My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

As part of my rewritten summoning system I took inspiration from real occultism and divided summoning spells into three types: invocation, astral evocation, and physical evocation. An invocation doesn't cause the summoned entity to appear before the summoner, but causes the summoner themselves (or another target) to exhibit the desired traits of that entity. For example, invoking Mammon makes the invoker better at building wealth. An evocation summons the entity to appear before the summoner. There are two types: astral evocation and physical evocation . An astral evocation summons the entity on the astral plane. The evoker then communicates with it through the ritual altar's crystal ball, mirror, or even the reflective surface in the cup of water. This evocation has limited influence over the physical world, but the benefit is that the entity may show the evoker any imaginable image. This type of evocation is extremely useful for acquiring knowledge. A physical evocation su...

In the French version of the game, flashbacks were referred to by the in-game jargon Mnemos Effect . The exact rules for this varied across editions, with some editions treating it purely as a fluff thing. Flashbacks could consist of groups playing adventures that occurred during past lives rather than the present, or as individual PCs recalling forgotten events and gaining temporary skill bonuses or permanent increases as a benefit. This was never implemented in the US version. However, on the mailing list some freelancers discussed making a new edition with a flashback mechanic. For example, treating past lives as skills and recalling during play to explain skill increases. This was a decade before the French 5th edition would implement a similar idea. Another idea floated was "Sekhat" (from Egyptian  sḫꜣj ), where really stressed PCs could enter fugue states where they'd assume the personality of a past life and reinterpret present events in that light (e.g. a WWI nurs...

Back in the day when the US fandom discussed Chinese Nephilim on the mailing list, the idea that each culture would have different elements and so on often came up. The idea was that the cosmology given in the rulebook was too Eurocentric and not inclusive of other cultures, mixed with the general exoticism and poor understanding of other cultures because it was the 90s. Firstly, I think it's okay for Nephilim to have a unified cosmology regardless of what a given Immortal's culture is. Trying to invent a new cosmology for every culture and then have them all play well together is infeasible. Secondly, I don't think the cosmology is too westernized. It's actually a mix of multiple Eurasian astrology traditions. The idea of a pentacle of five elements , and associating the planets with specific elements , doesn't come from Greek philosophers but from Chinese astrology. The idea of five elements composing reality rather than four comes from Vedic philosophy. Indeed, ...

Chaosium's adaptation of Nephilim was based on the 1st edition of the French, which was crude and unrefined compared to subsequent supplements. Case in point, the US version recaps the Olamot as the four summoning worlds: Assia, Yetzirah, Briah and Atziluth. In the French, these worlds would be discarded and replaced with Aresh, Meborack, Pachad, Sohar and Zakaï.  A brief summary comes from this rpg.net post by a reviewer translating the French: Kabbalah Kabbalah as a science knew many false starts whether the studies of King Salomon or the wanderings of Helen in mythic Greece. However it is Jesus the Son of Ether that drew the fundamentals of the Occult Science used today. The Messiahs posited that worlds exist around us in the magical fields. He could call the creatures of these worlds and draw Wisdom from their teachings. Kabbalah was the legacy he left to his Fallen creators hoping they would find solace in Sohar the world he had more often walked. Five worlds are studied...

So I've been doing more and more research on the French version's books, which is a huge mess btw. I discovered the rules for "Ka Reserves", which function basically like Elixirs do in the US version.  I can't find a copy of the first edition French rulebook, so I don't know if Ka Reserves were present in the first edition that the US version was based on or whether these were adapted back to the French from the US version. There's also rules for active versus passive artifacts. Ka Reserves As of the second edition rulebook the rules for Ka Reserves are similar to those of Elixirs, but with a few differences: Creating a Ka Reserve requires a mix of "Rare Earths" (the French name for what the US version names Litharge) and blood, flesh or whatever from the targeted Nephilim placed in the vessel. It must be created during day of the desired Ka-Element. The human mage may puncture and steal the Nephilim's Ka-Element at range, similar to a magic...

While transcribing and translating the alchemy rules from Nephilim: Revelation 's The Players' Book , which condenses a decade of mechanics and fluff innovations, I came across a description of the Athanor as sharing a bond with its creator. By building the lab and investing it with Ka from his Stasis item, the alchemist creates an alchemical being composed of his Pentacle, his Stasis item, and his lab. To destroy any part of the lab is to amputate this being. When a tool is destroyed, all substances produced by it instantly lose effectiveness and the alchemist is shocked into a depression for days. Certain laboratories are even said to develop sentience, seek to possess their creator, and defend themselves with alchemy! In other words, alchemical relics (see  Gamemaster's Companion  p33 for details). The meditations Miracle of Creation (see the unpublished alchemy rules) and Ultimate Purification of Gold (see Enlightened Magic p95-6) may be used to imbue objects with so...

In the unpublished revised Alchemy rules, the three circles were divided into specific purviews: the physical, the mental, and the spiritual, respectively. Black Stone creates alchemical substances that physically alter the target. White Stone creates works of art that inspire the desired feeling in witnesses. Philosopher's Stone creates meditations that produce the desired effect in souls by sight or touch.  While transcribing and translating the French third edition, however, I was inspired to think of a gap in these rules: what about psychotropic substances? Rather than producing a lapel that makes viewers perceive the wearer as more charismatic, what about giving someone a potion that makes them more positively inclined? As of the RAW, there's no way to do this because White Stone doesn't craft consumables. But could it work as a combination spell using both Black Stone and White Stone? I wonder... The Black Stone version of Coagulation of Understanding allows the alch...

The basic rules for Stasis items have changed dramatically across different editions and adaptations. For reference and inspiration, I am recapping those in this post as well as offering ideas of my own. French version 1-4e In the French version editions first to third, Stasis items generally followed a consistent set of rules aside from minor differences between different editions. Stasis items could store charges of the five chromatic Ka-elements that composed the Nephilim's Pentacle. In some editions this could be in any distribution (e.g. the Stasis could be charged with a single element), but in others each element had a separate pool that couldn't overflow so a Nexus was required. To release a Nephilim from Stasis, the Stasis item had to be charged until it was full and expelled the Nephilim. Depending on the edition, this either required a Nexus specifically or could be fully charged by a Plexus. Upon disembodiment, the Stasis item would try to vacuum the Nephilim regard...

In a prior post I listed the Good Ministers of the Aethyrs from Enochian magic. I'm still researching occultism for game design so I'm no expert, but on another blog I found a correspondence given between the orders of the Good Ministers and the Tree of Life from Kabbalah. You can see the full accounting at that blog, but I summarize these on the table below: Sefira In Atziluth In Beriah In Yetzirah In Assiah Kether Ordo 1 Ordo 11 Ordo 21 Great Kings Chokmah Ordo 2 Ordo 12 Ordo 22 Seniors Binah Ordo 3 Ordo 13 Ordo 2...

To continue from my prior posts on revising Summoning and giving more options to enter Uat, I decided to write this post going over my thoughts on the astral plane, astral travel, and astral evocation. Astral Plane, aka Yetzirah or Uat The Astral Plane is one of several planes (or strata), arranged in the following order: Physical, Astral, Mental, and Spiritual or Causal.  The Astral Plane has several features: It is inhabited by various astral entities that may be contacted or summoned. Summoners call this “Yetzirah”. It has its own geography composed of places drawn from the collective unconscious, such as the Pharphar Wells or individual dreamscapes. It is possible to visit via astral projection, either deliberately with spells or unintentionally via dreaming and altered states. The High Priestess calls this “Uat”. Astral Travel aka Shemmut It is possible to project one’s consciousness into the astral plane. The High Priestess specializes in this, referring to it as Shemmut . Th...

5e revised the skill mechanics to treat past lives as skills in and of themselves. As suggested by “mandrill_one”, here is a house rule for adapting this to BRP rules: in the 5th edition, past or present "lives" (" vécus ") are rated on a 1-10 scale, which is then multiplied by 10 to obtain a percentage to roll under. So, it is quite easy to devise a BRP variant, where each vécu is a "skill group" rated 1-100. Each vécu is a skill group since it includes all knowledges, abilities, skills and aptitudes that are commonly, or conceivably, associated with that vécu : e.g., a "medieval female condottiere" vécu  could include abilities related to diplomacy, financial administration, accounting, sword combat, dodge, shield use, horse riding, communication skills, leadership, Italian geography, catholic religion, strategy and tactics, outdoor survival, encampment life, travel. All these skills have the same rating as the vécu itself.  If you want t...

While scouring through the old mailing list archives, I found a discussion from 2005 discussing astral travel, specifically how common it would be and what spells would accomplish it. So I thought I'd distill the relevant bits of that discussion here for expanded rules on the undercooked astral travel rules presented in Major Arcana . The first thing you'll need to establish is how common astral travel is expected to be, as that will determine the options for doing so. Is it rare, uncommon, or commonplace? The discussion established the following three options: Astral travel is rare This is the style presented in Major Arcana .  The Arcane Technique Shemmut is required to navigate the Astral.  The Initiate Spell Door to Shemmut , a Ritual Magic spell that requires knowledge of Seals, is required to enter the Astral. This approach favors the High Priestess, but as the book notes others can learn it. Astral travel is uncommon This style is still restrictive, but less so than the...

I'm currently translating the chapter on the Yohual-Tecuhtlin from the French book Exils  published in January 2000, which provides a wealth of information on the Mesoamerican Selenim. (They're given rules for character creation in the third edition Codex des Selenim a few years later, but it's very light on fluff due to space constraints.) The US version developed its ideas independently a few years earlier , and Ian's notes for the canceled US Selenim book were never publicly shared until 2001, but I wonder if any of the US version influenced the French. For example, the US version posited in the rulebook that the Selenim's tombs were precursors to the Nephilim's Stasis, and Serpent Moon had Selenim in suspended animation, then lo and behold the Yohual-Tecuhtlin in Exils are described as using pyramids and obsidian figurines as Stasis items! Perhaps most damningly, the Amerindian Wowakan are given rules for Chronicle of the Awakening -style Emotional Metamor...

In this post I will present a Nephilim perspective on Selenim for roleplay purposes. This includes myths and facts in order of how likely Nephilim would know it. Many are copied from the French , but modified for the US version. As of the Great Awakening, the old barriers are breaking down. Due to PC exceptionalism, a typical party will consist of 2–3 Nephilim, 1–2 Selenim and 1–2 Ar-Kaïm, thus knowing better. “The children of Lilith denied their blood. Cursed among the fallen angels. They were condemned to mourn death. That was when the curse of unlife began.”   —The Book of Enoch L 1:13 General beliefs Myth #1 : The Selenim are degenerate beings, no better than the Devil’s Shabs. Truth : The Selenim are just as diverse in their beliefs as the Nephilim.  Myth #2 : They are forever cut off from the Golden Path, and will never reach Agartha. Truth : The Anamorphs believe they can reach a pseudo-Agartha they call "Apotheosis" by constructing their own Realm within the resid...