HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bdianton@cs.ulowell.edu (Brian Diantonio)
Subject: NEWGROUP II
Originator: bdianton@cs.ulowell.edu
Organization: University of Massachusetts at Lowell Computer Science
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 15:17:00 GMT


NO THE NEW NEWSGROUP ISN'T GOING TO BE LIKE THAT FIRST OF ALL I 
WILL LIST THE DIFFERENCES.
[a] it will not be a place to list petty differences of the
Stone skin spell.  I will appreciate your DM's right
to modify whatever rules he sees fit.
[b] the Beasitary, Magic spells, and etc. will be in a read able
form so anyone that wants to can contribute his own piece
via E-Mail to that item's caretake (me for now) or posting
APPEND: 's.
[c] I haven't seen any ads for DM'S or players of certains area's
in any of the rec.games.frp.(whatever)'s.  Have you?

I think my newgroup idea would accompany those other groups
very nicely.
Anyone else agree with me on that?
-Mark DiAntonio
bdianton@cs.ulowell.edu

Keywords: 

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: cs106b16@umbc5.umbc.edu (cs106b16)
Subject: Re: Scribing from a Spell Book
Organization: University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, Academic Computing Services
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 04:37:47 GMT

>>> I am well aware that scribing a scroll destroys it, but [...] The DM
>>> said we either had to take turns studing the book or only one person
>>> could scribe the spell into his book because it would be destroyed.  I
>>> said it's a book, not a scroll so we all should be able to scribe it.

>> You were right, and the DM was wrong.

> The DM is _NEVER_ wrong. It is merely that he has a different
> interpretation of the rules than the player. BTW have you never heard of
> the Dungeon Masters *GUIDE*  If it was meant to be absolute then it
> would of been called the DMs *RULEBOOK* Sorry to jump down your throat
> but saying that the DM is wrong is clearly pre-posterous, as it his
> universe and his laws.

But in a tournament the rules must be adheared to so that there can be some
sort of consistency between each camapign.
From: tmiller@prism.gatech.EDU (Thomas Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Net Adventures?
Date: 28 Jul 92 13:53:52 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <92209.172643LPR100@psuvm.psu.edu>, LPR100@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
> 
>    I'm wondering why I have never seen anything about people posting
> adventures to the Net. There is the Net.Plot.Book, but I'm talking about
> fully fleshed out adventures. Seeing that people spend a lot of time
> posting fluff, I don't think it would be a problem to type in some of
> the shorter homemade adventures. And if enough people started doing this,
> DMs would have a great source of adventures and ideas.


  Funny that you should mention that...I have been editing/cleaning up
one of my old homemade modules in my spare time recently and was 
planning to post it here (and in .archives).  It's about 100K long,
so should fit the bill for a long adventure...




-- 
Thomas Miller     Georgia Tech Network Services     GT EE 1992 (?!) 
WORK: (404) 853-0254 / Rich Bldg Rm 127, 258 4th St Atlanta, Ga. 30332
HOME: (404) 876-7929 / 345 Peachtree Pl NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30318 
Internet: tmiller@prism.gatech.edu OR tmiller@oit.gatech.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: l2wang@napier.waterloo.edu (  Lei Wang  )
Subject:  Book Rules   (was Re: Scribing from a Spell Book)
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 19:37:02 GMT

In article <62664@cup.portal.com>, Loball@cup.portal.com (Bill - Vitro) writes:

> The DMG2 states: (p3)  "Take the time to have fun with the AD&D rules.  Add, 
> create, expand, and extrapolate.  Don't just let the game sit there, and DON'T
> BECOME A RULES LAWYER WORRYING ABOUT EACH PIDDLY LITTLE DETAIL. (Emphasis mine)
> If you can't figure out the answer, MAKE IT UP. (Emphasis thiers)  And whatever
> you do, don't fall into the trap of believing these rules are complete.  They
> are not.  You cannot sit back and let the rule book do everything for you....

  [...]
 
>    Sorry to everyone for the rather long-winded reply, but I just had
> to get it off my chest.

  The AD&D game is designed to be imaginative.  The Art of Improvising on the 
spot is a skill required of any DM.

