CoH What If...?

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

On 8/10/2021 at 7:43 PM, TraumaTrain said:

What if Atlas Park was destroyed instead of Galaxy City?

My character who was a native of Paragon Heights would be a far happier character!

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

On 8/10/2021 at 9:24 PM, TombTyrant said:

What If... Statesman killed Darrin Wade? What if Wade was wrong about the strength of Marcus's convictions, and Statesman responded to the death of his daughter with immediate lethal force? With Wade dead before the scope of his plans was known, would public faith in the Freedom Phalanx founder? Would he be placed on trial for murder? How would the rest of the Phalanx and the player characters react?

Then we would just of had another version of Tyrant.

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

On 8/11/2021 at 2:36 AM, Xiddo said:

What if... The Rikti won?
The mission failed. Most of the humans fall, nearly all the heroes died, but pockets of resistance remain. A scientist at one of these underground camps notices something strange, an alternate dimension filled with life, and they ever have a Statesman. Can he be convinced to come right our wrongs? What will the Rikti do when there's another world to conquer?

Featuring: transformed (Hero One style) Freedom Phalanx members, the Clockwork King's psychic powers imbued into a separatist group of Rikti drones, Croatoa: land of the refugees - the magical lands help hold back the Rikti forces and the warring monsters have found peace in the face of a singular enemy, Infernal joins the CoT and leads them on a march to the Rikti Dropshops, and Stefan Richter has been quietly hiding - like a huntsman spider - gathering Mu forces...

Not possible because... GIRLS GET IT DONE! with Statesman and the FP down, the gloves come off of Countess Crey, Vanessa gives in fully to Giovanna then and there and uses the souls of any and all in range to fuel a blast of overwhelming power, Finally a young Alexis Cole Duncan invokes the full might of the being Hera giving herself over in full, and becoming a dark super girl equivalent. They still stopped the Rikti, but the earth is now ruled by some of the most wicked women on the globe.

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

14 hours ago, GraspingVileTerror said:

I think it would be interesting if we had a version of Zeus that was unabashedly hedonistic and self-centred (whether the host was Cole, Richter, or someone else entirely), much more like the version from mythology I am familiar with,

while simultaneously we had a more noble form of Tartarus as the divine punisher of the truest evils and warden of the most dangerous threats.

 

What would THAT have looked like?

What makes you think we dont already? Statesman was as bad as Zeus ever was imo quite literally based on the lore that contains his actions and choices. Meanwhile what makes you think Recluse has not clever come up with a way to gather the worst in the world and punish them endlessly as the ultimate Dom?

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

14 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

What if the the developers on legacy actually used all of the Rogue Isles map?

 

What if Horace Greene was the hero Peacebringer contact instead of Sunstorm?

 

What if instead of Incarnate powers, the developers back on legacy just removed enhancement diversification?

 

What if the Gargarin Space Station, the Armstrong Moonbase, or just a friggin outerspace zone was actually in game??? Or they completed the launch station!

 

 

 

Okay, last one - what if Michael White actually stayed white? 😆

(Okay, I couldn't find a screenshot of him when he was white, but hopefully someone else here remembers that!)

Lucky for us space themed outdoor bases are one of the easier things to make. just set it to space for the sky and turn the bunker base solid and cover it up with rocks to make an asteroid, and go from there.

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

13 hours ago, jkwak said:

what if they had Kheldians on Praetorian earth

 

seriously i want a playable Praetorian counterpart for Kheldians and arachnos

 

My best theory is the presence of Hamidon is enough to drive the nictus and those they fight off of that Earth. Though what I have often thought would be a great incarnate level threat on our Earth would be Nictus infused DE. Imagine what might happen if Hamidon ate enough Shadow Cysts for example. Or could even make DE out of their dark crystal material?

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

6 hours ago, Snarky said:

What if becoming an Incarnate started people on an inevitable slide to evil and madness?

 

Power corrupts.  As people become more and more incarnate powerful their alignment shifts from hero to vigilante to villain to …? 
 

There would be shifts in the incarnate trials and perhaps individual story arcs ( similar to DA and and alignment tips ) that explore the shift

That only works if you want the incarnate powers to actually be forced onto us in game mechanics in a way that takes away player agency. Many of us RP not being actual incarnates and that power being a natural part of our characters. Being forcibly turned evil is the kind of heavy handed game mastering that made us loathe JE so damn much.

[jkwak]

1 hour ago, Llewellyn Blackwell said:

My best theory is the presence of Hamidon is enough to drive the nictus and those they fight off of that Earth. Though what I have often thought would be a great incarnate level threat on our Earth would be Nictus infused DE. Imagine what might happen if Hamidon ate enough Shadow Cysts for example. Or could even make DE out of their dark crystal material?

i read somewhere that Kheldians most likelly died out a long time ago in the Praetorian universe, but that could be Praetorian propaganda or something.

maybe a major retcon could work, they could reveal Kheldians actually where on Praetorian earth all along and Cole made a deal with Nictus like he did with Hamidon.

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

3 hours ago, jkwak said:

i read somewhere that Kheldians most likelly died out a long time ago in the Praetorian universe, but that could be Praetorian propaganda or something.

maybe a major retcon could work, they could reveal Kheldians actually where on Praetorian earth all along and Cole made a deal with Nictus like he did with Hamidon.

While I obviously cant say for sure, I have always been under the impression Praetoria was pretty close to our timeline until hamidon took over the world and cole took over the left overs and humanity. It seems so in a lot of ways and Ive never felt odd drawing from even history from the 1920s and 30s as part of praetorian characters background in some way. I have a praetorian who quite literally cites the gift from his grandfather of the first appearance of Batman, and the mark of zorro starring tyrone powers alongside the figure of Francis Marion the Swamp Fox as sources of inspiration for the heroic identity he took on there to fight back against Cole's empire. I call him the Black Flying Fox and his SG/base is called the Swamp of the Fox. Now maybe I am way off and there was no american revolution even in praetoria for all I really know.

[Herotu]

I would love to see some weird recursive Nemesis Plot where he ends up being his own nemesis, and that Nemesis's nemesis is another Nemesis... and so on.

It would be called "The Nemesis of My Nemesis".

 

Or

The Enemy of My Enemy... which has me as my ally. I love the "Field Agent Keith Nance" arc, as you might imagine.

Edited August 15, 2021 by Herotu

[TombTyrant]

13 hours ago, Llewellyn Blackwell said:

Then we would just of had another version of Tyrant.

 We have another version of Tyrant, he's called The Reichsman.

 

This is less about setting up a Justice Lords scenario where one justifiable act leads a superhero to abandon all of his principals forever. Less about turning Stateseman evil, and more about exploring the fallout of having one's ideal of justice shaken. The focus of the story I propose is not on evil Statesman, but on the trial, the sides that form, the blame, and the search for justice that happen in the fallout.

[Herotu]

4 hours ago, TombTyrant said:

 We have another version of Tyrant, he's called The Reichsman.

... keep going ... an alternate Reichsman (no going back to Tyrant/Statesman, you cheater!).

[TombTyrant]

1 hour ago, Herotu said:

... keep going ... an alternate Reichsman (no going back to Tyrant/Statesman, you cheater!).

 

Um...He is kind of one note. But I guess What If... Reichsman invaded Praetoria instead of Primal Earth?

[Herotu]

1 hour ago, TombTyrant said:

 

Um...He is kind of one note. But I guess What If... Reichsman invaded Praetoria instead of Primal Earth?

Here we go! Reichsman invades Praetoria to combine himself with the other two versions of him ... or he's been manipulated into falling into his alternate self's (or ... someone else's) plot to do so.

[TombTyrant]

So say the What If here is, What If the captured Portal Tech explorers for found the Axis Earth had found Praetoria first, and directed Reichsman there instead of back to Primal Earth when tortured. 

 

I think that Tyrant is better about keeping high powered allies around, so Praetoria likely wins, but there is no way that they keep things peaceful enough not to provoke Hamidon, kicking off a Praetorian apocalypse early that ends with Tyrant and a lucky few survivors fleeing for safety to Primal Earth.

[Marshal_General]

What if the Coming Storm actually came?

[Triumphant]

On 8/14/2021 at 11:37 AM, Llewellyn Blackwell said:

Not possible because... GIRLS GET IT DONE! with Statesman and the FP down, the gloves come off of Countess Crey, Vanessa gives in fully to Giovanna then and there and uses the souls of any and all in range to fuel a blast of overwhelming power, Finally a young Alexis Cole Duncan invokes the full might of the being Hera giving herself over in full, and becoming a dark super girl equivalent. They still stopped the Rikti, but the earth is now ruled by some of the most wicked women on the globe.

 

Honestly, she probably just could have gone in with Hopkins and the two of them could've taken care of it themselves.  I mean, have you ever fought those two?  Holy crap.  😬

 

But, why break a sweat when she could send Hero 1 and company to take care of her light work? 😁