get him promoted to a Demon Prince, which will prove his point that the system is completely unfair. Depending on the nature of the PC's (and their Superior's instructions) they may be there to help or hinder. Given the darker nature of some of In Nomine's other adventures this is a somewhat lighter romp.
The blessing (or curse) of this adventure (and of all In Nomine adventures) is that they are very freeform. Very little prescriptive material is provided and the GM has a lot of latitude as to how each and every scene should be set up, run and concluded with only minimal guidelines provided by the writers. I know that some GM's will love and others will absolutely hate it (I come down somewhere in the middle). In certain parts I'm like, "Oh cool, I could do this or that.." and in other parts I'm like, "What? How the hell am I meant to make that work?"
Even the adventure ending isn't proscribed - if the GM wants to introduce a new Demon Prince then more power to you, if you like the status quo then that's cool as well. I understand that the official In Nomine continuity has Furfur succeed (after a fashion), but a GM is not obliged to follow the canon material.
Overall, a good first start to the expansion of the In Nomine game world; although there are few holes in the expansion of game mechanics that lowers it rating slightly. And remember, this game contains interpretations of religious themes that may offend some people, so be careful out there folks.
Enjoy.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
