HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jmedway@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (johnjmedway)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Questions, re: RuneQuest & Tekumel (and others)
Date: 30 Jul 92 20:12:31 GMT
Reply-To: jmedway@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (johnjmedway)
Followup-To: rec.games.frp
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX
Originator: jmedway@huey.cc.utexas.edu

Are there any ftp sites or active mailing lists which are devoted to 
discussion of the worlds of Glorantha and Tekumel (and the appropriate
game systems, etc.)?

Also, what is the intended difference between 'rec.games.frp' and 
'rec.games.frp.misc'? I seem to see the same stuff in both places.

Where would discussion of TSR's BattleSystem miniatures rules take place?
( Under ...dnd ? - I hope not! )


-----------------------------------------------------------------
john j medway                          jmedway@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu

"Free your ass and your mind will follow.			
 Be pure, be vigilant, behave."		  - Shriekback
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: page@tsunami.cs.odu.edu (D.)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Anime frp's
Date: 29 Jul 92 16:17:04 GMT
Organization: Old Dominion University Dept. of CS, Norfolk VA



Another Anime specific game is Mekton by R. Tal's I 
believe.  It's a mecha game that basically uses the 
same system as Cyberpunk.  Ben Dunn did all the artwork
in the manual and it is a pretty good game...

Check it out..

-- 
*******************************************************
 Doctor: "Your son Dan seems to be half cat:  he eats 
too much, he sleeps too much, and when he sees a pretty
girl, he has an strange urge to rub against her legs."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,rec.games.frp,misc
From: riana@acca.nmsu.edu (Riana)
Subject: realistic experience
Summary: looking for ideas on a relalistic experience system
Keywords: experience, burned-out
Organization: New Mexico State University
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 07:03:02 GMT

	Hi.  I am toying around with the vague concept of a system of 
experiance-karma-advancement-whatever that would reflect a few concepts
of how one gains experiance in REAL LIFE (not that real life comes in 
points or anything) and why, after 3 lines i have not figured out how to
spell experiance.  Ignore that last part.
	The problem is, I have a concept, but no idea how to implement the idea.
I want to do the following:

	give out exp based on _stuff happening different_ to the character,
whether this be good or bad stuff, uncontrollable or self-caused stuff.
	thus, a character who goes out once a week and slays a dragon for
the hoard will gat lots of cash, but little experiance after a while.
	Second, i want the experience -advancement to reflect the relation-
ship of _stuff happening_ to _time stuff happens within_
	essentially, I want the system to involve three basic possibilities,
but also possible combinations for them.::
	1: the character can get "stuck in a rut", where NOTHING new happens
to the character, and as a result, less is likely to, unles the character
goes out and searches for it (terminal boredom)
	2: the RIGHT AMOUNT hapens to the character, and the character
advances normally.
	3: TOO MUCH happens to the character TOO FAST, and the character
suffers either psychological damage from "trauma" or merely burned-outness
and lethargy.

	I feel that this would be a good balance against munchkinism, but
I have no idea how to do it.  i am hoping someone out there can help.
the basic questions I have is HOW would I do it, and would I need a new
property for characters that limits the minimum and maximum amount of
experiance a character can recieve every day/week/whatever before the
adventure-relaxation ratio becomes skewed and sends them into either the
burned-outness or the bored fat lethargy.
	Oh, and the reason I believe this is a good way to keep characters 
from getting munchkin is that, if the amount of exp they get is limited,
per day or week or whatnot, they MAY still be able to hypothetically get
infinite exp (which is the inherent mkinism in games in general,) but they
will also die sometime, naturally, even if they are an elf.
	I figure that elves and other significantly longer-lived types
must have faster mental deterioration rates than humans as far as getting
off the balance and such.  they also might not be able to recover and
"make a comeback" which would give humans a slight advantage (but, of course,
humans die around 60-80 years old, which balances it)
	anything useful is appreciated, but this is for my own game, and
I am not going to post all the rules, so tryo to keep the ideas generic.
anyway, my game is not D&D or SR, so neither of those as a base will
work.  it is also unlike any of the point-based "anything games"
	Just ideas, no specifics, thanks.
				thanks ahead,
						!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
							    DODGER
						!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: skeksis@pdrome.UUCP (Clayton Miner)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Munchkinism vs. Roleplaying
Date: 26 Jul 92 11:04:14 GMT
Organization: The PowerDrome BBS [(716)825-3614 CNet]

THIS IS NOT A FLAME!!!!
 
I can think of one RPG that is good for letting off some steam...
 
   TOON
 
Best board game for letting off steam...
 
   Swashbuckler (at least *my* gamers think so...)
 
Skeksis
From: Centurion@f6008.n124.z1.fidonet.org (Centurion)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: GrimRules
Date: 29 Jul 92 16:56:02 GMT

With all this talk about GrimRules- would anyone be interested in playing a net
game? I'd be willing to play, or even GM if necessary.

Pax....   C*E*N*T*U*R*I*O*N


 * SLMR 2.1a * What the heck is that thing??

 * Origin: Meridian -=- (214) 235-3164 -=- Dallas, Tx. (1:124/6008)
From: psavoie@terranet.cts.com (Pierre Savoie)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,talk.politics.misc
Subject: ReGame safety
Date: 20 Jul 92 22:56:03 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.frp
Organization: People-Net [terranet], Thornhill Ontario


  There are attempts to restrict D&D on the basis of "safety" and the young
age of the participants.  This is confusing the alleged "psychological damage"
of the D&D game with toys whose physical components injure or kill if handled
or swallowed or something.  The human mind can absorb a lot of "damage", as
anybody sitting through the election campaigns can testify (grin!)
  In France, the D&D boxed basic set has a sticker on the back saying that it
is unsuitable for young children!  Actually the full sticker says, "The
importer guarantees this product's conformity to all mandatory standards f
safety.  This product is not suitable for children aged under 36 months."
That's because this French edition of the game contains opaque plastic dice
(which by the way are much better than the cheap plastic ones you fill in the
numbers yourself with a Crayola crayon).  So on the off-chance an infant
swallows one of those dice, it falls under the requirements of a safety
warning.
   And that's the ONLY part of the game they deem harmful in France!

UUCP: zoo.toronto.edu!generic!terranet!psavoie
ARPA: generic!terranet!psavoie@zoo.toronto.edu
INET: psavoie@terranet.cts.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: drk@melodian.cs.uiuc.edu (Dave Kohr)
Subject: Re: best fantasy system: The Fantasy Trip
Organization: CS Dept., Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 21:49:09 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.143947.21507@unlinfo.unl.edu> ksoutor@unlinfo.unl.edu
(kevin soutor) writes:
>I'm one of the good guys too!

Me too.  I still play _Melee_ as a beer and pretzels game (literally: a
friend of mine and I play it for shots of beer [loser drinks]).  I quit
playing AD&D and switched totally to TFT sometime early in high school.
-- 
Dave Kohr    CS Graduate Student    Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
(Summer) Office: (908)-582-4588	 (no home phone)  E-mail: drk@cs.uiuc.edu
      (Working at AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ for the summer.)
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp:24137 talk.politics.misc:34960
From: mpolen@gelato.mips.com (Michael Polen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: Your favorite hobby is unpatriotic! (was Re: Bill Clinton and gaming
Date: 21 Jul 1992 16:59:51 GMT
Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Inc.
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: gelato.mips.com

>>But imagine a vice-president's
>>wife who's explicitly anti-D&D, and will probably use her husband's status to
>>preach various moral messages to the nation, including the necessity of
>>not touching D&D with a 10-foot pole. 

Just like Nancy turned us all into true believers in astrology.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: dqk412@kepler.unh.edu (David Q Kennard)
Subject: Re: Rifts
Organization: University of New Hampshire  -  Durham, NH
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 13:30:15 GMT

In article <1992Jul23.003617.5031@cs.yale.edu> lower-tony@CS.YALE.EDU (Tony Lower) writes:
>   The other issue which I think is importantly lacking in Rifts
>is any sense of game balance.  Most notably, classes such as
>Rogue Scholar, which are intrinsically rather interesting, are
>also SO WEAK that no party would ever allow anyone to play
>them.  After all, why be a wimpy ex-college-professor with
>a small handgun, when you could be a Glitterboy, commanding
>the most dangerous piece of military hardware ever invented,
>and with lethal hand to hand training likely thrown into the
>bargain.  It just is not play-tested thoroughly enough, IMHO.
>
>						-- Tony 

Consider this "lack of game balance": classes like the Glitterboy,
which are intrinsically rather boring, are also SO WEAK in useful
skills that no party would ever allow anyone to play them. After
all, why be a dumb jock/clown in a large, intrusive, slow, attention-drawing
piece of equipment, when you could be a Rogue Scholar, commanding
a range of fascinating skills, and with a small handgun the equivalent
of a 20th century cannon likely thrown into the bargain.

There's combat for those into it; there's role-playing for those into that.
Each class has a role in the world of Rifts. Perhaps not in every
campaign of Rifts, but in some campaign.

The Glitterboys are overrated anyway. Great for battle support,
but most of the time even a "wimpy" (but sneaky and clever) Rogue Scholar
could probably take one out, or at least neutralize its effectiveness
in a scenario.

Dave K.
From: markk@sagredo.West.Sun.COM (Mark Kampe)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: dice and plato
Date: 21 Jul 92 15:28:45 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: SunSoft South
NNTP-Posting-Host: sagredo.west.sun.com

The proof that there are only five platonic solids is a very old one.  I
assume that the original Greek proof was more elegant, but ...


   (1)	For any polyhedron, the sum of the angles at each vertex must be
	less than 360 degrees.  This is because 360 degrees would make a 
	flat circle, and we need a convex surface.  Anything that teselates
	on a plane, cannot be used to form a polyhedron.

   (2)	For any closed polyhedron, there must be at least three surfaces 
	intersecting at each vertex.  This is because a solid must be bounded 
	in three dimensions.

   (3)	Considering (1) and (2) together, we know that each of the regular 
	polygons that makes up the surface must have corners with an interior 
	angle of less than 120 degrees.  Since 3 * 120 = 360, and this is
	too large for a vertex of a polyhedron.

   (4)	A hexagon has an interior angle of 120 degrees, and therefor
	regular hexagons cannot be used to construct a polyhedron.  septagons,
	octagons, nonagons ... have even larger interior angles, and so cannot
	possibly be used to construct a regular polyhedron.

	This means that the only figures that can make up the faces of a
	regular polyhedron are

		triangles		60 degrees
		squares			90 degrees
		pentagons		108 degrees

   (5)	We can now trivially enumerate all conceivable platonic solids


		polygon		3/vertex  4/vertex   5/vertex   6/vertex

		
		triangles	180 deg   240 deg    300 deg    360 deg

		squares		270 deg   360 deg

		pentagons	324 deg   432 deg

	Thus the only platonic solids have vertices made up of

		3 triangles		tetrahedron
		4 triangles		octahedron
		5 trangles		icosahedron
		3 squares		cube
		3 pentagons		dodecahedron
From: loydb@fnordbox.UUCP (Loyd Blankenship)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Illuminati
Distribution: world
X-NewsSoftware: GRn 1.16e (7/4/92) by Mike Schwartz & Michael B. Smith
Date: 28 Jul 92 12:58:54 CST
Organization: Texas Net Illuminati

In article <ed.712305241@cwis> ed@cwis.unomaha.edu (Ed Stastny) writes:
> Are there any net versions of ILLUMINATI floating around?
>

I sincerley hope not. ILLUMINATI is a copyrighted game, and a registered
trademark.

Loyd

***************************************************************************
* loydb@fnordbox.UUCP	     Once you pull the pin,  *	Loyd Blankenship  *
* GEnie: SJGAMES	    Mr. Grenade is no longer *	PO Box 18957	  *
* Compu$erve: [73407,515]	 your friend!	     *	Austin, TX 78760  *
* cs.utexas.edu!dogface!fnordbox!loydb		     *	512/447-7866	  *
***************************************************************************
From: gt7219a@prism.gatech.EDU (Christopher Michael Lawyer)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Misc
Date: 23 Jul 92 18:29:46 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <711882219.F00001@ocitor.fidonet> Centurion@f6008.n124.z1.fidonet.org (Centurion) writes:
>
> as a teenage gamer- not some 35-year-old PTA member. But it is difficult to condemn someone else for playing it, unless they really were getting so heavily into it that they hold a seance before each session, really believe that the various demons and deities exist apart from the fictional, and really got entangled in it. In this case, they NEED to be committed, and I think that was the focus of the psych clinic in Chicago.
>
> * Origin: Meridian -=- (214) 235-3164 -=- Dallas, Tx. (1:124/6008)

On a similar note, rap star Ice T stated the argument elegantly
the other night on Arsenio(sp?).  He was talking about his rap
song in which he sings about killing cops, but the argument is 
valid for role-playing games as well.  It went something like this:

Arsenio-  Recently the police arrested a man who shot a cop and
          he was singing your song.  He said it has always been
          his goal to kill a cop.

Ice T-  It was always his goal to kill cops?  All I did was give
	this guy a theme song.  People like this you can't let
	near the *dinner forks* let alone a loaded weapon.  I can't
	be held responsible evertime some guy shoots a cop.

This is from memory, so some of the dialogue may be misquoted,
but the gist of the message is there.

the manatee
From: dknren01@uctvax.uct.ac.za
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Return of rec.games.frp
Date: 23 Jul 92 16:23:22 GMT
Article-I.D.: uctvax.1992Jul23.142322.202094
Organization: University of Cape Town

Hey! It's good to have ol' rec.games.frp back.
Wonder what gave those BASTARDS the idea that they could get away with removing
it in the first place.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: gmayer@wpi.WPI.EDU (Gary R Mayer)
Subject: Re: SRun Random Enc.
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 23:25:10 GMT

In article <1992Jul26.212607.14499@nmsu.edu> oroboros@acca.nmsu.edu (The Wyrm Ouroboros) writes:
>Lester Ward writes:

>>The latter half of Sprawl Sites is basically random encounter tables.
>>
>>Wordman
>
>Very accurate of the Wordman.  If you actually read carefully, the beginning of
>all of the 'encounter' sections has a number of tables designating exactly what
>ones should be used, depending on the security code of the area you're in.
>
>And you thought that SPD and X-Plod put those ratings in just for the fun
>of it.
>
>Ouroboros
>The Wyrm of the .Net

Again, I reply... but you meet more than just people in the Sprawl, chummer.

**=**=**=**=  Gary R. Mayer, gmayer@wpi.wpi.edu, b.k.a The DROW  =**=**=**=**
|    "May Lloth be with you and spread darkness and evil upon your day."    |
*TWANG* ---------- - - -- ----  ---- ----- - ---- - -- ---  >:>>------------>
(A Black Shafted Arrow Flies Through The Air Marking The Passing of The DROW)
From: lower-tony@CS.YALE.EDU (Tony Lower)
Subject: Re: Ars Magica, the best game yet?
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept., New Haven, CT 06520-2158
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 00:36:17 GMT

   The other issue which I think is importantly lacking in Rifts
is any sense of game balance.  Most notably, classes such as
Rogue Scholar, which are intrinsically rather interesting, are
also SO WEAK that no party would ever allow anyone to play
them.  After all, why be a wimpy ex-college-professor with
a small handgun, when you could be a Glitterboy, commanding
the most dangerous piece of military hardware ever invented,
and with lethal hand to hand training likely thrown into the
bargain.  It just is not play-tested thoroughly enough, IMHO.

						-- Tony 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,rec.games.frp.misc
From: dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Axly)
Subject: Re: Twilight 2000 SniperRifle
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 20:35:00 GMT
Keywords: Sniper Rifle

eebonar@sn01.sncc.lsu.edu (Dave Bonar) writes:


>	I've never heard of the RAI 500.  However, from context, it appears
>to be a .50 cal rifle.  If so, the stats you got seem reasonable.  The
>Barrett 82 (.50 cal rifle) gets similar numbers.  The only problems I'd have
>would be with the range and the recoil of the with bipod stats.  As it is
>not an automatic weapon I wouldn't give it nearly that big of a range bonus
>for firing with a bipod.  Probably I'd go with something closer to the
>increased ranges shown on the M21 (thus I'd probably give it a range of 95
>with bipod).  Additionally, the bipod should reduce the recoil.

Well, the RAI Model 500 sniper rifle shows up in the Special Operations  
supplement. This weapons is built to a specific use (This results in a 
-1 to recoil in game terms for the ones the 2nd Recon Marines use.)
The section on 2nd Recon says to extend the range to 300 meters. I 
assumed they meant range with match ammo, which is normally 200 on the
RAI model 500. Then I cut the range by a factor of four to get the range
without bipod since that was what it was cut by for the base RAI 500.
Range deteriorated by 1/2 using BMG for the base RAI, so I assumed likewise
for the Marine variant.

This gives you an extreme range of 2400 meters. Is this realistic? I don't
know any snipers offhand myself. 


>	I wouldn't allow this to be taken as a personal weapon.  Nor
>would I allow the character to start with any free ammo other then BMG
>(obviously they could buy extra good ammo).  Of course, I tend to take the
>view that oil and gas are a little more available then many people make it
>but rare ammo types are very rare.


I was kind of hesitant to give this out as a personal weapon myself. However,
since it's the weapon that most Marine snipers are issued, it sort of isn't
realistic for them not to have one.

Axly

 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: peters@physics.ubc.ca (Dan Peters)
Subject: Re: Bill Clinton and gaming
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 22:49:44 GMT

winterh@emunix.emich.edu (Twist) writes:

>In article <1992Jul27.155736.4346@access.digex.com> dzik@access.digex.com (Joseph Dzikiewicz) writes:
>>                               As a parent, I would appreciate having
>>some idea of what my kids might be buying without having to waste
>>my time listening to some of that trash.
>>
>>Joe Dzikiewicz
>>dzik@access.digex.com

>As we can all see from that last sentence of yours, you must be one of
>those heart-warming parents who truly cares about their children. Right!
>It's parents like this that don't want to "waste their time" doing things
>with their children or indeed to even bother finding our what their
>children care about that are a true plague to our society. It's people
>like this that make me feel lucky to have parents that give a shit about me.

Wow. Grossly misrepresenting him and trying to start a flame war all in one
short paragraph. Truly amazing.

Drin

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: 10597182@eng2.eng.monash.edu.au (JASON BELL)
Subject: Re: Champions - Using weapons
Organization: Faculty of Engineering, Monash University 
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 03:59:24 GMT

In article <5663@ucru2.ucr.edu> wwallace@ucrengr.ucr.edu (wayne wallace) writes:
>From: wwallace@ucrengr.ucr.edu (wayne wallace)
>Subject: Re: Champions - Using weapons
>Date: 25 Jul 92 08:11:08 GMT

>Well, since Foxbat seems to have flashed you all while simultaneously
>draining your INT, I quote 4th edition Champs, p.177, right side, bottom
>paragraph:

>"Note that if characters use an object as a weapon, the maximum amount of
>damage that can be done with the object is equal to the combined DEF and BODY;
>any additional damage and the object simply breaks."

>So, if Mr. Brick with 60 STR hits some poor normal with a bus (DEF 4,
>BODY 17) during a pushed haymaker ((12 * 1 1/2)+2)=20d6 on average, the normal
>will be dead (assuming 8 body. only heros start with 10 body) and the
>bus took 20-4=16 body damage. If the brick hits something else with this
>bus, it can only do 5d6. (DEF 4 and 1 BODY)

>See what a little research gets you? Granted, Champions is a massive tome,
>but spend many MANY hours reading it, and you'll be able to answer any
>question, except maybe certain ones on the game balance of certain attacks.
>For that, you have to allow it one session, or ask a friend.

>This does not invalidate making up a rule to keep the session going, but
>whenever you have to make up a rule, find the rules answer after the game.
>Often, it will be quite logical and easy to insert. Also, when gaming with
>other GMs, you won't be surprised to find that the steel girder that does
>an extra 8 dice in your game, does no more than (very large heavy weapon
>looks good here. DEF 6, BODY 12) 18d6, and can ONLY do 18d6 if YOUR
>CHARACTER can do 18d6. As for CV penalties, treat it as an unfamiliar weapon
>in a heroic game. (ie -3 OCV)

>Oh yeah, to another poster from r.g.frp.misc: if BODY is too high for
>killing attacks to deal with, enforce the lowering of it.

>Wayne

Yes, I do know that rule.... ( I have been playing ever since the game came 
out)
	unfortuately it does not describe the situation of something such 
as:

a very big piece of paper (VERY BIG) say 0 DEF and 10 BODY
If I hit someone with this (assume I have 50 STR) I won't be doing 10D6 
damage.

This is just an extreme case. The point is (without just saying "ok you do 
an extra 4D6 with the girder (not that this is bad, I do it myself)") that 
sometimes you need to have some form of reference for the damage that 
objects can do. i.e. should DEF be more important than BODY, etc.


Mephisto.

P.S. This is not a FLAME!
Organization: Central Michigan University
Date: Thursday, 23 Jul 1992 17:26:48 EDT
From: Kasian Armistus <3AHUCSI@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Quest of the Ancients

Vince Garcia, I am told, has recently published a second book to his FRPG

Quest of the Ancients.  Does anyone know anything about it?
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.announce