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blakes7-d Digest Volume 99 : Issue 17
Today's Topics:
Re: blakes7-d Digest V99 #7
Re: blakes7-d Digest V98 #318
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 09:22:44 GMT
From: "Dita Stanistraken" <d.stanistraken@dundee.ac.uk>
To: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se, blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: blakes7-d Digest V99 #7
Message-Id: <E0zzda3-00024c-02@pp.dundee.ac.uk>
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> Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 17:07:17 +0100 (MET)
> From: blakes7-d-request@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: blakes7-d Digest V99 #7
> To: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se
> Reply-to: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> ------------------------------
>
> Content-Type: text/plain
>
> blakes7-d Digest Volume 99 : Issue 7
>
> Today's Topics:
> Re: [B7L] Re: Free time again
> Re: [B7L] Re: Free time again
> Re: [B7L] Free time again/GETTING OFF TOPIC
> Re: [B7L] Homophobia
> [B7L] Re: Homophobia/Who
> [B7L] Re: Vila
> [B7L] Vila, Tanith Lee
> Re: [B7L] Re: Vila
> Re: [B7L] Tanith Lee and her Fascism?
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1999 12:42:58 -0000
> From: "Alison Page" <alison@alisonpage.demon.co.uk>
> To: "INTERNET:blakes7@lysator.liu.se" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: Free time again
> Message-Id: <E0zyxmq-0002XY-00@post.mail.demon.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> Harriet said -
>
> > How many times do I have to say AVON DOES NOT LISTEN TO MUSIC.
> >
> > Julius Caesar said so (Act 1, Scene 2). He mentioned that A didn't go to
> > the theatre either.
>
>
>
> 'Seldom he smiles and smiles in such a sort
> as if he mocked himself and scorned his spirit
> that could be moved to smile at anything.
> Such men as he be never at heart's ease
> while they behold a greater than themselves
> and therefore they are very dangerous'
>
> Alison
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1999 00:03:28 -0000
> From: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
> To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: Free time again
> Message-ID: <000301be3be9$4b7db1a0$051aac3e@default>
> Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> >How many times do I have to say AVON DOES NOT LISTEN TO MUSIC.
>
> You're absolutely right. He listens to Pink Floyd instead.
> >
> >Julius Caesar said so (Act 1, Scene 2). He mentioned that A didn't go to
> >the theatre either.
>
>
> Ah, so that explains why Vila went and installed a ticket office and
> cardboard cutout usherette in every cubicle on the Liberator. That's why
> Avon was always going down to planets with Blake, he was bursting.
>
> What would Shakespeare know anyway? He can't even spell properly.
>
> Neil
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1999 12:16:55 EST
> From: ShilLance@aol.com
> To: pussnboots@geocities.com, blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: Re: [B7L] Free time again/GETTING OFF TOPIC
> Message-ID: <19ddaf0e.36978f07@aol.com>
> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
>
> In a message dated 1/8/99 5:42:14 PM EST, pussnboots@geocities.com writes:
>
> << I agree. In a self defense class the instructor showed a Remo Williams
> movie: and pointed out all the instances where Remo used items at hand
> to fight attackers. i.e. quick wit in knowing what to grab and what to
> do with it. >>
>
> Question. How many Remo Williams movies are there? I only know of one
> subtitled "The Adventure Begins" Were there otheres, did they involve Fred
> Ward and were they theatrical releases. Sorry about the lapse in
> topic........
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1999 12:19:51 EST
> From: ShilLance@aol.com
> To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: Re: [B7L] Homophobia
> Message-ID: <53400aee.36978fb7@aol.com>
> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
>
> In a message dated 1/8/99 0:08:17 AM EST, kat@welkin.apana.org.au writes:
>
> << If this is homophobia, then a smile is sexual harrasment. Talk about
> subtle. (Kathryn throws her hands up in the air) You say, that
> because there is the faint possibility that some of the villains
> *might* be gay, (also due to the casting and the acting, don't forget)
> that the author is homophobic. Talk about over-reaction! >>
>
> I never assumed any of the characters in B7 were gay.....I never saw any
> indications they were.
>
> Is there a possibility we're seeing things where they are not?
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1999 15:22:45 -0500 (EST)
> From: brent@ntr.net
> To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: [B7L] Re: Homophobia/Who
> Message-Id: <199901092022.PAA23489@rome.ntr.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Iain:
> >>Also, we're looking at a small number of scripts here. Holmes wrote loads
> >>of Dr Who stories, and was script editor for even more. In all those
> >>stories that I've seen I can't think of a single example of negativity
> >>towards homosexuals. You'd think, if he had such a bee in his bonnet, it
> >>would have expressed itself in DW as well.
>
> Neil:
> >Pas devant les enfants? DW was for kids, B7 for adults. Ish.
>
> Thus far, you've presented your case very well, however, I don't think you
> can say DW was for kids and B7 adults. I think both were designed to appeal
> to kid and adult audiences. Some might even say B7 was for kids, too.
> Fortunately, all of us here know better.
>
> Iain made an excellent point about Holmes' DW work and your dismissal
> doesn't address it. At any rate, even if DW was for kids, that does not
> mean that a homophobic subtext couldn't be inserted into the stories.
> Holmes could have easily inserted the same "homophobic" themes in his DW
> stories as you allege he did in his B7 stories.
>
> Neil:
> >I recall thinking there were some iffy elements in at least one DW script by
> >Holmes. Talons of Weng-Chiang? I'm really not sufficiently Who-wise.
>
> That's too bad. If you were Who-wise, you would know that it wasn't just
> for kids. In many instances, it wasn't for kids at all (Ghost Light springs
> to mind).
>
>
> Brent
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1999 16:46:17 -0500
> From: Harriet Monkhouse <101637.2064@compuserve.com>
> To: "INTERNET:blakes7@lysator.liu.se" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: [B7L] Re: Vila
> Message-ID: <199901091646_MC2-6615-2DBE@compuserve.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> Content-Disposition: inline
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>
> Rob wrote:
> >Of course, Vila's darker, more dangerous side did surface at times
> >other than in "The Way Back". There's "Breakdown", for instance.
>
> I see it in "Gold", which I really think happened after "Orbit", not before
> - he's so grim when interrogating Keiller, and I love it when he makes Avon
> sweat before teleporting him.
>
> >It was a gradual process in some ways, but for
> >those of us who count the first episode as their favouite (e.g. me),
> >there is always the suspicion that the series had the potential to be
> >very different, possibly even better, than it actually turned out to be.
>
> There is a Platonic Form of Blake's 7 which exists out there somewhere, and
> of which the BBC version is merely a shadow. I told my brother this 20
> years ago, and I still believe it. If I believed in heaven, of course, I
> would be expecting to see the Platonic Form of B7 if I got there.
>
> Harriet
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 10 Jan 99 02:11:00 GMT
> From: s.thompson8@genie.com
> To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: [B7L] Vila, Tanith Lee
> Message-Id: <199901100226.CAA01570@rock103.genie.net>
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Neil, why do you feel that Vila wasn't really a Delta?
>
> This is a very popular idea in fan fiction, but it's always bothered me a
> bit, because it seems to me that that view acepts the Federation grading
> system as having some sort of validity. That is, Deltas really =are= stupid-
> - and therefore clever Vila can't possibly be one. I feel uncomfortable
> with that idea.
>
> And I second Penny's request for your views on Tanith Lee's alleged fascism.
> She, after all was the scriptwriter who explicitly commented on Vila's high
> intelligence, in "Sarcophagus."
>
> Sarah T.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 10:29:04 -0000
> From: "Alison Page" <alison@alisonpage.demon.co.uk>
> To: "INTERNET:blakes7@lysator.liu.se" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: Re: [B7L] Re: Vila
> Message-Id: <E0zzIMe-0003vy-00@post.mail.demon.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> Harriet said -
>
> > There is a Platonic Form of Blake's 7 which exists out there somewhere,
> and
> > of which the BBC version is merely a shadow. I told my brother this 20
> > years ago, and I still believe it. If I believed in heaven, of course, I
> > would be expecting to see the Platonic Form of B7 if I got there.
>
> Aren't there some people who argue that the last few seconds before the big
> crunch at the end of the Universe will be infinitely protracted. A big data
> processing system constructed by the super races who survive a the very end
> of time will replicate the souls of all beings who have ever lived and
> 'run' them on their supersystem, simulating a state of bliss.
>
> And at this point I expect to see.. nay participate in.. the Platonic form
> of Blakes 7.
>
> [I read about this theory in a book called 'the physics of immortality by a
> very eccentric American professor of physics if anyone is interested]
>
> Alison
>
> PS Harriet it sometimes unsettles me how similarly our minds run - in
> various ways
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1999 16:11:03 -0000
> From: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
> To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: Re: [B7L] Tanith Lee and her Fascism?
> Message-ID: <000201be3cb2$5c663540$e41eac3e@default>
> Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> >Neil murmured offhandedly:
> >
> >>And as for Tanith Lee and her Fascism...
> >
> >Ye-e-s? *Do* go on...
>
>
> You mean you haven't noticed it?
>
> Neil
>
> --------------------------------
> End of blakes7-d Digest V99 Issue #7
> ************************************
>
Dita, President and Supreme Commander of the Terran Federation.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 09:21:21 GMT
From: "Dita Stanistraken" <d.stanistraken@dundee.ac.uk>
To: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se, blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: blakes7-d Digest V98 #318
Message-Id: <E0zzdZ3-00023P-01@pp.dundee.ac.uk>
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> Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 04:12:03 +0100 (MET)
> From: blakes7-d-request@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: blakes7-d Digest V98 #318
> To: blakes7-d@lysator.liu.se
> Reply-to: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> ------------------------------
>
> Content-Type: text/plain
>
> blakes7-d Digest Volume 98 : Issue 318
>
> Today's Topics:
> Re: [B7L] RPG
> [B7L] worst cast
> Re: [B7L] worst cast
> Re: [B7L] T.'s Offer to S. in 'The Keeper'
> Re: [B7L] RPG
> Re: [B7L] RPG
> Re: [B7L] RPG
> Re: [B7L] RPG
> Re: [B7L] RPG
> Re: [B7L] RPG
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 02:12:53 -0000
> From: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
> To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: Re: [B7L] RPG
> Message-ID: <003001be3075$ecb45260$7918ac3e@default>
> Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> >Since these characters are already 'established'--meaning, they're not just
> >starting out--they would have higher total points than a new player
> >character.
>
>
> Part of the GURPS premise is that new characters can be hardened veterans,
> but they still start off with the basic 100 points.
>
> This thread's in grave danger of turning into a theoretical accounting
> exercise, with people not seeing the point for the points (I would say it
> was getting pointless, but...). I think, perhaps, it might be better to
> forget about point totals altogether, and just allocate stats, skills, ads,
> disads etc that feel right. Fit the rules to the character, as it were,
> rather than try to squeeze the character into the rules.
>
> But that still wouldn't solve all the arguments over the actual values of
> such stats. Most players designing their favourite characters in such a
> free form way would probably inflate the more vital values, even if they
> thought they were being scrupulously fair (I wouldn't trust myself to design
> Cally, for instance, and I'm not sure I could go along entirely with anyone
> else's version).
>
> A basic rule of thumb I've devised over the years: players are more likely
> to be truly roleplaying if they don't always take decisions in their
> character's best interests. Like spending half the loot on a really cool
> pair of mirror shades rather than getting yet another megakill handblaster.
> Or beefing up some obscure academic skill that will almost certainly never
> be of any use in play.
>
> Thinking about it, my B7 character of choice would probably be Dayna. A
> precocious whining brat who likes heavy weapons, a perfect vehicle for
> wanton mayhem and carnage. And if everything goes pear-shaped you can just
> pout and go sulk in a corner. What a gal!
>
> Neil
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 20:58:01 GMT
> From: Roger the Shrubber <powerplay@cheerful.com>
> To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: [B7L] worst cast
> Message-Id: <199812262058.UAA10360@axis>
> Content-Type: text/plain
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> BLAKES 7 THE MOVIE
> "THE UNDISCOVERED INSURRECTION AT FARPOINT"
> Starring:
> Roj Blake.........................Jonathon Harris
> Kerr Avon.........................William Shatner
> Jenna Stannis.....................Pamela Anderson Lee or Christine Applegate
> Cally.............................Marilyn Manson
> Villa Restal......................Paul Reubins(pee wee herman)
> Olag Gan..........................Dan Ackroyd
> Servalan..........................Boy George
> ORAC..............................Judge Judy
> Zen ..............................voice of Majel Barret
> Tarrant...........................Leonardo Di Caprio
> Travis(I).........................Ice-T or Bruce Willis
> Travis(II)........................Jonathon Harris (again)
>
> Special guests -
> The Two Fat Ladies as the Decimas
> Basil Fawlty as the manager of Freedom City
> Andie McDowell as Cancer
> George Michael as Egrorian
> Michael Jackson as Zil
> Kevin Trudeau as Trooper Par
>
>
> Crew:
> Directed by.......................That English prat from the Cyclone exercise
> machine informercial
> Written by........................Paul Darrow
> Music by..........................Muriels Wedding soundtrack
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ___________________________________
> from Darren r ..... Comments are welcome !
> powerplay@cheerful.com
> ____________________________________
> Culture is a synthesis of reason and religion, attempting to hide
> the sharp distinction between the two poles.
> ______________________________________
> Traditions had a beginning that was not traditional.
> ________________________________________
> ________________________________________
> http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/2634
> Anxiety & Panic
> _________________________________________
> http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/2634/powerplay.html
> Blake's 7 FAQ & free screen savers
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 02:48:44 PST
> From: "Penny Dreadful" <pdreadful@hotmail.com>
> To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: Re: [B7L] worst cast
> Message-ID: <19981226104844.25044.qmail@hotmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain
>
> Roger the Shrubber horrified me with the prospect of:
>
> >Written by........................Paul Darrow
>
> And speaking of celebrities who should be prevented in future from
> writing, at gunpoint if necessary, I just got Drew Carey's Cash-Grab
> Celebrity Autobiography (Now Appearing in a Sub-Discount Bin Near You)
> for Xmas, and the first, like, ten pages are Drew Carey swearing the
> thing was not ghost-written, which harked back to how many many moons
> ago I received "Avon: A Terrible Aspect" for Xmas, and after reading it,
> in desperate search of praise, latching upon "He obviously wrote it
> himself."
>
> Which makes me wonder now I think about it whether there is a market for
> ghost-writers who can convincingly simulate inept amateur prose, for
> that sense of verite...
>
> (I should add here that I really did enjoy the latter book, and spent
> all Xmas afternoon irking my relatives by reading excerpts out loud from
> the former. And using my chilling powers of prescience I predict I will
> finish reading it long before I finish "Mason & Dixon", which I got
> *last* Xmas)
>
> In conclusion,
>
> Blake - Drew Carey
> Avon - Don McKellar
> Servalan - Woody Harrelson
> Travis - Juliette Lewis
>
> And A Merry Boxing Day To You and Yours,
> Penny Dreadful
>
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 03:15:52 PST
> From: "Penny Dreadful" <pdreadful@hotmail.com>
> To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: Re: [B7L] T.'s Offer to S. in 'The Keeper'
> Message-Id: <199812261115.DAA01634@f282.hotmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain
>
> Pat pined:
>
> >Hey, this story has everything for a tragic love story. Who wants to
> >write it? Please post it to the list in time for a "broken hearts"
> >Valentines Day gazette here.
>
> What, you mean here, or on the Naughty List?
>
> >Altho Servalan/Jarvik has undeveloped potential!
>
> Yeah, the interaction between those two was what made it *plausible* to
> me, after the fact, that Servalan and Travis could reasonably be
> considered to have had Something Going On.
>
> -- Polymorphously Perverse Penny Dreadful
>
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 23:33:53 GMT
> From: dixonm@access.mountain.net (Meredith Dixon)
> To: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
> Cc: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: Re: [B7L] RPG
> Message-ID: <36867023.1279603@cyberplanet.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> >How do people go about rolegaming B7? Do you use the series characters, or
> >originals?
>
> My husband and I have done a little bit of B7 RPGing, but we've found
> it very difficult to do because the Seven are very vulnerable. The GM
> creating the missions has to remain aware of the group's limitations
> at all times. This is especially true for us because my husband is a
> strict "rules" gameplayer; he'd never think of fudging a roll in the
> interests of the story line, and he'd be offended if I did so. The
> first B7 mission I ran, I think the only people who survived were
> Vila and Cally, and while that may do for an ending it makes a lousy
> start to a campaign. (We started over with a revised mission....)
>
> We experimented with using the *Price of Freedom* rules for B7, but
> in the end, as we usually do, we went back to using Marvel Super
> Heroes' rules. They worked fairly well, all things considered.
>
> It never occurred to us to attempt a B7 RPG without the series
> characters, or even with the series characters as NPCs.
>
> Meredith Dixon
> dixonm@access.mountain.net
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: 27 Dec 1998 01:51:42 +0100
> From: calle@lysator.liu.se
> To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: Re: [B7L] RPG
> Message-ID: <m3ogoqxv8h.fsf@lysator.liu.se>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> dixonm@access.mountain.net (Meredith Dixon) writes:
>
> > This is especially true for us because my husband is a strict
> > "rules" gameplayer; he'd never think of fudging a roll in the
> > interests of the story line, and he'd be offended if I did so.
>
> Weee, my very opposite. One of my players once calculated that on the
> average, I use dice in almost every third gaming session :-)
> If you'd like to see what sort of system I use when GMing, have a look
> at http://www.lysator.liu.se/~calle/gm/goodnesspoints.html And I'd
> like to point out that not using dice does *not* mean that the
> characters always succeed. It only means that they fail in
> dramatically appropriate ways.
>
> I have lots of GURPS books (50+ of them), but only use them for
> background and inspiration.
>
> > The first B7 mission I ran, I think the only people who survived
> > were Vila and Cally, and while that may do for an ending it makes a
> > lousy start to a campaign.
>
> It makes for a great prequel, though. You tell the players to choose
> characters from the series crew, then you run a really, really bad
> blood'n'guts session killing off all but one or two of them. For the
> next session, they get to play the new recruits. A small group of
> rebels, led by a *seriously* bitter and nasty (NPC) Cally (or whoever
> is left over from session one). For added spice, put her in a
> wheelchair, give her a couple of bad burn-scars and boost her psychic
> powers so that the PCs can't keep anything secret from her. Sort of
> like Santa Claus on a bad angst-trip. "She knows if you've been good
> or bad..."
>
> > It never occurred to us to attempt a B7 RPG without the series
> > characters, or even with the series characters as NPCs.
>
> The only way I can see it working at all is with the series characters
> as NPCs. NPCs important for the story, but still NPCs. Having the
> players be a presidentially appointed team out to get Blake&co behind
> Servalan's back might be fun.
> --
> Calle Dybedahl, Vasav. 82, S-175 32 Jaerfaella,SWEDEN | calle@lysator.liu.se
> Try again. Try harder. -*- Fail again. Fail better.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: 27 Dec 1998 03:00:46 +0100
> From: calle@lysator.liu.se
> To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: Re: [B7L] RPG
> Message-ID: <m3k8zexs1d.fsf@lysator.liu.se>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net> writes:
>
> > Part of the GURPS premise is that new characters can be hardened veterans,
> > but they still start off with the basic 100 points.
>
> No. New characters start with as many points as the GM wants them to
> start with. 100 points with a 40-point disadvantage limit is the
> suggested values for "hero-material" characters. If the PCs are
> supposed to be something else, they'll have other point values. Most
> worldbooks suggest several different values for differently flavoured
> campaigns. For example, GURPS Camelot suggests that starting Knights
> of the Round Table be built with 200 points or so, and GURPS Martial
> Arts suggests 300 or 400 points for a "Kung Fu Movie" campaign (and 25
> to 50 for a "total beginners" campaign).
>
> In a B7 context, all the series characters are clearly not equal in
> point value, since the point value is a combined measure of talent and
> experience. Even though Dayna is a very talented weapons designer,
> Avon's going to have more points since he's not only talented but also
> educated and experienced. At a rough guess, I'd put Dayna and Gan at
> 100 points, Tarrant, Vila and Soolin at 150 and the rest at 200, if
> they were PCs. If they were NPCs, I'd forget about limits and just
> design them as I wanted them.
>
> > I think, perhaps, it might be better to forget about point totals
> > altogether, and just allocate stats, skills, ads, disads etc that
> > feel right. Fit the rules to the character, as it were, rather than
> > try to squeeze the character into the rules.
>
> That's how you're *always* supposed to use the rules! The rules are
> there to *help* the game, not hinder it.
>
> > Most players designing their favourite characters in such a free
> > form way would probably inflate the more vital values,
>
> In my experience, reasonably mature players generally don't. If they
> want to play Cally, they want to play Cally, not a superheroine with
> her face. In over 16 years of GMing, I've only had the supercharacter
> problem with teenage boys. Actually, the opposite problem (giving
> characters so many disadvantages that they become totally
> dysfunctional) is in my experience much more common.
>
> > Or beefing up some obscure academic skill that will almost certainly never
> > be of any use in play.
>
> I once had a player who put more than half of his character's points
> into "Aristotelian physics". In a modern-day campaign...
>
> > Thinking about it, my B7 character of choice would probably be Dayna. A
> > precocious whining brat who likes heavy weapons, a perfect vehicle for
> > wanton mayhem and carnage. And if everything goes pear-shaped you can just
> > pout and go sulk in a corner. What a gal!
>
> I once got to play Servalan in a Travaller game. She was the
> commanding officer for an expedition to some frontier planet. It was
> enormously entertaining. Several times I managed to get other players
> so filled with impotent hatred that they couldn't even talk :-)
> --
> Calle Dybedahl, Vasav. 82, S-175 32 Jaerfaella,SWEDEN | calle@lysator.liu.se
> Try again. Try harder. -*- Fail again. Fail better.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: 27 Dec 1998 02:34:29 +0100
> From: calle@lysator.liu.se
> To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: Re: [B7L] RPG
> Message-ID: <m3lnjuxt96.fsf@lysator.liu.se>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net> writes:
>
> > Jenna estimated the contents of the Liberator's strongroom at 300
> > million credits, which between the six of the crew makes 50 million
> > each. This is 10,000 times average starting wealth and would have a
> > character point cost of several thousand...
>
> No, it'd cost 100 points ("Multimillionaire" advantage, introduced in
> GURPS Imperial Rome to model people like Crassus). And personally I
> wouldn't charge nearly that much for it, since they can't really use
> it, being outside of ordinary society as they are. It's more like
> Comfortable Wealth (they don't have to care about cash when they go
> down to a planet).
>
> > Blake at least would certainly have a high Reputation.
>
> That he would. Note that it'd be a double-edged reputation, though.
> He'll be recognised, but he can't know if he'll be thought of as a
> bloodthirsty terrorist or as a valiant freedom-fighter. The GM would
> have to balance this according to hir view of the B7 universe.
>
> > (what does GURPS Cyberpunk say about characters who start with
> > implants?).
>
> "Pay points for it".
>
> > More to the point, how do you stop it cracking open top secret files
> > and ripping the GM's plot to shreds?
>
> Through its wonderfully pleasant and helpful personality, most
> probably. If played correctly, they should be ready to toss him out
> the airlock after the first session.
>
> Unless it's a very, *very* strange campaign, Orac absolutely should
> not be a player character.
>
> > which doesn't leave much to spend on stats and skills.
>
> Huh? Why would starting-character limits apply to people like
> Servalan? The Servie we see in the series very clearly is not a fresh
> beginner.
>
> You could center a campaign around her rise to power, I guess, but
> then she wouldn't have most of her advantages at the start.
>
> > All in all, I think GURPS is a very silly game - it leaves far too
> > much open to interpretation (and hence argument).
>
> Also known as "flexible enough to fit the GM's vision". It's just
> about the only game I know of that manages to have a rigid structure
> without turning into a straightjacket. But I guess that's mainly a
> matter of taste.
>
> --
> Calle Dybedahl, Vasav. 82, S-175 32 Jaerfaella,SWEDEN | calle@lysator.liu.se
> Try again. Try harder. -*- Fail again. Fail better.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: 27 Dec 1998 02:17:21 +0100
> From: calle@lysator.liu.se
> To: "B7" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
> Subject: Re: [B7L] RPG
> Message-ID: <m3n24axu1q.fsf@lysator.liu.se>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> "Taina Nieminen" <taina@netspace.net.au> writes:
>
> > A doctor, say, who has electronics operation (medical equipment) is
> > able to, by default, repair, say, radars or computers.
>
> No, she isn't. According to the rules book, she's able to do simple
> repairs _on equipment she's familiar with_ (so, ok, she *can* change a
> fuse in the radar on her yacht). GURPS is far from perfect, but we can
> at least pick on the faults it actually _has_.
>
> > Most of my GMing in the last five years has been using a skill-based
> > system I created myself, but it's in limbo at the moment between revisions
>
> <opinion>
> Before designing a system, the designer-to-be should at least have
> played one level-based system (AD&D, RoleMaster), one skill-based
> system (RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu), one advantage-based system
> (GURPS, Ars Magica), one very simple system (TWERPS), one extremely
> detailed system (Timelords (no, it doesn't have anything to do with Dr
> Who)), one very serious game (Pendragon), one very silly game
> (Paranoia, Toon) and a just plain odd one (Over the Edge, Amber).
> </opinion>
>
> And this isn't any sort of criticism of you, Tania, I'm just ranting
> at the world in general.
>
> > The Champions game I'm running (which I've started only recently)
> > faces a similar problem in that it uses established characters from
> > a comicbook series (Legion of Superheroes).
>
> Phage Press' Amber game has this problem built right into it. The
> entire game is built on Roger Zelazny's series of books[1] and
> characters from the books are very important. How it works out in
> practice is that what you see in the game is different interpretations
> of the original characters. One GM's Benedict will be a lot different
> from another GM's Benedict (or, indeed, from the same Gm's Benedict in
> another campaign), but that's no problem since what we see of Benedict
> in Zelazny's books isn't anything close to his whole story. Different
> GMs give different views, and I think it would work the same with the
> B7 universe. After all, a whole lot of that sort of reinterpretation
> is already going on in fanfiction.
>
> [1] "Nine Princes in Amber", "The Guns of Avalon", "Sign of the
> Unicorn", "The Hand of Oberon" and "The Courts of Chaos".
> --
> Calle Dybedahl, Vasav. 82, S-175 32 Jaerfaella,SWEDEN | calle@lysator.liu.se
> Try again. Try harder. -*- Fail again. Fail better.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 22:09:29 EST
> From: AChevron@aol.com
> To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: Re: [B7L] RPG
> Message-ID: <aeea7b34.3685a4e9@aol.com>
> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
>
> In a message dated 98-12-26 21:06:26 EST, you write:
>
> << One of my players once calculated that on the
> average, I use dice in almost every third gaming session :-) >>
>
>
> Well, I use dice about every 2 actions that the PCs take, but only about 1
> in 10 rolls actually count for anything. D. Rose
>
> --------------------------------
> End of blakes7-d Digest V98 Issue #318
> **************************************
>
Dita, President and Supreme Commander of the Terran Federation.
--------------------------------
End of blakes7-d Digest V99 Issue #17
*************************************