All That Glitters Series - Vigilante - [1 - 54]

[Darmian]

Apologies for my tardiness in finishing this!  I have yours, some by TakeOne, some by Driiquar and others all in mid go!  And just finished out @cranebump's epic story. 

[Ankylosaur]

On 3/4/2021 at 7:44 AM, Darmian said:

Apologies for my tardiness in finishing this!  I have yours, some by TakeOne, some by Driiquar and others all in mid go!  And just finished out @cranebump's epic story. 

No worries - the longer you take the more complete it will be and having that perspective from someone experiencing it in sequence as opposed to the order I wrote it in will give a good end to end vantage point. 🙂 

 

Now that I am near the end (1 arc to go!), for the trivial historical interest, and it may only be interesting to me, below is the order I wrote it in. They of course are using the numbers as they ended up in sequence - and were renumbered along the way. Essentially as I wrote things, I realized I wanted to provide more context earlier in the sequence and would go back and backfill. It caused little tweaks to ones I had already written, and while I am hoping I have all the continuity right in there, your experience going through it will be a very useful check of that.

 

Nov 2020

• 2.1 - Boom Time in Boomtown, Arc ID: 34715, 15 - 20 -Final
• 2.3 - Terawatts in Terra Volta, Arc ID: 34947, 25 - 35 - Final
• 3.1 - (Corporate) Espionage in Eden, Arc ID: 35058, 30 - 40 - Final
• 1.2 - Piracy in Port Oakes - Arc ID: 35355 - 8-12 Final
• 1.1 - Missing in Mercy - Arc ID: 35842 - 1-10 Final
• 1.3 - Capitalism in Cap Au Diable Arc ID 36056 - 12-20 - Final
• 3.3 - Calamity in Kallisti Wharf, Arc ID: 36693, 35 - 44 - Final
• 2.2 - Fortunes in Faultline, Arc ID: 37097, 20 - 29 - Final
• 4.1 - Risky War GameZ in the Rikti War Zone, Arc ID: 37513 , 35 - 43 -Final
• 4.2 - Pirates in Praetoria, 40 - 50,  Arc ID: 37754 - Final
• 3.2 - Suspicious Maneuvering in St. Martial, Arc ID: 37948, 35 - 40 - Final
• 4.3 - Grand Designs in Grandville 50 - 54, - Final
• 3.1 - Nervy Acquisitions in the Nerva Archipelago 30-40 - Final

 

April 2021

 

• EDIT: In 2022, 3.1 moved back to Eden. The whole series got an update to incorporate the new Gold Brickers from the Aeon Strike force, replacing ConDev (see comments much later in the thread), and the released maps from that Strike Force. 

 

The 4.x part was an add-on that was never part of my original idea - but as you start working on things new ideas reveal themselves. It's why 2.2 and 3.2 come so late - I wanted to sprinkle in more foreshadowing/connection for 4.x. Also, it was easier to insert a .2 between the first and last arc of each X.1 and X.3 to bridge the two arcs - rather than changing the beginning and end - expanding the middle.  Eventually, now that the isles were more prominent in the overall story, I changed the location of 3.1 - moving it from Eden to Nerva which works better on many levels including being able to use an outdoor map to anchor it in a sense of place.

 

The other big thing that happened in the middle of all of this was that Wyvern was given a broader level range after the i27 release which allowed me to change the range of some of the 2.x and 3.x stuff. It's why the 3.x (which was 30 and above) did not use a Wyvern contact or have them in missions much originally - Wyvern used to cap out at level 30. I have a story conceit in 2.3 / 3.1 which explains why they are less directly involved, and I have managed to fit them in a tiny bit since the level range increase. Ultimately it made for a pretty interesting and evolving contact in the 3.x series though

 

Lastly, one of the source ideas behind much of this, my Ghost in the Machine arc, never really ended up fitting even though it was intended to be the original finale. As Take One noted, It's too disconnected, and more of a clever AE trick than an integrated story. I may end up trying to rework it as a bit of an epilogue but more likely it remains a one-off.

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

On 3/4/2021 at 7:40 AM, Take One said:

I don't have much comments on this except for one thing: the clues.

Cleaned up those clues! Thank you as always for your feedback! Some weird oversights and superfluous additions there on my part - thanks for pointing that out. 

 

And yes - cleaned up the Duke and the wailers he was trying to recruit since he lost his demon pals earlier. 🙂

[Take One]

All That Glitters 4.3:

 

Mission 1

Briefing: "Longbow is finally taking the threats seriously" - I think it's just one threat, but I'm not sure.

Action: Nice map, seems suitably epic.

Debriefing: "Longbow is part of Freedom Corps" - I must confess I don't know much about these organisations. I thought Longbow _was_ Freedom Corps. Like, all of it. Are they two separate entities? What is Freedom Corps and what is Longbow? Not a slight against your writing, just me being confused.

 

Mission 2

Briefing: Indigo and Crimson are Longbow agents? I thought they worked for a shadowy government org above the FBSA or something. Again my ignorance about these things becomes apparent. However, I am fairly sure they aren't "Agent Indigo" and "Agent Crimson" but just Indigo and Crimson.

Action: Epic action, again. The agents were called Agents here too. Maybe it's something you have to do to get them to work in the AE, and in that case I suppose you are forgiven. 😛

 

Mission 3

Briefing: Well I did not see this coming. 🙂

Action: More epic action. I'm impressed. I'm having a hard time finding all these enemies that spawn in however... stuck on Ghost Widow. Okay, she was hiding outside on the beach in an obscure corner. All done now, and it was pretty awesome. Very easy with all the allies but I also played on an incarnate scrapper on regular difficulty. Not complainng, I could have made it harder if I wanted to, so it's good that it's playable for weaker characters.

 

Mission 4

Briefing: A good little relaxing mission here after all that action.

Action: I have no idea how I've never seen this map before. Guido Verandi has a broken $guygal in his text. Bloody Vicious says "you have done us a great deed" - sounds weird to me, "done us a great favor" or "done a great deed" perhaps? Man, this is a long map. Clearly I am going to have to play this again to try the second option and find out what happens... Anyway, I expected a clue after this, but there was none. Maybe it'll be come clear why.

 

Mission 5

Not much to say about this mission. It's a nice ending to the series. I noticed a "though" instead of a "thought" in one of the npc chatters: "I never though he'd go all modern Blackbeard". I almost missed that there were clues to find here, you might want to make that more obvious in the briefing. Also, the clues could be numbered 1 of X or something, so the player knows how many there are to be found.

 

Summary

I had to suspend a whole lot of disbelief to buy into that Arachnos and Lord Recluse would be tricked like this by a bunch of small-time (comparatively) businessmen. It feels like you could have had this entire series of arcs be about the secession that plays out in three missions during this arc, and it still wouldn't be too much. I mean, I suppose it was, but it only became obvious in the very last arc of I don't know how many , 10 or 12 or more?

 

If the true goal of the Langstons had been revealed around half-way and the rest of the arcs had all been about bringing about this end, it would have felt less rushed and perhaps more believeable. I feel like the bulk of the stories have focused on setting up the different Langston organisations and their dealings, in very great detail, and then the actual meat of the story is finished in half an arc. Even if it makes sense that it all happens in one fell stroke, it really stretches my imagination, as I said.

 

Even so, great fun ending to this, and you make the AE do things I don't know are possible. I think that this would be a fun change to bring to the Rogue Isles, and it would make red-side feel more interesting if different groups ruled different islands. I have been thinking along the same lines myself.. So I'm not against the idea at all.

[Ankylosaur]

29 minutes ago, Take One said:

If the true goal of the Langstons had been revealed around half-way and the rest of the arcs had all been about bringing about this end, it would have felt less rushed and perhaps more believeable. I feel like the bulk of the stories have focused on setting up the different Langston organisations and their dealings, in very great detail, and then the actual meat of the story is finished in half an arc. Even if it makes sense that it all happens in one fell stroke, it really stretches my imagination, as I said.

 

 

I hear you and do understand - it's why I went back to add in 3.2 and give a bit more connection between the Mooks and Langstons, but even that is not so direct. However, it was never about just one big end goal. All of those stories of the Langstons were true end goals along the way too - each Langston family member had their own goals with organizations that also have their own goals, but once they had all this power by moving the needle on some of those more myopic goals - they aimed a little higher.

 

But I feel what you are saying too and may look back through to see if I can make the end goal enemies make an antagonistic appearance here and there along the way.  There are a few spots where they could fit in.

Edited March 13, 2021 by Ankylosaur

[Take One]

It doesn't really have to be much. I recall all the times I beat up some scientist lady she kept asking if I really knew what I was doing, and insisted that I was being stupid. I figured it was just normal villain banter, but it was hinting at this upcoming take-over, I think. So the clues were there, they were just too vague to be understood until you reach the end. Maybe having some of the Langstons mention their love of Cap au Diable and their dislike of Arachnos, in private of course, would make it clearer. But I wouldn't say that you must change anything.

[Ankylosaur]

I did circle back and add in more foreshadowing in 

• 1.3 - a collection dialog between Cohen and Carmella
• 2.2 - an arachnos unit mentioning Aeon wanting to watch langston
• 2.3 - a collection dialog with Carmela seeking to source praetorian war works for a bigger plan
• 3.2 - more arachnos comments about watching mooks and langston for Aeon
• 4.2 - a goldbricker talking about how much easier it was to build up forces on the mainland than the isles 
• 4.2 - a ConDev cap’n talking about how they were weighing anchor soon 
• a few other little tweaks to existing characters and their dialog and mission dialog. 

With anything this large you have an idea of where you are going but don’t know all the details until you write it - so a little backfilling is to be expected. 🙂 hopefully I applied it not so liberally as to spoil the end and not so sparsely as to keep you in the total dark. 
 

There are a few other opportunities to weave in the historical antagonism between the gold brickers and Aeon too and reinforce that throughout. 

 

Update: I went in an peppered in a touch more references to the tension between Langston and Aeon throughout and modified the end to adjust the final fight to make it much more about ousting Aeon in the finale. 

Edited April 5, 2021 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

Moved 3.1 from Eden to Nerva.

 

For the reasons, you can check the 3.1 hidden comments below, but really - its just because it is a better, more integrated experience. 😉 

 

I also made a small but incredibly significant change in 4.3 which is too much of a spoiler but wildly obvious in retrospect and makes the entire thing more cohesive.

 

Not that anyone is likely to play the whole series. I suspect everyone who will play it already has. 🙂(both of them 🙂 )  

 

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by Ankylosaur

[Take One]

All That Glitters 3.1 Revised:

 

I won't go into detail for each mission since I've played it before but here are some things I noticed.

 

Mission 1:

 

Clue:

Praetorian Tech Weilding Pirates

ConDev, as a seperate company was absorbed by Langston long ago and renamed Langston Labs. Clearly they are reusing the name for these new force of Praetorian-armed pirate units. Langston Corp. really has used all the tech they can get their hands on.

 

I might write this as:

 

Praetorian Tech Wielding Pirates
ConDev was absorbed by Langston long ago and renamed Langston Labs. Clearly they are re-using the name for this new force of Praetorian-armed pirate units (or "for these new Praetorian-armed pirate units"). Langston Corp. really has used all the tech they can get their hands on.

 

This new mission feels more vigilante than it used to. I'm just going around punching people I think might be bad to find clues. Very vigilante!

 

Mission 2:

Let's prepare to blow up this place, just in case. Again, the vigilante methods are there. Good!

 

Clue:

Consciousness Uploader Prototype

"The scientists were discussing how they can't get it to work."

I think this should be "why they can't get it to work" or "how they can get it to work".

 

Clue:

Consciousness Installer Prototype

"The scientists were discussing how it should work but that they will need Crey Revenant Technology, to make it work."

I suggest "The scientists were discussing how it works, and that they will need Crey Revenant technology to make it functional." or something like that.

 

When I upload the Doctor's program, the interact bar says "Downloading hacker's program" - seems like it should say "uploading" or maybe "installing".

 

The popup after I leave the mission still talks about finding a safe place in a leaning tower in Eden.

 

Mission 3:

 

In the mission sendoff text: "I am imprisioned here"

 

The popup at the start of the mission still mentions Eden.

 

Not sure how the Gaians made it all the way to Primeva but maybe it will be explained later. Ah, they escaped from the Crey compound zoo? Nice touch.

 

Mission 4:

 

The Friendly Daemon doesn't seem to lead to the Doctor. I don't see anything in the compass or on the map anyway. It also doesn't seem to do anything else, but that's fine.

 

Mission 5:

 

Dr. Wainwright was a much harder opponent than Hopkins. Not sure if this was on purpose but it seemed weird.

 

The whole "set doctor free > punch tube > free the doctor" sequence seemed weird. Maybe not weird enough to change, but perhaps it could work if the text indicates that her tube opens "off-camera", but she is immediately caught by Crey security, so you skip the "punch the tube" step, and don't need the awkward "a woman spills out of the tube and then disappears and re-appears some distance away caught by Crey security" effect.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

A more vigilante feel than some of the other arcs in the series, which is a good thing. I was killed by random Gaian bosses and Dr. Wainwright in the last mission but my character was just level 28 so not fully within the level range. They seemed more powerful than anything else in the story however, so it caught me by surprise.

 

I like this change to the arc, setting it in Nerva makes much more sense than Eden.

 

 

[Ankylosaur]

Thanks for the feedback as always! Glad you liked it's move to Nerva.

 

Made all the edits.

 

Yeah - the Gaians are a little shoehorned in now, but as you found I came up with a reasonable justification. Could always put in DE instead but thought it would be a little boring. Overheard while wandering Nerva by the "Crey Zoo"

 

 

Friendly Daemon escort destination now set correctly (must have renamed her and the waypoint was lost). It's just a bonus emergency helper as that map can be hard to navigate.

 

Tried to fix the tube birthing sequence like this... As you break the tube:

• tube Object destroyed "spoken" text: >>The sound of rushing water suggests the revenant inside was sucked out of the incubation tube.<<
• tube Object destroyed text: From across the lab you hear an alarm and a door open, soon followed by a rush of water and a thud!
• Crey captors Unaware text:  Another one of these ghastly revenants is born. Quick! Activate the containment field.

Also the doctor was not set to attack with you - what? how did that slip through... fixed.

 

Good to have the feedback on Dr. Wainwright who was the renamed "generic villain" Juan Hernandez (EB). I recently discovered him and substituted him for a Power Tank I had used for Dr. Wainwright originally. As to Hopkins (AV), I had used him as the final boss as I wanted someone authentically Crey in charge - but really he is never without the Countess so was not a great fit. So as an update, I have replaced Hopkins with "Crey VP Juan Hernandez" and restored Dr. Wainwright to a Power Tank.

 

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

Made a minor change to 3.2.

 

Because I try, across all of my arcs, to not to reuse maps I had used before, and I needed the Giza map in my latest arc: Ninjas in the Wind, I made a tweak here.

 

I swapped out the Giza map for The Flush map. I had waffled on which to use while developing ATG, and landed on The Giza since so much time in 3.2 is spent near casinos. Anyway, the Flush seems like a good place for someone to run off and hide in - and it is.

 

(Does anyone care? No - but just adding it here for posterity.)

[Ankylosaur]

Continue to make small refinements here in case that third person ever explores the series. 🙂

 

What ended up being 2.3 was the second arc I wrote in the series and while I hinted at the reasons Langston was building a Power Plant in Paragon, none of my own thinking was really refined. As the whole endgame could use a bit more foreshadowing - I put in some more conjecture there about portals to praetoria, consciousness transfer, trying to get out from under Aeon etc.

 

In 4.2 - where you end up going to Praetoria - I am considering integrating some of the elements from Ninjas in the Wind - like a few cyber Samurai because they can fit and i love how that mob turned out 🙂

 

And still considering an "All that Glimmers" series that focuses on the magic users from Praetoria and their emigration stories. It would be a fork after 1.3 where there is a lot of magic. So then a parallel 2.x and 3.x explores the Carnival of Light et al. in Primal earth 

 

Generally thinking that no one really wants the content though - but the ideas keep stewing regardless.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

With Glimmers (the magic post-praetoria series) done, I wanted to go back and make sure the two paths aligned and complemented one another. In particular this comment had stuck in my mind....

 

On 2/23/2021 at 12:07 PM, Take One said:

All That Glitters 4.2: 

 

This story felt proactive, as we found most of the clues ourselves, and went investigating on them. I'm not sure if the New Praetorians are vigilantes, or even why this arc is supposedly a vigilante arc, since we're not working outside the law as far as I can tell. But I'm not gonna nit-pick. As for revelations, I don't feel like we found out much we didn't already know, just setting us up for the true revelations to come. A few things were revealed or rather confirmed, since the actions of ConDev in previous episodes have showed them having access to Praetorian tech all along. But at least now there's a final mystery to look forward to for the next episode.

 

 

 

It's true that as the penultimate arc, it is mostly you confirming suspicions and knocking ConDev down a peg before the grand finale. However with Neo Tokyo being revealed in the Glimmers path, that did give me a chance to integrate that better here and try to better prepare for the finale too...

 

Spoiler

 

In Glitters 4.2 you go to Praetoria to track down where ConDev is getting all their Praetorian tech. With Neo Tokyo playing a role in Glimmers 4.2, it gives me a chance to introduce that here too.

 

So I made some changes which makes the arc more interesting

1. For one small mission you are in the Nova Praetoria neighborhood map fighting some ConDev Infected by DE while you look for their base (which you discover is in the Tunnels). I have swapped those ConDev infected for Battles there between the Cyber Samurai and the Infected ConDev DE troops  to illustrate Neo Tokyo taking over the city.
2. The Samurai are also fighting Revenants, presuming the ConDev revenants are a new type of ghoul.
3. I added a Samurai leader who talks about how they are reclaiming the abandoned city. (Replacing a Nitcus I had there which was a nod to Police vs Aliens 1)
4. I replaced the rikti portal generator "non-organic portal transporters" which ConDev uses to transport Praetoria Salvage with a different portal idea - came out great and is a distinctive portal from normal ones reinforcing the non-organic part.
5. I inserted a mainframe in to both missions to control the new portals, which means King Midas has two more chances to reinforce that he has a big plan against Aeon and none of this has to do with you and back off already. 🙂 (also would explain why, if you were non-roganic e.g. a robot, you can't use the portals - Midas operates them).

 

Good little refinements.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

I drove by this the other day - if you have played this series you'll get why it made me feel like I might be in a simulation... 

 

 

If I ever get a computer to get back online again, I have some serious updating to do to incorporate the new Gold Brickers, and the new Midas AV. I have a plan for how to swap in a different character into the existing role my King Midas plays in the story and can try to work in the new "official" Midas elsewhere.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

Updated Gold Brickers = Updated Series?

