From: warren@Apple.COM (Chris Warren) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: REC.GAMES.FRP.DND part 2 - Frequently Asked Questions - Read before posting/2 Summary: This file should be read by anyone who wishes to post to the rec.games.frp.dnd news group. It contains the following: 1 a list of frequently asked questions about D&D, AD&D, and all of their brethren 2 Glossary of terms used by rec.games.frp.dnd Keywords: questions,hints,faq,info Message-ID: <72370@apple.Apple.COM> Date: 14 Sep 92 22:07:15 GMT Reply-To: warren@apple.com Followup-To: rec.games.frp.dnd Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA Lines: 932 Archive-name: dnd-FAQ Last-Modified: 1992/09/14 Posting Frequency: Once a week -------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- rec.games.frp.dnd ---------------------------- ----------------------------- FAQ in 4 Parts ----------------------------- ----------------------------- Parts 3 and 4 ------------------------------ ---------------------------- Rev date 9/14/92 ---------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- Part 3: Dungeon Master Questions----------------------- 1: How do I become a Dungeon Master? A: First, seek therapy:) Get cured of that latent masochism. Then, if you still want to become a GM, go for it! First of all, you should have some experience playing D&D-- At least to the point where you consider yourself fairly familier with the rules, spells, etc. In particular, you should have a strong sense of the overall mechanics of the game. Details can always be looked up when needed. On the other hand, you should be prepared to do a fair amount of work *before* the session, making your plans as complete as possible and looking up the details you're likely to need, because nothing slows a game down like a DM who has to stop every other turn and look something up. If you haven't read the Player's Handbook, do so. The Dungeon Master's Guide provides lots of info about how the game system works. You should read this. A good way to get experience DMing is to buy one of the pre-generated modules. They contain everything you need to run for several game sessions. Many even include pre-generated characters. It is a good idea to start with a low level module. Make sure you read the entire module and know it pretty well before you try running it. Get a group of friends together (4-6 is usually a good number). If this works out, give out experience and get a new module that fits them. And run them again. [Dan'l DanehyOaks interjectes] The one warning I'd put on this is: if you plan on running a large-scale "world" rather than a set of disconnected adventures, you need to make sure that such a module fits in to the planned world. One with pre-generated characters might be best in this situation, since you can discard them after the "practice sessions." [your editor writes] The other half of becoming of DM is that of creating a world. Background reading is helpful. Read some read heroic fantasy books. Running modules can get boring if they are not connected into a larger plot. Some modules come in series which can make things easier. But you should still design some larger world that contains the modules you are running. Over time you will populate that world with other modules and your own creations. Now if at any point, you have a great idea for an adventure and you feel ready to create your own dungeon feel free. [Coyt Watters writes] i) READ READ READ ii) Take a stab at it with just yourself at first: for example - Go through character creation yourself, and decide how YOU want it done - dice, limits, are you going to give an extensive background or just a "you left your home to find adventure"? Run through combat with several characters and monsters just to learn how the system works from the DM's side. iii) Ask a person who normally DMs to sit in - not as DM but to assist in finding rules. If a judgement call comes up in the adventure, make a decision and stand by it - don't let the other DM try to run your game. iv) Place index cards (or index tabs if you prefer) into your DMG and PHB at the important tables. If you suddenly need to check for item's saving throws, the game grinds to a halt if you have to look at the index and search for the table. (This was real bad in ADnD1, with 12+ books. Beginning DMs should start with a simple map of the immediate area they wish to use, throwing in enough elements to give quickstart adventuring. Some beginners make the mistake of doing too much work and finding that they never use some of their best stuff. 12 hours on a complete Mercador projection map of the whole world is not a beginner's task. The map can be extended as needed. 2: What should I know in designing a campaign? A: [???someone please add to this] The first stage is to design a world. Begin with the very highest-level decisions: is your world round? Flat? If it's flat, is it finite or infinite? From there, go to geology and geography. What is the political set-up of your world? Will you use the standard law=good vs chaos=evil system? Remember, "law" and "good" are not synonymous. Some very effective games have been run with law aligned with evil -- usually with the assumption that Law rules the land with an iron hand, something like Big Brother in NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR. What about the social set-up? Are things "cosmopolitan," with peoples of many species/races living in amity in single communities? Or are there human cities, elf villages, dwarf hamlets, etc., etc.? Or even entirely separate nations? Some of the biggest decisions involved in designing your campaign involve deciding whether the campaign will be combat intensive or roleplaying intensive, deciding the magic richness of the campaign, deciding the power level (sometimes called entropy) of the campaign, and deciding the rate of development of characters. Each of these decisions are not absolute, rather they represent a range. Some campaigns, for example, will be all combat. Others will have almost no combat-- where most of the campaign will invove political manuevering and intrigue. Most campaigns lie somewhere in the middle with a healthy mix of roleplaying and combat. There is no right answer except that which is right for you and your players. [Dan'l DannyOaks writes] To some extent, the players will decide this by the way they react to situations. Some GMs try to give the players at least two solutions to every situation, one of which will not involve combat. [your editor writes] Magic richness is how common magic is in your world. Do you want to have a world which is much like our world was in the middle ages with virtually no magic or do you want a world where magic is as common and as freely available as technology is in the late 20 century? These two extremes present a very different feel to the players. They can both be fun to play in. It should be noted that as you move towards a more magic rich universe that high power items don't have to become commonplace. In a magic rich universe you have a lot of everyday items that happen to operate because of magic. For example, lanterns might operate off of magical "batteries" instead of oil. Examples: Magic-rich: Xanth, Oz, the world of Elric, Narnia. Magic-poor: Middle-earth, Arthur's Britain. [Dan'l DanehyOakes writes] Magic-rich games tend toward "munchkinism," though this is by no means a foregone conclusion. Magic-poor games can certainly turn into munchkinland, but tend towards "character" gaming. One fun thing to do with a magic-rich world is to apply the reverse of Clarke's Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology will resemble magic." In this case, any sufficiently advanced magic will resemble technology. There are worlds where magic provides hot-and-cold running water, flush toilets, quick-heat dinners, video telephony, and so on, right down through the lower middle class. On the other hand, in a magic-poor world, you can introduce relatively advanced levels of technology (e.g., gunpowder, seige machines) and have them compete effectively with magic-using artifacts. That fireball that takes (mumble) seconds to cast isn't much good if someone pulls the trigger on his blunderbuss while you're still making passes! At the same time, you need to decide the power level of the campaign -- for example, how fast characters will advance. Obviously, this is tightly bound up with the magic-poor/magic-rich decision, for how much experience you award will determine how quickly characters advance, and magic-using characters that advance quickly will rapidly turn a magic-poor campaign into a magic-rich campaign. There are games where characters gain a level after every gaming session, and games where it takes months or even years of weekly gaming to gain a level. If advancement goes too slowly, this can cause frustration and a feeling of stagnation on the part of the players. (This is less of a problem in a roleplaying-oriented campaign than a combat-oriented campaign.) If they develop too quickly, then some of the roleplaying and personal development on the part of the player is lost, and munchkinhood looms. The absolutely simon-pure AD&D rules assign experience only for killing things and collecting money; they suggest giving experience also for role play and clever actions, but don't give much information on how to do this. Some Dungeon Masters give experience only for combat and treasure: this tends to create a game with a heavy emphasis on "find monsters and kill them." If you prefer a game which encourages alternate solutions, reward them appropriately. A basic law of economics is that what gets rewarded gets done. [your editor writes] Power level is where a lot of DMs get into trouble. Power level is determined initially by the average stats of characters. So you need to be careful about how you have the characters roll up their stats. A good way to estimate the power level of a character is to add up the character's six stats (max = 108, average using 3d6 = 63) and look at the following chart: Stat Sum Power Rating Heroism Rating Roleup Method --------------------------------------------------------------- <70 Average Normal DMG Method I,III 71-79 Above Average Low Heroic DMG Method II,IV,VI 80-89 Exceptional Heroic DMG Method V 90-99 Powerful High Heroic 100-104 Very Powerful Super Heroic 105-108 Mega Powerful Super Heroic The last column relates somewhat to the Hero system terminolgy for rating the powerlevel of a campaign. It is fairly easy to keep an Average or Above Average character challenged without making the game too deadly. However if you run Mega Powerful characters you will have to use higher level monsters to present a challenge to these characters. However, the higher level monsters can kill the characters more quickly, the Mega Powerful characters must actually live closer to death's door to be chalenged. So the DM must be adept at what they do to run a Mega Powerful game. Campaigns that run at a power level much higher than 90 are at risk to devolve into a Munchkin type game. A DM should be aware that whenever characters' stats change, the power level of the game changes. Personally I prefer to run at the Exceptional to the low end of Powerful depending on my players. As a campaign develops one of the other factors that affects power level is at what level certain magic items are obtained. If you give powerful magic items to first level characters, then you are raising the power level considerably. On the other hand, if the characters have no magic items at 10th level then you have lowered the power level. They will be at somewhat of a disadvantage with respect to the monsters that 10th characters nominally face. [Dan'l DanehyOaks writes] A DM should be aware that whenever characters' stats or levels change, or magical items/significant treasures are gained, the power level of the game changes. The world should be planned to offer increasing challenges as the characters build power and influence. This can be one of the hardest parts of planning campaigns. Increase the level of challenge too quickly, and you might as well run all the characters through a comminuter. (Look it up.) Increase it too slowly, and the players will be bored because they aren't challenged. One way of dealing with this is not to plan your campaign in too much detail, so that the "next" step can be adjusted to the characters' actual power level without causing too much havoc to your carefully-wrought plans. Another is to do spot adjustments as the adventures are being run. (They're killing the orcs too easily? Throw in another hundred orcs hiding behind the hill in reserve. They're all about to be killed? Funny thing, that dart the hobbit threw just happened to be the EHP's last two hit points.) But don't make it too obvious, and don't overdo it. Let them have the occasional waltz through the monsters, and certainly let one or two of them get killed permanently now and then. After you've designed your world, and before you start playing, go through the PHB and the DMG one more time, _carefully_. Decide in advance about any rules you want to change (set as "house rules"), and write 'em down. Let the players know in advance, and be consistent! Or at least let them know that you are running a varient game and there will be some surprises in store for them[ed]. [sage adds] Addendum: a campaign often has some prime movers and shakers, which the characters may initially not know, may know in time (or not if acting in secret), may want to emulate, or revile, and may eventually deal with, either to join, succeed, surplant or destroy. Keeping in mind these personalities can help develop your campaign and keep it from becoming a player tromp through a series of dungeons. For combat campaigns it can lead to major wars, and for role-playing oriented campaigns, it can lead to political manoeuvring and diplomacy. It provides the characters with a reason for adventuring that is more than just getting wealth and experience, and clever DMs can work out whole campaigns around a key figure or two, first acting through minions or by accident, and ending up with the characters meeting with the person(s) in question. Of course, you could always have it ending up that just when the players think that its all over, they discover that the person was only a front for someone else further behind the scenes, or further up the power scale (maybe even a god). 3: I don't agree with a rule in the rulebook, what do I do? A: Feel free to change it. Better yet, talk to the players about it and solicit input. Then change it. If you do run with house rules it is nice to tell players up front about it. Obviously, this is not always possible. So at least once you make a change do it in a consistent way and write the rule down! Keep it handy! 4: How do I fairly adjudicate a wish? A: [wayne wallace writes] The Complete Wizard's Handbook gives some good ideas, but basically, if a wish is used to save the party and not do anything to their opponents, let it work, especially if half the party is dead and the other half at 1 HP. If it's used to duplicate any other single spell, let it work. If it's used for personal gain, and wishes are rare, let it mostly work. (No holy avengers unless the character knows one is locked in the chest in front of him and wants it teleported out.) If Wishes are common, the CWHB has good guidelines. If a wish is used for harm, find the single most deadly wizard spell that can accomplish the deed (or several lesser spells in any combination <=9, ie 3 lightning bolts simultaneously is ok) and have the wish cast that. If joe fighter wishes Bob the mage to be dead, the wish will opt for power word kill. [???I would like to hear other people's opinions] 5: How do you deal with a that damned stoneskin spell? A: [wayne wallace writes] Multiple impacts that cause damage will get rid of it soon enough. EX: the spell desc says one stoneskin is lost for every magic missile that hits it. Therefore since ice storm has infinite hailstones, the spell is nuked and damage is still taken because it is magical damage. The amount of diamond dust needed for the spell was never stated, so we set it at 1,000 GP. The new supplement "Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog" has a 1/8th carat diamond for 150 GP, so one might consider that to be the cost of the spell. If the party has too much money, then it won't matter. In that case, have bookshelves full of books fall on them, avalanches, etc DM: 20 orcs fire arrows at you. PC: Ok. I have stoneskin. DM: well, since you're 8th level, there go (8/2 + 1d4) arrows, now we'll roll the other 34. PC: Hey! Why don't you have to roll to hit with all of them, so that the actuals hits are the only ones that take off stoneskins? DM: Says right here that the stoneskin protection is reduced by however many attacks are made against you. Some variant DMs do what you're asking for, but I don't run a variant game. Now then, you're AC 8 (mage, ring of prot +2, no dex bonus), and they're THAC0 20, so I need 12s. (roll, roll, roll) You are hit (.45 x 34 = avg 15.3, round down to 15) 15 times, for 1d8 each (sheaf arrows, although flight arrows are STILL 1d6) and you take (15 * 4.5 = 67.5. round down to 67) 67 points of damage. Mage? Mage? PC: (X's on eyes, pincushion. Fervently wishes he had used protection from normal missiles instead of fireball) 6: A player wants to bring in a character from another campaign. What do I do? A: Feel free to refuse it or modify it in any way to match the power level, magic richness, and general quality of your campaign. It is generally a good idea to not to bend a rule because the player's old DM allowed them to bend that rule, unless you rule the same way as the old DM. It is often a good idea to take all the magic items or rule that they do not work in your world. This may seem severe but the alternative of generating a new character is even more severe. 7: How do I deal with a player who wants to have a stronger character than the characters in the party? A: [???someone, please send me a response] [wayne wallace writes] In this case, ask him questions as to WHY he wants this. Tell him it's likely no one else will have fun if they don't get to show their talent off. Tell him he can have the power if he accepts some disadvantages as a tradeoff, so that after the pluses and minuses are added up, he's the same as everyone else, but is more powerful as long as his weaknesses aren't exploited. If he has to be better than everyone else, tell him to be the gamemaster for a while, possibly indefinitely. 8: How powerful should a dragon be? A: There is some question about Dragons, how powerfull they are, if it's possible for a single player to slay them etc... This comes from the fact that Dragons are much more powerful in 2nd edition than in first edition. There is some debate over whether this is a good idea or not. For some players Dragons are part of legends and should be almost impossible to kill some other players argue that our legends paint the dragons more like "big worms" than ADND like. 9: How can I get more spells, magic items, traps, weapons... ? 1) Listserv There is a file server called "listserv" that can send you by email stuff about ADND. To get something, send a mail to listserv@utarlvm1 (or listserv@utarlvm1.uta.edu from internet) with NO subject and HELP or GET ADND-L FILELIST in the body of the mail. If in doubt mail to Brad Samek (c014bds@utarlvm1 or c014bds@utarlvm1.uta.edu) 2) FTP See the above section on FTP sites for a list of sties for D&D stuff. 10: How often should a DM tell players "what to do"? A: The problem is that from time to time the DM gives players advice or forbid them to do things as if the DM was the conscience of the player. It is not a problem when a DM explain a point on rules or his view on how a spell or magic item works but it can be really annoying when the DM says things like "No you can't do that it's opposite to your alignment" (see question on alignments) or "You should use such spell" etc... For the DM it may be very frustrating to see the players do what he consider very stupid things and he might be willing to help or point to the correct direction. Almost everybody agrees that the DM should not be the conscience of the players and here are some ideas on what the DM could do : - It is ok to help more unexperienced players than experienced ones. Unexperienced players often need advice on how to play magic ("What do you mean 'everybody's burned, casting a fireball in a closed room is a bad idea'??") or don't know that they can disbelieve illusions etc... But avoid giving such advice during the game. It is better if you can make a note of the problem and explain it during a pause. - Sometimes players "forget" to do actions (such as search dead bodies, or ask the correct questions) that are vital for the rest of the adventure. Do not help them directly by telling them what they have to do, let they face the consequence of their action. Sometimes you can have a NPC asking them why they didnt do that action but dont have a NPC which is the spokesman of the DM. And try to work out how they can continue the adventure without getting that item or information. - Instead of having players asking question to you as DM let their character ask questions to NPC and emphasis role playing. - Even for classes that rely on alignments (such as clerics and paladins) do not always "punish" the character by removing the power granted by the deity. If the character doesn't behave as his god is expecting, make things go worse progressively. Character can start to have nightmares, then loose power progressively or be warned by the deity or been sent on a quest to purify himself etc... The general idea is that those classes have taken some obligations and their are punished not really because they change alignment but because they dont fulfill those obligations any more. - If you want to use the rule "lost one level for changing alignment" make it part of role playing (i.e a fighter loose concentration because he wonder if his previous actions where good or not and fight like a minor level, etc...). 11: Why does the invisibility spell stop when I attack? A: A few points - This rule was invented mainly to maintain game balance : even a low level invisible opponent could be very hard to defeat. - The invisibility spell is a sort of illusion : when the magic user starts attacking he cannot maintain the same concentration so the spell breaks. The spell does not make the person really disapear, instead it causes creatures to believe they do not see anything. When the character attacks, the attacked person realises somebody is here and the illusion is shattered. - Being "visible" is only relative. There are monsters for example who detects character by the vibration they produce in the ground not by seing them. - Not all invisibility spells breaks when entering combat : the DM can for example introduce invisibility ring that lets you attack while invisible. 12: How to take alcohol and sex in account in my games? A: Reid Bluebaugh (C2MXBLU@FRE.TOWSON.EDU until Fall '93) has created both THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ADND ALCOHOL and THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ADND SEX and he tells us : "The alcohol guide helps to answer questions: What kind of drink can I propose in my world?, How can I tell if my character is drunk?, What are the types of drinks?. A great feature of the guide is the random generator for creating drinks. There is also a library of special drinks to spruce up any campaign. being improved through the summer of '92. Some sections of the guide include Effects Of Alcohol, Recovery From Intoxication, Alcohol and Races, Crazy Drunk, Getting To Know Your Booze, Popular Alcohols Amongst The Worlds, The Different Types Of Alcoholic Drinks, Glossary, Drinking Songs, and Other Related Reading Materials. This guide is currently 16 pages long. Much controversy has been raised over the sex guide. Although most feel that the guide has a vast amount of useful game applications, some feel that it is perverse to even consider it. The title is somewhat misleading because the guide contains much more than rules for sex. Some sections of the guide include The Wild-Thing Rules, Conception: What are the odds?, The Bitch Rule, Seduction: More Than Reaction Rolls, Non-Weapon Proficiencies, Sexualis Morbus (Sexual Diseases), Sexual Insanity ?, Spells With Zip, Magic Items Your Mom Wouldn't Approve Of, Cupid's Chaotic Arrows, Houri: Wizard Kit, Getting To Know A Prostitute (Random Generator), Filling The House Of Ill Repute, Case: The Blue Tavern (Entertainment And Pleasure), Encounter Non-Player Characters, A New Look At Old Monsters, Porno Periodicals Of Humanoids, Adventuring Ideas, and A Few Good Stories. There is also a transcription of the BITNET Controversy Of The Guide for those that would like to see what other people's views are. This guide is roughly 60 pages long." Both the guides are being continuously updated and improved, so if you want to receive a current copy or help contribute to either one drop him a E-MAIL message at the address stated. However the following remarks can be made : - The drinks you put in your world are totally up to you, they may be based on the classic (beer, wine, liquor...) or whatever you can imagine. - Alcohol resistance is mostly based on constitution. (a constitution check modified by the number of alcohol drank and its strengh). - You may make racial adjustments. Some players sayed that Elves should have a low resistance since they are very light etc... other disagreed and sayed that elves should have a strong resistance since they are old and get used to drink. However everybody agree that Dwarves should have a strong resistance. - Some players thought that the sex discussion was sick (but there have been grosser subjects since ) and that including sex in a game wasn't a source of creative role-playing. To which it was replyed the classic "If you don't like it your not obliged to read it". 13: How well will armour resist against fire? A: A discussion began on ADND-L, "would a leather armor protect better than a full plate mail, since plate mail is mettalic and metal conducts heat" Actually there are several points to take in account : - A leather armor only covers part of the body - A plate mail armor is consisted of several layers : The outer plate, fixed to a chain mail and wool long-johns, the heat might take longer to reach the body. - If the attack is instantaneous (i.e less than 2 or 3 seconds), like a fireball, metal dont have too much time to heat and what's important to calculate damage is the part of the body not covered or pieces taking fire. - If the attack is longer than a few seconds or if the characters evolve in a very hot place, wearers of a plate mail might take more damage than for leather armor and they should have difficulties to breathe too 14: Can an illusionary light allow you to see? A: The question was asked wether the illusion of light would illuminate an area and what might/could be seen in this area. First let's say that it is up to the DM to decide if an illusion is a sort of hollographic image that appear in front of us or a image that our brain created. The following answers have been given: - NO : It stands without illuminating anything as if it was very far or very dim. It's like the "light" you create when your rub your eyes strongly. - YES : But what you see is part of the illusion created by the spell-caster (so 2 characters who are under the illusion might see the same thing) - YES : But what you see is part of the illusion created by your brain (so 2 characters who are under the illusion might see different things). - Casting an illusionary light might be easy to disbelieve. 15: Is "Animate dead" an evil act? A: There have been numerous messages to answer what looks like a simple question, the majority would say yes for the following reasons : - According to our morale and our civilisation , everything linked with dead (and buried) body is evil (getting corpse out of cemetary etc...) - In the rules : evil cleric can turn undeds to their service. Unded are evil or directed by evil priests or at least animated dead serve evil. However there have been the following arguments against : - If "animate dead" is not binding the soul of the body you're re-animating under your control, it may not be that evil after all. - The "morale" in ad&d is inherent to the world we play in. We can imagine a world where animating dead is not evil or might be a common ritual. It is the choice of the world creator and/or the DM to determine the morale of his world. 16: What happens when someone teleports into solid rock? A: A discussion once started when someone asked "I have a mage who get teleported into an area filled with poisonous gaz, what happened to the air surrounding the mage before or after the teleportation?". Of course like all questions concerning magic the answer to that one is: "It depends how the DM rules teleportation". Here are some examples of different rulings. - The object you are teleporting and the place you are teleporting it just "exchange place". That is for the example of the mage going into an area of poisonous gaz, the mage should dissapear and a quantity of poisonous gaz equal to the volume of the mage should appear. The inconvenient of this explication is that it makes something appear at the place the teleported object was. - A volume equal to the size of the teleported object from the area you are teleporting it into "just disapears". In fact you can rule that it goes in another dimension, another plane, into limbo etc.. (like in Terminator2, a part of the truck and of the pavement that were in the "sphere of teleportation" are missing). The point is there is no longer exchange and when the teleported object departs there might be a "pop" sound and a rush of wind as the air around is fillng the emptyness left. Actually that "pop" sound might be more like a "bang" if the teleported matter disapears very quickly or is rather big. - The object teleported "pushes" the matter around it. If the matter is a gaz or something that can be compressed, no problem if not, you can rule that either : - The matter explodes or shatters. (like a glass bottle of water when it freezes) - The matter is "bind" around the object (like Han Solo frozen in Carbonite) and the physic of the matter is locally changed. It doesnt suppress the "pop" or "bang" effect. Actually it can even be 2 "bangs", one from the position of depart and one from the arrival. (This is the sound heard in "Back to the future" when the car travels into time). - The object telported and the matter "merge". The teleported object combines with whatever was here. Not very usefull and certainly not suited for living creatures unless you rule that the 2 objects combine into a third one (like in the movie "The Fly"). It is interesting to note that the way the 2nd edition describes the teleport spell is like the 3rd option here but with an unspoken "strengh" It looks like the spell has the strengh to push aside the air the mage is teleporting into but not the ground for then it's "instant death" (the mage is crushed into a pulp). 17: How do I deal with pregnancy in my campaign? A: Either if you use the sex rules or not you might allow female character to become pregnant in your adventures. The question is : how does it modify the stats/abilities of the character. On a side note Reid Bluebaugh (C2MXBLU@FRE.TOWSON.EDU until Fall '93) has added a large pregnancy section to THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ADND SEX. Also note that the guide is being continuously updated and improved, so if you want to receive a current copy or help contribute then please drop him an E-MAIL message at the address stated. Most of the answers have been given for human characters but you can adapt them to any race you allow in your world. So far the following remark have been made : - The dexterity should be lowered (1d2/month after the 4th month) - The constitution should be lowered as well after yhe 6th month - Not everybody agrees if the charisma should be lowered of upered. The fact is that : pregnant women are likely to change mood quickly and to view themselves as "unatractive". However most people find pregnant women attractive, are favorably disposed to help and in general pregnant women tend to have a big magnetism. - There should be also a percentage that the woman gets morning sickness and loose her breath or can be tired ( Vicki L.Domanski posted a summary of an article that explains this subject). - It is mostly accepted that at the end of the pregnancy the woman does not want to adventure (specially for a warrior) but this is not a strict rule. - Continuing adventuring might hurt, kill or cause sickness on the unborn child. (about 20% chance was proposed). - According to your world : the level of science and hygiene might make the birth hazardous and kill either the mother or the child. Pregnancy and magic: If the woman is a spell caster, her magic can be affected by her pregnancy. - First there should be an increasing probability of "wild magic". It can goes from spell failure to multiply the strengh or the result of the spell to casting a different spell. - The baby beginning to kick might increase the probability of spell failure by loss of concentration. - Not everybody agrees on what should happend to the baby when the mother cast spells or use psionic power. It is likely that the baby gain magical power and might be able to cast spell early or even have inate magic power or resistance to certain spells etc... However for game balance, there should also be a risk that the baby dies or be disabled or develop a weakness against certain spells etc Others? -------------------------- Part 4: Glossary ------------------------------- AC Armor Class AD&D Advanced Dungeons & Dragons AD&D2 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition BTW By The Way DD Deities and Demigods DM Dungeon Master DMG Dungeon Master's Guide FAQ Frequently Asked Questions FF Fiend Folio FR Forgotten Realms FTP File Transfer Protocol -- Tool used to transfer files between two machines (usually UNIX machines) FYI For Your Information GM Game Master HD Hit Dice HP Hit Points IMAO In My Arrogant Opinion IMHO In My Humble (or Honest) Opinion IMNSHO In My Not So Humble/Honest Opinion LL Legends and Lore MC Monstrous Compendium MM Monster Manual MMII Monster Manual II NPC Non Player Character OA Oriental Adventures PBM Play By Mail -- Game (often RPG) played by mail PBEM,PBeM Play by EMail -- Game (often PRG) played by EMail PC Player Character PH Player's Handbook RL Ravenloft RTM Read The Manual RTFM Read The F_CKIN Manual THAC0 To Hit Armor Class 0 TOM Tome Of Magic UA Unearthed Arcana WoG World of Greyhawk XP eXperience Points and everybodys faborites (Str, Int, Dex, Wis, Con, Cha, Com) - Ability scores (Strength, - - Intelligence, Dexterity, Wisdom, Constitution, Charisma, Comeliness) [???Please post additions and corrections] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- FTP Directions 1) From your system prompt, type "ftp ", where is the name of the host machine that you are trying to get to. Example: "ftp cica.cica.indiana.edu". Note: In some cases you may not be able to use the name, you will have to use the IP address number. This number is 4 numbers separated by dots, i.e. "135.56.9.2". If you have to do it this way, you would type "ftp 135.56.9.2". Presumably you can obtain the IP number from the same place you got the host-name. Or use the /usr/etc/nslookup command to find the IP number from a machine name. 2) When you connect to the host, you will have to enter a login and probably a password. Most sites support what is called "Anonymous FTP", this means that you enter "anonymous" as your login and then enter your real login as you password, i.e. "joe@comp.node.whatever". Some sites accept "ftp" as an anonymous login rather than "anonymous". I have heard that sysadmins rarely check what you entered for your password, but it is courteous to be truthful. NOTE: Most sites don't want you using anonymous FTP during prime-time, which is usually 7am-6pm *local* time. Note: Local time can often be hard to determine just from a site's name. You can use the command "telnet daytime" or, failing that, "telnet 13", will give the system time at . 3) After you have successfully logged on, you can use "cd" and "ls", among other commands, to get where you want in the directory tree. 4) Once you are in the correct directory and know what files you want, you can use "get" to copy single files, i.e. "get file1.c", or "mget" to copy multiple files, i.e. "mget *.zip". NOTE: If the files you are copying are not plain-text files, i.e. compressed files, binary data files, etc. you will want to set the transfer mode to binary. You can do this by entering "type binary". "binary" or "tenex" may also work. 5) If you get stuck, you can type "help" or "?" and get a list of FTP commands that you can use. "man ftp" from your system prompt will also be helpful. 6) If any of the files you copied have a .Z, .shar, and/or .tar extensions, you will have to play around with the files a bit before you can use them. Check out the man pages for the commands "uncompress" (for .Z files), "shar" (for .shar files), and "tar" (for .tar files). 7) Software obtained this way will probably not have viruses, but you never know. Be careful out there. Note: I say that "it will probably not have viruses" because there is simply more "clean" software out there than there is "dirty" software, not because FTP is somehow inherently safer. Note: [thanks flee@guardian.cs.psu.edu] About ftping, what "binary" means is that the remote system is compatible with your system, and ftp will send an exact image of the file (Type I stands for Image). If, for example, both systems are Unix systems, then you can always use binary mode, even for retrieving text files. Binary mode will be a little faster, because the systems will not have to convert back and forth between local ascii and network ascii. Type tenex (L 8) is used to talk to DEC-10s and DEC-20s and other machines with 9-bit bytes. Machines with 8-bit bytes (which is nearly everyone else) need to specify the "L 8" type to send binary files to and from those machines. Of the ftp sites you list, I think WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL is the only host that needs type tenex. Example FTP session with Anotations > ftp wuarchive.wustl.edu Connected to wuarchive.wustl.edu. 220 wuarchive.wustl.edu FTP server (Version 6.11 Fri Aug 16 07:53:21 CDT 1991) Name (wuarchive.wustl.edu:myname): anonymous [enter "anonymous" or "ftp" for sign-on name] 331 Guest login ok, send e-mail address as password. Password: ["guest" usually works, otherwise put in your real email address for the password] 230-Welcome, archive user! This is an experimental FTP server. If you 230-have any unusual problems, please report them via e-mail to 230-root@wuarchive.wustl.edu. If you do have problems, please try using a 230-dash (-) as the first character of your password -- this will turn off 230-the continuation messages that may be confusing your ftp client. 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply. ftp> cd /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/demos [change to the appropriate directory with the "cd" command, and make sure your directory dividers are "/" not "\"] 250 CWD command successful. ftp> ls ["list" the contents of the directory; for a full description use "dir" or "ls -l"] 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list. hover.zip lemmings.zip vectdemo.zip swotl.unp.txt.Z 226 Transfer complete. 56 bytes received in 0.03 seconds (1.8 Kbytes/s) ftp> binary [for any file OTHER than a text file, change to binary transfer by entering "binary"; some sites use the word(s) "tenex" or "type L 8" instead of "binary"; to change back to make a text (ASCII) transfer enter the word "ascii"] 200 Type set to I. ftp> get hover.zip [enter "get (filename)" to transfer the file to your site from the remote site] 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for hover.zip (424060 bytes). 226 Transfer complete. local: hover.zip remote: hover.zip 424060 bytes received in 38 seconds (11 Kbytes/s) ftp> quit [enter "quit" or "bye" to leave the ftp session] 221 Goodbye. > [you are returned to your system prompt]