HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tom@soda.berkeley.edu (Tom Holub)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: From the coUnCiLbOy: INL Council position openings.  Please read.
Date: 8 Jan 1993 23:32:43 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley, CS Undergraduate Association
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu

In article <1993Jan7.174744@IASTATE.EDU> exodus@IASTATE.EDUIn article <1993Jan7.180718.7210@coe.montana.edu>, osyjm@cs.montana.edu (Jaye Mathisen) writes: writes:
)> 
)> Selection will be by popular vote, subject to the following limits.
)> 
)> Only 1 representative from any school/company present on the council at a
)time.
)> 
)   I hate to bring this up again, but the above limitation is _really_
)stupid. There are more qualified people for INL council membership at
)CMU & Berkeley than the rest of the country combined. I don't think
)the "at-large" member compensates for this at all. We're just hurting
)ourselves by only allowing 1 per school.....

I disagree.  The reason not more than 1 rep from Berkeley or CMU is
allowed is for representation purposes.  The council can't really afford
to expand beyond 7 members--it's bulky enough as it is--and if there
were, say, 2 Cal reps and 2 CMU reps, the interests of top-quality
schools would be woefully overrepresented.  I think there are enough
quality people out there that we can easliy find 5 not from Cal or CMU.
 -Tom
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: kurgan@spock.uucp (Andrew Twyman)
Subject: Re: Looking for "Scout" class
Organization: Choate Rosemary Hall
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 12:57:00 GMT

In article <PDFswB1w165w@gellis.UUCP> gellis@gellis.UUCP (Greg Ellis) writes:
>jhereg@iastate.edu (Baron Alexandreivich Von Goepel-heimer) writes:
>
>> Howdy everyone.  Some time ago someone mentioned to me that a "scout" class h
>> appeared in Dragon Magazine.  I nearly forgot about it and suddenly I find th
>> I want to use it in a campaign.  Could someone out there in net-land post the
>> article, or at least tell me what issue it's in?  I don't have any back issue
>> of Dragon, so I can't go thumbing through them; but I can get a specific issu
>
>Dragon #161, September 1990, pages 71-74.
>This is an AD&D, 1st ed class, very similar to the standard thief, but 
>without the "thieving".  It adds a couple of "acrobat-type" skills, like 
>the Unearthed Arcana Acrobat class, and takes away pick pockets, backstab 
>bonus, set traps, and the "thieves cant".
>It's very much the type of thing that was done to a much greater extent 
>with the class handbooks.

	There's also a Scout Kit in the Complete Thief's Handbook, which is
fully compatible with 2nd Edition rules.
				-Kurgan
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  -"I have something to say.  It's better to burn out, than to fade away!"-  |
|                          -* THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE *-                        |
kurgan@choate.edu--------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: n36ia@pnet16.cts.com (Et3 Francis)
Subject: Re: Cursed Items - Why?
Organization: People-Net [pnet16], NCTAMS EASTPAC
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 14:36:04 GMT

Hmmm... I've been reading a lot of the replies and so far I haven't seen any
that bring up the point that their are gods of mischief out there. And we all
know that where their are gods their are clerics and mages. Therefore if one
of these clerics or mages gets sent on a quest by his god to build an item
that will provide the gods a few moments of pleasure(and maybe a laugh or two)
especially at the expense of the other gods, they will build away. The idea of
the items only working for a certain person is a good one too but this
doesn't explain one use items and things like the wand of wonder(made by a
court magician for the kings fool). 
                                        Brian

STAR TREK: Deep Space Nine... To boldly stay where no man has stayed before.

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: wgarrett@cs.cornell.edu (William F. Garrett)
Subject: Re: D&D and Christianity
Organization: Cornell Univ.
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 14:15:08 GMT


Folks,

What we have here is a case of the minister preaching to the choir
(forgive the puns).  As several people have already pointed out,
the readers of this column are NOT the people we should be
arguing with.  Believe it or not, we all agree on several points:

  1)  RPGs do not corrupt people.  While corrupt people may indeed
      play RPGs, there is no causal relationship.

  2)  Zealots (be they religious or otherwise) who condemn RPGs are,
      to say the least, misguided.

  3)  Spam-Lite is the most ridiculous new product of the year.

Okay, so maybe we don't all agree on that last one, but we *need*
to interject a bit of levity into this thread before we're at
eachothers' throats.  Let's not in our haste and anger forget
that people we're screaming at (ie, r.g.f.d readers) are really
our friends.

Bill
(aka The Wizard)

-- 
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------*
| Bill Garrett                                       Cornell University |
| wgarrett@cs.cornell.edu                Department of Computer Science |
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------*
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: damiene@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au (Eccles)
Subject: Wrath of the Immortals
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 02:21:20 GMT

Is anyone as annoyed/disatisfied with this set as I am?

Leaving the campaign book asside for a bit, the actual rules for
playing an Immortal (I am _NOT_ a munchkin :) seem to take a lot of 
the flavour away from belonging to a specific sphere, and make most 
Immortals the same. For instance: the old Immortals set had a factor
formultipling the power it took to cast spells out of your own sphere
the new set gets rid of this. Immortals of a Sphere associated with 
a particular sphere were able to regenerate faster in the element
associated with this sphere.
	The newer rules/guidelines :) also take aweay a lot of the
Immortals powers, and abilities, and don't really replace them with
very much.

	The campaign booklet is a nightmare of illogical :) actions
and occurences, and requires ages to punch holes in it :)

Anybody else have an opinion?

Eccles

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: burdickd@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Dakin Burdick)
Subject: Re: FLAME: Re: D&D and Christianity
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 19:47:26 GMT

In article <C0D70p.JB@bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au> kinsler@physics.uq.oz.au (Paul Kinsler) writes:
>>>    >came true. A world where there is no God, where people aim to kill
>>>    >and get treasure, a world where death is commonplace and powerful
>>>    >sorcerers intimidate weak peasants.
>>>    
>>>    Welcome to the real world.  Just replace sorcerors with scientists,
>>>    and you've got the idea.
>
>*Now* who has lost touch with reality, Dakin. By replacing sorcerors with 
>scientists in the above sentence, I get:
>
>"A world where ...  powerful scientists intimidate weak peasants (workers?)."
>
>You are obviously off your trolley. I mean, I wish I did get to opress the
>workers :-) ... but hang on, wait:

I don't think I'm off my trolley; in fact, I'm sure I'm still in my
seat.  But I guess the existentialists would say I just THINK I'm
still in my seat.  But that's another discussion..

As for this one, here's my evidence:

1.  The gap between the rich and poor is widening in America (this
    gives you your peasants; the scientists and doctors seem to be
    doing ok).

2.  Some of the biggest fears in the world right now are nuclear &
    biological weapons.  Scientists are responsible for developing
    these things.  Why?  Well it certainly wasn't because saving 
    humanity was uppermost in their engorged gourds.  Since
    you seem to be a physicist, I'm sure this will enrage you 
    and you will refuse to think about it; but you really ought
    to.

3.  The education intimidate the poor all the time; otherwise they'd
    figure out how useless we really are and get rid of us.

4.  Even those scientists devoted to healing are, as a whole, opposed
    to socialized medicine.  The AMA makes big bucks, and they are
    more concerned about their own careers than with eliminating pain
    and misery.  Most doctors do not try to make medicine accessible
    to the people, or teach their patients to take care of themselves.
    It would take too much time, and it wouldn't bring in more money.

Dakin "Trolley-rider" Burdick
burdickd@silver.ucs.indiana.edu

PS:  I myself am a member of the educated bourgeousie, intent on
making a living off the ignorance of others, and my father-in-law
is a nuclear physicist and a hell of a great guy.  Oh, and send
flames to me by email rather than the net; it's the gentlemanly
thing to do.
From: lucas@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Derek Crowngaard, Knight of Solamnia)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: D&D and Christianity
Date: 7 Jan 93 17:59:50 GMT
Organization: Conclave of High Sorcery, Wayreth Forest

In article <1993Jan6.151654.28421@wheaton.wheaton.edu> water@david.wheaton.edu (Paul Waterman) writes:
>'em.  Don't like raping, pillaging, and killing (most of us don't)?  If your
>characters try it, fry 'em with a lightning bolt! 

	Actually, I prefer punishing them by dunking them into
Royal Water (really REALLY bad acid,) and then eatting them like
Chicken Nuggets! :)



Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: kurgan@spock.uucp (Andrew Twyman)
Subject: Re: DND: Satanism
Organization: Choate Rosemary Hall
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 17:30:53 GMT

In article <1993Jan6.225033.2056@choate.edu> bane@spock.uucp (Cameron Huang) writes:
>OK. I'm tired of all this crap about DND being Satanic. I haven't been born
>again, Hell, I haven't died yet. I am an avid player of DND. And, guess what?
>This flame war shouldn't be happening. I mean, if DND players get so offended
>at these zealots crap, then there must be a ring of truth to the accusations.
>If DND players know that it's BS, then they wouldn't NEED to flame. Who cares!?
>That's what the dorks want! They want everyone to blow their tops so they can
>claim "DND caused their aggressiveness"
>
>Besides, DND is far from being banned, illegalized, or censored, so it's a 
>moot point anyway.
>
>And to all those zealots who might not have gotten the point: I'm not on your
>side. DND is NOT Satanic. If it was, no one would bother flaming you, they would
>probably just sacrifice you.

Bravo!
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  -"I have something to say.  It's better to burn out, than to fade away!"-  |
|                          -* THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE *-                        |
kurgan@choate.edu--------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: wgarrett@cs.cornell.edu (William F. Garrett)
Subject: Re: Level limits
Keywords: four-way balance
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY 14853
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 14:22:14 GMT

In article <1i7vgaINNp3m@news.umbc.edu> ac999239@umbc8.umbc.edu writes:
> The way I see it most races are either too long lived to have good evolution
> since the old stock never runs out ;)...Or too short lived to accomplish
> enough to really improve their race.

I agree that many races are too long lived.  Remember the old UA rules...
gray elves living for 2000 years?!  Throws a wrench in our concept of
historical progress.  Imagine a person in our world who could say,
"Charlemange?  I knew Charlemange and let me tell you, senator, you're
no Charlemange."  And, to restate what you said, a race with a lifespan
several times several times that of the human race should either become
vastly superior (due to having more time for learning and achievement)
or should die out (if their development is slowed so as to avoid the
former problem).

The second edition is a bit better with it's limits of about 750 years
(correct?), but that stuff about elves feeling compelled to migrate to
"some far off land" after XXX years sounds pretty shoddy to me.  In my
campaigns, I use these average lifespans:

Human	75
Elf	350
Dwarf	175
H-Elf	100

For monsters, I decide upon a lifespan based upon the race's
characteristics.  Creatures that live for a long time are usually
highly developed, intelligent, and peaceful.  This describes most
varieties of Elves, so it's consistent that they live longer than
other creatures.  On the other hand, consider Ogres.  They're a brutish,
nasty, and relatively dumb race of creatures; I don't think they should
have the physical capability of living more than about 50 years.
Furthermore, their probable lifespan should be much less than that limit,
due to their generally poor health and living conditions, not to mention
their constant agression toward/from other creatures.

				- The Wizard


-- 
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------*
| Bill Garrett                                       Cornell University |
| wgarrett@cs.cornell.edu                Department of Computer Science |
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------*
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: wgarrett@cs.cornell.edu (William F. Garrett)
Subject: Re: No Healers
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY 14853
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 18:57:22 GMT


>         I think the thread of "Walking Bandages" has been one of the
> best, most productive I've seen since I've been reading this group.  
> The party I'm DMing right now has one priest (with no access to healing
> spells), no one with healing/herbalism proficiencies, and no healing
> potions. Have others been in this situation before?

That's exactly the situation my party is in right now, and I think
it's much for the better.  After getting scraped up badly in their
first combat, the party suddenly realized that they had no medics on
hand to fix their wounds.  As such, they value their health much more
now and avoid dangerous combat when possible (hurrah!).

Oh, they still need healing every now and then, but there are a few
places where they can get it... They can go to the temple of the
Goddess of Healing (from which none are turned away), but each time
they do, they have to listen to hours/days of preaching from a
church full of extreme pacifists!  After a week's convalescence in
the temple, one warrior character in the party vowed never to take
up a weapon again!

				- The Wizard
-- 
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------*
| Bill Garrett                                       Cornell University |
| wgarrett@cs.cornell.edu                Department of Computer Science |
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------*
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: mortoj@rs6403.ecs.rpi.edu (Jeffrey Robert Morton)
Subject: Re: Broken Weapons & Arrows
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 18:40:17 GMT

In article <11JAN199313224533@utkvx2.utk.edu> zmueller@utkvx2.utk.edu (Wilhelm Mueller) writes:
>In article <k2+3tmj@rpi.edu>, mortoj@rs6402.ecs.rpi.edu (Jeffrey Robert Morton) writes...
>>In article <1993Jan11.060046.12843@lclark.edu> ross@lclark.edu (Anthony Ross) writes:
>>>	2. I read in some novel about coasting an arrow with magnesium
>>>	so that when you fired it in the dark, it'd be like a flare.
>>>	Can any chemistry majors tell me if this is possible?
>
>Magnesium would not get hot enough to burn unless it was lit before it was
>shot.  I don't know if a standard torch-like flame would be hot enough to light
>magnesium though.  I have seen magnesium ribbon lit by a bunsen burner, but
>these are certainly hotter than a standard torch or lantern flame.

The dwarves lit them with red-hot irons.  (several dwarves ran around with 
red hot irons during the battle lighting arrows)  I don't know how they kept the
irons red-hot though.

Jeff
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     "For every darkness there is a light, for every dusk, a dawn."
                                                     --uncertain
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: wgarrett@cs.cornell.edu (William F. Garrett)
Subject: RPGs & Suicide (was Re: D&D and Christianity)
Summary: Study debunks myths about RPGs causing suicide
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 16:38:16 GMT

[Really ought to check my sources first, but here it goes]

Putting religious issues aside, lots of people (eg, BADD) are suspicious
of RPGs because they think the games cause players to commit suicide.
Y'all probably know as well as I do that this is bull, but these people
point to all sorts of Case Studies showing suicides which were apparently
caused by gaming.

I read an article about 7 years ago (in _Psychology Today_, I think)
which explored all of these Case Studies of D&D-caused suicide.  There
were 81 such cases reported in the year prior to the article.  The author
found that in 76 of the cases, the subject was mentally unstable (ie,
certifiable insane, and in many cases, suicidal) to begin with.  The
subjects had histories of child abuse, petty crime, institutionalization,
and previous suicide attempts.  In many of those cases, something happened
just prior to the suicide which was a more likely cause than D&D.  In four
of the remaining cases, the subject had recently suffered a severe tragedy,
such as the loss of both parents in an automobile accident.  The remain one
case was inconclusive.

So there you have it.  The myth about games causing people to commit
suicide is just that -- a myth.

					- The Wizard
-- 
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------*
| Bill Garrett                                       Cornell University |
| wgarrett@cs.cornell.edu                Department of Computer Science |
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------*
From: plantee@JSP.UMontreal.CA (Plante Eric)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Problem with battletech
Date: 4 Jan 93 15:37:25 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Universite de Montreal

My problem is that I lost my documentation for battletech and I don't remember
the password in the map's room(the one with the planets);if you have the game,
email me at 'plantee@jsp.umontreal.ca'
            
                  thanks!
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: mittman1@athena.mit.edu (Christopher T Chiu)
Subject: More on Gary Gygax
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 23:35:28 GMT

Besides the fact that Gygax was left out of the decision loop
about the then-new Dragonlance line, he also infuriated people with
his iconoclastic, stubborn style.  When he did editorials
for Dragon magazine, he once wrote an article saying something
to the effect that Tolkien had little or no influence on him
when he designed Dungeons & Dragons(!).  Also, TSR wanted
Gygax to change his writing style....many people felt that
1st Ed. Players' Handbook and Dungeon Masters' Guide was
too flowery and difficult to read.  Gygax stubbornly
resisted any such attempts.

That brings up another question, though--
was there a final straw that caused TSR to dump Gary Gygax?

From a curious adventurer,
Genghis
From: ccoprdj@prism.gatech.EDU (Jorge Diaz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Cursed Items - Why?
Keywords: magic items, cursed items, wizards
Date: 8 Jan 93 18:56:26 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <1993Jan8.005616.9419@lclark.edu*> ross@lclark.edu (Anthony Ross) writes:

[Why would a mage make a cursed magic item?]

*>	But...that's pretty rare. More often the function of cursed
*>items in most published scenarios is to have them mixed in with the
*>hoard just discovered by the adventurers just to add a little danger
*>or whatever.  What sort of mega-wizard would sit aruond for weeks
*>wasting time and resources constructing items he can chuck in his 
*>vault on the off-chance that some persky PCs are going to kill him
*>and access his vault? The wizard would have to be rather unstable for
*>him/her to do so. I don't see how any dying wizard would gain satisfaction
*>from this arrangement.

Isn't there a chance that making a weapon fails.  If it does, does it have
to end up as a non-magical weapon?  Why not a cursed on instead? :-)

-- 
Jorge Diaz                       | "I want you to remember, Clark... in all
Georgia Institute of Technology  |  the years to come, in your most private
Office of Information Technology |  moments...my hand at your throat.  I want
ccoprdj@prism.gatech.edu         |  you to remember the one man who beat you."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: 910252m@dragon.acadiau.ca (Dwayne MacKinnon)
Subject: Musical Instruments.....
Organization: Acadia University
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 18:12:56 GMT

People,
      Do any of you know if The Bard's handbook has WEIGHTS for the various
musical instruments? I'm quite curious, as i enjoy giving my character a 
DETAILED encumbrance.....

DMK

__
"Reality is a very strange place."

Dwayne Mac Kinnon,
910252m@dragon.acadiau.ca, Acadia University, N.S., Canada.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: water@david.wheaton.edu (Paul Waterman)
Subject: Re: D&D and Christianity
Organization: Wheaton College
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 18:54:09 GMT

In article <33037@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM> lucas@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Derek Crowngaard, Knight of Solamnia) writes:
>	Actually, I prefer punishing them by dunking them into
>Royal Water (really REALLY bad acid,) and then eatting them like
>Chicken Nuggets! :)

Hmmm.  Then again... maybe they do have something of a point when they say
that our imagination gets way out of hand!  (Dunking players in aqua regis?
The thought makes me wince!  Although... that combined with a flesh to stone
spell, some beeswax, a little bit of creative scraping away of the beeswax,
and you could really etch your character in stone.)

Oh, by the way (for the flamers), the previous was with sarcasm toggle *on*.

	  - Paul
-- 
------------------------------. 
| Paul Waterman (708) 682-5085 |  WCST Spoilers        ------------------
| water@wheaton.wheaton.edu    |  817 College Ave, #1  --------------------
`------------------------------'  Wheaton, IL 60187    ----------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: engf002@csc.canterbury.ac.nz
Subject: Re: Broken Weapons & Arrows
Organization: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 03:30:34 GMT

> lots about using Magnesium arrow heads to get "tracer bullet" type arrows.
>
> The dwarves lit them [the Magnesium arrowheads] with red-hot irons.  
> (several dwarves ran around with red hot irons during the battle lighting 
> arrows)  I don't know how they kept the irons red-hot though.
> 
This will certainly work, but the main trouble is getting the Magnesium
arrowheads in the first place. Magnesium is not an easy metal to
isolate and purify, and I doubt Medieval technology would be up to it.

You will have to make your own calls as to whether Fantasy technology
is therefore capable of this feat. 

Andrew Earl
-- Many hands make light work. Many feet drive the generator. --
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd