Conference noted::sf

	Down in the Mill we had a few games going. Perhaps the most interesting
	was Worlds of Wonder - don't know who puts it out. It's essentially
	D&D, except that you dice for Superheroes instead of dwarves. You
	design characters with a theme, loosely patterened after the comic
	strips. We had characters like "Captain Cannonball" who could transform
	himself into a hard, spherical object and move at great speed; and
	ElectricMan, who (when transformed) was simply a sheet of lightning.
	Hard to hit him. The players are in some sort of "League of Superheros"
	and are assigned jobs like assaulting an elementary school held
	hostage by terrorists and Super-evil baddies.

	A nice twist on D&D, but requires a skillful and inventive DM (which
	we are fortunate enough to have in Chris Walsh and Brons.)

	Most of these have fallen by the wayside, but wouldn't mind playing
	again.

And then there's TRAVELLER, which is SF role-playing.  It's sort of space
opera played out, but is lots of fun. 

We play on weekends about once every three weeks -- it's a great way of
passing the time.

Nigel

R .2;  Agreed.  It is a great way of passing the time.  My husband used to play
Traveller, as well as D&D, but has found Champions and Gamma World to be more
interesting and the best character generation type around (as far as Champions
goes).  We also just picked up Espionage (also by Hero Games) which is fairly
similar to a James Bond type RPG.

As far as playing Champions is concerned, we usually play about 2-3 times a 
week.  It's better than watching TV sometimes...unless The Master or Airwolf
are on.

 Traveller is a fairly decent game: evidently this field is rapidly
becoming crowded.  I walked into a D&D bookstore recently and they 
didn't have any Traveller books--hadn't even heard of them!  There 
were about 30 other games around, though...

 Short message to new players: be careful before you go out buying 
these games.  They seem to have sprung up all around.  We need a role-
playing game NOTES file for comments on the quality of some of these 
new things.


	Marmaduke van Rijn, merchant and Rimworld pilot

	- or Yngvar Bodfisher, barbarian and thief

		[depending on the weekend]

It's played down here in Atlanta, too.  I'm involved with a core of people
(me the only deccie) that plays once a week.  Right now, it's traveller.
There was a time though, when I was the only employed person and the rest
wished to play rather often ( in 9 days, we played 6 games, on 7 different
nights. That's when you wake up and say 'Who am I').  Our D&D games were
never very faithful to the rules as we were spoiled by Traveller.  Like,
why must all MU's carry their spell books around, or why do paladins shine
like a beacon in their armour and ride white horses and so on.  Also, it's
hard to avoid ascension sometimes.  One of the referees put into his D&D
game a way for characters to find out about space travel and enter the
world of traveller (they kept their skills and all, but or some types
advancement in levels was impossible unless you returned to your world
occassionally).  He also has it set up so that some of his traveller
worlds have magic.

		Heather Stokes(dumb blond space rogue)
		Ariel En-Hart(MU)
		Arra n'ha morem Sharra(see Darkover for more)
		and about 7 others

re. 7:  Sometimes, to make things interesting, my husband or I (depending on
who's the DM or GM) combine AD&D and Champions.  It turns out to be quite a
devastating party!

				*** Kristy ***

	There has to be a way to FRP over the net.  I just haven'f figured it 
out yet.  If you think of anything, PLEASE let me know.

	There are a number of play-by-mail games that are run by computer.  Is 
there any info on these available?

I'd be interested in running a TRAVELLER or DND FRP play-by-mail/notes
campaign, but lack info.  

Help

Has anyone played "Barbarian Prince"? It's a solo DND-style FRP game,
but very nicely done. Unlike most solos, it remains new and unpredictable
for quite a few games, and has many interesting foes and situations.
It occurred to me that it might make a good starting point for a
game-by-mail; the DM wouldn't have to work too hard since the material
is all in the book, the players would simply respond to each situation
from a limited (but reasonable) number of choices, and we could see
how it goes. The game was set up for one protagonist, but allowed him
to accumulate "sidekicks" and henchmen, so it's certainly usable with
multiple players.

Thoughts? Suggestions? If people want to discuss this outside of
SF notes, send me mail.

-Beth Ravan

There's a very good FRB computer game on the E-net, Rogue.  It is available
on hydra and there is a notes file for it, jon::drc1:[sutton]rogue.

note: that should be FRP not "FRB," sorry.


			Johnny O.

	ROGUE is a solo game.  I want something with a larger human element in 
it.

I've begun playing "Call of Cthulhu" recently, a Chaosium game
that simulates Lovecraft's mythos very nicely (if one can use
the word "nice" in this context!). It's a good game system, simple
for an RPG, and a change of pace from most other games.

Continuing a thought that was first voiced in reply .6, it
would be helpful to me to have a notes file for reviewing game
systems, new playing aids, etc. - the trial-and-error method
of testing new things by buying them can be very expensive.
It turns out that there's a new NOTES file called GAMES,
on PICA; its founder had computer games in mind primarily,
but later notes have indicated a willingness to discuss most
types of games. We should probably limit its use to reviews
and discussions of game products, and refrain from inserting
long transcriptions of our latest adventures or arguing about
rule interpretations. (If you get the USENET games.frp mail,
you will see how long-winded and unpleasant rule arguments can
get.)

Of course, if anybody has some disk space available and would
like to start an FRP notes file ...

-b

RE: .17

I will create a notes file for SF/FRP games if there is enough interest.
If you'd like to see it, send me some mail at the above address.  I tend
to agree with the suggested limitations on topics discussed in the
previous reply, but I'm flexible on this.  Let me know what you'd like to
talk about -- I'm interested to see just how many people are interested and
what their preferences are.

				*** Daryl ***

Guess what, guys!!!

My dear hubby has created that Sci-Fi/Fantasy RPG notesfile he said he was
going to.  It's at ASGMKA::SYS$NOTES:FRP.NOT for those of you who are 
interested.  He wishes to limit the notesfile to be only for questions and/or
suggestions on various RPG's.  Chronicles of one's adventures would be less
than tolerated.  Have fun!

				*** Kristy ***

Well, I guess my game is a SF/Role-playing game of sorts.

I humbly submit DECWEB - a game of galactic conquest.

This is a play by email game, available only at DEC.

For further information, see the notes conference Z::DECWEB

Dave

    Here's another sort of roleplaying game available at DEC and that is
    real-time interactive roleplaying using a client/server model over the
    network.
    
    There are 2 available types. The first is an open-ended roleplaying,
    more like improv theatre and concensus reality and the other devoted
    more to a D&D style/rule playing with roleplaying as a secondary goal.
    
    The first is TinyMUCK. To find out about the game you must read the
    conference which gives you the location of the client which you must
    copy to your system. The conference also covers the rules of behaviour
    as well as the basic and advanced commands needed. The conference is at
    ERIS::TINYMUCK. Press KP7.
    
    The purpose of the Dreamtime (the world of TinyMUCK) is to create and
    interact with the other characters. It is not a goal-oriented system,
    but rather an alternate reality where people live and interact.
    
    The other game system is LPMUD. It's conference is in the process of
    moving and I'll post it's location later when it is stable. The purpose
    of LPMUD is to become a wizard by solving a number of quests. This then
    gives you the power to create your own quest, but removes you from the
    "game" of acquiring quests.
    
    Note that the same client can be used for both systems.
                               

    The conference for the LPmud world, PLANE, is now at
    VORTEX::HUGS::LPMUD.