cranebump

CONTRACT: Indentured Insurgents [ID 54163] by @Dracses This 2023, 3-mission, L24-30 arc places you in the role of mercenary stepping into a situation involving everyone’s favorite bomb-tossing miners and Arachnos. You start out by “subduing” the Scrappies while rescuing a supervisor. Your services are then retained to look further into things, where, of course, it’s Transformer-ville (er…more than meets the eye). Clever use of: friendly bosses to deliver ambiance; friendly Defend Object as critter spawners; ambushes to keep you on your toes; renaming of supplies as “Protester Barricades” [liked that one a lot]); protester banter; the rivalry between the contact and and an NPC named Milano (Extra points for an American Psycho ref [“fancy business cards”):-); enemy bosses delivering key plot details (so that don’t you don't get massive text pop ups all over the screen (since it triggers by engaging the non-objective boss directly); reskinning objects to fit the story. Just lots of nice little details. Design issues? Oh, yeah. There’s an incomplete clue in M1 (“Some of the protesters mentioned…” and we never find out who). Repetition of popup and end mish text (both M1 and M2 had this–they end pop and the mish end text is exactly the same). LOOOONG activation timers on final mish glowies (15 seconds. Each). A passel of glowies with no end text (M2). Missing search bar text on the actual M2 glowie objective, followed by Find Mission Exit, but nothing much to fight through (nothing that I saw anyway). Then there’s the past-tense mention of by the contact in M3 of what is ACTUALLY being mined, while I saw no clue of this in the mish preceding it , leading to the exchange: “Remember, we’re mining __________.” (Remember? This is the first I’ve heard of it!). Oh, and…a cake map. Boo.:-) On the whole, I LIKE this story idea. A LOT. I like that the text is clean and clear (edited). I like seeing the Scrapyarders. The plot twist is pretty clever, too. There’s great development of the contact’s personality, and really nice scene setting in M1. But, on the whole, it just not finished yet. Minor design flaws prevent this from shining as bright as it could. As such, we have a Seal of Approval with a very nice sheen on one side, while the other could stand a burnish. PLAY THIS IF: You like to mix it up with Scrapyarders. You're a fan of good character writing. You like glowing green crystals. NOTE: @Dracses has a dozen stories, many of them created in 2024. Making a note to try another sometime.

Everybody remember?:-)

It is, and I’ve seen it used effectively by tanks. But man, when I see it, I still think, “Holy cow…we have now become too lazy to even go to the groups.” Foldspace=superhero Door Dash?

Never ending storrrrrr-eeeeee! (La dadadedada) Sorry. This thread just keeps round round right round. Like a…a…well, a something. (but really, how hard is it to just turn off GF, finish the TF, then move on?)

Such a cushy job. You get tenure in 6 minutes. All you have to do is survive the Hami solo run.:-)

Changed Mesmer to Boss Only. Removed $name tag from Knives boss.

Heh. "Fun," eh?:-) Team experience is SO much different than solo. I find feedback like that fascinating. What's a bit of a cakewalk on default is suddenly an uh-oh... Priceless stuff. Thanks again!

Slow on the updates here. My work week expanded from 4 days to 5, and requires a great deal more brainspace than before. Should be back in the swing of it soon. (but man, am I tired of being tired...it's ridiculous).

Did an update of the big list to include Thirty Thousand Seconds. Also got some feedback on a recent team run of Leviathan by @SeraphimKensai. That BEWARE: CUSTOM POWERS warning is, evidently, da truth.:-)

My stuff is much simpler than what you do, my friend.:-)

Shoot. I thought Mesmer was boss only. Definitely need to fix that. I'll check the $name function. I did notice that, but thought maybe it was just a glitch. I'll put it on the list to fix.. Thanks much!

If you set the map enemies to empty, then set the ally surrounding group to empty (and then “single” if it appears), they will be auto-rescued. You’ll then just need to go to them to pick them up and have them follow. as for your map, you can populate with patrols, bosses, destroy object, etc.

Thirty Thousand Seconds [ID: 64072] L44-50 Trapped in a psychic cage by a powerful villain, you assume the identity of the legendary Aristotle Frost, navigating your way through the last hours leading to his tragic fall. No notes or spoilers or anything for this one. Not the usual noir, or intricate semi-real world intrigue. But (perhaps) a veil of tears -- in 4 parts.:-) It's intended to be soloed. Hope you like it. (and, uh...lemme know what typos I have THIS time).:-) Thanks for the support, Crane

Sure, there can be mitigating factors (like technical ones) for someone on your team just not responding to important communications. But someone hopping on a team, then intentionally choosing not to respond to reasonable comms isn't exercising a "playstyle." This is a behavior called, um, I think the technical term is...Oh, yes! "Being a dick." Nailed it in one!:-)

Yerp. I run the thing on a laptop most of the time.

Soloing with old schoolish squishy toons I’ll sometimes make use of stun grenades at lower levels. Might use hand grenades or plas taser if I need a KB bailout.

That comment about pistols echoing got me to thinking about a movie based on the 70s Man + Engineria team up. Working title for my script=“Whoosh Whoosh Bang Bang”

Hmmmm....trying to recall a specific situation where I was a dick because I needed to be... Hmmm... Nope. My choice. I just was one. Every. Single. Time. (yay, me?):-) [For the record, I thought the "not to be a dick" phrase could've just been omitted from the question, Isn't 'underperforming' self-explanatory? Other than that, agree with W_P's assertion that qualifying a repugnant statement with an inverse assertion is just plain hypocritical (and a bit insulting). I didn’t think the post was repugnant though]

Noooooo. Not even close. I am a pale shadow of your transcendent Enginerianess.:-)

Thank you. Thank you very much. (pst...semicolons are stupid):-)

Bingo. Very much Bingo. Bingo was its name-o. (did I mention bingo?)

Welllll...I personally haven't used specific people in any of my arcs. But I did create one that featured a parody of certain types of "news organizations." Turns out the talking head* that was spewing anti-superhero sentiment was just a tool for the actual string pullers/power brokers. Not that my that would mirror anything in real life...at all...:-) *

Once a Hero [ID: 37945] by @Lord of Robotics In this well-constructed L20-29 arc, your contact is Psychic Witch. She wants you to check into a new drug on the scene, called Dreaming. Skulls have it. It’s not good. For them or anyone. Your adventure in bustin’ takes you through some rescues and such, where you discover that the drug seems to put people into a - ready for it? - dream state.:-) The real mystery of course is where all the weird monsters are coming from when they do (witches and such, zombie types, and some reskinned baddies, along with many customs). Eventually you discover that [REDACTED] is behind the drug, and that their experiments have [REALLY LONG AND SUPER REDACTED]. It’s an excellently constructed arc, with real care and attention to detail. It is uniformly solid. Has a bit of a twist, but it’s well-telegraphed. I particularly liked the hero NPC brothers you run into on the Croatoa map. My one single petty gripe – there’s a semicolon. I hate semicolons. People don’t speak in semicolons. And, like Vonnegut said…[ahem] But I digress.:-) This is great work. A dreamy 5 stars for this one, and a non-horrific Seal of Approval.

Heh...you've been "ominated.":-)

All I have is the fond memory of the event. And this paddle game (pock-pock-pock-pock). (I don't recall, my friend, sorry. As for screenshots, I am out of space, thanks to my Devil Bat days).