HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mxr@neptune.dsc.com (Max "Bombastic Dislocated Laughter Retribution" Rible)
Subject: Re: SRun: Mag 3 Cyber Eyes in Combat
Organization: Digital Sound Corporation
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 21:38:43 GMT

rhunt@med.unc.edu (Rick Hunt) writes:
>For .1 essense or less and 11,000 Y, I have no intention of letting 
>them reduce the firearm range of every combat to short.  Is this the 
>general concensus of the net.srun.gurus?  Help a poor beginning 
>Shadowrun GM.

Our ruling is that it takes an action per range category you're
reducing a shot by.  This stacks with Aiming, too, but it prevents
people from performing insane shots in the middle of combat.
(It's too difficult to steady your firearm to match your magnified
vision.)
/-------------v--------------------------------------------------------\
| Max Rible   | "There are no personal problems which cannot be solved |
| mxr@dsc.com | through suitable application of high explosives."      |
\-------------^--------------------------------------------------------/
-- 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: lev0@quads.uchicago.edu (Ron Levy (Armchair))
Subject: The Benedictine Problem
Reply-To: lev0@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: Worshippers of Yig 
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 22:26:37 GMT


>Benedict, being master of all weapons could have taken Corwin out from a
>distance.

Benedict pursued Corwin for quite a distance through Shadow.  At one
point Corwin shifts the weather behind him to put Benedict in a
firestorm.  Benedict's clothing, effects, and horse and take were
singed and damaged, but Benedict still came, and the black road still
loomed.  Maybe Benedict had a crossbow.  It probably didn't survive the
fire.  Maybe Benedict had a gun.  It probably wouldn't shoot wherever they
were.  But a little fire doesn't hurt a sword.

>Also, fuming mad does not reflect the edicts of Musashi,
>whom Benedict is styled after... 

No, Musashi is styled after Benedict.. :)  (This is the sort of quote
designed by the Amber game to annoy people who don't like the Amber
cosmology.  It bothers me too.)

>  Higher warfare and cool
>heads would have killed Corwin (or any other of lower warfare) without a
>problem. 

A cooler head would have been willing to talk to Corwin, and maybe
gotten to the realization that it was Ganelon who did the killing.
Talking to Corwin is a mistake too, though, because Corwin usually has
a point.  (So do most Amberites, if you try to talk to them before
killing them.  It's this moral relativism thing... noealignments in
Amber) The only person to really get away with beating up on Corwin,
not once but twice, is Gerard.  Maybe he's not so stupid after all...


-- 
Snake Owner's Safety Tip #3: 
	Never, EVER say, "Do da wittle snakie-wakies wanna come out to pway?"
anywhere near their cage.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: lev0@quads.uchicago.edu (Ron Levy (Armchair))
Subject: Re: The Benedictine Problem
Reply-To: lev0@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: Worshippers of Yig
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 23:05:19 GMT


>Amber) The only person to really get away with beating up on Corwin,
>not once but twice, is Gerard.  Maybe he's not so stupid after all...

Whups.  Caine stabbed him a good one and got away clean, too.
Almost forgot about that.. of course, Caine didn't finish the job.

 



-- 
Snake Owner's Safety Tip #3: 
	Never, EVER say, "Do da wittle snakie-wakies wanna come out to pway?"
anywhere near their cage.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner)
Subject: Re: Speaking of ambushes II
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 20:41:46 GMT

sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:

>I'm not necassarily looking for a discussion on the merits of close
>range or long range combat, I'm more looking for examples from other 
>campaigns of ambushes that worked well, backfired, etc., from both players
>and GMs.
>+  Chadd  L.  VanZanten   SL9B4@CC.USU.EDU  +

The best ambush of our long Shadowrun campaign was pulled off as
follows:

The party was being hounded by Lefty, an extremely annoying insane mage/
assassin with a long range rifle.  Due to an earlier engagement, we had
a drop of his blood to work with, but experiment showed that if attacked
by ritual magic he ran for shelter in his corporation's headquarters,
which were *much* too magically hard for us.  (With only one mage, our
rituals were more for location than for spell effect anyway.)

My character Argent, however, realized this behavior represented a
weakness.  He split the party, the mage back home (with the deckers to
guard her--ha!) to do a ritual sending, and the rest concealed in the
woods on the last approach to the HQ.  With judicious use of space
blankets and the like we managed to hide fairly well from thermo.

The party was armed with mid to short range weapons--crossbow, SMG,
assault rifle--because experience had shown us that Lefty would get away
unless our first strike was overwhelming, and most of the PCs were not
skilled with long-range rifles.

Lefty came zooming along the road on a motorcycle, with two other cycles
and a truck following him.  After months of being harrassed by him, the
PCs couldn't resist.  Six shots rang out and Lefty went down.

Then the fourteen armed guards came boiling out of the truck, and the
people on the other motorcycles proved to be two of the company's
mageborn squad leaders, and we began to think we'd made a serious
mistake....

Won the fight, barely, grabbed Lefty's body and ran.  (You must never
leave a body behind in Shadowrun, unless you decapitate it--it is not
that hard to restore life to an intact corpse.)

The shaman called up Lefty's ghost, got into an awful struggle with it,
and finally demanded the self-destruct codes for the corporate HQ.
Lefty gave them, with apparent amusement (and haunted us for the rest of
the campaign).  That was the key to the whole next sequence.

In my opinion the best ambushes are ones where you have personal
knowledge of the targets (makes it much more exciting), a good plan, and
still things don't go quite as you expected.

The second-best ambush of the campaign involved a Locate spell which was
leading us to the enemy decker, whom we wanted *very* badly.  The trace
went off into Puget Sound, so we acquired a boat and gave chase.
Eventually we came to a dead stop, plunk in the middle, with our Locate
spell pointing straight *down*.  They had borrowed the Aquarium's
bathyscaphe.  We had to give up on that one for the night....

Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@genetics.washington.edu

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: kbos@carina.unm.edu (Kurt Bose "of Biscayzee")
Subject: Re: Vampire
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 92 18:41:57 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <1992Aug21.180513.4251@alw.nih.gov> singley@helix.nih.gov (Erick D. Singley) writes:
>
>As a roll playing game, well thought out.  Rule seem not to have too many holes
>(Any holes there may be I don't remember as we've patched them with house rules
>and I can't distunguish right now)  I'm kinda repulsed by the idea, if only
>from prejudice about the myth in general.  
>  In the back of my mind there's 'it sounds like vampires are going to emerge
>to the role playing society in real life and this is just good Public realtions'
>
To which all I can say is "This is _good_ PR????"  :)

>The 'new' rulebooks about Mummy/Werewolf/farie/etc may get excessivly out of
>hand $ wise (like trying to buy all the AD&D suppliment books before the
>come out with a new ed. ;) )
>
I agree, and on the Vampire mailing list, we've tried to let WW know how we
feel about that.  Though, my opinion is that what is wrong with TSR is not the
sheer number of scenarios, but the relative quality and necessity of several
books to run a real campaign.  Things like creating a book on each Clan (note
to AD&D players: read 'class') rather than two expensive books on all Clans
together.  

-- 
Kurt Bose (as in Daisy, not Rose) - kbos@carina.unm.edu - I'm not the AntiChrist
I AM the AntiWoofer. - Junior Stathead{tm} - I'm a shutmouthed, selfless idiot!!
Latest Attempted Compiler of the R.S.BB FAQ - Now Accepting Submissions...(hint)
Have you hugged a Dan Gladden fan today? - Dave Rossing : .531/54/214 at Denver!
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
From: mikew@mdcbbs.com (Mike 'the Bard' Whitaker)
Date: 20 Aug 92 04:25:01 PDT
Organization: Shape Data - a division of EDS Ltd

[BTW - Stephen - could you acknowledge you saw this by mail, please - I'm
not sure all my postings are getting out!]

In article <Bt8tAz.L8r@acsu.buffalo.edu> 
	swann@acsu.buffalo.edu (Stephen Swann) writes:
>My campaign has acquired a certain momentumn by now, because after
>12 years, there are so many NPC's (most of whom were originally
>conceived extemporaneously) "going about their own business" all
>the time, that the campaign would click along like clockwork without
>the players doing -anything- except sitting and watching it all
>happen around them.
This sounds familiar B-)
Especially the fact that most of the NPC's were 'off-the-cuff' creations - I 
frequently find that my best NPC's are totally off the cuff.

Having said that, some of them are in an odd-halfway house. Two or three of
the major NPC's in my world are actually originally minor characters in 
published scenarios! The High Priestess of the entire pantheon of good 
deities used to be a minor 'cannon-fodder' priest in TSR's A1-4 'Slave Lords'
scenario, who the party took prisoner, rather than killing in cold blood, and
converted to the side of good... (thus proving the old adage that converts 
from the 'other' side often make the most fanatically loyal followers of 'your'
side)

Anyone else find they do this a lot?

>But -really- all you're saying is that improvisational GMing is more
>"dangerous" and prone to abuse.  This is true.  Like most powerful
>tools, it can be abused pretty easily by people who want to do that.

True... Interesting question here - how many of your players *know* you
improvise, and to what extent? Mine know that a lot of my preparation
never makes it down on to paper (and is frequently done (say) sitting
waiting for players to arrive or driving down to the place I GM) but
some of them certainly weren't sure (at the time of the murder mystery I 
mentioned in my earlier post) how much I was genuinely making up at the time.

>That's why I'm so picky about who I have for players in -my- campaign,
>and which GM's I'll play for.  
Me too
-- 
Mike Whitaker +44-223 | mikew@mdcbbs.com, bard@spuddy.uucp | Me: Bards just
Shape Data/EDS 316673 | -or- mwhitaker@cix.compulink.co.uk | KNOW things...
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: bret@technix.mn.org (Bret Indrelee)
Subject: Re: What price a soul?
Organization: Private System - Saint Paul, MN
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 05:04:17 GMT

In article <1992Aug14.172054.24394@colorado.edu> juola@bruno.cs.colorado.edu (Patrick Juola) writes:
>In article <Bsz8Jv.E46@math.uwaterloo.ca> jglarson@watmsg.uwaterloo.ca (Johan Larson) writes:
>>I'm designing a Gurps character who has the interesting feature
>>of having traded his soul to the Devil 
>>for some specific advantages.  As part his part of the bargain, 
>>the character has to kill one person every week, or he will lose the
>>abilities and suffer other grievous consequences.
>>
>>I'm trying to fit this into Gurps by having a disadvantage
>>Demonic Agreement added to the game.  My problem is cost.
>>I'm not sure how much this disadvantage should be worth;
>>none of the disadvantages in the Basic set seem comparable.
>
>First rule of disadvantages -- you buy the effect, not the special effect.
>It's simply a Vow, possibly with attendant Bad Reputation.
>

Gee, I would have put it as Odius Personal Habit...but then again,
some people don't think I take such things seriously enough.


[ Sample play session ]

What is Frank doing now?

Oh, he is just performing his usually weekly human sacrifice.  I do
wish he would learn to clean up afterwards though...it makes such
a mess.



-Bret

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bret Indrelee               |   Pretend there is something profound
email: bret@technix.mn.org  |   written here.
From: smith@ctron.com (Larry Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Speaking of ambushes (where we?)...
Date: 18 Aug 92 20:07:38 GMT
Reply-To: smith@ctron.com
Organization: Cabletron Systems, Inc.

In article <1992Aug15.005209.58171@cc.usu.edu>, sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:
>paranoid about getting ambushed. For that reason, they routinely avoid 
>areas on the map where there is the slightest chance to be ambushed. I'm 

You ever see "Predator"???

Larry Smith (smith@ctron.com) No, I don't speak for Cabletron.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Daily I'd go over to Congress - that grand old benevolent national asylum - and
report on the inmates there.  Never seen a body of men with tongues more handy,
or information more uncertain.  If one of those men had been present when the
Deity was on the point of saying "Let there be light" we never would've had it.
From: cwagner@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Christian Wagner)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Supers and Heavy Weapons : was Re: Gurps Supers
Date: 12 Aug 92 14:04:13 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <Bss5t9.BD3@rice.edu> york@owlnet.rice.edu (Earl Dana York) writes:
>If you're willing to spend the ~$15 on GURPS timetravel, you can get the
>complete rules on an advantage called Snatcher (?)
>In a nutshell, for 100pts, you could `reach' and, with an IQ roll, get anything
>that weighs less than 5 pounds your character can concieve.  Time is 1 sec
>if you want try and use it.  I made up a character called GREP using it.
>:) to all you Unix dudes.

I've got that; but it's not quite what I had in mind.......

GREP, eh? I was working on a character once called EMACS; he was a GURPS Super
with two level of Magic Power (old system) and one point in every super skill.
He wasn't particuarly good at any one thing (except writing; he was an author
in his other ID), but you could use him for anything you wanted......

Sick stuff, eh? Kinda like r.a.c.'s Legion of Net.Heroes.....

-- 
    "Well, do you ever get the feeling that the Story's too damn real
                        and in the present tense?"
               Christian Wagner - cwagner@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
From: toriver@flipper.pvv.unit.no (Tor Iver Wilhelmsen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Ala genre....
Date: 17 Aug 92 11:48:37 GMT
Organization: ProgramVareVerkstedet - UNIT

In article <dlaird.15uk@terapin.com> dlaird@terapin.com (Delbert Laird) writes:
>
>I was wondering what you loyal .frp.misc'ers think about the current trends in
>roleplaying games. As a hack designer, I've currently been working on a game
>similiar in nature to the anime/manga work "Appleseed" with quite a few
>variations in theme...but I'm beginning to see some futility in marketing such
>a game (and I had SUCH high hopes).
>

RPG backgrounds with such rather limited (no offense) audience would do
better as a supplement for one of the "generic" RPGs IMHO. Maybe GURPS,
HERO, TF2V or the BTRC system. Why not check on some of them??

>What I'm curious about is what you think....What types of games do you wish
>were more prevelant?...What types of games would you like see or play?...Is the
>trend with cyberware/magic combo being played upon too much or are you yearning
>for more?...etc.
>
>Anything you can contribute to this topic would be appreciated.
>

Personally, I'm a fan of not-too-serious games (TF2V,TFOS and the like)
and "the world isn't what you thought it was" sort of games (CORPS, V-TM
etc.). As for the cyberware/magic combo, the only games I know of that
uses that concept are Shadowrun, TORG and Rifts - are there others??

I am modelling my Vampire-The Masquerade campaign on the "Incarnations of
Immortality" concept (from the books by Piers Anthony), which isn't too
hard to do. I am also thinking of adapting some sustem to the "Asterix"
setting (possibly Ghostbusters, or my own simple system).

As for things I would like to see done:
	- The MYTH books by Robert Asprin, either as a stand-alone game,
or as a sourcebook/supplement to TF2V or GURPS (which I think it would
easily adapt to).
	- A Discworld sourcebook (OK, so this is obvious and will never be
done, but anyway...)


- Tor Wilhelmsen
-- 
"I'm a Derek, and Dereks don't run!" - Derek in 'Bad Taste'
toriver@pvv.unit.no
Standard disclaimer should apply to this, I guess...
"Reality is a poor escapism for people who cannot handle roleplaying" - Me
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: dfrancis@tronsbox.xei.com (Dennis Heffernan)
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
Organization: Xanadu Enterprises Inc.
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 11:48:13 GMT

In article <4814@balrog.ctron.com> smith@ctron.com writes:
|Being able to tell is not the same thing as having it make a difference.  In

	Of course it is.  How the hell am I supposed to enjoy solving a
puzzle if I know that there really isn't a puzzle?

|Improv _requires_ an ability to remember, or keep good notes, or whatever,

	It has very little to do with consistancy.  For instance, when playing
in a mystery I'll flowchart the clues, the same way I would if I were
writing it.  90% of the time in an improv session, the chart is a straight
line from where we started to the solution.  That _never_ happens.  On the
rare occasions when I've had "red herrings" thrown at me, the false paths
are always very short and very obvious.


dfrancis@tronsbox.xei.com   ...uunet!tronsbox!dfrancis     GEnie: D.HEFFERNAN1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I don't understand why you make such a big deal out of everything...haven't
you learned; if it's not happenning to me it's not important?" -Murphy Brown
From: canders@isr.harvard.edu (Carl E. Anderson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Rolemaster in Europe
Date: 12 Aug 92 18:21:11 GMT
Organization: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

>> France: Lot of stuff: Some french games (_Reve de Dragon_,_ In nomina Satanis/
>> Magna Veritas_, Berlin XXIV, etc...), some translated games (CoC,ADD,MERP,
>> Runequest,SRUN,...) and it is possible to find the english version in specia-
>> lized stores. Also some magazines in french: _Casus Bellii_, Dragon, etc...
>> You find groups in almost any departament.
>> Spain: Less extended than in France. Some Spanish games (Mutantes en la 
>> Sombra, Aquerrale [very good, settle in the 13-15 century]), some translations
>> (AD&D, MERP,RQ,TRAVELLER,James Bond,Paranoia), and you could find imported games
>      And in Finland at least Rolemaster, Hero, A&D, AD&D, Elfquest, RQ, etc
>are to be found at the stores. RM, A&D and CoC are among those that have
>already been translated.

	Hmmm.  Is there a kind Swede out there with whom I could arrange to
pick up RM from in Swedish?  I could send US cash in return or we could
arrange a trade for something ...

Tack,
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: kcrook@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Prince Of Amber)
Subject: Re: The Benedictine Problem
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 17:28:10 GMT

How does this scenario strike you?

Benedict pursues Corwin through shadow, Hell-riding as they go, indeed
Corwin is a sneaky bastard (as can be expected) and gives Benedict a hard
time, but when Corwin stopped, well...

Benedict:  Hmm... where's that Bow I had *grin, shadow shift*, Ah, Yes.
           There it is.

Do you think Corwin would have been screwed?  I do.  He can try to
Yadomejutsu all day, and I bet he'd look like a pin cushion all the
same.  Remember, this is Benedict we're talking about.

What made the outcome like it occurred?  Not Corwin's skeeviness, but
Zelazny's plot devices...  I'd more reasonably accept that Oberon (as
Ganelon) 'influenced' Benedicts perceptions than he fell for Corwin's
'ingenious' trap.
From: mcgrew@ichthous.Eng.Sun.COM (Darin McGrew)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: What price a soul?
Date: 14 Aug 92 20:54:38 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca.
NNTP-Posting-Host: ichthous

jglarson@watmsg.uwaterloo.ca (Johan Larson) writes:
>>I'm designing a Gurps character who has the interesting feature
>>of having traded his soul to the Devil for some specific advantages....

juola@bruno.cs.colorado.edu (Patrick Juola) writes:
>First rule of disadvantages -- you buy the effect, not the special effect.
>It's simply a Vow, possibly with attendant Bad Reputation.

I'd use a Secret instead of a Bad Reputation.  Something like
this would be a pretty severe Secret.  The Vow/Duty is also
specially enforced, so I'd make it worth -5 points more, as
suggested in GURPS Camelot or GURPS Robin Hood.

As far as special effects (which don't affect cost) go, the
character's supernaturally evil nature will probably register
with anyone with the Empathy advantage or similar abilities.

Darin.McGrew@Eng.Sun.COM            He is risen!
    Soli Deo Gloria!                              He is risen indeed!
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: J.P.Brannan <J.P.Brannan@cornell.edu>
Subject: Re Diceless or Senseless?
Nntp-Posting-User: jpb1@cornell.edu
Organization: Cornell University
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d1
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 19:07:21 GMT
From: ward1@husc8.harvard.edu (Lester Ward)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Astral Adepts
Date: 21 Aug 92 04:41:41 GMT

ratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu (Richard Pieri/Stainless Steel Rat) writes:
>>>>>> "LW" == Lester Ward <ward1@husc8.harvard.edu> writes:

>LW> Using SRII rules, my AA (with 6 Int and 6 Magic) will get an average of
>LW> 35 for an initiative roll.

>How does this compare with, say, a cybered-up Samurai or a more
>"conventional" shaman or hermetic?

Yow, left out the "in astral" in my quoted post above.  BTW, it ends up being
41, not 35.  A standard magician with like stats would get about 35 in astral.
This is the difference between two actions (at 35 and 5) and three actions
(at 41,21, and 1). Again, this is all in astral.

In realspace, not much has changed (except the delay).  A Sam w/ React 5
with wired 2 would still get about (5 + 4 (reac bonus from cyber) +
9 (three init dice @ 3 each) for an 18 (which would let him go at 18 and 8
(not the SRI 18,11,4 (or maybe just 18,11)).

>--Rat

Wordman
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: jjohnson@ccscola.Columbia.NCR.COM (Jeffrey H. Johnson)
Subject: Re: GURPS: Altering Spell Prerequisites
Organization: NCR CCSD Columbia SC
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 14:20:56 GMT

In article <1992Aug10.181340.28524@ncar.ucar.edu> urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu (Art Urban (PROFS)) writes:
>Has anybody had any pleasure/success from altering the GURPS spell prerequisite
>hierarchy? I would like to see something much less rigid, if possible. 

[...]

>I was considering some sort of grade system, where spells fall into specific
>grades based on (assumed) complexity and perceived utility. There might be
>five grades from zero to four, with spells in each grade at minus their grade
>level to be cast. I don't know...

>How about some ideas?

As it happens, I am currently working on a new magic system for GURPS.  It
incorporates some ideas from Rolemaster's Spell Law, but not a lot.  There are
no prerequisistes.  Instead, the spell effects are graded (as you suggest),
but on a broad scale (+9 to -50).  As soon as I get it hammered out, I'll
post (unless I try to get it into Roleplayer).  If you want my preliminary
notes, send me e-mail.

>--
>Art Urban 					       urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu

Jeff
--
Jeffrey H. Johnson
jjohnson@ccscola.columbiasc.ncr.com

		"More human than human is our motto."
			-- Dr. Eldon Tyrell
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc