From: CS341A002@Husky1.StMarys.Ca (Loki)
Subject: Re: Rec.games.frp.cyber
Organization: The Underground
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 15:14:08 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.13.SMU

davidc@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Dave Cake) writes:
>CS341A002@Husky1.StMarys.Ca (Loki) writes:
>
>>davidc@tartarus.uwa.edu.au writes:
>>>                                          The big problem is exactly
>>>what games would be discussed. OK, Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberspace. But
>>>what about Shadowrun? What about Traveller:TNE which will have extendedve
>>>cybernetics rules?
>
>>Games which claim in some respect to be a cyberpunk game would be
>>discussed.
>That 'in some respects' is the unclear bit. Ok, if its got 'cyber' in
>the name, its cyberpunk (at least in the sense that the term is used
>within the games community). But there is also Shadowrun, and lots of
>games with bits of cyberpunk style tech, but where it is not very
>central (like traveller 2300, the upcoming Traveller:TNE, and Dark
>Conspiracy), and people who play these games are a little unsure of
>where to post. If you play these, you have to read two newsgroups to get
>everything, and good ideas may get not reach the widest interested
>audience. And with Cyber HERo you have the opposite problem, much of the
>discussion should really be in with the Champions folks. 
>
>>>                   What about Dark Conspiracy?
>>Quoting the Dark Conspiracy rulebook: "a horror game, not science-fiction."
>>Seeing as cyberpunk is a form of SF, I think that makes it pretty clear. ;)
>So you should talk about Dark Conspiracy cyberbetic arms with the Call
>of Cthulhu players? Game designers say all sorts of silly things. I
>think they meant 'we know our science is dodgy and we don't care'.

   Dark Conspiracy doesn't have cybernetic arms. ;) Closest things to that
are socket hands, which are very rare (out of 20-25 or so player characters
through my campaign, only one has had a socket hand), and which are far
more limited than even Heroes Unlimited cybernetics.

   For replacement arms, they use things called 'graftables'... which are
*not* cybernetic.

   Quoting the entire paragraph, now... (it's from the section on UFOs)

   "Perhaps the most important thing to remember about these craft,
however, is that they exist in a horror game, not science-fiction. When you
use them, always be searching for some way to make them horrific. For
example, if one lands, when it takes off again it should leave behind a
scorched circle with the charred bones of some unfortunate animal. The
sound it makes when flying should grate painfully on the nerves. If the PCs
get close to one, they should feel a queasy sensation, as from some strange
sort of radiation, and it should make Geiger counters go wild. If you work
to evoke such details, you will have set the stage for your ETs to be
horrifying, as well."

   This *really* doesn't sound like "our science is dodgy"... :)

>>>           The rec.games.dark idea is much worse, for the same reasons
>>>but more so.
>>The only game that is questionable whether it's a "dark" game or not is
>>Paranoia. I think it's pretty obvious that Toon & Star Wars are light
>>games, whereas BattleTech & Call of Cthulthu are dark games...
>I thought Battletech was just a violent game. And the question becomes a
>pretty silly one when you talk about games without a sepcified genre. Is
>GURPS a dark game, or a light one? 'dark' is a very vague and subjective
>idea. I see no use in separating games out on the basis of 'feel'.
>Especially as I suspect that the Dark Conspiracy and Call of Cthulhu and
>Warhammer 40K players will have very little to say to one another. 

   Battletech?! It's about a 31st century future in a state of decline and
near-total collapse...

   GURPS is generic... GURPS' various parts vary. IMO, generic roleplaying
games are the best argument against the creation of this kind of group...

>>rec.games.frp.misc is (once again) growing hard to deal with. To be
>>completely honest, it's a pain reading it all, even for somebody like me
>>who is interested in most of it...
>Why not just read the interesting threads? No one says you have to read
>it all. And if you already do read onoly the interesting threads, you
>must be saying you want less interesting stuff.

   Some of us don't have killfiles. :( It's a pain going through and
manually skipping stuff... (especially when you come home from a con and
r.g.f.m has 282 new messages...!)

         Loki         | cs341a002@husky1.stmarys.ca | Brynjolfr Myrkjartanarson
 often sysop of TWWOL | cs341a002@stmarys.bitnet    |    Compaignie Mercurie

You know you're in the SCA when you sit down to watch a game
of football, turn to your brother and ask: "Who's fighting?"

                --- Richard of Dunheved