HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: damatt01@starbase.spd.louisville.edu (David A. Mattingly)
Subject: Re: Hero System damage
Organization: University of Louisville
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 13:29:24 GMT

porterg@gems.vcu.edu writes:

>The only real problem is the variability you get with such a low number of
>dice.  It's the old "I rolled well, so my rifle goes through armor that should
>have stopped a .50 cal".  My house rule is that *average* damage is applied
>vs. armor, and you roll 1d6 for each 3 points that get through.

How about converting it to normal damage instead of killing? That 3dK becomes
9dN. Total teh Body and Stun, then apply it to three times the rPD.



-- 
        Dave Mattingly               "Can you snog the dentriface?" 
damatt01@ulkyvx.ct.louisville.edu    "I was an innocent, now I'm magnificent."
        (502) 584-6707               "Here's lookin' at you, sideways!"
From: mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: SR - Unskilled vs. Skill-1
Keywords: Shadowrun, skills
Date: 14 Aug 92 14:45:59 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Aug14.144559.17242
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

If you don't mind rolling two colors of dice, you could roll your skill
die at the normal target numbers, and your default dice, minus one, at
the high target number (6, 8, whatever).  This makes increasing your
skill useful, even if you only increase it to 1.

However, people with very high stats will be adding a few extra
(admittedly high target number) dice to a lot of their skills, which may
(a) give them too much advantage or (b) slow down play too much as
people scrutinize the Skillweb.  You'd probably want some kind of limit
on this.

Skills of 1 behave very badly in Shadowrun, alas--they're often more a
liability than an asset--and if I were your GM I'd consider letting you
raise the skill to 2 directly, and advance by single steps thereafter.

Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@genetics.washington.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,rec.games.rpg,rec.games.frp.marketplace,rec.games.frp.misc
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: GM RPG computer aides for RoleMaster/MERP
From: canders@isr.harvard.edu (Carl E. Anderson)
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 92 17:27:56 GMT
Organization: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

In article <1992Aug11.020939.9957@lclark.edu> cos@lclark.edu (John Costello) writes:
>In article <1992Aug10.121011.4247@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au> s902114@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Zen [Stuart Bishop]) writes:
>>You might also want to listen to the rest of this descussion when it
>>enevitably moves onto the legallity of including copywrited tables in a
>>program. 
>
>Yah, that thought crossed my mind awhile after I posted the first article.
>I doubt a disclaimer in the program would satisfy the pack of hungry lawyers
>that I.C.E. undoubtedly has in their cellars.  (I PERSONALLY know a couple
>of hungry lawyers, and am grateful that they are on friendly terms with me. :)
>
>The options are that a) no one tells (yeah, right *smirk*), or that I just keep
>it to my own group of friends.  What are the opinions regarding the legality
>of such a program?  (I'd ask my lawyer friends, but they haven't been fed in
>quite awhile, and....)

	Ask ICE about doing the program and they'll probably OK it.
Remember the War Law computer aid that was mentioned in War Law? (I can't
believe _no_one_ has this!  Admittedly I was to slow to get it too ...).
That program was not an official ICE product, it was just a shareware thing
some guy had knocked up.  Obviously though, they knew about it and thought
well of it - I imagine he simply asked for permission.
	Write ICE and tell them about the computer aid you want to do and
ask if it's all right.

Carl
canders@isr.harvard.edu

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: psavoie@terranet.cts.com (Pierre Savoie)
Subject: Re: Hero System damage
Organization: People-Net [terranet], Thornhill Ontario 
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 04:36:12 GMT

    Good message.  Good and long.  It makes me nostalgic for a bunch of avid
Champions players in our UofT games club.  When they were around, the air was
filled with "Champions-speak" as we called it:
    "Can my character have an Autofire Teleport?  Well, can I?"
    "...20 PD, 15 ED, no normal defense..."
        "Can my character have SPEED 10?  Well, can I?"
        "Okay, so the Serious Men led by Captain Normal have tracked the Silly
Men down to this planet, the lair of the evil Flatula..."
        "Look out!  Gas attack!"
        "Can my character use his Energy Shield, No Normal Offense?  Well, can
I?"

UUCP: zoo.toronto.edu!generic!terranet!psavoie
ARPA: generic!terranet!psavoie@zoo.toronto.edu
INET: psavoie@terranet.cts.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: wilder@mik.uky.edu (jeff wilder)
Subject: Re: Bill Clinton and gaming
    <1992Aug7.192130.31516@m.cs.uiuc.edu> 
    <1992Aug9.141130.16205@access.digex.com> <56813@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 02:09:58 GMT
Distribution: usa

Wow.  Hi, I'm Jeff.  I'm 24, unmarried, hate kids, and am highly liberal.
(Just to give you a background, and/or flaming-fuel.)

