HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dleland@dante.nmsu.edu (LELAND)
Subject: Re: cluelessness in mystery games (prep vs improv)
Organization: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 18:05:37 GMT

Regarding the player's expereinces in "get the clues" kind of games, I can
say this is sadly all too common. I have been in games where you have the
famous "clues flying around like clouds of bats" and the PCs feel like total
IDIOTS because they can't guess what's on the GM's mind. It is very hard to
play this kind of game unless you know the GM very well, at least in my own
opinion. Why? Because the GM will have his or her own ideas about what is a
relevant clue, what you "should" do, and so on. You on the other hand may have
completely different ideas about it all.

I think the most infuriating kind of game in this regard is the "You'd Better
Take Notes" game. This is a game in which you randomly hear a vague reference
from an obscure NPC in the game (or something similar) like "black is white."
Well, you'd better take notes or have a real good memory, because 500 episodes
later, this is going to come back to haunt you. This clue will dog you forever
if you can't remember the connection. "Remember the villian was holding a red
tablet in that fight?" the GM sneers. "That was over a year ago, man!" you
wearily reply, "I barely even remember the fight!" "Tooooooooooo bad!"

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: lib1p@jane.uh.edu (Tammy Stark Blandino)
Subject: E-mail gaming...info?
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 23:31:00 GMT

Can anybody e-mail me and tell me something about the
Play-by-E-Mail games?

Thanks in advance.

==>Tammy<==

LIB1P@jetson.uh.edu
From: z_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
Date: 28 Aug 92 15:07:39 CST
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <28AUG199214231685@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov>, spzkny@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (JAMES ZAKANY) writes:

[ GM snafu deleted]

> 
> I wouldn't.  Sometimes (okay, often) the DM will make a gaffe.  It happens.  
> The WORST thing a player can do is stop play to bitch!  After the "No, you 
> were busy" line, play should have continued.  Pick the bone with the DM 
> during a break.

	But if the GM makes a mistake that would cause severe problems if it
were corrected later, he should be told about it when it happens. I don't mind 
my players telling me (note: I mean politely, not bitching) when I have made a 
mistake. It saves a lot of grief later on, and helps everyone.
	On the other hand, I don't like players questioning rulings I have made
after some thought when such an argument would only drag the speed of the game
down.
	Question: yes. Argue: no.

> 
> Why should a player (who can jump around, duck blows, remove and rummage 
> through his pack, uncork and quaff a potion in one round) bitch about what 
> an orc can do, given a minute of action?

	If the PC can do it, no, he shouldn't. If he can't, then he does have
grounds for a complaint. Sometimes I'll throw in a weak creature with a special
ability, and it does get the players rumbling. However, after a firm "Yes, I
know exactly what it did" or "Yes, it really did that", the players usually
drop their complaints.

Brandon Cope
From: cassidy@cps.msu.edu (John J Cassidy)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
Date: 25 Aug 92 22:06:28 GMT
Reply-To: cassidy@cps.msu.edu (John J Cassidy)
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Michigan State University
Originator: cassidy@indian.cps.msu.edu

In article <BtCIM9.Cxn@acsu.buffalo.edu> swann@acsu.buffalo.edu (Stephen Swann) writes:

[quote, quote, quote, ... ad infinitum]

>
>But to extend the example, do you know the location of every loose
>paving stone on every road in every part of the adventure, or doesn't
>your world have loose paving stones?  That's one way to make sure the
>players don't do anything unexpected - have every object in your
>campaign be equivalent to its Platonic Ideal form.
>
>-- 
>Steve Swann                 |    Speak to me in many voices; make
>swann@acsu.buffalo.edu      |      them all sound like one...  -BOC

	Steve brings up a good point.  A loose paving stone used to kill
many a cartdriver in ancient days.  The wheel plants on it and when the
stone moves it usually provides for more than the driver can handle.
When your characters race over paving stones in a cart chase, do you
know just which stone is loose?  Or do you roll a percentage every turn
to see if their cart hits one?  Or do you roll every fifth turn or so?
Do you know where the other carts are or do you roll the same to see if
a cart collided?  Do you know how fast each cart is going or do you
roll?  Do you know what each cart is carrying, or do you roll?  And then
you roll for the amount of damage for each character based on the weight
of the two vehicles involved in the collision, but do the player
characters have a chance to lessen the impact of the crash?  Do you know
what surrounds them when they crash or do you roll?  Do you have the
physical dimensions of the crash area mapped out?  Because a situation
that might be handlable in an intersection will not be in a
straight-away.  
	Suppose that you roll for the players to hit a cart, and you
roll up a huge cart, filled with building stones.  And you roll that the
players are in a small, residential enclosure.  And you roll that the
builder's cart is going very fast, and so are the players.  And you roll
damage, and you KILL *ALL* your PC's.  You can't say that you PLANNED
that, now can you?  And you're left with the rest of your canned
scenario that won't be played out in the near future.  All nicely
planned, all nicely mapped, and worked over for a majority of your free
hours.  Now suppose that you were smart, and you cannabolized the rest
of the scenario into a new scenario that the new PC's would run into.  
That wasn't the way it ORIGINALLY was, was it?  That was a decision made
relatively on-the-fly.

	John J Cassidy		cassidy@indian.cps.msu.edu
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy,rec.games.frp.dnd
From: sjs28257@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Stelter)
Subject: Re: Paranoia question
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 18:26:29 GMT

spivey@stortek.com (Jerry Spivey MS2286 x8008) writes:


>Hi, I'm starting a Paranoia campaign soon, but I have a few of
>questions...

>1) Is there such thing as a Paranoia campaign?  What I mean is, if the
>   players are sufficiently paraoid enough, wouldn't most of them have 
>   all their clones killed off by the end of the adventure?

In the salad days of Paranoia, this was the case.  However, there appears
to have been a trend recently toward making Paranoia more geared toward
cooperation and survival (gasp!) and thus more of a campaign-oriented
game.  This involves toning down the paranoia level of the game, of 
course.

>2) If characters do survive one adventure, what do you do about updating
>   clones?  It seems like 6 clones wouldn't be enough to survive very many
>   adventures.  Do you up them back to 6 clones for each adventure?

Nope.  At least, I wouldn't.                          

>On a side note, what are your favorite adventures and campaign ideas (if
>there are campaigns, see #1 above)?  Are there any supplements still around
>that I should consider buying?  All I have is the 2ed sourcebook and a
>couple of modules.

I recommend "Me and My Shadow, Mark IV," from the "Acute Paranoia" source-
book.  After you run your Troubleshooters through that, give 'em "Alpha
"Complexities."


                                          Ste-V-STL-1
                                          sjs28257@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
From: batemanc@p4.cs.man.ac.uk (Mad Chris)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Harlequin (aka double GMing)
Date: 28 Aug 92 14:43:08 GMT

Has anyone else toyed with using a Harlequin, that is, a second
GM who plays only the NPC's and is not involved in the other
usual GMing tasks. This works well in some games, but not in
others - but it can lead to some intersting play if you are
the kind of person who likes to improvise, because the GM 
doesn't know exactly what the NPC's are going to do!

Mad Chris.
From: ins769v@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au (Veltyen)
Subject: Re: SRUN: Autofire Rules SUmmary?
Organization: Monash University
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 04:33:45 GMT

David Girardot (dmgirard@nyx.cs.du.edu) wrote:
: Could someone please post a summary of the "new" autofire rules?  Right
: now I am in need of a description of how "burst mode" and reactive
: triggers work; and which types of weapons are capable of which types of
: autofire.
: (I have no access to the _Rigger's Black Book_ and really don't feel like
: paying fifteen smackers just for a half-page of rules...) :)
: 
: --David

Your wish is my command....

" SHADOWRUN firearms are able to fire in one or more modes
SA, Semi-Automatic 
	Weapons of this type may only fire one shot per action
	Reactive Triggers can fire twice per those rules
BF, Burst Fire
	Weapons capable of controlled burst fire, fire in 3 rd bursts
	One success test for each burst.
	Power is 3 greater than the base rounds power
	Damage category is one higher
	Staging is the same
	Example a 5M3 Smg on burst does 8S3
	Recoil Modifier for a single burst is 2
	Recoil is cumulative
	Weapons in this mode may fire a maximum of two bursts an action

AF, Autofire
	Weapons fire a variable number of rounds in a burst
	Minimum of three rounds in a burst
	One success test (again)
	Power is equal to the base power + the number of rds in the burst
	Damage Category is increased by one for every three bullets
	Staging remains the same
	Standard AF weapons can fire up to 10 rds per action
	Bursts can be split with 1 rd per metre expended to do so
	Recoil is equal to 1 per bullet fired in that burst or in previous
	  bursts that action

MF, Minigun Fire
	Fire as autofire weapons except for:
	 maximum of 15 shots per action
	 Recoil Modifiers are doubled after compensation
	 minimum of 6 rounds per action
	 example minigun fires 10 rds but has compensation for 7
	 	therefore +6 to hit

An action is required to change modes, smartguns, however change for free.

Weapons		Possible modes
Hold out pistol	SA
light pistol	SA, some BF
heavy pistol	SA
machine pistol	BF
SMG		SA/BF
sport rifle	SA
sniper rifle	SA
shotgun		SA (also depends on GM..)
Assault Rifle	SA/BF/AF
LMG		BF/AF
*MG		AF
Minigun		MF
Assault Cannon	SA
Autocannon	BF

AIMED SHOTS
Actions may be expended to aim a weapon
For each action expended this way -1 to target number is acheived
Maximum time for aiming is actions = half-intelligence
Aiming must be expended in sequence with no other actions interruptin
Aiming may extend over multiple turns

CALLED SHOTS
Damage Category +1
target number +4
only possible using manual targeting



*****************************************************************************
*Veltyen   ....GM from Hell        *"I love the smell of Napalm on a Mormon"*
*ins769v@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au *"Let me get this right you offered to   *
*ins769v@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au   *   Castrate your Sisters boyfriend?"    *
*veltyen@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au	   * " Nahh her Fiance' " " Whatever "      *
*****************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: tbarnes@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (thomas wrentmore barnes)
Subject: Re: Alignments
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 19:01:25 GMT


I never found the concept of alignment languages to be silly. I saw them
as being a combination of jargon and dialect, which explained why they
were identifiable as alignment languages (and offensive) to characters
not of the same alignment, but incomphrehensible at the same time.
   They could also include certain interpretations of words that were
anger provoking to people of very opposed views. (Like using the word
yankee without the prefix damned- around an unreconstructed Southerner.)

Have fun,

Tom
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: tbarnes@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (thomas wrentmore barnes)
Subject: Re: fudging
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 03:01:47 GMT

In article <1992Aug30.172525.58509@cc.usu.edu> sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:
>Sounds a little like a character advantage available in GURPS called, simply,
>Luck. 

Yeah, I know, GURPS is my favorite RPG system. I just am uncomfortable
with the way Luck works in that system. The "once per X unit of game
time" rule doesn't appeal to me for 2 reasons:

a) It seems real prone to Munchkinism. (I can't believe that Fred takes
1/2 an hour to go to the bathroom and he has to go every hour...)

b) Luck should help the player when he needs it. If the G.M. knows that
the character is in terrible danger, but the player doesn't, the G.M.
can't assist the Lucky character without fudging die rolls. If the
character uses his luck on something that seems important in the first
15 minutes of an hour, but later in the hour (which could be many game
months along) needs to use his luck, he's screwed.
   I incorporate Hero Points as a 1 point advantage (each) in GURPs.
Each Hero point acts as a one-shot version of the luck advantage. It's
really great for keeping PCs alive in otherwise bloody campaigns,
especially if the GM allows the player to buy the advantage with unspent
character points during the course of the adventure. 
   This gives the G.M. a control over luck (docking the character's
character points, since he can give them out as "lucky breaks" during
play rather than awarding them as character points after play) without
fudging and lets players use luck in emergencies.

Since I like my games to play roughly like a novel (I.E. lots of scenery
descriptions, not to much sweat about little details, characters have a
good chance of surviving, etc.) I only allow luck (or fudging) when it
won't screw up the game or when it will enhance it.

Also, nobody ever said that important villains couldn't have hero
points of their own...
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: at731@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Troy L. Nothnagel)
Subject: SRun: Alternate Matrix Q-Res System?
Reply-To: at731@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Troy L. Nothnagel)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 22:57:28 GMT


Has anyone designed an alternate quick resolution system for matrix
runs?  There is the problem with the one in "Alternate Realities" in
that it encourages a very lean deck, with little to no compensation for
it.

-- 
Troy L. Nothnagel                                                      
at731@cleveland.Freenet.Edu                                            
"And for a gorilla, his English wasn't half bad." - Den of Earth
"No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time-a!" - Guard, MP&tHG
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: waynem@bcarh178.bnr.ca (Wayne MacLaurin)
Subject: Anybody seen Epic of Aerth yet ?
Keywords:  Mythus, Dangerous Journeys, Aerth
Organization: S.I.R. Tools - BNR Ltd.
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 12:50:17 GMT

G'day,

  Anybody seen Epic_of_Aerth yet ?  It was supposed to be released in August
and since today is the 31st...   The stores around here figure it will be   
another week or so.

  Any updates from GenCon on Mythus stuff ?

Thanks
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Wayne MacLaurin                       S.I.R. Tools            |
|  waynem@bnr.ca                         Bell Northern Research  |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Are you kidding??  My employer wouldn't want my opinions!!!   |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: educ@unixg.ubc.ca (Vicki Domansky)
Subject: Re: Re Legos as props
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 01:34:40 GMT


Finally an excuse to buy myself a set! 

:-)  :-)  :-)
-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Vicki Domansky <Morgaine>                               educ@unixg.ubc.ca
Education Computing Services                       v_domansky@mtsg.ubc.ca
U of B.C. Vancouver Canada                        usereduc@ubcmtsg.bitnet
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu (Art Urban (PROFS))
Subject: Re: GURPS Will Rolls
Organization: Atmospheric Technology Division/NCAR Boulder, CO
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 15:43:00 GMT

In article <Btxu70.CLx@news.cso.uiuc.edu> rnmg1200@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (A Lady and her Walrus) writes:
%Don't forget 3.) You have to make some will rolls at penalties or 4.) Will
%rolls are also made to resist things like Telepathy and mentally-based magic.
%In those cases, the higher your Will, the better the chance you have of 
%beating the opposing roll, and just having a 14 will isn't going to do you
%much good against a telepath with Mind Control 20, now is it?  And I believe

Just thought I would post a reminder about Will rolls vs Magic. You mention
the telepath with Mind Control 20, but if I remember correctly, you can never
have better than an effective 16 vs living subjects, for resistance rolls.
In the above example, the telepath would roll against a 16, not 20.



--
Art Urban 					       urban@stout.atd.ucar.edu
===============================================================================
 "What's Next? Chasing bunnies on a motorbike until their hearts explode? -Crow
===============================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows)
Subject: Re: Btech muse
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 92 01:20:05 GMT

In article <28AUG199218564105@jane.uh.edu> lib1p@jane.uh.edu (Tammy Stark
Blandino) writes:
>Could someone give some completely detailed info on this?
>
>Walter and I are interested.
>
>Tammy
>



Basically, BattleTech MUSE is a Multi-User Simulated Environment
(if you want to know more about MUSEs and MUCKs, etc., go to rec.games.
mud and read the FAQs) that is dedicated to BattleTech.  Though 
I'm new there, I can see that the programmers have done one heluva 
job.  

Basically, you log in as a new character, with a name of your own
creation.  You are then given 200 character points to choose among
skills and attributes (sound familiar?).  The system is somewhat
simplified over first ed. MechWarrior, though--some of the skills
(such as Pilot Automobile) are gone, and there's no ambidexterity,
glass jaw, contacts, etc.

Then you join a house.  For the history/political stands of the 
houses, just read MechWarrior.  This thing is patterned as closely
after the original game as possible.  No clans yet, though.

There are a lot of interesting things, such as an LFZ (Live-Fire
Zone) where you can do combat with other players, and other things.
You get as many "lives" as your body rating x 5, and when those are
exhausted, you'll have to make another character.

Anything else that needs to be filled in, one of the readers of this
newsgroup who's more experienced at BattleTechMUSE than I can explain.
I'm outta here.

---Chris Meadows 

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy,rec.games.frp.dnd
From: mfterman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Mutant for Hire)
Subject: Re: Alignments
Reply-To: mfterman@phoenix.princeton.edu (Mutant for Hire)
Organization: Mutant for Hire, Inc.
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 03:38:40 GMT

In article <1992Sep2.044630.9689@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>, sboiarsk@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Sean L Boiarski) writes:
>IMHO, I think that the idea of "Alignments" is out-dated. The idea
>that you can pigeon-hole characters any more than you can yourself is
>just pretty strange. After all, how many of us go around thinking that
>we are "evil"? Even Hitler probably didn't align himself as Lawful
>Evil, and to label him as such is understating the truth, that he was
>a twisted man, no matter what you call him. I think that characters
>should be as complex as people are, you are not always  good, always
>evil, or always anything. Each individual goes through periods of mild
>sadism, generocity, and down right neutrality, it is human nature. I
>understand that the alignment space on your character sheet gives
>every body a reference point when dealing with you, but it's silly to
>assume that there is an absolute, that a cleric can tell exactly what
>kind of person you are, or some such. The other characters, including
>NPC's, will quickly figure out your over-all driving forces, and will
>label you in their own ways.

Actually, we tend to view alignments as outdated primarily in the
context of having a values-free universe. A devout Xtian believes in
good and evil because he/she has a moral system that allows division
of ideas into good and evil, and believes that God has woven those
laws of morality in the laws of the universe.

In a fantasy game, where gods have created the universe and imposed a
framework of ethics, one can allow those laws of ethics to be woven
into the fabric of the universe. Doing good deeds builds up positive
karma (or local equiv) and doing bad deeds builds up bad karma which
brings bad luck which in the end will punish the wrongdoer. One can
detect the karma of a person and tell if they are the type who does
lots of good deed or bad deeds, hence good or evil.

Moral relativism only works if there is no system of morality better
than any others. Now one can argue that the system that the gods come
up with is no better than anyone else's, however if they throw
lightning on what they consider wrongdoers and have control over the
afterlife, they certainly have a lot going for their system.

-- 
    Martin Terman, Mutant for Hire, Mad Scientist, Priest of Shub-Internet
    Disclaimer: Nobody else takes me seriously, why should you be the first?
mfterman@phoenix.princeton.edu mfterman@pucc.bitnet terman@pupgga.princeton.edu
"Sig quotes are like bumper stickers, only without the same sense of relevance"
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: splash@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Jon Rothstein)
Subject: Re: SRUN: A few observations
Organization: HAC - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 18:43:16 GMT


>> The dice system in SR is certainly unusual, and the progression is 
>> highly non-linear (6 is twice as hard as 5, but 7 is the same as 
>> 6).  However, on the whole I think it works rather well; it 
>> certainly  defeats the kind of player who likes to work out the 
>> mathematically  best option on a calculator, as it's just too 
>> complicated. 
>
>sorry, but anyone with a programmable calculator & stats book can
>"work out the best option." *guilty grin* i know. i did it.
>
>jason "call me a stats monger" steiner

	Everything can be statistically computed, that's not the problem
with the d6.
	The real problem with the d6 system is the statistical difference
in rolling a 5 or a 6.  You have a 50% better chance of rolling a 6 than
a 5.  
	Personally, I decided to convert to a d10 based system, for more
linear chances.