My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

The Nephilim magic system underwent several revisions, with the most recent version of the rules presented genericized in Enlightened Magic  (so check that out for the full details). What follows is my attempt to unify, codify, and simplify the magic system. Nephilim practice three types of magic or "occult sciences." The nephilim don't see what they do as magic, but as the applied knowledge of manipulating the universe. These occult sciences are Sorcery, Summoning, and Alchemy, in order of their development. The occult sciences are each divided into three circles, and advancing to the next circle requires mastering the previous circle. Sorcery The rules for sorcery were extensively revised in Liber Ka and a genericized version of this revision was published in Enlightened Magic . Most of the differences are minor (e.g. name changes, some spells absent, some spells changed element), but there is one big change: the EM rules don't have a lunar element, so lunar spells...

Since I’ve slowed down prior to posting my thoughts on handling skills and past lives, here’s a detour. The astrological modifiers were one of the more maligned rules in the Nephilim rules. Enlightened Magic retained a simplified version of them and made them optional, which is what I will use. Each day of the week is associated with a particular planet and element. Sunday with the Sun and Solar-Ka, Monday with the Moon and Lunar-Ka, Tuesday with Mars and Fire-Ka, Wednesday with Mercury and Water-Ka, Thursday with Jupiter and Air-Ka, Friday with Venus and Earth-Ka, and Saturday with Saturn and Orichalka. ( Enlightened Magic lists a slightly different arrangement, but I prefer this one because it is more poetic and consistent with the French version.) Each day grants a bonus to magical workings of the associated element and a penalty to its opposed elements. Air is opposed to Earth and Lunar, Earth is opposed to Air and Water, Fire is opposed to Lunar and Water, Lunar is opposed to Ai...

 As I stated earlier, my idea is to simplify the complex characteristics and ka-elements by condensing them in a manner similar to the French version 5th edition. There are eight total Attributes/Ka-Elements/Humors: Air-Ka/Phlegmatic, Earth-Ka/Melancholic, Fire-Ka/Choleric, Lunar-Ka/Lunatic, Water-Ka/Sanguine, Solar-Ka, Black Lunar-Ka, and Saturnian-Ka. These represent their physical, mental, social, and spiritual capabilities. Each Attribute may be used in any of these capabilities depending on the situation. Ka-Elements are used to perform magic, but humors alone cannot. Nephilim characters have six Attributes/Ka-Elements: Air-Ka, Earth-Ka, Fire-Ka, Lunar-Ka, Solar-Ka, and Water-Ka.  Mortal characters lack Ka-Elements other than Solar-Ka. Instead, their attributes are represented using the humors.  Selenim/Unnamed Arcanum characters have the same Attributes as mortals, with the exception that they have Black Lunar-Ka instead of the Lunatic humor.  There are other c...

These posts assume that the reader is already familiar with Nephilim , so don't expect an explanation of the game here. In addition to the clunky rules, and probably more important, the Nephilim game had fluff that alienated players in the Anglosphere. The rulebook frontloaded potential players with millennia of lore that they had to keep track of. Perhaps the most criticized aspect was that the titular nephilim were presented as parasites who possessed unwilling human hosts to pursue their agendas. While players were seemingly okay with playing murderous psychopaths in other games of the 90s, apparently body-thieves just weren't kosher. The English mailing list had numerous debates over this during its heyday. Rather than rehash those here, I'll cut straight to the point: in my revision of the setting, the nephilim are fusions of a human being and a soulless mindless elemental spirit . The human soul (Sol, Solar-Ka) provides will, purpose, desire, etc. The elemental spirit...

One of the problems with the Nephilim game was that its rules, a variant of the venerable  BRP , were overly complicated and probably not all that well suited to it. The French version eventually dropped BRP entirely starting in its third edition, and the current fifth edition uses a dramatically simplified rules system. This has inspired me to devise my own simplified rules system for the English adaptation. I'm not going to convert to Fate like certain others have tried . The task resolution system will still be BRP's roll under d100 with difficulty levels and variable results. But all the character traits will change. The standard attributes/characteristics are Air-Ka, Earth-Ka, Fire-Ka, Lunar-Ka, Solar-Ka, and Water-Ka. These represent the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of the character. For nephilim characters, these also represent supernatural aspects. Rather than distinct skills, characters are described in freeform terms and given general competence ratings....

So today I made this blog. Here I will blog about the 90s roleplaying game Nephilim . Specifically the English adaptation released by Chaosium, though I will probably reference the French version plenty of times too. For whatever reason, I have found myself drawn to the Nephilim game setting ever since I learned about it a decade ago. Unfortunately, it has tons of problems IMO. At this blog, I will post my ideas for fixing those problems. First up, simplifying the rules! Stay tuned!