cranebump

Notes: I'd call this the penultimate arc in the whole, damned thing. This assumes I'm smart enough to finish it in one more arc.:-) 4-mishes, rather than 5 (just fell out that way). Tried using an End Clue for last reading on The Mobius Strip (player finally gets the skinny on its nature). But mish ends, and it didn't pop, so I moved it to Mish Begin clue, which is weird, but preferred that to Souvenir (though souvenir makes mention of what the player reads in the mish). Callbacks to NPCs of earlier arcs (and one noteworthy boss).:-) Tried to keep objectives reasonable, thus made allies more or less optional, save where I needed them to trigger other things. Careful on the top floor of the finale (which, now that I think about it, I have to label as Finale). derrr

Westbrush reminds them to check the overpasses. I guess I need to tell them to check in with Westbrush specifically, though you can't access a battle. Then again, it's probably a bad idea to assume everyone knos who Westbrush is.

I'm in final test of first draft of Mobius 4, so that should be there for ya, if you get to it. Interested to see what you think of the stripped down version. Feels much easier to follow and less fragmented to me (but then, I know the scenario, so...).:-)

Absolutely. Nothing has changed, textually. Had an open map in a later mish, and wanted to make it less of a runaround, using Anky's escort tip. Plus, there's a cool new map to use there. it will need some fine tuning, I'm sure. I keep forgetting, I only just did these things. Your runs and @Zhym are the first player tests outside me.

Sorry for the inconvenience. Mish 4 is a work in progress, but the basics are there. New info:

Ugh...I did some work on Mobius 4, and 3 (to make an open map easier to find stuff). In the process, I accidentally used the wrong skin for one of the good guys in M3-2. Should be fixed within an hour of posting this (doing a test run). So, @TerroirNoir, if you're planning a run, sometime after that the mish should be fixed. Need tp pull this arc down to work on it. Will announce when Mobius 3 is back up.

The overpass. Yup. Westbrush pops in the square, below, about 3/4s of the time in tests. I think the simplest thing is just say “check in with Lt. Westbrush,” if PPD is confusing. That will specify who the player is looking for, if they don’t feel like fighting spawns.

if that’s the skyway map, it’s pretty easy. Any halfway patient player should get through that quickly enough. Now, there’s a Croatoa map in a later mish that would actually be helpful for.

Task Force Algernon is on it!

Where the hell did you get that, @Ankylosaur? Never even seen that.

Maybe focus on red or gold side?

Yeah, it fixes the original issues by relocating to a different map that's pristine. There's a base on fire map from the Lockhart mission in there somewhere that might've been better as far as atmosphere, but I want that first mish to be quick and to establish some clue to the bigger devastation. Objective spawn points are easy peazy (though I limited them to 2 required ones, 2 optional ones, and the 1 triggered objective). Wasn't sure how hard to make the first Boss. Just wanted to intimate what they can do, so that the end mish text has an in-game referent. For my incarnate blaster, it all depended on whether a mez landed. Since I was in test mode, and not running in invulnerable mode, I could held and ganked. If I'd had Insps, I think the initial boss would be pretty easy. I'll have to see how it is with a plain ol' non-IO'ed toon. So, I'd say it's...it's okay, I guess. Gets to the next mish. Players won't get lost, etc. I DO wish the map had more body bags I could spread around, though.:-)

Ended up going with something else already. But that escort trick might come in handy in other circumstances. Thanks for the tip!

P.S. Updated Comrade text in Hollow Victory to account for actually rescuing him. Rather than him being dead, he's in a coma. Small victories...:-) Mobius 4 is about halfway done (mishes 1-3 done and tested). Opening seems solid. Just mulling over options for 4-5. It's possible to end this one at 4, with something of a cliffhanger, but not sure about that yet. Speaking of what awaits in 4: *The return of characters from Ordinary People (mainly as background characters). *The first onscreen appearance of The Five. *The story of the Mobius Strip. And maybe more. I'm still mulling. Thanks to those who've stuck with it thus far.

Mish #1=removed burning AP map. Went for something smaller and simpler. No timer. Scaredy-cats everywhere may now rejoice.:-) Seems to be okay, but you'll have to let me know.

They did! For example, Maven was solid and inspirational. Axios was imposing. HvH was a moron...(kidding).:-) I remember these guys more than I do the mishes - which speaks (less to) my shitty memory and (more so) the memorable nature of the team. Well, I remember them and "carriage return.":-)

I don't think I have a definite process. But the one I keep returning to is just a simple AR/Tac Arrow blaster (with Presence and Munitions as [hardly-used] secondaries). He's not going to outshine anyone, but can always find a way to contribute something to a team (slows, stuns, knockdown [through slotting], flash arrow, etc.). Plus, he moves quick (within the bounds of concept, so Athletics+Sprint+Infiltration), has fast recharge, and never runs out of endurance (and rarely runs low). I like my staff scrapper, as well. He's fairly tough, quick and fun. It's probably easier for me to name what won't be on my "you're the one list," which includes: anything where I have to actively monitor teammates so I can buff/boost/heal them (I'm just no good at tracking this - I want to shoot/hit stuff) ; any powerset that has multiple area-target AoE's (the ones where you have to choose the spot on the ground, which is problematic if you're on a speeding bullet team, and you have 60-year old reflexes); and Masterminds (I don't like pet management). So, arrows, guns, and sticks -- I guess I'm just an unimaginative, lazy ass player.:-)

Speaking or thinking for the character. Like instead of accept text, Listen to Positron, you have the character speak (Just tell me where to go!). I'm not sure where he got the term.

It's also waaaaay out of my comfort zone. I've used a few outdoor maps here and there, but, most of the time, it's just not in my wheelhouse (and it shows). All of them strike me as pretty good for "Gather X/# of ___________," or "Close the Portals! (54 to go)." Multiple copies of single items (MCSI). Reminds me: early on, when I tried to do these MCSI's (4 Computers to go!), @Kyksie (who used to review these things regularly) hammered me on needless glowies. He was right, so I amended that practice, to the point where I haven't done many since (if at all). I still haven't completely gotten away from breaking the ocelot rule, though.:-)

Scenario with no enemies: covered by @Darmian (set map to "Empty"). I'm not sure what you want to do is actually doable, or even approachable, on that map. Since you're wanting a chat, followed by a fight, that sounds like use of "Ally" with a betrayal trigger (an escort to a glowie, perhaps, bearing in mind that, once the escort arrives, the mish ends, if that's the last objective). So, couple questions, one so I can better understand what you're attempting, the other to determine the necessity of the specific objective: (1) What info does the player get from the PC? (2) Do they have to get it from a contact? Beyond that, I'd only say, go with what it gives you. If you're fighting the map itself, due to its nature, or #/objectives, or some such, find a better map (I can speak to this from recent personal experience).

Well, see those guys actually have talent.:-) When it comes to writing, I follow this (fictional) response (from Bob Dylan to Jimmy Thudpucker):

P.S. at some point I’m going to go back and rewrite the text for if Comrade is rescued to having him lapse into a coma as he delivers his message. So there will then be a difference if he’s saved. Now, I do think it’s better narrative to have someone put a bullet in his head, but that doesn’t have to be the end result no matter how malicious and bloodthirsty I feel about it.:-)

The criticism of the timer not having a valid narrative reason to exist is legitimate. I cannot really justify Its existence other than to end the mission in case the player is stuck wandering all over the map. And further, since the last two players that have actually run through it have not been able to find the objectives quickly, or in one case not find them at all, then obviously I need to rethink this from the ground floor. So the first thing I’m going to do is get rid of that map. I obviously knew there was an issue with it which is why I put a timer on that thing in the first place. So we are going to get rid of that. Second, because the difficulty in finding objectives will be fixed, I can reconsider use of a timer, since it was only there to keep the original mission from going on for too long. With that in mind, and in consideration of the feedback I have received, I believe I have a way to write the text in such a way that the player can “succeed“ in the mission while realizing that the end of the world is nigh. If I have this right then this should fix the issues for the players, while maintaining the idea I’m striving for. ( @Zhym: I'll let you know when I've fixed it, so you can give it another run, if you want. It should be less complicated, since a) writing a possible fail actually takes more time, and b) map should be considerably smaller). The short version of this is I picked a map that I could not make work, and was trying to make it work anyway. Once I take the map out of the equation, I’m not forced to make mechanical choices that are inconsistent, illogical, or just plain annoying. All that said, I’m not going to promise that I won’t use a timer in the future. So if the Contact says “you better hurry“ then you better actually hurry. 🙂

Darm rewards you for paying attention, and gives you all sorts of clever Easter eggs, call backs, and throughlines pushing from start to finish. Everything is slick, meticulously executed, clean, clear, yet you look back, and there’s a ton going on. Just loads. Hard to see how he does that, but he does. I guess he’s Francis Coppola. I haven’t played enough of Ankys stuff to comment on story, but I’ve run enough to say he’s the most technically proficient designer I’ve seen among us amateurs. I don’t think anyone else is even close. I guess he’s Stanley Kubrick. I’m not good with the details or the framing. It’s all tone - highs and lows, bittersweet victories, sacrifice, and shades of gray. I think we’re all defined by our failures more so than our victories. And I think superheroes, were they real, would understand that better than anybody. Because you can’t save EVERYONE. That’s the tragedy. Great power will never be great enough. But a true hero keeps trying anyway. And that’s what it’s all about. Which makes me the guy with a decent script and no budget.:-)

I laid out my reasoning in the other thread. For the record, I’m not emulating Peacock. I’m trying to do a no-win scenario. The issue is visibility. Makes it to where you can’t even reach the boss fights. I might fiddle with it some other day, but not today. Timer is there so players don’t waste a ton of time trying to win what cannot be won.