HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: appel@soda.Berkeley.EDU (Shannon D. Appel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Announcing: The Chaosium Digest
Date: 27 Jan 93 13:17:14
Organization: csua
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu

The fine people at Chaosium have created lots of games over the years,
but, for the most part, internet discussion of them has been low.
It's for this reason that I am starting up The Chaosium Digest.  The
Chaosium Digest shall specifically be a forum for all of the great
Chaosium games that do not already have a place of discussion.

This includes (but is not limited to): Basic Role Playing, Call of
Cthulhu, Elric!, Elfquest, Hawkmoon, Pendragon, Ringworld,
Stormbringer, Superworld, Worlds of Wonder, Arkham Horror, Perilous
Encounters and Stomp!

I expect that some systems (perhaps Call of Cthulhu and Pendragon)
will dominate the digest, but all articles will be clearly labeled,
and, when possible, seperated, so that devotees of any one system will
easily be able to find the articles related to the games that they
enjoy.

The Chaosium Digest will NOT include articles for games which already
have forums of discussion.  As far as I know, this only includes
Runequest right now (all discussion on Runequest should be directed to
the excellent RuneQuest digest, administered by Henk Langeveld).

In the past, I tried to start a mailing list up for Stormbringer and
it eventually failed, mostly due to a lack of activity.  I hope by
combining Chaosium's many games together into one discussion forum, a
much more lively discussion will develop, that will benefit people who
enjoy ANY of Chaosium's games.

If you like to be added to the Chaosium Digest, drop me a line at:

appel@soda.berkeley.edu

I'd be open to suggestions or discussions as well, to help make this
new endeavor a successful one.

Shannon
From: gharris@jade.tufts.edu (George W. Harris)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Killing attacks as pseudo-NND's
Date: 21 Jan 93 17:56:39 GMT
Organization: Tufts University - Medford, MA

In article <1993Jan20.095019.267@gems.vcu.edu> porterg@gems.vcu.edu writes:
>Actually, A killing attack that does no BODY makes a cheap "NND", provided the
>"defense" is "resistant defense".  After all, you do STUN that is only stopped
>by resistant defense, *not* the inherent PD or ED of the target.  In a number
>of campaigns, this could be a useful attack, provided you can come up with
>some rationalization for its existence.

	Two points.

	First, what you are talking about here is more of an AVLD (Attack Versus
Limited Defense).  If it were an NND, then if the target had *any* resistant
defense, none of the stun would get through at all.

	Second, if you have *any* resistant defense of the particular type, 
*all* of your defense of that type counts against the STUN done by a killing
attack.  E.g., if you have 10 resistant PD and 30 total PD, and you get hit
by a 2d6 KA that does 9 BODy and 36 STUN, physical, you will take no body, and
only 6 STUN.  If it were truly an NND, you would take no STUN, and if it were
an AVLD (resistant defense), you would take 26 STUN.

>Greg Porter
--
gharris@jade.tufts.edu          
George W. Harris              	"He'd kill us if he had the chance."  
Dept. of Mathematics            
Tufts University              			The Conversation
From: valentin@husc8.harvard.edu (Brian Valentine)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: CyberSpace: CyberEurope
Date: 26 Jan 93 21:54:34 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc.valentin.728085274

Cyber Europe is a fairly good supplement for Cyberspace.
Most of it is not System specific.
It extrapolates quite well from the European Community today, using
all the possible dark, cyberpunk overtones of its highly bureacratic nature
in the present to make it an arcane and malign overlord-like body in the future.

A very good supplement for the feel of a European Community of the future, with
particularly good material on gangs, major personas, European corps, etc.
Low on street maps and such.  As a bonus, it has a neat full-color map of Europe.

VERY STRONG ON ATMOSPHERE.  (on the large-scale)
(short on street-level encounters & feel -- leaves that to GM)

-Brian Valentine
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: gray@visix.com (Gray Jones)
Subject: Re: SRII:  Fetishes
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 15:24:04 GMT
Reply-To: gray@visix.com (Gray Jones)
Organization: Visix Software, Reston, Virginia

In article <RATINOX.93Jan24115955@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu>, ratinox@meceng.coe.northeastern.edu (Gone with the Lemming) writes:
|> Gray> Can you ground a spell through a fetish?
|> 
|> No. Grounding a spell through a spell lock (or quickening depending on who
|> you talk to) uses the existing spell's link from Astral Space to the
|> physical world. Fetishes do not have this link, therefor you can't ground
|> through them.

A fetish has an image on a astrally projecting magician, so I think they
do have a link from astral to physical space.  They aren't bonded,
so an argument could be made they aren't linked to the mage's aura.

I don't think you should be able to ground throught them either.

--gray
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: phardie@nastar.uucp (Pete Hardie)
Subject: Re: Random Rolls
Organization: Digital Transmission Systems, Duluth, GA.
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 17:13:17 GMT

In article <2393@blue.cis.pitt.edu> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>	Example: character has disad, crippled. I was told flat out that
>even if my character were to encounter and somehow do a great service for
>some godlike being who could cure the paralysis complete with the muscle
>and instinctive skill to use the body, I'd then be in point debt for a LONG
>time until I managed to "pay off" the debt -- so for something like a game
>year, I'd be unable to learn a damn thing.

How long (and how much effort) would it take a cripple to perform a great
service for a godlike being?  Sounds to me like a long and difficult task,
that would earn (amazingly enough) enough points to cover the healing.


-- 
Pete Hardie:  phardie@nastar  (voice) (404) 497-0101
Digital Transmission Systems, Inc., Duluth GA
Member, DTS Dart Team           |  cat * | egrep -v "signature virus|infection" 
Position:  Goalie               |
From: v124jw4y@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Benjamin R Pierce)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: GURPS Paranoia
Date: 26 Jan 93 19:13:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <GOLDM.93Jan26110022@sage4a.rpi.edu>, goldm@rpi.edu (Mitchell E. Gold) writes...
>There are those of us who have kept the clean feel of Paranoia while adding
>the portability of GURPS by playing Paranoia as an extremely warped
>version of Spawn of Fashan.
> 
>Would I kid you?



Personally, I thought GURPS _was_ an extremely variant version of Spawn of
Fashan.

Aaaaah, for the days of frog-like beings armed with Saturday-Night Specials
who masqueraded as parachutists caught in trees...


                                                        --Ben
From: maillet@tls-cs.cert.fr (Luc Maillet)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII initiative
Date: 26 Jan 93 08:32:56 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: CERT, CS Dpt. Toulouse, France

In article <1k1rqfINNc4n@matt.ksu.ksu.edu>, johnelbl@matt.ksu.ksu.edu writes:
|> 
|>      In the Physical Adept debate, I posted that it was possible for a 
|> Physical Adept(who WAS an npc) to have 9d6 initiative.  There have been
|> several responses that this is not possible. 
|>      First of all I stated that the character chose the adept ability of
|> 3d6 initiative.  If this does not add to the 1d6 then what is the purpose
|> of the 1d6 increase initiative ability that costs 1 magic point?
|>      Second he had the Synaptic Accelerator.  Again, why get the one die 
|> only.  Plus, the rules only state that this piece of Bioware does not
|> work with cyber-ware.  No mention of Adept abilities or magic.

  For that little piece of bioware, you lose magic point(s) - bioware act as
cyberware in this matter. Shadowtech, page unknown ( bioware ).

|>      Lastly I got the Increase Reaction Spell Lock (or anchored spell,  
|> whichever you prefer).  This spell states that it does not work in 
|> conjuction with CYBER-ware.  Does not mention anything about BIO-ware or
|> adept abilities.
|>     So, for my initiative I have the following recorded:
|> 1d6 [initial] + 3d6 [adept] + 2d6 [Synaptic Accelerator] + 3d6 [spell when
|> active] =9d6.

  Forget the synaptic accelerator, but otherwise it should work out to 7D6. My
question, then, is : how much karma does that takes ?

|>     As for the Synaptic Accelerator, the NPC has 2 geasa; which pys.adepts 
|> can have.

  Is it my imagination, or aren't PAs exempted from the Geas rules - and as such
cannot have one ? No ref. given, since it's a question.
|> 
|> resources:
|> SR2, Shadowtech, Grimoire2, Bryan Potter(GM), David Blood(GM), & 
|> Alex Savage(GM).
|> 
|> please inform us if we made some horrible mistake. and cite page numbers&book

								Redwing
From: wintermute@otago.ac.nz
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII Combat System: Bugs
Date: 22 Jan 93 03:32:43 GMT
Organization: University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Hi. I'd like clarify things re: replys to my earlier posting:

maillet@tls-cs.cert.fr (Luc Maillet) writes:
>|> Other daft anomilies are:
>|> 4) It doesn't just matter where the grenade was when it went off, but how
>|> skillful the person throwing it was.
>
>  I thought the damage ( especially the power ) depended on the distance between
>the point of explosio and the victim ? Check Street Sam.

SRII states that extra successes stage up damage as well as reducing spread.

<CSD108@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>>1) It is possible to kill someone in full suit armor with a burst of shotgun
>>shot fire at maximum effective range.
>>
>Possible, but unlikely.

Actually, it's a certainty if the target has body 1 and has no combat pool dice
left. Also if the shooter gets at least as many successes as the target.

>>2) The same shot to two people could easily do a deadly wound or no wound at
>>all, depending on how much Body they have.
>>
>Yeah?........

This means that you could get Conan (or substitute some other high body person)
only taking a scratch from a wound that would kill Woody Allen. So what killed
Woody? Fright? I don't believe that higher body should be able to stage damage
down by that much.

>>5) It is possible to use combat pool dice to "dodge" grenade blasts.
>>
>Weeeellllll.  If it weren't, you'd see a lot of munchkins running around
>lobbing grenades everywhere.

Isn't that what they do a lot of the time in old war movies. I thought greandes
were prtty damned effective in real life (just a bit loud for those stealth
ops).

>>6) A SMG minigun (assuming such existed) would be able to damage a GMC
>>Banshee.
>>
>No, compare the *base* power of the weapon to the vehicle's armor rating. If
>the base power is not higher, the weapon can't damage the vehicle. The armor
>on the Banshee is 18. 'Nuff said.

Is this *base* power thing a standard rule? It seems sensible, but I don't
remember seeing it anywhere.

Thanks to both of you for your ideas.

Tim Makinson, University of Otago, NZ.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: mfterman@flower.Princeton.EDU (Mutant for Hire)
Subject: Re: Random Rolls
Originator: news@nimaster
Reply-To: mfterman@phoenix.princeton.edu (Mutant for Hire)
Organization: Mutant for Hire, Inc.
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 01:40:14 GMT

In article <C1A06E.94H@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>, jacobus@symphony.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney) writes:
[skipping point balance after character creation]
>Uh, are there any GURPS GMs out there brain-dead enough to NOT run things
>in the way George suggests?

Yes, there are. And you can find them in many point-based RPGs.

>I, for one, do not play Insane GM Accountant, insisting that my players
>"balance" their characters for every damned thing they manage to get.  I
>run a pretty tough world, and if my players manage to actually do something
>like get hold of a barony (which one group did), they DESERVE it.  Their
>characters have ALREADY "paid" for it through loss of life, limb, putting
>themselves through harrowing danger, etc.

On the other hand, this reason is one why I don't like having things like
Reputation and Social Class in the point balance tally at the start of the
game. A lot of this should be determined by role playing. Especially things
like Enemies. These things fluctuate so damned much. I prefer having only
the intrinsic qualities be in the character sheet. Everything else can
be done outside the game mechanics.

Besides, a good GM makes these things a mixed blessing. Sure you're famous,
which can help you make points with important people. On the other hand,
it also places expectations, and trying to prove you're who you say you
are can be amusing, especially if the reputation has grown out of proportion
to reality.