  But more often than not, the rules written in the AD&D rule books,
especially those of the 2nd Edition, were written down with care.  They 
knew that millions will be using them, and that every small mistake or
illogical point that they write down is going to show up bright and 
clear.  TSR has received who knows how many letters from DMs and players
around the world bearing advice, input, and insights into all the varied
gaming sessions over the 13 years or so since the release of 1st edition,
and they tried to incorporate as much of this as possible into 2nd edition.
  With all this consideration and effort put into the books, what finally
came out is well thought out.  Everything is as close as being balanced
as they could get it.
  That's why we should at least consult the PHB or DMG about some unclear
interpretation and look at what the authors had to say on the subject
before we make up our own points.

  Improvising is an art, and every DM play his/her own game.  But if you
improvise based upon the foundations laid down for you already, you
would improvise a lot better.

  That's why the original poster asked if there were already something
written down about spell books in the PHB or DMG.

  The authors of the game are not all-knowing, and as they said themselves,
the books are far from complete.  But we should at least give them the
benefit of the doubt on something that they know and write about, before
disregarding them altogether.  

-- 
l2wang@napier.UWaterloo.ca
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ME:  Univ. of Waterloo  YOU:  Huh?   o=> ME:  in Canada,  YOU:  Huh?
ME:  in Ontario,        YOU:  Huh?  /o/  ME:  up north!   YOU:  Aaaaaahhh...
ME:  near Toronto,      YOU:  Huh? ==o                                    Huh??
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: Rannou@info.polymtl.ca (Patrick Rannou)
Subject: Re: About beginning players, and then about AD&D 3rd edition... ;-)
Organization: Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Canada
	<BrJAC5.C3M@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> <3282@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 03:42:44 GMT

In article <3282@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:



   In article <BrJAC5.C3M@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> l2wang@napier.waterloo.edu (  Lei Wang  ) writes:
   >  The PHB is no harm.  They have intentionally kept out special information
   >from it.  Disallow them the DMG and MM, and your troubles are solved.

	   Again... WHERE are you getting these nice little totally obedient
                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   players? I bought it all the first day I decided I was really going to get
   involved. So did most of my players on THEIR first major playing days.
   And any one of us would have ignored someone saying "don't buy it". I
   want to see the way the thing works, darn it!

				    Sea Wasp
				      /^\
				      ;;;


I didn't say where. But they are RARE. ;-)

I managed to find only a couple of them in my whole 5 years GMing life...

Paradak.

--
/---------------------------\
| Patrick "Paradak" Rannou. |
| Rannou@info.polymtl.ca    |
\---------------------------/

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: paulm@meaddata.com (Paul Marchant)
Subject: Re: CHARACTERS WANTED
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 23:40:52 GMT
Distribution: na

In article <1992Jul27.200038.17862@ringer.cs.utsa.edu>, dargon@ethel.brainlab.utsa.edu (David L. Ramirez) writes:
|> In article <1992Jul24.150020.5224@ucsu.Colorado.EDU>, laruedm@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (David Larue) writes:
|> |> You said...
|> |> 
|> |> > I have a C progam that generates AD&D II characters.  I'm afraid
|> |> > if I post the program I may break some TSR copyright.  I would
|> |> > love to distribute it because I've spent 40 or 50 hours writing
|> |> > the program. Can I post this program?  Anyone from TSR have
|> |> > anything to say?
|> |> 
|> |> If you wrote it yourself then there is no problem passing it around.  Go
|> |> ahead, I'd like a copy too!  hehehe  But if TSR complains, tell them that
|> |> (a) you wrote it yourself, and (b) it's not their problem if someone
|> |> designs an easy way to generate characters...
|> |> 
|> |> -= Justin =-
|> 
|> I agree with Justin if you wrote it why should they give you any problems.
|> It seems like 40 hrs is a lot of time for you spend and then have someone tell
|> you to keep it to yourself. 
|> Besides your just making it easier to create characters, its an alternative way 
|> do what we've been doing manually.
|> 
|> Dargon

And by making it easier to create characters, you might find more
people getting involved (both players and DMs). Now, certainly TSR
would not want to discourage that. :-)

___________________________________________________________________________
Paul Marchant     |      The CCHA and the       | (513) 865 - 1637
Mead Data Central | Lake Superior State Lakers  | Data Technology
P.O. Box 933      |                             | paulm@meaddata.com
Dayton, OH  45401 |   The BEST in NCAA Hockey   | ...!uunet!meaddata!paulm

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: spzkny@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (JAMES ZAKANY)
Subject: Re: Tackling, subduing NPC/PCs
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center
Distribution: na
Date: 23 Jul 1992 08:37 EST  

In article <Brss6H.BC2@news.cso.uiuc.edu>,
 dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Axly) writes...

>The thing I have a problem with is armor helping you on your AC vs. an
>overbear. Why does armor, bracers, robes, etc. make it harder to tackle
>you?

Someone else mentioned this, too.  I agree, it makes no sense for (non-
magical) armor to hinder an overbear.  But it DOES make sense for it to 
hinder a damaging punch or hold.  What a messy topic...

                                                  James S. Zakany
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.dnd:2234 rec.games.frp.misc:3215
From: bilbo@bisco.kodak.com (Charles Tryon)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd,rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: GreyEagle and the Towers
Summary: Ch13 has been posted
Keywords: STORY Towers GreyEagle
Date: 31 Jul 92 15:55:42 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.dnd
Organization: Eastman Kodak Company; Rochester, NY



  For those of you who have been following the Towers story, I have
  just sent in the 13th chapter.  It should be showing up in
  rec.games.frp.archives shortly.  I had hoped to be able to get
  chapters out faster than this, but time has been tight, and the
  PBEM game is moving slowly.  Oh well, enough excuses...

  As always, back chapters are availagle by email request to one of the
  two addresses listed below.  Please make sure you give me a valid
  Internet type address, and specify it you are unable to deal with
  compressed, uuencoded files (my default mailing format).


--
Chuck Tryon
    work: bilbo@bisco.kodak.com                          B. Baggins
    home: bilbo@Bah.Rochester.NY.US                      At Your Service
    <<Kodak pays me to write systems, not opinions!>>
 ______________________________________________________________________
   Experience is what you get when you were expecting something else.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: keary@apollo.HP.COM (Matt Keary)
Subject: Re: Best possible AC
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 22:42:53 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Chelmsford, MA

In our campaigns, the best possible _physical_ AC is -10, ie what you
write on you character sheet, which includes armor, dex, shield, 
magical adjustments, etc.  But your _effective_ AC can go lower by
means of applying penalties to your opponents' attacks.  These 
penalties include being invisible or blinding opponent (-4), a giant 
class attacking a dwarf, fighting from lower ground, fighting in darkness, fighting in water, 
missle fire vs someone with cover, etc. 

I'm currently too lazy to figure out what the lowest _effective_ AC 
would be, but presumably it would be in an environment foreign to
the attacker, with an invisible defender, who had a -10 physical AC.

This of course brings up the new thread of what AC bonuses are purely
defensive, and what are penalties to opponents?  Hmmm... all my good 
examples that I remember arguing over seem to have slipped my mind.
Can anyone think of some good ambiguous AC bonuses?
(Protection from Good/Evil?  Prayer?  Bless?)

- Mateo
keary@apollo.hp.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: smayo@wang.com (Scott Mayo)
Subject: Re: The Bastard DM from Hell!
Organization: Wang Labs, Lowell MA, USA
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 16:40:17 GMT

ecrjbruce@economics.adelaide.edu.au writes:

>A couple of points I would like opinions on:

>WEB spells.

>If this is cast on an area that contains several humanoids, monsters or
>whatever do these creatures act as pillars, supports or whatever neccesary to
>prevent the webs collapsing on themselves and becoming useless.  I was standing
>in a field having just escaped down a river behind a huge pile of reeds.  The
>party was generally surrounded and thing looked a bit grim as we needed to
>separate our opponents forces - divide and conquer routine.  I therefore cast a
>WEB spell over an area containing several human NPC fighters believing thius
>would entrap several of them.  However my DM (the Nazi Implementor) decided
>that because there were no huge features around the spell collapsed on itself
>and would not work.

It's a game mechanics thing, and not a good one. But IMHO the DM can stick
to a rule if he wants to. You have to decide whether you want to stay in
such a game at that point. Wailing to the net because you have a slightly
sadistic DM who takes delight in using broken rules against you isn't
useful; yes, the spell description *is* foolish. I would suggest that you
up it to a 4th level spell, and delete the requirement for fixed objects.
But that's between you and the DM.

I had a DM who tried to insist that the spell effect was 2 dimensional,
as some real life spider webs often are. I hated it, because it seemed so
clearly contrary to the spell description. But it was an argument I could
not win, and I eventually gave up and concentrated on other spells.

>EXPERIENCE:

>Should a mage earn experience for the party if he kills things at range?? This
>is a very general case and I would appreciate points of view, my DM ruling that
>as a mage I only get exp's if I go into MELEE combat!!!!

Wow. That *is* sadistic. Go find another DM.
--
"Let's reincarnate him.  He deserves nothing better."
smayo@wang.com
From: boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Other uses for dicee
Date: 30 Jul 92 14:59:24 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <1992Jul23.031754.12227@unixg.ubc.ca>, educ@unixg.ubc.ca (Vicki
Domansky) writes:
> 
> Actually, one time I was planning a humungous battle scene, with a ton
> of goblins getting ready to attack my unsuspecting party :-) I made up
> a whole set of numbers from 1 to 60 on little squares of paper to
> represent the monsters.  Made it a hell of a lot easier to keep track
> of their stats, and you could turn over the paper when they were
> killed to represent the body.  

  This is usually what I use to represent monsters, as I really don't have the
money to invest in miniatures, and I'm not much of a painter to begin with. :) 
What I do is cut out little circles on paper the size of the coins, place a
number or other code (like 'Goblin', 'Orc', or something) with pen, then tape
the paper to the coin using a rolled up piece of tape or double-sided tape.

   I use pennies for normal monsters, then use nickels for L size, Quarters for
G size (if there are any for the PCs to run into. :) and dimes for T size
(those little leprechauns are so much fun).

> Not as fun as using actual miniatures for the monsters (don't you love
> the look on the player's faces when you pull out that hydra miniature
> ;-) but certainly helps keep the play moving along.

   True 'nuff.  I recently went to a gaming convention and got to borrow a
friend of mine's _large_ collection of miniatures to run my game.. He has some
nice ones. :)

                                        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: joeg@meaddata.com (Joe Gayda)
Subject: Re: CHARACTERS WANTED
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 20:37:23 GMT
Distribution: na

|> send often.  It would be nice to have a larger pool of NPC's to choose
|> from.

I have a C progam that generates AD&D II characters.  I'm afraid if I
post the program I may break some TSR copyright.  I would love to
distribute it because I've spent 40 or 50 hours writing the program.
Can I post this program?  Anyone from TSR have anything to say?

Well the program does the following:

  - Rolls abilities, best 3d6 of 4d6.
  - Prioritizes abilities based on class.  (Fighters are strong...)
  - Rolls HP
  - Determines AC, THAC0
  - Determines secondary abilities
  - Determines Gold and equipment
  - Has magic armor, shields, potions and a few common magic items
    built in.
  - Lists all class and racial statistics
  - Checks all race and class requirements are met.

Here's an example:


NAME :

RACE : DWARF                   SEX   : Male
CLASS: Fighter/Cleric          AGE   : 58
LEVEL: 5/5                     HEIGHT: 4'0''
ALIGN: Chaotic/Good            WEIGHT: 141

STR: 17    DEX: 13    INT: 10    WIS: 17    CON: 12    CHA: 5     PER: 15    

HP   : 37
AC   : 5
THAC0: 16
GOLD : 585

Weapon proficencies   : 5
Nonweapon proficencies: 1

MODIFIERS  (Doesn't consider specialization or magical bonuses)
---------
Melee : +1,+1
Missle: +0,+0

EQUIPMENT
---------
+1 Studded Leather Armor
Shield

SKILLS
------
Leatherworking (10)
Local History (5)
Astrology (10)


FIGHTER ABILITIES:
  - If NOT specialized with a melee weapon,  1 attack per round.
  - If specialized with a melee weapon,  3/2 attacks per round.

CLERIC ABILITIES: 
  - Can cast the following number of cleric spells.  (High wisdom included)

      (1st) - 6, (2nd) - 4, (3rd) - 2

  - Can turn undead. (d20)

       (1 HD)  SKELETONS:   T
               ZOMBIES  :   T
       (2 HD)  GHOUL    :   4
     (3-4 HD)  SHADOW   :   7
       (5 HD)  WIGHT    :  10
               GHAST    :  13
       (6 HD)  WRAITH   :  16
       (7 HD)  MUMMY    :  19
       (8 HD)  SPECTRE  :  20


DWARVEN ABILITIES:
  - saves vs. wands, staves, rods and spells at +3.
  - saves vs. poison at +3.
  - 20% of the time, a misc. magic item will fail to function.
  - +1 to hit, orcs, half-orcs, goblins and hobgoblins.
  - Large bipedal creatures are -4 to hit a dwarf.
  - 60' infravision.
  - Detect grade or slope in passage, 1-5 on 1d6.
  - Detect new tunnel or passage construction, 1-5 on 1d6.
  - Detect sliding/shifting walls or rooms, 1-4 on 1d6.
  - Detect stonework traps, pits, deadfalls, 1-3 on 1d6.
  - Determine approximate depth underground, 1-3 on 1d6.


