From: Mike Harvey Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 13:13:50 -0700 Organization: Intel Corporation Lines: 33 Message-ID: <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: mharvey.jf.intel.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.6 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!isdnet!netnews.com!news.voicenet.com!nntp2.giganews.com!news-feeds.jump.net!uunet!dfw.uu.net!sea.uu.net!news.or.intel.com!usenet Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12351 Someone had to do it... What are the top 3 *best* features (in your opinion) of your favorite RPGs? FUDGE: 1) Dice mechanic is easy and realistic and shows *degree* of success 2) Amazingly simple and fast, never need to open a rulebook 3) Does anything you can imagine while still providing some useful structure for building characters Basic D&D: 1) Nostalgia, of course 2) Dripping with flavor and adventure hooks 3) Great meta-game value, almost board-gamey in some ways Fantasy Hero: 1) Construction kit approach is more fun than an erector set, tinker toys, and legos combined. I especially like the "construction kit" for Limitations and the user-definable skill list. 2) Almost as flexible as Fudge 3) Stun damage, Presence attacks, Ego combat all support heroic genres GURPS: 1) Nice simple integer math combined with a good shorthand for describing NPCs and monsters. Very clean and easy to work with. 2) Dice mechanic is easy to use, if you don't have any modifiers. Combat is much simpler than Hero, though not necessarily better. 3) Gritty flavor good for some genres. 4) EXCELLENT SUPPORT Mike ###### Reply-To: "Michael T. Richter" From: "Michael T. Richter" Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Lines: 58 Organization: Half-Baked Software MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6700 Message-ID: <8uLb5.43403$ZI2.1743047@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 21:20:04 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.112.132.246 X-Complaints-To: abuse@home.net X-Trace: news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com 963609604 24.112.132.246 (Fri, 14 Jul 2000 14:20:04 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 14:20:04 PDT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!serra.unipi.it!hammer.uoregon.edu!newshub.northeast.verio.net!verio!netnews.com!newshub2.rdc1.sfba.home.com!news.home.com!news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12433 "Mike Harvey" wrote in message news:396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com... > Someone had to do it... And I was just waiting for it. :-) Silhouette (e.g. Heavy Gear, et al): 1) Good, consistent, fast-moving game mechanisms. 2) In all of its incarnations so far, paired off with excellent settings. 3) Has one of the top 3 best vehicle design systems I've ever seen. CORPS: 1) Good, consistent, fast-moving game mechanisms. 2) Has one of the most interesting sets of rules for "critical failures" I've ever seen. (Most games with critical failure rules have disasters occur far too often to be plausible.) 3) Has one of the top 3 best vehicle design systems I've ever seen. FUDGE: 1) Available in electronic versions for free and in print versions for very cheap, but without the amateurish qualities one traditionally associates with vanity press. 2) Highly amorphous blob of a game. Perfect for "thought experiment" and/or free-form games (although for more serious endeavours it needs rules hacking). 3) Mentioning it as a serious game seems to cause certain idiotic bigots to start twitching uncontrollably. Puppetland: 1) A very dark tone that just makes me want to dive deep until I run out of air. 2) Has potential to attract a different style of gamer hitherto turned off by "classic" RPGs. 3) Calling it a role-playing game in some circles causes random muscle twitches in the knee. Alternity: 1) Had a coherent, relatively simple set of rules (delivered in such a way as to make them look much more complex than they were). 2) Had good support for heroic styles, and suits grittier styles with only a few minor rules modifications. 3) Had a lot of good-quality support material published. Everway: 1) One of the best "newbie" games to introduce non-traditional gamers to RPGs. 2) Has one of the most flexible set of game mechanisms ever devised. 3) Seems to transform on the fly to suit the group playing it. No two gaming groups play the same flavour of the game. Fading Suns: 1) One of the most interesting settings published in recent memory. 2) One of the few SF games which takes religion as a serious force without grotesquely caricaturing it. (There is some caricature, but not a lot.) 3) One of the few games which gives me at least two adventure ideas per page of text. ###### From: Lizard Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 14:26:38 -0700 Organization: Ferengi Academy of Business Ethics Lines: 22 Message-ID: <396F858E.1383C4FA@mrlizard.com> References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-158.newsdawg.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (WinNT; I) X-Accept-Language: en,pdf Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.nextra.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!dca1-hub1.news.digex.net!intermedia!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!207.211.168.17!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews1 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12380 Mike Harvey wrote: > > Someone had to do it... > > What are the top 3 *best* features (in your opinion) of your favorite > RPGs? > HERO a)Can build almost any character concept, including some that can't be built in any other system easily. b)Armor, weapons, cars, computers, spaceships, cyberspace programs -- all built with the same toolkit. Once you learn it, you can do anything. c)Perhaps the most 'complete in one book' game ever published. If I absolutely had to, I could do everything with just the core rules. WEG Star Wars a)Perfectly captures the flavor of the movies. b)Incredibly easy to learn -- it's my game of choice for turning newbies on to RPGs. c)Supplemental material so good, it became canonical in the novels. ###### From: Lizard Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 14:52:15 -0700 Organization: Ferengi Academy of Business Ethics Lines: 18 Message-ID: <396F8B8F.C920C111@mrlizard.com> References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> <8uLb5.43403$ZI2.1743047@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-525.newsdawg.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (WinNT; I) X-Accept-Language: en,pdf Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.nextra.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews1 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12377 "Michael T. Richter" wrote: > Everway: > 1) One of the best "newbie" games to introduce non-traditional gamers to > RPGs. This is something I hear a lot, and I wonder if this is the case. It seems to me that Everyway, and other highly free-form RPGs, are better suited to EXPERIENCED players. I would suspect that someone with only a vague notion of 'role playing game' would be a bit confused by 'Go through these cards and pick four that define your character'. I think this puts too much burden on someone whose most likely pre-game decision making process was previously limited to "The doggie or the racecar?" I'm assuming it's worked for you, or you wouldn't mention it, but I just can't see it... ###### From: "unterhund" Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 16:32:44 -0600 Organization: ArosNet Internet Services Lines: 23 Message-ID: <8ko4hl$2598$1@news.aros.net> References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> Reply-To: "unterhund" NNTP-Posting-Host: pcpatc.censoft.com X-Trace: news.aros.net 963614069 70952 208.219.23.51 (14 Jul 2000 22:34:29 GMT) X-Complaints-To: news@aros.net NNTP-Posting-Date: 14 Jul 2000 22:34:29 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6600 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newsfeed-zh.ip-plus.net!news.ip-plus.net!nyc-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!easynet-tele!easynet.net!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!xmission!news.aros.net!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12371 "Mike Harvey" wrote in message news:396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com... > Someone had to do it... > > What are the top 3 *best* features (in your opinion) of your favorite > RPGs? Risus: 1) Extreme flexibility and scalability in character creation. Makes everything but FUDGE and SHERPA seem hidebound. 2) Takes all of about a minute to explain the mechanics to someone. 3) Combat only takes a handful of seconds, leaving more time for role-playing. Having said all that, the next campaign I GM will either use FUDGE or D&D 3e. Depends on which one I find players for first. -- Patrick Clark unterhund@mailcity.com http://unterhund.8m.com ###### X-Originating-Host: 213.237.18.184 Organization: http://www.remarq.com: The World's Usenet/Discussions Start Here Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Lines: 26 From: metal-dog Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Message-ID: <0e3ac6f0.be0f676a@usw-ex0105-038.remarq.com> References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> <8uLb5.43403$ZI2.1743047@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> <396F8B8F.C920C111@mrlizard.com> Bytes: 608 X-Wren-Trace: eB47ExILTAZNUw8CGlJSEwMKLgEfFFscFhMYEVkJCFNRSg9MXgxYR1xOQlVBBlk= Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 19:00:15 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 10.0.2.38 X-Complaints-To: wrenabuse@remarq.com X-Trace: WReNphoon3 963627257 10.0.2.38 (Fri, 14 Jul 2000 19:14:17 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 19:14:17 PDT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!isdnet!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sjc-peer.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!sn-xit-01!supernews.com!sn-inject-01!WReNclone!WReNphoon3.POSTED!WReN!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12422 Toon: 1: It has a "Things falling from sky table" 2: You can play anything. 3: Characters who run out of hit points are merely out of the game for three minutes. Tunnels And Trolls: 1: Take That You Fiend! 2: Well, it's easy… 3: I can't actually think of a third thing… Chill: 1: Easy game mechanics once characters are generated. 2: Flexible character generation. 3: A monster called a "Mean Old Neighbour Lady". ----------------------------------------------------------- Got questions? Get answers over the phone at Keen.com. Up to 100 minutes free! http://www.keen.com ###### From: bbank@megsinet.net (Bryan Bankhead) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Message-ID: References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> Lines: 19 Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 22:20:43 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.81.164.214 X-Trace: news.corecomm.net 963627412 209.81.164.214 (Fri, 14 Jul 2000 21:16:52 CDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 21:16:52 CDT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.nextra.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!howland.erols.net!news.megsinet.net.MISMATCH!news.corecomm.net!tnt1a-214.columbus.corecomm.net!user Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12370 In article <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com>, Mike Harvey wrote: > Someone had to do it... > > What are the top 3 *best* features (in your opinion) of your favorite > RPGs? > KULT: 1. THE BEST supernatural horror setting for an rpg periad (And I've run COC since first edition). 2. Uses a linear probability curve for task resolution (ie a d20) , but has degree-0f-success rules. 3. Obscure. Its easier to scare people if they haven't memorized the the stats of every damn critter..... ###### From: rbarrett@dept.english.upenn.edu (Robert Barrett) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Date: 15 Jul 2000 03:05:36 GMT Organization: University of Pennsylvania Lines: 36 Message-ID: <8koke0$60k$1@netnews.upenn.edu> References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> <8uLb5.43403$ZI2.1743047@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> <396F8B8F.C920C111@mrlizard.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: dept.english.upenn.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2-upenn1.3] Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.skycache.com!Cidera!209.50.235.254!europa.netcrusader.net!207.103.147.20!news.voicenet.com!nntp.upenn.edu!dept.english.upenn.edu!rbarrett Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12388 Lizard (lizard@mrlizard.com) wrote: : "Michael T. Richter" wrote: : > Everway: : > 1) One of the best "newbie" games to introduce non-traditional gamers to : > RPGs. : This is something I hear a lot, and I wonder if this is the case. It : seems to me that Everyway, and other highly free-form RPGs, are better : suited to EXPERIENCED players. As far as Gamemasters are concerned, yes. But I've shared Michael's experiences at introducing newbie players to roleplaying via Everway. The beginners found the character creation system very easy to grok. Again, the only caveat I have there is one of Michael's: you just tell the beginners to avoid making heroes who use Magic. : I would suspect that someone with only a vague notion of 'role playing : game' would be a bit confused by 'Go through these cards and pick four : that define your character'. I think this puts too much burden on : someone whose most likely pre-game decision making process was : previously limited to "The doggie or the racecar?" The image cards provide the focus, and you use the question stage to direct the players. For confused players, I've just said, "pick the five images you like the best, and let us ask you questions about it." It's worked. Best, Rob -- Robert W. Barrett, Jr. * E-mail: rbarrett@dept.english.upenn.edu * World Wide Web: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~rbarrett/index.html * Dept. of English, Univ. of Pennsylvania * "What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage!" The Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), *The Wizard of Oz* (1939) ###### From: guppyshark@quakeclan.net (Brad Carletti) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 04:56:08 GMT Message-ID: <396feede.1815489@news.adelaide.on.net> References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> <396F858E.1383C4FA@mrlizard.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.11/32.235 NNTP-Posting-Host: ppp116.adelaide.on.net.au X-Trace: 15 Jul 2000 14:22:24 +0950, ppp116.adelaide.on.net.au Lines: 5 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.nextra.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.mel.connect.com.au!news1.optus.net.au!optus!yorrell.saard.net!duster.adelaide.on.net!ppp116.adelaide.on.net.au Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12409 >c)Supplemental material so good, it became canonical in the novels. And we are all eternally hateful for it. :) Brad Carletti ###### From: bokman7757@aol.com (Bokman7757) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Lines: 21 NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder07.news.aol.com X-Admin: news@aol.com Date: 15 Jul 2000 05:30:35 GMT References: <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Message-ID: <20000715013035.11492.00000129@ng-fw1.aol.com> Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.nextra.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.skycache.com!Cidera!152.163.239.129!portc01.blue.aol.com!audrey04.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12392 SPACE: 1889 1) Best setting ever! Just dripping with atmosphere, really. 2) Your players get to make history right from the start. The introductory adventure has them discovering a new race of beings under the moon, any Ether Propeller your scientist builds is guaranteed to be the most efficient one on the market, and there are hundreds of inventions just waiting to be created. 3) A multitude of career options and possibilities for a character. *D&D 1) Good "baseline" fantasy feel- you can just throw together a dungeon to start and worry about the rest of the game world later. 2) Remarkably versatile- PLANESCAPE and DARK SUN, a couple of significant diversions from normal fantasy, work fine with the system as well. 3) AC & hitpoints may be unrealistic, but they're easy on the bookkeeping. TIME LORD 1) Of all the licensed RPGs I've seen, this one does the best job of getting the feel of its source material. The spirit of DOCTOR WHO is always present. 2) The designer did a good job of fleshing out the system- a scale provided shows just how much 3 Move or 6 Knowledge is, relatively speaking. 3) The introductory adventure is great too- it could be a DW episode, easily. ###### From: bokman7757@aol.com (Bokman7757) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Lines: 12 NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder07.news.aol.com X-Admin: news@aol.com Date: 15 Jul 2000 05:33:20 GMT References: <0e3ac6f0.be0f676a@usw-ex0105-038.remarq.com> Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: <20000715013320.11492.00000130@ng-fw1.aol.com> Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!portc01.blue.aol.com!audrey04.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12390 << Toon: 1: It has a "Things falling from sky table" >> Including "Horseshoe.... three more horseshoes... horse" << Tunnels And Trolls: 1: Take That You Fiend! 2: Well, it's easy… 3: I can't actually think of a third thing… >> Lots of solitaire support. Not very common. ###### From: Jeffrey Straszheim Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Date: 15 Jul 2000 02:29:10 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Lines: 28 Sender: stimuli@localhost.localdomain Message-ID: References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> <8uLb5.43403$ZI2.1743047@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> <396F8B8F.C920C111@mrlizard.com> X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!feeder.qis.net!sn-xit-01!supernews.com!sn-inject-01!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12425 Lizard writes: > "Michael T. Richter" wrote: > > Everway: > > 1) One of the best "newbie" games to introduce non-traditional gamers to > > RPGs. > This is something I hear a lot, and I wonder if this is the case. It > seems to me that Everyway, and other highly free-form RPGs, are better > suited to EXPERIENCED players. > I would suspect that someone with only a vague notion of 'role playing > game' would be a bit confused by 'Go through these cards and pick four > that define your character'. I think this puts too much burden on > someone whose most likely pre-game decision making process was > previously limited to "The doggie or the racecar?" It worked great with my wife. I told her, "Pick 5 cards that you like and make up a story about the one you want to be your character." Now, when it got down to actually putting numbers down I had to help, but the cards were very evocative, and really helped get her into the character. -- Jeffrey Straszheim | A sufficiently advanced -- Systems Engineer, Programmer | regular expression is -- http://www.shadow.net/~stimuli | indistinguishable from -- stimuli AT shadow DOT net | magic ###### Reply-To: "Michael T. Richter" From: "Michael T. Richter" Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> <8uLb5.43403$ZI2.1743047@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> <396F8B8F.C920C111@mrlizard.com> Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Lines: 20 Organization: Half-Baked Software MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6700 Message-ID: <31%b5.44463$ZI2.1810308@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 15:01:19 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.112.132.246 X-Complaints-To: abuse@home.net X-Trace: news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com 963673279 24.112.132.246 (Sat, 15 Jul 2000 08:01:19 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 08:01:19 PDT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!codeine.org!newsfeed.wirehub.nl!netnews.com!newshub2.rdc1.sfba.home.com!news.home.com!news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12430 "Lizard" wrote in message news:396F8B8F.C920C111@mrlizard.com... >> Everway: >> 1) One of the best "newbie" games to introduce non-traditional gamers >> to RPGs. > This is something I hear a lot, and I wonder if this is the case. It > seems to me that Everyway, and other highly free-form RPGs, are better > suited to EXPERIENCED players. In my experience, people who sniff in derision at games which involve dice and math will give Everway a chance. > I'm assuming it's worked for you, or you wouldn't mention it, but I just > can't see it... Rather than trying to analyse it with incomplete information, why not actually gather the information? (That's one of the earlier steps in the scientific method....) ###### From: Lizard Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 09:58:05 -0700 Organization: Ferengi School Of Business Ethics Lines: 21 Message-ID: <3r51nsgolh9utmm500pmthn4eh089ch2bd@4ax.com> References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> <8uLb5.43403$ZI2.1743047@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> <396F8B8F.C920C111@mrlizard.com> <31%b5.44463$ZI2.1810308@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p-031.newsdawg.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.7/32.534 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.nextra.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews4 Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12426 On Sat, 15 Jul 2000 15:01:19 GMT, "Michael T. Richter" wrote: >Rather than trying to analyse it with incomplete information, why not >actually gather the information? (That's one of the earlier steps in the >scientific method....) Uhm, because I don't know that many RP virgins, and the only ones I *did* know, I used Star Wars on? Lack of test animals. Always a problem in research. The one game of Everway I played, I enjoyed, and I like the setting/concept a lot -- multidimensional games are a perennial favorite of mine. *----------------------------------------------------* Evolution doesn't take prisoners:Lizard "I've heard of this thing men call 'empathy', but I've never once been afflicted with it, thanks the Gods." Bruno The Bandit http://www.mrlizard.com ###### From: Peter Knutsen Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 21:00:03 +0200 Organization: http://www.knutsen.dk Lines: 41 Message-ID: <3970B4B3.6BA3A10@knutsen.dk> References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: msx-esp-3a-9.ppp.cybercity.dk Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: news.cybercity.dk 963687589 79569 212.242.17.202 (15 Jul 2000 18:59:49 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@cybercity.dk NNTP-Posting-Date: 15 Jul 2000 18:59:49 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (Win95; I) X-Accept-Language: en Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.nextra.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!psinet-eu-nl!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!skynet.be!newsfeed1.uni2.dk!news.cybercity.dk!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12435 Mike Harvey wrote: > > Someone had to do it... > GURPS: > 1) Nice simple integer math combined with a good shorthand for > describing NPCs and monsters. Very clean and easy to work with. > 2) Dice mechanic is easy to use, if you don't have any modifiers. > Combat is much simpler than Hero, though not necessarily better. > 3) Gritty flavor good for some genres. > 4) EXCELLENT SUPPORT Quest FRP 1. Guaranteed never to go out as print, due to being freeware 2. The character creation process is not sensitive to player skill, in that you can't really min/max in general (you can min/max towards a specific activity such as meelee combat, but it's equally useful to have a generalist character). The attributes have balanced values, so any distribution is useful. The combat system is also somewhat insensitive to player skill. 3. Good magic system, using sequential spell lists, since it cuts down on the need to micromanage the learning of individual spells. Also neat that it uses realworld religions as examples for clerical magic, as they'll always be better and fleshier and less stereotyped than fictional religions. I'd love to write a top-3 of the worst problems about Quest FRP, but the problem is that I've fixed all of them with house rules, so it's not something I spend much time thinking about any more. Squeezing a bottom-3 list out of my head would be taxing and simply not worth the effort. > Mike -- Peter Knutsen ###### From: h_laws@bigpond.com (Mad Hamish) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Message-ID: <39711c16.4921556@news.bigpond.com> References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> <8uLb5.43403$ZI2.1743047@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> <396F8B8F.C920C111@mrlizard.com> <31%b5.44463$ZI2.1810308@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> <3r51nsgolh9utmm500pmthn4eh089ch2bd@4ax.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.21/32.243 Lines: 18 Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 02:23:58 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 203.54.123.29 X-Trace: newsfeeds.bigpond.com 963713387 203.54.123.29 (Sun, 16 Jul 2000 12:09:47 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000 12:09:47 EST Organization: Telstra BigPond Internet Services (http://www.bigpond.com) Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.nextra.ch!news1.sunrise.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!intgwpad.nntp.telstra.net!newsfeeds.bigpond.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12457 On Sat, 15 Jul 2000 09:58:05 -0700, Lizard wrote: >On Sat, 15 Jul 2000 15:01:19 GMT, "Michael T. Richter" > wrote: > > >>Rather than trying to analyse it with incomplete information, why not >>actually gather the information? (That's one of the earlier steps in the >>scientific method....) > >Uhm, because I don't know that many RP virgins, and the only ones I >*did* know, I used Star Wars on? > >Lack of test animals. Always a problem in research. > Typically I believe the solution is to start breeding them in captivity. ###### From: Mike Harvey Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc Subject: Re: Top 3 BEST features of your favorite games Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 16:59:14 -0700 Organization: Intel Corporation Lines: 18 Message-ID: <39739DD2.1062E6A@intel.com> References: <8knah5$263u@edrn.newsguy.com> <396F747E.E39D3784@intel.com> <8uLb5.43403$ZI2.1743047@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> <396F8B8F.C920C111@mrlizard.com> <31%b5.44463$ZI2.1810308@news1.rdc1.on.wave.home.com> <3r51nsgolh9utmm500pmthn4eh089ch2bd@4ax.com> <39711c16.4921556@news.bigpond.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: mharvey.jf.intel.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.6 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newsfeed-zh.ip-plus.net!news.ip-plus.net!nyc-news-feed1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!colt.net!newsfeed.icl.net!newspeer.clara.net!news.clara.net!newsfeed.online.be!ams.uu.net!nyc.uu.net!sac.uu.net!sea.uu.net!news.or.intel.com!usenet Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.games.frp.misc:12632 Mad Hamish wrote: > Lizard wrote: >> Michael T. Richter wrote: >>> Rather than trying to analyse it with incomplete information, why not >>> actually gather the information? (That's one of the earlier steps in the >>> scientific method....) >> >> Uhm, because I don't know that many RP virgins, and the only ones I >> *did* know, I used Star Wars on? >> >> Lack of test animals. Always a problem in research. > > Typically I believe the solution is to start breeding them in > captivity. Yeah, mine is almost 2 years old now... :-P Mike