HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: plt@wasp.eng.ufl.edu (Pete Taylor)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Stupid adventures
Keywords: Smurfs, Burger King, Aiiiieeeee
Date: 10 Apr 92 19:25:08 GMT
Reply-To: plt@wasp.eng.ufl.edu (Pete Taylor)
Organization: U of Florida Engineering Comuputing Services

I once sent the entire party to the Abyss.  I order to make this place truely
horibble I did not use a single monster/demon/nasty from the MC or use any
material from the Manual of the Planes.  I based the entire trip on characters
and situations from the Beastie Boys rap album Licienced to Ill.  It players
were horrified by traumatized by various nasty little demons walking around
wearing gaudy gold chains and unlaced high top basket ball shoes and talking
only in rap.  Needless to say the players made it a point to get the hell out
of there ASAP and never wanted to go back.  I got a real kick out of the whole
adventure but my players were none to amused (well some of them were :).

Pete
--
Peter Taylor                    |Paintgun:  68Automag
plt@wasp.eng.ufl.edu            |Martail Art:  Cuong Nhu Oriental Martial Arts
worldmage@maple.circa.ufl.edu   |              Cypress School, U of F
From: howell@blegga.u.washington.edu (David Howell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Sex and RPG's - Why Oh Why ?
Date: 7 Apr 92 00:23:22 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

Someone asks: Is the fairer
   sex poorly suited to gaming, perhaps?

I propose that this is the wrong question. Is gaming poorly suited to
women? There is some reason to think so, as many gender studies have
found, as a rule, that it is relationships between people/entities that

are of interest to women. Generally. When was the last time you saw
a section in an FRPG discussing how to get along with team members, or
sociological conflict beteen peoples
?

Yea, there is some, and yea, there are female gamers, but I think
this does provide a hint as to why it's so unevenly male. I'm sure
there are others.

Dave Howell
howell@blegga.cac.washington.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Subject: Re: GURPS: UlTRA Tech ?= Ultra Death??
Keywords: GURPS DEATH ULTRA
Reply-To: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 15:52:29 GMT

esper@cs35b.cs.umn.edu (Dave Sherohman) writes:
>jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim) writes:
>>> tmyoung@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Thomas M. Young) writes:
>>>       1" Steel has DR8,HT80,DR(for occupant)70.  Ceramic composits might
>>>       have DR16, HT40, DR(for occupant)140 - great protection until they
>>>       shatter.
>>
>>	Hmmm. This may work OK for some styles of gaming, but I hardly 
>>think it is 'realistic'. 
...
>>Real armor is not 'worn down' without damaging what is underneath.
>
>Looks to me like tmyoung's system fits what you're talking about - if you're
>protected by 1" steel with DR8, HT80, DR(for occupant)70 and you get nailed
>by an 80-point hit, the armor takes 80-DR8 = 72 points of damage, while you
>take 80-DR(for occupant)70 = 10 points.  Note that with HT/DR(for occupant)
>values like those given, once the armor is penetrated, it's almost ready to
>fall apart - or, in the case of the ceramic composite example, a shot for
>anywhere in the range of 56-139 points will shatter the armor without hurting
>the occupant at all!

Perhaps I was unclear in my problem with Mr. Young's system. As you point 
out - chances are that the armor will be destroyed before the occupant is 
damaged, and after that the occupant is toast. Most damage will likely be 
over the DR of the armor but under the effective DR of the occupant. Heavy 
weapons will be thrown about with little effect until the armor 'breaks'. 

Yes, it is possible in some cases to damage the occupant before entirely 
destroying the armor - but it seems unlikely. 

The problem being addressed was that wounding was unlikely under the 
current system - either you are fine or you are dead. Mr. Young's system 
produces a similar effect (armor getting damaged instead of people), but 
it does not allow for wounding any more than the current system. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Kim                    | Alice: "But if I wasn't real, I shouldn't be
jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu | able to cry."  Tweedledee: "I hope you don't
Columbia University         | imagine those are *real* tears."




Xref: sparky rec.games.frp:17282 rec.games.design:934
From: c9e-al@danube.Berkeley.EDU (Chua Hak Lien)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,rec.games.design
Subject: NPCs Weaker than PC's?
Summary: Should PC's have a distinct advantage over NPC's?
Keywords: GDW, Twilight, Dark Conspiracy
Date: 8 Apr 92 14:44:55 GMT
Article-I.D.: pasteur.1992Apr8.144455.27941
Organization: /etc/organization

If you've ever looked through or played withe the T2000, or Dark Conspiracy
rules, you'll see that Pc's have a great advantage over NPC's in terms of
ability to withstand damage. ( About 3-4 times as much, at least... )

I can see how this fits into the concept of the PC as a 'heroic' character,
but think that it's pretty unrealistic. It just doesn't seem as fun to
have characters that have such distinct advantages over their advesaries.

What do you guys think? Are there any other games that give PC's such
an advantage?

Chua
====
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: fnord@close.columbia.edu (Andres Harasty)
Subject: Re: Sex and RPG's - Why Oh Why ?
Reply-To: fnord@close.UUCP (Andres Harasty)
Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 23:29:04 GMT

In article <1992Apr6.174247.1@cc.newcastle.edu.au> c9036971@cc.newcastle.edu.au writes:
>
>I'd like to call on the experience of you all to answer me a question.
>It seems to me that the number of female roleplayers (not characters!)
>is surprisingly small - in my experience of role playing (about 8
>years, mainly AD&D) I have seen fewer than ten females who were at
>all serious about gaming.

Well In my current Group i have three shiela's and a handful of blokes.
My current and most likely perminate SO is also in roleplaying.
>
>I was wondering if this is the case with the rest of you. Is the fairer
>sex poorly suited to gaming, perhaps? Do they just have better things
>to do than sit around a table roling dice, speaking in jargon (whether
>fantasy, futuristic or whatever) and wandering in imaginary places? Or
>is it just me?

Well it could be that we like to spend our days and nights in small dug
out chambers when it is nice and sunny outside.  Also not many of my
many male companions have high marks on social graces.  We are just a
bunch of creative geeks and nerds that have found that there is more to
life then hunting women.  (Well I did meet my aformention SO through
gaming).  IMHO I belive that the people that play rpgs are similar to
the people in Egineering and hard scienecs; Great minds, but can't
communicate.
>
>For the record, I am a bloke (that's MALE to all you non-Australians),
>and an avid gamer.
>
>Please flame by mail. It makes life easier for the rest of us.
>
>
>Maxx.

Just my n-cents worth {n:n>=2}

-fnord
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: opermwb@HYDRA.ROSE-HULMAN.EDU
Subject: Re: Dealing with "you're sick" syndrome...
Reply-To: opermwb@HYDRA.ROSE-HULMAN.EDU
Organization: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 02:21:46 GMT

There was a group based out of Roselle IL.  They were

Mad
About
Gaming
Ignorance.

or MAGI.
They tried to contact groups opposed to D&D, but never got a responce from
amyone.  It was mainly High School students, and I _think_ the librarian.
Result as of last I heard was frustration.........

PS. The Officers of the club called themselves 'the Staff of the Magi"

Brehob
From: brunner@kazoo.ssd.loral.com (Brian Brunner)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: SR: Decking
Date: 17 Apr 92 06:54:35 GMT
Reply-To: brunner@kazoo.ssd.loral.com (Brian Brunner)
Organization: Space Systems/Loral

Why is every computer connected to the Maritx?
for the same reason every phone is connected to the phone system.
Communication is the lifeblood of business, right alongside
manufacture.

There are secure phone systems you CANNOT access without some
human verifying your identity and patching you through with some
wire plug... and parallel there are some computers you CANNOT
access without  somebody physically letting you get to it.
This is called "hoofnet"  or "adidasnet" today.
So there are MULTITUDES of computers connected to the net
the decker can get to... the decnet...



so very very sorry, folks: deckernet. Better?



and then there are restricted computers that require special access...
shadownet... so to speak. I give up.

Are there machines on shadownet you cannot get to from deckernet?
there are today, there will be tomorrow.
Will these separations of important-from-critical be perfect?
nowhere. Adequate to stop good deckers? Occassionally. How
much is on a shadownet? (completly separate Matricies)
How hard is the gap from deckernet to shadownet to bridge?
I'd say let the GM decide.
There are incompetent sysadmins everywhere.
I know, I'm one of them.
There are corrupt and lazy Matrix admins in the tomorrowland.
There are some who've sold out to somebody, but you can take
advantage of their duplicity if you can find out where they left the
door open... sounds like a run within a run...
go to Company A cause they have goods on Company B,
find out where their open door is in Company B and
use it to get data that the inside man in B did not intend to give to A
or anybody... hopefully without compromising the B leak so we
can use him later. And find out who the inside man is so we can
buy a piece of him to get his list of what they have from A so
we can find the weak man inside A... and of course find out
what either knows about US so we can plug our leaks... and do
it without atracting attention. After all this we have to verify
that the information you got was not junk that they (in A & B)
allowed us to get so they could throw us down dead-end
development paths and thereby trick us into wasting
millions on flawed ideas... stagger stagger...

one  bad idea "leaked" to your opponent (that your opponent thinks
is legit) can do as much damage as shipping him a nuke... and
it can't get you into trouble if he stole it from you in the first place!

So go to company C and PLANT bad data.
Their matrix won't crack to us. Break in and plant things so it looks
like we DID and thus cause them to replace good protections with
 possibly flawed new ones.

Yee, haw... who needs a gun to wreak havok?
Yeah, I know, it's lots of fun and I can't resist.
Goodnight.

--
HELP!! Somebody slapped a "stop payment" on my sanity check!!
brunner@kazoo.ssd.loral.com; Space Systems/Loral; Palo Alto, Calif.
Black Holes... the /dev/null of the Universe; the opinion of 65534.
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Friday, 17 Apr 1992 13:35:18 EDT
From: <MSH109@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: FOR SALE at PSU...

Hi...I'm in need of cash, so I thought I'd try to sell some of my gaming stuff:



AD&D:
  *Player's Handbook, 1st ed.
  *Monster Manual, 1st ed.
  *Deities and Demigods (non-Cthulhu/Melnibonean, but it has Newhon mythos)
  (all are in fairly good condition)

  *Best of Dragon #3

Hero:
  *Basic Hero System thingie Bob...the new book, softcover.

I'm looking for ppl in the area who want dese tings, and I'd like cash...

Best offer...

Contact me through email at msh109 here at good ol' PSU...

  ...where the men are men, the women are womyn, and the squirrels are armed.


Rebis
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: egon@cs.ucf.edu (Lawrence Rounds)
Subject: Re: AD&D2: Al-Qadim F*cked Up Everywhere?
Summary: Al-Qadim not messed up everywhere
Keywords: AL-QADIM, AD&D2
Organization: University of Central Florida, Orlando
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 03:57:49 GMT

In article <1992Apr15.004851.22985@wam.umd.edu> huesmann@wam.umd.edu (Joseph Edward Huesmann) writes:
>
>Hi. A friend of mine and I recently bought TSR's Al-Qadim "Arabian
>Nights"-type sourcebook for AD&D2. The pages were f*cked up. By
>f*cked up, I mean that pages 65-80 were replaced by pages 49-64.
>That is to say, instead of pp 65-80, they had repeated pp 49-64.
>Are Al-Qadim's all over the country f*cked up like this?
>
>Also, I've noticed that both the "Pirates of the Fallen Stars"
>sourcebook and "Al-Qadim" had screwy bindings: The spines of the
>books are skewed, or twisted. Is TSR trying to save printing costs
>and maximize profits even more?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Joe

No, the copy of the Arabian Adventures sourcebook I just bought yesterday
doesn't have any problems.  I'd looked through it already, but double-checked
the pages you mentioned.  The binding's fine, too.

                                              Lawrence Rounds
From: loydb@fnordbox.UUCP (Loyd Blankenship)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re:  STEVE JACKSON NOT GONE!!!!
Distribution: world
Date: 11 Apr 92 11:40:19 CST
Organization: Texas Net Illuminati

 betel@camelot.bradley.edu (Robert Crawford) writes:
>
>	What kind of miniatures system is Hot Lead going to be? Any
>specific genre, or a general system? Any chance of there being a
>tie-in with the GURPS system?

Hot Lead will handle scales from 15mm -> 30mm, and will work with any
genre. The system will be GURPS-friendly (conversions, rules for GURPS
mass battles, etc.), but not GURPS-based. We'll be supporting it with a
number of worldbooks, the first one of which I'm writing and will post more
on at some later date.
>

>	Years ago, after TSR first released its figures, I was at a
>con in Cincinnati, home of Ral Partha. I saw some people looking of
>the TSR figure of what I believe is/was called a roper. One of them
>commented that the tentacles looked like flash, looked at it a little
>closer, and then said "It is flash!"
>	There _were_ Ral Partha people there that day, doesn't mean it
>was them.

I fail to see how this indicates a "hatred" or even "dislike" of TSR. :-)
Sounds more like dislike of a bad casting.

Loyd

***************************************************************************
* loydb@fnordbox.UUCP	     Once you pull the pin,  *	Loyd Blankenship  *
* GEnie: SJGAMES	    Mr. Grenade is no longer *	PO Box 18957	  *
* Compu$erve: [73407,515]	 your friend!	     *	Austin, TX 78760  *
* cs.utexas.edu!dogface!fnordbox!loydb		     *	512/447-7866	  *
***************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Subject: Re: CHAMP:  Racial Packages:  Ripoff?
Reply-To: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 17:27:47 GMT

In article <8x0t-6k@rpi.edu> cleggp@aix.rpi.edu (Paul Jason Clegg) writes:
>Is it me or are Racial Packages totally bogus when it comes to increasing
>maximum characteristics values?  I mean, you can pay points equal to the
>value of the characteristic to increase the maxima. 
...
>If you DON'T buy your strength (or whatever you've improved) up, it's 
>basically a waste of points, yes?

Remember that there are decreased characteristic maxima, too. 

So a race with 25 Max STR and 15 Max INT costs the same as a human 
(I think). If you want to play a member of this race with a high 
STR, you save points. If you want to play a member of this race with 
high INT, you lose points. 

If by 'totally bogus' (dude), you mean it doesn't generally save you 
points, you are correct. 

The idea of Racial Packages is not to make non-humans *cheaper*, it is 
to make them *different*. Note that generally superhuman races (whose 
maxima are all higher than humans) are less efficient than humans, but 
races whose maxima balance out are more efficient. If you want to 
encourage playing superhuman races more, perhaps you might want to halve 
the cost of changing maxima (increasing *and* decreasing). 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Kim                    | Alice: "But if I wasn't real, I shouldn't be
jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu | able to cry."  Tweedledee: "I hope you don't
Columbia University         | imagine those are *real* tears."
From: afj9838@rigel.tamu.edu (JOHNSON, AARON FLEMING)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Steve Jackson Games is gone?
Date: 7 Apr 92 19:12:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <92098.104903IK20001@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>, IK20001@MAINE.MAINE.EDU (Society for Creative Solipsism) writes...
>Oh for Christ's Sake....  Loyd????  Loyd Blankenship?  Settle all
>this *please*.
>--
>Eric Alfred Burns, Lord Sabre            "Faith is a fine invention
>Society for Creative Solipsism            When Gentlemen can *see* --
>"It's all in your mind"                   But *Microscopes* are prudent
>IK20001@maine.maine.edu                   In an Emergency."
>|-}----------                                     --Emily Dickinson

	I'm not Lloyd, but I did speak to him, as did many of my fellow Con
staff at AggieCon 23 on the last weekend of March.  He gave no indication that
SJG was going under.  In fact, he gave us a copy of the new game, Hacker.  
Thanks, Lloyd, it's cool!!!

						Ebony
						Gaming Officer
						AggieCon 23
						Texas A&M University
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Draco Draconus Ebonius             | "Good Night, and may the Good Lord take 
aka Ebony the Black Dragon         |  a Viking to you."--Tales from the Floating
aka Aaron F. Johnson               |                        Vagabond
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	 "I'm a Black Dragon trapped in a White Man's Body!!!  YARK!!!"

			Nobody WANTS my opinions!!!
From: crl0195@hertz.njit.edu (Curt R Lindmark)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Weapon for RIFTS or similar Palladium game...
Date: 9 Apr 92 17:26:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: njitgw.1992Apr9.172628.17452
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.

In article <1992Apr8.114442.4776@cam.compserv.utas.edu.au> cjudd@esk (Craig Thomas Judd) writes:
>Allow me to ramble for just one moment.

  [Weapon construction deleted]
>Assuming all these hit, the damage done (to a single target) is:
>
>2 d10 + 1 d4 MD
>
>Giving a maximum of 24 MD in one round.

  Paah! My cyberknight character has a PEC (Particle Energy Cannon) mounted
in his left arm that did 6D6+6 per hit.  That was so good, I stripped off
the rail gun from my SAMAS and installed another one, hooking a power bleed
from the nuke plant on the back.  I was slagging everything in sight.
One restriction, though.  I couldn't use my PEC in my arm with body armor on.
That meant I only had 50 MDC.  (Cyberarmor is a wonderful thing.)  I could
go on about all that stuff that character had, but I won't waste the
bandwidth.  E-mail me if you are that interested.

>If any RIFTS players can persuade their GM to get away with this monstrosity,
>I'd be interested in hearing how it goes. However, ammo is a real problem in
>the RIFTS world, so she also had a Wilts 320 Laser Pistol. 

I liked the Plasma Cannon myself....as a sidearm *evil cackle*

>And Martial Arts, of course, which with a PP of 25 and various other skills 

 Kick-boxing...Thai style


>gave her +5 to strike and +10 to r/f with damage/impact.

That's IT?  I had +8, bare handed..+13 in my Samas...

>
>If anyone's interested, her name is Ritachi. Both her parents died in a raid
>(Confederation, or whatever they're called; the ones with Deadboys) on their
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Coalition.  Close enough.  

O========|>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<|========0
 Curt R Lindmark      crl0195@hertz.njit.edu         Defender from ages past

 "My mind is racing, but my body's in the lead" -Foreigner

 "Fast, faster, faster, faster, ready to explode
  Don't want nothing left of me to scrape off the road" -Manowar

 "You know where we're going, I know where we are
  Set the rear view mirror for the back seat of the car" -Judas Priest
Disclamier: NJIT is responsible for nothing I don't say which isn't mine.
From: ptrudell@lonestar.utsa.edu (Peter J. Trudell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: "Rules of the Shadow" in Amber RPG
Keywords: Amber Courts of Chaos
Date: 16 Apr 92 00:39:13 GMT
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio

In article <15APR199212113920@utkvx4.utk.edu> ian@utkvx4.utk.edu (Maurer, John Joseph) writes:
>
>	I was wondering about how various shadow specific rules affected
>Amberites. I know that Amberites will adjust to varied time streams. (I.E. If
>Arthur, prince of Amber, goes to a world where the time is 1/2 that of Amber,
>he slows to their time rather than seeing everyone walk arround slowly. Magic
>and Tech also work on various levels in various shadows.
>
>	Some worlds have more esoteric "rules" that are followed in their
>shadow. For those that play the TORG RPG, they are best expressed as World
>Rules. Would a rule that "Everyone in the Shadow Speaks Backwards" affect an
>Amberite. Or "Everyone in the Shadow acts in a Theatrical Manner." I believe
>that they would. What are other opinions?
>
>IAN

IMHO, as a player in the Amber RPG, I feel that it would be like going to a
different country, you would do it to fit in, much less because you are forced
to talk or act that way.  The time rules are just 'natural law' if you will.
In the books, Zelazny mentions that the languages in Shadow differ from that
spoken in Amber, Thari, but are similar in many ways.  We liken this to the
'romantic' languages descending from Latin.

again, just IMHO.
--Red

-- 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: rbanfiel@pieman ( Raybans, the Wanderer )
Subject: Re: The Undead and level loss
Organization: UTLSA Swords Club
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 10:16:59 GMT

In article <167C2E738.MHART00@ricevm1.rice.edu> MHART00@ricevm1.rice.edu (mason hart) writes:
[ Background on reason given ]
>
>1)  Characters recover lost levels at the rate of one per week, unless
>      they are reduced to less than zero.

One a month is more realistic in this case. Would need some serious magic for
more than that. This would also include a lot of training during that time
to make sure they didn't forget or lapse on what they lost.

>2)  Characters may save against Death Magic to avoid level loss.
>3)  The Priest spell Restoration is level four or five, rather than
>      level seven.
No, preist need to earn the spell levels, but they could always find a couple
of scrolls with the spell on it :-)

		Raybans

--
From: mwasson@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Michael Wasson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Gamma World
Date: 16 Apr 92 21:57:34 GMT
Organization: University of Hawaii

>>Makes me feel old - i played the original Gamma World way back when...
>
>grey cover...
>before the days of "game balance"
>those were the good old days...

And it had that map of N. America (I think this made Murphy's Rules)
where the hex scale was something weird, like 87 km/hex -- which in miles 
was the "convenient" scale of 43 miles/hex or whatever ...

To answer the orig. Q: Nuclear war causes comic-book mutations (bunny
rabbits with guns, etc), ultra-high-tech devices stolen from AD&D module
S1 (S2? S3? you know the one...); some other stuff stolen from
"Metamorphosis Alpha"; and yes, no game balance.

Less depressing than Twilight:2000 tho' :-)
----------------------------------------------------------------
mike @ u of hawaii
"Travellers travel" -- orig. Traveller Book 2
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp