HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: nishio@ntttsd.ntt.jp
Subject: Japanese Edition of Torg is out
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
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Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 01:26:43 GMT

Last December, Japanese edition of Torg was finally published.
Congulatulations!!

But beware.  Kanawa seems to block the supply of the game.
Out of Tokyo it's not easy to get a copy of the game.
 (Another reason is that the game sells too well, possibly).
In addition, there are considerable typos in the rulebook,
presumably due to the law of intrigue.
Now Storm Knights are fighting to spread the game and to correct the typos.

----------------------------------------------
Genichi NISHIO / nishio@ntttsd.ntt.jp
NTT Transmission Systems Lab., Yokosuka, Japan
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: gregb@wombat.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Snooze)
Subject: some general questions
Organization: /home/fsg/gregb/.organization
Distribution: alt
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 16:18:45 GMT

I've just started running a TORG game and have a few minor questions.
1st... is there any limit to the number of miracles someone knows? Or is
it just assumed that someone knows all the miracles for their religion?

2nd.. In the various mentionings of magic in the Asyle books it says that
the only spell that begining players shouldhave is somethingl ike arm of air.
And says that any storm knight who wishes to know other spells must find them
int he course of playing or by finding someone who can give them the spell
or something like that.  How do other people out there handle this? Do you
just let your beginning players choose whatever spells they wish? Or do
you tell them they have to only choose a few.

3.. at what point in the wars down tharkold invade LA?  I'm trying to order
events in my mind.  I just got the delphi council book and tharkold has
invaded in that book <but not in the Nippon Tech book>.  <sometimes I
wish WEG would give some indication of the ordering of events so that
someone jumping in later on in the war can figure this stuff out...>

that's it for now I think :)
gregory


Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Rick Jones <albert@crick.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu>
Subject: Kanawa production
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Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 18:43:22 GMT

> I'm just wondering why we haven't seen anything from Kanawa (so far)
> that takes advantage of the higher Tech axiom in LA; if Kanawa already
> has factories and production centers there, why is it taking so long
> to churn out the stuff?  Surely he's still got the plans from his
> Cyberpapal installations and it didn't take any time for them to bring
> out a Tech 27 knockoff of an Akashan weapon down in S. America.


	The social axiom is what's bolluxing up Kanawa production.  
It's a pure zone, so to take advantage of the tech means you have
the social axiom screwing you up.  BTW, that's one problem I have
with Tharkhold, the social axiom is so low that business and 
civil government would collapse.  I suppose some of civic authorities
might be able to keep going, since the Law of Ferocity allows the 
social axiom to be higher for military units.

	The place for Kanawa to go nuts in production is Peru.  
They own the government, and have a tech 30 field to play in.
At the very least, they should be churning out cyberware from
plans they had in their (now blown to @#$%) French plans.
-- 
Rick Jones              "People come back from the dead all the time.  I mean,
albert@bcm.tmc.edu       I've come back from the dead.  I bet you have to!"
Systems Support Center  "Well... Yes, I have.  But I AM a professional."
Voice: 713-798-7352          -Rick Jones and Dr Strange, Incredible Hulk #399
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: PERRY@gemini.dnet.ge.com
Subject: RE: REVIEW: Character Collection (long!)
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Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 14:29:00 GMT



>As I indicated above, the character writeups themselves are incomplete
>in some cases.  Most are probably due to the entries that were sent in
>being incomplete (for example, Hieronymus, an Aysle native, has no
>magical skills at all, not even birth magic) or due to space reasons
>(none of the magic users have spell lists or even arcane knowledges

Yes, it was because of space that spells were cut.


>Fauchal : Experienced
>	Fanatically opposed to the Cyberpapacy.

If people are interested, I can post Fauchal's spell/magic abilities

     __       ____            __   
    /\ \     /  \ \          /_/\ Brian Perry
   //\\_\   / /\ \_\        _\_\/  perry@Taurus.dnet.ge.com
  / \// /   \ \/ /_/___    / /\
 /   /_/     \  ____/_/   / / /   "You can't have everything, 
/ /\ \_\      \ \ \      / / /     Where would you put it?"
\ \/ / /       \ \_\    /_/ /
 \__/_/         \/_/    \_\/
From: fiacha@jupiter.nmt.edu (Michaael Cantrell)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: languages
Date: 7 Jan 93 23:04:51 GMT
Organization: University of North Texas
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Regarding the Edeinos use of extended sibilants and pidgin English:

Does the Edeinos (at Tech 7 remember) even rtecognize the brain as the
seat of higher reasoning power?  Can the DD turn on the language
machine in an Edeinos brain if the Edeinos doesn't possess one.
Remember that your are applying Atomic Age neoruscience to <Stone Age
anatomy.  Based on this, the DD would probably just have to lay on a
language imprint over the Edeinos' normal language skill.  It would
probablr be limited to either written grammer form (the DD just
peruses a few grammer books, assuming they exist in cosm), or samples
the spoken language of the region the bridge is going to drop into.
Of course, later exposure to native speakers and culture will modify
the speech patterns of a creature who learned a language this may.  It
is also possible that Edeinos will speak in different manners
depending on what cosm they are in.  In the LIving Land, Edeinos will
probably speak in near-perfect English (or whatever), while in Core
Earth they speak is harsh sibilants due to their inability to shape
English words with their lips (or lack thereof), tongues, and teeth.
They would probably speak fairly well semantically speaking.
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Jeffery Brown <jbrown@u.washington.edu>
Subject: subscribe
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Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 22:47:08 GMT


Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: oakes@jupiter.nmt.edu (David Oakes)
Subject: Re:  REVIEW: Character Collection (long!)
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Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 23:22:56 GMT

cyberdeckers without the skill?
victorians without true sight?
"the whip" has no melee?

admittedly, these could be from the original characters,
but if they are that lacking, how did they win?

and on top of WEG quality proofing, they change some characters, backgrounds -
why did we bother sending our own creations in the first place?
(stark - yeah, right, tell that to his mother)

dave "bitter that his edinos lost to the WEG mascot" oakes
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Rick Jones <albert@crick.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu>
Subject: Re: Language relations
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Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 20:27:06 GMT

> I was going over the language trees and tables that a couple people
> posted last month and came up with a couple comments...
> 
> Didn't Towlyn make some comment in one of the novels about similarities
> between the main Ayslish language and either English or Gaelic or some-
> thing like that?  

	I don't remember that, but I do remember a comment in "Crocodolpolis"
about how Terran Arabic is very close, to Core Earth Arabic.

> The language of the Nile is probably related to Arabic, though I figure
> that most of the population speaks English (it fits the genre better;

	Yah, most people in the Nile spoke English.  Made things easier.
(I also convert all money to dollars.  I presume that the players can
convert their cash with ease, and dock about 10% off a month.)

> Is it actually said anywhere that the Marketplace language is similar
> to Japanese?

	Not to my knowledge.

> speak the Queens English), does it imprint the 'proper grammer' form
> of a language or does it imprint the 'popular' form of a language?

	According to the LL sourcebook, (which I re-read last week 
to get ideas for my Nippon Tech/Living Land/Land Below adventure),
the DD allows edeinos to learn English rapidly.  It will take a month
for the average edeinos to learn English fluently.  One would presume
that those with the Language skill would learn even more quickly.

> Everyone has the image of edeinos speaking pidgin English with long
> hissing 'S' sounds, but what if all the edeinos that came down in New
> York spoke perfect "Brooklynese", including accent and slang?  Or they
> were to speak perfect, proper English (the kind you find in business

	I suppose that it depends on who taught them.  I figure the
edeinos paladin speaks the Queen's English, the edeinos Rocket Ranger
speaks overdramatically, and the teenage mutant ninja edeinos speaks
surfer talk.  ("Cowabunga, dudes. Those heinos gospogs just nabbed my
Pizza!")

-- 
Rick Jones		"People come back from the dead all the time.  I mean,
albert@bcm.tmc.edu	 I've come back from the dead.  I bet you have to!"
Systems Support Center	"Well... Yes, I have.  But I AM a professional."
Voice: 713-798-7352	       -Rick Jones and Dr Strange, Incredible Hulk #399
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim) <jogle@aoc.nrao.edu>
Subject: Re: Stunning Blow
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Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 16:40:26 GMT

Burton writes:

> I have some people starting to look at Nippon Tech for character sources.
> One of the maneuvers 'Stunning blow' appears to be worthless...all hand
> to hand damage is "stunning blows" (the way I play it, unless you have
>something hard to convert it to killing, like brass nuckles, or have "strike".
> How do you make this maneuver worthwhile?

Note that the description of the maneuver says the +2 bonus goes to
the Martial Arts skill; it gives the martial artist a +2 to hit, with
the normal STR+2 martial arts damage (stunning damage though).  This
maneuver has actually been one of the most used in my game, purely
because it gives a better chance of hitting their opponent.  The wound
level is less than a normal Strike attack would be, but against Ords
that isn't much of a change (since the shock and KOs are still the
same).




Kansas Jim (jogle@aoc.nrao.edu)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: "Colin J. Wynne" <cwynne@liberty.uc.wlu.edu>
Subject: Re: Strike manoeuvre, AGAIN : )
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Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 06:39:50 GMT

On Thu, 7 Jan 1993, Burton Choinski wrote:

> I have some people starting to look at Nippon Tech for character sources.
> One of the maneuvers 'Stunning blow' appears to be worthless...all hand
> to hand damage is "stunning blows" (the way I play it, unless you have
> something hard to convert it to killing, like brass nuckles, or have "strike".
> How do you make this maneuver worthwhile?

The way our campaign plays it, Strike is useless.  Martial Arts (if it is
a true combat style, as opposed to a more philosophical style)
automatically makes your hand damage into 'killing' damage.  One of the
perks of having learned the Art in the first place.

So, the way I see it, either the Strike manoeuvre *or* the Stun manoeuvre
are pointless -- pick which you want to be the default, and forget it
exists. YMMV.

CJW

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
  =====  Colin J. Wynne                     Washington & Lee University  =====
  =====  cwynne@liberty.uc.wlu.edu              Lexington, Virginia      =====
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: smooge@jupiter.nmt.edu (the Smooge)
Subject: Re: REVIEW: Character Collection (long!)
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
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Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 20:18:00 GMT

Well then I guess Zeke will have to get Scholar(Independant COmics) so
that he can get the possibility...Yeah that sounds fair. 5 possibilities
for 1 possibility.... *SIGH* :) :) :)

Ebenezer Smooge
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: agreene@mta.ca
Subject: Re: Miracles
Reply-To: agreene@mta.ca
Organization: Mount Allison U, Sackville, N.B. Canada 
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 15:21:03 GMT

 Colin J. Wynne writes:
>
>I figure that the number of miracles a character can perform should be
>related to the axiom level.  I was thinking of a rough breakdown into a
>few different levels, such as:
>
>1) One per focus add, 2) one per faith and focus add, 3) three per two faith
>and focus adds, and 4) all.  
>
>I don't have the axiom level descriptions around, so I can't say now what
>numbers might be appropriate, but I figured Core Earth should be in (1),
>since the DC SB indicated limitations on CE priests; Aysle/Orrorsh and SPI
>16-17 should be in (3), and LL should be (4).
>
>The only specific exception so far is for the Ravagons, who are limited by
>Ravok to having focus adds + 1.
>
>Any comments?
>
>
>CJW
>
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>  =====  Colin J. Wynne                     Washington & Lee University  =====
>  =====  cwynne@liberty.uc.wlu.edu              Lexington, Virginia      =====
><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<




grrr....






--Anthony Greene
-I may be quiet, but I'm still listening...





>
>
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Robert Link <link@lcopt.physics.fsu.edu>
Subject: Fact is stranger than fiction.
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Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 18:03:00 GMT


  Realsim?  You've got mages tossing fireballs and cyber-fiends who have had their entire skeletons
replaced; why not people who can fall from buildings and get up and walk away.  After all, 
*that* has at least been known to happen in real life, upon rare occasion.  The use of possibilities
is far from a "wish parser", as there are very specific limitations on what it can or cannot do.
  The crux of the matter is that Torg is inherrently a cinematic game; much of its flavor comes from 
the larger-than-life manner in which everything is portrayed.  You could, I suppose, rework the game for
more realism, but consider that all the challenges in the source material--challenges the PC's are 
expected to face on a regular basis--are balanced against larger-than-life heroes.  If you don't want
a cinematic type of campaign you are probably better advised to play a game with this type of setting
built in.

-rpl			    |	Some people never find it
			    |	Some only pretend
some call him:		    |	But I just want to live
link@lcopt.physics.fsu.edu  |	Happily ever after, now and then



Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Rick Pim <RICK@QUCDNEE.BITNET>
Subject: Re: REVIEW: Character Collection (long!)
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Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 17:39:00 GMT

> are  Jim Ogle <jogle@aoc.nrao.edu> (Ks. Jim)

>(none of the magic users have spell lists or even arcane knowledges
>listed)

steam..... WEG morons..... :-(

rp
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim) <jogle@aoc.nrao.edu>
Subject: Re:  Psionics question
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Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 20:04:19 GMT

Dave L. writes:

> One player wanted to have a psionics character who was a fire-
> starter.  Now, having avoided the Space Gods book because of
> all the flaming on the net (I have it, but have never had a 
> space gods character in my campaign) and not seeing anything
> like this in the book, I persuaded him to choose something else,
> explaining that the psionics rules were terrible.
> 
> 1)  Are they really *that* bad?  Has anyone tried to play
>     or gm a Space Gods character that used psionics?

I haven't used the psi rules much but aside from some minor problems
in how you select the powers I haven't had any real problems with
them.  Of course, I haven't had a player try to use psionics yet so
they haven't been given a good workout in my game yet.  Works fine so
far for the NPC though.

> 2)  I saw the "energy channeling" power in the book, but that
>     just refocuses existing energy and doesn't create energy
>     (i.e. he wouldn't be able to create the fire but would have
>     to use a lighter or a flamethrower).  Any ideas for a
>     power closer to what my player was looking for?

Shouldn't be all that difficult to create a pyrokinesis power (its
like miracles; there are no guidelines! 8-) though finding the right
balance between useless and godlike power may be tricky.

> The campaign (which included Brian Postow: the pasta knight, and
> t. erik brown) also introduced some new eternity shards, we got
> our first glory card played and had our first death.  I'll post
> shard stats and a synopsis later.

First it was doing Nile cycles at the same time Burt was, now its
eternity shards (I came up with four new ones over the break)....

Kansas Jim (jogle@aoc.nrao.edu)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: fiacha@jupiter.nmt.edu (Michaael Cantrell)
Subject: psionics (Are they that bad?)
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Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 23:03:50 GMT


Actually, the psionincs rules are not that bad...the TORG ,rulesa are
flexible enough to accomodate almost anything.  The main limitation is
that in order to accomplish any thing REALLY major a psionic must
juice up his base effects.  This of course makes the backlash suck
like an Ororshian hardpoint.  I did try to run an Akashan psionic in
Smooge's game.  I knocked myself unconsciious in the first few rounds
of the first scene because I kept failing to bring up my awareness
power.  Lesson Number One: high psionic resistance and mind.  My
original character conception was based on one the Those Who Wait, but
I quickly discovered that an Akashan who doesn't use biotech is a
quick meal for the worms...Leson Number Two: always take biotech
devices.  The ones you put inside your body do not create a
contradiction merely by existing.  But they can die when thr SK
remains disconnected for too long.

But back to psionics.  I have for many years been trying to develop a
a psionics campaign based on Julian May's novels.  TORG beat me to
it.  To the best of my knowledge the Space Gods is a complete rip off
of May's Galactic Milieu. Read SG and May's books, see what you think.
But anyway, I have written up Pyrokinesis and an Energy Generation
psionic power.  I do not have them with me, but I will post them in
the next couple of days.

Be seeing you...

Fiacha

Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: cpearce@nemesis.acs.unt.edu (Chris Pearce)
Subject: Re: Language relations
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Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 20:49:32 GMT

>> [ Do Darkness Devices ] imprint the 'proper grammer' form
>> of a language or does it imprint the 'popular' form of a language?

This question is best left to individual GM whim. However, realize that
formal written English is a highly restrictive subset of spoken English.
In your everyday speech, you use all kinds of constructions that are not
condoned in written English. A speaker who spoke only in formal written
English would probably come off as sounding stilted or pompous.

In addition, if a DD imprinted only the grammar book form of the language,
those imprinted would probably be confused by colloquial expressions and
vernacular. In addition, over time, those imprinted would begin to pick up
local modes of expression (though the speaker's attitude towards the culture
he is immersed in has significant effects in his speech).

For this reason, I think that DDs must imprint colloquial modes of speaking
(or just a temporary language facility that allows those imprinted to learn
the languages they hear at phenomenal rates).

>> Everyone has the image of edeinos speaking pidgin English with long
>> hissing 'S' sounds, but what if all the edeinos that came down in New
>> York spoke perfect "Brooklynese", including accent and slang?  Or they
>> were to speak perfect, proper English (the kind you find in business

Well, your example raises two issues.

The first is that some characters may not have the physical ability to
articulate human speech. Edeinos may hiss when they speak because the
construction of their vocal apparatus may cause it.

The second is a question of native accent. In real life, it is practically
impossible to learn a foreign language well enough to fool native speakers
of the language -- that is, if you learn the language in your adult life.
Children, up to their pubescent years, seem to have a language machine in their
brains that allows them to learn new languages to native speaker levels.
During a child's adolescent years, however, this machine gets turned off, and
those who learn languages thereafter are destined to speak those languages
with at least some accent.

So, the GM must decide if DDs are somehow able to turn the language switch
back on. If you feel the DD does, then speakers will eventually pick up
native accents.

But, IMHO, it is always fun to have your character speak with an accent. It
aids getting into character and makes roelplaying more fun.

> Rick Jones		"People come back from the dead all the time.  I mean,

-- 
Chris Pearce -- cpearce@nemesis.acs.unt.edu
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim) <jogle@aoc.nrao.edu>
Subject: Re:  Scatterzone
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
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Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 15:26:52 GMT

Jason writes:

> I hate to bring something like this up on the Holy Torg Group, but what does 
> everybody know about Scatterzone( I think that's it's name) the new West End 
> Game?  Any idea on rules basis (Torg, StarWars, innovative new system), or 
> basic plot of game?
> 
> Any info would undoubtedly be interesting.

The name of the game is Shatterzone.  The mechanics are based on TORG,
including a drama deck of some kind, but it is going to be slightly
different (I think the phrase 'more realistic' may have been used, but
don't quote me on that.)

The game itself won't be out until spring, though the first novel set
in the Shatterzone universe is already out and the second one should
be out this month sometime.  (Though supposedly demonstrations of the
game at conventions will begin this month.)

Shatterzone will be a SF outer space game but it will not be in the
'space opera' vein of Star Wars.  I don't know if there will be a
driving storyline behind the campaign world (ala Star Wars or TORG) or
if it will just be a setting for GMs to do whatever they want to with
it.  




Kansas Jim (jogle@aoc.nrao.edu)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg