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cranebump

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Posts posted by cranebump

    Design your perfect (city?) zone

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by cranebump

    My main characters are weapons-based vigilantes who operate in KR. I'd like to see an expansion of The Row to make it more Gotham-ish -- a dense, run down, city center, with darkened alleyways and all sorts of hidden nooks and stuff (including the really bad "business expansion" idea that resulted in a large, castle-like institution with various wings including a medical facility, and intensive treatment center). Basically, just turn the lights off, and it'd be closer to how I see it. 

     

    Then we can really show our "moxie.":-)

    TerroirNoir's "Cable Channel of AE!" Reviews. Part 2.

    in Mission Architect

    Posted · Edited by cranebump

    On 10/19/2025 at 8:16 PM, TerroirNoir3 said:

    My biggest issue is trying to find a mode of recording it here that (a) doesn't spoiler things and (b) shows how Engineria would experience it rather than me as a player at one remove

    You could definitely tell that was your angle on it. Having run this again myself (twice) in the last couple weeks, I'd say it's accurate as to how the superhero would react to everything. Of course, my main concern is whether...

    Spoiler

    ...it was clear that the entire arc was a flashback, and that you were "playing through the memory" while listening to Parker's confession (the digital file he gives you at the end). My thought is that it is likely not entirely clear and that maybe the opening text should be preceded by something like Begin playback... (should it?).

     

    Then again, as long as we figure out it's Johann, we're good, I suppose? Knowing me, I probably have no space to add anything to the opening, especially in an arc as, erm, "literate" as this one.:-)

     

    Appreciate the play and feedback, as always (as well as the Yeats allusion).:-)

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    Grok Imagine is SUPER!

    in Art & Multimedia

    Posted · Edited by cranebump

    I think the bigger issue with AI comes down to whether everyone responding in a chat forum is real. At some point, we won’t know the difference. 
     

    AI is a nice tool. Really nice. But there’s grounds for aome questioning what is lost and what is gained, rather than blindly bowing before it (like Peter Thiel thinks we should).

    TerroirNoir's "Cable Channel of AE!" Reviews. Part 2.

    in Mission Architect

    Posted

    Added Lady M's bio. Here it is, for what it's worth:

    Spoiler

     Lady MacDeath. Paramour of many, the last of which was Gunbone, of the Skull Terror of the 1990s. The terror ended when she took his life and took his place. Thus began The Nightmare Year, during which many rogues and villains died as the Red Lady ascended. Too much, too soon, of course. She was killed and eaten by Leech Lizard's personal bodyguard, the assassin, Adder Mortis, in 2001. All of this was in her alternate dimension, of course. Her fully formed self was deposited here months ago during the Mobius incident, where she took up with Gunbone once again, and began preparing for another Nightmare, this one, permanent.

     

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    Crane's Short Reviews

    in Mission Architect

    Posted · Edited by cranebump

    Give Me Liberty [ID: 69444] by   @Darmian

     

    So the guy takes, like, 50 years off, the comes back and writes another masterpiece. Do we hate Darm? Yes. Yes, we do (pst…we don’t…we’re just envious, and slightly in awe).

     

    This L33  has you working for a humorous lich (yes, you read that correctly) seeking out his lost (and somewhat crae-crae) master. It’s a typical Darmian arc in that it’s masterfully crafted, perfectly clean, well-written, detailed, and well-balanced. Really CLEVER use of clues that allows teams to get the details they normally miss. Plus, you get your CoT fix (assuming you needed a fix), some interesting customs (with a boss that can whammy you, if you ain’t careful), and a great, arcane story. Worth a play (as all Darm’s arcs are). We ran with a gun-toting blaster and had a…well, a BLAST.

     

    Verdict: 5/5, with a not-as-lich-gloomy-as-you-might-expect Seal of Approval. Enjoy the romp! PLAY IF: Just play it. (unless you have something against ancient Egypt?).

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    AE Arc 69444 "Give Me Liberty".

    in Mission Architect

    Posted

    Of course I ran the damn thing, you fiend.:-) 

     

    Really strong arc. Nice details (as usual). CLEVER use of clues to address teams. And the contact is one of your best. Extra points for Princess Bride ref.:-) I did find this ONE thing.

    Spoiler

    M1, clue...(wait for it)...

     

    Carriage return.:-)

     

    Some objective notes:

    And don't know if this is a thing, but all the (middle) objectives for M3 were located in the back room, including El Archmage-o.

     

    On M4, Gate Focus appeared in font, though it's listed as (middle). Map is pretty straightforward, so it's not hard to find, though.

     

    GREAT final mish. Excellent use of the map. Another winner, hombre!

     

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    Crane's Short Reviews

    in Mission Architect

    Posted · Edited by cranebump

    Messenger of Death [ID: 4093] by @Corlagon

     

    This L1-54 arc from 2019 has you “putting a new vigilante in her place.” Sounds like a job for Solumbra (or someone…a lot of someones, considering that level range).:-) So, off we go.

     

    First off, Arachnos has appeared in Galaxy City! Or they’ve never left it after the Shivving stopped. We’ll see. (FYI: The contact is one of my favs, Kiros Nandelu. Unfortunately, his image has been replaced by the insidious (and shepchanging?) Mek Man, probably due to updates and such. No worries. A Kiros by any other name, and I’m still a Fandelu).We get some help from a cat-tailed Messenger (is THIS the Viggy?). By the end of the mish, we find out that, “Yep – it IS the Viggy! And she’s been running around KILLING the bad guys!” (GASP! Well, I nev-...okay maybe I have. I don’t know where they go after I’ve set them on fire). 

     

    Of course, we find out that The Messenger is not who she appears to be. Or rather, she’s EXACTLY who/what she appears to be. I mean, she didn’t really lie about anything. Not that I know…I trust people (sigh) In any case, we follow the trail smack into the middle of assorted cultists and their machinations (or maybe “spellinations?”). There’s a LOT to do in the finale mission, but you have some help. If you want it. And it can keep up with you, when you forget you have sprint on and are running everywhere, leaving them behind like a douche bag (ahem…now who would do that?).

     

    Competently executed. Writing is clean and clear (though there’s some awkward syntax from time to time [“I’ve got to hand something to you!” {Ooh! Really? What is it?...Hey…where’s my SOMETHING, you bastard!..Ah! A punch to the chops. THAT something. Okey doke…”). Custom allies have VERY nice (sometimes interlinked) bios. Some stock vills, with a custom cult, and some bosses that could be trouble on higher settings/larger team sizes. A breeze on default with an incarnate (erm…yeah, that was me – taking no chances in the AE grinder today). Excellent placement of finale objectives (most every required thing in one place–bravo [I’d shorten the timers on the multiple glowies, though–they’re about 2 secs too long).:-)   

     

    Verdict: Worth a play. Would recommend bumping level or team size if you’re playing one of your badasses through it. Reads like a an in-game arc. Has Kiros, so +2 Million gratitude points (Crane loves those lowbie contacts). An arcane Seal of Approval. No whammies!:-)

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    TerroirNoir's "Cable Channel of AE!" Reviews. Part 2.

    in Mission Architect

    Posted

    So, soulless minions of orthodoxy...

    Spoiler

    SEARCH RETURN (for brevity): In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9), the "Soulless Minions of Orthodoxy" are not a real, external group but are a fictional construct within the mind of the character Dr. Giger. Giger, who suffered from extreme cellular ennui, imagined these entities as the forces representing the rigid, unthinking scientific establishment and the scientific community that had previously ridiculed his radical research.

     

    Giger created a machine to keep all his cells "entertained," so that he could live forever (iirc). He appeared in the humorous episode In the Cards. 

     

    I'm a bit of a (HUGE) DS9 fan, though the only other ref I can think of in my arcs was Willie Sullivan mentioning Captain Sisko way back in the Ordinary People arc.

     

    FYI: Almost every one of my later arcs has linked mish titles, either thematically, or from the same source (same writer, poem, whatever). The titles in this arc are all from self-help books (Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, Daniel Pink's Drive, Simon Sinek's Start With Why, and so on). I haven't actually read any of them, but my theme was "self-improvement through super gas" [yes, I'm stretching here, ain't I?]):-)

     

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    What would be the most annoying thing to find in an AE mission?

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by cranebump

    1 hour ago, Xalon said:

    But can anyone recommend a mission or two on AE that gives the most robust experience possible for an AE mission? 

    Go to the AE part of the boards. There are reviews and recs there.

     

    The Devs DO have better tools. But I’d put some of the writing and arcs in AE up there with anything they’ve done (and a lot of the AE stuff is at least on par with the legacy arcs from ye olde days). Further, they’re doing it without all the fancy widgets, which is pretty impressive (more so, if you’ve ever tried designing anything yourself — then you truly know how hard that can be).

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