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Message no. 1
From: hAPPY gUY <FSAJB3@******.BITNET>
Subject: Weedeaters and Big Lizards
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 00:59:13 -0900
Anyone else ever wonder why all the real epic scale bad guys in the FASA
adventures are elves(weedeaters) and dragons(lizards)? Call me a policlubber
but wouldn't it be neat to see a human antagonist who can melt city blocks
with the greatest of ease? Or an orc/troll/dwarf/incubus/megladon/xxxxx?
I have to admit I stopped buying the adventures a while back after my
Superelf Syndrome overwhelmed me, so maybe they have changed their tune.
Remember, I'm speaking only of the real powerful NPCs not just the fodder.
Message no. 2
From: Eric Christopher Trager <etrager@***.GWU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Weedeaters and Big Lizards
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 1994 14:06:58 -0500
On Mon, 31 Jan 1994, hAPPY gUY wrote:

> Anyone else ever wonder why all the real epic scale bad guys in the FASA
> adventures are elves(weedeaters) and dragons(lizards)? Call me a policlubber
> but wouldn't it be neat to see a human antagonist who can melt city blocks
> with the greatest of ease?

Ironically, the "sam" villan in Elven Fire is a human by the name of
Michael Dumont; this wired sociopath has had cosmetic alterations to make
his ears nice and pointy...

////// David Letterman-Paul Schaffer in '96!
/// ======================================
<<<<< ETrager@***.gwu.edu (general)
\\\ RPGmgr@***.gwu.edu (co-president/director)
\\\\\\ Rasputin@***.umd.edu (ftp landfill for several folks)
Message no. 3
From: Schnood <cdjworks@******.DIGEX.NET>
Subject: Re: Weedeaters and Big Lizards
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 22:51:15 -0500
>Anyone else ever wonder why all the real epic scale bad guys in the FASA
>adventures are elves(weedeaters) and dragons(lizards)? Call me a policlubber
>but wouldn't it be neat to see a human antagonist who can melt city blocks
>with the greatest of ease? Or an orc/troll/dwarf/incubus/megladon/xxxxx?
>I have to admit I stopped buying the adventures a while back after my
>e.
>Superelf Syndrome overwhelmed me, so maybe they have changed their tune.
>Remember, I'm speaking only of the real powerful NPCs not just the fodder.

Well, in quite a few of the module's I've seen, the antagonists are not
elves or dragons. One Stage Before (human), Queen Euphoria
(insects/human shaman), Universal Brotherhood (insect), both of the
adventures in NAN I and II deal with non-elven (human mage, and human
toxic shaman) people. I believe Dream Chipper deals with non-elves and
dragons, same with DNA/DOA and the module in which the characters are
hired to find a Miss Meyers (sorry, don't remember the name). In fact,
the only one I've seen in which the antagonist is an elf is Elven Fire,
and there's one with a dragon (again, don't know the name, never played
it). Oh well...

---
Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster.
Message no. 4
From: "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@*******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Weedeaters and Big Lizards
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 22:17:51 -0600
NOTE: No Evil Leader Orcs, Trolls or Dwarves.

Racist I tell ya. evil racism. *waves a political banner in the air and
forms a human chain and chants*

____ Robert A. Hayden <=> hayden@*******.mankato.msus.edu
\ /__ -=-=-=-=- <=> -=-=-=-=-
\/ / Finger for Geek Code Info <=> In the United States, they
\/ Finger for PGP 2.3a Public Key <=> first came for us in Colorado...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
(GEEK CODE 1.0.1) GAT d- -p+(---) c++(++++) l++ u++ e+/* m++(*)@ s-/++
n-(---) h+(*) f+ g+ w++ t++ r++ y+(*)
Message no. 5
From: The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Weedeaters and Big Lizards
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 1994 22:44:42 -0600
>NOTE: No Evil Leader Orcs, Trolls or Dwarves.

He wasn't a major villain but he was the visible leader of half the
opposition: Junior from Dreamchipper.

Other than that, I can't think of many others, except perhaps the Troll
Despot from one of the Harlequin adventures. But then, I have very, very
rarely run published adventures.

My answer to all of you silly people is to write up your own adventure
with your favorite bad guy racial type, or transmogrify the race of the
main villain in your favorite published adventure. Many times the specific
race doesn't matter.

As an aside, one adventure idea I have yet to implement involves the
PCs getting involved in a Metahuman Rights Group schism, where the Orks
and Trolls are perhaps vying for control of the party and no one's sure who
to trust. . .an easy model of the situation would be of the differences
between the followers of Malcolm X and the followers of ML King, or the
current fuss over Farrakhan's man who was anti-semitic, anti-Catholic and
anti-gay in some choice remarks he recently made. Project that 60 years
ahead, change it from skin color to metatype, and you have a shadowrun
environment.

>Racist I tell ya. evil racism. *waves a political banner in the air and
>forms a human chain and chants*

BTW, maybe FASA thinks that the other races are good, since thyey never do
anything wrong. :)
Message no. 6
From: Loki <jek5313@******.TAMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Weedeaters and Big Lizards
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 09:20:47 -0600
Hayden Spake:
>
> NOTE: No Evil Leader Orcs, Trolls or Dwarves.
> Racist I tell ya. evil racism. *waves a political banner in the air and
> forms a human chain and chants*

Maybe you need to play in my campaign, Robby. I have a liberal (no pun
intended) sprinkling of metas through all occupations. Makes for a more
"interesting" play.


--

Dark Thought Publications & Doom Technologies, Inc.
>>> Working on solutions best left in the dark.
Message no. 7
From: Michael Garoni <Michael_Garoni@****.INTERSOLV.COM>
Subject: Re[2]: Weedeaters and Big Lizards
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 1994 08:09:00 LCL
Well, in quite a few of the module's I've seen, the antagonists are not
elves or dragons. One Stage Before (human), Queen Euphoria
(insects/human shaman), Universal Brotherhood (insect), both of the
adventures in NAN I and II deal with non-elven (human mage, and human
toxic shaman) people. I believe Dream Chipper deals with non-elves and
dragons, same with DNA/DOA and the module in which the characters are
hired to find a Miss Meyers (sorry, don't remember the name). In fact,
the only one I've seen in which the antagonist is an elf is Elven Fire,
and there's one with a dragon (again, don't know the name, never played
it). Oh well...

---
Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster.

The first module is "Ivy and Chrome" and the second "Dragon Hunt".
Also,
"Bottled Demon" deals with dandylion eaters and wiz worms.

I must say that I agree with your quote.

Trust in the force

-Obi Wan
Message no. 8
From: Misty's Witch Brigade! <MHILLIARD@******.BITNET>
Subject: Re: Weedeaters and Big Lizards
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 18:01:07 -0500
How about Dwarves founding a kingdom under the Rockies? I'd buy a sourcebook
for that.

=)
Phelan

Further Reading

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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.

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