HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: good@turing (Joe Good)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Matriarcal Societies
Summary: Real live references!
Keywords: South America, Southeast Asia
Date: 11 Sep 92 14:47:06 GMT
Organization: Math Department, UC Davis

In article <BuDJKA.AtJ@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> jacobus@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney) writes:
>
>Please give me a citation and source so I can verify this for myself.
>I want to see something I can check myself and not rely on net-hearsay.
>Those would be good ground rules, I think.
>
>*******************************************************************
> "Darn these computers. They're all so naughty and so complicated.
>  I could pinch them."
>*******************************************************************
a
	I think that these would be excellent ground rules.  If you
are really interested in studies of matriarchal societies, you can
do a subject search in Melvyl under "matriarchy", and you'll find
122 titles related to the subject.  Unfortunately, most of them are
either in French or German, or otherwise theoretical documents.
As for some references which I believe will discuss real
matriarchies (I'm studying for my Master's exam, and would rather
avoid having to do extensive research on an unrelated subject){
try t{hrese:

Ifi Amadiume: Afrikan matriarchal foundations: The Igbo case
	While I have not heard of the Igbo, this certainly sounds
	like an Anthropological study of a matriarchal society;
	I could be wrong.

George Alexandar de Chazal: MATRIARCHY IN THE MALAY PENINSULA AND
	NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES.  This is the area I studied in my
	anthro class, and mentioned before.  I would recommend this
	text as a source of "real" matriarchies, where women hold
	power.

Catherine Gasquoine Gallichan: THE POSITION OF WOMAN IN PRIMITIVE
	SOCIETY: A STUDY IN THE MATRIARCHY.  This should give some
	insight into the matriarchal "goddess" societies that were
	quite common before the coming of Christianity.

There are three references, at least two of which (the second and
third) should give real examples of real matriarchies.  I'm sorry
I couldn't read them first, but they do concern the material I was
given in my Anthro class (in the class, we didn't use a text, we 
just had lectures).  If anyone does research these texts, I would
be interested in what they find.  Send me mail once you have
determined whether these books are useful; if they aren't, I'll
pay for the long-distance and get some good references from my
soon-to-be Mother-in-Law.


===============================================================================
Joe "BD" Good, President, BRS movie reviews; and generally nice guy
... "We owe it to the brain of our species to stand here and die!" ...
... "OH, little grasshopper; Zen is the art of saying little and meaning all"..
===============================================================================
From: bart@muppet.bt.co.uk (Tim)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Surprises
Date: 15 Sep 92 15:25:21 GMT
Reply-To: bart@muppet.bt.co.uk
Organization: British Telecom

Hmm. 
Kinda in reference to one of my posts a couple of hours back. In a CoC
adventure 'Tell me have you seen the yellow sign?' right at the climax (!)
when the characters confront Hastur at a Mardi Gras function, one of the
characters slips me a note to the effect of saying that due to a previous
adventure (error) he contracted Lycanthropy. Yup it was a full moon that
night - after changing into the said werefolf, he proceededs to tear the
throats out of several hapless innocent partygoers. For about 10 minutes,
Hastur the Unspeakable had a real backseat :-)

It wasn't helped by another one of the players rolling double 100 (or 
whatever it is) which at first is an impale, but then turns into shooting
yourself...

Happy daze :-)

Tim
---
The harvest of life, the harvest of death	<-- bart@muppet.bt.co.uk -->
Resumes it's course each day			<--     Tim Fulcher      -->
It comes as if by schedule			<--  tel : 0473 648220   -->	
The harvester lives, with arms that are bent	
And toes that cross, and knees that jerk	<-- British Telecom Labs -->
And necks like swans that seem to turn
As if inclined to gasp for breath...	- Quicklime Girl - , BOC
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: ins769v@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au (Veltyen)
Subject: Re: SR: Ruthenium(?) Swords
Organization: Monash University
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 05:47:09 GMT

 WildCard !! (wildcard@nevada.edu) wrote:

: But if you were to Di-Kote it after the fibers were in place.... :)

already done 8=)
 
:                                     - WildCard !!

Yes I can see the point about damaging the fibres through combat. Very
Valid, and something I hadn't thought of while designing Buba. OK so
you have this sword, now if you made the sword out of somekind of 
plasticised clear glass, put the R* fibres laterally along the inside
of the sword *then* diamond Koted it, you would get the same effect, and
you would be protecting the ruthenium against _any_ wear, as well as having
the "sharp" effects of the dikote.

-Veltyen  (Buba's "controller")

**PS It makes no sense to have plasma in the process of dikoting.
If I remember right (from Physics) shouldn't the plasmarisation also
destroy anything it comes into contact with because of
-Extreme Heat
-Extreme Electrical Effects

Anyway It's possible to grow diamond at lower temperatures now, why the
plasma later?
From: mmoss@csws11.ic.sunysb.edu (Matthew D Moss)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: RM: How about this spell?
Keywords: Chaotic Lord, RMCIII
Date: 7 Sep 92 17:39:09 GMT
Organization: State University of New York at Stony Brook
Originator: mmoss@csws11.ic.sunysb.edu


Ok, I was helping someone generate a Chaotic Lord character
yesterday, and we went and got him his first Chaotic armor.

After glancing at the spell again, I realized: nowhere does
it say that this spell only works on the caster. In fact, the
range is 10 feet.

This being a first level spell (at least for type I demons) 
seems pretty deadly to lower level adversaries. Of course, the
Chaotic Lord and anyone else nearby then has to deal with the
demon, but OUCH to the person who is a target of this spell.

Any comments?

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew David Moss				mmoss@ic.sunysb.edu
	"Chaos is fun. Order is for those       mmoss@ccmail.sunysb.edu
         don't know where there things are."
From: v054nn84@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Foto...Taking pictures again, and Happy for it!)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Surprises
Date: 15 Sep 92 00:31:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

> > >>    WHEN HAVE PLAYERS SURPRISED YOU?

I just remembered an occurance that came about many years ago when I was still
doing fanatsy...

The party is travelling across an nice, peaceful, DRY prairie when the spy an 
outcropping (upcropping?) of rock (shale as I recall) that some time ago had
been pushed up in a long forgotten earth tremor.  The party approaches and sees
an adult dragon some 60' long, sunning itself on said rock. Actually the first
thing they see are the wingtips curling about the tall grass.  The dragon looks
up, eyeballs the party, and goes back to it's sunbathing.  One member of the
party (the same silly bi&ch who wanted to open a sealed diplomatic pouch in
the town square) decides to play hero and attack the dragon.  The dragon, 
hearing her yelling at the party to charge and of course hearing her horse
plow through the waist high grass, takes off, circles the party, and breathes
fire...in a semi-circle around the party, and then flies away leaving the
party to try to outrun the prairie fire on horseback...

Skeksis
From: hall@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Robert J. Hall)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: RPG Fiction
Date: 4 Sep 92 15:23:29 GMT
Organization: Boeing Computer Services, Seattle

Anybody have any interesting opinions, good or bad, about the relatively
recent phenomenon of RPG-associated pulp fiction? I know some think this stuff
is pure mercenary drivel, but I've actually enjoyed some of these publications.
In particular, I've found R. A. Salvatore's (sp?) works to be an enjoyable
read, and some of the Shadowrun books are interesting, if only for their
novelty value. On the other hand, Pools of Radiance was down right painful.
(Fortunately, many of these books are showing up in the used book stores,
reducing their cost considerably.)
-- 
 Bob Hall,                 | "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
 Workstation Peripheral    | Then give up. No use being a damn fool about it."
 Boeing Computer Services  |                                     -Groucho Marx
From: sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Twilight:  2000  1st ed. vs. 2nd ed.
Date: 11 Sep 92 23:54:25 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <#p7yb5d@rpi.edu>, cleggp@aix.rpi.edu (Paul Jason Clegg) writes:
> Has anyone played with both versions, and if so, could they please give 
> me a quick rundown on the differences?

The 2nd Ed. is really well put together. Great index, great artwork, better
photo-copiable forms, and generally more well laid out. Of course, it's all
in one book, and that's a plus to me. I also like the character generation
better. I think there is probably more equipment and weapons (and new ones
of course), but I haven't comprehensively compared. 2nd Ed has another thing
I really like, and that is vehicle cards. You can photo copy these, they 
are half page description/illustration of a dozen or so vehicles with their
game data. Very nice. Just hand the card over to the players when they are 
using that vehicle. 

As for compatibility with early supplements, I have the weapons and arms 
supplement from 1st Ed. and Survivors Guide to GB and they are both usable. 
Also, I used the Battle of Kirsk (or whatever) in my 2nd Ed. campain.

Buy the 2nd Ed. rules. You won't be sorry. It's not even that expensive.

Now, while I am here, I have something to say to T:2000 fans. I am looking
for lead figs usable with this genre. If you have some you would like to
liquidate, or know of somewhere I can get some, please email. I am looking
for all makes, brands and types, as long as they can be painted to resemble
someone you'd find in the T:2000 setting. I'll glady take painted ones, but
not damaged ones (broken, dented, deformed). Sorry I had to put this here,
but my post in .marketplace has had almost no response. I thought this post 
might be read by more of the people I need to reach.

Okay,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chadd VanZanten SL9B4@CC.USU.EDU + ``Ahm just a hunka' hunka' burnin' luv.''
--Elvis, Burning Love
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: ins894r@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au (Aaron Wigley [Wigs])
Subject: SR: Character Folio
Organization: Monash University
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 04:12:30 GMT

Yo Shadowrunners of the world, 

If you don't know already, I'm collecting and collating characters,
PC's, NPC's and contacts, into a net.book. So far I've received a few,
but I'm sure there are a lot more out there. 

I will accept characters in a plain text format, typed up any way you 
like. 

Could you please include:

Name(s) 	- Both real name, and street aliases
Archytype, or the priorities you used to create it
Attributes, Skills
Bioware/Cyberware
Lifestyle, brief history, 
Personality, physical description.
What the character's aims are, motives etc.

Of course, you can add more if you like :-)

The Wigs of Oz,
Just another Glutton for Punishment/Work,
Aaron Wigley		ins894r@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au
From: jdugger@sloth.Reed.Edu (Jay Dugger)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: So-called "dark futures"
Date: 7 Sep 92 04:01:13 GMT
Article-I.D.: reed.1992Sep7.040113.6763
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR

In article <1992Sep6.194034.18167@u.washington.edu>  
mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner) writes:

> Not much of a campaign left after the PCs blow their brains out, is
> there?  You may drive away all your potential players in the search for
> the ultimate roleplaying downer....
> 
> Seriously, I enjoyed some of Brunner's books but I wouldn't want to
> roleplay there; passively identifying with someone in a hopeless
> position is one thing, but actively playing him/her, having to make
> decisions and take actions while knowing that everything is meaningless
> and hopeless, is too painful and too difficult for me.
> 
> I have *had* characters commit suicide; not a particularly good
> experience.
> 
> Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@genetics.washington.edu

I bet you don't like Call of Cthullu or The Morrow Project either!

Seriously, I'd wouldn't want to roleplay in any of Brunner's settings  
either with the possible exception of The Shockwave Rider.

Jay Dugger
jdugger@reed.edu
From: jacobus@symphony.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Looking for "women's" rpg.
Date: 5 Sep 92 15:40:24 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Purdue University




Urk!  Ryk Spoor made a posting and I agreed with every bit of it.


What's this world coming to?
From: acadams@afterlife.ncsc.mil (Arthur C. Adams)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: champ: What if...
Date: 7 Sep 92 22:52:34 GMT
Organization: The Great Beyond

In article <Bu8A5z.F45@acsu.buffalo.edu> v076jy2p@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Cosmo Of The Cosmos) writes:
>Question:
>	How would the world react to finding out that it had real,
>live superheroes?  Please try to keep your replies semi-serious,
>as this will be a semi-serious campain with a touch of black humor.
>However, if your idea is either way funny or way dark, feel free to
>post anyways.  All sugestions are welcome.

Good question, and I've got a few good answers :-)

Lots of media fascination, especially from the "tabloid" journalists.
Not necessarily "Captain Amazing is Elvis's Love Child", but more
New York Post type stuff, with sensational stories. Cheers from the
right-wing media assuming the heroes are crime-fighters (shades
of Bernard Goetz (sp?)), with the more liberal media outlets taking
stances ranging from begrudging accpetance to outright condemnation.

Religious fundamentalists could condemn them as tools of Satan, while 
sone New-Age groups might view them reverentially, particularly if 
the powers are magical or extraterrestrial in origin. 

Heroes developing fan clubs that cause more harm then good. This can
be played humorously ("That's the 200 request for an autograph 
today") or deadly serious (fans endangering themselves by placing
themselves in the middle of battles to get a good view.)

Crackpots trying to take the heroes on, trying to prove the heroes
aren't so tough. I'm not talking about super-villains, I'm talking
about, say, the local Golden Gloves champ, trying to "prove whose 
boss." The heroes have to take him out without hurting him ("But, 
Captain Amazing, your Mega-Beam Blast will kill him!")

Congressional investigations into the heroes origins if the government
was somehow involved ("So, Captain Amazing, what did the President
know about this experiment and when did he know it?")

Possible attempts by the government to "draft" the heroes. Not so 
much a legal draft, but more implying that life will be very 
uncomfortable for the good guys if they don't go on a "simple
little operation in Iraq."

Lawsuits from civilians injured in battles. 

In conclusion, I recommend you read the Wild Cards anthologies edited
by George R.R. Martin. They're set in exactly the type of world
you envision. 
-- 
The world is not analog. The world is digital,
with an incredible number of bits.
Arthur C. Adams (not the comic-book artist)                        <fnord>
E-Mail acadams@afterlife.ncsc.mil
From: klein@frith.egr.msu.edu (Jeffrey Klein)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Internal Art (was Re: Covers)
Date: 13 Sep 92 20:55:04 GMT
Organization: Michigan State University College of Stunt Piloting

In article <1992Sep13.170941.22497@ecst.csuchico.edu> tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn) writes:
>
>Random Musings on Covers and Colors as I groggily awake:

[1-3 deleted]

>4) Internal plates: If anything, the internal artwork I can accept because
>   it is useful to be as internal bookmarks.  Vampire is a good example of
>   this: much of the internal art was miserable, but they were laid out in
>   such a fashion that I would know generally where I was in the book (and
>   if I had passed over what I was looking for) by the pictures.
>	Color plates are nice, but fluff.  I'll take the book regardless 
>   if it had such plates, but I would pay for whichever cost less.

This is one of the big reasons I don't like AD&D2 - the actual books, 
not the content.  The artwork has >nothing< to do with any of the text
it appears with.  Ik.

(Ok, there's one pic of a bottle of "stuff" on the equipment page.  And
 a full page dryad in the druid section - which breaks up th flow of
 that part.)

-- 
Jeff Klein             | "Happily, Ral doffs his outer clothing for a
Browsing Boy of the LNH|  refreshing dip in one of the dangerous 
klein@kira.egr.msu.edu |  chemical vats." - Ty Templeton 
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:5538 rec.games.frp.advocacy:2289
From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: 40mm grenades (was Re: Let's talk REAL..)
Date: 15 Sep 92 03:08:50 GMT
Organization: California State University, Chico

CALDERWOOD writes:
>
>The shot round used by the M-79 or 203 was called a flachette (sp). It
>was made up of small metal darts. 

Well, I'm sure that they were made, but the 40mm hi/lo grenade also
had a buckshot round as well.  27 pellets of 00 buck and cotton 
batting in the business end of the shot.  It would be one big shot
gun.
-- 
When a Banker jumps out of a window, jump after him -- that's where the
money is.
		-- Robespierre
From: v054nn84@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Foto...Taking pictures again, and Happy for it!)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Clay O'Rama
Keywords: dragon magazine, clay o'rama, clay, rama, playdough
Date: 12 Sep 92 08:18:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Sep11.160341.10662@cs.hut.fi>, logerius@psykoman.cs.hut.fi (of Angmar) writes...
>In <1992Sep8.000200.21008@unixg.ubc.ca> educ@unixg.ubc.ca (Vicki Domansky) writes:
> 
> 
> 
>>Has anyone ever played Clay O'Rama?  It is a game published in the
>>September 1987 issue of Dragon magazine, by Zeb Cook, I think.
> 
> I read some issue after the one that had the rules,and would definately
>love to get my hands on that one.
> 
> 
>>recommend it.  All you need is a couple d6's and enough playdough for
>>everyone.  Unfortunately I don't have the Sept '87 issue of
>>Dragon with the rules, but I'm going to bug Fraser until he lends me
>>his for the convention next year :-).
> 
>   PLEASE,if you get your hands on the full rules (or anyone else for that
> matter) could you post or mail them, as I have only vaguely read about this
> hilarious game and would love playing it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>Logerius

Relax....I have the entire run of the damn things (good GOD, that stack of
magazines has come to LIFE!  Run, get the professor, he will know what to 
do!)  And will dig out the issue in question after work today.  This sounds
like it could be a lot of fun...  HEH HEH HEH

Skeksis
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: dleland@dante.nmsu.edu (LELAND)
Subject: Re: Permenant damage in HERO
Organization: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 22:47:17 GMT

I agree that crippling damage use in a HERO (or any) game should only be used
when the PCs know about it in advance. In my expereince it's been used in a
couple of situations.

1: The PC gets into a real bad fight and gets wounded, and the villain says
something like, "ha ha you fool, let that be a lesson..." etc etc. The Hero
first gets depressed about this, then uses it as a "come from behind" thing
to overcome. Some players go for this. Others don't like it.

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

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

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

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

Just my thoughts.
From: ward1@husc8.harvard.edu (Lester Ward)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: I want my SR2!!!
Date: 14 Sep 92 02:05:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc8.ward1.716436328

rgt@kepler.unh.edu (Richard G Tomasso) writes:
>Lst I heard, FASA is still collecting erratta and questions about SR2, and will
>likely keep doing so until all the 1st printings they made up (50K+) sell out
>before making a second printing (softcover, btw). SR2 should be in stores by
>now, ask your retailer to order it or write to FASA for an order form.

FASA tested the three main sections of SRII (character generation, combat,
and magic) with the help of anyone on GEnie who cared to download the rules,
for a long time.

My GM was sent a "95% done" copy of the book (all 300 pages of it) which we
found .very. few errors or confusing rules.  The book is pretty tightly
written.  Nearly all of the old weirdness (like "can I cast a spell at the
shoes of a guy hiding behind drapes") is answered (including the "can spell
locks be turned on and off" question).

I haven't been on GEnie for a few weeks, but if this is where FASA is
collecting eratta, my guess is that there won't be much of it.  Although,
I haven't seen the actual finished product yet, so they could have done
something really odd.

One bit that could be added is a statement on narcojet mechanics.  I'll post
ours when I see if they added them to the final.

Wordman
From: v054nn84@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Foto...Taking pictures again, and Happy for it!)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: not really Matriarchal Societies...
Date: 15 Sep 92 20:14:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Sep15.113436.10437@odin.diku.dk>, klaus@diku.dk (Klaus Ole Kristiansen) writes...
> 
>I know some societies like that. They seem to be run by the news media,
>so I guess they must be mediocraties.

Have you noticed how most of these 'mediacraties' *are* so damn mediocre???

I *love* it!  May I quote you???

Skeksis - Help, the new kitten just attacked my mouse and now I can't find
          my cursor!  :(
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:5414 rec.games.frp.advocacy:2234 rec.games.frp.dnd:3631