HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hades@coos.dartmouth.edu (Hades)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Minimum spell failure chance
Date: 24 Jul 92 15:41:45 GMT
Reply-To: hades@Dartmouth.Edu
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Disclaimer: Personally, I really don't care who you think I speak for.
Moderator: Rec.Arts.Comics.Info

cdb@waikato.ac.nz (Craig D. Beere) writes:

>The 5% minumum spell failure IMHO doesn't add anything to the game, it is just
>damn annoying.

>My suggestion is to make the minumum spell fauilure 0%.  I.e. spells can
>get to the stage where they will always work.  Even at 40th level
>characters, this should still be only a small proportion of spells (the
>first 10 or so?).
>What do people think?

    I disagree. I think the fact that your magic is never 100% certain
adds a little atmosphere to the game. So that even when you hit 40th
level as a Mage there is still some fear of monsters other than AMHD,
EL, Iggy and the Balrog. It is also an accurate representation of the
way that magic works in a number of role-playing games, including MERP,
which were the insipration behind Moria (as I understand it).

--
			"Seems awfully breezy in here." - Drip-along Daffy
-Hades (Brian V. Hughes, Moderator: Rec.Arts.Comics.Info)
From: madmax@cellar.org (Alex Strumpf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Bandits suggestion
Date: 28 Jul 92 03:30:08 GMT
Organization: The Cellar BBS and public access system

wertzg@NAPC-1.NAVY.MIL ("WERTZ, GREGORY") writes:

> I've noticed that bandits and the like almost never give you as much treasure
> for killing them as they steal from you in the first place.
> 
> Doesn't it make sense that they should have the amount of gold they stole
> from you, plus any gold they may have stolen from other adventurers?
> 
> Just a suggestion,
> 
> Greg.
> 
No, since they automagically deposit the gold they rob from you into the 
Moria Thieve's Guild Bank (tm)  :-P  Seriously, you're right, you ought to
get a little more gold than you get when you kill 'em. 

madmax@cellar.org
PREFERRED mailpath: madmax%cellar@tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com

"There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes."

Doctor Who, ROBOT
From: wertzg@NAPC-1.NAVY.MIL ("WERTZ, GREGORY")
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Bandits suggestion
Date: 23 Jul 92 17:10:00 GMT

I've noticed that bandits and the like almost never give you as much treasure
for killing them as they steal from you in the first place.

Doesn't it make sense that they should have the amount of gold they stole
from you, plus any gold they may have stolen from other adventurers?

Just a suggestion,

Greg.

 *============================================================================*
 >    NN  NN  A  WW  WW  WW  CCCCCC TTTTTTTT   Greg Wertz (a.k.a. Hobs)       <
 >   NNN NN  A A  WW WW WW  CC    --  TT       VAX System Manager             <
 >  NN NNN  AAAAA  WWWWWW  CC    --  TT        E-mail: wertzg@napc-1.navy.mil <
 > NN  NN  AA   AA  WWWW  CCCCCC    TT         IP_Address: 26.4.0.149         <
 >  Naval Air Warfare Center - Trenton                                        <
 *============================================================================*
From: mjb@acsu.buffalo.edu (Matthew J. Bernhardt)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Amulet/Ring of Slow Digestion
Date: 21 Jul 92 16:27:46 GMT
Organization: UB

price@uclapp.physics.ucla.edu (John Price) writes:

>I have one of each.  Is one better than the other?  

	Depends.  If you have other amulets or rings you want to wear, this
could influence your choice.  Otherwise, they have the same effect, so sell one
and keep the other.

-- 
Matt Bernhardt
University of Buffalo             THIS SPACE FOR RENT.
mjb@acsu.buffalo.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
From: finn@convex.com (Tom Finn)
Subject: Re: Any Hints?
Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 14:34:39 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

In article <1992Jul25.222201.19966@ultb.isc.rit.edu> pjb4288@ultb.isc.rit.edu (Pete - Toonatic - Boulay) writes:
>No no no..the [-2] means you lost two points of strength for the weight
>of the armor...

BZzzzt!  You have the same strength, but your to-hit is reduced by two.
Take off the armor, do a "C" and check your strength stat and to-hit mod,
then put on the armor and check them again.

tom
From: f1toyl@uta.fi (Topi Ylinen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Gaining HIGH level XP
Keywords: high XP
Date: 27 Jul 92 08:18:54 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: University of Tampere, Finland

Hi, i just logged in after my holiday. I still have some  left, but I 
wanted to write a little article to this group...

I earlier stated that polymorphing monsters at 50' was a good way to gain XP as
somebody had suggested. Yes, it really was if you are pretty low level yourself

Now I recently (2 days ago) attained level 39 (*pout*) and I think that to
gain enough XP for the highest levels it will become necessary to delve as 
deep as only possible. Why? Potions of Gain Experience alone are a good enough
reason (100k per potion!). Also, a level 39 mage needs not bother himself by
killing anything lesser than an Evil Iggy, AMHD or EL. Usually, when I have 
killed the Iggy of the level, I proceed to the next level (currently at 
dungeon level 95 or so...) 
I havent killed Mr B yet because I have heard that you cannot save the game
if you kill him and I want to reach level 40 which (again, I have "heard" is
the maximum).
The "AMHD trick" works all too well against AMHD's, EL's and Iggies - unless 
you get more than one of them at a time! (as I quite often do...)
This strategy will not work against mr B, though, because he is too fast -
and will simply pass THROUGH the wall...
 
-- 
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$		...::::  TOPI YLINEN  ::::...	              	         $
$			::::::::::::				         $
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
From: kevinc@aupair.cs.athabascau.ca (Kevin Crocker)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Latest UMORIA?
Date: 30 Jul 92 21:05:43 GMT


Has moria been ported to OS/2 2.0 yet?  Just curious. Has it been
ported to Windows 3.0?

kevin
--
Kevin "autark" Crocker (Athabasca University)
kevinc@cs.AthabascaU.CA  -or-  risk@cs.AthabascaU.CA
From: bm125@eng.cam.ac.uk (B. Maxwell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: The Balrog is Dead
Summary: Killed 'im on Level 50
Date: 31 Jul 92 10:04:52 GMT
Organization: Cambridge University Engineering Department, England

Arathorn, the 37th level Ranger has killed the Balrog at the
incredible depth of 2500'.  (Moria for the Mac, v. 4.87)

I had to go through the Grape Jelly trick three times during the
course of the game (the third time going from 68 mana to 106 mana).
Then after spending much time cloning Ancient Blue Dragons and
finishing them off with my small sword (+9,+9) (SD), I decided to
tackle the beast himself.  Armed with my Rapier (HA), War Hammer (DF)
(The Rapier was found by chance after being dropped by a Priest, and
the War Hammer was bought at the store), a Lordly Ring of Protection
[Fire], boots of Speed, laminated armor (20,+9) (R), a small metal
shield (RA), a an Iron helm of Intelligence, leather gloves of Slaying
(+3,+3), an Amulet of the Magi, and a staff of Dispel Evil, I went
down the gruesome stairs to level 50 and started my search.

The actual battle took quite a long time.  I constantly had to haste
myself to maintain equal speed with Mr. B.  When he first appeared, I
quickly drank one of my 4 potions of invulnerability and started in
with the Staff and some spells of frost bolts. When it was depleted I
engaged him with the Rapier.  After finishing the 4 potions of
Invulnerability, he breathed on me, but left me with a good 50 HP, so
I teleported away (landed right next to an AMHD and had to teleport
again) and rested up.  Now I switched to the War Hammer for added
protection and searched again after recharging the staff.  Basically,
this continued for a long time.  Since Mr. B couldn't kill me with one
breath anymore, I just went in and gave as good as I got (using my 3
potions of Healing in the process).  As always, using the Staff prior
to engaging Mr. B so that he couldn't recharge himself.  It took a
good long time, and a couple of times I telported out with less than
50 HP (down from 390).  But he finally let down his guard and the War
Hammer found its mark.

Afraid I forgot to save the stats sheet, but Arathorn was a half-elf
with all stats above 18/90 except Wisdom, which was 18/70.  Cloning
Ancient Blue Dragons on level 49 was definitely a useful exercise in
terms of getting a lot of neat stuff.  Now I can upgrade to Moria 5.4,
which is much nicer (NO MORE GRAPE JELLY TRICKS!!!).

Now I can also finish my thesis which is due in two weeks.

Happy Hunting

--Bruce  

(Arathorn, 77th level Ranger, retired and living like a King in Rivendell)
From: mjb@acsu.buffalo.edu (Matthew J. Bernhardt)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP
Date: 27 Jul 92 01:58:59 GMT
Organization: UB


	Kids, don't try this at home!!

	But first, the obligatory SPOILER ALERT:


	While wandering around at 3450 ft, and anxious to reach 3500 ft, my
37th level half-troll priest encountered a much sought after Potion of
Invulnerability.  Unfortunately, the Balrog had drawn closer to me than I
was to the potion.  My two Rings of Speed ensured that we were move on move.
I advanced toward the potion.  The Balrog emerged through the wall.  I moved
on, conceding one melee attack to the Balrog.  After being trampled and
enveloped in flames, he drained one of my two Staffs of Speed (which I only
now realized that I could have used).  I healed myself, and reached the 
prized potion.
	The Balrog breathed fire.

	Consultation of my hit points indicator revealed that something was
dreadfully wrong.  Being of a stoutly 405 hp, and wearing (R) armor, I had
anticipated being cut down to 72 hp.  The indicator stood at 13.  I promptly
read a Scroll of *Destruction*, wiping a valuable treasure room off the face
of the map, but also breaking off the engagement.  While recuperating from
this visit to Death's Door, I made the connection between my drained staff,
and my brush with eternity...


MORALS OF THE STORY:

	1.  Never, never play Moria when in a hurry.  (I had to go somewhere
as soon as I reached 3500 ft.)  Prudence would have required luring the Balrog
to the other side of the maze, and then cleaning out the treasure room at my
leisure.

	2. If the Balrog absorbs charges, DON'T LET HIM BREATHE.  The Balrog
picked up between 500-600 hit points from my staff.  The proof is left to the
reader.

-- 
Matt Bernhardt
University of Buffalo             THIS SPACE FOR RENT.
mjb@acsu.buffalo.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Minimum spell failure chance
From: Dan Karipides <DK6TOPER@MIAMIU.BITNET>
Date: Wednesday, 29 Jul 1992 13:36:43 EDT
Organization: Miami University - Academic Computer Service

In article <1992Jul29.084926.15714@cs.aukuni.ac.nz>, jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz
(TMOTA) says:
>Also, is it just that God has something against me personally, or is it
>normal for an Identify spell with a failure rate of 80% (i.e. it should
>work one time in 5) to fail about 30 or 40 times in a row? To be honest I
>then seem to get 2 or 3 in a row before it fails again for another 20...
>but this doesn't strike me as being near 80%... ;-(
 
It's been a long time since I looked at the code in detail, but I believe
spell failure is a function of (among other factors) current mana.  So once
you fail Identify a few times your mana is probably quite low.  (I'm making
the assumption that if your failure is 80% for identify, you are of low
level, therefore low mana.)  Try resting between each failure and I bet
it will be closer to 80%.  I could be wrong, of course.
 
Hope this helps.
                                                     -Dan
From: mjb@acsu.buffalo.edu (Matthew J. Bernhardt)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Gas damage --> Poison damage
Date: 24 Jul 92 01:21:26 GMT
Organization: UB


	I have noticed that in my occasional encounters with various gas
breathing creatures that my estimates of breath damage have been consistently
low.  I surmise that this is because some of the gas damage manifests itself
as poison damage, which can of course be avoided if means of Cure Poison are
on hand.
	If this is true, what fraction of gas damage is converted into poison
damage?

-- 
Matt Bernhardt
University of Buffalo             THIS SPACE FOR RENT.
mjb@acsu.buffalo.edu
From: hades@coos.dartmouth.edu (Hades)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Gas damage --> Poison damage
Date: 24 Jul 92 15:38:22 GMT
Reply-To: hades@Dartmouth.Edu
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Disclaimer: Personally, I really don't care who you think I speak for.
Moderator: Rec.Arts.Comics.Info

mjb@acsu.buffalo.edu (Matthew J. Bernhardt) writes:


>	I have noticed that in my occasional encounters with various gas
>breathing creatures that my estimates of breath damage have been consistently
>low.  I surmise that this is because some of the gas damage manifests itself
>as poison damage, which can of course be avoided if means of Cure Poison are
>on hand.

    Poison Gas is the wort thing that you can have breathed on you. It
is the single most important thing that makes Ancient Multi-Hued Dragons
the huge pains that they are because there is no way to resist poison
damage like you can for the other types (fire, cold, lightening, acid).
Even (R) items don't give you any resistance to poison gas.

>	If this is true, what fraction of gas damage is converted into poison
>damage?

    To my knowledge there is no "poison damage". Poison gas will do
damage to you in hit points and then poison you for a while. The more
damage done the longer the poison lasts. Although onece you reach a the
levels where you find thins that can breath poison gas on you, it is
rare that the poison side of things will give you any trouble. But when
a full strength AMHD breathes gas on you for something like 450+ hit
points you begin to have a really bad day.

--
			"Seems awfully breezy in here." - Drip-along Daffy
-Hades (Brian V. Hughes, Moderator: Rec.Arts.Comics.Info)
From: swota@cs.albany.edu (Judith A Swota)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: clone Mr B.
Date: 29 Jul 92 02:57:51 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department, SUNY at Albany, Albany, NY 12222
Originator: swota@odin.albany.edu

In posting <...> usenet@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de (USENET News System)  wrote:
> 
> I am really disappointed :-(
> I worked my Dwarven Priest all the way up to level 40 because I wanted
> him to be the first (well, locally) character to kill not one but two
> Balrogs. He was fully loaded with everything to take on a couple of
> Balrogs at a time, but whenever he cloned Mr. B, the second (and third..)
> B's disappeared after a few 'rounds'. They just seemed to teleport away
> but after I finished the first B, I searched the whole level but found
> nothing.  
> 
> So, why won't the game allow me my triumph?  Is it a bug, a feature ?

I don't think there can ever be more than one Balrog per game because
it's the WIN creature:  When you kill it, you've won the game, and since
you can't win the same game twice, what's the point?  (Other than
setting a record, of course :-)  ...)
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Judith               | 	A bore is someone who insists on keeping his own
		     | 	 views after we have enlightened him with ours.
swota@cs.albany.edu  |  		      
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
From: cdwilde@babbage.waterloo.edu (Chris Wilde)
Subject: I need constant.h and treasure.c
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 13:38:16 GMT


	I'm really sorry to have to waste our time but a friend of mine wants
the create item files and I promised to ftp them down for him.  Unfortunately
ftp has gone massively screwy on our system and transfer rates are non-
existant.  Could some kind hearted individual email these two files to please?

cdwilde@sunee.waterloo.edu

(Thanks. And I'm reaaally sorry about this breach of etiquette, but I've got
no time left and I need them quickly.)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
From: bx916@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Ross W. Starkey)
Subject: Re: Confused and Afraid.
Reply-To: bx916@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Ross W. Starkey)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 92 22:01:08 GMT


In a previous article, ddn21434@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Me!) says:


>What are the options for curing or preventing Confusion (and Fear)?

Nothing beats being paralyzed, poisoned AND slow!  Just wait till it 
happens to you.  You'll remember it for a lo-o-o-ong time (IF you survive!)


-- 
Whom first, whom later         No one is fool enough to choose war instead of
did you kill in battle,        peace - in peace sons bury fathers, but in war
Patroklos, when the gods       fathers bury sons.  It must have been heaven's
were calling deathward? HOMER  will that this should happen...      HERODOTUS
From: boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Minimum spell failure chance
Date: 29 Jul 92 16:17:13 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <1992Jul29.084926.15714@cs.aukuni.ac.nz>, jwil1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz
(TMOTA) writes:
> 
> Truly, the 5% minimum is a pain in the bum. This means that one time out
> of twenty the most commonly used spells (light, detect monsters, find hidden
> traps/doors, all of which I use at least once every screenful, i.e. within
> about 30 seconds I will use one of the three...)
> 
> However, I agree that no mage can get every spell off perfectly... so what
> about a compromise... something like 2% sounds far more realistic to me...
> 

   Is it just me, or are there others out there without this problem?  I have a
character (a something level Ranger, don't remember exactly, about 28) whose
chance of spell failure for those beginning spells is 3%, not 5%.  I heard
someone tell me that this chance can drop down to 1% based on character level,
race, and primary stat (Int or Wis).

   Anybody heard anything about this?  Btw, my character has an 18/something
Int, so this might be affecting why it is down to 3% for those spells.

   Just my $0.02 worth on the subject. :)

                                        John "Nightwind" Boelter

--
*******************************************************************************
* John Boelter        a.k.a. Nightwind            boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu *
* Organizational Manager and contact person for everything and then some.     *
*******************************************************************************
* The individual who said we only use 10%  * "I hit it with my Sword+10 of    *
* of our brain's mental capacity, was      *  Super Slaying" - "It laughs" -  *
* probably 90% incorrect.                  * "I give the DM the rest of my    *
*            -Unknown comic on A&E-        *  pizza" - *munch* "It dies"      *
*******************************************************************************
From: chore@neumann.une.edu.au (Prince Of Darkness)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Lastest Version Of Moria
Date: 28 Jul 92 01:28:17 GMT


The title says it all, can sombody tell me where i can get the latest version
of Moria, it's been a while since i played, and want to get back into it, but
i remember that the versioni have does not have a working high score list, 
which i rather annoying when you've killed the balrog twice and have nothing
to show for it....(i.e. a spot on the high scores list)

I can ftp so a site and directory will B enough...

Thanks


-Chris
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
From: dls30876@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (DaveMan )
Subject: Odd items
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1992 20:23:10 GMT

Hi there again...I have once more found bizarre and, I assume, heavily
cursed items down in the pits around level 40-41.  I have found a
Cloak of Enveloping (-5,-3) [-1,-4] or something like that.  On the bright
side I found something called a Jewel encrusted Crown of Regeneration[0,+2].

I really would like to know about the Crown(the cloak has long since been
abandoned--I just am curious about it); does it speed up hit point recovery,
mana recovery, both, something else?

On the really good side, I finally found a ring of speed(+1), so I'm ready
to plunge deeper.

Thanks for any mail on this stuff.

Until the Balrog bites it,

DaveMan

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't look BEHIND you...arrgghh

Another set of famous last words.
From: wiltinkm@dutiws.tudelft.nl (138378)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Any Hints?
Date: 30 Jul 92 11:18:01 GMT
Organization: T W I, Delft University of Technology

In article <1992Jul24.020555.18359@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> Vasilii.V.Petrenko@dartmouth.edu (Vasilii V. Petrenko) writes:
>the [-2] in front of the armor means that you are more likely to get
>hit when wearing the armor, however, because of the protection that
>your armor provides, it doesn't really matter.  whenever you wear armor
>i think you're more likely to get hit - i don't know why - i guess
>because youre more noticible or something.
>
>-Karen Reed

Not quite.... It isn't [-2] in the first place, but (-2). Moria is one case
where I've seen syntactical aids really work in the sense that when you
keep your eyes and your mind open, things can be figured out from it.

The armour doesn't make you easier to hit; that would be very strange indeed
considering its being armour. The (-n) is a penalty to hit because the suit
hampers movement.

Karen? Vasilii?

Greetings and have fun,

					Maarten Wiltink
					wiltinkm@dutiws.tudelft.nl

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