Ascendant

I clearly have too much free time on my hands:

I'll try to make it, but I'm pretty heavily engaged in NaNoWriMo this month, so no promises.

Well, it shouldn't come to anyone's surprise that David Nakayama is a ridiculously talented artist, but moreover, he's crazy fast, too. He kicked out this portrait of Doctor Crom, colors and all, in the space of maybe 8 minutes, tops:

KnightFalcon (aka Xavier St. Cloud) was in a popular 90's Boy Band called XSNRG. They even had a number one hit.

Ascendant flies by converting minute amounts of Energy Prime into directed kinetic energy.

Doctor Crom gets around by a combination of motive strategies.

Quiver's "super jump" is actually a combination of grapple arrows and Parkour.

I'm not sure how the Announcer's teleport ability works, but I suspect it depends on being wherever The Script needs him to be.

Ramshackle's flight boots can use virtually any moderately combustible liquid to attain a flight profile, however, they're most effective when using a very high-proof grain alcohol he distills himself which is based on an old family moonshine recipe.

I'll also echo that this is a great group. It's worth the price of admission just for the global channel alone.

Well, I can honestly say that the impromptu (and, eventually, unexpectedly large) gathering at Gemini was one of the coolest things I've seen in game in a while, and it really reminded me of what I love most about game in the first place: the incredible people who play it.

I'll be there on Saturday. Count on it.

Welcome to Virtue! I hope you enjoy your stay!

I've already contacted tech support on this several times, and I've never received a response of any real value. Every time I try to publish certain Mission Architect arcs, I get an immediate disconnect, and I can't log back in for 10-30 minutes. I suspect it's a flawed costume or critter file, but there's absolutely no indication what causes this or where the problem might lie. Anyone else having this problem? Any ideas?

Don't sweat the petty things, and never pet the sweaty things.

Welcome back! Ok, just to get you back up to speed, here's what's been going on lately:

Max and Daphne remain trapped within the old basement by rubble from last week's earthquake, and their desperate bid for survival sparks a growing romance.

At the Women's Prison, Rachel, unaware of her husband's predicament, forms an uneasy alliance with Zoe in order to make good her escape, while Trevor's investigation into Lawrence's testimony begins to take a sinister turn.

Elsewhere, a despondent Vincent spirals into self destruction with pills and alcohol after hearing the news that Sofia's ship was lost at sea with all hands presumed dead, finally finding solace in the arms of an unlikely new love.

Erica continues to tug at the heartstrings of her hunky, reluctant kidnapper, Jorge, while the brains of the operation, the brutal and sadistic Carlos, sets out to finish Davin's meddling once and for all.

Meanwhile, on a hiking trip, Sky and Dakota uncover a secret about Amber's baby that could spell trouble for Alex's bid for Presidency. But, even as the campaign heats up, a mysterious figure from Jenika's past may force her to choose between the love of her life and one of her kidneys.

Also: Ultra Mode.

Look, if you put it on the West coast, the folks on the East coast are going to complain, and vice-versa. In my opinion, Gen Con Indy and Dragon Con work because they've got something to offer to just about everyone who shows up, and they're pretty much equally inconvenient to everyone in North America, or at least the coasts.

Personally, I'd prefer Gen Con Indy because 1) you just can't go wrong with Gen Con, B) it's close to where I live, which means that you East and West coasters will have to travel to me for a change, iii) Gen Con is so huge that there's probably a good chance a lot of CoX players are already heading there, and *) if this comes to pass, I've already got tickets and a room that I can sell immediately for a HUGE profit.

To be fair, I haven't been to Dragon Con in over a decade, but having a CoX event there would be a pretty compelling reason to break that streak. I mean, it's not like it's hard to get to Atlanta; like it or not, I seem predestined to show up there at least once whenever I travel by plane. Also, Dante's Down the Hatch is always a compelling reason to visit, because it's essentially Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ride with a liquor license.

I understand that hosting an event at either of these Cons would entail a good amount of money, but there's no reason it has to be an Official Con Event(tm). I figure odds are pretty good that there are going to be Paragon Studios staff in attendance at both, and even if Paragon Studios doesn't have a booth or a ton of goody bags to hand out at either, I'm sure I'm not the only player who wouldn't mind hanging out with them and other players in an informal capacity.

If it helps, Kurse, Amazon has the Droid for $19 with a new service plan. I picked one up last week, and I'm loving it.

Also, when Flash support shows up in a couple months, you can play this version of City of Heroes.

Mine is probably the time I got to stand within earshot of War Witch. I was pretty nervous, so I pretended to be on the phone, talking to my agent, Saul, about the Ascendant-O's cereal issue.

Happy Birthday!

Don't water your garden unless the soil is dry past the depth of your index finger.

When giving a speech, you should expect the actual speech to take one-third more time than it took you during practice.

The lighter the bicycle, the heavier the lock should be.

To quickly estimate the arrow length best for you, take 38 percent of the distance between your fingertips with your arms extended sideways.

One acre will park approximately 100 cars.

Wait at least an hour before investigating a charge of dynamite that didn't go off.

When in doubt, don't.

I've used two different cordless keyboard/mouse combos with COH, and I've had no problems except for when the batteries get low.

Doctor Crom's UI:

Welcome back, Kurse! Good to see you back in the neighborhood!

Dangit, I didn't see this until today. And I just redesigned Captain Spectacular's costume, too!

Yeah, I'm often fortunate enough to be involved in interesting stories; while a lot of them don't go anywhere, I'm happy for the interaction and the chance to experience/influence/think about the stuff that people are pursing, even if it really has nothing to do with my characters. As far as I'm concerned, that's the best part of the game: interacting with the imaginations of the other players.