HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: sander@cwi.nl (Sander Plomp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: GMs: historical politics
Date: 25 Aug 92 14:50:50 GMT

millerl@wharton.upenn.edu writes:

> I'm looking more for advice on how to detail factions of NPCs, to
> describe NPC personality and loyalty and to keep track of all that stuff
> without going crazy pawing through notes or forgetting key information
> in the middle of a session.

> I make use of 3x5 cards with brief descriptions of NPCs, but don't know
> how to deal with factions. Should they have their own 3x5 tin box, or
> should they be filed alphabetically with all the other names? Anybody
> got other good ideas?

I have no experience with your type of campain but what about coloured
cards, one colour for each faction? Alternatively, you might put pins,
little stickers or markers of some kind on the cards. There are these
little pins to attach christmas cards to a piece of string that would
do very nice.

This way you can keep all cards in one box but still select on fraction
very easily.

Also cards with little tabs on them could be used, the top position
indicating the faction.

You could also design some kind of mechanical sorting mechanism, e.g.:
 - all cards not of faction 1 have a slid in the bottom left of the card.
 - all cards not of faction 2 have a slid in the bottom center of the card.
 - all cards not of faction 3 have a slid in the bottom right of the card.

Visually:

(ASCII PIC ALERT!!)

   +-------------+      +-------------+      +-------------+
   |faction 1 NPC|      |faction 2 NPC|      |faction 3 NPC|
   |             |      |             |      |             |
   |      _   _  |      |  _       _  |      |  _   _      |
   |     | | | | |      | | |     | | |      | | | | |     |
   +-----+ +-+ +-+      +-+ +-----+ +-+      +-+ +-+ +-----+

Now a simple device, a box with three movable rods at the bottom can be
made so that you can pop up any fraction:

  X+-------------+X
  X|             |X     X = box
  X|    cards    |X     O = movable rod
  X|  _   _   _  |X
  X| | | | | | | |X
  X+-+O+-+O+-+O+-+X
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Note that IBM got rich from devices like this.)
-- 
Sander Plomp                                        Internet: sander@cwi.nl
From: sl859@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Invisible Champions
Date: 27 Aug 92 20:18:11 MDT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Utah State University

> If the player insists that he is invisible to everything, then 
> tell him that that is unreasonable, and don't allow it. 

	Or you could say, after he spends another point on his powers,
that he pushed his powers soooooo far that he has become so invisible
to everything that he has ceased to exist!  You know he desolidifies
himself into nothing, not even a sentient thought since that might be 
detectable as well!!!  
						wReam...

P.S.  Just a thought...  It would be fun to see him squirm out of 
that one though!

Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:4839 rec.games.frp.advocacy:2002 rec.games.frp.dnd:3415
From: rnmg1200@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (A Lady and her Walrus)
Subject: Re: GURPS Will Rolls
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 19:55:37 GMT

In article <1992Sep2.154300.4550@ncar.ucar.edu> urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu (Art Urban (PROFS)) writes:
>In article <Btxu70.CLx@news.cso.uiuc.edu> rnmg1200@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (A Lady and her Walrus) writes:
>%Don't forget 3.) You have to make some will rolls at penalties or 4.) Will
>%rolls are also made to resist things like Telepathy and mentally-based magic.
>%In those cases, the higher your Will, the better the chance you have of 
>%beating the opposing roll, and just having a 14 will isn't going to do you
>%much good against a telepath with Mind Control 20, now is it?  And I believe
>
>Just thought I would post a reminder about Will rolls vs Magic. You mention
>the telepath with Mind Control 20, but if I remember correctly, you can never
>have better than an effective 16 vs living subjects, for resistance rolls.
>In the above example, the telepath would roll against a 16, not 20.

Even better.  Means that your Will of (what is it, IQ 14 plus +3 strong will =
17) of 17 is actually going to be one higher than his skill (unless they
included a rule that reduces it to a 16, as well; I haven't used Psionics
in a looooong time).  The end result is still the same; strong will is
very useful in that kind of situation.

Just offhand, does this apply to Sex Appeal, too?  I don't recall seeing a
rule which limits it, but it might be there.  Would really help next time I
see that gawd-awful character with the Sex Appeal of 25+ (I kid you not;
it was in a campaign where all characters were based on 250 points, and that
was all she really had.).

