HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dm@bailey.u.washington.edu (Danger Mouse)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Character Afterlife (Was Re: Survey)
Date: 28 Aug 92 01:15:42 GMT
Organization: World's Greatest Secret Agency... er. whoops.

In article <S082.92Aug27142901@nonne.ii.uib.no> ketil@ii.uib.no writes:
>In article <1992Aug24.152816.22249@ccs.QueensU.CA> 3005904@jeff-lab.queensu.ca (Colleen Davis (Dexter)) writes:
>
>   > When you die, where will you go?  (in the ground is not a valid answer)
>
>As I followed this discussion, it struck me that while or'nery (real?)
>people obviously spend much (most?) of their time contemplating these
>questions, I've rarely met anybody in a gaming world who was even
>remotely interested in the matter.  
>
>So, I ask (to get rid of the silly seriousness of this thing, after
>all it *is* rec.games), what happens to your role play character when,
>sadly, he or she (note both pronouns) leaves this (or whichever)
>earthly (or more etheral) world?
>
>Does it say anywhere in, say, AD&D rules anything about the afterlife?
>
>--
>
>    ; Ketil Malde,                In real life: ketil@ii.uib.no  +

In "Blugar's World" (a fantasy/sci-fi world dreamed up by my DM), characters
head to The Bar -- a wonderful place where everybody has a tab, but you never
have to pay it. It's protected by something akin to a "Justice Field" in Red
Dwarf so that enemies who died in battle against each other aren't going to
keep fighting and wreck up The Bar -- they're prevented from doing so.

There's a paging system and limousine service to take you back to the Prime
Material should you be resurrected or reincarnated, or to the appropriate
Paradise of your alignment/diety if your time is up and no one else has
called for you.

The phone will ring if someone's trying to talk to the dearly-departed, and
now and then you can use the phone to call a suffiently high-level cleric to
send them a message.

Apparently there's a way to haunt someone from The Bar, the only time it's been
used was when a kender postwoman was trying to get the handsome Paladin of Ug
she was infatuated with to resurrect her.

  -- Danger Mouse
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: phatch@coyote.slc.mentorg.com (Phill Hatch (CONTRACTOR Documentation))
Subject: Re: Legos as props.
Organization: Mentor Graphics Corp.,  Murray, Utah
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 19:27:37 GMT

In article <1992Sep03.160508.13502@rchland.ibm.com>, seurer@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Bill Seurer) writes:
> I am going to try using Legos (specifically the Lego Imperials/Pirates sets)
> for props in a GURPS Swashbucklers campaign.
> 
> Has anyone else tried this?

Do I dare admit this?  I guess I just did.  Actually, I have used legos
ever since I began DMing 12 years ago.  I don't do it a lot, but there 
are times when I need a set piece.  The most recent incident was a forest/
ruins scene.  I built lego columns for tree trunks to the scale, used all
the small, thin pieces as stone blocks representing rubble from a toppled
tower, and built small buildings that the kobolds inhabited along with some
fences.

The players have always liked it.  Legos also make good bar props, cave
objects and even decks of boats because you can build the layers of a 
forecastle for example.

My personal favorite was a simple staircase.  A mage happened to be on 
top of the stairs raining spells on the party below. 

As to buying the pirate sets, I think you will spend more money than 
they would be worth.  The hulls and such probably aren't going to be used
in play.  Railings, and other parts of ships could be built just as 
easily with standard lego pieces.  

My nephew (age 9) has the castle sets.  The walls are great, but unless
you are creating wall seige/battle scenarios with great frequency they
probably aren't worth it either.  My biggest complaint with them was their
size.  The large "sheet" pieces don't conform to any simple multiple of 
standard game scales and figure scales.

Overall though, legos are the most versatile terrain pieces ever sold to
the public.  If your players can tolerate bright red and yellow pieces being
something else there shouldn't be any problems.

Phil
From: hall@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Robert J. Hall)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: RPG Board Stickums
Date: 28 Aug 92 22:01:23 GMT
Organization: Boeing Computer Services, Seattle

I've got an idea for a RPG product I'd like to see, and I was wondering if
anybody knew if such an item exists. The product consists of a set of soft
transparent plastic shapes that can be overlaid on a typical hex mat to
produce various terrain obstacles and features. (Ex: trees, boulders, bridges,
small buildings, wells, etc.)

I know about the Dungeon Floor sets I've seen around, but I don't find them
satisfactory for several reasons. First, you need to cut out the bloody things.
They don't stay put very well. The rooms tend to be one of a kind items. They
also use a square grid, which I don't much care for.

Soft, rubbery translucents would allow the players to see the hex pattern
through the image, and it should stay in place nicely. You could also include
some large monster types, such as Dragons, Purple Worm Segments, etc. :-)

Maybe one of the game companies could get interested enough to try marketing
these 'Dungeon Shapes', if they aren't already...

-- 
 Bob Hall,                 | "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
 Workstation Peripheral    | Then give up. No use being a damn fool about it."
 Boeing Computer Services  |                                     -Groucho Marx
From: markk@sagredo.West.Sun.COM (Mark Kampe)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: cluelessness in mystery games (prep vs improv)
Date: 27 Aug 1992 15:41:49 GMT
Organization: SunSoft South
NNTP-Posting-Host: sagredo.west.sun.com

It sounds like the GM in that early mystery game was not well accomplished.

I have been in alot of good mystery games, and have one friend who consistantly
puts together satisfying mysteries that can be solved in one evening.  It can
be done ... but it won't happen by accident.

If the players aren't getting anywhere near the clues, there are two possible
reasons:

	these particular players should not be playing mystery games

	this particular story is too hard for these players to crack

There are a few individuals on whom mysteries are truly wasted (e.g. their 
primary investigation technique is to find people to torture).  In most cases,
however, the GM has holes in the story or hasn't sprinkled enough clues
around.  

When putting together a mystery I always try to design far too many clues.
If the players seem to be doing very well, most of them will never be used.
If the players are having trouble, I can trot out some clues to where clues
may be found.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: weitzeka@ntmtv.UUCP (Keith Weitzel)
Subject: Cubington Cross
Reply-To: weitzeka@ntmtv.UUCP (Keith Weitzel)
Organization: Northern Telecom Inc, Mountain View, CA
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 17:58:51 GMT



Did anyone see the new show on ABC, I think, called
"Cubington Cross"?  The setting of the show is in
England during the dark ages.  This show is great.  It
is about time a show like this came out.  Basically, the
show is about Lord Grey and his family.  The show had
great development of the characters as well as some of
the best sword play that I had ever seen.  Hopefully,
the show will make it.  It is possible that this show
will have the same following as "Star Trek".


Keith Weitzel
ntmtv!weitzeka@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: warnold@nomad.urich.edu (William W. Arnold)
Subject: Re: orch players
Organization: University of Richmond
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 14:37:08 GMT

In <5406@blue.cis.pitt.edu.UUCP> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>	What people here post as munchkin characters... god, I have to laugh.
>If it can't obliterate an entire continent to begin with, you can't really call
>it POWERFUL, can you?

munchkin != powerful,  powerfull != munchkin

you can have a character that is a munchkin and be so weak that you
(the player) could beat him up....  Or you can have a character that
can destroy solar systems on a whim, and not be a munchkin.  It all
depends on the things around the character.

"Or course I could have just blown up the planet,  But do you realize
how many FORMS I'd have to fill out afterwards..."  -a non munchkin
player.

"I blew up the guy that tried to give me the 'why I blew up the planet'
forms" -a munchkin player.

-billy-  warnold@nomad.urich.edu  has8wwa@cabell.vcu.edu

Organization: Freshman, CIT general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 15:11:44 -0400 
From: Robert Everett Brunskill <rb6t+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: RE: SRUN: A few observations

somebody wrote:

>	   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.

  I hope your system converts number for number (a target of 3 for a d6
is a target of 3 for d10) and not some sort of "computed" convertion (3
for d6 is 6 for d10 or something like that) other wise you still have
the same occourance of 9 being 50% easier than 10 (or 11 as there really
is no way to get a 10 with SR rule of "sixes/tens/whatever".

Rob Brunskill  Aka "The <random> Pantom"
"Prove 1+1=2"  final for some high level math corse somewhere
From: jmedway@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (johnjmedway)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Strategic Fantasy Battle Simulator
Keywords: Strategy, Fantasy
Date: 27 Aug 92 20:43:47 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <3380@bcstec.ca.boeing.com> hall@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Robert J. Hall) writes:
>
> ...
>
>That sounds about right. How adaptable are these games to a general type of
>situation. I.e. If I had a force mix, would I be able to use the game rules,
>counters, and/or board to play out the outcome. Also, how much of a tactical
>flavor do the battles retain? Thanks for any information you can provide!
> 

It's _not_ a tactical game. It's an operational/strategic level game. There are
colorful units in terms of being slightly more than the attack/defend/move/magic
ratings, but this really cannot show in any tactical sense.

Combat is matching counters & stacks with other counters and stacks, there's no
move, maneuver, deployment, etc. It's a good game (and a good background), but
it's not in any way 'tactical'.

BTW: I don't know what the hex scale is, but a days march is at most 
     about six hexes for cavalry units.


----------------------------------------------------------------
john j medway                         jmedway@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
							
"It's either spectacular unbelievable success,	
 or crushing, hopeless defeat! There is no middle ground!
 OK, there is a middle gound, but it's for sissy weasels."
 - Bill Watterson through Calvin			
----------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: philipd@cs.kuleuven.ac.be (Philip Dutre)
Subject: Re: Exorcist for WHFRP (Where is it?)
Keywords: WFRP WHFRP
Organization: Dept. Computerwetenschappen
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 15:49:22 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.152421.28515@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>, npearl@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Nathan Y Pearlstein) writes:
|> 
|> I posted this question several months ago but nobody new where to find it.  
|> There is a refernce to a career in a White Dwarf mag to the exorcist career. 
|> Does anyone know where it might be?
|> -- 

Which issue of WD is that? Was it in one of the Marienburg articles?

There are some additional careers in the Warhammer Companion, but the Exorcist 
isn't mentioned there.

Probably it's a reference to a yet 'unpublished' expansion (such as 
Realms of Sorcery :-)

-- 
| Phil Dutre                            Dept. Computer Science              |
| philipd@cs.kuleuven.ac.be             Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL)|
| Phone: (32) 16 201015 x3094/3552      Celestijnenlaan 200A                |
| Fax:   (32) 16 205308                 B-3001 Heverlee, BELGIUM            |
From: oldham_r@cs.uwa.oz.au (rob oldham)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: W40k, where?
Keywords: W40K
Date: 30 Aug 92 04:10:55 GMT
Article-I.D.: kultarr.oldham_r.715147855
Organization: Dept. Computer Science, University of Western Australia.

Yup, there is even a W40K mailing list too if you want
to get on it. The address is in the frp FAQ as well as the
method for getting put on the list.

(ps there is also SpaceMarine discussion there too, as
well as in rec.games.board)

Rob.
Ultramarines
oldham_r@kultarr.cs.uwa.edu.au
From: m0054@tnc.UUCP (TERILEE EDWARDS)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: LARP at Worldcon!
Date: 2 Sep 92 03:48:07 GMT
Reply-To: m0054@tnc.UUCP (TERILEE EDWARDS)
Organization: The Next Challenge, Fairfax, Va.


There will be a free LARP (live action role playing) 
game at MagiCon (worldcon at Orlando) on Friday and Saturday
evening at 8:30 p.m.
  If you've wanted to try out this form of gaming, now's your
chance!
  Once at Worldcon leave a message for Paul Dwyer or Jim Eards-Hewitt
OR look for the ILF table in the SIG area.
  See ya there!
The name of the mini-game is "Marin County New Age Society Cocktail
Party."
 ciao, Terilee
-- 
The Next Challenge - Public Access Unix in Northern Va. - Washington D.C.
703-803-0391 To log in for trial and account info.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: pmwg1641@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Peter M. White)
Subject: Re: SRUN: Questions from the Minotaur: The Next Generation
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 04:04:27 GMT

mancinis@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (steven mancini) writes:


>1.  How do you other GM's deal with the glut of Magically Actives? It 
>    seems more and more people are wanting to play magicals and the 
>    traditional street samurai is losing his appeal. Is this prevalent 
>    in any other gaming groups?

Sigh.  Unfortunately, I have seen this too.  I think with Shadowtech
stuff available, those sams are a notch up in effectiveness.  It
is only natural that, in a world with magic in it, players will
like characters who have a piece of that action.  I think that
eliminating PAs altogether is a step in the right direction.
(A massive thread about eliminating PAs has already hit r.g.f this
summer, so, personally, I think talking about it again is unnecessary.)

>2. Do your magically actives assense EVERYTHING? It seems like no matter 
>   what room, it is assensed, no matter who the person is, as soon as 
>   he/she/it is introduced, it is assensed, no matter what the object, 
>   it is assensed. 

This is my *major* gripe with the SR magic system.  Overall, I really
like it ascetically, but access to Astral Space is far too easy.
Except for masked initiates, which should be uncommon, assensing
someone tells most everything you need to know about a person.  It
is reasonable to bet the member of the sec team without cyberware
is a mage, for example.  And a mage without focuses and fetishes has a real
disadvantage against those who do.  The heart of the matter, as
I see it, is assensing or projecting is too powerful: being able
to view all living and inanimate things as they *truly* are
inhibits good game play.  What makes plots interesting is the unexpected.
Although a good gamemaster can always keep the players on their
toes, it certainly is a *lot* easier with no one going Astral
to scout.  Try a game with only sams, PAs, and sorcery adepts and
I believe you will find that it has a real nice quality to it.


--Peter

______________________________________________________________________________
						|
     "Guards!  Let me draw their fire!"		|	p-white@uiuc.edu
		   --Scapegoat,_Marshal Law_	|
______________________________________________________________________________
From: mfterman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Mutant for Hire)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Amber Sorcery: New Ideas
Date: 4 Sep 92 19:43:35 GMT
Organization: Princeton University
Originator: news@nimaster

Okay, I looked over the Amber powers and sorcery system, and decided
that it stunk. Actually, I decided the sorcery system really stank,
and the powers weren't quite what I wanted, or envisualized the system
as working as. Also having looked over the Corwin and Merlin stories,
I wanted to get a closer feel to the former's stories, and throw in
all the info revealed in the latter's stories.

Additionally, I wanted to make real differences in the way the Pattern
and the Logrus operated, and provide some justification for the way
things are in the stories, such as the fact that there are so few
sorcerors in Amber, while the Courts are crawling with them. And throw
in conceptual ideas on Order vs Chaos and the like.

It mostly succeeds from a conceptual viewpoint, with a few exceptions
such as Logrus tendrils. Ignoring those for the moment, or simply
throwing them in and just ignoring their implications, I have worked
out a system for magic. Or rather, the first part of the system. I
wanted to lay down a reasonable groundwork first.

So I'm tossing out the framework ideas and seeing what experienced
Amber players think of them. No point costs yet, I wanted to see if
there were any major flaws in the concept before trying to work out
the expense. Besides, working out effects such as personal energy cost
and the like are rather difficult in an abstract system like the game.
Also I want to see if anyone can dig up really awful counterexamples
from the books that go against the system.

Feedback is appreciated. Anyone actually tries to use these ideas, let
me know how it turns out. Thanks.

-- 
    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: tmartin@nyx.cs.du.edu (Thomas Martin)
Subject: Re: BattleMech Game for MS-DOS
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Distribution: rec.games.frp.misc
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 92 01:06:49 GMT

markg@engrg.uwo.ca (Mark Gagnon) writes:

>Just to be a pain;  there is a game by ACTIVISION called "Mechwarrior"
>which features an 'in the cockpit view' of the battle. It's a simulator
>and I'm not sure if it's sanctioned by FASA or not... I've only seen one
>original copy of the game.

>My two cents worth...

	Mechwarrior sold great! And there's now an on-line service (Genie?
Prodigy?) that uses practically the same cockpit view in a multi-player
game. And it does have FASA's blessing.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: philipla@microsoft.com (Phil Lafornara)
Subject: Re: cluelessness in mystery games (prep vs improv)
Date: 01 Sep 92 01:22:29 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation

In article <la4dkrINN4s2@west.west.sun.com> markk@sagredo.West.Sun.COM (Mark Kampe) writes:
>djohnson@cs.ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson) writes:
>> In this case, if a character has a high skill in solving/detecting or 
>> whatever, then you can secretly slip notes to the player reading "your 
>> intuition says that was an important clue".
>
>In such a case, we are no longer talking about a "mystery game".  A mystery
>requires creativity, persistance and insight.  If one can just roll to be
>"creative, persistant and insightful" we have effectively turned an
>intellectual problem into a "hack-n-slash" problem.  
>

      "Mystery" is a genre, not a rule-set.  There has always been
a problem in RPGs - specifically, players are not (and shouldn't be,
in most cases) their characters.  The players will have different
knowledge than their characters, in some cases more and in some cases
less.  It is up to the GM to help the player role-play that character
appropriately.
      "Your intuition says that was an important clue" seems somewhat
blunt but still appropriate for the situation.

					-Phil

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phil Lafornara         				1 Microsoft Way         
philipla@microsoft.com				Redmond, WA 98052-6399 
Note:  Microsoft doesn't even _know_ that these are my opinions. So there.
From: batemanc@p4.cs.man.ac.uk (Mad Chris)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: I used 100% ( RE: Improvisation )
Date: 28 Aug 92 14:34:42 GMT

There's nothing I like more than going away for 11 days and coming
back to find 100 posts on Improvisation! Anyway, in regards to 
the 80-20 rule I thought some of you might be interested in a recent
fluke. I just ran a one-off, which I prepped for. Now, I don't do much
prep really for most games, but for one-offs I like to prepare props,
maps etc. Now the thing is, rather than only using a tiny fraction of
what was used - I used 100% of my preparation ( and only needed to
improvise one or two things ). This is extremely rare for me, and 
I was suitably shocked. Any one else managed to prepare exactly what
was needed and nothing that wasn't?

Oh, I thought I'd also mention that one mechanism I've used for 
generating scenarios was the imp-prep method. It works like this:

1. Get two groups of players - preferably who don't know each other.
2. Improvise a scenario with the first group, generating maps etc.
    as you go ( yes, this is possible ).
3. Having finished the improvised version, produce neat versions
    of the props you jury-rigged before.
4. Run the scenario with the second group.

I've only done this twice, but both times both games were extremely
good fun. In the imp game the players essentially wrote a scenario
for me ( of course, they didn't know this! ) and then I used their
material on a second group, after a little polish. 

This isn't, naturally, the road to FRP Nirvana, but it's fun to do
once in a while, if you can. Anyone else done this?

Post no Bill-guisarmes.

Mad Chris.

PS: Paradak is back!
    Where did you go, Rannou?
From: inb@creare.creare.com (Ian Brown)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
Date: 27 Aug 92 14:53:27 GMT
Reply-To: inb@creare.UUCP (Ian Brown)
Organization: Creare Inc., Hanover, NH

In article <7qmpb3cv@cck.coventry.ac.uk> gdg019@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Ridley McIntyre) writes:
>Ha! This is what I meant! The man just put my entire post in one paragraph.
>Sheesh! And I wnat to be a writer when I grow up! It's reading Tad Williams
>books that does it, you know... Never put into into one sentence what you
>can waffle on for twenty...

If you want to read someone that figured out how to put what for most people
will take 20 paragraphs into a single one, try reading Robert E. Howard
(creater of Conan, although they aren't his best works.)  Given a reasonable
imagination, it is quite easy to get a really good mind picture of what is
happening in his books.  On several occasions, I've re-read a paragraph to see
exactly what he said; it is interesting to compare the reality of what is said
with the picture one builds from the words.


-- 
Ian Brown
inb@creare.com
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:4825 rec.games.frp.advocacy:1998 rec.games.frp.dnd:3410