| From: | Assistant Fearless Leader <fro@****.MMLC.NWU.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | ShadowRN Frequently Asked Questions (Part II) |
| Date: | Fri, 14 Mar 1997 05:19:25 -0600 |
Last modified March 14th 1997
Version 1.2a
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List Policies & Related Resources
New in version 1.2a:
Minor URL changes.
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1. MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE LIST
1. A Disclaimer
2. Off-topic postings and policies related to
- Moved to Part III
3. Why should I read this entire FAQ?
4. Replying to previous messages
5. About Flaming
6. Mailing List Advertising Policy
2. HOW TO GET PAST LOGS AND OTHER SHADOWRUN INFORMATION
1. FTP, Gopher, and WWW sites for Shadowrun materials
3. SHADOWRUN RELATED MAILING LISTS, NEWSGROUPS AND OTHER FORUMS
1. ShadowTK
2. PLOT-D
3. NERPS
4. EARTHDAWN
5. ALT.CYBERPUNK.*
6. REC.GAMES.FRP.CYBER
7. ALT.MAGICK
8. Shadowrun MUSH
9. Shadowrun on IRC
10. FASA Email Addresses
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MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE LIST
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A Disclaimer
By nature of the topic of this list (cyberpunk fiction and
role-playing), it should be warned that discussions often
contain violent, sexual or adult themes, as well as anarchistic
political discussions. The responsibility (blame?) for each
posting falls entirely into the hands of the original poster.
The listowners, postmaster, and the iTribe administration
assume no liability for the contents of postings.
----------------------------------------
Off-topic postings and policies related to
This section has been moved to part 3 of the ShadowRN FAQ,
where it has been greatly expanded on. Also now includes some
questions and answers that have been beaten to death.
----------------------------------------
Why should I read this entire FAQ?
Well, if you don't (and it's pretty obvious that you are, at
least in part), chances are you'll end up posting a question to
the list which has already been answered so many times that it
became classified as a Frequently Asked Question, and has been
answered here in this FAQ. This will cause a number of people
to respond with answers such as "Read the FAQ," "It's in the
FAQ," and even "What kind of a moron doesn't read the FAQ?"
It may even spark a conversation about exactly what kind of
moron doesn't read the FAQ. Legend tells us of other,
long-dead mailing lists, in which this topic became such a
point of deliberation as to totally drive out any discussion
related to the original purpose of the mailing list, eventually
taking up so much bandwidth that hundreds of systems worldwide
crashed from the influx of mail.
Also, it makes you look like a butthead.
----------------------------------------
Replying to previous messages
(adapted from a Frequently Reposted Message by Doctor Doom)
When one seeks to juxtapose one's own views with an earlier
message, i.e. reply to an anterior posting, one should:
1. Facilitate differentiation between original and cited
material by denoting text from the former correspondence
with initial line characters (">" and "]" being
typical),
rather than simply append one's own material at the end.
2. Quote, or cite, only those lines pertinent to your reply
or commentary, that is to say, avoid repeating the entire
message. With over 200 messages some days coming through
ShadowRN, this is extremely important.
3. Quote the earlier posting previous to insertion of one's
own script, RATHER than including the preceding post at
the end of your message. Hence, observers may see what
instigated one's reaction, and following that,
specifically what one's reaction or reply actually was.
In line with this is the popular procedure that
"intermingles" the respective texts, by which one replies
to specific lines of text individually, followed by
another citation, followed by more response material, and
so forth.
4. Indicate the prior posting's authorship by identifying
said message's originator at the beginning of the earlier
material, and not by the inclusion of the (typically)
multiple-line signature file.
I only mention this in interests of the greater good and due to
the fact that others have made similar complaints. It is poor
Net etiquette for those who choose to plow through the volume
of mail this list produces and to have to contend with such
obviously unnecessary verbiage -- especially those members who
must actually PAY for electronic mail service.
----------------------------------------
About Flaming
The New Hacker's Dictionary defines the Flame as:
1. vi. To post an email message intended to insult and
provoke.
2. vi. To speak incessantly and/or rabidly on some
relatively uninteresting subject or with a patently
ridiculous attitude.
3. vt. Either of senses 1 or 2, directed with hostility
at a particular person or people.
4. n. An instance of flaming. When a discussion
degenerates into useless controversy, one might tell
the participants "Now you're just flaming" or "Stop
all that flamage!" to try to get them to cool down
(so to speak).
Flaming is highly discouraged on the ShadowRN list, because in
the end it only wastes everyone's time, bandwidth and quota,
and seldom if ever leads to any resolution of problems. If a
discussion reaches the point where people are calling everyone
names or insulting, a warning will be issued from the listowner
saying something along the lines of "take it to email". If the
flamers continue to flood the list with their hate-mail, they
will be deleted from the list.
One of the other problems is that often someone "insults"
someone in a satirical way. This is something that happens
quite often in the real world, but the real world has the
benefit of body-language and tone-of-voice to show that it is
only polite joking. Cyberspace doesn't have that feature.
In order to make sure that your humorous flame isn't taken
seriously, make sure you include a smiley or some other
indication to show that you are only joking.
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Mailing List Advertising Policy
The Shadowrun mailing lists accept commercial advertising for
payment. We offer a fee waiver if you can show us the canceled
check for a $1000 (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 $1999
(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.
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HOW TO GET PAST LOGS AND OTHER INFORMATION
Logs can be accessed via FTP and the WWW.
FTP procedure would be to FTP to 'listproc.itribe.net', and in
the directory /pub/listproc/ there is oodles of logs for all
the mailing lists, dating back to the HEARN days of ShadowRN.
A treasure trove of information, and an interesting read,
provided you have time.
To access the logs via WWW, you can follow the links at
http://www.itribe.net/~mark, and there is a web interface for
viewing past logs.
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FTP, Gopher, and WWW sites for Shadowrun materials
The following sites contain Shadowrun-related information. For
brevity's sake, I didn't include every Shadowrun related site
here. You can find links to most if not all of them at Paolo's
site AKA The Shadowrun Archive.
--------------------
Name: The Negative Space
Address: http://nspace.cts.com/
Contact: Jerry Stratton <nspace@***.com>
Info Updated: Oct 19, 1996
Notes:
Currently includes space for AD&D, Shadowrun, and
Brand X (an original superhero role-playing game).
This is the distribution point for the
_Neo-Anarchists Guide to Everything Else_ and NERPS,
the net.books for Shadowrun players. Also contains
archives of ShadowTalk in .ZIP format.
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Name: Woodelf's RPG Index
URL: http://dax.cs.wisc.edu/~woodelf/RPG/RPG.html#index
Info Updated: Oct 19, 1996
Notes:
A truly amazing list, this collection includes just
about every RPG-related resource on the World Wide
Web, in Gopherspace, or available via FTP. Some of
the information is outdated however.
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Name: The Jayhawk series archive sites
Address: ftp.white.toronto.edu
ftp.cs.pdx.edu
Info Updated: Oct 19, 1996
Notes: Mary Kuhner's <mkkuhner@********.washington.edu>
Jayhawk series of stories (high quality Shadowrun
writeups) are available in several archive sites.
Mary has offered to mail the stories if you can't
get to one of the servers.
Site1: ftp.white.toronto.edu
File: /pub/frp/Shadowrun/jayhawk
Comment: Fairly good speed on this site. Jayhawk was one large
file.
Site2: potemkin.cs.pdx.edu [ftp.cs.pdx.edu]
Directory: /pub/frp/stories/jayhawk
/pub/frp/Shadowrun/
Comment: Slower site. The Jayhawk series was available
as many separate files or one RTF/gzipped file.
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The following is a list of World Wide Web sites maintained by
various listmembers. All contain information related to
Shadowrun and/or the mailing list(s), and most contain links to
each other.
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Address: http://www.interware.it/users/paolo/sr2/index.htm
Contact: Paolo Marcucci <paolo@*********.it>
Info Updated: Oct 19, 1996
Notes: This is the most complete site for Shadowrun-related
material, bar none.
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Address: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html#shadowrun
Contact: Gurth <gurth@******.nl>
Info Updated: Oct 19, 1996
Notes: Home of the Plastic Warriors books among other things.
--------------------
Address: http://www.icis.qut.edu.au/~chrisr
Contact: Chris Ryan <chrisr@****.qut.edu.au>
Info Updated: 02-06-1995
Notes: Mostly contains Earthdawn information, including the
FAQ for the Earthdawn mailing list (see below) and
some info on tie-ins between Earthdawn and
Shadowrun.
--------------------
Address: http://shadowrun.home.ml.org
Contact: Adam J <fro@***.ab.ca>
Info Updated: 03-14-1997
Notes: Info on The Shadowrun Supplemental. Also contains
the ShadowRN and NERPS FAQ's, among other stuff.
Due to move to a real home soon.
Address: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1503
Contact: Lady Jestyr <jestyr@*******.dialix.com.au
Info Updated: 03-14-1997
Notes: The Shadowrun Webring's main site.
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SHADOWRUN RELATED MAILING LISTS,
NEWSGROUPS, AND OTHER ONLINE HANGOUTS
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ShadowTK (SHADOWTK@***tproc.iTribe.net)
Shadowtalk is an interactive fiction mailing list based on
Shadowrun. Members of the list post as characters in genre,
and by responding to each other's posts "in character", stories
are developed. These stories may then be used by players and
GMs alike as a basis for contacts, NPCs, and adventure plots in
their own campaigns.
There is a small companion ShadowTK FAQ that is posted to
ShadowRN once a month. A copy of the complete FAQ can also be
requested from Mark Imbracio <mark@******.net>. It contains
full information on how to subscribe as well as information on
posting formats and periodic supplemental distributions of
information.
PLOT-D (PLOT-D@***tproc.iTribe.net)
PLOT-D is a supplemental discussion list for ShadowTalk. The
purpose of PLOT-D is to discuss (as the name obviously implies)
plotlines. It also handles discussion of administrative issues
in order to not clog SHADOWTK or SHADOWRN with only remotely
related issues.
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NERPS (NERPS@***tproc.iTribe.net)
NERPS (Net Enhancements for Role Playing Shadowrun) is a
mailing list that serves as a committee base for a group of
individuals spending time organizing and writing up a series of
net.shadowrun manuals. These manuals contain everything from
new races and spells to new technology and alternate magic
systems.
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EARTHDAWN
FASA's fantasy RPG, Earthdawn, has its own mailing list. This
list covers all aspects of Earthdawn (rules, setting,
campaigns, etc) plus the crossovers to Shadowrun.
To subscribe to the list, send the following message to
majordomo@***ts.iquest.com
subscribe earthdawn
List Owner: Chris Ryan <chrisr@****.qut.edu.au>
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ALT.CYBERPUNK.*
On Usenet, there are a series of cyberpunk-related newsgroups.
These groups have little to do with Shadowrun, per se, but they
do have discussions of the cyberpunk genre of fiction and its
implications on current and future society.
alt.cyberpunk
This is a general group for discussion cyberpunkish topics.
May range from cinema to politics to tends in philosophical
thinkings, although is mainly full of spam and kids who
can't spend 4 hours to read Neuromancer for a school
project, and want a plot synopsis. A shame.
alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo
This group is devoted to the writing of cyberpunk fiction.
Several stories are posted periodic in installment fashion
and critiques are welcome.
alt.cyberpunk.movement
This newsgroup discusses the societal impact of the
cyberpunk movement.
alt.cyberpunk.tech
This group is devoted to discussions of new technologies
that the birth of a cyber age will bring about.
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REC.GAMES.FRP.CYBER
Rec.games.frp.cyber is a Usenet newsgroup set aside for
discussion of the cyberpunk genre of role-playing games.
Discussions in this group include not only Shadowrun, but also
CyberSpace, CyberPunk 2020, GURPS Cyberpunk, and many others.
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ALT.MAGICK
This Usenet newsgroup, which may not be carried at all sites,
is for the discussion of magic/magick in "real life," in modern
times. Alt.magick is not specifically for role-playing
information, but could shed some light on what FASA would
consider the more esoteric aspects of magical theory.
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Shadowrun MUSH
There is a Shadowrun-Themed MUSH set up. The address is
shadowrun.dnaco.net port 4201, and currently chargen is being
re-coded, so the MUSH is not open to new characters. A second
mush at detroit.dnaco.net (?) has also been started.
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Shadowrun on IRC
Before he was the Assistant Fearless Leader of ShadowRN, Fro
registered a Shadowrun channel on Undernet, called, strangely,
#Shadowrun. Its kind of a sleeper channel, its either empty or
full, but occasionally the ops strike up a game and its
generally a friendly and helpful place. Some of the other ops
besides Fro are: Skye, Dodger, Krilion, Karybdis, Night,
Manawar, DocRaven....ok, so the channel has too many ops. It
can be reached at any Undernet server. 'Us.Undernet.Org' will
toss you on a random American server, although I recommend
picking a different server, one closer to you.
'Chicago.il.us.undernet.org' is usually fairly good, but that
depends on where on the globe you are. If you need more info
email Fro <fro@***.ab.ca> Boy, his name sure is popping up alot
in this FAQ, eh?
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FASA Email Addresses
The following email addresses have been reported to
eventually end up before the eyes of somebody associated
intimately with FASA:
FasaMike@***.com
Mike Mulvihill, Shadowrun Line Developer
FasaInfo@***.com
General FASA Information
Fasaamna@***.com
Convention and Promotional support.
talonmail@***.com
Steve Kenson
Freelancer. Not a full time FASA employee :)
FASA can also be reached on the World Wide web at
Http://www.fasa.com
Although by having their email addresses public these people
open themselves up to alot of mail, we ask that you respect
them and keep the emails to a minimum. I have found both Mike
and Steve to be very prompt and polite in answering email and
any questions I have had. However, please try other resources,
like the ShadowRN list and rec.games.frp.cyber before mailing
any of them, most of all Mike. Because if Mike answers email
all day, he can't make a game, can he? Mike is now on the
ShadowRN list, and answers questions there. Welcome aboard :)
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This document is Copyright (c) 1997 by Robert A. Hayden, J.D. Falk,
Adam Jury, and Mark Imbriaco all rights reserved. Permission is
granted for it to be reproduced electronically on any system
connected to the various networks which make up the Internet,
USENET, and FidoNet so long as it is reproduced in its entirety
(either in two parts as here, or combined), unedited, and with this
copyright notice intact.
