cranebump

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of (ID: 36175) by @FourthSuvivor One of a host of adventures by this author, this 2024 arc of varying levels (from 20 to 50) places you in the role of art thief. It's marked as Easy, and noted as stealth friendly. So of course we're gonna go in with a big, fat tank whose appearance shouts, Come get me, pard! The fun starts AFTER the theft, as a subtle creepiness surrounding what you pilfered lingers. Like maybe it's not what it seems. (which, of course, it's not, as this arc is an homage to a certain cinematic masterpiece). The rundown: Nice writing (beware the ocelot, if that's not your thing). Well-crafted. Nice use of objects as cosmetics. Stock enemies (in sometimes mixed groups) with some customs. NOTE: Clues will appear in your System text, rather than as popups. You'll want to have them in a prominent, easy-to-read place (I have a separate window for these things--and be prepared to scroll a bit). Non-traditional contact text -- you're basically IN the (for lack of a better word) novel. Nice tussle with an end boss (but not difficult with AVs turned off). Couple of maps where you have to "Find Exit" (not everyone's cup of tea, but it's not like you're striding out of an empty map, if you know what I mean). Verdict: Solid, though not spectacular. No time wasters. You really CAN stealth most of it. I have some questions about why certain factions are working together (since they're not reskinned, one wonders what these disparate foes are up to). Writing is good. Arc is clearly meant to showcase a mood. A Paint-Flecked Seal of Approval. PLAY IF: You're feeling villainous, or looking to try out your thief character. OR: You like a nice diversion with some good writing. DON'T PLAY IF: You'd rather not be written in as a character in someone else's story (re: ocelot rule thingy). Angry Druids & Crazy Sorcerers (ID: 39235) by @Star-Strider A L20-30 arc from 2021 (with Magic and Challenging tags), this arc has you recruited by the aforementioned Angry Druid leader, Nalia Dayglow, who's looking to boot some construction grunts out of their territory. What follows is a mix of DnD fare, folded around some traditional heroing. The angry druids indeed show up (accompanied by some DnD-inspired customs). You end up switching sides (basically), due to their...well, rage. The rundown: Variety of maps, including an interesting use of Eden landscape (in which your objectives can be somewhat, uh, camouflaged).A...unique (I guess I'd say?) use of clue text in the form of (mostly humorous) text message exchanges, in which the texters recap events. It's actually a clever way of summarizing the mish, but I've obviously stepped into someone else's personal story (I...think...one of them appears to be me [though my name is now...Elise?).* This has occurred because I evidently have Dnd enabled on my "phone.":-) Verdict: Feels like it was written for someone's specific character (or characters, as indicated by the End Clue text strings). Doesn't really hurt the story, but it's clearly not a "I have stumbled into X" arc. Homage to DnD. Mostly humorous, but some dark shit happens prior to the finale. A doozy of an ambush there, btw. Overall, it's well told. PLAY IF: You're a fan of magical tales (especially "Druids"). DON'T PLAY IF: You don't like what Druids bring to the table (namely storm/electricity [pack some blues, if END is an issue for you). A stormy Seal of Approval (with the caveat that this clearly isn't your character's tale). (NOTE: If you ignore the text strings, it will play like it's yours, though). *I am most definitely Elise. I evidently accepted an offer of burgers from my text mate.:-)

Most of my experience is in 2 servers, which I’d characterize as folllows): Excelsior=GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO! Torch=hellooooooooooo! (echo [crickets]}

Bear in mind that you need only customize one group’s features, then change the save file when you advance them to the next tier. For example, I make 6 minion thugs, I can always open the files for them, click “Lieutenant” (it will add additional powers by itself, in most cases), then save the LT as “Thug1LT” or something like that. Since it’s just a more powerful interaction of the same dude, there’s no need to customize it further I’d you don’t want to. Beyond that I would offer that the minutiae is kind of the point, when you’re customizing. For good and I’ll.

You can keep a group stationary by creating a non-objective friendly boss and surrounding them with minions. They'll stay in place and not attack anything, unless they happen to end up near an enemy group or something.

A well-deserved respite!

It's a great arc! And no cakewalk when I ran it at 0/x4 version. I think x8 woulda floored me, considering the minion synergies. I just can't believe after all this time playing I didn't know about using insps to bypass the push-push. Learn somethin' new every day.:-)

The Return of Despoticus by @sponazgul [aka "First of Equals"] (ID: 68902) In this high level, “clearly-not-a reference-to-alien-superdudes” arc (wink), we are contacted by the cosmic being, OMEGOD, whom we’ve worked with before, but don’t recall (because Super Memory is not a thing for us blue & red tights guys–especially if there’s a “Cosmic Unawareness Field”).:-) Maybe we’re skeptical at first. Maybe not (I’m not, but I have no regard for my own safety. Whatever the case, when someone named Despoticus has his Ultrahorde up to their antics again, then, yeah – we gotta git ‘r dun! (if only to sell more Despoticus Secret Base! Collector Playsets to the kiddies!). What follows is a quick jaunt through the looking glass, albeit one that opens a window to a delightful parody of old school, from the mish titles (In the Clutches of the Ultrahorde!) to the dialogue, to the mention of the Comic Code Authority (ahhhh…memories….), to a REALLY annoying super villain (see below). I could see my character, Solumbra (used to be Souler, but lost the name in a server transfer [grrr]), gracing action-packed Kirby covers (or the like – Solumbra’s costume scheme borrows its color-scheme from a decidedly DC-inspired Mexican comic superhero called – wait for it – Super Hombre). Particulars: short maps. Reskinned bad guys (who sometimes have some nasty synergy). (, with some customs (mainly NPCs). Definitely want a tank, if you run at higher settings (I had +o/x4 on a FA/DM Incarnate – enough to keep me on my toes, early on). Everything’s really fun. Until you face Despoticus… Long story short: unless you’ve got some ranged capability - or some allies who do - you’re not going to defeat the guy without using a break free. I tried twice. Repulsion Field does not drop. Then you get Detention Field, which means you can ignore the Repulsion Field. But you can’t do anything. However, if you pop that BF, you can stroll right up and smash his teeth out (which I woulda done sooner, but didn’t realize I could pop 1 insp to do so…derrrrrrr). Anyhoo, barring that hiccup (which was all on my part, really), this was an excellently scripted mish. Light-hearted. Some nasty synergies on the mix-n-match reskinned minions. Nice customs. It’s very well done. PLAY IF: You like a bit of the old school tone (and don’t mind being “ocelotted”). DON’T PLAY IF: If you hate enemies with “annoying” powers (read: you feel that what’s good for the goose is definitely not good for the bad guys). A “Repulsive” Seal of Approval from this Superdude knockoff.:-)

Yeah, I was wrong. There's no doohickey to turn off or anything. I misread that. Twice.:-) Just need to use Break Free. Did not know that.:-)

I'll have a review up today. I didn't realize I could bypass Despoticus in M3. Got frustrated and quit. After reading your notes, went back in to wrap it up. Reading is fundamental.:-) Hold the phone. I'm on the map now, and I don't see any way to beat the guy straight up.

I am deleting those timers. Just give me 13 and a half minutes…:-)* *wish I could remove them, but would have to unpublish, which -- iirc -- removes the award seals.

You forget to go back and delete one lousy timer…(or 50):-)

I replayed the story myself this weekend. Didn't see ol' Maladept hiding in the boss room. The results of attempt #1 were, um...less than optimal. Actually had to do some old school pulling to clear some space before I went back in. Good times.:-)* *I'd-a called in the whole cavalry, as well, if I'd had them.:-)

By "expert," we mean ( in my case) shooting 300 darts out of a cannon and hoping 5 of them stick.:-)

I've done this with my "street level" heroes. You can definitely get by just fine with it.

Never Say Tomorrow Again by @Nanoman (ID: 2270) It’s not Bond-tober yet (sigh). BUT -- you can get a jump on it in this L34-ish (and tragically underplayed) 2019 comedic arc, in which Mendor Silos sends you back in time to the Swingin’ 60s to repair a 12-hour time fracture. After being warned to “stay on the path” (er, that is, “stay in the warehouse”), we head out to face off against a gillion security guards (oops….I’m still running on fire farm settings). Looks like someone’s killed Bowen. Jim Bowen. With a futuristic energy weapon. AND they've got some sort of super-weapon! And a time-machine that looks like a (nope...not spoilering)! They must be stopped! Shaken! Not stirred! (…er, and so forth). This was fun. Lots of humorous 007 references. Well-crafted mechanically. Does include a timed mish (albeit on a VERY small map), and a “find & destroy” (on a very big map). There’s some level bouncing from mish-to-mish, due to range caps on the reskinned bad guys. Pretty tough end boss for the level range, but not unduly tough (still, they pack a punch, if you’re a squishy). As a CoH player, I really enjoyed it. As a Bond fan, I LOVED it. Nicely done. A crisply-pressed, dinner-jacketed seal of approval!

The chain, above, with each collection linked to others. If you make the objective NaV text the same on each it will appear as if it’s part of a package/series (something like “Look for clues”) . You can also indicate where, if the locations consistent (“Look for clues (first floor)” etc) That said, I think you’re better off dividing the clue into 3 parts. The player is then not opening a box for nothing.

I have a more or less full day of nuttin' comin' up this Saturday, so I will try to get a few more reviews in. Especially seeing as how we have so many more active authors showing off their wares. I'll be a bit rusty. But then rushing in with your blaster and dying is, I hear, like falling off a horse, so...I feel confident it'll all come back to me.:-)

Just thinking that @TerroirNoir2's assertion, I know what I mean, encapsulates my entire life mantra.:-) (I love reading these writeups. TN is always dropping in these humorous pearls, one after another.)

Echoing @Police Woman and @Frozen Burn. Beginning. Middle End. That pretty much says what I subscribe to (and turned into convoluted lecture series, above).:-)

I consider mishes in SFMAs to be parts of a greater story, analogous to, say, movie script structure. So you have intro to/of a problem (intro mish) investigation/complication/some sort of twist (middle mishes), finale (tying up the arc (setting up segue into next arc, if the story is multi-arc). With multiple arcs telling a larger story, the structure is the same, but spread out over more missions (middle arcs working like middle mishes, structurally, for example). I haven’t done a collection of, say, radio mishes, but each mish could follow the same structure, in microcosm. Such a structure is maintained, even if you put things in different order (like starting at the end in M1, then telling the rest in flashback). Pulp Fiction is an example of telling a structured story, then chopping it up and presenting it in non-linear fashion (which made the movie gimmicky to me—you tell it in order, it’s pretty simple). However the plot’s presented, it just needs to be easy to connect, and, to me, follow Todorov’s model of status quo-disruption (rinse, repeat, till status quo has been reestablished or a new status quo has emerged). However anyone does it, you just need a solid basic plot, and characters to care about. All other considerations are secondary.

Multiple singularities. (Actually happened when a team ran a mish of mine that was fine solo, but spawned additional bosses with the power. BOY-YOINGYOIING)

Captain Castillo. He told me so himself. (MANY times):-)

D'oh...the request says "play as intended." That makes it hard. Most people intend to not die (my playstyle to the contrary).:-) Hmmm...I probably agree with the Emp DEF as being poor/slow to solo. Of course, if you really want to go "as intended," then it's such things as not seeding the character with any Inf, using drops, etc. The default style, in and of itself, makes things inherently tougher. Then you stack the more challenging AT/Powersets on top of that, you got yourself some nice, slow pain. Speaking of powersets: Beast/Rad is really that bad? Man, I thought Rad anything was pretty good, thanks to debuffs.

Would any petless MM fit the bill here?

Welcome back! And as far as finishing stuff, not to worry from my part—I have nothing in production. (Though I evidently have the usual errors).:-)