HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: z_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Cubington Cross
Date: 26 Aug 92 15:35:14 CST
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <1992Aug26.175851.20147@ntmtv>, weitzeka@ntmtv.UUCP (Keith Weitzel) writes:
> 
> 
> Did anyone see the new show on ABC, I think, called
> "Cubington Cross"?  The setting of the show is in
> England during the dark ages.  This show is great.  It
> is about time a show like this came out.  Basically, the
> show is about Lord Grey and his family.  The show had
> great development of the characters as well as some of
> the best sword play that I had ever seen.  Hopefully,
> the show will make it.  It is possible that this show
> will have the same following as "Star Trek".

The show is "Covington Cross", and it isn't an earth-shaker. While the fight
scenes are okay, there is very little character development, as each character
is basically a standard cardboard Hollywood stereotype (albiet in a different
setting than the character types would normally appear in). The show seems
pretty middle of the road of me: a lot of shows better, a lot of shows worse.

Brandon Cope
From: sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: fudging
Date: 1 Sep 92 15:45:49 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <1992Sep1.154016.979@nntp.hut.fi>, 
 gvbraun@vipunen.hut.fi (Toni Kotinurmi) writes:
> In article <1992Aug30.172525.58509@cc.usu.edu> 
 sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:

>>That seems okay, but I think as a player I would want to know and choose the
>>times and places where I would want this to come into play. The GM and the 
>>player might have different ideas about what is and isn't a lucky break. 
> 
> I think luck should be used totally by GM; in that way it is not just
> another advantage but a serious thing to be acquired.

How can a player acquire luck? The Luck advantage in GURPS provides a way
for characters to be charmed with no gameworld explanation at all. Things
go the characters' way at exactly the times the characters need it most, for
practically no reason. Other PCs who observe the ``lucky'' character will 
have no explanation for how or why the luck occurs.  

With your idea (the PCs are lucky because they please the gods, do some
thing nice, etc) there is a clear explanation for the ``luck.'' Now, in 
real life, there's really no such thing as formal luck, but things do some
times happen for no apparent reason. I think the GURPS Luck advantage can 
simulate that more closely than anything. Haven't you ever known someone 
who has a charmed life? Someone for whom everything just seems to work out? 
I've known lots of people like that, and they didn't do anything more nice 
things than anyone else, they just seemed to be lucky. Things just worked 
out for them at the best possible time for no apparent reason at all. The
Luck advantage simulates that.

> But I think 'luck' loses its meaning if player himself decides when to
> use his luck. That would be some other stat ( in my opinion ). Like
> pleasing some greater power ( god etc... ) in order to get some
> good things which would not depend on your own physical limits.
       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'm not sure I know what you mean by this -- maybe we have different 
ideas about what luck should be. I'm defining it as good things happening
to the PC when the PC needs it most. Who better to decide what the things 
are or when they should happen but the player? Pleasing some greater 
power, IMO, falls more into the area of divine intervention or blessings
reaped for good behavior. And further, that doesn't really come into my 
games since we are in a modern setting with no pantheon, magic or mana.  

Okay,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chadd  VanZanten  SL9B4@CC.USU.EDU  +  ``The  hardest part about fishing is 
that all the fish are underwater.'' -- 3m Sportsman Bassmaster how-to video
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: uplink@cwis.unomaha.edu (John M. Scheibeler)
Subject: test
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 07:49:01 GMT

This is a test.  Sorry to have to post it here, but my
problems seem to be specific to this group.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: lib1p@rosie.uh.edu (Tammy Stark Blandino)
Subject: Re: Regaining Heka in Dangrous Journeys
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 00:07:00 GMT

In article <1SEP199211594518@rigel.tamu.edu>, mpk9716@rigel.tamu.edu (Health Man) writes...
>	Can someone clearly explain what Gygax's new game, Dangrous Journeys,
>is saying about regaining used Heka?  Help, I really don't understand
>this game!!
> 

I don't really understand Gygax.

(I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just had to do it, I repent, you hear!!)

Tammy
From: djohnson@cs.ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Covington Cross
Date: 27 Aug 92 02:37:33 GMT
Organization: =CSE Dept., U.C. San Diego

>This show is great.

Yeah, and best of all, no one in the show looks like a normal person
you would see in real life, they're all obviously models.  Three
cheers to this show in their efforts to help 90210, Melrose Place,
and Freshman Dorm keep normal looking people off the air waves.
-- 
Darin Johnson
djohnson@ucsd.edu
    Strange things are afoot at the circle-K...
From: sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: fudging
Date: 30 Aug 92 17:25:25 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <BttBqp.85n@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>, 
 tbarnes@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (thomas wrentmore barnes) writes:
> A neat idea which originally appeared in James Bond: the RPG (and as a
> variant for Top Secret 1st Ed. in Dragon Magazine way back when) is Hero
> Points.
>    Hero points allow a player to alter a die roll (either his or the
> G.M.'s ) which affects his character.

Sounds a little like a character advantage available in GURPS called, simply,
Luck. This advantage makes the character one of those people who is just
naturally lucky (everyone knows someone like that). In case you don't know
anything about GURPS, the player must ``buy'' this advantage with starting
points. One level (which costs less) gives the PC a lucky roll once per
real-time game hour. So, once per game hour, the player may choose one roll
and have 3 tries at it (taking the best roll, a'course). The higher level
of Luck (costs more) allows the same thing once every half hour of game 
time. In both cases, the player chooses rolls which are made by him/her 
(not the GM's).

>   As a variant, the G.M. rolls a die (or dice) for each
> character and keeps the roll secret. The number rolled is the number of
> "Luck Points". The G.M. can use the character's luck points to give the
> character secret breaks (like not randomly encountering a Balrog) and
> the player can use the character's luck points to modify die rolls, just
> like hero points.

That seems okay, but I think as a player I would want to know and choose the
times and places where I would want this to come into play. The GM and the 
player might have different ideas about what is and isn't a lucky break. 
Both of those are cool ideas, though. 

Okay,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chadd VanZanten SL9B4@CC.USU.EDU + ``Ahm just a hunka' hunka' burnin' luv.''
--Elvis, Burning Love
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: acd@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (andrew.c.durston)
Subject: Re: RM: news from GenCon
Organization: AT&T
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 20:49:21 GMT
Summary: more info on new edition
Keywords: RM, GenCon

In article <Sep.1.14.24.32.1992.29799@gandalf.rutgers.edu>, ghuber@gandalf.rutgers.edu (George Huber) writes:
> 
>     Although I did not attend GenCon, a friend of mine did and he reports that
> the people at the I.C.E. booth let slip a rumor that they are in the planning
> stages of the third edition of Rolemaster.  It is not known if this will just
> be a repackaging of the second edition, or if they will try to collate all the
> various lists and skill from the various companions.
	From talking to Coleman ( oops, name dropping again :-) Charlton, they
	planning to mostly repackaged the 2nd edition. They are thinking of
	incorporating selected material from the ROCOs, notable the extra skills
	in ROCO I and II. Coleman is thinking of a modification to the skill
	system involving skill groupings. He suggests looking at ROCO VI ( due
	in Sept. ) for an example ( which he'll work from ) as to how this
	would work. He may rearrange some of the material to make it more
	accessible to the first time player as well ( such as easy to use PC
	gen section which is what I'd like to see ).
> 
>      _The_Alchemist_Companion_ was being sold at GenCon, and my friend picked
	    ^Alchemy ( I keep getting it wrong as well )
> up a copy - his initial impression of the material is that it is well done.
	The historical material is nice as are some of the classes. It also
	contains reprints of material from ChL, SpL and ROCO III on item costs,
	creation and magic rituals. Some of it has been edited but I'm not sure
	to what extent.
> 
>     As a final note: if I.C.E. is infact in the planning stages of the third
>edition, maybe we as readers of the net and players of Rolemaster should 
>compile a list of our suggestions on how I.C.E. can better present their 
>material and then submit it to I.C.E.  For my vote, I would like to see all the
>spell lists collected in one place rather then scattered out across a number of
>companions.  The same for the various attack tables and critical strike tables.
>Also it would be nice to get rid of the various references in spell list that 
>refer you to another spell list (and then yet another, and another - and they
>are all generally in different books).  
	If someone is willing to coordinate a "wish list" for 3rd edition, I
	would be willing to pass it along to ICE. Coleman suggested that I call
	every 3 months or so to see how the project is progressing though he
	probably won't start until 1993 or so. I'm sure ICE would consider as
	much input as possible from different sources before doing a revision.
	I know that the Grey Worlds folk ( nice people, BTW ) are going to
	clamor to get involved.

	Ciao,
	ACDurston, ..!att!hotld!acd

	ps. It looks like the Channeling Companion won't happen but alot of the
	material will probably be in ROCO VII. ROCO VI is mostly by someone from
	Australia along with Joel Lowell's [sp] Combat Activity Tracking System
	[?].
From: swann@acsu.buffalo.edu (Stephen Swann)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Improvisation, do I do it?, do I not?
Date: 27 Aug 92 19:23:37 GMT
Organization: UB

In article <4882@balrog.ctron.com> smith@ctron.com writes:
>In article <RANNOU.92Aug22105140@zuse.info.polymtl.ca>, Rannou@info.polymtl.ca (Patrick Rannou) writes:
>
>>I observed that many of the OLDER gmers used a kind of nearly only impro
>>gaming.
>
>I have not been keeping track.  If so, that's a very interesting observation.
>Does anyone concur???

I said something along these lines at the very beginning of the
thread.  When I started DMing, I used to prepare for individual
adventures.  As I got more famliar with the gaming system and with my
campaign in particular, I starting prep'ing less and less, until now I
just wing everything.

To some extent, the guy who claimed some time ago that I'm really not
improvosing is correct - I know so much about my campaign after 12
years of running it that my preparation is "already done".  I know the
politics and weather patterns and populations and geography and
history and ... well, you get the idea.  So when I make up individual
scenarios within it, I'm really just detailing the particulars of what
I already know is going on...

-- 
Steve Swann                 |    Speak to me in many voices; make
swann@acsu.buffalo.edu      |      them all sound like one...  -BOC
From: simon@hydra.maths.unsw.EDU.AU
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Improvisation and Preparation
Date: 27 Aug 92 00:27:36 GMT
Organization: school of Mathematics UNSW

In article <24AUG199214440944@rosie.uh.edu> lib1p@rosie.uh.edu (Tammy Stark Blandino) writes:
>I find that I do a combination of the two, improvisation and 
>preparation.  We never really do dungeon type campaigns
>anymore nor strictly directed games like the modules one
>buys.
   
   We're on the same wavelength here. I really don't see how
 it can be done any other way. I have never bought a module
 in my life.

>                       It may not be important now, but
>eventually it will be.  

   Way to go! One of the best things is when players put together
 several snippits of information, each of which seemed incomplete
 at the time, and discover something big. The time scale has ranged
 over years of game-time in some cases I can think of.
   
>                                           It interesting
>to watch it all happen.  The players never know what is 
>prepared and what is off the cuff.  Nor do they ever get
>the feeling of "we're going off the map now".  Things are
>spontaneous within a semi-fixed framework.  It has worked
>for me.

   I understand that sort of feeling. You ever get the feeling
 that you're not really in control of your world, but that it's
 moving right along more or less without you? That the decisions you
 make are "right" for the world -- they really couldn't be any
 other way? I suppose it's just a matter of a world being
 sufficiently developed, and having a GM who's "in tune" with it.


 /// Simon /////////////////////////////// Nothing happens.  /////////
///  simon@hydra.maths.unsw.edu.au //////  Everything is OK.///////// 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: weitzeka@ntmtv.UUCP (Keith Weitzel)
Subject: Re: Cubington Cross
Reply-To: weitzeka@ntmtv.UUCP (Keith Weitzel)
Organization: Northern Telecom Inc, Mountain View, CA
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 21:24:56 GMT

>I too was looking forward to this show after seeing the trailers for the past few weeks.  However,
>I was supremely disappointed with it.  Beyond the costumes and setting it was pretty bad.  The
>story was slow, and the characters were not believable (esp. Lord Grey's daughter).  Thumbs
>down I'm afraid.
>

I have to admit the Sir Thomas Grey's daughter is a really
cheesy actor, but the actor who played Grey, I thought was
good.  He was King Author in 'Excalibur'.  Hopefully, the
acting will get better.  I just hope they (ABC) gives the
show a chance.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: carterk@cgsvax.claremont.edu
Subject: DREAM PARK: Questions and Curiosities
Organization: The Claremont Graduate School
Date: 1 Sep 92 02:07:35 PST

I just recently picked up Mike Pondsmith's _Dream_Park_ game at the
recommendation of an ex-girlfriend, and I've spent the day poring over it,
trying to make adjustments to the type of campaign I want to run (a rotating GM
campaign with a core canon of players and gamemasters (within the game) per
human being player). I do have questions, though, so anyone familiar with it
might help me out...

First, the "Options" that allow you to custom adjust a character for the
specific game being played... are these permanent? The book says that you can
sell them back for Game Points at the end of a game, but it also says that
playing with Superpowers is risky because they might not be allowed in a game.
Since it says that you tell the players what the Universe rules are before they
buy up their options, why would anyone buy powers in a game that disallows
them?

Second, what are rough estimates of the amount of Game Points needed to Game
Master? Can one play a Game Master character who also plays in other people's
games? Or should GMs and Players be separate categories, not meant to overlap.

Third, the experience seems rather low in Game Points compared to the sort of
characters they talk about (with points in the thousands)... this isn't a
question per se, but rather a plea for some perspective from someone who's
played the game. Starting at the bottom doesn't lend itself to some of the
excitement of the series; that of playing "top jock" Players and such. Since we
want to have a few characters in our repitoire for uses in different games, a
scale of experience would be helpful.

Thanks all, and I'll update you more on how our rotation works as we get it
started.

-----
Douglass Barre - carterk@cgsvax.claremont.edu

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu (Art Urban (PROFS))
Subject: Eklektik Site?
Organization: Atmospheric Technology Division/NCAR Boulder, CO
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 22:59:39 GMT

I recently tried to ftp to the eklektic.cs.pitt.edu site, but continued to
get unknown host messages. What's the deal with this address?

Thanx!

--
Art Urban 					       urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu
===============================================================================
 "What's Next? Chasing bunnies on a motorbike until their hearts explode? -Crow
===============================================================================
From: ward1@husc8.harvard.edu (Lester Ward)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRUN: Questions from the Minotaur: The Next Generation
Date: 30 Aug 92 05:22:59 GMT
Distribution: usa

mancinis@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (steven mancini) writes:
>1.  How do you other GM's deal with the glut of Magically Actives? It 
>    seems more and more people are wanting to play magicals and the 
>    traditional street samurai is losing his appeal. Is this prevalent 
>    in any other gaming groups?

It was in the group I played in.  The solution we used was to make the
percentage of the population who used magic on par with the percentage
that used magic in our group (which was like 70%).  The normal population
became about 7% magical, but the corps we ran against had teams made up
like ours (which was great, because they thought to use ritual magic,
and we never did).  Because we put heavy restrictions on Increase Reaction
spells, the samurai who were left would eat these people alive.  We also
allowed stuff from Shadowtech during creation, which got people much
more interested in Samurai.

>2. Do your magically actives assense EVERYTHING? It seems like no matter 
>   what room, it is assensed, no matter who the person is, as soon as 
>   he/she/it is introduced, it is assensed, no matter what the object, 
>   it is assensed. 

I did when I played one.  I usually did it to get a feel for emotional
state.  This got to be interesting when viewing a place with a background
count, as my GM would make me take damage from a really high count.  It
got even worse when the count was caused by things Snake didn't like.
You can exploit this, however, in a few ways.
1) Have elementals waiting in astral over the persons head.
2) If not initiates, use Aura Masking to fool them.
3) If are initiates, and are assensing mundanes, ask them what their grade
   and magic attribute are and roll some dice.  This will lead rules-
   munchers to believe that the mundane is a masked initiate.

>3. Can a person who has a Quickening walk through a non-friendly Ward?

I see no reason why he should be allowed to.

>4. Obviously fire blinds those with thermographic vision. How could you
>   reasonably create something to do the same to Lowlight? Ultrasound?

Flash packs do reasonably well against lowlight, even with flare comp.
The "Ultra" in ultrasound refers to ultra-sonic frequency of the sound.
Build a blanket generator of those frequenices (a bit like a white-
noise generator.)  It would be easy to spot though.

>-Minotaur

Wordman

"If we're offensive and pose a threat,
 You feel what we represent is a mess,
 You've missed my message that says it all,
 And you'll never know why we rock."
      -- Ozzy

P.S. Vacation time! See you all in a few weeks.
From: rrdjro@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Jonathan O'Donnell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Harlequin (aka double GMing)
Date: 1 Sep 92 04:53:02 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre, Melbourne Australia.

batemanc@p4.cs.man.ac.uk (Mad Chris) writes:

>Has anyone else toyed with using a Harlequin, that is, a second
>GM who plays only the NPC's and is not involved in the other
>usual GMing tasks. This works well in some games, but not in
>...

Two versions:
	Hav1ing another, experienced player make up the overall
	strategy for your major villian, outside game sessions.
	Usually, I find that this gives a better quality of
	villian.  I describe the villians general motives and
	what the characters have done so far.  Then I ask the
	'consulting villian' what they would do, if they were
	playing the villian.  Unhampered by any consideration
	for the safety of the PC's, they usually come up with
	something truly diabolical.

	Because it isn't me coming up with the ideas, they come
	across as fresh and a little bit more challanging.  I 
	imagine that this would work _really_ well over email.
	No chance of the 'consulting bad-guy' slipping up in 
	idle conversation at a party.

	2	At Arcanacon X, a local convention, players picked
	six characters from a family of twelve gypsies (including
	the dog).  Each team was DMed (AD&D) by two DMs, who were
	responsible for running the module and the other six family
	members, as NPCs.  This worked really well.  Players got to
	bounce off NPCs constantly, DMs got to bounce off players
	and each other, and there were two DMs to take care of the
	book-keeping.

		This was the first time that 'tag-team GMing' has been
	'standardised' in this way.  It's been around for a long time
	on a casual, it-just-happened basis.

	For the record, the module was _Bute Dosta, Romany Chal!_ by Martin
Dick, Kelly Grant and Andrew (Pest) South.

		Jonathan@RMIT.edu.au
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:4907 rec.games.frp.dnd:3446
From: jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us (Jeff Gostin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Net.Bardsong.Book V2.0
Date: 3 Sep 92 01:53:55 GMT
Organization: The little node that could...

Hello fellow gamers! This is a quick note to let you know that the next
group of posts (2) will contain the net.bardsong.book v2.0, and the
associated index. I am making arrangements to have them FTP'd to the
archive sites at TYBALT and GREYHAWK, but for the moment, this is the only
place to get them (through these posts). I will let all of you know when
they get to the FTP sites. Thanx for your support! :-)

                              Jeff

...From a tiny little node called Eternal!
--
    /|Email  to:   jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us, offline@infopls.chi.il.us
   / |Smail  to:   Jeff Gostin, 917 High Ridge Pass, Carol Stream IL 60188
   \ |Vmail  to:   708-293-5526
    \|Flames to:   trashcan@eternal.chi.il.us
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: singley@helix.nih.gov (Erick D. Singley)
Subject: Re: SRUN: Questions from the Minotaur: The Next Generation
Organization: (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD)
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 13:47:05 GMT

>The heart of the matter, as
>I see it, is assensing or projecting is too powerful: being able
>to view all living and inanimate things as they *truly* are
>inhibits good game play.  What makes plots interesting is the unexpected.
>Although a good gamemaster can always keep the players on their
>toes, it certainly is a *lot* easier with no one going Astral
>to scout.  Try a game with only sams, PAs, and sorcery adepts and
>I believe you will find that it has a real nice quality to it.

It's been a while since I SRuned, but I would guess that some people (even the
'little' people can hire spirits to follow them around/'guard' rooms and politlysay "Sorry, that's not polite" to those who willy nilly assense everything.
Or old city spirits hanging around anoyed at the audacity of people poking
around the astral space.

As GM if people started pushing the rules to their limits and taking over-advantage with astral space--- make astral space a not so friendly place to be.

In Dark Conspiracy, my character (a doctor) got some alien thing put on his head
and had "dimension walk" at some low level.  If I started to abuse it, the
GM had *THINGS* on the other side waiting for me.  Made me start looking for
more reasonable ways around the situation. No need to railroad anyone, but
up the stakes.  Their character's arn't the biggest fish in the pond. Let them
know! :)

Erick