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The main modern age Vampire Clan Novels are good... I've also heard the Dark Ages clan novels aren't too bad, either.
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Mar 28, 2011 22:07
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Kaveman posted:Are there any Vampire or Werewolf novels worth reading? Some of the Vampire: The Masquerade Clan Novels are very good, but most of them are painfully boring. Kathy Ryan's two clan novels (Setite and Ravnos) make up a two-parter within the larger clan novel saga, and are the only clan novels that I'd recommend by themselves. The Giovanni novel is pretty good, and is also more or less stand-alone, as is the Lasombra/Assamite two-parter; the rest of them are too tied into the overall goofy storyline of the Clan Novel Saga to hold up on their own. The Dark Ages Clan Novels are overall better-written and more interesting, though they don't quite hit the high mark of Kathy Ryan's VtM novels. Also, unlike the VtM Clan Novels, the Dark Ages novels don't suffer from a) having way too many extraneous recurring subplots and b) having their main plot revolve around a magical shapeshifting eyeball. Beyond that, there aren't too many really outstanding Vampire novels overall - I liked the Victorian Age Trilogy and the Brujah and Lasombra Clan Trilogies, but your mileage might vary. The Dark Ages anthology Dark Tyrants has enough good short stories to make it worth reading. Gehenna: The Final Night is probably the most accessible Vampire novel, actually. There aren't nearly as many Werewolf novels, but most of them are decent enough. The Silver Crown, the Tribe Novel Saga and The Last Battle are all pretty good, and between the set of them, they make up a complete story arc (and for those of you who remember the comic book in the Werewolf Second Edition rulebook, The Silver Crown picks up where that left off). The tribe novels are hard to find these days, though; White Wolf only has half of them available for purchase as PDF.
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Mar 28, 2011 22:44
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If you can find a copy of the long out-of-print As One Dead, it's hilariously bad. Like, all the stereotypes of lovely Vampire: the Masquerade roleplaying and writing bad. The protagonist is both Brujah and Toreador because she was embraced by two vampires at once, the vampires attend a weekly meeting of (IIRC) "The Gothic Society", and at one point a vampire is forced to open her mouth by holding her nose shut. It's deliriously, beautifully terrible.
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Mar 28, 2011 23:11
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The Masquerade of the Red Death trilogy wasn't awful and had a splash of Mage in it... then again, it also has some really oddball poo poo in it as it primarily revolves around the on again, off again, love affair between two Methuselehs, and how they try to recapture the wonders of mortal life in their own ways. It also features one of teh coolest Nosferatu characters ever.
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Mar 28, 2011 23:40
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Pope Guilty posted:If you can find a copy of the long out-of-print As One Dead, it's hilariously bad. Like, all the stereotypes of lovely Vampire: the Masquerade roleplaying and writing bad. The protagonist is both Brujah and Toreador because she was embraced by two vampires at once, the vampires attend a weekly meeting of (IIRC) "The Gothic Society", and at one point a vampire is forced to open her mouth by holding her nose shut. It's deliriously, beautifully terrible. Also the protagonist is a member of the Inconnu, and at one point she identifies a vampire's clan and generation on sight.
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Mar 29, 2011 00:39
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I played Redemption before bloodline was released, because the thing on the back said that the story spanned a few centuries, so I thought it was gonna be a long rear end rpg and I was a sucker for those back then. Until I found out that they just did a timeskip from dark ages to modern, was a little disappointed but I liked the game overall. Bought bloodlines when it was released, finished it and then I did the worse thing ever, sold it off after I finished a malk run for their crazy hilarious dialogues. Now whenever I see these threads again I keep thinking that I still have the discs somewhere on my shelf only to remember that I sold it off. Now I can't replay the game with all those glorious mods that have came out. Also anyone else remember the werewolf models in redemption? I thought they looked way better than the one in bloodlines. SMLJ fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Mar 29, 2011 |
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Mar 29, 2011 02:43
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Werewolves were pretty weak in Redemption though. You'd get jumped and just spank them like anything else. Bloodlines handled werewolves really, really well I think. The whole werewolf scene and the small hint at the existence of werewolves that shows up earlier in the game went really well together. Yeah, I know... models. I guess I couldn't resist the chance to fawn over Bloodlines and its werewolf scene. The model in Bloodlines was a bit weak. But, then, graphics weren't its strongest suit. Lassitude fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Mar 29, 2011 |
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Mar 29, 2011 02:46
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SMLJ posted:Also anyone else remember the werewolf models in redemption? I thought they looked way better than the one in bloodlines. Yeah, Redemption had a handful of really nice models, and a lot of really great animations, actually. I was heavy into the mod/MP scene of Redemption, actually... this guy named Yith and I basically made an entire WoD Mod for the game that added in Mages, added all the other clans, even had the basics of Werewolves in there. That was back before NWN, so it was the first game to have some type of GM system where you could run your own stories and such... I even made a bunch of levels for the thing, hehehe... good times.
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Mar 29, 2011 03:15
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OMFG FURRY posted:In general, cross over was never really supported in oWoD, too many rules conflicted and it become a mess to convert stuff. That's kind of disappointing. When I first heard about all the other WoD games, it was natural to assume that crossover compatibility was the whole point of having them all happen in the same setting, under the same rpg system. Thought it was a cool idea, but oh well.
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Mar 29, 2011 04:25
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Cathair posted:That's kind of disappointing. When I first heard about all the other WoD games, it was natural to assume that crossover compatibility was the whole point of having them all happen in the same setting, under the same rpg system. Thought it was a cool idea, but oh well. Well oWoD wasn't really one setting. The metaphysics and history were contradictory. nWoD is better about that kind of thing. Not perfect, but better. There are even a couple sourcebooks that describe the interactions between different kinds of supernatural creature in different cities.
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Mar 29, 2011 04:38
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gtrmp posted:Also the protagonist is a member of the Inconnu, and at one point she identifies a vampire's clan and generation on sight. Also the authors want you to know how many classic 80's goth bands they know about.
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Mar 29, 2011 04:38
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Pope Guilty posted:Also the authors want you to know how many classic 80's goth bands they know about. That could be any Vampire book published before 1997
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Mar 29, 2011 04:46
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Fuzz posted:The main modern age Vampire Clan Novels are good... My personal favorite is Clan Novel: Malkavian. Anatole was such an awesome character and they did a pretty good job of depicting Malkavian insanity and the deeper meanings there.
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Mar 29, 2011 04:54
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Bloodlines. Just ... Bloodlines. I have completed two playthroughs, 1st as Toreador, 2nd as Tremere. Good times, man. Good times. This game has the best atmosphere and pacing I have ever seen. In my opinion the climb from 'normal human who can survive a few more bullets' to 'inhuman monster who can outrun a speeding train and kill people with one punch' goes at exactly the right rate. If I ever get my Chaos RPG made, that's the pace I'm going for. It also has the best voice acting I have ever seen in a game, period. And of course it has Jack. Which qualifies it for some sort of award, I'm pretty sure. quote:Brujah or Toreador, because you haven't actually played this game until you play it with Celerity. This is fact. You have not lived until you've fought Bach with Celerity 5 active and been able to calmly step out of the way of his rifle rounds as they come at you. I just have to say one thing to the OP: I must contest your suggestion that Seduction isn't worth much, even in the base game. You just have to be able to accept the fact that the developers were horny nerds with no lives, just like all of us goons - 90% of the seduction checks are only available to female characters (pro tip: all girls in the WoD bend both ways), and there are quite a few of them. Being able to feed in bars is one of the only safe ways to reliably get blood until you reach Chinatown and you can reliably corner people in alleys. I mean, if you want to go crawling around in the sewers and eat rats for your vitae like some sort of filthy ... Anarch, that's your business. This is just good advice.
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Mar 29, 2011 05:14
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TehWarsmith posted:Bloodlines. Just ... Bloodlines. Really? I found Santa Monica the easiest to find food in. Just hang out in the alley next to Asylum.
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Mar 29, 2011 05:20
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I vaugely remember, back at un-modded release, that I actually seduced somebody in a bar to feed off of, and then later tried to go back, and they were still in the post-feeding daze even though it was several missions later. Did this change? Because pumping a skill which is almost entirely useful for getting a small number of one-time feedings seemed not worth it.
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Mar 29, 2011 05:25
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Zereth posted:I vaugely remember, back at un-modded release, that I actually seduced somebody in a bar to feed off of, and then later tried to go back, and they were still in the post-feeding daze even though it was several missions later. Did this change? Because pumping a skill which is almost entirely useful for getting a small number of one-time feedings seemed not worth it. Yeah, it's fixed. With Camarilla Mod there's also 2 more blood dolls available per area.
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Mar 29, 2011 06:05
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Fuzz posted:Yeah, it's fixed. With Camarilla Mod there's also 2 more blood dolls available per area. Ahh, that is smart. And yeah, Santa Monica is probably the second easiest to find blood in, and it's not like you can't occasionally get lucky and catch someone alone in an alley anywhere. But I find it worth it to be able to feed in any zone at any time with no risk.
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Mar 29, 2011 07:19
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DemonNick posted:Well oWoD wasn't really one setting. The metaphysics and history were contradictory. This is the opinion of quite a few people... and it's somewhat maddening to anyone who's bought/read most of the 'World of Darkness' sourcebooks. Midnight Circus? The Red Sign? The systems work perfectly fine together as long you aren't trying to use the cross-system data provided in the Core Rulebooks (which was deliberately skewed in each to toward its parent game system). Offkorn fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Mar 29, 2011 |
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Mar 29, 2011 22:27
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TehWarsmith posted:Ahh, that is smart. And yeah, Santa Monica is probably the second easiest to find blood in, and it's not like you can't occasionally get lucky and catch someone alone in an alley anywhere. But I find it worth it to be able to feed in any zone at any time with no risk. Playing as Nosferatu lets you feed in any zone with no risk easy. Them Rats be tasty.
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Mar 29, 2011 22:34
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Offkorn posted:The systems work perfectly fine together as long you aren't trying to use the cross-system data provided in the Core Rulebooks (which was deliberately skewed in each to toward its parent game system). The systems work fine together as long as nobody tries to fight or chase a werewolf, and everything happens at night so that the vampire's player doesn't have to sit out half of every game, and everyone is coincidentally a medium so that the wraith's player can actually interact with the other players in character, and nobody antagonizes a mage or a mummy in any way whatsoever.
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Mar 29, 2011 22:47
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gtrmp posted:The systems work fine together as long as nobody tries to fight or chase a werewolf, and everything happens at night so that the vampire's player doesn't have to sit out half of every game, and everyone is coincidentally a medium so that the wraith's player can actually interact with the other players in character, and nobody antagonizes a mage or a mummy in any way whatsoever. Clearly you have not read the aforementioned Midnight Circus or The Red Sign. I suggest you do so.
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Mar 29, 2011 22:49
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Fuzz posted:The Masquerade of the Red Death trilogy wasn't awful and had a splash of Mage in it... then again, it also has some really oddball poo poo in it as it primarily revolves around the on again, off again, love affair between two Methuselehs, and how they try to recapture the wonders of mortal life in their own ways. It also features one of teh coolest Nosferatu characters ever. Wasn't this the trilogy about a bunch of mages who get embraced but still have real magic and are super powerful and achieve golconda with demon blood and none of it makes any sense?
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Mar 29, 2011 22:54
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Cpt_Obvious posted:Wasn't this the trilogy about a bunch of mages who get embraced but still have real magic and are super powerful and achieve golconda with demon blood and none of it makes any sense? You know, I can't remember the main thrust of the plot, but I know it wasn't about that. You might be thinking of the flashback it features, which is the actual Embracing ritual that the Tremere used to turn themselves into vampires... that's actually told in detail in the book, from I believe Goratrix's perspective... either his or Etrius.
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Mar 29, 2011 23:21
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Cpt_Obvious posted:Wasn't this the trilogy about a bunch of mages who get embraced but still have real magic and are super powerful and achieve golconda with demon blood and none of it makes any sense? no no they achieve golconda by drinking from a magic cup and they weren't mages but they did grow up in the Second City and 
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Mar 30, 2011 00:27
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Masquerade of the Red Death was written by an outside contractor with no experience in the setting, during the fairly early years. Given those two factors it was actually fairly decent. If, say, Justin Achille had written it or something then there wouldn't be a 'WTF' big enough.
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Mar 30, 2011 00:31
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Offkorn posted:Clearly you have not read the aforementioned Midnight Circus or The Red Sign. I suggest you do so. I have, actually. Midnight Circus has basic 'how your splat's power X interacts with other splat's power Y' crossover rules, and The Red Sign goes into more depth on the thematic interplay between vampires and mages, but neither one even tries to address the massive and fundamental disparities between splats that I mentioned in my other post.
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Mar 30, 2011 00:37
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Midnight Circus was crazypants stupid and I'm not sure why we're talking about it with any seriousness.
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Mar 30, 2011 03:22
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I'm not sure why we're talking about oWoD books at all when there's a specific WoD discussion thread in TGD, and this thread is about a vidya gaem. 
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Mar 30, 2011 03:34
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Fuzz posted:I'm not sure why we're talking about oWoD books at all when there's a specific WoD discussion thread in TGD, and this thread is about a vidya gaem. Actually, I quite enjoy reading about the oWoD lore & backstories without having to wade through all the P&P & fanfic stuff in the Traditional Games threads, if that's what you're talking about. Knowing more about the background of the game world has made replays more interesting.
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Mar 30, 2011 04:08
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Offkorn posted:Clearly you have not read the aforementioned Midnight Circus or The Red Sign. I suggest you do so. CHAOS FACTOR
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Mar 30, 2011 04:18
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Then ask away. It's what I'm here for, anyway. 
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Mar 30, 2011 04:32
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Fuzz posted:Yeah, Redemption had a handful of really nice models, and a lot of really great animations, actually. I was heavy into the mod/MP scene of Redemption, actually... this guy named Yith and I basically made an entire WoD Mod for the game that added in Mages, added all the other clans, even had the basics of Werewolves in there. That was back before NWN, so it was the first game to have some type of GM system where you could run your own stories and such... I even made a bunch of levels for the thing, hehehe... good times. I was really into redemption online. I played for years, and it was my first roleplaying experience. for its problems with people hacking and crashing peoples games it was excellent. what name did you go by and what mod did you work on?
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Mar 30, 2011 04:33
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Kavingi posted:I was really into redemption online. I played for years, and it was my first roleplaying experience. for its problems with people hacking and crashing peoples games it was excellent. what name did you go by and what mod did you work on? Fuzz, and the WoDMod.  Seriously, that's what it was called. It was pretty popular in the game's heyday. I was mainly a mapper, used to make my own, but also helped troubleshoot a few areas for others, including Krypt, who made that expanded London by Night Map with the 2 extra areas. Wish I could say I helped with the mapping side of it, but I mostly just helped him with the area hooks and testing it for HOMs and poo poo like that, nothing more. He works for Ion Storm now, last I checked.Oh wow, it still has a site: http://www.planetvampire.com/wodmod/ EDIT: Aww, and the only one of my maps I can find a link to, still: http://planet-vampire.com/files/paine/redemption/filepages/361.htm (of course the DL link is dead) Got me all nostalgic.  EDIT: Looks like I found a map site that might still be alive, for those feeling like a romp through memory lane, has a pic of my old crypt that I basically made the night the map editor came out, as an example for others. Has a few others of mine mashed into this horrible pack that I somehow got suckered into helping on, but apparently didn't credit me on the New Worl pack, which was just the standard maps with all the invisible walls removed and the giant gaping holes left in certain areas to save on polys fixed. I wish I still had all my old maps... I had this one map of existing NYC maps that had an entire rooftop setup built into it, with fire escapes and ladders for you to get up there and traverse most of the city via the rooftops. Ah well. http://www.e-mods.net/modules/mota/ Hey guys, let's have a VtMR MP revival night! Guys! Guys? 
Fuzz fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Mar 30, 2011 |
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Mar 30, 2011 04:46
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I just re-installed the game with the Clan mod. It's great so far (again). I set the resolution to widescreen and FOV/anamorphic to the right settings with the tool, but the use icons are still cut off on the bottom and the blood bar, when full, is offset. Anyone know if I could fix this?
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Mar 30, 2011 05:49
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Good Christ, I forgot just how bad the textures were in this game. Yikes.
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Mar 30, 2011 06:07
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Ehhh. They're bad, but not bad enough to really bother me, and it's not like I have an exceptional tolerance for old graphics. I like using this eye texture set, though. Arguably a little glassy, but it's a nice improvement.
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Mar 30, 2011 09:49
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Dillbag posted:Actually, I quite enjoy reading about the oWoD lore & backstories without having to wade through all the P&P & fanfic stuff in the Traditional Games threads, if that's what you're talking about. Knowing more about the background of the game world has made replays more interesting. All that stuff is in the regular TG section. TG Discussion doesn't have any of that. Check it out.
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Mar 30, 2011 11:18
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Fuzz posted:Fuzz, and the WoDMod.
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Mar 30, 2011 11:20
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Cpt_Obvious posted:Wasn't this the trilogy about a bunch of mages who get embraced but still have real magic and are super powerful and achieve golconda with demon blood and none of it makes any sense? Speaking of stupid books, anyone remember the Penny Dreadful ones? Those were... something.
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Mar 30, 2011 14:41
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