chase

So many ways you can take this too- is it a battle of wills between the possessor and the possessed a la "Vanessa DeVore vs the spirit of Giovanna Scaldi" - is it direct personality override or subtle cues-a slow takeover or an eventual synergy of two wills? Is it a weapon? Jewelry? A suit? An AI implant? A spectral force? How does it feel about the people it possesses? Does it delude itself or is it aware of what taking over those bodies mean? Are they good, willing participants? Bad people that the "thing" deems too dangerous to have autonomy? Injured minds in need of assistance? Does it mourn or miss its previous "skins?" Do they depart amicably? Many great narrative possibilities. The closest I had to the concept was a "thorn" storing the soul of an ancient oranbegan that when shoved through the skin of a victim, would possess that victim and grant them mystical powers. If the thorn was removed and stabbed into someone else, the possession would follow. Although the spirit liked to believe he was in full control, each new vessel influenced the manifestation of his person in some way- increasing over time... so that he'd often seek out new vessel once he felt he was losing himself to the vessel's original occupant. I tried to keep a number of costume slots with pre-made alternatives based on villain groups- the idea being that if I fell in battle the character's last great effort would be to possess one of the foes that they were just fighting. That was tougher back in the day, but I had a half-decent malta look, crey was relatively easy, and suddenly becoming an uncomfortably self-conscious carnie could be good for a chuckle... I also had a faux backstory of that nature triggered by the game's introduction of new powersets, kinda explaining a character's reroll from a less-imaginative amazonian strongwoman into a shield-defense character An artifact from the oranbegan / mu era- a jewel-encrusted piece of armor that seemed to respond to a very specific bloodline. A mu prophecy associated with the armor said that its eventual destruction would free the demigod imprisoned within. For generations, the armor was passed down mother-to-daughter and wearing it granted the bearer a taste of the power of the thing within- To anyone else that tried it on, it did nothing. The current incarnation's mother had inherited the armor suddenly and without any preparation and she was determined not to let the same fate befall the next. She dedicated her life to making up for her early shortcomings, sought a man solely for the qualities he may help pass to the next warrior, and then trained that girl from an early age to be prepared for her eventual duties. The girl eventually inherited the role and... while she did her duty, she resented it- her fate and purpose was decided before she was born, Her heart wasn't in it. She wanted to rebel against the fate her mother had made for her, but her sense of duty wouldn't allow her. She got careless. She got caught. She witnessed the mu ritual destroying the armor just before other heroes rescued her. For weeks she dreaded what was to come- what her carelessness had unleashed on the world- waiting for the demigod to appear. So did the somewhat-baffled mu. While she saw signs of something terrible in every storm or natural disaster, the mu became convinced that some part of the armor remained somewhere- in some museum or storage or property tied to her family line. Both were now convinced that the mu were preparing the way for the demigod's wrathful return. Without any superpowers of her own, she used her natural talents to lead a team against them. Armed with little more than a weakly-enchanted shield, a tactical mind, and reflexes trained since birth, she led from the front, and although she was still going down a path very similar to the one her mother set for her it was now on her terms and it was one she felt passionate about. That's the problem with ancient prophecy. Always so ambiguous.. and words change meaning over time. What the Mu read as "demigod" now may have just meant "hero" or 'great champion' back then. Regardless, the armor was now broken- she'd escaped her prison and was well on her way to becoming the great champion they foretold.

Looks good. Myself, I've taken a rather mixed approach at levels and character notoriety. Tabby had the unfortunate experience of becoming "internet-famous" for all the wrong memes very early in her career, not tied to levels, but I DID decided to use security levels as a means to prod her into new zones and areas. She's on probation working off her "community service" hours as a "provisional hero" on patrol but she gets no credit for time served in areas below her appointed security level. Now.... she's constantly disputing whether she SHOULD even HAVE such a high security level, dammit, someone's obviously trying to get her killed. Influence-wise, I think she's gotten POORER the further she goes. and she was broke to start with. Between student loans and a running gag on how frequently her phone gets broken, the girl's more in debt than ever and any corporate sponsors would be interested in exactly the kind of public image that she doesn't want but has been curating by accident. Costume-wise, I didn't have to worry about progression. She's got her "natural" furry look, her "(poorly) trying to hide the cat-ness under baggy pants and hoodie" look, her "got too close to that fireball" look, a "backpack" look because...well, she doesn't have pockets and sometimes needs to stash stuff... etc. Misosazai, on the other hand, uses her costume slots to be less noticed, often dressing as foes she's about to fight or factions she's infiltrating. Examples: Except the carnies. She really hates going out in carnie disguise- equal parts modesty and the cold new england air so I waste two slots on that- one for when she's indoors ready to infiltrate and one that's a little more modest when she's taking the monorail there:

Way back in the day, I had Cole Mackinnon- Soldier Mastermind... the man, the myth, the legend. The John wayne of John waynes. Personality of a brick wall- it was his troops that had the charm. All my time was spent making macro'd squad banter for his team starting with personalities that I'd once served with. Idle banter, flirting banter for Pocket D, battle banter, arguing with each other over whose turn it was to "pull" and other 4th wall breakers (blaming "lag" for a death) , dozens of war movie homages. There were whole scenarios made for specific scenes in specific taskforces. I had to create a whole switchboard macro system to loop through the right macro at the right time. I went on a binge where writing and testing the banter took up more time than playing the game. The mothership raid was one of those moments. (tons of movie homages, especially leaning into Independence Day and ALIENS.) I never got to use them. Shutdown occurred first. I could have fit it in on the last few months- maybe part of one of those insane "all-mastermind-only-mastermind maxed out Mothership raid lagfests" - but I spent the last few months on a demorecording taskforce trying to capture and catalogue every quest in the game (for a possible emulator reconstruction that we thankfully never needed). Le sigh

No head, no hands, no feet. 🫤 if you still have the limbs, I guess you can do body spelling (think "YMCA" song) 💃🎵 💃🎵 💃🎵 otherwise... emote morse code by changing the pace of chest inhale-exhale? - .... .. ... / -- .- -.-- / - .- -.- . / .- / .-- .... .. .-.. . people reply back by tapping morse code lightly on the skin? or... telepathy. You don't need to BE a telepath. you just have to find one. (then again, they try to link to your mind, experience the feedback of all the trauma set upon you, and become a quivering incoherent mass in the corner until someone finds a good therapist)

Most are assuming that since you're headless, you're unable to speak, but they're making some assumptions on the other features, so: You're also earless. Can you even hear? You're also eyeless. Are you sightless? I'll leave out mention of the brain. Regarding Speech Alternatives: From a roleplay standpoint, being speechless really impacts how YOU interact with others. I haven't known fully mute folk, but I've known several deaf folk with very limited speech range, and I've known some with severe motor control that impacted their ability to form all but a few words easily. The typical RP trope of having someone just write things down in full conversation and share it bugged my deaf friends because it really doesn't work well in RL like that. it diminishes the experience. It takes far longer to write fully than just speak it. You MIGHT get away with a patient enough store clerk to wait to answer a hastily-scrawled "cucumbers?" if their pronunciation is too off, but not writing, "pardon me sir, where are the cucumbers?" We don't notice this in RP because we're all typing... which is pretty darn slow already... but it's something to consider in the RP. EDIT. More to come, just hit "Save" early Gesture, or a combination of gesture and nearby props, are often far faster and very easily understood to the the less verbally challenged. We don't tend to realize how much we innately incorporate gesture in daily actions. I found it hugely amusing to find a mute RP'er that maintained a notebook they'd emote flipping through. It works for complex answers, but finding basic "yes" and "no" values were hilarious... or numbers (1-10, at least)... and there's others. (Sidenote: Lip reading is HUGELY overrated in RP too. A good experienced lip reader in close proximity with a full view of the mouth will still only l confidently pick up a third of the words using mouth shape. Knowing the context of the conversation and reading body language, can rule out a few options and make educated guesses. (Context REALLY helps- people who leap off on random tangents can frustrate the HELL out of a lip reader.).

Some things to consider in trying to find RP: - the unlocking of "supergroup bases" changed the geography of RP. Pocket D's RP crowd now has over a dozen nightclub "bases" to choose from and quite literally hundreds of custom locations, from bookstores to astral planes, meditation chambers to city blocks... and sometimes ACTUAL bases. That can make it harder to find, overall. (the homecoming wiki has an "everlasting base list" if you want to find a setting that works for your story). - although I'm a big advocate of the RP global channels as a way to find each other, there have been... managerial disputes... over the years that seem to have led some/many to sour on them. - Discords. Roleplayers are using them nowadays much more frequently than forums it seems. Start with at least the server-specific channels of the official homecoming server.

The questlines don't fit so well for my style of play, but the setting always did. I like playing "trying to do some good, but flawed" characters redside... usually struggling against the system and sometimes making bad (hard) choices. Paragon's good-guy social safety net makes that more difficult... and there are always a few mega-billionaires or superstar heroes that seem all-too-eager to write a check to eliminate your financial woes there. Sure, there are mega-billionaire villains as well, but their gifts at least have strings attached that lead to interesting rp opportunity. Strangely, I've not recreated any of my favorite redside rp characters on homecoming. Maybe that will change

A couple of ways to look at this: Tabby would probably like people to think of a theme song reflecting her resilience and overcoming personal adversity, imagining something like Demi Lovato's Warrior. Unfortunately, she's a realist, and she BELIEVES that most people that see her immediately hear the theme song to their favorite substantially-NSFW anime. In my headcanon, that's the (very fictional) "Neko Neko Ninja Pincess" series, whose main character looks terrifyingly like her- now on its second season despite being banned in 23 countries, 5 states, 47 municipalities, and 15 major faith groups. And me? most of the RP antics she inspires can only be experienced with Yakity Sax playing on continuous loop.

Family always ALWAYS comes first - no forewarning necessary- and anyone not understanding isn't worthy of your time. Be there for your mom. Be there for any other family members also affected by this scare, and be mindful of yourself and your own needs. The stress can sneak up on you in terrible ways. When you're ready to return, we -the RP community- will be here for you.

What's your Main's theme song? the introduction from the twilight zone. ....No... wait... that's my RL theme song. Crazy Train. ...No... that's my RL Alt's theme song.

That's the illusion of space compression. Walk across a moderately-sized city center, then across any zone in-game. It's not just the count of structures but the SCALE of structures that makes the illusion work. Compare the scale of a ferryboat using an average-height person. A car. A city block. The footprint of a typical skyscraper. For as massive as the dam seems in Faultline, the water it holds back is downright miniscule. This isn't a criticism-- They do a good job of representing ENOUGH of basic things like infrastructure and retail and residential (and prisons, and industrial spaces, and ports) to make it feel expansive- maintaining that illusion without compromising gameplay and pacing. That's a big challenge. Just don't take it too literally. If it were put on a real-world map scaled appropriately for a major metropolis, the street-level views would be VERY different (and FAR more impressive than they already are)

I do get what you're saying, but I guess I'm far more forgiving. Games make cities smaller and more navigable than their lore suggest and they omit boring stuff that doesn't add to the narrative. CoH offers a far more vast experience than... say... any Bethesda game's "city" but it still does it. The more literally we take what's presented to us as "the whole world" the more we will run into these barriers. Just like time is dilated down to such a rapid day/night cycle that it would be ridiculous to be taken seriously, the worldspace is dilated down into only what's needed to facilitate the illusion. Nothing more. I just appreciate the details that they HAVE made the effort to include and assume what's missing (like vehicle elevators or an area BIG ENOUGH to warrant vehicles exists just out of view of my current camera's position.

I'm so impressed. I've never heard of Udio before and while some diss on AI creations, I think this perfectly illustrates how it can be used to enrich creations. Your lyrics, your vision, their audio based on your instruction... a winning combination. I've had a few music-themed characters in the past that could have really been fleshed out better with this. Also. If you don't mind me asking, what/who's the source for the images? In theory, the Cyrus Thompson Community Center (mentioned in the Coh Comics, but only the statue was ever put in the game, IIRC) should be "a block or two" from your music store. arc rooms to teach self-defense Tuesday nights. I have a college-age martial-arts-themed character focused on opposing gangs in Kings' Row who teaches self-defense classes there Tuesday nights. She lives in some beat-down loft apartment nearby that probably breaks every building code in the city and often wears gang colors when wanting to travel the street without being noticed. If you don't mind me asking- what/who is the source for your cover images? I struggled through photoshop back in the day for my comic images- never created anything this calibre.

I do like all of this. "Initially designed to be a secret weapon against Cole's regime" OR "Designed by someone very threatened by Cole's regime, but built in the main world. Her creator sees all the ingredients on this world for a similar caped-hegemony to arise, particularly with all Praetorian refugees now here." They could be absolutely rational in that fear and just work to prevent it OR their trauma may leave them with a more distorted worldview, seeing threats in shadows, attributing the worst motives from even things not in the shadows. They see the hands of this shadow government everywhere, maneuvering to the inevitable takeover. They're still good people, but they're just seeing the world through the lens of their fears and prior trauma. In that sense, the creator doesn't necessarily need a reason to keep secrets from her, like her origin. People with irrational fears make irrational decisions for irrational reasons. This could also lead to a story arc of her having to oppose her creator. They don't have to go full madboy-evil-- they absolutely CAN but they can just as easily be working through totally benevolent reasons if the world's seen through their PTSD-distorted lens. The world isn't that way, though, putting them on the wrong side of the law. They need to be stopped, as heartbreaking of a confrontation as that may be. (Now if I was a GM putting a player through such a story, I'd end it with a tiny hint of something nefarious- something that suggests that maybe- just maybe- their creator was on to something.... that maybe they weren't entirely wrong in their paranoia. Something to sow a little doubt into whether they character did the right thin in stopping their creator... perhaps sow a little of that same paranoia in the character.... but I'm a cruel GM in that way.)

1) There's no harm in starting on another server- it might be beneficial on starting out if it seems to have more active players matching your powerset. However, Everlasting isn't EXCLUSIVELY roleplaying, so you can still start there to learn the basics without upsetting anybody. You'll find plenty willing to help. (My wife and I have my "mains" on Torchbearer, as she's more of an offline story-creator than a roleplayer. We go there exclusively to "fight crime" together and then I have my RP characters on Everlasting) 2) I'd suggest Scrapper or Brute, myself. Tankers are great but have a durability that's really scaled for larger mobs than you fight in small teams and lower damage that makes battles more of a slog. Brutes and Scrappers have a balance of defense and offense, so they do solo's great and tank on small teams rather well. Brutes have a "fury" meter that builds up in intense fights, then drops after so expect "fury-lock" where you, as a player, get drunk with power, racing off to the next foe when common sense would tell you to take a moment to heal. Scrappers have crit chances that aren't as tied to such a mechanic, so you may be more inclined to pause and approach a target in a sane manner tactically. There's an argument to be made for blasters, though- their lack of defense DOES make them more squishy... but not notably so until the late-teen levels. One of the more annoying things a MELEE player has to deal with in teams is being too blinded by special effects to see that foes have moved (or been knocked back) out of melee range. A predominantly-ranged character doesn't have the same problem. You might think Sentinels have the ideal mix of moderate defense and ranged attack, but they're a post-shutdown addition that I personally like, but I'm told the consensus is that they are better for experienced players. ---- This is probably more controversial, but I also suggest temporarily disabling leveling in the early-teens. By that time, you'll have a nice small batch of attacks for a reasonable chain of attack and still have some annoying holes in your defense, but its a great time to get acquainted with everything. Skyway and Kings' Row have a great many contacts (assuring things don't get repetitive on alts) and alternatives like radio missions, bank heists, etc and the leveling rate's a bit accelerated, so it's easy to blink and miss all this. ( You also have the single overarching narrative of the Hollows available to you). By the mid-late teens you'll see more foes with stuns/holds/slows/immobilize attacks, your travel power, the invention system and auction house (to name a few) so this is an ideal time to just pause, assure you're comfortable with the basics, and give you a chance to focus entirely on those things as they come. Don't try to do it all, but give yourself time to do *enough*