HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cyoung@ctron.com (Chris Young)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Alignement change and consequences
Date: 5 Nov 92 14:28:54 GMT
Reply-To: cyoung@cardinals.ctron.com (Chris Young)
Organization: Cabletron Systems INc.

Hi All,

	Got a question.

	According to 2nd edition when a PC changes alignment they need twice
the experience to reach their next level (fighter needs 4000 to reach 2nd or
3rd [total of 6000 if no prior changes]).

	My question is:  How do you tell the PCs (if your the DM like me) that
they are in big trouble?  Do you say "You have feelings of self doubt?" or
blantantly say "You are losing your evil tendencies".

	Given that they realize their alignment is changing what do you think
their reaction will be when they don't get that level when the other party 
members are advancing?  I have two out of 5 PC that are going through some
changes (NE -> NG and perhaps NG -> CG).

	I also have a ranger player who cut down a wolf which was running after
being repelled by the party.  The wolf was hungry it attacked but had no evil
intent.  What would you do to this ranger?

		Chris
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: fes9s@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Frank Erick Sellin)
Subject: Re: Rules for D&D in the Modern Day?
Organization: University of Virginia
 
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 07:12:23 GMT

In article <1992Nov7.045218.25924@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) writes:
>
>Has anyone come up with a set of rules for playing D&D in a modern
>setting?  Things like firearm range and damage, automobile speed,
>modern skills and weapon masteries, et cetera?  It would seem like
>such a thing would be relatively easy to write (I could probably
>come up with something myself, given a week or two)...just give the
>weapons higher amounts of damage (say, 2D6 for a .22 pistol, 3D6 for
>a .38, etc.) and the vehicles higher amounts of speed, and transpose 
>what you know...
>
>Has anybody created such a system, and is it available for FTP?  I'd
>really like to know...it would save me a whole lot of work...

Back in the old days (i.e., 1st ed., but it wouldn't take a whole lot
to adapt to 2nd ed., even for old codgers like me) there was fairly
decent article in Dragon #57, by Ed Greenwood on Modern Day
Adventuring.  It may not be perfect, but it's something to go on, 
for stuff like automobile damage, .50 caliber mounted rifles, you 
name it.  I was part of a campaign that took a modern day detour
once, long ago, and we had a hell of a time trying to stay on our
feet in the 1980s...(All those things you take for granted cause
problems for D&D culture shock...)

Frank Sellin
>
>--
>Chris Meadows // CHM173S@SMSVMA // CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU
>   "If blood be the price of admiralty, then I've just bought me 
>    a naval commission."  -- Corwin, SIGN OF THE UNICORN, Roger Zelazny
>
From: mmaq+@andrew.cmu.edu (Mike Molloy)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Help! Tips Needed on Dungeon Construction
Date: 10 Nov 92 17:25:13 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

> Also, should standard passages be 5 feet wide or 10 feet wide?  How
> many people can fight abreast in a 5-foot passage, anyway?


It must depend on the size of the character. For example, you could 
probabally(sp?) have 5 or 6 elves fighting abreastin a 5-foot passage,
but no more than 2 orcs.

- Mordorwrath
From: s903040@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Christopher Francis Anderson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Raistlin and INT limits on spells
Date: 11 Nov 92 04:04:37 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre
NNTP-Posting-Host: minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au

bane@spock.uucp (Cameron Huang) writes:

>In article <Bx9AAG.Bzw@acsu.buffalo.edu> v073pzuy@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Damned for all time...) writes:
>>How could Raistlin have done it?  Easy!  
>>
>>I'm sure it belates the obvious, but what the heck--when writing material, you
>>aren't restricted.  The Krynn campaign world came out *after* the magnificent
>>DragonLance sagas.
>>
>Time for another one of my stupid (and probably wrong) followups. Everyone
>grab yer books.

>I believe that Weis and Hickman, along with a few other people, began the
>world of Krynn as a campaign world, where they came up with all of our
>favorite characters, including Raistlin. After the original adventures were
>over, they wrote books about them. The stats in the books were the ones
>they played with, but...

The story I heard was that the books and the modules were written about the
same time, and they had to restrict themselves somewhat in the books so that
they would follow the modules (or vice versa).

Then, when they wrote the 'Legends' series, they didn't have to worry about
writing modules as well, so they could do an even better effort. And so they
did (IMHO).


-- 
ThunderKat (a.k.a. Chris Anderson)    s903040@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au

"Sam pressed the button. A few lights flashed on the CPU. And another human
life ended. Somehow, it's always sad, no matter what."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: slip@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Doolie)
Subject: Re: Athas is FR?
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 05:00:00 GMT

In article <003695s.150.721534237@ace.acadiau.ca> 003695s@ace.acadiau.ca (STEPHANE ANDRE SAVOIE) writes:
>>I have heard (via someone on ADND-L, who heard via someone who allegedly has
>>connections in TSR...so take with a grain of salt) that Athas may be the
>>Forgotten Realms many thousands of years in the future.
>>One thing that could explain: what happens to Anarauch, the great desert,
>>as it continues to grow for no apparent reason.
>>However, if it is indeed the case, what happened to all the metal?
>>Paul
>
>	Actually, pretty much any realm could have become Athas.  It 
>basically starts with  a basic discovery of magic which is not simply 
>manipulated outside forces, but harnessed life energy from the area around 
>the wizard.  This new magic would be _much_ easier to learn than standard 
>magic.  At first the toll on the environment is ignored, but by the time 
>someone notices that things are getting very _bad_ it's too late.
>	Admittedly, there are many gaps, but it's a beginning...
>	(An obvious one, actually...)
>	Still doesn't answer where all the metal went, though...
>	OK, quick idea.  A mega powerful Defiler wants to cast 12th level 
>spell or something like that.  The cast it would drain the entire planet of 
>all life.  So instead, he manipulates the effect so that useful metals are 
>transformed to sand...
>	
>	Just another drawn-out, wind-blown, pathetically obvious theory 
>brought to you from:
>
>	KID ANARKY
>

How's this for a theory?

The adventuring group stumbles accross an ancient text.  The mage peruses
it to find that it is a history account.  A single entry stands out.....

"The Year The Rust Monsters Bred."

-- 
* Gordon Emore	          *   <Place nifty quote here>      *
* slip@sage.cc.purdue.edu *   < Or maybe not >              *
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.dnd:5969 rec.games.frp.misc:7949
From: jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us (Jeff Gostin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd,rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: AD&D GAMERS IN ILLINOIS WANTED!!
Date: 7 Nov 92 04:53:46 GMT
Organization: The little node that could...


     Hi guys and gals! I'm in the midst of starting a (*GASP*) REAL
campaign in a homebrewed mixture of 1st/2nd edition AD&D, with a bunch of
modifications.  Anyone is welcome! Some experience requested. It is going
to be co-DM'd by myself, and the campaign's co-creator. We're located in
Carol Stream, so, initially, that's where gaming will take place. We are,
however, open to other locations that are more central. We are looking for
about 6-9 players. If interested, please mail me directly.

                                   Jeff

...From a tiny little node called Eternal!
--
    /|Email  to:   jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us, offline@infopls.chi.il.us
   / |Smail  to:   Jeff Gostin, 917 High Ridge Pass, Carol Stream IL 60188
   \ |Vmail  to:   708-293-5526
    \|Flames to:   trashcan@eternal.chi.il.us
Organization: Freshman, CIT general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 01:46:31 -0500 
From: "Jordan M. Wolbrum" <jw67+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Wish spells and sadistic DM's

Before anyone jumps for a flamethrower, this is not an attack on
anybody, nor a response to the recent question about wish.

Now, I'd like to give my opinion on wish, and hear what everybody else
has to say.  In my opinion, any reasonable wish should be granted.  Only
if some player tries to abuse a wish spell, should he/she be punished. 
The following are things that I find reasonable:
	any sort of healing/reviving of party members or NPC's(except deaths
that prohibit "wished revival")
	a request for recovery of one fantastic item that was stolen or
lost(staff of magi)
	a request for any non-fantastic magic item(wand of fireballs, +2
magical equipment, etc.)
	a request for a reasonable amount of money or mundane
posessions(depends on power level of the campaign)
	any spell of lower than 9th level
	divine attention(the PC might not want this to work!)
	raising abilities as outlined in the current rules
If I missed something reasonable, please point it out.  Beyond these, I
would most likely pervert the wish into a maleficient effect.

My justification is simply that Wish is a ninth level spell, and it
represents the most powerful magic that exists on most worlds.(Not Dark
Sun!)
Once a mage gets this good, he should be able to command such powers!
Comments requested and appreciated.
Flamers cursed to eternal torment by the highgod's decree.
-JW
-The Wizard
---------------------------------------------------------------The
hearts of all were filled with hope, for even though Lancer, tried
war-hero, had met his match, there was a new power to be reckoned with. 
The Wizard had returned home, and this time no tyrannical lord would
hold the town in thrall.   
---------------------------------------------------------------
From: null@diku.dk (Niels Ull Jacobsen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: New Spells to Research
Date: 12 Nov 92 10:59:38 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, U of Copenhagen

HC61@lafibm.lafayette.edu (HC61) writes:

>In article <1992Oct31.051649.26398@leland.Stanford.EDU> thedm@leland.Stanford.EDU (Marcus M. Trevino) writes:
>>In article <BwuF12.Dz9@jabba.ess.harris.com> jcarl@jabba.ess.harris.com (Joe Carl Jr.) writes:
>>
>>
>>>At least I can research spells.  So I need some ideas for spells.  Anybody
>>>got some others out there
>>>

Well, this one worked wonders for my M.U./Thief, Thaila:

Secret Light (2nd level) (reversible)
All statistics as for the normal 1st level Light, except that only the
caster can see the light. This of course means that it can in no way be
used as an attack (blinding people, harming certain undead, etc.) It will
cancel/be cancelled by magical darkness, just like Light. The material are 
as for light plus two drops of blood and a tear from the caster.

It can be reversed to Secret Darkness, although this normally isn't
very useful. Perhaps if in presence of a blinding light you could cast
secret darkness at the light source, so that you wouldn't be blinded?
Of course, you'd better have another source of illumination handy. And
it wouldn't save a vampire from the effects of direct sunlight - the
light is still hitting his body, he just can't see it.

And of course (though my character never actually got this to work)

Continual Secret Light (4th level)
Does the same for Continual Light as Secret Light does for Light.
Preliminary research seems to indicate that it requires at least
an ounce of blood from the caster. But it'll sure be handy for your
keep.

It also seems that it would be possible to make a magical lantern,
whose light would only be visible to the person holding it. The exact
process of its manufacture is not very clear, however.

Just a few ideas. I would like to see some comments. Should they be
higher level? Are they too useful?

BTW, where do I send these spells to have them included in the various
net.books ?

   Niels Ull Jacobsen, Dep. of C.S., U of Copenhagen (null@diku.dk)
   Adaz sighed.  "So how long will this journey take?" 
   "A month?" Sutekh shrugged.  "Depends on when the horses die." 
     -- from "Adaz & Sutekh" by Jeff Stehman




-- 
   Niels Ull Jacobsen, Dep. of C.S., U of Copenhagen (null@diku.dk)
   Adaz sighed.  "So how long will this journey take?" 
   "A month?" Sutekh shrugged.  "Depends on when the horses die." 
     -- from "Adaz & Sutekh" by Jeff Stehman
From: mpd48941@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Mike Duff)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: To Kill a Black Dragon
Keywords: Dragon
Date: 13 Nov 92 03:57:10 GMT
Reply-To: duff@cs.uiuc.edu
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

OK.  I've read two responses to this poor party's request for aid, and very 
much enjoyed the first (Take everything, get the rest of the party killed, etc)
but I think there may be a possible solution.
The fact of the matter is, there is NO WAY your party can beat that dragon in
direct confrontation (unless the DM is EXTREMELY, TOTALLY nice)
So what you'll have to attempt is some trickery.
Have your character do a small amount of research (so you know a fair amount
of the information in the monstrous compendium (TM)

Now, because your character knows some things about dragons, you will be able
to take advantage of the knowledge.  Black dragons are prone to angry outbursts
of emotion, especially when their surroundings have been intruded upon, so
take advantage of that.  Stalk out the cave of the dragon and find out how 
large the entrance is, and try to get some clue of how much battle room there
will be.
To really annoy the dragon (DM) make a lot of noise outside the cave, splashing
as if helpless and scared, and make it a point to let the DM know how pathetic
you sound.  Black dragons are supposed to be exceedingly malevolent beings,
and like to make people suffer (you may want to remind the DM of that)
This should at least get the dragon out of the cave so someone can get in
and release the prisoner.
My creativity is beginning to falter now... I'm sorry.  Can anyone help
figure out a way to keep the dragon from dessimating this party?
I doubt the party will under ANY circumstances win a battle, so try
hard to think of a way to undermine and get your friend out without getting 
really roasted.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Michael Duff              | "Thank you for bringing up such a painful     | 
| ACM membership coord.     |  subject.  While you're at it, why don't you  |
| ACM SIGsoft               |  give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon      |
| duff@cs.uiuc.edu          |  juice on it.                                 |
| mpd48941@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu |                           - Miracle Max       |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: gt9699a@prism.gatech.EDU (fromper)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: New AD&D modules
Date: 6 Nov 92 10:51:21 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <1992Nov4.162838.17846@athena.mit.edu> mittman1@athena.mit.edu (Christopher T Chiu) writes:
>Another module, the Temple of Elemental Evil, is actually 
>T1:The Village of Hommlet with additional material.
>Who makes these designing decisions at the top, anyway?  Have
>they run out of ideas?

Actually, The Temple of Elemental Evil was the sequel to The Village of Homlet.
They decided to include the first module in it, as well because it was long
enough already that another short module added in wouldn't make a difference, 
and because the first module was hard to come by when they finally got around
to publishing a sequel. 

-- 
"This life is a test, it is only a test. Had this been an actual life, you
would have recieved further instructions on where to go and what to do."

Richard "blue ghost" "fromper" "E.B." Becker         gt9699a@prism.gatech.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: thedm@leland.Stanford.EDU (Marcus M. Trevino)
Subject: Re: Most powerful PC ever
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 92 08:10:06 GMT

In article <Bx5BpH.IJy@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> cbnorman@cayley.uwaterloo.ca () writes:
>>Well, as soon as this PC is incapacitated, his contingency teleports him to his  
>>nice safe home, so he would be resurrected in peace!
>>
>
>Sorry, wouldn't work.  A contingency spell allows the evocation of a magical
>spell apon the meeting of a certain condition (in your case, death).  However,
>the mage who is under the affects of the contingency spell must still control
>the spell if any control is required.  Examples where control is and is
>not required, and the results:
>
>  1. Contingency -- "invoke feather fall when my downward movement exceeds
>     20 meteres per second".  If the mage was unconcious and falling, the
>     spell would still evoke and be fine.
> 
>  2. Contingency -- "invoke fireball apon my death".  If the mage dies, he has
>     no control over range (etc.) of the fireball, thus the fireball detonates
>     on his corpose.  He can not specify "invoke fireball and send it at 
>     whoever killed me".  This is beyond the scope of the spell.

As I can recall,  The Caster must cast the desired spell to be contingent
immediately after the casting of Contingency, so I see no reason why the
caster could not have the spell Fireball start 2ft away from him and have
its range be max.  Unless the caster is a fool, the fireball will not
detonate on the corpse.


> 3. Contingency -- "teleport me home apon my deah".  When the mage dies, a 
>    teleport spell is invoked.  However, as his mind is dead, he can not guide
<    the spell.  Teleport imbues the caster with the ability to teleport to
>    a location which he visualises -- old dead dude is having trouble 
>    visualizing anything right now.  The end result would be that he would
>    either not move at all, or would teleport randomly (probably teleporting
>    into a solid object or up high enough that he will fall from a great
<    height)

Once again, The teleport spell would have been cast while the caster did
have the mind to guide the spell.  The Caster does not try to cast the
spell as a result the conditions being met, the spell has already been
cast, it is the fullfillment of the effect of the spell that is being
initiated at the moment that the conditions are met.  The Caster did visualize
the area he wants to teleport to, in this case home, while he was originally
casting the spell, so the contingency would teleport, the effect of the
spell that was cast when the contingency was cast, the body back home.
And if your logic was correct, which it isn't, then how would you justify
any contigencies at all.  The reason contingencies were researched anyways
might have something to do with the fact that some crazy mage wanted an
effect to take place at a moment when he was least capable of performing
the act himself.

TheDM @ Stanford University

Marcus Trevino







Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: mpd48941@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Mike Duff)
Subject: Re: Magic Shops
Reply-To: duff@cs.uiuc.edu
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 01:16:01 GMT

As far as the way I would deal with why magic shop owners have such a good
chance of ID'ing objects so well is because they've spent their lives
(or at least SOME large amount of time) in research and development.
There are, of course, owners who just opened shop, and are therefore clueless,
and must rely on simple ID's to determine the approximate worth.
However, most DM's like to use shops that are run by powerful characters.
I mean, if the owner is green, the characters can screw him/her out of some
decent items pretty cheap.  Or, maybe, if the owner seems clueless, the party
may attempt to kill him/her and take everything.  It just makes it easier
to run the m'shoppes when the owner knows the stuff.

I have a character who examines closely every item he comes across.  The party
is very helpful in allowing him to test all of their items for them, and this
tends to keep him on his toes, but it also gives him much experience in 
"item lore (like a item knowledge proficiency)".
Therefore, when he's ready to retire, he'll open a magic shoppe and have a clue
of how to keep his shirt. :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Michael Duff              | "Thank you for bringing up such a painful     | 
| ACM membership coord.     |  subject.  While you're at it, why don't you  |
| ACM SIGsoft               |  give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon      |
| duff@cs.uiuc.edu          |  juice on it.                                 |
| mpd48941@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu |                           - Miracle Max       |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: friar@spock.uucp (Tom Walcott)
Subject: Re: Most powerful PC ever
Organization: Choate Rosemary Hall
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 17:09:11 GMT

>Here's another interesting point.  If one can contingency a teleport, would
>the teleport be messed up if the mage had the spell detonated in a different
>location from where he cast it? In other words, If I cast "teleport" and 
>visualize a place 100m of me, and make this teleport a contingency, and
>then detonate this contingency in another place, do I teleport to the
>place I visualized or do I teleport 100m ahead of myself?

I would assume that the difference would be over whether or not the
caster visualized the place, or defined the teleport as 100m "straight forward"
In case of the straight forward, I wonder whether the orientation would be
as per the casting, or as current position?

Friar
-- 
    "Silence isn't golden if I'm holdin' it inside."
                           --- W. Axl Rose

friar@choate.edu
From: dagolden@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Alexandre Golden)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Testing for Biased Dice
Date: 12 Nov 92 19:40:15 GMT
Organization: Princeton University
Originator: news@nimaster

In article <BxIEHt.4ow@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca> alongley@cape.UWaterloo.ca (Allan Longley) writes:
>
>dcgonyie@eos.ncsu.edu writes:
>
>> There are a few dice I have that need to be tested, I think...
>> The only thing I don't like about this system is having to roll that one
>> die 100's of times...

I once did something along those lines to test whether my DM's die was
fair.  (It would roll 20's a lot.  Often on command.)

To test the die, I made a histogram (I believe is the term for it) like this:

x  x  x        x        x
x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x
x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x  x
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

With an "x" being each time that number came up.  A totally fair die would
have a straight line across, assuming it was rolled enough times.  The
question is, what is enough times?  I rolled a d20 about 380 times (not bad
if one person rolls and the other makes an x in the column) and while it
gave a fairly good idea that the die was biased, the biased numbers had only
occured a couple times more than the average.  (If I remember correctly).
So I wrote a computer program to do the same thing until the deviation between
the highest and lowest number of occurances was less than about 15% of the
average number of occurances.  (i.e a reasonably smooth profile).  The 
computer required SEVERAL THOUSAND ROLLS to do this.  Of course, the computer
is not using a truely random generator.  Still, the point is that I'm skeptical
that the "fairness" of a die can be determined in only a hundred or so rolls.
(d4 maybe... d20 no way!)

Of course, I'm not a statistics major.  Any comments by those with knowledge
of the field?

Dave Golden
-- 
David A. Golden '95           (dagolden@phoenix.princeton.edu)
Princeton University