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11 BUILDING BETTER CHARACTERS #1: THE SEVEN RULES OF CHARACTER CREATION |
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12 |
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13 /A couple sessions have gone by. You got the rulebook, you built a |
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14 character, you played. But it hasn't been what you were after. Your |
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15 character seems flat, you haven't gotten into it. Except to argue with |
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16 the elf. You ask yourself ? did I do something wrong?/ |
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17 |
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18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
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19 |
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20 /Your party built their characters, you played, but they are always |
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21 going their separate ways or arguing. The thief doesn't even associate |
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22 with the party except to drool over their equipment. Something has to |
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23 change if everyone is going to have fun./ |
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24 |
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25 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
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26 |
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27 The art of building characters is not as simple as one might think. |
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28 Every rulebook has the steps. Many of those rulebooks even talk about |
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29 meta-gaming issues, background, personality, or whatever other pet |
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30 theories the authors happen to have about what makes good characters. |
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31 |
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32 But let me simplify it just a little bit. Good characters are those |
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33 characters that are fun to play. Not just for the player, but for the |
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34 whole group (including the GM). This may sound like just a trademark of |
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35 a good player, but really, what great player does not always come up |
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36 with good characters? Even things that seem simple or sketchy just seem |
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37 to come to life in these players. They know how to make good characters. |
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38 |
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39 And I am here to try and help /you/ make better characters. |
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40 |
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41 We are going to start with the basics: the seven rules of character |
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42 creation. At least, the seven rules for creating characters in a |
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43 campaign setting. (That is, where there is a group of more then one |
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44 person, and there are going to be multiple adventures with the characters.) |
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45 |
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46 Rule 1: The character must work in a group |
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47 Rule 2: The character must be fun for the player and the rest of the party |
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48 Rule 3: The character must be good at heart |
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49 Rule 4: The character must have a reason to go adventuring |
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50 Rule 5: The character must fit the campaign style |
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51 Rule 6: The character must have long term goals |
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52 Rule 7: The player must be able to actually play the character |
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53 |
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54 The seven rules represent the most common (and most disastrous) mistakes |
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55 that players make when designing characters. Sometimes these are just |
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56 overlooked, or missed in the heat of character creation, but if the GM |
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57 and the player can apply these rules to a character (and agree that they |
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58 are in fact applicable to the character) then any subsequent problems |
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59 lie on the shoulders of the player and the GM, not on the character. |
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60 "But that's what my character would do..." is no longer an excuse for |
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61 destroying party chemistry or backstabbing a fellow party member. The |
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62 rules have been set. |
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63 |
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64 The seven rules are broken out into three sections: Getting along with |
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65 people (rules 1,2,3), character composition (rules (4,5,6) and "the |
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66 final gut check" (rule 7). |
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67 |
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68 |
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69 Section 1: Getting along with other people |
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70 |
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71 The first three rules apply to just making sure the /character/ (not the |
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72 player) isn't disruptive to the group as a whole. Essentially, these |
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73 rules exist to avoid the Neutral Evil Ninja Assasin Drow (NENAD), and |
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74 all sub-species. (Not that I am singling out Neutral evil ninja assasin |
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75 drow as poor characters, but well, I am.) So let's go through them. |
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76 |
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77 |
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78 Rule 1: The character must work in a group |
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79 |
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80 This is a logical aspect of the meta-game. You are planning a campaign. |
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81 That campaign has multiple players. More then likely you plan on them |
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82 being a group. So why let characters that dislike people or only work |
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83 alone into such a group? In the most logical sense, they wouldn't go |
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84 adventuring in a group and would hate it if they did. Watch out for |
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85 characters that hate people, or are overly secretive and mysterious. Or |
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86 classic thief types that never trust any party members and, in fact, |
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87 remove trust from other party members. |
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88 |
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89 Not to say these sorts of characters can't be played. But make sure that |
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90 when the NENAD attempts to join your campaign, that there is a good |
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91 reason that they would stay with a group, work with a group, and might |
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92 even be trusted by that group. Obviously, this is a GM judgement call in |
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93 the end, just remember the concept. If they can't work in a group, the |
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94 character isn't going to work in a (traditional) campaign. |
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95 |
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96 |
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97 Rule 2: The character must be fun for the player and the rest of |
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98 the party |
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99 |
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100 One assumes that people play characters that they find fun. NENAD are |
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101 usually considered very fun /by the people playing them./ But usually it |
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102 is best to think of the other players as well. Are they going to enjoy |
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103 this character? This is really the flip side of rule 1; rule 1 makes it |
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104 sound like characters should be dull and boring and fit it. But we don't |
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105 want characters ending up with desk jobs in cubicle world. We want the |
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106 mohawk wearing, leather jacketed rebel. Sure, while they have to "be |
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107 able to be part of group" they also need to add a different dimension, a |
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108 different personality, and a different /character/ to the group as a |
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109 whole, so that the players have variety and spice in their role-playing. |
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110 |
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111 Some players find this very easy. The rest of us struggle to make sure |
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112 that our character is adding to the combined story, has good lines, or |
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113 is just a fun personality that people enjoy and remember. And don't take |
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114 this as meaning that it is a character's duty to always entertain the |
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115 other players. No, occasionally entertaining them is good enough. In |
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116 fact, it is much better, as people have the most fun by /playing their |
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117 own characters./ If you want to ruin someone's fun, play their character |
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118 for them (or prevent their character from playing ? a closely related |
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119 offense). This can be the fault of the GM or the player, but it is the |
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120 quickest way to dissatisfied players and a point to pay specific |
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121 attention to when designing your character. Now it is not always |
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122 possible to avoid these conflicts, especially when you are unaware of |
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123 other player's character choices, but keep it in mind even after play |
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124 has begun. |
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125 |
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126 |
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127 Rule 3: The character must be good at heart |
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128 |
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129 Now I don't want to be preachy or anything, but just what were you |
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130 expecting when you created that evil character that truly didn't care |
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131 about other people? Were you expecting him to be smoothly integrated |
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132 into the party? Did you expect him to be trusted? Were you surprised |
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133 when he caused party turmoil? When your NENAD decided not to open the |
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134 secret door and try and save the party from the rampaging barbarian <#> |
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135 horde, did they accept the excuse that it was too risky? |
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136 |
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137 D&D takes care of this by making sure characters are good or neutral. |
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138 But I don't think that is truly enough. This is not a question of |
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139 overlying beliefs. This is a question of /will the character risk their |
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140 life and livelihood to help another?/ This is about not being |
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141 self-centered. This is about being someone that the party can trust when |
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142 the ork dung hits the wind mill. This isn't something that you say |
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143 during character description, it is something that you do and |
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144 (hopefully) you do early on. If your character makes some sort of self |
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145 sacrifice, even a small one, in the first session, the party is already |
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146 on your side. |
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147 |
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148 A lot of players don't like this rule, but it is the very last rule that |
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149 I bend. We are roleplaying to be heroes, so design a hero or don't play. |
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150 Every single hero in books and movies was intrinsically good at heart, |
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151 no matter how otherwise messed up, or they weren't a hero. It is the |
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152 definition. |
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153 |
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154 |
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155 Conclusion |
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156 |
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157 In the next column I will continue the analysis of the seven rules with |
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158 the remaining four. If you were intrigued by this column, you can check |
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159 out my blog and role-playing resources at www.blackshieldgaming.com |
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160 <http://www.blackshieldgaming.com>. |
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161 |
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162 Until next time. |
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163 |
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164 |
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165 |
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166 ARTICLE INFO <building.xml> |
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167 |
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168 *Building Better Characters #1* |
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169 /The Seven Rules of Character Creation/ |
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170 2006-02-21 |
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171 |
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172 by Greg Schneider |
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173 |
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174 /The first rules of campaign characters: getting along with others./ |
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175 |
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176 |
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177 RECENT ARTICLES |
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178 |
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179 #1: The Seven Rules of Character Creation |
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180 <http://www.rpg.net/columns/building/building1.phtml> |
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181 |
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182 |
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183 Gencon: |
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184 GenCon <http://www.gencon.com/> |
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185 |
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186 Downloadable RPGs: |
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190 |
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191 RECENT DISCUSSIONS |
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192 |
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193 *Thread Title* *Last Poster* *Last Post* *Replies* |
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194 Does ANYONE agree? |
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195 <http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?threadid=248154&goto=newpost> |
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196 Strange Visitor |
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197 <http://forum.rpg.net/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=9385> 03-07-2006 |
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198 09:27 AM 20 |
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199 There're only two rules... |
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200 <http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?threadid=248028&goto=newpost> |
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201 Bartmoss <http://forum.rpg.net/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=8578> |
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202 03-02-2006 10:32 AM 10 |
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203 Disagree with Rule 3 |
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204 <http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?threadid=247415&goto=newpost> |
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205 Maarzan <http://forum.rpg.net/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=1472> |
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206 02-27-2006 08:42 AM 26 |
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207 #1: The Seven Rules of Character Creation |
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208 <http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?threadid=247361&goto=newpost> |
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209 RPGnet Columns |
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210 <http://forum.rpg.net/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=24795> |
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211 02-21-2006 12:00 AM 0 |
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212 |
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213 ( goto forum <http://forum.rpg.net/forumdisplay.php?f=66> | post new |
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214 thread <http://forum.rpg.net/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=66> ) |
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215 |
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216 |
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