From: jogle@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim))
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: Re: Infiniverse #27
Date: 16 Oct 92 16:40:49 GMT
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro NM

[NOTE: I tried sending this originally to the mailing list, but it
bounced back telling me that torg@morticia.cnns.unt.edu was "user
unknown".  Hopefully this is only a temporary problem!!!]

Dave W. replies:

> > "Berlin Rezoned", also by John Terra, comes out in May.  Tharkold
> > plans on invading Berlin but Mobius interferes, uprooting one of the
> > Tharkold stelae and replacing it with one of his own.  "Berlin turns
> > into a twisted mixture of heroes, villains and techno-horror.  Major
> > Havoc and his comrades battle the bloodlust of the Tharkoldu and the
> > darkness within their own souls in this powerful new book."
> > 
> > (How can Nile heroes have "darkness within their own souls",
> > considering how the Law of Morality works?  At least this should get
> > Major Havoc off the Grant Man's case for a while. 8-)
> 
> I beleive the theory is that once tharkold drops a stelae in berlin, the 
> are will become a mixed zone: Tharkold/Nile.  The atmosphere created might 
> be very close to the Batman movies: heros with that near-pshycopathic bent.
>
> And not all of Major Havoc's friends are Nile Empire either.

Yes, it will be a mixed zone.  I forgot that Major Havoc's comrades
were mostly non-Nile characters so they will have some "darkness" that
they have to stuggle with I suppose.

One could argue that most Nile characters are near-psychopathic
already, at least from the viewpoint of people who can understand the
concept of being neither good nor evil but somewhere in between....

> [Ninja Penalty and bonus]
> 
> I have played a ninja with that penalty and let me tell you it is severe.  
> My character never invokes Reality Storms, has difficulty reconnecting 
> (and when your tag skill is supported only in NT and CE, that's a 
> penalty), never shares in group powers (everyone else can shift 
> possibilities), and has suffered serious losses of PP in crossing reality 
> storms.

In my game the one ninja character we had never really suffered that
much.  Invoked reality storms are rare in my game anyway and to
compensate for the penalty he just kept buying up his reality skill -
reconnecting anywhere but the Living Land became just a minor
difficulty after a while.  He did get messed up once by a natural
reality storm though (but so did several other party members as it was
a bitch of a storm.)

Why doesn't he share in group powers?  Just because he can't do
monstrously well on a Reality roll doesn't mean he can't contribute in
some manner.

My biggest complaint is that the three extra attribute points a ninja
gets is the cheapest (one skill has a restriction on it, no adventure
cost) and easiest to gain (learn a skill!) enhancement package in the
game and outside of the 'clashing cosm' setting of the main TORG
campaign the one restriction doesn't exist!  If I were running a
purely Marketplace campaign (or a cyberpunk game) I wouldn't even need
the Reality skill, which means the ninja gets three extra attribute
points for free!  That's not good game planning!

> On the other hand, I agree that allowing the ninja a dex of 16 is silly.  
> I wouldn't use the 3 ability points to get a 16 dex anyway.  A ninja needs 
> good Tou, Str, and Dex.

I have two basic ninja versions; the first is the WEG stereotype
killing machine - high physical stats (max 13 though), used just for
assassination.  The second version is for spying - high Dex (for
Stealth, naturally) and Perception (for noticing things).

-- 
Kansas Jim (Jim Ogle, TORG guru)                               /|
jogle@aoc.nrao.edu (NRAO-VLBA, Socorro New Mexico)           o| |-
"I'd be apathetic if I cared."                              /| \|
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg