HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: Rick Jones <albert@crick.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu>
Subject: Strange Science Invention
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 18:40:17 GMT


	Well, our Nile Old Professor got tired of having a 7 toughness,
so she decided to invent something.  Now, I'm not a fan of the Weird
Science rules in the Nile SB, so I never explained them to her.  I 
jsut gave her a bunch of components of various values, and wing it from
there.  IMHO, this is the best idea for a _wierd_ science invention
I've heard in a looong time.

> Howdy-
> I've come up with a basic description of the armor
> I'd like to make:
> It's a helmet, called the Schrodinger Shifter,
> which generates an electron mutator field over
> the wearer.  It looks like Hagar the Horrible's
> hat, viking style, with horns.  The horns rotate,
> one clockwise, the other counter clockwise,
> about one rotation per second.  The electron
> mutator field causes the wearer to be constant
> ly covered by moving harmless sparks which give
> off no light when the right (dominant) horn
> rotates counter-clockwise, and which give off
> light of a color reflecting the mood of the 
> wearer when the right horn rotates in a clock
> wise direction.  There is a switch on the fron
> t of the helmet which controls these options.
> If the option for light is selected, the light
> from the field serves on the magnitude of 
> a sturdy flashlight...whatever radius you'd
> like to assign to it.
> When the horns rotate, they align, both points
> toward the middle, about once per second.
> When the horns align, a bolt of electricity
> passes between the points of the horns.  The
> "zap" noise from this can be heard only if the
> option for light is on (i.e. light and sound
> go together).  This may occasionally be able
> to zap obnoxious mosquitos and hummingbirds,
> rendering the former dead and the latter
> radioactive.  Effects to other life forms 
> will have to be tested as the opportunity
> arises.  (okay with you?)
> Now here's the thing I want to add, but you'll
> have the final say, of course.  I'd like to
> have a +2 bonus to the value of the armour
> if the horns are aligned at the time of hit.
> This wouldn't be added if the armor is also
> providing light, and alignment would be 
> determined by a roll of the die: 20=aligned,
> all else=not aligned.
> You said it would be a total of 20 toughness,
> which would be +13 to my toughness of 7.  Are
> those numbers still valid?  Do you want to
> subtract a point if the light option is
> being used, just on the principle of conservation
> of energy?
> I have a nifty picture of it to show you,
> complete with handy snooze-alarm feature.

-- 
Rick Jones				Systems Support Center
albert@bcm.tmc.edu			Baylor College of Medicine
Voice: 713-798-7352			standard disclaimers apply
    Wanted:Scrodinger's Cat.  Dead or Alive.  $10,000 Reward.
From: gdavis@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Grant R. Davis)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: Re: Discontinuous Realms (was Re:GenCon Report)
Date: 2 Sep 92 14:48:20 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <BPOSTOW.92Aug31221117@occs.cs.oberlin.edu> bpostow@occs.cs.oberlin.edu (Brian Postow) writes:
>no, how they got there wasn't my question. my question was: why are
>all of the sudden HLs going for non-continuous realms?

I just remembered why discontinuous realms are so dumb; doesn't every zone
have to be 'in supply' to a maelstrom bridge? Apparently, this isn't the
case in the Western LL, but maybe that's because they are mixed zones, and
aren't taking any energy right now. 
	Does this mean that there will be *2* maelstrom bridges in Berlin?
There has to be at least 1 for Tharkold; the whole thing just sounds too 
contrived.

The Grant Man
gdavis@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu

"This is good[beer]. Remind me to take this world."-Lost Destiny


Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: smooge@jupiter.nmt.edu (Stephen Smoogen)
Subject: Re: Discontinuous Realms (was Re: GenCon Report)
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
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Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 13:59:58 GMT

The reason why the land is staying up is that the number of believers
in those areas are high enough to support the cosm within the stelae
boundary. The reason why they dont just drop stelae everywhere is that
there are not enough believers to keep the stelae enegized.

This is the reason why Orrorsh has had so many mixed zones (some Core
earth dominant.) There are not enough believers in Orrorsh in those
zones to make it Orrorsh dominant. If the Maelstrom bridges were
broken in Orrorsh then I would say that those zones would cease.

As time goes on in the Western Living Land I would think that the
zones would gradually go to mixed zones and then cease. This would
show the stelae gradually losing energy to help the believers support
the Living Land zones.

the Smooge
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: burt@ptltd.com (Burton Choinski)
Subject: Guns *sigh*
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
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Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 14:05:29 GMT

Well, I have finally been broken.

At first I planned to re-figure weapons using 3G, starting with the Nile
and Core Earth.  It looked good, like it might be somewhat consistant.

Then we got the Cyberpapacy SB.

Now, with the Nile guns I could base things like powder used, etc, off
RL guns in the armory book.  But looking at these (and I don't even want to
consider Tharkold or Spaaaaaaace Goooooods weapons), I don't know where to
start.

Sean, do you have any suggestions?

I am now looking at taking the existing DV ratings of the guns, backing out
the autofire DV add for those weapons that are autofire, and wedging in my
stuff (Autofire DM to hit +3 to +5, depending on type of weeapon).

     -- Burton
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Rick Jones <albert@crick.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu>
Subject: Re: Bioteck weapons
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 15:19:44 GMT

> 	Some people have been mentioning that bioteck weapons are pretty deadly
> . 
> One way to curb their use is to remember that the Space Gods are a pretty
> conservitive bunch and might not take kindly to someone (espessally someone
> from anther realm walking around with one.

	Yah, I enjoyed running the Sorgiev adventure from Infiniverse
(Stopping a renegade Monitor arming revolutionaries with biotech).  After
they found him and beat him and his cronies senseless, they had to return all
of the stolen weapons.  Our Thakhold LAPD-er was heartbroken at having to
turn them over to the Akashans.
-- 
Rick Jones				Systems Support Center
albert@bcm.tmc.edu			Baylor College of Medicine
Voice: 713-798-7352			standard disclaimers apply
    Wanted:Scrodinger's Cat.  Dead or Alive.  $10,000 Reward.
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: gt7219a@prism.gatech.edu (Christopher Michael Lawyer)
Subject: timelines
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
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Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 12:54:39 GMT

Tim Soholt writes
>Katrina Tovarish
>(which, incidently, I'm pretty sure is a totally redic-
>ulous name).

This has probably been brought up # value = 230 times, 
but it loosly translates into.....
Katy Comerad (sp?)!

Funny that my spelling in english is no better than
my spelling in Russian 8)

the manatee
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: oakes@jupiter.nmt.edu (David Oakes)
Subject: Re: Discontinuous Realms (was Re: GenCon Report)
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
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Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 18:47:17 GMT

The Grant Man(gdavis@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu) realizes:
 ! I just remembered why discontinuous realms are so dumb; doesn't every zone
 ! have to be 'in supply' to a maelstrom bridge? Apparently, this isn't the
 ! case in the Western LL, but maybe that's because they are mixed zones, and
 ! aren't taking any energy right now. 

could have sworn the western land had a bridge, somewhere
(not that WEG is paying any attention to the LL...)

 ! 	Does this mean that there will be *2* maelstrom bridges in Berlin?
 ! There has to be at least 1 for Tharkold; the whole thing just sounds too 
 ! contrived.

not as contrived as the explanation of the NT/LL zones in the west -
how the stelae are not used by both sides, but that BK (re?)planted them
so perfectly close to the new NT ones, that they form mixed zones (???)
(i think that was what rick posted, claiming it from WEG via GEnie)

this berlin rezoned thing would imply that since one of the stelae is Nile,
that this effects what the triangle area acts as,
which is what the "miracle of sacremento" implied to me
(but yes, Dr Mo cant get any energy from it without a bridge,
 and Jez shouldnt be getting as much from two as three, so...)

dave "maybe its a symbol of their undying love?!?" oakes
From: jogle@aoc.nrao.edu (Ks. Jim)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: Re:  timlines
Date: 3 Sep 92 21:49:57 GMT
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
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Clint writes:

> In article <> xoanon@carina.unm.edu (timothy k istian soholt) writes:

> >On a related subject, I'm going through  the _Possibility
> >Wars_ novels and doing up a timeline. And I'm also listing
> >all the stated abilities of Thratchen and Katrina Tovarish
> >(which, incidentally, I'm pretty sure is a totally ridic-
> >ulous name). 
> >
>  That's nothing. My Japanese-fetish friend is about frothing at the mouth at
> some of the names in the Nippon Tech book. For one thing, it's impossible to
> spell Shimsi in either character alphabet. Also, he noted that not a single
> non-Gaijin worked on the book ;)

Shimsi is obviously the Americanization of a Japanese word.  8-)

Maybe the Tokyo book will be better researched in regards to things
like that.

>  Now, I asked this before, and I'm a-gonna say it one more time...
>Is any of you schmoes planning on attending Gateway here in L.A. this weekend?
>It would be nice to meet y'all and confirm that you are not Bug-eyed aliens :)

Nope.  Allergic to Tharkoldu.  8-)

Kansas Jim (jogle@aoc.nrao.edu)
From: jogle@aoc.nrao.edu (Ks. Jim)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: Re: Axioms -- another log on the fire
Date: 2 Sep 92 16:13:04 GMT
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
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Sean writes:

> On Sep 2,  8:51am, Stephen Smoogen wrote:
> > I think a little work on all the axiom sheets should occur. I think
> > that the technological one is ok (don't shoot me Sean... please)
> 
> I can't believe that you would think I would shoot you; I'm appalled.
> Shooting you doesn't have enough artistry; even careful choice of
> targets doesn't give you enough control over the damage to let others
> have any real appreciation of the process. Breaking out pliers,
> miniature flensing knives, and various scarifactors and doing a
> bas-relief of the Pieta in keloid tissue on your back -- now _that's_
> artistry.

Gee Sean, been to LA recently?  Or has Tharkold expanded down to San
Diego?  8-)


Kansas Jim (jogle@aoc.nrao.edu)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: WYNNE.C@fs.sciences.WLU.EDU
Subject:      Re: Spell Design
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 17:29:13 GMT

torg@morticia.cnns.unt.edu (Torg Mailing List) writes:

> I have a bit of a problem.  I'm attempting to design a FeatherFall
> spell (okay, okay, I'm trying to convert the one from AD&D) and
> after several trips through the Spell Design section of the Aysle
> sourcebook, all I have is a headache.  My question is mainly this:
> how much "reality" do I have to inject into a spell?  My current
> approach to the spell is something on the order of
> Alteration/Inanimate with mechanism Magic, result Death.  Is Death
> an all-or-nothing sort of deal (i.e. would I be making things in
> the volume of effect completely weightless, or could I control how
> much gravity was destroyed)?  My other thought was to do something
> like Alteration/Air to change the density of air (seems like a bad
> thing for breathing, and I don't see "how" it would work).

Let's see...

Feather Fall could be based on Zephyr of Flight, though more limited,
of course.  Alteration/Air to control the winds to slow your fall.
Or Alteration/Folk to change your density, so that you reach a much
slower terminal velocity.  Or Alteration/Inanimate Forces to reduce
local gravity in a very specific area.  Or Apportation/Folk to
control your own movement (carry a doll of yourself and 'pilot' it
like you do an altered fireball).  Or an impressed spell that would
slow make your velocity relative to the ground zero when released
(fine, you fall 40,000 feet, but when the ground is five feet away
you're at zero speed, so your landing is based on a fall of five
feet).  I'm not sure what this one would be.  Alteration, surely.
Probably Folk -> Inanimate -> Folk.

Anyway, I don't know how you are seeing this spell, but it seems like
Death is a bad choice to include in the state-path.  If the changing
gravity thing is what you are after, I'd say go for Alteration, with
a path of Inanimate -> Folk -> Inanimate.

CJW

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
==  Colin J. Wynne                      wynne.c@fs.science.wlu.edu  ==
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
|  Heaven:   A place where the French are the cooks, the German are  |
|             the engineers, and the British are the policemen.      |
|                                                                    |
|  Hell:     A place where the British are the cooks, the French are |
|             the engineers, and the German are the policemen.       |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: wolf@cheshire.oxy.edu (Clinton Richard Wolf)
Subject: Re: cosm placement (hindsight) (was Re: GENcon)
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041 USA.
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 01:35:13 GMT

In article <gatemail1.0b239173720305@morticia> oakes@jupiter.nmt.edu (David Oakes) writes:
>
>you know, the LL-Viet Nam analogy just struck me:
>unwinnable war, against primative opponents, dense jungle,
>soldiers (PCs) dont want to be there, public (gamers) doesnt want it, care
>hell, just that miniscule thread saves the LL.
>to bad WEG didnt think of it before
 Yup.
>(of course, the SB is still a load of Bor Aka droppings)
 Yup.
>
>no, no contrast - large inhospitible jungle becomes larger inhospitible jungle.
 Well...
>TORGs strength relies on the odd combinations it produces:
>egyptian gangsters, church cyber, urban jungles, etc
>IMNSHO, the weakest cosms are Aysle and Nippon Tech, because they are typical
>(of course, NT requires stealth, and every game needs its D&D rip-off...)
 Hrm. For me, a realm that's cross between Akira/Blade Runner and 'The Seven
Samurai' w/ a healthy dose of James Bond thrown in is a pretty odd and fascin-
ating combo... as for Aysle... uh... erm... yep. AD&D rip-off...

>
>as far as the "Lost Civilizations," i think LB already does that,
>and a "hollow earth" will always do it better
>LL is a land of primative spirituality, and it is viable -
>
 Absolutely correct! Think of it, guys... I mean, REALLY think... 17 is the Sp.
level where 'sites become repeating sources of Spiritual power. LL is 7 points
HIGHER than that! Every foray into the Living Land should be a new, exciting,
and dangerous experience, as the Amerindian mythos are brought to life and mir-
aculous events and wondrous visions occur... Sp. 24 is enough for some comple-
tely mind-numbing sights! LL has a de facto Law of Wonders, IMHO... 



Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: wolf@cheshire.oxy.edu (Clinton Richard Wolf)
Subject: Re: GenCon Report (Incredibly long, thousands of spoilers)
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041 USA.
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 20:59:08 GMT

In article <gatemail1.0b240138101193@morticia> Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim) <jogle@aoc.nrao.edu> writes:
>
>> Well, I figure there would be, if they're going to have LB invade New York...
>> Pocket Dimensions don't just spring out on their own, ya know (although with
>> WEG, anything is possible! :-)
>
>that is just what happens; a 'tremendous surge' of Possibility Energy
>brings the LB to the surface, or something like that....
>
 Argh! Cheese! :)
>
>Basically there are only penalties for those skills that you cannot
>use unskilled, like Air Vehicles, Heavy Weapons, Science, Streetwise,
>etc etc.  Things like Energy Weapons they didn't assign a penalty to
>(point and shoot, how difficult can it be? 8-)
>
 Feh. I think a skilled person should have a much better chance, otherwise you
get Joe Schmoe from CE firing his Gravitic Ray with his DEX of 12 having a bet-
ter chance to hit than the Akashan Biotechnician who has 3 adds in Biotech Wea-
pons, but only a DEX of 8... bullpucky! Joe Schmoe gets a -2 at least (I have
to put my hand WHERE?!? Okay... oops, so that's where it fires from... heh.
Sorry about that. Here, lemme try my First Aid (Schmoe gets -1 on this, since
most CE people have knowledge of tourniquets and Advil and such :-) ). And it's
the same deal with Edeinos and handguns... sure, it's just point and shoot, but
which end do you point? :)



Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: Jim Ogle (Ks. Jim) <jogle@aoc.nrao.edu>
Subject: Re:  Living Land Miracles (was  Re: cosm placement (hindsight) (was Re: GENcon))
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 21:34:48 GMT

Rick writes:

> 	The module "Central Valley Gate" had a bunch of very good 
> (IMHO) Living Land miracles.  I dunno about what axiom level they 
> were.

Wow, Rick liking something about the Living Land!  8-)

I don't remember exactly what axiom level those miracles were but none
of them were very high (over 20). I think most of them were in the
12-16 range.

Kansas Jim (jogle@aoc.nrao.edu)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: malloy@nprdc.navy.mil (Sean Malloy)
Subject: Re: Axioms -- another log on the fire
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
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Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 15:45:48 GMT

On Sep 2,  8:51am, Stephen Smoogen wrote:
> I think a little work on all the axiom sheets should occur. I think
> that the technological one is ok (don't shoot me Sean... please)

I can't believe that you would think I would shoot you; I'm appalled.
Shooting you doesn't have enough artistry; even careful choice of
targets doesn't give you enough control over the damage to let others
have any real appreciation of the process. Breaking out pliers,
miniature flensing knives, and various scarifactors and doing a
bas-relief of the Pieta in keloid tissue on your back -- now _that's_
artistry.

-- 
Sean Malloy                                  | It is better to light a single
Navy Personnel Research & Development Center | Christian than curse the
San Diego, CA 92152-6800                     | darkness.
malloy@nprdc.navy.mil                        |            -- Emperor Nero
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: WILLIAMS005@WCSUB.CTSTATEU.EDU (Ian Williams, Esq.)
Subject: RE: ACCELERATED TIME
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 23:32:30 GMT

I'm not to steady on the Torg magic system myself but if you want a good
resource for dealing with accelerated time the third story in Larry Niven's
_The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton_ has some interesting side effects of time
acceleration

1- incoming light is greatly reduced in wavelength and energy  as it comes
   through the edge of the time acclerated area- going the other way the reverse
   IS true however (In some GM's worlds this can apply to magic and possibility
   energy also, severly limiting the amount of evergy availble for the
   accelerated time spell)

2- the edge of the time acclerated area is almost a solid area since the air
   on the outside can't get out the way fast enough and it does interesting
   things to impact speeds. 

3- high level time acclerated areas can cause massive tissue damage to living
   tissue at it's interface as blood flow and nerve impulses are interfered
   with.

I'm not particulary for or against time acelleration spells but if one is used
one should be aware of the possible difficulties

                                                      -Ian Williams-
                                                      WILLIAMS005, W.C.S.U
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: wolf@cheshire.oxy.edu (Clinton Richard Wolf)
Subject: Re: Reco
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041 USA.
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 20:03:36 GMT

In article <gatemail1.0b24312337656@morticia> cpearce%nemesis@nemesis.acs.unt.edu (Chris Pearce) writes:
>
>Oops. Yah, I was just in blind copy-paste mode. I wanted to use Taztor to
>make the example up close and personal for Clint and, as I don't have
>a reco chart handy, just used the same number without thinking.
> 
 Heh. He knows! He knows my true name!!! Now he must die! (C'mon, Mike, lemme
have that Sp.24 'Kill Chris Pearce instantly at any range' miracle?)

 Just so we're even, Chris (and I don't send an angry Borr Aka your way...)
What's your character in the E-mail game?


Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
From: alix@solwarra.gbrmpa.gov.au (Alix Walker )
Subject: Re: super skill grumbles
X-Gated-By: The Black Marble Wombat@morticia.cnns.unt.edu
X-Gated-From: torg mailing list
Organization: University of North Texas
X-Gatemail-Version: 1.0b
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 12:20:36 GMT

> 
> someone with super skill: (any character interaction skill) can soon
> build his skill up to a level where he can count on getting Player's
> Calls a lot of the time - a Player's Call on trick/taunt/maneuver/
> intimidate/test might well have much nastier effects than a vital blow
> with a tech 21 gun.
> 
Don't forget to use the DN modifier chart sometimes. We had a player
with super-skill Trick of 30! but this person thought it was a licence
to Trick anyone with any stupid Trick. eg.
Super-Trick> I fall down and pretend to be dead.
GM> Just how are u doing this? Those shocktroopers are standing right
in front of you with machineguns, they haven't yet fired, and they've
been watching you the whole time.
ST> Uhmmmm. I don't know, I just fall down.
GM> Ok <applies minus 12 cause it's so stupid>
ST> <rolls> I got a 28.
GM> Ok you succeed, have a card 'cause it's approved.
GM> <Thinks> Well at least it wasn't a players call!

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate super-skill, in fact my last character
 had it, but if you make the person explain how they are doing what their
doing, especially with approved actions, then sometimes holes are clear.
In the example above if ST had said "Well I'll Trick them by clutching
at my throat and pretending to choke, 'cause we are in a restaurant and
they did see me eating, and then I'll fall down" well maybe the minus
wouldn't have been so great.

Just how are you Maneuvering through that crowd of people?

Winston (in a box)

Newsgroups: alt.games.torg