airhead

Thanks DarkEther and Rodoan!

Airhead's powersets are Mind Control (not the telekinetic ones) and Force Field. Mass Confuse is his favorite. I haven't had much chance to roleplay him in-game, as it takes quite a bit of make-believe to 'win' just by making everyone 'open-minded' (naive), in the inherently violent world of City of Heroes. Also, I play mostly Pick Up Groups, so there isn't much room for roleplaying a complicated interpretation of my powers. I find this kind of make-believe is easier in writing. But I still roleplay in my mind. My toon is telling folks to "please lie on the floor and activate your medicom beacons". Long battles represent a 'discussion'.

If such a power did exist (and wasn't used for evil) it would lead to very boring adventures, since conflict could be defused before it got visually appealing. That's subverted by having the power affect Airhead as well, so he doesn't always win in City of Heroes.

Oops! I lost track of my own thread! Sorry CR. To answer your question, the lines on the bubble are meant to mark it as a globe, and the assassin is in Southern China.

I'm waking up this thread with another picture of my hero. It's the same guy every time so far, but I do have some sidekicks and enemies in the pipeline too. I've gotten a few pictures since I last posted, but this is the first new one in a comic style:


Lines by Snareser at DeviantArt and his colourist-colaborator SpidermanFan2099. Having this guy leaping out of my PC's desktop helps me stay focussed.

Other recent arts include lines by Tim Kelly at DeviantArt, colours by the forum's own Eddy Swan.. The lineart made Airhead look almost tank-like, which reminded me of Ned Kelly, Australia's infamous bushranger. Eddy then was the perfect choice for colourist, and he did a fantastic job of capturing an armoured-outback mood.



And finally, one from Clap-san also at DeviantArt. I liked his lithe style and excellent work with drawing fabrics, and I was happy with the result. Although Airhead's nose is suddenly less flat than usual



I wonder if I can get an art-patch to wean me from this addiction. Tis fun tho!

1st: Frost (for pedorealism - Suichiro said it all)
2nd: Bubbawheat (zapping the monkey)
3rd: ScooterTwo (for sheer effort)

Thanks Bubbawheat! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

It's great to get feedback. This is incentive to get this arc cleaned up.

On the XP, I'm not sure what to do, perhaps I should just wait. I have a bunch of rescues and optional defendables. They should not cut xp, since they aren't allies. If they do, that would be a nasty bug that should have a high priority to be fixed. I have one ally in mission 4, but it's a very short mission. If the ally provides buffs, I've never noticed it. He mostly just kill-steals, until he betrays you, all for the sake of the story.

Although you enjoyed it, I think I need to try to have the player care more about the characters (a challenge in any storytelling). Ultimately, the story needs to carry the player along despite the quick-but-low-xp explosive final mission. I had a bunch of ideas to implement before I got 1-star griefed on the fourth play; I gave up on the arc as I didn't expect anyone to ever find it again after that. Except that you did, bless you. And a couple of silent others too. Now at 7 plays

I love this month's theme. Awesome effort Bubbawheat!

I wonder if kids can be part of the art. Although a paper-plate-Positron with pasta-peripherals might be a bit scary.

And it shouldn't be set on fire.

74 !

taken:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 18 19 21 23 25 27 28 31 32 33 34 36 37 38 40 41 42 44 47 49 50 51 52 53 55 63 64 69 73 74 75 76 77 84 88 96 99 100

1) Happy Dan
2) Lousy Day
3) Tartyrsause

Probably just a mood thing, but I liked the less cluttered ones this time around. I voted for Tartyrsause's so it won't eat me in my dreams.

Congratulations Twelve! This arc was enormous fun to play and read through.

The extra effort showed, and won too

This is an extremely good choice of category, overlooked by existing processes, and easy to play and vote. Brilliant!

Now I need to go find some good, short arcs. I've only played three recently, which isn't much basis for a vote. Those were all entrants to Dr. Aeon's competition as well. Hopefully Dr. Aeon's awards (and subsequent DC's) will take place before nominations here close.

I've played this arc 4 times! It was being improved throughout. It is very fast and furious.

And this arc has no typos. Just in case the post above had anyone concerned

(But I don't believe it matters which archetype plays, player characters have unlimited motivations.)

Another Airhead!

I'm getting the hang of the commission process, perhaps it is time to come up with a competition and do some gift art. But meanwhile, here's another Airhead!

<-- links to big version on deviantArt

I've combined Celtic Bolt's brilliance with my own amateurish bubble to give him a personal force field, to explain why the scene is not as gory as it might first appear. To appreciate CB's art on its own, follow the link to his dA page (check out the CityofHeroes group on dA).

Good luck kids. I played pool instead, and beat some people I had no right to beat in my inebriated state. All is good. May you be the winner!

I played the OP's "Too Clever by Half, id 378944", the author already knows... but I wanted to add: both of the challenge arcs I played today continued to be a mountain of fun! With so many completely different takes on the theme, it never gets dull. As much as "power loss" gives the arcs a common thread, Dr. Aeon's request for "something you wouldn't expect" never fails to make every arc stand out.

So give any of the challenge arcs a play. If you do play one or more in the next several hours you might even be able to make a difference for an author.

Exciting arc! PM sent.

Forgot to mention my toon was a level 5, xp-locked, no-enhancements, katana-willpower scrapper. He only died once, and it was avoidable if I'd thought quicker (to make and use a break-free). Considering what you have in this arc, you've done a great job making it playable.

Lots of updates made, particularly to the storytelling within the missions.

I've updated the arc number in the first post (now # 379017 ), hopefully it'll garner some comments while submissions are still open and people have their junior toons in play.

So much great work, this is hard.

1. Juggertha
2. JohnnyKat
3. HappyDan

Coyote has a long history, entering the game in honour of a community-building forumite named Kiyotee who passed away during the first beta.

It is Coyote's power of friendliness in the face of the impersonal "blind rage" of the internet that I tried to showcase in this arc. This story's villain is no demon, but suffers in contrast from not having self-control. I hope some of this might show through when you play

This is an original arc. It can br completed successfully by a solo player. It does not mean child-proof. Challenges may not always be defeated head-on. For instance, "Archvillains" are mentioned in the warnings. But if you use the "temporary power" provided you should still meet with success. But be prepared to run fast.

I got some excellent feedback from Wrong Number, ArrowRose and BeyondReach. I hope others might also enjoy it.

I think I hit that bug too. So if you've got:

1.Objective Lance: Plural: Corporals to rescue ; Singular: Rescue Corporal Lance
2. Objective Punnish: Plural: Corporals to rescue ; Singular: Rescue Corporal Punnish

Then saving the first person may result in the singular objective, "Rescue Corporal Lance", which you already did. Genericizing works okay, you just have to "Rescue last Corporal" for both of them.

The suggestion was for anyone misled into thinking Venture provided constructive feedback (a popular but not universal definition of 'critique'). It was not for Venture, he already said he's leaving the building.

Oh, hi Venture!

Congratulations Sister Twelve and Tubbius! I did have the pleasure of playing Hammer and Sickle, and a few others. Unfortunately I couldn't cover enough ground to submit objective votes. But this list does provide a great playlist for the near future.

I look forward to Bubbawheat's next awards in any case. Perhaps reduce the field to 5 arcs in a category, I think I can cover a category that way. And perhaps alternate months with Dr. Aeon challenges.

If you need category suggestions, I think I have something for "Most realistic Hydra and Igneous conversation"...

I guess, since I'm mentioned here, some points to consider:

I play solo, so I can nit-pick as I go along. For a team, they could easily meet bosses within factions that are tougher than when I met them. I'm a true level 5-to-10 and thus have the default difficulty setting that reduces bosses to lieutenants while running solo (I think the powersets don't change, just the frequency and power of attacks).

I had a peacebringer. He's very squishy, having no hold powers, but he tries to avoid being in melee range. I'm now testing with a melee-only scrapper, and it's a whole 'nother world.

A team might also contain exemplared heroes. That typically makes them stronger, but if they are not careful, they will probably have their high level difficulty settings - such as "worth X heroes" - which may be higher than sensible for a beginner arcs, and could outweigh the benefits of being an exemplar. If that were true, I don't think you can be expected to design and test your arc for that scenario.