HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: petitc@vccsouth25.its.rpi.edu (Christopher Jon Petit)
Subject: Quick and Easy Way to Make Many Spells
Reply-To: petitc@rpi.edu
Organization: Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 01:51:35 GMT

 Unfortunately, I haven't made the Spell Editor yet, and I KNOW I can't because
of the way spells are done now.  If you looked in the code, each spell has its
own little routine.  Great in theory, but it means we get FEW spells.

 What I've noticed is that EVERY SPELL can be represented by SOME KIND of object,
right?  (Or, in worst case, a collection of objects).  Well, then, why not just
represent spells AS groups of objects, with base mana cost, level and % failure
at this level coded in (and minor details like if there is any dependance on 
levels and if so how much effectiveness it adds)?  It would save A LOT of memory
(IMHO) and make it a lot easier to make many spells.

 To prove my point, let's consider some "oddball" spells that look like they can't
be represented by spells:


 Orb of Draining.  It is a (SE) weapon which does 3d6 damage plus level of the
caster.  This is also a "ball" spell.  So what?  We just call the ball weapon
routine for 3d6+caster's level.

 Resist Heat/Cold.  Just a Potion of Resist Heat and Resist Cold.

 I really can't think of any spell that couldn't be represented in this way.

 What do you think?




-- 
Sleep and become rested.  Within the pleasant confines of slumber, you too can
voyage to worlds unknown.  Become a valiant knight rescuing a damsel.  Become
a mass murdrer.  Be whatever your heart desires.  All within the confines of
sleep.  And all for $19.95.  Call now   -- quote from Night Riders



Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
From: ppanicolle@rose.waterloo.edu (Philippe Nicolle)
Subject: Re: Missile "Weapons" in Moria
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1992 21:45:29 GMT

In article <GRABINER.92Apr10224335@zariski.harvard.edu> grabiner@math.harvard.edu (David Grabiner) writes:
>In article <_x5t0gd@rpi.edu>, Christopher Jon Petit writes:
>
>>  I'd like to see Ego Crossbows:
>
>>  Heavy Crossbow (x4) (HA) (+10,+8) (+2 to Str)
>
>There are special missile weapons: Bolts (1d5) (+8,+8) of Dragon
>Slaying.  And they get the full benefit of the multiplier (unlike melee
>weapons); if you fire them from a heavy crossbow (+5,+5), you will do
>(1d5+13)*16, average 256.

Still it would be nice to see 'special' bows and sling...  Since there is
ammo of slaying I don't think bows of slaying would be appropriate...
However, every weapon and armor can have special attributes (HA, R, speed,
protection, etc...) except bows and slings!

How about accuracy (could be implemented as an extra +x to hit) or
distance, speed (2 attacks)...  Unfortunately, I'm not sure if the last
two would be easy to implement.

>--
>David Grabiner, grabiner@zariski.harvard.edu
>"We are sorry, but the number you have dialed is imaginary."
>"Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and try again."
>Disclaimer: I speak for no one and no one speaks for me.

Phil
ppanicolle@descartes.waterloo.edu
From: mjb@acsu.buffalo.edu (Matthew J. Bernhardt)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: "Summon Undead" scroll
Keywords: summon undead
Date: 7 Apr 92 13:02:48 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: UB


	Then there was my friend who learned the hard way about polymorphing:
He had an around 18th level mage who polymorphed something into (in his words)
a KING F*CKING VAMPIRE!  Said vampire immediately cast hold person. "I lost
5 levels before I died." to quote him.

*******************************************************************************
* Matt Bernhardt        *                                                     *
* Mad Scientist         *  Speak softly, and carry a Staff of *Destruction*.  *
* University of Buffalo *                                                     *
* mjb@acsu.buffalo.edu  *                                                     *
*******************************************************************************
From: petitc@nuge104.its.rpi.edu (Christopher Jon Petit)
Subject: Re: Re:Emperor Liches
Reply-To: petitc@rpi.edu
Organization: Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 16:46:00 GMT

In article <1992Apr14.121532.16963@yang.earlham.edu>, joeo@yang.earlham.edu writes:
|> The problem with the EL's is by the time you've killed them theyve drained 
|> more exp then they are worth.  Is there anyway to gain invulnability to 
|> exp drains?

  Unfortunately, no.  Drives me batty too.


-- 
"The mightiest weapon in the history of science fiction is the writer's pen"
"Although the pen is mightier than the sword, I know which one I'd choose to
fend off a murderer."
"Stop, or ELSE."  "Or else WHAT?"  "Oh.  Never mind."
From: wiltinkm@dutiws.tudelft.nl (138378)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: What is Wand of Starlight for?
Summary: For killing undead
Date: 13 Apr 92 12:39:57 GMT
Organization: T W I, Delft University of Technology

In article <3047@hoffman.cc.sophia.ac.jp> t_yamasi@hoffman.cc.sophia.ac.jp (Yamashiki Tsuyoshi) writes:
>
>    It creates illuminations in 8 directions, so it might
>be useful to light up corridors if you're at a junction.
>But I know it isn't its only use, since it's VERY expensive
>in tha Magic-User store.
>    Any idea?
>-- 
>Tsuyoshi Yamashiki, lost boy in cyber space.
>Sophia University, JAPAN

The staff of starlight behaves like eight wands of light. Unlike the light
from a 'normal' staff of light, this light does harm undead. It is stated
in the monster description that they are susceptible to light, but this
must be aimed - lightning (bolts or balls), a wand of light or a staff of
starlight. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell just how much damage it does.

Maarten Wiltink / wiltinkm@dutiws.tudelft.nl

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A king there was in days of old
Ere men yet walked upon the mould
His power was reared in caverns' shade
His hand was over glen and glade

[approx. 2,000 lines deleted]
Xref: sparky rec.games.moria:2098 rec.games.hack:3293 rec.games.mud:4576
From: wdunn@ecs.umass.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria,rec.games.hack,rec.games.mud
Subject: Omega site list a little update from Haplo
Date: 6 Apr 92 20:22:35 GMT

Hy,
  Me Haplo again,
  After a couple of hours searching like mad I have found the executable for
Omega on an Ibm-pc(what I was really searching for), for those interested
ftp to Brokaw.lcs.mit.edu and do a little searching around(I forgot the
directory, but its easy to find).
get the files 
pcom-bin.arc
pcom-fil.arc
Latta,
happy roleplaying,
Haplo
> Credit to IN%"g8801935@cs.uow.edu.au"  "The Jester"  who sent this list,
> 
> I said that when I found out where Omega was I'd post it so here goes,
> 
> Omega source (if not executables) can be found at the following sites
> via anonymous ftp
> 
> Hope this helps you out.
> 
> Host athene.uni-paderborn.de
> 
>     Location: /news/games/volume3
>       DIRECTORY drwxr-xr-x        512  Jul 15 1991  omega
> 
> Host jyu.fi
> 
>     Location: /pub/games
>       DIRECTORY drwxr-xr-x        512  Jul 31 1989  omega
> 
> Host kalikka.jyu.fi
> 
>     Location: /pub/games
>       DIRECTORY drwxr-xr-x        512  Jul 31 1989  omega
> 
> Host reseq.regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de
> 
>     Location: /informatik.public/news/comp.binaries.ibm.pc
>       DIRECTORY drwxrwxr-x        512  Nov 27 1990  omega
> 
>     Location: /usenet-archives/comp.sources.games/volume03
>       DIRECTORY drwxrwxr-x        512  Sep 19 1990  omega
> 
> Host shape.mps.ohio-state.edu
> 
>     Location: /pub/archives/comp.sources.games/vol03
>       DIRECTORY drwxr-xr-x        512  Dec 31 19:54  omega
> 
> Host sun.soe.clarkson.edu
> 
>     Location: /pub/src/games
>       DIRECTORY drwxr-xr-x       1024  May  2 1989  omega
> 
> Host toklab.ics.osaka-u.ac.jp
> 
>     Location: /UUNET/tape5/comp.sources.games/volume3
>       DIRECTORY drwxrwxr-x        512  Mar 14 1988  omega
> 
> Host wuarchive.wustl.edu
> 
>     Location: /usenet/comp.binaries.ibm.pc/volume04
>       DIRECTORY drwxrwxr-x        512  Feb  8 1991  omega
>     Location: /usenet/comp.sources.games/volume03
>       DIRECTORY drwxrwxr-x        512  Aug 27 1991  omega
> 
> -- 
> \ /  /    / /  /\   | 
>  \\/ \/\ /\ \/ \/_  | This .sig accidently left blank.
>  / \/  /   \ \/ \   | 
> g8801935@wraith.cs.uow.edu.au
> 
> latta,
> Haplo (34 th level ranger in moria, 12 level archeologist in nethack, Nothin'
> really yet on MUD's)]
>
From: edwanji@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Edwanji Lemorian)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Limited Stats?
Date: 14 Apr 92 10:38:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: matt.sffs2INNnga
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu

I like the idea, but I don't agree with the organization, especialy Ranger
(I would put Intellegence and Dex as primary) and Cleric (Wiz and Con)

If it is implemeted, The arangement would have to be something most ppl
would agree on..

Eddie

'Quote me and die'-  Anoymous
From: donsterw@athena.mit.edu (Donny Wong)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: searching mode
Date: 14 Apr 92 07:51:36 GMT
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

>What can you tell me about searching mode?  Is there any disadvantage
>to using it, other than the fact that it stops whenever you get near
>a monster?

the fact taht searching mode stops when you are near a monster is ectremely
helpful, expecially when your character is at a lower level because it can help
you detect invisible creatures!

donsterw@athena.mit.edu
From: pirmin@oas.stgt.sub.org (Pirmin Braun)
Subject: Re: A win
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Date: 14 Apr 92 22:20:12 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: Pirmins's open air System
X-Version: Rodney's UUCP modules 02/11/90 V1.18

In article <1992Apr11.050526.8720@athena.mit.edu> tlouie@athena.mit.edu
(Tom Louie) writes:
(Sender was: news@athena.mit.edu)
> >     Here's my post.  Compared to an Evil Iggy or an Emp. Lich, Big B
> >was a pussy.
> 
> Same experience here.  When I killed him, I said, "That was it?" :)
> 
Hm, I can't agree. Playing Moria 5.2 on a ST with a some 35 level
rogue (AC 79, all stats 18/100, 2 rings of speed, HA-lance, some 450
hitpoints, R-shield) I can wipe away an AMHD like a  pitifil beggar
without having to bother about his breath (at least 3 times). Evil
Iggies and Emporer Liches are toys. But till now I've never managed
hacking this damned Balrog to pieces. Last time I just escaped after
emptying some wands of drain life, using up 6 potions of invul and 
some endlessly fighting. Now I'm collecting again potions of invul.
Maybe some guy has made the Balrog unvincable in this ST-Version???
It once came as a binary out of the net...

--
*** Greetings from Pirmin *** Voice +49 711 573985
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
From: snewman@ccu.umanitoba.ca (S. Newman)
Subject: Re: Monster Weakness Indicators?
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 16:29:52 GMT

In <xk!vxx_@rpi.edu> petitc@nuge103.its.rpi.edu (Christopher Jon Petit) writes:


>  It seems we all have the problem of knowing how weak a monster is (relative to
>when it started out).  Why not add a vague indicator that shoows about how weak
>the monster has gotten:


>80% or more of starting HP              Strong
>50%-79%                                 Fit
>29%-49%                                 Wounded
>10%-28%                                 Badly Wounded
><10%                                    Critically Wounded


>  It really isn't useful for weak monsters, but for ELs, dragons (especially the
>AMHD), and such, it could be a lifesaver.

Good idea. After all, the average adventurer should be able to tell
the difference between a full-power AMHD and a AMHD with blood
gushing out of its head.
-- 
Jesse Newman    "Sorry, wrong number. This is 912."
 *    *  snewman@ccu.umanitoba.ca
    >    When all else fails make a bigger smiley. 
 \____/
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
From: ksoutor@unlinfo.unl.edu (kevin soutor)
Subject: Re: "Summon Undead" scroll
Keywords: summon undead
Organization: University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Distribution: rec
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 14:30:06 GMT

Anachronus, 25th level halfling mage of renown, decided to 
kill some time on the first level while waiting for the
shopkeepers, enraged by Anachronus' eternal haggling, to 
reopen their stores.  Encountering a lowly White Icky Thing,
the mighty mage decided to polymorph it to earn massive 
amounts of experience points.  Lo and Behold, out of the 
magical cloud stepped an ANCIENT GREEN DRAGON.  Anachronus
screamed, "It's not supposed to work this way.  OH SH. . .".
Quoth the archmage nevermore.

ksoutor@unlinfo.unl.edu
From: bwilliam@oyster.smcm.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Getting LOTS of exp?
Date: 8 Apr 92 18:13:05 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: St. Mary's College of Maryland

In article <1992Apr7.201010.5178@gboro.glassboro.edu>
kilroy@gboro.glassboro.edu (Dr Nancy's Sweetie) writes:
>Emperor Liches are worth about 10K points, and are pretty wimpy, so you can
>pile up experience like crazy as long as the RQ stays alive.  The reason you
>can't do this with a regular Quylthulg is that they sometimes summon AMHDs,
>which aren't worth much more than ELs and which are the only really dangerous
>critters in the mines.


Wait a minute... Emperor Liches are ***pretty wimpy*** ??!!!!!?????  Obviously,
I must be doing something terribly wrong....  I can't think of a beasty I'd
much rather leave alone, quickly (except, of course, the legendary AMHD)!

					-32nd Level Human Mage
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
From: petitc@nuge105.its.rpi.edu (Christopher Jon Petit)
Subject: Unique Character Class Abilities?
Reply-To: petitc@rpi.edu
Organization: Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 02:29:26 GMT

  Do you all think that each character class should have ONE UNIQUE ability, in
addition to the standard adjustments to stats?  I mean, that would give each
class a REAL advantage in some aspect, rather than a temporary one (Sure,
warriors are stronger at first, but a mage can wander to 1250, stay a week, and
get 18/100 Str, Con and Dex).  And I think it means the same thing in both
cases!  IMHO, that's plain absurd.  A mage can't use his strength as well as a
warrior can, ever.

 Well, enough griping.  On to the suggested class abilities:

 Mage:  Only this class can detect if an item is magical, or see a magical item
from a distance.

 Priest:  Only this class can (A) Remove a curse, and (B) Detect if an item is
cursed.

 Warrior:  Can detect monsters within a certain radius, REGARDLESS OF WHAT IS IN
THE WAY (my justification is that warriors live to fight, and fight to survive,
so they WILL learn to 'sense' monsters a distance away).

 Rogue:  Gets "first strike advantage"  Thieves always fight to kill in the first
blow, since they can NOT go hand-to-hand for a long time.  So, I say, give them
a bonus (level-dependant) to their ability to get Excellent, Superb, and Great
hits.

 Ranger:  Has ability to get a 'pet' like in Nethack (where the pet follows the
guy around and can fight for him sometimes but also gets in the way and eats food
).

 Paladin:  Naturally cures poison within self at 2x normal rate, as well as only
taking 1/2 damage from poison gases (e.g. AMHD).  Can sense evil creatures as for
a Warrior.

 Also, let's make it IMPOSSIBLE for certain classes to EVER use some types of
weapons, armor, items.  I'd say this could be done with 1 byte extra---a type
byte saying what kind it is (and then each class has a list of types not
permitted).

 I mean, really, do you see a mage as wearing Ribbed Plate Mail (28) armor???

 I know this would probably be a b*tch to program, but I feel it would really
balance out the classes better.

 What say you all?

   

-- 
Sleep and become rested.  Within the pleasant confines of slumber, you too can
voyage to worlds unknown.  Become a valiant knight rescuing a damsel.  Become
a mass murdrer.  Be whatever your heart desires.  All within the confines of
sleep.  And all for $19.95.  Call now   -- quote from Night Riders



Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
From: dgreen@jarthur.claremont.edu (David 'Mishael' Green)
Subject: Re: Novice questions
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 00:15:03 GMT

In a previous article jk_sims@vax.muskingum.edu (Jim Sims) writes:

>I have a couple of novice questions for all of the hundredth level whatnots.
>Please post any answers as other might be interested.
>
>What is the scroll of Word of Recall?

Read in the town, it takes you down to the deepest level that you've been to
in the dungeon.  Read anywhere in the dungeon, it takes you up to the town
level.  It usually takes 30 turns or so to take effect.

>What is the most overall effective ego weapon?

Depends on what you're looking for.  Usually, it boils down to a debate between
HA (Holy Avenger) and DF (Defender).

Attributes of the HA:
+ (1-4) to strength
Sustain one stat based on + to STR
	1 <==> sustain strength
	2 <==> sustain intelligence
	3 <==> sustain wisdom
	4 <==> sustain constitution
X2 damage vs. evil creatures
X3 damage vs. undead creatures (not cumulative with slay evil above; this takes
	precedence)
+ (1-4) to armor class
See invisible

Attributes of the DF:
Resistance to fire, cold, acid, and lightning
	(1/3 damage from fire, cold and lightning attacks, 1/3-1/4 damage from
	 acid)
Feather falling (don't take damage from pit traps and trap doors)
Free action (can't be slept, paralyzed, or slowed by monsters or traps)
See invisible
+ (1-4) to stealth
+ (6-10) to armor class
Regeneration (Recover hp and mana at 1.5x normal rate, but you use food more
	quickly, too)

Which of these is 'better' is an exercise left to the reader, as each has
some particularly beneficial features.

Some versions of moria may have been hacked by locals to include other weapons
such as Slaying (S) and Godly Might (GM).  I'm not listing those here, as I'm
not familiar enough with them to comment.

>How do you know when to go deeper for fear of being killed?

Well, a lot of that is personal opinion again.  Usually when you can't seem to
get anything useful from the area, the monsters all go away within one or two
hits, and you're not getting anywhere in experience is a good sign that you're
ready to go down deeper.  Myself, I run by a rule of thumb whereby I stay at
50-100 feet for the first 5 levels of my character, and then go down no deeper
than (my level x 50) feet until I reach about level 20 or so, when I might
brave down as far as 1250 feet.  (Lately I've been getting more conservative
even about this.  It makes things seem a little drawn-out at times, but IMHO
it gives your character a better chance at survival.)

(BTW, I'm not sure I'm understanding that last question.  If you mean that you
polymorphed a clear icky-thing into an Ancient Multi-Hued Dragon and you just
found a down staircase, better to go down than to get gassed to death...)
-- 
dgreen@jarthur.claremont.edu				   David "Mishael" Green
		    Have you scritched your local Furry today?
********************************************************************************
Life is too confusing for novices; we should hire professionals to do it for us.
From: wertzg@napc-1.navy.mil ("WERTZ, GREGORY")
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Crown of Gold [0,+0]
Date: 7 Apr 92 18:28:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.9204071837.AA06895

I have only been playing Moria (5.3.1 on a MAC) for a couple of weeks now,
so this may be a really stupid question.  Recently I found a Crown of Gold.
I used an identify scroll on it and found it to be [0,+0], so I figured
it was no big deal and was going to sell it for the few pieces of gold I
could get for it.

So I go to the Armorer to sell it and lo and behold, his first offer is around
250 gp!  Does it have hidden properties that the identify spell doesn't report
or is the high gold value simply because it is made of gold?

Greg.

P.S.  I have seen reference to a FAQ posting, but have never seen the actual
      post.  Could someone post it (or e-mail it to me directly)?

 *============================================================================*
 >    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                                        <
 *============================================================================*
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
From: dgreen@jarthur.claremont.edu (David 'Mishael' Green)
Subject: Re: The Slay Undead Sword
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 02:23:42 GMT

In article <1992Apr10.130136.16859@yang.earlham.edu> joeo@yang.earlham.edu writes:
->My 33 level priest recently found a 2 handed sword with the designation SU 
->on it.  I understand this to be "slay undead".  What does the slay undead 
->do to the undead that I hit with it.

A Slay Undead sword will do the following things:

(a) in versions 5.1.5 and later, it grants you the ability to see invisible
    creatures when you wield it.

(b) when you hit an undead monster with it, it does 3x damage.
-- 
dgreen@jarthur.claremont.edu				   David "Mishael" Green
		    Have you scritched your local Furry today?
********************************************************************************
Life is too confusing for novices; we should hire professionals to do it for us.
From: de04@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (Dale E. Eckart)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: Re: Learning, slaying, Ego
Date: 14 Apr 92 00:31:37 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University

In article <1992Apr13.034349.25751@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, tww50239@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Taylor W. Wilhour) writes:
>I had my first winner last week, and stumbled across a few things that I had 
>questions about. 
>1 What do potions of learning do? i found about six, still had four when I won,
>  and noticed no effects from quaffing the first one.
>
These potions let you learn an additional spell, if there are any to learn.
For example, if your 20th level character quaffs one, and there are still
spells or potions of 20th level and below that you haven't learned,
one more can be learned.  These are especially useful for mages/rangers
who have learned the offensive spells early, and can back-fill the
defensive ones - stone-to-mud, remove curse. 

If one doesn't find them, then there is a levelling out during levels
25-30, where not every experience level has a new spell.  Then, each
experience level the player advances gives a chance to learn the low level
spells.  These potions are not as good as Gain Experience, which boost
one's max. Exp, usually by an amount sufficient to increase a level.

Dale

-- 
Dale E. Eckart        DE04@ns.cc.lehigh.edu
                      de04@PL118a.cc.lehigh.edu
From: sh30443@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Shih-Jen  Hsu)
Newsgroups: rec.games.moria
Subject: emperor liches are wimpy!
Date: 9 Apr 92 01:13:10 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

comon guys!  geez, wizard mode my foot.  One of my past characters, a half
troll priest was cloning emperor liches and blasting them with orbs of
draining (which does level + 3d6, double to evil critters = 38*2+6d6 which
is about averagewise 96 pts per orb.  each orb was 7 mana and I had over 140
mana pts.)

(evil iggies was easy to clone too and lots of exp, orb them 20-30 times and
they blow up)