HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 04:21:09 -0400 
From: Anthony Russell Rosania <ar2j+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Lich Killing Advice Needed
	<mlharley.702915942@unix1.tcd.ie>

Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.frp: 10-Apr-92 Re: Lich Killing Advice
Needed Kubik@unix1.tcd.ie (544)


> 	I believe that 'common' knowledge might hold that all Lich's
> have had a portioin of their body (heart, brain, kidneys for all I care)
> stored away in some dark place (store in a cool dry place, keep out o
> fdirect sunlight ...). If these organs or body parts were to be
> destroyed (fire would probably do the trick), the Lich would fadde away.
> Sorry to say that, even if this is the case for your Lich too, being a
> smart li'le creature, he'll guard the location well, and finding where
> it is would be the hardest thing.

> (advice to the doomed.)


And I'm sure if he isn't guarding it personally, you can just WALK in
and take it.......NOT!

	Sorry, I find the whole situation amusing....
							Ant
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: npb41275@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Noah Ban)
Subject: GURPS Spellcasting question
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 06:17:12 GMT

  I have a question about Spell-casting in GURPS.  Some non-Enchantment
 spells need an outrageous amount of mana to cast--e.g. Resurrection (300!).

 Obviously, a PC mage can't have this much, though there are some options:
	 1) Ceremony, but that would take A LOT of people who knew the spell.
	 2) trading skill for mana...but nowhere close enough.
	 3) A HUGE amount of powerstones...

Well, you get the picture.  My questions is, is there any way I'm missing
for a single PC to cast powerful spells like that, no even after years
of learning the spell?  What about spells with 30-50 mana cost or so?

Can they be done during some kind of long-term casting like enchantment?
I have GURPS MAGIC and it doesn't say anything about this.

Thanks in advance.
npb41275@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
From: onder@ISI.EDU (Bruce Onder)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: DMing Question: Player/Character IQ differences
Date: 16 Apr 92 22:32:53 GMT
Organization: USC-ISI
In-reply-to: jpk2581@tesla.njit.edu's message of 16 Apr 92 22:10:36 GMT

In article <1992Apr16.171036.1@tesla.njit.edu> jpk2581@tesla.njit.edu writes:

>What is the best way to resolve a difference in the
>intelligence of a player and the intelligence of 
>his/her character?
>
>I am thinking specifically of a situation where all
>the PLAYERS were stumped by a particular riddle, but
>several of the CHARACTERS had Int's of 18 and would 
>have been able to solve it easily.
>
>I'm looking for a technique which evens the effective
>IQ's of the character and player, but still has the
>player do some thinking (i.e. simply rolling a die
>to see if you solved the riddle is icky). I also would
>like to avoid insulting my players ("I don't think
>you'r as smart as your character so here's a blatant
>hint...")

If they get stumped, they *nee* a hint and therefore shouldn't be
insulted that you help them out.

I'd let them roll some sort of IQ check everytime they get stumped.
If they make the roll, give them a hint.  Each time they get stumped,
allow more rolls to get another hint, but reduce either the ep award
(if you give one) or somehow reduce the value of figuring out the
riddle.

It's okay to have to help them out, but don't give them lunch if they
can't work for it.  :)

Bruce

--
		Bruce W. Onder		onder@isi.edu

	But still I'd rather be famous than righteous or holy
		      Any day, any day, any day

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: dwt@po.CWRU.Edu (Donald W. Treadway)
Subject: Re: Inspired character names
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA)
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 16:14:11 GMT


I once played a witchhunter from Bard Games' Arcanum named

                Nosyr Reebob
-- 
Don Treadway--metallurgical engineer-in-training-->ManOfAluminum
"Women and cats do as they dammed well please.       | dwt@po.cwru.edu
     Men and dogs had best learn to live with it..." | 1626 E 115 Street
"I'm at the corner of Walk and Don't Walk...."       | Cleveland, OH 44106
From: kinnema@wkuvx1.bitnet (Mark Kinney, Attorney at Chaos)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Shadowrun: Controlling Deckers
Date: 11 Apr 92 20:06:09 GMT
Article-I.D.: wkuvx1.1992Apr11.150609.1308
Organization: Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY

In article <7443@orbit.cts.com>, jduffin@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Joshua Duffin) writes:
> 
> Nonetheless, why would these people need to get TOP-SECRET corporate data?  It
> would be infinitely more safe to keep the really secret stuff offline if it
> were possible.  Mary's points seem extremely valid to me.
> 
This is done even today. Remember in _The Cuckoo's Egg_ when Cliff Stoll talks
about a laboratory near Berkely (which I can't remember the name of) being
offline. It was still broken into in that case, but in Shadowrun, it'd probably
be a matter of old fashioned phoning in on modem-type of turtleizing, or
jacking in within the facility. There is still external access, but no decker
in their right mind would try it that way.

Just an idea...
-- 
Mark Kinney [KINNEMA@WKUVX1.(BITNET)(WKU.EDU)] | Don't just eat a hamburger,
PhoneNet: (502)745-4246	  (Bowling Green, KY)  | eat the HELL out of it!
This has been a test. If this had been an actual emergency, you'd be dead.
Quote of the Week: "Well Bo knows this, and Bo knows that, but Bo don't know
	jack, cause Bo can't rap." -- A Tribe Called Quest, "The Scenario"
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: dabachma@constellation.ecn.uoknor.edu (Donald A Bachman)
Subject: Re: SRUN: Shamans And Mages
Organization: Engineering Computer Network, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 07:12:48 GMT

sleibowitz@hamp.hampshire.edu (Smiling Wolf) writes:

>In article <1992Apr10.221237.25976@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu>, dabachma@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Donald A Bachman) writes:
>> 
>> 	I was wondering, has anyone considered the drawbacks to playing a 
>> shaman of the Owl? As memory serves (its been some time, more explained later),
>> they recieve +2 dice for all sorcery/conjury by night, but have +1 Magic target
>> numbers and +1 to all target numbers during the day. The problem is as to when
>> the extra dice will offset the higher target number. So with only a little 
>> thought applied (well, I could seriously analyze it, but a light going over
>> will hopefully be correct, and do just as well):

>Whoa there, Nellie!  The +2 dice will NEVER offset the higher target number, 
>because they never apply at the same time.  The Owl gets +2 dice at night, +1
>to magical target numbers during the day, and +1 to ALL target numbers _while_
>_in_direct_sunlight_.  Nice try, though (your math was totally over my head). 

	Nyet, I quote: "+1 to all Target Numbers (even non-magical ones!) when 
in direct sunlight; +1 to all magical Target Numbers, whether or not in
daylight." It is possible for the extra dice to offset the increased target
numbers; however, it seems that the value is only realized when you are
rolling a relatively low number of dice (lower than in actual practice).

>> |Donald Bachman - dabachma@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu                          

>						Your humble servant,
>						    Smiling Wolf

>sleibowitz@hamp.hampshire.edu
>"the moon's my constant mistress,
> and the lowly owl my marrow"
>		- Tom A'Bedlam 
-- 




===============================================================================
|  	There is no language but LISP, and EMACS is its prophet!              |
|                                                                             |
===============================================================================
|Donald Bachman - dabachma@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu                              |
===============================================================================

--
From: wilsom3@nuge108.its.rpi.edu (Michael Lane Wilson)
Subject: Re: "Rules of the Shadow" in Amber RPG
Reply-To: wilsom3@rpi.edu
Organization: Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 14:03:16 GMT

In article whatever#1, someone#1 writes:
|>In article whatever#2, someone#2 writes:
|>>In the final analysis, there would have to be some limitations on how things
|>>take place - an Amberite going to a new Shadow where chemical laws are such 
|>>that combustion works differently (note that Shadow Earth <-> Amber is a case 
|>>of this), either a) the Amberite continues to operate on their native chemical 
|>>laws, b) the chemical composition of the Amberite changes, thus allowing 
|>>combustion to continue under the new laws, ot c) the Amberite instantly dies 
|>>because his cells are no longer able to burn glucose.  Obviously, either a or 
|>>b is the correct case...
|>
|>If b is the one you choose, then it would be very easy for an Amberite
|>to stumble into a Shadow where the physical laws made it impossible for
|>the Amberite to exist (for example, a Shadow where molecules don't bond
|>together at all).  I think that a is the only real choice.  Amberites
|>have enough reality in them for them to sort of carry a localized set
|>of rules with them.  The next question is, what about Shadow humans who
|>are transported to other Shadows ?

	What about the obvious answer --- that Amberites simply don't go to
such places?  I don't think any of them have as yet gone to any places where
the physical laws keep them from functioning.  And it wouldn't only be Amberites,
either, you notice, as witness Bill Roth, who seems to get along just fine in
Amber, as noted in Blood of Amber, I believe, among others.
	There was only one case I can think of where an Amberite antered a shadow
with radically different laws and didn't seem to interact with them at all, and
I don't think that one applies.  (Random, trying to rescue Brand, didn't seem to
affect the orbits of the tumbling boulders.)
	In any event, consider what would happen as an Amberite went closer and
closer to such a shadow.  (S)He would get gradually sicker and sicker as (s)he
went along, until finally succumbing at arrival.  You have your character try
it; I'll sit back in Shadow Malibu and take your calls for you.  8^)

-- 
___________________________    |
|                         |    |        Mike Wilson, the Hierarch:
|  No Sig is a Good Sig.  |    |        Wilsom3@rpi.edu
|_________________________|    |        Hierarch@acm.rpi.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: vcf1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Victoria C Fike)
Subject: Re: CHAMPS: question on turn sequencing
Organization: Columbia University
Reply-To: vcf1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Victoria C Fike)
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 16:55:38 GMT

In article <ro3ojINNnvp@festus.ksu.ksu.edu> khise@festus.ksu.ksu.edu (Martin Andrew Shobe) writes:
>
>In article <k6TqiB1w164w@seanews.UUCP>, caladan!seanews!monorail@seattleu.edu (Brannon Boren) writes:
>>
>>        We have always played the rules this way.  The alternative
>>(saying that if you dodge on segment 2, blowing a phase 3 action,
>>that the dodge is only effective until your dex on segment 3 -
>>because that's when your "next action" is)  proved to be silly.
>>
>>        Having the dodge end then, left the PC without the
>>benefit of a defensive move for a whole phase.  In the example
>>above, the hapless PC can be clobbered by someone after her
>>dex on segment 3, because she's no longer dodging.  This is
>>death for low speed PCs.  Letting the dodge continue gives
>>lower speed PCs a chance.
>>
>[stuff deleted]
>
>	No it doesn't.  She can always abort her next action to continue
>dodging.  Also, she can hold action to avoid having to abort in the first
>place.  

No she *can't* abort.  She's already performed an action in that segment.  Held
phases and aborts notwithstanding, YOU CANNOT PERFORM TWO ACTIONS IN ONE 
SEGMENT!!  
	
>	If you allow the dodge to continue someone with Martial Dodge becomes
>nearly unhittable (unless the attack is area affect.).  And, they only give
>up half thier attacks to stay that way all the time.  Which is really silly.

If that happens--if your players are so rotten as to do that constantly--
well, that's why God made Ego Attacks and Area Effects :-) :-)

>Khise@matt.ksu.ksu.edu

Tori

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Victoria C. Fike                    |  "I heard a murmuring in the night
vcf1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu         |   Black swords hanging cold as ice
"If you have to be a hero, always   |   Will they lead me to Paradise?"
remember what the word hero means." |      --Hawkwind, "Song of the Swords"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ratinox@meceng.coe.northeastern.edu (Richard Pieri/Stainless Steel Rat)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Palladium Fantasy: Game worlds
Date: 16 Apr 92 01:23:45 GMT
Reply-To: ratinox@meceng.coe.northeastern.edu
Distribution: rec
Organization: 3WA, Boston Office. Or Nu Meta Chi. Take your pick.
In-reply-to: mcdougal@lonestar.utsa.edu's message of 15 Apr 92 07:03:39 GMT
X-Signature-Virus-Protection: Version 1.51
X-Quote: /earth is 98% full. please delete anyone you can.
X-Posting-Software: GNUS 3.14.1 [ NNTP-based News Reader for GNU Emacs ]

On Wolfen longbowmen...

I'm currently in a (what I'd consider) high-powered Palladium fantasy game,
and 7+' tall Wolfen longbowman just got his Critical strike with the
longbow. 48 points of damage is nothing to laugh at.

--Rat
--
||||| | | | |  |  |  |   |   |    |    |    |   |   |  |  |  |  | | | | | |||||
                                                   __        ___ 
Richard Pieri, Northeastern's Stainless Steel Rat/   | /| / /   | The Worlds
Internet: ratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu /__  |/ |/ / /| | Welfare Works
    UUCP: ...!northeastern.edu!splinter!ratinox/   | /| / / / | | Association:
  BITNET: UA_RLP@NUHUB{.BITNET}               /__  |/ |/ / /  | | I will solve
  USNail: 14 Westdale RD  Holbrook, MA 02343 /   | /| / / /___| | any problem
 ICBMnet: 42 deg 1 min N, 71 deg 0 min W    /    |/ |/ /_//_____| for you.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: apearlma@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Andrew Pearlman)
Subject: Re: Shadowrun: Controlling magicians
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 18:49:37 GMT

In article <1992Apr12.002746.2637@u.washington.edu> mkkuhner@milton.u.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner) writes:
>It does depend on how friendly 'Raku Japan is with 'Raku NA.  Certainly
>some of the confidential files will be useful in stopping Shadowrunners,
>but how many more will be useful for blackmailing executives?  Myself, I
>would try to avoid distributing such information too widely.  Corporate
>backbiting is rampant enough already.

I think the major problem here is that 'Raku Japan, being the head as it
were, would want to enforce loyalty.  So they would insist upon 'Raku NA
being accessible to the net, at least with the majority of information.
Anything that is really useful can be hid behind a wall of black ICE.

A neat trick in SR, using Virtual Reality, is to put vital info into a
Green-3 node, that is only accessible through a physical terminal or by
going through one of the surrounding nodes that all have black ICE(and
are red)

The info is still callable, but anyone who can succeed in getting through
the black ICE, is probably going to overload the green node.  Put some
Trace ICE there, and either the decker has stats of all 1 and gets traced,
or jacks out.  Not a pleasant choice.

>Lots of vulnerable stuff will doubtless be on-line, just as it is today.
>People aren't always very smart about computer security, and as Wordman
>and Andy say, some of it is more useful if accessable.  But the modules
>(and some genre novels) seem to me to take this to ridiculous lengths.
>Physical security systems?  Passwords for the safes??

I think the top research will be on non-accessible material.  Most corps
won't risk angering another corp over incidentals.  After all, there has
to be a reason that corps are willing to hire shadowrunners :-)

Andy Pearlman
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: fnord@close.columbia.edu (Andres Harasty)
Subject: Re: How do you develop personalities for your NPCs/PCs?
Reply-To: fnord@close.UUCP (Andres Harasty)
Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 23:13:33 GMT

>A trick writers use: For a secondary character, think of one distinctive
>thing. For example, a verbal tic--something the character says all the 
>time. A mannerism. Maybe the character drawls, or stammers. Maybe the 
>character can is always losing things. Whatever. That one detail will
>stick out in the players' minds and make the NPC seem, if not 3-
                                                         ^^^^^^^^
>dimensional, at least 2-dimensional. A more important NPC can some-
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>times evolve from there...
>
>------------------------
>mike wasson (u of hawaii)

Well now I have seen Fractal Diminsioning of Characters.
I wonder if I can write a Chaos (Physics/math type) paper on it.

How bout using the Medelbrot set for NPC Generation?

Just my n-cents worth {n:n>=2}

fnord

Organization: Junior, Art, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Date: Mon,  6 Apr 1992 15:33:34 -0400 
From: Faye Levine <fl0m+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Sex and RPG's - Why Oh Why ?
	<1992Apr6.010751@kazoo.ssd.loral.com>

Brian Brunner writes:
>Remember when we played tanks & guns & rocketships?
>Our sisters were playing house with dolls.
>Sometimes we would join the "house" game,
>sometimes they played our games with us.
>No absolutes implied here...
>but would YOU play "Barbie: The Role Playing Game"?
>Or "The House that Wouldn't Stay Clean"?

Oh, I HATED playing with dolls and playing house!  I once weirded out a
friend of mine by having Barbie and her pals get kidnapped and tortured,
or something to that effect...Me, I liked Legos, Scrabble, softball,
riding my bike, etc.  I always like Star Wars stuff, but was too aftraid
to ask my parents for it.

Robert Marsh writes:
>Come to that, last time we played, it was cyberpunk... guess what guys,
>they do tend to think with their soft and squishy parts (according to that
>session) just like us :)

Thhppp!  :-) 

>In my experience (which is admittedly limited, but then that's what this
>thread is about, right?), female role-players - so far all of them with
>female characters, are more bloodthirsty and itchy for combat than the
>guys.

Hmm...I've only had one female character.  I don't like playing women. 
And, as a rule, I don't like to play combat-monsters.  I'm more
interested in character development.  As for, Can She Play A Man?, I
only recall one complaint.  Our characters were having an argument. 
Mine was very stubborn, and stomped off.  He later returned and muttered
something to the effect of, "You're right--I was being stubborn and
stupid.  I see what you mean--but I STILL don't want to do that!"  I
learned afterward that another player said jokingly to the GM, "A real
man wouldn't back down like that!"

This same player, BTW, had played two female characters in a previous
campaign.  There was no sappiness, etc., but that's because they were
BITCHES, and he did it *really* well!

>Perhaps it's because they have to go further to escape their personal
>realities. Or perhaps it's just that the few women I have played with (no
>smart remarks please) tended to be of the munchkin ilk, and not just in
>roleplaying.

My personal reality's a little weird...  :-)  But I'm not a Munchkin,
not am I strutting around in real life humming Queen's "I want it
all...and I want it NOW!"

John Sanders writes:
>The one female I have ever role-played with turned aside from it because
>it was too "technical." 

I don't like number-crunching, either.  The fewer rules, the better. 
Diceless/roll-less was a blast.

At risk of being flamed, perhaps my GM or any of the people I play with
could elaborate on the way I play?

FLOM.
From: jefft@athena.mit.edu (Jeff Tang)
Subject: Re: MIT's Infinite Corridor
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 23:39:22 GMT

Yes. It does happen.  I believe on the same dates every year.  Jan 31, and
sometime in Oct. or Nov.    

The MIT Planning office has posters for this.  If you really want the dates
I might be able to find a poster.
--
Jeff Tang
jefft@athena.mit.edu
From: seawasp+@pitt.edu (Ryk E Spoor)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Mages and Armor Question ( AD&D )
Keywords: mage, armor, ad&d
Date: 12 Apr 92 19:15:00 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <44998@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> va3@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan Newell) writes:
>According to various entries in the 2Ed. Players Handbook and DM's Guide,
>mages ( not even multi-classed or dual-classed ) cannot wear armor
>and cast spells at the same time ( the only exception is Elves in
>Elven Chain Mail ).

	Very true. That's the normal interpretation.

>So, the question:  How would you ( as a DM ) treat a society that is
>mistrustful of Wizards, and thus requires that all people entering it's
>borders wear a suit of ChainMail at all times.  Say this suit is locked
>onto the wearer and can only be removed by high strength or a key.
>It offers normal protection.

	Well, depends. If they're that paranoid, I'd say it's a pretty
unstable society in a world that has a good deal of magic. It's in the
vested interests of the mages to  destabilize that society and
make a new one that isn't THAT paranoid. A little fear is a good
thing, from some mages' point of view, but that is going too far.

>Alternatively, what if a spellcaster was knocked unconscious, and then
>had a set of ChainMail welded onto him?
>Would this negate completely the spellcasters spellcasting ability ( until
>such time as the ChainMail could be removed ) ?

	If you interpret the rules strictly, yes indeedy, that negates
the spellcasting entirely (rather akin to the special runes that show
up in Barbra Hambly's books, the ones that totally negate a Wizard's
power).
	
	That little problem is just one of the reasons I don't go along
with the no spells in armor business. I mean, WHY can't the mage do it?
Can't be the weight or it getting in the way; otherwise the rules 
would say, perhaps, something like "armor specially enchanted to be non
encumbering can be worn while spellcasting".
	So it must be the armor itself. Maybe its that metal? If so,
we can see that metal worn by the  spellcaster interferes. But what
if the metal is 1/2" from the caster? A foot? and so on. 
	If armor so  completely interferes with magic, why aren't fighters
immune to  magic?
	If I put a giant suit of armor around my castle, does this make
the mages inside powerless?


				Sea Wasp
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se (Bertil Jonell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Why do people like D+D/AD+D
Date: 9 Apr 92 08:15:54 GMT
Organization: Chalmers University of Technology

In article <1992Apr6.211537.27265@apollo.hp.com> johnf@apollo.hp.com (John Francis) writes:
>No rules from Dragon articles (not even those providing explanations
>of areas where the "official" rules were obscure or just plain contradictory)
>with the exception of the "Sorcerers Scroll" articles.  And why were these
>"official"?  Because they came from the pen of Gygax, that's why.

  Then the half-ogre was "official" :(

-bertil-
--
"It can be shown that for any nutty theory, beyond-the-fringe political view or
 strange religion there exists a proponent on the Net. The proof is left as an
 exercise for your kill-file."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp