HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: juola@bruno.cs.colorado.edu (Patrick Juola)
Subject: Re: Problems with Disads (was Re: Funny/Strange Campaign...)
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 00:06:49 GMT

In article <1992Nov12.172410.2576@news.columbia.edu> jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim) writes:
>szielins@oracle.com (Stephan Zielinski) writes:
>>	This was in GURPS...
>>	I told the players to take fifty points and design themselves...
>...
>>(I knew I was doing a good job presenting a villain when 
>>the party looked at me in shock, and the fellow with the Pacifism: Will Not 
>>Kill disadvantage said, "That's it; I'm saving up to buy off Pacifism...")
>
>	Does this strike anyone else as a sign of role-playing gone bad? 
>When you are playing *yourself* and you revert to gamespeak about your 
>personality, then I think there is a problem - specifically with how 
>psychological 'disadvantages' are handled. (GURPS in this case, but 
>similar cases also occur in Hero and others.)

I don't think so.  People change, and learn, and a character in an RPG
will change in different ways from the real person s/he's modelled on.  For
instance, I don't speak Swedish at all, and have little interest in learning
it, since I would never use it.

*BUT*, if I played myself in an RPG and my character were visiting Sweden
every week, my character would learn Swedish.  Is this "role-playing gone bad"?

Similarly, I probably have some form of Pacifism.  But there are definitely
worlds where I would learn that my moral stance is simply *wrong* -- if, for
instance, I had convincing proof of direct supernatural evil in the world.
And I'd stop being a pacifist as I convinced myself that there were some things
that should be killed on sight.  Gamespeak is simply a convenient way of
expressing the concept "Maybe I shouldn't be a pacifist any more."

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: pan2765@seas.gwu.edu (Crazyman Pan)
Subject: Re: GURPS Vampire?????????
Organization: I have none...
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 00:04:42 GMT

In article <BxKL7C.HH2@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> durrant@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (unknown) writes:

>	GURPS Vampire?????????????????????????  White Wolf--how could you do 
>such a horrible thing??????????  The Storyteller system is by nature a system
>without an emphasis on mechanics and dice rolling--a godsend to players like
>me who enjoy the ROLE playing much more than the ROLL playing.  Vampire for
>rollazoids--say it aint so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  GURPS Vampire is a mutation of all
>the Storyteller system stands for.
>
>Christine
>             If you haven't played Vampire the Masquerade, all you've
>             been doing is rolling the dice.
>                      --Me
>	*************************************************************
>	** GURPS VAMPIRE MUST DIE DIE DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  **
>     	*************************************************************

You'll need a wooden stake and some garlic...



Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner)
Subject: Re: PBEM
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 18:16:06 GMT

Wigs' advice on PBEM is good.  I have a few more ideas to add:

It's better to start with very few players until you find out how much
work it's going to be.  Most PBEM games collapse within weeks because
players and/or GM get overloaded.  Even a one-on-one game amounts to
quite a bit of work. I have about 4 meg of back email saved away....

The medium is terrific for conversation and description, not so good for
action.  Characters work best if they're pretty talkative; the 'strong
silent type' will disappear from view.

The campaign will go much more smoothly if you *insist* that all players
have reliable email access and check it frequently.  Otherwise, one slow
or out-of-contact player will bring the game to a crashing halt.  The GM
should be fairly ruthless about eliminating players who don't answer
their mail.

PBEM works well with diceless systems, and I'd recommend de-emphasizing
mechanics as much as possible.  Combat mechanics which are interesting
and fun face-to-face can be a crashing bore when spread out over a
lengthy series of mail messages.  The 4 meg mentioned above contains
just three violent scenes, handled in about 2 each turns by my character
bluffing, running away or hiding under a chair....In line with this,
it's best not to design characters who are mainly combat-oriented,
because they're likely to be frustrated.

Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@genetics.washington.edu
From: davidc@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (David Cake)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SR Toxic Shamans
Date: 5 Nov 1992 09:58:05 GMT
Organization: The University of Western Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: tartarus.uwa.edu.au

	It looked to me as if the spirits in paranatural animals were
equivalent to force 4. I have always just assumed that they were
examples, and higher and lower force spirits existed. I put the fact
that this was not explicitly stated down to the general 'rush-job' feel
of that supplement. I expect a lot more of Paranatural animals Europe,
if it ever appears.
							Dave cAKE

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: seurer@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Bill Seurer)
Subject: Re: SJ Games Licenses White Wolf's Vampire
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 19:07:10 GMT
Reply-To: BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM Rochester

In article <loydb.09uy@fnordbox.UUCP>, loydb@fnordbox.UUCP (Loyd Blankenship) writes:
|>    GURPS Vampire is scheduled for release at GenCon 1993 in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Has anyone told TSR yet that GenCon is moving from Milwaukee?  :-)
-- 

- Bill Seurer     Language and Compiler Development      IBM Rochester, MN
  Internet: BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com    America On-Line: BillSeurer@aol.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: dunkelza@titan.ucc.umass.edu (KEITH C MCCORMIC)
Subject: Re: Explosive rounds
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 22:12:29 GMT

In article <19091@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> acgetche@taco.engr.ucdavis.edu (Adam) writes:
>
>	Awhile ago I posted an article on special ammunition.  I included
>explosive rounds (revamped in SRun rules), but the net.consensus I got
>was that explosives provide too little energy to do more for bullets
>than fracture the case, making them in effect, super hollowpoints.
>	Thanks to kind sir Marvin Bell, I have done a little research.
>This is what I have come up with:
>
>	Cyclonite, or hexogen, has a specific energy of 1394 kJ/kg.  Octogen
>has a specific energy of 1387 kJ/kg.  Standard trinitrotoulene (TNT) liberates
>870 kJ/kg.  If one consideres a 1 gram bullet fired at 1000 meters per second
>(approximately equivalent to an M-16 round) the kinetic energy is .5*m*v^2.
>
>	.5*(.001kg)*(1000meters/second)^2 = 500 kg-m^2/sec^2 = 500 Joules.
>
>	If the bullets mass were composed of hexogen, that 1 gram would 
>liberate 1.394 kJ or 1394 joules, roughly twice the KE of the round.  An
>explosive bullet would therefore liberate more than *three* times the 
>energy that a normal bullet would (the kinetic energy of the exploding
>bullet would still be present in the center of mass).
>	The timescale of the KE release would be roughly on the same scale
>as that of the explosion, since rapid oxidation must occur in << 1 second
>to "explode".  Further research should turn up some numbers.
>	Therefore, even considering things like detonators, stabilizing
>bases, and so forth, it would seem HE rounds would be *much* more damaging
>than any kind of hollowpoint round (which is just an effective way of
>dumping all the KE into the target).
>	By the way, the momentum associated with the above round would be
>a miniscule 1 kg-m/sec.  Certainly not enough to pick up a person and throw
>them back a couple of meters (as Hollywood, fiction, and some games seem
>to suggest).  Most "knockdown" occurs due to induced shock in the target.
>
>
>           -- Adam
>+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
>|Adam Getchell |Surgery-Radiation Oncology    GETCHELL@radonc.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu|
>| acgetchell   |ez000270@chip.ucdavis.edu        acgetche@taco.engr.ucdavis.edu|
>+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
>

    Sorry dude, but Cyclonite is too unstable.  Would detonate in the barrel.

Dunkelzahn













Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.marketplace,rec.games.frp.advocacy,rec.games.frp.dnd
From: cwatters@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Coyt D Watters)
Subject: Re: FASA's telephone/modem number
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 23:01:38 GMT

In article <92310.153841BEA104@psuvm.psu.edu> <BEA104@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>    Does anyone out there have the telephone and/or the modem number of FASA?
>I specifically am looking for a number where unaffiliated GMs or players can
>call and get new goodies or find out updated release dates for new products.
>Thanks a lot, everybody.



Someone from FASA over on America Online is supposed to be sending that 
information to me c/o rg-frp-announce@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu, for
inclusion on rec.games.frp.announce.  I haven't gotten anything yet...

-Coyt
From: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Magic Systems
Date: 6 Nov 92 03:57:06 GMT
Reply-To: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan)
Organization: Plymouth State College - Plymouth, N.H.

bob_cannard@mentorg.com writes:
>
>There's an old RPG tucked away on one of my shelves that uses a particularly
>strange magic system. (I think it's called something along the lines of
>"Hero Quest", and was by Heritage Games, but my memory could be deceiving me).
>The game came in a small box (about the size of the original Tunnels & Trolls)
>containing 3 small booklets.

This is Swordbearer, later published by FGU.

-- 
  - Steffan O'Sullivan		         sos@oz.plymouth.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: jacobus@symphony.cc.purdue.edu (Bryan J. Maloney)
Subject: GURPS Vampire
Organization: Purdue University
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 18:02:21 GMT





Lloyd:


Allow me to be one who hopes that the SJG license of Vampire is true and
applauds this.  It's about time that such a strong background gets free
of such a poor rules system.


(And don't go off the handle and call me a "roll-player" or other such
irrational things to which Vampire players tend to be prone.  I play Vampire
and Werewolf, actually do enjoy myself.  I do NOT roll my way through the
game, and am one player who actually uses the dice less than most.  I just
think the system is badly designed.)
From: meierdalepau@bvc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Distribution Problem
Date: 9 Nov 92 11:33:29 CDT
Organization: Buena Vista College, Storm Lake, IA

	Thanks to all of you who posted to my e-mail explaining the 
distribution change thing.  It would be great if we could do it here at 
Buena Vista, but we can't.  All of our postings are sent from here to Iowa 
State University and then relayed out to everywhere else.  Sorry.

Dale Meier
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: pmwg1641@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Peter M. White)
Subject: Re: Role Master Physics question
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 04:40:16 GMT

jtaylor@seq.uncwil.edu (J.T.) writes:

>Hi, A little while back our group got into a little discussion about
>a call I made during play.  I gave out an item from C&T that 
>increases the weight of a metal object by 100x.  I realized the
>enormity of its power VERY quickly and hastily amended it, and
>gave it limited charges.  ( right after a dwarf NPC was crushed to
>a bloody pulp by his chain armor)  
>The debate came over a metal object in flight.  If a metal object
>(3lbs. we'll say) in flight were hit with this medallion, what would
>happen?....the players where hoping it would continue on its way,
>but weigh 300lbs.  I said it would drop in a near vertical line.

Not quite satisfied with any of the posted answers, here I go,
making productive use of my physics degree...

I believe there are 2 good ways of interpreting the function of the
magic item, depending whether you mean that an increase of WEIGHT
or an increase of MASS.  (They are not quite the same.)  The players
are asserting that the the object increases in mass, keeping
momentum constant, and continues merrily on the same trajectory.
Is this what you want to happen?  I think that the better way
to look at the effect is to declare it an increase of the weight,
specifically how gravity acts on it.  Weight=(mass)X(gravity)
So, the object is affected by a special, ultra powerful force
of gravity; therefore, the amulet suddenly changes trajectory and
crashes quickly to the ground.

The best way to see the difference is if you consider an adventurer
on a frictionless dungeon floor....


--Peter

______________________________________________________________________________
						|
     "Guards!  Let me draw their fire!"		|	p-white@uiuc.edu
		   --Scapegoat,_Marshal Law_	|
______________________________________________________________________________
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: mason
Subject: Re: SRUN: Question?
Organization: Rice University  
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 08:14:25 GMT

In article <Bx92w5.BwJ@jabba.ess.harris.com>
jcarl@jabba.ess.harris.com (Joe Carl Jr.) writes:
 
>In shadowrun, A few spirts have the special power called alienation.
>This is described sort of like an invisiblity spell.  But its no suppose
>to have benifical side effects.  The description indicates that the
>victem is basically ignored, a non entity.
>
>My questions are the following
>
>   1) Why would any shaman have his spirit use alienation on someone?
>
>   2) If it basically make them invisible then does the shaman still see the
>      victim?  This sounds like a real quick way to get killed.
>
>   3) Can this be used on the shaman himself?  If so how is it different from
>      the conceal ability?
 
Srun 2, p. 216: "Alienation power gives the being the ability to enshroud
its victim(s) in an aura that makes the victim invisible to others.  Treat
this as an invisibility spell, with a Force Rating equal to the being's
Essence ... The alienation power is not intended as the kind of beneficial
power of invisibility.  Victims of alienation are invisible, intangible,
and inaudible to those around them.  It is as if those affected by this
power do not exist at all.  Drivers will not stop for them, no one talks
to them, their friends shoot through them to hit targets."
 
I think the misleading term in the above paragraph is "intangible".  The
subject of alienation does NOT become ghostly (bullets, automobiles, etc.
will NOT pass harmlessly through him).  The key phrase is "to those around
them".  People simply will not register his presence, even if he makes
physical contact.  If the poor bastard walks into traffic, he will be
pulverized.  If he walks into a firefight, he will be shot full of holes.
 
