HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jmedway@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (johnjmedway)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Tekumel mailing list - dead or alive?
Date: 29 Aug 92 00:18:05 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <1992Aug26.182322.1@wharton.upenn.edu> millerl@wharton.upenn.edu writes:
>I'm looking for the tekumel mailing list or to access some active
>discussion about tekumel and the empire of the petal throne and when I
>sent mail to the most recent know e-mail address for subscription
>discovered that Brett Slocum was not available at it. Does anybody know
>if the tekumel mailing list was still alive or if Brett still has
>internet access?


A message I got from Brett:

>>  Return-Path: <root@ssdc.honeywell.com>
>>  Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 21:46:44 -0500
>>  To: tekumel-list@ssdc.honeywell.com
>>  Subject: I lost my access.
>>  Status: RO
>>
>>  I lost my network access. I will set up a new one soon. I will inform you of
>>  the new address.
>>  ---
>>  Brett Slocum

I can only assume he'll let the community (?) as a whole know when he's back
up.


----------------------------------------------------------------
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			
----------------------------------------------------------------
From: andrew@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Andrew Walker)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Campaign Styles (Was: Re: CoC Campaigns)
Date: 31 Aug 92 14:49:13 GMT
Organization: Glasgow University Computing Science Dept.

braca2@cspyr1.cs.adfa.oz.au (BRAY CHRISTOPHER) writes:

>The problem, as I perceive it is that too many people believe that a campaign
>is centered around characters.  Try using this, center a campaign around
>an item, or a society.  Some characters will live longer than others, and
>possibly tell them of the horrors related to this thing.

>[Diary used as an example]

I like this especially for games with a (perceived?) high character turn
over rate. It allows a continuing context for new characters to be introduced
and takes the emphasis away from the PCs and PC advancement. The result is
a good environment for role-playing storytelling campaigns (IMO).

>Dont limit yourself with your campaigns.  I will diverge here and talk about
>Twilight 2000, and what we did with this.  We found that everyone's character
>had ended pretty good, and nobody wanted them to die.  It was getting 
>unrealistic that an entire party would survive every mission.  What was
>eventually done is that the original party became the core of an elite 
>group.  On any mission only two of the really good guys were taken, and 
>the rest of the number ( about 4-5) were from newer characters.  This enabled
>the GM to have sufficient carnage, and the players to keep the experts for 
>a while longer.  

This situation happened to my group in a long-running Champions campaign,
the heroes got so good that I really had to up the power levels a lot to
balance things. I encouraged them to set up an base and organization based
around the main characters but also employing new heroes. The result was
the continuing safety of the "older" characters with the odd appearance as
needs suited, but also the development of newer characters which helped 
keep the campaign fresh.

There's good advice for this in one of the Pendragon supplements ("Blood and
Lust" I think). It says have a "main" char, an alternative "char" and an
"emergency" char. The "main" char should the high-flying glory seeking
knight from the core background, the "alternative" should be from somewhere
different and should give challenging role-playing opportunities whilst
the "emergency" should be for occasions when the other two cannot take
part either through injury or are involved in a different situation elsewhere.
I think this could be easily generalised to just about any game.

>                              -=[   hook   ]=-

-- 
Andrew Walker: Department of Computing Science, The University, Glasgow G12 8QQ
Phone: (041) 339 8855 x 6044 		Fax: (041) 330 4913
E-mail: (JANet)      andrew@uk.ac.glasgow.dcs
  	(INTERNET)   andrew@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk
From: rrdjro@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au (Jonathan O'Donnell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Dwarf Women with bears, Not!
Date: 1 Sep 92 04:22:58 GMT
Organization: RMIT Computer Centre, Melbourne Australia.

Lady Dwarves are drab, even the well-bread ones.  I know this four a
fart.

However, I have not been able to establish whether their loafs are
braided or not.  Alas, they will not break board with me.  I do not
get to taste their broads.

	Johnathon@aRMpIT.edu.ou
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn)
Subject: Re: New Releases?
Organization: California State University, Chico
Date: Thu, 03 Sep 1992 03:51:08 GMT


I'd advise you not to go to PacifiCon if I were you... it's not
very well run, nor is it entirely rpg-friendly.  First and
primarily, it is a profit venture, so be prepared to be charged 
for everything, including refereeing.  Second major fault is 
that it gives first billing to war-/board-gaming.  The open
gaming room last year was filled with war/boardgamers, even
though there the next room over was the open board gaming room.
Third (this is getting far down the list) it is a small con,
which may not be a bad thing, expect the rpg selection is very
slim and mostly geared towards munchkins, both con-reg and
open.

I'd say that it was the worst con I've attended, even worse than
some of the GamesCarcasses...


-- 
The human mind ordinarily operates at only ten percent of its capacity
-- the rest is overhead for the operating system.
From: amigaman+@pitt.edu (Russell A Howard)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII:  Burst fire...
Date: 4 Sep 92 19:48:18 GMT
Article-I.D.: blue.5479
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <wilder.715619849@mik.uky.edu> wilder@mik.uky.edu (jeff wilder) writes:
>Check out the recoil penalties listed for burst-fire (at least in the
>text.)  +3 per 3-round burst, as opposed to the +2 given in TRBB.  This
>can't be right, as it makes autofiring 3 rounds more efficient, at the
>same +2 that burst-fire had before.
>

  I thought this too at first but the light bulb lit up and I realised that
Autofiring takes a Complex action whereas a burst is only a Simple action.  I
think it evens out.


-- 

--
Russ Howard
Internet:  amigaman+@pitt.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: mcclure@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Gaeron McClure)
Subject: Re: SRUN: A few observations
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 18:36:13 GMT

Another option in the ever-popular screwed-by-employer scenario is to have the
PC's get screwed by someone else.  Sure, it makes for a better CP flavor if the
PC's get jacked around, but it needn't be their employer who's doing it.

Example:  the runners are hired to protect a successful nightclub that is
coming under a variety of strange attacks.  After suffering assault by a
chipped-out merc, a bunch of agropelters and a chip-loaded werebear, they
(finally) begin to think that there is some connection here.  Looking for
possible sources, they realize that an entertainment company that specializes
in simsense chips and uses paranormal animals for guards tried to acquire
the club about a month earlier.
	"Ah, ha!"  They think.  "The evil corp is trying to force our
employer to sell through pressure tactics!"  However, they were actually
suspicious enough to do a little extra research, and discovered (very
fortunately and somewhat unexpectedly) that the corp in question was _not_
responsible.  The villain of the piece is a rival corp, which figured that
the runners would blame the first corp and attack it.  The runners instead
informed the first corp of the whole plot (which they hacked out of the
rival's files), and, with weapons provided by the first corp, blew the cr*p
out of the rival.

GRiM

-- 
GRiM	(Gaeron	R. McClure)	(mcclure@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: jgl2p@landau5.phys.Virginia.EDU (Joseph G. Louderback)
Subject: Re: CoC Campaigns (Was: Re: Call of Cthulhu Archives?)
Reply-To: jgl2p@landau5.phys.Virginia.EDU (Joseph G. Louderback)
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 22:45:26 GMT

In article <BtpoJn.82y@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, maxson@cerl.uiuc.edu (K R
Maxson) writes:

|> There is a severe problem in CoC with character mortality, both
physically
|> and . . . otherwise.  I've never seen a satisfying role playing
campaign
|> survive the kind of character turnover that CoC begets.  Having some
turnover
|> is alright, but considering what you normally get with CoC

The campaign I was in in South Carolina had this problem.  No one cared
when their
characters died, because it was commonplace.  In the campaign I run,
only
three have died so far -- less than one per adventure.  It is much more
satisfying
to have them go insane, though my players have this nasty habit of
making their
SAN checks ;-)=  (OK, so the fangs on the smiley are kinda poor).

|> Where was I?  Oh, my point: don't worry too much about trying to run
a
|> Call of Cthulhu campaign . . . the genre isn't really suited to it. 

Actually, I consider the genre extremely suitable, but I'm a looney. 
Seriously,
there is a unifying thread to CoC -- the struggle against the Elder
Gods.  I've
managed to link at least two adventures so far, and once the characters
return
to Scotland, they'll find an old acquaintance waiting for them; they
really should
have killed him the first time.

One difficulty with Coc is finding helpful NPCs.  Don't look to the
published
adventures for this.  Our SC group went through most of them.  By the
end of
that "campaign" we developed the optimal survival strategy.  Shoot the
first
person you see.  If he/she wants to help, shoot twice. 

I leave you with this final excerpt.  Our intrepid investigators had 
tracked down the vampire-like creature who had been tormenting them for
several
months (read _Ghost Story_ by Peter Straub for an idea of what Mr.
Michele Dumas
was like).  Of course he had an escape planned, and was just about to
disappear
into the catacombs when Hans Albrecht ran after him.  Throwing himself
down the
stairs, grenades in pockets, dynamite in hand, flamethrower on back,
Hans lights
the fuse.  216 points of damage later, Messrs. Dumas and Albrecht are no
more.

joe louderback
smile, Cthulhu loathes you.
From: millerl@wharton.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Tekumel mailing list - dead or alive?
Date: 26 Aug 92 23:23:22 GMT
Organization: Newt World Order

I'm looking for the tekumel mailing list or to access some active
discussion about tekumel and the empire of the petal throne and when I
sent mail to the most recent know e-mail address for subscription
discovered that Brett Slocum was not available at it. Does anybody know
if the tekumel mailing list was still alive or if Brett still has
internet access?

Thanks.

-- 
whoah,
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller                           internet: MILLERL@wharton.upenn.edu
The more corrupt the government, the greater the number of laws -- Tacitus
From: cwatters@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Coyt D Watters)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Legos as props.
Date: 3 Sep 92 20:22:55 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University

>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?   Perhaps using the Castle sets for a "normal"
>> fantasy campaign?
>> 
>> If so, how'd it work out?

We used the basic Knights for a game or two.  One player got distracted and
accidentally popped the head off of his knight.  We spent an hour looking for
the damned thing.  Other than that' they are nice and usable.
From: pierson@aludra.usc.edu (Steve Pierce)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Some highlights from GEN CON (Hero Games, White Wolf, WotC)
Date: 28 Aug 1992 09:25:05 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu

In article <1992Aug24.135751.19632@news.acns.nwu.edu> jeff@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Jeff Williamson) writes:
>
>Hero Games: Cyber Hero (finally!). A decent treatment of a HERO cyberpunk
>	campaign. Still have to look through it.
>

Was this actually released?  or was it just shown about?
	
My game store doesn't have it yet...

BTW, if you've read it, I'd love to hear about it...

STEVE PIERCE
THE AUDIO MERCINARY
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: apearlma@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Andrew Pearlman)
Subject: Re: Mag 3 cybereyes revisited
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 17:35:47 GMT

In article <1992Aug25.022836.4175@samba.oit.unc.edu> rhunt@med.unc.edu (Rick Hunt) writes:
>After a long debate and reflection on the subject of the mag 3 
>cybereyes, I think that I have the solution that I am looking 
>for.  Thanks for all of the thought provoking answers to my 
>question.
>
>The eyes will work as stated in the book with the following 
>modifiers.

Here's how I generally like 'em...

The ability to dodge an opponent's attack is based on the Range number and
aiming bonus.  So someone who has imag3 and aims for 2 actions, means that
the target number to dodge his attack is *1*

You only get one level of magnification automatically and must aim for one
action for each level thereafter.

Andy Pearlman


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: maxson@cerl.uiuc.edu (K R Maxson)
Subject: Re: cluelessness in mystery games
Organization: UIUC Computer-based Education Research Lab
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 17:08:56 GMT

It is important in scenarios built around a mystery to have contingency
plans for a satisfactory resolution.  I wouldn't enjoy playing in a 
mystery scenario very much if I knew the game master would eventually
shove the answer down our throats before the bell rang just so we would
get some scant feeling of accomplishment and closure.  The players don't
always have to figure everything out; in my opinion, the process is 
vastly more important than the end result.

I have been involved in murder-mystery scenarios where:

  The players couldn't figure out who had killed the Lord Scholar, but
  were able to whip up a very nice frame to make sure the tribunal
  didn't think they were doing a sloppy job.

  Most of the players had different opinions as to who the murderer
  was -- all of which were wrong -- but lacked the confidence to carry
  through with their various suppositions.  A slightly paranoid police
  officer became involved and brilliantly deduced that the different
  stories he was getting from the players were a result of a murder
  conspiracy a la the Orient Express.  Everybody into the cooler.

  When the two players involved began to get an inkling of where their
  investigation was taking them, without further ado or bothering to
  seek confirmation they ran like hell and never went back.

These were all scenarios -- fairly short, highly defined runs, which
is a setting I find ideal for mystery events (not to say mysteries
aren't great in campaigns either, but people don't always expect a
solution at the end of a six hour playing period in a campaign).

What is important is the enjoyment of the players and the game master,
not that the players can follow the trail of bread crumbs to the
Cellini salt cellar dripping with blood.

Note that I didn't say anything about whether or not game masters
should modify their preperatory material during a scenario, or whether
they should have any at all.  Personally, for scenarios I prepare
very differently than I do for campaigns -- and it is much easier to
prepare in great breadth and detail since scenarios are typically
well bounded events.  And whenever I run, I feel completely free to
change my mind about anything I have written down as long as the players
don't know about it yet.  I have a great deal of control (which I consider
important) since I generally run blind-rules games, where the rules
system is completely transparent to the players, who do not have lists
of numbers describing their characters and don't roll dice to see if
they noticed that the church bell doesn't have a clapper.

But I consider all of that secondary to the Prime Directive: HAVE FUN.
People are weird; they have fun in all sorts of ways that would drive
me stark raving mad in a moment.  But if it works, do it.

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: lib1p@jane.uh.edu (Tammy Stark Blandino)
Subject: Re: Harlequin (aka double GMing)
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 00:44:00 GMT

In article <batemanc.715012988@p4.cs.man.ac.uk>, batemanc@p4.cs.man.ac.uk (Mad Chris) writes...
>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.

Yes!!!! And I would advise everyone to try it at least once.

I've never been the head GM, but twice I have been an assistant
GM.  One time it was to play all the NPC's.  This was a prep
game (well semi-preped (well a little more than semi-preped))
where all the NPC needed were known by the GM.  I got to play
all of them, but I got to create how they would be played.

At one point I realized there was a problem, only moments away
from the characters encountering the npc.  The pc's had been
cursed so that they gave off all the side effects of being 
vampires.  They were about to enter a tavern in a superstitious
town were behind the bar was a wall length mirror.  As the GM
described the mirror I realized that the npc guide they were there
to find would also be superstitious and notice that they had no
reflection.  *REALITY CHECK*  So I decided right then and there
to make the npc a drunkard.  The stereotypical drunk who is always
at least a little drunk (if not a lot) but know {fill in the blank}
like the back of their hand.  I passed the GM a note that he was
drunk.  Without even blinking an eye she picked up the ball and
ran with it.  I think the time with the drunk was the most enjoyable
in the whole campaign. (Yes it was a campaign.)

The other time was a grand melee at a convention.  The melee
involved about 10 people playing pc's, 1 person playing npc's,
1 person record keeping the combat segments (me), and 1 GM
arbitor.  That was a blast.

Some memorable moments came from that melee.  

This however is NOT a standard mode of operation.  It is a special
case thing that I think you should try if you feel it might
work for you or on a one shot basis.

Tammy
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: garyf@cco.caltech.edu (Gary Fuller)
Subject: Re: DREAM PARK: Questions and Curiosities
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Summary: My experience with the game
Keywords: Dream Park DP
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 09:51:14 GMT

You'll have to excuse me, I've only played the game twice...
 
> First, the "Options" that allow you to custom adjust a character for
> the specific game being played... are these permanent? The book says
> that you can sell them back for Game Points at the end of a game, but
> it also says that playing with Superpowers is risky because they
> might not be allowed in a game. Since it says that you tell the
> players what the Universe rules are before they buy up their options,
> why would anyone buy powers in a game that disallows them?
 
What our group thought about that quandry was that if you choose the super-
hero type, everything else is doubled in cost.  Which means, outside of a 
super-hero game, that person operates at a distinct disadvantage, since that
person has fewer skills than other players to choose from in a non-superhero
game.

> Second, what are rough estimates of the amount of Game Points needed
> to Game Master? Can one play a Game Master character who also plays
> in other people's games? Or should GMs and Players be separate
> categories, not meant to overlap.
 
Remember that the games are played in simulation.  The game master programs
in the world and npcs that the players meet.  This doesn't cost game points
as the game master has full control over the simulation.  So to answer your
question, yes, a game master can both play and GM.
 
As to a point scale, I can't help you there.  The best suggestion I have for
you is to bring characters up from the begining 20 points.  I realize this
would take time, but that's part of the experience in the game.  A player
who is given a high point character won't appreciate the impact of a possible
death as much as one who brought the character all the way up.  Since death
means the loss of half the character's points, that can turn a 'top jock'
into a middle of the road character.


-- 
Gary Fuller                  :                 Tybalt ADND archives
AKA Lanzecki                 :          Anon FTP tybalt.caltech.edu
garyf@tybalt.caltech.edu     :    Submissions to: /pub/adnd/inbound
garyf%cco@caltech.bitnet     :                      131.215.139.100
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: oldham_r@cs.uwa.oz.au (rob oldham)
Subject: SRUN: Shadowrun I Errata again please
Keywords: Shadowrun
Organization: Dept. Computer Science, University of Western Australia.
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 04:42:11 GMT

After having read the SRII errata, I'd love to get my hands on the
SRI errata stuff. I had no idea it existed.... could somebody 
post it up or e-mail it to me ? Either the 2pg or the full 200k, 
as talked about in the SRII thread, will do wonderful.

Thanks heaps,

Rob Oldham
oldham_r@kultarr.cs.uwa.edu.au
From: kmitcham@coos.dartmouth.edu (Kevin Mitcham)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Champions: MindControl and Intelligence
Date: 4 Sep 92 19:31:29 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

sl859@cc.usu.edu writes:
>	I also want to ask a question.  What are ways of enhancing your 
>perception but not your intelligence?  And vice versa.  The reason I ask
>is that I hve known many a genius that was not very perceptive, and some 
>of the most perceptive people I know have been really lacking in gray matter!
>A good case would be the absent-minded professor.  One who although brilliant
>in many cases will be completely naive and bumbling when it comes to others.
>I don't believe if I want a character with cat like reflexes that they
>necessarily be a genius but just really sharp.  Yet if I say that intelligence
>is just that then I cannot buy any intelligence base skills that don't fit
>cus instantly they become the world authority on the subject I buy knowlege in.
>Get it???  I know that Champions does not consider intelligence the same
>as brain power yet it seems to me that if I want  a genius I have to have
>a guy who is never surprised, and always the first to discover something amiss.

>Thanks,				
>	wReam...
the way to simulate low int high perception is with a low int, and 
perception skill levels.
To do high int, low perception, buy and average int and lots of 5pts levels
with int skills.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc