HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ccoprdj@prism.gatech.EDU (Jorge Diaz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: A question on aging.
Date: 13 Dec 92 07:04:52 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <579@blue.cis.pitt.edu> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:

>	Demons are part of a race... But you just agreed that they don't 
>die.

Are they?  I've never considered demons a race.  They're beings, but
I don't consider them a race.

Dragons are a race.  Elves.  Dwarves.  Humans.  Kender, orcs, goblins,
trolls, etc, etc....

Demons?

>	And there was a beginning to All Things -- even the gods (assuming
>you have more than one. The Norse gods had a beginning and end and the 
>Greek Gods were not always around; Zeus and his siblings were born...)

Yes, there was a beginning.  But that beginning doesn't have to be a "birth".
According to the histories, they were born, correct.  But I've never
understood that.  They're born.  Then, suddenly, one day, they'll stop
aging.  Why?  What determines what they will look like when they stop?  How
long until they stop?  Why do they stop aging suddenly, when they've been
aging for years.  Didn't make any sense to me.  Made more sense if they
were "born" that age.  Which of course precludes birth in a "normal" sense.

Mortals:

   Birth (whether from an egg, or born alive, or whathaveyou)
   Age/Grow
   Die

Immortals:

   Birth
   Age/Grow
   Stop Aging/Growing
   Never die

Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  I tend to believe that they aren't
"born", they're created somehow (obviously they weren't always around).

Like demons.  What's a demon?  A damned "soul"?  He's never born.  He's
just there one day.  No birth to speak of.

>	I have five distinct classes of gods, each with a different "origin"
>and history. All of them, however, are either immortal or so long lived
>(millions of years) so as to BE immortal for most intents and purposes...
>(note that I use "immortal" to mean "does not die without help", not
>"indestructible".)

Yes, I mean the same thing.  Even elves can be destroyed.  ;-)


-- 
Jorge Diaz                       | "I want you to remember, Clark... in all
Georgia Institute of Technology  |  the years to come, in your most private
Office of Information Technology |  moments...my hand at your throat.  I want
ccoprdj@prism.gatech.edu         |  you to remember the one man who beat you."
From: u895027@tasman.cc.utas.edu.au (Mark Mackey)
Subject: Re: Small query on multiple mages in a party...
Organization: University of Tasmania, Australia.
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 00:07:15 GMT

stud02@cc4.kuleuven.ac.be (Kris Van Hees) writes:

>Hello,

>I have a party in which we have a human mage and an elven thief/magic-user.
>The mages would like to learn spells from eachother.  Because they have
>different spells in their spellbooks, it is their hope to be able to learn
>spells which are listed in the other's spellbook.  I do not see any objection
>to this, really, as it looks the same as learning a spell from a scroll.  Yet,
>when learning a spell from a scroll the scroll is destroyed.  Would this be
>likely to happen to the page the spell is written on in the spellbook?

>Any ideas, comments, suggestions on this?

>Kris Van Hees, DM.

Yah, a couple of points on this.

1) There is a difference between a scroll spel and a spel written in a book.
The difference can be likened (for a computer buff) to the difference between
the source for a program and the program itself. I would personally rule it
as very unlikely that copying a spell from one book to another would in
any way harm the first book

2) On the other hand, if you allow free swapping of spells then you have a 
major problem with the number of spels that your mages are going to acquire.
Gaining spells should not be easy, and should be a major motivation for 
any mage. The easy way to kepp spel swapping under control is to make it 
rather costly, both in terms of time and in terms of cost. The rule we use
in the campaign I play in is that the rare inks etc. necessary to copy a spell
cost 100gp times the spell level squared (and we run a very low-wealth
campaign), and the time required for full-time study to fully learn the new
spell is three days times the spell level squared, halved if the mage
who knows the spell already teaches the other full-time.

Something like rule (2) is necessary to explain why, for instance, beginning
mages aren't given all the 1st level spels their master knows when they finish
their appreniceship: obviously any mage worth his salt would wish his/her 
apprentices wel, so if copying spels is free why not give them all the low-
level spell you have?


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Mackey                       | "I think therefore I am" - Descartes.
u895027@tasman.cc.utas.edu.au     | "I think I think therefore perhaps I am"
E-mail should be accompanied by   |   - a more cautious philosophical outlook.
$1000 in unmarked $5 notes,       | "I drink to unthink, which proves that I
preferably in a brown paper bag.  |   think" - not the famous Ly Tin Wheedle.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: akostur@fraser.sfu.ca (Andre John Kostur)
Subject: Re: Class' power (was Re: how to imprison a psionicist)
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 05:53:29 GMT

In article <1992Dec19.165011.750@Princeton.EDU> dagolden@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David Alexandre Golden) writes:
>Yes.  Psi's can pick.  But remember that they have to have at least twice
>as many in their primary discipline as in any other, which limits them from
>spreading too thin.  Or else they become a "one trick pony".

Twice?  I somehow remeber it being equal to or less than (if you have 2
sciences and 5 devotions in your primary discipline, you may not have more
than 2 sciences and 5 devotions in any other discipline singly)


      ^ 
     ' ` 
  **'   `**         Andre Kostur
 ***  _  ***
  *''***``*         akostur@sfu.ca 
   `     '
From: HC61@lafibm.lafayette.edu (HC61)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Whatever happened to the Great Net Spellbook?
Date: 17 Dec 92 17:23:44 GMT
Organization: Lafayette College
Originator: news@lafcol

I remember seeing a text copy of something called the
great net spellbook. Anyone ever heard of it? Anyone
know where to contribute to it?
From: maillet@tls-cs.cert.fr (Luc Maillet)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: A question on aging.
Date: 15 Dec 92 08:08:52 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: CERT, CS Dpt. Toulouse, France

|>  (Tim "Spock" Larson) writes:
|> >Why does everyone want to screw over mages using wishes?  "Take away 1d4
|> hps
|> >permanently", "He has to roll system shock or he dies", "He loses 1 INT
|> >point from the strain" etc etc.  What is this BS?  If the spell wasn't m
|> ant
|> >to be used it wouldn't have been put in the book.
|> >The only thing I might change on it is make the aging proportional.  Elv
|> s
|> >live about 10 times as long as a human...they age 50 years casting one i
|> stea
|> >of 5...how bout that?

  I'd be interested to have an explanation for this. Sorry to say it, but IMHO
it is motivated only by game balance interest, and as such is just Asmodeus meat.
As a GM, it is your responsibility to limit ACCESS to wishes, but ONLY by world
rules. For your wish example, if a wizard is worth his salt, he will use it with
such restraint you'll never have to worry about it - but only if magic is cohe-
-rent in your world. Of course, if you allow mages to blast their way with mighty
spells every day, you'll run into trouble, and so will the world, because if the
PCs have wishes, then so do the NPC wizards. Try to imagine the strain on reality
a bunch of wizards casting one+ wishes every day impose ... mages are inherently
a self-balancing lot. And any wizard attaining such a level has to be responsible
for his magic - or to be destroyed.

								Redwing. 
Organization: Junior, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 13:38:05 -0500 
From: "Joseph E. Beck" <jb8n+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: how to imprison a psionicist ?
	<1992Dec14.082015.28964@newton.ccs.tuns.ca>



(in reference to psionics not being able to use powers that have been
disrupted).

I just rechecked the rules.  You are quite correct, psionic powers
*can* be disrupted on the round they're being activated; but while
being maintained cannot be interrupted.

	joe
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: griffin@sage.cc.purdue.edu (The Crystal Griffin)
Subject: Re: how to imprison a psionicist ?
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 21:34:11 GMT

In article <BzELBp.5y8@sci.kun.nl> gip207@sci.kun.nl (gip2 course) writes:
>
>Why not, the psionicist is hightly underclassed at higher levels as it is.
>The only advantages he has left are the fact that he can still functione while
>under spells like hold person and that his powers aren't obvious. For the
>rest he's a whimp (especially if he doesn't have at least 3 stats of 17 or
>higher)
>

Howdy-

ZT here.

I beg to differ.  My psion was at fairly high levels (ie 9-10th, dunno
  what you mean by 'high') and he NEVER felt underclassed.  Of course,
  that could be because of his special situation.  Being the only 
  non-fighter in the party makes you feel REAL useful, A LOT OF THE
  TIME!!!  But I never tried to play him like a powerhouse, maybe that's
  why I was deluded into liking him.  When the party got into a fight,
  I was, of course, second line (BTW, I was mainly PMetabolic, with some
  of the interesting PKinetic.  NO PPortation or Telepathy).  Unless I
  was really needed in the fracas, I usually diddled about doing one 
  thing or another, maybe a surreptuous strike at someone important on
  the other side, maybe just TKing my +2 short sword, maybe just burning
  ALL my PSP's trying to keep hit points in the fighters.  But with 
  intelligent use of the right skills, a psion can be a fighter/mage/
  cleric/thief.  He's the ultimate swiss army character.  And that's
  why I liked to play him so much.  He wasn't "The Best" in any one
  thing, but he ALWAYS could do something, in ANY situation.

Just for my Record.

                       The Crystal Griffin
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: griffin@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Zack Thompson)
Subject: Re: how to imprison a psionicist ?
Keywords: ectoplasmic form
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 22:14:04 GMT

In article <Bz5n1A.F4r@jabba.ess.harris.com> jcarl@jabba.ess.harris.com (Joe Carl Jr.) writes:
>In <1992Dec11.222022.2965@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov writes:
>
>>In article <1992Dec11.140432.5090@cs.ruu.nl> mdrijsma@cs.ruu.nl (Michael Rijsman) writes:
>>>[...]  So how do you(as DM) imprison your psionicists ?
>
>The Spell Sepia Snake Sigil is great for keeping prisoners.
>
>Force them to read something with the spell cast on it.  Tell them if they
>don't submit to the spell then they will be killed.  The spell puts them
>into a suspended animation, which can be canceled with a simple dispel magic.
>
>
>--
>Joe Carl Jr.               "It ain't what a man don't know that makes him a
>jcarl@jabba.ess.harris.com   fool, but what he does know that ain't so."
>                                                           -- Josh Billings

Howdy-

ZT here.

Couldn't a quick-thinking psion fake this?  Read the sigil, then try
  to make his save.  If he did, then he could just copy the actions 
  of his compatriots, then get out later.

Just for the Record.

                       The Crystal Griffin
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: cfrye@linus.mitre.org (Curtis D Frye)
Subject: Waterdeep info wanted
Organization: Research Computer Facility, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 20:57:31 GMT

I'm beginning to design a complex based on the Undermountain scenario and would like to use the materials referenced in FR1:  The North (not the full title) or
FR3 : Waterdeep.  My question is whether or not I should pick up either or both
of these supplements, wait for Volo's Guide to Waterdeep, or do my own thing to
develop the sewer system of a section of the city.  Right now I'm leaning
toward buying both FR1 and FR3, but I would like you folks' input.  I'll keep
all responses on file and would be happy to email the results to anybody
that's interested.

Please post replies or send email to cfrye@ciis.mitre.org or
                                     cdfrye@osprey.mitre.org

Thanks in advance!

 

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: cbnorman@cayley.uwaterloo.ca (Bruce Norman)
Subject: Re: Druid Shapechange
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 16:05:39 GMT

In article <1992Dec14.231807.1@wharton.upenn.edu> millerl@wharton.upenn.edu writes:
>
>On another question about druid shapechangers, in that campaign my druid
>was able to shapechange into a cobra, and into a spitting cobra, both
>forms which he used to escape from hostiles. After discovering that this
>worked he started changing into cobras and other vipers regularly and
>milked the venom from his own fangs, and he sold it (to apothecaries
>only, nudge nudge, wink wink) for lots of gold and some antivenom.
>Later, in a totally different campaign, the DM wouldn't allow this,
>since he thought it was somehow unnatural. Poisonous snakes are entirely
>natural animals, and people milk their venom sacs all the time, mostly
>to make antidotes, or so they claim. Why shouldn't it be possible?
>

Personally I would have quite happily let you milk the venom from your own
veins.  Then, when you transformed back into a human, I would have had the
venom turn into saliva.

Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: brian_vickers@isd.jpl.nasa.gov (Brian Vickers)
Subject: Re: 2nd Edition Handbooks
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.dnd
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 18:36:46 GMT

In article <1992Dec18.141906.5879@wam.umd.edu>,
myleslee@next08pg2.wam.umd.edu (Alan Brady Ward) wrote:
> 
> In article <1992Dec17.182927.2342@u.washington.edu>  
> scythe@stein.u.washington.edu (The Grim Reaper) writes:
> >
> > Dwarf's Handbook: Excuse me while I puke.  This one is awful. Really,
> >                   it's pretty munchkin.
> > 
> > There.  Personally, I'm waiting for the complete Hobbit Halfling
> 
> I don't know about Halflings, but Elves are due in January.
> 
> Personally, I think the Dwarves book (what I've seen) is very good for  
> giving you more insight on the race.  I created a Dwarven character  
> (though I have not played it yet) and feel a lot more comfortable playing  
> the race having seen some of the stuff in the book.
> 

The Dwarf's HB is invaluable if you ever want to play a dwarf PC or NPC.
The racial information is terrific! I also liked the kits too. I'm sure
that when the Complete Elves HB comes out in January, we'll continue to see
multi-classed kits like the ones in the Dwarf HB. BTW, the Complete Gnome &
Halfling HB is coming out summer of '93.

Oh, I almost forgot, the best part about the Dwarf HB, the character sheets
in the back! This kind of stuff is long overdue. I hope they comtinue the
trend in the other race books.

-- Brian
brian_vickers@isd.jpl.nasa.gov
.sig-less
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: akostur@fraser.sfu.ca (Andre John Kostur)
Subject: Re: Class' power (was Re: how to imprison a psionicist)
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 02:44:57 GMT

In article <0#r2r4p@rpi.edu> jelliw@rpi.edu writes:
>discussing, and disregard everything i have said. For the rest of you,
>who do things besides fight in your campaigns, what do you think the
>strongest NON-COMBAT psi powers are?
>...Just an idea for a new thread.

How about Convergence.  Let's a bunch of Psi's link up, pool their resources
and every psi can use any power available to any of them.  Could lead to
some interesting information-gathering sessions, where one psi has a collection
of receptacles (read: LOTs of PSPs to spare), another has Magnify, and a third
uses Clairvoyance, while a fourth uses Clairaudience.  Quite powerful.  Or the
Convergence/Retrospection combination.  The perfect Identify spell.  You just
need three psions and lots of PSPs....

      ^ 
     ' ` 
  **'   `**         Andre Kostur
 ***  _  ***
  *''***``*         akostur@sfu.ca 
   `     '
From: ross@lclark.edu (Anthony Ross)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Bastard DM from Hell &a matter of Honour
Date: 16 Dec 92 00:45:38 GMT
Article-I.D.: lclark.1992Dec16.004538.986
Organization: Lewis & Clark College, Portland OR


	If I were playing a Paladin (praise Allah that I'm DMing now!) I
would have to be asking myself if the ends justified the means. If this
theif had information that if obtained I could use to further my god's
belief in some SIGNIFICANT way (i.e. "The Arch-Demon So-and-So will be 
ariving in one hour to destroy your puny temple foolish Paladin!") I
think moderate tortue would be OK... If it was simply, "Our hideout is
in the basement of the bakery..." that's not terribly significant, so I 
wouldn't torture.

	I played a paladin about two years ago when I was just getting
back into RPGs. Our party was thinking without our brains (not thinking
at all) and we found ourself engulfed in a mob of villagers wielding
pieces of wood, fists, etc.. It was obvious they were under some evil
influence and were mindless. Our brawny fighter got caught in their midst
whiel the rest of us broke free.  Although it looked pretty bad for him,
(40-1) he wasn't really in any danger. Of course my paladin saw a
companion in dire straights and started shooting his crossbow into the
crowd, "aiming for the legs of those near Hrothgar (our fighter)." Yes,
I actually said this in my foolishness... It took five shots and my
hitting a young girl in the eye before I relaized that maybe this wasn't 
the best approach. A few game hours later I was retching, fainting and
loosing my paladin abilities.

	The point of this is not how stupid I was, but rather my not
having thought about the ends vs. means. But I'm sure a few of you 
will be laughing over it anyway....;-).
From: ddj+@cs.cmu.edu (Doug DeJulio)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: invisibility
Date: 16 Dec 92 23:09:51 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

In article <1092@dgaust.dg.oz> young@spinifex.dg.oz (Philip Young) writes:
>T$R's legendary lack of consistency (Invisibility, PHB vs PHB2) ...

Of course they're inconsistant with each other.  They describe
different games!  Do you expect the description for invisibility in
Tunnles and Trolls to be the same as the one in GURPS fantasy?
-- 
Doug DeJulio
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: rsm58307@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Ron)
Subject: Re: PC vs. Player INT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 00:06:38 GMT


>> What can be done (if anything) 
>> to account for these PC vs. real life differences in abilities
>> -- (whether they are INT, WIS, CHR, or anything else you've
>> experienced)?  Can the game be made more playable somehow?
>> Thanks for any input.

>	Well one way i have found that sometimes works ,albeit with a little
>more work from the GM , is to give the Puzzle from the point of view of a
>low intelligence character , ie give very little clues to the problem.
>	Then hand out preprpared notes to the characters of intelligence
>9-12 giving some information , then another note to characters of
>13-15 intelligence , and finally a note to characters of intelligence 16-18.

>Ask them to try to work with characters of the same int bracket , so as to
>not corrupt the categories;if a category has only one person in it some of
>the clues of the categories above might be needed given later.
>1) the players can't all pile in and discuss the problem together (their
>characters are !) . This might stifle roleplaying a bit .
>2) Players of truly high intelligence might be able to solve the problem
>   with a low score int character before the average intellegince player
>   solves the problem with a high int character
>	But who said it was easy ??
From: ccoprdj@prism.gatech.EDU (Jorge A. Diaz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: how to imprison a psionicist ?
Date: 17 Dec 92 09:30:09 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <839@blue.cis.pitt.edu> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:

>>That rule is perfectly analogous to the "no armor" rule for mages.  Did
>>you jettison that rule as well?

>	Sure did. Long time ago. It was the second or third thing I eliminated
>from the rules. Never noticed much difference in play, once the initial 
>surge of players rushing to play armored mages died down (the novelty
>effect).

Well, I can't argue with that.  As long as your consistent with your universe,
your players have no reason to complain.  There's nothing worse than a
DM who rules something one way today, and then another way next week, though.
Actually, there's one thing worse:  A DM who rules *against* you on a specific
call, and then a week later, changes his ruling on that same thing:  for
*another* player. :-)

Now that's frustrating!


-- 
Jorge Diaz                       | "I want you to remember, Clark... in all
Georgia Institute of Technology  |  the years to come, in your most private
Office of Information Technology |  moments...my hand at your throat.  I want
ccoprdj@prism.gatech.edu         |  you to remember the one man who beat you."
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: tel002@dunix.drake.edu (Tim "Spock" Larson)
Subject: Re: A question on aging.
Organization: Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 16:38:13 GMT

Why does everyone want to screw over mages using wishes?  "Take away 1d4 hps
permanently", "He has to roll system shock or he dies", "He loses 1 INT
point from the strain" etc etc.  What is this BS?  If the spell wasn't meant
to be used it wouldn't have been put in the book.
The only thing I might change on it is make the aging proportional.  Elves
live about 10 times as long as a human...they age 50 years casting one instea
of 5...how bout that?
Also, why does everyone try to twist a wish?  If its a "I have to wish for
this to save my party's collective ass" then it's fine (the "weapons in
Ravenloft" wish).  Wishes based on greed are a totally different matter,
however....  MWUUUHAHAHAHAHA!

Tim Larson
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd