HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: z_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: game vs reality simulation
Date: 30 Sep 92 13:21:05 CST
Distribution: rec
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <1992Sep29.191005.23086@oz.plymouth.edu>, sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan) writes:
> jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim) writes:
>>
>>	Yes, but the trouble is that in GURPS is happens all the time for 
>>people of HT 15 or greater. A quick check with a calculator will reveal 
>>that there is over a 50% chance that these people will have to be taken 
>>down to -5*HT in order to kill them. 
> 
> I find it odd that you open this post with a discussion of brain shots
> and then ignore it here, where it is most relevent.  There is an easy way
> to take down even a berserker of HT 15: brain shot.  Do over half HT in
> damage and the victim is automatically knocked out - no HT roll allowed.
> 

	The only problem is that a brain shot is -7 to-hit. For *most* PCs,
they are going to be hard pressed to hit. OTOH, a vitals shot is only -3, a
much more reasonable chance for most PCs (I've noticed that most 'primary' 
weapon skills run from 13-16 in my campaigns, the higher end usually taken by 
people with high DX, high IQ, and skill with a firearm). 
       Personally, I'd say: high skill --> head, average skill --> vitals

Brandon Cope

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: durrell@pinball.arcade.uiowa.edu (Bryant Durrell)
Subject: Re: Storyteller System (Was:  WereVamp->Ars)
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 14:03:36 GMT
Organization: University of Iowa

In article <1992Oct3.221244.10231@news.columbia.edu> jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim) writes:
>durrell@pinball.arcade.uiowa.edu (Bryant Durrell) writes:
>>peterw@cs.man.ac.uk (Peter Wake) writes:
>>>6)  Difficulty above 9 for any task causes complete system break-down.

>>I don't see how allowing for incredibly difficult things makes
>>the system break down.

>	What breaks down is that against a difficulty of 10, having more 
>dice doesn't really help you: an experienced master is *more* likely to 
>botch than an untalented beginner. 
>	No matter how many dice you have, the average number of successes 
>is always zero. As you get better (more dice), then the chance of successes 
>increases, but so does the chance of botches. 

Your second paragraph is correct.  Your first paragraph is wrong.
(IMHO, of course.)  What actually happens is that while the chances
of a botch are the same for both master and tyro, a master is more
likely to either fail or succeed in a spectacular way.  One might
argue that a master is more likely to try some obscure technique 
that will either work really well or fail in a big way...and I note
that the master doesn't *have* to use all his dice.

Bryant Durrell
durrell@chop.isca.uiowa.edu
From: aking@crc.ac.uk (Mr. A.W. King)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Storyteller System (Was:  WereVamp->Ars)
Date: 5 Oct 92 10:22:20 GMT
Organization: MRC Human Genome Resource Centre


Just a quick note, the following is not true:

You can never have more than ten dice in one roll.

Celerity adds to Dex and Potence to Strength so e.g. Dex(5)+Skill(3)+Cel(3)=11

Andrew
From: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Character Development - pointwise
Date: 29 Sep 92 15:01:49 GMT
Reply-To: jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim)
Organization: Columbia University

jbridson@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes:
>For every 2 developpment points spent (or points gained in a particular 
>skill/stat) you must *subtract* one point (from a skill/stat).
...
>Basically, this will mean that the player slowly devalues the stats/skills 
>that are of no use to the character (that s/he doesn't often use) and 
>increase those of importance.  A simple way of simulating "rusty" skills.

	This sounds like it is fine. As an additional rule - characters 
should record the maximum level which a given skill was brought to. Then 
're-learning' a skill back to that level should be at half cost. (This was 
discussed on r.g.design for a while.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Kim                    | "Deservin's got nothing to do with it."
jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu |
Columbia University         |                - William Munny, 'Unforgiven'
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.archives
From: sandhoff@csus.edu (John F. Sandhoff)
Subject: Corrected binary images available
Originator: sandhoff@syscube.ccs.csus.edu
Keywords: archives
Organization: California State University Sacramento
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 23:28:14 GMT

Thanks to Dan Muntz there are now corrected binary download images for six
games (bedlam, blitz, crazy, narrow, spinball, startrek) now available on
the Anonymous-FTP archives. Host csus.edu, directory /pub/vectrex/fixed.
Note that the large tar file containing everything has *not* yet been updated.

    John F. Sandhoff, University Network Support
      California State University Sacramento - USA
        sandhoff@csus.edu

-- 

Test signature
From: rpfaff@umiacs.umd.edu (Ray Pfaff)
Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
Subject: Re: Update: Vectrex for Sale
Date: 5 Oct 92 13:42:59 GMT
Organization: UMIACS, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

Sorry that I can't include the previous message on this subject,
but the buyer doesn't have to beware with COD also.  If you get a
certified or cashiers check (I forget which, ask your bank), UPS
will accept either as cash, but you have until the check is cashed 
to cancel it.  This gives you about 2 days to check out the equip-
ment.
Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu (Brian Casper)
Subject: Re: Names, descriptions, and corruptions?
Originator: bcasper@c00100-100lez.eos.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 15:57:03 GMT


> Here's a slightly more filled in version of Pete's list:
> (please fill in the holes and make any changes and then repost)
> (remove ?'s if you are certain that it's right)

I made some changes/additions...  Above rules still apply.


File		Name		Description		Corrupt?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4drotcub.gam   Demo of rotating 4D hypercube
5mine-2d.gam     (hacked version of minestorm?)
6mine-2d.gam     (hacked version of minestorm?)
animact.gam    Animaction      animated paint program?
animav22.gam
armor.gam      Armor Attack    tank arcade game
art.gam        Art Master      paint program?
bedlam.gam     Bedlam
berzerk.gam    Berzerk         maze arcade game
blitz.gam      Blitz           football                    corrupt
castle.gam     Star Castle     arcade 
chasm.gam      Cosmic Chasm
crazy.gam      Crazy Coaster                               corrupt
dualvec1.gam      (looks like part 1 of a networking experiment?)
dualvec2.gam      (looks like part 2 of a networking experiment?)
etch.gam       Etch-a-sketch   Needs light pen
headsup.gam    Heads Up        soccer
hyper.gam      Hyperchase      racing 
loader.gam
melody.gam     Melody Master   music maker
mine.gam       Minestorm       similiar to asteroids
mine3.gam      Minestorm 3D    3D asteroids like game
mole.gam       Zoom view of/around a molecule
narrow.gam     Narrow Escape 
narzod.gam     Fortress of Narzod   Shoot enemies in trench and approach fort
polar.gam      Polar Rescue    Submarine game
pole.gam       Pole Position   racing arcade
prelude.gam     Bach prelude/fugue
ripoff.gam     Rip Off         arcade
scramble.gam   Scramble        arcade
solar.gam      Solar Quest     arcade (similar to Rip Off) 
space.gam      Space Wars      arcade (2-player combatoid)
spike.gam      Spike           (humorous) talking Donkey Kong
spinball.gam   Spinball        pinball
starhawk.gam   Star Hawk       Deathstar trench
startrek.gam   Star Trek       1st person space game
sweep.gam      Clean Sweep     Pac Man like game
test.gam        Vectrex self test
webwars.gam    Web Wars        Pick up treasures and kill X's

-- 
-- 
Brian Casper                |   "I like to study psychologists.  It gives
bcasper@eos.ncsu.edu        |    good insight into what rats are thinking."
  Pinball Consultant        |     -  Dr. Oscar Wesler
Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: jonathan@vort.cuc.ab.ca (Jonathan Levine)
Subject: archives & FAQ
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 15:24:50 GMT

Would someone be so kind as to direct me to the archives I've been reading
about (for game binaries and the like) and send me a copy of the FAQ?

Thanks very much in advance.

Jonathan

-- 
Jonathan Levine (voice) 403-686-0473 | Digital Alternatives      (Calgary AB)
                (fax)   403-686-1254 | Virtual  Universe         (Calgary AB)
uucp:        jonathan@vort.cuc.ab.ca | Survival Research Laboratories (SF CA)

Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: galt%peruvian.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Greg Alt)
Subject: Re: hardware questions
Date: 26 Sep 92 03:55:50 MDT
Followup-To: rec.games.vectrex 
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept
Distribution: world 

In article <1992Sep25.173525.23282@julian.uwo.ca> magundi@gaul.csd.uwo.ca (john macdonald) writes:
>A set of sega lcd glasses would probably work just fine if they could
>be set up to send a sync message to the vectrex at the right timing.
>You would lose the colour effect.

How good is the color effect anyway?  Also, I think that sega glasses 
shouldn't be too tough to get to work.  You would need to have some sort
of clock that drives the glasses at a constant speed, and just send the
clock signal to the vectrex.  

Does anyone have know about the pins for the joystick, the light gun and
the imager?  I imagine that there are 2 analog input lines, 4 digital input
lines, and a ground and +5, and possibly one other.  

