HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: max@crash.cts.com (Max Callahan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Hero System damage
Date: 22 Aug 92 07:01:35 GMT


	Okay, I've been following this thread for some time now and there
seems to be some misunderstanding about how the hero system handles damage.

1) "A normal can destroy a car in minutes with his bare hands" A Normal
(STR 10, SPD 2) does 2d6 normal damage, this means an average of 7 stun and 2
body. Cars don't take stun so we can ignore it. Now, a honda prelude has 3 DEF
this means that the average punch from a normal will do no damage to the car
one punch in 36 will do 4 body (two sixs on two dice) this will then do one
body to the honda, it has 15. Simple multiplication shows that it will take 
the normal 540 punches to render the car inoperative, this will take him
54 minutes. I invite any one who has a problem with this to hit a car 540 
times and see if it will still run.

2) "Tanks should have more DEF (35-50) to make the competive with supers"
For the purpose of argument let's say the average super has 12DC attacks and
a 6 speed (this is a little high for a lot of games). Now a 12 DC (damage
class) attack would be either 12D6 normal, or 4D6 killing, I'm working with 
4D6 killing because the math is much easier. A 4d6 killing attack does an
average of 14 body and 35 stun. Tanks don't take stun, so we can ignore it.
A Tank has 16 DEF on it's sides, and 20 DEF on its  front, this means that the 
average attack from the average super will do NO DAMAGE to the tank. rom the
side, and a .027% chance of doing any damage from the front (this is with the
4d6 killing attack, the 12d6 odds are much worse). What this all means is that
a super has to hit the tank 32 times from the side to kill it, or 410 times 
from the front to kill it.

3) "thoes darn normals take to much damage to kill". 3d6 of killing damage will
put the average normal in the bleeding to death range on the average.
this is 3 shots from a .38 caliber handgun. The real world veracity of this
is debatable, but it does work real well for most genres of heroic fiction.

I hope this puts an end to this damn thread so we can go back to doing 
something worthwhile like bashing GURPS.

average super has a 23.9% chance of doing any damage when attacking from the s
From: dlewis@sandia.UUCP (Dave Lewis )
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Survey
Date: 20 Aug 92 12:44:44 GMT
Organization: Sandia Natl Labs, Div. 9224

In article <920818174611_70253.2621_CHC74-1@CompuServe.COM> 70253.2621@CompuServe.COM (Chris & Susan Colvin) writes:
>When you die, where will you go?  (in the ground is not a valid answer)
>
Well actually, my corps won't even go in the ground. I don't believe that 
dead people should take up space that living people could use. OTOH, there
are a lot of people walking around who are esentially brain dead and they
take up a good deal of space. Go figure.

>If you were to die today, would you go to heaven?
>
No. My consciouness or atman will quickly spread out and eventually expand
to touch all points in the universe. Then 42 nanoseconds after my demise it
will, in a fit of Adamsesque Transmystical rage, concentrate and come to
rest in the left nostril (using bi-location of course to be in two places
at the same time) of two people named Chris & Susan Colvin. They will then
hear my mantra "Icky Icky Pa Kanga Bddddrrrrzzz" repeated at regular intervals.
Between each syllable my consciouness will take a moment to completely explore
a black hole or contemplate the dance of quarks in an atom then return to the
joyous task of completing the next syllable.

Eventually Chris and Susan will seek medical help and be institutionalized 
in a facility with nice soft white walls (auditory hallicinations are a dead 
give-away you know). Later after they both have died, my atman will dance on 
their graves and sing hallelujah for 24 nanoseconds before going on to further 
harass them in whatever twisted conception they have for a hereafter, always
taking a few micro-eternties here and there to smell the gluons!

BTW, if you think this sounds hostile, try cathing me on a bad day!

>If you were to die today and God asked you, "Why should I let you into my
>heaven?" What would you say?
>
I agree with another poster, this is definitly Zen. The answer is of course
"What is the difference between a duck? ... One of its legs is alike!"

>What is my "agenda" for asking these questions?  Just curious.
>
Bull cookies! Your agenda is to annoy the hell out of the weirdest crosssection
of the NET I have ever seen collected together in the same post. Alt.motss 
really? Do you even know what that is?

>Bye,
>CDC

NOTE: I trimmed the Newsgroups to just rec.games.frp since I don't know how
follow-ups to this nonesense are being recieved in those groups. I suggest
that other at least consider doing the same.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Lewis
It is inevitable that we shall eventually become indistinguishable from our 
machinery! OR Computers, Martial Arts, and RPGs are better than Sex, Drugs, 
and Rock n'Roll! Well ... Maybe not better than Sex!
uucp:      ...{ucbvax | gatech}!unmvax!sandia!dlewis
InterNet:  unmvax.unm.edu!sandia!dlewis   or   sandia!dlewis@unmvax.unm.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "jeff zeitlin" <jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: survey
Date: 23 Aug 92 00:10:52 EST
Reply-To: "jeff zeitlin" <jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com>
Distribution: rec
Organization: Executive Networks Information

MC::>> If you were to die today and God asked you, "Why should I let you into my
  ::>> heaven?" What would you say?

MC::>I reply, "Well, *SOMEBODY* has to keep your network up and running.
  ::>        Besides, why should I want to get in anyway?  Got any Mega-
  ::>        Traveller players in your local RPG club?"

  Why should there be any MTRAV players in Heaven?  Everyone in Heaven
  (save teh angels and HimSelf) started out on Earth.  There are no
  MTRAV players on Earth (well, there are two, but...).  Therefore,
  there will be no MTRAV players in Heaven.

  J/
  jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com

 * OLX 2.2 * TacTics- candy for dyslexics
--
Executive Network Information System  (914) 667-4567
International ILink Host
From: steve@jetslag.cam.org (Steve Perkins)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re:  RPGA
Date: 21 Aug 92 05:27:30 GMT
X-Original-Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 20:09:10 EST

>    Since that special introductory POLYHEDRON issue appeared at 
> GEN CON '89 there have been 24 issues of POLYHEDRON, increasing 
> from bimonthly to monthly issues in issue #59 (April 1991).
>    Could it be that you gave them an address that was incorrect 
> even slightly?  If you were off even a little bit, being bulk mail, 
> the magazine wouldn't find its way back but would be junked by the 
> post office all these years! 

Well I got one (#50) correctly addressed. Then...nothing. Not a scrap.
No answer to my letter demanding a refund. Just a moment... [rip] [rip]
[rip] ...that was my RPGA network sticker, which I had stuck to the 
inside of my players manual. I would never go back, and have talked
several friends out of joining.

They are better for it!

--
Steve Perkins
steve@jetslag.cam.org
From: Patrick_Andrew_Barnes@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: No longer Re: Dangerous Journeys
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 02:15:27 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
  <darknite.714208518@camelot> <1992Aug19.180240.680@uwm.edu>
  <19AUG199218135532@rosie.uh.edu>

Gee Tammy, for a person berating Gygax for not being able to take some 
negative comments about himself you sure did spout off enough to someone's
negative comments that weren't even directed at you.  And as for Gygax being
pompous, take a look at your own posting and its littany of self praise.  
And speaking of cretins making cheap shots, I certainly think that your 
initial tasteless tacky remark about lobotomizing Gygax's "other head" 
qualifies as the cheapest shot that has been made in this thread.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: quirk@pioneer.unm.edu (Gym Z. Quirk)
Subject: Re: Curious about .frp
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 22:18:02 GMT
Organization: Space and Planetary Image Facility
Distribution: na

In article <1992Aug17.122926.9191@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> cwatters@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Coyt D Watters) writes:
>In article <1992Aug15.013003.58175@cc.usu.edu> sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:
>>Just wondering how many people have:
>>
>>A). Given up on rec.games.frp because it is supposedly going to 
>>    be deleted.
>
>Not Supposedly - IS going to be RMgrouped 25-Aug-92

Yeah...but given the current attidude about rmgroup messages (look at
news.admin for details), how long will it take for all the newsadmins
to get around to implementing it?

>>B). Given up on rec.games.frp because now there are the split 
>>    groups to post in.
>
>The Split is working, much to some nay-sayers (and I was one at first) surprise
>and dismay.

With the exception of some flame-bait in .misc which should have gone
to .advocacy, I - anti-splitter that I was - agree.

>-Coyt


-- 
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk  (Known to some as Taki Kogoma)  quirk@pioneer.unm.edu
 I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be superior to
                          what I have now...
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: bianco@osric.cs.odu.edu (Dave)
Subject: Interactive Gaming (also Re: Email and Postings)
Organization: Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 02:00:54 GMT

In article <1992Aug13.001835.24342@cs.odu.edu> page@hurricane.cs.odu.edu (D.) writes:


   >Any other nosy people who got this far can feel free to reply if they think
   >they can help.  Otherwise, just BUTT OUT!  THIS IS A PRIVATE CONVERSATION!


   This is the reason for email you yo-yo.
   Please keep your postings civil.
   And Fuck Off.

Is it just me, or is ranting about the appropriatness of an email reponse
in this situation kinda funny? 8)

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that I'm finally getting together an online
campaign like I mentioned a couple of months ago...  It's not an invitation
quite yet, but soon.  Right now, I'm looking for alternatives to IRC for "real-time"
group interaction online.  Any suggestions?  I've looked at MCM, but I'd like 
to hear about others people may have used.  Don't want muds (too much programming
time for me right now), just "chat" type things...
--
===============================================================================
David J. Bianco 			Systems Dude & Part time Illusionist
Old Dominion University    			<bianco@cs.odu.edu>
Dept of Computer Science,		"BORGer King:  We do it our way.
Norfolk, VA 23529			 Your way is irrelevant..."
===============================================================================
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp:24675 rec.games.frp.dnd:2661 rec.games.frp.misc:4071
From: wsbusr1@rwa.urc.tue.nl (Boudewijn Wayers)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,rec.games.frp.dnd,rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Character Sheets
Date: 17 Aug 92 11:28:57 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.frp
Organization: Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands

Hi,

Recently, I posted an archive of character sheets to
rec.games.frp.archives, containing about twenty different character
sheets for various systems. Due to running diskfix on my hard disk
without disabling my cache, I lost practically my entire hard disk
contents, including this archive.

Would some kind soul be so nice as to mail me this thing... Thanks in
advance!

Boudewijn Wayers.
Organization: Central Michigan University
Date: Sunday, 23 Aug 1992 07:12:54 EDT
From: <34ZBTXQ@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: RE: Survey

  Personally, I'm a Frizbeterian; I beleive that when you die, your soul goes
up on the roof, and you can't get it down.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp,rec.games.frp.misc
From: psavoie@terranet.cts.com (Pierre Savoie)
Subject: Re: RPGA
Organization: People-Net [terranet], Thornhill Ontario 
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 08:36:12 GMT

    This is stunning!  If you joined the RPGA and paid the annual membership
fees, you SHOULD have gotten issues of POLYHEDRON and the occasional mailing
of GEN CON and MAIL ORDER HOBBY SHOP catalogues!  You lucky Yankees would in
addition get the opportunity for many, many RPGA tournament events at
different conventions.
    Remember the surfing movie "Endless Summer", a documentary where these
people follow the surf wherever it is in the world for a year?!  This is
"Endless RPGAing"...[grin]
    Since that special introductory POLYHEDRON issue appeared at GEN CON '89
(the only GEN CON I have been fortunate to attend, leaving my igloo specially
for the trip), there have been 24 issues of POLYHEDRON, increasing from
bimonthly to monthly issues in issue #59 (April 1991).
    Could it be that you gave them an address that was incorrect even
slightly?  If you were off even a little bit, being bulk mail, the magazine
wouldn't find its way back but would be junked by the post office all these
years!  The central HQ couldn't tell the difference.  A long-shot possibility
is if you somehow annoyed an RPGA bigwig, who were pleased to "lose" your
membership.  But I'm getting PARANOIA...[grin]

UUCP: zoo.toronto.edu!generic!terranet!psavoie
ARPA: generic!terranet!psavoie@zoo.toronto.edu
INET: psavoie@terranet.cts.com
From: westphal@iscnvx.lmsc.lockheed.com (Dorothy Westphal)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: East Bay D&D?
Date: 12 Aug 92 14:00:42 GMT
Distribution: ba
Organization: Lockheed Missiles and Space Co.


(Posted for son of friend; please email response:)

Can anyone tell me of any place/group/organization where a
teen boy can find some compatable souls for playing
Dungeons and Dragons? Preferably in Fremont.
Thanks!

-- 
Dorothy Westphal, Sunnyvale, Calif. % Just when things are going your way...%
westphal@iscnvx.lmsc.lockheed.com   %               they get even better!   %
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: eebonar@sn01.sncc.lsu.edu (Dave Bonar)
Subject: Re: Do U customize games 4 players?
Nntp-Posting-Host-[nntpd-28316]: sn01.sncc.lsu.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4   
Reply-To: eebonar@sn01.sncc.lsu.edu
Organization: News and Views from LSU
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 14:07:57 GMT

In article <1992Aug13.204245.10953@caeco.mentorg.com>, phatch@storm.slc.mentorg.com writes...
> 
>I have had a similar debate.  My conclusion was that the best scenes were created
>when I followed what should be there according to the plot.  If the party is 
>limited in some way, say they don't have a computer specialist, then I don't make
>the scenario hinge on getting stuff out of the computer, though some info may
>be easily assessible there as well.

	I don't want to start any thread as long as the dice thread but
	I'll offer some ideas.  First, does the above see incoherent to
	anyone but me?

	I also feel that many of the best games come about by following the
	plots (where plot is used to mean the reasonable actions of the NPCs
	and their plans).  However, I also feel that this means I, as a GM,
	shouldn't coddle the players.  When the players designed their char-
	acters they made choices about their abilities.  If I completely 
	play down the abilities that they didn't take I'm making a mockery
	of the choice.  Obviously the GM shouldn't insist that the holes in
	the PCs dominate the action, but, they shouldn't be always worked 
	around either.

>As is often the case, the best generalized results come from a combination of 
>theories.  So I rate writing a true to genre plot as being the first obligation.
>Then modify the plot to be playable in your group. Since your group would "smell"
>the spotlight, don't modify things that way.  Modify to make sure the lights don't
>go off because the party has a hole that no player was interested in filling.  That
>is unfair to the players.

	The PCs are supposed to be able to get around the holes in the party.
	Using the modern era merc example, if they don't have a computer
	guy they might have to go in with incomplete data, hire (or otherwise
	obtain) computer help, or maybe decide not to take a certain mission
	because they don't have the proper make up.  But they shouldn't 
	always get offered missions that only need the skills they are experts
	in.

Dave
__________
Dave Bonar
eebonar@lsuvax.sncc.lsu.edu
__________
From: af2e+@andrew.cmu.edu (Alex Feely)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: marvel
Date: 19 Aug 92 15:23:55 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Hello,
I just joined this bboard, but I'd like to say somthing. Has anyone
heard of MARVEL SUPER HEROES! I'm not looking for a game, right now I
play AD&D2, But this is a good game published by tsr, It's even been in
DRAGON magazine. It's high time people recognize it for what it is. It's
far SUPERior to any other comic role-playing system. 

                                                                        
         Sincerely,
                                                                        
     Alex Feely
From: hgarcia@sw.stratus.com (Henry Garcia)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: marvel vs. Champions
Date: 19 Aug 92 22:06:44 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc.

In article <#Nf-3JC@engin.umich.edu>, jlb@engin.umich.edu (Jeffrey Lawrence Bailey) writes:
> I have much debated the systems myself.  (I own both, and have played both.)
> I find people who like the control of character that Champions gives you,
> and I find (and _am_) people who like the freedom that the GM enjoys in
> controlling their world, if they're smart.  I've heard comments that Marvel
> causes unbalanced campaigns if everyone rolls up characters (like having the
> Punisher team up with Adam Warlock and Silver Surfer; while it sells comics,
> the Punisher should experience a massive inferiority complex, and so will the
> player).

	While it's true that you couldend up with a player on the power
	level of the Punisher and another on par with the Silver Surfer
	The odds are probably the same as rolling (in AD&D) a 'super'
	character (i.e. one with many stats 17 or above) and another 
	'wimp'  (i.e. someone with all stats under,say, 10 or so).




> Villains and Vigilantes has less definition than Marvel, and is for those
> gaming groups who have a well-defined world they want to create within a
> system.  That's another reflection of my problem with Champs:  no real esta-
> blished history.  They've tried, and they've got some decent progress with
> VIPER and some of the supplements (I particularly enjoy CLOWNS), but if you
> look at the points for Mechanon, you get this very incongruous 442-point
> "Villain Bonus" that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  Champs simply can't
> deal well with established characters.

	I think, with a little creativity a GM can define their own world 
	for use with the Marvel system.  



	I am by no means claiming the Marvel Super Heros game is everything
	for everybody, it is obviously not.  It was obviously designed to 
	sell supplements (e.g. The index to Marvel heros, or whatever it's 
	alled.  And the various hero supplements X-Men, Avengers, Spider-Man)
	They want you to play Marvel heros, and buy the supplements to get 
	the stats for them.  But I think the system is an ok, fun game to play.

		--Henry
From: bell@cassatt.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: GURPS Total Rewrite
Date: 18 Aug 92 19:10:52 GMT
Organization: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

In article <1992Aug18.032115.9781@tronsbox.xei.com> dfrancis@tronsbox.xei.com (Dennis Heffernan) writes:
>In article <14531@borg.cs.unc.edu> bell@pooh.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell) writes:
>|And what is that measure of utility?  Usefulness in the campaign.  Strength
>|is generally much more useful to someone in a medieval-style campaign than
>|it is to a person in a high-tech scenario.  Thus for the equality idea to
>|be at all meaningful, adjustments in point costs need to be made.

>	I disagree.

No you don't.

>I've played in (and ran) medieval fantasy campaigns
>wherein it wouldn't have been terribly useful to have been the strongest man
>in the world, and modern games where being strong could save your life.

...which is why I qualified what I said with "generally."  In the two
campaigns described above,  strength should be worth more points than in
the latter.

>	How useful anything is has to do mostly with what the players are
>doing, and they have at least as much say in that as the GM.

I'd find little utility for being the world's best combatant with a poleaxe
in this day and age.  If I were transported back to the 1500s,  my knowledge
of C and Unix would be quite useless.  In a futuristic campaign, where bionic
limbs are readily available, losing a limb isn't a major hindrance.  There
are skills and abilities that are (in general) worth more or less at
different times.

>|>	If ST were COMPLETELY useless, then no one would take it no matter how
>|>cheap it was.

>|Only if you're playing with mini-maxers.

>	Sorry, I keep forgeting that the true measure of roleplaying acumen is
>how useless your character is.

Maybe I want to play a character who's strong in a world where strength
isn't meaningful.  Why are you going to charge me a whole lot for it?  If
it is completely useless,  it shouldn't cost any points.  The point cost
is *intended* to reflect the utility of the skill/ability/stat.  If it's
useless but costs points, then the point system is f***ed up, not my
roleplaying acumen.

>|But it isn't desirability to them that's important;  it's desirability in
>|general in the game world that is.  Should they pay for it?  Sure,  but
>|based on that measure of utility, *not* some highly inaccurate universal
>|measure.

>	Again, I disagree.  If they've got it, they'll find a way to get some
>use out of it.

If they can do so easily and get reasonable value for the points, then
it should be worth that many points.  If not, it shouldn't.

>If they're not willing to pay, they don't want it bad enough.

Feh.  Suppose your points system says blond hair is a 100 point advantage.
I bet few people will play blonds.  Why?  Because the points aren't
representative of the value of the item, which contradicts the whole
rationale for the points system in the first place.

    -Andrew Bell
bell@cs.unc.edu
From: ahabig@bigbang.astro.indiana.edu (Alec Habig)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Chili Wars
Date: 14 Aug 92 17:32:19 GMT
Article-I.D.: usenet.BszI1w.F80
Organization: Indiana University Astrophysics, Bloomington, IN

In article <4687@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>	Guess I underestimated the idiocy of Ohians, eh? No one can tell
>the difference between Cincinnati and Cleveland, you know. 

Ooohhh, them's fightin' words in the heartland.  That's like saying to a dwarf
in one of those other systems "never could tell you apart from them elf
people". 

>But go ahead,
>make fun of Pitt if you want; I just live here, I'm not foolish enough
>to be a NATIVE.

Maybe that explains your statement - you're just from the wrong realm.  Nah,
even Pittsburgers know the difference between Cincinnati ("The Queen City") 
and Cleveland ("The Mistake on the Lake").

	Alec

PS - Beer is indeed a leftover from more primitive times.  It's actually "The
Nectar of the Gods".  It's a wonderful supplement to any CHILI-like system,
with the added benefit that there are so many 3rd party distributers that you
can find a module compatable with whatever system you are using!
From: batemanc@p4.cs.man.ac.uk (Mad Chris)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Roleplaying vs. gaming, was Re: Diceless or Senseless?
Date: 14 Aug 92 15:11:27 GMT

millerl@jeremiah.wharton.upenn.edu (Loren J. Miller) opines:

>I know, I know. I was thinking of Risk, which is a dice lover's wet
>dream

Since you know doubt think of me as a 'Dice lover', you might like to know
that I loathe Risk with all my soul, because the die rolls are just
TOO random. Tactics take a back seat to lucky die rolls.

>Anyway, I think Diplomacy is a far better game than Risk. Anybody want
>to argue about that?

Nope.

Blood and Souls for my Lord Arioch!

Mad Chris.