HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: seawasp+@pitt.edu (Ryk E Spoor)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Ad&d: creatures hit by magic
Date: 9 Apr 92 14:23:56 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <1992Apr8.143451.3668@iscsvax.uni.edu> boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:
>In article <1992Apr3.185809.6515@rice.edu>, stevens@horta.rice.edu (Richard Stevens) writes:
>> Another quiestion:
>>   If a chracter wearing a girdle of giant strength throws a boulder at a
>> were-creature, will that creature take damage?  

	Depends on how cruel I'm feeling. Interpreting the rules strictly, I'd
say NO.
	In order to kill a were-creature, or other thing hit only by magic,
you have to use specific methods to kill them. They don't drown, they don't
get killed by falling rock (although they might get trapped under it), they
aren't hurt by normal lightning, they walk through ordinary fire. Why do you
think parties in my world don't usually go up against such things when they
are low level? It's like fighting the goddam Terminator.
	Now, if you're wearing the girdle of Giant Strength and you PUNCH
the werewolf, that's different; you are surrounded by and permeated with
the mystic energies from the girdle. You ARE a magic weapon!

                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
From: nexus@karnak.cgd.ucar.edu (Jeff Berry)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Swashbucklers vs. Knights in Armour, was: GM's Pain
Date: 14 Apr 92 15:24:11 GMT
Organization: Climate and Global Dynamics Division/NCAR, Boulder, CO

In article <moonman.703233174@camelot> moonman@camelot.bradley.edu (Craig Levin) writes:
>        Potentially heretical opinion: 
>
>	Fencing weapons and their antecedents-the smallsword and the
>rapier-would be very inappropriate for use versus an armoured
>opponent. The way that a fencing weapon is built is too frail for
>defense against the weapons used by said armored opponent-like a
>battle-axe-and its method of use-the direct thrust-leaves the warrior
>open to attack on his or her arms by the opponent. Keep swashbuckling
>restricted to a game world where armor has largely gone the way of the
>dinosaur, and guns aren't too dependable yet, IMO.
>Craig\The Moonman\Levin       Lt. Pedro de Alcazar, RN (Portugal)

OK, just a few comments here on what appear to be common misconceptions,


point a)  Rapier and Smallsword _are_ fencing weapons.  Fencing is derived
	from defence, and these were the weapons most commonly used.

point b) foils, epees(in the modern sense, not the original sense), and the
	modern fencing sabre are practice weapons.  A foiled weapon, from
  	which we get the word foil, is a weapon which has been purposely
	blunted or tipped so as to reduce the chance of injury.  Thus,
	someone who is attempting to cause injury with such a weapon is working
	at cross purposes.  

point c) all modern fencing weapons and styles (speaking now of competition
	type fencing) were originally intended to train for certain weapons.
	
What this means is: fencing weapons can stand up to attacks by substantially
heavier weapons, and can, quite probably penetrate fairly heavy armor.
Further, a well trained fencer is much less likley to be hit in the arms
than the battle-axe wielding warrior.  
	Just to continue and approach pedantry, any weapon which stands up to
repeated abuse (read blocking) will break though, and fencing weapons, which are
designed mostly to deflect thrusts, will probably break faster.  This is why,
historically, a fencer would almost invariably fight with two objects, the off
hand holding anything from a buckler to a sturdy dagger to a heavy cloak.

Hmm, the above sort of reads like a sermon from on high, well then

Let us pray, Amen.


badger                                      Don Alexandre Lerot d'Avigne
Jeff Berry                                  Seneschal of Caer Galen, Outlands
               nexus@ncar.ucar.edu
NCAR doesn't tell me what to think, and I return the favor.
"You're a notch and I'm a legend"-------Alice Cooper
"You're still doing the things that I gave up years ago.."-----Lou Reed
From: robert@isgtec.com (Robert Osborne)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Stupid PC Tricks
Date: 14 Apr 92 22:57:14 GMT

cripe@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Richard Cripe) writes:
> I was running a Top Secret...

Speaking of Top Secret...

I ran a short campaign (aside: Top Secret is a hard campaign to run
with very imaginative people who all have real weaponry and martial
arts experience;  I kept hearing "Shit if *I* could hit him at that
distance my assassin, Bruce Bond certainly could." :-) where the
PC's invaded a mansion.   Early on they found a weapon cache and
stocked up on, among other things, grenades.

Soon they ran into a serious fire fight and came up with a great
scheme of opening up their centre to allow the enemies to penetrate
their defenses and leaving them in a horrible mess.  BUT they had
the grenades so when the enemy penetrated the would all throw them
out a the same time,  cutting their enemies to ribbons.

All went as planned until they tossed out the grenades and they all
sort of fizzled and popped.  Of course they then remembered that
grenades are never shipped with explosives...

I think one survived the ensuing shoot-out :-)

Rob.
--
Robert A. Osborne   ...!uunet.ca!isgtec!robert or robert@isgtec.com
From: rwallace@unix1.tcd.ie (russell wallace)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: GURPS: UlTRA Tech ?= Ultra Death??
Keywords: GURPS DEATH ULTRA
Date: 8 Apr 92 14:00:18 GMT
Organization: Trinity College, Dublin

In <rsuelINNcgl@agate.berkeley.edu> labc-4ac@web-2e.berkeley.edu writes:

>I was playing inan extensive GURPS Supers/Ulta Tech game and we came accross
>an interesting problem with Ultra Tech, and to a lesser extent Supers.  With
>the amazingly HUGE numbers of dice involved in damage (20D6 dino-lasers) and
>the huge DR's of the super high tech armor, for us a hit was either bounced
>by armor, or fried the character.  The shot either didn't penetrate the armor
>or it penetrated with 10+ hitd and toasted the PC.  What ever happened to
>injury's??  Have other people had this problem?

Actually the effects of all weapons in all GURPS genres that I know of
have been drastically understated in an attempt to avoid this (try
shooting a HT 10 GURPS character in the chest with a 7.62mm round at
close range; all that'll happen is that he'll lose a few "hit points".
Try doing the same to a person in real life ...). Whether this is a good
thing or not is a matter of taste ... I personally think it isn't, and
my group uses a modified combat system based on hit locations ... the
idea is that whatever location gets hit is disabled, so if you get hit
in the head you're dead, if you get hit in the arm you can't use that
arm for a couple of weeks etc. (Of course if you get hit over the head
with a baseball bat you probably only get stunned).

Anyway the effect you describe is perfectly reasonable and realistic
(imagine how you'd feel scoring a direct hit on someone with a bloody
great laser gun and having him only suffer a minor burn) even though SJG
have gone to such lengths to avoid it as to turn the Ultra-Tech
sourcebook into a joke.

--
"To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem"
Russell Wallace, Trinity College, Dublin
rwallace@unix1.tcd.ie
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: laurence@cco.caltech.edu (Dustin Lee Laurence)
Subject: Re: CHAMP: Racial Packages: Ripoff?
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 00:29:42 GMT

cleggp@aix.rpi.edu (Paul Jason Clegg) writes:

[Fact that you pay double for stats over the limit anyway]

>What's the difference?  And if you DON'T buy your strength (or whatever you've
>improved) up, it's basically a waste of points, yes?

That is the difference.  That race is supposed to have a high strength,
so if you don't take it you have wasted some points.  On the other
hand, they are already spent, so you might as well raise the strength
above the max.

The point is, you have an incentive to play a high strength character
if it comes from a high strength race.  That seems good to me.

I only use packages (when I use them at all) for the stats, advantages,
and disadvantages.  I don't use them for packages of skills.  If I
wanted classes, I wouldn't play hero.


-- 
Dustin Laurence            "Someone please stop me, before I net again."

laurence@alice.wonderland.caltech.edu
From: jason@pawnee.ugrad.ee.ufl.edu (Jason Griggs)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: HERO New Magic System advice wanted
Keywords: Hero
Date: 14 Apr 92 20:01:30 GMT
Organization: UF EE Department

In article <1992Apr13.004337.14869@cco.caltech.edu>, laurence@cco.caltech.edu (Dustin Lee Laurence) writes:
|> jik20815@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (John Iv Kovacik) writes:
|> 
|> >Characters must also have an endurance reserve to power all the spells they
|> >cast, and the recover _must_ be bought down on the time chart (minimum 5 min).
|> 
|> Probably also a good idea to reduce the efficiency of end reserves.
|> I remember someone had a set of house-rules which made the cost
|> 1pt for 4 end, and 1 per rec for the reserve.  That's the way I'd
|> probably do it.
|> 
   Actually, if you allow mages the ability to make a magic item that acts as
an END reserve, then any who don't will be in pretty bad shape.  Remember that
even though a VPP limits the max active pts. of any one spell, with enough
limitations the mage can have many spells running simultaneously (and magic
pools generally have lots of limitations).  All those spells get quite taxing
on END (our GM didn't allow 0END magic) and it's always nice if you get knocked
unconcious to wake up with the ability to throw up a force wall.  Depending on
the campaign the limits placed on magic item construction can easily balance
all this.
From: yingst@skyblu.ccit.arizona.edu (JIM YINGST)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: GURPS combat time.
Date: 13 Apr 92 01:19:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: skyblu.12APR199218192733
Distribution: world,local
Organization: University of Arizona
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <ELK.92Apr10103952@cblpo.att.com>, elk@cblpo.att.com (elk) writes...

[stuff deleted]

>The most curious thing about the quick contest rules are this notion
>of a skills race.  See, the qc odds chart balances out about the same
>for any given skill range.  That is, say your attack is a 16 and your
>opponent's defense is the same.  You've got a 50% chance of hitting.
>If the skills are both at 12, you've still got about a 50% chance of
>hitting -- it's all relative.

Yes, but the problem is that as you increment your skills, parry and block
go up only half as fast as the attack skills - so even if attack and defense
are well balanced at one point, they become unbalanced as characters improve.

Jim Yingst

yingst@ccit.arizona.edu
From: sem@hpcndaw.CND.HP.COM (Steve Mullins)
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 19:21:39 GMT
Subject: GURPS combat time.
Organization: HP Colorado Networks Division
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp

Does anyone have any ideas for how to lengthen the simulated time for
GURPS combat, so that we end up with more believable, and colorful,
results?

My problem is that when the group I GM goes into "combat-mode" we all
tend to make the best tactical decisions, and optimize our maneuvers
every turn.  The result is a 12 second battle that probably would have
lasted longer in real life (and contained much less conversation!).  The
shortness of battles then trains the players to optimize their maneuvers
even more, since they learn that with such quick combat it becomes
extremely important to evaluate and close as quickly as possible if
you're going to join the fray in time to help your comrades ...

One dissatisfaction with these intense bursts of combat, is that there's
realistically no time for much conversation, or creative action.  I
refuse to believe that an offer of parley can be given, digested by the
opponent, accepted, and communicated in 1-3 seconds.  (It takes 3
seconds just to say this sentence!)  The opponent *can* be rendered
unconscious in this time, however!  Also, perhaps it's realistic to
allow attacks against an opponent every second, but to do this more than
2 or 3 times in a row seems hyperenergetic to me -- do fighters *really*
do 5 blows in 5 seconds?  10 in 10?  I agree that dropping and picking
up your weapon while squared off pretty much makes you toast, but if
you're not engaged, and in the center of the party, the lost 3 seconds
shouldn't have much effect on your ability to join the fray before it's
over.

One viewpoint is to say that it's a matter of role-playing better.  I've
often admonished everyone (including myself) to intersperse a lot of
Free Actions between maneuvers -- especially after striking the fatal
blow -- for "evaluation", but this has not been very effective:
everyone gets too excited, the use of the turn is too crucial to
success, and I end up having to confront (or be confonted by) the
players too much.

A combat variation we tried was to subtract 1 from skill for each
consecutive blow, and restore one for each non-Move/Attack.  The intent
was to decrease the average number of blows per second, and thus extend
the number of turns used for the combat.  (What actually happened was
that the fighters simply accepted the accumulating penalty for about 5
turns before "resting."  Perhaps it would have been more effective to
levy the penalty against *damage* as well ...)

Any suggestions?

St. Mullins
From: cms@mse.cmu.edu (Curtis M Scott)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: GURPS Spellcasting question
Date: 13 Apr 92 19:13:18 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.1992Apr13.191318.194622
Organization: CMU/SEI Master of Software Engineering Program

In article <1992Apr10.061712.18320@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> npb41275@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Noah Ban) writes:
|>
|>  I have a question about Spell-casting in GURPS.  Some non-Enchantment
|> spells need an outrageous amount of mana to cast--e.g. Resurrection (300!).
|> 
|>Well, you get the picture.  My questions is, is there any way I'm missing
|>for a single PC to cast powerful spells like that, no even after years
|>of learning the spell?  What about spells with 30-50 mana cost or so?

What about manastones? They are basically batteries which can be created
to hold power. As I recall, it gets harder to construct large manastones
(basically the problem of cumulative probabilities of failure), but in
principle such stones could be made available (particularly to NPCs, although
they should be carefully smashed before the PCs get their talons into them).

Curtis
From: fts5792@zeus.tamu.edu (SRONCE, FRANK T)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Inspired character names
Date: 16 Apr 92 07:06:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Apr15.183121.6660@apollo.hp.com>, johnf@apollo.hp.com (John Francis) writes...
>In article <15Apr92065528@miracle.com> sue%miracle@merk.com (The Dragon Queen) writes:
>>Well, one more thread can't hurt..... :-)
>>
>>Here's a question:  What's the silliest or most unusual name you've
>>ever given a character?
>>

It wasn't mine, but a long time ago in an AD&D campain in Virginia, we had an
assassin named Ugg.

His slogan? "My victims die with my name on their lips!"
He stabs an orc. Orc: "Ugh!" (dies)

Hm... and there was Stalston Kneebreaker... and Gunter Falcotta (a 2nd level
mage- running gag: NPCs who responded "Not THE Gunter Falcotta!")

Major Kiz
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: vehaag@crocus.waterloo.edu (Viktor Haag)
Subject: Re: Star Trek RPG
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 15:03:14 GMT

In article <92101.103939BJP108@psuvm.psu.edu> Brian Panulla <BJP108@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>
>I still think the combat system was lousy, though... $-)~

Perhaps clumsy is a better word for it, maybe, but you are right.

I am preparing to run a number of ST:TNG adventures this summer, and I will
be using an only slightly altered version of the James Bond RPG rules!
All I did was change the abilities available and add a few skills (as well as
remove some of the inappropriate ones) with new averagings and base times and
away we go.  To be fair I will also have to come up with vehicle stats for
ST:TNG vehicles, and weapon stats for phasers, disrupters and nerual whips, but
this is the work of a few minutes, nothing more.  Converting the stats from
the NG sourcebook by FASA is easy, and once I get the NG Tech Manual I
will be completely outfitted.

The one stumbling peg I will have, I think, is the psionics that the Betazoids
and a few other races seem to have, but I think that I will merely treat those
like information skills.  Nobody has yet evidenced ESP powers that were active
on material, unless those powers were so Godlike as to be above the rules
anyway (the Traveller, par exemple, or the funny race that is evolving to
a new level of energy beings).



-- 
Viktor Haag 
		            |  "We are not thugs.  We are not fanatics.
vehaag@crocus.uwaterloo.ca  |   We are vitamin supplements to justice."   
viktor@watdcs.uwaterloo.ca  |				: a Selector
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: nathan engle <nengle@copper.ucs.indiana.edu>
Subject: Re: Inspired character names
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 10:45:08 -0500

From article <15Apr92065528@miracle.com>, by sue%miracle@merk.com
(The Dragon Queen):
> Well, one more thread can't hurt..... :-)
> 
> Here's a question:  What's the silliest or most unusual name you've
> ever given a character?

    A player in one of my old D&D campaigns had a dwarven fighter named
"Stumpy's Pizza". He was having trouble thinking of names, so he started
flipping through the yellow pages. The rest, as they say, is history...

-- 
Nathan Engle             Software Juggler
Indiana University       Dept of Psychology
nengle@copper.ucs.indiana.edu
From: gdm7238@zeus.tamu.edu (MCBRIDE, GARY DEAN)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: cranking the old rumor mill
Keywords: seven days late...
Date: 8 Apr 92 23:58:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

Hey kids!  You'll never guess what just hit the presses.  I have it on good
authority that Gary Gygax is trying to win back the copyright to the AD&D 
system.  He claims that since he was seminal and in his words "instrumental"
in bringing the system into existence that it is his privilege to use the
copyright and no others beside his, thus challenging TSR's ownership.  If
he can pull it off, it'll be worth a bundle and might ruin TSR.  Dragon
magazine will have an editorial about it in their May issue.

Gary McBride
From: brichard@Bonnie.ICS.UCI.EDU
Subject: Deities&Demi-Gods/Fiend Folio
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Date: 15 Apr 92 23:34:55 GMT

  I have both books in fine condition.  I was wondering what a fair price to
ask for both of them would be...

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the time,

brichard@bonnie.ics.uci.edu
From: akuma@netcom.com (Steven E Barnes)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: CHAMP:  Racial Packages:  Ripoff?
Date: 16 Apr 92 07:41:57 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.vvzjlwg.akuma
 <54683@hydra.gatech.EDU> <8x0t-6k@rpi.edu>
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)


>Is it me or are Racial Packages totally bogus when it comes to increasing
>maximum characteristics values?  I mean, you can pay points equal to the
>value of the characteristic to increase the maxima.  This means you don't
>have to pay double up until that point.  But you don't get any points out
>of it, so when you DO get to that point, you still have to pay the points to
>get there.  What's the difference between the two following options:

I've noticed the same thing.  Keep in mind that you get some free points
in the form of package deal discounts, the ability to justify non-human
abilities (like UV vision), and some semi-spurious disadvantages like
"Distinctive looks - Elf".  Depending on your accounting methods, the
package deal may also allow you to exceed any campaign based limits on
disads.  Oops, just noticed that max chararcteristic values do not
count towards the package bonus.

>...Paul

-steve
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: alongley@cape.UWaterloo.ca (Allan Longley)
Subject: Re: ADND2: Help with Dual-Class
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 03:29:19 GMT

In article <1992Apr4.205331.27142@nevada.edu> wildcard@nevada.edu 
( WildCard !!) writes:

>My problem:
>	There is a character who wishes to be dual-classed.  He has all the
>	requirements met, but I don't understand something.  It says in the
>	PHB that duals only get their hit points and statistics carried over.
>	What about weapon and non-weapon proficiencies? 

You've missed something that will help here.  For abilities that overlap,
the character uses the better of the two.  So, for initial non-weapon
proficienies (NWP), if the second class had more initial NWP then the
character would gain the extra NWP, but could only take these extra
proficiencies from the catagories appropriate to the new class.  For
example, say the first class recieved 3 NWP and the new class got 4 NWP,
then the character would get 1 more NWP.  This is also important for things
like THAC0, the better THAC0 is used -- which THAC0 this is may change with
level increases in the second class.  Also for spells, for example, a bard 
switching to a mage would not be able to cast an extra first level spell
until (s)he had more first level slots through mage advancement than bard
advancement.  This rule (which is in the PH) sorts out a lot of the
dual-classed headaches.  Hope this helps.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allan Longley, University of Waterloo, Department of Chemical Engineering
e-mail: alongley@cape.uwaterloo.ca
voice: (519) 885-1211 x3816		You need pretty amazing scores
home: (519) 746-5747			though.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: khise@caravan.ksu.ksu.edu (Martin Andrew Shobe)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: CHAMPS: question on turn sequencing
Date: 6 Apr 1992 17:56:47 -0500
Organization: Kansas State University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: caravan.ksu.ksu.edu


In article <1992Apr6.171316.15991@noose.ecn.purdue.edu>, dunning@chainsaw.ecn.purdue.edu (GALACTIC COMMANDER) writes:
>In article <ro3ojINNnvp@festus.ksu.ksu.edu> khise@festus.ksu.ksu.edu (Martin Andrew Shobe) writes:
>>			[stuff deleted]
>>
>>	No it doesn't.  She can always abort her next action to continue
>>dodging.  Also, she can hold action to avoid having to abort in the first
>>place.  
>>	
>>	If you allow the dodge to continue someone with Martial Dodge becomes
>>nearly unhittable (unless the attack is area affect.).  And, they only give up 
>>half thier attacks to stay that way all the time.  Which is really silly.
>>
>>Khise@matt.ksu.ksu.edu
>
>Any self-respecting MA that gives up half her actions is the biggest
>fool in the universe.  For a minor +5 DCV (assuming M. Dodge) you just
>lost 1/2 of your phases.  I would prefer to take those 30 points and buy
>+6 all combat DCV only.  More effective as you get these levels even
>while attacking.  Now you still get your 3 attacks, but you just ALOT
>harder to hit.  Even on the phases I attack I am still +6 DCV (really
>nice).
>
And, you have spent 26 more points for a +1 to DCV.  Add twenty points to your
SPD, and spend the other six points on your martial arts skill (+2 to MA).  
And you can now have a +7 DCV while still getting off 2 1/2 attacks per turn.
With a +4 DCV in the segments when you attack.  (But only after your attack 
has gone off.  Before your attack, your DCV that segment is still +7).

>With these rules being a MA would really suck.
>
>
>--
>
>-----------------------------\_/-----------------------------
> Elwood H Dunning III         |     I am a pirate, I don't
>  GALACTIC COMMANDER          |           DO decency!!

Khise@matt.ksu.ksu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp