HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: millerl@wharton.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SF Poll
Date: 12 Jan 93 01:13:30 GMT
Organization: Newt World Order

In article <1ismoeINN28q@early-bird.think.com>, laird@think.com (Laird Popkin) writes:
> For example, if a society has matter transmission, they need to address
> issue such as "what happens when I transmit a bomb into enemy HQ?", "how
> can I stop someone else from doing that?", and "can I make copies of
> things?"  If a society doesn't have FTP drive, they need to address the
                                      ^^^
I realize this was inadvertent, a freudian slip as it were, but it points out
the problems that a future society with matter transmission would have
with differing standards and all sorts of gritty technical problems.

"No, cap'n, don't take the transporter! They use RFC.631E receivers
instead of the USO.5000 standards. Who knows what you'd end up like? Not
alive, that's for certain."

Yet another consideration of plausible future societies --- red tape.

-- 
whoah,
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller                           internet: MILLERL@wharton.upenn.edu
Mediocrity is a hand rail.                         -- Baron de Montesquieu
From: un107041@wvnvms.wvnet.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: SR:ftp sites
Date: 4 Jan 93 10:17:43 GMT
Organization: West Virginia Network for Educational Telecomputing



	I would be greatful if someone would give me some anonymous ftp sites
where I can get some Shadowrun stuff.  I know of a couple, but alas, the site
names are in my apartment back at school, and now that I have time to play with
my computer here at home over break.  Any new ones would be great too.  

Thanks,
	Scott

e-mail: williams@cs.wvu.wvnet.edu
From: adair@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Jonathan Edward Adair)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Computer connections (Was Re: Dumb Moves By Game Companies)
Date: 13 Jan 93 02:47:21 GMT
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
NNTP-Posting-Host: hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu

In article <1489@blue.cis.pitt.edu> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>In article <34905@sales.GBA.NYU.EDU> drcheng@sales.GBA.NYU.EDU (David R Cheng) writes:
>
>	I'm sure they are. But the Internet is much larger and most importantly
>has a huge population of people who can't afford to log on to pay-per-connect
>services (I sure can't, and probably won't ever because I don't like paying 
>just to log on).
>

Delphi has just started offering Internet services.  (This is actually
Internet services, not Usenet, so you can telnet, ftp, etc.)  They
may very well offer the Usenet groups, or at least a good subset
of them.  Perhaps if enough game companies heard about the Internet 
they'd try to get connected...?

--
Jonathan E. Adair  -  Programmer at Large                          /\
adair@gnu.ai.mit.edu             <-  Best choice                  /<>\
adair@eggo.csee.usf.edu          <-  Almost as good              /    \
adair@cfrrisc1.cfr.usf.edu       <-  Works for now              /______\
adair@psycho.fidonet.org         <-  Read yearly             The Illuminati
From: P.C.Steele@newcastle.ac.uk (P. Steele)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SR: Question about sheilding
Date: 11 Jan 93 16:16:50 GMT
Organization: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, NE1 7RU
Originator: n1z6g@tuda


In article <1993Jan8.204509.27393@head-cfa.harvard.edu>, dmm@head-cfa.harvard.edu (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.
[lots of agrument deleted]

Personaly I don't see the point in having anti-sheilding as centering can already
be used to lower target numbers for a mage. I find that this can work quite well.
-- 
Phillip Steele

P.C.Steele@uk.ac.ncl
From: cg533@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (James Eugene Alloway)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Game Systems vs. Worlds/Ideas
Date: 12 Jan 1993 14:12:24 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


In readin g the net here recently, and the responses on my post of Ars Magica
product ideas, I found an interesting trend developing.  That is, that many 
people prefer an interesting, developed world OVER another system, because of
the learning curve.
   So what do prefer?  Would it take a Really unique system to get you
to experiment?  Or would a new environment for what you have be more 
attractive?
    Thanks,
    Gene
###\
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: jacobus@symphony.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney)
Subject: Re: Ars Magica Question
Organization: Purdue University
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 17:10:12 GMT

In article <tkelly.726751582@unix2.tcd.ie> tkelly@unix2.tcd.ie (Mithrandir) writes:
>    Is it true that House Merecere get absolutely no magic at all, yet
>are considered Magi?
>


House Mercere "Magi" are in two flavors:


Plain Redcaps--these are mortals who are given all the rights and priviliges
of Magi within the order but do not possess the Gift.  They gain these 
benefits because they perform the valuable duty of messenger.


Gifted Redcaps--these are those with the Gift who are in Mercere.  They act
as Redcaps as well as exercise their powers.  They tend to sincerely put
the Order above all, unlike the Bunny-suckers and the Quizzy-bores, who
tend to put their own aggrandizement in the guise of supporting the Order.


Being a Mercere is a Virtue for Companion or Magus, due to the Hermetic
prestige included in the position.
From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Stress Kitty)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: star trek..rpg
Keywords: star trek fasa rpg
Date: 4 Jan 93 18:51:27 GMT
Organization: California State University, Chico
NNTP-Posting-Host: erasure.ecst.csuchico.edu

Samik Sen writes:
>I just found out that fasa lost its rights to star trek the rpg
>I was wondering why?

The FASA license was up, and Paramount had to option to renew or not and
opted for the latter.  The short form of it (and this is what I heard, not
anything substantiated) is that FASA's offering is too warlike and militant
for Roddenberry's tastes.  With R's death last year (moment of silence)
Paramount is a bit at a loss over what to do with the game rights, and
has decided to sit pat on them.  One major boardgame publisher approached
them, only to be turned down.

-- 
Miksch's Law:
	If a string has one end, then it has another end.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: swaim@owlnet.rice.edu (Michael Parks Swaim)
Subject: True Reason (Was Re: Fantasy version)
Organization: Rice University
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 00:01:41 GMT

In article <C0p8ns.2nr@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> jacobus@symphony.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney) writes:
>"True Reason" is neither true nor reason--to be blunt, it is nothing more
>than a distorted, and false, picture of a "scientific" outlook that has
>less in common with science than do the activities of "primitive" healers
>and other such pre-industrial "wise ones".
[Rest of diatribe deleted. If you're interested, look up the article.]

>Needless to say, since several of the players in our local Saga are practicing
>scientists of some sort or another, we simply sneered at True Reason and
>don't use it.
  A lot of groups don't, for reasons similar to yours. Try convincing the
people at WW. It's all part of their plan to have their Storyteller
system be set in Ars Magica's future.



-- 
Mike Swaim            | "101 Dalmations? Yeah I saw that."
swaim@owlnet.rice.edu | "You Did! REALLY? The same film?
Disclamer: I lie      | Let's stop driving! We must get out and jump
up and down and up and down and dance around and around!" Matt and Delerium
From: wolfman@jptcs.COM (wolfman)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: AD&D Dark Sun Info wanted
Date: 10 Jan 93 07:13:28 GMT
Organization: JPT Computer Solutions
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]


Greetings Net Land, 

I have been a loyal Forgotten Realms DM for the past... oh... many years
and am getting tired.  I was hoping to move to Dark Sun, but I really do 
not have the money (i.e. College Student with out a job) to bye the books
without knowing what I'm getting myself into.  Could someone tell me about
the major differences between the worlds?

Any suggestions and or comments are highly appreciated.  Thank you in
advance.

Aram Mirzadeh
/************************************************************************/
/*     Aram "Wolfman" Mirzadeh     /   Internet: wolfman@jptcs.com      */
/* I looked into the black abyss and the abyss looked into me...neither */
/*   liked what we saw....                                              */
/************************************************************************/
From: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SF Poll
Date: 12 Jan 93 00:18:22 GMT
Reply-To: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Originator: jmkaraka@c00031-118dan.eos.ncsu.edu


|>>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
|>			       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|>
|>	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...
|>
|>				Sea Wasp
|>

	Come, come now.  With the cinematic rules turned on full blast
and with starting characters being around 500 pts (which they WILL be),
you can have an excellent simulation of 'Doc' Smith's universe.  Although
anyone who tries to quantify the point value of an Arisian should be
'forced from this plane of existence'.  :)

	-john-
From: maillet@tls-cs.cert.fr (Luc Maillet)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: shadow world question
Date: 7 Jan 93 08:36:38 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: CERT, CS Dpt. Toulouse, France

In article <1993Jan7.114107.90911@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au>, apm272v@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au writes:
|> since we're talking about shadow world and stuff, here's something that's been
|> bugging me for a while ...
|> 
|> i can't find in the eidolon book, though sometimes i think i can remember
|> seeing it once (sigh, to be young again), anything that says how high up
|> the floating city is ...
|> 
|> to make things worse, the artwork is inconsistent (ie the apparent size of
|> the disc varies from picture to picture) ... do any of you out there have
|> opinions on how large eidolon should look from the stinking canals of
|> selkai?
|> 
|> the main reason i want to know is the issue of using eidolon as a naviagtional
|> beacon ...

  Check the map for size ( there's a scale ).

  As for height, we set it at about 1000 m I think ( I'm just a player, so... )

|> 
|> hunter

								Redwing.
From: dunkelza@titan.ucs.umass.edu (KEITH C MCCORMIC)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: TWERPS publisher/availability?
Date: 12 Jan 1993 14:23:14 -0500
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
NNTP-Posting-Host: titan.ucc.umass.edu


   TWERPS (The World's Easiest Role-Playing System) is published by
Reindeer Games, a division of Gamescience, I believe.  I have seen it, 
and it is not worth the $3 to buy it.  Don't bother.

Dunkelzahn
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: FM14 <FM14@music.mus.polymtl.ca>
Subject: RQ: RuneQuest French
Organization: Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 16:34:19 GMT

HI!
     I'm looking for book for RQ in french.  I'm doing a game in that
system in turbo pascal But I need more information on Elder Races and
equipments.
     I've have the book of Genertela, Eldarad and Gloranthan Bestiary

Bye. Vinton Ouch
From: loren@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu (Loren Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Old time D&D reminiscing
Date: 8 Jan 93 19:12:12 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Wharton Marketing

In article <1565@blue.cis.pitt.edu> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>In article <1993Jan8.102153.1@wharton.upenn.edu> millerl@wharton.upenn.edu 
writes:>>Hmmm, from what I recall of Dave Arneson's _the first fantasy 
campaign_,>>the Egg of Coot was a major bad guy in the Blackmoor campaign. I 
think
>       Yeah, that we knew. But just WHAT the EoC was, how powerful it
>was, where it got its powers, and so on, hasn't ever been revealed. It's
>one of the great mysteries of my gaming existence. I finally decided
>it was an extradimensional demon akin to Cthulhu, but I've always wondered
>what ARNESON thought it was...

I always suspected that the Egg of Coot became Iuz in Gygax's campaigns, and 
if so then the Egg of Coot was a demonspawned warlord because that was what 
Iuz was. At least that's my theory. That's also how I handled him back when 
I used _tffc_ for my own first fantasy campaign so I may be overly attached 
to that opinion.



<blank lines for the posting eater.>





--
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller              LOREN@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu
Time am I, wreaker of the world's destruction, matured, grimly
resolved here to swallow up the worlds.             -- Krishna
From: laurence@cco.caltech.edu (Dustin Lee Laurence)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Dumb Moves By Game Companies -- Oops!! Some Facts.
Date: 8 Jan 1993 22:12:34 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: sandman.caltech.edu

This guy did _research_ in an attempt to bring _actual facts_ into a
perfectly good USENET flamewar?  I think that for the good of the net
we've got to stop this madman before this ugliness catches on.

Set keyboards on vaporize, men, for the good of us all.

(  :)  )



-- 
Dustin Laurence       "As sensitive and broad-minded humans, we must never
                       allow ourselves to be in any way judgmental of the
laurence@alice         religious practices of other people, even when these
caltech.edu           people clearly are raving space loons." -- Dave Barry
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: alsandor@Micor.OCUnix.on.ca (Michel Boucher)
Subject: Re: Dead Systems (was Re: Dumb Moves By Game Companies)
Organization: M.B. Cormier INC.
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 11:05:24 EST

morrow@thorogood.rutgers.edu (John Morrow) writes:

> What I would like to know is just how much is "Dragons of Underearth" a
> reflection of TFT?  Can it function as sort of a "single book TFT" or
> are there a lot of important omissions?  

DOTU is essentially TFT rereleased, with a few minor modifications.
I gather there was some debate at the time between Steve Jackson and
Howard Thompson on who would get TFT (Jackson wanted it, Thompson
said he'd sell it to anyone but Jackson who had designed it, by the
way).  

DOTU is a game module released on the understanding that there would
be more to come.  It stands more or less like MELEE as a combat module
but not really a game on its own.  I should correct myself here.
MELEE *is* a game.  I believe it was designed to stand on its own
as an arena combat game, but DOTU was not.  Unfortunately, or perhaps
fortunately, the matter was resolved by the disappearance of Metagaming.

Michel

C. Michel Boucher              | alsandor@micor.ocunix.on.ca
Private user                   |
Ottawa, Canada                 | member, Christina Amphlett fan club
CANADA                         |
From: dunkelza@titan.ucc.umass.edu (KEITH C MCCORMIC)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Dumb Moves By Game Companies
Date: 6 Jan 1993 12:17:22 -0500
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: titan.ucc.umass.edu

In article <1993Jan5.223425.8273@netcom.com> akuma@netcom.com (Steven E Barnes) writes:
>
>On D&D and the invention of Role Playing:
>
>I was looking through the original 3 book set several weeks
>ago (good for a lot of laughs).  This game (if you can actually
>figure it out) was not role playing.  It was a wargame.

  Eldritch Wizardry, Blackmoor, and Chainmail are NOT D&D.  They are the 
fore-runners of it.  Those three books were published two or three years before
the very first printing of D&D in 1974.  
  One other thing you must remember:  Even if Arneson and Gygax didn't 
INVENT RPGs, the popularized them, and are therefore the fathers of modern 
role-playing games due to their role in the development of the gaming 
subculture.

Dunkelzahn
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: cks@hawkwind.utcs.toronto.edu (Chris Siebenmann)
Subject: Re: A Shadowrun Question (both 1st and 2nd ed.)
Organization: Ziebmef home away from home
Date: 11 Jan 93 03:58:12 GMT

lward@husc11.harvard.edu (Lester Ward) writes:
| No cash (and even certified sticks have to come from somewhere).
| This means that you need a bank account to buy anything.  And guess
| what?  You can't get one without a SIN.

 My personal view on SINs and services is 'money attracts services'.
So there are banks out there who will make accounts of the SINless;
not necessarily the best banks, but they're there. Similarly for
things like medical care, housing, education, and cable.

 My view of SINs has them as the ticket to free government services
such as public schooling, unemployment insurance, and the like. Thus
the government doesn't want to give them out except to people who'll
contribute tax revenue. However, the government and other people are
still happy to accept money (as tax or as payments for services) from
people without SINs, unless the bookkeeping cost overwhelms the other
costs.

 Yes, this differs from stock FASA Shadowrun; I think FASA flubbed
this, and that they should look at just how much of Seattle's
population seems to be SINless.

--
	"> Email or post, it doesn't matter to me. I'm not
	 > paying for the bandwidth.
	 There it is: a summary of USENET in 14 words."	- Jim Reid
cks@hawkwind.utcs.toronto.edu	           ...!{utgpu,utzoo,watmath}!utgpu!cks
From: cg533@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (James Eugene Alloway)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Fantasy version of Ars Magica: Opinions Wanted PLEASE.
Date: 7 Jan 1993 14:47:51 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


As many of us know Ars Magica has an excellent magic system and is set in a mythical medieval European setting.  It emphasizes mages above all other classes.
   
My question is this:  Would more people be interested in Ars magica if it was 
set in a fantasy world as well, meaning:
 Different races: Orcs, dwarves, elves, etc.
 More Mythical Monsters:  name 'em
 Different, but related magical traditions
 Multiple Gods and pantheons
 More balanced character classes
 More than one order of Mages
   
Many players of Ars magica feel that the soul of the game is not only its magic 
system, but the tension between the secretive mages and the church/medieval
society.  I woulkd try to keep that in some way (if you can't tell, I am working
on an idea for a supplement) but also emphasize the competition between the
different traditions of magic.  Thsi wouldn't be fire mages verses Air mages,
but one way of learning (or culture of magic) competing against another, 
like a clash between different forms of the same religion (Protestants and
Catholics, for example).
    
Please let me know.  especially if you are someone who hasn't played Ars
magic a lot.  Also, I would be interested in what else you would like to see in
an Ars or Ars Fantasy  setting.
    
I know some Ars players feel this is making Ars like all other FRPG's out there.
In a way you are right.  It joins the club of fantasy games and leaves its
niche.  I feel that the system is strong, flexible, and unique enough to 
challenge other systems in a small way.
    
  Thanks for your time.
    Gene Alloway
    Augustinius Pax, House Jerbiton, on occaision
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: mathers@sibelius.trl.OZ.AU (Steven Mathers)
Subject: Re: Small company advertising/smart moves?
Reply-To: s.mathers@trl.oz.au
Organization: Telecom Research Labs, Melbourne, Australia
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 21:32:52 GMT

In article <1993Jan11.153845.20776@vela.acs.oakland.edu>, mwlucas@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Michael W. Lucas) writes:
|> I would be very grateful for any information/leads on any further ways to
|> do this.  I'm especially interested in fanzine reviews, as they're fairly 
|> cheap.
|> 
|> Any suggestions, anyone? 

Dont you just send copies of your games to independent games mags for
review?  Or am I being naive?  I know sometimes that review space and
the nature of the review (how much they rave about it) is related 
almost directly to advertising space you buy in the mag.  But anyways,
it couldn't hurt to send of a few copies to a bunch of big-time
independent magazines, could it?  The worst they could do is send them
back in 6 mnths time if you include return postage.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.board
From: thornley@milli.cs.umn.edu (David H. Thornley)
Subject: Re: Dumb Moves By Game Companies
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 16:51:31 GMT

In article <rleroux1.725839188@sol.UVic.CA> rleroux1@sol.UVic.CA (Roger Leroux) writes:
>In <72672@cup.portal.com> Patrick_Andrew_Barnes@cup.portal.com writes:
>
>>[TSR grabbed the lion's share of the RPG market by releasing the first
>> RPG and establishing themselves in the niche.  If they had started
>> a few years after Chaosium or GDW did, they'd be dead by now.]

Well, yes, but the fact is that Arneson and Gygax invented the RPG.  I
don't know when it would have been invented if they hadn't, but you're
comparing the first RPG with later generations.  Specifically, I have to
ask if Chaosium would have produced Runequest nearly as well without
some prior art, and if it would have sold satisfactorily if there had
been no prior base of role players.
>
>As another poster has pointed out, Traveller was indeed out either just
>before or during the boom. My theory would be that the reason D&D won out
>was that fantasy gaming appealed to more people's imaginations than science
>fiction gaming. (Myself, I prefer SF books, but fantasy RPGing).
>
My theory at the time was that there was no SF counterpart to the dungeon,
that quick and easy substitute for role-playing we all used back then.
You could set up a bad D&D campaign in a few days, and we didn't realize
then that it was a bad campaign (and it's bad only by current standards).
Setting up a Traveller campaign took a lot more work, since you had to
provide your own adventure ideas.  Personally, I think that GDW needed to
provide some sort of instant random adventure system like the dungeon;
exploring new worlds would have worked very well.

Once GDW started coming out with adventures, they generally turned out
to involve illegal activities.  In most fantasy RPGs I've seen, there's
enough of a frontier that players can hack and slash to their heart's
content while still remaining legal and good.  In contrast, I don't
remember a single Traveller adventure that players could undertake without
running the risk of doing something seriously illegal.  Even so, it was
a *long* time before you could run some sort of campaign using Traveller
products, while the dungeon entertained less imaginative D&Ders until the
flood of modules could begin.

Follow-ups to r.g.frp.misc, since this is getting way out of boardgaming.

DHT