cranebump

You filthy bastard! How could you?!* *All good, man. We're all appreciative of the effort. Now get out there and eat those...foods...yes, FOODS. Normal foods. Not...baby food.:-)

Or my prospective new toon, Shiggles.:-)

I always assume that people are running characters who are exemplared down, and probably IO’ed (with attunes). That said, I do try to test my arcs with characters to fit the level. I can certainly see, and have seen, that customs are definitely tougher than your average bear. I am certain I have some pain the ass ones in earlier arcs, but have hopefully more balanced ones on newer arcs. (Again…hopefully…):-)

I’ll be checking out your runs, as usual. Thanks for highlighting the community’s creators!

My advice is to design the main narrative as solid as possible (the “must do”). After that, worry about the other stuff (the “would be nice if…”). There is, after all, nothing we can do but work with what we have.

You can create friendly NPC patrols, but they won’t be scampering. NPCs as rescues with the captors set to empty and the NPC trembling, then running off when you rescue them might work, but it’s limited. Unfortunately, there just really isn’t a way to achieve that effect you see in in-game mishes.

Whips Chains A lot more leather Something super frilly that… hang on… Um…wrong list…heh…(ahem)

You can set the mish to where the player must exit through the original entrance, rather than click to leave.

Could we finally see a stalking mastermind scrappatanking with a dominating control blaster set? HUZZAAAAAAAAAAH!

Did rolls. Got a Robotics/Elec Aff MM. this is probably the most sense that any of my rolls for this activity have ever made.:-) I’ll whip up a character soon. UPDATE: Sheila Foyle loved her job at the Sweet Eats factory and distribution center. Especially the production center, where huge vats of chocolate swirled hypnotically. Thanks to her natural acumen (and days on the farm tinkering and enhancing Paw-Paw's machines), she was well on her way to becoming the 2nd assistant technician. But on her last shift, when she was installing the latest updates -- a new automation system intended to make the company's Andromeda bars even silkier and smoother -- a superpowered brawl between Dr. Maximo and the New Regulators spilled into the factory space. The impact of all that superpowered energy blasted her right into the first batch of Silkysmoothe. Still sizzling with the various effects in her system, she arose from the vat, finding her self strangle imbued with the power of her creamy creation. After a brief period of recovery and training -- during which she obtained a hefty settlement from the Regulators' lawyers for, among other things losing an eye -- she put her newfound skills to work, fashioning an FPG (fancy, powerful gun) and developing her choco-bots into instruments of justice. She now patrols Paragon City as the one and only SHOCKLATIER!

I’ve been mostly away from the game for a few months, but I will come back for this 🙂

Perhaps Sinclair’s “edginess” is a blessing. I mean, he could’ve been some sort of frat guy, running around yelling such things as “Manti-SCORE!, bruh!” (offers overly exuberant high five).

Or pinin’ for the fjords

Me personally? Craftsmanship, care and characters.

Well, first off, here are some reviews. As far as favorites, there are a lot. If you troll the AE board, you'll likely find them mentioned somewhere. As far as authors go, the most mentioned/honored are @Ankylosaur and @Darmian (I can personally vouch for the quality of their work). I like @Clave Dark 5's stuff a lot (which I'd term ecletic).:-) @Jiro Ito does excellent work all around. There's plenty more great stories, many of which carry the Dev's Choice seal from back in the day. And plenty more excellent stories flying way under the radar (unfortunately).

Money.

When I think of this guy, this saying comes to mind: there’s a G at the end of every douchebaG. 🙂

I find this conversation uplifting, yet, a downer.

To Dream of Nothing [ID: ] by @Zaphir This L20-29 heroic arc has you helping out Mel Gibs-, I mean Detective Martins on a missing scientist case (because in the world of superheroing, only scientists count!). Kidding there, of course. Tracklash, my obligatory “Sure, I’ll try a regen scrapper [omg...what have I done?]" is all too happy to help (esp. Since Crane has sidelined him at L46 for, like, a gillion days). We dive in to discover: BAD GUYS ARE INVOLVED! Who knew? (We did. We most certainly did. It’s like it was planned that way).:-) But, yes - bad guys. Who? I’ll give you one clue: FREEEEEEEM! Yup. THOSE guys. Oh, we ‘ve got some Family involvement here. But mainly, it’s everyone’s favorite fascists, embroiled in a complex little story that is well-paced, with great clues, nice details, a great deal of mandatory “Council-ing,” Nicti, a professor in over his head, an enigmatic something known as "the Voice," and... And that’s all I’ll say on story, because you should check this one out without me spoilering anything (else).:-) Overall: I really enjoyed this one. A great blend of story/design using familiar baddies, some strong NPCs, and excellent foreshadowing. A purplish Seal of Approval emitting an unavoidable gravitational pull (not that I’m hinting at anything there…noooooooo…):-) PLAY IF: your thing is a detailed story. There’s plenty here, and it’s very well-crafted. Worth your time! Stay frosty everyone (like, for real if you’re in this vortex thing), Crane P.S. There are semicolons in character dialogue. People don’t speak in semicolons. They just don’t. And everyone knows semicolons suck. Or rather, I know that, and… Okay, so my nonexistent staff is telling me this is a personal thing, and that I’m proselytizing. They’re also saying it’s annoying, overbearing, nitpicking, and…OKAY! I GET IT! Stepping aside right...NOW!:-) Design Deets (for those interested)

I can relate. Got into it (in PMs) with mods from The Big Purple over them giving me a warning while giving a succession of passes to a longtime poster/troll. They decided to slap a short term ban on me. I wrote back that they could go fuck themselves and my time there was done. I'd probably do things a bit differently today.:-)

Even though I've had my douchey moments (including a recent one), I don't think anything discussed on the forums is so all-encompassing that it can adequately (or even marginally) serve as a litmus test for how to be be "true to the self." It's just a f'in video game, after all. Whether we like it or not, the truth is it's not what you say, it's how you say it. I could have the cure for cancer, but if I presented it to the world by being a colossal jerk, no one's gonna give a shit. I don't know what Snarky wrote, but receiving a warning is small taters. Not every discussion is - or should be - about who wins the argument. I mean, geez -- a dustup over KB? There has to be a taller hill to die on.

Yeah, that would be a commitment.:-) Best I've done is watch the video later in the day.

Logging in in a few. I'll be running Whipsmart:-)

A Light Within the Darkness (ID: 843) by @Steel Dancer This L25-37 arc from 2019 has you working with the Midnighters to secure some of their valuables (the main worry being possible theft by the Circle of Thorns). You agree to help and, of course, run into CoT right off the bat. However, your in-mish contact tells you that most of the raid damage doesn’t appear to be done by the Thorns. Your own initial investigations back this up, so…shenanigans! By an as yet unrevealed somebody/something! Involving a scary, mystical (stolen) tome! Actually “council bot” Montague (see below) is much more composed than that, but this is our basic setup. With your only real lead being the Thorny crew, you naturally pay them a visit. Here, you discover the 3rd party involved in the theft, which, in a nice little twist, leads you back to…Well, you’ll just have to see.:-) VERDICT: A clean, clear, well-constructed arc, made with care and attention to detail. Strikes a nice balance between "stuff" and story. Antagonists are well-drawn. Customs are nicely done. Great map choices (esp for the finale). Overall, I give it a solid, raddy-green Seal of Approval (I ran this with my Atomic blaster):-). PLAY IF: You want a solidly constructed, well-balanced mish. It's listed as story-heavy, but it didn't feel that way. The arc moves along very nicely. FYI: Arc ID 844:An Exchange of Words is a companion piece to this one. A few items of note: The contact model isn’t Montague, but rather the default council bot model the system uses, indicating the need for some updating. Also: There's no text on interact with some glowies in M1, nor do any clues drop from them. This only occurs in M1, and is the only noticeable error I found in the whole arc. There IS a timer on one of the mishes, but the map isn’t huge. I had plenty of time leftover (though I DID beeline to the objectives).

I script with the soloist in mind, and usually an experienced one at that. I'm thinking new players have enough other things to do before they decide to delve into player-made content. I'm not sure what can be done to truly raise the profile any more than it is, other than seeing some player-made content becoming in-game content. I'd say the chances of that happening or pretty small, at best. The return of Dev's Choice would certainly help matters, however.