HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: summers%sanctum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Jim Summers)
Subject: Re: Weird Dice?
In-reply-to: ddavis@cass.ma02.bull.com's message of 12 Oct 92 15:41:41 GMT
Organization: U of Utah
Distribution: na
Date: 13 Oct 92 15:43:07

In article <1992Oct12.154141.7846@cass.ma02.bull.com> ddavis@cass.ma02.bull.com (Dave Davis) writes:

   Has anyone done some research into semiregular polyhedra? 
   We were talking this weekend about different possibilities for dice
   (besides the 4,6,8,10,12,20, which are of course standard, and the
    30 and 100, which are common)

   It also occured to me that one could make a workable 3-sided by
   sticking a dowel in the center of one face of a 4-sided (making it look 
   a little like a dreidel).

   What other combinations have you seen? Can one do tricks with
   ellipses & parabola to make 5-sided dice, etc? (Please don't point....
   is about the geometry of 3-D surfaces). What about geodesic domes-
   are there set rules for their number of faces?

Hmmm. You could make a servicable two-sided die by taking a dowel and
slicing it thinly.  You would then have two large sides with a thin
round seperator.  Assuming you cut thinly enought, this could be
viewed as a two-sided die (with a thin enough cut, the rounded surface
would never land face-up).  

LostBoy
jim "I guess I'd better include a :) or some idiot will flame me" summers 
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: gdg019@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Ridley McIntyre)
Subject: GURPS: Race Creation Question
Organization: Ironpig Arcadia, Coventry, UK
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 16:26:07 GMT

Okay, so I'm sold. All those who remember me from the GURPS flamewar ages
ago can calm down, because I'm going to give the game a second chance.

I'm running a GURPS Space game soon (when I can get a copy of the Near Star
Map from 2300AD - any offers?) and I'm a wee bit confused about the way in
which GURPS handles the creation of different races.

The usual point cost business is for normal humans. Then you pay for extra
stats and ads and disads and skills and stuff. But, if you're playing a
non-human (one which has been created out of the rules with ads and disads
and stat bonuses, which all cost points) do you still get 100 points to
start off with and then have to *buy* the race (then using the remaining
points to purchase extra skills and stuff) or do you have the race and then
still have 100 points to spend on skills and stuff? It just seems a little
unfair to make players spend most of their 100 points on just being something
they could probably be as a human (if they spent the points on the same
ads and disads), and the only way I can see to balance the new races off would
be to give them a whole shitload of Racial Disads, which is unfair on the 
players who suddenly have a load of disads forced upon them. I haven't got
nor seen GURPS Aliens or Fantasy Folk, so I really don't know how to work this
one.

Example:

I'm currently working on a Vargr-type race. The Race has:

Alertness +3...... 15 points 
Nightvision....... 10 points
Claws............. 15 points
Ultrasonic Hearing 5 points
Impulsiveness..... -10 points

The total cost is 35 points. Now does a new player with 100 points to spend
on his character have to spend 35 points on being one of these Vargr-types,
leaving them with only 65 points left to create a character with; or do they
get to spend their 100 points on developing the above character anyway.

I understand it's unfair to other players who might choose to be human and
then find the other characters more powerful than they are, but (like first
edition Shadowrun) it means that other races are at a disadvantage simply
for being other races, and that's even more unfair, IMO.

So, can anyone give me any house-rules, pointers-in-the-right-directions,
canonical rulings, etc.? Loyd? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

TIA,

-- 
        	 **Ridley McIntyre - Ronin Ironpig**			
*On a Flowery	     gdg019@cck.coventry.ac.uk          Space Trip!*
		 -----------------------------------
     	     "He's in a wibbly-wobbly world of his own."
From: mason
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: SR2 Errata
Date: 8 Oct 92 21:44:50 GMT
Organization: Rice University

E-mail me any mistakes you find in the SR2 rulebook.  I'll
put them all together and post them sometime next week.
 
 
-- mason (mhart00@ricevm1.rice.edu)
From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Vampire Question:  The Hunters Hunted - is it out?
Date: 13 Oct 92 02:23:42 GMT
Organization: California State University, Chico
NNTP-Posting-Host: hairball.ecst.csuchico.edu

David Lucey writes:
>Where is The Hunters Hunted supplement for Vampire?

It's out already.  The group I so often criticized on the net as vamp-
munchkins went hog wild over it.  They found some errors, however.  The
local paramilitary buff emphatically stated that inflamatory shotgun 
rounds have an effective range of 30m instead of the listed 10, etc.

See what I mean about powergamers?

>Can it be purchased in the Bay Area?  

Try Game Gallery in the Stonestown Shopping Center in SF.  If not there,
then try Gamescape, 333 Divisadero.  I forgot the phone number, but it's
in the book.  They've had it since summer.

Word of warning, however.  If your group is into Montiness Uber Alles,
this is not a book for them.  They'll start using the stuff out of the
hardware list just as quickly as out of the Players Book.  And your
campaign *will* suffer for it.

-- 
Another good night not to sleep in a eucalyptus tree.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan)
Subject: Re: Newbie System?
Reply-To: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan)
Organization: Plymouth State College - Plymouth, N.H.
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 09:50:59 GMT

>Which system would you recommend to someone who had decided they wanted to
>try Role-Playing? The game should be suitable for whole groups of Newbies
>to learn on their own without the guidance of Role-Playing Gurus. What do
>you see as the dominant criteria for a Newbie RPG?

I assume this means even the GM is new to RPGs.  If so, I recommend
Prince Valiant, by Chaosium.  Not only is the system simple, but it
includes a lot of useful GMing advice.

If you have an experienced GM, I recommend GURPS.  With an experienced
GM, GURPS can be learned as quickly as the simplest system out there,
because, from the player's point of view, there are very few mechanics
(if he has a premade character).  The GM needs to be well-versed in the
game, however, and make all the characters for the first game.  I have
taught GURPS every summer for the last five years in a Ventures in
Learning program with 5th-9th graders, total novices, and they all
caught on within ten minutes.  I have also taught more resistant
adults, and they took about 15 minutes to learn.

-- 
  - Steffan O'Sullivan		         sos@oz.plymouth.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: betel@camelot.bradley.edu (Robert Crawford)
Subject: Re: Post-Apocolyptic GURPS
Organization: Bradley University
Date: 12 Oct 92 02:17:54 GMT

sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:
>One thing that I haven't really made rules for is radiation. My apocolypse
>was not a nuclear one, but I plan on making up or adapting some kind of 
>rules for radiation some time in the future.

	There are officall rules in GURPS Space. They seem pretty
bug-proof, but I'm not willing to reality-check them!

--
She turned and looked at me in white innocence
and with eyes of forever grey
she rested one small hand for a second on my knee:
I stopped the car. She walked away.
	- "White Innocence", Jethro Tull

Robert Crawford 			betel@camelot.bradley.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: pan2765@seas.gwu.edu (Crazyman Pan)
Subject: Re: GM wants to be a Player
Organization: I have none...
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 16:52:43 GMT

In article <1992Oct13.195126.1@kean.ucs.mun.ca> jbridson@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes:

>I game with a group of friends quite often.  I am usually the GM, and I 
>quite enjoy it, and think I'm fairly good at it (by no means excellent!).  
>However, (a) I'm a bit lazy (b) I would love to play just as a Player with 
>a character.
>
>There's another guy in the group who GM's occasionally (or who STARTS 
>adventures, only to forget about them...) and who has momentarily taken over 
>from me as Animator in our TOON games (at my suggestion)
>
>The problem is that during play, when he pauses, I usually can see what to 
>do, or when he says something I think "No no no!  That's not the way to it!"
>sometimes.  And sometimes I'll open my mouth and voice my ideas.  But I 
>don't want to make a habit of contradicting the Director...
>
>How does a GM turn into a simple Player again?  How do you get back into 
>the feel of role-playing just one person and having no control over others' 
>actions?
>
>    --- Robert "Biggles" Bridson   (using the account of JBRIDSON)

When I used to play games (which was a few years ago), I was always GM-ing
games because everybody else was too lazy to read the rules themselves.  For
a VERY limited amount of times I was a player (which was quite refreshing and
I truly enjoyed the experience).  The trick to being a player after having
GM-ed lots of games is to just forget about the game's mechanics (leave most
of it up to the GM) and just get absorbed in the scenario or story (pretend
you're living a book or movie).  It helps if you can't see what the GM does
(I used to screen most of my game mechanics from the players when I was GM).

					-- Crazyman Pan


("I'd rather be playing guitar...")
"Joining together to take on the world with our heavy metal." 
				-- MetallicA, KEA, MM

Organization: Freshman, CIT general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Date: Thu,  8 Oct 1992 20:11:06 -0400 
From: Ryan S Hughes <rh3x+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Rolemaster

Does anyone out there still play Rolemaster?  If so, does anyone have
any suggestions on how to play?  (Not like how do you roleplay, but what
are the best skills, classes, ideas you've heard or had, etc...)  I'd
really like to hear everything! 

Thanx.

Ryan



I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds.
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:6778 rec.games.frp.advocacy:2771
From: ketil@apal.ii.uib.no (Ketil M. Malde)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Newbie System?
Date: 10 Oct 92 18:54:44 GMT
	<39235@sdcc12.ucsd.edu>
Reply-To: ketil@ii.uib.no
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Organization: student of computer science at the University of Bergen, Norway

In article <39235@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> bkoike@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Bryce Koike) writes:

	   Just about any system will do so long as the GM and the
   players involved are supportive.  Taking time to explain the game's
   mechanics and a little "hand-holding" is necessary for any  game.
   Too often I've seen people bolt through the game's rules, leaving
   the new player's head reeling in confusion.  I mean, I've seen
   people introduced to gaming via Champions, GURPS, Ghostbusters,
   AD&D, Teenagers from Outer Space...

AD&D has an advantage over some other systems (yes, yes, I *know* you
don't like it.  I don't either) in that the Player's Handbook, and
also much of the other stuff, is clearly written with the beginner in
mind. Everything is well backed up by examples, etc.  I think this is
an important feature for newbies.  On the other hand, the rules are
pretty complex without providing any significant amount of realism.

--
 = Ketil Malde                     In real life:  ketil@ii.uib.no =
 = Nuke the whales!                    Honk if you love unicorns! =
From: kucloak@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Bryan Kennedy Reed)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: SRII: Disarming Oponents
Date: 11 Oct 92 15:52:50 CDT
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services

After watching Segal's latest flick, a question popped up.  How do we
deal with disarming in Shadowrun?  For a physical adept (or Samurai
for that matter) who deals only in hand to hand, it's a good think to
separate you opponent and his firearm.  Has anyone come up with any
rules on this?-- 
		
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Invincibility depends on one's self;	   kucloak@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
  The enemy's vulnerability on him.	    bkreed@oread.cc.ukans.edu
 		  --Sun Tzu 		      Bryan Kennedy Reed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: bkoike@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Bryce Koike)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Newbie System?
Date: 9 Oct 92 21:41:36 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

[On pre-made characters vs. self-made]

	If the players know the game system and I can trust them
(which is usually true these days), sure, I'll let them bring their
characters over to my game without me having seen them first.
Spending the first hour+ waiting for people to make their
characters, debate, re-write their characters, outfit them, etc, is
irritating to say the least, and seriously ruins game time that I'd
prefer to use for role-playing and not character-making.
	For the newcomer to gaming, I *DO* tend to recommend
pre-made characters unless the game system is simple (like Toon or
Teenagers from Outer Space).  While they're trying to understand the
game's mechanics, they're being forced to swallow down character
creation while trying to figure out, "How do I make a good
character?"  [or, "What the hell IS good in this game?  What is this
game about?  What am I doing here?!"]
	With a pre-made character (remember, this is for someone who
has NEVER played a role-playing game before), you can sit down,
explain the various facets of the character, his strengths and
weaknesses, his abilities, etc, etc.  With that in mind, the player
can then apply that knowledge to the game's mechanics.  When I'm
completely unfamiliar with a game, the last thing I want to do is to
make character if I'm among a group of experts.  Unless they're
extremely supportive and willing to waste 3+ hours explaining to me
how to make a character that I'll like and how the game mechanics
work, things are simply NOT going to work out for me.
	So far as experienced gaming is concerned, though, I and my
players tend to prefer NON pre-made characters.  Although on
occasion I have seen my friends run extremely enjoyable one-shot
games with pre-made characters.  (I'd never force pre-made
characters on a campaign...)  They were exciting, fun, and didn't
ruin an entire afternoon with character creation (in the case of
GURPS.  TFOS, AD&D, Toon, twenty minutes tops...)
	I've played both ways and as an "experienced" gamers I
prefer characters that I've made myself.  But when I am faced with a
system I am totally unfamiliar with, I'd much prefer to start out
with a pre-made character and learn how to play the game, how
statistics and skills interact with the system, etc, before actually
making an official character.  Most of my friends understand this
and are willing to foist an NPC on me until I have a handle on the
system.  My personal beliefs, of course, won't be the same as
everyone else's, but the initial point was that with someone who has
never played any RPG before, character creation is probably only
going to confuse that person more.  I agree so far as my own
experience goes, but I'm sure that everyone feels differently.

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: uplink@cwis.unomaha.edu (John M. Scheibeler)
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Psionics
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 07:48:23 GMT

	Hmm.  A while back, I created a basic, rough-draft system for 
psionics in SHadowrun.  It was crude but it had its uses.  First,
PSI was a bit more powerful in Shadowrun than Magic, this was to make
up for the fact that with PSI you couldn't do all the wonderful things that
you could with magic.  Second, PSI had _no_ drain; but then, you couldn't
create permanent Psionic Items.

	It seems my original system was a bit TOO powerful (a psionic with
telekinetic abilities stood up and smashed the party's troll SAM into the
ground, instantly knocking him to Dying, all with no drain) and I scrapped
it.  But the ideas are still there.  Balance Psionics with magic, because
you sure as hey ain't gonna turn someone into goo with your brain, and
you sure as hey can't create a Psionic Lock...

uplink
From: davidc@cs.uwa.oz.au (David Cake)
Subject: Re: SRII and reputation
Organization: Dept. Computer Science, University of Western Australia.
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 04:57:49 GMT

>mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu writes:
>>
>> Here's an conceptual question about reputation and the Street:
>> 
>> A small-time 'runner happens to offend someone really Big; say, a novice
>> street mage pisses off a topnotch freelance mage-assassin.  The assassin
>> retailiates, and due to some peculiar circumstance (after all, anyone
>> can screw up) *dies*.
>> 
>> What happens to the hapless street mage when word gets out, assuming it
>> does (and a power vacuum like this is liable to be noticed)?  Is he in
>> trouble?  In clover?  What does it mean to have a Rep that's bigger than
>> you are?
It all depends how well you use it, and how much people know about you, and 
what kind of guy you are. Its probably bad to have an undeserved rep and be
a confrontationalist type, or very open about yourself.
	But it can also be useful. A good example is at the end of the second
volume of The Books Of Magic, a comic series by Neil Gaiman, there are a room
full of evil magicians threatening a child and his single protector. In walks
John Constantine, manipulative bastard and man of mystery. John has taken out
a major demon and a major coven of sorcerers in his life, both by leading them
into a confrontation with something more powerful. He is almost the weakest
person in the room, but they only know his rep. He says "the boys with me. You
know my rep. Who'll take me one first." They all back down, despite the fact 
that any of them could have obliterated him.
	Of course, playing this sort of trick regularly is not recommended. 
But it is great when you get away with it. And unpleasant when you don't.

						Dave Cake


-- 
David Cake		|life is easily understood as bit strings with logical
[WLM] Weird Little Man	|depth greater than their length - Rebis, Doom Patrol
Cognitive science, UWA	|..think about a government entirely of fish - JBC
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se (Bertil Jonell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Weird Dice?
Date: 13 Oct 92 06:33:30 GMT
Organization: Chalmers University of Technology

In article <1992Oct12.205327.24060@athena.mit.edu> kdmiller@athena.mit.edu (Kenneth D Miller) writes:
>I don't want to sound like a jerk, but WHY do people need d34's d60's and other
>weird-sided dice?

  They need them because Lou Zocchi is a very good salesman:)

>For a good time, email  | Ken Miller, sole member of Digital Horizons USA,

-bertil-
--
"It can be shown that for any nutty theory, beyond-the-fringe political view or
 strange religion there exists a proponent on the Net. The proof is left as an
 exercise for your kill-file."
		"Revive the Swedish-Madagascan Brigand Pact!"
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: npearl@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Nathan Y Pearlstein)
Subject: Plea for WHFRP info
Keywords: WHFRP FTP WFRP
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 22:03:28 GMT


This is a plea to those WHFRP players AND GM'S alike to send any and all info 
on the locations of WHFRP stuff on the Internet or Bitnet or Wherever connected
to Internet net.  It seems that the warhammer mailing list is gone so if you 
also have the digests please send them to me.  But give me a warning about how 
big said file may be a day in advance please.
-- 
*  Nathan Pearlstein   npearl@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu     Astronomy -gasp!  *
*  Sir Nathan Pearlstein     silly@camelot.uk.mil           Undergrad -GASP!! *
* "...We eat ham and jam and spamalot..."  - Knights of The Round Table Choir *
*                Beware lest the Slaaneshi hordes pervert the Net             *
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: CS341A002@Husky1.StMarys.Ca (Loki)
Subject: Re: TW:2000 - some questions and comments...
Organization: The Underground
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 01:46:28 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.13.SMU

narlochn@kirk.msoe.edu writes:
>       I was wondering for TW:2000 if anyone came up
> with any stats for exploding shells for a shotgun.

I had exploding 12ga shells at one point in my Dark Conspiracy game. I gave
them a die of concussion and a 4m burst radius, each. One of my players
loaded them into a stormcloud and razed an entire room with them... it was
gruesome. Oh yeah... when rolling for scatter, multiply by 1m at short
range, 2m at medium, 4m at long, 8m at extreme... otherwise as per regular
12 gauge rules.

Be warned - Inside a normal shotgun, they're dangerous. Inside a combat
shotgun, they're ridiculous. Be prepared to roll lots and lots of
fragmentation rolls the first time a player loads a CAW with 12ga explosive
and dumps the clip...

           Most commonly known as Loki, occasionally sysop of TWWOL
      SCA: Brynjolfr Myrkjartanarson, founder of the Compaignie Mercurie
        The Net: cs341a002@husky1.stmarys.ca, cs341a002@stmarys.bitnet

Random Quote of the Day:
I am running for governor of the United States.

                 --- Richard Nixon, running for governor of California
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
From: CS341A002@Husky1.StMarys.Ca (Loki)
Subject: Con costs (was Re: Newbie System?)
Organization: The Underground
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 20:43:01 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.13.SMU

tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu writes:
>
> Sea Wasp writes:
> >Bill Seurer writes:
> >>You must have a REAL boring time at conventions.
> >Considering that 17 years ago it cost me $300, I don't GO to conventions.
> 
> Hmmm, things have gotten cheaper since then, or so it seems.  I generally
> manage to get by on about $150-200, and that's two years ago.  I'm there
> to game, so I can get together with a bunch o'friends and overload a room.
> Hotel charges cost under $70 this way.  Under $40 for admission, and
> the rest of the stuff is food (usually half of it, $20 to $40) is pre-
> purchased.  The rest of the money is splurge money.  I love the flea
> markets.  Then again, you can make the point that $150 is a lot to 
> spend for a weekend, but I'll point out that it's a 4-day affair.  And
> usually, it's worth it.

Yeah. You guys are rich. :) I usually spend about $50 on cons these days...
when I'm wealthy, I can go as high as $100 or so. That's including food,
hotel, travel, and entry.

I've gotten through a couple cons on about $20 or so... 'course one of
those I was a board member and didn't have to pay entry...

I've only ever spent more than $100 at one convention; Noreascon III where
I managed to blow about $1,000 in five days... (including plane, con
ticket, etc. etc. etc.) Generally I don't spend that much. ;)

This is in Canadian dollars too.

'Course, most cons around here are about $20 for the weekend pass...

           Most commonly known as Loki, occasionally sysop of TWWOL
      SCA: Brynjolfr Myrkjartanarson, founder of the Compaignie Mercurie
        The Net: cs341a002@husky1.stmarys.ca, cs341a002@stmarys.bitnet

Random Quote of the Day:
If mankind had been meant to run around nude, we would have been born naked!

                 --- Taras the Cossack
Xref: sparky rec.games.frp.misc:6757 rec.games.frp.advocacy:2766