HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jogle@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim))
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Weird Dice?
Date: 12 Oct 92 17:00:46 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro NM

In article <mumble> ddavis@cass.ma02.bull.com (Dave Davis) writes:

>Who knows anything about weird dice?
>
>We were talking this weekend about different possibilities for dice
>(besides the 4,6,8,10,12,20, which are of course standard, and the
> 30 and 100, which are common)

There is always the round d6 - a hollow sphere with a weight inside so
that the die stops rolling (eventually) and one of the six numbered
patches is (usually) on top.

Plus I've bought a d7 and a d34 in the last year.  The d7 is basically
a d6 with one of the faces peaked in the middle, giving you an extra
side.  The d34 is the same shape as a d8 but each half is broken into
17 faces instead of 4.  It's a big honkin' die too, bigger than my
d100.  

I got mine from my "local" gaming store (if you can call 70 miles away
local 8-), Wargames West in Albuquerque, NM.  They do mail order and I
think you can order a catalog from them through their 800 number
(1-800-SAY-GAME).  The dice should be in the catalog.

(Other than supporting the shop owner's car payments with my purchases
I have no connection with Wargames West.)

-- 
Kansas Jim (Jim Ogle, TORG guru)                               /|
jogle@aoc.nrao.edu (NRAO-VLBA, Socorro New Mexico)           o| |-
"I'd be apathetic if I cared."                              /| \|
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 13:10:52 EDT
From: <BEA104@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: RE:SRII Psionics

    I am currently in the process of play testing a psionics system in SR
based off GURPS.  I think that it is a good idea, especially since it evens out
runner groups that ar a little short on magic power.  As I go through it, I'll
keep those of you who want to know informed of its advantages and failings.

                              Brian(slash)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: npearl@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Nathan Y Pearlstein)
Subject: Is the Warhammer mailing list defucnt?
Keywords:  WHFRP WFRP
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 20:50:55 GMT


Fellow cultists, is the mailing list @morticia defunct?
-- 
*  Nathan Pearlstein   npearl@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu     Astronomy -gasp!  *
*  Sir Nathan Pearlstein     silly@camelot.uk.mil           Undergrad -GASP!! *
* "...We eat ham and jam and spamalot..."  - Knights of The Round Table Choir *
*                Beware lest the Slaaneshi hordes pervert the Net             *
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: bcash@crchh410.BNR.CA (Brian Cash)
Subject: Re: Rolemaster
Reply-To: bcash@crchh410.BNR.CA (Brian Cash)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 04:29:46 GMT

In article <BvvJJB.3M4.2@cs.cmu.edu>, mfp+@CS.CMU.EDU (Michael Polis) writes:
|>In article <1992Oct9.145053.25370@unix.brighton.ac.uk>,
rt22@unix.brighton.ac.uk (thomassen) writes:
|>|> Never use frenzy unless you are in full plate.
|>Perhaps you don't care as much as your fellow party members as you
should.  I would
|>say that the first rule to remember is:  make sure you can leave
frenzy before you enter
|>it.  A little frenzy skill is a dangerous thing.  Of course, if the
party was probably
|>going to die anyway, this doesn't matter so much.

Having a party member that is good at sweeps helps :-)
But the plate is a must.  Our barbarian tried frenzy once and got in BIG
trouble.
(Of course, the people in plate have to watch out for graple attacks, as
I discovered)

|>
|>|> Always use a shield if you are a fighter, and ALWAYS ALWAYS parry.
|>Two weapons can do more for some fighters than a shield.  Those who
have a high OB or DB
|>fall into this category.  You can make up for the lack of a shield by
parrying more, and
|>two attacks are better than one (unless parrying makes your OB too
low).  Also, remember
|>that a shield won't do you any good if you frenzy.  'Though frenzy is
not the sort of
|>thing to make a habit of.

Ever try to parry an arrow?  As for the frenzy, I would just drop the
shield and use
my bastard sword 2-handed.  I have some skill with 2 weapons, but since
I got my
nice magic shield, I haven't used it much.  Some interps. of the rules only 
allow you to parry with your off-hand, while weapon+shield can give you
a defense
against two attacks.  What is better depends on what rules you play. 

|>
|>|> If playing a spell caster, I prefer spells which need saving throws
to bolts
|>|> as
|>|> 
|>|> 1	-	Monsters are often imune to some bolts
|>|> 2	-	Level bonuses to base spells make high levl RR based spells
|>|> 		almost imposible to save against
|>|> 
|>|> 3	-	( bloody vi ) front row fighters often obscure line of sight
|>|> 		for bolt spells.
|>I find that monsters are more often of high level than immune to
bolts.  And that high
|>level makes their RR's quite easy.  A mixture of spells is best, of
course.  Almost
|>every essence user should have the Spirit Mastery list.

And watch the area of effect on those balls!

|>
|>|> My personal preference is to play evil priests - all spells on the dark
|>|> channels list are instantenious!
|>Well, if your GM allows this, OK.  The Dark Channels list is heinous. 
The spells are
|>overpowered for their levels, and many have RR penalties too, which
are nearly unheard
|>of in Spell Law.

Way over powered.  Which is why we can't have them, but the NPCs can :-)

Brian aka Ragnarok   /-|-\
From: gharris@jade.tufts.edu (George W. Harris)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Weird Dice?
Date: 12 Oct 92 20:15:23 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Tufts University - Medford, MA
Originator: gharris@jade.tufts.edu

In article <1992Oct12.181145.10792@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> dvandom@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (David VanDomelen) writes:
>Of course, like most Physics grads, I have a calculator with a random number 
>generator that is more random than any physical die (which is to say it has a 
>honking big repeat pattern on the order of billions of trials and can't be 
>weighted surreptitiously), so I just make whatever dN I want.  Also, I make 
>menus for Champions dice rolling to compute Stun and Body from a roll of N 
>dice.  Handy little thing.  And only $200....(similar capabilities probably 
>available from much less money, of course).

	Yes, I've a Hewlett-Packard that will do the same (and does) for just
$70.  You get the lovely postfix notation as well.  One of my most valued
possessions.

--
gharris@jade.tufts.edu          "She had ever chance for happiness, ever 
George W. Harris                chance in the world, and stomped ever one 
Dept. of Mathematics            of them chances down in the dirt like a 
Tufts University                bug."   _The Devil's Dream_
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Newbie System?
Date: 11 Oct 92 14:06:44 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@unixd1.cis.pitt.edu

In article <1b764pINNpme@charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu> tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn) writes:
>Sea Wasp writes:
>>Bill Seurer writes:
>>>You must have a REAL boring time at conventions.

>>Considering that 17 years ago it cost me $300, I don't GO to conventions.

>Hmmm, things have gotten cheaper since then, or so it seems.  I generally
>manage to get by on about $150-200, and that's two years ago.  I'm there
>to game, so I can get together with a bunch o'friends and overload a room.

	That would help. I hate sleeping in a room with anyone, however.
(With one exception, my fiancee -- and I don't know yet why, since I
was virtually engaged to someone else for a while but I couldn't 
stand sleeping in the same room...)

>Hotel charges cost under $70 this way.  Under $40 for admission,

	ACK! I wouldn't pay 40 bucks for admission to anything short of
the first landing of aliens on earth. That's two pairs of pants or a 
couple week's groceries for me.


	I suppose if you're making serious money cons might be fun,
but my income isn't anywhere near the level where I can afford to spend
150 bucks on something which isn't going to last... that's a brake
job on the car.

	Once I get my advanced degree and a Real Job, this could change...


					Sea Wasp
From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: help
Keywords: mech stuff
Date: 15 Oct 92 01:34:39 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: California State University, Chico
NNTP-Posting-Host: hairball.ecst.csuchico.edu

Stephen Edward Elliott Gregory writes:
>Robotech could have been a great game, anyone who saw Anime would love it. 

I would beg to differ.  The source material was a Frankenstein of three 
shows, watered down and coarsely edited.  It really didn't feel anime, 
and then we slap on the Pal. system, which IMPO is everything D&D should
have been, but nothing else.  The on top of that, we completely fubar the
math and genre-faithfulness to the already flawed translation.

No, I don't think Anime Fans would love it.

>Battletech 
>there is ABSOLUTELY NO support supplied by FASA 

Not quite true.  There have been three rules supplements, articles in
a few magazines both official and otherwise, and three or four 'Tech
Readouts' basically catalogs of Mechs and vehicles.  Check out rec.
games.board.

Better than that, there is currently a proposal for a rec.games.mecha,
covering games of this sort.  Join in the discussion on news.groups,
or at the very least vote for it when the CFV goes out.

-- 
Uncle Ed's Rule of Thumb:
	Never use your thumb for a rule.  You'll either hit it with a
	hammer or get a splinter in it.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Torg: Infiniverse?
From: <LUCKE@NDSUVM1.BITNET>
Date: Tuesday, 6 Oct 1992 21:00:12 CDT
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computer Network

In article <1aspgeINNs0j@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu>, albert@chain.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu
(Rick Jones) says:
>
>
>>(d) just read the Herald messages
>
>        Read, heck, they've printed some of mine.

    They've printed a couple of mine too.  In the early issues when they
printed everything :-).

>I use some of the published characters (Wu Han, the Warrior of the Dark,
>etc) as recurring villains, but I've made a few of my own.

  I also use some of the published characters as recurring villains.
Victor Manwaring is a campaign love interest for a character now missing,
presumed dead.  Osato, from the Possibility Chalice Trilogy has now
turned over a new leaf in my campaign, joining the Storm Knights'
organization, the Thunderbolts...

+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
|    Kyle A. Lucke     | "Your character takes 16 Wounds, KO, and 5."  |
| lucke@vm1.nodak.edu  | "Yeah, can't forget those 5 shock."           |
| lucke@ndsuvm1.bitnet |          --Torg GM and now-dead Storm Knight  |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: quirk@pioneer.unm.edu (Gym Z. Quirk)
Subject: Re: STAR TREK the Role Playing Game
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 92 01:14:54 GMT
Organization: Nit-Pickers for a Better Tomorow Afternoon

In article <1992Oct8.123949.22236@schbbs.mot.com> TUK865@maccvm.corp.mot.com (Stephen Gill) writes:
>My wife is just getting herself together to start a STAR TREK campaign
>using the FASA rules (we've managed to acquire roughly half the books,
>which would appear to be lucky - she bought the rule book the week before
>the announcement that FASA had lost their licence).
>
>Could anyone suggest how she goes about setting up and running the
>campaign or individual games?

Back when I was running my ST-RPG campaign, I decided that the players
would crew an _Enterprise_ class starship with two characters each.
One character was a senior bridge officer/department head, the other
was a Lt/Lt.jg/Ensign (from a different department) for landing party
duty.  This way, I could run both 'ship' and 'planet' stories at the
same time without people being bored.  (It also cured the 'Captain and
First Officer exposing their posteriors' problem from the series. ;-)

Depending on how assertive/independent-minded your players are, it may
be a good idea to keep the ship's captain an NPC.  I also experimented
with keeping the Science Officer an NPC and using her to 'filter'
reports, but you can do the same by writing the data down and handing
it to the PC SciO.

My general style of play tended toward the diplomatic/espionage-style
missions, but I don't see it being a handicap for 'exploration'
adventures either.

The only problem with the approach I had was that juggling duty
rosters (Hmmm...do I send the Cheif Medical Officer dirtside?  Or
should I take my redshirt to see if he'll get killed? ;-), but other
than that, I had no complaints from my players.

I ran several (liberally modified) published adventures, interspersed
with home-grown stuff on a roughly 1:1 ratio.  The ship started along
the Klingon Border, returned to the 'core' for a ship refit, and
eventually wound up on the coreward end of the Romulan border.  I had
planned to move the ship into the Triangle area, but Real Life(tm)
intervened, putting an end to the campaign.  {*sigh*}
-- 
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk  (Known to some as Taki Kogoma)  quirk@pioneer.unm.edu
 I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be superior to
                          what I have now...
Organization: Central Michigan University
Date: Wednesday, 14 Oct 1992 19:27:31 EDT
From: <34ZBTXQ@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: RE: Star Trek the RPG

  What I did when setting up my ST:RPG campaign was decided first what "era" of
the show I wanted to play in (at the time, there were only two, the original TV
show and the movies). I then had people roll up characters after assigning them
to positions. I based my ship in the Galaxy Exploration Command, which brings
up an interesting point; most of FASA's adventures were highly military in
theme, which might prove less than satisfying to people who want to explore
"strange new worlds". If you plan on using their scenarios, I'd suggest two;
"DENIAL OF DESTINY" and "A DOOMSDAY LIKE ANY OTHER" (the best one!) And if
you'd like a great adventure, write me with your address, and I'll send you
one I wrote which my players enjoyed immensley. And ask me about the STAR
TREK/DOCTOR WHO crossover we did!
From: mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: SR:  Spider Totem
Date: 9 Oct 92 21:51:53 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Oct9.215153.1968
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

I don't like the way FASA handles Insect and Insect-like totems--it's 
too blatantly evil, no moral ambiguity.  In my opinion, you shouldn't be
able to tell whether someone's friend or foe by knowing their totem,
even if they are a Cockroach....

Here are three views of the Spider Totem; it would make for lots of
interesting puzzlement if all three existed, so that knowing someone was
touched by Spider left you wondering.

I.  Spider the Deceiver

+2 dice with Manipulation and Illusion, +1 die with spirits of one
chosen type appropriate to home terrain; -1 on all magical tests when
not in home terrain.

Subtle and deceitful, Spider seldom ventures from her web, but is a
dangerous opponent there.  She is the great manipulator, and nothing
amuses her more than the sight of others tangled in her plots or dancing
helplessly on the ends of her threads.  A character of this totem should
choose one particular terrain and its associated spirit type as his/her
specialty; for example, a Street Shaman of this totem might choose City
spirits, while a wilderness Shaman might choose Forest spirits.

II.  Grandmother Spider

+2 dice with Manipulation and Detection, +2 dice with Hearth spirits, -1
on all combat-related tests.

Spider Grandmother made the world, and her children help to weave it
together; they are collectors of information and subtle manipulators,
preferring to remain behind the scenes.  Grandmother is a basically
benevolent Totem, though those whom she nudges into doing the right
thing may not always agree.  She has a particular interest in the
preservation of community and tradition; hearth and home are the places
she prefers to spin her webs.

III.  Spider the Hunter

+2 dice with Manipulation and Combat, -1 die on all Summoning rolls.

Spider stalks the dark places of the world, or weaves her webs where
they will catch the unwary.  She is more a predator than an ally to the
other spirits; she hunts alone, using her gifts of manipulation to draw
her prey into her grasp.  Although she will make alliances, when the
danger is past she has been known to devour her former friends.  On the
other hand, she often preys on predators, helping to maintain the
ecology of the Street.

Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@genetics.washington.edu
From: gt9405b@prism.gatech.EDU (Lord Goodgulf the Ma-a-a-agical Wizard)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Bushido: How Many Books?
Date: 8 Oct 92 18:24:08 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <Bvrt8x.C91@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> jsalter@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (joshua salter) writes:
>
>	How many books are there in the game Bushido? I possess only
>1 & 2. (Rulesbook and Nippon Sourcebook.) If anyone has any info re           
>regarding this, please mail me...

       There are only two books.
                              Lord Goodgulf the Wizard
-- 
Lynn Richard Akers                CS Major:  I don't do hardware.
uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt9405b          Internet: gt9405b@prism.gatech.edu
From: kucloak@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Bryan Kennedy Reed)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SR II -- problems?
Date: 9 Oct 92 13:32:26 CDT
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services

In article <1992Oct9.150911.29330@mks.com>, viktor@mks.com (Viktor Haag) writes:
> 
> I just bought SR II last night (the hardcover), and was mildly pissed off
> as I opened the bag the store put it in only to find some pages
> misprinted.  The only reason I wasn't hopping mad, lay in the fact that
> the pages were "teaser" material near the front, and therefore not
> of vital importance to the rules.
> 
> Is the entire hardcover print run contaminated in this fashion?
>
No.  The copies my friends bought at GenCon were just fine as were the
copies we bought at local stores.  I would take the book back to the
store that you bought it at.   
> If not, has FASA made any attempt at compensation for those of us who
> got a jiggered package? (like send back old copy and get new one
> without errors?)
> 
> -- 
> Viktor Haag					viktor@mks.com
> Mortice Kern Systems				(519) 884-2251
> 35 King North, Waterloo, Ontario		ext. 41
> "we are not thugs. we are vitamin supplements to justice ..." | a selector
-- 
		
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Invincibility depends on one's self;	   kucloak@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
  The enemy's vulnerability on him.	    bkreed@oread.cc.ukans.edu
 		  --Sun Tzu 		      Bryan Kennedy Reed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: edandavi@well.sf.ca.us (Ed Allen and Avi Rappoport)
Subject: Re: GURPS: Body Location Table Usage
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 17:41:40 GMT


In the little GURPS playing we did, we never applied the specific
location modifiers to random attacks.  The rationale was that the
modifier represents the decreased chance you have to hit the
specific part that you want, whether or not the opponent is guarding
that part well, and leaving other openings.  If you roll for random
location,
particularly in hand to hand combat, this represents taking the target
of opportunity that seems most vulnerable momentarily, and thus gets no
mod.  Otherwise, a random attack vs eyslots that misses the huge mod
but gets close should easily hit some other part of the head, beacuse that's
where your sword winds up if you only barely miss someone's eyes.  If
you are going targeted specifically against the eyes, some of  the modifier
is going to come out of just plain not being given an opportunity to make
the attack you want to try.

Ed Allen

edandavi@well.sf.ca.us
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: mstorer@ponder.csci.unt.edu (Mark Storer)
Subject: Re: SRUN: Da Minotaur has *more* Questions!!!
Keywords: shadowrun 
Organization: University of North Texas
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 00:44:50 GMT



>1. Can a person who has a Quickening walk through a non-friendly Ward?
>   How about a spell lock? (We have allowed for people to specially
>   design Wards to allow spirits to pass, but it is written into the
>   Warding, so basically, by non-friendly I mean those wards made up
>   to keep people, spirits, etc. OUT).

My ruling is that the spell tries to break through the barrier like a spirit
with a force equal to the spell's force.  Spell locks are pretty much out
of the question (force 1?!  Right....)

>2. When a character passes a skill through the infamous Web, and
>   someone must resist, what type of target number do you use?
>   ie A character uses his Quickness for Unarmed, what target does
>     the person who is his target resist? Un-altered quickness?

never thought about it... I let'em use the unaltered skill/attribute.

>3. Do you folks allow mages who have lost cyberware to install cyberware
>   upto that 'lost' point for 'free' or does it cost them another magic
>   point?
Yup.

>4. Physical Adept Killing Hands: Are you other GM's limited in the
>   'danger zone' this creates? Is it *only* their hands or could a
>   physical adept with this power deliver a lethal elbow smash?
>   Kick to the Groin? (yeah it is lethal enough I know)  Head Butt?

I interpret "killing hands" as "killing blows", so yes there are killing
elbo smashes, knee strikes, kicks, etc.  I've also had a character whoes
gimmic for killing hands were "claws" made out of her Ki.  She eventually
got +1 reach with them after investing 2pts of magic.  (she was around grade
5 or six... Old Character)

>5. Is anyone else bothered by the fact that the Availibility Rating
>   for  Foci is a constant? Somehow I imagine that the availibility
>   for these magic devices should be dependent upon their rating.

Sure am...  I add the rating of the focus to the availibility.

<.sig deleted>

--mstorer@ponder.csci.unt.edu
From: v079ql9q@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (I got a Catholic Block.....)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: RE:vamp generation
Date: 16 Oct 92 18:33:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

Hey there:  I'b been playing vamp for over a year now, and seen only one case
of vamp diablerie.

Also, think of it this way:  the more points you put into generation, the less
points you have to put into herd, followers, resources, etc.  Backgrounds ARE
meant to be powerful.  

Another thing, make the players keep their generations secret.  It is not
something you go around bragging about, coz then every higher generation vamp
that you know (or don't know) that don't like is gonna be hunting you. 

Just my $.02

Later-

Shane
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc