HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: stv@unislc.uucp (Steve Spencer)
Subject: Just me? (lack of RPG)
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 16:40:59 GMT


Hi all, I have a question for you,
Is it just me, or have the numbers of people who are interested in role
playing drastically declined in recent years? I mean, I used to have to
turn people away from gaming sessions. Any time I mentioned RPG's, people
were going "what? Tell me more..." But now, I can't even find ANYONE who
plays. So I fell back, and went for PBEM's, but as of yet, have not had 
one even get off the ground. It seems that every time I get hold of one
that someone is getting together, they end up just dropping it. So, I
guess the basic question is:
	Do I lead a sheltered life, or is the popularity of RPG's 
	declining?

       _____  _____  _____         _____
      (_____    |    |____  \   /  |____           |\__/\    | | |
      ______)   |    |____   \_/   |____        <___/@ ) \    \|/
						 !!!!!\  /     X
				           ________|  | |______|_
			 	          (\_____!!!!!// ______\_) 
                                                 \____/  /     |
						 __|_|  |      |
					       ((_______|      |
From: dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (SilverFang Ahroun)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Sexism in Gaming
Date: 7 Oct 92 21:29:21 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

bkoike@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Bryce Koike) writes:


>	To go to a complete 50/50 rule would get a little silly,
>though.  (Reading 50/50 King Arthur and His Noble Knights would be
>defying the story somewhat, I think..."Since when was Lancelot a
>woman?  Are you suggesting that she's a lesbian?"  [no offense
>intended here])

*giggle* That's a really neat idea for a story. A female Lancelot
in the King Arthur stories, and the real reason that Gwenivere and
Lancelot fall in love is that both are lesbians.. Hmm..boy, this would
shake up a Pendragon campaign, no?

Axly

********************************************************************************
*   Axly      *  "Is Axly tough? Yes. Talented? Yes. Brave? Oh, certainly.     *
* Red Sword   *   He is also erratic, irresponsible, accident-prone, and a     *
*   Targa     *   constant threat to public safety. The trick is to keep him   *
*             *   pointed in the right direction. "                            *
*             *         -Niki                                                  *
********************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Subject: Re: What is the best Psionics system?
Reply-To: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 15:48:29 GMT

tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn) writes:
>I'll surprise some people when I suggest that Hero psionics are not that
>great.  They are fine mechanically (though a little on the whimpo side
>now that they've revised them in 4th ed.) but they don't really play on
>the mystery and suspense side that psionics seem to so often do.  

	That's because the rules do not give you a psionics system. You 
can *build* psionic powers based on the Powers rules, but the rules won't 
tell you what sort of limitations they have, what 'psionic' powers there 
are, etc. The same was true of Magic and Cyberware, for example, before 
Fantasy Hero and Cyber Hero came out.

	It is up to the GM to decide how psionics works in his world - 
what limitations psionic powers have, what powers there are, etc.  There 
are some books out (I think) on psionics in the Champions universe, but 
there is not a sourcebook for more general psionics. 

	As an example, say you are playing in a campaign set in the world 
of 'Scanners' (a bit bloody for a Hero game, but possible). You might define 
the basic 'scan' like this: 

Nd6 Telepathy,  (+1/2 Invisible Power Effects)
		(-1/2 Full Concentration)
		(-1/4 If scanned, must overcome attacker in Ego vs. Ego 
			roll to use) 
1d6 Ego Attack  (+1/2 Invisible Power Effects)
		(+1/2 Penetrating)
		(-1/2 Linked)
		(-3/4 Same Lim's as above) 

	The Ego Attack causes nausea and nosebleeds as part of its special 
effects. The 1/4 Limitation mean that if two people are trying to scan each 
other, they will compare Ego rolls - only the one who wins can use his powers 
on the other. 

	An untrained scanner might have an additional -1/2 that he 
automatically uses his power on people around him, uncontrollably hearing 
their thoughts. 

	The listed Powers in Hero, like Telepathy, are *not* supposed to be 
how psionic telepathy works in all worlds - but is simply the base mechanic 
used to build mind-reading powers, whether they are magical, psionic, or 
otherwise. (The rules suggest Telepathy based on CON for truth serum, but 
I think this is more accurately represented by Mind Control based on CON, 
limited to the order to tell the truth.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Kim                    | Alice: "But if I wasn't real, I shouldn't be 
jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu | able to cry."  Tweedledum: "I hope you don't
Columbia University         | imagine those are *real* tears."
From: cassidy@cps.msu.edu (John J Cassidy)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Sexism in Gaming
Date: 12 Oct 92 15:58:02 GMT
Reply-To: cassidy@cps.msu.edu (John J Cassidy)
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Michigan State University
Originator: cassidy@crow.cps.msu.edu

In article <MGATES.92Oct9132752@entiat.boeing.com> mgates@entiat.boeing.com (Michael Gates) writes:
>>>>>> On 8 Oct 92 01:42:21 GMT, seurer@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Bill Seurer) said:
>Bill> (Mad Chris) writes:
>Bill> |> 
>Bill> |> "If a player wishes his character to do <action> he must <action>."
>Bill> |> 
>Bill> |> becomes
>Bill> |> 
>Bill> |> "If a player wishes to do <action>, they must <action>."
>Bill> |> 
>
>Bill> I hate to be picky, but that is not proper English since "a player" is
>Bill> singular and "they" is plural (or used with indefinites like
>Bill> "everybody").
>
>Actually they/them is an acceptable generic pronoun when gender is unknown.
>At least it says so in The American Heritage Dictionary.
>--
>et tu mgates?

	Actually the proper substitution is "If players wish to do <action>, they must
<action>."  This is both gender-nuetral and common.  Gary Provost, who often writes for
the Writer's Digest has laid out rules, for mostly gender nuetral prose.

1)  Use the genderless plural, for the most part.

2) When absolutely required to make an individual hypothetical case, construct
a character, of whatever gender is most appropriate.

	John J Cassidy		cassidy@cps.msu.edu
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: (Hero) What is the best Psionics system?
Date: 14 Oct 92 07:17:07 GMT
Organization: California State University, Chico
NNTP-Posting-Host: hairball.ecst.csuchico.edu

John H Kim writes:
>I write:
>>Psionics IMPO are like magic -- rare, mysterious and secret.  For a 
>>structured rules system to deal with them is to have players (myself *and* 
>>most Hero players I've gamed with) say, "Oh, I know how to do that, it's 
>>a <blank> with a <blank> advantage and a <blank>" and so forth.
>>
>>I'd rather there be a system that is conducive to the referee being able
>>to maintain some mystery and some wierdness to the game.  It's difficult
>>to scare players playing in a brightly-lit room, and it's difficult to 
>>scare players playing with a well-structured rules system.
>
>	What exactly are you looking for, then? No written rule system
>is going to give your players a feeling of mystery about psionic powers. 

Hmmm, I'd wager that were I to substitute the words "magic" for "psionic"
in the previous exchanges and someone will point out WW's Ars Magica.  I
suppose by this statement, I'm inclined to belive that should the use a
"on the fly, building block" system for psionics, that might better show
how I feel about it.

>	Even in Vampire, I have noticed players calling off what powers 

Annoying, isn't it?  =)  It'd be nice if we can avoid that.  By using a
game that has less structure (as opposed to no structure) IME we should
see a marked decrease in it.  In short, the more structured the rules,
the more the average player will be forced to rule-think, if not rule-
play.  The less structured the rules, the correspondingly lower the
chances of this happening.  There is a point of diminishing returns
when there is so little structure in the rules that the players and/or
the referee become disenchanted with them.  I'm advocating a game with
less structure, not no structure.

>	My point - perhaps having a poorly structured rule system, or 
>turning down the lights does help in creating a mysterious feel for the 
>game. However, this is secondary aid rather than a neccessary ingredient. 
>The real point to keeping a mystery about psionics is not to let the 
>players know the rules that you are using - no matter how they are 
>structured. 

As I have replied to John Cassidy, I somehow inferred that the audience
was a rather inexperienced gamer.  I would rather not suggest the Hero
system (a poor choice for an inexperienced gamer, though I learned it)
*and* suggest rules changes on top of it.  For supers, I would strongly
advocate biting the bullet and learning the game, unless there is already
a reason to use DC or MSH.  Hero is my default recommendation for supers,
but not for heroic psis.

-- 
Putt's Law:
	Technology is dominated by two types of people:
		Those who understand what they do not manage.
		Those who manage what they do not understand.
From: mgates@entiat.boeing.com (Michael Gates)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Sexism in Gaming
Date: 9 Oct 92 20:27:52 GMT
	<1992Oct08.014221.24355@rchland.ibm.com>
Organization: Boeing Computer Services, Bellevue, WA
In-reply-to: seurer@rchland.vnet.ibm.com's message of 8 Oct 92 01:42:21 GMT

>>>>> On 8 Oct 92 01:42:21 GMT, seurer@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Bill Seurer) said:
Bill> (Mad Chris) writes:
Bill> |> 
Bill> |> "If a player wishes his character to do <action> he must <action>."
Bill> |> 
Bill> |> becomes
Bill> |> 
Bill> |> "If a player wishes to do <action>, they must <action>."
Bill> |> 

Bill> I hate to be picky, but that is not proper English since "a player" is
Bill> singular and "they" is plural (or used with indefinites like
Bill> "everybody").

Actually they/them is an acceptable generic pronoun when gender is unknown.
At least it says so in The American Heritage Dictionary.
--
et tu mgates?
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: TUK865@maccvm.corp.mot.com (Stephen Gill)
Subject: Re: System for Newbie GM
Organization: Motorola
Date: 12 Oct 1992 10:23:43 CDT

There is one major advantage with starting GMing with a new game - theres
less comparisons with the previous GM and campaign. When I first started
as a GM I found that my Gamma World sessions went down a whole lot better
than when I ran D&D (those were about the only games available to me at
the time OK) as the players were all used to other GMs interpretations
in D&D.

As a lesser point the players will also take time to find their feet and
this can keep them off your back a bit

Steve
- I can't seem to include posts I'm referring to, dead editor I think -
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: ksoutor@unlinfo.unl.edu (kevin soutor)
Subject: Sexism in RPGs Revisited
Organization: University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 19:15:29 GMT

The group that I habitually play with consists of four males and two 
females and is run by a male GM.  We have had few of the problems 
previously mentioned except for the lack of female NPCs.

I think that there is a flip side of the coin: not all RPG cultures 
are the same.  Some will be patriarchally oriented, some matriarchally
oriented, and some may be in a grey area between the two.  I would 
hate to think that any GM should feel constricted as to the type of 
society s/he can create just because some of the players feel that 
every culture should have the exact same ratio of male to female 
characters!  This smacks of "politically correct" thinking in a place 
where it obviously does not belong.  

I agree that if your fellow players are acting in an offensive manner 
that it should cease instantaneously.  If your fellow PCs and/or NPCs 
are acting according to the dictates of their characterizations and 
are not being offensive to you, the human being behind the character,
then some slack should be given.  After all, fantasy worlds are 
imperfect as well and not everyone is going to be nice to you.

I guess that the bottom line is that if you find yourself in a 
situation that is uncomfortable or offensive to you, take this advice:
DON'T PLAY WITH THOSE PEOPLE ANY LONGER!   
--
       Kevin Soutor        | "Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms!" |
 ksoutor@unlinfo.unl.edu   |               -- Outlaw Josey Wales  |
From: CX6L@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA (CX6L)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: RE: Who do *you* game with?
Date: 8 Oct 92 03:59:27 GMT
Organization: McGill University

In article <1avgn6INN45m@matt.ksu.ksu.edu> bets@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Beth Schwindt) writes:
>I'm interested in seeing who people game with and why.  Do you have
>a specific group of friends that the only time you see them is to game?
>Will you only game with people you have known for a certain amount of time?
>
>Beth

It's interesting. The folks I game with fall into one of two
distinct categories: really good friends, and people I initially
didn't know at all but who are experienced gamers. The friends
have, as a result, become skilled gamers; while the really
skilled unknowns have since become very good friends. The gaming
group has become one of a number of interlocking circles of
friends central to the social lives of its members. All players
in question have a distinct and different lifestyle. I am
forever a GM, and my present group consists of my wife, in
the medical support professions; an old friend who is a creative
writing grad student; his lover, who is a Far Eastern studies
grad student; a relatively new friend who is presently working
in a restaurant but who's real love is the martial-arts; another
new friend who is a geography and library science grad; and
a good friend of some very old friends, who is a graphic
artist, computer programmer and translator. I, myself, am
a physicist. Of the seven, two are female, five male. Our
average gaming experience is just over 8 years. Our average
age is almost exactly 25.

     We don't just game together, but party together, look
after each other's pets and apartments, and generally do
the things friends do. In the case of my wife and I, and my
friends who are lovers, some of us live together. Gaming
has this way of creeping into conversations between us
throughout the week, too...

I hope that's all of interest :-)

______________________________________________________________________
|      From the Most Holy Keyboard of:                               |
|      Dr Manfred Kromm, Reverend of the Temple of the Squid God,    |
|      Professor of Quantum Parapsychology.                          |
|____________________________________________________________________|
|           )                               "This won't hurt a bit.  |
|  |========|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO>------      Afterwards . . . you'll |
|           )                                see things MY way!"     |
|____________________________________________________________________|
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: Mark E. Johnson <mjohnson@force.decnet.lockheed.com>
Subject: Re: First Gaming System
X-UserAgent: Nuntius v1.1.1d9
Organization: LMSC
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 00:57:08 GMT
X-XXDate: Wed, 14 Oct 92 18:05:55 GMT

>Someone asked about people whose first RPGs were not *D&D.  I'm one.

And so am I. Traveller was my first and only for several years, then TFT,
then the Hero system (Champions & JI). I played in one AD&D game. At
some point I purchased Basic D&D, and actually had a lot of fun GMing for
my younger brother and his friend. I was a sophomore in high school, they
were in sixth grade! Purely hack 'n' slash, though it made for an
appropriate introduction for amateurs.

I suppose some people will really be opposed to that last sentence. Well,
I mean to say that it was fun as a *game*, nothing more. Roleplaying
came later. Heck, that's the way we played TFT, too.

>How has it shaped my gaming?

In those days, Traveller was so devoid of a coherent tactical combat
system that we avoided the situation. Basically, we "backed into"
roleplaying! I've heard the same thing said about AD&D, though not as
often. I suspect the omnipresence of monsters and published dungeon-
crawl adventures steered many gamers in that direction. Not all,
though.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Sexism in Gaming
From: mikew@mdcbbs.com (Mike 'the Bard' Whitaker)
Date: 8 Oct 92 07:29:55 PDT
Organization: Shape Data - a division of EDS Ltd

In article <Bvrt0z.9L0@news.cso.uiuc.edu> dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (SilverFang Ahroun) writes:
>bkoike@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Bryce Koike) writes:
>
>
>>	To go to a complete 50/50 rule would get a little silly,
>>though.  (Reading 50/50 King Arthur and His Noble Knights would be
>>defying the story somewhat, I think..."Since when was Lancelot a
>>woman?  Are you suggesting that she's a lesbian?"  [no offense
>>intended here])
>
>*giggle* That's a really neat idea for a story. A female Lancelot
>in the King Arthur stories, and the real reason that Gwenivere and
>Lancelot fall in love is that both are lesbians.. Hmm..boy, this would
>shake up a Pendragon campaign, no?

I couldn't help but chuckle when I read this. Go find a copy of
Brian Bollands "Camelot 3000" graphics novel... The principal characters are
reincarnations of Arthurs' knights...

It isn't Lancelot and Guinevere who both turn out to be female though - it's 
Tristan and Isolde.
-- 
Mike Whitaker +44-223 | mikew@mdcbbs.com, bard@spuddy.uucp | Me: Bards just
Shape Data/EDS 316673 | -or- mwhitaker@cix.compulink.co.uk | KNOW things...
From: s903609@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (ACE)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Storyteller System (Was: WereVamp->Ars)
Date: 10 Oct 92 06:09:11 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre
NNTP-Posting-Host: minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au

Greetings,
	  Just need to have my say on this thread as well. I have only played
one session of Vampire so far, but it was REALLY good. One thing I have noticed
in the rules however is that if your dice pool is equal to the target number,
then you can assume one succes is achieved, without having to roll. This would
enable a master to achieve those otherwise tricky maneuvers. You always have
the option of rolling if you think you can achieve more, but then you need to
worry about botches. This would make those vamps with large dice pools some
edge, especially if they had dice pools in the 20-30, ie 2-3 'impossible'
actions per turn, or at elast per celerity. ( Dice pools of 70 and they can
eat at the Restuarant at the end of the universe ). This rule is normally
reserved for simple, repetive actions, but this seems to fit for a third or
fourth gen wading through all those 13th gen neonates that want his blood.

			       ACE
                   s903609@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au
	        " How deep is the ocean ? " - Eric
" No Silicon Heaven ? But where would all the calculators go ? " - Kryten
      " Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast." - Hero Rimmer
Engineering : The art of using something without actually understanding it.
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.advocacy:2852 rec.games.frp.misc:6998
From: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Subject: Re: (GURPS) Thanks Loyd!
Reply-To: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 23:11:08 GMT

dhoberma@pearl.tufts.edu writes:
>jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim) writes:
>> 	In general the GURPS books seem to concentrate more on making alot 
>> of neat suggestions than on providing usable material. This makes for more 
>> work on a GM's part, but at least it makes him think. 
...
>> 	How do other people feel? Would you prefer more campaign material 
>> in GURPS Worldbooks? 
...
>NO! IMO it is better to have lots of suggestions, then to waste paper on
>a gameworld which people may or may not like. 
>	I like GURPS because it doesnt provide a campaign background. 
>IMO that would be so much useless filler that I would never read.
...
>	If we are just discussing Cyberpunk, I do recommend R.Talsorians
>Cyberpunk 2020, for background if not for play (in cyberspecific genre)
>I like that background, probably because they give you a somewhat realisitc
>progression of world events that led to the current situation rather than
>going on for pages and pages about individual cities or countries.

Alright, I would divide GURPS books up into 3 categories. 

	'World-books' which describe a particular world, like Fantasy, the 
Prisoner, various novel adaptations (Riverworld, Witchworld, etc.), .... 
	'Source-books' which are primarily rules additions: Magic, Psionics, 
Supers, Ultra-tech, High-tech, Fantasy Folk, etc. 
	'Genre-books' like Cyberpunk, Horror, Space, Cliffhangers, Time 
Travel, etc. 

	I liked Time Travel, as a 'Genre-book' which provides a set of 
campaign ideas beyond the two sentence throwaway lines ('What about a 
campaign where ...'). It put together some fairly concrete ideas about 
different time travel campaigns, while still covering the genre. 
	I think that often it is better to cover a genre by examples, 
rather than to use up text with alot of esoteric ideas - as in the very 
common sidebars like "What about basing a campaign around everyone as 
genetically engineered colonizers on a water-world?" - which seem to me 
to be of more limited use and interest than more complete and interesting 
campaign ideas. 
	For example, I think Horror might have benefitted by more material 
on the Victorian London and 20's sections, while taking out silly things 
like the Illuminati card descriptions, the plugs for other books - I mean 
crossover ideas, etc. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Kim                    | Alice: "But if I wasn't real, I wouldn't be
jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu | able to cry."  Tweedledum: "I hope you don't
Columbia University         | imagine those are *real* tears."
From: bets@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Beth Schwindt)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Who do *you* game with?
Date: 7 Oct 1992 15:18:46 -0500
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu

I'm interested in seeing who people game with and why.  Do you have
a specific group of friends that the only time you see them is to game? 
Will you only game with people you have known for a certain amount of time?

Beth


-- 
The brighest day in America will be when education has enough funding and
the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a new bomber....My history
teacher (from the Wireless catalog) bets@matt.ksu.ksu.edu, bets@ksuvm.ksu.edu
Organization: Central Michigan University
Date: Friday, 9 Oct 1992 11:35:21 EDT
From: <34ZBTXQ@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: RE: Who do you game with?

  I generally game with friends, although I have enjoyed running at cons with
people I didn't even know. I agree that I prefer well-rounded people with a
life outside of gaming, but because of my regular gaming group and the club
I helped start on campus, almost all of my friends game. One really nice thing
is that my wife games-we met when she joined my Champions campaign 10 years ago
which was the first game she ever played.