Ankylosaur

And I have updated the numbering on Glimmers to make it simpler too. My original idea was to create a series that went from 1 - 54 with arcs and a story that progresses in levels. That was Glitters. So when I then did Glimmers, which starts in the 20's, I followed the Glitters numbering scheme. In the end that did not really help anyone at all. 🙂 My hesitation to renumber was for @TerroirNoir, as he is mid-series in his cable channel, and @Zhym, who's TV guide documents that. But, in the end, I decided to proceed. So now, it's 1.x - The Doomsday Contest 1.1 Death in Light Astoria (20-29) - Final 1.2 Drowning In the Vigilant Isles (25-30) - Final 1.3 Destruction in the Shadow Shard (25-33) - Final 2.x - The Spirit Realm Invasion 2.1 Shunting in Croatoa (30-39 ) Final 2.2 Banished in The Spirit Realm (34-39) Final 2.3 Incursion in Oranbega (35-41) Final 3.x - Mu Upheaval (or Mupheaval 🙂 ) 3.1 Summonings in Nerva Archipelago (40-44) Final 3.2 Ninjas in The Wind - (45-52) Final 3.3 Gods in The Planes - (45-52) Final Much simpler...

Same story here in Glints as with Glows - renumbered it to be easier for the player to consume. Let Go My Ego Beware The Ids That March Super Ego Maniac Get your dose of Penelope Mayhem, Mr. G, and more Praetorian stuff in something much shorter than Glitters...

Decided my whole naming convention in my "All That" stuff, which was based on level ranges, was more confusing than helpful. Renamed the series to parts 1, 2, & 3. Nictus Amongst Us Nictus Exodus Nictus Evictus Very few people have played "1" and "2," but a whole lot of people have played "3" as it was a Dev's Choice, (Request in to restore it. 🙂 )

At almost 2 years since that comment, in the end I can say I did. 🙂My big ole' world building AE series in my sig explores much of the fallout of Praetoria in Primal which also had me push Praetoria ahead a notch too. The series in a nutshell Glitters: Gold Brickers and Mooks rising to power by being the main source for Praetorian tech and challenging Aeon. Glimmers: First Warders reclaiming post Mot Astoria and getting in the middle of a major Mu power struggle while Scirocco loses his grip on it. Glints: The Awakened and Penny Mayhem being brought into the Council who are trying to harness their power to their benefit. (Nazis and ESP are a thing after all.) Glows: The Arakhn/Requiem or Council/5th Column power struggle with a focus on the Nictus and their loyalties. As to Praetoria itself Anti-matter's explosion and Cole's nukes succeeded in repelling the DE as nothing organic could survive the radiation for long However the Clockwork (and Metronome) trundled along repairing it. Neo Tokyo (under Ma Soong, their Order of the Winds leader) came in and took over the city, using the one thing that Cole did not try, magic. They used it to disperse most of the radiation an keep out the DE. They put up magical wards against the TUNNEL network - which is why most portals traveling there go to the past - but you can find ways to break through. It's so big and explores so many threads, it's pretty daunting to want dig in, but gets good reviews from those few who run through even part of it. If you don't want to put in that kind of time and want to skip to the end to see where Praetoria is (along with the resolution of the other threads), check out the finale/epilogue arc: All That Gleams. I've also had some help from the encyclopedic @Darmian to make sure my Praetorian lore was accurate, and both he and @Take One have given some really helpful story/gameplay feedback too - along with a few others along the way. @TerroirNoir has been running through all of it and posting the journey in his "Cable Channel" over in Mission Architect forum. Been really fun to build out and if it piques your interest, give it a gander! I'm very open to feedback, appreciative of typo catches and of course high star rating if you feel its worth it.

After the refinements above, I started working on the 2.x group, including souvenirs. I made some significant changes to 2.3, which was the second arc ever written in this massive series. It should be a more dramatic now. The key changes.

Party Time! Excellent! Love the world building!

Yay!

Absolutely, but it also seems plausible enough that it's a cover. I mean - no one else needs an environmental suit... "Oh hey Resistance friends, I came up with this awesome and totally unique environmental suit with energy powers, but it's just for me. There is no way I can replicate these weapons for anyone else to wear and help our cause to overthrow Cole. Sorry about that." or "I'm covered head to toe in this environmental suit that obscures my appearance so I can use these awesome energy powers. There is no way that I am actually a Nictus possessing someone that you might recognize if I did not have this helmet and mask on at all times." But Helix is not the only mob that uses the Kheldian light powers in game. The Drudges and the Polar Lights do too. So yeah, it could be because of an intern, or economy/budgets for new power art, but for me anyway, the more interesting angle is she could be a Nictus infiltrating Praetoria before the fall...

Spent some time polishing the 1.x series - namely Missing in Mercy, continuing on the theme of better integrating the ex-Praetorians who were broken out of Refugee island by Recluse for some new "Destined Ones." Also refined who you are fighting here and there to better foreshadow future events. I'm also slowly taking the time to write souvenirs for the arcs to meet a request from @Take One a hundred years ago, 🙂 The key refinements

Yeah I came to the same conclusion, that none were native; part of why there is just one. Given the Nictus’ penchant for conquering, and the game’s for time travel, and interdimensional travel, my little story line justifes it… And obviously my story is not canon, but it’s just to illustrate that in this universe there’s loads of little hooks that you can use and justify to explore new paths, well within the confines of the lore.

True - it's all about good prompt writing. But it was fun to paste in that prompt an try it out. There were a few typos in the prompt that needed correcting, and as a game its like a random dungeon generator, but it was pretty amazing it worked at all. Oh and I tried it a couple of times and even the "UI" changed for things like "Check Inventory" And every time I pasted it in, its first response was "I can't do a MUD" paste it again and it begins. ChatGPT must lack a little confidence. 😉 But given a nudge it plays along...

Build your own MUD!

Yes, you can right click highlighted text to use Font Colors in contact text, mission intro/exit bubbles and clues - loads of places. Any standard HTML hexadecimal codes work, but some are more readable than others - even in the ones on the right click menu. Explore to your Hearst content! (I tend to just used some of the named colors - lighter the better in most cases but not all) https://htmlcolorcodes.com/ I have tried colors in dialog boxes and they worked with unpredictable results, meaning, sometimes without rhyme or reason, so I gave up on that.

I always presumed so. I’ve been exploring a few of the open threads with AE (Gold Brickers vs Aeon, First Warders reclaiming Astoria, a different Scirocco take, Awakened and The Council) and have a kheldian plotline called All That Glows. Involves the whole Arakhn and Requiem council schism too and how a Kheldian made it to Praetoria if you want to see one pass at it.

So great to see Enigineria's journey here. Great pics and storytelling as always - poor thing stuck in this magic plot when its really outside her area of expertise but she's a trooper! Some thoughts... The Stray - I needed someone to fill the role she does, and when I thought of her - well it all fit together so well! She knows the Night Ward and the Drudge and magic and seems like the type who would put what she knows to use to gain an advantage for herself in a new world. Definitely not the last you'll see of Ksenia. Was fun to try to capture her personality here. Desdemona / Vanessa - There is a version of Vanessa in AE that does not have the mask, so managed to work her in here and get her free of it - even though she's just a disincorporated mental essence trapped in the Spirit Realm (or something). Having Vanessa split from Desdemona was half to make the story telling easier so I didn't have to identify which of the two voices was speaking when you encounter her/them. But as you might expect, she plays a role in the All That Glints story that focuses on the Seers in Prime Earth. The Spirit Realm maps - both the office and sewer Astoria maps served as a great way to represent the spirit realm in Astoria. If memory serves, and not that anyone would ever notice, but I think I managed to find the equivalent or very close non-Mot office and non-red sewer for the maps in 2.x where you entered the Astoria versions, but don't hold me to that. I know I looked for them at least. 🙂 And the New Praetorians will definitely have a little traditional Praetorian feast after this is all over and Engineria is top of the guest list.

Hmmm - perhaps I was not feeling inspired? Maybe it will become Plots upon Plots upon Plots... And M5 would clearly be Stray Plots.

A pretty interesting example of AI used for role-play in Skyrim. Super-early example done with a mod but this lets you speak to characters using your voice, which converts it to text, feeds it to ChatGPT that understands Skyrim since all the characters etc are online, and role-plays that character back.

With all the new Stheno weapons that were recently released, I wanted to update my customs in this story that is about the origin of the Snakes. Editing a Dev's Choice is something I try not to abuse, as basically you have to ask a GM to restore it. I think I've done it twice, once was for Nictus Evictus when the new Nictus stuff came out. In the case of "Serpent Beyond the Horizon" the game changed with new weapons, which gave me a chance to improve something too. I've asked to have it restored to a dev's choice, and fingers crossed it will be. I did make a small story change. Back when I published it, Sisters Bramlett and Solaris were AVs in the AE Cimeroran mobs. In one of the Homecoming updates they became bosses instead, and, they added in Airlia (among others). So, I added in Sister Airlia as another Seer who was kidnapped as part of the plot, so that the solo player has some extra support fighting an AV. It actually fit the story well as you uncover a bit of Arachnos' presence in Cimerora in the plot when you encounter Bramlett, so this slipped right in. Though the fight with Bramlett will be easier, having them as bosses against the AV should be more fun than Solaris as an AV ally as she was mighty powerful and kinda rolled over everyone. Anyway, its updated now with the Stheno stuff, and the mobs look better for it. Oh and I fixed the note to self above.

Impressive! Most impressive! With Glimmers at least, the 2.x stuff set up the "magic potential" for the 3.x stuff, and like Glitters, the x.3 arc is always a big finale to the little trio of arcs. This one, 3.2, has a big reveal of a key player in the plot. The next arc is a big turning point where everything that they have been building up comes swinging into play. Who needed all this magic potential to thin the veil? Who lured the Drudge here, and really, why? Excited for you to see it really unfold! On the edge of my seat to experience Engineria's experience of it.

And recolor the standard boss from the standard mob and give it a custom description to match the description in your custom mob. A nuisance... but know this problem well. There are also a few mobs that only show up when selecting bosses, like generic villains, and W.I.S.D.O.M.

This was me trying to do what I could to enter the spirit realm. In this case, one of the carnie maps and one of the city maps are identical except for the back - carnie tents vs graveyard - so tried to use that to my advantage to indicate the shift. (And Noble Savage being captured in the spirit realm again was me just acquiescing to the AE constraints. I have played around with empty maps and empty allies so you can avoid the "they are captured" conceit. But then you get no nav text and have to manually populate lots of stuff. So yeah - it's that he's not stealthy I guess 🙂 )

Made a significant update to All That Gleams 5.0. As only one arc, I never made a separate thread for it, but as the changes were made because of my Glimmers fix, I figured I'd just mention them here. Before the plot was a follow-through to the open thread from Ninjas in the Wind, and you were helping Serafina find out what happened to Scirocco and Ice Mistral. That answer is now integrated into 4.2 Ninjas in the Wind, which means the whole motive had to change, and with that, the contact. So now you are working with the Dark Watcher. Neo-Tokyo wants to normalize relations with Primal Earth, in part to get some help with all these Primal Earth groups who are scavenging, smuggling, trespassing or challenging their control of Cole's abandoned city. I know that the All that Glitters, Glimmers, Glows, and Glints series are daunting to dig into because they are so long, (though the shorter Glows and Glints may be less so). Its tough to know if playing them will be worth your time. If you want to count All That Gleams as a standalone, and the above as prequels, it could be an interesting way to introduce yourself to the outcomes and then maybe explore a thread that piques your interest to figure out how it came to be. Neo Tokyo Arcs? Now that this new version is done, can't help but think of many missions you could do in Neo Tokyo, and I know a few people have asked about that... Maybe one day... The challenge lies with who to focus on. On the one hand, people enjoyed fighting Neo Tokyo because of the mobs. Maybe it's one of the groups invading so now it's more redside? Maybe each is a standalone pushing one of the earlier plots further forward? I have several little ideas, but not one big one, yet. Do the New Praetorians return home? We'll see, but I will count it as a new series as all of ATG is done, and the game world changed because of it. These would be adventures in this new world order.

I write for soloists primarily as I count myself as pretty lucky if even one person plays something. 🙂 Having said that, after Adventures in Wonderland became a Dev's choice, a number of people commented about things in there over time that have me trying to better accommodate teams in my thinking. Defenders - Most of that has to do with /Defender powers. In there I had a number of "flowers" with /poison and that has melted some tanks. I also had some mobs with Flash Arrows and stacking that people found annoying. In general I try not to be annoying with mobs. Bosses - I often only had a single boss in a mob as soloers would rarely encounter them. Still holds true for some, but I think more about boss variety now. Escorts/Allies - I tend to over-rotate on the health of these now and use EBs or AVs to ensure they can survive when traveling with a team. If custom, I limit their attacks so the solo player hopefully has to do a little more than just kite them around with them, but EB and AV allies certainly make it a lot easier for soloists. Giant Monsters - I throw these in for flavor only if appropriate to a map. They are never required but teams seem to enjoy them. And then there is keeping teams informed of the story. For that I don't have a great solution. One of the things I struggle with is clues. I used to put in a lot of clues to help teams and just to keep people informed in case they missed something. But they are a little immersion breaking and flow breaking as you have to stop and read them - especially if they don't reveal new things themselves. So then I backed way off, but after watching Valeyard's twitch play through, the dialog of toons is often completely missed, so now I am thinking they are important? Not sure what to do about clues.

When you have a group of "Storm Monks" in the "Order of the Winds" and CoH releases a Storm Powerset, well, things will change... The Glimmers story is already pretty tight and tidy as a story so very little changes in this series, but this gave me a chance to make some updates to All That Glimmers 4.2: Ninjas in the Wind

Great pic (and arc). Always loved this arc, and particularly the mothballed robot prototypes warehouse map. Something very memorable about that scene and super-clever use of these mobs that fit so well into a great story.