1) Picture the effect this power could have if used against the commanding
commanding officer of a guard company or mercenary unit. Try to consider
the effect of this power not only on its target, but also on the people
who depend on him or her.  "I dunno.  Whatcha think, Ned?  Neddy?  Hey,
where'd Neddy go?"
 
2) This is unclear.  I would think that the spirit could exclude anyone
he chose from the alienation effect (namely, the shaman and his
companions).
 
3) There's no reason why not.  I wouldn't recommend it, though.
 
 
-- mason
From: kumbalek@carroll1.cc.edu (Peggy Kumbalek)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Hahlmabrea question
Date: 5 Nov 92 19:47:28 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Carroll College-Waukesha, WI


Has anyone else ever heard of the game called Hahlmabrea?  It
was put out by a company called Sutton Hoo Games.  I picked it
up last year at GenCon and I absolutely love it, but I haven't
been able to get any of the new adventures that were supposed
to come out.  I heard a few rumors that the game was being
rewritten and would be rereleased, but I haven't heard anything
lately.  Does anyone have any clues?  I just hope it hasn't gone 
to the unpopular game graveyard like so many others, 'cuz it's
a very good system. 

Sutton Hoo also came out with two sets of game cards - one
for the GM and one for players.  They are absolutely
hilarious.  I've seen them around a bunch of places.
They look like business cards, but with funny sayings on them.
One example "Roll a die.  Smile mischievously at the GM.  Pass
it on."  I've found that they really help when bringing in new
players or getting the game back on track if people are getting
too serious or going off on too many tangents.


For those in the Milwaukee, WI area - watch for CARROLLCON '93!
From: acgetche@taco.engr.ucdavis.edu (Adam)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Explosive rounds
Date: 10 Nov 92 20:35:22 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering - University of California - Davis


	Awhile ago I posted an article on special ammunition.  I included
explosive rounds (revamped in SRun rules), but the net.consensus I got
was that explosives provide too little energy to do more for bullets
than fracture the case, making them in effect, super hollowpoints.
	Thanks to kind sir Marvin Bell, I have done a little research.
This is what I have come up with:

	Cyclonite, or hexogen, has a specific energy of 1394 kJ/kg.  Octogen
has a specific energy of 1387 kJ/kg.  Standard trinitrotoulene (TNT) liberates
870 kJ/kg.  If one consideres a 1 gram bullet fired at 1000 meters per second
(approximately equivalent to an M-16 round) the kinetic energy is .5*m*v^2.

	.5*(.001kg)*(1000meters/second)^2 = 500 kg-m^2/sec^2 = 500 Joules.

	If the bullets mass were composed of hexogen, that 1 gram would 
liberate 1.394 kJ or 1394 joules, roughly twice the KE of the round.  An
explosive bullet would therefore liberate more than *three* times the 
energy that a normal bullet would (the kinetic energy of the exploding
bullet would still be present in the center of mass).
	The timescale of the KE release would be roughly on the same scale
as that of the explosion, since rapid oxidation must occur in << 1 second
to "explode".  Further research should turn up some numbers.
	Therefore, even considering things like detonators, stabilizing
bases, and so forth, it would seem HE rounds would be *much* more damaging
than any kind of hollowpoint round (which is just an effective way of
dumping all the KE into the target).
	By the way, the momentum associated with the above round would be
a miniscule 1 kg-m/sec.  Certainly not enough to pick up a person and throw
them back a couple of meters (as Hollywood, fiction, and some games seem
to suggest).  Most "knockdown" occurs due to induced shock in the target.


           -- Adam
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
|Adam Getchell |Surgery-Radiation Oncology    GETCHELL@radonc.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu|
| acgetchell   |ez000270@chip.ucdavis.edu        acgetche@taco.engr.ucdavis.edu|
+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Updated List of Superhero RPGs  [and comments]
Date: 10 Nov 1992 05:54:56 GMT
Organization: California State University, Chico
NNTP-Posting-Host: hairball.ecst.csuchico.edu

John Martin Karakash writes:
>MOST LIKELY TO PRODUCE VERY ODD CHARACTERS: Villians and Vigilantes
>	(It Barely beats out Marvel here, ask me sometimes about
>	 Bruce, the mutated Kangaroo with his power-boomerang,
>	 and trusty koala sidekick, Bruce  :)

Hmmm, you've obviously not tried the Random Character generator in the
old Champs 3...  That gave some mighty wierd characters...

-- 
This is National Non-Dairy Creamer Week.
From: dvandom@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (David VanDomelen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Hero on 150 total points a day
Date: 12 Nov 92 06:03:43 GMT
Article-I.D.: magnus.1992Nov12.060343.13358
Organization: The Ohio State University

A while back I amused myself by making up a series of 175 point superheroes 
while I was supposed to be taking notes in Thermodynamics.  It's rather fun 
making up super-powered folks at that level.  Mine ran about 8-12 DC attacks, 
15-25 defenses (maybe as much as 10 resistant) and in the 14-23 DEX range.  
Popping down to 150 wouldn't be too far a stretch (BTW, I didn't munchkin these
guys.  At most they had OAF weapons).  After running a campaign where the 
characters have built up to about 400 points, running a low power one like that
is a fun thing.  And you need not go for the strict "superagent" image either.
     Dave Van Domelen, looooves HA.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: kieran@cmatter.physics.indiana.edu (kieran)
Subject: Re: Hero System on 75 point a day
Organization: Indiana University
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 20:30:04 GMT

In article <BxHBnH.88H@ansoft.com> louis@grandis.Berkeley.EDU (Louis Reash) writes:
>|> Louis Reash writes:
>|> >Is anyone running a heroic campaign with base 75?  Any tips?  Would 
>|> >you like to corrospond?  Or am I just running an old set of the rules 
>|> >and should I buy the newest set?
>|> 
>
>When I said 75 base, I mean 75 base and 75 max. pt. of disadvantages =
>total 150.
>
>The Basis of the campaign will be Mercenaries/Bounty Hunters vs
>Superheroes of all shapes and sizes and some random normal people
>to make the PCs paranoid (luckly none of the players have access to
>the net)
>
      I suggest you get a copy of Danger International, which is the
James Bond/Delta Force version of the Hero System.  Either that, or
Justice Inc., which uses the Hero System for pulp fiction roleplaying.
In both cases characters are built using 75+75pts.  Hero will also
be putting out a grim'n'gritty street level hero book about six months
from now.

      I'm not sure if you are asking for ideas or characters or what.
It's not to hard to set up a 150pt game using the rules from the big
blue book.  You just have to scale down the speeds, defenses and max
active points.  We have had some discussions of such games on the
Champions mailing list.  You might post there asking some specific
questions. 

                     Kieran

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: seurer@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Bill Seurer)
Subject: Re: Middle Earth Role playing?
Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1992 20:58:14 GMT
Distribution: usa
Reply-To: BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM Rochester

In article <Bx97AM.AC2@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, daniels@ih-nxt07.cso.uiuc.edu (Daniel Ray Sawyer) writes:
|> 
|> Long time ago, I played a bit of MERP (Middle Earth Role Playing) with my  
|> cousin.  I saw the stuff in a store and was thinking about buying it, but  
|> I have forgotten what it's like.  I'd like some comments about how the  
|> system "feels" combat and spell wise.
|> 
|> I love the setting, etc. so I don't need any help there...

MERP has wonderful source material and an ok gaming system.  Unfortunately,
the system does not fit the world at all.  The MERP game is based on 
RoleMaster which is a fairly traditional (if table heavy) gaming system.
I played MERP for several years and it was only through dint of great
play on the players' part that the game kept any semblance of "Middle
Earthness" at all.

The biggest problem is the magic system.  In none of the LotR or any
other ME books is combat magic such as exists in RoleMaster used.  Yet
you have fairly traditional mages (and mixed mage/other sorts) in the
MERP game with fireballs, lightning bolts, and all the other traditional
RPG spells.  When your character sheet has these lists of dozens of spells
are you not supposed to use them to maintian the flavor?  Why are they
even listed then??

Sorry, but this ruined the flavor of Middle Earth for me and thus the MERP
game.

The background and other source info (especially the maps) are still quite
excellent and I have a good number of the MERP supplements.
-- 

- Bill Seurer     Language and Compiler Development      IBM Rochester, MN
  Internet: BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com    America On-Line: BillSeurer@aol.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc