Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.marketplace,rec.games.frp.advocacy,rec.games.frp.dnd From: rg-frp-announce@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: General FAQ overview Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc Originator: cwatters@bottom.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu X-Moderator-Ref: Introduction Keywords: etiquette, news.announce.newusers, roleplaying games, administrivia Nntp-Posting-Host: bottom.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Reply-To: rec.games.frp.advocacy Organization: The Ohio State University Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1992 16:42:29 GMT Welcome to the rec.games.frp newsgroups Please send suggested corrections and additions to the following address: CWATTERS@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu If you are new to Netnews, or a returning user who hasn't read any of the frp netnews in a while - please read this and the postings in rec.games.frp.announce for more information. Contents of the general FAQ postings: This posting: General Information and a group summary, plus a table of contents to the other FAQs. Biweekly on rec.games.frp.announce: 1 Welcome to the rec.games.frp newsgroups! Overview of the groups, posting guides 2 Frequently asked questions Answers to some of the more common non-system specific questions asked on the net. About to become a two-parter. 3 Archive sites with Roleplaying material Where to find roleplaying materials for FTP, also where to upload materials you may have produced and want to share. 4 Roleplaying Mailing Lists and Digests part 1/2 5 Roleplaying Mailing Lists and Digests part 2/2 Mailing lists are another source of information, and there are a lot of them. Often they are focused in their topics. Addictive as net-news. 6 BBS's of interest to Roleplaying gamers Some companies have their own BBS for the modem-literate gamer, plus there are BBSes with a heavy emphasis on gaming. 7* Roleplaying Net.*.books, Gaming FAQ Keepers One of the more interesting items on the net is the advent of the net.book, in which the members of the net.community are urged to take part. The FAQ keepers list tells just WHO is keeping the FAQs of a more specific nature. 8 Arms, armor and bows in the Fantasy Setting (coming soon!) This FAQ will cover some of the FAQs about "real" arms and armor, plus "the truth" about different bows. Don't hold your breath, I *hope* to have it ready next Friday (11/20/92), no promises. WELCOME TO THE REC.GAMES.FRP NEWSGROUPS! WHAT *IS* REC.GAMES.FRP.*? These groups are where participants in fantasy* role playing games may find discussion of subjects of common interest. By fantasy role playing, we are not meaning the Fantasy genre of literature - fantasy in this sense meaning something which differs in a significant way from reality. In these groups you will find advocates/enemies of nearly every frp system ever published. WHAT DOESN'T BELONG IN REC.GAMES.FRP.*? These groups are *not* intended for the discussion of wargames and other board games, except as directly related to role-playing games; try rec.games.board instead. Nor is this the proper group for discussing computer games. Computer game discussions and spoiler requests for Adventure-type games (such as Zork and Ultima) belong in rec.games.video, rec.games.misc, rec.arts.int-fiction, rec.games.mud.*, rec.games.moria, or the relevant computer-related newsgroup (e.g., comp.sys.mac.games). ** Current consensus is that discussion of the role-playing portions of games such as BattleTech and WarHammer 40k are suitable for discussion in the rec.games.frp groups, but rules/tactical discussion primarily devoted to the tabletop / board potions of the system are best discussed in rec.games.board. SUGGESTIONS FOR POSTING The following suggestions are intended to SUPPLEMENT the general guidelines for posting to the net. You should already be familiar with the guidelines contained in "Rules for posting to Usenet", "A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community", and "Hints on writing style for Usenet", which can be found in the newsgroup news.announce.newusers. The most relevant parts of these postings, or rather the parts of these postings most often ignored on these newsgroups, are: 1) Don't post anything that is intended for only one other person, send flames and arguments through E-mail 2) Read threads through to the end before adding to them, often other people make your point first (M or m is a very useful keystroke in rn) 3) Don't post "yeah, me too" articles 4) Don't quote excessively, especially don't quote the entirety of another person's posting and then add two lines at the bottom, if someone wants to read the entire first posting they can go back and read it for themselves. When posting messages to a large newsgroup there are several things you can do to help readers cope with the volume. First and foremost is to use the right newsgroup, and avoid cross-posting. Rec.games.frp.* consists of 6 newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy High Volume This group is used for "strenuous discussion" of the merits/ deficiencies of various gaming systems / styles. Here is where the famous "GURPS vs. the Universe" flamewar resides. rec.games.frp.announce (moderated) Low Volume This group handles almost any kind of announcement - new products, play by email games, conventions, etc. This is also the home of the informational bulletins, all readers of any of the r.g.f.* groups should subscribe to this one. rec.games.frp.archives (moderated) Medium Volume This group is used to post stories and other finished works. Often this is used in conjunction with the .announce group - announce is used to announce the availability of something being placed on an archive site, while the actual item goes through the .archives group. rec.games.frp.dnd High Volume This group is used to discuss the various incarnations of TSR's _Dungeons and Dragons(tm)_ games, including the original D&D, AD&D v1, AD&D v2, etc. Discussion of gaming topics of general interest should take place in rec.games.frp.misc. Items so specific that they are almost unique to *DND* should be discussed here. rec.games.frp.marketplace Medium Volume Got something to sell? Want to buy an out of print or budget item? This is the place for you. Buyer beware though. rec.games.frp.misc High Volume R.G.F.MISC is where discussion of anything not relegated to one of the other groups takes place. Here you can find discussions about any system (except for DND/ADND specific stuff). This group is sort of cyclic, so if your favorite system isn't being discussed, keep reading, it probably will come up. *Note: rec.games.frp was RMGROUPED on 30-AUG-1992, and is no longer valid. Rec.games.rpg is considered a bogus newsgroup. Neither are widely distributed. Second, no matter what newsgroup you post to, please use descriptive titles. Whenever you post an article which is specific to a particular game system, please include the name of the system in the Subject of your post. Subjects like: "Combat initiative in AD&D" or "Champions Character: Nightstorm" are much more informative than "Combat" or "Character: Nightstorm". If you're posting a story, you are urged to include the word STORY in the subject, and to use a consistent title for your work. If you post an article related to Tabolport Net City project, please include the word TABOLPORT in the subject so that the appropriate persons will see it. BEFORE POSTING THE FIRST TIME: Please read for a little while before posting. Get a feel for the style and tone of the conversation. Wait a second before responding, think if you are going to post the same thing as a thousand others. Case in Point: Last Year when Gene Roddenberry (creator of StarTrek) died, the ST newsgroups were flooded with "I just heard Gene is dead" postings for 5 days! NEVER NEVER N-E-V-E-R post just to correct someone's spelling: the Internet is an International Community, and not everyone has the same level of familiarity with the most common language on the net. LAST BUT MOST IMPORTANT! Now go read the Introduction postings in rec.games.frp.announce! Do this before you read any further! -Coyt (keeper of the FAQ and guider of lost gamers)