Oh, also, I took my Blitz! cart and removed the chip and soldered in a ZIF
socket.  I then plugged the chip into the socket and noticed that the cart
won't fit into the cart-slot opening anymore; the socket gets in the way of
the edge of the case.  Now a few questions...  Is there anything that I 
need to do to get a standard 8k eprom to work (switching pins around, etc)?
I kind of assumed (or maybe I heard someone say it) that you just need to
replace the chip with a socket, but maybe the 8k ROM they use has a different
pinout than standard 8k EPROMs.  Also, does anyone know of an easy way to get
the cartridge to fit?  Like maybe some kind of cardedge extender?  I don't
like the idea of having to desolder the socket and either replace it with a
normal socket or running wires from the card to the socket, though I think 
the latter would be the most elegant if done right.

----
"Dwayne Dibly?!" - The Cat (I've seen 5th season.  Have you?)
----
Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: pashdown@javelin.sim.es.com (Pete Ashdown)
Subject: Re: Corrupt archives?
Keywords: archives
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 16:36:18 GMT

sandhoff@csus.edu (John F. Sandhoff) writes:

>Eons ago Dan Muntz sent out info about errors in the binaries on the
>archives. I still haven't fixed the archives :-( but here's info on
>what's wrong:

>(This is from Dan Muntz, dmuntz@dip.eecs.umich.edu)
[etc]

These diffs will work on UNIX if you replace all the back single quotes (')
with a space.  However, I could not get the Bedlam patch to work properly.  It
padded the 3968 file, but only to 3976.  Instead, I just loaded the binary
into emacs and padded it by hand.

Of course, none of this has been tested yet, so I may have seriously screwed
things up.
-- 
	"Oh, save me from these pale green pants with nobody inside!"

DISCLAIMER: My writings have NOTHING to do with my employer.  Keep it that way.
Pete Ashdown    pashdown@slack.sim.es.com    ...uunet!slack.sim.es.com!pashdown
Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: pashdown@javelin.sim.es.com (Pete Ashdown)
Subject: Re: hardware questions
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 15:59:31 GMT

dmuntz@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Daniel A Muntz) writes:

>All of the games will fit on a single 27020 EPROM
>(I piggy-backed a pair of 27010's before I realized the 020 could be
>programed "manually" in two passes).  

Could you provide instructions on how to do this?  How do you switch between
each individual game?
-- 
	"Oh, save me from these pale green pants with nobody inside!"

DISCLAIMER: My writings have NOTHING to do with my employer.  Keep it that way.
Pete Ashdown    pashdown@slack.sim.es.com    ...uunet!slack.sim.es.com!pashdown
From: v131pvwg@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Harry S Gong)
Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
Subject: For Sale
Date: 1 Oct 92 15:27:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

I have a Vectrex system in very good condition along with a working
3-D viewer and the following 12 carts.

Fortress of Narzod
Blitz
Armor Attack
3-D Minestorm
Heads Up
Pole Position
Hyperchase
Spike
Web Wars
Cosmic Chasm
Scramble
Star Trek
Berserk

and a defective Clean Sweep.
I am looking for about $120 for the whole thing.  No manuals or boxes, all
the overlays are there however.  I really don't know how I would get the 
thing to most people, but I am open to replys.

							Harry 
Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: dmuntz@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Daniel A Muntz)
Subject: Re: Update: Vectrex for Sale
Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept., Ann Arbor
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 05:59:51 GMT

In article <67102@cup.portal.com> Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes:
>One thing you can do to give yourself a little more confidence,
>especially if you're the seller, is to send the merchandise by
>UPS, COD..  (Collect On Delivery).   It costs about $3.00 extra,

They charge $5 here, but this may vary.

>but it's worth it (and I usually make the buyer pay the extra
>fee anyway).
> 
>The buyer doesn't have to send a check off to some stranger and
>hope they'll actually send the items..   and the seller is
>assurred of getting his money.  You can specify that you will
>only accept Cash.. (no checks), and UPS will collect your money
>when they deliver the package to the buyer.
> 
>The only real risk is to the buyer.. he gets a box (which UPS
>won't let him open before paying for it), but he can't be sure
>there's anything inside it.

This is exactly wrong.  The seller takes risk, the buyer has *no* risk.
"Cash only" means UPS/FedEx will not accept a personal check, but
will accept a cashier's check or a money order (in the case of
fedex, they *won't* take cash).  A money order, and in some cases
a cashier's check, can be cancelled after giving it to the shipper.
If the package is not as claimed by the seller, or the buyer wants to
try to rip off the seller, the money order can be cancelled (hopefully no one
plans on doing this ;-)   The seller has no guarantee that the package will
be accepted or that money will actually be received.

  -Dan


Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: davewt@NCoast.ORG (David Wright)
Subject: Email server site for games
Organization: North Coast Public Access *NIX, Cleveland, OH
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 01:51:22 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.vectrex
Summary: If you don't have FTP...
Keywords: Vectrex Archives via Email


	I will be putting the vectrex stuff up on my email server. If you
don't have FTP access, this may work for you. Basically, I have two seperate
sets of files. One of which contains the games & etc. stuff. The other which
contains misc. info and some pascal source. If you want to try and get at
it, the email server is at "impinfo@Prism1.COM". If your site doesn't like
that, try "prism1!impinfo@NCoast.ORG". To receive a list of the files
available place "send vect.index" in the message body. You can also do
"send help" to get a complete set of instructions.
	Would someone want to add this site to the FAQ?

				Dave

Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: pashdown@javelin.sim.es.com (Pete Ashdown)
Subject: Names, descriptions, and corruptions?
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 13:59:33 GMT


Here is a list of games from the archive.  If anyone can fill in the blanks,
please do so.  Also, the archive hasn't been updated since 1988.  Dan Muntz
states that there were several corrupt files and he uploaded replacements.  It
appears that they were lost.  If Dan or anyone else can state which files are
bad, it would be of great help.  I don't want to have to burn the EPROM only
to find out I wasted my time.

File		Name		Description		Corrupt?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4drotcub.gam
5mine-2d.gam
6mine-2d.gam
animact.gam	Animaction
animav22.gam
armor.gam	Armor Attack	tank arcade game
art.gam		Art Master
bedlam.gam	Bedlam
berzerk.gam	Berzerk		maze arcade game
blitz.gam	Blitz		football
castle.gam	Star Castle	arcade
chasm.gam	Cosmic Chasm
crazy.gam
dualvec1.gam
dualvec2.gam
etch.gam
headsup.gam	Heads Up	soccer
hyper.gam	Hyperchase
loader.gam
melody.gam	Melody Master	music maker
mine.gam	Minestorm	asteroids clone
mine3.gam	Minestorm 3D	3D asteroids clone
mole.gam
narrow.gam
narzod.gam	Fortress of Narzod
polar.gam	Polar Rescue
pole.gam	Pole Position	racing arcade
prelude.gam
ripoff.gam	Rip Off		arcade
scramble.gam	Scramble	arcade
solar.gam	Solar Quest
space.gam
spike.gam	Spike		talking Donkey Kong
spinball.gam
starhawk.gam	Star Hawk	Deathstar trench
startrek.gam	Star Trek	Trek arcade game?
sweep.gam
test.gam
webwars.gam	Web Wars
-- 
	"Oh, save me from these pale green pants with nobody inside!"

DISCLAIMER: My writings have NOTHING to do with my employer.  Keep it that way.
Pete Ashdown    pashdown@slack.sim.es.com    ...uunet!slack.sim.es.com!pashdown
Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: dmuntz@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Daniel A Muntz)
Subject: Re: hardware questions
Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept., Ann Arbor
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 17:10:30 GMT

In article <1992Sep28.155931.17077@javelin.sim.es.com> pashdown@javelin.sim.es.com (Pete Ashdown) writes:
>Could you provide instructions on how to do this?  How do you switch between
>each individual game?

None of the vectrex games are more than 8k and with the games and non-games
in the archive there are ~30 "games" you'd like to put on a multi-cart.
Think of the 27020 as 32 8k banks: wire the low address lines (for addressing
the low 8k) to the vectrex address lines.  I ran the upper 5 address lines
to spdt switches to do bank selection.  With some care, and a lot of
wiring, you can put the whole thing in a vectrex cartridge with the 5 switches
mounted on the end.  A few people have suggested writing a program to do
game selection, but I don't know of anyone successfully completing such a
system.  BTW: as a simplification, make the 4k games into 8k games by tacking 
on 4k of garbage or 'cat 4kgame 4kgame > 8kgame'.

There seem to be quite a few programmers that will do 27010 chips, but not
the 020.  I programmed the 020 by bending up the high address pin and
wiring it manually to Vcc and GND to program it in 2 passes.

I've also had some requests for the Animaction info.  Here it is in the
original, somewhat cryptic, format.

R=ROM (standard vectrex 8k ROM)
S=Static RAM (2Kx8 6116-4)
D=Decoder (74LS139)
C=Card edge (standard vectrex card edge numbering)
nc=no connection

From these notes I was able to use a 2764 EPROM in place of the ROM (with
the obvious changes in pin assignments) to build an Animaction cartridge.

Disclaimer:  I can't guarantee these are correct.  Use them at your own
	     risk.

Connections:

D1-C16
D2-C31
D3-C33
D4-R20
D5-D13
D6 nc
D7 nc
D8-S12-S20-R12-C28-C25-C27
D9 nc
D10 nc
D11 nc
D12-S18
D14-R21-C29
D15-C12
D16-S24-R24-C2
S1-R1-C3
S2-R2-C5
S3-R3-C7
S4-R4-C9
S5-R5-C11
S6-R6-C13
S7-R7-C15
S8-R8-C17
S9-R9-C19
S10-R10-C21
S11-R11-C23
S13-R13-C26
S14-R14-C24
S15-R15-C22
S16-R16-C20
S17-R17-C18
S19-R19-C14
S21-C30
S22-R22-C8
S23-R23-C6
R18-C10

  -Dan
From: v131pvwg@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Harry S Gong)
Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
Subject: Update: Vectrex for Sale
Date: 2 Oct 92 14:04:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

Well, much to my surprise I have gotten 18 responses to my post.  I am looking
currently at all the offers I have received.  I must, however, say that if
a good opportunity arises within the same state as myself (NY) me and my wife
would take it rather than dealing with a big trust issue with sending and
receiving money.  I am currently looking seriously into two offers, one which
requires a little time on my part to learn the postal system.  Oh...well
We will see

							Harry Gong
v131pvwg@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu
(you were right, sorry) 
Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: lunatic@netcom.com (Lunatic Johnathan Bruce E'Sex)
Subject: Re: Vectrex stuff for sale (wotta lunatic!)
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 92 12:14:55 GMT
Organization: Netcom; Renegade User

.
    ]-[ey!  Watch what you're calling people on the groups that I
 frequent!  (:
 
 (I legally changed my first name to Lunatic, over two years ago.
 That's the whole thing, on my driver's licence and everything,
 below.)

-- 
   _______________________________________________________
  /         -= Lunatic Johnathan Bruce E'Sex     (:      /
 /  lunatic@netcom.com  GEnie: LUNATIC  CI$: 76170,672  /
/______________________________________________________/
Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: dmuntz@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Daniel A Muntz)
Subject: Re: Vectrex stuff for sale (wotta lunatic!)
Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept., Ann Arbor
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 21:42:46 GMT

In article <26SEP199214024459@vax.sonoma.edu> poff@vax.sonoma.edu (thomas poff) writes:
>This guy is nuts.  Take my advice and don't pay more than $100 for a Vectrex
>game unit, $5-$10 per cartridge, and $10-20 for an extra game control unit.
>
>Most of the unusual game-stuff he has is available via anonymous ftp.  If you
>have access to ROM burners, you can make it yourself.

Put up or shut up.  Do you have some vectrex equipment you'd care to sell for
less?  Perhaps you'd care to tell us a source?  Vectrex equipment has changed
hands for far more than I am asking (and I've paid more).  I'd take the number
of offers I've had as proof that the prices are not unreasonable.

As for burning roms and building cartridges, I've made many contributions to 
this group in this area.  I butchered my own Animaction cartridge and posted
instructions for building one, along with posting new versions of binaries
which were corrupt in the archive.  Some people collect the cartridges/boxes/
manuals, etc. *as* collector's itmes, not just for game play.

>Vectrex console with 2 controllers and the following games: Blitz,
>Armor Attack, Star Hawk, Clean Sweep, Star Trek, Rip Off, Cosmic Chasm, 
>Hyperchase, Berzerk, Scramble, Solar Quest  - b.o >= $150

BTW: $100 for vectrex + $5/game -> $150 (for which I've already accepted an 
offer of $150) : people have sold lesser systems here for > $200

  -Dan

Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex
From: rmills@controls.ccd.harris.com (Richard C. Mills)
Subject: What is vectrex?
Organization: Harris Controls and Composition
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 19:28:07 GMT

	I've been reading the posts for a while and it all sounds pretty
interesting, but I still have no idea what vectrex is.  Could someone please
clue me in.  Or is there a FAQ sheet somewhere that tell about vectrex?
Thanks.

		-Richard Mills

Newsgroups: rec.games.vectrex