HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Kender
Date: 26 Aug 92 15:14:14 GMT
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <1992Aug24.171002.3938@ucunix.san.uc.edu>,
  spenceb@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Brad A. Spencer) writes:
> 
> Tas did happen to get ahold of one of Flint's daggers in the beginning
> chapters of the first Chronicles book.  I don't recall Tas ever taking
> anything else from the group throughout the rest of the books or at
> least nothing too important.
> 

   This is not quite true.  Tas did have a tendency to investigate (not steal,
of course!) things from the party, especially a particular gold ring that Tanis
seemed to keep losing, given to him by Laurana I believe.  Also in the second
books (The Twins series) Tas happened to come into possession of the silver
bracelet of Anti-Magic (?) that Tanis was going to fight Lord Soth with.

   Nothing else comes to mind, and yes, the ring wasn't too important, just a
treasured item to Tanis, but Tas did from time to time take to investigating
things from his own party. :-)

                                        John "Nightwind" Boelter

--
*******************************************************************************
* John Boelter        a.k.a. Nightwind            boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu *
* Organizational Manager and contact person for everything and then some.     *
*******************************************************************************
* The individual who said we only use 10%  * "I hit it with my Sword+10 of    *
* of our brain's mental capacity, was      *  Super Slaying" - "It laughs" -  *
* probably 90% incorrect.                  * "I give the DM the rest of my    *
*            -Unknown comic on A&E-        *  pizza" - *munch* "It dies"      *
*******************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Axly)
Subject: Re: Paladins
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 16:27:37 GMT


after I say:

>   I do disagree with saying he would have lost his paladinhood and become
>   a Lawful Neutral fighter. I think that the judgement call for the 
>   paladinhood loss is a sticky one, and could go either way depending on
>   how you feel on the topic. I think that changing his alignment is 
>   Overkill with a real big O. A Lawful Good fighter could very well
>   kill one of his companions for stealing and be perfectly within his
>   alignment. Good people aren't stupid,nice, or perfect by any means.

Pat says:

>Killing his evil. A paladin will kill as a last resort tactic. Why else do
>you think it's so hard being a paladin? Of coursem when fighting MONSTERS
>or clearly evil creatures, the paladin need not have such qualms about
>killing first asking questions later.

I guess this is our essential point of disagreement. You say killing is evil
I say that it is an essentially neutral act. Why you kill is what makes the
killing good or evil, not the act itself.   Otherwise, good dieties wouldn't
have any warrior adherents.

Axly
From: bg@ukc.ac.uk (G.S.Briggs)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Campaign to save Prometheus
Date: 1 Sep 92 15:53:43 GMT
Reply-To: bg@ukc.ac.uk (G.S.Briggs)
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.

In article <1992Aug25.184320.1565@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> cb317@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Stephanie J. Kessler) writes:
>
>I know a bit about Greek Mythology, and its my understanding that
>the myth goes as follows (note:  this is not a FLAME)
>
>Prometheus was a mortal man who climbed Mount Olympus with his
>brother (whose name eludes me).  He stole fire from the gods  and
>returned to Earth with it.  The gods were furious, but his act
>could not be reversed.  His punishment was as you described.
>
>Idea for a game sounds cool, traveling to Hades can be quite a
>journey, if you know the story of Orpheus and Euripedes, you know
>what I mean.
>-- 
>The United States is a nation of laws:  badly written and
>randomly enforced.     Frank Zappa
>
>cb317 @ cleveland.Freenet.Edu

Sorry, but you are wrong about Prometheus being Mortal- he was
actually one of the greater Titans, along with his brother Epimetheus
(meaning afterthought as someone has already mentioned) and Atlas (the
titan who held the sky on his shoulders). What this means is that
Prometheus was a god, as Zeus, Hades, etc, were the offspring of the
two major Titans, Kronos and Rhea. Atlas is the one who Heracles
tricked into getting the golden apples from the garden of Hesperides,
by taking the weight of the skies on his own shoulders, and who was
later turned into Mount Atlas by Athena (?) who took pity on him and
showed him the hed of Medusa.

While on the subject of Greek mythology, it really does annoy me when
people use the greek god names (Hades, Zeus, Ares) and not the Roman
ones (Pluto, Jupiter, Mars) but Still call Heracles by his roman name,
Hercules!

Geoff Briggs, Biology Dept, University of Kent, England : bg@ukc.ac.uk
From: ccoprdj@prism.gatech.EDU (Jorge Diaz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Why are there level limits?
Keywords: significant words from a document used as an index to content
Date: 31 Aug 92 01:27:35 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <BttA0G.B8K@news.cso.uiuc.edu> rnmg1200@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (A Lady and her Walrus) writes:

>The people who didn't show up.  If they're not there, use their characters
>anyway.  Between the lot of you, you should be able to remember their stats
>(assuming the DM doesn't have a copy of each, which he should).

No, some of us are very secretive about our stats, as most of us have
little secrets that we like to keep (makes the game more enjoyable, I
think :-).

And we ran one character as an NPC once and he got killed. :(  Not fun, and
the player was very pissed (as I would be if they killed my character).
So now, our DM always finds some way of making sure they aren't with the
party.

"And the paladin, who was almost over his pnuemonia, got hit by a 20 Hit
Die Fraternity Obligation and knocked into the water.  He's going to be
out of it for at least two more weeks."
:-)

>Better yet, hire some hirelings to do your dirty work.  There are
>always ways around this sort of thing.  Besides which, if those two just
>"didn't show up" without warning, then they deserve what they get.

Well, I don't want to be responsible for killing off someone's character. :(
Hirelings are an idea, though, if we can find them....  We're pretty low
level ourselves, so most hirelings would probably be able to beat us
up and take everything we owned. :-)

>Oh yeah--it does that, doesn't it?  Well, as I've said, there are always
>other options.  Not that you _shouldn't_ cart the armor around--always handy
>in a pinch--just that it could get mighty sticky if you run out of spells
>in the middle of a fight and try to put on your armor.  *laugh*

I tried that exactly once!  Bad idea, and I am not doing it anymore....  for
now, I'm wearing the armor all the time (it gives me an AC of 3) and not
casting mage spells (I'm only first level as a mage anyway, so it's not
a big loss).  Hopefully, by the time I reach a useful level, I will have
found some other form of protection.  Or I could just use my magic for
other things, not attacking (levatation, invisibilty, and other spells
that are useful for information gathering, etc).


-- 
Jorge Diaz                       | Sign in a restaurant:
Georgia Institute of Technology  | 
Office of Information Technology |   "We reserve the right to serve refuse to
ccoprdj@prism.gatech.edu         |        anyone."
From: ccoprdj@prism.gatech.EDU (Jorge Diaz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Paladins
Date: 26 Aug 92 15:45:07 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <BtJuuu.CBq@news.cso.uiuc.edu> dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Axly) writes:

>Exactly. Paladins aren't wandering nice guys. They are servants of their
>diety. If the person doesn't worship your goddess, and doesn't intend to
>convert, you should seriously consider whether healing them is permitted
>by your god. Acccepting healing from a priest of another god is also a
>bad thing for paladin types. 

Ah, so what you're saying is that paladins aren't good at all.  They're
lawful, but they aren't good, because they don't do things out of the
goodness of their hearts:  they do them because that's what their deity
wants.

Apparently, the paladins in your world are all Lawful Neutral.  Well, in
mine, they're Lawful Good, and they do *GOOD* things.  And they are "nice
guys" and they do good things out of the goodness of their hearts.


BTW, I noticed you never addressed the issue of the thief being controlled
by another party member.  Maybe you missed it.  Here it is again:

You said the paladin should have killed the thief on the spot.  What if
the thief were under the control of the party mage, or some other character
or even an NPC.  You'd be killing the wrong person, but because you killed
him then and there, you'd never even know it.  Now, for a LN paladin that
might be fine and dandy, but a LG paladin would be in a shitload of
trouble for that one.

-- 
Jorge Diaz                       | Sign in a restaurant:
Georgia Institute of Technology  | 
Office of Information Technology |   "We reserve the right to serve refuse to
ccoprdj@prism.gatech.edu         |        anyone."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: ba446@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Todd M. Hanson)
Subject: Re: Question on Armor Class
Reply-To: ba446@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Todd M. Hanson)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 92 06:24:50 GMT


In a previous article, hades@coos.dartmouth.edu (Hades) says:

>    Actually, to get that negative 2 you would need Bracers of
>Defense(AC 2), because according to the rules Plate is too buly for you
>to receive your Dex bonus.

Hmmmm... I dont remember seeing this rule anywhere.  Wanna point out a 
book/page reference on this one?

Todd


-- 
* Todd Hanson                              ba446@cleveland.freenet.edu  *
*                                                                       *
*     "No woman's worth a bullet between the eyes.. "                   *
*          "Depends on who's eyes.. and which woman."    'Bugsy'        *
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd,rec.games.frp.advocacy,rec.games.frp.misc,rec.gam
From: sboiarsk@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Sean L Boiarski)
Subject: guilliotine at Gencon (WAS-Re: HMGS Siege of Gondor?)
Keywords: What the hell happenned?
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 05:56:07 GMT

James asked:

>  Was those the guys who went around with namelists that protested that they
>had to remove their fully functional guilliotine (they had tried it out on
>melons) ?
>  I know that the main reason the guilliotine-people was pissed was that
>TSR didn't have the guts to confront them directly, but used the MECCA people
>as enforcers.

I really doubt it, and by the way, the guilliotine was not fully functional. 
This subject was discussed at the GAMA meeting Friday night, along with a host 
of other things. (GAMA is the Game Manufacturer's Accosiation, the guys in 
charge of the industry, as well as Origins). I wasn't personally there, but my 
boss was, and what I heard was that there was debate on why the prop was 
ordered to be dismantled. TSR claimed that it promoted violence and that this 
was some sort of violation of a code, they also forced a company to place 
"CENCORED" stickers on one of their products, to cover some sexual picture, 
claiming that it was using sex to sell the product. GAMA was somewhat upset by 
all this, noting that TSR's wealth of products are almost entirely based on 
violence, and all of the women in their art work are portrayed in a less than 
"Mother Thersaesque" manner. There were claims launched about double standards 
and such, but again, this is all second hand knowledge.

Another thing you might all be interested in, concerning this meeting is that 
the accosiation put forward a proposal that all products with a sexual or 
violent nature carry manditory warning lables, or some sort of game rating. 
This motion was handily defeated, but it probably won't be the last time we 
hear about it.

Sean L. Boiarski
Shield Games
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: gordon@meaddata.com (Gordon Edwards)
Subject: Minstrel Bard Kit
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 13:40:38 GMT


Can some one give me more information on the Minstrel kit?

Thanks.

--Gordon Edwards  (gordon@meaddata.com)
From: ccoprdj@prism.gatech.EDU (Jorge Diaz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Why are their level limits?
Date: 27 Aug 92 19:33:12 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <1992Aug27.130500.6302@iscsvax.uni.edu> boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:

>   Walking around, yes.  Actually using the armor effectively in combat, moving
>and dodging and such, is a different matter.  Besides, a mage who uses armor is
>expressing to others that he lacks faith in what he does best, his spells. 
>True, not everyone will have Armor or Shield spells, but that's why you go
>adventuring.. to find those spells.

Hmmm....  Don't tell that to Gandalf. :-)  [No, he didn't wear armor, but
he did use one big sword!!!]

>   Other people are too busy with what they do better to specialize.  A thief,
>for example, is usually too busy training and improving and furthering his
>thievery skills (of which there are a lot to work on!).

This is wrong wrong wrong!!!  A 10th level thief will have about six 
weapon and as many non-weapon proficiencies (plus any that he gained
for intelligence).  I find it difficult to believe that a thief could find
the time to become proficient with 6 different weapons, but he couldn't find
the time to specialize in one. :-/

Likewise, I find it difficult to believe that a priest who knows how to
speak 5 different languages and can read and write in 3 of them would
not be able to find the time to learn how to pick a lock.  If you think
about it, it doesn't make sense.

Priests do not spend all their time praying.
Wizards do not spend all their time studying.
Warriors do not spend all their time fighting.
Thieves do not spend all their time robbing.

If this were the case, there would be no non-weapon or weapon proficiencies.
They'd be way too busy with their 'chosen' professions.

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but I've heard several people say this just
*today*, and I just wanted to get that off my chest.


-- 
Jorge Diaz                       | Sign in a restaurant:
Georgia Institute of Technology  | 
Office of Information Technology |   "We reserve the right to serve refuse to
ccoprdj@prism.gatech.edu         |        anyone."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: rjr@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Richard J. Resnick)
Subject: READ THIS
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 17:01:21 GMT

Hey. If your address is something like lmollet@mrk.uc.edu or something like
that (I know that isn't the right address... I have it aliased, but I don't
want to go looking for it), then you should be reading this.

I got your mail about the Prometheus campaign. I would be most interested in
having you send me a character sheet... but when i got your mail today, I tried
to reply, and it bounced on me. It seems that our systems are extremely un-
friendly to each other, and I can't communicate with you. Try to "talk" me if
you can, or send me more mail helping me to get mail back to you. Good luck.

Richard Resnick

*=====/=== ===^=====.==='========`============/==== = ^========~====/====^ =-=*
*        "I'll return your fire, if you take away your vultures..."           *
*                       - Prometheus, gaining leverage                        *
*===^==/=======\======= ===`====='===> ==========>====.===== =^=====/====*====*
                  Internet Address: rjr@titan.ucc.umass.edu
From: dudek@acsu.buffalo.edu (David T. Dudek)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Evil PC's without "Just hack-n-slash" and other problems?
Date: 28 Aug 92 17:50:12 GMT
Article-I.D.: acsu.BtpG7p.M79
Organization: UB

As a DM, I think that the alignment aspect of a character (PC, NPC, or
monster) is very important to role-playing in AD&D.  I try to make sure
that PC alignments are followed to some degree, although I'll never tell a
player what to do.  I generally tell the players to chose any alignment
they want, but discourage them to choose Evil (Lawful, Neutral, or
Chaotic), or Chaotic Neutral.  I do this for the following reasons:

- a character that was truly played as Absolute Chaotic or Evil would not
  be trusted by his/her fellow PC's, and would rarely cooperate.

- if one PC was of one of these alignments, it would not really allow any
  of the other players to play Good characters (especially paladins and
  rangers) because they would not associate with characters of the
  aforementioned alignments.

- the game would be reduced to "kill it and get the treasure".

How could I as a DM and the players allow Chaotic or Evil characters in the
party while still adhering to alignment and keeping the game interesting?

 

-- 
--David Thomas Dudek  aka: the "DUDE"  |  "The opinions expressed are those of
  University at Buffalo                |   my alter id, and do not reflect     
  V098PWXS@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU        |   gamma rays in any way, shape or 
  dudek@acsu.buffalo.edu               |   form."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: alvalent@husc9.harvard.edu (Alvin Valentine)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Rangers and studded leather armor
Date: 25 Aug 92 23:17:20 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1992Aug25.191721.15105

Followup-To: 
Distribution: 
Organization: Harvard University Science Center
Keywords: 

Here's an exhange between me and Axly:

alvalent@husc9.harvard.edu (Alvin Valentine) writes:
 
>You can make a psuedo-ranger by taking a tracking proficiency and other
>woodland skills such as survival (woodlands).
>Singleclass fighters can be rather interesting provided they aren't left...
 
>Yup, you can, Axly, but remember that non-rangers track at a -10 penalty and
>don't get by level bonuses to the roll.  One might allow for kits which
>ignore this penalty though.
 
That's using the 1st edition. In 2nd edition, you are making a stat roll
on your wisdom stat if you have this proficiency. Taking it more than
once gives you a bonus of +1 on the roll for every proficiency you take
above and beyond the initial slot put into tracking.
The ranger gets bonus profiencies as he progresses, but a single class
fighter may do this, merely paying proficiency slots to  get the same
effect.
 
Axly


Now back to me:

Say what?  What 1st ed.?  I can't remember about the Wilderness handbook
or what have you , but no one other than a Ranger unless a class description
said otherwise had any Tracking ability (the Barbarian for instance or
some Oriental ones did, I think).  Read the Tracking Proficieny description
in 2nd. ed.  and read your write-up on Rangers again.  There's a flamin' -10
penalty to tracking for non-Rangers.  I know cause I made a character not
long ago and showed the guy the rule to his dismay.

Maybe we have different PHBs for the 2nd ed. though.  I got mine the hour it
hit the shelves and so it is chock full of errata, but check yours or
someone settle this question, cause one of my guys has a tracking skill of 7
or something because of it.

Lee
From: agrimm@slate.mines.colorado.edu (Snarf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re:  Son of the Munchkin Guide!
Date: 31 Aug 92 23:11:33 GMT
Organization: Colorado School of Mines

: 
: WHO SHOULD BE EDITOR OF THE DRAGON:
: 
: 	*Real Men* would like Kim Mohan back.
: 	*Real Roleplayers* would like to see Jeff Grubb usurp the throne.
: 	*Loonies* would like Snarf as the editor.
                             ^^^^^

                         YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

: 	*Munchkins* want to have EGG or Elminster.
: 
: --
: Ville Lavonius	        University of Helsinki, Dept. of Computer Science
: lavonius@cc.helsinki.fi : I'm the son of a gun and the gun of a son
From: agrimm@slate.mines.colorado.edu (Snarf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.rpg
Subject: Re:  Son of Munchkin Handbook
Followup-To: 
Distribution: world
Organization: Colorado School of Mines
Keywords: 

: 
: WHO SHOULD BE EDITOR OF THE DRAGON:
: 
: 	*Real Men* would like Kim Mohan back.
: 	*Real Roleplayers* would like to see Jeff Grubb usurp the throne.
: 	*Loonies* would like Snarf as the editor.
                             ^^^^^

                         YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

: 	*Munchkins* want to have EGG or Elminster.
: 
: --
: Ville Lavonius	        University of Helsinki, Dept. of Computer Science
: lavonius@cc.helsinki.fi : I'm the son of a gun and the gun of a son
-- 
Snarf (alias Andy Grimm)                         agrimm@slate.mines.colorado.edu
"And if I refuse?"                                  |Cheery thought for the day:
"If you refuse, you die, she dies, EVERYBODY dies." |  Jump off a cliff, 20,000
"Sounded reasonable to me!"            -Heavy Metal |  lemmings can't be wrong!
From: hall@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Robert J. Hall)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Why are their level limits?
Date: 26 Aug 92 17:45:35 GMT
Organization: Boeing Computer Services, Seattle


  > We also allow demihumans to continue to climb after reaching ttheir
  > maximum by multiplying the ammount of  XP needed to advance, based
  > on the prime requisites...

We use a slightly different technique. At a fraction of the listed maximum
level for the race, the character receives an XP penalty. This penalty is
increased by the same amount for each fraction of the maximum level.

Thus, if your fraction is max/4 and you penalty is 10%, a character with a
maximum level of 12 in a class gets a 10% penalty at level 3, 20% at 6, 30%
at 9, 40% at 12, 50% at 15, and so on.

This lets the demihumans start out at the same rate as humans, but gradually
slows them down more and more at higher levels. You can, of course, select
your own fraction and XP penalty depending on how much you want to penalize
non-humans.

Likewise you could simplify it even further and just add a 5% XP penalty per
level, up to a maximum of 95%. Heck, elves practically live forever. Why
should it bother them if it takes forever to reach 30th level? :-)
-- 
 Bob Hall,                 | "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
 Workstation Peripheral    | Then give up. No use being a damn fool about it."
 Boeing Computer Services  |                                     -Groucho Marx