ichiro@codon7.berkeley.edu (Elliot Wilen) (07/06/90)
Archive-name: role-playing-game-archives/05-Jul-90 Original-posting-by: ichiro@codon7.berkeley.edu (Elliot Wilen) Original-subject: Publicly-accessible electronic resources Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti) PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE ELECTRONIC RESOURCES RELATED TO RPG'S [Last changed: June 23, 1990. Please send suggested corrections and additions to: ichiro@enzyme.berkeley.edu] MAILING LISTS AND DIGESTS In addition to rec.games.frp, there are a number of mailing lists and digests on the net which may be of interest to role-playing enthusiasts. The difference between a mailing list and a digest is that a digest is collected, edited, and distributed by an editor, while a mailing list simply forwards all incoming mail to a list of subscribers. Mailing lists tend toward high volume with many digressions; digests tend toward low volume with high signal-to-noise ratios. 1. The RuneQuest (tm) Digest is a courtesy of Andrew Bell. It is a collection of articles, discussion, and source material for use with Chaosium's Runequest fantasy role-playing game. Send submissions, mailing list changes, requests for old article lists, etc. to: bell@cs.unc.edu ...!mcnc!unc!bell RuneQuest is a trademark of Chaosium, Inc. Back issues of the Runequest Digest are available on the eklektik mail server (see below). 2. The GURPS Digest is a collection of articles, discussion, and material related to Steve Jackson Games's GURPS role-playing game, including selected material from the Steve Jackson Games BBS. Although there hasn't been a new issue for several months, the editor, Walter Milliken (milliken@bbn.com) is accepting submissions and hopes to put out a new issue soon. Please do not request back issues from the editor. Back issues of the GURPS Digest are available on the eklektik mail server (and possibly on Compuserve). [Information on the SJG BBS may be found at the end of this article.] Items 3-5 are BITNET mailing lists. To join any of them, send a mail file to the CONTACT address where the first line of the mail file consists of the command: SUBSCRIBE <listname> <your-name-here> (e.g. "SUBSCRIBE GMAST-L John Doe") Send actual submissions to the LIST address. Do NOT send requests to sign off, requests for help, etc. to the list--you'll only succeed in annoying people. Do not send submissions to the list server; it is a simple-minded program which will reject them. 3. The ADND-L mailing list is a collection of articles, discussion, and material related to TSR's Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D) role-playing games. Selected posts to the ADND-L are archived on the eklektik server. A full archive of this list *might* be available through LISTSERV on UTARLVM1. CONTACT: LISTSERV@UTARLVM1.BITNET LIST: ADND-L@UTARLVM1.BITNET 4. The GMAST-L mailing list was originally created for the development of computer RPG aids, but it metamorphosed into a mailing list covering the concerns of the role-playing game GM (Game Master). Pretty much every role-playing game on the market has been discussed at some length, as have the various facets of role-playing game design. (Most D&D discussion goes to ADND-L, however.) Some archives are available, if you know how to use the LISTSERV database search functions. CONTACT: LISTSERV@UTCVM.BITNET LIST: GMAST-L@UTCVM.BITNET 5. ROBOTECH Robotech Mecha Listserv Group CONTACT: LISTSERV@USCVM.BITNET LIST: ROBOTECH@USCVM.BITNET Items 6-12 are Internet mailing lists. To join, send electronic mail to the address listed under "Contact:". Send submissions to the "List:" address. 6. The Traveller Mailing List is intended for the discussion of the Traveller Science Fiction Role Playing Game, published by Game Designers' Workshop. All versions of Traveller (Traveller 2300, MegaTraveller) and Traveller games (Snapshot, Trillion Credit Squadron, etc.) are included. Discussion is unmoderated and open to all facets and levels of Traveller. Listeners as well as contributors are welcome. Contact: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (James T. Perkins) List: traveller@metolius.wr.tek.com Some back issues of a "Traveller Digest" are available on the eklektik mail server. (It's not clear whether these are directly related to the Mailing List). Past messages from the Traveller Mailing List are available from a mail server at archive-server@joshua.atherton.com. (Send a message with "help" on the subject line for more info.) They are also available via anonymous FTP from sunbane.engrg.uwo.ca (129.100.4.12) in the /pub/traveller directory. 7. Ars Magica Mailing List Contact: ars-magica-request@ocf.berkeley.edu List: ars-magica@ocf.berkeley.edu An FTP-able archive exists at ocf.berkeley.edu in the pub/Ars_Magica directory. Send requests for archive info to the Contact address. 8. The GRASS (Generic Religions and Secret Societies) mailing list is a forum for the development of religions and secret societies for use in role-playing games. Both real-world and fictional religions and secret societies are covered. Contact: Grass-Request@wharton.upenn.edu (Loren J. Miller) List: Grass@wharton.upenn.edu Archives are located on the eklektik server. 9. cyberpunkRPG The cyberpunk mailing list is primarly for the discussion of cyberpunk role-playing games. The discussion is not limited to any game system. Subjects of a peripheral nature are welcome as long as they don't get out of hand. There is one rule on this mailing list: the moderator gets to add new rules at will. Contact: joshua@atherton.com (Joshua Levy) List: cyberrpg@joshua.atherton.com 10. Game-Design-Philosophy Game-Design-Philosophy is a list for folks who want to modify their favorite game or write a brand new one, be it board, role-playing, video, or whatever. Contact: bastfw@ocf.berkeley.edu List: gamedesign-philo@cash.ucsc.edu 11. game-design@cs.odu.edu The game-design mailing list is an unmoderated mailing list for the discussion of most topics related to creating and playing games, with primary emphasis on the design of games. The list is administered by Scott D. Yelich <scott@cs.odu.edu>. Contact: game-design-request@cs.odu.edu Or: game-design-request@xanth.cs.odu.edu List: game-design@cs.odu.edu There is, at this time, no facility for a digest of this mailing list. However, archives of messages posted to this list are available via anonymous FTP from xanth.cs.odu.edu in the directory game-design. Further materials may be available at a later time. 12. Flashlife A Mailing list for GMs of Shadowrun and other cyberpunk roleplaying games to discuss rules and scenarios, ask questions, make up answers, and similar fasfax. Contact: flashlife-control@amd.com (Carl Rigney) List: flashlife@amd.com FTP SITES AND MAIL SERVERS There is no general archive of rec.games.frp postings. However, several people maintain public-access archives of interesting and/or generally useful material as a courtesy to their fellow netters. 13. The eklektik server is a mail server operated by Anthony Kapolka. The server contains various postings from rec.games.frp which seemed to stand alone and have particular merit, as well as materials which have been submitted directly. For information on how to use the eklektik server, get the help file by sending mail containing the line help to archive server@eklektik.pgh.pa.us (or cs.pitt.edu!idis!eklektik!archive-server or idis!eklektik!archive-server@cs.pitt.edu) It is suggested that you also include a line of the form path <your address> Internet addresses, or addresses tied into the Internet (e.g. path cs.pitt.edu!someplace!name) are best. Bitnet paths should also be ok. Since eklektik is a small, privately owned machine, please spread large requests over several days. Address problems and questions to anthony@eklektik.pgh.pa.us or to anthony@speedy.cs.pitt.edu. Material for the server should be submitted to anthony@eklektik.pgh.pa.us Items 14-16 are anonymous FTP archives. They can be accessed from Unix machines on the Internet by typing ftp <address>, where <address> is either an Internet address or a routing number. At the "Name:" prompt, type "anonymous"; at the "Password:" prompt, type your userid or "guest" (or something equally thoughtful). For further information on ftp, check the documentation at your site or consult a local guru. 14. Jemearl T. Smith maintains an anonymous FTP archive which contains material relating to Tabolport, a fantasy city being designed cooperatively by the readers of rec.games.frp. The address of the archive is f.ms.uky.edu (128.163.128.6). Look in the pub/tabolport directory. Address problems and questions to one of the following addresses: jemearl@ms.uky.edu jemearl@UKMA.BITNET !ukma!jemearl The person in charge of the Tabolport project is Jim Bassman Davenport (davenpor@cis.ohio-state.edu or davenpor@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu). 15. Navero FTP site and Navero mail service All issues (including the latest) of the Navero series of stories are available for FTP at ics.uci.edu in /pub/navero. The issues are compressed, so be sure to use binary mode to transfer them. (Thanks to Mark Nagel (nagel@ics.uci.edu) for setting this up.) For UK users unable to access the FTP site, Christopher Anderton (CCA10@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk) has a complete Navero collection which he has offered to forward into the UK academic domain on email request. 16. Postscript character sheets FTP site An FTP site for storing character sheets in Postscript format was set up at St. Olaf's College by Matthew Pearson. Matthew has since graduated, so we don't know how much longer the archive will be operating. The FTP address is: nic.stolaf.edu All files are in the directory /pub/ps-sheets GAME COMPANY BBS's Several RPG companies now run their own electronic bulletin boards. To connect to them, you must use a personal computer and a modem. 17. The Steve Jackson Games BBS [From GURPS Basic:] "For those of you who have home computers, SJ Games operates a BBS [Electronic Bulletin Board System] with discussion areas for several games, including GURPS. Much of the playtest feedback for new products comes from the BBS. It's up 24 hours per day at 512-447-4449, at 300, 1200, and 2400 baud." Comm settings: 8-N-1. 7-E-1 might work, too. 18. The Red October BBS (Hero Games) [This information comes from Charles E. Craig (chuk@nuass.acns.nwu.edu), who read about Red October in the _Adventurer's Club_, Hero's house vehicle.] Red October is the semi-official BBS of Hero Games. The number is 512-834-2548. Many Hero games supplement authors regularly call and there are several discussion boards about Hero Games. There are also pre-release beta test versions of most of the upcoming supplements from Hero Games, as well as up-to-the- minute news. 19. The Harnline BBS (Columbia Games) Columbia Games (makers of the Harn series of campaign supplements and the fantasy RPG system Harnmaster) has a BBS called Harnline. There are currently has about 50 files, mostly unpublished material or revisions of published material. User contributions are encouraged. The home of Harnline is Duffle Board, at (604) 877-7752 (8-N-1) 2400/1200/300 baud. Rob Duff runs the board. Because of the cost of calling Vancouver, Canada, from various parts of North America and Europe, Columbia is considering either joining a national service such as CompuServe or Genie, or establishing a network of boards with nodes in major cities. ____________________________________________________ END OF LIST OF PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE MAILING LISTS AND ARCHIVES Many thanks to Austin Ziegler and Loren Miller for help in compiling this list, as well as to all those who have sent in information. --Elliot Wilen (ichiro@enzyme.berkeley.edu)