HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: adr9510@zeus.tamu.edu (Trapped in Aggieland)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: SRun: LMG Range Question
Date: 8 Apr 92 17:10:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Apr7.182047.3630@iscsvax.uni.edu>, vanderla4870@iscsvax.uni.edu writes...
>>>>>>[I have played Shadowrun for quite a while now, and it's a lot of fun.
>However, one question has eaten away at me for a long time.     
>Why do LMG's have such an unbelievably short range.

OK, this is going to sound weird, but they have that short a range *on purpose*.
It's not that they don't have the same RANGE as an assault rifle, but that they
are INTENTIONALLY INACCURATE beyond certain ranges. The philosophy is that a MG
is a squad support weapon, and if you've got a squad of Assault rifles and one
MGunner, you don't want the MGunner going and hosing ppl (or even being tempted
to hose ppl) half a km away. So, you give him a weapon that can only be used
inside the maximum reliable range of his squad. This is, in addition to the idea
of quantity over quality: throw lots and lots and lots of lead into a *tiny*
(relatively speaking) area, and you really don't need to worry about aiming.
:) Military logic. Don't ask. :P


>LMG's in Shadowrun have basically the same effective range as SMG's.
>I was just wondering if anyone out there could EMAIL the answer to me.]<<<<<
> 
>        -Gazelle (18:20:18/04-07-52)

I dunno if the E-Mail bounced or not, so I posted it too. Sue me. I needed more
bandwidth in my diet anyway.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron D. Robb, aka The Philosopher   |	Disclaimer: Texas A&M stands staunchly
Somewhere at Texas A&M University    |	behind my every word. Really they do...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I will not eat green eggs and ham, I will not eat it, Son of Sam.
					-AggieCon XXIII 'Quest'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: sl7sg@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Palladium Fantasy: Game worlds
Date: 14 Apr 92 11:05:31 MDT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Utah State University

In article <=q9tjll@rpi.edu>, goldm@sage4a.its.rpi.edu (Mitchell E. Gold) writes:
> For those who do play Palladium Fantasy (or even RIFTS), how many of you
> actually use the PF game world or adapt major parts to their own world? 
> [as per custom, e-mail, I'll summarize]
> 

	I personally thought the world (Fantasy) was just to generic, crankem
out of the mill fantasy.  Actually it wasn't even that.  They just gave the
rules, spells, a little about the world, and expected you to do the rest, It
just isn't colorful enough for me.

		Shade Pendragon
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: guthriew@arcturus.uucp (Wade Guthrie)
Subject: Re: Gaming Despondency
Organization: Rockwell International
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 92 15:32:45 GMT

John Enzinas says:
>	<sigh>^2
Isn't that supposed to be
	<sigh>* <sigh>?

=> (you see, psi is a complex quantity and,...)
-- 
Wade Guthrie (guthriew@arcturus.amasd.anatcp.rockwell.com)
Rockwell International; Anaheim, CA ->  My opinions, not my employer's.

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: jwtlai@jeeves.waterloo.edu (Jim W Lai)
Subject: Re: SRUN Second Edition
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 02:48:20 GMT

In article <1992Apr13.004409.1935@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> pmwg1641@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Peter M. White) writes:
>ktko@athena.mit.edu (Kwanghyon T Ko) writes:
>>Tom Dowd was at ICON XI last weekend and he gave a sneak preview of the Second
>>Edition Shadowrun rules.
>
>>....  Dodge and defense pools are gone.  
>>They are replaced by the combat pool, which is Will+Int+Qu/2.  This refreshes
>>will other pools and can be applied to any combat test, attack or defense.  
>
>No defense pools, huh?  Now, who do you think will benefit the most from
>the combat pool?  [...]  Mages will have the highest
>inherent melee defense ability.  Grunts will not have high int & will.
>I don't want to be the one to break the news to the Trolls.

Cough.  I suppose FASA won't mind too much if I point out in an earlier
version of the playtest rules (and another posting on here, actually) that 
the power rating of weapons has been significantly increased.  Still...

And I prefer my grunts with high int and will.  (Well, ok, I prefer them with
top priority stats.  The rest can be made up for later, if he/she lives.)  Oh,
sure he's not cybered much, but it's a nasty surprise for mages who assume he's
got no will cuz he's not shooting sparks.
From: khise@conquest.ksu.ksu.edu (Martin Andrew Shobe)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: CHAMPS: question on turn sequencing
Date: 17 Apr 1992 11:49:15 -0500
Organization: Kansas State University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: conquest.ksu.ksu.edu


In article <RATINOX.92Apr16171510@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu>, ratinox@meceng.coe.northeastern.edu (Richard Pieri/Stainless Steel Rat) writes:
>>>>>> On 15 Apr 92 20:32:20 GMT, jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim) said:
[Stuff Deleted]
>
>Under 3rd edition, this is true. Under 4th edition, you keep your combat
>maneuver bonuses/penalties until you get to take your next action, not when
>your next action phase comes up.
>

Where does it say this?

>jhk6> Does this mean if he aborts to a dodge on phase 6,
>jhk6> DEX 23, that it lasts only until DEX 20? If he does not abort, but
>jhk6> instead takes dodge as his normal action, does this mean that he gets
>jhk6> the bonus for no time at all? I don't think so.
>
>Take your DEX 20/SPD 4 character from above. On Phase 3, he attacks
>something. On Phase 4, he aborts his 6 to dodge. His DCV goes up by 3, and
>stays that way until either 1) his DEX count in Phase 9 comes up, or 2)
>he's forced to abort to a dive for cover in Phases 5-9 (before his DEX
>count) (he can do nothing else but dodge in 4). Once his DEX count in 9
>comes up, his CV bonuses/penalties go away, since hes next action phase has
>occoured. If he holds his Phase 9 action, he still loses his DCV bonus
>from the dodge. He must dodge again to get that bonus back.
>

Problem is that if a person plans ahead and holds action on phase 3, his dodge
on phase 4 if not aborted lasts until phase 6, and in order to get the dodge to
last to phase nine he has to dodge again.  In this case the aborted dodge took
one action while the non arborted dodge took two.  With both giving the same 
effect.  Aborting to dodge should not be better than a non-aborted dodge. (IMO).
 
>--Rat
>--
>||||| | | | |  |  |  |   |   |    |    |    |   |   |  |  |  |  | | | | | |||||
>                                                   __        ___ 
>Richard Pieri, Northeastern's Stainless Steel Rat/   | /| / /   | The Worlds
>Internet: ratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu /__  |/ |/ / /| | Welfare Works
>    UUCP: ...!northeastern.edu!splinter!ratinox/   | /| / / / | | Association:
>  BITNET: UA_RLP@NUHUB{.BITNET}               /__  |/ |/ / /  | | I will solve
>  USNail: 14 Westdale RD  Holbrook, MA 02343 /   | /| / / /___| | any problem
> ICBMnet: 42 deg 1 min N, 71 deg 0 min W    /    |/ |/ /_//_____| for you.
From: sasso@flounder.phy.anl.gov (John F. Sasso)
Subject: Re: CHAMPS: question on turn sequencing
Organization: Argonne National Laboratory
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 18:26:25 GMT

In article <skbmqINNe1m@centurion.ksu.ksu.edu> khise@centurion.ksu.ksu.edu (Martin Andrew Shobe) writes:
>
>In article <RATINOX.92Apr15205939@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu>, ratinox@meceng.coe.northeastern.edu (Richard Pieri/Stainless Steel Rat) writes:
stuff deleted
>>
>>Then call it a force field instead of armor. Activating a defensive power
>>is a defensive action and may be aborted to.
>>
>
>Maintaining (sp?) the force field is not an action.
>

The rules state that activating a defensive power like FF is a 
0 phase action, and can be done anytime during your own phase.
There is never any need to abort to FF activation.  (I looked this
up yesterday.)

You know, I'm going to have to start bringing my book to work with me
to quote pages.  I think we all should!!!


							John F Sasso




-- 
"The only way to true inspiration is the study of TedDo.  And lots
of MauMau, of course."  The Elvis Lectures
"I am not the False Bob, I am a free man."  The Book of FalseBobs
"Since the introduction of MauMau, HP sales have skyrocketed." Book of MauMau
From: iborchar@physics.adelaide.edu.au (Ian Borchardt)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Playing yourself in GURPS
Date: 12 Apr 92 19:34:11 GMT

We played ourselves in a number of Aftermath campaigns.  All of them
started out with a virulent plague wiping out 99% of the population,
and leaving the remainder as slightly psychotic.  There was about
thirty people playing in these campaigns, and it was interesting to 
see the various strategies taken by the various group; particularly
those trying to rebuild civilization as opposed to those who realise
that they finally can own that lambougini that they have always desired.

Attributes were determined by everyone writing down what they thought
there own attributes were, and then a group of 6 to 10 others would
discuss what they think the person's attributes should be.  The person
then defended any difference between their thoughts and the group
consensus.  This was fun in and of itself.

--
Ian Borchardt                                             the staff is broken
iborchar@physics.adelaide.edu.au                        the sword is sheathed
Medical Physicist                                          the cup is drained
University of Adelaide/Royal Adelaide Hospital              the coin is spent
From: v124jw4y@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Benjamin R Pierce)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Dealing with "you're sick" syndrome...
Date: 12 Apr 92 00:32:00 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1992Apr10.145832.8789@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>, mark@trillian.jsc.nasa.gov (Mark Manning) writes...


>4. Finally, I'd end with this:  "Let's talk reality for a moment if
>   you would.  Remember that D&D is nothing more than a set of books.
>   Some paper, a few pencils, and the like.  Do you seriously think
>   that an inanimate object has control over your life?  Do you think
>   other books - like Stephen King's books should be banned because of
>   what they _might_ do?  What about the Scarlet Letter?  Flowers for
>   Alergeron?  The Moon is a Harsh Mistress?  All of these books are
>   just that - books.  PEOPLE are what commit the crimes - not books.
>   Nor games.  People.






Actually, the very far right wing _has_ suggested banning of some of the books
mentioned, as well as The Lord of the Rings, the Chronicles of Narnia, and the
Wizard of Oz (the rationale behind this last being that the book portrays a 
witch as good...)



                                                      --Ben
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: cpearce@morticia.cnns.unt.edu (Chris Pearce)
Subject: Re: Inspired character names
Organization: University of North Texas
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 16:49:20 GMT

thornt_g@cs.uwa.oz.au (Sebastian Nobwit DeLaBler) writes:

>I also had a group of supervillains from a DCHeroes
>adventure called the 'Chocolate Bars', including
>Mars, Chomp, Crunchie, Snickers, and their leader,
>Turkish Delight. (all of them had powers like an

Funny. The funniest names I ever heard (created by my
GM) were Fruit Pie the Magician, his sidekick Twinkie,
and the king of the land of Hostess, King Ding Dong.
-- 
Chris Pearce -- cpearce@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
--
   "My Lord, I have a cunning plan."
       - Baldric, several times, BA3 / BA4
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: jwtlai@jeeves.waterloo.edu (Jim W Lai)
Subject: Re: SRUN: Heavy weapons as sidearms
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 12:10:50 GMT

I think we're getting a bit sidetracked here.  If someone (or an organization)
wants to off someone, they should hire an assassin if they want subtlety.  Or
if you don't want subtlety, hire a merc team or a competent gang (maybe).  It's
a bit out of the normal working territory of a shadowrun team.

Which reminds me, just how viable is that bounty hunter profession for an
NPC...?
From: jacobus@symphony.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: META: Books for source material...
Date: 7 Apr 92 19:22:21 GMT
Reply-To: jacobus@symphony.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney)
Organization: Purdue University



Some more books/sources:

A History of Religious Ideas, Mircea Eliade--not for the faint-minded, but
well-written and a good read.

Life in a Medieval Barony.  These days it's in the History Section, 20 years
ago, it was in the Childrens' section.

Egyptian Magic--a good summary of the magics of the reputed source of all
magics.

From Fetish to God--traces the history of Egyptian classical religion.

The two Egyptology books above were written in the last century, so be
prepared to ignore a lot of condescension and Victorian narrow-mindedness.


Ecstatic Religions: (partial title, don't remember the rest).  Explores
the social structures of shamanic religions rather well and succinctly.

Shamanism, Mircea Eliade--also not for the faint-minded, but goes into
great detail on the topic.

A History of Philosophy, the Middle Ages and Renaissance--gives a good 
summary of what concerned Medieval thinkers.

Various works by a fellow named Oakeshot--these are still the references
de rigeur in medieval weaponry.
From: jdugger@envy.Reed.Edu (Jay Dugger)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: GURPS: UlTRA Tech ?= Ultra Death??
Date: 8 Apr 92 13:13:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: reed.1992Apr8.131327.8965
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR

In article <rsuelINNcgl@agate.berkeley.edu> labc-4ac@web-2e.berkeley.edu  
writes:
> 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.
> ..

Yes, this is in fact the case.  The lethality of weapons is directly  
proportional to their tech level.  All of the GURPS games I've ever played  
in (with one exception) were sufficiently realistic that this was an  
advantage rather than a problem.  This is also in keeping with spirit of  
TL10+ weapons: "POOF! You're dead."  

In the example you give, you're mixing tech levels anyway.  You should  
have expected bad guy to walk all over the primitives, esp. if he could  
get the first shot off.  Mixing tech levels will do this.  The largest TL  
differential in any game I was ever in had two intelligent species on one  
planet.  The original inhabitants were TL8  The others varied by field,  
ranging from TL10 (stardrives) to TL12 (weapons and medicine).  The more  
advanced race were basically gods to the less advanced species.  This  
wasn't a problem, because the campaign's theme was the problems that the  
primitives had adapting to the presence of the superior species.
From: ward1@husc8.harvard.edu (Lester Ward)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: TROLLS in Shadowrun (what can they do?)
Date: 6 Apr 92 05:30:33 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc8.ward1.702538233

fizban@lopez.UUCP (Jason Hamari) writes:

>Could a Troll with Body (9) and Strength (10) conceivably carry around an
>Assault Cannon as a weapon?  It just seems to me that the Assault Cannon
>would be too heavy of a weapon to carry around by just any ordinary person.

The panther cannon is (I think) 18kg.  Compare this to the M60 machinegun
(13.5kg loaded) and the M2 .50 machinegun (52.6kg loaded).  Given that
6 is MAXIMUM human strength, the above Troll should have no problem.

We don't worry to much about weight in our campaign (check out the rather
leniant encumbrance rules though).  A panther cannon isn't much use for
a real runner.  ("Right, Brian?" he said, tongue firmly in cheek.)

Wordman

"Love is a grave mental disease."
                       -- Plato
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: thaler@fighting-illini.cps.msu.edu (David G Thaler)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: "Rules of the Shadow" in Amber RPG
Date: 16 Apr 92 15:23:04 GMT
Reply-To: thaler@fighting-illini.cps.msu.edu (David G Thaler)
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Michigan State University
Originator: thaler@fighting-illini.cps.msu.edu

In article <kup120INN953@jethro.Corp.Sun.COM> dpm@ignem.Corp.Sun.COM writes:
>I agree.  Amberites wouldn't adjust their mental patterns when shifting
>shadows - otherwise, they'd end up getting lost in some bizarre shadow,
>with no idea who they are.  After all, in most shadows, the people
>don't even believe in the idea of Amber.  If an Amberites mental
>patterns changed to that of the Shadow, the Amberite would constantly
>be forgetting that Amber existed.
>[...]
>If b is the one you choose, then it would be very easy for an Amberite
>to stumble into a Shadow where the physical laws made it impossible for
>the Amberite to exist (for example, a Shadow where molecules don't bond
>together at all).  I think that a is the only real choice.  Amberites
>have enough reality in them for them to sort of carry a localized set
>of rules with them.  The next question is, what about Shadow humans who
>are transported to other Shadows ?
>
>Dave
>aka Kyle, Prince of Amber

While, as has been pointed out, Amberites can suffer some effects
of shadows, like Luke's trip, it cannot (IMHO) change their personality.
The trip was just an effect as if they were under the influence of
a drug (in some shadows, there might be some chemical in the air
to do this :).

Shadow humans don't change either.  For example, Corwin thought nothing
of the fact that Ganelon didn't change a bit when traversing shadows
(like when he exiled him), or that Bleys' and Corwin's armies remained
the same.  They didn't suddenly start speaking Thari or anything.

Of course there exist shadows that are harmful, and traps can even send
one there (Trump traps, whatever... Luke got trapped, Brand got
trapped, etc).  No Amberite would intentionally go there.

A non-nuclear force universe could not be entered, since no Amberite
would willingly shift to there, and I don't believe there's any way
to send someone else to somewhere you can't get to yourself.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Dave Thaler
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: betel@camelot.bradley.edu (Robert Crawford)
Subject: Re: GURPS: Spontaneous NPCs
Organization: Bradley University
Date: 16 Apr 92 18:43:17 GMT


	Well, that is one of the problems with a system like GURPS. I
fixed it by creating generic characters of various types (guards, crew
members, etc.) and only worrying about differences when it matters.

	Also, not every NPC needs stats. One of the most memorable
NPCs (IMHO) in my current game had _no_ stats...
From: cal@fang.att.com (Charles A. Licata)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: GURPS combat time.
Date: 8 Apr 92 11:59:38 GMT
Organization: AT&T Tax Systems Development, Maitland FL

From article <UdsOnvc91Hvk8wdude@rchland.ibm.com>, by seurer+@rchland.ibm.com (Bill Seurer):
[stuff deleted]
> 
> Ah yes, the old
> the-players-are-a-hive-mind-with-inifinite-speed-of-thought problem.
> They take 10 minutes to discuss the next 1 second of combat.
> 
> An easy solution to this is to allow each player 5 seconds (or less) to
> state what they are doing when their turn comes up.  Can't decide?  Too
> bad!  They stand there looking dumb.  Roll defensive manuevers at the
> same time as offensive ones too.
[stuff deleted]
> 
> - Bill Seurer    Language and Compiler Development     IBM Rochester, MN
>   Internet: BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com          America On-Line: BillSeurer

This brings up the point of how a character's Iq relates to thr 5 sec
deadline.  A player is not necessarily as good a thinker as the character
he is playing.  What I have done in GURPS is allowed players to roll
VS the character's IQ and for every point of success the player gains
a bonus.  In the case stated by bill I would allow the player 1 extra
sec to the 5 sec limit for every point of success.  

A good example of this I used in last weeks game play.  The character's 
met a man who offered to free them from a forest they were currently stuck 
in.  The man did this by drawing a square on a wall and muttering some words.  
Magically a pattern appeared.  This pattern was a portal that shifted every 
second and each pattern led to a differnet location.  With each character 
going through seperatly the players had to remember the pattern the first 
character went through.  I had five different patterns drawn up and the 
players were shown them at 1 sec intervals in different orders and they had 
to try to guess which pattern was the right pattern so the party would not 
be seperated.  To use the IQ of the character to the players benefit I allowed 
the player to roll VS the character's IQ and for every point of success 
I gave the player an extra guess if they ended up guessing wrong.

Chuck
From: loren@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu (Loren Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Steve Jackson Games is gone?
Date: 8 Apr 92 17:32:50 GMT
Organization: Wharton Marketing

I think that more people ought to post bald faced lies on this newsgroup. 
This conversation has been a lot more fun than it would have been if the 
topic had been, for instance, why gurps blows ad&d out of the water and vice 
versa.

Who wants to post the next one?

-- 
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller              LOREN@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu
Shoes are the most basic prerequisite for liberty
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp