cranebump

You can always run a support toon with us:

(Reads OP) Well…(shrug) okay…

I drink milk. It does a body good.;-D

Congrats, esp to @Take One. Well-deserved, and, imho, long overdue.

Okay, after scripting forever to get The Bleed AE story (finally done), taking a bit of downtime with ol' Tracks. Of course, you all know that, no matter what the toon, Crane invariably walks into stuff like this: But, ma! I AM a tank! (pst...he's not...) Nothing like cross punch to give you a reprieve.:-)

Design Notes: Not much to say - this is what happens when you have a snow weekend.:-) Mission titles=Van Morrison songs, mainly because I wanted to use Into the Mystic. I just rooted around, found other Van things I thought might work. FYI: I had already named Saengcanthr before I named the mishes centered around him. Finale Boss was tough, even for my exemp'ed incarnate. You will have help, but watch out for the alpha strike. As usual, powersets and ATs can change the diff. I just wanted the baddie to not fall down the first time they were hit. For Epilogue: simply could not find a map that would place 6 allies in a single chamber. Had to completely rethink the approach. Hope it worked. As always, thanks to those who run my arcs. Your feedback is always appreciated, because it always makes me a little bi better. Vaya Con Gatos, Crane

Unsolicited advice. Oh, does that seem like a bad idea. How do most people react to anything out of the blue that begins with “You should...” I’d wait for someone to ask. My assumption is, after all, that people are playing the character they want to play. Not everyone is a min-maxer.

Azzie and CC running against Vahz: Did we bite off more than we can chew? Nahhhh... (...yes...) Took care of Vahzie pollutants, then off to nail Clocks in FL: And it was special... Nice run! Vahz were tough at this level, but CC owned the clocks. Azzie went from 6 to 12 when all was said and done. The game shines when you let it!

While running some radios in KR: It's the KR Devil! It's really him! Er...I mean, NOOOOO...this is just some guy. Not the secret ID of some vigilante....Nope...

GREAT to hear from ya, DER. Hope to see you soon. We miss you out there. In the meantime, happy trails and all that. FYI, all: crane is gonna be running this evening for awhile. Might need to step off here soon for a quick break to visit with spouse when they get back from work. After that, I'll be mounted up and moving. Would love to get Azbot in play in a support role. I don't get to be a DEF often, and sorta like it. H'YAH!

Speaking of members: Haven't see @Dona Eis Requiem in a bit. Hope everything is a-okay. They did a lot of base building. Chatted with @Black Talon for a while. And have run with @AboveTheChemist teaming Cerulean Cipher with Tracklash. Adulting sucks, to be sure, but here's hoping we'll all run into each other at some point. And before I forget: there's LOTS of room to add to the base, for folks who like that. We have some great stuff there already. Since this is a weak area for me, maybe I fiddle with some little corner. Acrobattle's backstory paints him as a baker. Maybe the coffee bar?:-)

You...you...CHRONOLOGICAL TWEENER!:-) Nature of the beast, my friend. On that note: we have some bad weather rolling in, likely to lead to school cancellations (for which we already prepared 2 days' assignments and sent them home with the rascals). If so, I'll likely be on tonight, and will for sure be on WED/THU. Oh-and we got a new member! Hope I'm not spelling it wrong here, but WELCOME LITHOFEAR!

HOW did you spot me? I was in the gd back row!:-)

Yes...there will be weird cameos. Like this one. Test Notes: Tested with a L41 Staff/ninj scrapper (an Acrobattle alt, with very few IOs), a L50 Incarnate AR/TA Blaster (KR Devil), and a L30 Elec/Nrgy blaster (Whipsmart, the one above, who is a slow-play Long Rider toon, and so would be considered "underpowered"). All of them handled things fine (makes sense, since this arc doesn't feature a ton of EB's and the like). Design Notes: Still using IP folks: Cheng, Aurora Scott. Also dropped in an off-screen cameo from another well-known IP stalwart. And did some more development of Bocor. Features history of something of a precursor to the Midnighters (though I think of my own group as kind of Turn-of-the-century Supernatural). Title may not be linguistically accurate (Google translate). Apologies, if that is the case (same for the German speaking NPCs later in the arc). I claim no real accuracy in my depiction of Loa spirits. I'm bending them to the fiction. I can do that, 'cuz writing. You know...like how Littlefinger could seemingly teleport all over Westeros:-) Still experimenting with window dressing. It all seemed to work. ON THAT: If the behavior of the various "Spectral Tears/Fissures/Portals" seems random and weird, I refer you to the in-arc description of the spirits using them (which is referred to as capricious more than once). Ditto for the Possessed who may sometimes shoot other Possessed, likely because they're not quite possessed, or they're possessed by a douche bag spirit that likes to shoot other spirits. That's my rationalization for all that, anyway.:-) [but really, alignments and placements sometimes work in strange ways]. The backstory info that is dropped in through the various mishes is also delivered in one chunk in an End Mission Clue after the finale. I don't think the basic story is super confusing, but better safe than completely confused. Or partially. Hell, sometimes I forget what I'm trying to say. (...okay where were we?) Arc title is cribbed from Ray Bradbury collection of stories in his "fix-up" novel of the same name (From the Dust Returned). Novel features a family of ghosts and monsters called The Elliots. Mission titles are either directly quoted, or paraphrased from this excerpt: And what are you, or we, or us? Can it be named? Is there a shape? What ambience is there? Are we kin to autumn rains? Do we rise in mists from wetland moors? Do twilight fogs seem similar? Do we prowl or run or lope? Are we shadows on a ruined wall? Are we dusts shaken in sneezes from angel tombstones with broken wings? Do we hover or fly or writhe in October ectoplasms? Are we footsteps heard to waken us and bump our skulls on nailed-shut lids? Feedback and Comments welcome! Thanks in advance, Crane

Well, for tech origin, maybe you can shoot crushed ice out a pair of gloves fed from a huge backpack. (And with power color customization? Slushees!):-) (And natural origin? He just throwin’ Cubes, baby)

Wasn't always pretty, but we did it! Be sure to ask CC about his Roadrunner impression.:-)

CC and Tracks are on the case!

Thread Necro! But I have a really good reason! (or not). THIS: Only you can prevent Long Riders like Tracklash from running alone (and befriending and talking to pallets and big spools). Join. Because a mind like Trackie's (by itself) is just a terrible thing. [FYI: I am up and running, and can reply to anyone wanting to take the Rider plunge. Global is my siggie: @cranebump. H'YAH!

WELL DAMN IT ALL!:-)

Hey there, Riders! After a hiatus last week I will be on tomorrow evening during my usual time slot. Hope to see some of you out there! Hit me up and we’ll ride! H’YAH!

Greets, Riders! I'll be on the hoss THU late afternoon through the evening this THU. In the meantime, getting a a few arcs in, namely this one: Oops...guess you did...:-) Update on ol’ Tracklash here: now at L21. Have crafted some IO drops, but still running mainly on SOs and a few DOs. I slotted some of the special enhancements you can get from Mr. Yin. Have 133 merits to if I need a quick $$ boost. Trackie’s proven decent as a boss killer so far, thanks to the DM debuffs (and judicious use of Insps and that one little heal he’s got). I did not take on all three of the AVs at once in the PMC (or PCM or whatever) finale. Let them beat each other up and ended up taking on Castillo and weakened Nocturne. Captain said he liked my threads. Nice of him. 🙂

SJ/DP. A scrapper/blaster combo. Let’s get glass canon-y! (Yeah I broke the rules. I guess it’s be scrapper/defender?)

And there's a Vahz plague ended!

Greetings, hombres. We've had some interest, thanks to the mention in General Discussion. We have a recruit comin' in, provided I can be online to invite 'em. Sent a global friend request. Maybe I'll see 'em tonight. For the moment, I'm online running various toons today, until about 7 EST. So, if anyone's on early, hit me up. If I'm not on a Rider, message me in global, and I'll switch ASAP. Happy Weekend, Riders!

DESIGN NOTES: Been spending a LOT of time soloing with my Long Riders (old school) toons, which has included playing a ton of IP content. As such, decided to step out of The Row and feature this zone (well, sorta). Also wanted something magic focused, and wanted to include Dr. Cheng, and a Security Guard contact (my solo mishes have me working with the Sec's a lot). Considering the lengthy backstory I wrote out, this necessitated multiple arcs, so I could spool out the story without having to jam too much lore into multiple clue boxes. Made use of stock groups, with a few reskins. Had to create original skins for Cheng and Bocor (the latter of which looks close to right; the former? well, let's just say he's, um...close?). My obnoxiously chipper Security Guard needed a name, so I sorta riffed on a very old TV show. Only one truly nasty surprise (potentially), which I won't reveal here. (hint: it's not a too-tough boss). Tested with scrapper namesake (L38 MA/SR, who has massive END problems for some reason) and exemp'ed incarnate. No major issues, but these guys have sets. Arc 2 is almost fully scripted. Just needs to be finished and built. Arc #3 is sorta distant, atm. Thanks to the dedicated AE players! Gravity received a Dev’s Choice, and Asa Ronan got a nomination. Much appreciated! Hope the new content is fun for you all. Happy trails hombres, Crane