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10 |
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11 |
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12 Wind in the Flowers: Re-inventing a Game |
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13 |
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14 |
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15 Naming Conventions |
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16 |
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17 *R. Sean Borgstrom* |
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18 March 6, 2002 |
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19 |
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20 The principal characters of *Nobilis* come from all over the world. A |
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21 fair number of the secondary characters come from outside the world |
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22 entirely. The first edition had an unfortunate bias towards American and |
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23 made-up names, which didn't properly reflect the setting's |
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24 cosmopolitanism. Fortunately, the new edition has roughly twice the |
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25 wordcount, which gave me plenty of space to redress this error. |
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26 |
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27 My primary resource for most of this was the Onomastikon |
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28 <http://web.archive.org/web/19990429014413/http://www.fairacre.demon.co.uk/>; |
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29 secondary resources included Gustav Davidson's excellent *A Dictionary |
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30 of Angels* and the even more amazing Saul M. Olyan's *A Thousand |
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31 Thousands Served Him: Exegesis and the Naming of Angels in Ancient |
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32 Judaism*. I didn't get to actually use that last book much, but that |
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33 /will/ change. It was very pleasant to sort through thousands of angel |
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34 descriptions with traditional names when adding new angels or fallen |
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35 angels to the game. |
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36 |
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37 In addition, I associate a sense of awe with the names and descriptions |
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38 of classical angelology; I also drew on M. Davidson's book when I wished |
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39 to discuss celestial phenomena, such as the things the Creator bound to |
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40 make Creation. (For reference, these were Azbogah, the Radiance that |
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41 Destroys the Unrighteous, in whose heart the Creator planted the tree of |
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42 worlds; N'mosnikttiel, the Fire that Swallows Worlds, raw material for |
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43 the creation of the angels; and Narsinha, the Lightning that Dances on |
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44 the Surface of the Abyss, reshaped to create the wall around Creation.) |
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45 |
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46 Some specific setting features required careful thought as to their |
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47 names. Ananda, discussed in a previous column <wind31jan02.html>, |
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48 appeared as a concept long before he had a name. We needed something |
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49 that would properly express the idea of "hope for the world". Bruce and |
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50 I wrestled with this for some time before finding something properly |
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51 suited to a conceptually key bright spot in the setting. |
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52 |
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53 Ultimately, we raided Madeline L'Engle, who probably raided Hindu names, |
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54 for "that joy in existence without which the universe would fall apart |
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55 and collapse". Alternatives---naming him in ways that reflected simpler |
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56 joy, or beauty, or the darker side of his nature---didn't suffice to |
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57 capture what that name can: that beauty is vital in this world. |
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58 |
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59 Similarly, the name of the divine entity embodying the Third Age (the |
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60 current Age of the World) needed to say something fundamental about the |
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61 setting. Here, I had more room for subtlety, as the Imperatrix of the |
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62 Third Age is not a major character in the setting; I named her Attaris |
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63 Ebrôt Appêka, in part for Attaris, the angel of winter. These are the |
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64 closing days of the *Nobilis* world; either it will end entirely, or a |
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65 new Spring will rise. |
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66 |
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67 *Nobilis* has vast numbers of sample characters, which gave me a fairly |
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68 free hand doing some basic diversification. Augusta Valentina, Bran |
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69 Gainor, Cornelia Jansdr, Dyemma Insakovs, Fayola Osiagobare, Halland |
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70 Geirr and Ienari Namika-in are some of the new sample characters; |
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71 Nephele Nikolaidhis and Helissent de Reymes appear in the sample |
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72 campaign; Jori Hullis, Kip Narekatski, and Rannen Yedidyah are quoted as |
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73 "authors" of various related fictional texts. A large number of Indian |
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74 names (including a few Hindu gods and demons) appear in a frame story |
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75 running through the book. |
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76 |
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77 Looking this over in retrospect, Chinese and Islamic names and probably |
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78 a few others are underrepresented in the text; I should work on |
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79 balancing that in the supplements. In any event, the basic design |
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80 principle was very straightforward: try to scatter the new characters |
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81 over a variety of nationalities, so that the game doesn't feel |
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82 landlocked in America (or even England!) |
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83 |
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84 The most thoroughly foreign characters in *Nobilis* are the Excrucians, |
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85 who rode into our reality from the Lands Beyond Creation. To name them |
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86 properly, I needed a strong, regular naming convention with a distinctly |
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87 alien flavor. Simply foreign names would not suffice. Establishing |
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88 foreign names as alien, regardless of which nationality I chose, would |
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89 undermine the basic concept that the Nobilis come from all over the |
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90 world; that, in their context, European, African, Asian, and all other |
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91 modern names are pretty much "local". |
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92 |
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93 If I were Tolkien, of course, the solution would be simple: invent a |
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94 logically coherent language without direct derivation from any human |
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95 tongue, and name the Excrucians in that. Failing to mysteriously turn |
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96 into Tolkien when I twisted my power ring, I instead turned to history. |
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97 |
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98 The ancient world has some extremely cool names, some of which I have |
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99 swiped for other uses---Idri-mi, Texcoyo, and Nabushezibanni among |
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100 them---but the best-fitting names came primarily from medieval times. |
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101 I'm not 100% certain why, but my theory is that the really ancient names |
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102 have their own baggage. Even though I wouldn't recognize Nabushezibanni |
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103 as a Hittite name offhand, it has associations of that whole |
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104 Babylonian-region ancient world thing going on. Similarly, even if you |
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105 don't guess that Texcoyo's an Aztec name, it probably evokes some |
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106 ancient American tribal associations. |
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107 |
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108 Maybe that's just me. |
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109 |
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110 In any event, medieval Europe actually has some very interesting names |
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111 that don't fall into the typical fantasy mold. The very first name to |
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112 come out of this search was Genseric---a Vandal name, technically. I'm |
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113 not that fond of characters without surnames; it feels incomplete to me, |
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114 and somewhat like the characters are trying to be media stars. So I |
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115 stole a last name from another barbarian tribe, the Dacii; thus, |
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116 Genseric Dace. |
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117 |
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118 I rather liked the result, but soon enough I had to make more Excrucian |
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119 names. Here, I ran into a problem: I had nine more Vandal names, all |
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120 male, most of which sounded more or less like Genseric, and only a |
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121 handful of other barbarian tribes from the right era. (Sueves, Avars, |
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122 Alans, and Rugians.) I was not immediately thrilled with the names |
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123 Gailamir Sueve, Gunderic Avar, Gaiseric Alan, and Hilderic Rugian. |
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124 |
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125 This forced a branching out into other names from medieval Europe: |
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126 Orderic, a Frankish name; Raginhart, Germanic; Euphrasia and Marozia, |
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127 Byzantine; Teja, Gothic; Scelto, Italian; and so forth. A few were |
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128 atypical, if they sounded right; Phasael mery-Harumaph, for example, is |
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129 assembled from a Palestinian first name, an Egyptian name-element, and |
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130 the game term Harumaph, originally found in a web angelological reference. |
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131 |
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132 Finding last names was generally difficult at this stage of history. I |
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133 had originally hoped to branch out from the basic concept used for |
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134 Genseric Dace---whose surname was historically tribal rather than |
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135 personal---and build most last names out of appropriate regions or |
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136 social groups. Thus, Orderic Neustry, name drawn from Neustria. |
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137 Ultimately, for lack of appropriately cool region names, I was forced to |
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138 scrounge, using other first names from the period as surnames in order |
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139 to build functional antagonist names such as Teja Heimerich, Euphrasia |
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140 Savinot, and Raginhart Tribunas. |
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141 |
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142 All this, of course, reflects ultimately back on the setting. It subtly |
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143 influenced me, writing new material on the Excrucians, to know that they |
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144 take their bynames from Creation. It also affected my writing to know |
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145 that they disdain modern appellations and sift history for names |
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146 instead. I'm not wholly certain of the implications, but it changes the |
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147 way I feel about them in my head; and such effects spread throughout the |
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148 game. |
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149 |
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150 R. Sean |
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151 |
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152 |
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153 What do you think? <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> |
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154 |
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155 Go to forum! <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> |
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156 Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic |
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157 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads |
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158 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search |
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159 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88> |
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160 |
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161 Topics Author Date Latest Reply |
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162 James and the Small Caps |
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163 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=81&t=81> (2) new Kibo |
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164 08-20-2002 16:29 02-10-2003 01:23 new |
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165 Art <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=77&t=77> (1) new Lxndr |
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166 04-26-2002 07:36 04-26-2002 07:36 new |
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167 The Original Nobilis Club |
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168 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=76&t=76> (3) new Bret Gillan |
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169 04-17-2002 11:28 03-17-2003 17:48 new |
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170 Questions & Thoughts |
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171 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=64&t=64> (3) new Pyske |
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172 03-20-2002 18:31 05-01-2003 13:03 new |
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173 Noble Buddhism? |
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174 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=61&t=61> (9) new Tlaloc |
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175 03-20-2002 12:17 12-10-2004 01:20 new |
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176 Noble Suicide <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=58&t=58> (9) new |
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177 Eric Christian Berg 03-20-2002 07:43 01-18-2005 16:27 new |
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178 Art Notes <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=54&t=54> (4) new R. |
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179 Sean Borgstrom 03-14-2002 16:31 03-21-2002 03:44 new |
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180 Ack...you just lost my sale |
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181 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=45&t=45> (10) new SteveD |
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182 03-14-2002 04:06 03-15-2002 06:29 new |
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183 Onomastikon working URL |
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184 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=36&t=36> (4) new Jorge |
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185 Hernández 03-06-2002 12:51 08-20-2002 16:10 new |
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186 Why do angels change names ? |
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187 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=33&t=33> (10) new philippe |
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188 tromeur 03-06-2002 10:13 12-10-2004 01:34 new |
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189 R. Sean, some examples? |
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190 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=32&t=32> (3) new Arref |
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191 03-05-2002 08:17 03-13-2002 20:28 new |
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192 Sounds great, BUT... |
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193 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=28&t=28> (2) new Kane |
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194 02-27-2002 16:43 02-27-2002 17:30 new |
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195 Sort of backwards? |
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196 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=21&t=21> (8) new Eric Finley |
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197 02-20-2002 14:25 02-28-2002 09:35 new |
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198 Programmer nature slips out! |
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199 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=20&t=20> (2) new Sean |
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200 McCarthy 02-20-2002 13:18 02-21-2002 10:30 new |
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201 Object Lesson Damage |
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202 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=15&t=15> (1) new Darren |
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203 Miguez 02-13-2002 12:45 02-13-2002 12:45 new |
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204 How about this? |
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205 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=12&t=12> (2) new Kristian |
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206 Lund 02-13-2002 11:30 02-14-2002 01:17 new |
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207 Now, this was strange! |
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208 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=9&t=9> (7) new access.denied |
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209 02-13-2002 07:44 02-16-2002 21:44 new |
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210 Briefs on the other two? |
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211 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=5&t=5> (5) new Eric Finley |
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212 01-31-2002 18:39 02-13-2002 10:36 new |
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213 Forum now works <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=4&t=4> (1) new |
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214 Sandy Antunes 01-31-2002 17:36 01-31-2002 17:36 new |
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215 limited series <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=1&t=1> (2) new |
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216 Sandy Antunes 01-21-2002 17:41 01-31-2002 17:36 new |
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217 |
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218 Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic |
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219 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads |
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220 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search |
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221 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88> |
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222 |
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223 Newer Messages |
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224 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=81&a=1&> | Older Messages |
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225 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=1&a=2&> |
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226 |
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227 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
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228 |
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229 * Editing, Development, and Production |
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230 </news+reviews/columns/wind27mar02.html> |
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231 March 27, 2002 |
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232 * Affiliations </news+reviews/columns/wind20mar02.html> |
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233 March 20, 2002 |
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234 * How to be a Hollyhock God </news+reviews/columns/wind13mar02.html> |
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235 March 13, 2002 |
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236 * Naming Conventions </news+reviews/columns/wind06mar02.html> |
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237 March 6, 2002 |
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238 * Art Notes </news+reviews/columns/wind27feb02.html> |
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239 February 27, 2002 |
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240 * Dynamic Nobilis </news+reviews/columns/wind20feb02.html> |
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241 February 20, 2002 |
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242 * Systems Change </news+reviews/columns/wind13feb02.html> |
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243 February 13, 2002 |
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244 * Treachery </news+reviews/columns/wind06feb02.html> |
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245 February 6, 2002 |
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246 * The Emperor to Come </news+reviews/columns/wind31jan02.html> |
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247 January 31, 2002 |
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248 * The Changing of the Guard </news+reviews/columns/wind21jan02.html> |
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249 January 21, 2002 |
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250 |
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251 |
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252 Other columns </news+reviews/columns.html> at RPGnet |
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253 |
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