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Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen

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Sat, 2011-10-15 22:07
#1
UnitOmega UnitOmega's picture
Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
So, I got this idea off in that one thread about EP Skills and decided to post this thread. What's the strangest or most unique [Field] (Preferably one of the Knowledge skills, but I guess a medicine or hardware could come up) skill you've seen? Feel free to tell if it actually turned out to be incredibly useful, too. For one, I'd like to put forward that one of the PCs in my current game has "Flair Bartending" as an interest, at 40.
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Sun, 2011-10-16 00:43
Axel the Chimeric Axel the Chimeric's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
[url=http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0808.html]Does this count?[/url]
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Sun, 2011-10-16 01:09
UnitOmega UnitOmega's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
That probably does count. And is also an example of that working out perfectly.
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Sun, 2011-10-16 01:51
AWOL Joe AWOL Joe's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
One player in my current game has the Interest skill of "Pre-Fall Video Games". The scary part is that I'm pretty sure he's going to make it relevant at some point... Also, another character has Profession skills that aren't too odd on their own (in fact, both are mentioned as possible examples of Profession fields in the core), but are a bit odd on the same character: Lab Technician and Squad Tactics.
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Sun, 2011-10-16 04:02
Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Interest: vintage food is a curious one. And then there is the character with Academics: theology, Art: oratory (parables), Persuasion (religious), Profession: messiah, but he happens to be a Jesus Christ-bot. With Interest: science fiction and Martian beers, it turns out. Another cool one for a NPC is Profession: gatecrashing finance. On the other hand, Intimidation (haka) has occurred in *two* characters so far!
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Sun, 2011-10-16 06:59
LostProxy LostProxy's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Before panopticon came out two of the players who had worked together in their background had Language: Tribal Sign Language. When the enemy has hacked your communications it can be the best way to keep the group cohesive. Also a personal favorite Profession: Law (Defender or Loopholes.) Has been used twice spectacularly.
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Sun, 2011-10-16 12:24
Re-Laborat Re-Laborat's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Exotic Ranged (Thrown Octomorph) Profession: Gourmet Cooking (Sapient ingredients) Interest: Ice-Skating (Cometary All-Terrain) Profession: Security Operations (Boarding Party) Interest: Hypercorp Celebrities (Blackmail Opportunities) Freerunning (Moving Objects) Kinetic Weapons (Ricochet Shots) Kinetic Weapons (Free-Fall Propulsion) Art: Speech (Filibuster) Deception (Look! Elvis!) Pilot: Groundcraft (Aerobatics) Profession: Muckraking Protocol (Embarrass Others) And of course, the one all GMs should be cautious about: Thrown Weapons (Dice)
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Mon, 2011-10-17 07:02
Smokeskin Smokeskin's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Re-Laborat wrote:
Interest: Hypercorp Celebrities (Blackmail Opportunities) Kinetic Weapons (Free-Fall Propulsion) Deception (Look! Elvis!) Pilot: Groundcraft (Aerobatics) Protocol (Embarrass Others)
Haha those are great :D
Re-Laborat wrote:
Profession: Security Operations (Boarding Party)
Why is this strange? It seems an obvious choice for pirates, habitat perimeter patrol security forces, etc.
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Mon, 2011-10-17 05:13
Killebrew Killebrew's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Re-Laborat wrote:
Profession: Gourmet Cooking (Sapient ingredients)
I just have to ask, did this one actually get used?
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Mon, 2011-10-17 06:51
Xagroth Xagroth's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
The throwing octomorph skill... it's about an octmorph throwing something... or throwing octomorphs as projectiles??? XDDD Academics: Hypercorps, followed by Academics: Planetary Consortium Black Ops... And profession: gluttony. The character wasn't hungy, so she asked for a 10-course meal... XD
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Mon, 2011-10-17 08:11
Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
One character has Interest: partying. Very useful skill.
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Mon, 2011-10-17 08:40
Re-Laborat Re-Laborat's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Smokeskin wrote:
Re-Laborat wrote:
Profession: Security Operations (Boarding Party)
Why is this strange? It seems an obvious choice for pirates, habitat perimeter patrol security forces, etc.
It's like 'Profession: Spy'. It's only strange if you put it on your resume.
Killebrew wrote:
Re-Laborat wrote:
Profession: Gourmet Cooking (Sapient ingredients)
I just have to ask, did this one actually get used?
Sadly, no, nor has the character.
Xagroth wrote:
The throwing octomorph skill... it's about an octmorph throwing something... or throwing octomorphs as projectiles??? XDDD
Fastball special, all the way! Thrown Weapon (Feline) is an equivalent for those without a tako in the party. Like an octomorph, Mister Fibbles lands and STICKS, and unlike an octomorph, five of his six ends are pointy... Alas, there hasn't been an opportunity to throw the octomorph yet, either.
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Mon, 2011-10-17 11:18
The Doctor The Doctor's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Interest: Industrial Espionage Profession: Escort (Life Partner Experience) Art: Performance (Swarmanoid) Interest: Ancient Sports Interest: Transhuman Sports Interest: Transhuman Extreme Sports Profession: Sportscasting Interest: Orbital HALO Jumping Profession: Exospheric drag racing Interest: Lunar Crater Luge Art: Sculpture (lunar craters) Art: Zen brush painting Profession: Gonzo Journalism Interest: Consciousness Altering Substances Knowledge: Waste disposal systems Networking: Uplifts (feline) Profession: Espionage (OSINT) Interest: Pirate radio Interest: Trolling (mesh forums) Art: Japanese tea ceremony Art: Psychosurgery (mental illness) (Do NOT ask where that came from...) Art: Graffiti (sousveillance) Profession: Publishing (leaked information)
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Mon, 2011-10-17 12:12
MirrorField MirrorField's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Industrial Espionage
Should be nearly mandatory for every corporate espionage character.
The Doctor wrote:
Profession: Escort (Life Partner Experience)
Sounds like relatively longterm gigs. Too many enthusiastic and willing amateurs to make this anything more than niche, I think...
The Doctor wrote:
Art: Performance (Swarmanoid)
Interesting. Probably can't be performed or learned except theoretically (and probably lousily) without sleeving into a swarmanoid.
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Ancient Sports Interest: Transhuman Sports Interest: Transhuman Extreme Sports Profession: Sportscasting
I'm sure Experia has hundreds (probably more) of people with these.
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Orbital HALO Jumping
Most likely person with this lived at least part of his/her life on Earth before the Fall. Or possibly on mars. Venus [i]might[/i] be possible, but awfully, awfully iffy...
The Doctor wrote:
Profession: Exospheric drag racing Interest: Lunar Crater Luge Art: Sculpture (lunar craters) Art: Zen brush painting
Probably niche hobbies, but nice color for character.
The Doctor wrote:
Profession: Gonzo Journalism
Was characters' name "Spider Jerusalem"? Nevertheless, might have (GM determined) number of adherents.
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Consciousness Altering Substances
Probably had by a significant percentage, maybe even majority, of The Scum.
The Doctor wrote:
Knowledge: Waste disposal systems
Can be extremely useful for a Firewall operative. "Forensic plumbing" anyone? (with nod to L.M. Bujold...)
The Doctor wrote:
Networking: Uplifts (feline)
Should give a significant bonus for recognizing and handling stone-cold sociopaths.
The Doctor wrote:
Profession: Espionage (OSINT)
If you mean "Open Source INTelligence", there are probably thousands with this skill.
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Pirate radio
Best guys are probably at Mitre, running Radio Argosy.
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Trolling (mesh forums)
"U Mad, bro?" is probably the classic finishing line.
The Doctor wrote:
Art: Japanese tea ceremony
Timeless classic. A Yamafuku clan member probably has this.
The Doctor wrote:
Art: Psychosurgery (mental illness) (Do NOT ask where that came from...)
"The brightest light casts the darkest shadow." Nevertheless, I think Nine Lives has people with this.
The Doctor wrote:
Profession: Publishing (leaked information)
Probably quite a specialist endeavour. Most people in sousveillance business have ready-made channels for their exposés, built by people with this.
