HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: millerl@wharton.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RQ: Heroquesting Re-addressed
Date: 6 Jan 93 15:47:34 GMT
Organization: Newt World Order

In article <1993Jan5.232504.19179@nlm.nih.gov>, brandon@caldonia.nlm.nih.gov (Brandon Brylawski) writes:
| Granted all this, I just thought it valuable to distinguish between
| questing to undo a done myth versus creating a new one. In the former
| case, the existing myth can be said to 'resist' being changed; for
| example, in the Hill of Gold, Zorak Zoran and his followers won, and
| they have gotten used to having the fruits of that victory, so that any
| attempt to undo that myth would essentially involve defeating the Zorak
| Zoran culture as a whole.

The only problem was that Zorak Zoran's victory was the result of
heroquester meddling with the myth where Orlanth gives weapons to his
thane Elmal, who is the Sun God of the Orlanthi group, and Elmal
protects his longhouse, in one section defeating Zorak Zoran at the Hill
of Gold. Political interests (the Lunar invasion of Tarsh) prompted the
Elmalis to heroquest to change the myth and dissociate themselves from
Orlanth, so they prompted Orlanth to steal Elmal's weapons instead of
gifting him with extra powerful ones, and at the Hill of Gold Elmal was
ambushed and defeated by Zorak Zoran. They also changed the name of the
god to Yelmalio while they were at it, and claimed he was the son of the
sun. Nobody is interested in spreading this knowledge since it makes
orlanthi, yelmalians, and yelmites look stupid, and they're the ones who
would know it. Some proof can be found in old documents that state that
the Sun Dome Temple is dedicated to Elmal, Orlanth's thane. 

The problem is not with mythic events (or non-events, which are the same
thing) resisting change. It is that each action has unpredictable
side-effects, so if you wanted to have Yelmalio defeat Zorak Zoran at
the hill of gold it might require you to re-associate him with Orlanth
so that he could get the gift weapons, which are good enough to defeat
Zorak Zoran, and it still wouldn't get you exactly what you wanted.
Other things would change.

-- 
whoah,
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller                           internet: MILLERL@wharton.upenn.edu
Mediocrity is a hand rail.                         -- Baron de Montesquieu
From: hodges@unssun.nevada.edu (Marcus Hodges)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: GURPS: A question about an Enchantment
Date: 7 Jan 93 17:30:05 GMT
Reply-To: hodges@unssun.UUCP (Marcus Hodges)
Organization: University of Nevada-Reno

Ok, all of you GURPS-aholics, I need some opinions from you.

In GURPS Magic, the Fast Draw enchantment says that any weapon with this
enchantment will leap to the weilder's hand, and be ready, at their mental
command.  The question is, what about missile weapons?  The exact statement
in the description is that the weapon "leaps to the wielders hand", but 
would this enchantment actually cause an arrow to be knocked and ready
to fire, thus removing a Fast Draw roll and an action to ready the bow?

If the enchantment just puts the arrow in the wielders hand, I think 
that 2000 energy for the enchantment is way out of line.  How is anyone
else handling this?


Marcus
From: rrdjro@minyos.xx.rmit.OZ.AU (Jonathan O'Donnell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Dead Systems (was Re: Dumb Moves By Game Companies)
Date: 11 Jan 93 01:31:18 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre
NNTP-Posting-Host: minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au

With reference to the reviews of The Fantasy Trip (TFT) that have been
posted lately...

It's amazing to see people playing systems that have been unsupported for
so long.  I think that it's great, but I guess the new game producers
disagree.

The people that I know who play TFT love it.  They figure that the system
satisfies all their needs, so why go futher?

Another example is Dragonquest.  There is a really strong group of DQ
fans here in Melbourne, Australia.  The have done a lot of development
work and even vanity published their stuff so everyone has a manual.
It's great!

What other unsupported (dead) systems are people still playing?

Does the existance of mailing lists help these groups?  Or do they
diverge into different 'house rules' factions?

Presumably, the biggest disadvantage is a lack of outside ideas from
published material.  What are the advantages?

	Jonathan@RMIT.edu.au
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: burdickd@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Dakin Burdick)
Subject: Re: Dumb Moves By Game Companies
Organization: Indiana University
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 03:08:20 GMT

In article <1if472INNo4c@titan.ucc.umass.edu> dunkelza@titan.ucc.umass.edu (KEITH C MCCORMIC) writes:
>
>  Eldritch Wizardry, Blackmoor, and Chainmail are NOT D&D.  They are the 
>fore-runners of it.  Those three books were published two or three years before
>the very first printing of D&D in 1974.  

Buzzzz!  Sorry, you are incorrect!  D&D was published in 1974, but
Blackmoor was published as D&D Supplement 2 in 1975 and Eldritch
Wizardry was published as D&D Supplement 3 in 1976.  Chainmail, on
the other hand, WAS published before D&D and was its forerunner.

Dakin
burdickd@silver.ucs.indiana.edu
From: loren@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu (Loren Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RQ: The Relation of the Red Goddess and Orlanth
Keywords: runequest,rq,gods
Date: 8 Jan 93 19:24:03 GMT
Organization: Wharton Marketing

In article <cluther.726511792@morticia> cluther@morticia.cnns.unt.edu (Clay Luther) writes:
>Why is the Red Goddess killing Orlanth?  And how?

Depending on whom you ask, you may get several answers:

1. Because when she first made her bid to become a full fledged goddess, at 
Castle Blue (this is in the godtime, so don't try to find it on a map), 
Orlanth was her primary opponent.

2. Because Orlanth and she are both rulers of the middle air, the region 
between the earth and sky, and her domain was stolen directly out of his.

3. Because the city-dwelling pelorian pantywaists can't stand us mighty 
thewed orlanthi warriors.

4. Because Orlanth is the rightful king of the world, and she wants to usurp 
his position.

5. Because she is allied with Chaos, as proven by the Crimson Bat, the 
Scarlet Wave, the Black Horse Troop, the vampire legion, her Gbaji 
tricksters, and by that red glowing moon that just sits up in the sky, 
unmoving, all the time. She hides her horrible self behind a pretty face, 
but she is just as horrible as any other face of the devil.

--
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller              LOREN@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu
Time am I, wreaker of the world's destruction, matured, grimly
resolved here to swallow up the worlds.             -- Krishna
From: lward@husc11.harvard.edu (Lester Ward)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Brand Names of Cyberware for SRII
Keywords: cyberware
Date: 11 Jan 93 19:47:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc.lward.726781646

tmont@cerc.wvu.wvnet.edu (Todd Montgomery) writes:
>I recently had an idea of adding a little more spice to the
>ShadowRun cyberware options. The basic idea was to add brand names
>to the cyberware. In effect instead of just Wired Reflexes: 1, a
>character could purchase Ares-Gold Wired Reflexes: 2. This could open the
>way for some variation in essence cost between brand names and add
>some more flavor to the basic cyberware. The details of some proposed
>brand names are below. I would appreciate some feedback on this. I am
>really considering using this in a NEW upcoming campaign for SRII that
>I plan to run. I ran two successful campaigns over the three years that 
>SR was out. 

Damn.  Beat me to the punch on this.  Although my approach was a bit different.
I set up non-rule-based differences bewteen cyberware.  I'll post some of
it later.  Nice work, though.  Could be interesting.

Wordman
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: thornley@milli.cs.umn.edu (David H. Thornley)
Subject: Re: Dumb Moves By Game Companies
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 21:35:58 GMT

In article <1993Jan4.220249.17657@fcom.cc.utah.edu> davis@cs.weber.edu (mike davis) writes:
>In article <1993Jan4.165131.17063@news2.cis.umn.edu>, thornley@milli.cs.umn.edu (David H. Thornley) writes:
>|>[Discussion of how D&D became so popular, and hence TSR so successful.]
>|> 
>|> Well, yes, but the fact is that Arneson and Gygax invented the RPG.  I
>	WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!  D and D was NOT thi first Role playing
>	 game!!!!!  It was the first SUCCESSFUL one!!!!!!!  In the 50's
>	there was a PBM RPG based on Conan.  There were others before
>	this one.   For a bunch of people who hate Gygax you sure believe
>	His propaganda!!!!!!!!
>
Well, Arneson and Gygax did, as far as I know, invent the RPG, even if
it was invented elsewhere and earlier.  Enough technicalities.

I'm unfamiliar with the Conan RPG you mention, but I have seen a PBM
fantasy RPG from approximately the same time as D&D started, so the
RPG per se may be taken to be older than D&D.

On the other hand, I don't know of any single-party cooperative RPGs
before D&D.  In the RPG I mentioned, players would basically compete 
with one another, and were not constrained to cooperate in the slightest.
In D&D, parties went out as parties, cooperating with each other (mostly)
and it became possible to run RPGs face-to-face.

This is a pretty drastic change from the more-or-less role-playing I
know of that existed prior to D&D.  Do you know of any cooperative RPGs
predating D&D?

DHT


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: npalmer@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Nicholas P Palmer)
Subject: Shadowrun Players at OSU campus needed
Keywords: shadowrun, SR, players
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 19:23:27 GMT


Hey chummers, a word for you netlurkers out there at Ohio State University.

A recently revamped tribe of shadowrunners needs some new blood.  We're looking
for new characters to round out our little crew. No previous shadowrunning
experience needed.

Specifics:  We're looking for some street muscle/firepower, some magickal 
            abilities, and a scientist/Biotechnician.   The requirement,
            you gotta play a musical instrument and/or have vocal ability
            and/or have some music theory to write music for us.  

So think about it.  If you think you can cut a new character out, send your
idea/thoughts to me, Troy Rugged,
LTG#
npalmer@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Ok folks, we're looking for 2-4 more people with new characters fitting the 
above description to help round out a SR2 game.  We play on OSU Campus once
a week, usually evening/nighttime, not sure which day of the week, so if your
interested in making a new character and getting involved, please send your
character idea to me at   npalmer@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
LAST DAY for character ideas--Thursday, Jan 7th.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Any PBEM out there?
From: bob@bigben (Dana Scott Simpkins)
Date: 8 Jan 1993 00:12:18 GMT
Organization: University of Missouri - Kansas City
NNTP-Posting-Host: bigben.umsl.edu



Hi, is anyone out there running a Play By Email Rpg and needing another
player?  I've been involved in a Star Wars game, but unfortunatly it 
didn't get off the ground.  I'm really interested in playing another one
of pretty much any genre...

Please email me if you can help,


-Dana Simpkins

bob@bigben.umsl.edu 
(or, in case the email bounces:  simpkins@cis.ohio-state.edu)
From: f1toyl@uta.fi (Topi Ylinen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Murphy's Rules strikes in Harnmaster
Date: 11 Jan 93 14:40:05 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: University of Tampere, Finland

Harnmaster is a neat system (as a system, it may well be the best I know),
but I recently found some details in the spell system (in the Rulebook, I am
not using any accessories) which could be labeled "Murphy's".

This is the most prominent one: The Rulesbook suggests that multiple Veils
of Nashal can be cast on a target so that (s)he can carry more than just one
of them and they will function one at a time. Unfortunately, it has been 
mentioned earlier that "The veil works against only one spell and then dis-
sipates. Veil cannot tell the difference between friendly and hostile 
enchantment..."  In practice, this means that the first Veil will resist
the second Veil placed on the target and then dissipates -> it is impossible
to place multiple unless you bend the rules a bit...

Another spell, Energy Pool, may tempt many players to abuse it in an 
interesting fashion: for example, if you know the spell and are playing solo,
you could cast it on yourself and other people and then tell the others to
go to sleep and you could play your solo virtually inexhaustible!

Well, this is no flame. Harn' is a great game, and IMHO perhaps the only
Fantasy-orientated game to challenge Rolemaster (which _is_ overvalued).


##############################################################################
Topi Ylinen	   ##################  Quote of the month (week?):   #########
English Department   ##############   "Life's but a walking shadow,    #######
University of Tampere  ##########    a poor player that struts and frets #####
f1toyl@kielo.uta.fi    ##########   His hour upon the stage and then is   ####
			########   Heard no more." (William Shakespeare)  ####
##############################################################################

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: jgl2p@landau5.phys.Virginia.EDU (Joseph G. Louderback)
Subject: Weapons Laws
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Summary: Need gun laws for 1920's
Keywords: Cthulhu, guns, laws
Organization: University of Virginia
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 22:13:09 GMT

I'm running a Call of Cthulhu (tm) game, and would like some 
information.  Does anyone know a good source for gun control
laws in the 1920s, especially in the Northeast?  The game is
set around New York City.  The source need not be exhaustive
.  Thank you for your time and bandwidth

Joe Louderback
jgl2p@landau5.phys.virginia.edu
disclaimer: It isn't me.  It's these damn Insects from Shaggi!
From: laird@think.com (Laird Popkin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SF Poll
Date: 12 Jan 1993 01:38:04 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: django.think.com

In article <1695@blue.cis.pitt.edu> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>In article <1ismoeINN28q@early-bird.think.com> laird@think.com (Laird Popkin) writes:
>>It depends on what people are in the mood for.  I enjoy occasional Space
>>Opera (I'm looking forward to GURPS Lensmen), but I also enjoyed a
>			       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>	Ohmigod.
>
>	Please, please PLEASE, PLEASE tell me this is some kind of very,
>very SICK joke!

Nope.  It's no joke.  Remember, GURPS is the system which ranges from
Bunnies and Burrows to Swashbuckling to Supers to far-future SF.  Lensmen
should fit right in, and help dispell the myth that GURPS is limited to
"realistic" genres.

>	Of all the systems I could have imagined for the Lensman series,
>GURPS is one of the very last. GURPS would be marvelous for Ender's Game,
>but for Masters of the Vortex???

Speaking of Scott Card, GURPS Tales of Alvin Maker is in the works.  I'd
love to see a GURPS Ender's Game.  Actually, I think that the combat
scenario (in the zero-G rooms, where the players "froze" when they got
shot) would make a great board game...

>	This is the system that tries to make REALISTIC SUPERHEROES,
>for Gog's sake! GURPS psionics are, at best, an average attempt at
>the powers. There's nothing to distinguish it from anything else...

Well, the Superheroes start out realistic, but there are the "four color"
options, most of which work just fine.

>	GURPS works best in "realistic" milieus. The Lensman universe is 
>a completely heroic one -- a person with a GURPS 18 strength would barely
>make it into the soldiers of the Patrol, and would get crushed like
>a bug by any member of the Valerian corps. 500 point characters would
>be the NORM...

So?  Space Opera characters are *supposed* to be that much better than
ordinary mortals.  I don't have a problem with giving Patrol members
immense point values.  GURPS is certainly not limited to 100-point
characters...  Conan would be most displeased at that thought, as would
most of the Supers in my (250 point) GURP Supers campaign.

>	Please tell me this is a nightmare.

Nope, it'll be rather pleasant.  The author is way cool, and very into the
genre.

>				Sea Wasp

- Laird
-- 
- Laird Popkin, Thinking Machines

Connection Machine: Massively parallel supercomputer.  Also a cool black
cube with more blinking lights than you can shake a stick at.
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Old time D&D reminiscing
Date: 8 Jan 93 16:41:52 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@unixd3.cis.pitt.edu

In article <1993Jan8.102153.1@wharton.upenn.edu> millerl@wharton.upenn.edu writes:
>In article <C0J06z.5s8@ns1.nodak.edu>, dhenry@plains.NoDak.edu (David R. Henry) writes:
>> Speaking of the good ol' Temple of the Frog:
>> Will someone please tell me what the Egg of Coot is, already?

>Hmmm, from what I recall of Dave Arneson's _the first fantasy campaign_,
>the Egg of Coot was a major bad guy in the Blackmoor campaign. I think

	Yeah, that we knew. But just WHAT the EoC was, how powerful it
was, where it got its powers, and so on, hasn't ever been revealed. It's
one of the great mysteries of my gaming existence. I finally decided
it was an extradimensional demon akin to Cthulhu, but I've always wondered
what ARNESON thought it was...


				Sea Wasp
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: osterbar@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Andrew Robert Osterburg)
Subject: Re: star trek..rpg
Keywords: star trek fasa rpg
Organization: University of Cincinnati
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 16:49:00 GMT

In article <1ia0vfINNa2o@charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu> tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Stress Kitty) writes:
>Samik Sen writes:
>>I just found out that fasa lost its rights to star trek the rpg
>>I was wondering why?
>
>The FASA license was up, and Paramount had to option to renew or not and
>opted for the latter.  The short form of it (and this is what I heard, not
>anything substantiated) is that FASA's offering is too warlike and militant
>for Roddenberry's tastes.  With R's death last year (moment of silence)
>Paramount is a bit at a loss over what to do with the game rights, and
>has decided to sit pat on them.  One major boardgame publisher approached
>them, only to be turned down.
>


	Task Force Games is coming out with a Star Trek RPG based in
their Star Fleet Battles universe.  The title is something like First
Contact or Prime Directive.  Apparently TFG has rights through a
different source than Paramount.
From: loren@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu (Loren Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: RQ: illusions
Date: 8 Jan 93 19:06:19 GMT
Organization: Wharton Marketing

In article <1993Jan8.175955.28447@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu> tratclif@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (Tracy Ratcliff) writes:
>If you look at the illusion spells for the Trickster in  _Gods of 
Glorantha_,>divine illusion spells with limited effects are much less 
expensive than the>duplicating them with the generic illusion spells from 
the Magic Book (hmmph,>can't find the Magic Book).  For example Create Wine 
is a 1 pt spell which>would be about 6 points with the generic spells. 

It's more than 6 points. It would have to be a phantom sight 6 or so, to 
handle the opaqueness of red wine, phantom touch 6 or so, to handle the cold 
and sensations of swallowing a fluid, and the feel of the bottle, and 
phantom taste 6 (or more), to handle the taste and smell of the wine. This 
is 8 points with multispell, or without multispell will require three 
casters and a total of 18 magic points. If you want someone to be able to 
taste the wine it also becomes an active spell, requiring full concentration 
from the caster(s), and if you want to make it last more than 10 minutes 
then it takes even more points for duration.

My real problem is with other uses of illusions which are common in the 
literature and folklore. For instance, say someone who can cast visual 
illusions wants to hide behind a closed door, and conceal the door so it 
looks like part of the wall. It would require about 18 points for the size 
of the doorway (an 18 Size person can fit through it) and an intensity of 10 
to appear opaque. Total cost is 27, requiring 27 free int to manipulate this 
spell, or very powerful and expensive spell matrices, plus lots of magic 
points somewhere. On the other hand, in D&D it's a level 2 spell and in 
other games it's always a cheap effect.

>both the divine and sorcery _generic_ illusion
>spells are extremely flexible and extremely powerful,

Please give me examples of powerful uses of generic illusion spells which 
don't require at least 20 points of intensity and/or multispell (which 
is supposedly a rare skill).

--
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller              LOREN@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu
Time am I, wreaker of the world's destruction, matured, grimly
resolved here to swallow up the worlds.             -- Krishna
From: jamiller@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Looking for Gaming Server, Host or Mailinglist
Date: 7 Jan 93 23:08:12 CST
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services

I am looking for role-playing game server or mailing list.  I had
received a response before but was unable to get connections at the
site.  Shouldn't this be in a FAQ if it's not?  If there's a FAQ for
this group I'd like that too.
-- 
jamiller@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
James Miller

_chicchai .sig no ho ga ichiban iin janai ka..._
             Enlightenment Happens?
From: thantos@runic.via.mind.org (Paul Williams[SysOp])
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: net.hero.bestiary?
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 20:18:44 EST
Organization: Runic Writings / Lawrenceville, GA

dvandom@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Dave Van Domelen) writes:

> Okay, it's like this.  Suppose you were to create a module for AD&D, like alo
> of people did in Ye Olde Days, then distribute it.  Nowadays the TSR lawyers 
> would be all over you, since the system is copyright, tm, and all sorts of 
> other things.  Hero isn't as nasty legally, but any large-scale project like 

  Bully-honkus...  Haven't you seen the Great Net Spellbook?  It more
  than large enough to fill several sourcebooks.  So far I've not seen
  T$R come looking for the compilers...


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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...!emory!uumind!runic!thantos                     |      upon request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Mecha: It is said that these metal giants were shaped like men, so the
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Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc