HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bp494@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Dana Goldblatt)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RPG Fiction
Date: 5 Sep 1992 14:56:58 GMT
Organization: ETI Technical College, now owned by Bryant & Stratton!
Reply-To: bp494@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Dana Goldblatt)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu



In a previous article, jfzeigl@afterlife.ncsc.mil (Jon Zeigler) says:

(here he quotes a previous poster):
hall@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Robert J. Hall) writes:
>>Anybody have any interesting opinions, good or bad, about the relatively
>>recent phenomenon of RPG-associated pulp fiction?

(here Jon adds his comments, indicating they are to be considered flames>
>
>In general, the writing style is juvenile, the plot derivative, the setting
>predictable, the characterization cardboard, the dialogue painfully inane, and
>the overall quality abysmal.  The cover art is usually rather nice.
>
>Maybe I've just been unlucky.  For example, I've never touched any of T$R's
>stuff -- to be fair, I would guess that if there is any decent writing to be
>found in this market, they probably have it.  Still, I've been burned so often
>by this crap that I'm less than willing to plop five or six more dollars down
>to see.
>
>I'll stick with the *real* professionals, thank you.  Tolkien or Zelazny for
>fantasy.  Brin, Niven, Vinge, or Anderson for the hard science fiction.
>Accept no cheap substitutes.

I have read some RPG associated fiction.  I have read the Dragonlance 
Chronicles & the second series, the one about time traveling & the 
Abyss &c.  I have tried to read the Salvatore Dark Elf series, but
could not.  I also tried to read the "Avatar" series (after playing
oneof its modules) and another TSR series, by Jane Chang & somebody,
about a girl who was transformed somehow & made extra strong or soemthing.
Again, I couldn't read it.  I simply could not sustain interest in it.
I didn't even think about it to the point of was it well 
written or not, just couldn't read it too well.

Anyhow, I think that the only good RPG fiction is that 
which is published by non game companies, and therefore has to stand
on its own merits as fiction.  I liked Feist's first Magician novel
ok, though I don't think it was one of my favorites.  I also liked
the Paksennarion series by Elizabeth Moon, which is also rpg based.
Neither were published by TSR or any game company.
-dana
From: wilder@mik.uky.edu (jeff wilder)
Subject: Re: I want my SR2!!!
    <1992Sep13.185805.3475@newshost.unh.edu> <ward1.716436328@husc8>
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 02:50:16 GMT

Hee hee hee. :)

The Samurai is still dead, though.

There is actually quite a bit of errata, as Mac has already posted, but
*nothing* compared to the original.  SRII is *vastly* improved.

Tom Dowd (just to look impressive by name dropping) (Jesus, I'm a geek)
is an *extremely* entertaining individual, BTW.  If you ever have a chance
to attend a seminar or just to chat with him, do so.  I'd just about
kill to have him GM a couple of SR sessions for me.

--
================================================================================
| 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: braca2@cspyr1.cs.adfa.oz.au (BRAY CHRISTOPHER)
Subject: Re: SR: Non-animal totems
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 08:32:39 GMT

palmerbh@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (The Dark One) writes:

>Um, whatever gave you the idea that a Winter Shaman could only cast in Winter?
>We already have the equivilant to a Night Shaman (Owl), who gets penalties* to
>casting (or anything else) during the day, but gets a lot of bonuses at night.
>True, only having bonuses for 1/4 of the year would mean the bonuses would have
>to be damn impressive, and I wouldn't make the penalies too obnoxious.
>Maybe -1 die to all magic (Sorcery, Summoning, and Enchanting) during the rest
>of the year, and a +1 penalty to all non-magical activities during the entire
>year (except Solstices and Equinoxes, they are Druids ya know), and a +2 dice
>to all Magic, and a -1 bonus to target numbers for Magic in the appropriate
>Season, and of course an additional -1 bonus to magic T#s during a Solstice or
>Equinox.

Besides this sort of Shaman may be migrational, heading north or south at 
various times of the year, just so he can keep with his element. 
Could cause an interesting incident if the PC shaman does not make the 
voyage north ( or stops his element) because of a run.

hmmm
hook
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: uplink@cwis.unomaha.edu (John M. Scheibeler)
Subject: Re: Permenant damage in HERO
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 02:34:57 GMT

dleland@dante.nmsu.edu (LELAND) writes:

[...]

