cranebump

Yeah that’s from “Much Madness.” Paula is like right there next to the console, but the NAV point always spawns at the door when the console appears in the first room. The escort target location is clearly marked in mission text, but it just won’t locate the damned console. Gives the door for some reason. I’m loathe to move her because she consistently pops up in that opening room, which is right where I’d like her to be. Moving the console might put it in a weird location. But, yeah, it’s a thing. I left it as is because the spawn points are so consistent.

Feedback: some typos (Thanks Darmian). Also first map spawn issues involving overpasses. Clue needs to be inserted that flight pack may be needed. The vertical aspect to that map makes it bigger than it would first appear. Lost are the default baddies, but they don’t seem to be filling in spaces between patrols. Also need to do a bios check on some entries (including repurposed Omnibots used in Boundless Antiquities). By the way, I think the number of patrols I can add is maxed out. I can probably drop in more baddies next to “destroy objects,” like police cars and such. It feels like the Lost should be there, making mayhem amidst the ruckus. Few design notes: *The Boundless team’s NPC names are all based on mathematicians who’ve dealt with the problem of “squaring the circle.” *Mission titles are from Emily Dickinson poem, “Much madness is divinis’t sense.” *Sub titles are mostly from the Edda (I think...). *”Time spikes.” Had to change the verbiage and concept due to lack of object to represent fissures. Went with snake eggs, since they vibrate. *Shadow, Chalikar mobs should have enough variety in powersets to make each run a bit different. Basically copied the uniforms and used a simple bio, but the powersets aren’t revealed until you engage them. *Vidar’s and Hel’s Minions are supposed to summon some critters, but I haven’t seen hem yet. *Whipsmart from Ordinary People returns (which tangentially explains the repurposed Omnibots, since he’s a tech guy, and on Wards Prime team). Upcoming: Liberation Game (tentative title): An attempt to free The Five from the Mobius Strip leads to a dicey alliance with Baron Zoria (and more Chalikar meddling). But will the attempt be more trouble than it’s worth? Some crossover with Darmian’s “Dark” arcs via the character of Angevin, and hope to work in The Legacy Chain. Happy trails, kemosabes, E

Much Madness (Heroic, L18-22) (ID: 33104) Still somewhat new to the whole hero thing, you leap into action, resulting in exposure to a "time spike." Now infected by madness-inducing radiation, you must work with the Autumn Wards to heal yourself, and fend off a nefarious CoT plot. But can you head off your own personal Ragnorak in time? A follow-up to Full Circle, but works independently. Custom mobs. NOTE: You might need some version of flight on first map (Skyway, with its stacked freeways).

Wow...that’s a long stretch o’ highway.

Since Darmian mentioned them, a bit of expansion on my metastory: If you go through Ordinary People 1-3, the next iteration would be Friends & Lovers, Data Games, and The Omnibus Project. This introduces The Mobius Strip stories, beginning with Full Circle, then moving on to Much Madness. (Or just see my sit, below):-) FYI: I’ve played all the way through Darmian’s arcs. Excellently crafted, clean, precise and fun. You’ll enjoy them. Happy trails!

You can proceed to next mish on a failed timer, I know that. It's built in to Full Circle. I would argue that the occasional failure isn't a bad thing. However, the way AE works (without branches) means the next mish is the next mish, regardless of outcome. it has to be a failure that advances to the same point. Just the way it is. This makes writing the mish completion (failure) box key . What this ends up being (for me) is a lot of Deus Ex Machina stuff, for example, "Well, you didn't get to the macguffin in time, but not to worry. You kept them busy long enough for a PPD stealth team to get in there and bring it out." In the case of Full Circle, said mish (which is VERY hard to complete successfully), is tangential to the main plot, and is mainly used as away to set the stakes for the arc (I'd say more, but people might want to play it, so I'll leave it a that).

I count 50 as potatoes, and everything else above that as gravy. I don't get to potatoes too often, much less gravy.

For the remainder of this thread, I say we change the ‘l’ in oldest to a ‘d.’ Then see what happens...:-)

A vote for Barney here.

Ran them both. Both are deserving recipients. Grats all around!

Branching dialogue would be a nice addition, if only to allow splitting longer expository tracts into smaller chunks.

Ha! Funny. I keep assuming folks exemplar down for AE with IOS. Bad assumption probably?

I like the alignment system the way it is, personally. Unless someone can illuminate for me what is gained by this idea (because I would not truly know).

Slow animations usually turn me off. But I don’t give up on characters. Just can’t play more than one at a time.:-)

Actually, I'd like access to branching dialogue for AE mishes. It would be nice to split up some of the text, and to offer different choices/outcomes. Trying to nudge everything into 1000-character boxes doesn't allow for much development. Just ran Shauna Braun arc, and, dialogue-wise, it appears quicker because the text is spread among many screens, which keeps to a rule I recall for email: "All relevant text in the window without scrolling." I tend to use every character I have just to advance story/plot. Spreading it out with be better for the player (if not more work for me, but I'd enjoy the opportunity to try). And, of course, more AE slots for SFMA writers (though you can normally get a few more by request).

Lots. Mainly through TFs, signature story arcs for merits.

More AE scripting tools and maps.

Much Madness (Heroic, L18-22) (ID: 33104) Still somewhat new to the whole hero thing, you leap into action, resulting in exposure to a "time spike." Now infected by madness-inducing radiation, you must work with the Autumn Wards to heal yourself, and fend off a nefarious CoT plot. But can you head off your own personal Ragnorak in time? A follow-up to Full Circle, but works independently. Custom mobs. NOTE: You might need some version of flight on first map (Skyway, with its stacked freeways). Feedback always welcome!

Ha! I stand corrected.:-)

I've noticed that, no matter how buff, how strong, how tough, how big and strong, you just cannot split Paragon power lines (oh, the number of times I've hit my head on them). P.S. The lawn chairs are also impossible to break--pure adamantium, I hear.

I doubt the "original packaging" was quite that large.:=-)

So, obviously these "fake cannolis" are the aforementioned paperweights referred to in this thread. (I knew we couldn't have been talking about people, cuz that'd be rude!)🙂

Ditto on discarding old clues and, esp, choosIng lvls of custom critters. Toying with an idea of a character who is poisoned, diseased or cursed. Wanted the character’s lvl to drop for a couple missions, while the baddies increased (to the point where you’d have to run through a mish for a snatch and run. Can’t do it, unless I create lvl-balanced groups using stock baddies. Even then, not sure how well that would work. Actual placement of certain objects, NPCs would be nice. Also, Escort mishes to objects should allow a clue drop from the escorted (say, when they “access a database”) rather than having to have the character manually click on the glowie to get the clue I want to pass along. I’d also like to allow use of the same trigger, even if an ambush is attached to it. I wanted a glowie to spawn an ambush, plus the boss and his mobs nearby. Couldn’t get both from a glowie. HAd to include an “emergency radio message” as the in-between element.

Probably already mentioned but: Grab the Atlas Exploration badges Go to Echo: Galaxy, do the same thing. Get Ouro on way out, if you don’t have it. Use the 10 merits for converters. Sell them all. You should have at least 3/4 of a mil on that alone.

Just need a nice, retro base. I'm not a builder, unfortunately. And it would seem the heroes need to be Silver or Golden Age.:-)