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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: FAQ part B
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 10:46:47 +0100
Frequently Asked Questions for NERPS@********.ITRIBE.NET part B
Version 5.40 (10-12-96)

Compiled by Gurth <gurth@******.nl> based on earlier versions of this FAQ
by Robert Hayden <hayden@*******.mankato.msus.edu> and J.D. Falk
<jdfalk@************.org>.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

A. THE CURRENT NERPS PROJECT(S)
1. Neo-Anarchists' Guide to the World
2. Deadlines

B. SUBMITTING MATERIALS TO NERPS
1. Registering a Submission
1a. Author-ID#s
2. Formatting Guidelines
2a. First lines of paragraphs
2b. Decker comments
2c. Time/Date Stamp Dates
2d. Stray At Your Own Risk
3. Submission Guidelines
4. Issuing a Revokation
5. Revoking Someone Else's Submission

C. GETTING PAST LOGS
1. Using the LISTSERV 'GET' command
2. Getting past logs via FTP
3. Getting past messages via Gopher or WWW

D. COMPLETED NERPS PUBLICATIONS
1. NERPS: ShadowLore
2. NERPS: Foundations
3. NERPS: ShadowLore II
4. NERPS: Edge Runners
5. NERPS: Underworld

E. SUSPENDED NERPS PUBLICATIONS
1. NERPS: Shadows of the Mind

F. GETTING COMPLETED NERPS PUBLICATIONS
1. Via FTP
2. Via WWW

G. ADDITIONAL LIST INFORMATION
1. Related Mailing Lists
1a. ShadowRN
1b. ShadowTK and PLOT-D
2. Mailing List Advertising Policy
3. Just who are these administrators anyways?

_________________________________________________________________________
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
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A. THE CURRENT NERPS PROJECT(S)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

NERPS projects are ever-changing and seldom last for more than a few
months before being completed or incorporated into a new project. A full
discription of the current project(s) is included below. Only submissions
for the following projects will be accepted. (Don't forget to read section
B for full details on how to submit materials.)

1. Neo-Anarchists' Guide to the World

The Neo-Anarchists' Guide to the World (NAGTTW) will be a set of two
sourcebooks that follow similar lines to books like FASA's Neo-
Anarchists' Guide to North America, Native American Nations, and
California Free State. However, it focuses on those areas of the Sixth
World about which FASA has provided little or no details. Both books will
be released at the same time, one containing information for players, the
other for gamemasters.

2. Deadlines

There are is no deadline for the current project.

*************************************************************************

B. HOW TO SUBMIT MATERIALS TO NERPS
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

There are specific submission and formatting guidelines for all materials
that MUST be adhered to or you risk the chance of your creation being
rejected. While putting up with these guidelines may seem like a hinderance
and a genuine pain in the ass, there are reasons for this. In other words,
READ WHAT FOLLOWS AND USE IT! :)

1. Registering a Submission

Before submitting an article to the NERPS list for inclusion in one of the
current projects, you must register your intention of writing and
submitting the article. This registration is simply to let the list know
what it is you are planning to submit later on, so there can be discussions
about it and others planning or writing articles related to the subject you
chose can exchange ideas with you and/or make the two articles compatible.

To register your future submission, you need to send an email message to
the NERPS list with the following format:

REGISTRATION
Project name
Title of submission
Your REAL name (required for copyright purposes)
Your email address
--------
Up to twenty lines describing what it is you will be submitting


Soon after, you will receive private email to let you know that the
NERPS Project Leader <gurth@******.nl> has taken note of your
registration.

A list of registrations will periodically be posted to the list as a
reminder and you are expected to submit that material prior to the
closing deadline, if and when one is set.

NOTE: the format outlined above is not necessary for most emails sent to
the NERPS list. Only if the email contains a registration for an actual
article you are intending to write, should you use it.


1a. Author-ID#s

For past NERPS projects, a so-called Author-ID# (Author Identification
Number) was assigned to every person who registered a submission. This was
done by the editors to keep track of who had written which article. As of
17 April 1996, all previously-assigned Author-ID#s are withdrawn. No new
ones will be issued to anyone registering a submission.

Anyone who has already registered a submission is not required to do so
again -- you can simply forget all about the ID# that was assigned to you,
and you do not need to mention it in registrations or submissions anymore.


2. Formatting Guidelines

As might be expected, there are formatting requirements that must be met
prior to submission. This is to save later re-editing when the document is
assembled. Failure to use the required formatting can result in the summary
rejection of your submission.

Each submission will begin with the name of the project it is intended for,
alone on the first line.

The second line is the title of your submission.

The third line will contain your name and email address. (NOTE: for
articles with more than one author, each name and address should go on its
own line.)

Finally, the fourth line will contain eight (8) dashes, as shown in the
example below. This is, believe it or not, actually not an important part;
it was from this section that a number of informational files were
automagically created using UNIX text manipulation programs such as 'grep'.
However, this is not done anymore at the current moment, and so the dashes
are only retained because editors can be just as stupid as mere mortals at
times, and fail to notice where the header ends and the actual article
begins.

Everything after the line containing the eight dashes will be considered
the submission (although .signature files and irrelevant material will be
removed). The only exception to this is a revokation certificate.

NOTE: the format outlined above is not necessary for most emails sent to
the NERPS list. Only if the email contains the actual article you are
submitting, should you use it.


2a. First lines of paragraphs

In the actual submission, do /not/ begin each paragraph with a tab or a
number of spaces. These are annoying to the editor, who has to remove them
because he prefers to use the automatic paragraph indentation function of
his word processor.

2b. Decker comments

If your article is a piece of "game world" material set in the 2050s, you
may want to include "decker comments" made by people in the Shadowrun game
universe. These should confirm to one of the following formats, depending
on whether the dates used are up until 2057, or later:

Up to and including 2057:
The first paragraph of each comment will have five larger-than
signs, followed by a square open bracket, like so: >>>>>[
Likewise, the end of the last paragraph of the comment must have
a square close bracket followed by five smaller-than signs:
]<<<<<

The line after the last paragraph contains two dashes followed
by a space, and then the name (or alias) of the person making
the comment. Then another space, and the time/date stamp.
The time/date stamp contains the time and date the comment was
made; the time consists of a 24-hour clock, with hours, minutes,
and seconds, each separated by a colon. The date consists of the
month, the day, and the year, each separated by a dash; only use
the last two digits of the year. Between the date and the time
is a slash.
This all means we want you to use this format:

-- Joe (16:15:03/9-15-58)

and not this one:

-Joe<16:15:03/09-15-2058>

The reason for this somewhat rigid way of handling time/date
stamps is to create a uniform appearance throughout the NERPS
books.

It is possible to have certain commentators use custom time/date
stamps (such as that of the Smiling Bandit in FASA's Shadowtech
book), but do not overdo this. Only highly skilled deckers know
how to create forged time/date stamps, let alone alter them to
display another text entirely.

For examples of this type of decker comment, refer to any
Shadowrun sourcebook published until mid-1996.

2058 and later:
Start the first paragraph of the comment with a "larger than"
sign: >
Also use a "larger than" sign on the last line, which holds the
decker's name, handle, or email address. A time may be added if
you desire, but this is not mandatory, or even often done.

Refer to Portfolio Of A Dragon: Dunkelzahn's Secrets and
Shadowrun Companion: Beyond The Shadows for examples of these
posts.

Note that a single larger-than sign is easily confused for a
reply marker by most readers, therefore it is recommended you
use a different symbol for articles posted to the NERPS list;
the Project Leader will replace them when editing the book.
Suggested are: @, #, or (>).

2c. Time/Date Stamp Dates

The dates in the time/date stamps (when using the pre-2058 method of
adding comments) should preferably all be around the same time, again to
create a uniform look to the NERPS book. For example, an article supposedly
written in 2054 stands out in a book where all other articles are dated in
2057, and such a thing would be unusual in an information society like the
one portrayed in Shadowrun. Information gets old very quickly, even today.

Naturally, all this goes for the non-comment parts of your article as well.
A piece of fiction set in 2050 will stand out just as much as a comment
made in that year.

For any NERPS project, it would be best if your dates are all in the
year we live in, plus 62. This is because FASA books are almost
invariably set in the current year plus 61 (books published in 1996 are set
in 2057), but since NERPS books take a lot of time to finish, it is best to
take a "safety margin" of one year for them. If you are not sure about
which dates to use, ask about it on the list.

For the Neo-Anarchists Guide To The World, use dates from late 2057 to mid
2058.

2d. Stray At Your Own Risk

If you do not follow these guidelines, it is very likely that your
submission will not be accepted. You will be notified of this by private
email by the Project Leader <gurth@******.nl>


----- >BEGIN EXAMPLE<

UNDERWORLD
Fixers & Their Allies
Jane Average <jane@********.host>
Jack Doe <jackdoe@****.country>
--------
...etc....
...etc....
...etc....

----- >END EXAMPLE<


3. Submission Guidelines

Assuming you have the formatting correct, you then need to submit your
item. To do this, you need to post it to the discussion list for everyone
to look at (see Part A of this FAQ, section 3). Once posted, your
submission will enter a phase where everyone can comment on it.

You may also receive a private email message from the NERPS Project
Leader <gurth@******.nl> confirming that the submission was received. If
you don't get this confirmation message within 36 hours, something may be
wrong, or Gurth may have forgotten to confirm the message -- the best thing
to do is enquire (to him privately) as to what is going on.

If you wish to make changes, you can repost an updated version to the
discussion list. Revokation of previous versions is not required for
re-submissions.

NOTE: If you have written up your submission on most word
processors, especially those capable of exporting it in Microsoft
"Rich Text Format" or "Word for Windows" formats, you can send
Gurth <gurth@******.nl> that version (it must be uuencoded for
email). It will save him editing time at the end. Please be sure,
though, that you send a text version to the list for others to
see.
Feel free to contact Gurth for a list of word processors
supported; the major ones include WordPerfect and Microsoft Word
up to v6.0 for Windows (Word for Windows 95 uses this last
format as well).

Unless the submission is revoked (see parts 4 and 5 of this section), the
MOST RECENT incarnation of that submission will be ultimately entered into
the final document.

Only items posted to the discussion list will be valid for entry into the
final project.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Each submission must be sent in by itself. This means if you
have three things to send in, you must make three seperate
mailings.
Remember, though, that if your submission is only a screenful
(24 lines long) or less, it probably needs to be fleshed out or
combined with other thematically similar information.


4. Issuing a Revokation

If, during the discussion period, a particular entry is determined to be,
for some reason or other, not proper for final inclusion, the original
author can issue a revokation.

To issue a revokation, submit an entry TO THE LIST with the same
formatting as if you were submitting an item (type, title, and name+email
address), but where the text would normally appear (after the eight dashes
line), replace that with the word REVOKE. At that point, the item will no
longer appear in the final document.


----- >BEGIN EXAMPLE:

UNDERWORLD
Jane Average <jane@********.host>
--------
REVOKE

------ >END EXAMPLE:


5. Revoking Someone Else's Submission

It is possible to revoke another author's submission. This is no simple
task, though, and should be reserved only for submissions that are truly
bad or munchkinous.

To revoke another's submission, you must get no less that five (5)
others to support your revokation (making the total at least six). To issue
a revokation in this style, use the following example:


----- >BEGIN EXAMPLE<

UNDERWORLD
Fixers & Their Allies
Jane Average <--- This is the name of the original author
--------
REVOKE
name1 email1
name2 email2
name3 email3
name4 email4
name5 email5
name6 email6

----- >END EXAMPLE<


Name# and Email# are the names and addresses of the MINIMUM six people who
support that revokation. More than six people can, of course, support it.

NOTE: The individuals listed in this revokation certificate may be
verified with, so beware of fraudulent revokations.

Once the six persons have been verified as supporting that revokation, the
item will be removed. Also note that the revokation MUST be posted to the
list to be considered valid (everything is part of the public record here).

*************************************************************************

C. GETTING PAST LOGS
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

[Due to lack of information on the Project Leader's part, this section is
currently blank...]

***************************************************************************
*****

D. COMPLETED NERPS PUBLICATIONS

1. NERPS: ShadowLore

This first publication contains eighty-six pages of new races, magic,
cyberware, bioware, gadgets, contacts and rules designed to spice up any
Shadowrun game.


2. NERPS: Foundations

This second publication contains almost 100 pages of new material for your
Shadowrun world. It contains overviews of several characters, locations,
and plot ideas designed to be easily dropped in, such as NPCs and Sprawls,
or to give GMs an idea for a campaign.


3. NERPS: ShadowLore II

Following in the footsteps of the first NERPS ShadowLore, this
publication will contain spells, equipment, vehicles, and rules
modifications. It is currently being edited, and should be finished some
time. (NERPS: ShadowLore II will also contain the material written for the
NERPS: Dragons book that was being worked on in spring 1995.)


4. NERPS: Edge Runners

ShadowRN veterans might recognize the title as a net.sourcebook
originally put together by Erik Jameson <Gkoth2258@***.com>, the former
list.member.grumpy. In early 1996, it came out as a NERPS publication,
after it had been updated a bit. Edge Runners is a net.alternative to
FASA's Prime Runners sourcebook, containing powerful characters that GMs
can use as NPCs in their campaigns.


5. NERPS: Underworld

Underworld is a collection of articles designed to give players more
options than being just shadowrunners -- it focuses on the criminal
underworld, with articles about tools and tricks of the trade, playing
fixers or police officers, the Russian mafia, and more. It came out in late
1996.

***************************************************************************
*****

E. SUSPENDED NERPS PUBLICATIONS

These are the NERPS publications that got started but were never
finished, for a variety of reasons. They can, theoretically, be picked up
and completed at any time -- provided there is enough interest on the list
in doing so. However, keep in mind that some or many of the authors of the
original material may have left the NERPS list for browner pastures, so
they will not always be around to answer questions about the material they
wrote a few years earlier.

Currently, there is one NERPS publication in a statis booth:


1. NERPS: Shadows of the Mind

This book deals with psionics and their implementation in the Shadowrun
world and rules. It is largely unfinished, but copies (in plain text
format) can be found on a very small number of WWW pages. The NERPS Project
Leader also has a copy sitting on his hard drive.

*************************************************************************

F. HOW TO GET COMPLETED NERPS PUBLICATIONS

1. Via FTP

No known FTP sites hold NERPS publications at this time.

2. Via the World Wide Web

NERPS publications can be found on Paolo Marcucci's Shadowrun page,
listed in the ShadowRN FAQ. Most other Shadowrun-related WWW pages
include links to his, but the URL to the NERPS section of his page is:

http://www.interware.it/scripts/sr/show.pl?page=NERPS

***************************************************************************
*****

G. ADDITIONAL LIST INFORMATION
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

1. Related Mailing Lists

There are some other Shadowrun-related mailing lists on the Internet. Among
them are ShadowRN, ShadowTK, and PLOT-D. You can subscribe to each of these
in the same way you subscribed to the NERPS list (see part A of this FAQ),
except substitute the list name for the word "NERPS" in all cases.

1a. ShadowRN

This list is for discussing Shadowrun in general, questions about the game
and its background, and anything else related to the setting.

1b. ShadowTK and PLOT-D

ShadowTK generates "interactive fiction" in the Shadowrun universe.
Subscribers post messages "in character" to create storylines; PLOT-D
serves as a background list for ShadowTK, where storylines and characters
can be worked out behind the scenes.


2. Mailing List Advertising Policy

This policy is intended to fight mailing-list "spamming."

The Shadowrun mailing lists accept commercial advertising for payment. We
offer a fee waiver if you can show us the cancelled check for a $1,000
(U.S.) or more donation to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. One donation
per advertisement, please. If you don't wish to donate, simply post your
advertisement to the list, and the operator of the mailing lists will bill
$1,999 (U.S). The list operator will donate this amount, minus the expense
of collecting it, to EFF. Please note that the lists are distributed
automatically -- messages are generally not read or checked in any way
before they are distributed.

By the act of posting your advertisement you agree to accept
responsibility for the fee, you agree to indemnify the mailing-list
operator against any legal claims from you or others in connection with
your advertisement, and you agree to pay any legal and business expenses
incurred in collecting late payment. Our liability to you is limited to a
good-faith effort to deliver your message.

Reduced rates and/or waiver of fee are available for Shadowrun-related and
selected other topics of advertisements. You must consult the mailing-list
operator in advance of posting for any reduction or fee waiver.


3. Just who are these administrators anyways?

Gurth, 22, used to study chemical engineering but failed the first year
twice, which earned him a "binding request" to end his studies in June
1994. Since then he's been unemployed and doesn't really care about it
anyway. He spends most of his time messing around his parents' house,
occassionally taking a break to go into town for some reason or another. He
has been called "intense" but didn't quite understand what was meant by the
remark. And no, he doesn't mention his real name to anyone but his friends.
In fact, he'd like them to use it as well for a change :)

On the net, Gurth is a very active member of the ShadowRN list but
doesn't do much else. He tried a number of other mailing lists and
UseNet, but most of these didn't hold his interest for very long. He
likes the net the way it is now, and would hate to see it get changed into
a corporate- or government-run thing. His main gripe with his net access is
the phone bills he has to pay... He also maintains the world's first (but
no longer one and only) character mortuary, where dead characters from any
RPG can be put to rest. The URL is
http://huizen.dds.nl/~mortuary/mortuary.html

Roleplaying-wise, Gurth has played mainly Shadowrun for the past four
years, though with excursions into various other games, most notably AD&D,
Earthdawn, and BattleTech. He has written and edited a large number of
net.sourcebooks for Shadowrun, and has now stepped into the footsteps of
Robert Hayden and J.D. Falk, to become the third-ever NERPS editor and
maintainer of the NERPS FAQ. His frequent postings on ShadowRN have earned
him the "title" of Unofficial Shadowrun Guru, which, although meaningless,
is a source of, in a way, pride to him. It would be nice to see it
officialized, though...

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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Oh wow! Oh wow! This is really, really heavy, man!
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about FAQ part B, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.