-- 
    Martin Terman, Mutant for Hire, Mean Ol' Top, Priest of Shub-Internet
    Disclaimer: Nobody else takes me seriously, why should you be the first?
mfterman@phoenix.princeton.edu mfterman@pucc.bitnet terman@pupgga.princeton.edu
"Sig quotes are like bumper stickers, only without the same sense of relevance"
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: Chris Freisenbruch (read ANDRE)
Subject: SRII PhysAds v. ANDRE
Organization: Rice University  
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 01:39:31 GMT

OK, kids.  Here he is.  The one, the only:  ANDRE THE ASS-KICKING TROLL.
I am the player of said troll, and I must apologize for any mistakes that
my GM, Dave Hyatt has made in posting my character, as he did not have all
my stats with him. ANDRE has a BODY of 15, a QUICKNESS of 9, a STRENGTH of
14, a CHARISMA of 5, an INTELLIGENCE of 5, and a WILLPOWER of 4.  Only the
quickness and strength have not been raised with karma. His EDGED WEAPONS
skill is 7, not 9 (I had added two dice from a level 2 Synthacardium--but
my GM ruled it out), and he does a 16D with his combat axe.  His hugeness
derives from the following Cyberware and Bioware:  Titanium Bone Lacing,
a Smartlink in his right hand, and Wired Reflexes (level 2).  On Order is
a Chemical Analyzer in his tongue.  There goes all but .05 of his essence.
A Cerebral Booster (level 2), a Damage Compensator (level 4), Enhanced
Articulation, Muscle Augmentation (level 4), a Pathogenic Defense (level 6),
a Suprathyroid, a Synthacardium (level 2), and Tailored Pheromones (level 2).
He ain't got much BODY left, either.  His REACTION is 13, and he gets 3d6
iniative dice--a max of 31 on initiative.  With his EDGED WEAPONS skill of 7
and a combat pool of 8, he gets fifteen dice.  It's all pretty simple.  ANDRE
has plastered high level adepts, elementals, trolls, werewolves, and vampires
with some regularity.  In fact, in sample combats with force 15 fire
elementals, ANDRE has won 2 out of 3 times, whether he has attacked or
counterattacked.  Trying to reduce a 16D damage code is ... difficult,
to say the least.  (Please note that he was only using his WILLPOWER dice to
attack the elementals)  Combat rules are adhered to stictly in our campaign.
I realize that his WILLPOWER is ANDRE's weakest attribute, and that a good
mage could do a number on him, as could a vampire or werewolf of it could
only hold him down long enough (low, low essence).  And yes, ANDRE would make
a crunchy snack for a Western Dragon. But then, who wouldn't?  Gee, I kinda
forgot about that amazing physical adept that was posted earlier.  Why, with
his 40+ successes, he could probably take down Ditka, or da Bears even.  That
mewling little dragon would make a nice snuggle toy for him, too.  Get a clue,
numbnuts.  You get your shaman buttbuddy to tag along, and I'll have my
friend's Grade 1 Initiate Wolf Shaman back me up (he's a member of our party),
and the two of us will go to town on you porchmonkeys.  Reallistically adjust
your physical adept and I'll come out and play with you, one on one.  And maybe
I'll have a few magic tricks up my sleeve, too.  Just to clear things up.  Bye
bye for now.
                             Yours truly,
                             Chris Freisenbruch
                             Rice University
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Random Rolls
Date: 27 Jan 93 03:08:03 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@unixd2.cis.pitt.edu

In article <1993Jan26.175531.1@wharton.upenn.edu> millerl@wharton.upenn.edu writes:
>In article <2582@blue.cis.pitt.edu>, seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>> 	Two Organian or Q-type entities are locked in a struggle. Both
>> are very nearly equal, and are almost completely focused on the 
>> battle at hand. Psi cripple, sensing this from a distance, focuses
>> his entire energies in a psionic attack on one, distracting that one
>> for one millisecond. 
>> 	IN the millisecond, the other one nukes his opponent.

>ALSO in the millisecond, the Psi cripple gets demolished by the QTE that
>he attacked. Whether or not he aided a godlike being is academic at this

	For Gog's sake. Loren, you really ought to know better. I give an
example of how something COULD happen. You then add an even more extreme,
and less likely, condition as a counter? Please.

>> 	Analagous to two people locked in perfect equal combat, with
>> one of them stung by a bee at a critical moment.

>The one who is stung can swat the bee and kill it, and lose the
>advantage to his real opponent, or he can ignore it.

	Uh, I must assume that you're either (a)  being deliberately dense,
(b) someone who has never been stung by a bee/wasp, (c) just trying
to be annoying.

	You ignore the much more likely results of a bee sting in
that case:
	1) Stung person, not even knowing what got him, flinches at
the completely unexpected pain. Dies.
	2) Stung person reflexively slaps at bee, misses. Actually,
make it a wasp.

>damaged much by a bee sting, and the bee is either going to be dead or
>ineffectual (ignoring for the moment that bee stings are invariably
>fatal, to the bee).

	So make it a wasp, then. Sting, run away. Tell you what, would
you like to try it as an experiment? I'd be willing to give ten to one
odds of MY scenario -- your distraction and defeat, without the stinging
insect dying -- transpiring as opposed to yours.


                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
From: dshaffer@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Donald A Shaffer)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Advise on Buying BattleTech
Date: 26 Jan 93 22:41:29 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


  No they do not, if you can only buy one, buy the 3025 readout.  It contains
stts for all mechs before the clans come along if you dont count the 
Star league ones.
From: paul@sco.COM (Paul Jackson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: GURPS worldbook: Space 1889 ?
Date: 21 Jan 93 16:40:07 GMT
Organization: SCO Canada, Inc.

In article <43682@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> bkoike@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Bryce Koike) writes:
>In article <1993Jan17.205811.21819@sco.COM> paul@sco.COM (Paul Jackson) writes:
>>In article <loydb.0ahc@fnordbox.UUCP> loydb@fnordbox.UUCP (Loyd Blankenship) writes:
>>>null@diku.dk (Niels Ull Jacobsen) writes:
>>>> ... Make Space 1899 a Gurps worldbook ...
>>I still think that this is an absolutely absurd proposal. It is trivial to
>>take the existing material and run it under the GURPS game system. The
>>flavour of the modules lends themselves very well to Gurps (ie, small
>>numbers of opponents, roleplaying and skill use is important, etc).
>
>	Nonsense.  SJG is already doing this with Vampire (and
>subsequent books, like Werewolf...).

They are already planning on doing this and have the rights, yes. No
products have yet appeared so it is hard to know how good an idea this is.

>The point is to write a book
>that deals with conversions, special rules, etc, so that a GURPS
>player only needs to buy one book to play the game.  The conversion
>rules covers everything else so SJG doesn't need to republish all
>the modules, supplements, etc, and the main rules cover everything
>that's in the main rules of Space 1899 so that GURPS players don't
>have to go out and buy that book as well.

Yeah, I understand the point. I just think that it is a silly one. I trust
my ability to make a translation from one game system to another much more
than I will trust any mechanical rules to do the same conversion, I just
think that for most sets of game systems the conversion CANNOT be well done
in an arbitrary, mechanical fashion. In order for me to do the translation I
need the original set of rules (or a decent synopsis of them).

I just view this re-publishing of other games in the Gurps system as a waste
of SJG resources. For something like Vampire where significant rule
additions are required it makes some sense, but for something like Space
1899 where NO (or at least very few) new rules are necessary it just seems
silly. About the only new rules that I can think of are some additional
skills and they're easy enough to figure out from existing ones. The Space
1899 system maps into the Gurps system very simply, it is just not difficult
to do the translation with 2or 3 pages of information that could be
contained in a RolePlayer article.

I'd estimate that well over 80% of the Space 1899 rule book deals with the
campaign "world" rather than with rules and so will have to be reproduced or
the information lost. Why bother to republish all this when there are so
many other ideas to explore?