HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bkoike@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Bryce Koike)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SF Poll
Date: 12 Jan 93 23:40:56 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <1695@blue.cis.pitt.edu> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>In article <1ismoeINN28q@early-bird.think.com> laird@think.com (Laird Popkin) writes:
>>It depends on what people are in the mood for.  I enjoy occasional Space
>>Opera (I'm looking forward to GURPS Lensmen), but I also enjoyed a
>			       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>	Ohmigod.
>
>	Please, please PLEASE, PLEASE tell me this is some kind of very,
>very SICK joke! 

	Uh, this has been official for a while, at the very least
since I took off for winter break.  Grin!

>	Of all the systems I could have imagined for the Lensman series,
>GURPS is one of the very last. GURPS would be marvelous for Ender's Game,
>but for Masters of the Vortex???

	GURPS is quite capable of handling the cinematic, heroic
style of play.  A few changes are required (but so far as I'm
concerned, GURPS is never the same between genres), but it does
work.  I've never run Lensman myself, but I have run cinematic-
style games with the help of the Supers rules.  Ignoring advanced
combat completely does a lot to increase the cinematic feel.  (Well,
not completely, but mostly...)

>	This is the system that tries to make REALISTIC SUPERHEROES,
>for Gog's sake! GURPS psionics are, at best, an average attempt at
>the powers. There's nothing to distinguish it from anything else...

	Uh, this is also the system that tries to make cinematic
"four-color" superheroes, Bunnies and Burrows, and others...
	I'm assuming that if Lensman requires more powerful psionics
that the book will deal with that topic.  I seriously doubt that SJG
would spit out a book just for the sake of the money it would
generate...

>	GURPS works best in "realistic" milieus. The Lensman universe is 
>a completely heroic one -- a person with a GURPS 18 strength would barely
>make it into the soldiers of the Patrol, and would get crushed like
>a bug by any member of the Valerian corps. 500 point characters would
>be the NORM...

	Something wrong with 500 points?  I played in precisely such
a campaign over the summer.  (Special Ops uses 350...different
context, though.)  Maybe it seems weird to you, but I find it easy
to bend GURPS any which way, including the heroic style of play...

>	Please tell me this is a nightmare.
>
>				Sea Wasp

	This is a nightmare.  Welcome to hell.

:)
From: bkoike@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Bryce Koike)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: GURPS: A question about an Enchantment
Date: 9 Jan 93 19:15:50 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <C0Kr4I.Euq@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> jacobus@symphony.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney) writes:
>
>
>I'd rule that if the bow were enchanted (with the extra surcharge for it
>being a missile weapon), then the arrow would leap and self-nock.  However,

	So far as the original spell is concerned, my interpretation
is that if you enchant the bow, when you need the bow, the bow will
come to your hand automatically.  I find this acceptable.  If you
want to increase the power requirements, then I might accept the bow
coming already nocked with an arrow.
	Also, the 2000 point rule covers items like a quiver or bag,
not a single arrow or weapon.  It says quite specifically that the
"ordinary missiles will leap into the wearer's hand at need."
Enchanting the bow will cost around 300 points...whatever.  You do
NOT need to enchant each and every arrow involved.

>if only the arrow were enchanted (with the appropriate discount), then it
>would only reduce firing time by one turn.

	Again, no need.  Enchant the entire quiver instead and save
a lot of time and pain.  (Grin)  If my players wanted a self-nocking
bow, I'd probably charge upwards of 5000 points, but my games tend
to limit the availability of magic weapons (well, Otherworld is an
exception, but when people can toss 20 6d bullets a second from a
rifle, fantasy players are going to need some sort of edge).
From: mak9@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (MICHAEL A. KAUFFMAN)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SR: Question about shielding
Date: 11 Jan 93 21:24:44 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University

In article <1993Jan8.204509.27393@head-cfa.harvard.edu>, dmm@head-cfa.harvard.ed
u (David Meleedy) writes:
>
>I have a question about shielding.
>
>As you know shielding can be used to raise the "willpower" of the caster
>or someone of the caster's choice by X number of dice ( depending on how
>many dice you allocate ) for the purposes of defending oneself vs. a
>spell.
>
>now, my GM, and fellow players have interpreted this to mean that the
>reverse could also be true.  i.e. a mage could apply anti-shielding
>to a person, in order to lower their willpower for purposes of
>defending vs. a spell.
>
[eplaination deleted]
>
>Does anyone out there have any thoughts about all this?
>

Anti-shielding does not make sense to me.  The dice allocated to this act as a
"shield" (as the name of the power implies).  They make it harder for the
spell to "hit" its target.  For "anti-shielding" to work, it must locate the
target arua and affect it (i. e. ground into it).   Sounds an awful lot like a
spell doesn't it.  Maybe decrease willpower.
From: at731@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Troy L. Nothnagel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII: Physical Adepts
Date: 13 Jan 1993 02:30:07 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: at731@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Troy L. Nothnagel)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, by670@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Marc-Eivind Cruz Evensen) says:

>
>    An interesting "problem" that most people have with the PA's lack of
>toe to toe speed (since this is really the only area he truly lacks in) is
>the ignoring of the PA's qualities (many of these I have outlined before):

[good points deleted]

Don't forget the new 'Enhanced Centering' for PA initiates...  Very very
handy.
From: pmenard@cse.unl.edu (Patrick Menard)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII: Physical Adepts
Date: 12 Jan 1993 03:47:15 GMT
Organization: University of Nebraska--Lincoln	
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: cse.unl.edu

by670@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Marc-Eivind Cruz Evensen) writes:


>    Physical Adepts... when first published, the rules for PAs gave SR new
>life for some of us... in SRII, I don't believe that anything has been lost.
>Even though the automatic successes are gone, the PA has an impressive
>range of abilities available to him/her, among the most interesting is
>the combat sense/danger sense. With the additions from the Grimoire II, 
>PAs have even more intersting abilities.

Well, PA's were never very good, in my opinion, and the auto-successed they
got were the only thing they could do that nobody else could do.(which was
nice since everyone else could do everything else better than the poor PA)

When you say "play the character, not the power" I agree.  The problem lies
in keeping the PA alive long enough to play him.

Maybe a suggestion of doubling the initial points they get, and giving them
2 more points to work with for every initiation grade.  I tried this and the
PA still sucked, but at least could survive.(giving 2 points for all that
karma doesn't hurt sam's at all,the PA's are so far behind it takes them a
long time to catch up)

Shadow

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: Petri.Wessman@hut.fi (Petri Wessman)
Subject: Re: Computer connections (Was Re: Dumb Moves By Game Companies)
Reply-To: Petri.Wessman@hut.fi
Organization: La Gata Encantada
	<34905@sales.GBA.NYU.EDU> <1489@blue.cis.pitt.edu>
Date: 9 Jan 93 03:03:20

On 7 Jan 93 16:28:23 GMT, seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) said:

SeaWasp> In article <34905@sales.GBA.NYU.EDU> drcheng@sales.GBA.NYU.EDU (David R Cheng) writes:

>This is not entirely true.  FASA, Chaosium, GDW, TSR, Avalon Hill,
>Task Force Games, et many al, have very active GEnie boards.  Dozens
>of other games have discussion groups devoted to them.  Designers log
>on frequently, and you can send e-mail directly to them.  America
>Online, Compuserve, and others have gaming discussions too, I hear.
>I will vouch that GEnie's are excellent.


SeaWasp> 	I'm sure they are. But the Internet is much larger and
SeaWasp> most importantly has a huge population of people who can't
SeaWasp> afford to log on to pay-per-connect services (I sure can't,
SeaWasp> and probably won't ever because I don't like paying just to
SeaWasp> log on).

Right on the nose, and there's another thing, too: the World != USA.

I don't even want to think about how much a Compu$erve / America
Online / GEnie connection would cost from this side of the Atlantic :-(
...not that I'd even want one, one Net is enough (limited amount of
hrs in a day :-).

Also, consider that a *large* number of the most active roleplayers
are students of some sort, who seldom are exactly swimming in loose
cash. The commercial networks are expensive (for a student budget),
even in the States.

//Petri (limited-cash non-US student :-)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: by670@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Marc-Eivind Cruz Evensen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Champions: mage special effects
Date: 8 Jan 1993 05:31:46 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


    The way I see it, if a player wants to run a mage in a superhero
campaign, make 'em work for it. Magic power, while it CAN be built to
be the most versatile power in the game, is not much more than any other
special effect you wish to use. What's the difference between Magic Power
and Cosmic Power? or Techno Power? or Super Psionics?
    It has always been the realm of the GameMaster to keep a game balanced,
this is especially so in the HERO System as it is so flexible and can be
exploited in so many ways. Keep a tight reign on character creation, and
who says that that 2X STUN from Magic can't be changed to 2X STUN from
(fill in the blank).
    When I say make the characters work for it, I mean two specific chores:

1. Magic is rare. A character would have to have a pretty hot background
   to slide a Sorceror Supreme-Dr. Strange-type hero into one of my
   campaigns. Watch the stories carefully, and generates disadvantages out
   of them (even Dr.Strange had enemies from his training days).

2. Magic is powerful? Put some "flash" limitations on it. Incorporate
   inherent weaknesses into your magic rules. One of my favorite is to
   make magic "noisy" so that you can't use it without telling all the
   sensitives in the area about it. (Thanks to David Eddings of Belgariad
   and Malloread fame for this one.) Other wonderful limitations such as
   gestures, incantations, or fetishes (read: foci) work quite well. And
   don't forget, when you start to play with magic, who knows what sort
   of extradimensional menace you may bring onyourself.

   Of course, these only need apply IF magic is a problem. The only caution
is not to overdo it, so the players does not feel singled-out or put upon.

    I hope this helps!

-- Marc
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: veltyen@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Richard Kershaw)
Subject: SR: APTSW
Organization: Monash University General Access Unix
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 06:00:11 GMT



Ares Pastemaker Tribarrel Sniper Weapon

<<< Yo dudes found this in a (full-mil-only) catalog I was perusing.
    thought some of ya might be interested.
					Dr.Silverpaw >>>

Ares brings you the ultimate in one shot take down sniper weapons.
We found that some people out there wanted a weapon that could take 
down any intruder, or enemy in one shot, near garanteed. Here it is.
Three barrels all at 0.60 caliber, make a wepon that stabilises itself
is acurate to further than a kilometer, and kills anybody it hits.
The name says it all, designed by Ares, three barrels, sniper specific,
and "pastemaker" makes the gun the one for sniper support everytime.

APTSW type 	SN*
      conceal 	2(4 for pistol grip version)
      Ammo 	6(mag)
      Modes 	SA*
      Damage 	20D
      Mass 	9.0kg
      Cost 	8kY

* This is a  sniper class weapon, however its ranges are doubled for the
inherent stability of the three barrels, and of course the fact that
because of the caliber there is no appreciable drop over _any_ range
* Semi-Auto only in that each barrel fires once, the burst is counted
in the damage already

<<< Availabilty on the street 12/2 weeks 
    Street index *2
					Dr.Silverpaw >>>

Of course nothing this good could not come with no disadvantages. By its
very power the recoil from such a weapon is nothing short of massive.
Only the _very_ strong can use this weapon in pistol grip configuration.
(Pistol grip has a grip at the end to fire from and a grip halfway down
the barrel for added stabilistaion, However a minimum strength of ten is
required to make this viable, Cuts the weapon to SMG ranges) 
For the less strongly endowed a stock has to be used, a normal stock is
not recomended_

<<< Realy it isn't kiddies, had a friend of mine fire one of these with
a normal stock, shattered his shoulder, and his ribcage, didn't want to
do that again. (Game stats 10M damage resisted only with BOD)
					Dr.Silverpaw >>>

_However Ares comes to the rescue again with its new "ultra-shock" stock
especially designed for this weapon, which costs extra.  <<< 1000Y extra
8( >>>

Off course, with Ares the wepon comes with all modern contrivances,
Thermal sight (3), smartgun link, third eye, laser sight, everything you
could ever want. The small magazine is a dliberate choice, to reinforce
the idea that every shot counts.

*************************************************************************
Designers note, 
Not realy a weapon you want new characters carrying around, Its good
enough to scare veterans with though. ;-)

-Veltyen
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: akuma@netcom.com (Steven E Barnes)
Subject: Re: Killing Attacks
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 08:22:17 GMT

In article <1ioiceINN6j0@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, by670@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Marc-Eivind Cruz Evensen) writes:
> 
>     I relaize I'm jumping into the middle of this, but on a discussion of
> Killing Attacks in HERO System, I think that using a standard multiplier
> is a poor idea. The whole idea behind killing attacks is that they do BODY.
> The minor part of the attack is that they so stun, this is reflected in ther
> fact that rolling a d6-1 removes the "assuarance" of stunning someone. If
> you want to be "sure" to do stun, use a normal attack, if you want to blow
> some poor enemy away, go for the killing.

As we have been telling you, people use killing attacks because
they do MORE stun to people with high defenses.  The other use is
for doing stun and body to people with no resistant defenses.  In
a campaign where most characters have resistant defenses, killing
attacks rarely kill people; targets get knocked out long before
they die.

From: by670@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Marc-Eivind Cruz Evensen)

>... One other thing (I finally found the orginal post) 6D6!?! That's quite
>a punch. If you're not averaging pretty serious damage with that, I'd be

Well, "powerfull" is only relative to the average defenses in the
campaign.  (Good thing I didn't use the 12d6 example from
some of the more absurd campaigns :-)

>quite suprised. I don't quite see how the  2d6 autofire rka could average
>better that your 6d6. According to autofire rules, you hit an additional
>time for every 2 above the to hit number. This alone would make that rare
>(to do 6d6) unless the sidekick were highly skilled. In addition to this, I

First off, the sidekick is actually from a lower powered campaign;
the gun is only 75 active points.  2nd, the gun has +4 OCV built
in (to simulate old-style autofire rules; it also has 10 shots).

>believe that the hits are resolved separately (2d6+2d6+2d6+..., not (n*2)d6
>(n being number of hits)), this would make your apparent armor/defense problem even worst for your sidekick... I gues I just don't understand the problem in
>this.

Here is what happenes:  sidekick waits for target to either get
knocked down, throw a haymaker, or otherwise lower his DCV.  She
then moves in, and hits with 4-6 shots.  This gives the player
several chances to get lucky on the stun multiplier roulette.
Combined with the AP, this attack will usually do more stun.
Also, since the attack is only 2d6, there is lots more variance
(which is good, when attacking guys with high defenses)

>    One other note, self restraint is the hallmark of the successful HERO
>system game -- if you begin escalation, it will not stop until everyone
>gets bored of blowing up buildings whenever they want to kill a fly.

You're preaching to the wrong guy.  I've been playing champs for several 
years now.  I know what I'm doing.

-steve
From: haavardf@elektron.uio.no (Haavard Fosseng)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: STORY: GHOSTDANCER (1)
Date: 12 Jan 93 20:05:28 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Organization: University of Oslo, Norway

How can i get the episodes of MONKEYTRICK?


H}vard Fosseng
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: gip207@sci.kun.nl (gip2 course)
Subject: Re: Vampire: yet another question
Keywords: Vampire
Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 10:32:19 GMT

In <tkelly.726768478@unix2.tcd.ie> tkelly@unix2.tcd.ie (Mithrandir) writes:

>>The only alterations I can think of is that the successes mentioned at the end
>>of the Path descriptions should be replaced by rating points but even then they
>>don't make perfect sense. Any suggestions on this subject would be most 
>>welcome.

>  Why don't the dots make perfect sense?
> They represent your growing ability in the path, don't they?

Yes, that works out ok. But then there's the fact these things are supposed
to work, under the heading `Paths' it says:

  Each time these individual powers are employed, a Blood Point must be spend
and a willpower roll must be made against a difficulty of the power's level +3.
A failure on the roll indicates that the magic fails, but the Willpower point
(* I guess this is a typo and should read Blood Point, or maybe the first B.Pt.
mentioned should be a willpower point, I'm not quite sure. Though when talking
of blood magic the B.Pt. cost makes more sense *). A botch indicates that the
Willpower (* a typo again? *) is lost as well.

Now the entry under weather control says:

 The difficulty of the magic depends on the weather at the time. It is very hard
(diffculty 9) to pull lighting down from a sunny sky, but it's easy to create
fog in London (difficulty 3).

 *Seems they're using different rules here again, and then they continue:*

The player must roll Manipulation + Survival. The number of successes determines
the strength of the new environmental force and how much damage is caused by the
lightning bolt.

 *And so here the successes mentioned do make as much sense as dots would (odd?.
  ....nah, where'd you get that idea). Furthermore at 5 successes (or dots) they
  say a lightning bolt is possible, rolling 10 damage dice (what about the
  earlier statement saying that the #successes indicate the damage??????).*



 Ah well, consistency has never been one of my strong sides either. That must
be while my spellcasting always fails :)

			-Jos
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: phill@crash.cts.com (Phillip Sunbury)
Subject: Re: Yet more killing attacks
Organization: CTS Network Services (crash, ctsnet), El Cajon, CA
Date: 12 Jan 93 05:25:14 GMT
Keywords: champions

In <1993Jan10.084255.14568@netcom.com> akuma@netcom.com (Steven E Barnes) writes:


>Besides play balance concerns, another thing that
>bugs me about the extreme variance of killing attacks:

>"Now, I shall destroy you with my mega blast!" (4d6 RKA)

>Zap!  (rolls a 2 on the stun die; attack bounces)
>Zap!  (rolls another 1; attack bounces again)
>Zap!  (rolls a 3; attack does a couple stun past defenses)
>Zap!  (rolls a 6; attack does 80 STUN!!!!; target stunned and
>       KOed by one attack)

>Isn't this absurd?  Shouldn't the damage from an attack
>be reasonably consistent?  What is the real-world explanation
>for this amazing variance?

>-steve
Okay let me try to explain this:
First hit, the mega blast hits characters shoulder and bounces off (like killing attacks do off of armoured things (Resistant def) 
2nd grazes shoulder no real damage
3rd hit, hits main portion of body.
4th hits head!
that would be similar to what killing attacks like guns or knives DO! but not like clubs which are more consistant!


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: jacobus@symphony.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney)
Subject: Re: Old time D&D reminiscing
Organization: Purdue University
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 06:59:58 GMT

In article <C0J06z.5s8@ns1.nodak.edu> dhenry@plains.NoDak.edu (David R. Henry) writes:
>
>Will someone please tell me what the Egg of Coot is, already?
>


The Egg of Coot?


Why, it's E. Gary Gygax, oldest Coot of rpgs!!


I don't remember where I heard this, but I think it's true, actually.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: user unknown <jsalter@silver.ucs.indiana.edu>
Subject: net.hero.bestiary?
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 20:47:26 GMT


	I am looking for a collection of HERO creatures and villians;
without having to buy anything. Is there such a thing as a net.hero.
bestiary? 

							-jsalter
							"      "
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: jlperkin@eos.ncsu.edu (JERRY LEE PERKINSON)
Subject: Re: Brand Names of Cyberware for SRII
Originator: jlperkin@c00800-247dan.eos.ncsu.edu
Keywords: cyberware
Reply-To: jlperkin@eos.ncsu.edu (JERRY LEE PERKINSON)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 14:21:11 GMT


In article <lward.726781646@husc.harvard.edu>, lward@husc11.harvard.edu (Lester Ward) writes:
|>Path: taco!gatech!emory!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!uunet!ogicse!das-news.harvard.edu!husc-news.harvard.edu!husc.harvard.edu!lward
|>tmont@cerc.wvu.wvnet.edu (Todd Montgomery) writes:
|>>I recently had an idea of adding a little more spice to the
|>>ShadowRun cyberware options. The basic idea was to add brand names
|>>to the cyberware. In effect instead of just Wired Reflexes: 1, a
|>>character could purchase Ares-Gold Wired Reflexes: 2. This could open the
|>>way for some variation in essence cost between brand names and add
|>>some more flavor to the basic cyberware. The details of some proposed
|>>brand names are below. I would appreciate some feedback on this. I am
|>>really considering using this in a NEW upcoming campaign for SRII that
|>>I plan to run. I ran two successful campaigns over the three years that 
|>>SR was out. 
|>
|>Damn.  Beat me to the punch on this.  Although my approach was a bit different.
|>I set up non-rule-based differences bewteen cyberware.  I'll post some of
|>it later.  Nice work, though.  Could be interesting.
|>
|>Wordman
|>

Or you could use the Alpha/Beta ware setup in the Street Samurai Catalog.
The whole system is right there.  Reduced essence, increased cost, etc...

Killjoy, eater of coats.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: alsandor@Micor.OCUnix.on.ca (Michel Boucher)
Subject: Re: The Fantasy Trip: Problems with Illusion
Organization: M.B. Cormier INC.
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 10:53:56 EST

Illusions are precisely that.  They're cheap because they're not the
real thing, but the thing that matters is the effect it'll have on the
PCs.  How do they know it's an illusion and not actually a killer
1-hex mouse?  And if they begin to see too many illusions, they'll
get cocky and walk into a 7-hex dragon with sharp, nasty, pointy teeth
and a breath that even Scope can't help.

So, illusions have their purpose.  They're to be used as cheap warnings
and they can be used in tandem with summonings later on in the game, of
the very same creatures.  If they've already seen through the illusion,
they should get a nasty shock.

Michel

C. Michel Boucher              | alsandor@micor.ocunix.on.ca
Private user                   |
Ottawa, Canada                 | member, Christina Amphlett fan club
CANADA                         |