Joe Gayda           | The probability of       |          (513) 865-1560   
Mead Data Central   | someone watching you     |     
P.O. Box 933        | is proportional to the   |       joeg@meaddata.com
Dayton, Ohio  45401 | stupidity of your action | ...!uunet!meaddata!joeg

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: bdianton@cs.ulowell.edu (Brian Diantonio)
Subject: Re: Paladin
Originator: bdianton@cs.ulowell.edu
Organization: University of Massachusetts at Lowell Computer Science
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 18:38:13 GMT


Palla-din.

Mark Diantonio
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: bbcs1329@terapin.com (Benjamin Schindewolf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Tackling, subduing NPC/PCs
Date: 29 Jul 92 10:57:22 PST
Organization: BBS

In article <seah.711830612@sfu.ca>, seah@fraser.sfu.ca (Simon Seah) writes:
>If there is a problem with armor helping/hindering vs. wrestling, how about
>the vanilla D&D (ie. not AD&D) Wrestling rules in the Companion Set?  There,
>strength and dexterity helps, armor hinders.  The rules seem simple enough
>and work logically (?).
>
>Comments?
>A break from the standard combat system, but if it works ...
>
>Simon
        In 2nd E.  It give modifiers to your to hit roll for wrestling in
armor, right next to the chart.

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: keary@apollo.HP.COM (Matt Keary)
Subject: Re: Scribing from a Spell Book
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 15:36:12 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Chelmsford, MA

|> 
|> I think that there's someting very important that nobody's considering here.
|> If mage's couldn't scribe from any spell book, then how do they get new spells?
|> A mage can't create new spells until 9th level and if you can't copy a spell,
|> then there's no possible way to learn spells without creating them.
|> 	Think about it.....
|> So a mage _has_ to be able to copy from a spellbook without destroying it.
|> Any arguments?
|> 
|> >Paul Wagland   

I agree that a mage should be able to copy from anothers spellbook, but
for the sake of arguement:

If a mage could only copy from scroll, then in order to trade spells, 
each mage involved would have to spend time scribing spells to scroll,
then trade the scrolls, then scribe new spell into book from scroll.

- Mateo
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: 10726446@eng2.eng.monash.edu.au (LAU WAI KUEN)
Subject: Re: How many dice?
Organization: Faculty of Engineering, Monash University 
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 06:45:58 GMT

In article <20JUL199208231098@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov> spzkny@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov (JAMES ZAKANY) writes:
>From: spzkny@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov (JAMES ZAKANY)
>Subject: Re: How many dice?
>Date: 20 Jul 1992 08:23 EST  

>In article <1992Jul17.201145.23609@midway.uchicago.edu>, arxt@midway.uchicago.edu writes...

>>       How many dice do you usually need for a D&D type game? I have
>>heard tales of people with hundreds of dice.  I myself usually have 1d4,
>>3d6, 1 or 2d8, 1d12 (how often do you really need these, anyway?), and
>>a "plus" d20.  I personally find 30-sided, 100-sided, and other fancy
>>dice useless.  I also have no need for 10-sided dice, using a "plus"
>>d20 instead.

>You have enough dice.  The reason many people get several sets of dice is 
>so they can roll 3d4 or some such all in one fell swoop.  It's usually more 
>useful for a DM to have several sets than a player.

>>       Speaking of fancy dice, what do you think of the "specialty"
>>dice that The Armory and Flying Buffalo make (alignment dice, corridor
>>dice, character class dice, etc)?

>Those can be fun for the DM to use, at times.  They're pretty useless for a 
>player, though.  Think of them as novelties.

>                                                  James S. Zakany
   

     You can NEVER have enough dice.  Anyway, you have to have heaps of 
dice, so when your GM says; 'You get hit by the dragon.  Roll every dice you 
own and take that much damage', you can be sure of a most triumphant roll.
  (sorry, I've just seen Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure again) :)

Halcyon

'Your grave opens! Tonight the ravens shall croak over your head!'
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd