HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: wolf@cheshire.oxy.edu (Clinton Richard Wolf)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: Is Tharkold invading Unix now?!?
Date: 2 Sep 92 21:48:59 GMT
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041 USA.

In article <gatemail1.0b24510463511561@morticia> malloy@nprdc.navy.mil (Sean Malloy) writes:
>On Sep 2,  8:51am, Stephen Smoogen wrote:
>> I think a little work on all the axiom sheets should occur. I think
>> that the technological one is ok (don't shoot me Sean... please)
>
>I can't believe that you would think I would shoot you; I'm appalled.
>Shooting you doesn't have enough artistry; even careful choice of
>targets doesn't give you enough control over the damage to let others
>have any real appreciation of the process. Breaking out pliers,
>miniature flensing knives, and various scarifactors and doing a
>bas-relief of the Pieta in keloid tissue on your back -- now _that's_
>artistry.
>
>-- 
 Woo. I think maybe Tharkoldu deckers have planted virtual stelae on the Use-
net, and Sean has transformed to Tharkold reality (and aesthetics!). Then ag-
ain, Sean could BE a tharkoldu, for all we know, or maybe a Flenser has us-
urped his body?!? Have we ever seen each other face-to-face?!? We could all
be Tharkoldu, or Edeinos, or... HA HA HA! Trust NO ONE!!!! (gibber... froth...)

 On a related note...

 The L.A. Times had an article yesterday (with pictures!) which talked about
a group of men and women on the Venice Beach boardwalk who make their living
by performing painful and gruesome spectacles before watching crowds, such as
writhing face down on broken glass, piercing themselves with lawn darts, or
(my personal favorite) lifting various heavy objects with wires sewn into their
nipples, testicles, etc. ...

 Hey, is that a storm I see building over Downtown? :)
From: jogle@aoc.nrao.edu (Ks. Jim)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: Re:  Plans for people's cosmverses...
Date: 3 Sep 92 21:51:33 GMT
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b

Clint wants to know:

> In article <> oakes@jupiter.nmt.edu (David Oakes) writes:

> >Michael Gersten(michael@stb.info.com) dares:
> > ! 10. Western
> > ! 	as soon as I can figure out where they should land.

> >(i know i am going to hate myself in the morning, but...)
> >west of China, just past the Himalayas, maybe a bit south
> >
> >dave "i dont use smileys, figure it out for yourself" oakes
> 
>  I've been trying to figure this out since yesterday, and still have no clue.
> India? Afghanistan? Why drop a Western cosm there? Why the smileys? 

Why Clint, its so obvious!  If you drop a Western realm in India you
get to have Cowboys vs. Indians....  

Kansas Jim (jogle@aoc.nrao.edu)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: wolf@cheshire.oxy.edu (Clinton Richard Wolf)
Subject: The Strike Maneuver 
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041 USA.
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 19:44:55 GMT

In article <gatemail1.0b244919169615@morticia> cpearce%nemesis@nemesis.acs.unt.edu (Chris Pearce) writes:
>
>Right. If all Martial Artists have the ability to Strike (STR + 2) damage,
>then Strike becomes a meaningless manuever. But I think this interpretation
>requires the least change to existing rules, which are broke.
>
 Actually, the way I always figured it was that unless you had the Strike man-
euver (or something equivalent, like Spring Attack) you can't use your Martial
Arts skill and damage in a Punch attack. That's why I figure it's there, and
it's the first maneuver for styles that use it... ya gotta break that board
before you can begin breaking people! :)

Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim) <jogle@aoc.nrao.edu>
Subject: Re: another Nippon goof?
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 12:57:42 GMT

Alix writes:

> > I've always assumed that the Strike was the basic martial arts attack
> > maneuver and all it does is allows you to get the +2 damage bonus that
> > Martial Arts gives you anyway (why they bothered making it a maneuver
> > and why some styles don't get it but get the +2 damage modifier anyway
> > kind of invalidates the idea but it was the best I came up with).
> > 
> I know, that's the problem with assuming that it is the basic maneuver. So
> if it isn't, then what can it be?
> I thought that it might just be a +3, or something (haven't really decided).
> The troube (the other trouble) is that the Block/Strike is a combination of
> the two (I think so anyway?), which lends to it being the basic +2.
> 
> Well I'm open to any suggestions, someone must play it as something.

I just remembered what it was I decided that Strike does for you - it
allows you to use your Martial Arts as a killing attack.  In other
words, once you've learned Strike your attacks are not considered stun
attacks and the wound level is not reduced by one.

Kansas Jim (jogle@aoc.nrao.edu)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Ville Lavonius <lavonius@cc.helsinki.fi>
Subject: Re: GenCon Report (Incredibly long, thousands of spoilers)
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 20:35:11 GMT

About five minutes ago I managed to scribble:

> Wow, like, mega-class thanks...
> <Me, incoherent ?>

Ugh, that was to be a personal reply. Apologies all around. I'll retreat
to bed now.
-- 
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
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: smooge@jupiter.nmt.edu (Stephen Smoogen)
Subject: Re: Axioms -- another log on the fire
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 20:34:02 GMT


On Sep 2,  8:51am, Stephen Smoogen wrote:
> I think a little work on all the axiom sheets should occur. I think
> that the technological one is ok (don't shoot me Sean... please)

Sean Malloy replies:

>I can't believe that you would think I would shoot you; I'm appalled.
>Shooting you doesn't have enough artistry; even careful choice of
>targets doesn't give you enough control over the damage to let others
>have any real appreciation of the process. Breaking out pliers,
>miniature flensing knives, and various scarifactors and doing a
>bas-relief of the Pieta in keloid tissue on your back -- now _that's_
>artistry.

Stephen SMOOGEN gets back from classes and replies:

I see you've never used a pump air pellet gun. You can choose the
amount of pressure to be applied to the target. By using phosphor
pellets coated with gel you can have a slow agonizing torture that is
fun for the family for hours.

Of course... with knives or even electrified needles the amount of
pleasure/pain one can do to a body is very significant. I personally
prefer a bas relief of an Escher in my chest. This way if I go mad
from the pain I will still understand and enjoy the art.

BTW.. I have found pliers to be a bit crude in tearing of flesh. It
ends up being an all or none process. I would use needle nose pliers
in conjuction of a high temperture cutting torch. Lasers don't give
the proper amount of pain.

remember kids... if you get tortured and live.. critique (sp) the
torture that was done to you. I would rather be tortured by an artist
than by some idiot with a car battery :)

the SMooGE

ps Sean you shouldn't visit LA for some time... it seems to of had a
bad effect on you :)

Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: oakes@jupiter.nmt.edu (David Oakes)
Subject: Re: the reco problem
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 18:57:07 GMT

[chris "i can quote higher than you can" pierce reco bonus deleted]

could you quote book and page on this "lower axiom = easier reco" rule

i know that there is a penalty for rule of 4 disco,
but i remember nothing about making it easier (Eo1 OR 4)

dave "dont want to get cheated out of my munchkinism" oakes
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: oakes@jupiter.nmt.edu (David Oakes)
Subject: Re:  GenCon Report (Incredibly long, thousands of spoilers)
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 19:11:06 GMT

Kansas Jim (jogle@aoc.nrao.edu) patronizes:
 ! Dave Oakes writes:
 ! 
 ! >  ! The Pocket Dimensions SB will contain a Toon cosm.
 ! > 
 ! > oh well, there goes my last chance at fame
 ! > (and i know it is going to be some sleazy joke cosm, like one in Iverse -
 ! >  am i the only one who thinks Toons can be done right, and done well?)
 ! 
 ! Yes, you are the only one.  8-)

you be quiet, or i will tell them about the animals
(you just have no sense of humor...)

 ! A Toon pocket realm will probably end up being something like Toontown
 ! out of Roger Rabbit.  I personally don't really care to see it, but
 ! since Torg is supposed to be a generic kind of system they were going
 ! to have to cover it sooner or later....

nah, Toontown is a Toon/Nile mixed zone, as if you could tell the difference...

the best Toon cosm would be able to simulate everything from classic WB
to R&B to anime to Cool World, and more
(of course i say this only because MY cosm does so)

dave "yes im bitter. im egotistical too. who cares?" oakes
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Robert Link <link@lcopt.physics.fsu.edu>
Subject: ridiculous names
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 23:13:42 GMT

	On a related subject, I'm going through  the _Possibility
	Wars_ novels and doing up a timeline. And I'm also listing
	all the stated abilities of Thratchen and Katrina Tovarish
	(which, incidentally, I'm pretty sure is a totally ridic-
	ulous name). . . .

  "Tovarish" is Russian for "comerade" (in the Communist Party sense).  Whether
or not that makes it ridiculous is open to interpretation, but it sure doesn't
translate well, does it?

	
	
-rpl

Internet:		link@lcopt.physics.fsu.edu
Snail-net:	        PO Box 61519
			Tally, FL 

"Abstinence is a good thing, if practiced in moderation."
From: link@lcopt.physics.fsu.edu (Robert Link)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: Re: Stuff more rediculous than the Gravitic Ray Gun
Date: 2 Sep 92 16:34:07 GMT
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b


	> 
	> Nippon Tech - Like CE there's martial arts, and having the financial
	> backing of a mega-corp (Mega Corp CEO template) can make a person
	> really dangerous ("Arrange for a wing of our corp's attack helicopters
	> to be available for this mission I'm going on."  "Yes sir!")
	> 
	
	I'v been waiting for our Mega-corp CEO to die by assaination, so I can
	step in. Do you realize how much power 1 billon yen gives one person.
	Your example above is only the tip of the iceberg. Powerful people
	often have powerful friends (and enemies too), who can help with other
	powerful connections. Give me a martial artist CEO, with Science
	and a tech axiom of 24 any day. At that level some Nile powers can
	be replicated with only Science and the money to finance them.
	

  It gets even better.  Using the Nippon sourcebook's Business rules, a Mega-
corp CEO can evolve an arbitrarily high amount of wealth in a fairly short
amount of time (i.e. less than a year).  
  And I've been wasting all this time studying physics. . .

-rpl

Internet:		link@lcopt.physics.fsu.edu
Snail-net:	        PO Box 61519
			Tally, FL 

"Abstinence is a good thing, if practiced in moderation."
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: cpearce%nemesis@nemesis.acs.unt.edu (Chris Pearce)
Subject: Reco
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 17:00:14 GMT

>> Example: Taztor, an Edeinos optant, uses a gravitic ray in the LL. He discos.
>> His reconnection chance is 25 + (30-7) = 48. The tool's tech is higher
>> than Taztor's Tech, therefore the roll is penalized.

> a quibble - the base difficulty for an edeinos optant in the ll would be
> zero, not 25. he'll still take a hefty penalty from the tech difference,
> though.

Oops. Yah, I was just in blind copy-paste mode. I wanted to use Taztor to
make the example up close and personal for Clint and, as I don't have
a reco chart handy, just used the same number without thinking.
 
> rp


-- 
Chris Pearce -- cpearce@nemesis.acs.unt.edu
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: cpearce%nemesis@nemesis.acs.unt.edu (Chris Pearce)
Subject: Re: Question, and toons.
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 00:42:38 GMT

> If you have 500 years to prepare for an invasion, or even 50 to 200 years,  
> and you can produce, say, one spare stelae a week, thats 50 stelae a year,  
> or 500 stelae in one decade. If you know that you are invading a world that  
> is going to be a problem, why not first stockpile all the stelae you need, an
>  when you land, you just poof the land automatically by advancement, and  
> nothing can stop you (you don't waste time waiting for the next stelae to be  
> placed while fighting a border war)

> So are the high lords totally stupid or what?

Maybe their positions of power are dependent upon keeping their DDs fed.
If they are on a subjugated cosm, eventually the PP energy will stop
flowing in, and their DDs will start to want to expand. 

I guess owning a DD is a lot like owning a credit card -- it can let you
do a lot, but to keep using it, you've got to keep up the minimum payments.

Also, once they find a cosm, they probably want to establish a foothold
rather than risk losing it entirely to another High Lord.

> 		Michael--
> 		Michael Gersten		michael@stb.info.com

-- 
Chris Pearce -- cpearce@nemesis.acs.unt.edu
From: gdavis@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Grant R. Davis)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: TORG at UT
Date: 1 Sep 92 23:50:28 GMT
Reply-To: gdavis@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Grant R. Davis)
Distribution: ut
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX
Originator: gdavis@donald.cc.utexas.edu

Come join our TORG campaign at the University Gaming Society. We meet in the
Forty Acres room at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. I'll be running an Infiniverse game
(if WEG ever sends it to me), and hopefully we can playtest for WEG (again,
if they ever send anything). 

The Grant Man
gdavis@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu

"This is good[beer]. Remind me to take this world."-Lost Destiny


Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: oakes@jupiter.nmt.edu (David Oakes)
Subject: Re: the reco problem
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 19:06:14 GMT

 ! Feh. Smacks of the ol' AD&D 'It's Magic! That's why!' explanation. And 
 ! remember, SK's already have an advantage in being able to attempt to 
 ! reconnect at all! (poor wittle ords...). 

and they get to reroll twice as often, and they takes less damage,
and they never transform, unless stormed, and PCs get cards, and...

a (minor) penalty to one case reco doesnt balance the scales
(yes, im a Pbigot[possibility bigot]! they're ords, dammit! -
 their entire function is to catch spears and cough up clues as they die,
 not compete with PCs in who aperios likes best)

anyway, its not a "its magic, so i dont have to have an explanation -
Prateds remain connected to their home cosm, and it is this connection
that makes it easier to reco - they have a little bit of that axiom with them
(and why it doesnt help in a four case - i would say that ords have the 
 four case penalties at all times, which is why they need to go home to reco)

 !  Anyway, as I said, it's my own little Infiniverse... Take it or leave it...

no problem, i just wanted to show that it isnt a (totally) cheap rule

dave "TORg is elitest, and i dont care" oakes
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: oakes@jupiter.nmt.edu (David Oakes)
Subject: grenade pong
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 16:54:23 GMT

 ! |> try four times in a row, matched by four times by my nile opponent
 ! |> (can you say "grenade pong"?)
 ! Grendae pong.  Nope, I guess not?  The closest I've come to that would
 ! be either disconnecting, playing a second chance card, and disconnect-
 ! ing AGAIN (happened twice), or when Father Hardy (Sacellum priest who
 ! masquerades as CJW in Core Earth) and Alain competed to see who could
 ! become more familiar with the Living Land.  
 ! Me: "I disconnect"
 ! CW: "I'm going to read this occult book.  Oops, I disconnect"
 ! Me: "Damn, we're tied again.  Oops, just disconnected again."
 ! CW: [same damn action, same damn result]
 ! 
 ! He kept even with me, but I was doing 1 cases while his was a 4.

not bad, but ours was both one cases:
nile grenades (or maybe just low CE?), nile and CE in the LL
(and a really big digging machine... sound familiar?)

(note that this occured before we were real comfotable on LRCs -
 i am not sure that the rules would really actually allow it)

lharri:"they're on the other side of the berm? i throw a grenade over"
roll 1, the grenade doesnt go off
GM:"the shocktrooper throws it back"
roll 1, the grenade doesnt go off
   .
   .
   .

repeat for four rounds, until i finally roll double digits,
but by then they have crossed the berm, and a grenade is useless

dave "beats disco in a helicopter" oakes
















Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim) <jogle@aoc.nrao.edu>
Subject: Re: GenCon Report (Incredibly long, thousands of spoilers)
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 06:38:00 GMT

Clinton writes:

> >> 2. Whoever becomes the LB high lord (Damo Kil or Hadian Fel Ar, probably..
> >
> >If there is one.
> >
> Well, I figure there would be, if they're going to have LB invade New York...
> Pocket Dimensions don't just spring out on their own, ya know (although with
> WEG, anything is possible! :-)

that is just what happens; a 'tremendous surge' of Possibility Energy
brings the LB to the surface, or something like that....

> Umm... no. I just was hearing about the unskilled penalties (which I figure 
>I will arbitrate on my own, based on Character backgrounds...so that a Cyber-
> papacy character firing a laser unskilled (what?!? A CP character w/o Energy 
> Weapons skill?!? Impossible! :-)) has a -1, while an Edeinos has maybe a -3, 
>to reflect the fact that he has no idea what the heck it does or how to use it.

Basically there are only penalties for those skills that you cannot
use unskilled, like Air Vehicles, Heavy Weapons, Science, Streetwise,
etc etc.  Things like Energy Weapons they didn't assign a penalty to
(point and shoot, how difficult can it be? 8-)

>      I also was curious about the templates in the Update, which on their bo-
>nus charts have grey shading on the 2-4 roll and black shading on the 1... Was
> there some type of 'critical failure' rules in the SK guide?

Nah, that's just the difference between one-case contradictions and
four-case contradictions.

Kansas Jim (jogle@aoc.nrao.edu)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: oakes@jupiter.nmt.edu (David Oakes)
Subject: LL miracles
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 17:07:03 GMT

 ! For those interested in giving LL denizens more miracles, here are
 ! some ideas.
 ! 
 ! World's Ear.
 ! This miracle allows the caster to hear goings-on anywhere within range
 ! of the spell, assuming plant life is present.  

why stop at plant life?  everything living is part of Lanala
(of course, listening through more complex beings might be more difficult)

 ! Cleanse Land
 ! When LL came to CE, toxic waste suddenly became a problem.  This
 ! miracle is a response to that problem. Successful invocation restores
 ! the soil to its original state (yes, this includes getting rid of
 ! fertilizer).  The first difficulty number is for temporary change, the
 ! second for permanency. 

sounds real good.
of course, the LL doesnt care about fertilizer -
they ARE the largest source of rotting organic material ever...

 ! Animate Wood
 ! This miracle brings wood back to life, and enables the caster to
 ! control it (Will all characters in my CoC campaign now make SAN
 ! checks?).  This can be useful for attacking people inside buildings.
 ! It also can make a great lockpick substitute.

i dont know, that seems more the province of Rec Stalek -
if Lanala had any power over dead things, edinos wouldnt worry about death
(of course, this could be part of BKs twisting the religion,
 but i cant see a "true believer" animating a dead thing)
also, very few edinos have ever seen dead wood in the LL,
so the miracle would be very rare

 ! Mist
 ! Causes a section of the mists of the LL to appear around the caster.
 ! The area of effect is X+bonus number.

perfect.
i always felt that BKs "calling down" of the mist was not a reality effect,
but actually a miracle, on a grand scale
(ie - the mist is not really a "world law", but a function of Lanala)

 ! Joe Louderback, Master of the Disconnection
 ! 10 1's in one night & a 2 on a 4-case.
try four times in a row, matched by four times by my nile opponent
(can you say "grenade pong"?)
 ! I may be the only player who records damage, Ppts., *and*
 ! disconnections for each adventure.
nah, i started drawing little "1"s in the character picture box,
but had to stop, since the background was now black...

dave "we're back in CE?  break out the 30.06!!!" oakes
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: cpearce%nemesis@nemesis.acs.unt.edu (Chris Pearce)
Subject: Re: The Strike Maneuver
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 20:19:22 GMT

>  Actually, the way I always figured it was that unless you had the Strike man-
> euver (or something equivalent, like Spring Attack) you can't use your Martial
> Arts skill and damage in a Punch attack. That's why I figure it's there, and
> it's the first maneuver for styles that use it... ya gotta break that board
> before you can begin breaking people! :)

It would be quite a cheesy manuever, then. 'Try Strike, the Martial
Arts Technique that's a third less filling! Those other guys will try
to wow you with flashy additives and preservatives! But Strike is
cholesterol free and contains no artificial flavors or colors!'

Your interpretation limits Martial Artists strictly to their manuevers, which 
(IMHO) doesn't correctly model the kung fu movie style that WEG aimed for.

But it is a valid fix.

-- 
Chris "How come there's no Thunderball Fist manuever?" Pearce 
cpearce@nemesis.acs.unt.edu
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg