GURPSnet-Digest Sunday, February 23 2003 Volume 04 : Number 3777 In this issue: Re: Another Gurps traveller question Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact RE: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Snatcher Expansion Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact Re: Snatcher Expansion Re: Snatcher Expansion OT: Calling Peter dell'Orto Hospital encounters Re: Hospital encounters See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the GURPSnet-L or GURPSnet-Digest mailing lists. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 00:27:45 -0500 From: "Michael Layne" Subject: Re: Another Gurps traveller question On 19 February 2003, "jroberto" asked: > >> I have another question about Gurps Traveller Spinwards Marches > >> > >> Can Vargrs slave another vargrs ? > >> > >> or near spinwards (foreven, etc) ? Hmm... I can imagine this, now! The Vargr corsair looks like a huge fire hydrant, floating in interstellar space. A close scan will detect the banks of oars, each shaft with a clever reinforced flexible Polychron (tm) gasket to prevent air leakage, while still allowing the full range of motion, In the dimly-lit interior of the corsair's rowing deck, wretched slaves - -- mostly Vargr, but some Humans, Aslan, Vegans, and a variety of less readily identifiable lifeforms -- are chained to their benches. At the aft end of the walkway, a large Vargr (appearing a little like an uplifted St. Bernard) pounds on a drum (BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!) to set the rythm for the slaves of this space galley. Another large Vargr (with a black patch over one eye) strides fore and aft along the walkway, cracking a neuronic whip, and snarling such encouragement as "Put yer backs inta it!" An officer enters the compartment, and speaks to the overseer. The overseer nods, and yells to the slaves, "Arright! Lissen up, you scum! I have good news and bad news! "The good news is that everybody gets an extra ration of grog!" Cheering ensues from the slaves. "Pipe down! The bad news is that there's a "Lightning" class cruiser on our tail, and we gotta beat it out ta the jump point, or we're all gonna die like dogs!" Michael Layne theherald@hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail ------------------------------ Date: 20 Feb 2003 15:09:53 -0000 From: "Volker Bach" Subject: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact On Wed, 19 Feb 2003 23:42:54 -0600, "Troy Guffey" wrote : > OK, I'll bite. Argue away. OK, first argument: sex ratios. You have 100 males and 1 female. Obviously competition for the female is high. This reminds me strongly of the Yanaoma and Kayapo tribes in the Amazon basion which often had similar, if less extreme, sex ratios of c. 20 females to 100 males. Obviously this csn not be the natural state of smurf society (especially given that once children appear, it is close to the natural sex ratio of approx. 50:50). The only explanation consistent with the observed facts is a widespread practice of female infanticide, typical of warrior societies who often have large numbers of males to defend them and strong competition for females to inculcate and reinforce 'warrior virtues'. Whether Smurfette is actually complicit in the pattern or a victim I can not discern. Given the absence of any family relations on her part she may be an abductee, itself not an uncommon thing in martial societies given to 'bride capture'. Second argument: Secrecy. Their village (I'll come back to that village) is situated in the middle of impenetrable forest and can only be found by following a smurf. The smurfs themselves are perfectly comfortable with a forest full of dangers, but any opponent will be led astray and caught in bogs, crags, lakes, or simply lose his way. Nobody who has no combative intention takes THAT much trouble preparing a homebase and its territory. THird argument: social organisation. Smurf society is patriarchal, strongly authoritarian, but without the elaborate ritual that accompanies any hereditary aristocracy. Clearly, the power of Papa Smurf derives from a meritocratic approach and he guards his legitimation by secret knowledge carefully. His position may well become untenable once he loses that advantage. However, there appears to be no chafing at the buit - indeed, the smurfs cheerfully accept authority and, in the case of one prolonged absence of Papa Smurf, elected a king ion order not to be leaderless. This strong acceptance of authority and meritocratic instinct based on social consensus is typical of a society in need of strong military leadership. Whenever the Smurfs are observed working it is either at their jobs (or should we say MOS?) or at the 'dam'. This is a huge civil engineering project with little immediately discernible purpose that is never finished, but requires the disciplined labour of the entire population. Talk about a social engineering project inculcating teamwork and obedience.... Evenb when they're not working at the dam the smurfs move in groups, marching through the forest singing. THey do not chant cadence the US way ("I don't smurf but I've been smurfed, Smurfing smurf is very smurf"), but their preferred song follows a good marching pattern (Dah dah DUM DUM DUM, Dah dah DUM DUM DUM....) reminiscent of Landsknecht 'drum rhymes'. While they have many specialist craftsmen (cook, smith, carpenter, market- gardener), their number is small and it appears that they are not exempt from community activities, nor do they seem to ever exchange their products for anything. The cook simply hands out his cakes to anyone, which is a transparent social code for communal messing, and there is no indication the gardener or smith act otherwise. Their clothing is similarly uniform and appears to be made by the same hand, lovelessly, but skillfully enough for it to outlast almost any kind of abuse. Finally, look at the skills they all have in common. They are supremely gifted fieldcrafters, able to collect food and find shelter in the forest at any time, guide strangers through it, improvise or build elaborate booby traps, evade pursuit and coordinate complex maneuvers in joint action against an enemy or pursuer (such as blinding Gargamel while simultaneously rolling marbles under his feet). Training to such peak efficiency represents a considerable time investment! Now let's look at their village. 101 inhabitants, remember, and at best twenty houses. ONe of these belongs to Papa Smurf which doubles as laboratory, surgery, archive, and research station. At least one must be gioven over to food storage. ONe must belong to Smurfette (unless they permit her to cohabit with males, which would be disruptive and potentially dangerous). One belongs to the blacksmith, at least one holds a kitchen. So WHERE DO ALL THOSE SMURFS LIVE? There are three possibilities; they could have a strongly stratified society consisting of a few propertied homeowners and many homeless labourers, which, given the absence of tension, is unlikely. THey could be sharing their homes in communal messes, organised perhaps along age group lines or by totem allegiance. Or they could actually be living in Viet Minh-style underground tunnel system beneath their village, keeping aboveground buildings for communal activities. Given the great engineering effort they can put into a dam and (on one occasion) a fortification, the idea that they can not manage to house everyone is laughable. Staying with those homes, they appear to be made out of mushrooms with colourful, dotted caps. Berserker, anyone? Their fondness for music is another telling aspect - rousing, martial music, communal dances and events that reinforce the bonds of their comradeship are all hallmarks of a martial body. THe same goes for their inordinate fascination with sports and exercises. Another interesting aspect is provioded by Papa Smurf's arcane powers and the manner in which he refrains from using them. Clearly, he would be able to blast Gargamel to hell and take out minor enemies like the Black Smurfs (a bee totem group confronting the majority in ritualised combat games or a periodically visible restless slave population defamed as animalistic and cannibal?) or the Cracacas without the least trouble. Nonetheless the actual battle is uisually left to the community of male smurfs. This reticence bespeaks a high regard for warrior virtues and an unwillingness to, so to speak, up the ante. Finally, what do the smurfs eat? Where does a community with no visible land under cultivation (excepting market gardening plots) and no pastoralist tradition of transhumance get enough to eat? The answer must be: from someone else. THe most likely explanation is a tributary relationship with the forest's sentient population in which the smurfs collect tax in food (and females? back to the odd unattached Smurfette) and offer 'protection' in return. Another possibility would be organised raiding. Finally, could the 'black' smurfs actually be a slave race kept in servitude in an out-of-the-way place? THat would explain the panic resulting from seeing one of them at liberty, their owen unrestrained aggressiveness against their blue brethren, and the 'contagion' motif thinly disguising the fear of miscegenation that underlies the smurfs' relationship with the black population. Clearly, the conclusion is obvious. Next time you send off the tykes to Little Smurf Club Land, pack plenty of C4. Volker > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Volker Bach" > > > > Wait till you hear me argue evidence that the Smurfs are a warrior society > > > > ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 08:45:28 -0800 From: eclipsek@telusplanet.net Subject: Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact You know the postulate of female infanticide may not be correct, considering it's such an exreme ratio. What could be happening is that the smurfs are a species that goes through protandry. There are a number of fish that begin life as females and then when the school gets large enough one of them will switch to being male (Protogyny). Although population pressure is not a normal stimulus of males changing to females (Protandry) it is possible that when smurfs live in cramped conditions (as you mentioned 101 smurfs - 20 houses) you may end up a single female amongst many males. - -Sue (I can't belive I'm writing this) :) Quoting Volker Bach : > > > > On Wed, 19 Feb 2003 23:42:54 -0600, "Troy Guffey" > wrote : > > > OK, I'll bite. Argue away. > > OK, first argument: sex ratios. You have 100 males and 1 female. Obviously > competition for the female is high. This reminds me strongly of the Yanaoma > > and Kayapo tribes in the Amazon basion which often had similar, if less > extreme, sex ratios of c. 20 females to 100 males. Obviously this csn not > be the natural state of smurf society (especially given that once children > appear, it is close to the natural sex ratio of approx. 