HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: chem7l@jane.uh.edu
Subject: SRII: Tir life?
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 16:37:00 GMT

Hi all.

My group is about to start a campaign, and one of the characters is from Tir
Tangire (sp?).  The player wants to know more about the Tir so she can put
together a reasonable history.  Does anyone know of any sourcebooks, modules,
etc., available or forthcoming, that give information about the Tir.  I'm 
looking for social, political, and economic info, as well as a description of
life in general.

Thanks in advance,

Jim Corbit
Chem7l@Jetson.UH.edu
From: z_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: net.GURPS.spellbook
Date: 1 Oct 92 17:55:35 CST
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <1992Sep30.172827.1295@ccsvax.sfasu.edu>, z_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu writes:
> I pulled the net.GURPS.spellbook off the old eklektik site well before it died,
> and I still have it in more or less intact form on a Mac disk. I've seen
> several people intrested in it, and was wondering if there might be an FTP site
> I can send it to so people can get their hands on it if they want it. As far as
> I know, the file isn't on any anonymous FTP site.

	Silly me for posting this. Now I've gotten several request for the
file, which is WHY I wanted to put it on an FTP site...

	There is one site I'm going to put it on, then mail it to this
newsgroup.

Brandon Cope

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: pmwg1641@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Peter M. White)
Subject:  Re: SRII -- a suggested Rep tweak
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 03:21:44 GMT

In article <38799@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> cg181fab@icogsci1.ucsd.edu (Steerpike) writes:
[Useful analyses on different topic deleted.]

>So, in short (heh), I recommend formula 'a' or 'b', instead, since
>otherwise the characters are pretty much never going to recognize
>the name of ANY shadowrunner who is not capable of just routinely
>kicking the hell out of them (400 karma charcters have a karma pool
>of 40, don't forget.)

Well...I am not so sure about the Karma Pool rules, especially since
they are supposed to refresh every "encounter".  I do not like the
inequity of a freshly generated character having a karma pool of
only 1 when his moderately experienced companions (say 30 karma)
have pools of 4 for each and every firefight.  Jeez!  In a slightly
complicated run, that could easily be a difference of 10-12 renewable
karma being burned.  Why not just keep it fixed at 2 or 3 and give
one time bonuses as extra incentive for good play?

Since no PC will probably ever have earned 400 karma, it will
probably be an NPC, who will have a mean Threat Rating--which
is effectively eternally renewing Omni Pool.  400 Good Karma
is roughly equal to 60 Skill Points.
>steerpike@ucsd.edu


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: palmerbh@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (The Dark One)
Subject: Re: LARP: Vampire
Organization: Campus Crusade for Cthulhu
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 13:31:56 GMT

In article <1992Sep29.205921.5107@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> npalmer@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Nicholas P Palmer) writes:
>In article <28573@life.ai.mit.edu> ringrose@femur.ai.mit.edu (Robert Ringrose) writes:
>>Vampires are supposed to be able to hypnotize their victims, no?  Give them
>>something at range they can show to a player, come up with some mechanic to
>>give them a chance of resisting.  Or give the vampires a disc gun: when they
>>shoot, they are running while the victim is entranced and biting him.
>>Something along those lines.
>
>We were looking into this.  I brought it up to some others and I think what
>we're looking at is the use of a flashlight or a mirror.  If they catch the
>poor player in the face, Bam! Hypnosis.   The player has a 1 in 10 chance
>of breaking the contact, but we're still working on how to do this. Probably
>"Ok, pick a number, one through 10," says the vampire.
>"Uhh... 4?" says hypnotized palyer.
>"Nope! Now.. where should I bite you.... <EVIL GRIN>"
>
>The only problem is the honor system, but since most Assassin/Killer games
>are honor based, this shouldn't be a problem.
>
I saw an idea mentioned a few posts back that can be incorperated.  Have
the Vamp carry a deck of 10 cards, one of which is a joker (or 1 eyed Jack,
or ace of Spades, whatever you want to be the lucky card).  The Vamp
confronts the human by sawing 'Draw', and holding out his deck.  The human
gulps, picks any card, and after whispering prayers to both mommy and the
appropriate dieties, turns over the card, so both he and the Vamp are sure
of the results.

Of course, if the victom were female, I'd probably bite them anyway, just
for the psychological effect ;)=
But that would be after the card trick, so she'd know it's RL safe.
-TD1

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: louis@ansoft.com (Louis Reash)
Subject: Marvel Superheroes,Champians,V&V,ETC...
Reply-To: louis@ansoft.com (Louis Reash)
Organization: Ansoft Corporation
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 16:15:55 GMT

I am looking for new character ideas to spice up my MSH campaign.

I am willing to trade character ideas, (I have created about 400-500)
for new ideas.  I am willing to e-mail or post new character ideas
in exchange for the like.  I am very desperate, if I do not come up
with any new ideas my players have threatened to start playing DC
(ARG,...YUCH) Please help!!! (I have all ther Marvel Updates and 
the 4 characters books, but I don't have the Dragon Mags. where
Marvel has published stats.)  I am even willing to convert stats
from other games.


I am also looking for info on the Shogun Warriors, a few of my players
have said that they wanted to create a group of them.  What/Who are the
Shogun Warriors ? (I think the name is cool) Please post or send responses.
I have the stats for Red Ronin (sp) which my players say is very simular
to the Shogun Warriors.

Also I am interested in starting up another campaign and would like 
suggestions on how to limit the power of the new characters, the 
characters in my current campaign have not destroyed the world yet
(we've come close 2-3 times, but they have managed to solve the problem)
but at there current power levels they might soon.  Unfortunally (sp)
Marvel Superheroes Adv. Rules do not provide any limitations to characters
(except if you roll them up randomly, if you do that you end up with
characters like JOAT

JOAT (Jack of all Trades)

F: 30  A: 20  S: 40  E: 40  R: 20  I: 30  P: 30

Powers: Water Breathing
        Hyper Invention: 30
        Digestive Adaptivity
        Gliding: 10
Talents: First Aid
         Trivia
         Trance

Jack Trade was a normal man until the faithful day when his midnight stroll
was interupted by a group of aliens kidnapped him ad preformed experiments
on his body that gave him his powers.  He has the ablilty to breath underwater
but he cannot see and the pressure can crush him, he can invent equipment
like Iron Man's Red/Silver Armor in the blink of an eye, but he only makes
about $15,000/year after taxes, so he has problems paying for a Yugo, he can
also eat and digest anything,  and recently he foundout that he could glide 
very short distances,  he has yet to perfect landing.  He also gained the 
talent of trance, so he only has to sleep for 4 hr./night , the rest of the
time he spends leaping from tall building to medium building to small buildings
and then riding the elevator up to the top of the next tall building while on
patrol.

(Actually only about 10% of the characters we play are this bad, most of our 
characters are really well thought out, I request about 2 pages of background 
and 1 page of 'traits' for each character created)

-lou 

'The guilty will be punished!' Wraith, as he and a supervillian called
'Kodac' fell
                               off a water tower into the bay.  Neither
body was ever 
                               found. <evil laugh>
From: reh2@po.CWRU.Edu (Richard E. Hudson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: CHAMPS PBEM opening
Date: 2 Oct 1992 17:51:32 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: reh2@po.CWRU.Edu (Richard E. Hudson)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, reh2@po.CWRU.Edu (Richard E. Hudson) says:

>
>For those interested, I am planning on opening a low powered champions PBEM

I regret to inform the public that all available PC openings have been 
filled.  Thanks to all those who, dispite my rather sketchy notice, 
responded.
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Hudson
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: jogle@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim))
Subject: Re: Torg: Infiniverse?
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro NM
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 92 23:50:06 GMT

In article <mumble> <LUCKE@NDSUVM1.BITNET> writes:

>     As a Torg player since its release, I have been an Infiniverse subscriber
>since issue one.  How many people out there in net.land actually subscribe to
>Infiniverse?

I do!  Since the beginning!

>Out of the people that do, do you...
>
>(a) Enjoy and read every issue

Read every issue, yes.  Enjoy every issue...well, I usually enjoy
parts of every issue.  

>(b) fill out your response forms like good little boys and girls

I did for the first year or so then got out of the habit for various
reasons...haven't gotten back into the habit though.

>(c) actually read and use dispatches and rumors

Again, early on I did use the dispatches for story ideas but now I'm
just using them for background (usually because my group never happens
to be in the right area of the world to use dispatches).

>(d) just read the Herald messages

I read 'em, have had a few published.

>And while I'm interrogating everyone, do you use published adventures, or
>make up your own?

Mostly made up adventures, though I do own all the published ones.
I've used about half of them, the other half I either didn't like,
or couldn't work into the campaign (two I'm waiting to use, I just
have to get the players into the right situation before I use them.)

-- 
Kansas Jim (Jim Ogle, TORG guru)                               /|
jogle@aoc.nrao.edu (NRAO-VLBA, Socorro New Mexico)           o| |-
"I'd be apathetic if I cared."                              /|\\|
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: npb41275@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Noah Ban)
Subject: Re: Star Wars questions
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 23:34:53 GMT

sjs28257@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Stelter) writes:

>merricb@mundil.cs.mu.OZ.AU (The ELF) writes:

>>One question I have for you (and everyone else here): 
>>	How many skill points do you give out per adventure?

>>In our group, the general award (recently) has been from 20-30 skill points
>>per session (about 6-10 hours). As a result, my character, Eric Rakor, is
>>over 500 pts, with 8D piloting & 7D+1 ss gunnery (Yes, he is a brash pilot).
>>[He has 6 force points]... this is after about 20-25 of these sessions.

>>Is this a lot compared to everyone else? Or does everyone give out more
>>than the 3-10 suggested by WEG?

>In our campaign, our GM was rather free with the skill point awards, which
>is good, IMHO.  Star Wars is the sort of game in which it's a lot of fun
>to have larger-than-life characters, and the sooner my character can reach
>that point, the happier I am.

>Our GM gave away about 15 skill points per adventure, modified by
>circumstances.  For example, to simulate the PG-rated nature of the Star
>Wars universe, any player who could get through an entire adventure without
>swearing got an extra skill point at the end.


>                                 --Steve Stelter
>                                   sjs28257@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu

Our GM gives 8-12 skill points per adventure, or 6-10 if it was particularly
easy.  We use many of the modules and that is what they reccommend.  Our sessions usually last 6-12 hours.  I have found this to be plenty.  A new chr. coming
into a campaign (maybe same player replacing a chr. because of its death) 
where the players all have 500 points seems to be at a disadvantage.  Plus.
what about Force characters?  With 7D in Force and stuff I could blow people
away easily.  7D Force abilities is considered Jedi Master.

Are the villains that tough in your campaigns?
Organization: Penn State University
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 10:15:37 EDT
From: <DRF108@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: SR:Magic Questions

I have a few questions about the SRUN II magic rules.

Question 1) Can Mage A use a hermatic circle created by Mage B?  The book says
 a circle is linked to the Mage who created it and that by just looking at its
 construction one could figure out who created it.  These two statements make
 it sound as if only the Mage who created the circle can use it.

Question 2) If only the Mage can use a circle created by him who creates a
 ritual circle?  The team leader or the entire ritual team?  And if the ritual
 team creates the circle can two Mages create a summoning circle together so
 they can both use it?

Question 3) Under the Physical Adept rules the Pain Resistance power states
 that it is only beneficial until the damage exceeds the lv of pain
 resistance.  But if it is used to resist pain from a disease the level is
 subtracted from the power of the disease.

Thanks in advance.


Dan Foote
Bitnet: DRF108 at PSUVM

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: leifmk@Lise.Unit.NO (Leif Magnar Kj|nn|y)
Subject: Re: Shadowrun: Credsticks, a minor date error
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 92 14:45:49 GMT

In article <1992Sep26.223915.59217@cc.usu.edu>, sl7sg@cc.usu.edu writes:
 > In article <ward1.717305284@husc8>, ward1@husc8.harvard.edu (Lester Ward) writes:
 > > 
 > > 
 > > RAM: Random Access Memory.  This chip is effectively an array of holes 
 > > which can be filled and unfilled with data.  The data they hold is kept 
 > > there until it is changed or removed. In older days (pre-2000) RAM
 > 
 > 
 > Better check your facts chummer, Intel had a press release spring of 1992 over
 > their new "Flash Cards" which did that very thing.  I believe the person on
 > camera explained it something to the effect of: It works like computer RAM,
 > transferring and holding information without moving parts.  But it does not
 > require a constant power source to keep the memory, as RAM does...
 > 
 > 	Times are catching up, better stop buyin' CD's looks like something
 > else is coming in its place...And this is not Science fiction
 > 
 > 	Perhaps somebody else saw the press release ?
 > 
 > 
 > 		Condescendingly:
 > 
 > 			Shade Pendragon
 > 
 > 

Yeah, I saw this too.  Think about it:  In a few years' time, flash memory may
be able to outcompete disk drives and hard disks (who knows, maybe even ordinary
RAM).  This will mean that you can get computers which
	-Won't need a hard disk (just lots of flash memory):  This will mean
faster access time, less weight, and much less power required.
	-Won't need a disk drive either (use a cartridge port instead, plug in
modules with flash memory on'em):  Even faster than a present-day disk drive,
also means less weight and less power required.
	-Thus, the computer will not contain any moving parts.  It seems likely
to me that by the turn of the century, it will be common to see computers which
weigh less than 1 kg (the main factors in deciding size will be keyboard and
screen), yet outperform today's best PCs and similar stuff.  Hmm.  No moving
parts --> less power required --> batteries last longer/weigh less.  And with
improvements in power storage technology, well, I don't think I have to keep on
ranting about this.  Cool!

Leif the .sigless 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Deus Imperator)
Subject: Re: Rifts
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 08:34:30 GMT

In article <1992Oct1.051509.1752@reed.edu> jdugger@envy.Reed.Edu (Jay Dugger) writes:
>In article <1992Sep30.154452.11287@athena.cs.uga.edu>  
>peiper@athena.cs.uga.edu (Garfield) writes:
>> >Can anyone tell me what they think of Rifts and the new Alantis book.
>> >Whew rough stuff.
>> 
>
>	Dude, your players are very probably doomed if they don't run.   
>Atlantis is not a safe place for y'all.  The book is worth buying if you  
>like Rifts, but like I said, you're doomed.
>	Of course, when the Rifts: Mechanoids book comes out in November,  
>even the Splugorth are gonna pack up and leave.  Picture this: Powerful  
>psionic psychopathic cyborgs, who hate ALL humanoids, with greater  
>technology than anybody in the Solar System (The Splugorth and their  
>allies and ARCHIE included) ... by the hundreds and hundreds of millions.
>
>Heh, heh. ;)

Is it just me, or is this a _MAJOR_ mistake, IMHO?  I mean, less than a
fraction of the world is detailed, and now they're gonna mess with most of
it.  I think it's a GREAT idea, but I see far too many quick and easy alliances
(vamps and Coalition?  Against the Mechanoid...SURE!).  The world should be
fully explored before they screw it over like this.  Atlantis is incredible,
_the_ most lethal gaming area I have seen in 12 years of playing (this includes
Tomb of Horrors, kiddies).
	Anyway, anyone get Mutants in Orbit?  Supposedly they have ARCHIE III,
who was cut off from earth during the Great War.  Being lonely, he summons the
Mechanoids, to have something to talk to.  Voila.
	Despite some of the cheesy mechanics (100 SDC _should_ be 1 MDC!) this
is a _great_ game, and I highly recommend it.

-- 
I don't mind being the smartest	    / Thanatos, DeathUrge, Master of Unknown
man in the world...I just wish it   \ Time and Space tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu 
wasn't this one...	       	    / "No, I don't know how much unknown is... 
	-Ozymandias 		    \	...THAT'S THE POINT!" 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: pmenard@cse.unl.edu (Patrick Menard)
Subject: Re: SRII: Magic Qs
Organization: University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Distribution: rec
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 04:22:27 GMT

lward@husc8.harvard.edu (Lester Ward) writes:

>jas@ISI.EDU (Jeff Sullivan) writes:
>>You can choose to learn a spell at any Force up to the Teacher's known
>>Force, right?
>correct.

>>And you can cast a spell at any Force from 1 to your known Force,
>>right?
>Correct.

>>The Force of the spell you cast is the number of dice you roll for
>>success (plus other dice sources like pools), right?
>Correct.

>>The Drain of a spell is almost always based on Half the Force, plus
>>some modifiers, right?
>Correct.

>>Does this mean that it may be a (possibly munchkinesque) good strategy
>>to build up BIG dice pools and cast spells at Force 2 (using dice from
>>pools to get good chances of success), to reduce your Drain risk?

>>The only downside of this strategy I can see is that some (many?)
>>Resistance rolls are against the Force of the spell cast at the target
>>(but if you get enough successes, you can beat it over their head
>>anyway, right?).

>The problem is that some spells make this problematical. For a heal spell,
>it is almost a good idea, for example, but a combat spell against someone
>with a 6 body -- you need 6's with, say, 10 dice (2 force + 8 magic pool)
>to stage up damage and he needs 2s with 6 dice to stage it down. You .might.
>give him a light wound.

>The only concern is that by learning the spell at force 2, you cheat yourself
>out of dice. Two rules 1) most spells (as the poster mentioned) are drain
>of F/2 basically, 2) the lowest target in SR is 2.  Therefore, if you cast
>a spell at force 4, you have 2 more dice for the spell, but all the numbers
>stay the same. The problem with this is that it costs 2 more karma to
>learn a spell at force 4 than at force 2.

>The last thing that you may want to look at is spells in astral combat. Here,
>force makes a huge difference and magic pool means nothing.

There is also the problem of it being easier for the target to resist a Force
2 or 4 spell (rather than a 5 or 6) where it is fewer dice you have to hit
his target.(which is most likely more than 2 or 4)

Shadow
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Illumination in RPGs
From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn)
Date: 3 Oct 1992 18:06:10 GMT
Organization: California State University, Chico
Keywords: Light - Ambient - Point Source - Activities
Summary: Phoey....
NNTP-Posting-Host: cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu


I thought this was going to be about secret societies in RPGs.

.
.
.

(goes to answer phone)

Oh, I see.  It *was* about secret societies.  Uh, no you don't
need to visit.  No, it *really* isn't neccessary...  Alright, 
I'll be packed.
-- 
She's genuinely bogus.
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:6246 rec.games.frp.dnd:4052
From: jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us (Jeff Gostin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Net.Classifieds
Date: 25 Sep 92 23:57:21 GMT
Organization: The little node that could...

Just a quick note to keep you all updated on the Net.Classifieds. I am no
longer accepting submissions. Also, I haven't finished formattign it yet,
and will post when it is ready. If you sent me your phone number, and do
NOT want it sent out with the classifieds (in which case I will delete it
from my archives), you MUST mail me by October 2nd [Friday] letting me
know. If I do not recieve your mail by then, and I have your phone number,
it will be sent with the classifieds, as I am planning on releasing it
shortly thereafter.

                               Thanx for your support!
                                        Jeff

...From a tiny little node called Eternal!
--
    /|Email  to:   jgostin@eternal.chi.il.us, offline@infopls.chi.il.us
   / |Smail  to:   Jeff Gostin, 917 High Ridge Pass, Carol Stream IL 60188
   \ |Vmail  to:   708-293-5526
    \|Flames to:   trashcan@eternal.chi.il.us
From: z_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: MegaTraveller society design question
Date: 30 Sep 92 02:14:37 CST
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <h8+p2lr@lynx.unm.edu>, quirk@pioneer.unm.edu (Gym Z. Quirk) writes:
> In article <1aamrqINNcm0@uwm.edu> aragorn@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Strider) writes:
>>I've been going through the MegaTraveller system for quite some time now.
>>Something that I find lacking, among other things, is the design
>>capabilities for societies/cultures.  Does anyone know of any source books
>>that will assist in this?  Even sources that aren't necessarily cannon to MT
>>would be fine as long as it's somewhat applicable ... maybe one of the GURPS
>>volumes?
> 
> The _World Builder's Handbook_ (Not from GDW, the 'other guys' - Name
> escapes me - put this one out) had a section for randomly generating
> societal 'tidbits' such as degree of Xenophilia/-phobia, religous
> practices, etc. based on the population, law, and gov't levels.  It
> also has a section that varies the tech level (usually no more than
> +/- 2) in various fields for land, sea, and air travel technology,
> power generation, etc.
> 

	The system was orginally in _Grand_Census_ (_Grand_Survey_ was for the
physical parts of the planet), published by Digest Group Publications. As best
I know, all three books have been out of print for some time (2-3 years). GC
is a very nice book, and includes the following:

	(1) tech level by 'science' area (medical, energy, transport, etc.)
	(2) law level by type (trade, personal, etc.)
	(3) degree of openess to other cultures (xenophobic? militant? etc.)
	(4) new (or at least more detailed) Scout gear
	(5) rules on Imperial Scout procedure for contacting new cultures
	(6) much more

Brandon Cope