kay so we got two members in this here club.
What are you like? What does your collection consist
of? What's your favorite illuminati and what are
you're favorite strategies?<br>Me: I'm an 18 yr old
college student studying math trying to come grips with
the world so I can strangle it. I am weird in an
ambiguos way, straight in a sexual way, hard to hear
sometimes, and struggling to make ends meet and keep playing
INWO.<br>My collection consists of about 1,000, I think,
possibly less cards. I have one complete set of ULE
including specials, a OWE, a near complete set of Assassins
(six cards missing and I have yet to buy a booster.
Trading is fun), and two sets of SubGenius<br>My favorite
color is blue and my favorite illuminati is Discordia.
I'm working on a write up for a deck of the week
right now. My favorite strategy is to pick one of those
impossible goals (Fratricide, Kill foe Peace, SubGenius
Special goal) and actually try to win with it. On second
thought the UFOs are my favorite illuminati.<br>Kevin

am a 29 year old Slacker type.<br>I play INWO
though not nearly as much as I like. <br>My sets aren't
quite as complete.<br>Despite being a regular on the
INWO mailing list ( I think my yahoo user name should
give a hint about who I am on that list.), I never
bought an OWE (so I'm missing about 6 or so rares.) and
I have only one SubGenius set. I also have somewhat
less cards than I actually bought due to my giving
some away. In my opinion, there isn't really a strong
need for completeness. If I have to, I can use a blank
card or stick a slip of paper with the name of the
card in a more common card.<br><br>Favorite
Illuminati? I really don't have one. I change my Illuminati
with almost every game I play.<br>Color? is that NWO
color? I suppose my favorite is red with all those juicy
assassins NWOs about.<br><br>Is the SubGenius special goal
tough? That seems to be the one goal you can achieve by
doing nothing. The Anti "Bob" goal is tough. You'd have
to do some fancy footwork to achieve Arise or the
Cast Out False Prophets!<br><br>Maybe you mean the
Bermuda goal.

f course, I haven't been posting to inwo-list as
often as previously, so I suppose I could share a few
details:<br>I'm 32, gainfully employed by a marketing research
company, and, at other times, by a university marching
band, a public television station, and a girl scout
council. All for completely different reasons. I'll save
personality quirk descriptions and other bits of ephemera for
real life (must maintain some air of mystery, don'tcha
know...)<br><br>Gaming: I'm the North US Regional Director for Steve
Jackson Games' Men In Black event volunteer program, and
can often be found at conventions running INWO, In
Nomine, Knightmare Chess, other various SJG games, and
other "old school" games (Cosmic Encounter, Junta,
etc.)<br><br>My INWO collection is one of the larger around - no
ULE cards, but five sets of LE, four sets of
Assassins, a few SubGenius and OWEs, and a complete set of
Illuminati miniboxes (and a Deluxe edition). Last time I
checked, I was in the 15K-17K range.<br><br>Favorite
Illuminati: I have no idea. I've been building lots of UFO
decks lately; the Illuminati I'm least likely to play
are Cthulhu and Network. (I prefer a challenge when
deck-building, thanks.)<br><br>Hopefully that's
informative/inflammatory enough to spark interest... <br><br>Alex
Yeager/YeagerAW@...

'OK,<br><br>I'm a lurker on the INWO mailing
list (digest form). I don't have nearly enough time to
play INWO, although I am involved in a long-term
(going on ~9 months) email OMNI game with some old high
school gaming buddies. We're on turn 3.1...<br><br>I'm
33, a plant biologist/geneticist by training. I'll
put in a gratuitous music plug here: Liz Phair is the
coolest rock-n-roll artist of the 90s. I've played
SJGames since Metagaming's Ogre, Melee, etc. So, I've got
a fair amount of INWO, as I always liked the
original Illuminati. I don't have a complete set of
anything (except by OWE and 2 Subg's), but I'm actually
reasonably close with Assassins. I've got enough to build
anything but degenerate decks. I always liked Bermuda in
the original Illuminati; I would like to devise a fun
Bermuda deck that can win based on it's Special victory
condition. I'd also like to come up with a killer Science
deck.<br><br>I am partial to OMNI, but have never won a game.
Lost a long email game to a guy in England, so two of
my cards are currently on the other side of the
Atlantic...<br><br>I am also a lurker on Ralph's email games, and hope
to lurk in on the upoming CotW game, whcih shoudl be
a blast. I hope to someday be able to control the
world through Jesse "The Body" Ventura...<br><br>John
Fowler<br>fowlerj@...

ell, as long as everybody else is talking about
themselves, I thought I'd engage in some shameless
self-promotion.<br><br>I'm 28, single, and a disc jockey (sometimes) / pizza
delivery guy (sometimes). I like conspiracy, lots of it.
Interests, though somewhat eclectic, include Babylon 5,
Michael Moorcock, Larry Niven, encryption and privacy
issues, and of course Illumination.<br><br>I don't think
I have a favorite Illuminati, either -- although
lately I've been really enjoying some fun fanatic decks,
so needless to say the Society of Assassins has been
my Illuminati of choice.

as anybody ever built a Computer-Church themed
deck? I tried once, but couldn't get it off the ground.
However, the SubG expansion's got some more versatile
Church groups and even one Computer-Church group
(www.subgenius.com).<br><br>What would be some good elements for a deck like
that?
What cards would you include?<br><br>Hey, maybe we
could even try to design one and go for a group DotW
win.

o, Scott, I never thought of building one. I
would say a good choice of Illuminati would be
Shangri-La since the most powerful computer group (Japan)
and the most powerful church group (Vatican City) are
both peaceful as well as the most potentially powerful
church group (Church of Elvis). You could toss in the
Network to unmask as and maybe the goal SCRTTOTG if
enough of the computer groups are also science
groups.<br><br>SubGenius would also have to be a major attribute. Most of
the new church cards seem to involve the SubGenius
cards in some way. (e.g. Church of Middle America)

find the subgenius goal limiting because there
are few ways to actively pursue it in a game, without
being stomped, and because not being able to use your
illuminati actions can be limiting. Of course I haven't much
experience actually playing the Church of Subgenius so how
would I know. And yes Arise!, Cast Out False Prophets,
and the Bermuda special goal are fairly difficult as
well. (actually I'm working on a deck that unmasks as
Bermuda to win)

he SubGenius goal can treat it as an isomorphism of
Adepts which works for better, non-Magic resources:
Perpetual Motion Machine and Center for Weird Studies. With
those two cards, you can ramp up to three tokens on
your winning turn, effectively counting one group
toward the basic goal for each. Moreover, both Resources
are excellent cards to include in any deck,
especially where employed by the Nuclear Power
Companies!<br><br>I include one Church of the SubGenius in my
Unmasking deck, because its ability/goal is helpful whether
outgoing or incoming: I can save three tokens on it and
transfer them to an Illuminatus duplicating a rival's for
sudden elimination, or start with UFOs and Unmask as
Church with a free token. (Unmasked does allow transfer
of tokens, right? My opponents have never questioned
this.)<br><br>The other goals you listed are a bit
tougher.<br><br>You can find a nifty Arise!/CDC deck at Ralph
Melton's Deck of the Week page, or see if you can refine
my Arise!/Upheaval idea (you cannot win by Upheaving
your last group, but you can force your opponent to
kill you or die trying).<br><br>Cast Out False
Prophets! is good for an Unmasking deck (like mine!) in a
large campaign (four or more players).<br><br>Bermuda's
goal is almost impossible to achieve on a regular
basis, though, for some reason, it is very attractive to
novices. (My first "good" deck attempted Bermuda; so did
two of my friends', I believe.) Bermuda does have an
awesome ability, of course.<br><br>--
antipiousrash<br>(still composing compulsory bio)

gt; I find the subgenius goal limiting because
there are few ways to actively pursue it in a game,
without being stomped, and because not being able to use
your illuminati actions can be<br>
limiting.<br><br>Perhaps, but it is the only Illuminati that can gain 2
groups towards its goal before you commit an action.
<br><br>To play Church of Subgenius, it would be nice to
have Perpetual Motion Machine, the Center for Weird
Studies (useful if you run out of slack.)<br>and any of
these plot cards.<br><br>More Slack! (expose your plots
for Slack.)<br>Kill "Bob" (Great with
Apathy!)<br>Time Control (Illuminati attack at no cost.)<br>Repent
(end turn early, get an extra token.)<br>The "Anti"
Bob (An admittedly risky gesture. but if you aren't
planning any other goals.)<br><br>Also, a card that has a
new unexpected use:<br>The Big Sell-Out. <br>For one
lousy group discard, you can put an extra token on your
Illuminati.<br><br>An interesting strategy would be to lie low until
you have enough regular groups (9) and then use the
plots above to get the slack over the top.<br><br>And
also, you should always worry about the UFO's or an
Elizaed Network unmasking as CoSG.

pparently, it is rarely considered that
Discordia might win by making rivals' groups Straight and
Government then attacking those groups without fear of later
retaliation! OMCLs could then be used to make one of those
groups Weird for an extra group toward the basic goal --
essentially turning one of the tools of winning strategy into
a component of the win. (See my previous comment of
counting Resources as Groups, under SubGenius
post.)<br><br>All that is needed is an efficient scheme of
alignment hacking. Here are some ideas,
OTOH:<br><br>Military-Industrial Complex can effectively add a third alignment,
and a heavyweight at that, to Discordia's immunity.
It has the advantage of pertaining to all
players.<br><br>False OverMan makes a Personality Straight as a free
move.<br><br>Nationalization and Straighten Up are pricey but necessary. March
On Washington can usually substitute for the actions
required; the Pentagon and Bill Clinton can provide as
well, for each is Straight and Government and has high
power. Moreover, each makes a strong attack on the
groups so converted!<br><br>Your thoughts?<br><br>--
antipiousrash<br><br>P.S. CyberPapacy is a somewhat nifty idea, but I
haven't seen any Plots or abilities which link the
Computer and Church attributes, so why play both in one
deck?

he following item came to issue in a recent
game:<br><br>If a Military-Industrial Complex is upon the world,
what total bonus do the Tobacco Companies get to
control Government groups? A rival tried to convince me
that the bonus is +16 in all, arguing that "+8 instead
of -4" means that +12 is added to produce a net
effect of +8 under normal circumstances; however, I am
guessing that the ability really has two parts: "Add +8"
and "Cancel -4, if it exists."

he following item came to issue in a recent
game:<br><br>If a Military-Industrial Complex is upon the world,
what total bonus do the Tobacco Companies get to
control Government groups? A rival tried to convince me
that the bonus is +16 in all, arguing that "+8 instead
of -4" means that +12 is added to produce a net
effect of +8 under normal circumstances; however, I am
guessing that the ability really has two parts: "Add +8"
and "Cancel -4, if it exists."<br><br>--
antipiousrash

ell I know having the Perpetual Motion Machine
and Center For Weird Studies are useful for a
SubGenius deck but how on earth do you intend to keep them?
Considering the fact that they're 1. extremely popular and 2.
particularly dangerous in your hands how do you intend to hold
on to them for very long at all?

onsidering your ability to accumulate action
tokens and considering that each of those extra
Illuminati actions count as a group, you recoup your
investment after just one turn.<br><br>Also, you can put
some resource attacking cards in your deck and wait
for someone else to put the PPM in their power
structure and then attack it just before your turn. With
the right cards (the Deasel Engine-Cover of Darkness
combo or Forgery and the resource you are duping) you
can take the resource without even spending a single
action!<br><br>The key to using the PPM and CfWS with the Church of
the SubGenius is to have them around when you need
them, not to have them around for the entire game.

ou are correct, Antipiousrash. While the Tobacco
Companies are not mentioned on the INWO card FAQ, a
similiar situation is given for the TV preachers in
control by the Society of Assassins. The TV preachers get
a +10 bonus in controlling other straight fanatic
groups when under the control of the Society of
Assassins.<br>Similiarly +12 is the bonus a Governmentized Tobacco
Companies get.<br>From the text of the card, in fact one
can make a valid argument that the Tobacco companies
are still stuck with the same +8 bonus if they are
Government, but I digress.

think the text would indicate that the +8
supercedes ANY alignment penalties of bonuses.<br><br>Anyway
I wanted to introduce myself as I am the new guy.
My name is Sean and I am a musician for a living I
am not into the collectable aspect of card games so
I don't have any LE or ULE but I do have a couple
of OWE's and a Sub-Genius. And I recently "won" a
near complete deck of Assassins which I am looking to
make complete. My favorite Illuminati is Shangra-La.
My favorite Dirty Trick is too include an Unmasked
card and an extra Shangra-La card in my plot decks and
coerce another player in to changing teams.<br><br>I
don't know of any INWO mailing lists but I would like
to subscribe to some. I also don't know of any URLs
dedicated to the game. Let me know.<br><br>Hail Eris!

don't know if I'm saying it right. (its been a
while) <br>but you may post a message to
majordomo@...<br>with the message:<br>subscribe inwo-list<br>If you
like submitting and looking at homebrew cards then
send the message to majordomo@... <br>subscribe
inwo-cards<br><br>I and one other have posted a few links in the link
page of this club web site. check them out and the
links that they lead into. <br><br>I'll confess that
Shangri-La is a fav of mine. On one of my websites, I have
an unmask as Shangri-La deck posted.

oes anyone have any good suggestions on how I might (cheaply?) complete my set
of Assassins cards? Feel free to e-mail me at Dante@...

es, try posting to the INWO-Trades mailing list;
the e-mail address is inwo-trades@.... Also,
if you happen to have a spare Drug Companies (the
only one I'm shy) I can trade you from whatever
repeats I have from Assassins (smcnair@...).

orry the Drug Companies are Ultra Rare and I have exactly zero ultra rare
Assassins. But thanks for the URL.

ither myself or an INWO partner of mine may have a duplicate of that card. I'll
have to check.

end a want list to kevingoes@....  I can't make any promises but I'll see
what I can do.  Be sure to include a list of things you'd be willing to
trade.<br>Kevin

fter a flood of messages in Thanksgiving, things
seem to have died down.<br>One topic that hasn't been
discussed on the INWO mailing list is the new Deluxe
Illuminati that will be out in February.<br>Any of you have
any plans to get it?<br>I have to admit I like the
art in this new set.

mean, the chat available in this club. That
would be an ideal way to generate traffic here, and is
a logical extension to this site.<br><br>Somebody
(I don't remember who) had codified a set of
chat-INWO rules, perhaps we could use them as a guideline?

..despite the fact that I also own the previous
<br>version of Deluxe Illuminati, as well as the <br>minibox
version. (Those of yoou familiar with <br>me should not be
surprised at that admission. :) )<br><br>The original
Illuminati will give you all the <br>back-stabbing and world
domination of INWO, <br>without the deckbuilding and
preparation. (I'm <br>not saying that's better or worse; it's
just <br>different.) It's a lot of fun, and the
<br>expansion that has been bandied about on Pyramid <br>will
only make it more so.<br><br>And yes, the card art
looks incredible...<br><br>Alex Yeager

he person with the rules is myself. If there are
<br>folks interested in doing this, I'd be more than
<br>happy to forward along the rules to those
folks.<br>(I'm trying to whip them into a publishable <br>shape
for Pyramid, so I won't be widely <br>distributing
them again until I get a "yes" or <br>"no" back.)
<br><br>Let me know!<br>Alex Yeager YeagerAW@...

ello. i just signed up and went through the old
messages, and it appears an intro is appropriate.<br>my
name is chris, im 31 and ive been playing inwo for
about 4 years.<br>i have a OWE ,a SUB and 75-80
assassins cards and typically play a single deck game, so
my deck building skills are not developed.<br>i
would definetely be interested in chat play and also in
acquiring the remaining assassins cards.<br>on a different
thought, bermuda is a common(and easy)goal in a one deck
game because your hand is so random(a lot of times its
the only choice you have)<br>thats all i have for
now, later

f you can get New York, Vatican City, Big media,
and Jesus B.:<br>play Big Prawn on New York, add
fanatic, you need two points of power.<br>im working on
doing this in one turn with no die rolls, but im not
quite there yet.<br>if ny is your lead puppet and
vatican is your ATO you can play alien abduction on jesus
b and spend your illuminati action on the prawn.
jesus b can reload the illuminati (and if you reload
him with blitzkrieg he can play Rant on Big media to
take it with no roll)<br>however that is three plot
cards so you couldnt play messiah, a NWO power upper
etc. to get to 35. still thats awfully close in the
first turn.<br>any thoughts?

gt; The person with the rules is myself. If
there are <br> folks interested in doing this, I'd be
more than <br> happy to forward along the rules to
those folks.<br> (I'm trying to whip them into a
publishable <br> shape for Pyramid, so I won't be widely <br>
distributing them again until I get a "yes" or <br> "no"
back.) <br><br> Let me know!<br> Alex Yeager
YeagerAW@... <br><br>Sure. Personally, I've had a little
trouble with the Java-chat, however.<br><br>We can send
over the inwo mailing list for an appropriate time to
do this. This message board doesn't really have
enough traffic to be efficient to spread the word here.