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Mon, 2011-10-17 17:17
Axel the Chimeric Axel the Chimeric's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Arenamontanus wrote:
On the other hand, Intimidation (haka) has occurred in *two* characters so far!
Make that three. In my Snow Crash-esque linguistics plot, the end result of mind virus that led a bunch of sci-fi nerds to go insane resulted in them going posthuman. However, they carried on the culture of the language meme that initiated the change, which led to them doing that lovely Maori dance routine and chant.
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Wed, 2011-10-19 06:39
Myrmidont Myrmidont's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Sadly nothing too outrageous from me. My previous character had Profession [Amateur Shockboxer] and Interest [Shockboxing Trivia] (which the GM changed to Interest [Sports Trivia] as it was narrow enough that it should have been a speciality). Turned out an old shockboxer had just the right kind of info we needed, and offered to tell us after a bout in the ring... ...there's a reason my character was an amateur. Also a reason it's called 'shockboxing'. Unfortunately the wildest things my current character has are Patron [Delta Green] and Interest [Historical Swordfighting].
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Wed, 2011-10-26 22:30
The Doctor The Doctor's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
MirrorField wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Industrial Espionage
Should be nearly mandatory for every corporate espionage character.
..but for a cook?
MirrorField wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Profession: Escort (Life Partner Experience)
Sounds like relatively longterm gigs. Too many enthusiastic and willing amateurs to make this anything more than niche, I think...
Actually, it was described very much like a twenty-first century escort's 'girlfriend experience', only with the research and data mining capabilities available to transhumans in Eclipse Phase (as well as a muse assisting). Think of the girlfriend experience with someone who knows so much about you that they are virtually indistinguishable from one's life partner...
MirrorField wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Orbital HALO Jumping
Most likely person with this lived at least part of his/her life on Earth before the Fall. Or possibly on mars. Venus [i]might[/i] be possible, but awfully, awfully iffy...
Correct. The NPC in question fought in the Fall.
MirrorField wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Profession: Gonzo Journalism
Was characters' name "Spider Jerusalem"?
Yes, it was. I have yet to post his character sheet.
MirrorField wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Networking: Uplifts (feline)
Should give a significant bonus for recognizing and handling stone-cold sociopaths.
Yes, actually, it does. Also, the g-rep gained from returning a failed assassin's cortical stack in a used litterbox was considerable.
MirrorField wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Profession: Espionage (OSINT)
If you mean "Open Source INTelligence", there are probably thousands with this skill.
I do, and yes most of them are probably professional spooks.
MirrorField wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Pirate radio
Best guys are probably at Mitre, running Radio Argosy.
That is what I had in mind, yes. I keep wanting to write a vignette featuring Sean and Cimmerian of [url=http://rantmedia.ca/]Rant Media[/url] in the world of Eclipse Phase but there are other things I need to get out of the way first.
MirrorField wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Trolling (mesh forums)
"U Mad, bro?" is probably the classic finishing line.
With fifty Solar credits and an hour in a medical vat, you too can bear the visage of Trollface!
MirrorField wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Profession: Publishing (leaked information)
Probably quite a specialist endeavour. Most people in sousveillance business have ready-made channels for their exposés, built by people with this.
Also, adherents of the Anon meme would no doubt have gone through a boot camp or two in hidden sectors of the mesh to learn this particular tradecraft skill.
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Fri, 2011-10-28 03:23
750 750's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Re-Laborat wrote:
and unlike an octomorph, five of his six ends are pointy...
Nothing a enterprising morph tech can't help with ;)
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Fri, 2011-10-28 18:14
KnightSteel KnightSteel's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
The Doctor wrote:
MirrorField wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Industrial Espionage
Should be nearly mandatory for every corporate espionage character.
..but for a cook?
[IMG]http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z259/alias588/steven-seagal-5.jpg[/IMG] Cooks like us need all sorts of different skills. ;)
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Mon, 2011-10-31 18:09
GreyBrother GreyBrother's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
In europe (at least) its actually customary for chefs to switch their workplace with the seasons. This keeps new recipes coming into the kitchens portfolio and spreads their own "kitchen memetics" so to speak. So there is some kind of wanted and encouraged Industrial Spionage going on :D
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Tue, 2011-11-01 11:53
root root's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
root@Strange [Field] [hr]
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Orbital HALO Jumping
Am I the only one who wants to do this for real? I imagine there would be a similar extreme sport for Jupiter slingshot maneuvers in nothing but a rad suit and a backpack with jets. So. Much. Fun.
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Tue, 2011-11-01 12:14
CodeBreaker CodeBreaker's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
root wrote:
root@Strange [Field] [hr]
The Doctor wrote:
Interest: Orbital HALO Jumping
Am I the only one who wants to do this for real? I imagine there would be a similar extreme sport for Jupiter slingshot maneuvers in nothing but a rad suit and a backpack with jets. So. Much. Fun.
Pert. Everyone in the Scene knows the best near-suicidal jet propelled joy rides are done on the Sun. Those Jovian sissies have no balls! (Welcome back root, haven't see. You about lately. Or am I just blind? :) )
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Tue, 2011-11-01 12:29
root root's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
root@Strange [Field] [hr] Nah, I haven't been around for a bit. Flunked out of engineering, got emo about it, and dropped out of life for a while. Turns out to have been a good thing, as now I'm in CS, which it turns out I'm pretty good at, and I'm studying AI. Which, amusingly enough, is what I wanted to do when I went for my psych degree all those long years ago. Mmm, convoluted reality, got to love it.
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Fri, 2011-11-04 10:25
Xagroth Xagroth's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
I revealed the charsheet for an NPC in the PACKs thread so... Academicism: Biomorphs; Acad.: Pods; Acad: Synthmorphs; Acad: Implants. All to see someone and be able to say "it's a standard fury with reflex boosters by the way it twitches. This "Hermes" line also comes with drug glands, oh, oh...) Interest: Common Passwords (God, birthday, adress...) Profession: Nanotat ID Forgery
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Fri, 2011-11-04 13:29
Re-Laborat Re-Laborat's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Xagroth wrote:
Academicism: Biomorphs; Acad.: Pods; Acad: Synthmorphs; Acad: Implants. All to see someone and be able to say "it's a standard fury with reflex boosters by the way it twitches. This "Hermes" line also comes with drug glands, oh, oh...)
Curious. I would have classed this under 'interests.' The distinction between Academic, Interest, and Profession is far from perfectly clear, but being able to list characteristics of biomorphs strikes me as more like knowledge of Martian beer brands than, say, knowledge of physics or chemistry.
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Fri, 2011-11-04 17:38
UnitOmega UnitOmega's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Re-Laborat wrote:
Curious. I would have classed this under 'interests.' The distinction between Academic, Interest, and Profession is far from perfectly clear, but being able to list characteristics of biomorphs strikes me as more like knowledge of Martian beer brands than, say, knowledge of physics or chemistry.
Actually, I think the descriptions in the book is pretty clear. "Academics covers any sort of specialized non-applied knowledge you can only get through intensive education. Most theoretical and applied sciences, social sciences, transhumanities, etc. are covered by this skill." And depending on what they meant by Academics: Biomorphs, I'd let that slide (Or rather, what I'd let a player do with that skill). The way the example is phrased comes of more like an Interest, though. The way the book puts it, and they way I've always used it is that Academics is (as quoted above) for non-applied knowledge that requires education. Interest is for hobby skills, some of which can require learning to apply, but not necessarily a formal education to understand (You can get good at Gambling, which is a sample interest, just through some practice and informal learning), and Profession involves professional training, either in some kind of vocational school, or on the job training, and that would be applied. To put it in example form, you'd roll Academics: Physics to do the calculations to figure out the arc this bowling ball is going to take when you throw it on a planet with .65 G. You'd roll Interest: Physics to remember the name of the guy who came up with the equation you'd use in that case, and you'd roll Profession: Physicist to, say, construct a physical experiment to test your hypothesis. Or at least, that's what I got out of it.
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Fri, 2011-11-04 20:13
Xagroth Xagroth's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
I'll make this quick (1 am here, and tomorrow I won't be able to login in the whole day XD): I choose Academics instead of Interest because of the applied and detailed nature of the knowledge (mechanically speaking, there is no difference between Academicism and Interest, both depend of COG, after all, so changing it if needed would be a very minor effort). Essentially, I thought being able to identify a morph and know the base line it belongs to (fury, remade, olympian, sylph) and some of the implants that morph has (because it might belong to one of the lines of specialyzed morphs, however the GM needs to decide which implants are standard and which are not) is something than I feel should not be as easy to pick as collecting magazines about WWII planes or looking in the internet. Essentially, I believe it to be a very specialized knowledge of morphs that would grant several and widespreaded bonus to a lot of rolls (kinesics, unarmed combat... that's the reason I say "10% of the skill that gives bonuses" instead of the +20% that says the core book for a skill at 60) and it comes from hard study, not a hobby. Also, the data was presented in an organyzed fashion, instead of a more chaotic derived from insterests. In essence, I see too much "serious" (military, confrontational, etc...) applications for it to be an interest (which sounds like something more light to me). It's not like she got the data because it was interesting, it's that she had to memoryze it. Whole. Oh, extra: Interest: Star Trek, gives bonuses to some psi sleights and putting someone to sleep with a nerve pinch if you have pointy ears and copper-based blood XDDDD
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Sat, 2011-11-05 15:00
Re-Laborat Re-Laborat's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
UnitOmega wrote:
Actually, I think the descriptions in the book is pretty clear. "Academics covers any sort of specialized non-applied knowledge you can only get through intensive education. Most theoretical and applied sciences, social sciences, transhumanities, etc. are covered by this skill." And depending on what they meant by Academics: Biomorphs, I'd let that slide (Or rather, what I'd let a player do with that skill). The way the example is phrased comes of more like an Interest, though.
You handle it roughly the way I do, as well, but I've seen some things suggested which come out as grey areas...How advanced does your 'Interest' in theoretical physics have to be before it approaches an academic level? The 'intensive education' thing is part of the problem, IMHO, because you'll get plenty of hobbyists who will argue that they 'intensely educated' themselves. If it was instead phrased as 'the sort of specialized non-applied knowledge one can only get through long-term education at a place of higher learning,' and Interests was thus divided off to include 'self-education or hobby-level awareness -- which at a high level may mean a great deal of knowledge but whose breadth and depth has not been subjected to the rigorous peer cross-examination and authentication process of a place of higher learning.' The 'non-applied' thing is tricky as well. Some degrees are far more 'applied' than others, as it were. I do feel the definitions are a bit fuzzy. I tend to think in terms of "Character has a certification or degree in X," vs. "Character has a long-term vested interest and has self-educated themselves on X," vs. "Character manifests enough skill at X to be paid to make an income at it." Although, obviously, that's deceptive too...A degree in geology is likely to provide some income, as is a degree in medicine or psychology. And once your 'Interest' in Martian beers gets into the mid-80s, microbreweries may be approaching you as a professional taster/reviewer/what have you. I suppose like so many other things, in the long run, it comes down to the GM's decision.
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Wed, 2012-02-22 02:45
JohnMatrix JohnMatrix's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Art [Toy Box Theatre]
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Fri, 2012-03-02 20:49
BlackJaw BlackJaw's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
Interests: Conspiracy Theories is just too much fun, but then I like playing the uplifted octopus with the tinfoil hat. I also like Squad Tactics with a specialization in Self, for when you use forks of yourself to fill out a squad. It helps if you design the character to be as useful as possible as a beta-fork.
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Sat, 2012-03-03 11:21
Quincey Forder Quincey Forder's picture
Re: Strangest [Field] Skill You've Seen
BlackJaw wrote:
Interests: Conspiracy Theories is just too much fun, but then I like playing the uplifted octopus with the tinfoil hat.
And here I though Preston Crowley was the bonkerest Octopus of them all! He's just so awesome too! I really felt for the poor writers of AF 199, who need to rewrite the entire season! lol Anyway, I've got a couple NPC who have Art (Game of GO) at high level. They are the main antagonist in an adventure (work titled "Divided they fall...in line" ) I'm penning for a french webzine.
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