I think what I've been reading is a bunch (or maybe just a couple; I 
get confused about attributions...) of folks completely missing each
others' points.

On the one side, I can understand a parent's view that he/she has the
right and responsibility to monitor the reading/listening/viewing mater-
ial of his/her children.  I happen to completely agree with this.  I
also happen to think that prohibition doesn't have a prayer in hell of
working, except, perhaps, in reverse.  And this opinion was formed from 
a great deal of personal observation.

On the other hand, *any* labelling provides fuel to pro-censors, and
*any* labelling CAN (and often DOES) result in certain adults being
deprived of their ability to purchase the "offending" material.  By
this means, the artist's ability to make his work heard is lessened.
*I* consider this a violation of the First Amendment.

I understand that parents consider labelling (whether of movies or
of albums) a help in their monitoring rights/duties.  I *don't* be-
lieve that that help is worth restricting one person's right to listen
or watch what he/she wishes, even indirectly.

I am not a parent.  I do not claim to know the difficulties involved
in raising children.  I *was* a child, however, and I *do* understand
the importance of parental guidance.  My mother was quite willing to
talk about the music I listened to, the movies I watched, the drugs
I'd seen used and thought about using.  If she had an opinion, she
made it known, and she listened to my viewpoint.  She did all of this
without the "help" of labelling, and I think I've turned out pretty
well.

Don't step on the rights of others, by supporting labelling, just to
save yourself a little parenting work.  As I alluded to before, "You
are forbidden to listen to this" does NOT work.  Try, "Do you really
think of women in this way?" or "Do you really like watching people
get butchered in these movies?" or even "You're too young to watch/
listen to that right now, for these reasons...but we'll talk about
it next year, okay?"  

It's worked at least once, right?

--
================================================================================
| Jeff W   uk06666@ukpr.uky.edu | Meddle not in the affairs of cats, for they  |
| Wilder   & wilder@mik.uky.edu | are subtle, and will piss on your cyberdeck. |
================================================================================
From: tsouth@techbook.com (Todd South)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Bill Clinton and gaming
Date: 14 Aug 92 06:30:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: techbook.1992Aug14.063027.11870
Distribution: usa
Organization: TECHbooks --- Public Access UNIX --- (503) 644-8135

In article <1992Aug7.192130.31516@m.cs.uiuc.edu> silber@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Ami A. Silberman) writes:
>krueger@galileo.physics.arizona.edu (Ted Krueger) writes:
>
>>From this I can only conclude that if I deny my children the "right" of 
>>listening to a CD that discusses female mutilation and breaking vaginal 
>>walls, that I am avoiding talking straight to my kids.  God, I hope you 
>>do not decide to become a teacher or in any way involved with kids.  If 
>>something is completely disgusting to the majority of society, I would 
>>hope to God that K-Mart and Wal-Mart will not sell it.  Because of 
>>freedoms in our society, those disgusting words should be made available 
>>for sale to those total losers who chose to listen to them, but not minors.  
>>Just because I believe that porno movies should not be rented to minors 
>>does not mean that I don't talk about sex with my kids.  Get a clue.  But 
>>maybe that's what you are in college for.
>
>No. Because you and others like you don't want to go to the trouble of
>dealing directly with what your kids may listen too, it means that you are,
>via a chilling effect, denying me my right to listen to CDs that use the
>"f" word, or talk about killing cops, or talk about being gay, or poke
>mean-spirited fun at televangilists.
>-- 
>ami silberman - janitor of lunacy
>	silber@cs.uiuc.edu

Ami, that goes from ridiculous to stupid.  You really mean that you
are in favor of telling elementary level children the basics of rape,
mutilation and degredation of others?  Also, how could this effect
your rights in anyway?  I bet your local NOW chapter would have a
cow!

Todd...:)

-- 
tsouth@techbook.COM  Public Access User --- Not affiliated with TECHbooks
Public Access UNIX and Internet at (503) 644-8135 (1200/2400, N81) 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: psavoie@terranet.cts.com (Pierre Savoie)
Subject: Re: REPOST:Gurps FTP site
Organization: People-Net [terranet], Thornhill Ontario 
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 08:56:26 GMT

   I don't know what you mean by an FTP site, but it's common information in
current GURPS products that Steve Jackson games has their own BBS at
512-447-4449.  I assume you're looking at a way to connect via a network to
this, but I don't think they have a network connection.
 
--Question:  Why is SJ Games like an epileptic?
  Answer:    Because they are prone to the occasional "seizure".  [grin]

UUCP: zoo.toronto.edu!generic!terranet!psavoie
ARPA: generic!terranet!psavoie@zoo.toronto.edu
INET: psavoie@terranet.cts.com
From: porterg@gems.vcu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Hero System damage
Date: 14 Aug 92 11:51:07 -0400
Organization: Medical College of Virginia


I've found that to be consistent at low-end damage in the Hero System 
(firearms), you need to throw out any urge for "relativism".  In a system
where 1d6K is a pistol and 5d6K a tank gun, a +1 makes a big difference.

It simply doesn't work if you say "well, if a 9mm is 1d6+1, then the more
powerful .357 Magnum is 1 1/2d6 and a really big pistol is 2d6K"

In my own personal conversion scale (using 3G^3), I have the following
numbers for current weapons:

9mm short	1d6-1 or 1/2d6+1
9mm		1d6
9mm		1d6+1 (with long barrel and good ammo)
.45		1d6
.357 Mag	1d6+1
.44 Mag		1 1/2d6
.50 Action Exp.	1d6+3 or 2d6-1
5.56mm		2d6
7.62mm		2d6+1
.460 Magnum	2 1/2d6
.50 cal		3d6

The only real problem is the variability you get with such a low number of
dice.  It's the old "I rolled well, so my rifle goes through armor that should
have stopped a .50 cal".  My house rule is that *average* damage is applied
vs. armor, and you roll 1d6 for each 3 points that get through.

This means that for instance, a DEF 4 bulletproof vest will always stop the
BODY from a 9mm hit, and we'll count blunt trauma as the STUN that gets
through (can't have everything work out just right...).

Greg Porter
BTRC

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,rec.games.frp.advocacy,rec.games.frp.misc
From: mepstein@csws15.ic.sunysb.edu (Not On Our Customer File)
Subject: Toons
Organization: State University of New York at Stony Brook
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 23:01:57 GMT



Toon is great!
A few of us have been playing for 2 mos. or so.  We love playing
Cartoon Wars-a variation in the tooniversal tourguide.

If anyone has any ideas aboout tracks, playing toon(especially cartoon)
please e-mail me.  I'm looking for ideas about track creation. You don't even 
have to have played for this.  It can be anything wacky.  I have killed a 30'
rubber chicken, put it in my pocket and later made tires out of it for
my car. I used 100 pounds of gerbil food to make a ramp and junp a cliff.
The game is great. If anyone can think of new weapons or other car ideas please
e-mail me. They have things like mole-o-matic(a mole which burrows through 
walls in front of the car) and sping wheels which allow you to raise your
car's body above the ground. Anyone whose got other wacky ideas please e-mail 
me or if you think it's in the interest of all post.
thanks for your time.
mepstein@ic.sunysb.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: ess3791@zeus.tamu.edu (Storm)
Subject: Re: Halfling Thieves
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 00:02:00 GMT

In article <1992Aug21.212349.110@csi.on.ca>, richard@csi.on.ca (Richard Martin)
writes...
>Hi!
>Has anybody here ever actually played a halfling thief?

Not me, but in the past 3 yrs I've witnessed 4 such characters, played by
friends.

>How long did you play?

Let's see.  2 are still running, and the other two died due to silly player
tricks.

>Would you do it again?

Not me.

>These are actually serious questions--I'm curious about
>whether anybody actually plays this ridiculous class-race
>combination.

Although I'm not much for halflings myself (they remind me too much of Bilbo
from _The Hobbit_), their merits as thieves cannot be made fun of.  Just look
at the thieving modifiers due to race table in the PH.  Then, try and call them
"ridiculous."

-Storm

/--------------------------------------------------------------------------\
|-|  "The Power of Love    /    Scott Shaw  (ess3791@rigel.tamu.edu)     |-|
|-|   is a curious thing" /      Texas A&M University - Mathematics      |-|
|-|     (Huey Lewis)     / "Words as weapons, sharper than knives" (INXS)|-|
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------/
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: MHART00@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU (mason hart)
Subject: Re: Halfling Thieves
Organization: Rice University  
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 07:07:26 GMT

In article <21AUG199219024706@zeus.tamu.edu>
ess3791@zeus.tamu.edu (Storm) writes:
 
>Although I'm not much for halflings myself (they remind me too much of Bilbo
>from _The Hobbit_), their merits as thieves cannot be made fun of.  Just look
>at the thieving modifiers due to race table in the PH.  Then, try and call them
>"ridiculous."
>
 
Tolkien's Hobbits ARE the original halflings -- as they were meant to
exist in the AD&D game, anyway.  I would hardly call them a frivolous
people.  They prefer quiet country life with five square meals a day
and as little excitement as possible.  Adventures are unpleasant things
that happen to other people.  Unfortunately, the occasional hobbit/
halfling does get caught up in adventures from time to time, and when
this happens, they do indeed make excellent thieves.
 
"If you're not having fun, you're doing something wrong."
-- mason hart, rice university
 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: doodsf@athena.ecs.csus.edu (Sam messin w/ Unix)
Subject: DND ftp sites
Organization: California State University, Sacramento
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 05:59:10 GMT


I know there are a whole bunch of DND related ftp sites out there, I just lost
my list (again).

If anyone has a few seconds to spare, a copy of the list would be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Sam
From: dart@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Dartanyan the Witchling)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Bill Clinton and gaming
Date: 16 Aug 92 09:55:08 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center

In article <1992Aug14.063027.11870@techbook.com> tsouth@techbook.com (Todd South) writes:
>>
>>No. Because you and others like you don't want to go to the trouble of
>>dealing directly with what your kids may listen too, it means that you are,
>>via a chilling effect, denying me my right to listen to CDs that use the
>>"f" word, or talk about killing cops, or talk about being gay, or poke
>>mean-spirited fun at televangilists.
>>-- 
>>ami silberman - janitor of lunacy
>>	silber@cs.uiuc.edu
>
>Ami, that goes from ridiculous to stupid.  You really mean that you
>are in favor of telling elementary level children the basics of rape,
>mutilation and degredation of others?  Also, how could this effect
>your rights in anyway?  I bet your local NOW chapter would have a
>cow!
	MY response (not ami's):
	No. That does not go from ridiculous to stupid.  If kids were told
the basics of what rape, mutilation, and degredation of others WAS, and what
effects it tended to have on the victims, and why it was NOT NORMAL, it just
MIGHT actually make it so kids KNEW these things and could DO something in
the event (about one third of america has been in this event, whether they
have blocked the incident or not) thet it happens to THEM.
	Not only would this help with slowing down child abuse, it would
probably also help get rid of problems where women repeatedly get stuck on
guys who beat the shit out of them, as well as the reverse (it happens)
	I doubt if NOW would argue with this.  

	Of course, if the RPGA was asked, i get the feeling they would give
you a bewildered look and say "What?"
	At least, if it was in the context of gaming related stuff.

	Maybe if some games included realistic psychological responses to
trauma, as well as the related physical reactions...

	"Yeah, doc, I was standing there in the portal, looking out on the
Abyss, and she just walked up to me... A body like a cheerleader, with cute 
little wings, horns, and fangs to boot.  She started kissing me and riding me,
but I couldn't stop her.  I wasn't sure if i wanted to... but I could feel
my Levels draining away, and afterward i felt so dirty, so used...  I don't
know, anymore, anytime i see a woman i cringe... especially if she has horns."
	"Vell," says the sage, "Tell me about your Mutter..."

	When people get quoted here, why do so many people leave their .sigs
in the quoted text?
	Does no one know the concepts of either dd or meta-k?

	Oh well.
					D
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: melody@grad00.math.ncsu.edu (Patrick Melody)
Subject: Re: SR: A few Questions...
Keywords: SR, ShadowRun, SRun, Shadow Run
Organization: NCSU Mathematics Dept.
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 21:03:59 GMT

In article <Bt70B3.6nG@news.cso.uiuc.edu> pmwg1641@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Peter M. White) writes:
>The obnoxious powdery ones are quite effective against normal eyesight;
>should be about the same vs. IR.  Takes about a turn to fill up a hallway,
>and it dissapates about 6-9 seconds.
A guy in my dorm set off a fire extinguisher.  It toook a few seconds to fill
up the hallway (about 120 feet long I would guess, 8 feet high and 6 feet wide)
but didn't dissipate for about 20 minutes.  You couldn't see your hand in front
of your face for about the first 10 minutes.  This was about 5 years ago, so
The numbers may be a little off, but it took a lot longer than just a minute or
two before you could see.  Breathing it is hard on the lungs too, not really
recommended.
From: holmes@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Krishgan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Survey-
Date: 19 Aug 92 16:52:53 GMT
Organization: the Night Crafters Associated Press


Concerning -Survey's---

Ok, I give, I have no idea where this stuff came from and why the F*CK
it is on .frp in the first place...

It is an interesting Survey, I -might- grant you, but if I had wanted to
read it, I wouldn't have looked here for it...

-Keith
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: marc@cfmu.eurocontrol.be (Marc Philips)
Subject: Karen Wynn Fonstad's atlases (was Re: Map covering Shire needed.)
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 08:37:04 GMT
Organization: Eurocontrol - Central Flow Management Unit

>	There is also another book that I highly recommend to all
>Tolkien Lovers!
>
>	It is "Atlas of Middle-Earth, - Karen Wynn Fonstad"

Also from Karen Fonstad, do not miss :

	- The Atlas of Pern (the world of Anne McCaffrey's Dragon*).
	  My favorite.
	- The Atlas of the Dragonlance world (home to many AD&D
	  adventures and novels).
	- The Forgotten Realms Atlas (idem).
	- The Atlas of The Land (the world of Stephen Donaldson's
	  Thomas Covenant).  I do not like the novels but this
	  atlas is as good as the others.


-- 
Marc PHILIPS                    Eurocontrol - Central Flow Management Unit
marc@cfmu.eurocontrol.be        Avenue des Arts 19h
Tel: +32 2 729 33 09            B-1040 BRUXELLES
Fax: +32 2 729 32 16            Belgium
From: 00darentfrow@bsu-ucs.uucp
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Champions: I NEED REVENGE!
Date: 19 Aug 92 20:45:06 GMT
Article-I.D.: bsu-ucs.1992Aug19.154506.8922


Okay....

Here is the deal... I am playing in this campaign, where I play a 'plasma-
energy' superhero (Nova) that has a pretty decent control of it. (75 pt
multipower with attacks that do just about anything.)

Recently, Spectre, a ghostly (Desolid) mentalist and comrade, recently 
discovered his mind control powers.  He took over my body, and forced 
me to put an image around the CNN newscaster.  However he did not know that my 
images cause damage when touched. (1d6RKA)  well, the Normal did not 
look so good after he jumped through it to escape.
	Spectre released me after it happened, and of course I didn't remember
a thing.  But that did not stop Force, a Energy-Blast Captain American wanna
be, from going enraged because an innocent was hurt.  I did not have my 
defenses up at the time, and Force almost killed me in one punch.
	The problem arises with a little Psych LIm called Vengeful.
I have a nice little 10d6 EB Affects Desoild, But I need a more creative idea
to get back at Spectre.
	Well, does anyone have an idea to get back at a stupid Desolid
Mentalist?

	Please respond by mail at: alechi@bsu-cs.bsu.edu 
			or         00darentfrow@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu

Any and all ideas would be appreciated.... 

Don Rentfrow
From: good@turing (Joe Good)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Champions: I NEED REVENGE!
Summary: Flash 'em
Date: 20 Aug 92 14:54:08 GMT
Organization: Math Department, UC Davis


	I always HATED desolid mentalists; one of my favorite tricks
is to catch them by surprise and flash them; unless they have Mind
Scan, they're screwed.  Then knock 'em out (a 10d6 Affects Desolid
ought to do it) and lock them in a Faraday cage, perhaps even with
one-way mirrors.  You then have the mentalist at your mercy, and 
can play around, trying to figure out any phobias or weaknesses
they may have.
	Considering that you almost got killed, you could simply
fail to inform the mentalist that he or she was in a Faraday cage.
The mentalist would find him- or herself in an iron cage, and would
just try to walk through the bars.  The electric shock would probably
stun them, causing them to solidify, and the bars solidifying inside
the mentalist's body would nearly kill them.  Now you're even.


===============================================================================
Joe "BD" Good, President, BRS movie reviews; and generally nice guy
... "We owe it to the brain of our species to stand here and die!" ...
... "OH, little grasshopper; Zen is the art of saying little and meaning all"..
===============================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: oysteint@ifi.uio.no (\ystein Tvedten)
Subject: Re: No longer Re: Dangerous Journeys
Keywords: Gygax,
Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 10:07:46 GMT
Originator: oysteint@hnoss.ifi.uio.no



all I have to say is:

 Welcome to the newest edition of "my d*ck is bigger than yours", please take
a seat and remember to toss the eggs at the looser.

:) :) :)

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp