cranebump

Skulls are mislabeled, too. They go up to 20, iirc.

Oh, man...I figured on Crey having something, but I'm pretty sure it was the confused teammate. I've never had targeting issues like that before. And seeing as how one of my attacks seemed to hit my ally tank, that would explain it. Happened a LOT, including when I was trying to finish off some purps.

Ran into something versus Crey today during a Manticore TF. Some sort of Taunt/Placate, but there would be significant periods of time where my melee brute couldn’t target anything. I assume one of the protectors had it, but holy moley-I didn’t have great AoEs, so there was a lot of tabbing and hoping.

Yeah, I usually just bounce to the Gish in KR, and hope around the overpasses. But I thought I'd do this instead.

They're seriously plucky down there: See? Later, one of them yells, We could make a name for ourselves! Indeed, sir...you could, but...

So, I push Glogre from Red to Blue after reaching L42 (via tips). I beat the living crap out of Calvin Scott (which, for me, is a thing). THEN I get Montague's arc. I have to cure lost. Where do I go? Yep. Ran down there, cured 'em, then ran all the way to The (best) Row. Those suckers even tried to attack me (how precious). Seeing all those mobs, I recalled the days when you'd dive into the tubes, then make a run for The Row, or Steel. Getting all the way there intact was always a thrill Ahhhh, nostalgia...

While I agree in principle with everything @Luminara posted, above, you can safely assume that, if someone was terminal, and they knew they could be saved by methods, practices, discoveries that came from unethical research, you bet your ass they’d take advantage of it. Ethics goes out the window when people are desperate. I ain’t sayin’ it’d be the right thing to do, but dying a noble death is easier said than done. and no…I’m not cynical…:-)

Agreed on hearing opposing views. And if I may ruminate: As a history teacher I make it a point to look at everything, including the harsh, unpleasant truths of the past. How else can we know who we were, where we’ve been, and what we’d like to be (and not be)? We live in an age, however, where people want to expunge anything that doesn’t agree with their version of the past, because it’s difficult, uncomfortable. Sanitizing the past in any manner may go far in making us feel better about ourselves. But it does a disservice to our being to paint pretty pictures of the often unpretty past. What is true is that the world has always been a difficult place, with difficult situations, and difficult people. You move forward by confronting the reality, then determining the next step. Being comfortable? That won’t get us anywhere but our own couch (so to speak).

Tweaks of Of Guns and Asa Ronan:

With Magnificence out, and the recent Twitch run of Asa Ronan, I plan on tweaking some older arcs. On the backburner, I want to do something involving pets at the forefront (fire imps, for example). I'm not sure what's already there among the stock enemy groups, not exactly sure what the story angle is. With Potter's Field and Magnificence being vigilante/rogue ethos, I plan on returning blue side for this one. Haven't decided which zone to feature, or whether I want to do any callbacks from my stockpile of NPCs. If anyone has any recs about what they'd like to see (or whom they might like to see more of), let me know. I start back to work later this week, so this won't be something that comes out really quickly, unless I get lucky and get on some sort of a roll. Tagential: I'm about finished with my first edit of a manuscript I've been working on for over a year. I'll need to make corrections, as well as do some additional chapters to flesh out the overall metastory. It's basically a series of linked superhero stories, set in an alt-history, brought about by the actions of the narrator, who, through some strange alchemy of alien energy, his own abilities, and some weird, cosmic interaction between all that and a mothership explosion, becomes omniscient, and able to experience (and sometimes interact) with various events in the new timeline. So, he's sorta like my version of The Sandman. Basically a writer's trick that allows me to tell disparate stories, linked together by the inciting event. I find I do better when I do that, rather than trying to tell a single, novel-length tale (more directly, it allows my lazy, distracted ass not to have to stick to one thing). I'm hoping to have a finished, self-published version by next summer. I DO use the names of a couple of my CoH toons here and there, but it isn't a big vanity project (in that manner, at least). I just know that I like superhero stories, in the vein of a Kurt Busiek. So, I guess you'd call it Astro City meets Sandman. Of course, what's f***ed up about all this is that it took me like 45 years to figure out that I should just write what I like to write. Assuming I finish the damned thing, I have CoH and AE to thank for it, as well as the encouragement of people who've played and commented on my arcs (not to mention the master storytellers here, whose stuff I have played, envied, and, on some cases tried to emulate (i.e., steal from).:-) Anything that comes out of all this is a testament to you folks, this game, and the community that continues to inspire my long-held love of superheroes to this day. So, thanks for that, and thanks in advance to any future contributions/feedback I receive. You're a great group. Now...back to hunting down and fixing those typos (aka "hte neverendng task").:-) Crane

B. If you can get any good out of that crap, you probably should. The question I ask myself is, “if I were killed in one of those horrible experiments, but my death could save someone’s life later on, I’d rather the life be saved.” Different subject, but I also recall Trek explored similar theme involving the Bomb (an Oppenheimer type character who created a doomsday weapon who later wanted to use his theories for good). When the scientist was asked why he worked on the weapon when he knew what it would do, he said someone would have done it anyway. He added, “it’s good to know the way the world works” (or something to that effect). Not the same as human experimentation, by any means, but the driver of advancement is always the question. The question of consequences does not always immediately follow. And therein lies the prospective dangers.

No comments about the subject matter, but will say this thread has made me appreciate responders who use proper capitalization and employ clarity in their lengthy posts.

Thanks for the detailed observations and suggestions. On the basic stuff: I thought the objective text matched in M4. I’ll have to check. I could include verbiage about where the scanner pops up, since it’s always in one of the fountains, every single time I’ve run it. Locating subdued Waiker: There IS some text by the surrounding enemies, and those surrounding the Wailer are not other Wailers, but cops. Good point about alignment/ethos as it pertains to the story. However, it would take a major rewrite to develop the type of feel you mentioned, above, so that’s just not going to happen. I’m too lazy for that.:-) Not sure a vigilante ethos really fits, because vigilantes don’t spend a lot of time in St. Martial. (And cannot get mishes there in the actual game, which is the main reason I made it Rogue). I guess, if I had to justify the choice of Rogue, I’d do this:

Current Issues For some reason, in M1, custom group Rebounders is placing critters on the map marked Don't autospawn. Checked into it on system where I crafted the group, and everything is properly marked. ALSO: Friendlies are attacking their own truck (sigh). None of this happened during tests. Going to pull the thing down, then republish. FIXES: Switched level range to 35-40, which fixed the M1 issue, which I think was caused by differences between in mish objectives and mish set range, which had a 5-level difference, forcing the system to populate weirdly. DELETED the truck. The map already has trucks on it.:-/ Mission 4 was misnumbered as 3. Fixed that. Sometimes, Clue 5 from M2 doesn't pop. Since it merely reinforces the exit pop, I'm taking clue numbering off. That way, it it does or doesn't, there's no jarring effect of the "missing" clue #. I think the major stuff is fixed. Proceeding to tests with different toons. Issues I am aware of, but not planning to change: Spawns on M2 cause some running back and forth. I could switch the map, but I like the one I have (and I like how things spawn at mish's end). So, I'm leaving that. The map is small enough that it's not a long run anywhere. If it be a sin, 'tis a minor one. so I do a test run today and the bosses line up perfectly. Go figure. Most of the time, the 3rd boss is back up the tunnel. Things I know about and will probably tweak: Boss spawn point prior to mish end. Keeps popping on either floor 1 or 2 (when I want it on 2). Will probably switch to a different map. Mindspyre objective cannot clear because she’s a friendly boss. I’ll have to drop her optional text. Design notes and possible spoilerage: Thanks in advance, and enjoy! Crane

Tripp Enfahl?

All that gambling in the Golden Giza, but no one is smoking. That is so not like Vegas.

Oopsie Man, the accidental hero.

I would build up to entering the sub base by using other maps in preceding mishes. Since your organization is unique, and new, I’d probably do something like this: Mish 1: Discovery. the contact sends you to check out suspicious activity, thinking it’s X, but it’s really Stahlheim (Steelhelm?). I’d have your new bad guys found working with another group. Maybe doing a tech deal, or possibly raiding a labto steal some key piece of tech. M2: Investigation. Of course, we know nothing about these guys, so time to see who they are, and what they’re up to (and, like, why are they working with the 5th Column? [just spitballing]). Here, we have our first “oh, sh*t” moment (they’ve improved the Council Bots!). Here, you might’ve tracking the fleeing from M 1 perps to a warehouse. Mission orders reveal their scheme, or a part of it. M3: Investigation 2: find out how to stop the “oh sh*t” thing. Let’s say we find location of one of their cells. We use this suss out their comms\data hubs. We know we need to hit the lab where they’re building prototype. But where is it? Previous clues reveal they’re in (choose appropriate map). The location data is found here, either on a system, or one someone’s person. M4: Hit the hub. Get the key card. Triangulate secret base location. Probably take out minor boss. Probably a lab map, buy maybe it’s an office? One they purchased legally, using a beard organization. Our second “oh, sh*t” moment. Like they’ve already finished the prototype and are attacking Longbow! (Or whatever). M5: big boss finale. Plus destroy their prototypes and research. Use your chosen big robot map here. If it were me, I’d probably go with “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” and have the hero working with bad guys who’ve had key pieces of tech stolen. Then the hero is also worrying about a possible betrayal by their “Allies.”

Man, when this guy wakes up... Either a backache, or he's gonna feel violated...

Estogar the Bulgastonian

Giving it a run.

Initial thoughts (and then some...I kinda started rolling along).:-)

I figured since I can't recall some of these arcs, might as well do a run through an clean up. Starting with Garden of the Will

I don't normally spend much time shilling my stories, other than announcing when I have something new (or when I've tweaked or fixed one of my many flubs). But I thought I'd spend a moment here outlining how some of these arcs connect. I also thought I'd provide some info on the one-shots. You never know - someone else might get the AE bug, like our fabulous, famous, @TerroirNoir (aka TN). This also helps me organize everything a bit better, and prompts me to realize what a massive amount of time I've poured into this sh*t. I mean, really, Crane...get a life.:-) Since my main megatale isn't overtly linked by title (or any other indicator), we'll start there. I guess we'll call it the King's Row Epic, since it has its roots there. Sequentially, it runs like this: Ordinary People 1-3 (Standard Operating Procedure, Hope and Bullets, The Last Full Measure) Leviathan 1-5 (Hollow Pursuit, Hollow Ring, Hollow Victory, Origin, Mantle) Mobius 1-5 (Full Circle, Much Madness, The Sign of the Five, Dempsey's Hard 8, Auguries of Fate and Time) Fallout 1-3 (The Unlock, Puzzle Box, Reassembly) The first 3 arcs are the main story, while Fallout is just what it intimates - the aftermath of Mobius. Everything can be played self-contained, but a sequential run-through reveals the tie-in, all the way back to the first arc. You can also see I got better as things went along (well, hopefully I got better - you can judge for yourself). There's a wide variety of customs, some use of the usual suspects, and a significant callback in the finale (one might say, a fixing of an injustice). The other multi-part arcs are self-contained. Here's a list and some brief capsules: The Bleed 1-3 (Insecurity Measures, De Pulvis Rediit [From the Dust Returned], Wave, Landing) This was my attempt at a magic-themed arc, with IP as the backdrop. I was mainly trying to get out of my KR/Noir fixation, so I went with an origin I rarely play, and an underutilized zone (outside of Yin TF, which, these days, is the only reason for the zone to exist [or, um, Cita-hell, too, I suppose]).:-) Noble Mettle 1-2 (The Colossus of Rose, The Hollow Crown) Did I mention my KR/Noir fixation? Welllll...kinda went back to that a bit, mainly basing this in AP, and making use of Kiros Nandelu and his "bodyguard," the Ivory Leopard. It’s about global markets, Communist zealots, and world-changing technology (and parenthood, to an extent). The Cage Series 1-3 (Cage Match, Grudge Match, Match Point) Intended for vigilante characters, I delved into this after doing a wiki dive into Kirk Cage, which led me to the Iron Widow, which led me to Scrapyarder, and so on. It ends up being a meditation on the vigilante ethos. Black Chamber 1-2 (The Lid, The Drum): A lore-related arc wedged in between RWZ arcs where you meet Sefu Tendaji, and then he's dead. Part 2 resurrects Agent X (literally), and runs concurrently with Dark Watcher's The Horror of War. Not a great deal of custom toons, but several custom groups, made by recoloring and mixing/matching. It's a straight up villainous arc, where the bad guy gets entwined in a save the world sorta thing. Solace (3 parts): Justice Society vibe here, with lore connections to past heroes and vills. Features Skyway Contacts embroiled in corporate intrigue that’s a cover for something bigger. Homage Amalgama (2 parts): A mashup of DC/Marvel/CoH, and my love letter to superheroes in general. Stalking the Detectives/Veilance: I do not have a unifying name for this story, but it starts with kidnappings of safeguard contacts, which morphs into a bigger threat. I flat out stole the resolving plot framework from an Astro City arc, which I won't detail here due to spoilers. A bit on the one-shots: Of Guns and Asa Ronan: @Darmian instantly pegged the title inspiration the moment I published it (Guns of Navarone). That's really what I started with - a knock off title. It was also my first villain/rogue arc. I used it to experiment with chained bosses, and attempted to create an adversary with powers like Multiple Man. Used a broker as a contact. UPDATE: After watching @Valeyard's run on Twitch, saw that I had forgotten to switch off autospawn on a boss, so "Norris" kept popping up. Hoo boy. Those rookie mistakes. Also had a timer that I at first extended, then eliminated. Also made the escort mission unfailable by making Anatastio untargetable. Kind of a bummer, but just isn't worth the hassle. The Tenuous State of Grace: Created this as an entry for a contest sponsored by another player (I'm such a sh*t - I can't remember their name). If I remember right, this one ties in to Frostfire, taking place after his arrest, and before the events in The Hollows. If I remember right...it's been a LONG time. It's an old arc. Garden of the Will: Mainly fiddling around with powersets and Perez Park as a backdrop. Got a Dev nomination with this one, but, like the above, I don't remember it well. (Update: I ran this one today, and made a few minor tweaks and cleanups). The Book of Bond's: TOTALLY stole the initial plot idea from an Astro City story about El Hombre/Conquistador. Twisted it a little bit, but main impetus was to explore how supers face mortality. The Lost Girls: Why aren't they any women in the Lost? Started there, then wrote this. I still don't care for some of the costumes.:-) Injustice Systems: Premise="one bad day." You know, the theory posited in The Killing Joke? It’s a bit of that. But mainly I was working off a character idea my wife mentioned. You end up pursuing a particularly vicious bad guy, who was "driven" to it by...well, I won't spoil it. Someone might actually play it someday.:-) Gravity: The result of a wiki dive into gravitational fields. This one's actually linked to the lore, and is something of a follow up to the Sheridan arc in Bricks. Wednesday's Wyverns: Had a hankering to do something involving Manti's brood, so I fused it with Minority Report (sorta). Of 'Dine and Men: A Family/Marcone arc, having to do with a secret they don't want out (again...if I recall correctly). Dark Legacy: After crushing the Legacy Chain with one of my rogue toons, I wondered, What the hell happened to these guys AFTER that a**-whoopin'? Then I wrote this. Shadow and Silver: Wrote this after reading the Lethal Weapon-inspired backstories of the Steel Canyon detectives. Somewhat similar to The Tenuous State of Grace in that it explores the consequences of "justice." The Re-education of Westin Phipps: Everyone wants to kick Phipps's a**. So...here it is. This does not work all that well with a team, btw. The last map is VERY small, and the story just whizzes by, unless you catch the dialogue. Potter's Field: Got interested in Sharkhead's Tarixus, a contact in Potter's Field. Did some reading on Rogue Isles origin, thought about who might be buried there, and why, in particular, Tarixus is there (and why did he cross Henri Dumont, other than the obvious reason?). Also dropped in a homage to TN as a thank you for supporting AE stories (with some help from Darm, who got me the data I needed for that). Magnificence: Inspiration came out of discovery of an explore badge in St. Martial that is keyed to this slum, tucked away there near the Giza. In thinking about it, I (for some reason) decided I wanted to do a take on the Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai). Squalls and the Comet: My stab at getting out of my comfort zone a bit. Higher level arc, with a lighter, much less bittersweet tone that I usually employ. Turf: A return to The Row (do I ever really get away from it?). Mainly an exploration of how people respond to grief. Bounty on a Mutiny: Basic inspiration is a play on the classic film(s). Also an exploration of: What happened after I took Protean's funds following the Leonard arc? Ended up being, How many traitorous double-crosses could I pile into one story?🙂 Mr. Rivers: Angel Heart meets Egyptian myth basically (well…those are the inspirations). Thirty Thousand Seconds: For my 50th published arc, I explored the idea of vulnerability. Guiding question is: what if you had a Superman without kryptonite? What does his arch-nemesis then do? The results seem a bit obvious, though I knitted in an idea based on a story my wife told me about a resident at an old folks home who paints beautifully, but, due to her declining faculties, cannot recall her own paintings after they are shown to her. I've been sitting on how to work this in to some sort of story, and did so here (as well as in my superhero novel). So them's the basics. If I had to make suggestions about what's really worth running in this mess, I'd suggest; All of the KR Mega Story. If not, then start with Leviathan, and go from there. You can skip Fallout, if you want. It's just an add-on. Noble Mettle is pretty well polished. It's a more recent arc, so it doesn't suffer from my earlier inexperience. Which means any mistakes are now not due to ignorance but rather my own inherent stupidity.:-) It does have some spelling issues in the finale arc, which I can't seem to fix because the arc keeps crashing after I load it to work on it. The Bleed has an interesting, tragic tale, with nice coda. I personally liked The Cage Series, but that's because it suits my mains and their ethos. Some decent writing in there. Of the one shots, I'd suggest: Potter's Field: More recent, so generally less wonkiness with such things as objectives and placement. Pretty decent story. Gravity: Got a Dev's Choice for that one, even though it can have spawn issues in the last mish. Of Guns and Asa Ronan: If feedback is any indication, the finale fight can be tough. In any case, it has the most plays of my one shots, a good villain, and some interesting mechanics. Anything from Magnificence on, since it should be cleaner and tighter, thanks to experience. I actually enjoyed running the Squalls arc as a player. Not sure why, exactly. I guess because it's just a simple romp. I think Thirty Thousand Seconds is a pretty cool (albeit sad) story. Still working on the superhero novel. It's slowed down monumentally due to the new position, which keeps me busy as hell (and ends up with me drained of energy by the end of the day). But--it WILL get done. Goal is by end of next July. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who supports Story-Focused AE, including the various authors, both new, and crusty.:-) Cheers, Crane

Aka, this is why Ben Simmons's career has imploded.