HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: arakins@iastate.edu (Andrew R Akins)
Subject: Re: CS: Bollocks to Shadow Run
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 14:57:05 GMT

In article <D45cJB5w164w@jab.tucson.az.us> stevea@jab.tucson.az.us (Steve Albany) writes:
>        You know, I've gotten really irked at all this SHADOW RUN C-R-A-P! 
>Shadow Run is WARHAMMER. In other words, its a game for D&D Simps who 
               ^^^^^^^^^

Huh?

Are you saying that Warhammer is bad game system?

I don't think I can agree wth you, on that.......but oh
well, opinions are just that: opinions.

I do agree however that Shadowrun isn't really cyberpunk - it's
just got cyberpunk elements. Plus, I don't care for the game 
system. All those six siders......

-- Andy Akins
   aka Brother Andrek
   Iowa State University
   arakins@iastate.edu
From: ratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu (Stainless Steel Rat)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: MIT's Infinite Corridor
Date: 6 Apr 92 19:52:36 GMT
Reply-To: ratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu
Organization: 3WA, Boston Office. Or Nu Meta Chi. Take your pick.
To: ratinox
CC: lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu
In-reply-to: lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu's message of 6 Apr 92 18:05:52 GMT
X-Quote: The "NeXT" Computer: A Macintoy on steroids.
X-Posting-Software: GNUS 3.14.1 [ NNTP-based News Reader for GNU Emacs ]

>>>>> On 6 Apr 92 18:05:52 GMT, lis@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Elisabeth Riba) said:

lis> Supposedly, 2 days out of the year, the sun shines directly through
lis> the IC.  Any idea what days and times these are?  Or is this just
lis> another UL?

MITHenge really happens. I do not know the dates for this year's
occourances yet.

--Rat
--
||||| | | | |  |  |  |   |   |    |    |    |   |   |  |  |  |  | | | | | |||||
                                                   __        ___ 
Internet: ratinox@splinter.coe.northeastern.edu  /   | /| / /   | The Worlds
    UUCP: ...!northeastern.edu!splinter!ratinox /__  |/ |/ / /| | Welfare Works
  BITNET: UA_RLP@NUHUB{.BITNET}                /   | /| / / / | | Association:
  USNail: 14 Westdale RD.                     /__  |/ |/ / /  | | I will solve
          Holbrook, MA  02343-1031           /   | /| / / /___| | any problem
 ICBMnet: 42 deg 1 min N, 71 deg 0 min W    /    |/ |/ /_//_____| for you.
From: gt9405b@prism.gatech.EDU (Lynn Richard Akers)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: SRUN: Cyberware & sanity loss
Date: 13 Apr 92 08:29:50 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <1992Apr12.235053.24896@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> pmwg1641@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Peter M. White) writes:
>But isn't progressive insanity such a charming idea?  It is a 
>real attraction of the Cyberpunk system to me.  I haven't thought
>of a good way to include in SR without imbalancing the system,
>unfortunately.
>
>Anyone out there have any bright ideas?

    Well, a while back I was toying with the idea of giving a heavily
wired character some amount of magic resistance (scaled to the power
that magic has in your world) if and only if they role-play a certain
amount of psychosis.  Basically, if they didn't want play that type of
character, then the cyberware meshed better with them than with the
ones who went unstable, and therefore didn't interfere as much with the
spells reaching the essence that left.  I never got to play-test it
as I drifted away from my SRun group not long after, but it looks like
it would be very limited as a lot of spells just create physical effects
that do whatever (all those fire spells, for instance).  But still, it
should take the edge off a mana-bolt pretty well.
                               Lord Goodgulf the Wizard

-- 
Lynn Richard Akers                                                              "Her name was Cind.  She was very, very young and very, very lovely.  It was
that special kind of beauty that grabbed at the heart through the loins.  Cind  was also one of the most highly regarded practitioners of that supremely lethal
art--sniping."    Allan Cole and Chris Bunch, The Return of the Emperor         uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt9405b
Internet: gt9405b@prism.gatech.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: The Undead and level loss
From: jvincent@eagle.wesleyan.edu (The Ulair)
Date: 14 Apr 92 07:31:22 EDT
Organization: Wesleyan University

In article <167C2E738.MHART00@ricevm1.rice.edu>, MHART00@ricevm1.rice.edu (mason hart) writes:

> 1)  Characters recover lost levels at the rate of one per week, unless
>       they are reduced to less than zero.
> 2)  Characters may save against Death Magic to avoid level loss.
> 3)  The Priest spell Restoration is level four or five, rather than
>       level seven.
> 
> Further suggestions?
> 
> -- mason

     These look OK. Perhaps you might consider something more like ROLEMASTER's
version of Undead Drains. The Undead drain CON pts, which are regained once the
living are out of contact with the Undead. As Rolemater stats are based off of
1-100, perhaps 5xCON of these points for each character would be appropriate.

        Seeing as Undead are supposed to drain the vitality (by blood or
whatever), an attack on CON seems better oriented for this, as does its gradual
renewal when removed from the UnDead's influence. Running around for a bit at a
CON a few full points (14 instead of 18) lower than your normal simulates this
effect and still keeps players from wanting to run into UnDead.


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: acd@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (andrew.c.durston)
Subject: Re: RM: Bards spell questions
Organization: AT&T
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 21:14:57 GMT

In article <1992Apr7.140923.1@zodiac.rutgers.edu>, huber@zodiac.rutgers.edu writes:
>      Recently some questions have come up in my campaign concerning Bard
> spells.  The first is about Mind Lore spells (spell isreproduced below
> for those of you who are not familiar with it)
> 
>    Mind Lore I (III,V,True) D:1 rnd/lvl (C) R: 50' < rest deleted >
> 
> The question is this: if a bard casts this spell on a willing target (ie
> a mage with a high demon-devil lore) and the target is concentrating on the
> requested information, how much does the bard receive and how is this denoted
> on the character sheet (ie if the mage had 10 ranks in DmDvL and the bard cast
> Mind Lore true would (s)he acquire 10 ranks in DmDvL?).  Should this spell be
> limited only to academic skills, or would you concider Circle Lore, Runes,
> or crafting to be skills that the bard can learn this way?
	One way you can run this ( and I may try this in my game ) is that the
	spell caster gets temporarily, X% of the target's ranks with which he
	can make a knowledge roll and ( based on the result ) hope to get the
	information he is hoping for.

	Tyarn the bard uses Mind Lore III on Steven McCauley who has 10 ranks
	in Elemental Lore. For the spell duration, Tyarn has 3 ranks of that
	Lore so he can make Lore rolls ( 15 + Me/Re bonus + ACA level bonus ).

	The simpler way is to roll % dice and if below the % chance, then the
	spell caster gains the information that he is looking for.
> 
> The second question concerns the Learn Language spell (again it is reproduced
> below for reference)
> 
> The question is this - what is the rate that a character can learn a language?

	For PC/NPC bards during level advancement, I give them their Linguistic
	Bonus in extra ranks of languages per level ( +3 ranks ). This assumes
	occaisional use of the spells to pick up languages from others ( see
	the example in RMC IV ). If a PC has the spell and tell me that he/she
	is concentrating on a particular tongue, then perhaps I might give
	increase return for each DP invested in linguistics ( i.e. 1 DP gives
	2 ranks if Learn Language II is frequently used ). This will lead to
	Bards and Sages (?) having loads of languages.

	I also allow downtime skill study which usually works as 1 week equals
	1 DP of skills. For linguisitics, the time needed for each rank/DP can
	be reduced by the spell ( with Learn Language II, 1/2 week per DP ) if
	PPs are available and such.

	Your mileage may vary,
	ACDurston
	..!att!hotld!acd
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: npearl@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Nathan Y Pearlstein)
Subject: SRUN (Shadotech Sourcebook)
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 16:39:46 GMT

I heard that the Shadowtech Sourcebook was to be released in late March
I haven't seen it yet.  Has anybody seen it or know of a different
release date?
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: sleibowitz@hamp.hampshire.edu (Smiling Wolf)
Subject: Shadowrun: Matrix theory
Organization: Hampshire College
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 22:50:14 GMT

  mkkuhner@milton.u.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner) writes:
> Otherwise all the SR scenarios which have top-secret corporate data on
> on-line computers get a little hard to swallow.  I know people do it
> today, but they are under increasing pressure to stop, and with rampant
> decking it just wouldn't make any sense.

  ward1@husc8.harvard.edu (Lester Ward/Wordman) writes: 
> For the first time, I find myself in complete disagreement with Mary.
> Business is now taking on a more global stature.  More information needs
> to accessed more quickly.  By 2050, both of these trends will be much
> more excelerated than they are now.  Wageslaves, especially salesmen and
> "propagandists" (people who push the wonders of, say, phone networking) are
> sent all over the world to reach the global market.  It is becoming more
> and more necessary for these people to have instant communication of
> progress (including non-vocal data), gain near instant feedback (including
> non-voice data), have access to up to date information, and have access to
> computer resources for presentation and other purposes.  Cutting a computer
> off line would toss these people back to the stone age.
> 
> I could go on, but I think the gist is clear.

Strange as it might sound, I think that the both of you are right.  Certain
kinds of really sensitive information - like inter-office memos, account data,
important client/competitor info, and other info vital to running the corp - 
has to be stored in a medium that will enable the appropriate people to get to
it on a few moments notice.  Basically, this means "matrix". 

At the same time, the _really_ hot stuff: security measures, high priority
R&D, and Coyote only knows what else, is kept in cold storage, on devices
not attached to the Matrix (if you have "Silver Angel", you know what I 
mean).  Since most of the info can only be (mis)used by a select group of
people in a centralized location (i.e. a lab), it seems unnecessarily dangerous
to keep it online in the Matrix. The stuff kept in that kind of facility is
_ultra-hot_, though, and should not be considered easy pickings by an 
inexperienced team. 


					Your humble servant,
					    Smiling Wolf

sleibowitz@hamp.hampshire.edu
sister moon will be my guide
From: howell@blegga.u.washington.edu (David Howell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Talislanta
Date: 8 Apr 92 20:05:38 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

I'm sure Pete, the president of Wizards of the Coast will respond
as well, but why wait? :)

Did you ever send in your card/request/whatever to subscribe
to the Black Savant? While I grant that you might have and your
address was lost, I would lay money you didn
't, or you would have received the successor from WotC, The
Apothecary, which would have relayed juicy tidbits about upcoming
products, including the Third Edition Guidebook and the
Anthology, a collection of short stories set in Talislanta.

I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say :) but I think it's safe
to say that these are definately not vaporware. I designed the 
Anthology myself (and typeset it), and it's sitting in my computer.
They'll be released, er, soon.

In the meantime, why not email mavra@blegga.cac.washington.edu
and ask for an Apthocary?

Dave Howell
howell@blegga.cac.washington.edu  

:)
From: cg108fai@icogsci1.ucsd.edu (Steerpike)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: AD&D: XP's for 'Easy' Kill
Date: 5 Apr 92 11:26:04 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

Somebody wrote:
>DILEMMA: The DM said the kill had been 'too easy' (i.e. we got lucky and
>exploited a loophole) and gave the PC's a small fraction of the 'listed'
>XP's for the drider.

>QUESTION: Was this 'fair'. Should the DM award our good luck, and then
>endeavor to remove the game-imbalancing wand? Was it unfair to 'punish'
>the players for a luck blow? I am DM'ing my own campaign, and would
>like to hear others opinions before I get in a similiar situation.

IMHO, no, not at all. XP should be rewarded in proportion to the
effort it took. I do not believe in awarding XP for clerics casting
heal; I do not believe in getting the full dragon XP for killing a 
sleeping dragon; you can guess the rest. If you killed the creature
through a rules loophole, of course, you DM has already screwed up,
so I see no reason why he (or she) shouldn't go ahead and totally
screw up. (there ARE no rules loopholes, guys; the DM makes the
rules. The book you coughed up the money for is just a guideline.
Because no system is even vaguely perfect enough to allow a halfway
decent DM to just "follow the rules."

steerpike@ucsd.edu
From: kq07+@andrew.cmu.edu (Kevin P. Quigley)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: AD&D 2ed. Weapon Specialization
Date: 9 Apr 92 15:23:30 GMT
Organization: Senior, Music, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Don't believe everything you read.  Choose the rule you like - or make
the rule ou want to use.
From: gj0b+@andrew.cmu.edu (Gray Brennan Jones)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: SRUN: Heavy weapons as sidearms
Date: 13 Apr 92 14:50:49 GMT
Organization: Senior, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

apearlma@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Andrew Pearlman) writes:
> Not quite true.  You can't stick a silencer on a weapon with gas-vents or
> vice-versa.  Silencers are an exclusive barrel mount.  You can get shock-pads
> though.  Neat trick:  Get smartgun link, spec in Tiffini Defender(8), and
> APDS ammo, shockpads, reactive trigger, and silencer.  Get 7 successes on
> the average doing 5L1(with rigger rules).  This stages up to 5D+31.  Say
> you have a 6 body and Lined Coat.  Take it down to 5D1 with the lined coat
> then probably get 2 successes on the resistance test.  Still a medium wound.
> 

Where do you put shock pads on a Tiffini (sp?) Defender??  Reactive
Trigger weapons don't fire bursts, they just let you fire twice in
rapid succession.  Also, the Defender is way too expensive, buy a
Streetline Special instead.

My holdout pistol of choice is the Walther Palm Pistol.  It's small,
it can fire two bullets simultaneously (it's like a really small
double-barrel shot gun) and it is very concealable.  However, it only
holds two bullets.  My favorite trick is to walk up behind a target on
a crowded street, place a Walther against the back of his head, trigger
both barrels and then drop the gun and take a couple of steps back.
It's pretty easy to blend into a panicked crowd, especially if there
is a really big crunch (like on a crowded subway or close to the
stage at a concert).  Another alternative is to place the gun against
the base of their spine or the back of one of their knees (if you just
want to make a statement and not kill them).

It's important to give players situations where they will want to
carry hold out pistols.  One really effective way is make a plastic
composite "stealth" holdout pistol that can make it through weapon
detectors.  Then put lots of weapon detectors around.  Then (to add
insult to injury) make these pistols really expensive.

--gray
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: bilbo@bisco.kodak.com (Charles Tryon)
Subject: To: tornai@breeze.fit.qut.edu
Summary: Bouncing Mail
Organization: Eastman Kodak Company; Rochester, NY
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 92 20:40:50 GMT


 *SIGH*  Sorry to use Net width, etc....

>i wondered if you could email me towers part 1???

Virgil,
  My mail to the address shown above bounces.  Please send me a correct
  internet address to mail to.

--
Chuck Tryon                                    B. Baggins
    bilbo@bisco.kodak.com                      At Your Service
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
From: cbergstr@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Chris N Bergstresser)
Subject: Re: Ad&d: creatures hit by magic
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 20:35:23 GMT

     This whole question of crushing damage to werecreatures reminds me of a 
situation in RIFTS where my 2 friends play.

     The one plays a robot, and the other plays a werepanther.  (Named B*E*R*T 
and Ernie, no less)
     Their standard attack in small corridors is for the Werepanther to attack,
after which the robot stabs through Ernie's chest and attacks.  RIFTS is a 
strange system.

     Anyway, once Ernie was standing around when a dragon got thrown directly 
towards him (Someone was killing it by throwing it a mile or two, I think).

     DM: Are you going to dodge?
     Ernie: Why?
     Dying Dragon: <SPLAT>

     Ernie: <Dusting himself off as he crawls out from under the corpse>
               Now, why should I dodge, again?


     RIFTS is a strange system.
From: seawasp+@pitt.edu (Ryk E Spoor)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: The Undead and level loss
Date: 16 Apr 92 00:44:01 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <1992Apr15.202059.16481@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> mark@trillian.jsc.nasa.gov (Mark Manning) writes:
>> 	Depends how you run your clerics. In 14+ years of running games, I

>14+???????  Has it been that long already?????  So when DID you start
>ref'ing or playing?  I think I started around 1978 but the years have
>(kind of) obscured my rememberance.  Though I DO remember the first
>game I ever played in.


	I've been playing since, I think early '76.  Maybe a bit later. 
That would make it 16 years for me. I do know that when I started there
was exactly ONE RPG -- D&D, the three little booklets. I remember that
soon after there was a lot of excitement about this strange new book
called Greyhawk and the wild character additions, like ... Paladins...
and mega-lots of spells, like more than TEN spells per every level!

                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;
From: v079ql9q@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Shane K Knapp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Vampire anyone??????
Keywords: PBEM
Date: 8 Apr 92 23:19:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

Hey vamps.....   Is anyone out there interested in  running a Vampire PBEM?

I would, but have negative time (worse than none!).  

Thanks-

Shane     v079ql9q@ubvms.bitnet
From: John_Morgan@mindlink.bc.ca (John Morgan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: DMs AID
Date: 12 Apr 92 00:31:33 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world

> The Dragon Queen writes:
> 
> Msg-ID: <11Apr92174306@miracle.UUCP>
> Posted: Sat, 11 Apr 92 17:43:06
> Org.  : Miracle Computer Consultants
> 
> Basically, it creates monster encounters for you.  Period.  It gives
> you the monster and the treasure, depending on what terrain you pick,
> etc.....and since it's a combination of a cheesy program and _1st_
> edition monsters, _not_ second edition, you get some really lame, really,
> REALLY WIMPY monsters, and small amounts of treasure to go with them.
> Period.
> 
> It's actually not that bad if you want to load the program, take the time
> to have it generate the encounters for you, have it print the encounters
> for you, then go through the encounters by hand updating the monsters so
> they fit the 2nd edition, i.e., NOT wimpy, update the treasure, look
> through the MC to make sure there aren't any abilities that this primitive
> program missed.....
> 
> If you want to take that effort, then it's okay.  I find it much easier
> doing it by hand.
> 
> 
> 
> ---
> |         _\|/_          |This posting compliments of The Dragon Queen|
> |        /     \         |                                            |
> |       | O   O |        | Any imaginative suggestions about what can |
> |__ooo__|___ ___|__ooo__ | be writen in this box are welcome at:      |
> |  UUU      U      UUU   |           sue%miracle@merk.com             |

How would you think about a program that will require a few steps but would be
set up for 2ed AD&D?
- STEP 1   Roll for encounter.
  (Determines monster, HD, Treasure type, # attacks, dmg, experience,
   special attacks/defences)
- STEP 2   Roll up hp for each monster
- STEP 3   Roll up treasure based on treasure type

I know that this is a lot of work but this way I could include a part of the
program that will allow a person to add their own monsters from other sources
or delete monsters that don't exist in their world.

Ciao Ciao
    J

--
######################################################################
#                        #                   ARMY                    #
#  John Morgan           #              Another fine game            #
#  a345@mindlink.uucp    #              By Milton Bradley            #
#                        #                 Ages 17 & up              #
######################################################################
From: msw8629@rigel.tamu.edu (WILLIAMS, MICHAEL SHANE)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Re: Stupid adventures
Summary: What was YOUR stupidest one?
Keywords: Smurfs, Burger King, Aiiiieeeee
Date: 9 Apr 92 21:41:00 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.frp
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

My stupidest game...ah, setting aside my beginning years as a hack and slash
DM (I have long since learned the err of those ways), the entirety of the Marvel
Super Heroes campaign that I ran my sophmore year in College would probably have
to qualify.  *sigh*   All I have to say about that realm is I couldn't create
a villain as dangerous to the heroes as another PC.  That realm suffered more 
than 90% fatalities, all caused by player vs. player conflicts.

	Captain "Bad and Evil Pookie" Woodchuck
Organization: Junior, Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA