Middle-Earth and In Nomine: It may not be immediately appreciated how well the two settings actually mesh, but bear in mind that both the game and Tolkien drew on some of the same source material.
Consider this summary of the Middle-Earth cosmology, with In Nomine terms added in brackets: Eru [God] created the Ainur [Angels] before he created Ea:, the world [Earth]. There are two branches of the Ainur, the Valar ("Powers") [Word-bound angels] and Maiar ("Hands") [other angels]. The Valar became vassals [Servitors] of the Maiar [Superiors] and were sent into the world to shape it according to their guidelines [serve their masters' Words]. In the Third Age, five Valar, the Istari, took human form [Vessels] and went to Middle-Earth to battle Sauron [Lucifer, sort of; see below] and his minions [demons]. Some of the Istari lost their path; Saruman was corrupted [Fell], but Gandalf stayed true to his task, sacrificing himself to defeat the Balrog [gave up his Vessel] and eventually left Middle- Earth at the end of the Third Age [went back to Heaven after helping win during Armageddon].
Clearly, while I've had to stretch a bit in places, there's more in common between Middle-Earth and In Nomine than there appears on the surface. A crossover could work in two ways:
A First Age campaign, when everyone is a lot more powerful. Elves of this period are certainly on a par with angels, and there's no reason that Istari couldn't be brought to Endor early. In this setting, Morgoth is Lucifer. This is rather different from your average IN campaign (the War isn't being fought in anything approaching secrecy), but it could be a good use of the game system.
A Third Age campaign, where all the PCs are Soldiers. The Third Age doesn't have too many characters on the power level of Celestials, and no good equivalent for demons (Balrogs, perhaps, but they're awfully powerful--and rare; Nazgul used to be human, so they qualify as Soldiers). Alternatively, the PCs could be Istari, but working in secrecy; Dissonance would be easily acquired if the characters act too overtly. This is more of a thinking game, of course.
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Elizabeth McCoy <arcangel@prismnet.com>
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