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Message no. 1
From: P Ward <P.Ward@**.CF.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Harlequin's Back SPOILER
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 1995 13:48:28 BST
ACtually, my players felt fairly good that he was calling upon them when
they started the run, and the feeling got better when they saw him get
his head kciked uin by those horrors on the bridge, not too mention
when they found him tied up and tortured :-) especially after they
had a fairly easy time defeating those same horrors as a group :-)






Now Lancelot.... he _pissed_ them off, they were ready to shoot him
by the end of that run (yes, I know who he is :-) )

Phil (Renegade)
Message no. 2
From: Cugel the Clever <cugel@**.NET>
Subject: Re: Harlequin's Back SPOILER
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 1995 00:55:44 +01.0
On 8 Aug 95 at 13:48, P Ward wrote:

> ACtually, my players felt fairly good that he was calling upon them
> when they started the run, and the feeling got better when they saw
> him get his head kciked uin by those horrors on the bridge, not too
> mention when they found him tied up and tortured :-) especially
> after they had a fairly easy time defeating those same horrors as a
> group :-)

Heh, I already know my players gonna kill him when they find him tied
up, and I might be tempted to just let them. God, how I hate those
"I'm-so-powerfull-I-don't-need-stats-:P-figures", even as a GM.

> Now Lancelot.... he _pissed_ them off, they were ready to shoot him
> by the end of that run (yes, I know who he is :-) )

Mine beat him up quite good, serves him right the whimpering old
bugger :).
Did any male-PC from you try to walk on the Isle, BTW? One of mine
tried, he's playing this really macho figure, so he went like
"whatever a woman can, I can do also". He managed to walk around for
seven rounds, and just as he was saying "see that's not that
difficult" Kazahaing, failed :)

Martin Steffens (Cugel@**.net / bdi05626@***.rhij.nl)
Geek Code v3.0:
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Message no. 3
From: P Ward <P.Ward@**.CF.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Harlequin's Back SPOILER
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 1995 14:08:30 BST
Martin steffens :-
> Mine beat him up quite good, serves him right the whimpering old
> bugger :).

Mine didn't beat him up, but they wre planning on retreating to the
tree-line and dropping him guvmint style with a barret, after all
when a man with a barret sees a man with a sword a mile away, the
man with the barret will always win :-)

> Did any male-PC from you try to walk on the Isle, BTW?
Funnily enough, no they didn't despite their normal swaggering attitude?
It quite surprised me that none of them wnt for it... although the
stupidest PC (the retarded trol, every party should have one) was
_really_curious to see what the boat-man had under his hood
"Gee Olly, can I loke at his face, can I? Can I? "

Phil (Renegade)

Ps. Kaza-what?
Message no. 4
From: Alex van der Kleut <sommers@*****.UMICH.EDU>
Subject: Re: Harlequin's Back SPOILER
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 1995 12:32:17 -0400
> Mine didn't beat him up, but they wre planning on retreating to the
> tree-line and dropping him guvmint style with a barret, after all
> when a man with a barret sees a man with a sword a mile away, the
> man with the barret will always win :-)
>
Unless of course that man is 10000 years old, and knows a special spell
that transports him instantly approx. 1.5 meters behind said man with
Barret. Then man with Barret has a problem:)
Message no. 5
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: Harlequin's Back SPOILER
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 11:34:27 +0200
>> Did any male-PC from you try to walk on the Isle, BTW?

Our sammie tried it, the player saying "I thought it meant I could step onto
it but could never leave" after his char shattered.

>It quite surprised me that none of them wnt for it... although the
>stupidest PC (the retarded trol, every party should have one) was
>_really_curious to see what the boat-man had under his hood
> "Gee Olly, can I loke at his face, can I? Can I? "

They nearly tried to, but didn't _quite_ do it, despite my tries to get them
to do it :( :)


Gurth@******.nl - Gurth@***.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
I'll live through this even if it kills me
GC3.0: GAT/! dpu s:- !a>? C+(++) U P L E? W(++) N K- w+ O V? PS+ PE Y PGP-
t(+) 5 X R+++>$ tv+(++) b+@ DI? D+ G++ e h! !r(--) y? Unofficial Shadowrun
Guru :)
Message no. 6
From: Mark Steedman <RSMS@******.EEE.RGU.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Harlequin's Back SPOILER
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 16:00:05 GMT
> From: Cugel the Clever <cugel@**.NET>

> On 8 Aug 95 at 13:48, P Ward wrote:
>
> > ACtually, my players felt fairly good that he was calling upon them
> > when they started the run, and the feeling got better when they saw
> > him get his head kciked uin by those horrors on the bridge, not too
> > mention when they found him tied up and tortured :-) especially
> > after they had a fairly easy time defeating those same horrors as a
> > group :-)
>
What some folks seem to have been forgetting is that whle the PC's
were belting about the metaplanes Harlequin was actually very busy.
Fighting a lot, lot more beastiexs than the players ever get to see,
that final pile were simply what was left after he finally went down.

> Heh, I already know my players gonna kill him when they find him
> tied
> up, and I might be tempted to just let them. God, how I hate those
> "I'm-so-powerfull-I-don't-need-stats-:P-figures", even as a GM.
>
Realistically you should, his defences are down and hes in no fit
state to resist, ok thats not very ncie of them but.
Note that harlequin being 'immune to PC's' simply saves a very silly
Munchinkious list of how to send 100's points of karma on quickened
and anchored defensive spells that would have the same effect. It
also save FASA providing very overpowered conversions of ED stuff he
has access to.

>
> Martin Steffens (Cugel@**.net / bdi05626@***.rhij.nl)
Mark
Message no. 7
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Harlequin's Back spoiler!
Date: Sun, 7 Jul 1996 11:20:43 +0100
Paolo Falco said on 11:38/ 6 Jul 96...

> Could someone please tell me what H's B is about? I would also
> like some plot/length things. Since this is probably spoiler,
> you could tell me by private mail or tell me where I can find a
> review.

HB is one huge big astral quest with a Quest Rating of 15 or so in which
the players get involved without knowing it in advance. They just wake up
in the back of a van driven by H and Jane Foster on some metaplane, and
from there they get sent to a number of places to collect stuff that will
prevent "the Enemy" from building a bridge across the chasm that
separates their world from ours.

Each of the places is different, but there is a common theme: the players
have to find something that is somehow symbolic for what they are trying
to do, and agents of the Enemy are trying to stop them. Place 1 is a sort
of Mad Max-without-the-cars, Place 2 is cowboys-with-magic-and-dinosaurs,
etc. The players fall into a different realitie with each new Place they
visit.

And at the end is one HUGE Karma reward, something like 100 points if they
did everything right...

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Body And Soul?
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Character Mortuary: http://huizen.dds.nl/~mortuary/mortuary.html <-

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Message no. 8
From: "Paolo Falco - Seen a Fox?" <Falco@****.it>
Subject: Re: Harlequin's Back spoiler!
Date: Sun, 7 Jul 1996 16:07:29 +0200
On 7 Jul 96, Gurth wrote:

> HB is [snip spoiler]

Sounds incredibly artificious... I think me players would start
laughing about around page 3 :) Waking up in the astral *in a
van* that's incredibly un-poetic! :)

> Each of the places is different, but there is a common theme
> [snip description of places]

Geez... And what is the last, the mutant cannibal zombie cajuns
from outer space? :)

> And at the end is one HUGE Karma reward, something like 100
> points if they did everything right...

And what is a serious GM supposed to do when his PCs got 100
karma each in one huge shot: start the campaign all over again?
:) I guess I won't buy this adventure... I was already in doubt,
but this cleared all... Is it at least value for money? Like it
costs 3.99 $ and is 120 pages long, I mean, so you can rip the
NPCs from the pages or cannibalize the maps :)

Sorry to everyone who played and enjoyed HB, but I guess that if
it is just only like Gurth described it, it is the most
ludicrous thing after "Macho Women With Guns" (and "Renegade Nuns
On Wheels") :)

(Ducks for cover)

------------------------------------------------------------------
Paolo Falco | "I closed my shop and you brought only ONE
Ironbound Section | ball?" (from "Clerks" - and My Experience)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Skater's Site And Generally Paradoxal Poetry Page With Lemmings at
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/2717
------------------------------------------------------------------
Message no. 9
From: Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net>
Subject: Re: Harlequin's Back spoiler!
Date: Tue, 9 Jul 1996 21:39:24 -0400 (EDT)
At 04:07 PM 7/7/96 +0200, Paolo wrote:
>On 7 Jul 96, Gurth wrote:





SPOILERS






>> HB is [snip spoiler]

>Sounds incredibly artificious... I think me players would start
>laughing about around page 3 :) Waking up in the astral *in a
>van* that's incredibly un-poetic! :)

It's better than how he described it.

>> Each of the places is different, but there is a common theme
>> [snip description of places]
>
>Geez... And what is the last, the mutant cannibal zombie cajuns
>from outer space? :)

I dunno. I liked the "EarthDawn 2050", "CowPunk", and "Jules
Verne Punk"
sections myself.

>> And at the end is one HUGE Karma reward, something like 100
>> points if they did everything right...
>
>And what is a serious GM supposed to do when his PCs got 100
>karma each in one huge shot: start the campaign all over again?
>:) I guess I won't buy this adventure... I was already in doubt,
>but this cleared all... Is it at least value for money? Like it
>costs 3.99 $ and is 120 pages long, I mean, so you can rip the
>NPCs from the pages or cannibalize the maps :)

Actually, it isn't a problem, as (1) you don't really get it in one lump
sum or (2) the character doesn't get it if done right. Naturally, this is
an adventure for experienced characters; In fact, I'm going to use it to
retire some that have been in play since the game first came out.


--
"I remember my first sexual encounter because I kept the recipe."
- Jeff Dahmer

Further Reading

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