HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: DMs AID
Date: 14 Apr 92 19:49:41 GMT
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <11Apr92234138@miracle.UUCP>, sue%miracle@merk.com (The Dragon
Queen) writes:
> John_Morgan@mindlink.bc.ca (John Morgan) writes:
>>
>>How would you think about a program that will require a few steps but would be
>>set up for 2ed AD&D?
>>- STEP 1   Roll for encounter.
>>  (Determines monster, HD, Treasure type, # attacks, dmg, experience,
>>   special attacks/defences)
>>- STEP 2   Roll up hp for each monster
>>- STEP 3   Roll up treasure based on treasure type
>>
>>I know that this is a lot of work but this way I could include a part of the
>>program that will allow a person to add their own monsters from other sources
>>or delete monsters that don't exist in their world.
> 
> Sounds good hypothetically.  It kinda depends on how user-friendly you
> made it.....
> 
> Maybe I'm just biased, not to mention old-fashioned.  I think I'll stick
> to rolling dice by hand, and creating my encounters on my own, rather than
> let a computer do it for me.
> 
> Anyone else used SSI's DM's Assistant?  Am I the only one who thinks it's
> incredibly cheap?
> 
> D.Q.

   Yeah, I used to use that program (please note the emphasis on Used to :-). I
found that program extremely unuseful for the type of encounters I was looking
for.  It always seemed to roll encounters that were too unbalanced (300 orcs??)
and the random encounter tables were too inflexible, had to try making up my
own tables for areas the party was adventuring in.

   You're not the only one, Dragon Queen.  I basically sort of let that program
sit and gather dust, creating my own encounters by hand, often ahead of time,
to be pulled out when an encounter was needed.

   As to what I would look for in a DM's assistant.. It should have the feature
to set up your own tables for creation of encounters, with allowing you to
enter the number of creatures and possibly treasure types.  The rest would be
in a database of creatures (AC, HD, Thaco, Dmg, etc.) and could just be called
up by the program.

   That's my $0.02 worth. :-)

                                        John "Nightwind" Boelter

--
*******************************************************************************
* John Boelter        a.k.a. Nightwind            boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu *
* Organizational Manager and contact person for everything and then some.     *
*******************************************************************************
* I don't know, I don't care, I don't want * They're fleeing the wrong way!!  *
* to know, and I don't want to care.       *        -confused adventurer-     *
*        -Martian Manhunter-               ************************************
*        -Justice League International-    * Why is the DM smiling like that? *
*******************************************************************************
From: tyros@gacvx1.gac.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Stupid PC Tricks
Date: 11 Apr 92 23:54:30 GMT
Article-I.D.: gacvx1.1992Apr11.175430.1
 <204520@unix.cis.pitt.edu> <1992Apr11.174938.12449@news2.cis.umn.edu>
Organization: Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota
Nntp-Posting-User: tyros

okay, I was running a d&d campaign in which my party (headed by an anti-paladin
and a psychotic sanguist) had torched a small port town on their way inland to
get some goodies.  When they get back to the town (and their ship) they
discover that the smoke generated by a burning village has attracted elements
of the local government.  One of the players, an assassin, decides to take off
his glove and display the tattoo that marks him as a member of a notorious
league of assassins (in some attempt to pull influence, i guess)  The earl
nonchalantly ordered him executed on the spot.   Hee  hee hee
 -Janus.
From: sjs28257@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Stelter)
Subject: Re: Mages and Armor Question ( AD&D )
Keywords: mage, armor, ad&d
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 21:00:33 GMT

va3@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan Newell) writes:

>Hi.

>I have a question about 2Ed. rules interpretation.  Maybe you all can
>help me here.

>According to various entries in the 2Ed. Players Handbook and DM's Guide,
>mages ( not even multi-classed or dual-classed ) cannot wear armor
>and cast spells at the same time ( the only exception is Elves in
>Elven Chain Mail ).

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

Who would want to live in such a society?  There are a lot of serious
problems involved in forcing every man, woman, and child in one's
kingdom to wear metal armor.  Aside from the unbelievable expense
involved in fashioning a customized suit of armor for every citizen
of a society, chainmail is no picnic to wear; sleeping in it is tough,
and it's rather uncomfortable in general, especially once fleas and
other vermin make their homes in it.  And if the people in this society
are the kind that like to bathe every once in a while...well, you get
my point.  The threat that wizards might cause to a society is nothing
compared to the civil unrest that would be created when a kingdm's ruler
declares that all his subjects must wear chainmail 24 hours a day.

Moreover, forced armor won't stop a really resourceful wizard, who could
create an illusion of himself wearing the required chainmail and thus
walk around with impunity.  And armor, as far as I know, won't keep a
wizard from using wands, staves, rings, and other magical paraphernalia.

>Alternatively, what if a spellcaster was knocked unconscious, and then
>had a set of ChainMail welded onto him?

>Would this negate completely the spellcasters spellcasting ability ( until
>such time as the ChainMail could be removed ) ?

Depends on the reason you give for WHY wizards can't wear armor and cast
spells.  Some people theorize that the metal in armor messes up magical
ability in the same way that magnets mess up floppy diskettes; in that
case, welding chainmail onto a wizard would negate his magical powers.
On the other hand, if you decide that wizards don't wear armor simply
because they don't want to, then you could let an armored wizard cast
spells, if he were desperate enough.  The AD&D rules, as far as I know,
don't really have a good answer (certainly, we r.g.f folks can't agree
on a "correct" theory), so it's up to you how you want it to work.

                                            --Steve Stelter
                                              sjs28257@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: piatej@aix.rpi.edu (Jennifer Lynn Piatek)
Subject: Call of Cthulhu -- 5ed Rules!
Summary: The new rules are out!
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 16:02:47 GMT

Hi all,

Just got my copy of the 5th edition Call of Cthulhu rules -- was wondering
what all the other CoCer's around here thought of them...     

I liked the way they redid the skills -- not a big change, but it got rid of
some of the repetition of skills (i.e. conceal, camouflage) and cleared up a
few confusing ones (like Linguist and Mech. Repair for picking locks).  I also
appreciated the way they put all the rules in one convenient, easy to find
place and had a real table of contents and index -- I spent huge amounts
of time during sessions looking up rules sometimes (how much is a shotgun?
Well, its in the weapons section...where's that??)..and the pricelist in the
back is much more useful now...

Is it just me, or are the monster descriptions shorter this time around??

And why didn't they just put the spell descriptions in for a couple of spells?
It says "written up in xx module" -- but I don't want to buy the damn thing
for just a spell -- right now I have more modules than I can ever hope to run
(my group is in the beginning-middle of Horror on the Orient Express, should
take us another good long time to finish it...)

Any other comments?

"In madness you'll dwell"

Jen         
piatej@rpi.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: rlbell@hertz.waterloo.edu (Richard Bell)
Subject: Re: Stupid PC tricks too...
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 21:26:13 GMT

In a traveller adventure, the group tried to break open a door on a ship
that refused to open on a ship that they had just boarded.  The door, an iris
valve, provided access to the outer hull, but wasn't an airlock.

GM: the door refuses to open.

Players: we fire the plasma gun.

GM: the door is severely damaged, and you can hear the sound of air leaking
through newly made cracks in the door.

Players: We fire again.
From: labc-4ac@web-2e.berkeley.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: GURPS: UlTRA Tech ?= Ultra Death??
Summary: Aren't super tech weapons insta-death?
Keywords: GURPS DEATH ULTRA
Date: 7 Apr 92 19:50:45 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: web-2e.berkeley.edu
Originator: labc-4ac@web-2e.berkeley.edu

I was playing inan extensive GURPS Supers/Ulta Tech game and we came accross
an interesting problem with Ultra Tech, and to a lesser extent Supers.  With
the amazingly HUGE numbers of dice involved in damage (20D6 dino-lasers) and
the huge DR's of the super high tech armor, for us a hit was either bounced
by armor, or fried the character.  The shot either didn't penetrate the armor
or it penetrated with 10+ hitd and toasted the PC.  What ever happened to
injury's??  Have other people had this problem?

 -=- Matthew L. Seidl

ps. This came up first in a test combat, where the characters decked out
in tech 8-9 weapons were sneeking arround a wood/stone building and the
bad guy inside (wearing power armor) just walked through the wall, hosed
the group with a gatling laser and took off at 40+ miles an hour.
.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,rec.games.design
From: bjbisset@eos.ncsu.edu (BILLY JOE BISSETTE)
Subject: Re: NPCs Weaker than PC's?
Keywords: GDW, Twilight, Dark Conspiracy
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 20:09:45 GMT

In article <1992Apr8.144455.27941@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>, c9e-al@danube.Berkeley.EDU (Chua Hak Lien) writes:
|> I can see how this fits into the concept of the PC as a 'heroic' character,
|> 
|> Chua
|> ====

You've countered your point with the above statement.  The games are made to
favor the heroic.  If you like the game, but don't like this fact, spend more
time developing your enemies.

Have them act intelligently.  Not everything of low intelligence has a 
breeding rate high enough to keep from being slaughtered, so they must have 
learned something.

Shifting the game away from combat is antoher solution.

Put more than people against the characters.  For example, TMNT characters are
vastly stronger than the average untrained (and sometimes trained) human.
However, they are mutant animals, and risk their life whenever they come
outside.  Both government and non-government agencies may be after the mutants
not to mention the fact that they can't even go buy bread without something
happening.
 
About the most time consuming way is to get rid of or reduce the number of
generic NPCs.  Make the NPCs more powerful.  Create that Sergent as you would
a PC.  I'm sure you get the idea.  I did when I got sick of blowing away
PC fodder.  Of course, games like Star Wars are meant to be played with the PCs
having advantages because it is a space opera, and of course, teh Empire has
a very high breeding rate.
 
-- 
----------bill the clueless, bjbisset@eos.ncsu.edu
Go, Go, Gadget Clue.  No, Gadget Clue, not Gadget Hammer!  Help Brain!
What do you mean, "The Swedish Chef got him."  Stop Gadget Hammer!
No, not Gadget Flame! Stop!  Stop!!
From: dseal@armltd.co.uk (David Seal)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: AD&D Char Death < GURPS Char Death
Date: 10 Apr 92 03:01:11 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: A.R.M. Ltd, Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambs, UK

In article <1992Apr5.201543.25456@ncar.ucar.edu> urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu
(Art Urban (PROFS)) writes:

>Losing a GURPS character due to death is harder than losing an AD&D character
>due to death, because it takes so long to create a GURPS character. 
>
>This statement is not intendend to start a flame war (although it probably
>will...). I have played, for years, both systems, and losing my AD&D characters
>was much easier than GURPS. I spend perhaps 30 minutes making a GURPS
>character (using software!), whereas when I played AD&D, it took about
>five minutes. The ability to quickly put together a new PC, made the 
>attachment to the character less bonding; it was less of a waste of time.

I certainly agree with this, though I may be influenced by the fact that the
group I play GURPS with is more roleplaying-oriented than the AD&D group!

One other point to bear in mind is that being raised from the dead is *much*
easier in AD&D than in GURPS. It takes a single 9th level cleric to do the
job in AD&D: in the process, the cleric runs out of 5th level spells, but
still has lots of spell power left. As I remember it, the GURPS spell
requires 300 strength points. A reasonable way to achieve this might be to
cast it ceremonially, using a circle of 10 mages, each spending say 8 points
of bodily ST and draining a 12 point Powerstone, plus a congregation of 100
people contributing spectator strength (no easy thing to arrange, since you
need to be certain none of them is secretly opposed to the spell). The chief
mage needs a very high skill (24+) in the spell because of the minuses for
all his assistants. And afterwards, all the mages concerned are exhausted
and the Powerstones need 12 days to recharge...

The result is that in AD&D games I've played, we've generally been able to
afford to get dead characters raised from about 5th level onwards, and
sometimes even earlier. In contrast, only one of the GURPS games I've played
in has had any suggestion that raising people from the dead might be
possible, and there are strong indications that although it is possible, it
is probably far beyond what we can afford :-)

So another reason to make it more difficult to lose a GURPS character to
death than an AD&D character is that death is far more final in GURPS.

David Seal
dseal@armltd.co.uk

All opinions are mine only...
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: cs201139@umbc5.umbc.edu (cs201139)
Subject: Re: AD&D:  Problems with 1st ed. Bard
Organization: University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, Academic Computing Services
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 14:41:27 GMT

The best bard ever created in print has been the one in Dragon Magazine. The
1st Edition was so unsure of it that they made it an optional class all the
way at the back of the book and 2nd Edition screwed it up completely by making
it a Theif sub-class. If you have any old Dragons or if you have the 
Best Of Dragons then look in either Dragon #56 or Best Of Dragon Vol. III.
From: gt9405b@prism.gatech.EDU (Lynn Richard Akers)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: SRUN: Cyberware & sanity loss
Date: 12 Apr 92 08:18:46 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <1992Apr11.173440.1@gacvx1.gac.edu> tyros@gacvx1.gac.edu writes:
>Shadowrun offers the character score of essence to limit the amount of
>cyberware a person can accomodate. But is there any side effects to having your
>brain and various members of your body scrambled with tinfoil? The sourcebook
>mentions the loss of sanity as the cyberware is added, but does not give any
>guidelines on how to incorperate this loss into the campaign. Perhaps the
>creators assumed that these players' characters should be played a little (or
>real) nuts. However, I find that this does not inflict any real problem for
>gameplay. Therefore I suggest a sanity loss table according to cyberware
>essence loss. Any suggestions? -Tyros

    Well, it's just up to the GM and the player to work out some form of
psychosis or neurosis that:
          A) The player thinks is fun.
          B) Can get the character in trouble.

    I played a really wired Decker/Rigger with smartgun link and totally
cybered eyes in my only real SRun campaign.  Plus a few more curios.  He
ended up with an essence of .2 or the like.  He was also party leader as
I, the player, ended up defaulting as party leader since no one else did
anything without being told.  Well, the psychosis that developed over the
course of a few adventures was a slight tendency not to be too worried
about being hurt.  Very slight.  Like the time I was fighting what basically
amounts to several AI's all working in concert (you'd really have to meet
my GM to understand) and I threw the entire pool into attack.  Or the time
we went to that trog bar to talk to the leader of a group we just had a
fight with.  Somehow, we managed to live through all these little scrapes,
although the scary thing is that everybody still followed me as group
leader.  I just don't know about some people.
                            Lord Goodgulf the Wizard

-- 
Lynn Richard Akers                                                              "Her name was Cind.  She was very, very young and very, very lovely.  It was
that special kind of beauty that grabbed at the heart through the loins.  Cind  was also one of the most highly regarded practitioners of that supremely lethal
art--sniping."    Allan Cole and Chris Bunch, The Return of the Emperor         uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt9405b
Internet: gt9405b@prism.gatech.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu (Art Urban (PROFS))
Subject: AD&D Char Death < GURPS Char Death
Organization: Atmospheric Technology Division/NCAR, Boulder, CO
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1992 20:15:43 GMT

I would like to hear comments on the following view point; mine, in fact.

Losing a GURPS character due to death is harder than losing an AD&D character
due to death, because it takes so long to create a GURPS character. 

This statement is not intendend to start a flame war (although it probably
will...). I have played, for years, both systems, and losing my AD&D characters
was much easier than GURPS. I spend perhaps 30 minutes making a GURPS
character (using software!), whereas when I played AD&D, it took about
five minutes. The ability to quickly put together a new PC, made the 
attachment to the character less bonding; it was less of a waste of time.

Just as a harmless test, ask yourself which would more of a pain in the 
butt: losing a GURPS character during the very first session of play, or
losing an AD&D character during the first session of play?

The responses will be as varied as there are players, but it will still be
interesting to see them...

--
Art Urban 					       urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu
===============================================================================
 "It's a long way down to the bottom of the warp core..." -STNG
===============================================================================
From: stdnt148@whscdp.whs.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: I'm on the hunt again...
Date: 15 Apr 92 20:20:24 GMT
Article-I.D.: whscdp.1992Apr15.142024.395
Organization: Washington HS, Milwaukee, WI

Hello again.  I'm looking for the authors of the following stories:
1) Reality Warp
   only seen three episodes
2) I.U.D.C. and The Sick Kids
   A little old, but extremely funny. hoping for more adventures from this set
   of stories.
Please send me more stories, if possible.
Fred Voeltner, STDNT148 at Washington High
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Gregory R Block)
Subject: Re: AD&D  Invisibility/Detection
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 08:55:29 GMT

brunner@kazoo.ssd.loral.com (Brian Brunner) writes:
: Wow... the obvious out in plain sight and nobody can see it...
: must be invisible!

It must.  ;)

: when you cast Detect Magic, you can see the aura of magical things
: in your field of vision (or narrow subset of your field of vision)
: but therein lies the rub... the magic you would discern is invisible.
: Yes it glows like crazy to your sight from which it is hidden.

Doin okay...

: If you had two people, both invisible, one by magic and another
: by natural ability (like a pixie) and cast detect magic AND IF you
: could see invisible naturally (ask your local DeathKnight) you
: could tell which was invisible via magic... you would see the glow upon the
: person you could see.

Right...

: What your players suggested to you is that you allow them to see an
: invisible glow. If the glow off of magical items was as bright as a light 
: spell, looking in the direction of an invisible mage while using a Detect
: Magic MIGHT allow you to see the light, but you would still not see its'
: source...

Except you might not.  It's not a true "light", so it's not affected
by the "light isn't affected by invisibility" rule.  It's not a true
aura in that you're the only one that can see it.  Therefore, since
everything is cloaked and covered up, the magic can't be seen.

It's not a spell that makes items glow, its a spell that makes magical
things appear to glow in your vision, an alteration of your eyes.  Of
course, an altered Detect Magic that actually made things glow would
be another story...  After all, as long as the person is physically
there, the spell would affect him...

: Try asking an undead to look for you... they see (as I rule it) the spirit,
: not the flesh, and I would suggest that illusion/phantasm powers do not
: cloak a spirit. Which is why displacer cloaks don't help you around

Right...  A Detect Life would easily pick the person up.  It, however,
wouldn't be vision-based.  That would be a "sense" thing with 360
capabilities.  Or at least it should.  Invisibility protects you from
being seen by people's eyes, whether magically aided or not.  The only
way around it is to detect invisible, under normal circumstances...

: undead, and why displacers are not in the random monster table in
: the ravenloft module...

;)

: How about a displacer that is drained to 0 levels by a wraith?
: A DisplacerWraith? How about a BlinkWraith? How about
: an air elemental wight?

Hmm.  Yup.  And boy, would you be in for some pain.  ;)  Let's say it
would be a really draining experience...

Greg
-- 
"Walking in London, and you are watching me walk,      gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
 Talking Italian, and you are watching me talk,            Gregory R Block
 Singing in Sydney, and you are sitting right there,
 Feeling you with me, everywhere, everywhere."  -Concrete Blonde
From: stdnt154@whscdp.whs.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Stupid adventures
Date: 10 Apr 92 17:42:55 GMT
Article-I.D.: whscdp.1992Apr10.114255.389
Followup-To: rec.games.frp
Organization: Washington HS, Milwaukee, WI

I was playing AD&D 2nd edition,
and my DM had my friend and myself
on a mission, okay maybe not.

Anyway, we came upon a fountain that
had one of those nude figures standing on
the top.  This one wasn't going to the 
bathroom.  So I decided to chop his 
gonads off, and my friend stick his 
sword up his but. ( We were really bored )

Then the Dm said ,'You see a dark red solution
flowing out of the parts that you cut.'
My friend acted.  The DM said,'The statue screams
with agony and runs of leaking blood all over.'

That was certainly a weird one.  During that adventure,
I accidentally pulled a piece of rope very hard, and 
a pair of orc's hands came with it.  It seems that 
he was going to ambush us.

-- 
''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/
'/''/ Nathan Narloch  /''/''/ Stdnt154@whscdp.whs.edu  /''/''/''/'
/''/' Enforcer Burp  /''/''/ Washington High School, Milwaukee /''
'/''/ Wisconsin 53207 /''/ "Let the games live on, FOREVER..."/''/'
/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''/''