Character Development TWENTY (6 of 7)

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A chicken joke ... what a way to end the year.

Character Development TWENTY (5 of 7)

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This is a very 'talkie' episode. Hopefully there are enough jokes to carry you through.

I finished the script for episode 35 yesterday, which had been resisting me for a couple of weeks. (36 has already been written, and I've started on the ones after that). I was rather pleased to finally get that one done.

So I'm set until sometime in April 2011 for scripts ... and finished photos for all of January. Character Development looks set to keep going for a while at a page a day.

Character Development TWENTY (4 of 7)

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The Mage is a skeptic ... which is ironic for someone who casts spells all the time.

Character Development TWENTY (3 of 7)

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Failed to post yesterday as we had a 32 hour power cut after a summer rainstorm.

This did have some benefits however, such as BBQed bacon, eggs and french toast for breakfast this morning, with pizza-oven baked bread to go with it. I even managed BBQed coffee for my wife ... to avoid the creation of the terrifying have-no-caffine-monster.

Character Development TWENTY (2 of 7)

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Some roleplaying campaigns go on for so long both the players and the gamemaster forget what was going on at the start. My own current campaign is a case in point.

Character Development TWENTY (1 of 7)

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An episode that answers that tricky philosophical question ... Why are we here?

Unfortunately the answer only applies to out plastic Playmobil heroes.

Character Development NINETEEN (8 of 8)

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A new episode will start tomorrow.

Happy Holidays, everyone.

Character Development NINETEEN (7 of 8)

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More minimalism (or should that be less?)

Character Development NINETEEN (6 of 8)

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Minimalism.

Character Development NINETEEN (5 of 8)

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This is my attempt to get all arty with the layout. I had fun :-)

This would have been the page to delete if I was going to shorten the strip down to the regular 7 pages, and I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Character Development NINETEEN (4 of 8)

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I still have vague hopes of getting a page a day up over the holiday season, but that depends on a few variables out of my control. So if I miss a few days I hope you'll keep checking back.

Character Development NINETEEN (3 of 8)

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Hmm ...

... they wouldn't. Would they ... ?

Character Development NINETEEN (2 of 8)

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As Eartha Kitt famously sang; "I wanna be evil ... "

Character Development NINETEEN (1 of 8)

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This episode is longer than normal, at 8 pages (not 7). This was purely by accident. I only noticed a few days ago and decided to just go with it. So, sit back and enjoy an extra-longer episode ... Mental Slugfest.

Character Development EIGHTEEN (7 of 7)

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A new episode starts tomorrow.

I've been writing away at this (just wrote episode 36) and Dark Bay (currently writing episode 18 of that) and a couple of other things as well. I have a few things I'm hoping to get done during the xmas season, but I'm prepared for the worse, just in case my brain shuts down over the holidays. It's good to be way ahead on the scripts and ideas.

Character Development EIGHTEEN (6 of 7)

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Gender issues.

Character Development EIGHTEEN (5 of 7)

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The Barbarian was placed very carefully under a thin layer of lemonade jelly (jello to some in foreign lands where they make up words). At the end of this episode there was a lot of cleaning up to do.

Character Development EIGHTEEN (4 of 7)

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Last page the thief accidentally tossed the demon helmet into a gelatinous cube ...

Feel free to print this page out and cut and fold your own cube out of it.

Character Development EIGHTEEN (3 of 7)

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It had to happen.

Character Development EIGHTEEN (2 of 7)

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This is the second time my wife has made a gelatinous cube with Playmobil debris inside it. This time she excelled herself, and the results were both photogenic and delicious.

Character Development EIGHTEEN (1 of 7)

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The start of episode 18 ... Jelly Wrestling.

Character Development Desktop Wallpaper

Character Development SEVENTEEN (7 of 7)

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It's a cube of lemonade jelly (that's jello to some).

The photoshoot for this (and the next) episode was rather messy at times ... but a lot of fun.

A new episode starts tomorrow, and I'll also post a link to some desktop wallpaper featuring the cube of jelly later today.

Character Development SEVENTEEN (6 of 7)

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Sometimes things just don't work out the way you planned.

Character Development SEVENTEEN (5 of 7)

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The demon returns ... can the thief refuse such an offer?

Character Development SEVENTEEN (4 of 7)

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Sometimes when you're running a roleplaying campaign the players zig when you wished they'd zagged. Instead of taking the bait and going to the well mapped and documented ruined castle they decide to go check out the property market down by the seaside.

Character Development SEVENTEEN (3 of 7)

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Masturbation jokes ... the underlying framework for an entire culture, civilization and empire.

Character Development SEVENTEEN (2 of 7)

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The Ranger's 'discoveries' are all taken from the 'Dungeon Dressing' tables in Appendix I of my old 1979 (revised edition) copy of the Dungeon Master's Guide. This much loved tome was a revelation to me when I was a teenager, and I find myself flicking through it a fair bit even today.

You have to love a book that has a table listing 12 types of prostitute to be encountered.

Character Development SEVENTEEN (1 of 7)

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The start of the 17th episode ... with a familiar special guest.

Also a surprise at the end and a desktop wallpaper extra when we get to the last page of this episode.

Character Development SIXTEEN (7 of 7)

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Sometimes it takes something truly horrific to motivate people.

A new episode starts tomorrow.

Character Development SIXTEEN (6 of 7)

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I struggled to find a purse for the thief to return in this episode, so resorted to using a small golden frog (I've no idea what set that came in).

Character Development SIXTEEN (5 of 7)

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Sometimes you need a push to leave a pub ...

Character Development SIXTEEN (4 of 7)

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Remember, you can always go to www.virtuallycomics.com to read these episodes in a more pleasing format. The pages appear here first, one a day, but are collected up weekly over at the website.

Character Development SIXTEEN (3 of 7)

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Yesterday I finally managed to take some more photos for episode 19, which is now done. Episode 20 awaits the camera today. Meanwhile I have to figure out what happens in episode 35 ...

Character Development SIXTEEN (2 of 7)

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Where everybody knows their names ...

Character Development SIXTEEN (1 of 7)

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The start of the 16th episode.

Sometimes it's hard to leave. Especially when the place to leave is a bar.

Character Development FIFTEEN (7 of 7)

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A new episode starts tomorrow.

Character Development FIFTEEN (6 of 7)

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Nothing beats some groovy throat singing.

Well, okay ... almost everything beats it.

Character Development FIFTEEN (5 of 7)

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But what's in it for me? A question that defines a generation.

Character Development FIFTEEN (4 of 7)

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It was fun doing something different with this strip ... floating frames in blackness. For the most part Character Development is based around a simple 3 x 3 page format, so cutting loose with some crazy layouts was refreshing.

Character Development FIFTEEN (3 of 7)

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The battle of wits inside the Bard's head continues.

Character Development FIFTEEN (2 of 7)

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Here it is ... the 100th page of Character Development.

This was one of my favourite episodes to write so far, and was plenty of fun to layout.

Character Development FIFTEEN (1 of 7)

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The start of a new episode, with a special guest.

Character Development FOURTEEN (7 of 7)

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A new episode starts tomorrow ... and it's one of my favourites.

I've just finished scripting episode 31. I need to find time to take some more photos soon, but the scripts I'm way ahead on.

Meanwhile I'm writing some other scripts in my 'spare' time (that's the time when my kids aren't driving me spare).

Character Development FOURTEEN (6 of 7)

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Duh duh dun!

Character Development FOURTEEN (5 of 7)

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My wonderful wife whipped up a mask for the Bard in a few seconds flat.

Character Development FOURTEEN (4 of 7)

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The thief colours his world, and paints himself into a corner.

Character Development FOURTEEN (3 of 7)

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Alcohol and roleplaying go to together like ... ?

Character Development FOURTEEN (2 of 7)

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The return of that mysterious helmet from the Snagglepuss episode.

Character Development FOURTEEN (1 of 7)

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The start of the fourteenth episode, which takes place inside the Dug Inn underground (waaaaay underground) tavern.