50:50). The only > explanation consistent with the observed facts is a widespread practice of > female infanticide, typical of warrior societies who often have large > numbers of males to defend them and strong competition for females to > inculcate and reinforce 'warrior virtues'. Whether Smurfette is actually > complicit in the pattern or a victim I can not discern. Given the absence > of any family relations on her part she may be an abductee, itself not an > uncommon thing in martial societies given to 'bride capture'. > > Second argument: Secrecy. Their village (I'll come back to that village) is > > situated in the middle of impenetrable forest and can only be found by > following a smurf. The smurfs themselves are perfectly comfortable with a > forest full of dangers, but any opponent will be led astray and caught in > bogs, crags, lakes, or simply lose his way. Nobody who has no combative > intention takes THAT much trouble preparing a homebase and its territory. > > THird argument: social organisation. Smurf society is patriarchal, strongly > > authoritarian, but without the elaborate ritual that accompanies any > hereditary aristocracy. Clearly, the power of Papa Smurf derives from a > meritocratic approach and he guards his legitimation by secret knowledge > carefully. His position may well become untenable once he loses that > advantage. However, there appears to be no chafing at the buit - indeed, > the smurfs cheerfully accept authority and, in the case of one prolonged > absence of Papa Smurf, elected a king ion order not to be leaderless. This > strong acceptance of authority and meritocratic instinct based on social > consensus is typical of a society in need of strong military leadership. > Whenever the Smurfs are observed working it is either at their jobs (or > should we say MOS?) or at the 'dam'. This is a huge civil engineering > project with little immediately discernible purpose that is never finished, > > but requires the disciplined labour of the entire population. Talk about a > social engineering project inculcating teamwork and obedience.... Evenb > when they're not working at the dam the smurfs move in groups, marching > through the forest singing. THey do not chant cadence the US way ("I don't > smurf but I've been smurfed, Smurfing smurf is very smurf"), but their > preferred song follows a good marching pattern (Dah dah DUM DUM DUM, Dah > dah DUM DUM DUM....) reminiscent of Landsknecht 'drum rhymes'. > While they have many specialist craftsmen (cook, smith, carpenter, market- > gardener), their number is small and it appears that they are not exempt > from community activities, nor do they seem to ever exchange their products > > for anything. The cook simply hands out his cakes to anyone, which is a > transparent social code for communal messing, and there is no indication > the gardener or smith act otherwise. Their clothing is similarly uniform > and appears to be made by the same hand, lovelessly, but skillfully enough > for it to outlast almost any kind of abuse. > Finally, look at the skills they all have in common. They are supremely > gifted fieldcrafters, able to collect food and find shelter in the forest > at any time, guide strangers through it, improvise or build elaborate booby > > traps, evade pursuit and coordinate complex maneuvers in joint action > against an enemy or pursuer (such as blinding Gargamel while simultaneously > > rolling marbles under his feet). Training to such peak efficiency > represents a considerable time investment! > > Now let's look at their village. 101 inhabitants, remember, and at best > twenty houses. ONe of these belongs to Papa Smurf which doubles as > laboratory, surgery, archive, and research station. At least one must be > gioven over to food storage. ONe must belong to Smurfette (unless they > permit her to cohabit with males, which would be disruptive and potentially > > dangerous). One belongs to the blacksmith, at least one holds a kitchen. So > > WHERE DO ALL THOSE SMURFS LIVE? There are three possibilities; they could > have a strongly stratified society consisting of a few propertied > homeowners and many homeless labourers, which, given the absence of > tension, is unlikely. THey could be sharing their homes in communal messes, > > organised perhaps along age group lines or by totem allegiance. Or they > could actually be living in Viet Minh-style underground tunnel system > beneath their village, keeping aboveground buildings for communal > activities. Given the great engineering effort they can put into a dam and > (on one occasion) a fortification, the idea that they can not manage to > house everyone is laughable. Staying with those homes, they appear to be > made out of mushrooms with colourful, dotted caps. Berserker, anyone? > > Their fondness for music is another telling aspect - rousing, martial > music, communal dances and events that reinforce the bonds of their > comradeship are all hallmarks of a martial body. THe same goes for their > inordinate fascination with sports and exercises. > > Another interesting aspect is provioded by Papa Smurf's arcane powers and > the manner in which he refrains from using them. Clearly, he would be able > to blast Gargamel to hell and take out minor enemies like the Black Smurfs > (a bee totem group confronting the majority in ritualised combat games or a > > periodically visible restless slave population defamed as animalistic and > cannibal?) or the Cracacas without the least trouble. Nonetheless the > actual battle is uisually left to the community of male smurfs. This > reticence bespeaks a high regard for warrior virtues and an unwillingness > to, so to speak, up the ante. > > Finally, what do the smurfs eat? Where does a community with no visible > land under cultivation (excepting market gardening plots) and no > pastoralist tradition of transhumance get enough to eat? The answer must > be: from someone else. THe most likely explanation is a tributary > relationship with the forest's sentient population in which the smurfs > collect tax in food (and females? back to the odd unattached Smurfette) and > > offer 'protection' in return. Another possibility would be organised > raiding. Finally, could the 'black' smurfs actually be a slave race kept in > > servitude in an out-of-the-way place? THat would explain the panic > resulting from seeing one of them at liberty, their owen unrestrained > aggressiveness against their blue brethren, and the 'contagion' motif > thinly disguising the fear of miscegenation that underlies the smurfs' > relationship with the black population. > > Clearly, the conclusion is obvious. Next time you send off the tykes to > Little Smurf Club Land, pack plenty of C4. > > Volker > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Volker Bach" > > > > > > Wait till you hear me argue evidence that the Smurfs are a warrior > society > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 20:43:59 +0200 From: "Kaj Sotala" Subject: Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact > extreme, sex ratios of c. 20 females to 100 males. Obviously this csn not > be the natural state of smurf society (especially given that once children > appear, it is close to the natural sex ratio of approx. 50:50). The only Argument assumes facts not in evidence. I do not believe we have any valid statistical data over the normal smurf sex ratios at birth. Do we? Alternate explanations still exist, such as the gender-switch Sue mentioned. It could also be possible that the smurfs have a system resembling that of ants - Smurfette is sole queen, able to manipulate the gender of the born smurfs. To outsiders, she does not seem to have much power within the society, but it might be a form of manipulation so delicate and secretive that we outsiders are unable to notice it. To maintain this position, she prevents the birth of any other females. I could not find any flaws in the rest of your arguments, however. "Your whole second paragraph makes you look like a retard since you added a 'Bugger off' with it and you're the first person I've ever seen who was so retarded he actually pretended to be British/English to insult someone when the Brits are like the 3rd easiest people to make fun of. " -- 'Red' at the FFHorizon forums ICQ 18051088/AIM Xuenay/MSN Xuenay@Hotmail.com | http://www.saunalahti.fi/~tspro1/ PGP: http://www.saunalahti.fi/~tspro1/Kaj_Sotala.asc for my public key ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 18:51:08 -0300 From: Bira Subject: Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact On Thu, 20 Feb 2003 20:43:59 +0200 "Kaj Sotala" wrote: > > extreme, sex ratios of c. 20 females to 100 males. Obviously this csn not > > be the natural state of smurf society (especially given that once children > > appear, it is close to the natural sex ratio of approx. 50:50). The only > > Argument assumes facts not in evidence. I do not believe we have any > valid statistical data over the normal smurf sex ratios at birth. Do we? > > Alternate explanations still exist, such as the gender-switch Sue mentioned. > It could also be possible that the smurfs have a system resembling that of > ants - Smurfette is sole queen, able to manipulate the gender of the born > smurfs. To outsiders, she does not seem to have much power within the > society, but it might be a form of manipulation so delicate and secretive > that we outsiders are unable to notice it. To maintain this position, she > prevents the birth of any other females. > > I could not find any flaws in the rest of your arguments, however. Actually, I've read somewhere (IIRC, it was a page trying to prove Gargamel was a LSD addict :)) that Smurfette was a creation of Gargamel to lure the little blue goblins to their doom, but she switched sides. That's why she's the only female smurf. Normal smurfs are "born" the old-fashioned way: they're brought in by storks, which means they're shipped from somewhere else. Thus, the plot thickens. Not only are smurfs a warrior-race, they're being artificially created by _someone_, who then ships the "new ones" over to the village. For what purpose are they being bred? Who is behind this plot? Fnord. - -- Bira http://www.shadowlandbr.hpg.com.br ou http://www24.brinkster.com/shadowlandbr/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 23:11:52 +0100 (MEZ) From: Johannes Trimmel Subject: Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact On Thu, 20 Feb 2003, Bira wrote: > Actually, I've read somewhere (IIRC, it was a page trying to prove > Gargamel was a LSD addict :)) that Smurfette was a creation of Gargamel > to lure the little blue goblins to their doom, but she switched sides. > That's why she's the only female smurf. Normal smurfs are "born" the > old-fashioned way: they're brought in by storks, which means they're > shipped from somewhere else. > > Thus, the plot thickens. Not only are smurfs a warrior-race, they're > being artificially created by _someone_, who then ships the "new ones" > over to the village. For what purpose are they being bred? Who is behind > this plot? Fnord. > Maybee they are in a prison/rehabilitation installation and if they proove to be good smurfs they are allowed out again. The dam might be actually a project designed for the socialisation effect only. Papa smurf would be the head psychologist and this could be an other reason why only he has access to magic and why he is relucant to use it (the point of the exercise is that the imates solve problems themselfs). I need to watch smurfs again some day. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Better a solution that makes the problem worse then no solution at all. Johannes Trimmel ++++++++++++++++ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 14:38:14 -0800 From: "Brian G. Vaughan" Subject: Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact From: "Bira" > Actually, I've read somewhere (IIRC, it was a page trying to prove > Gargamel was a LSD addict :)) that Smurfette was a creation of Gargamel > to lure the little blue goblins to their doom, but she switched sides. > That's why she's the only female smurf. Normal smurfs are "born" the > old-fashioned way: they're brought in by storks, which means they're > shipped from somewhere else. > > Thus, the plot thickens. Not only are smurfs a warrior-race, they're > being artificially created by _someone_, who then ships the "new ones" > over to the village. For what purpose are they being bred? Who is behind > this plot? Fnord. I remember seeing the episode in which Smurfette is introduced. For some peculiar reason, she had dark hair, until she was converted to "good," when her hair became blonde. On another episode, it was established that new Smurfs appear "once in a blue moon." I'm not sure if storks were involved -- I thought they were found in a basket on the edge of the village. The real puzzle for me about Smurfette was, if the Smurfs don't reproduce sexually, and female Smurfs don't occur naturally, then why are all the other Smurfs "male?" Why do several Smurfs (Poet, Brainy, and Brawny, IIRC) compete for Smurfette's attention? (And why only a few of them?) Why would they experience (apparent) sexual desire? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 01:02:59 +0200 From: "Kaj Sotala" Subject: Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact From: "Brian G. Vaughan" > The real puzzle for me about Smurfette was, if the Smurfs don't reproduce > sexually, and female Smurfs don't occur naturally, then why are all the > other Smurfs "male?" Why do several Smurfs (Poet, Brainy, and Brawny, IIRC) > compete for Smurfette's attention? (And why only a few of them?) Why would > they experience (apparent) sexual desire? Obviously, whoever gengineered the smurfs was modifying a ready genetic template from some other species. Because they didn't expect any female smurfs to show up, they didn't bother with removing the natural attraction towards the opposite sex from the males. Since Gargamel seems to be hostile to the smurfs, and he managed to create a female smurf, it would be interesting to know what the relationship between Gargamel and the smurfs' creator exactly is... Everything is controlled by a small evil group to which, unfortunately, no one we know belongs. ICQ 18051088/AIM Xuenay/MSN Xuenay@Hotmail.com | http://www.saunalahti.fi/~tspro1/ PGP: http://www.saunalahti.fi/~tspro1/Kaj_Sotala.asc for my public key ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 14:43:37 -0800 From: eclipsek@telusplanet.net Subject: Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact It's a giant smurf cloning experiment... which explains the sex ratio! :) If you're cloning and you don't want your species to escape you make them all one sex - so then if they escape they don't propagate. And Smurfette is actually mutant varient from the experiment - one which looks different but can't propagate due to the extent of her mutations (none of her offspring are viable)..... hmmm this all makes sense now - I think I've been spending to much time at work. - -Sue ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 22:27:45 -0000 From: "McCarty-Eigenmann" Subject: RE: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact > Actually, I've read somewhere (IIRC, it was a page trying to prove > Gargamel was a LSD addict :)) that Smurfette was a creation of Gargamel > to lure the little blue goblins to their doom, but she switched sides. > That's why she's the only female smurf. Normal smurfs are "born" the > old-fashioned way: they're brought in by storks, which means they're > shipped from somewhere else. Ok - so added to the Warsmurf conspiracy, they are made? Is there a smurfforge? Is it a delivery from www.smurfsrus.com? If so does Papa Smurf sign for them? Does he pay with smurfcard? Perhaps there are semi-angelic whitesmurfs, who ride these storks like inverse valkyrie? mce ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 21:34:44 -0300 From: Bira Subject: Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact On Thu, 20 Feb 2003 22:27:45 -0000 "McCarty-Eigenmann" wrote: > > Ok - so added to the Warsmurf conspiracy, they are made? > Is there a smurfforge? > Is it a delivery from www.smurfsrus.com? If so does Papa Smurf sign for > them? Does he pay with smurfcard? > Perhaps there are semi-angelic whitesmurfs, who ride these storks like > inverse valkyrie? Fnord. - -- Bira http://www.shadowlandbr.hpg.com.br ou http://www24.brinkster.com/shadowlandbr/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 21:10:22 -0600 From: Jeff Wilson Subject: Snatcher Expansion Has anyone homebrewed some expanded ways to use Snatcher? Like, an option to put items away and get them back, or an option to reduce time required? - -- Jeff Wilson - jwilson@io.com < http://www.io.com/~jwilson/gurps/ > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 00:14:35 -0500 From: "Michael Layne" Subject: Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact On 20 February 2003, Sue, eclipsek@telusplanet.net, suggested: >It's a giant smurf cloning experiment... which explains the sex ratio! >:) Gee, I hope they don't clone any giant smurfs -- the normal sized ones are trouble enough!:) Back in December of 2001, GURPSnet carried a post called "Smurfship Troopers", being an account of the effectiveness of smurfs in the Mobile Infantry role in interstellar conflict. This should be available in the GURPSnet digest archive at http://gurpsnet.sjgames.com/Digests/2001/12.zip, Volume 4, n. 3572. Michael Layne theherald@hotmail.com "Smurfs, Mr. Rico! Smurrfs!! Zillions of 'em! I'm a-burnin' 'em down!" -- a Battlesuited MI Raccoon reporting _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 18:13:18 +1100 (EST) From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Alan=20Atkinson?= Subject: Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact > Actually, I've read somewhere (IIRC, it was a page > trying to prove > Gargamel was a LSD addict :)) that Smurfette was a > creation of Gargamel > to lure the little blue goblins to their doom, but > she switched sides. > That's why she's the only female smurf. Normal > smurfs are "born" the > old-fashioned way: they're brought in by storks, > which means they're > shipped from somewhere else. > > Thus, the plot thickens. Not only are smurfs a > warrior-race, they're > being artificially created by _someone_, who then > ships the "new ones" > over to the village. For what purpose are they being > bred? Who is behind > this plot? Fnord. Gargamel is behind it all. He's bred them, and he frequently attempts to capture them (as opposed to squishing them underfoot) so as to get them back to the laboratory and test their reflexes, etc, under controlled conditions. Thus, an experiment gone out of control. GURPS-Nut http://mobile.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Mobile - - Exchange IMs with Messenger friends on your Telstra or Vodafone mobile phone. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 06:39:03 -0600 From: "Chris J. Whitcomb" Subject: Re: Warsmurfs, was: Re: High-Speed Ravioli Impact > > Actually, I've read somewhere (IIRC, it was a page > > trying to prove > > Gargamel was a LSD addict :)) that Smurfette was a > > creation of Gargamel > > to lure the little blue goblins to their doom, but > > she switched sides. > > That's why she's the only female smurf. Normal > > smurfs are "born" the > > old-fashioned way: they're brought in by storks, > > which means they're > > shipped from somewhere else. > > > > Thus, the plot thickens. Not only are smurfs a > > warrior-race, they're > > being artificially created by _someone_, who then > > ships the "new ones" > > over to the village. For what purpose are they being > > bred? Who is behind > > this plot? Fnord. > > Gargamel is behind it all. He's bred them, and he > frequently attempts to capture them (as opposed to > squishing them underfoot) so as to get them back to > the laboratory and test their reflexes, etc, under > controlled conditions. > > Thus, an experiment gone out of control. May I point out one other striking similarity... Smurf = Fnord - --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.455 / Virus Database: 255 - Release Date: 02/13/03 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 10:57:50 EST From: SWLapinsky@aol.com Subject: Re: Snatcher Expansion In a message dated 2/20/03 22:17:39, jwilson@io.com writes: >Has anyone homebrewed some expanded ways to use Snatcher? Like, an >option to put items away and get them back, or an option to reduce time > >required? > >-- >Jeff Wilson - jwilson@io.com >< http://www.io.com/~jwilson/gurps/ > For reduced time, I'd just use the Instantaneous enhancement -- but note that, the way it's written, that implies that it reduces a one-second power to a "zero-time" power. So, I'd treat Instantaneous as a "leveled" enhancement, where each level cuts the time in half (round up, except for one second, which drops to zero). (Essentially, using the same progression as high skill does for magic casting time). Frex: Snatcher is 10 seconds, so one level of Instantaneous (+20%) would drop it to 5 seconds. Putting things away would be useful... perhaps buying it twice? Once to "get stuff from there," and once to "put stuff there"? I haven't really looked at it much... except to note that you could tack Unconscious Only, Uncontrollable, No Obvious Effect, and Accessibility (Stone and lit matches only) to create a "stereotypical poltergeist-haunted" character. (The kind that is occasionally affected by random rains of stones, or a rain of lit matches...). - - Stephen Lapinsky "Freedom tempered by responsibility." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 10:57:50 EST From: SWLapinsky@aol.com Subject: Re: Snatcher Expansion In a message dated 2/20/03 22:17:39, jwilson@io.com writes: >Has anyone homebrewed some expanded ways to use Snatcher? Like, an >option to put items away and get them back, or an option to reduce time > >required? > >-- >Jeff Wilson - jwilson@io.com >< http://www.io.com/~jwilson/gurps/ > For reduced time, I'd just use the Instantaneous enhancement -- but note that, the way it's written, that implies that it reduces a one-second power to a "zero-time" power. So, I'd treat Instantaneous as a "leveled" enhancement, where each level cuts the time in half (round up, except for one second, which drops to zero). (Essentially, using the same progression as high skill does for magic casting time). Frex: Snatcher is 10 seconds, so one level of Instantaneous (+20%) would drop it to 5 seconds. Putting things away would be useful... perhaps buying it twice? Once to "get stuff from there," and once to "put stuff there"? I haven't really looked at it much... except to note that you could tack Unconscious Only, Uncontrollable, No Obvious Effect, and Accessibility (Stone and lit matches only) to create a "stereotypical poltergeist-haunted" character. (The kind that is occasionally affected by random rains of stones, or a rain of lit matches...). - - Stephen Lapinsky "Freedom tempered by responsibility." ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2003 12:01:12 -0000 From: "McCarty-Eigenmann" Subject: OT: Calling Peter dell'Orto Calling Peter dell'Orto! Can someone pass me his email address, I'd like to talk melee weapons with him. Thanks mce ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2003 10:21:35 -0500 From: Emily Smirle Subject: Hospital encounters My BlackOps-in-miniature game is trying to vanish a 400-lb corpse from the city morgue today. The morgue is in the hospital basement, which will both simplify and complicate their mission... (if they're lucky, they might be able to feed it to the hospital incinerator) Other than the problems of hauling around 400 pounds of dead flesh without attracting attention, I'm looking to throw a few monkey wrenches into the works. Hospital security is an obvious one, whether guards or actual police officers. I'm considering some kind of ghoul-critter hanging around in or near the morgue, too. My only experience with hospitals however has been repeated trips to the emergency room for sports injuries... I'm intimately familiar with our local radiology unit (yay X-rays) but I don't know enough about the rest of the building to think up anything else to throw at them if the players start looking bored. Any suggestions? A note about the corpse, it's the body of a Beast, superficially human but over eight feet tall. They need to vanish it before the autopsy gets done and someone notices that it wasn't just a hobo with gigantisism and related skeletal deformities. The Ops rammed their car into it last session (Resulting in one team member being in the hospital - wasn't wearing a seat belt) and then they finished it off in hand-to-hand combat (resulting in another team member being in the hospital - catching a parking meter upside the head isn't fun). They managed to escape when the cops showed up, but nobody was in any condition to haul off 400 pounds of Beast while running. Thanks to spectacular medicine, everyone will be up and walking by todays session... although the walking may be a bit irregular, and one character is still Hard of Hearing. *evil chuckle* - -- "Is he an evil outsider?" "Well, he was one of the loners in evil kindergarten..." ------------------------------ Date: 23 Feb 2003 16:55:05 -0000 From: "Volker Bach" Subject: Re: Hospital encounters On Sun, 23 Feb 2003 10:21:35 -0500, Emily Smirle wrote : > My BlackOps-in-miniature game is trying to vanish a 400-lb corpse from > the city morgue today. The morgue is in the hospital basement, which > will both simplify and complicate their mission... (if they're lucky, > they might be able to feed it to the hospital incinerator) > > Other than the problems of hauling around 400 pounds of dead flesh > without attracting attention, I'm looking to throw a few monkey wrenches > into the works. Hospital security is an obvious one, whether guards or > actual police officers. I'm considering some kind of ghoul-critter > hanging around in or near the morgue, too. > > My only experience with hospitals however has been repeated trips to the > emergency room for sports injuries... I'm intimately familiar with our > local radiology unit (yay X-rays) but I don't know enough about the rest > of the building to think up anything else to throw at them if the > players start looking bored. > > Any suggestions? If it's a modern hospital (or a really old one) it will have extensive cellars with all kinds of functions. There is a hospital arund where I, live that has underground corriodors connecting all buildings,. They were originally designed to shelter patients from inclement weather during transfers and are now mostly used for rollerblading and taking wheelchairs and gurneys for a joyride, if local lore can be believed. THe modern hospital in Mannheim has undergruond cable and pipe corridors so extensive the technicians ride bicycles on inspection tours. So, going down an endless subterranean passage you might meet a janitor on a folding bike or two junior nursing staff taking a gurney for a high-speed spin.... THe very technical nature of most modern hospitals requires a lot of maintenance work in the 'low levels'. As long as you stay down there you are more likely to encounter mechanics, electricians, or cleaning staff, than doctors or nurses. You can also find truly fascinating things in the basement - storage space for files that, while completely irrelevant, need to be kept for XX years for legal reasons, expired drugs, spare equipment for the big oops (no hospital administrator trusts state emergency agencies - - 500 extra blankets are 500 extra blankets....), boxes with old literature, the last 50 years of Time magazine subscribed for the ER waiting room, or a small warehouse full of medical equipment that is too old to use and too new to throw away. If they have found a way in then so may others. Just a few months ago the university hospital here had to evict a group of homeless people from the basement of the psychiatric ward. they had found an unlocked door and decided it was better than under bridges - not very comforting given that's supposed to be a medium-security facility :-) Then there is the question of what hospital staff do on their downtime. Most are perfectly ordinary, of course, but the presence of lots of odd technical equipment and drugs tends to do stuff to some people. I recall tales of wheelchair races, using dry ice to fill whole rooms with fog, pouring ether down toiletbowls to make plugs go 'pop' when you light it and the ubiquitous syringe fights. Especially junior nursing and technical staff seem to be - given to stuff like this. Of course it's not usually done upstairs where the patients could see (except for dropping the odd bit of dry ice into a cleaning bucket or bathtub to make smoke). Finally, if your hospitals are as underfunded as ours, a lot of second-tier functions (filing, storage, maintenance, library, catering) will be placed 'downstairs' for lack of room. Thus, almost everything could be behind the next door, up to and including the staff coffee lounge. More in the realm of urban legends, there are persistent stories of institutions Älosing' patients, especially those with psychiatric trouble or hard-to-diagnose diseases. In fact, any hospital that has a bed occupied and does not know who's in it is going to have hell to pay when accounting finds out (and they will), but it makes a cool story. An ambulatory 'eternal patient' roaming the hospital, avoiding the doctors, sneaking into the cafeteria and sleeping in empty rooms is just too cool. Blundering into a group of Black Ops could even cure him (see Life of Brian "I can Speak!") And then there is always the chance of some illicit experiments or psychiatric patients who do not belong here. During the fifties, some vocal dissidents were committed to institutions by influential goverbnment agencies. Maybe they're still there.... 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