I soloed through much of the new Aeon Strike Force, until it was too tough, and watched the rest in a Youtube video and it has big implications for All That Glitters. In many ways it might make it simpler. 

 

I had introduced a group, ConDev, late in the series as I realized my original ending didn't fit and inter-dimensional  tech scavenging Gold Brickers seemed a stretch. (No longer true!) ConDev is a hook in the lore that was never used, and I think essentially eliminated. (The original write-up for Cap Au Diable mentions them, and their logo on a building, but I sure can't find it.)

 

The same fate for ConDev may happen here. With interdimensional Gold Brickers + a host of interesting AVs to take the place of some of the ones I created, plus high level Gold Brickers now, I could re-work this to replace ConDev with Gold Brickers which tightens things up significantly.

 

I was able to update the Custom Gold Brickers I had created with all the new costume pieces, and they look great.

 

Spoiler

Originally, part of the value of the ConDev mob was to illustrate that they were scavenging and selling Praetorian and Rikti tech. You discover that they are the ones supplying Arachnos with Warworks bots, and the Family with Praetorian rifles, and the Council with the big Warworks. In part that was illustrated through the weapons/powers ConDev used, but I could easily give those costume parts and powers to my custom Gold Brickers instead. ConDev are kind of hokey as it is today as their interdimensional piratey-ness was represented in part by all the pirate costume pieces we have available. 

 

If we get all the Gold Bricker new mobs in the AE, I will likely update the whole series to eliminate ConDev.

 

--

 

Complicated Rename for Clarity?

The other thing I am considering is renaming it all. All That Glitters 1.x is an intro, establishing the Gold Brickers as a key threat, but also introducing some post praetorian magic. So then All That Glitters 2.x follows the Gold Bricker tech thread while All That Glimmers 2.x follows the magic thread - both related, in that they address post praetoria, but independent paths that conclude in world changing events.

 

And I think the names are just vague and unhelpful...

 

So I am considering calling it something else and breaking it down in a convention like this:

• Post-Praetorian Campaign - signifies what its about, Post Praetoria, and the fact that is like an RPG campaign - that it levels from 1 - 54. Makes it easy to search for too.
• #.# - to break it up into it's "books" each arc (e.g. 1.1) reveals major chunks, but they conclude with a big finale at the end of the book (e.g. 1.3).
• intro, Tech, Magic, or Epilogue - if the numbers tell you where you are sequentially, these do too, but also tell you which path you are in. (Considering a third parallel MUCH shorter path around the Mr. G. / Aurora story)
• Title - teases what will be happening and where. 

 

Post Praetoria Campaign 1.1 - Intro: Missing in Mercy

Post Praetoria Campaign 1.2 - Intro: Pirates in Port Oakes

Post Praetoria Campaign 1.3 - Intro: Capitalism in Cap Au Diable

Post Praetoria Campaign 2.1 - Tech: Boom Time in Boomtown	Post Praetoria Campaign 2.1 - Magic: Death in Light Astoria
Post Praetoria Campaign 2.2 - Tech: Fortunes in Faultline	Post Praetoria Campaign 2.2 - Magic: Drowning in the Vigilant Isles
Post Praetoria Campaign 2.3 - Tech: Terawatts in Terra Volta	Post Praetoria Campaign 2.3 - Magic: Destruction in the Shadow Shard
Post Praetoria Campaign 3.1 - Tech: Nervy Acquisitions in Nerva Archipelago	Post Praetoria Campaign 3.1 - Magic: Shunting in Croatoa
Post Praetoria Campaign 3.2 - Tech: Suspicious Maneuvering in St. Martial	Post Praetoria Campaign 3.2 - Magic: Banished in the Spirit Realm
Post Praetoria Campaign 3.3 - Tech: Calamity in Kallisti Wharf	Post Praetoria Campaign 3.3 - Magic: Incursion in Oranbega
Post Praetoria Campaign 4.1 - Tech: Risky War GameZ in the Rikti War Zone	Post Praetoria Campaign 4.1 - Magic: Summonings in Nerva Archipelago
Post Praetoria Campaign 4.2 - Tech: Privateers in Praetoria	Post Praetoria Campaign 4.2 - Magic: Ninjas in The Wind
Post Praetoria Campaign 4.3 - Tech: Grand Designs in Grandville	Post Praetoria Campaign 4.3 - Magic: Gods in The Planes

Post Praetoria Campaign 5.0 - Epilogue: Redemption in Neo Tokyo

 

 

I know its so much that no one will play it - but will casting it as a campaign help maybe entice a few more? (Since the arcs level with it feels like a RPG campaign in that sense.)

 

Does the naming help reveal what to expect and the two paths?

 

Is it way too cumbersome?

 

I put the series name first as a way to help people find them, but then the mission titles get lost - would it be better reversed?

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

After going through it all and reviewing the story myself, I realized that ConDev is far too integrated to bother with swapping it out. it would be just WAY too much work to affect that change, with minimal benefit. So, instead, I am going with a bit more of a Minimum Viable Product approach to this.

 

I applied it to work for today - the series is updated - and have ideas about how I will integrate the new Gold Brickers IF they become available in the AE.

 

The changes for this phase were simple in the end. 

Spoiler

UPDATED AGAIN WITH NEWER Changes July / 2022

My Byron Langston has been replaced with the new King Midas, but, obviously the Strike Force version is not a person digitized by Aeon and eager to get back to physical form. Instead, to work in that same story element, I swap Byron as King Midas with "The Chairman," as in "Chairman of the Langston Corp. Board" - at least til I have a better name.

 

The voice in the mainframe and the one who wants a physical form is William Langston, the original founder of Langston Corp., who at the time of the story is long dead. He had cryofrozen himself as his health was waning. His ingenious children Carmella and Dalton worked out that was a long-term unstable form. So they figured out a way to thaw him and digitize his consciousness. He resumed control of Langston Corp as the Chairman of the board and goes by "The Chairman" now, but only ever as a voice on the phone - until he gets the Infini-Life tech. Also, he was the original of ConDev before it became Langston Corp.

 

(Considered the name Gordias instead of "The Chairman" - Gordias is the father of historical King Midas since William is Lawrence's father.)

 

I also worked in

• Princess Zoe - put her in Infini-Life as her backpack has all the same devices that make that tech work. I'm using the a custom Smelter form of her and she came up with the tech- so you find an old ConDev prototype in the Boomtown mission now and start seeing Smelters in the 30s, with the EB Spitfire being the main one who talks about how Zoe used the COnDev tech to create the Smelters.
• Mr. Rodney - the Golden Brickernauts use Crey armor and all the AU Goldbrickers user Crey power attacks - the descriptions even refer to it as Crey tech. As there is a raid in 3.1 on Crey, part of what the Gold Brickers take is the Power Armor schematics. You discover this and later a Golden Brickernaut will make reference to it. Incidentally, Mr. Rodney's talk track in the strike force is all about pawns - a tie in to the red rook logo of ConDev from the lore? OK - a stretch.
• King Midas - is now in the penultimate mission, where you try to destroy the ConDev portal. He and AU Brickers are naturally good pals with the ConDev interdimensional pirates, swapping inter dimensional travel stories over a pint now and again. William has replaced him in the starring role in the ultimate coup, and even the nature of that coup has been changed a bit.

 

I also included the Breakers as a core part of the new mob and updated a few of the others.

 

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by Ankylosaur

[Darmian]

Let me know when you're finished the thing - however long that takes - and I'll run through the Director's Cut!

[Ankylosaur]

Ooops! @Darmian shared this with me ...

 

 

Does not quite jive with the original lore that Aeon had no idea who King Midas was, but that was hard for me to justify too, so I get it. 🙂 

 

Regardless, making King Midas and Lawrence Langston one and the same upsets a few key premises in my Glitters campaign series so will have to retconn that all in. I have a strong idea of how to make that work though, so will be busily updating things and will share the results here. 

 

If anyone happens to be doing the new Strike Force and can grab the same descriptions for Princess Zoe and Mr. Rodney that would be much appreciated. I doubt I will have a chance to play it any time soon, and don't have a toon strong enough to solo the whole thing.

[Ankylosaur]

Here is how I think I will fit what I have already written with the ASF...

 

This is all spoiler - just putting this here to explain it and in the hopes it inspires someone to go through all this madness of a campaign once I get all this fixed... 🙂

Spoiler

 

William Lawrence & ConDev

 

ConDev (sometimes DevCon) was mentioned in the lore for but a minute and is gone now, which is why I cast them as being a mysterious tech org. As you learn, they were a predecessor to Langston Labs, a Langston Corp. subsidiary, AND, one of the Langston siblings is reusing the name for his new group of interdimensional pirates. 

 

To fit in that Lawrence Langston (previously William's brother) is King Midas, William is now cast as Lawrence's father. He is also the founder of ConDev. ConDev stood for Construction Development. He built heavy construction equipment (the heavy machines part of the Langston byline). His equipment was used by recluse after taking over the isles to build out Grandville etc. Recluse also contracted with him to manufacture much of the early tech designed by the Orb Weavers and even originally build out the Fab. This all made William rich.

 

At its height ConDev had manufacturing and R&D labs on the mainland, but after the Rikti invasion that all fell apart.

 

How did ConDev become Langston Corp.?

William had 5 kids: Alton, Lawrence, Carmela, Dalton, and Eugene. (Originally those were alphabetical to keep it straight for the player - but Lawrence/Midas is taking the place of Byron.) As they "came of age" he would give them seed money to start their own business, to ensure they knew how to manage all the wealth he had gained. if it was successful, he brought them into the fold of the company. 

• Alton Langston - started Big Brother Construction using the heavy machines his dad made. It was a big success. Fast forward to this plot and seeing the influx of Praetorian tech, he was quick to repurpose the Clockwork as construction workers.
• Lawrence Langston - started the Gold Brick candy company, which was a huge success. His warehouses were attacked and he started outfitting his own security using tech Carmela developed (see below) and called his security force the Gold Brickers. Approached by Egon/Aeon to move some goods illegally into , he found his way into the underworld of Cap Au Diable and realized the power he could obtain and the money he could launder through his company. Later a falling out with Aeon (as in the post above) and later still he found the D-rifter...
• Carmela Langston - Carmela Langston tried her hand at making weapons after seeing  off the designs provided by the orb Weavers for manufacture by ConDev. She never got her business off the ground as William and Lawrence decided to hold those weapons for the Gold Brickers, but she did take over the ConDev R&D which was later renamed to Langston Labs. Now she works on the praetorian power tech an refitting praetorian weapons to sell to other groups, e.g. Warwalkers to the Council, rifles to the Family, ACU and BCUs to Arachnos, etc. (EDIT: Replaced by Princess Zoe)
• Dalton Langston - a biochemist - tried to develop anti-aging creams but it didn't work. However, his penchant for bio-chemical research and desire to extend life earned him a spot leading that research within Langston Labs. As William's body's life was drawing to a close, Dalton was the one who 'saved" him (more below). (EDIT: Replaced By Princess Zoe.)
• Eugene "Pinkie" Langston - was much more physical than much of his family and had something to prove. He tried opening a martial gym and training center. The business worked financially but was not going to make him much money, so he gave it up when Lawrence got his hands on interdimensional travel with the D-rifter (initially). Eugne rebooted the ConDev name to create ConDev Forces, a group of interdimensional tech pirates. (EDIT: Replaced by Mr. Rodney)

 

Eventually, there was a lot of controversy around ConDev as they had become weapons manufacturers. Because a few of the businesses were booming, William saw a chance to change the name of the company, making Langston Corp. more of a private holding company of these independent, but family owned businesses. He renamed it to Langston Corp. and created a byline the deemphasized their weapons tech "From Candy to Heavy Machines".

 

And what of today?

Unknown to most, William chairs the board of this private corp. He is the brains behind the org - literally! To this day, as a brain in a jar, kept alive by Dalton's biochemical alchemy, with his consciousness connected to the Internet with Carmela's tech, he still seeks a way to walk among people again and is devoting resources to this. (EDIT: replaced King Midas as the digitized voice in the mainframe so no longer a brain in a jar)

 

Of course The All That Glitters stories reveal all of the above in the context of this big corporate company trying to gain advantage first by leveraging Praetorian tech to make money, then to ultimately empower them to have much more control. I cast the Langston clan as rogues (though Midas and Pinkie might be closer to villains). They want to make and gain money and power. It is why they are expanding to Paragon, why they develop new product lines and services like their new Praetorian power plants, their scavenged and refitted praetorian weapons, their Robopal assistant bots, and their Infini-Life tech and service. Because the Isles is rougher, if they have to work with the Mooks to make it all flow smoothly, or do a little corporate espionage on Crey, or undercut Paragon Construction with robot workers, or rummage for tech in abandoned labs or across dimensions - so be it.

 

Ultimately William has an even bigger, world changing plan to better control their destiny, but for that you'll have to give 4.3 a run. 🙂

 

King Midas is so focused on the D-Rifter, and that whole thing could be further expanded upon, that I may be diminishing his role in here - not yet sure...

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

A quick update on some future plans...

 

I had made a pass to update All That Glitters with the new King Midas and Gold Brickers months ago. That initial pass focused on the story above and integrating the new King Midas and other characters into the existing story. I created some customs to fill the gaps, but had been hoping at some point that the devs would put the new Gold Bricker mobs in the AE, (and also fixed the broken 36-20 level mobs that did make it in - i.e. Rocketmen, Bombardiers, and Boomers) but alas, that never happened.

 

I have been thinking about how to better integrate them into the story. Because so much of this new tech they have comes from stolen tech (e.g. AU-folk using Grey Armor and attacks) I think I can work that nicely into the stories (since they are raiding Crey for other reasons) and slowly introduce the new mobs across the levels. Will take some refining but I have ideas here...

 

Updated the spoiler in a previous post (jan 14) with those changes.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

That took less time than I expected 🙂 Added in the changes and Glitters better integrates with the lore introduced by the Aeon Strike Force.

 

Now I just need to buckle down and finish the Finale to All That Glints...

 

So, @Darmian referencing your post above - I finished the thing. 🙂

Edited July 14, 2022 by Ankylosaur

[Darmian]

12 minutes ago, Ankylosaur said:

That took less time than I expected 🙂 Added in the changes and Glitters better integrates with the lore introduced by the Aeon Strike Force.

 

Now I just need to buckle down and finish the Finale to All That Glints...

 

So, @Darmian referencing your post above - I finished the thing. 🙂

Applause!

 

Also, did I give you the Zoe bio?

[Icono04]

10 hours ago, Ankylosaur said:

Now I just need to buckle down and finish the Finale to All That Glints...

 

Yes, you do 🙂 I have recently played through all of Glimmers, Glints and Gleams on my dedicated goldsider character, and missing that one mission (Glints 4.1) is nagging at my OCD. 😉

 

A couple of other feedback points:

 

1) I thought the

Spoiler

Neo Tokyans

were very well thought-out and added a lot to the various arcs they appeared in. I would like to see more of them in future arcs or in possible future reworks of the existing arcs. Interesting groups, and they fill a gap in the game lore.

 

2a) Ref. your ideas for a new naming convention, I agree that getting rid of the Glitters/Glimmers/Glints/Gleams prefixes and calling them all "Post Praetoria Campaign No. X.X" makes the whole thing appear more cohesive and more RPGesque. 

 

2b) How set are you on the campaign title "Post Praetoria Campaign"? It is, of course, very accurate in describing what the campaign is about, but to my artsy sensibilities it feels almost too clinical in its descriptiveness. In order to sell the campaign to future AE users (or reselling it to someone like myself for future replaying), something slightly more dramatic might be better. Perhaps something along the lines of "Post Praetoria Power Plays", since there are many different groups who take turns throughout all the arcs vying for power among the ex-Praetorians. Or something else that includes the words Post Praetoria (which I agree signifies nicely what the campaign is about) but with a few fluff words added to make it sound more grand. Anyway, your campaign, your choice, these are just my loose pre morning coffee thoughts.

 

2c) Putting the name of each arc last in the sentence makes the most sense to me. I would, however, place the "fork title" before the number, like this: "Post Praetoria Campaign - Tech - 2.2: Fortunes in Faultline" rather than "Post Praetoria Campaign 2.2 - Tech: Fortunes in Faultline". Makes it easier to identify at a glance which fork one is looking at.

Edited July 15, 2022 by Icono04
Fixed the formatting to break up wall-of-text

[Ankylosaur]

13 hours ago, Darmian said:

Also, did I give you the Zoe bio?

 

@Darmian - you did - but thankfully, some kind souls have updated the homecoming wiki with all of their bios. In the end I created the Smelter version of Zoe since its easier to get closer to her powers. The updated wiki also gave me nice images/stats/bios to approximate the Breakers, Smelters. AU Brickers, AU Bombers, AU Rifters and Golden Brickernauts - Mr. Rodney too. The Smelters are tied to Zoe and some of the tech from old ConDev labs. The AU stuff appears pretty late and are tied into the raid on Crey (since their stuff uses Crey tech in part) and general ConDev group since they could all be inter-dimensional traveling buddies. It's all a bit of an aside, but it fits.

Edited July 15, 2022 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

@Icono04 Thanks for your thoughts here, and for being brave enough to explore the whole campaign! I recognize how daunting it is with so many missions. (Some, especially in ATGlitters use some tiny maps though.) It will be interesting to hear your thoughts about Glitters having already been through Glimmers, Glints and Gleams (Glitters and Gleams also has ties to Police vs Aliens.)

 

5 hours ago, Icono04 said:

A couple of other feedback points:

 

1. Glad you enjoyed them - I like them a lot too and was pleased how they came together - part of why I did Gleams - to use them again, and I may dig in there one day. I had actually thought of building Gleams 5.0 out into a 3 series arc like the others - there is a lot packed into that single arc. It would mostly be a follow-up of the Scirocco and CoH stories, I think. But in the end, I thought it a little indulgent - I have more stories here already than most will ever play so a single capstone felt better. Maybe though, one day...

 

2. Post-Praetoria Campaign - Totally agree that the PPC title, while accurate, has almost no personality. I like your idea of putting the tech/Magic/Nat path before the number too, but decided that was not that important to reveal in the end - and its not really the main point of the plot, just a classification to delineate them. (Goldbricker plot, Mu plot, and Awakened plot could just as easily be the delineator) As you can see, I never followed through with the name change, instead deciding to leave the variants with the ATG format. (My OCD troubles me that Police vs. Aliens 1 fits in too and does not fit the ATG convention, but, what can you do... Those two PvA stories are a tight set though and totally different.).

 

So, no, I am not married to the PPC name, and in fact, am worried it is cumbersome and dull. In the end, I did not think it would be a name change that would sell people on exploring this gigantic thing I have made - but if you have ideas, I am open. 🙂
 

Edited July 15, 2022 by Ankylosaur