HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dlwoods@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Dave Woods)
Subject: Re: Charge Attacks in 2nd Ed.
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 17:06:23 GMT

In article <1992Jul19.082445.21745@burns.jpl.nasa.gov> hand@spc9.jpl.nasa.gov (Kolin Hand) writes:
>
>Greetings all.
>
>I had a situation come up the other evening.  A player in my campaign began
>arguing a point with me and it was not resolved nicely.  The issue was the
>damage modification when using a charging attack.  The specific issue was
>that he had a character weilding a spear, charging an orc.  He claimed that
>the rules in the PHB and the DMG state that the spear is similar to the lance
>(being a polearm) so he should receive double the damage.  Note however, that
>his character was on FOOT, not on a mount.  I claim that A.) only weapons
>identified in the DMG as inflicting double-damage should receive this
>benefit (which the spear is not one);  and B.) that those weapons so 
>identified in the DMG (which by the way, happens to be ONLY various forms of
>the LANCE) only recieve double damage benefits when employed in a charge
>from a mount.
>
quotations from rule books deleted....

>I am inclined to rule that only the lance (in its various forms), receives
>double damage and then, only when employed in the charge from a mounted 
>position.
>
>Any suggestions?  Refutations?  Help?
>
Well, I certainly agree with you concerning charging on foot with a spear,
(or spear type weapon), although rather than just a simple 'NO' set a limit
on the mininum speed at which 'charge' damage can be done.
Also take into account the momentum of the charging person.  You might wish
to consider charges of say 36" or higher to do double damage, with the normal
dex and armour class penalties applying to the person doing the charging.

As for mounted spear (or awl pike for that matter) charges, I don't see why
this should be a problem, ALTHOUGH it wouldn't fall under the normal     
proficiency for spear, so I'd rule non-proficiency penalties apply.  Also,
spears usually aren't long enough (awl pikes on the other hand) and don't have
the hand grips/braces, therefore, the charger would almost CERTAINLY drop the
spear after impact.  Of course, given these restriction, nobody would WANT
to charge with anything but a lance, but then, at least you are being flexable
right?  :)


>Kolin
>
>+===========================================================================+
>+  "Guilt Trip:  The nuclear weapon of relationships."  -- K. Hand          +
>+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>+  Kolin E. Hand                              hand@spc7.jpl.nasa.gov        +

	Dave Woods
	dlwoods@descartes.uwaterloo.ca
From: thack@antares.tymnet.com (Tom Hackwood)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Best possible AC
Date: 29 Jul 92 15:35:24 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization

I limit PC's AC to -10 (and only then at levels greater than 15).  I try
to keep PC's AC between -3 and 10, as I like to have monsters and NPCs
to have a fighting chance.  One good battle causes my group to scamper for
some healing and rest.

Magic rings don't work with magic armor.  There is a 30% chance that non-
class/race specific magic items will fail if a dwarf/gnome attempts to 
use it.  I go to great pains to limit the available protective magic items,
or I change them to be use for only a limited duration (charges and the 
like).

I have been tempted to ban items of Invisibility.  They can skew the 
game unless limited in some manner.

Just some thoughts,

Tom Hackwood

This is not the opinion of             "I may be synthetic,
BT North America, nor is               but I'm not stupid!"
this personal opinion                  - by Bishop from the
endorsed by BT North America.          movie "Aliens"
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: barkeep@IASTATE.EDU (Marlan B Hoffmann)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: CHARACTERS WANTED
Date: 30 Jul 92 00:27:51 GMT
Reply-To: barkeep@IASTATE.EDU (Marlan B Hoffmann)
Organization: Iowa State University

In article <1992Jul23.042337.16748@athena.mit.edu>, cstudly@athena.mit.edu (Todd
Sterling Anderson) writes:
> an adventure is developing full-bodied NPC's.  I was wondering if anyone
> out there has characters on their computer that they would be willing
> to send me. It doesn't have to be in any particular format, and I would
> love to have a character history if you have one.  Send one, send many,
> send often.  It would be nice to have a larger pool of NPC's to choose
> from.
> 
> Thanks alot,
> 
> todd anderson
> 
> PS.  I do know about the trading cards, but I am more curious about what
> non T$R guys can do.


I was thinking of posting a very similar request!  I'm always looking for new
NPC personalities.  I would also like copies of characters you may have.
Thanks!

barkeep@iastate.edu
From: lavonius@kruuna.Helsinki.FI (Ville Lavonius)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: ---> Janik Joire : All others skip please
Date: 26 Jul 92 08:27:23 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Vidal Sassoon's Mosh&Go

I've been trying to mail you several times, but the mail alway bounces due
to "unknown user", and the local names server (or whatchamacalKlit anyway)
doesn't even recognize your host.

Damnedo, your character was nicely done and would have fit the party well.
--
Ville Lavonius	        University of Helsinki, Dept. of Computer Science
lavonius@cc.helsinki.fi : With friends like that, who needs anemones
From: tmiller@prism.gatech.EDU (Thomas Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Secrets
Keywords: secret communication
Date: 23 Jul 92 18:29:50 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <23JUL199212121672@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov>, spzkny@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov (JAMES ZAKANY) writes:
> In article <64168@hydra.gatech.EDU>, ccoprmd@prism.gatech.EDU
>  (Matthew DeLuca) writes...
> 
> >Is the campaign I am currently playing in unique, or do most games frequently
> >have flurries of notes flying back and forth among the players and DM?  There
> >are times when the DM can get almost nothing done due to the mass of paper
> >flying about.
> >Do other groups have better ways to handle private communications?
> 
> Yea.  I discourage note-passing.  My players either get up and whisper to 
> me (they won't usually do this) or they'll speak up.  I simply warn the 
> others that they do NOT have that information!  To their credit, my players 
> are good about that.  When they aren't, I have the xp tally sheet right in 
> front of me...
> 
> By the way, I DO get an occasional note and I DO send them, but no more 
> than one a session.  Perhaps a house rule of one note per player per 
> session would come in handy for you...


  I never had much of a problem with note-passing.  After every session
I would have accumulated a stack of small notes (ripped from other papers)
from the various players.  The big problem with this was the messiness of
it.  I finally figured out what to do - I made up a paper for each of
the players to pass notes on.  If I had to reply, I just jotted the
answer or whatever right below their question or statement.  This
helped immensely to keep some rationality to the notes - I never had
to look back through the stack for anything, and there were only six
or seven pages, which could be neatly stacked later...
  As for the problems with notes...the players only got bothered when
one of their number passed a lot of notes.  They tended to regulate
amongst themselves, though, and it never really got out of hand.  Of
course, I had a good group, who seldom got out of hand anyway, so maybe
my own experience in this matter isn't the norm.  Who knows?  I'm glad
I had the notes, since it helps me recollect fine details when I am
writing up the campaign.  Such notes are also good for some laughs,
too, e.g. "as I put the gold in my sack, I keep an eye on the 
untrustworthy thief".
  Oh, well.  Just my two cents.




-- 
Thomas Miller     Georgia Tech Network Services     GT EE 1992 (?!) 
WORK: (404) 853-0254 / Rich Bldg Rm 127, 258 4th St Atlanta, Ga. 30332
HOME: (404) 876-7929 / 345 Peachtree Pl NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30318 
Internet: tmiller@prism.gatech.edu OR tmiller@oit.gatech.edu
From: mrw@ecl.psu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Number of Dice
Date: 21 Jul 92 14:12:10 EDT
Organization: Engineering Computer Lab, Pennsylvania State University

Does anyone remember the old "What's New?" comic from the back of Dragon? In
one issue, Phil and Dixie are talking about ideal Christams gifts for gamers.
On the subject of dice, they say: "Gamers can never have enough dice. You'd
think they eat the darn things."

As far as the number of dice required to play the game, you could probably get 
by on a single ten sider and some juducious number juggling. However, just
about everyone I have ever played with seems to accrete dice like some kind of
high-impact acrylic black hole. If nothing else, they are a fun way to pass the
time while waiting for your turn in combat-- i.e. building little towers,
knocking over other people's towers, spelling out dirty words if the GM isn't
any good, etc.

     -Mike Williams
     -mrw@ecl.psu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: zmueller@utkvx1.utk.edu (Wilhelm Mueller)
Subject: Re: Missile weapons 4 Krynn knights?
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Tennessee Computing Center
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 14:18:00 GMT

In article <15830mINN3p2@agate.berkeley.edu>, cgeorges@cory.Berkeley.EDU (christoph georges) writes...
> 
>I am playing a Knight of Solamnia in a krynn campaign, and my DM has
>ruled that knights cannot use missile weapons such as a bow because they
>are "dishonorable."  Does anyone know if this is an official rule?  In
>any case, it seems unreasonable to me because it would render knights useless
>and unable to attack in many situations--consider a flying dragon against
>a group of knights for instance.  Any comments?
> 
>chris

My thoughts are that if the DM rules that it would be dishonorable for a Knight
of Solamnia to use missile weapons, then you can't.  Of course, if you wish,
you could use missile weapons, but then you would probably be thrown out the 
order and become a renegade knight (and possibly an enemy of the Knights of
Soalmnia).

	---Wilhelm (ZMUELLER@utkvx.utk.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: TSR History (Was Re: TSR Worlds)
Date: 27 Jul 92 23:56:12 CET
X-To: Axly

In a message of <22 Jul 92 00:57:44>, Axly (2:247/30.2) writes:

 A> For those of you who are interested, GDW's new game by Gary just
 A> started showing up in local stores. *grin* Dangerous Dimensions.
 A> Gary will get people to call his game DD one way or the other.

They (TSR) allready threatened to sue him for that, so he agreed to call it
Dangerous Journeys instead! The world was called Yerth, but another company
(name just slipped my mind) said it was to simmilar to their world called Yrth
(or something like that), so he had to change this, too! It's now called Aerth
with the A and the E connected!

 * Origin: Jesus saves...while Moses changes the disks... (2:249/22.20)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: donald@dvinci.USask.Ca (David Donald)
Subject: Re: More Stupid Player Tricks
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 22:24:13 GMT

douglash@meaddata.com (Douglas Holzworth) writes:

>In article <1992Jul22.161245.26534@honte.uleth.ca>, tagg@hg.uleth.ca (Nathaniel Tagg) writes:
>|>        When the subject of stupid player tricks comes up, I can't help but
>|> think of a small group of first-time players going through the same list of
>|> mistakes we all did.
>|>        This one particular excursion to a large gnoll layer resulted in the
>|> learning of three cardinal don'ts in our group.
>|> 
>|> Plans to avoid at all costs:
>|> #3  "Let's send a chicken in first to set off any traps."
>|> 
>|> #2  "I fall back behind the party and throw darts."  "Ouch!"
>|> 
>|> And of course, the number one party death reason:
>|> 
>|>      "Hey, let's split up!"
>|> 
>|> Can we add to the list of dumb mistakes.  Perhaps we can let further
>|> generations free themselves from this stupidity.
>|> 
>|> --------- Nat

>I've always liked the following:

>   * "My comrades are in melee; I'll retreat and shoot missile weapons into
>     the crowd!"

>-- Doug the DM


	This reminds me of a game (currently ongoing) where we are facing some
very deadly archers:

	Me: (Ranger, tankish): "Aislen, you stinking rotten coward!  Quit 
				flying around and get your scummy rotten 
				magic user/thief - ish butt down here and fight!

	Aislen : "Are you out of your mind, I only have two hit points left.
                  Are you trying to get me killed?????"

	Me:  "Uhh... no, I just wanted to create a target rich environment..."



Dave
-- 
donald@dvinci.usask.ca

"Close?  Close is a lingerie shop with no front window."
					- Lorna Cole (Rene Russo), LW3.
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.dnd:2118 rec.games.misc:16431
From: scavanag@neumann.une.edu.au (Steven Cavanagh)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd,rec.games.misc
Subject: Thief's list requesters-READ THIS!
Date: 28 Jul 92 00:07:54 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.ftrp.dnd


I wish I'd kept count of how many copies of the file I sent. It must
have been around a hundred, at least. I got a couple of "Unknown address"
errors from my mail server when I tried to reply to these people:

 adpgate!kvs@uunet.uu.net (Karl V. Schroeder)
 rclotfel@matt.ksu.ksu.edu
 aimla!titania!jc@uunet.uu.net (John VanHoozer)

I'm not sure If my  server just can't reach them or I've typed the address
in wrong, as I found I had deleted ALL THREE original letters when cleaning
up my mailer. So if a) they could write to me again I'll give it another go,
or b) someone could send them a copy, They'd get one eventually.

The 3 people that actually told me what they thought of it (HINT HINT)
didn't have any complaints, munchkinism flames, etc, so I'd say they
agree with my DM's judgement (he was a bit nervous about having his
opinions, finalised stats, etc .made public).

There are MORE items that I have obtained since I posted my first copy
of the list, but my DM hasn't looked at them yet, and probably won't
for ages. This is because Shade, my elven thief, has all the items in
the list with him (and many from the thief's handbook too), while
any I invent from now on are "back home". The reason it could take
so long is that "back home" is around hillsfar somewhere, while Shade
is in, er, Ravenloft.


_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
                                |
Steven Cavanagh                 |        So many women-
(Cav)                           |
                                |                      -So little charisma.
scavanag@neumann.une.oz.au      |
                                |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
From: tekkens@bashful.helios.nd.edu (tom ekkens)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: CHARACTERS WANTED
Date: 27 Jul 92 18:15:41 GMT
Reply-To: tekkens@bashful.helios.nd.edu (tom ekkens)
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame

In article <1992Jul27.152026.16452@meaddata.com>, gordon@meaddata.com (Gordon Edwards) writes:
|> In article <1992Jul23.203723.26558@meaddata.com>, joeg@meaddata.com (Joe Gayda) writes:
|> |> |> send often.  It would be nice to have a larger pool of NPC's to choose
|> |> |> from.
|> |> 
|> |> I have a C progam that generates AD&D II characters.  I'm afraid if I
|> |> post the program I may break some TSR copyright.  I would love to
|> |> distribute it because I've spent 40 or 50 hours writing the program.
|> |> Can I post this program?  Anyone from TSR have anything to say?
|> |> 
|> 
|> Well, I can't speak for TSR, but I would like a copy.
|> 
|> Thanks.
|> 
|> --
|> Gordon Edwards            The weather is here,              gordon@meaddata.com
|> Mead Data Central         I wish you were beautiful.
|> P.O. Box 933                         -J. Buffet           Phone: (513) 865-7724
|> Dayton, OH 45401, USA                                       FAX: (513) 865-1655

I would sure like a copy, since my C program only generates dice rolling and 
treasure types.
		Tom			tekkens@bashful.helios.nd.edu
From: MWORKMAN@vm.cc.purdue.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Sorry About 2 postings!
Date: 30 Jul 92 06:39:37 GMT
Organization: Purdue University

I accidently posted "Combat Critials: DM query" article twice.
And I can't seem to get one of them off!  Can anyone help?
BTW, I'm using a netnews remote reader.
 
Apolligetical (word?)
 
Ryan Workman :-{
From: pcalvert@economics.adelaide.edu.au
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Cute Player Quotes
Date: 27 Jul 92 02:55:38 GMT
Organization: Economics, University of Adelaide

Coupla quotes from a gaming session last week.
Sorta amusing, it was one of those nights :)

Party had split up in town to find info on evil agents in the town.
They had been given the names of some good agents to contact, but I
decided to make it hard for them (I mean, if *you* were an agent in a 
town and someone came inquiring about sensitive info, *you'd* be very
wary about what you'd say).

Anyway, this bit came about when the party thief went to visit the town's
druid, to try and wheedle some info out of him.
The others had all tried before hand with other people, so he (the player)
sorta *knew* what to expect.
After many vague attempts to be subtle and yet still extract info, he 
eventually gave up (after making a donation to the druid's save the animals
fund). He said that he was after information about some people that might be
trying to cause trouble and undermine the authorities on the town. Another
player said "They're called the Liberal Party"
(For those not in the know, the Liberal Party in Australia is in opposition 
 and are trying to show the Labour Party (currently running the country) up
 as being incompetents (not that they have to try too hard)).

The Druid then proceeded to lecture the thief on the evils of environmental
pollution, to which the same player added, "I suppose he uses Down-To-Earth
products."

(Down-To-Earth products are household cleaning products that are marketted as
 environmentally friendly with all natural ingredients sorta thing.
 As well as being kind to dolphins :)
							...sage
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: wilsonm@vaxb.acs.unt.edu
Subject: Re: Stoneskin
Organization: University of North Texas
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 20:18:48 GMT

In article <1992Jul22.170541.4115@meaddata.com>, gregs@meaddata.com (Greg Smith) writes:
> |> |> >Stoneskin's main unbalancing point, to me, is it's duration, not its 
> |> |> >effect. Since it lasts for an unlimited time, anyone who knows the 
> |> |> >spell will cast it on himself and his companions whenever they are 
> |> |> >about to start a dangerous mission (at least up to what he could 
> |> |> >afford - diamond dust isn't all that cheap). 
> |> |> 
> |> |> >A simple solution, which makes Stoneskin a powerful but not 
> |> |> >overwhelming 4th-level spell, is to adjust the duration to a much 
> |> |> >smaller one. I use one day, same as Invisibility, but others might 
> |> |> >want an even shorter duration (1 turn per level ?).
> |> |> 
> |> |> >Rather than throwing coins, however, our party uses darts aided by a 
> |> |> >Haste spell to chip away Stoneskin fast ...
> |> |> 
> |> 
> |> |> though this becomes useless when people have plenty of money. Also existing 
> |> |> spells such as mm etc are good to bring it down. I even invented spells to 
> |> |> bring it down, for example a higher level mm spell that does the same 
> |> |> damage but has more missiles. Dispel magic is good for bringing down 
> |> |> stoneskin. Darts and haste work great too. They really bring down stonekin 
> |> |> quickly. There are lots of ways to stuff up stoneskin and i found i needed 
> |> |> to use them all to reduce the mages power.

After reading all this it still baffles me as to why people think the spell
is over powering.  It is a spell ment for a MAGE and not the other classes. If
a Fighter Mage happens to have it it's your own fault for allowing him to get
the spell in the first place.  The spell is a life saver when it comes down to
toe to toe encounters with mages to warrior classes.  Gives the mage enough
time to leave the area as quickly as possible.  Seems as though most the 
players/dm's here seem to play the fighter types and not enjoy the "Stone" 
skin spell from the good end.  I play both and I never have enough TIME nore
spell components to cast the thing on all the party members...and you KNOW
who is going to get the spell ME.

If you think Stone Skin is bad what do you thin about -10 Red Dragon Armor.
Get it from an Red Dragon and I think you deserve the stuff.


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Gregory R Block)
Subject: Re: Questions about undead
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 07:13:15 GMT

MWORKMAN@vm.cc.purdue.edu writes:
: Hmmm...  Jorge, then you would say that when a wight drains an expt level
: from an individual, he is actually "giving death"?  It seems to me that the
: undead is draining the "life" out of the character; or is this just a
: consequence of comming in contact with an undead? (which solves a lot of
: hand waving)
:  
: I must agree with you about the "neg. energy" feeding the undead, since
: they mostly exist on the neg. primaterial.

I always thought that because undead that can "life drain" are so
linked and connected with the negative material plane, that they "life
drain" by exposing the target of the drain to an amount of negative
material energy which they channel through themselves, similar to a
certain 9th level spell of the Necromatic arts...

Greg

--
(: (: (: (: Have you overdosed on smileys today?  Why NOT!?! :) :) :) :) :)
(:"The person who said size doesn't matter was probably a very small man":)
(:	gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu			Gregory R. Block         :)
(: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
From: aq061@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Scott Devine)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Aurora's Catalog Errata
Date: 28 Jul 92 17:54:44 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA)


Does anyone know when the errata for Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog is coming
I just bought the book and have found three mistakes if anyone knows please
tell me.  Thank you.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------
_  //   Scott Devine (aq061@cleveland.freenet.edu)
\\//                                              
 \/ Amiga, the world's most perfect machine.      
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd