[Villainous] Outcast in the Isles - Arc ID: 39130

[Terenos]

 

The Outcasts haven't had much a presence in the Rogue Isles - until now! This is a low-level, villainous storyline in which you've been hired to help the Outcasts establish themselves as leaders in the Superadine trade in the Rogue Isles. Canonically, this story would take place shortly after Frostfire's arrest in the Hollows.

 

This arc is meant to be able to be run solo or in a group by low level characters with minimal enhancements (but probably not completely unenhanced). While the arc is "Villainous" there's no truly, truly heinous acts in it - just good ol' fashioned opportunism.

 

Any feedback is welcome! Enjoy!

[Kyksie]

Running a bit low on cash once more, Kyksie drifts back to the Rogue Isles and hooks up with an old 'acquaintance', an ex-Outcast named Bedrock. After a few beers, Bedrock lets her in on a plan to corner the underground tampon racket in Paragon. Hiding in the back of a delivery truck, Kyksie infiltrates the Cotton Pony plant in King's Row, hacks the delivery computer, then proceeds to...

 

...sigh.

 

I was going to spin a whole tale about how Kyksie sets up her illegal sales and distribution network but is stopped by Mynx and Luminary, but I kinda ran out of inspiration halfway. In truth, the player talks with Bedrock about expanding the Outcasts presence in the Rogue Isles, then tries to muscle in on the Family's Superdyne ring, but gets betrayed, so we kick that guy a few times and things are back to normal.

 

Outcast in the Isles is an extremely generic arc. There's nothing bad about it; no bad writing, no defeat alls, no catboys in their underwear, but there's nothing at all remarkable about it either. Like, if you were in a supermarket shopping for AE arcs to play, Outcast in the Isles would be in a plain generic wrapper labeled "Architect Mission #39130".

 

 

 

 

[Terenos]

I appreciate the feedback (despite the arc being compared to a can of celery soup), although I definitely think this comes from us approaching designing story arcs from very different perspectives.

 

One of the things that actually annoys me about some low level arcs is the stakes feel way too high for something that's meant to be experienced in the level 10-14 range (which is where I imagine this arc would take place in the loose timeline of villain arcs). The threat of a full on Hero at that level feels more interesting than actually directly facing them to me: setting yourself as the thorn in the lion's paw while you're still a weak villain.

 

I can definitely see where the arc comes off as generic. I wasn't super happy with the last mission, but the iteration I ended up on is more interesting than the original one I had in mind (which was mostly thwarted because I couldn't find a good outdoor map to use). The use of Outcasts probably also feel a bit generic, especially if you come from playing largely on the hero side of things where they dominate the level range they appear in. I actually started writing this arc way back before the snap and only now sat down to finish it, with almost all of my play experience being in CoV, where you basically never encounter that enemy group (they get replaced largely by the Mooks enemy group in that level range, which is what made me link the two groups together during planning).

 

When I start designing my next arc, I'll keep in mind that I perhaps need to think bigger on theme. Maybe I'll design the second arc to this one and see if I can make the further adventures of you and Bedrock's crew more explosive.

[DougGraves]

I enjoyed this arc.  So my comments are about making it better, not that I did not like it.

 

What I liked

• The plot was easy to follow.  It had some twists but it was clearly laid out so I knew what was going on.
• I liked the variety of maps. 
• I liked the variety of enemies.  Even within a mission there was a variety of enemies.
• I liked the arrested people in the 2nd mission.  It added a great feel of coming in after the authorities and rescuing the people.

 

Room for improvement or confusion

• Why trolls for the first mission?  Outcasts are new to the RI, and Trolls are not normally there.  It felt odd.  Not bad but confusing.
• Zephyr did not have much personality.  His outfit is standard Outcast and he just spoke in normal sentences with generic words and grammar.  I did not find him interesting as an ally or an enemy.
• On the 3rd mission it felt like it was just standard spawns.  No interesting details.
• On the 3rd mission I was told I could use Zephyr's help.  I missed him and defeated the villain.  Then I had to go back and find Zephyr and rescue him.  It felt dumb that I had to rescue someone there to help me.  He should be optional.

 

Overall it was a nice arc.  A lot of variety, easy to follow story, some interesting detail.  For improvement I would just like some more detail in a few missions and more personality to Zephyr and Bedrock.