Soul Train

Pulp is a pretty wide category. A lot of folks would include the comics of the 30's and 40's, pre-Comics Code (which were very visceral and loaded with T&A, for the time.) Plus you have the "dime store novels" such as the Shadow, the Executioner series, Mack Bolan, etc etc. A lot of science fiction would fall into that category as well, yes, including Edgar Rice Borroughs.

Wounded Bird
Zone: Sharkhead
Level: 20-25

At first glance, Betty “Highside” Harris seems to be just another Rogue Isles rogue. Brash, outspoken, and flippant.

However, right now, she looks pissed. Might have something to do with her moto gear on the ground, and what looks to be a torn-down sportbike nearby.

Better see what she wants, before she decides to use you for target practice, like the countless tin cans on the ground behind you.

First Contact:

“Yo, yo yo, who YOU? I don’t know you, you ain’t got rep for [censored]. What, you a buster? Get on outta here, before I cap you.”

Complete at least one Sharkhead Mayhem, and get an introduction.

Contact Unlocked:

“Oh man. Another buster. Dunno how you people keep getting my name. Wish I could get out of this hellhole. Hey! Maybe you can help me with that. You look semi-capable, yeah?”

Mission 1: Help Betty Get Her Groove Back

“Sweet! Ok check it. Notice anything wrong with this picture? What? No no man, eyes up here, I’m talkin’. It’s my BIKE. Those damned Freakshow stole it and tore it down for spare parts. I got most of the stuff back, but some of the, uh, special one-off shizz is still in their, uh, possession.”

“So, what I need you to do is, go beat some of those metal maniacs up. See if any of them got my parts.”


Doesn’t sound too hard

“You be sure and tell them WHY they getting their kiesters kicked, <villain-name>!! No one steals Betty Highside’s ride and gets away with it!”


DEFEAT 20 FREAKSHOW IN SHARKHEAD


Unsolicited Contact:

“What you doin’ back here? Thought you was a buster all along. Now go on, find out who has my parts!

CLUE:

A small turbocharger unit

This turbocharger looks like it’d fit a motorboat engine. Or a motorcycle engine. The serial number has been filed off.

CLUE:

A business card

You found this wildly colored business card on the Freakshow that was carrying the turbocharger. It looks like it was designed by a kid with a fractal program and waaay too many crazy fonts on their computer. The address is right here in Sharkhead.

DEBRIEF:

“My turbocharger! Where’d you score this? Sweet! Totally rad. What? Oh the business card? Lemme check that…. Oh yah. I heard of this guy. Ya think he’s got the rest of my parts?”

Mission 2: Pay A Visit to the Manic Mechanic

“Ok, here’s the deal. This dude, they call him M4N1K-M3K4N1K. He runs this chop shop and warehouse over by the Crush. Guy that had my turbo was probably looking to sell it off. So I’mma need you to head over there and bust ol’ Manic’s head. And keep an eye out for my bike parts!”

Unsolicited contact: “What now? You want me to draw you a damn map? Go talk to Manic, already.”

MAP: Auto Repair Warehouse

Factions: Freakshow

You hear the sound of grinders, pneumatic tools, and really bad heavy metal music.

NOTES: When M4N1K-M3K4N1K is aggroed, he will attempt to cage the players and beat them down using attacks from the Electrical Manipulation blaster secondary. He will also rez any Freakshow that fall in battle if no one is attacking him specifically. Keep the damage up and he won’t have time to get his thugs back on their metal feet.



Notable NPC’s:

M4N1K-M3K4N1K (Boss): Freakshow Meat Doctor, has melee Electrical attacks instead of Meat Doctor attacks (arc welder)

M4N1K-M3K4N1K : “Come on, help me get this Camaro stripped. One of Dreck’s dudes wants to weld himself into the chassis and race at Daytona.”
Freakshow Minion: “Hey boss. Turn the music down, I thought I heard somethin’.”
M4N1K-M3K4N1K: “That was me, doofus, this impact wrench is loud! And don’t TOUCH my music while I’m workin’!”

(aggro)
M4N1K-M3K4N1K: “Hey! Didn’t you see the “employees only” sign? I’mma part you out and sell you off for spares, homeslice.”
(75% health)
M4N1K-M3K4N1K: “Alright, now I’m real ticked off. Which won’t be fun for you.”
(50%)
M4N1K-M3K4N1K: “Are you kiddin’? I can buff that right out.”
(25%)
M4N1K-M3K4N1K: “OW! Hey! Watch the bodywork!”
(defeated)
M4N1K-M3K4N1K: “… I need an overhaul.”

(player defeat)
M4N1K-M3K4N1K: “NO ONE beats me in the garage, genius.”

Clues:

Motorcycle Body Panels

These hot pink fiberglass panels look like they’d fit Betty’s ride. They were all crated up to be sold on ePay.

Shipping Manifests

You found several manifests in a file cabinet in Manic’s office. They describe what look to be small parts shipped to various locales.

DEBRIEF:

“Oh score! You found the body panels. I’ll get the ‘Busa lookin’ her old self real soon now. Still missing some critical stuff though. What’s with all the paperwork?”




Mission Three: Repo Men

This is a three part mission.

“Ok, <villain name>, I checked out those manifests, and yeah, some of my parts got shipped to various buyers. Good news, only one’s out of the country, the others are all local, so shouldn’t be too much of a problem to go kick in some doors. As for that one part, some lab in Paragon got it, so while you’re off collectin’ my stuff, I’ll see if I can’t arrange you a visit.”

Part 1: Get the Injector Manifold

The address on the manifest is a storefront in Cap au Diable. It’s a known Goldbricker safehouse.

NPC’s: Goldbrickers

(standard Goldbricker instance, no special npcs,)

CLUE: Injector Manifold

You found the Injector Manifold jury-rigged into the leader’s rocket pack, in an attempt to improve performance, you suspect.

Part 2: Smoke out the Buyer

Looks like this part, an aftermarket exhaust, was shipped to a Sharkhead drop box. You decide to hang out and see who shows up.

Hit waypoint, defeat Sky Raider ambush.

CLUE: You discover that the leader of this bunch of pirates is holed up in an office building nearby.

Part Three: Get the Custom Exhaust
(Sky Raider office instance, no special NPC’s.)

CLUE: Custom Exhaust

The leader’s flightpack has a titanium exhaust, with the logo of an Italian aftermarket moto parts manufacturer engraved into the can. You’re not sure why it was fitted to the flightpack – maybe the guy liked the exhaust note?


DEBRIEF:

“Oooh NICE! I was hoping I’d not have to reorder those. They cost me serious bank, <villainname>. OH! While you were out an’ about, I pulled in a favor. You up for a field trip?”

Mission Four: Omega Force

“Ok, check it, holmes. That last part? It’s actually an experimental weapon system, Crey design. I guess they saw it on ePay, and snapped it up. I’mma need you to head to Paragon and get it back. Oh. Those Crey dudes know their game and you’ll be on home turf. So, yeah. Bring friends.”

Map: Large Crey Lab

Faction: Crey

Notable NPC’s:
Head Researcher Costas (hostage)
Security Chief Rossi (Paragon Protector)
Security Officer Biaggi (Power Tank)
Security Officer Gibernau (Cryo Tank)
Security Officer Bayliss (Voltaic Tank)

Entrance: This place is locked down tight. You’re gonna have to find lab keys.

Notes: The three security officers each have one key, which will be required as the elevators require keys. They use standard Crey NPC speech. An ambush will be spawned shortly after each key is used. Dr. Costas and SecChief Rossi will spawn together, on the second to last floor, and then you’ll have to lead Dr Costas to the weapons locker so he can unlock it for you (it’ll be a big blast door with the Crey storage/beyond, and the glowie in the center of the room.) There is a holding facility on the map, which players will have to break out of if they are defeated and attempt to go to the hospital.

NPC Speech:

Biaggi: “Stuck on guard duty. I hate shift rotations.”
(aggroed): “Of course… it’s not always boring. Time for a workout!”

Gibernau: “Wonder why they got the Kinetic Inducer under such lockdown? It’s not that big a deal.”
(aggroed): “Oh. I see why, now.”

Bayliss: “Mate, they said, work for Crey, get the crumpet. Load of dingos kidneys if you ask me.”
(aggroed) “Of course, the fighting I quite like.”

Rossi: “Dr Costas, is the Kinetic Inducer secured? My men are getting restless.”
Costas: “It is.”
Rossi: “Good. Is that the key to the storage locker? I’m going to need to take that, for security’s sake.”

(aggroed) “Stand aside, Costas. My men and I will handle this.”
Costas: “Oh my lord! Is THIS why all the security?”

(75%)
Rossi: “You villains are becoming an annoyance, we’ll have to booby-trap the storage facilities, next.”
(50%): “OOF! That hurt. Ever considered a career in security?”
(25%): “.. you’re good, I’ll hand you that.”
(defeated): “…ow. I’m gonna need a medic.”

(player defeat)
Rossi: Guards? Escort this intruder to a holding cell. We’ll interrogate them later.

(captured)
Costas: “OW! Ok ok, I’ll take you to the weapons locker.”

(lost)
Costas: “Now’s my chance to duck out of sight.”

(recaptured)
Costas: “… I could have been in sports medicine. Race teams. Not this corporate intrigue crap.”

(after opening the weapons locker)
Costas: “Fine, fine. Take the damned thing, it’ll be obsolete soon anyway when the new GP rules come out.”

DEBRIEF:

“You GOT it! My Kinetic Inducer! With this installed, no cop in the country can catch me! <Villainname>, you are awesome! Oh! I gotta get to working to get this reinstalled. THANKS so much, and catch you on the flip side, homebrew!”


TRIVIA: The names of the NPC's in the last mission are all last names of well known MotoGP racers, except Dr. Costas, who is the Head surgeon for Clinica Mobile, the MotoGP onsite triage clinic.

That's what Koschej has adopted as the NSFW Rule.

If he can click DIRECTLY to a page with NSFW content from your post, it gets the mod stick.

If you post a link to a page with an acceptable image, but the page it is on has NSFW content you have no control over? Modded.

If your sig leads to a page that at the time of the mod's viewing it has NSFW content? Modded, and you'll probably find your sig missing and a PM waiting in your box.

So... for those with DA galleries (such as mine), it is better to link to image pages rather than a gallery. Park galleries behind a warning page. Or use (or create) a worksafe site for image storage.

I think the reason there's so much Pin-Up Girl arts is, Masked Shrike's bein' free and loose with her CHECKBOOK.

As in, she's paying for a lot of these. That always brings artists to the studio, yanno?

[ QUOTE ]
I created my first page on the site as I've come up with the first character idea of mine that I felt really needed to be expanded beyond the little box we get in game. I still need to work on formatting and such, but I think I've got the basics done. I'll be updating/adding to the story over time, but new sections will probably wait until I get higher level as I'm not entirely sure how VEATs fit in in certain aspects yet since mine is still relatively low level.

A warning, it does contain mature content (and is labeled appropriately). The "Torture" section of the origin in particular may not be for everyone, but I wanted something appropriate for the name, as well as not going with something too common.

Here's the link: Torture

Any comments are welcome.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, that's pretty intense! But, not as crazy as some. And you DID banner it, so not like people don't see stuff coming as they read through it.

I like it. She's not my type of girl, but you captured her very well within your prose.

I've been so tied up in Virtue goings on that I hardly log onto other servers at all. I think I do have an Envisionaries (level 15 SoulTrain) and a Revisionaries (Level 10 or so Nubian Handmaiden, she of the Zulu bodypaint and the sash!) if they haven't been kicked out.

Sadly, I seem to have LOST Paragon One from my scanner frequencies... need to get that back.

[ QUOTE ]
Frankly these rules, or rather the enforcement of them (thanks to their vague nature), are becoming draconian. When zenvious' Jade Ohm commission is deleted, that's just getting prudish. There's no way it was indecent by any metric. The mods are way out of line removing that one, and it marks the start of a very disturbing trend.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's been pointed out, GK. The art itself wasn't a problem (and has since been reposted, properly.)

The second link in the post, that went to the artist page? The one that led to a Bare Nekkid Lady in her Featured section? THAT's what earned the banhammer. Lovely artist, NSFW material, oops, sorry, that's gotta go.

As for why the post wasn't edited to remove the link? Hey, Koschej's rules. Not mine. Take it up with him if you really want to 'discuss methods of implementation'.

I know how I'll be conducting MY art announcements from now on.

Work safe? Link to the image page, and if an avatar with the wrong anatomy gets it pulled? Oops, my bad.

Not work safe? Point to the link down below and say "go find it, you'll need to click at LEAST twice."

[ QUOTE ]
Sure there is!

Just click on 'Download' if that is available, if not you might have to right-click and select View Image, but either way you're bound to get a URL like that that you can directly link to.

Though I would REALLY DISCOURAGE this practice, as it makes it practically impossible to comment on the picture or find the artist who did it and it's just bad form if you ask me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to mention that it bypasses all watermarks or forced-resize features DA may have in place.

I think the problem isn't so much linking to an image page, but linking to a gallery page or an artist page. We love to showcase the artists... but sometimes these folks get racy. And because we're linking to dynamic content, there's no control over what's there.

So, I propose this:

Linking to IMAGE pages should be OK. Yes, there's a risk of someone's avatar in the comments being racy.

Refrain from linking to GALLERY or PROFILE Pages. Instead, mention that they're on a resource page, such as TA's, and link to that. (TA, you might need to clean up the featured selections a little, but not much, you're pretty good at that.)

How's that work for everyone?

I... agree with Scarf, actually.

There's ways of conforming to the "one click away" rule.

And yes. I can easily 'host' any warning pages you guys want. I'll just copy the one I have and edit the particulars.

Soul Train by Jomaro Kindred/MMOArt

That's not bad at all.

"... oh, smeg."

I post in the Technical Questions/Bugs, Virtue, and Art sections. Hardly anywhere else (except when I went out of my mind going for that last Forum Post badge... ooops. ))


Why here?
"'Ome is where the art is, aye?"

O RLY?

I may have to commission her, once my bank acct recovers from the recent transmission repair job...

I don't think it's a matter of 'making sense'... more along the lines of "good gravy, what next?"

Candra, perhaps?

Her stuff is sublime.

I checked, Rowr. Mostly Caucasian and Eurasian, if anything.

Oh well. there's LOTS of other artists. Some of them as ... out there... as this guy.

Well it STARTED civil enough.... *shrugs*

Well.

Seems this 'artist' has put his foot in it now.

Someone commissioned him to do a picture, the type of which he is quite known for. Very NSFW, rather, ahem, out there. The type of stuff that makes people in Pocket D run away to their momma.

But he said, he'd not draw a black person in it, as he doesn't draw them. Instead... he PERSUADED the client to allow him to change to ANOTHER ethnicity that he has no issues drawing... and they still paid him for it.

There was no rationale offered as to why, and he is ... singularly unapologetic. I mean, if there's a reason, then I'd be happy to listen. But nope! "get moar butthurt." Juvenile.

And no, if I'd commissioned the guy and he refused to make one of the characters the ethnicity that I wanted? I'd have said, "Yanno what? I know a few artists who'd be HAPPY to draw this as I'm specifying it. I'mma give THEM the commission."


So, as of today, no more of THAT. This 'artist' is off the watchlist.

Definitely. He did a great job!

I'm a big fan of "private critiques, public adulation", myself...

of course, when I post works of my own on DA, I welcome critiques, even the snarky ones. Anything to add to my skillset... even if it's ignoring snarky critiques!

Now, when it comes to works-in-progress or even completed "I was trying for X here" type stuff... I'll let the artist know if they accomplished what they wanted. if proportions/perspective are off, or if figures look unnaturally bent... yes, I'll speak up. If the artist has said "no critiques desired" then if I find something REALLY broken about the piece, I'll point it out privately.

If the artist is posting something, especially if its "I'm trying to learn how to do this better" then I'd say critiques are encouraged.

If it's a commissioned piece, not so much. The person making the commission may have asked for certain things that you would prefer to see done differently, OR the artwork would be posted by the client, not the artist. In either case, a critique would not be apropos.

Nadya, as I understand it, there can't be NSFW stuff "one click away" from the forums.

Thus my solution.

I'd be happy to cook you up one, if you want.

I don't wonder at all.

My avatars have a lot more fun than I do. they tease me about it sometimes.

Actually, Heri, that illustrates a point.

Many artists have said that they "think like a child would think" when they're in creative mode.