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blakes7-d Digest Volume 99 : Issue 47
Today's Topics:
Re: [B7L] Redemption
Re: [B7L] Fan Fiction
Re: [B7L] Telepaths and psychic menances in B7 and SF
Re: [B7L] Finally Finished Afterlife
Re: [B7L] More B7 stats
Re: [B7L] More B7 stats
[B7L] Filks
[B7L] fanzines
Re: [B7L] Finally Finished Afterlife
RE: [B7L] Telepaths and psychic menances in B7 and SF
Re: [B7L] More B7 stats
Re: [B7L] Telepaths and psychic menances in B7 and SF
[B7L] Re:Just to say Hi!!
Re: [B7L] More B7 stats
Fwd: RE: [B7L] Telepaths and psychic menances in B7 and SF
Re: [B7L] B7 RPG and sundry
Re: [B7L] Telepaths and psychic menances in B7 and SF
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 18:53:42 +0100 (BST)
From: Judith Proctor <Judith@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
To: Lysator List <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Redemption
Message-ID: <Marcel-1.46-0129175342-0b0Rr9i@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
On Fri 29 Jan, Penny Dreadful wrote:
> Judith said:
>
> >So far, I think we have seven
> >teddy bears and a sheep registered!
>
> ...and *that*, friends, is what *I* call a Good Time.
Steve! Put that sheep down! At Once!
Judith
PS. because we all know what Steve does to poor innnocent teddy bears...
--
http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7
Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention
26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent
http://www.smof.com/redemption/
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 23:13:39 +0100 (BST)
From: Judith Proctor <Judith@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
To: Lysator List <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Fan Fiction
Message-ID: <Marcel-1.46-0129221339-bc8Rr9i@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
On Fri 29 Jan, Peter Horrocks wrote:
> Hi ! I'm new to the Net and the list! I'm Marion and live in Shropshire.
> I've been a B7 Fan for 21 years, and watch the B7 videos rather a lot. For
> me, they a re a cure-all for everything -take 2 episodes and a cup of tea...
> (allthough how this works with Neil's description of B7 as containing "such a
> level of cynicism, futility and moral ambiguity, not to mention violence" is
> interesting - there are other things as well - rebellion for a start!)
Welcome to the list. Hop you have as much fun here as I do.
>But I haven't read any fan fiction yet. Don't know where to start.
That's easily cured <grin>.
4 easy options.
1. There's some on the web (though only a tiny fraction of what is on paper).
There's links to some of it from my web page.
2. Come to Redemption - see http://www.smof.com/redemption/ - for details, and
spend ages in the zine library.
3. Buy a zine from me - see my web page for details or look at my advert in
Orac's Oddments in Horizon (you'll only find the genzines there as I don't
advertise slash in Horizon. The term genzine means there's no explicit sex, and
almost certainly no homosexual relationships, even implied, between crew
members)
4. Buy one of Horizon's zines.
> What is Slash? Should I buy it or avoid it?
Slash is homosexual erotica. It typically features an explicit sexual
relationship between Avon/Blake, Avon/Vila or Avon/Tarrant.
Some people have religious objections to slash, some simply don't find the idea
appaling, and others think it's wonderful.
I happen to think it's wonderful, but it is very much a matter of taste. It's
worth noting that slash zines vary a lot in style. Some don't go much beyond
holding hands, some have very heavy sex scenes indeed. If you're considering
buying a slash zine, ask for advice before getting your first one. Some people
want to stick with the gentler stuff, but I do recall one fan whose
instant reaction was 'I can get that??! Gimme!'
Slash tends to get discussed quite a bit on Space City, the partner list to this
one, although come to think of it, we've been amazingly clean-minded over there
recently!
> Is the fiction that has appeared in recent Horizon issues typical? I would
> appreciate some guidance here.
The fiction in the Horizon newsletter is not very tupical. It's designed to
provide background material for Alan's tapes, and it does that pretty well.
Most fan fic concentrates more on the emotional relationships between the
characters. This holds true even when sex is not part of a story - the reason
we are interested in these characters is because of the way they relate to one
another, their arguments, agreements, misunderstandings, beliefs, etc.
> Judith mentions something strange but interesting called "Renaissance",
> involving a chap I like, called Machiavelli. Don't believe all that is said
> about him, Neil, read his book "The Prince" and make your own mind up.
Renaissance is waiting for a. me to feel fit enough to drive to the copy shop
and b. a title on the cover art for 'An Instinct for Murder' because I want to
copy them both at the same time and save myself the extra trip.
If all goes well, I'll be printing the middle of next week as I'm told the
revised cover art should reach me by then.
Judith
--
http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7
Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention
26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent
HTTP://WWW.SMOF.COM/REDEMPTION/
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 08:15:49 -0000
From: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Telepaths and psychic menances in B7 and SF
Message-ID: <000401be4c41$51f134e0$811bac3e@default>
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'grim' wrote:
>Is it just me or is it usually the telepathically aware character that
>gets steamrolled by the psychic menace of the week? And shouldn't it
>maybe be the other way around, that the telepathically-aware should be
>able to resist a tactic like that better?
I seem to recall this one being thrashed out in the Horizon Letterzine some
years back. I think the general consensus is that a telepath, being
psionically imbued, is more vulnerable to psionic attack (analogy - a
computer plugged into the net can be hacked, whereas one that isn't can't
be).
Being telepathic, Cally is thus more likely to be noticed by the current
pyschic menace, and being 'tuned in' to the telepathic spectrum (whatever
that may be) renders her mind vulnerable to attack. In theory, she ought to
be able to put up some resistance, but if we suppose that doing so is an
active rather than a passive process, she isn't going to put up a fight
until she's actually attacked, by which time (in the cases that featured in
the series, at any rate) it's too late - they're either too sudden or too
overwhelming (or both) for her to resist.
Mind you, it would have made a nice change if she'd been able to go up to
Blake and say, "Well, the aliens are a threat to us, but I've managed to
take control of their minds..."
That's my take on the matter, anyway
Neil
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 08:05:46 -0000
From: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Finally Finished Afterlife
Message-ID: <000301be4c41$515283e0$811bac3e@default>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
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Re Reuben's request:
A lot depends on what you're looking for. Fanfic tends to spin off at a
tangent to the series, reflecting the authors' favourite themes and
characters (not necessarily those that were most prominent in the series).
A few suggestions:
Machiavelli Factor (Lillian Shepherd), available from Judith Proctor - very
well-plotted space opera with combination of action and character angst,
post-Terminal but with Cally still alive.
The Epic (Catherine Knowles, available from Horizon) - rather Star Warsy
space opera/fantasy, more so than the above with more of plot/action slant.
Nova (Judith Proctor, available from her or Horizon) - somewhat more sedate
than the above two, post-Gauda Prime with heavy Avon/Servalan slant, also
plenty of Vila.
Last Stand at the Edge of the World (Anne Wortham/Leah Rosenthal, presumably
still available from Ashton Press) - another PGP, lots of Avon/Vila angst
with fair sprinkling of action.
If you want to try anthology zines with short to medium length stories, the
Horizon series (there's about 20 of them in print now) have some excellent
stuff scattered among their pages (along with some less-than-excellent) and
they're a good economy buy. Horizon-2 is crap but all the rest contain at
least one good story. Down and Unsafe (available from Horizon, amongst
others) is reliable for quality and compares well pricewise. Judith's gen
anthologies (Star One to Three) are all above par. For an emphasis on the
female characters, try Deadlier Than The Male. _The_ anthology series has
got to be Gambit - pricey, but each issue is huge so there's bound to be
something that appeals (some Gambit stories are among the best I've read).
Oh, and there's also a thing called Stadler Link but you don't want to worry
about that, and I've not got that many copies left anyway...
Neil
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 10:45:04 +0000
From: Russ Massey <russ@wriding.demon.co.uk>
To: Neil Faulkner <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
Cc: lysator <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] More B7 stats
Message-ID: <wY3YXDAwKus2Ewms@wriding.demon.co.uk>
In message <001e01be4ba6$55ff4680$bb18ac3e@default>, Neil
Faulkner <N.Faulkner@tesco.net> writes
>
>Calle wrote:
>
>>And if we can agree on the stats :-) At the moment, I feel that Russ
>>has given almost all of them too high attributes.
>
>
>Yup, I noticed too that the lowest attribute any of them got was an average
>10. I'd have given Cally a Strength of 9 or maybe even 8. I also notice
>that Cally and Servalan both top 200 points while the male characters Russ
>has cited so far are in the mid-100s. But then his biases are skewed in
>much the same direction as mine in some regards:)
>
But the extra points are not due to any particular bias on my part -
honest! Cally's telepathy costs 73 points due to the interstellar range
seen in Children of Auron. Take that away and she's a very reasonable
140 points. Similarly, Servalan is so expensive because she's Supreme
Commander of the Federation. Military rank costs 40, her status
another 25, legal immunity 10, security clearance 10. Take those away
and she's 129 points. The most expensive character from my first draft
was actually Gan! I'd given him strength 19, on the assumption that as
the archetypal brick (sorry - technical term from Champions RPG
creeping in) there was not likely to be any humans of greater strength
knocking around. It just seemed odd that his points were greater than
anyone else's, but it certainly would have allowed him to knock out
two guards by smashing their heads together. Vila originally was the
cheapest until I toned down his disadvantages.
>I said around Xmas time I was thinking of dusting off my own system, and the
>bad news is I have done so. Here's 'my' Cally, designed more or less within
>the limitations of the character design rules though a bit more liberal with
>the skills.
>
>Attributes are rated from 5 through through to 9, 7 being average. Skills
>are based on attribute scores, 7 representing a roughly 50% chance of basic
>success.
>
>Presence: 7 - Looks +1 (like I said, I'm biased),
Indeed. Notice that I did not give Cally above average appearance,
despite my personal preferences:)
<snip>
>This makes her a professional level technician with good back-up expertise
>in combat and medical skills. She should try and steer clear of the
>hand-to-hand stuff, though.
>
She handled Blake pretty well on Saurian Major, but now I think
about it she did seem to get roughly handled if combat ever came
down to grappling.
--
Russ Massey
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 12:12:13 +0000
From: Russ Massey <russ@wriding.demon.co.uk>
To: pussnboots@geocities.com
Cc: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] More B7 stats
Message-ID: <nJMNjFAdcvs2Ew0C@wriding.demon.co.uk>
In message <36B270C8.6813@geocities.com>, Pat Patera
<pussnboots@geocities.com> writes
>Calle Dybedahl wrote:
>> At the moment, I feel that Russ
>> has given almost all of them too high attributes.
>
>Agreed. Giving Gan an intelligence rating of 10 = average is a good
>example, reminiscent of "dumbing down" the SAT scores.
>
Ah, but the GURPS intelligence stat is actually a combination of
'brainpower, alertness, adaptability and general background
experience', and just IQ score.
>I'm nterested in seeing the intelligence score Avon rates. Well? WHERE
>*is* the Avon score? (tapping foot impatiently, aka Servalan. And
>Servalan does *not* like to be kept waiting!)
>
It looks like I'll have to recreate Avon and the rest from scratch.
>Strength? Yes, give Gan a 17, and Blake a 12, but the rest? Average or
>below. Especially Vila and Cally, who are lightweights.
>
Maybe. You never get agreement on these things.
>Intelligence? Yes, give Orac a 20, but the rest (save Servalan, Carnell
>and Avon (in that order) show few impressive cognative abilities.
See above. Anyway, Blake, Jenna and Cally are quite obviously (IMO)
of above average intelligence from POV of their vocabulary, ability in
rational argument and handling of abstract ideas.
> Vila?
>Only the alien in Sarcophogas says he is highly intelligent, but perhaps
>she was comparing his adequate mind to his moronic behavior, for in the
>same sentence she says he "acts like a fool."
>
Vila is undoubtedly capable of planning, concealing his motives,
outwitting the authorities, teaching himself highly technical skills and
using advanced technology. He chooses to avoid conflict and avoid
standing out by acting dumb.
>Charisma? Give Avon a 2. bwahahahahaha!
>
Avon doesn't actually have much charisma, unless you think that most
people in the series took an instant liking to him!
>Why don't handicaps get a numerical rating? Shouldn't they detract from
>the numerical attributes score?
>
They do. I didn't bother giving the point values for every stat skill and
quirk, since I thought it more likely to confuse than add anything.
--
Russ Massey
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 00:23:54 +1100
From: Tim Richards & Narrelle Harris <parallax@wire.net.au>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Filks
Message-Id: <3.0.6.32.19990131002354.007bd400@wire.net.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The filktape provider for Julia Ecklar is Random Factor, which can be found
at:
http://sundry.hsc.usc.edu/random-factors/
They have a full catalogue on line and can take fax and email orders for
tapes and CDs. I supplied them with a credit card number (split over two
emails for safety) and received the two Ecklar tapes plus 'Wolfriders
Reflections', inspired by Elfquest and featuring Ecklar.
Besides these and Trek, they have the B7 filktape 'Hip Deep in Heroes'
(Temporarily out of stock, but you can email to find out when mroe will
come in and perhaps place one on hold) and they still have copies of my
filktape 'Voices from the Past' (I don't have any left myself).
Hope you find this of use.
Narrelle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim Richards & Narrelle Harris
parallax@wire.net.au http://www.wire.net.au/~parallax
"The past, present and future are only illusions,
however persistent" - Albert Einstein
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 10:48:42 +0100 (BST)
From: Judith Proctor <Judith@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
To: Lysator List <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
cc: Space City <Space-city@world.std.com>
Subject: [B7L] fanzines
Message-ID: <Marcel-1.46-0130094842-965Rr9i@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Last call for ordering American zines before my husband goes to the USA.
Any American zines that you order from me now can be picked up at Redemption and
you save the cost of the airmail postage. They still have to be posted
internally in the US so we can't precdict the exact price reduction, but it
usually saves an average or two pounds per zine. (You pay for the zines when
you collect them.)
You must state that you'll be collecting the zines at the convention when
ordering (if we have to post them again in England, then the English postage
pretty much nullifies what you'd have saved). You can get a friend to collect
for you if you won't be at Redemption yourself.
Do you want to be the person saying 'Oh, I hoped you'd have a copy of Bizzaro
4 left'...
Which reminds me - add Bizzaro, especially issues 1 and 2 to my list of
recommended zines. A complete comic romp through Blake's 7, pretty well
guaranteed to have you laughing, and illustrated throughout with Leah
Rosenthal's cartoons.
Judith
--
http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7
Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention
26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent
http://www.smof.com/redemption/
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 15:10:53 +0100 (BST)
From: Judith Proctor <Judith@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
To: Lysator List <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Finally Finished Afterlife
Message-ID: <Marcel-1.46-0130141053-354Rr9i@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
On Sat 30 Jan, Neil Faulkner wrote:
> Nova (Judith Proctor, available from her or Horizon) - somewhat more sedate
> than the above two, post-Gauda Prime with heavy Avon/Servalan slant, also
> plenty of Vila.
Actually, it's only available from Horizon. I don't sell it myself because that
wouldn't be fair on Horizon (though I'll happily do my usual and provide
currency conversion for Australian fans who want to get Horizon stuff via Pat
Fenech)
> If you want to try anthology zines with short to medium length stories, the
> Horizon series (there's about 20 of them in print now) have some excellent
> stuff scattered among their pages (along with some less-than-excellent) and
> they're a good economy buy. Horizon-2 is crap but all the rest contain at
> least one good story. Down and Unsafe (available from Horizon, amongst
> others) is reliable for quality and compares well pricewise.
I'd certainly recommend Down and Unsafe as the best value for money anthology
zine. It's digest size, but there are some really good stories and the cartoons
are great too. There are no bad stories in D+U and that's a rare thing to say
of any zine.
> Judith's gen anthologies (Star One to Three) are all above par.
Why, thank you <grin>.
> For an emphasis on the female characters, try Deadlier Than The Male. _The_
> anthology series has got to be Gambit - pricey, but each issue is huge so
> there's bound to be something that appeals (some Gambit stories are among the
> best I've read).
Indeed. Though you have to think carefully about one or two of the last issues
if you already have all of Jabberwocky. (But then that's one reason why I split
my edition of Jabberwocky into several volumes, so that people could buy the
parts that weren't in Gambit and not pay twice for those that were.)
And if anyone wants me to get copies of Gambit for them at Redemption, get your
requests in now!
> Oh, and there's also a thing called Stadler Link but you don't want to worry
> about that, and I've not got that many copies left anyway...
It has some excellent stories including one of my all time favourites by Nicky
Barnard. It's available from Neil. The address is on my web page.
Judith
--
http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7
Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention
26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent
http://www.smof.com/redemption/
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 09:59:36 PST
From: "Penny Dreadful" <pdreadful@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: RE: [B7L] Telepaths and psychic menances in B7 and SF
Message-ID: <19990130175937.3483.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
Jacqueline said:
>Not if you think of telepathy the same way as you would think of,
>say, electricity. For instance, if you plug in one of Penny's toasters
it is
>possible to overload it...But throw some electricity at a
>solid block of iron, and it will just ignore it. The toaster is set up
to
>receive the electricity and use it, just like telepaths are set up to
>receive messages directly into their brains.
Good analogy -- and I'm not just saying that because of your deftly
inserted plug for FINALACT's fine line of small kitchen appliances
[Penny, smiling like a coked-up Vanna White, gestures behind her to
where the spotlights illuminate a wide array of gleaming consumer goods
rotate slowly on shag-rug covered turntables]. A solid block of iron
*can* be altered by a surge of electricity but it would take a lot
more...the toaster's resistance (necessary to convert electricity into
Toasting Power) will be what kills it in the event of a surge. What
makes it useful is what makes it weak.
Neil said:
>I think the general consensus is that a
>telepath, being psionically imbued, is more vulnerable to psionic
>attack (analogy - a computer plugged into the net can be hacked,
>whereas one that isn't can't be).
Of course it can -- you just have to be standing a little closer to it.
--Penny "A Rack Of Toast, A Jug Of Wine..." Dreadful
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 11:56:22 -0700
From: Helen Krummenacker <avona@jps.net>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] More B7 stats
Message-ID: <36B355D6.6A8C@jps.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Pat Patera wrote:
>
> Calle Dybedahl wrote:
> > At the moment, I feel that Russ
> > has given almost all of them too high attributes.
>
> Agreed. Giving Gan an intelligence rating of 10 = average is a good
> example, reminiscent of "dumbing down" the SAT scores.
Disagree,. Strongly disagree! You may not realize how much your own high
intelligence leads you to associate with people of at least slightly
above average intellect. Gan is quite competent. He mans one of the
control areas of the Liberator; we see Avon showing him some
electronics-- a bit of tutoring Avon doesn't seem inclined to give any
of the others, as far as we know. Gan Is clear in his speech, not
meandering-- he doesn't use fancy words, but his ability to keep his
words on topic, and keep focussed and get to the point, shows better
intelligence than many people we encounter daily. On what basis do you
decide that he is less than average?
>
> I'm nterested in seeing the intelligence score Avon rates. Well? WHERE
> *is* the Avon score? (tapping foot impatiently, aka Servalan. And
> Servalan does *not* like to be kept waiting!)
He said he'd lost the stats, and has to remake them... which means that
Avon will be, as he ought, revealled as the final one, alone in his
glory. :^D
>
> Strength? Yes, give Gan a 17, and Blake a 12, but the rest? Average or
> below. Especially Vila and Cally, who are lightweights.
I've seen Michael Keating in person. He's good at making himself look
small on screen, but he's nearly 6 feet tall, and at least these days
he's rather buff. Nice biceps.
As far as Cally goes, she's small but wiry.
On the other hand, although we've seen all of them doing some good
fighting, but I admit they are generally using their opponent's strength
against them, martial arts style.
>
> Intelligence? Yes, give Orac a 20, but the rest (save Servalan, Carnell
> and Avon (in that order) show few impressive cognative abilities. Vila?
> Only the alien in Sarcophogas says he is highly intelligent, but perhaps
> she was comparing his adequate mind to his moronic behavior, for in the
> same sentence she says he "acts like a fool."
How about playing drunk and getting Tarrant and Avon to do the repairs
in the force field in "Stardrive"? But I admit one good idea doesn't
make a genius. On the other hand, it takes a fair amount of cleverness
to be a good sleight-of-hand artist, as well as fast fingers. What about
his verbal fencing skills-- if people think Gan is slow because he
doesn't quip, by the same token, Vila has to be one of the smartest in
the crew.
>
> Charisma? Give Avon a 2. bwahahahahaha!
Tell that to Servalan, Dayna, or Meeghat.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 12:01:29 -0700
From: Helen Krummenacker <avona@jps.net>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Telepaths and psychic menances in B7 and SF
Message-ID: <36B35709.55D5@jps.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Jacqueline Thijsen wrote:
>
> Grim wrote:
>
> >Is it just me or is it usually the telepathically aware character
> that
> >gets steamrolled by the psychic menace of the week? And shouldn't
> it
> >maybe be the other way around, that the telepathically-aware should
> >be able to resist a tactic like that better?
>
> Not if you think of telepathy the same way as you would think of,
> say, electricity. For instance, if you plug in one of Penny's toasters it is
> possible to overload it (if you do some really weird stuff to your wiring or
> try to make toast for a GITHOG member). But throw some electricity at a
> solid block of iron, and it will just ignore it. The toaster is set up to
> receive the electricity and use it, just like telepaths are set up to
> receive messages directly into their brains.
>
> Does that sound logical? Hey, it's better than yelling "plot device"
> once again.
This is similiar to what I've read before, when psionics systems are
explained. The idea is that a mind is either 'closed' and unrecceptive,
or 'open' and receptive. A 'normal' non-psychic is normally closed
mentally, and any mental attak has to open the mind first to get in.
Whereas psychics have 'open' minds, unless they deliberately close them,
and closing takes concious effort-- if they expect an attack they may do
so, but otherwise, they are more vulnerable to attack than a normal
person, although they are also better equipped to deal with an attacker
once in their mind.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 11:34:26 +0200
From: "422ami" <422ami@nt52.parliament.bg>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] Re:Just to say Hi!!
Message-Id: <199901301924.UAA19620@samantha.lysator.liu.se>
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Hi to all!
I've been just lurking and reading your discussion for a while (for a few
months, being more correct). Is there some usual etiquette, which I must
follow to introduce myself?
I am deeply impressed by Mr. Faulkner's elaborations, concerning the social
and political structure of the Federation. I have been red some works on
the topic (on www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4667) yet, but these
here are much more detailed.
Also it was interesting for me to read about the problem of multilingual
galactic society (raised by Judith Proctor a month ago). Actually, as my
native language isn't English, but Bulgarian (this is something more closer
to the Russian language), I am very concerned with the topic.
This reminded me to ask: does anyone knows if there are other Blake's 7 -
fans from Eastern Europe? I already know about these, who live in GB, USA,
Australia, Sweden, and, there is one guy from Belgium, but I'd never heard
for B7-devotees from other places.
And, as a part of my introduction, I would like to point my favourite
characters: they are, of course, Blake, although all my friends like Avon,
and Travis (especially in series 1).
Faithfully: Hellen
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Date: 30 Jan 1999 21:54:53 +0100
From: Calle Dybedahl <calle@lysator.liu.se>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] More B7 stats
Message-ID: <usd83w8orm.fsf@sara.lysator.liu.se>
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Russ Massey <russ@wriding.demon.co.uk> writes:
> Understandable. I based my characterisations on the heroic model
> rather than the purely realistic one. I'm sure that Jan's real
> strength is lower than that supposedly shown by Cally in combat.
Oh, I have no problem with heroic. I just think that your versions
are more heroic than the versions I saw on the show.
I'll try to write more when I'm not having a visitor.
--
Calle Dybedahl, Vasav. 82, S-177 52 Jaerfaella,SWEDEN | calle@lysator.liu.se
"Then I dream of a world where idiots are hunted like wild pigs"
-- Stephen Edwards, scary.devil.monastery
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Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 17:09:58 PST
From: "Sally Manton" <smanton@hotmail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Fwd: RE: [B7L] Telepaths and psychic menances in B7 and SF
Message-ID: <19990131010958.28686.qmail@hotmail.com>
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Jacqueline wrote :
>Telepaths are set up to receive messages directly into their brains.
>Does that sound logical? Hey, it's better than yelling "plot device"
>once again.
Also, if YOU were the psychic menace given a choice of checking into the
brains of THIS lot, who would you choose? Gan? Vila??? Avon??? (I love
Vila and Avon dearly, but the idea of sharing their thought processes
for six seconds....shudder).
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 18:33:00 -0000
From: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] B7 RPG and sundry
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Helen wrote:
>I play AD &D, a fantasy RPG, primarily. There is in our group, a Vila
>Restal, Kerr Avon (and his twin sister), Jenna, and Roj Blake. <snip> We've
also had NPCs such as a
>telepath named Cally, and giantess (?!) named Dayna show up. <snip>
>Most of the characters have been played very true to the originals'
>personalities, but the powers and skills have obviously been changed.
>Some are good analogies to between SF and F, but others have gone fairly
>far off course. Any fantasy gamers actually want to know what we came up
>with for them?
Blake: LG Paladin (not that you've got much choice if you're a paladin) ;
Avon CN Mage ; Cally NG Elven Ranger ; Vila CN Thief. At least that's what
they were when _I_ put them in an ADnD scenario,years ago. (I forgot what I
made Jenna. And I don't think Gan put in an appearance.)
And for my next post, I'll treat you all to my Ars Magica stats for Cally's
moon disc.
Neil
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Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 10:09:03 -0000
From: "Neil Faulkner" <N.Faulkner@tesco.net>
To: "lysator" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Telepaths and psychic menances in B7 and SF
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I wote:
>>I think the general consensus is that a
>>telepath, being psionically imbued, is more vulnerable to psionic
>>attack (analogy - a computer plugged into the net can be hacked,
>>whereas one that isn't can't be).
To which Pennydantic Dreadful replied:
>Of course it can -- you just have to be standing a little closer to it.
Well I meant at a distance, didn't I? Honestly, do you need to be told
everything? No wonder the world's going down the proverbial tubes with
blinkered literal-mindedness seizing control of the global pysche. Stand up
for nuance, that's what I say! Gird yourself in the dazzling adamantite
armour of allegory, take up the subtle steely sword of metaphor, and hack
thy bloody swathe through the tangled forest of pusillanimous pedantry. We
shall sew up the sky with our gleaming needles and yes, okay, maybe the
toaster analogy _is_ slightly better.
Now if you'll excuse me, I wish to vent my frustration on an innocent small
furry animal.
Neil
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End of blakes7-d Digest V99 Issue #47
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