Ravenswing

Really, think of this along the lines of a Doctor Who storyline. What super-power does the Doctor have? Brains and knowledge. It shouldn't matter what power level the characters are, it should matter what they know, and how clever they are. This assumes I'm clever enough to do it right, of course.

For _Fea_.

Flamey Sword

I must be totally insane to even suggest this, but...

How interested would people be in an enormously large, episodic plot involving the potential for Universe Destroying levels of threat? Kind of Doctor Who series-arc class of storyline with individual 'episodes' aimed at particular characters or groups.

Bare in mind that I've got very little idea what the big arc would be about, aside from the fact that I'm rather liking the Crack in the Universe idea. I'm just sounding out opinions on whether something like that would be worth plotting out. I know I tend to get a bit offish about cosmic plots. I don't build characters designed to face them. I thought I'd have a go at making something huge, which could be handled by relatively ordinary people.

Anyway, if people think it's worth persuing, I'll see if I can plot something up to start once things have quietened down, but maybe get foreshadowed before then.

Essentially, you'd be making Scrappers and Blasters largely obsolete. The balance issues would be horrible. The probability that you'd end up with TankMages too high.

I understand what you want to do, I just don't think it'd function the way you think.

Filled that in for you.

It appears to be biased and badly thought out. There seems to be a desire to push respondents toward the assertion that games are becoming more violent. Control questions are not supposed to be right beside each other so that anyone doing the thing looks at it and goes "that's the same question, phrased differently."

Finally, the data obtained from this is essentially useless since it fails to take into account how people use the games. Example: have I felt strong emotion from playing CoH? Yes and it stayed with me afterward. Why? I roleplay. The emotion comes from interacting with other humans. The survey is really pretty much based on gaming against computer opponents so my correct answers will be interpreted incorrectly.

Bad survey. Most surveys are bad surveys.

[QUOTE=The_Robertroid;2779354]Meanwhile, I want the character to embody greed, so I was thinking perhaps some sort of adventurer or thief who found a radioactive meteor of some sort that caused this change, the prolonged life and mind degenerating radiation, creating an embodiment of greed who'se never sated.QUOTE]

He sounds terrible. He's not a character, he's an archetype. Why does he have to embody greed? Can't he just be greedy? Creating absolute characters just restricts you.

Now, starting out with some guy who's exposed to a radioactive meteorite, perhaps one of the ones the Shivans come out of, who was fairly greedy to begin with, but who becomes worse and worse as his mind and body degrade as a reaction to the cellular damage... Still pretty cliched, but at least there's character development.

Why are these things always written in sch amazingly bad English?
I mean, you would have to be intensely stupid to believe this came from a real company, never mind NCSoft.

There is probably a bit more problem being an alien than generally being a super. The Rikti technically aren't aliens, but they look it and they are engaged in a touch of global invasion. Doesn't make them popular and there are still those anti-alien posters dotted around the city.

I think, these days, people have largely dropped the Marvelesque plots regarding people fearing/hating mutants and other similar entities because they don't really exist in the setting. Zortel recently caused some level of outrage when one of her characters lost his girlfriend due to prejudiced parents; not prejudiced against his mutant powers, but instead against his skin colour. Wow, mutants facing real-world problems... I suspect that's really a more interesting and likely problem than groups of irrational meta-haters.

And to answer the original question... no, none of my characters has had that kind of issue. If I wanted to play a Marvel mutant, I'd have played... oh, dang, they canned that MMO.

Paragon Times, April 9th 2010, and several other papers
Veterans Hospital Destroyed in Fire
The Galaxy Girl Long Term Hero Care Unit, dedicated to the care of veterans of the Rikti Wars no longer able to care for themselves, was burnt to the ground in a massive fire last night. Witnesses reported several explosions prior to the fires which rapidly swept the facility.

(( Embedded picture showing Nitoichi in battle armour supporting a black woman with a mechanical arm as they struggle out of the burning building. ))

Despite the efforts of fire fighters and local heroes, three staff and four patients were killed in the fire. The remainder of the patients were transfered to other locations around the city while a decision is made regarding the rebuilding of the facility. Neither police nor firefighters were available to give any comment on how the conflagration began.

With the demon dispatched back to where he came from, and his altar destroyed, the city returns back to normal (or as normal as it ever gets) over the next few days. People who had been throwing fruit at heroes start looking embarrassed whenever they see one. The cops in the areas around Perez Park look a little sheepish at their behaviour recently.

And in the morning, the sun seems to shine that little bit brighter. The birds seem to chirp that little more happily. All is right with the world...


...or is it? *queue dramatic dum-dum-dummm type music, possibly a fade zoom to a clawed hand picking up a ring, the usual*

(( Due to some sudden bad news, I may not be able to concentrate to run plot tonight. We'll see how it goes. If all else fails, Sam and Cassandra are still tracing the demon. ))

Cancelling my subscription for a year. I'd be a 60 month Vet by now, and all the costume changes would be half-price.

(( Plan is to have the show down with Big Bad this evening. More to follow when I know anything more. ))

(( Right, I'll be making an assessment when I get online tonight. Assuming it's a go, Jason will come to the statue to kick things off. I've got the mission sorted out. The big bad is an EB rather than an AV since it's an RP mission and I don't want us having to spend hours just taking him out at the end. See, I actually learn from other people. ))

The description of the resistance says its full of all sorts of outcasts, good and bad.

Okay, so next up is the joke render, Shanna and Richard (and Annette in the background) and Shanna has picked Richard's costume for him. Don't forget to read the comments for appropriate dialogue and explanation.

This is Paragon!

By Sunday morning, the police alert has been lifted after no more apparent attacks. However, anyone visiting the Galaxy City, Atlas Park, Steel Canyon, or Skyway City precincts would notice tactical response officers still situated just inside the doors, as though they are all still worried.

Longbow patrols in Galaxy and Atlas are increased at the request of the local PPD.

One day, I'll have a rig that could do that with all the CoH characters I've built without cough up its parts. It'll also be able to predict the weather.

I'll have think about it. I need a good fire effect for Shanna.

Re: bulge... socks?

Definately going to go back and tune up that Shadowe solo shot. Little work and it can go in the hero gallery for the CoH group.

Anyway, payoff 1 for that work.

The Third Wheel

Richard and Shanna have recently become a couple (semi-)officially which leaves Annette with decidedly mixed emotions.

(( The following story starts circulating on lunchtime TV and radio news and is then picked up by the evening newspapers. ))

The presenter put on his serious face, indicating that this item was nothing to do with happy Easter stories.

"Police in Paragon City are on high alert today after an incident at Skyway City precinct last night. The precinct was in complete lockdown for several hours after what has been described as an 'attempt to infiltrate the building by an empowered individual.'

"Our investigations have uncovered that someone impersonating an FBI agent attempted to gain access to important files. When confronted the individual apparently vanished."

The presenter shuffles a paper for a second to add dramatic pause. "It is currently believed that magic was involved in the escape, but police are not ruling out mutant abilities.

"And now, Anna with the traffic..."

King's Row PPD Precinct, Interview Room 4, April 3rd, 07:30
Barry Botherton's wrists hurt. He had been wearing handcuffs for the last four hours, ever since a SWAT team had burst into his motel room in upstate New York. He was also terrified.

The interrogation room door opened. he turned, expecting to see some hero, or a policeman the size of a gorilla, instead he saw a woman in a gray jumpsuit and combat jacket. She moved smoothly, closing the door and sitting down in the chair opposite. She carried no files or paperwork and when Barry looked into her eyes, she looked back with the expression of a wax dummy.

"Mister Botherton, I am Police Operative Seven. You have been read your rights?" Botherton nodded in reply. "Mister Botherton," Seven went on, "I want you to tell me everything you know about the dissappearence of Shanna Connell, aka Fea. Please leave nothing out. All information is relevent."

Barry stared at the impassive face. He opened his mouth and started talking.