HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Subject: Re: Boston by Night: help
Originator: jmkaraka@c00016-118dan.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: jmkaraka@eos.ncsu.edu (JOHN MARTIN KARAKASH)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 20:41:05 GMT


	Mail the local chamber of commerce.  They have tons of tourist
trap- err I mean- interesting sites and information about the city.  They
LOVE sending this stuff to people.  As to what their address is...

	-john-
From: torbenm@diku.dk (Torben AEgidius Mogensen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: New Magazine: The Last Province
Date: 12 Oct 92 16:33:34 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, U of Copenhagen




Malcolm Campbell <malcolmc@spider.co.uk> writes in rec.games.frp.announce:

>In the first issue we Have ..., Dice (bouncing D26s), ...

I can see only two ways of making a provably fair D26, both of them
not very pleasing: one os to generalize the D10 and the other is to
gneralize the D8 (that is, putting two 13 sided pyramids base to
base). These both have two polar points where 13 faces meet, and a lot
(13 or 26) of equatorial points where either 3 or 4 faces meet. This
makes them tend to spin in the polar axis, thus not rolling very
randomly.

I prefer dice where there are no points where a large amount of faces
meet. And I want them to be provably fair, not just pass some
statistical test based on a large number of rolls (which would make
them probably fair). Note that it is not enough that all faces have
the same shape and area. they must also be connected in the same way
to their neighbours.

If no more than 3 faces meet at a vertex you can produce a D4, a D6
and a D12.

If no more than 4 faces meet at a vertex you can additionally produce
a D6 with triangular faces, a D8 (in two ways), a rhombic D12, and a
D24 (in two different ways).

If no more than 5 faces meet at a vertex you can additionally produce
a D10 (in two different ways), a D20, a D30, and a D60 (in two
different ways).

If no more than 5 faces meet at a vertex you can additionally produce
three other D12s, another D24, and another D60. So this is not needed.

In addition to generalizations of the D8 and D10, having 2N sides and
two points where N faces meet, the only possibilities not covered yet
are a D24 with points where 8 faces meet, a D48 where 8 faces meet in
some points, a D60 where 10 faces meet in some points, and a D120
where 10 faces meet in some points.

Note that, as a corollary, no fair D100 meeting the conditions for
provable fairness can be made unless there are two points where 50
faces meet.

	Torben Mogensen (torbenm@diku.dk)
From: bkoike@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Bryce Koike)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: GM wants to be a Player
Date: 14 Oct 92 02:14:00 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <1992Oct13.195126.1@kean.ucs.mun.ca> jbridson@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes:
>Any other GM's/DM's/Animators/etc have this problem?  Any solutions?
>Please do NOT respond via e-mail...
>
>I game with a group of friends quite often.  I am usually the GM, and I 
>quite enjoy it, and think I'm fairly good at it (by no means excellent!).  
>However, (a) I'm a bit lazy (b) I would love to play just as a Player with 
>a character.

	Do your players not let you or something?  (grin)  I'd think
that they'd all be itching to run their own games!  (I mean, this
summer I got home only to find some 7+ campaigns "being run" . . .
one or two per person . . .)

>There's another guy in the group who GM's occasionally (or who STARTS 
>adventures, only to forget about them...) and who has momentarily taken over 
>from me as Animator in our TOON games (at my suggestion)
>
>The problem is that during play, when he pauses, I usually can see what to 
>do, or when he says something I think "No no no!  That's not the way to it!"
>sometimes.  And sometimes I'll open my mouth and voice my ideas.  But I 
>don't want to make a habit of contradicting the Director...

	I think that it's better to end games a little earlier than
usually planned and to talk about what went right and what went
wrong then to pipe up in the middle of a game.  I usually split my
own time fairly evenly between GMing and playing (not to mention
that my two personalities are considerably different...), so I guess
your "problem" struck me as being really weird at first.
	A novice GM (or even not-so-novice) can only REALLY learn
through experience, I feel.  It's probably better not to interrupt
the way things are going too often (not to mention that it might
irritate the GM) and to instead discuss them at the end of the
session.

>How does a GM turn into a simple Player again?  How do you get back into 
>the feel of role-playing just one person and having no control over others' 
>actions?

	Turn off that part of your mind.  I do it fairly
automatically.  Worry more about control over yourself.  Something
like that.  Play more instead of GMing more . . . things like that.
(In fact, suggest that your other players GM their own games
sometime...)

>    --- Robert "Biggles" Bridson   (using the account of JBRIDSON)
>    Please do not respond via e-mail.  Thank you.
From: npb41275@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Noah Ban)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RFD: GURPS disad limits
Date: 9 Oct 92 17:21:42 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.Bvv6w7.8GJ
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

cm182s182@pdrome.UUCP (Clayton Miner) writes:

>I am not a GURPS player, so take my comments with a grain of salt, but...
> 
>    Who was the IDIOT who came up wit hthe term DISADDS!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!
> 
>    For God sake, they are MINUSES!  Have we as gamers become so sensative 
>that we can not longer face the thought of having minuses, penalties, or 
>whatever but instead have to refere to them as 'negative positives'?!?!?!?!?!?
> 
>Skeksis 

Disad is short for Disadvantages.  

It is quite obvious you are not a GURPS player, and maybe you better 
consider that before you flame people for the terms they use.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: dm841861@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu (Devin Moss)
Subject: Re: GM wants to be a Player
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 23:03:52 GMT
Organization: Colorado State U. Engineering College

In article <1992Oct16.165243.27436@seas.gwu.edu>, pan2765@seas.gwu.edu (Crazyman Pan) writes:
|> In article <1992Oct13.195126.1@kean.ucs.mun.ca> jbridson@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes:
|> 
|> >I game with a group of friends quite often.  I am usually the GM, and I 
|> >quite enjoy it, and think I'm fairly good at it (by no means excellent!).  
|> >However, (a) I'm a bit lazy (b) I would love to play just as a Player with 
|> >a character.
|> >
|> >There's another guy in the group who GM's occasionally (or who STARTS 
|> >adventures, only to forget about them...) and who has momentarily taken over 
|> >from me as Animator in our TOON games (at my suggestion)
|> >
|> >The problem is that during play, when he pauses, I usually can see what to 
|> >do, or when he says something I think "No no no!  That's not the way to it!"
|> >sometimes.  And sometimes I'll open my mouth and voice my ideas.  But I 
|> >don't want to make a habit of contradicting the Director...
|> >
|> >How does a GM turn into a simple Player again?  How do you get back into 
|> >the feel of role-playing just one person and having no control over others' 
|> >actions?
|> >
|> >    --- Robert "Biggles" Bridson   (using the account of JBRIDSON)
|> 
|> When I used to play games (which was a few years ago), I was always GM-ing
|> games because everybody else was too lazy to read the rules themselves.  For
|> a VERY limited amount of times I was a player (which was quite refreshing and
|> I truly enjoyed the experience).  The trick to being a player after having
|> GM-ed lots of games is to just forget about the game's mechanics (leave most
|> of it up to the GM) and just get absorbed in the scenario or story (pretend
|> you're living a book or movie).  It helps if you can't see what the GM does
|> (I used to screen most of my game mechanics from the players when I was GM).
|> 
|> 					-- Crazyman Pan


Hear, Hear!  Personally, I GM a lot.  For example, I just got done doing a
once-a-week Champs game for the last two months.

	I'm burnt out.  Badly.  So, as of now, no more GMming for me, for at
least two months.  Tonight, I'll be playing in a Palladium FRP, and I'm looking
foreward to it fully.

	But basically, to change from a GM to a player, it helps to define a
fairly unusual character.  This way, you concentrate more on role-playing than
game mechanics.
	Also, try to ignore mechanics completely.  Just go with it, and have fun.
 Which is the point of RPG's, after all.




-- 
===============================================================================
Devin D. Moss/ dm841861@longs.lance.colostate.edu
Dept. of Chemical Engineering,Colorado State U, Ft. Collins CO
USA, North America, Sol III, Sector 001

"Science Fiction is an escape- into reality" Issac Asimov (1920-1992)
From: cm182s182@pdrome.UUCP (Clayton Miner)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RFD: GURPS disad limits
Date: 8 Oct 92 00:38:50 GMT
Organization: The PowerDrome BBS [(716)825-3614 Excelsior]
X-BBS-Software: EXCELSIOR! v0.960

I am not a GURPS player, so take my comments with a grain of salt, but...
 
    Who was the IDIOT who came up wit hthe term DISADDS!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!
 
    For God sake, they are MINUSES!  Have we as gamers become so sensative 
that we can not longer face the thought of having minuses, penalties, or 
whatever but instead have to refere to them as 'negative positives'?!?!?!?!?!?
 
Skeksis
From: mjung@math.TU-Berlin.DE (Michael Jung)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Rolemaster Rules Clarifications
Date: 9 Oct 92 10:46:24 GMT
Organization: FB3, TU-Berlin, Germany.

In article <1992Oct8.165750.19869@vssi.trw.com> b_kondalski@vssi.trw.com (Brian J. Kondalski) writes:
   After playing Rolemaster for a few years, I've come across some rule areas that
   I'd like to see other people's opinions about.  If any of you other RM players/
   referees would care to comment on how you interpret such rules, I'd appreciate
   it.  Some questionable areas are as follows:

   1) How do you use the various stun relief spells?  Under Concussion's Ways
      (Open Chan) stun relief gets rid of "1 round's worth of accumulated stun
      effects".  Does this mean that if a PC takes 3 rounds of stun from one
      hit and 2 more from another in the same round, does he end up with no
      rounds of stun or 4 (2+3-1) rounds of stun after the spell is cast on him?
      And how do the higher level Stun Relief III+ spells work? Same PC takes 5
      rounds of stun in round 1, 3 rounds of stun in round 2, and 1 round of
      stun in round 3; does he end up with no rounds of stun, or 6 (5+3+1-3)
      rounds of stun after Stun Relief III is cast on him?

I use the friendly version, Stuns are tough enough already. This may not be in
accordance with the rules, I have not read them for a while.

   2) Various spells (mostly Essence) have a range but have a spell class of 
      Utility.  Utility spells are said to not effect anyone but the caster,
      but then why would the spell have a range?  Examples of this are on
      the Physical Enhancement list (Open Ess).  Seems to me if a spell-user
      can cast Utility spells on others, it could make some low level spells
      very deadly (cast Leaving on someone, and make their destination 100
      feet up!).  Other spells make great sense to be able to cast on others
      (ie Night vision).

I don't have the rules at hand, but Utilities may not affect others? Leaving is
deadly, but allow a RR against it. Or allow only Movement over ground not just above
ground.

   4) Anyone have any rules on items that at the a characters defense bonus?
      Currently a PC could find many items to increase it (+10 armor, +10
      cloak, +10 amulet, etc) and gain a large bonus.  I am currently limiting
      them to the item that gave them the largest bonus, anyone else have any
      other ideas on this?

Don't distribute that many items. It is not that easy to enchant small items, few 
alchemists will do so. Also you may rule according to the bow & arrow rule,
(which I believe to be stupid, but that is another question.)

   Well I guess that's enough for now and if anyone is interested in discussing
   more Rolemaster rules, send me a letter.  Thanks in advance.

Sure, why not. But let' do it in public.


	Michael
From: dhoberma@pearl.tufts.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RFD: GURPS disad limits
Date: 13 Oct 92 16:45:58 GMT
Organization: Tufts University - Medford, MA

In article <cm182s182.05im@pdrome.UUCP>, cm182s182@pdrome.UUCP (Clayton Miner) writes:
> Let me put it this way...I had the misfortune of having a GURPS player over 
> one night (put the brakes on there for a sec).  the misfortune stemmed not 
> from the fact the person was a GURPS player but from the particular person.  I 
> have had the good fortune of having other GURPS players (and the occasional 
> ref) visit and they were just as much fun as anybody else.  I wearly listened 
> for about an hour how a particular referee exploited this 'disadd' and that 
> 'disadd' and generally cruelly crushed his players and when asking what a 
> 'disadd' was I was told that they were minuses and/or weakness.  Now maybe I 
> am just too far out of the mainstream of gaming but when something called a 
> 'disadd' is explained as a minus, then I gotta wonder why isn't it called a 
> minus and what are these people hiding from if they can't refer to things as 
> minuses.  This situation got even further muddled when the person started 
> talking aboud 'disadds' to their dice rolls!  GEEZ!  :)  Isn't calling a minus 
> a 'disadd' like calling dying a terminal episode?  And if it is just a 
> terminal episode, does that mean the poor sucker who just croaked might be 
> revived in syndication????  If people are gonna start screaming about the 
> improper use of 'sexist language' in gaming, then I have the right to start 
> complaining about what I see as insane language too...

The word "disadd" is simply a word for disadvantage. In game terms, the
disadvantage is just that, something that makes life harder for teh character
(like being mute, deaf, etc.) the actual system mechanic is to give the
character additional points to spend (because he took this disadvantage for
his character.)
	The player was unclear in his explanation to you. Disadvantages
cannot be simply equated with minuses. The system works as such:
	skills and stats cost points x amount from your total.
	So Total - x = points you have left.

	disadvantages give you points (because you took them). They give you
	points (call those points y).

	But because you normally _subtract_ the cost of something from the
	total, and disadvantages _give_ you points, they are written as
	-y (my variable for the point worth of disadvantages * -1)

	so you get

	Total - x (skills,stats,advantages) - (-y) (disadvantages)

	If the player was talking about disadds on his die roll, that was
	just plain sloppy language, just plain wrong. You have minuses
	to die rolls, not disadvantages! :)

	I hope this clears things up, and perhaps next time you should
	reveal your source of misinformation when you post (your original 
	comment) so that people know that you are speaking from someone
	elses ignorance not your own. In the future, it would be wise
	not to be quite so inflammatory about something before you are
	sure what it really  means. :)

	Dobie
>  
> Skeksis
From: cm182s182@pdrome.UUCP (Clayton Miner)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Star Wars questions
Date: 9 Oct 92 10:44:38 GMT
Organization: The PowerDrome BBS [(716)825-3614 Excelsior]
X-BBS-Software: EXCELSIOR! v0.960

Redwing,
 
    I like the input on the Fighter Tactics skill.  thanks for posting that 
and I will see about introducing into my capaign as soon as possible (I like 
to create a handout for every rules modification and give a copy to each 
player for reference).  As for the idea of bonus points for good gaming being 
turned in for Force Points, this is still in the testing stage and all of my 
playes understand that so if it doesn't work no one is going to be overly 
upset.  I will admit to fiddling with the Force Point rules a bit to make it 
easier for players to get a second Force Point, but after that the original 
rules pretty well are in force (sorry...).  If you habve another house rules 
thatyou thing would be of interest, please put them up and I will, if you 
would like, do the same.
 
Skeksis
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: c188-cr@po.berkeley.edu (Chua Hak Lien)
Subject: Proverbs:- Proposal for a net.book??
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 15:52:35 GMT

I've always found proverbs to be useful in campaigns, especially in
adding colour to NPCs. I'd like to see a net.book collection of 
proverbs, just like those in net.riddles, but my account would
not have sufficient memory for such an endeavor.

Anyway, here is a brief spattering of proverbs, mostly culled from
Russian folklore. Hope it's useful!

+==============+
A good merchant has neither money nor goods.
A net will catch more than a pole.
A priest's belly is made up of several sheepskins.
All ages are submissive to love.
An argument is fine only when there is to be a fight.
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far place.
Don't drive a Binya into the woods if he has found his way to your house.
Don't raise your stick and the dog won't bark at you.
Eat what is cooked, listen to what is said.
Even honor is not an honor, if there is nothing to eat.
For him who does not believe in signs, there is no way to live in the world.
He can cheat a fish of its skin.
He took the devil's mat, but he'll pay back with his skin.
His word is as good as a tied knot.
If the pocket is empty, the judge is deaf.
If you don't deceive, you can't sell.
Loose words are picked up like gold coin.
No one knows how the poor man dines.
Not everything is a mermaid that dives into the water.
Old age is not a joy, but death is not a gain.
One man in a field is not a warrior.
Peace lasts till the army comes, and the army lasts till peace comes.
Smooth hands love the labor of others.
The horse loves oats; the earth, manure; and the governor, tribute.
The wise man boasts of his goods and wares; the foolish one of his young wife.
There's no harm in wine, it's drunkenness that is at fault.
To every high mountain, there is a higher one.
Until you have smoked out the bees, you can't eat the honey.
You can't do everything at once.
You do not drink soup with a knife.

Chua
+==+
+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+
	Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans.
							- John Lennon
+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: bell@cassatt.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Newbie System?
Date: 9 Oct 92 04:48:54 GMT
Organization: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

In article <1992Oct8.201425.11315@waikato.ac.nz> rmarsh@waikato.ac.nz writes:
>I was just considering the Newbie-Impact of the many systems out there. I 
>would guess that D&D still gets the most new players because it is the best
>known to outsiders. D&D is not my system of choice, but I will say that it
>is a reasonable starting system due to its simplicity.

I never thought of D&D as particularly simple, except character creation
(when you know the system) and advancement.  D&D is a good starting system
if you've got experienced D&D players around, which is far and away the
most common case.  If you're looking for a "fantasy" game, Stormbringer
has a reasonably simple rules set (based on Chaosium's BRP system), a
world that's well-known to many, and the basic $25 set includes all the
rules for gaming in the Young Kingdoms.  Anyone know Stormbringer
well enough to comment on how well it works as a role-playing system?

   -Andrew Bell
bell@cs.unc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,news.admin
From: cwatters@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Coyt D Watters)
Subject: Re: ATTENTION REC.GAMES.FRP.* FAQ-POSTER!!
Summary: y'ever have one of those years?
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 13:10:25 GMT

In article <14910@chalmers.se> d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se (Bertil Jonell) writes:
>
>  For some reason I have never seen any of the rg-frp-announce postings on
>rec.games.frp.announce. Why this is I have no idea, although I suspect that
>it have something to do with distribution, but even though I've been here a
>long time it would be nice to see the posting listing mailing lists once in a
>while.

Well, who all is having problems with MY rg-frp-announce posts besides me and
Bertil?  I am trying to get it fixed.  Stay Tuned.

[really, I don't know what suddenly went wrong.... I could read 'em fine]
From: braca2@cspyr1.cs.adfa.oz.au (BRAY CHRISTOPHER)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Newbie System?
Date: 12 Oct 92 09:22:53 GMT
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia

seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:

>In article <1992Oct09.184255.23352@rchland.ibm.com> BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com writes:
>	Considering that even 17 years ago it cost me $300 to go to a
>convention, you can see that I don't GO to conventions. Hotel fees,
>entry fees, game fees, etc. Why? I can spend that money on something
>permanent, like new books, or on my grocery bills.


	Come to Oz, it only costs me a mere $40 bucks Australian. :)

>                                 Sea Wasp
>                                   /^\
>                                   ;;;
				What the fuck is this?



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