>2: The PC does something real stupid onsistently. Captain Flashburst flies
>into a laser barrage and gets hacked to pieces. Major Clueless jumps in
>to slug it out with a martial artist swordslinger many times faster than she.
>And so on.

   Yes, but there ARE players out there who play like this because they
don't really know better.  When they're being stupid like this on 
purpose, then teach 'em a lesson.  When it's not really their fault that
they don't have any common sense, them what do you do?

>3: The PC is being especially nasty, vindictive, excessively violent, etc.
>The PC is blasting villains with whom he has no qualms in the back and
>killing them, then laughing at their dead relatives. Stuff like that. They
>are really annoying not only the NPCs, but the players and the ref. 

   Didn't they say in the 4th Edition CHAMPIONS book how to deal with players
like these?  I see Leland doesn't believe in reading the book *grin*.

>Obviously the use of seriously crippling damage is not to be overdone. It can
>however, make PCs think twice before they really charge into a situation
>with a lot of violence ("hey, I could get really mained and shot! EWe'd better
>think about this a little." There's nothing like the threat of serious injury to
>make people use some tactics in a fight.

   Kills the idea of superheroics all together when you're too afraid to save
your own skin to try and save that of others'.

>One other comment I have regards what I call "concept regen." This is where 
>a PC eventually grows back limbs because "it's in character conception" even
>though they have no regen. I myself would be pretty pissed if I was playing a
>character who had a lot of regen as part of the concept if Captain Dumb got to
>grow back his lost arm just "because." What's the point in paying those points?
>It's like saying I should have flight, running, skills, or any other kind of
>power for free because it's "part of my character concept." Usually that 
>argument is the final refuge of the confirmed rules rapist.

   So your character doesn't have loads of Regeneration, and loses a limb.
What does he do?  Maybe he has Shape Shift, and shifts himself to "regrow"
the limb, without healing the BODY.  Maybe he spends a few XP, and gets a
cybernetic arm.  (In fact, he can do this just by getting a distinctive 
feature.)  Maybe he has a neat special effect on his Armor that lets him
regrow the limb.  (It was actually a special effect of the attack that 
caused him to lose the limb in the first place.)

----------------uplink
=========================================================================
"Open the --- ah, skip it, Hal, we already know what happens."
=========================================================================

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: dmccart@gomez.intel.com (D. J. McCarthy)
Subject: Re: Legos as props
Organization: last!
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 01:15:55 GMT

	I use Lego people all the time in heavy role-playing sessions.
They have their good points and their bad points.

The good points are:
	- You can be a non-artist and still customize them.
	- They don't take a lot of time to customize (i.e. switch from
		a brown hat to a green hat).
	- Combat looks a LOT messier with Legos than with lead figures,
		which is a feature I like a lot.
	- You can move the arms and legs around.
	- They are priced about the same as lead figures ($6 for 5).
	- They're not poisonous.

The bad points are:
	- They're top-heavy.  Either you have to sit them all down, or
		get a restrictive Lego baseplate to stand them on, or
		play with people that never bump tables.
	- They all have that annoying happy face.  I guess this could
		be a plus in a Paranoia game, though.  Some have beards
		or lipstick, but not enough.
	- You never get enough hair.  I have about 50 Lego people and
		exactly two pieces of hair.  Either your character
		wears a hat, or goes around with an unsightly
		Simpsonesque yellow knob on the top of his head.
	- Having a box full of unused Lego parts nearby tends to be an
		unwelcome distraction at games for the artistic among us.


--
D. J. McCarthy <dmccart@gomez.intel.com>
"I would say 'get a life' but then I'm sitting here posting News." -Bob Carroll
From: alvalent@husc9.harvard.edu (Alvin Valentine)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Immortality in HERO
Date: 12 Sep 92 04:31:53 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1992Sep12.003154.15540
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

Talk of resurrection reminded me of this idea I posted last year.  Use 
Duplication and make 4 duplicates of yourself.  Now limit the power to
saying that the other duplicates have no physical form until the original
form dies, then one of the duplicates appears and becomes the "original form."
Why 4?  Well, for one, so you can get killed a couple of days in a row and
never die.  (Actually I may be thinking of 3 and not 4.  Check your books
for the magic #).  Better though, is that you lose the points that it
costs to build the duplicate when he dies.  The 1st extra guy is more
expensive than the 4th (or third).  SO basically you just have to shell
out some XPs every time you die to keep your immortality up to speed. 
 

 
Later,
 
Lee Valentine
From: dudek@acsu.buffalo.edu (David T. Dudek)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Matriarchal Societies...Fact or Fiction
Date: 8 Sep 92 20:40:31 GMT
Organization: UB

If I remember correctly, the Iriquois Nation, which resided in what is now
New York State, was organized in a matriarchal fashion to an extent.  I
believe that women were the ones who held council positions, and I think
that a man and his children took on the wife's name (clan membership)
rather than the other way around as in European culture.  Like I said, I'm
not VERY sure, but I seem to remember this from high-school history class.
...just my $.02.


-- 
--David Thomas Dudek  aka: the "DUDE"  |  "The opinions expressed are those of
  University at Buffalo                |   my alter id, and do not reflect     
  V098PWXS@UBVMS.CC.BUFFALO.EDU        |   gamma rays in any way, shape or 
  dudek@acsu.buffalo.edu               |   form."
From: good@turing (Joe Good)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Matriarcal Societies
Summary: They exist!
Keywords: South America, Southeast Asia
Date: 9 Sep 92 14:57:29 GMT
Organization: Math Department, UC Davis


	There is a lot of discussion going about discussing the
possibility of a matriarchal society.  The fact is, that 
matriarchal societies exist today, in some South American
tribes especially, and also in some Southeast Asian cultures.
Admittedly, these tribes are usually quite small and isolated,
but that fact that you learn about them in a first-year
anthropology course means that they are by no means unknown.
	I'm not going to enter into the argument as to whether
a matriarchal society would be superior, I just thought that
people should know that such societies do indeed exist, and
aren't just hypothetical situations.

							Joe Good
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Axly)
Subject: Re: Covers
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 16:24:41 GMT

mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner) writes:

>I feel even more strongly that internal color plates are a waste of
>money, to the point that they actively deter me from buying the book.
>It's nice to have a cover that's easy on the eyes, because you'll be
>looking at it a lot, but internal color is completely unnecessary.  FASA
>spent a lot of money showing us what color a unicorn is, for heaven's
>sake!  I already knew that....

Ditto. FASA is colorplate happy. They are putting color plates in 
everything. Do we really need to know what color the manufacturer 
paints his BattleMechs? The 3055 Tech update was full of color plates.
BOO!! HISS!! (Related Color plate complaint for FASA: Tell the
artists there that their people look totally stupid as far as the 
outfits they are wearing. Yes, it is a neat idea to project on
the future and postulate what people will be wearing, but the
clothes we see in most of your future games look dumb!)

Axly
From: jdugger@bagpipe.reed.edu (Jay Dugger)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Music and lights
Date: 6 Sep 92 18:58:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: reed.1992Sep6.185828.4144
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR

In article <Bu5M1x.2Ct@acsu.buffalo.edu> v054nn84@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu  
(Foto...Taking pictures again, and Happy for it!) writes:
> I use more than just music...I use atmospheric music to highlight spooky  
scenes
> but I also load up a few SFX on the computer and play those as well.  If  
it is
> combat then the music might be from Akira or Aliens (depending on the  
scene
> from the film).  Stormtroopers appear and out comes the Imperial march!   
Gotta
> love it!  Also whenever possible I use stills from movie mags, draw  
floorplans
> on the computer and transfer them to the big TV and like that there.   
Nothing
> wrong with adding a little atmosphere...like the night I hid the  
LeMarchan Cube
> I had from sight (no one knew I had it yet) and when one player ofund  
one
> (ginev it actually in a change encounter in old Arkham town...heh heh  
heh [HEY
> they needed one to solve hte mystery]), I turn to block the players  
view,
> pulled it out from hiding, and tossed it to him across the table.  He  
caught it
> and the floor caught his jaw when he realised what he had!  Good for a  
few
> laughs and the player got some extra experience for goo role-playing  
too!
> 
> Skeksis - Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni

Not to seem stupid, unenlightened, and generally unaware, but what's a Le  
Marchan Cube?

Jay Dugger
jdugger@reed.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: v054nn84@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Foto...Taking pictures again, and Happy for it!)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Covers
Date: 13 Sep 92 10:42:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <15091@mindlink.bc.ca>, Nick_Janow@mindlink.bc.ca (Nick Janow) 
writes...
>How important are covers?  Will you ignore a game with a plain cover, and buy a
>game without checking what's between the covers as long as that cover is fancy?
> 
>A fancy cover (full colour, or embossed gold leaf, etc) could raise the price
>of a game by several dollars.  Just what dollar value would you think a cover
>is worth?  If a store carried a plain-cover version for $20 and a nice
>colour-illustration-cover version for $25, which would you buy?
> 
>--
> 
>Nick_Janow@mindlink.bc.ca

When it comes to games, I don't buy anything that is sealed until I have talked
to people who have played the game and gotten a chance to look at their copy
first.  As for the cover of the average 'perect bound' book format game, the
only function of a pretty cover is to make me look at the game, I still take
some time in the store to flip through the game somewhat to see what I am
getting into (with one exception...Dream Park, but then I had reasons to 
just up and buy the thing regardless).  I have to be honest, if there were
two versions of the same game with two different covers, I would buy the
one with the more elaborate cover.

Skeksis

P.S.  How many of you out there hate those damn novels that have nothing
      but 'rave reviews' on the back covers and don't tell you a damn thing
      about what the story is about???
From: JLM@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Matriarcal Societies
Date: 10 Sep 92 19:15:45 GMT
 <1992Sep10.135901.2728@mks.com>
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

In article <1992Sep10.135901.2728@mks.com>, viktor@mks.com
(Viktor Haag) writes in response to another article:
>
>Pardon me, but I think you confuse the term matriarchal with
>matrilineal.  Plenty of matrilineal descent systems exist among the
>worlds cultures.  This does not, however, have very much to do
>with matriarchiality.  I find it doubtful that the term "matriarchal"
>carries any sort of utility.  At the very least, anyone who uses it
>should provide some sort of definition for it.
>
>Having said that, I suppose I should provide one myself:
>
>        A society wherein a group of "mother figures" retain the
>        positions of authority, and roles traditionally associated
>        with power and authority.
>
>Matrilineal, on the other hand, denotes:
>
>        A means of recording descent and kinship wherein the
>        culture expresses an individual's identity in relation
>        to the individual who gave birth to him or her.


 Now that you have provided a definition of the "matriarchal"
society, I will tell you the names of five societies, which
until very recently were matriarchal (one still is):

 India  - ruled by Indira Gandhi
 Israel - ruled by Golda Meihr (sp ?)
 U.K.   - ruled on and off by women:  Elizabeth I
                                      Victoria
                                      Elizabeth II
                                      Margaret Thatcher
 Philippines - Corazon Aquino

 and more recently a country in central America (either Nicaragua or
 Honduras, can't remember).

 How's *that* for matriarchies ?? <wink, wink>

-- J. L. Martinez --
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:5604 rec.games.design:1631
From: lower-tony@CS.YALE.EDU (Tony Lower)
Subject: Surprises
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept., New Haven, CT 06520-2158
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 22:01:37 GMT

   Here I am, hoping to start a thread that I could
actually bear to READ... Anyway:

   For the GMs (or players for that matter) out there,
I would appreciate postings on the following subject:

    WHEN HAVE PLAYERS SURPRISED YOU?

   I'm not talking about picking the blue tie instead
of the red one you thought they would prefer.  I'm
talking things that really SHOCKED you at the time,
and hopefully have been memorable in some amusing or
astounding way.

   EXAMPLE:

     I was running a fantasy game a year or so ago,
where the characters did not know each other.  The
two characters involved in this story were Tess, a
young woman looking to explore the wide world, and
Gwen, a young huntress.  Tess had wandered off into
the woods, and Gwen came upon her, scaring her
quite a bit.

     Tess:  Are... are you a fairy?
     Gwen [without a pause]: Yes.  And... [pointing
her fingers at Tess's player] I'm casting a spell
on you right now.  If you don't obey me... well, I'll
leave it to your imagination....
     Tess [visibly shaking]: Yes MA'AM! What would
you like me to do first?


This complete fiction lasted for a full half a year,
although Tess's player figured out that she was being
had quite a bit sooner than that... I will always
remember the effort it took to control my expression
when Gwen's player spit out "yes" immediately.

                                            Tony
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: hall@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Robert J. Hall)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: GURPS: Knockback
Date: 14 Sep 92 20:49:45 GMT
Organization: Boeing Computer Services, Seattle


<u894793@bruny.cc.utas.edu.au> writes:
 > In my last gaming session, I was involved in a high-tech gunfight, and
 > the question came up of how much knockback a laser gun should do.  I voted
 > 'practically none', since the momentum of a laser shot is practically zero.

I wonder about this. The laser is going to vaporize a portion of the target,
producing a gaseous eruption in the direction of the original weapon. This
eruption should produce some sort of knockback effect, even if it is only a
small amount. AN ultraviolet laser could even produce a significant amount of
knockback, depending on the amount of energy involved.
-- 
 Bob Hall,                 | "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
 Workstation Peripheral    | Then give up. No use being a damn fool about it."
 Boeing Computer Services  |                                     -Groucho Marx
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: spzkny@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (JAMES ZAKANY)
Subject: Re: Repartee in Gaming
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center
Date:  9 Sep 1992 12:36 EST  

In article <BuB65q.HF1@acsu.buffalo.edu>,
 v054nn84@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Foto...Taking pictures again,
 and Happy for it!) writes...

>My problem is simple, how do I go about encouraging my
>players to engage in repartee among their characters and between my NPCs and
>their charcters.

Quite simply, give 'em a reason to.  One good device is to describe some 
interesting character to them (a red-haired elf wearing a tattered 
travelling cloak and clutching a leather bag to her chest stumbles into the 
common room...her eyes dart about, as if looking for a place to hide...).  
The players' inclination should be to find out more, probably from the NPC, 
herself.  If you describe the person too simply (a female elf enters the 
commons), there's no clue that you want them to interact with her.

If you want them to interact with "monsters", have the monsters talk to the 
characters!  Again the difference is (you see an ogre approaching) and
(an approaching ogre lumbers your way, stating "Lubash goin' ta BASH you!"). 

                                                  James S. Zakany
From: dhoberma@pearl.tufts.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Steffan! Bunnies & Burrows!
Date: 9 Sep 92 18:35:31 GMT
Organization: Tufts University - Medford, MA

Steffan!
	I was wondering what info you could send me about the Bunnies and
Burrows release. The copy on the SJG FTP site will not allow anyone to dl it.
dhoberma@pearl.
tufts.edu    (dhoberma@pearl.tufts.edu) I cant wait for EMACS!
/
.
From: sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Re Legos as props
Date: 8 Sep 92 22:48:29 GMT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <1992Sep08.152219.10073@rchland.ibm.com>, 
 seurer@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Bill Seurer) writes:

> The advantage to the Lego figures is that they are bendable (well, a little
> any way) and you can change weapons and armor (shields, helms, and plumes on
> helms).  You can even snap the hands off (useful for swapping the hook around)
> and I think arms and legs.  Heads and leg sets are completely interchangeable.
> 
> And they do NOT all look alike.

Yeah, but my lead figures don't have the same ``have a nice day'' smile 
pasted on their faces.

Okay,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chadd VanZanten SL9B4@CC.USU.EDU  ``You know, I thought this was a
good idea but this is one weird mama-jama.''  -- TV's Frank, MST3K
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: mcs52867@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Mike)
Subject: Btech comp version
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 19:03:28 GMT

Does anyone know what happened to the computer version of Btech that somebody
was supposed to be working on.  He said that he would post info in a few days,
but that was at least a week ago.  Just curious...
  
Mike

p.s.  What happened to the Btech Muse???


Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:5557 rec.games.frp:25154