Illuminated Secrets


This is a collection of some of the best (or oddest) posts to the INWO mailing lists (see also the strategy pages and various people's unofficial pages for more general discussion of the game). More will be added as they occur.

Sunday May 23, 2004: One With Everything Deck Design Contest Winner

You may remember that a fair while ago, Steve Jackson Games sponsored a contest to design a set of INWO decks built from a single One With Everything set.

All of the entries were impressive, and the designers obviously put in a huge amount of work, and the choice was very difficult.

The winning deck set entry, Personality Clash, was designed by John Wood. It consisted of nine themed decks, one for each of the Illuminati. To build nine playable themed decks from a single OWE set is quite an achievement, and they worked surprisingly well in playtest.

Congratulations, John! Your prize is on its way.


Saturday September 20, 2003: Illuminati: Crime Lords

Coming this March, Illuminati: Crime Lords uses mechanics from both Illuminati and INWO. It's not a supplement, but a separate stand-alone game created by Steve Jackson. Rival mobs battle for control of the city. Take over the rackets, rake in the dough, and rub out the opposition. It's the American dream.

You'll start with a few gangsters and some cash. Recruit more crooks and take control of income-producing operations like bordellos, chop shops, and loan sharks. The police and the Feds are after you, but your biggest threats are your fellow mob bosses. Scheme, negotiate, backstab. You can share a victory, but it's much more satisfying to say "There can be only one Boss. And it's me."



Monday February 24, 2003: New Deck of the Week Page!

Martin Laerkes has made a successful Attack to Control against the Deck of the Week! Martin continues a fine tradition, picking up where Alex Yeager, Ralph Melton, and countless other lackeys, pawns, and dupes before them left off! Welcome aboard, Martin!

Martin brings another new resource to the INWO stable:

The 13th Circle. This illuminated site houses rules for virtual sealed deck, WDH style write-up for 2 new illuminaties, 13 other homebrew cards, "translations" of the german uniques and a truckload of short descriptions of deck ideas.

Thursday May 23, 2002: Competition!

INWO: One With Everything Deck Design Contest

Have you ever tried to teach INWO to newbies when all you have is your OWE set? You've got all the cards you need, but no easy way to create a good set of balanced decks that can be built from it - by the time you sort it out, they'd have gone home.

So we're having a competition to find some good sets of decks. It's a contest where you design a set of playable decks using the cards from a factory set (i.e. the One With Everything set). You can find the contest rules here.



Saturday May 18, 2002: Dirty Tricks Updated

Scott McNair has posted Dirty Tricks issue 7 on his website. Also, be sure to check out his Dirty Tricks archive! And keep an eye on the Dirty Tricks pages; issue 8 will be posted Real Soon Now!

Tuesday March 5, 2002: Deluxe INWO In the Pipeline

Whether you're new to INWO, want to introduce a friend/enemy/victim to the game, or are missing some key cards, you'll be happy to know that Deluxe INWO has entered production! Absolutely everything you need to play the award-winning deck-building version of the Game of Conspiracy . . . this set includes the (non-collectible) One With Everything card set, the INWO Book, and several booster packs from the Assassins expansion, plus the pyramid dice, dice bag, and counters. Yet another path toward world domination! Find out the current status of Deluxe INWO here.

Tuesday January 22, 2002: New & Improved: World Domination Handbook v1.2 Now Available!

The core ruleset for Illuminati: New World Order has been polished and refined, to better serve your plans for global control. The World Domination Handbook v1.2 is now available for consumption by mere humans. Check it out (along with prior rules updates) here!

The WDH 1.2 is available for download in PDF format (176kb). Or, if you'd prefer, here's a brief summary of the changes between Versions 1.1 and 1.2.


Thursday December 6, 2001: New INWO Resource on the Web

INWO guru Birger Krämer has built a website with more INWO info than you can shake a tentacle at - check it out at http://www.birgermeister.de/illuminati.html. Included on the site is some never-before-seen stuff, such as posters from past INWO tourneys in Germany and a few deck designs featuring cards from the upcoming expansion to INWO.

Friday April 20, 2001: Mailing List Milestone

You may be aware that SJ Games supports its games in many ways, including mailing lists. For example, the first post in the first digest of the Illuminati: New World Order mailing list is dated March 16 1995 15:51:39...and the 1000th digest came out today.

Wow. In case you didn't hear it, WOW. That's more than 6 years of information, press releases, questions, answers, rulings, discussions, backstabbing, recrimination, illumination, humor, jokes (practical and impractical), spam, and "Bob". {Note: The list originally announced in this news article has been replaced by this INWO mailing list.

And now's the time to get into the game, because the next expansion is on the way!



Monday April 2, 2001: We were only kidding...

Everyone has to have some fun, and yesterday was our day to do so. After more than two years of playtesting, the Illuminati: New World Order expansion Bavarian Fire Drill has moved out of playtest and into production. We plan to have it onto shelves well before the winter holidays, but if we get a lucky break or two we'll be able to have it in your hands at the beginning of fall.

Coming soon: a page dedicated to all things BFD, which we'll update as it goes through production. Next in line for production is art, and as soon as we have finished pieces we will make them available for your download.

Sunday April 1, 2001: April Fools

An announcement concerning the imminent release of the new INWO supplement, Bavarian Fire Drill, has been circulating around the newsgroups and mailing lists for the last day or so. Unfortunately, although it comes from sources who are involved in the playtesting for BFD, the announcement was a hoax. Look at the date . . .

The supplement is still in playtest, but at this time there are no definite plans for its release.
-- Steve Jackson


Friday March 30, 2001: PBEM Game Underway

Marc Sherman has just kicked off the third in a series of Homebrew INWO games ... this one using his fantastic Power Constructor! (Update July 09, 2004: Unfortunately this site is no longer available.)

Sunday December 10, 2000: Ratings System On-Line

Marc Sherman has designed a fantastic >ratings system for INWO players around the world! (Update as of July 9, 2004: Unfortunately this site is no longer available.)

Be sure to check out all of our unofficial pages as well.



Monday October 2, 2000: FAQ's and Errata Updated

We've made more updates to the INWO FAQ and Errata pages than you can shake a Crystal Skull at! Click here to alert our agents to your presence, and to see the changes.

Monday August 28, 2000: Deck of the Week Update

The Deck of the Week has recently moved to a new location - http://www.mcnair.nu/dotw/ - and it carries a whole new look and some nifty new features with it. If you're looking for that perfect deck, this is the place to go!



Thursday August 10, 2000: INWO OMNI Rules Revised

The INWO OMNI rules were designed to allow players to build the perfect deck by pitting it in battle against other OMNI decks from around the world. And now those rules have been revised to allow cards from the SubGenius expansion! For more details, please visit the INWO OMNI rules page.

Thursday August 10, 2000: Conspiracy by Row and Column

Glen Barnett has updated his charts and tables - SubGenius cards are now included, as is a new page dedicated to Goals and how to achieve them. Check it out here!

Also, take a moment to check out some other unofficial INWO pages.



Thursday July 13, 2000: The Greatest Deck EVER!

Alex Yeager, Martin Laerkes and Scott McNair have teamed together to find the greatest deck of all time, with the Deckathon! The Deckathon pits all the decks from the Deck of the Week against each other to find which one is the cream of the crop. And the best part? - you get to join in on the fun, experience the decks twisted genius or raw power, and help decide which deck is the best of them all!

Monday June 26, 2000: The End of the World is HERE!

Well, end of the world is coming, because the FAQ's have been updated TWICE IN THE SAME MONTH! (The Horror, The Horror) This time both the Rules and Card FAQs have been updated.

Tuesday June 20, 2000: Secrets Man WAS Meant to Know!

Can you use a +10 card with Annual Convention? Can Rain of Prairie Squid be played on the first turn? Who is behind this diabolical conspiracy to control the world? Two out of these three questions answered with the latest update to the cardfaq!

Saturday June 17, 2000: SubGenius Rules Now On-Line

Can't find your rules for INWO:SubGenius? Don't fret, they're posted here for your convenience - a useful tool for one who wants to play OBD.

Sunday April 23, 2000:

Here's an April Fool's joke that was so elaborate that everybody fell for it completely, even to this day!

Thursday March 23, 2000:

Did you miss getting cards for the Food and Slack Expansion to INWO? You're not the only one...try this litmus test. Actually, it's more along the lines of "To Tell The Truth"...

Saturday April 10, 1999:

Here's the April 1999 Deck of the Week, and analysis of its flaws...

Wednesday April 1, 1998:

Thanks to the INWO SubGenius playtesters, the inwo-list was regaled with a collection of dirty tricks for SubGenius.

Thursday January 29, 1998:

It should really be called In Nominati, according to this post from the In Nomine mailing list.

Friday December 12, 1997:

How would angels and demons play INWO?

Thursday November 20, 1997:

Still looking for SubGenius?

Monday November 17, 1997:

An INWO murder mystery

Monday November 10th, 1997:

An INWO love story

Wednesday October 15, 1997:

A group effort by the inwo-list to enlighten you. Sometimes the game goes really well; sometimes, it, well, doesn't. A lot. Read this handy guide to Heaven and Hell, INWO style and learn.

Thursday September 11, 1997:

Popuywqeraretibe, or, everything you ever wanted to know about fnord but we wouldn't let you find out. Should be required reading (and hey, how do you know it's not already required reading?)

Monday August 4, 1997:

What if it's just a dream? Thany ponders the real nature of the Illuminati

Thursday July 24, 1997:

So you thought it was just a game, did you? Learn the cruel fate of Andrew Cunanan (Versace's murderer) and tremble.

Monday July 21, 1997:

With the release of Men In Black and, soon, Conspiracy Theory, the Secret Masters' movie plans are going well. Thanks to Jason Hogue for this one.

Wednesday July 16, 1997:

Barney explodes, who gets to draw the plot?

Monday July 14, 1997:

Ralph Melton on the Illuminated way to play the Dittoheads

Wednesday July 9, 1997:

David Streeter tells us all about the recent photos from Mars

Wednesday July 9, 1997:

Various people on why certain cards are, indeed, More Powerful Than France

Friday July 4, 1997:

Alex Yeager on being a self- confessed Mr Suitcase who can't stop.

Monday June 30, 1997:

Glen Barnett's list of Common INWO Errors.

Saturday June 28, 1997:

Luke Vaughn's summary of the TSR Takeover of Wizards of the Coast

Monday April 7, 1997:

David Streeter clears up any confusion you might have had about the meaning of WWW.

Tuesday April 1, 1997:

Ralph Melton is rather confused by the day's updates to the cards FAQ
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