HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: kinsler@physics.uq.oz.au (Paul Kinsler)
Subject: FLAME: Re: D&D and Christianity
Organization: Department of Physics and Torture, The University of Queensland
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 04:55:37 GMT

In article <C0D0Ds.F10@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>, burdickd@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Dakin Burdick) writes:
>>    
>>    RESPONDING TO A FAQ ON RPG FROM SOC.RELIGION.CHRISTIAN:
>>    THREE REASONS NOT TO PLAY...
>>    [...]
>>    >Just imagine for a minute if what happened in an AD & D scenario really
>>    >came true. A world where there is no God, where people aim to kill
>>    >and get treasure, a world where death is commonplace and powerful
>>    >sorcerers intimidate weak peasants.
>>    
>>    Welcome to the real world.  Just replace sorcerors with scientists,
>>    and you've got the idea.

*Now* who has lost touch with reality, Dakin. By replacing sorcerors with 
scientists in the above sentence, I get:

"A world where ...  powerful scientists intimidate weak peasants (workers?)."

You are obviously off your trolley. I mean, I wish I did get to opress the
workers :-) ... but hang on, wait:

HEY YOU, Scumbag - do exactly as I say, or I will destroy you with my invincible
desintegration ray! HahA! My power is beyond your understanding! I need ten 
virgins for sacrifice at the NuclearReactor of Doom by noon tomorrow. And 
hand over all your money, you are now a slave to me, Kinsler, the God-Scientist 
of Brisbane, ...

:-)

-- 
+soluble fish+
"You people, you do not see the grandeur in the wind and stone and stars,
 in the blood and fire and iron - but paint only the flowers."
From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: D&D, religion, politics, etc (was Re: D&D and Christianity)
Date: 8 Jan 93 12:46:55 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@unixd1.cis.pitt.edu

In article <1993Jan7.163106.4846@spcvxb.spc.edu> 6anthony_m@spcvxb.spc.edu writes:
>Its not only the damage that was done by the bomb to people, but it has caused
>more and more powerful bombs to be created, because we say how cool it was to
>kill all them japs mighty quick.  Now we can blow the whole population of the 
>map.  Great..  

	Howewver, this has nothing to do with the original point -- scientists
as controls for great power, like wizards. Scientists may be USED to build
bigger bombs, but they don't control the demand for them nor the likelihood
of their use.

>Well, i forgot, there are always scholarships.  But to get them you either have 
>to
>1.  Be an all-pro football player.
>2.  Kiss alot of ass in high school.

	What? Are you smoking something funny?

	I sure was never an athlete, and I have never been accused of kissing
ANY ass -- in fact, I tend to ignore people entirely unless they intrude into
my little world.

	You get a scholarship for being GOOD at what you do. I'm sure there
ARE some kiss-ass scholarships, and there are some for people who qualify in
odd categories (female African-American students of art sculpture from city
X), but there are a lot of them awarded purely on merit -- how well you did
in school, how well you score on test x.

	My present graduate position, for example, was awarded for (a) my
performance as an undergrad, and (B) my near-perfect scores on the GRE
(Graduate Record Examination).


                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
From: hapa@ucsco.ucsc.edu (Doug Easterly)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Hit Points
Date: 12 Jan 93 17:03:40 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: ucsco.ucsc.edu


In article <19541@mindlink.bc.ca> Clayten_Hamacher@mindlink.bc.ca (Clayten Hamacher) writes:
>How do you calculate how many hitpoints someone's arm or leg or head have, if
>you stick your arm through a hole to grab something and a red dragon burns it
>off, you're not going to die (except from shock maybe) but you will lose the
>number of HP associated with your arm.. Also, it would be possible to hit a
>character in the head and do less than his total HP and kill him. (I am using
>a system for targeting hits, now it's just for a chance of blinding someone
>etc..)
>
>I played a game of gurps once and they had a way of method for calculating HP
>for body parts in it, can someone who has the Gurps books please post this.
>
>P.S. I believe they also had hit tables to see what part of the body you hit
>and also negatives for trying to hit that part.
>
>Does AD&D have any rules similar to these? If so can you please post or mail
>them.
>
>--
>
>Clayten_Hamacher@Mindlink.bc.ca                 Land of the rising snow.

First of all, there are ways to put together a solution to losing
an arm in AD&D. For instance, write up a set of penalties, and
stick to them (you can't use a shield and weapon, can't use 2-
handed weapons, penalties to spell use involving somatic components,
etc.) Second, I don't see why a major hit point penalty in necessary
in the long run. Make the person roll a System Shock to survive and
knock our adventurer down to 0 h.p., unconciousness. Later, they
can recover and try to save up for regeneration. If you want to make 
it tougher for a low level character, make the poor victim roll a
save vs. Death Magic. 

I guess you could patch together something similar to GURPS, but
I wouldn't try it. GURPS' philosophy of "hit points" is different
on all levels. It is based on Health (i.e. Constitution) and damage
taken is affected by armor, while there are ways to block, parry,
or dodge damage. 

In all, I haven't found it particularly useful to port the idea of
hit location to AD&D without some major changes to the combat system.

An idea I vaguely remember from Villains and Vigilantes that might
port over to AD&D is that all "special" shots are treated the same,
and the GM adjudicates the outcome. Unfortunately, I don't have the
rules in front of me.... I'll have to look at them at home....

-- 
Sandra's seen a leprechaun,	   Donald heard a mermaid sing,
Eddie touched a troll,		   Susy spied an elf,
Laurie danced with witches once,   But all the magic I have known
Charlie found some goblins' gold.  I've had to make myself.
			-Shel Silverstein
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: D& and CHristianity
From: belgarath@vax1.mankato.msus.edu
Date: 4 Jan 93 22:21:42 -0600
Organization: Mankato State University

        A funny thing about that post is...as I was reading it, I heard a voice 
say...remember Istar.  

        Those Dragonlance players should know what I'm talking about... Istar
meant well, as I'm sure this guy did, but they ended up eating a big rock.
        All I'm saying is... just grin and bear it, 'cause sooner or later, the
world will right itself.



							-bel


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	belgarath@vax1.mankato.msus.edu

	'mangghomDaS tuQ SoSlI'' 
	And if you don't like it, talk to your mother about it, don't come 
	complaining to me..
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/////////Coed naked Calculus--Maximize the function of your ln....////////////
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
From: loren@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu (Loren Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Gary Gygax
Date: 12 Jan 93 22:18:15 GMT
Organization: Wharton Marketing

In article <1iv61mINNbvv@crcnis1.unl.edu> pmenard@cse.unl.edu (Patrick Menard) writes:
> Well, while Gygax was doing the cartoon-thing, big changes at TSR
>were happening.  First the Forgotten Realms was born.(pushing Greyhawk even
>further down the totem pole)

According to the introductory blurb in this adventure for dangerous journeys 
that I just looked at in the store, the Greyhawk world of Oerth was never 
the same world that Gary ran his own games in. It was invented as a world 
for other people to play in, and he never actually used it as his own 
campaign world. IMHO, this is the reason for the peculiar lack of detail in 
the greyhawk materials, peculiar because it's obvious that Gygax writes at 
near-eternal length on any subject that is of use to him. If he had run his 
campaign in the greyhawk world it would have been full of a lot more 
stuff. So, if you want to know where he actually played, it was in a world 
much like our world, and Greyhawk was modeled on Chicago. The dangerous 
journeys/mythus campaign world is a lot more like the original greyhawk 
campaign world (albeit centered in egypt instead of chicago) than is the 
published version of oerth.

--
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller              LOREN@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu
Time am I, wreaker of the world's destruction, matured, grimly
resolved here to swallow up the worlds.             -- Krishna
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: 6anthony_m@spcvxb.spc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: D&D, religion, politics, etc (was Re: D&D and Christianity)
Date: 7 Jan 93 21:31:06 GMT
Organization: St. Peter's College, US

> 	You're buying the "excuses" on the other side, jack. Look at how 
> many people were killed in the war, then look at how many people were killed
> in the two A-bombings. A continued campaign in the pacific theatre could have
> cost millions of lives, not to mention even more destruction and physical
> costs. Conventional war can do MORE damage than atomic, it just TAKES longer.


Its not only the damage that was done by the bomb to people, but it has caused
more and more powerful bombs to be created, because we say how cool it was to
kill all them japs mighty quick.  Now we can blow the whole population of the 
map.  Great..  

> 	This is utter bilge. The thing that prevents many people from 
> seeking education, as Thanatos points out, is the societal ATTITUDE towards
> education. IF you've got the drive and potential, you CAN and WILL get into
> a college. Do you think *I* am paying for college, or that my parents were?
> Think again. My parents could never have afforded to pay my way through
> any "good college". I, and a high proportion of the students in ANY "good
> college", am being funded by the college itself.


Well, i forgot, there are always scholarships.  But to get them you either have 
to
1.  Be an all-pro football player.
2.  Kiss alot of ass in high school.

The Fiend
From: thantos@runic.via.mind.org (Paul Williams[SysOp])
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: D&D and Christianity
Date: Thu, 07 Jan 93 14:42:28 EDT
Distribution: world               
Organization: Runic Writings / Lawrenceville, GA

ajsmith@ualr.edu writes:

> 	* I am a Christian firmly rooted in the rock and not ashamed of the
> 	cross that I've claimed.

> to cast a spell, those who let the game take over thier life. I am sorry but
> if a simple book with game rules can take over your life that easily then
> perhaps they needed help in the first place.

  You know, these two statements taken together seem awfully
  hypocritical.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
thantos@runic.via.mind.org (Paul Williams [SysOp]) |  PGP 2.0 Key avail
...!emory!uumind!runic!thantos                     |      upon request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Mecha: It is said that these metal giants were shaped like men, so the
    alien servants of evil would know it was Man who defeated them.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: Re: Walking Bandages
Originator: kjenks@gothamcity
Keywords: Prayer then Chant
Organization: NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 15:29:57 GMT

In article <C0Gno5.IDq@agora.rain.com> mehawk@agora.rain.com (Michael Sandy) writes:
>[...]
>The idea was that at higher levels, in major combats, he'd cast
>Sanctuary, Bless, Prayer and then Chant.  Opponents would require
>Save vs Magic at -2 to attack him with any but area effect stuff,
>and at low levels, that is quite a big aid.

The Bless spell doesn't help a bit, here.  It only gives friendly
forces +1 to hit (no mods to saving throws), and then only for 6
rounds, and only if cast prior to combat.

This trick of casting Prayer (+1 on all friendly die rolls, -1 on
enemies' die rolls) then Chant (same effect) will only work at 11th
level or more, since Chant has a 1-turn casting time (AD&D1).  Then,
the effects of the Prayer and the Chant only overlap for a few rounds
(= level of cleric - 11).  Chant requires the continuous chanting by
the cleric, and no other spell casting or melee, which makes for some
pretty serious limitations.  

You could manage to get around this with other tricks (like putting a
Chant spell in a Ring of Spell Storing, so that it would only take
5 segments to activate, instead of 10 rounds to cast), but Chant is
usually a useless spell.

Clerics do have some great spells, and Prayer is one of the best, but
forget Bless and Chant.  They have too many limitations to be useful.

-- Ken Jenks, NASA/JSC/GM2, Space Shuttle Program Office
      kjenks@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov  (713) 483-4368

     "Three Rings for the Elven Kings under the sky,
      Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
      Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
      One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne.

      In the Land of Mordor, where the Shadows Lie."
        -- "Lord of the Rings," J.R.R. Tolkien
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: zmueller@utkvx2.utk.edu (Wilhelm Mueller)
Subject: Re: Walking Bandages
Summary: Avoiding this common cleric player's pitfall
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Tennessee Computing Center
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 14:37:00 GMT

In article <1ib3lbINNba9@charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu>, pkralik@ecst.csuchico.edu (Wintermute) writes...
>Greetings!
> 
>	I am in the process of creating a campaign, and as I was thinking of
>what I did and didn't like about AD&D, I reached this dilemma...
> 
>I often play Clerics, and it seems that every time I do, I wind up in the 
>position of being viewed as the party's walking first aid kit.  I find that
>I am unable to be very creative with my PC's spell selection.  Anytime I take
>a non-healing spell, i.e. one i would like to experiment with, and we come 
>across a combat situation, I feel a little guilty about not having that extra
>CLW for the front line fighters, etc.  I was wondering how, as a dm, I could
>help to prevent this from happening to PC Clerics.  I really hate to limit
>the combat encounters because of a lack of clerics, but if I don't, and there 
>aren't enough clerics, the players get upset about having to trek back and 
>forth to find a church, healer, etc.  I really enjoy playing clerics, but I 
>just feel that it would be more enjoyable if there were more, i dunno, maybe
>freedom in the spells I could take.  There has to be more to being a cleric
>than cleansing wounds and curing diseases.  I have been toying with the idea
>of using a system whereby the Cleric would get "faith points" for various 
>activities of a "true clerical" nature.  I think that this might help to 
>emphasize the other aspects of being a cleric. 
> 
>Sooooo...I was hoping that someone might have suggestions as to how this could
>be avoided.  Any input would be greatly appreciated.  

The solution is quite simple.  Provide lots of healing potions.  In this way,
the party can be healed via these potions and the Clerics can concentrate on
performing other, more interesting duties.

	---Wilhelm
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: philipd@cs.kuleuven.ac.be (Philip Dutre)
Subject: Re: D&D and Christianity
Organization: Dept. Computerwetenschappen
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 10:11:57 GMT

In article <1993Jan5.231641.82914@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu>, f012@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu writes:
|> >
|> >Phil Dutre (being a Roman Catholic, and thus a Christian myself)
|> 
|> Oops....big mistake.  I also am a Roman Catholic, and the raving born-again
|> fundamentalists that support that kind of thing hate us more than they could
|> ever hate AD&D...heh.  We're the most pagan of all religions, for some reason,
|> to them.  Never bothered to figure out why, of course, since I ignore all that
|> crap anyway...but still...once they heard the word 'Catholic' from you, they
|> will discount anything yuo say as utter heresy anyway.  :)

Okay, it seems there's a different meaning for the word "christian" here in
Europe and across the Atlantic. In Europe "christian" denominates all religions
that follows Christ in one way or another, and does not denominate those 
so-called fundies (which are nearly non-existant here). I should have been
more careful in my choice of words....

-- 
| Phil Dutre                            Dept. Computer Wetenschappen        |
| philipd@cs.kuleuven.ac.be             Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL)|
| Phone: (32) 16 201015 x3094/3552      Celestijnenlaan 200A                |
| Fax:   (32) 16 205308                 B-3001 Heverlee, BELGIUM            |
From: scimitar@suction.acme.gen.nz (Robert Singers)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: More Fascinating Clerics
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 93 14:23:25 +1300
Organization: Barbed Wire Cat Productions

f35437c@saha.hut.fi (Aki Taskinen) writes:

> 
> A problem indeed.. but one could treat any class this way:
> 
> "Orcs charging us? Really, old boy, this is not my specialty. You are the
>  fighter: now be a good fellow and deal with them while I complete my me-
>  ditation. And do not bother me again with such pesky news."
> "A door. Thief! Do your thing!"
> "Ok, here's what. Up to four orcs, I slice 'em. Five or more, it's your job,
>  mage."

I was once playing a Grey Elf F\MU\T scouting a head of my party,
when I came across a drow outside a cottage.  Got into a big fight. 
Fell into a pit.  It had spikes in it.  I landed on one.  My familiar 
and I got rather badly hurt killing the drow.

The party arrived, pulled me out of the pit an bandaged me up.  
Found the entrance to the dungeon under the cottage, went 
exploring.  Then 100' into the dungeon they got into an 
arguement that lasted 1/2 hour of real time.  Subject - 
Demarcation.  Who was going to bloody open a door, since the 
thief wasn't there.  Result.  Severly wounded f/mu/t being 
carried done into a dungeon to look at a door.

Robert Singers               | Nothing I say or do should be taken as
scimitar@suction.acme.gen.nz | a reflection of any form of reality or
                             | consensual hallucination.
** It's not my spelling (much) that's faulty.  It's this keyboard! **
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: davebeck@sdf.lonestar.org (Dave Beck)
Subject: Re: Walking Bandages
Organization: sdf public access Unix, Dallas -- 214-436-3281
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 04:29:44 GMT

One other thing you might try is increasing the curative powers like this:
   The minimum curing a cleric does is his level, ie a 2nd level cleric
casting a Cure Light Wounds rolls d8 and counts a 1 as a 2, etc.  An 8th
or higher level cleric would always cure 8 points.

Dave The Former DM
davebeck@sdf.lonestar.org


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: ewalents@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Erich Walentschak)
Subject: Re: Healing
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 20:48:43 GMT

In article <19378@mindlink.bc.ca> Clayten_Hamacher@mindlink.bc.ca (Clayten Hamacher) writes:
>If you look at the PHBs explanation of why a sword blow that kills a low
>level character just annoys a high level (8 hitpoints off of 6 is damn
>annoying, 8 from 100 is just mildly annoying). The explanation being that a
>higher level character doesn't get run through like a low level, they step
>aside at the last minute and it nicks them.
>
>Wouldn't it make sense that a high level character would heal his nicked ribs
>faster than a low level would heal his sucking chest wound?
>
>It seems healing should go by percentage of total.. This assuming a character
>with 8hp and 4dmg is a hurt as one with 100hp and 50dmg, therefore for every
>1 the low level heals, the high level should heal 12 and a half.
>
>Obviously 4 days to heal 50hp is going to make a lot of characters pretty
>careless if they know that a week in bed would cure most anything so it needs
>a few mods.
>
>P.S. Maybe damage should only be part of what a character suffers. How about
>having each hit have a chance of causing a notable wound, broken bone,
>concussion, punctured organ, etc.. These would require fairly immediate
>attention and thus the party would save potions and spells for these as
>opposed to normal damage.
>
>Considering there would be a chance to be 'wounded' on every hit, high level
>characters would suffer more of these for a given % of HP damage they take,
>thus cuts and scrapes could heal quickly where injuries require more time
>(and possibly doctor's care).
>
>Possibly this is what could happen on a 20.
>
>PC would probably still do double damage (who cares if the orc you hit will
>never have kids? you care if he's still alive) except on major NPCs who you
>are actually playing as a 'real character', and any shots on PCs or major
>NPCs by monsters and minor NPCs would cause a 'wound'...
>
>What do you guys think of that?
>
>Let people heal 10% HP a day and suffer serious wounds every so often (% per
>hit taken) that would keep them in bed longer..
>
>--
>
>Clayten_Hamacher@Mindlink.bc.ca                 Land of the rising snow.


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
From: wilsonm@vaxb.acs.unt.edu
Subject: Re: The Complete Book of Elves
Organization: University of North Texas
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 15:19:55 GMT

In article <1ifmlgINNovp@agate.berkeley.edu>, chuahl@ocf.berkeley.edu (Chua HakLien) writes:
> It's out. Any out there bought it yet? Opinions?
> 

I have bought it - pretty good.  just glanced at it so far but seems to be
nice.  Got some new kits and new "ideas" for the Elves.  Some are not new 
just re-instating the UnEarthed Arcania Rules (Drow ect...).  It does however
use the word SHE instead of HE.  This confused me (course this could have been
at just the area I glanced at (Archers)) as they seemed to use it OVERLY 
much.

Either way - nice book.

> +==+
From: tfoley@camaro.uucp (Tim Foley)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: D&D and Christianity
Date: 7 Jan 93 13:04:16 GMT
Organization: camaro


Hey, this guy, David Fisher gave his net address at the end of this faq, 
therefore, in good (yeah right), usenet tradition, we should carry this 
flame war over to email....to his mailbox.
 
  He posted a FAQ on usenet, so his in INVITING QUESTIONS, and comments are 
intended to be forwarded to him, therefore, lets email this guy and then we 
can tone down this newsgroup.
 
  
 (Gee, anyone goy one of those 50 meg files they could ftpmail or fileattach 
to this sucker???)
 
-- 
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