HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: beykema@infonode.ingr.com (Maurice Beyke)
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
Summary: The Gap Between!
Organization: Intergraph Corporation, Huntsville, AL.
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 23:44:12 GMT

In article <1992Aug25.005558.58377@cc.usu.edu> sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:
> I just think that there is so
>wide a gap between the two sides, it left a LOT of differences to be talked
>about.

 Well, I'll speak up, since I haven't heard anyone else.  I seem to fall
 right in the gap.  If I'm feeling particularly industrious and creative,
 I'll prepare a lot of stuff, with (admittedly horrid) maps, NPC's, sheets
 containing hoards of grunts to check off, pre-drawn battlemats, etc.  And
 then when I get busy at work, or am just feeling lazy, I'll go weeks and
 weeks letting (as I say) my players drive; they follow up threads left
 dangling, start projects they're interested in, etc.  Now granted, the
 improv is easy for me 'cause I'm running a Glorantha campaign, and I know
 that world fairly well.  But there's still stuff I make up on the fly that
 gets pursued and becomes major plot threads.

 For instance, I have one player who has become a Eurmal priest, and several
 others who are Eurmal initiates.  The priest had dropped out for a while,
 and in the meantime the rest of the group travelled and eventually wound
 up in Pavis.  About that time, the priest shows back up, so I decided he
 went there right after they separated.  I decided that I didn't want him
 to be the only priest, so I had another priest already there also, and they
 each had their own factions, mostly getting along, keeping their shrine
 hidden from the Lunars.  So, shortly after he started, he decided he wanted
 to go the shrine to do some stuff, but I had other things going on, so I
 made an off hand remark that he didn't know where it was.  His faction and
 Flynn's (the other priest's) had a "friendly" rivalry where they would
 take turns hiding the shrine from each other.  The shrine itself is a
 Eurmal artifact (a large black stone which legends say was stolen from
 Genert; no one knows what it was).  So, a few weeks later, the Eurmal
 Holy Day was coming up (randomly determined, as always), and we had three
 sessions with Tass and the Eurmali initiates in the party stealing the
 shrine so Tass could have it to perform the worship ceremony.  All
 improvised, all based on an off the cuff remark, and the group had a blast.

 Of course, they have fun with the prep stuff too.  Like when I ran the
 cradle adventure.  Loads of fun.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
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< aka Maurice Beyke      |    nihilism can't be trusted?"   |I claim nothing!>
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Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: seurer@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Bill Seurer)
Subject: Legos as props.
Date: Thu, 03 Sep 1992 16:05:08 GMT
Reply-To: BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM Rochester

I am going to try using Legos (specifically the Lego Imperials/Pirates sets)
for props in a GURPS Swashbucklers campaign.

Has anyone else tried this?   Perhaps using the Castle sets for a "normal"
fantasy campaign?

If so, how'd it work out?
-- 

- Bill Seurer     Language and Compiler Development      IBM Rochester, MN
  Internet: BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com    America On-Line: BillSeurer@aol.com
From: scheyen@asterix.gaul.csd.uwo.ca (Peter Scheyen)
Subject: Re: Cubington Cross
Reply-To: scheyen@asterix.gaul.csd.uwo.ca (Peter Scheyen)
Organization: University of Western Ontario
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 17:13:17 GMT

In article <1992Aug26.175851.20147@ntmtv>, weitzeka@ntmtv.UUCP (Keith Weitzel) writes:
|> 
|> 
|> Did anyone see the new show on ABC, I think, called
|> "Cubington Cross"?  The setting of the show is in
|> England during the dark ages.  This show is great.  It
|> is about time a show like this came out.  Basically, the
|> show is about Lord Grey and his family.  The show had
|> great development of the characters as well as some of
|> the best sword play that I had ever seen.  Hopefully,
|> the show will make it.  It is possible that this show
|> will have the same following as "Star Trek".
|> 
|> 
|> Keith Weitzel
|> ntmtv!weitzeka@ames.arc.nasa.gov

I too was looking forward to this show after seeing the trailers for the past few weeks.  However,
I was supremely disappointed with it.  Beyond the costumes and setting it was pretty bad.  The
story was slow, and the characters were not believable (esp. Lord Grey's daughter).  Thumbs
down I'm afraid.

--
	scheyen@gaul.csd.uwo.ca

	". . . but I wouldn't know a single word to say,
	 if I flattened all the vowels and I threw the 'R' away."

		- The Proclaimers
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu (Art Urban (PROFS))
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
Organization: Atmospheric Technology Division/NCAR Boulder, CO
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 16:04:11 GMT

In article <0095FBB0.D9A87700@abby.chem.ucla.edu> doug@abby.chem.ucla.edu writes:
%IMHO, letting the players know that you've fudged something is the WORST
%POSSIBLE thing you can do.  It's much worse than simply fudging, and it's also
%much worse than adamantly refusing to fudge die rolls.  Letting the players
%know when you're fudging the die rolls, in my experience, accomplishes nothing
%and simply makes the players less satisfied with whatever the result of their
%actions was.
%-Doug Gibson

Since I'm the GM who refuses to fudge die rolls, I thought I would insert some
additional thoughts, which only recently came to me. 

It is possible that many GMs are "forced" to fudge die rolls because of the
specific game system that they choose to run. I will not name *any* game
system, however, so use your imagination.

In a system which does not allow a high degree of granularity in PC/NPC
actions, it is my suposition that a GM will find him/herself fudging die rolls
because the die roll encompasses too much possibility.

In that statement, I too, have become a cheater. Although, I won't change the
roll of a dice, I will change NPC actions to better facilitate the story at
hand. If the PCs are getting litterly killed in combat, then I might need to
consider the NPCs taking prisoners. On the other hand, perhaps the PCs should
see that they are getting their butts kicked, and *leave*. This ultimately
is what I would like to achieve as a GM; an impartial storyteller.

Rocks do not become pillows, just because we are tired of sore necks...

--
Art Urban 					       urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu
===============================================================================
 "What's Next? Chasing bunnies on a motorbike until their hearts explode? -Crow
===============================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: dleland@dante.nmsu.edu (LELAND)
Subject: Permenant damage in HERO
Organization: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 15:55:07 GMT


All the talk in this group on hit locations reminded me of something the 
HERO system, much as I like it, often has trouble with. In theory there is
no way in the rules to simulate permenantly disfiguring or crippling a 
character. Now granted, you wouldn't want to do this very often, but you must
admit that the strict game mechanics of shooting someone's leg off are hard
to figure. Why? Because in HERO you eventually get back all your BODY if you
can recover or get care. There is no mention of permenant damage like scarring
or limb removal or anything like that. You can define some complex trans attack
or something, to "turn somebody into a cripple" I guess, but that's awful
complex. Plus, I have seen arguments in HERO games where some characters should 
eventually grow back a lost limb due to character definition (they're a lizard
or alien or something). But isn't that regeneration? Somebody said, "well it
depends on character conception, it isn't important to the game." Well, oh
yes it is because crippling and maining would be a very real part of the
superhero scene, and "real" heros, whatever they are, would have to deal with it
a LOT.

It seems to me there should be some kind of effect table on a wound chart
that checks to see how "bad" the wound is. If you roll an 18, you could have 
permemant damage. Yes? No? Too nasty?
Organization: University of Maine System
Date: Tuesday, 1 Sep 1992 10:14:11 EDT
From: Society for Creative Solipsism <IK20001@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Demise of bboard?
 <1992Aug31.214621.1@wharton.upenn.edu> <1SEP199206583880@rosie.uh.edu>


Tammy Stark Blandino says:

>In article <1992Aug31.214621.1@wharton.upenn.edu>, millerl@wharton.upenn.edu
>writes...
>>In article <gece=9y00WAv8362Nm@andrew.cmu.edu>, fl0m+@andrew.cmu.edu (Faye
Levine) writes:
>>> Wasn't this bboard going away?  I'm still getting new messages on it...
>>
>>Your note was posted to rec.games.frp.misc in my neck of the woods. I
>>think we have seen the last of rec.games.frp as a full fledged newsgroup
>>today. RIP. A moment of silence.
>
>Here a U of Houston we are still getting rec.games.frp loud and
>clear.  This morning I had 80+ postings from the weekend.


Whereas here in Northern Maine, we lost rec.games.frp two days ago.
No sign of the group even on the master list.  So long, old friend....
--
Eric Alfred Burns, Lord Sabre            "Faith is a fine invention
Society for Creative Solipsism            When Gentlemen can *see* --
"It's all in your mind"                   But *Microscopes* are prudent
IK20001@maine.maine.edu                   In an Emergency."
|-}----------                                     --Emily Dickinson
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: burdickd@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Dakin Burdick)
Subject: Re: Call of Cthulhu Archives?
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 22:55:14 GMT

In article <92241.095312BJP108@psuvm.psu.edu> Brian Panulla, MooCow <BJP108@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>
>Has anyone out there ever written their own campaigns? I'm in the process
>of doing so right now, and wouldn't mind swapping ideas.

Yup.  We ran a rather long modern campaign, as well as another one set
in the 1920s and 1930s.  It's a lot of fun but you need to tone down
the death rate to one character every six hours (or maybe even less).
To do this you need to give the characters better magic (use modified
RQ3 Sorcery), tone down insanity rules big time, and alternate
encounters between Cthulu critters and mundane mortal enemies like
space nazis.  I also include other monsters (dragons, goblins, etc.)
to keep the players guessing.  There's plenty of adventures
you can use, especially if you use both CoC and Top Secret or another
spy/thriller/detective game.  I had a lot of fun mixing Traveller and
CoC, using the aforementioned space nazis and mixing them with a
Mi-Go invasion.  Good luck!

Dakin
burdickd@copper.ucs.indiana.edu

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: dzik@access.digex.com (Joseph Dzikiewicz)
Subject: Re: cluelessness in mystery games (prep vs improv)
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 17:24:40 GMT

In article <l9ptttINN1v6@west.west.sun.com> markk@sagredo.West.Sun.COM (Mark Kampe) writes:
>If the players aren't getting anywhere near the clues, there are two possible
>reasons:
>
>	these particular players should not be playing mystery games
>
>	this particular story is too hard for these players to crack
>

I would add a third reason: sometimes the characters do not have the
skills/temperaments to solve mysteries.  I have seen GURPs parties
where the only mental skill in the party was Area Knowledge.  Admittedly,
this was an extreme, but sometimes characters are stupid or even smart
without being geared to mysteries.  This doesn't mean the players have
the same characteristics.

Joe Dzikiewicz
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: cleggp@aix.rpi.edu (Paul Jason Clegg)
Subject: System One RPG
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 19:42:37 GMT

Has anyone here ever seen a copy of the System One RPG system?  It was
distributed about a month ago to a few BBS systems in South Jersey by
yours truly (the person who wrote it).  The copies being distributed
are very, very unrefined (I have since refined it more, but am hesitant
about distributing the voluminous work as shareware), but I was wondering
what people (that have seen the earlier versions) thought about it...

...Paul
From: millerl@wharton.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: RQ4 Rumors
Date: 2 Sep 92 22:06:31 GMT
Organization: Newt World Order

In article <pvanheus.715433486@frodo>, pvanheus@frodo.cs.uct.ac.za (P A van Heusden) writes:
> P.S. I read in the RQ Digest that RuneQuest 4th Edition will have very small
> changes: NPC sorcerors, and a bit of polish. And the RuneQuest 5th Ed will
> have the significant ones. I feel that this is unnaceptable: It would make
> 4th edition a waste of time. People seem to know where the rule problems
> are, eg. Fatigue, Free Int, etc. Why not go the whole hog in one step?

Both Fatigue and Free Int are completely revamped in the playtest
version of the rules. The plan is to fix everything that is broken
(fatigue, sorcery, character generation), to add optional combat rules
for those who want rules for unusual maneuvers, to "fix" the skill-check
frenzy problem (I don't think it is a problem, but I'm not the author,
only a playtester), and to bring back Glorantha as the main setting for
the game. By the way, sorcerors aren't NPCs under the playtest rules --
as far as I can tell that is a baseless rumor.

I think the 5th edition rumors are mainly intended to defuse those
inside and outside of AH who want to turn RQ into a multi-genre
roleplaying game.

-- 
whoah,
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller                           internet: MILLERL@wharton.upenn.edu
The more corrupt the government, the greater the number of laws -- Tacitus
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:4817 rec.games.frp.advocacy:1997 rec.games.frp.dnd:3405
From: sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy,rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Alignments
Date: 2 Sep 92 01:46:18 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <1SEP199219354030@rosie.uh.edu>, (Tammy Stark Blandino) writes:

> Remember Alignments from AD&D?  

That's a good way to bring it up, because I had nearly forgot about them.
I don't think alignments are worth much, why try to force a player into 
playing attributes he or she doesn't want to play? And apart from that, I
don't think alignments have any basis in real people.

I think people can be ``good'' or ``evil'' at times, but I think what 
people mostly are is self-interested. They will do what suits them at the
time. If it benefits a person to be (what society says is) ``good,'' then 
the person will be good for then. If at some later time the person is 
compelled to be ``evil,'' and the compulsion is greater than the motives 
the person has for being good, then the person will be evil.

Didn't we have a discussion on evil in this or another group some time
back? I was most convinced by those who said that evil is poorly defined
and extremely relative. After all, there are those who think that DANCING
is evil, so in some other society murder or rape might be considered a part
of life.

There's also the argument that if alignments do exist in real life, they 
are infinitely more complex than the simple four-cornered diagrams presented
in rpgs. Some people seem like they have situational alignments. Depending
on their choices, the environment or other variables, alignments can change.

As for lawful and chaotic spheres, I think that is really bunk. The concept
of lawfulness is ALMOST believable, but the idea of someone being chaotic
is just dumb. Someone defined a chaotic person as someone who you cannot
predict. Well, isn't that predictable? You can NEVER predict him, right? So
he is lawful -- he ALWAYS does something unpredictable. In that, there is 
regularity and lawfulness.

When I played in systems that had alignments, I found that players did one
of two things:

1. Played characters who had alignments as close to their own feelings as 
they could get. 

2. Played characters who had alignments which were in conflict with their
own feelings, and they had to fight against the constraints of the alignment.
In these cases, the GM ended up saying things like, ``Your palidin feels 
guilty.'' Bah. Who needs that?

Okay,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chadd VanZanten SL9B4@CC.USU.EDU + ``There  is water  at the  bottom 
of the ocean.'' --David Byrne, Once in a Lifetime
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: burke@vxdesy.desy.de
Subject: Re: SRUN: A few observations
Organization: (DESY, Hamburg, Germany)
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 13:37:03 GMT

In article <BtM1L0.1B0@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, pmwg1641@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Peter M. White) writes:
> that they do not like, but a certain amount of backstabbing is definitely
> part of the genre.  After all, shadowrunners are sneaky & dangerous crooks
> hired by sneakier & dangerous crooks.  Habitually screwing them over is

I too think that FASA have overdone this. I imagine there would be some kind of
grapevine, so that if runners hired by one particular corp (why does the name
"Renraku" spring to mind? :-) always disappear, they'll find it harder to hire
people in the future. Likewise fixers need to protect their reputation. That's
not to say that runners would *never* get screwed, but it shouldn't be routine.
The corps *need* the runners!

  The GM also has some responsibility. The *characters* might say "no, not
Renraku again, too dangerous", but in general players won't because it brings
the game to an abrupt halt. The players trust the GM not to be too unfair, even
though in "real" life it might just end with all the runners getting terminated
because they know too much.

> Test.  Person A rolls his skill dice, let us say, 6 of them, against
> a target number equal to person B's same skill.  Say B has a skill of 7.
> B will win somewhat more than half the time.  Fine and dandy.  Now, what
> if B's skill were only 5?  Person A will trounce him most of the time.
> But the difference between skill 5 vs. 6, and skill 6 vs. 7 should not
> be very large.

  The dice system in SR is certainly unusual, and the progression is highly
non-linear (6 is twice as hard as 5, but 7 is the same as 6). However, on the
whole I think it works rather well; it certainly defeats the kind of player who
likes to work out the mathematically best option on a calculator, as it's just
too complicated. It does, however, mean that the GM has to be rather careful in
setting difficulty levels, as the line between easy and impossible can be
fairly narrow. For example, most published matrix systems are far too easy;
deckers just waltz through them. However, if you use the random matrix system
(at least in the original SR book) they come out impossible.