The Walrus


The Walrus
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRUN: A few observations
From: steiner@jupiter.cse.utoledo.edu (jason "Think!" steiner)
Date: 27 Aug 92 13:29:06 EST

burke@vxdesy.desy.de writes:
> 
> The dice system in SR is certainly unusual, and the progression is 
> highly non-linear (6 is twice as hard as 5, but 7 is the same as 
> 6).  However, on the whole I think it works rather well; it 
> certainly  defeats the kind of player who likes to work out the 
> mathematically  best option on a calculator, as it's just too 
> complicated. 

sorry, but anyone with a programmable calculator & stats book can
"work out the best option." *guilty grin* i know. i did it.

jason "call me a stats monger" steiner

--
`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`
`,` The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data  `,`
`,`  is Life -- The Player's Litany, from _The Long Run_ by D.K. Moran  `,`
`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,` steiner@jupiter.cse.utoledo.edu `,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 22:14:34 -0400 
From: William Henry Timmins <wt0b+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
 <4773@balrog.ctron.com><1992Aug19.030145.18318@tronsbox.xei.com><1992Aug20.162129.14994@samba.oit.unc.edu> <4801@balrog.ctron.com>
	<RANNOU.92Aug22093702@zuse.info.polymtl.ca>

>them. What I feel happened is "They worked so hard to solve the mystery,
>and failed, but since that would have ruined the game I changed a few
>thinghs to make it look like if they succeeded, and thus they did, and the
>result was an incredibly fun game, far better than would have been normally
>possible given the real solution to the mystery".
>
>At least you realize the loss of options. That's what's I find important in
>prepared games: they add diversity of events. Remember that if they managed

	Um, keep in mind this is ONE person's method. I DON'T counteract my
decisions if players can't keep up. They can and DO fail. (Especially in
my Crossroads campaign- which consisted mostly of running away from
horrendous threats) Altering things to suit people is independant of
improv or prep (in prep you could have 'If they figure out A, A did it.
If they figure out B, B did it')
	Keep in mind that changing the unrevealed story in improv can be good,
as you may not have recognized or taken things into account when you
were 'preparing' (to whatever extent you do so). It can be done badly
(as we've seen, most things can be done badly)

-Me
[Pooh Bear incarnate.]
<B1 c+ f+ w g+ k+ s+ r- e+ p>
From: mosson@reseau.Berkeley.EDU (Groupe ELEVES)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
Date: 26 Aug 92 14:31:04 GMT
Reply-To: mosson@reseau.Berkeley.EDU (Groupe ELEVES)


In article <1992Aug24.174509.5039@ncar.ucar.edu>,
urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu (Art Urban (PROFS)) writes:
> I'm both a player and GM, but I'll address this only as a player. I've played
> in improv games before, and quite frankly, ho-hum. If the GM doesn't have a
> plot for me/us to uncover and pursue, what makes that GM think I want to 
> spend a whole evening bouncing aimlessly in his/her world. In a word: BORING.
> I'm not spending my player time trying to help the GM get a clue on a good
> game plot; *that's the JOB of the GM*. If a GM has nothing prepared, then I
> say step down and let somebody else GM for a while.
> 
> Of *course* this is all personal taste, but I think it's easier for most GMs
> to be good GMs if they prepare an adventure. It feels good as a player to
> know that the GM cared enough about the player's enjoyment factor to take
> the time to insure its presence.

  I don't agree with you. I prefer (both as a player and as a GM) a
global plot, an event which requires involvement. Then the PCs decide
where they want to go, what they want to do. The GM is only there to
tell them what's happening around them. There's a sense of freedom that
is somewhat impaired in preplanned adventures.

  Of course, I play nearly exclusively in campaigns that run for a year
at the very least. The above chatter is less true for an evening's game,
but then again, I prefer long-run games...

							Redwing
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy,rec.games.frp.dnd
From: sboiarsk@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Sean L Boiarski)
Subject: Re: Alignments
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 04:46:30 GMT

IMHO, I think that the idea of "Alignments" is out-dated. The idea that you can
pigeon-hole characters any more than you can yourself is just pretty strange. 
After all, how many of us go around thinking that we are "evil"? Even Hitler 
probably didn't align himself as Lawful Evil, and to label him as such is 
understating the truth, that he was a twisted man, no matter what you call him.
I think that characters should be as complex as people are, you are not always 
good, always evil, or always anything. Each individual goes through periods of 
mild sadism, generocity, and down right neutrality, it is human nature. I 
understand that the alignment space on your character sheet gives every body a 
reference point when dealing with you, but it's silly to assume that there is 
an absolute, that a cleric can tell exactly what kind of person you are, or 
some such. The other characters, including NPC's, will quickly figure out your 
over-all driving forces, and will label you in their own ways.

Just a little flame :)

Sean L. Boiarski
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: burke@vxdesy.desy.de
Subject: Re: net.shadowrun.book
Organization: (DESY, Hamburg, Germany)
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 13:02:18 GMT

In article <1992Sep2.045709.19924@uwm.edu>, aragorn@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Strider) writes:
> Which ftp site did you attempt to connect to?  I could try from my side of
> the ocean seeing as you're going over/under/through the Atlantic.   ;-)

To quote from rec.games.frp.announce:

>Name:           Net.Shadowrun.Book
>Compiler:       Jerry Stratton <jerry@teetot.acusd.edu>
>Description:    _The Annual Neo-Anarchists' Guide to Everything Else_ is
>                coming your way soon. Jerry is looking for Regional
>                Descriptions (your home town, chummer!), New Spells,
>                Spirits, Cyber, Equipment, Skills, Adventures, Creatures.
>
>                [29-Jun-1992] The First and Second Annual Neo-Anarchists
>                Guide to Everything Else are now ready. You can get it
>                via ftp at usdcsv.acusd.edu (192.55.87.6) in the
>                directory rpg/shadowrun

I can connect to usdcsv.acusd.edu, but as I said before it won't let me log in.
Maybe it doesn't like addresses outside the USA?

e----><----p | Stephen Burke           | Internet: burke@vxdesy.desy.de
 H   H   1   | Gruppe FH1T (Liverpool) | DECnet:   vxdesy::burke (13313::burke)
 H   H  11   | DESY, Notkestrasse 85   | BITNET:   BURKE@DESYVAX or SB2@UKACRL
 HHHHH   1   | 2000 Hamburg 52         | JANET:    sb2@uk.ac.rl.ib
 H   H   1   | Germany                 | Phone:    + 49 40 8998 2282
 H   H 11111 | HERA, the world's largest electron microscope!
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: pvanheus@frodo.cs.uct.ac.za (P A van Heusden)
Subject: Dealing with the Uneducated
Organization: Computer Science Department, University of Cape Town
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 11:31:26 GMT

I am running a RuneQuest 3rd Edition (+all the nice mods from the RuneQuest
Digest) campaign set in Dark Ages Germany, AD 494. It relies heavily on
factual data about the Germanic belief system, the social structure, etc.
Which is fine by me, I love the subject. However, here we have the problem:
My players do not have a background in this subject matter. This has lead to
some alarming happenings, eg. a player asking, just as an aside "Do these 
people think dreams are important?", having players with no idea of base
social structure, etc. Has anyone else dealt with something like this? Any 
suggestions for how I can get everybody into the world, and the mythos,
in a reasonable time?

An unfortunate result has been that I feel as if I am having fun designing
the world, the players are wandering about it, and we never link up. If it
was up to them, Ragnarok would happen tommorrow!

Peter

P.S. I read in the RQ Digest that RuneQuest 4th Edition will have very small
changes: NPC sorcerors, and a bit of polish. And the RuneQuest 5th Ed will
have the significant ones. I feel that this is unnaceptable: It would make
4th edition a waste of time. People seem to know where the rule problems
are, eg. Fatigue, Free Int, etc. Why not go the whole hog in one step?

--
*******************************************************************************
Peter van Heusden              "Thou shalt not kill
CS2 lab, UCT, Cape Town               Kill kill kill!"
pvanheus@frodo.cs.uct.ac.za                    Ministry
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 20:59:06 EDT
From: <OPQ@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Battletech - is there a newsgroup???

I have been looking through Netnews and I can not find a separate news group
with only Battletech or a group which is mostly Battletech news. Please mail
me info on this subject.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy,rec.games.frp.dnd
From: silber@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Ami A. Silberman)
Subject: Re: Alignments
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Urbana, IL
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 18:48:14 GMT

One point that hasn't been raised yet here, in this incarnation of the 
alignment question, is the question of to whom the characters alignment
applies. If we assume that alignment is a short-hand for "general moral
stance", then to whom does the character apply this stance? Does he/she
apply it only to a small group, a tribe, a nation. How does she/he apply
it to "the other", does it apply to humans from other nations, other
religions, demi-humans, intelligent non-humans? Is it applied only to
those who can make moral choices? (For instance, Ogres are evil in AD&D.
In my opinion, they are contingently evil. They are the result of having
a self-centered mind and a powerful body. Imagine taking a bunch of two
year olds and giving them great physical power and leaving them alone.
I suppose that an ogre raised by elves might well be good, or that some
ogres might be more morally advanced and altruistic. Beholders, on the other
hand, might very well be intrinsically evil.)
-- 
ami silberman - janitor of lunacy
	silber@cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: sterling@crash.cts.com (Mike Sterling)
Subject: Re: CoC Campaigns (Was: Re: Call of Cthulhu Archives?)
Date: 29 Aug 92 00:54:38 GMT

I've found that it is possible to run a CoC campaign, but you need to be 
judicious about the types of encounters the players go up against.  If they 
encounter the Great Old Ones EVERY scenario, then they won't survive.  But if
you build up the campaign slowly, with the PC's encountering mostly cultist and
the weaker monsters (Deep Ones, etc.) then the survival rate is much greater
(As an added benefit, when they do encounter that Greater Old One, it's more
significant and the sense of terror is greater, the PC's have grown attached to their characters.)

For the most part, if you want to run a campaign of Call, then stay away from
most of the stuff that Chaosiam publishes, its far too deadly.
From: ghuber@gandalf.rutgers.edu (George Huber)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: RM: news from GenCon
Summary: news about new RM products from GenCon
Keywords: RM, GenCon
Date: 1 Sep 92 18:24:32 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


     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.

     _The_Alchemist_Companion_ was being sold at GenCon, and my friend picked
up a copy - his initial impression of the material is that it is well done.

     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).  

George Huber
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:4909 rec.games.frp.dnd:3448
From: jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us (Jeff Gostin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Net.Bardsong.Book V2.0, (2/2)
Date: 3 Sep 92 01:57:33 GMT
Organization: The little node that could...


     Index of ballads included in Volume Two of the Net.BardSong.Book as
recounted herein by thy humble servant, Daltrin the Cheerful.
(AKA: Jeff Gostin, jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us)

Morgan 54871 (ecz5tan@uclamvs.bitnet)
     The Ballad of Cannon Fodder Lot

Ian Brown (inb@creare.UUCP)
     The Knight from Days of Old

Rob Falk (z_falkrg@ccsvax.sfasu.edu)
     Dragon Road

Greg Henderson (gregory@ms.uky.edu)
     Untitled (Ode to Cthulu)
     Untitled (Another Ode to Cthulu)

Dave Lemkuil (COSC143U@Jetson.UH.EDU)
     The Archer

Robert W. Miracle (rwmira01@vlsi.ct.louisville.edu)
     The Ballad of Farmer Brad

Jesse Mundis (jesse@uts.amdahl.com)
     Elfin Wizard

Mike Phillips (msphil@wmvm1.cc.wm.edu)
     The Ride of Corryn the King

Kay Shapero (Kay.Shapero@f524.n102.z1.fidonet.org)
     From Under the Bed
     Who Lu?

P. K. Whitehurst (whitehur@calvin.Tymnet.COM)
     Home

Fraser Wilson (fraser@munta.cs.mu.OZ.AU)
     Untitled (Ballad of Sir Rufus)
From: z_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Son of the Munchkin Guide
Date: 1 Sep 92 00:00:59 CST
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc 
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <1992Aug30.205113.25449@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>, praxis@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Laura L Perkinson) writes:
> 	A few more additions (sorry some of them aren't AD&D; I'm
> trying to cross post...)
> 
> 		Favorite Music Group
> 	Men listen to Guns N Roses
> 	Roleplayers listen to Nine Inch Nails
> 	Loonies listen to They Might Be Giants
> 	Munchkins listen to whatever the real men tell them to

	Hmm, I guess I'm 'none of the above here' (Alan Parson Project and ELO)

> 
> 		Favorite Comic Book
> 	Men read Lobo
> 	Roleplayers read Sandman
> 	Loonies read The Heckler
> 	Munchkins read X-Force

	I read Lobo, Sandman, and Groo the Wanderer. As you can tell, I am very
screwed up :-)

> 		Favorite firearm
> 	Men use Colt M22 assault rifles
> 	Roleplayers use Ingram Smartgun SMG's
> 	Loonies use narcojects with hallucinogens, then randomly snipe
> 	Munchkins use Panther Assault Cannons

	No, loonies use thermonuclear weapons, and Real Men get a vintage M-60
with a couple of belts of ammo they never seem to need...

(one more category)

		Favorite Armor (High Tech)
	Real Men wear powered combat armor
	Roleplayers wear light body armor under clothing
	Loonies wear polka-dot boxer shorts
	Munchkins wear Alpha-Beta combos


Brandon Cope
From: canders@isr.harvard.edu (Carl E. Anderson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RM: news from GenCon
Keywords: RM, GenCon
Date: 2 Sep 92 15:48:51 GMT
Organization: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

In article <1992Sep1.204921.857@cbnewsh.cb.att.com> acd@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (andrew.c.durston) writes:
>	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.

	Contact the ICE email discussion group for this
<ice-l@gyaos.kpno.noao.edu> as I'm sure they'd be glad to contribute to and
coordinate a "wish list".

Cheers,
Carl

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl Edlund Anderson	            	"Hefi ek ok aldri sva reitt vapn
canders@isr.harvard.edu			at manni at eigi hafi vidh kommit."
OR
anderso2@husc.harvard.edu			- Skarphedhinn Njalsson 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: macgyver@turtle.cis.ohio-state.edu (MacGyver)
Subject: Re: SRUN: SRII (un)availability
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept. of Computer and Info. Science
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 01:34:55 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.172719.408@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> GAYNOR@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu (Jim Gaynor) writes:
>First off, I'd like to thank MacGyver for re-posting the ShadowTech
>errata.  I knew if I nagged him enough, he'd get around to it.  :-)

You're welcome. You're of course, very correct in the fact that if you
nag me enough, I'll do it. :) I was hoping someone else would re-post it,
seeing that this is my final week and all...

>According to Pete, there have been some problems with the binding of
>the first printing of Shadowrun II.  Bad enough that some folks were
>going back to the FASA booth at GenCon to bitch, and that FASA has
>sent their remaining stock back to the printers.

hmm... I'll have to talk to FASA and see what's the deal on this..
Stay tune for more info..

				Mac




-- 
Wilson MacGyver                      |"I do like a road, because you can be 
Internet:macgyver@cis.ohio-state.edu | always wondering what is at the end
=====================================| of it."
Disclaimer:All opinions are mine only|=======================================
From: rnmg1200@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (A Lady and her Walrus)
Subject: Re: GURPS Will Rolls
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 06:32:58 GMT

In article <BtxpGu.KDu@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> deitrich@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Dave Deitrich) writes:
>Sorry if this is an FAQ...
>
>In the GURPS Basic Set (don't remember the exact page) it flatly states that
>any will roll greater than a 14 is an automatic failure.  Yet, in a lot of
>the sample characters me and my friends have seen we find things like IQ 15
>and Strong Will +3.  Isn't this a waste of points?

Depends on your definition of a "waste of points."

>The only two things I can think of are 1.) the guys at SJG are rushed/busy/
>lazy, or 2.) there was an errata published somewhere that I missed.

Don't forget 3.) You have to make some will rolls at penalties or 4.) Will
rolls are also made to resist things like Telepathy and mentally-based magic.
In those cases, the higher your Will, the better the chance you have of 
beating the opposing roll, and just having a 14 will isn't going to do you
much good against a telepath with Mind Control 20, now is it?  And I believe
Will is also used to resist more mundane things like Sex Appeal, which 
makes it useful for somebody who has to worry about that often.  (Who this
refers to  I've no idea; I've certainly never had to worry about it, but then
my wife might have something to with that. :))

The Walrus

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc