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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 Systems Change |
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16 |
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17 *R. Sean Borgstrom* |
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18 February 13, 2002 |
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19 |
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20 The new edition of *Nobilis* needed a stronger combat system. The game |
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21 itself does not depend on action or physical conflict, but stories of |
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22 combat play a big part in roleplaying games and speculative fiction in |
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23 general. I consider the old combat resolution system a bit weak, and |
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24 that's unfortunate. Many people enjoy roleplaying combat a great deal. |
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25 So we revised the system for greater usability and excitement. |
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26 |
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27 In building a new combat system, I set out to avoid a phenomenon I think |
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28 of as "the death of a thousand cuts." In many roleplaying combat |
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29 systems, if you bruise or nick a character seven, or twenty, or even a |
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30 hundred and fifty times, the character eventually falls over dead. With |
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31 proper design, such systems are realistic. Properly managed, they can |
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32 produce dramatic results. But I don't like this phenomenon in *Nobilis*. |
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33 |
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34 Characters in *Nobilis* transcend biology. Even ordinary humans have a |
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35 mythic, spiritual element to their nature. The Nobilis, the main |
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36 protagonists and standard PCs, have a bit of the /divine/ in them as |
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37 well. If the immortal spirit plays as large a role in sustaining life as |
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38 proper liver and kidney function, slow accumulation of minor mechanical |
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39 damage shouldn't kill a character off. |
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40 |
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41 The first principle of the new combat system is simple. It should always |
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42 take at least one significant blow to bring a character down. An |
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43 assortment of scratches does not suffice to kill someone. There must be |
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44 an actual mortal wound. |
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45 |
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46 Other systems have implemented this idea. Traditionally, a character can |
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47 take an arbitrary amount of damage in these systems, with normal |
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48 deleterious effects, but cannot /die/ without taking a level of the |
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49 deadliest form of damage. |
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50 |
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51 In a way, such games reprise the "death spiral" seen in various early |
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52 and modern systems. The more damaged a character becomes, the easier it |
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53 becomes to suffer further damage. Eventually, the character falls to the |
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54 center of the spiral - incapacitation or death. Healthy characters are |
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55 extremely hard to kill, however fell the blow. After taking a few hard |
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56 knocks, however, the character becomes vulnerable. |
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57 |
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58 Realistically, this makes sense. Certainly, very few character types |
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59 actually get /better/ at avoiding damage when they become wounded. The |
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60 talent is rare and specific and, in *Nobilis*, players should purchase |
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61 the talent as a player-designed Gift. It does not belong in the main |
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62 combat system. The death spiral also makes dramatic sense. Systems built |
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63 around a death spiral tend to make sure that characters /do/ survive one |
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64 or two blows before death. Finally, it makes the character's injury more |
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65 real for the players if it has a mechanical impact on the game. |
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66 |
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67 The standard death spiral bothers me, however, for the same reason that |
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68 nicking and scraping characters to death does. As characters descend the |
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69 spiral, it becomes ever easier to inflict that fatal blow. This |
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70 undermines the purpose of requiring at least one significant attack. To |
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71 me, if someone beats a character into helplessness with a series of |
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72 minor blows, and then finishes them off at leisure with a gun held |
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73 against their eye, it's not the gunfire that killed them. It's the minor |
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74 beating that left them unable to stop their enemy from shooting their |
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75 head point blank. |
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76 |
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77 The first unusual element of *Nobilis*' new combat system works as |
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78 follows. It's not the /last/ blow that must be particularly lethal to |
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79 take one of the Nobilis down. Taking a deadly wound isn't the final |
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80 indignity for a player character. Instead, a character /begins/ to |
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81 suffer the game mechanical effects of damage when they take their first |
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82 terrible injury. |
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83 |
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84 From a traditional perspective, *Nobilis*' new death spiral curls |
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85 backwards. A character has one to three Deadly wound levels. When they |
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86 suffer a truly horrible wound -- damage to the heart, a terrible fall, a |
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87 bullet to the head, serious burns, a lightning strike -- they lose one |
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88 such wound level. Until they run out of Deadly wound levels, lesser |
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89 damage has no game effect. A character also has a few Serious wound |
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90 levels. /After/ they run out of Deadly wound levels, significant damage |
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91 costs them a Serious wound level. |
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92 |
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93 Finally, characters have a few Surface wound levels. When they run out |
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94 of Deadly and then Serious wound levels, even a modest knocking around |
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95 costs them a Surface wound level. When they run out of /those/, they |
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96 die. Characters have between four and nine levels all told. |
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97 |
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98 Before I discuss this any further, I must admit to one obvious flaw. It |
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99 /is/ unintuitive for mortal characters to completely ignore any number |
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100 of Serious wounds received while they still have a Deadly wound level |
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101 remaining. You can lay open all their limbs with a knife, cut their |
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102 stomach, shoot their feet, spray them with mildly toxic gas, hurl them |
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103 into a cloud of angry wasps and then roll them through a fireplace and |
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104 they'll still be good to go. Not just fit and unimpaired -- they won't |
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105 lose even a single Serious wound level, since they still have a Deadly |
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106 wound level left. |
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107 |
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108 I don't have a solution for this. It's an intrinsic part of the system. |
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109 I do have some reasons to think it's acceptable, however. From the |
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110 dramatic perspective, when a character suffers a Deadly wound level, it |
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111 serves as the "cue" to the audience -- the players -- that the character |
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112 is now genuinely at risk. |
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113 |
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114 For those more oriented on realistic results, you might wish to think of |
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115 the miraculous energy that pervades the Nobilis as "ablative vitality." |
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116 Their sheer natural health simply /transcends/ damage insufficient to |
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117 inflict a wound level. Like physical armor, a Nobilis' vitality must be |
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118 pierced before the Noble themselves can suffer impairment. |
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119 |
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120 From my perspective, and hopefully the players', this wound system has |
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121 one significant virtue. The damage that characters suffer is "honest." |
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122 In a traditional death spiral, when a character takes a trivial wound |
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123 early on, it could mean the difference between life and death later. In |
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124 this system, a character cannot /suffer/ a trivial wound until they are |
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125 on their last legs -- when they know exactly how much closer to death it |
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126 brings them. |
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127 |
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128 Consequentially, when the characters take that deadly wound dramatically |
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129 necessary to bring them close to death, they have time to react to that |
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130 information. This honesty /does/ reduce risk, but the person running the |
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131 game can compensate with increased danger. It also reduces /chaos/, |
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132 allowing both players and those running games greater control over the |
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133 game world. |
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134 |
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135 R. Sean |
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136 |
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137 |
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138 What do you think? <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> |
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139 |
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140 Go to forum! <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> |
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141 Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic |
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142 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads |
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143 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search |
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144 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88> |
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145 |
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146 Topics Author Date Latest Reply |
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147 James and the Small Caps |
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148 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=81&t=81> (2) new Kibo |
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149 08-20-2002 16:29 02-10-2003 01:23 new |
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150 Art <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=77&t=77> (1) new Lxndr |
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151 04-26-2002 07:36 04-26-2002 07:36 new |
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152 The Original Nobilis Club |
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153 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=76&t=76> (3) new Bret Gillan |
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154 04-17-2002 11:28 03-17-2003 17:48 new |
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155 Questions & Thoughts |
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156 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=64&t=64> (3) new Pyske |
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157 03-20-2002 18:31 05-01-2003 13:03 new |
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158 Noble Buddhism? |
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159 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=61&t=61> (9) new Tlaloc |
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160 03-20-2002 12:17 12-10-2004 01:20 new |
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161 Noble Suicide <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=58&t=58> (9) new |
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162 Eric Christian Berg 03-20-2002 07:43 01-18-2005 16:27 new |
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163 Art Notes <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=54&t=54> (4) new R. |
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164 Sean Borgstrom 03-14-2002 16:31 03-21-2002 03:44 new |
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165 Ack...you just lost my sale |
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166 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=45&t=45> (10) new SteveD |
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167 03-14-2002 04:06 03-15-2002 06:29 new |
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168 Onomastikon working URL |
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169 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=36&t=36> (4) new Jorge |
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170 Hernández 03-06-2002 12:51 08-20-2002 16:10 new |
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171 Why do angels change names ? |
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172 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=33&t=33> (10) new philippe |
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173 tromeur 03-06-2002 10:13 12-10-2004 01:34 new |
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174 R. Sean, some examples? |
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175 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=32&t=32> (3) new Arref |
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176 03-05-2002 08:17 03-13-2002 20:28 new |
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177 Sounds great, BUT... |
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178 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=28&t=28> (2) new Kane |
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179 02-27-2002 16:43 02-27-2002 17:30 new |
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180 Sort of backwards? |
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181 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=21&t=21> (8) new Eric Finley |
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182 02-20-2002 14:25 02-28-2002 09:35 new |
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183 Programmer nature slips out! |
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184 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=20&t=20> (2) new Sean |
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185 McCarthy 02-20-2002 13:18 02-21-2002 10:30 new |
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186 Object Lesson Damage |
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187 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=15&t=15> (1) new Darren |
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188 Miguez 02-13-2002 12:45 02-13-2002 12:45 new |
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189 How about this? |
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190 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=12&t=12> (2) new Kristian |
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191 Lund 02-13-2002 11:30 02-14-2002 01:17 new |
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192 Now, this was strange! |
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193 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=9&t=9> (7) new access.denied |
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194 02-13-2002 07:44 02-16-2002 21:44 new |
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195 Briefs on the other two? |
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196 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=5&t=5> (5) new Eric Finley |
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197 01-31-2002 18:39 02-13-2002 10:36 new |
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198 Forum now works <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=4&t=4> (1) new |
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199 Sandy Antunes 01-31-2002 17:36 01-31-2002 17:36 new |
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200 limited series <http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=88&i=1&t=1> (2) new |
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201 Sandy Antunes 01-21-2002 17:41 01-31-2002 17:36 new |
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202 |
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203 Go to Top <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88> | New Topic |
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204 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/post.php?f=88> | View Threads |
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205 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&collapse=0> | Search |
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206 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/search.php?f=88> |
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207 |
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208 Newer Messages |
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209 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=81&a=1&> | Older Messages |
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210 <http://www.rpg.net/pf/list.php?f=88&t=1&a=2&> |
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211 |
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212 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
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213 |
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214 * Editing, Development, and Production |
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215 </news+reviews/columns/wind27mar02.html> |
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216 March 27, 2002 |
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217 * Affiliations </news+reviews/columns/wind20mar02.html> |
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218 March 20, 2002 |
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219 * How to be a Hollyhock God </news+reviews/columns/wind13mar02.html> |
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220 March 13, 2002 |
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221 * Naming Conventions </news+reviews/columns/wind06mar02.html> |
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222 March 6, 2002 |
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223 * Art Notes </news+reviews/columns/wind27feb02.html> |
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224 February 27, 2002 |
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225 * Dynamic Nobilis </news+reviews/columns/wind20feb02.html> |
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226 February 20, 2002 |
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227 * Systems Change </news+reviews/columns/wind13feb02.html> |
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228 February 13, 2002 |
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229 * Treachery </news+reviews/columns/wind06feb02.html> |
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230 February 6, 2002 |
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231 * The Emperor to Come </news+reviews/columns/wind31jan02.html> |
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232 January 31, 2002 |
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233 * The Changing of the Guard </news+reviews/columns/wind21jan02.html> |
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234 January 21, 2002 |
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235 |
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236 |
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237 Other columns </news+reviews/columns.html> at RPGnet |
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238 |
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