  As long as you accept that the scale is non-linear, I think it gives you
what you want - you have a *very* small chance of hitting a high target number,
but not zero. Thus if someone has an intelligence of ten, the probability
of getting a ten per die is (thinks ...) 1 in 12, so someone with a six
will get one success every other try on average - but will get six
successes one time in ... err... about 10 million.

e----><----p | Stephen Burke           | Internet: burke@vxdesy.desy.de
 H   H   1   | Gruppe FH1T (Liverpool) | DECnet:   vxdesy::burke (13313::burke)
 H   H  11   | DESY, Notkestrasse 85   | BITNET:   BURKE@DESYVAX or SB2@UKACRL
 HHHHH   1   | 2000 Hamburg 52         | JANET:    sb2@uk.ac.rl.ib
 H   H   1   | Germany                 | Phone:    + 49 40 8998 2282
 H   H 11111 | HERA, the world's largest electron microscope!
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: gvbraun@vipunen.hut.fi (Toni Kotinurmi)
Subject: Re: fudging
Reply-To: gvbraun@vipunen.hut.fi (Toni Kotinurmi)
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 15:40:16 GMT

In article <1992Aug30.172525.58509@cc.usu.edu> sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:
>In article <BttBqp.85n@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>, 
> tbarnes@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (thomas wrentmore barnes) writes:

>Sounds a little like a character advantage available in GURPS called, simply,
>Luck. This advantage makes the character one of those people who is just
>naturally lucky (everyone knows someone like that). In case you don't know
...
>time. In both cases, the player chooses rolls which are made by him/her 
>(not the GM's).

>That seems okay, but I think as a player I would want to know and choose the
>times and places where I would want this to come into play. The GM and the 
>player might have different ideas about what is and isn't a lucky break. 

I think luck should be used totally by GM; in that way it is not just
another advantage but a serious thing to be acquired. I've done some
games where players gained 'luck' by doing nice things ( help someone etc...)
plus they had a 'recharging' base-luck ( like that you describe ).

But I think 'luck' loses its meaning if player himself decides when to
use his luck. That would be some other stat ( in my opinion ). Like
pleasing some greater power ( god etc... ) in order to get some
good things which would not depend on your own physical limits.

Toni





Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn)
Subject: Re: Champions: Throwing Things around...
Keywords: Champions
Organization: California State University, Chico
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 05:46:33 GMT

Gersham William Meharg writes:
>Bif the superhero (STR 50) picks up a Toyota truck and whacks Grog the
>evil villian with it.  How much damage does this do? Is it just 10d6
>normal damage? 

The max damage any object does is the sum of it's Def and Body, in the 
case of the 'generic' car, 3 DEF and 14 Body, 17 d6 (!). As for the
extra damage, that's a GM call. I'd probably look at the character, gasp
at the 50 Strength (enough to lift a jet fighter) and describe how the
car shatters on the person, or the ground should the attack miss.

>I know that the rules say to treat it as an area attack, a move through. 

Those two are different. Seeing as the vehicle occupies a full hex (and
more) I'd call it an area effect attack. In other words, Bif needs only
to hit the hex the target is standing on, and the target gets it (unless
he decides to dive for cover, a good idea when facing 17 dice.)

>If Bif were to throw the car would this do more damage?

If anything, I may say it does less (but the car is still around.) This
is a definite GM call.
-- 
What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows)
Subject: BattleTech MUSE open!!!
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 92 03:30:04 GMT


Many of you may not know this, but there is a MUSE (Multi-User Simulated
Environment) open that is thematically based entirely on MechWarrior/
BattleTech!  It uses the same character generation system as 1st Ed.
MechWarrior, and should have Mechs by September 1!  Join the fun and
the combat!  Telnet to 129.72.2.135 port 3026 today!

(And join the 15th Dieron Regulars, Kurita Division--we use heavy
and assault mechs for one helluva good combat!)

---Chris Meadows
   Pvt. Griffin, 15th Dieron Regulars, Kurita

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc