HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: millerl@wharton.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Demise of bboard?
Date: 1 Sep 92 02:46:21 GMT
Organization: Newt World Order

In article <gece=9y00WAv8362Nm@andrew.cmu.edu>, fl0m+@andrew.cmu.edu (Faye Levine) writes:
> Wasn't this bboard going away?  I'm still getting new messages on it...

Your note was posted to rec.games.frp.misc in my neck of the woods. I
think we have seen the last of rec.games.frp as a full fledged newsgroup
today. RIP. A moment of silence.

.
.
.
.

-- 
whoah,
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller                           internet: MILLERL@wharton.upenn.edu
The more corrupt the government, the greater the number of laws -- Tacitus
From: mancinis@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (steven mancini)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: SRUN: Public Opinion on GM Screens
Keywords: minotaur, shadowrun
Date: 29 Aug 92 06:23:06 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: The Labyrinth


	What information would you want to see on a Gaming Screen for
	Shadowrun.

	I know there is one out there, I don't have it. I do have access
	to a scanner and was thinking of making myself something (screw t
	the copyright crap. It's only for me)

	What info would you other Shadowrun GM's want on a screen?

	What info might you like on the outside for the players (who
	basically face this thing) to access?

	Ideas?
	Suggestions?
	A Breath Mint? :)

							-Minotaur

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Steve Mancini (a.k.a. The Minotaur) | mancinis@mentor.cc.purdue.edu   |
|    Grad Student {Dazed & Confused}  | mancini@vm.cc.purdue.edu        |
|    Political Science Department     | phi@sage.cc.purdue.edu 	  	| 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "Of all that is written, I love only what a person hath written with  |
|  his blood. Write with blood and thou wilt find that blood is spirit" |
|				    -Nietzche, Thus Spoke Zarathrustra  |
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Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: davis@cwis.unomaha.edu (James J Davis)
Subject: SRII Overraction?
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 08:01:10 GMT

In reading the new equivelents to the old physical adept ability
'increased reaction', (increased reaction and increased reflexes)
I found the costs to be extra-ordinarily high compared to the
street samurai equivenants.  Wired Reflexes-2, costing 3 essence
(ergo: 3 magic), is the same as increased reflexes-2 (4 magic)
and increased reaction-4 (6 magic average, it varies), for a total
of 10 magic.  As we well know, the adept doesn't have 10 magic
points to spend, and the samurai is left with 3 essence (magic).
Am I missing something, or does this seem a bit unfair?

I think this comes from various abuses that have been demonstrated
with the physical adept abilities, but the writers seem to have
overracted.  Or maybe it is just me.

PS: the rules state that extended clips are available in the base
rules but I cannot find them.  Help.

-james 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner)
Subject: Re: SRUN: A few observations
Keywords: general comments
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 19:33:43 GMT

v125qj86@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Jeffrey B Rogers) writes:

>	1) Regarding FASA's modules for the game - I used practically all of
>them as this was the first system i ever GMed. My friends have identifed a 
>common plot pattern to these things that they disagree with. It goes like this
>---job offer, legwork, doing the job, getting paid/getting screwed over. It
>is the last part that bugs them, because they don't expect every single job
>they perform to have some ulterior purpose _that attempts to affect them per-
>sonally_. By my understanding, they seem to be interested in playing runs
>that are exactly as straightforward as their employers claim they are. My
>opinion is that underlying sneaky plots are part and parcel of it being a 
>cyber-punkish game. Opinions?
>							J.B.Rogers

I had a problem with this too.  Sure, it's part of the genre that
employers will sometimes screw their hirelings over, but if it *always*
happens (and this seems to be the rule in the modules) why will anyone
Shadowrun?  Better to do free-lance theft with no employer, therefore no
doublecrosser....

An occasional straightforward run makes the doublecrosses more
interesting, and is good for player morale, something we found to be a
real issue in Shadowrun.  Life in the shadows was so difficult, and
the rewards so small, that the players and characters became depressed
and stopped trying.  Neither player nor GM enjoyed this, and we had to do
a series of 'successful' runs before the game regained its sparkle.

Continual defeat (and getting screwed out of your pay is a pretty big
defeat for a mercenary) gets very old after a while, just like continual
victory.

So I guess I agree with your players.  Doublecross occasionally, sure,
but not every run.

Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@genetics.washington.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: praxis@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Laura L Perkinson)
Subject: SRUN: Too many mages
Organization: HAC - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 22:17:39 GMT

	Who's to say that magically active folks make more interesting
characters than those with more steel in them than the average Honda?
	Heck, who's to say magicians are the only ones who deal with the
higher powers? Our Evil GM (Hi, Evil GM) even allow "mundanes" to have a
few bonuses for being devoutly religious (which involves some moral
guidelines for the character, some tithing, practicing - whatever the
particular faith dictates.)
	A street samurai whose more of a paladin than a fighter will give
the mages fits. And isn't that the real goal of the game? ;>
	Besides, mages drain off lots of $$$. Elementals, spells etc are
expesive. Ammo is cheap.

		Nightfall
		"Yeah? Well try spell defending a Colt M22."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: mfterman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Mutant for Hire)
Subject: Re: Invisible Champions
Reply-To: mfterman@phoenix.princeton.edu (Mutant for Hire)
Organization: Mutant for Hire, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 03:50:56 GMT

One simple method to dealing with dangerous characters like the
invisible, desolid, loads-of-attack player is to play the criminals
intelligently. They try to pull a crime in the area, they scope out
the local superheroes. They know that hero X is invisible, desolid,
and has lots of killing attacks, and is going to be a Big Problem. So
they ask their gadgeteer to whip up a ray gun that Affects Desolid,
and then scope for it that Detects Metahuman (or whatever) with
Targeting sense, so that the villain can use it. Leave said villain in
reserve, waiting for hero X to show up. Pow.

All the other villains hear about how easily hero X was nailed using
the wondergun with scope. Quickly via word of mouth and independant
reinventing, every criminal group in the area starts investing in
these devices. Soon hero X has lost a large chunk of advantage. Hope
hero X has a lot of defenses.....

-- 
    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: dleland@dante.nmsu.edu (LELAND)
Subject: Re: Invisible Champions
Organization: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 18:12:10 GMT

In article <1992Aug27.121022.58438@cc.usu.edu> slb3y@cc.usu.edu (Punk Rocketeer) writes:
(in regards to the "ghost" who is invidible and desolid vs existence)
>
>     Personally, I handle characters like this in a different manner. 
>I tell the player that the PC will unbalance the game, and I have two
>choices.  I can either pick on him by exploiting his weaknesses in
>every game, or I can have him waltz through my villains.  Thus, the
>player needs to tone down the character, or come up with a new one. 
>It's been my experience that decent players will agree with me.

I agree completely. I had a character like this who was very similar in my
game. The Wraith wanted to be able to pass through anything, be invisible to
everything, and still attack with HUGE killing attacks. Being inexpereinced,
I let him in and really regretted it. I will now NEVER allow characters that
have such powers. They want to be invulnerable and undetectable AND be able
to dish out huge damage while desolid. It is extremely disruptive. I would
think twice.

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: ericg@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (Eric Chris Garrison)
Subject: Re: Re Legos as props
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 15:05:57 GMT


Actually, when I was 12, my stepbrother and I used our huge
collections of legos to make space outposts, manned by over
thirty men (and lots of 'droids made out of other legos).  

Neither of us had ever heard of a role playing game or anything
more wargame-like than Risk, but we invented a RPG-like war game
in which our space outposts would attack one another.  We had
a funny scale system, everything was measured in eighths of a
yard and yards (we had a yardstick measured off in eighths).

In that system, men moved 1/8, land vehicles moved 2/8, and space
ships tended to move no less than 4/8, but moved based on complicated
rules depending on how many "engine" pieces we put on the ships.

Hand-held guns shot 4/8, ship guns shot 1 yard, base guns shot a
full 2 yards.

Every game, each of us was allowed to make up (totally unbalanced)
a secret weapon and a secret defense.  This was written down on
a piece of paper before play began, and was displayed when used.
The only balance point for this was the fact that all secret weapons
and defenses had to have some sort of weakness that the other had
to discover by trial and error.

All of the lego space men and robots had a "class".  They were:

a Commander (1 per person, usually represented the player), who could
act as a pilot or an engineer

an Engineer, who could repair any damage to ships/vehicles/robots/bases 
that he could cover in movement, save that which was destroyed by
acid or bombs

a Pilot, who could fly a spaceship and fire guns simultaneously,
and who could get a bonus when shooting at the enemy if not flying
the ship

a Medic, who could repair 1 man per turn, unless that person was 
killed by acid or bombs.

When shooting a gun, an average character hit on a 5 or 6.  A pilot
hit on a 4, 5, or 6 if not flying a ship.  A commander *always* hit on
a 4, 5, or 6.

Boy did I get carried away.  The original intent of the article was
to say that I used legos first, and that's what really got me 
interested in role playing games in the first place... a year after
we invented the Lego War, a friend gave me a copy of the D&D basic
set, and I've been gaming for the past 12 years.

Eric

-- 
Eric Chris Garrison			      UCS Support Center
ericg@ucs.indiana.edu			      Indiana University
From: rb6t+@andrew.cmu.edu (Robert Everett Brunskill)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Fwd: SRUN: Questions from the Minotaur: The Next Generation
Date: 30 Aug 92 03:51:09 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Freshman, CIT general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


In SRUN: Questions from the Minotaur: The Next
Generationmancinis@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?

Personally, I have yet to face this problem.  At the most I'll have two
magical characters at a time.  Are you making full use of the drain
effects?  That's been a major limiting factor in my group (there has
also been the possibility of being "pantsed" while in astral space). 
And don't forget that magic does not combine well with technology at all.

Rob Brunskill Aka "The Phantom"
"Again?" -- Rocket J. Squirrel
From: millerl@wharton.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Dwarf Women with bears, Not!
Date: 28 Aug 92 15:00:51 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Organization: Newt World Order

In article <1992Aug27.221722.17910@ncmicro.lonestar.org>, ltf@ncmicro.lonestar.org (Lance Franklin) writes:
>In article <l9nbv7INNsp@phad.hsc.usc.edu> esharpe@phad.hsc.usc.edu (Ed Sharpe) writes:
>}In an early dragon magazine (35?) the final word was given on dwarvish female 
>}breads:  Unless you have dwarvish bread catcher traps in your games it does
>}not matter if female dwarves have breads.
> 
>Female dwarves are invariably heterosexual.  So no, Female dwarves do
>not have broads.

I don't know what all the muss and fuss about female dwarf bards is. If
you've ever heard dwarves sing "Scarborough Fair" or "Chicken in the
Straw" you will understand that it is unlikely for a dwarf, whether
breaded or not, to be a bard. Besides, they have such stubby fingers and
can't play a normal lute or lyre. Maybe a fat-necked ukelele would work,
but I don't know.

I think the more important question is "Do female dwarves wear barding
and serve bread at their boarding houses?"

-- 
whoah,
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller                           internet: MILLERL@wharton.upenn.edu
The more corrupt the government, the greater the number of laws -- Tacitus
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: W40K, where?
From: bkreed@oread.cc.ukans.edu
Date: 29 Aug 92 15:17:08 CDT
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Serces

In article <Btq9Bs.73y@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>, joshua salter <jsalter@silver.ucs.indiana.edu> writes:
> 
> 	Is there anyone out there that plays W40K? Or not?
> 
> 							-jsalter
-- 
Yeah, a friend of mine says that there is a group starting in Wichita,
KS.  Sort of a long drive for you though.  <grin>

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There are very few personal problems  |	Ghostrider@f120.n280.z1.fidonet.org
that cannot be solved by suitable     |      bkreed@oread.cc.ukans.ed
Aplications of plastic explosives.    |            EGARC/BKREED
   ---Anonymous                       |          Bryan Kennedy Reed
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Axly)
Subject: Werewolf
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 20:36:42 GMT


I just picked up White Wolf's latest venture into the Goth-Punk
roleplaying world, Werewolf. 

WOW!

This one feels a lot tighter than Vampire. I'm sure it benefitted from 
all the playtesting that Vampire has given the Storyteller system. 

The background: What can I say, it's White Wolf at their best!

I haven't given the book a clinical reading yet, but from the first
few times through, it seems to be quite excellent.

Axly

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: phatch@coyote.slc.mentorg.com (Phill Hatch (CONTRACTOR Documentation))
Subject: Re: cluelessness in mystery games (prep vs improv)
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Organization: Mentor Graphics Corp.,  Murray, Utah
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 20:29:50 GMT

In article <1992Sep2.180537.9383@nmsu.edu>, dleland@dante.nmsu.edu (LELAND) writes:
> 
> 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.

I've been running a campaign with an overall dilemma for the party to solve.
The group quickly figured out the general problem but has been having trouble
breaking it up into manageable chunks.  They feel they don't know the
detailed information they need.

Part of my solution to understanding what the players know is for me to 
read their notes.  By encouraging note taking, and reviewing the player notes,
I as the GM see what things the players caught and what they missed.  

Is it working well?  Yes and no.  You are absolutely right that the players
think things are important that the GM thinks are trivial. So by reviewing 
the player notes, I know what clues I need to re-present to the party in 
future adventures.  We have been playing the system for a year and are only
about two thirds as far along as I thought they would be by this time. And
that's OK.  

The party just trapped a major foe in temporal stasis and sunk him in the
earth a ways 'til they figure out how to question him. So the party has an 
excellent opportunity to flesh out their plans. 

Mysteries, like any other plot device can be fun.  The ensure fun on every
one's part requires feedback. Otherwise, any plot becomes the stroking of 
the GM's ego at the player's expense.  On two occasions, my players accused 
me of this when they got flustered.  They may have been right.  I certainly
have blind spots in analyzing myself.

Phil
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:4833 rec.games.frp.advocacy:1999 rec.games.frp.dnd:3411
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy,rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Question Re: Alignments
From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn)
Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1992 13:58:48 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.dnd
Organization: California State University, Chico
Summary: Why is this crossposted to so many groups?


Tammy, I understand that you do not read r.g.f.dnd, but why post an
article that seems to be relevant to that group to all these other
ones?  I don't know of any other game aside from D&D and it's knock-
offs that still use the alignment system, and in light of that, it
seems to belong solely in r.g.f.dnd.

There have instances in other groups where posters have ended articles
with "please respond by email, I do not read this group" and other
contributors have responded unkindly.  There is a group where this 
article belongs, it need not be cross posted to a majority of the 
r.g.f.*

This article itself is set to direct follow ups to r.g.f.dnd.  Please
continue the discussion there.
-- 
Atlee is a very modest man.  And with reason.
		-- Winston Churchill
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: aragorn@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Strider)
Subject: Re: SRUN: A few observations
Organization: The Banzai Institute
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 21:02:33 GMT

v125qj86@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Jeffrey B Rogers) writes:
: 
: 	1) Regarding FASA's modules for the game - I used practically all of
: them as this was the first system i ever GMed. My friends have identifed a 
: common plot pattern to these things that they disagree with. It goes like this
: ---job offer, legwork, doing the job, getting paid/getting screwed over. It
: is the last part that bugs them, because they don't expect every single job
: they perform to have some ulterior purpose _that attempts to affect them per-
: sonally_. By my understanding, they seem to be interested in playing runs
: that are exactly as straightforward as their employers claim they are. My
: opinion is that underlying sneaky plots are part and parcel of it being a 
: cyber-punkish game. Opinions?

This would follow the same thread that my fav Shadowrun GM here in Milwaukee
follows.  I think more playing and GM'ing will change this, but it could be
for the same reasons that you stated: SR modules *are* basically the same.
So, what does one do?  One tries to be more creative than whomever wrote the
original SR modules.  Who says that every single adventure HAS to be a
patron/client run?  Maybe the adventuring group just wants to go out and
raise some hell for a while ... this would be my fav type of adventure.
Just let the GM allow things to run free for a few gaming sessions and see
what happens ... of course the GM will need to be *very* prepared with
source material (maps, NPC's et al) and also know the rules quite well.
Also, a fairly creative group of gamers would be needed to come up wwith
things to do besides just doing whatever a patron wants done.  Ya know, now
that I think about I'll have to mention this to Dave.  I'd LOVE to play a
few runs like this.

: 	I have more, but perhaps i've rambled on a bit more than i should have.
:  Later.
: 							J.B.Rogers

Please, keep it coming.  I'm sure we'd all like to hear all your
observations.  If not, just write me.


Steve J. White		|	Reality is for those who can't handle	|
aragorn@csd4.csd.uwm.edu|	roleplaying games.			|
skeptic@large@9600bps	|		- t-shirt at GenCon		|
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: lib1p@jane.uh.edu (Tammy Stark Blandino)
Subject: Re: Improvisation!
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 23:50:00 GMT

In article <0095FBB0.D9A87700@abby.chem.ucla.edu>, doug@abby.chem.ucla.edu writes...
>In article <27AUG199208123764@rosie.uh.edu>, lib1p@rosie.uh.edu (Tammy Stark Blandino) writes:
>>At the beginning of the game the DM rolls a six sided die.  The
>>number that comes up is the number of fudges he/she gets.  Every
>>time the DM fudges they turn the die to the next lower number.
>>
>>Now fudges can be done both for and against players, usually in
>>situations that really *WARRANT* a fudge.  Since players see the
>>die being turned they know it is a fudge.
>>
> 
>IMHO, letting the players know that you've fudged something is the WORST
>POSSIBLE thing you can do.  It's much worse than simply fudging, and it's also
>much worse than adamantly refusing to fudge die rolls.  Letting the players
>know when you're fudging the die rolls, in my experience, accomplishes nothing
>and simply makes the players less satisfied with whatever the result of their
>actions was.

For some it could be.  Give me the opportunity to recount past
glories.

A few years ago our gaming group was playing in a campaign
with Bryan Shaw as DM.  Bryan is the one who introduced us to
"fudge dice".  Now this campaign was an "Age War" (as in Tolkein).
There were the Towers of Law and the Towers of Chaos.  These
Towers were **VERY** powerful.  The Towers of Law had all been
destroyed leaving only the Towers of Chaos which created an
imbalance which spawned the Age War.  We were fighting to
destroy the Towers of Chaos.

Now fighting a "Big T Tower" is not an easy thing to do.  Characters
tended to get snuffed if they players weren't really on their toes.
Bryan seldom used the fudge dice, but when he did boy did the
players howl.  

Since that time it has become a point of honor to say that Bryan
used a fudge die against your.....(meaning you pulled something off
that would have just thrown everything out of wack).  If fact or
friend Tim often boasts that more were used on him than anybody
else.  While this does not mean that fudges aren't irritating, it
does show that they aren't totally resented.  Frankly I would use
them unless the players ok'd it.  I also would use it only against
the players, but also for.

Fudge dice are not for every game, only for POWER games where they
are needed.  I presented this as an option for people who might
find the idea interesting.

==>Tammy<==
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc