HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mittman1@athena.mit.edu (Christopher T Chiu)
Subject: Concoction correction!(Was Re: GMs wanted!)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 03:02:59 GMT

I made a mistake--we are still looking for a few good GMs,
but Concoction '93 is to be held on the weekend of May18-20-
NOT December.  Again, call Ron at (609)965-6070 for details.

From a curious adventurer,
Genghis
mittman1@athena.mit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: wogg0743@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (William Shakespeare)
Subject: Vamp / Ars Magica
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 11:08:08 GMT

I've played neither Vampire nor Ars Magica, but I'm curious, do they take
place in the same universe (ie, are from the same company)?

Any comments on how good they are as games.

-- 
William ("Shakespeare") Gulstad          /  So where are the C.S. babes?
wogg0743@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu                /  Joni Mitchell for President!
I vote, so I can complain!               /  Did you vote?  Then don't complain!
Republican is the opposite of democracy! /  Tune in, drop out, log on.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: tara@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Lady Johanna Constantine)
Subject: Re: Faerie Folk
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 23:08:23 GMT

tkelly@unix2.tcd.ie (Mithrandir) writes:




>There are two uses of the word Fay/Fey.
>In Arthurian stuff, it is most often spelled Morgan Le Fay. This has
>Latin descent of some sort.

> The other use is with Fey. The Fey People was another way of describing
>the faerie, particular those who inhabited faerie rings and stole
>children and so on.

Fey also means "doomed".  It is usually used to mean uncanny, whereas
Fay is definitely connected with faery,

The arthurian legend is drawn from welsh and irish texts (that ahve
been recorded, albeit not always in their entirety) and then was rewriten
by the celts from Brittany adn the french court poets.

Morgan, Morgana, ect is a corruption of Morrighan most likely.  She was not
a "bad guy" in the earliest stories.  That was later.

Vivian, Nimue, etc is a corruption of Rhiannon (welsh).

 could do a comprehensive list, but I don't have my books with me
 at the moment.  You want one, you email me.


>>  Actually, christian tactics were more forceful than that.  Yet, at the same
>>time, the christians wrote down Celtic legends and laws.  This was possibly 
>>intented as an insult to the Druids, who did not believe that the legends 
>>should be written down.  Or, it may merely have been an attempt to increase 
>>the knowledge of the monks on how to combat the Celtic religion.

>  The Tuath De Dannan were supposedly a highly powerful RACE of people
>who lived in Ireland before the Celts. There's legends about how they
>came to Ireland in a Flying ship and so on. They certainly didn't come
>with the Celts to Ireland.
>  The De Dannan are frequently confused with the Daoine Sidhe in Celtic
>legend, and it is difficult to extricate the two. The Celts did have
>gods and goddesses, for example Morrigan, but they were not associated
>with the De Dannan at all.

Who have you been reading?

The Morrighan certain was.  You might be thinking of them who were already
in ireland (ie: the world) when the Dananna came, ei: Lir (Llyr), his
son Manannan Mac Lir, teh Cailleach (an archetype, adn one part of the Three
who are One, the Goddes, and she is found all over europe and asia, with
many names), Danu (Anu), Carnun (latin Carnunnos, english Herne the Hunter)
etc.

The Dannans (most of the well known ones anyway) were as follows:

The Morrighan
Macha
Nemain

Lugh
Nuada Airgedlamh
Goibhnu
Luichtaine (sp?)

The Dagda
Dianchect
Aine
Brigid

Nemed
Oengus Og
Midhir

Please don't flame me for spelling.  I'm doing this off the top of my head.


LJC
-- 
Lady Johanna Constantine* Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will
tara@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu   * endure when mere facts are dust, and ashes, and
Disclaimer - huh?       * forgot.      -Dream of the Endless (and Neil G.)
LJC of the Net.Trenchcoat.brigade (Hi Elmo ;)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: pvanheus@frodo.cs.uct.ac.za (P A van Heusden)
Subject: Re: Faerie references?
Organization: Computer Science Department, University of Cape Town
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 11:29:53 GMT

In <C1FM6z.FH0@news.cso.uiuc.edu> tara@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Lady Johanna Constantine) writes:

>burdickd@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Dakin Burdick) writes:

>>Some other classic faerie novels include:

>>Greg Bear, "Infinity Concerto"
Haven't read the others, but this one, and (to a lesser degree) its followup,
'The Serpent Mage', is very good.

Finally, have a look at Ellen Kushner's 'Thomas the Rhymer'.

Peter
--
*******************************************************************************
Peter van Heusden              "The extreme always makes an impression"
CS2, UCT, Cape Town, RSA             J.D. - Lethal Attraction 
pvanheus@frodo.cs.uct.ac.za              
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: staats@athena.mit.edu ()
Subject: The Random Roll Question :-)
Keywords: Character Generation, Whining ( ;-)  )
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 17:32:50 GMT

Wow! Tis a truly contested issue.  Here's some views
from an old timer . . . I have been DM/GM/ref'ing for
13+ years.  The bottom line is (and was) THE PLAYER
HAS TO BE WILLING TO PLAY THE CHARACTER. (Nothing
Earth shattering in that revelation, but sometimes
it helps to go back to the basics.)

	The more interesting and playable the
players find their characters, the more fun the
campaign will be.  A couple examples are in order.

	When I run a campaign for a group of the
younger gamers ( less than 11 years old), I try to
have really good stats for the PC's in any system. 
At this stage, the gamers are not (generally ---
sure there are always exceptions) interested in some
deep underlying psychological inner conflict the PC
is feeling; they want to: kill the dragon, save the
village, stop Darth Vader, etc.  Their not always
going to come up with the master stroke that saves
the day, but the good DM/GM/ref helps the process
along, and everyone has a wonderful time.

	When I'm running a campaign for the older
crowd (e.g. grad students at MIT), I am more
stringent about how the characters stats are rolled.
For a really experienced gamer half the fun (or
more) may be generated from having to overcome some
particular character flaw on the part of the PC. 
So, playing a mage with a low IQ could be a lot of
fun.

	OK, that is more than $.02 worth.  I hope
this generates some interest.

	In service,

	Rich

"Helmsman! Prepare for flames!"  "Aye, sir!"
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: durrell@pinball.arcade.uiowa.edu (Bryant Durrell)
Subject: Re: Vamp / Ars Magica
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 05:04:49 GMT
Organization: University of Iowa

In article <1jv58bINNjl4@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> gorilla@cats.ucsc.edu (Christopher John Arnold) writes:
>The story behind the existence of Tremere vampires is that
>a member of house Tremere in ARS MAGICA decided that he
>would invent a ritual that would turn him in effect into a vampire.
>This person happened, I believe, to be the Primus of the House at
>the time. He forced all Tremere mages to go through this ritual.
>So we have 98% of a house of  The Order of Hermes that is now
>Vampiric, and in the VAMPIRE world.

Uh, that doesn't mesh with the info in the Players Guide and World of
Darkness and other sources.  As I recall, some poor Kindred took the
risk of Embracing a Tremere mage and was promptly Diablerized for his
trouble.  I don't recall if the entire House ended up Kindred.  It 
may not be specified.

-- 
Bryant Durrell					   durrell@chop.isca.uiowa.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 I feed on the flesh of the living, and I vote.
From: jeff@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Jeff Freymueller)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RQ2: Questions/Comments
Date: 25 Jan 93 21:14:51 GMT
Article-I.D.: morrow.1k1l8bINN4c1
Distribution: world
Organization: Stanford Univ. Earth Sciences
NNTP-Posting-Host: pangea.stanford.edu

In article <1k12siINNqas@trwvssi.vssi.trw.com> b_kondalski@vssi.trw.com (Brian J. Kondalski) writes:
>Just looking for a few comments on some Runequest 2 stuff.
>
>1)  How do other GM's handle resurrection withing cults that have a death rune?
>    Humakt is the only one that I have seen that specifically denies it.  I've
>    seen where death cults that get usage of Sever Spirit (one-use or reusable)
>    can not be resurrected, all death rune cults can not be, and only Humakt
>    can not be.  Currently I don't allow any cult with a death rune to be
>    resurrected, but PCs have been asking questions.... any thoughts?
>
There has only ever been one Resurrection in any RQ game I've ever run. I would
say that only Humakt has the no-resurrection restriction. It comes not only
from the Death Rune, but also from the Humakti ideal of the "purity of death".
This is why Humakti are so opposed to Undead. Zorak Zoran, for example, has no
problem with Zombies, so I could hardly see them object to Resurrection.

>2)  How do other people handle spirit scans for allied spirits and such?  Do
>    you pick up all runes that a person is tied to?  How does being illuminated
>    stop this from happening?  Currently I give all runes within POW range in
>    meters.  A illuminate is able to hide/unhide the runes he possesses at
>    will.  Any thoughts?
>
I have played that the Illuminate is able to project any runes he possesses,
or none at all, as he wishes. So if he is a member of (for example) Orlanth,
Uleria, Thed and Primal Chaos, he could appear to be whatever of the four he
wishes, according to the circumstances. But no matter what he won't show up
on Sense Chaos.

Although we have generally not allowed people to know what runes a person or
his/her ally is tied to, at least not without other magic. Once a spirit is
engaged in spirit combat, the runes are then known, unless one spirit is
illuminated. I don't know if there is an official answer to this question;
but that is how we've played it.

>3)  Anyone got a list of the Glorantha cults that have been published for RQ2?
>    I've got the Companion with the list, and the only cult I am missing is
>    Geo.  If anyone has a more complete list, send it off to me.  And if anyone
>    would be willing to photocopy some cults I may be missing, please let me
>    know.  I'll be more than willing to cover any expenses (or exchange copies
>    in return).
>
Send mail to David Gadbois (e-mail me privately for his address, since I don't
know if he would want it broadcast - although I doubt he'd mind). Ask for
information about the "Revised Stafford Compendium", which is a bibliography
of all of Greg's works, and contains a list of all cults. It costs $5 I think.
I think it's worth the $$.

Jeff Freymueller
jeff@pangea.stanford.edu
From: markl@dvorak.amd.com (Mark Luedtke)
Subject: Re: SRII Insect Spirits *possible spoiler*
Keywords: srii magic spirits insects queen
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; Austin, Texas
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 17:58:24 GMT

I have several questions about insect spirits.  The stats for true form
spirits in Grimoire II says they are for manifest form only.  What are the
stats of the astral form?  All force?  If so, how come they have different
mental attributes?  Especially the rediculously low Willpower?

Also, is the Queen's attributes all force in astral space (plus spirit
energy?)  As far as I can tell, any manifest insect spirit is just
mage meat, which is really depressing, and as always any astral spirit is
an easy target for a mage.

Am I missing something?
-- 

Mark Luedtke    markl@dvorak.amd.com

This was typed by an infinite number of monkeys.
From: at731@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Troy L. Nothnagel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII Physical Adepts
Date: 22 Jan 1993 14:42:07 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: at731@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Troy L. Nothnagel)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, maillet@tls-cs.cert.fr (Luc Maillet) says:
>  And how, pray tell, do you restrain mages ?
>
>								Redwing

Check out the Neo-Anarchist's Guide to North America.  They've got all
kinds of nasty restraining devices, including cuffs to prevent use of
spurs and razors, datajack plugs, and a sort of helmet that prevents
mages from casting spells.
From: millerl@wharton.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Random Rolls
Date: 26 Jan 93 22:55:31 GMT
Organization: Newt World Order

In article <2582@blue.cis.pitt.edu>, seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
> In article <1993Jan26.171711.16347@nastar.uucp> phardie@nastar.uucp (Pete Hardie) writes:
>>Never mind how a cripple can be in such a place, and manage to 'distract'
>>another godlike being
> 
> 	Two Organian or Q-type entities are locked in a struggle. Both
> are very nearly equal, and are almost completely focused on the 
> battle at hand. Psi cripple, sensing this from a distance, focuses
> his entire energies in a psionic attack on one, distracting that one
> for one millisecond. 
> 	IN the millisecond, the other one nukes his opponent.

ALSO in the millisecond, the Psi cripple gets demolished by the QTE that
he attacked. Whether or not he aided a godlike being is academic at this
point, since he's already been rewarded by a transmutation to spirit
form. Assuming you're still playing GURPS, this replaces the character's
crippled disadvantage with another disadvantage worth even more points,
Dead.

> 	Analagous to two people locked in perfect equal combat, with
> one of them stung by a bee at a critical moment.

The one who is stung can swat the bee and kill it, and lose the
advantage to his real opponent, or he can ignore it. In either case,
barring serious allergies, the one who gets stung isn't going to be
damaged much by a bee sting, and the bee is either going to be dead or
ineffectual (ignoring for the moment that bee stings are invariably
fatal, to the bee).

-- 
whoah,
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller                           internet: MILLERL@wharton.upenn.edu
Mediocrity is a hand rail.                         -- Baron de Montesquieu
From: lward@husc11.harvard.edu (Lester Ward)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII Insect Spirits *possible spoiler*
Date: 26 Jan 93 18:57:59 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc.lward.728074679

flindholm@mta.ca writes:

>In article <1993Jan25.175824.6312@dvorak.amd.com>, markl@dvorak.amd.com (Mark Luedtke) writes:
>>I have several questions about insect spirits.  The stats for true form
>>spirits in Grimoire II says they are for manifest form only.  What are the
>>stats of the astral form?  All force?  If so, how come they have different
>>mental attributes?  Especially the rediculously low Willpower?

>   Actualy, I don't think they can astraly project. They may be dual beings
>though. I know the most advaced ones (that look totaly human) have the power of
>aura masking.

True form spirits are astral .natives., so if anything, they project onto
the real plane (via. manifest), not the other way around.  This is an
attribute of all true spirits.  Only flesh form insect spirits are locked
onto the real plane.

Wordman
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: jwolf@nyx.cs.du.edu (The WolF)
Subject: Re: DragonQuest?!
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 21:31:09 GMT

In article <9301262001158435@waltham.columbus.oh.us> scasterg@waltham.columbus.oh.us quotes me as having said:
>> In essence, DragonQuest is a stripped-down version of D&D (not AD&D). Its
>> intended to be a gateway into D&D. Seems T$R is aggressively pursuing the
>> novist gamer. :)
 
>> Jon WolF

>WHAT!!!! Have you ever *looked* at DragonQuest?

No, I am merely stating what T$R itself says in the 1993 catalog.

>It is a rerelease of a game that TSR acquired when it bought out SPI years ago.
>DragonQuest was so far & away superior to AD&D I think they were afraid to let 
>it live. It is the most elegant game system I ever played. A masterful blend of
>simplicity and detail -- simple where you want it, detailed where you want it.

If you say so, I've never read - or played - it. No interest either. :)

>TSR has screwed up many elements of the game by tweaking default numbers and 
>the like and simply excised some of the nicest parts, but the essence is still 
>the same.

That, dear fellow, is what T$R does best!

[Much stuff deleted]

>I play GURPS because that is what my current group uses, but if I thought I 
>could get them to switch, I would do it in a second.

Go for it, if it is that good a system (for you, at any rate).

>Stu Castergine

Jon WolF - Je joue AD&D-2-F
From: damiens@cco.caltech.edu (Damien Sullivan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII Physical Adepts
Date: 22 Jan 1993 00:05:21 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: punisher.caltech.edu
Keywords: physical adept stealth

My GM started our party off with very powerful characters for the game
he wanted to run, so our PA was able to get a stealth skill of 16. (He
concentrated almost all of his skills in stealth and firearms.)  One
time we had to get past this magical barrier.  The decker and my character
walked right through, but the drow mage had to open it for herself and
the para-shifter phoenix.  Before she did, however, the PA got a very high
success and sleazed past the barrier!!

		-- Phoenix -- Damien R. Sullivan  [X-) Kiljoy]
6x9=42 | AIXELSYD | 1374245896=4 | Libertarian Dictatorship
Honk if you're American and have heard of Steeleye Span... 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: esper@cs35b.cs.umn.edu (Dave Sherohman)
Subject: Re: SRII: Quickening, Anchoring, etc.
Keywords: quckening, astral, spell locks
Organization: University of Minnesota
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 01:52:04 GMT

In article <C1HILw.KuE@acsu.buffalo.edu> whitley@acsu.buffalo.edu (John Whitley) writes:
>
>3) A spell lock may be concealed by an initiate as per the rules in
>   the Grimoire II; does this conceal the locked spell, as well?

I'd say yes, the spell is also concealed.  However, note that in the case of
an area-effect spell that affects the motion of astral energy (barriers, astral
static, etc.), the effects of the spell would still be obvious.
>
>5) The Anchoring abilities Delay Link and Temporal Link seem to be
>   extremely limited.  Which target numbers does enchanting for effect	
>   (under Anchoring in Grim. II) reduce?  Effect?  Drain? Both?

On Grim2, p. 49 the columns of the Delay Link Modifiers Table are labelled
"Drain Target Modifier" and "Drain Level Modifier".
>
>7) What about using anchoring with quickening?
>
I don't see why not...  Things to keep in mind though: 1) This would eat karma
like candy; I agree that base karma cost for the quickening would be spell
force + links.  2) This would spread the caster's magic pool pretty thin - say
to put a detection spell on an object to trigger a manipulation spell, and
quicken them both, you'd need to resist link-adjusted drain twice for each
of the spells (4 drain resistance tests) without your magic pool refreshing...
>
>8) Anchoring and spell locks?

I'd allow use of a spell lock to extend the duration of an anchored spell, but
when the spell lock is turned on, so is the spell it's hooked to.  This isn't
any big deal most of the time, but it can be a pain at times...  Basically,
any spell triggered by another spell can't be locked (unless you want to 
override the link), so it'll still need its own temporal link.

esper@ima.umn.edu
From: kogoma@triton.unm.edu (Taki Kogoma)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Star Wars RPG: multiple strength rolls on multiple attacks?
Date: 23 Jan 1993 01:38:23 GMT
Organization: Nit-Pickers for a Better Tomorow Afternoon
NNTP-Posting-Host: triton.unm.edu
Keywords: Star Wars RPG 2nd edition

[Inquiry about how many 'damage resistance' STR rolls are needed for
multiple hits.]

I've always thought of each hit as a discrete event.  Therefore, each
hit gets its very own resistance roll.  (...to cherish, and hug, and
squeeze, and name "George"...;-)
-- 
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk  (Known to some as Taki Kogoma)  kogoma@triton.unm.edu
 I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be superior to
                          what I have now...
From: wah2@po.CWRU.Edu (William A. Humphrey)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Rolemaster Power Points
Date: 22 Jan 1993 02:57:12 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


   In response to the question of how GMs distribute power points to their
spell-users:

   In my campaign, which has been running on-and-off for five years now,
I use the Power Point Development skill.  I feel that with a system like
RM, consistency in the method of handling various elements is important to
enhance the playability and reduce the rules look-ups required to play the
game.  Therefore I handle PP development in the exact same manner as Body
development.  Each race is assigned a die type to roll for PPs, and each 
race is assigned a maximum base PPs for each realm.  Pure and hybrid spell-
users get a +1 to the die roll.

   The die types are chosen to keep the number of power points available
at a reasonable level, and reflect my own views of the relative magical 
prowess of the various races.  Thus common men get a d4, most elves get
a d5, as do high men, while half-orcs and dwarves get a d3.  The average
on a d5 is 2.5, plus one for being a pure spell-user gives 3.5.  This means
that the average pure spell-user in my game has as many PPs as the best 
in the standard rules - at low levels.  At high levels, the maximum PP limit
keeps this increased power from running away.  The base maximum PPs is 
in the neighborhood of 150, again adjusted to reflect relative magical 
prowess of the races.

   Of course, PP multipliers are significantly rarer in my game than seems 
to be the norm.  It took the magician in the party until 8th level to 
get a x3 multiplier to replace her x2, which she had only gotten at fourth
level!

   I also restrict PP expenditures by the PCs by revising how PPs are 
recovered.  Instead of being fully recharged in the morning after a normal
nights sleep, each hour of sleep allows the spell-user to recover one PP,
cumulatively.  So a two-hour nap allows the spell-user to recover three PPs.
An eight-hour night's rest allows the recovery of 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8=36 PPs.
Sleep meditation doubles the rate of recovery (since it halves the amount
of sleep really needed).  So eight hours of sleep maditation allows the 
spell-user to recover 136 PPs (the sum of 1 to 16).

   Hope this helps.  It's worked for me so far.
-- 
					Bill H
50 Years Ago Today (or thereabouts):			14 January 1943
* Roosevelt & Churchill attend the Casablanca Conference to plan the invasion
of Europe.