Ammon

Suzi threw herself enthusiastically into the hymn. Music had always been a way she could deal with fears and worries. However, this time, not even music could transcend the foreboding and misery she felt starting to overwhelm her.

Was this a sin too? Was singing hymns an affront being a damned soul? Suzi wished she had as many answers as she did questions.

If a few of the groups have ceased recruiting, and not updated this thread to reflect that, then they're unlikely to answer the question posed here either.

Assume all are recruiting still.

If you then find a closed or defunct group, feel free to add a post here saying so for the next reader.

At the mention of the word 'sins' Suzi, who'd felt as though she were walking on air, crashed back to reality. Panic started to set in. Sin's didn't get much more mortal than the doozy she'd committed in February 2006.

"Amen" she intoned, in the right places. Each time wondering if lightning might strike her damned soul, or whether she might incur some even greater wrath.

"Please, God, I acknowledge and repent my sins. I accept damnation as the consequence for myself. Don't let my soul tarnish the noble one I love!" she prayed silently with all her heart.

I'm guessing that this whole thread, and every post in it, exists for no other purpose than recruitment. Maybe someone posted just because they had nothing else to do, but I think the majority put the effort into providing enough background for you to find a group that may best match your character, and style of roleplay, and use the contact details provided.

"Unless that veil is solid lead, old boy, I doubt she can have missed your actions right in front of her, but not to worry..." Powerstone whispered, then more loudly, so that it would carry, "Perfect - that let me size the lady's ring splendidly, Eric, thank you"

Paul looked down at the ring Britanic placed in his hand with amazement. Even the professional tomb-robber and incurable rogue, Sir Lionel, would not ever do something that ... wrong for this situation. Britanic was going to have to learn a lot about romance, even the eternal batchelor mage could see that.

"You really do need a Best Man, don't you, Eric old chap... I am about to save your life" he said in a low tone he hoped would carry no further than his friend.

Powerstone opened his other hand, and resting on his palm was a simple band of white metal, gleaming brightly in the illusory sunlight thast appeared to stream in through the Cathedrals fine windows.

Britanic's mutant eyes could just discern the incredibly discrete pattern that seemed etched within the shining surface - a lion against a rather tribal-paterned gothic rose in the finest delicate detail.

"I had a white gold ring that I use in a protection spell to represent an unbroken circle" The Mage explained quietly with the faintest of smiles. "Adding the etching... well, metal is a mineral of the earth, old boy"

With the faintest hint of merry mischief in his grin, Paul flourished his hand like some stage magician, and Brit saw that there were actually two rings there, one sized for Brit's own larger fingers.

"I am fairly certain that giving your betrothed a ring from a dead woman wouldn't just delight her with your ingenuity, Eric" Paul cautioned as he hid the evidence of the grave-robbery in a pocket until it could be returned to the dead woman after the ceremony.

Suzi steeped nervously from the room to the top of the staircase. She had soehow been transformed into a breathtaking vision in a beautiful and full white gown, her hair, still a stunning vibranr red swept up in the fine, silver tiara that held her veil.

A single step behind was the still watchful Bastinado, face impassively masked by the dark glasses, there was still something about his demeanor that seemed somewhat moved by the occassion.

He stepped beside Suzi and took her arm to lead her down the steps instinctively. Of course, he was still who he was, and the shotgum remaned in his other hand. Inwardly he smiled at the idea of playing the role of the father of the bride with a shotgun in hand, but the solemnity of this undoubtedly magical occassion let him keep his dry observation unspoken.

Suzi marched down the stairs in unison with Bastinado, her eyes fixed brightly upon the figures gathered at the altar, especially her husband to be, who looked back at her as awestruck as one of the fans at her gigs.

Suzi wore the amulet that Brit had thrown to her earlier, in the cemetary, as a necklace at her throat, blue crystal sparklin in the artificial sunlight. The amulet was obviously old, her bright red hair was still new. The beautiful gown was borrowed. The crystal of the amulet completed the necessities perfectly.

One of the sticky threads in this forum, pinned to the top, is the Roleplaying Supergroups one, which lists loads of groups actively looking for more roleplayers.

It is a really good idea to start there, as reading through, you can soon see which groups you might get on with, that match your character's ethos, etc. That in turn leads you to the players already in that group with that ethos.

However, as Pious said, it may simply be that you have painted yourself into a corner by creating a dark, anti-social, anti-hero in a city of heroes.

Things in your character profile such as:
[ QUOTE ]
"bordering on the edge of being a villan"

"often seems barely civilised"

"has a considerable amount of difficulty in relationships"

"he certainly does have is a temper which he finds difficult, if not impossible, to control"

[/ QUOTE ]
all make the character hard to rationalise putting up with for anyone else. He's violent, nasty, and wanted for murder - why would any hero want to get to know him?

Bits in a character profile such as this just make the character seem too hard to befriend, and pointless too. I think you've created a lone-wolf, if you'll pardon the pun.

There really aren't any cliques keeping you out so much as your own personality choices have. The importtant question to ask yourself with a character that has trouble fitting in is "Is this character fun for others to interact with outside of an arena where they can beat the snot out of him?"

".. Leap suicidally from to escape girl-talk? Yeah, like I'm gonna want to talk about make-up or flower arranging, especially with you, Cap'n Freakin Sensitivity..." Suzi's voice followed her as she disappeared through the doorway.

Suzi was about to protest the somewhat grotesque nature of a choir of zombies, but stopped herself. This was Dark Astoria after all, and zombies pretty much were the local population.

"So, it takes a singing horde of zombies to get Brit to finally marry me... I'll cope" she said to herself, as she headed towards the spiral stairway that The Priest had indicated.

Looking back over her shoulder to Bastinado as she moved to the stair, she called "Guess you're my escort, Soldier... come on, fall in. Anyone would think you'd never seen a choir of zombies before"


Paul Stone stepped nto the Cathedral as the Priest's mind flung wide the doors, and his gaze quickly sought out Britanic and Suzi to check they were safe. Recognizing The Priest from their time together during the MMB missions, Paul smiled and was about to greet him when the sound of the choir made him turn around.

Paul thought of the effort he'd just expended putting a horde of zombies back beneath the ground and could not help but give an ironic grin at the sight of this most unheavenly choir.

"Well, there's something one doesn't see everyday" he said to Brit. "Please tell me they are just illusory too"

Suzi didn't bother reminding Bastinado that she'd already had Stanley notify all Watchmen of the secrity concerns and have them all check in to ensure no others were at risk of ambush. She knew the hard-bitten soldier's agreement was already an acknowledgement that she'd covered the immediate issues.

Suzi gasped delightedly at the illusion The Priest provided, "Oh Father, how wonderful! How beautiful this Cathedral must be in true sunlight! Thank you, its perfect."

Suzi nodded to Brit's question, then, turning to the sound of the rap at the door, Suzi remarked to The Priest "Unless your illusion also taught the zombies to play music, I think perhaps the Best Man has arrived"

"I wonder if he has a comb?" Suzi muttered to herself, feeling that she was perhaps the only non-splendid looking thing in the place now.

Paul Stone watched the last of the walking corpses dragged into the ground with a grim satisfaction. The mindless creatures had been effectively blinded by the power emanating from the Cathedral, but they had no business above ground, helpless or not.

Paul ran his fingers quickly through his hair, and softly intoned a spell that changed his 'working robes' for a smartly tailored suit. Straightening his tie as he went, Stone strode the last few yard to the strong doors of the Cathedral and rapped loudly upon them to the tune of 'Colonel Bogey'.

"Well, there's a couple of friends and near-family on the way actually, er, Father" Suzi replied.

Spinning around at Bastinado's voice Suzi brightly said "Hi Bast, glad you could make it."

"Someone seems to have faked a message from you over the comms, Bast - I've asked Stanley to warn all the other Watchmen. But first, there's a small matter of a wedding here. I ... well.. fact is Bast, you're the one I'd like to give me away. My father isn't around anymore... and, well... y'know..."


The other guest was already closing in on the Cathedral, though none of them knew it. The mage known as Powerstone was approaching the rear edge of the horde of Zombies even at that moment, gathering up mystical power in his right hand, even as his left clutched the bottle of champagne he's managed to grab on the way.

With a tremendous wrenching sound, the very earth itself began to move to his will, grasping upwards to hungrily reclaim the corpses disinterred from its dark rest. One after another, the Zombies near him were clutched by the earth, squeezed, and drawn back down into its depths.

"Usually the only delays are whether the lmo shows up on tme, surely" he muttered to himself as he drew deep on the lore of earth magic to reach the Cathedral. Powerstone's own mansion lay in the dark mists of ths part of the city, and he was not about to let these weak summonings keep him from travelling around his own neighbourhood.

((Adding my own thanks to the great turnout and response to this event. Kudos to all who took part, and a special mention again for Headliner's Freddie Mercury costume.))

Suzi tried to calm her breathing and wish away the trembling aftermath of the adrenaline rush their epic battle through the ravening horde of zombies had caused. Shadowy tendrils of dark energy still radiated from her slender form harmlessly but ominously.

Part of the fiesty rock star wanted to carry on fighting the horde, hating to retreat from the battle. As she'd commented to Brit earlier, being surrounded and rushed by hordes of pale, mindless creatures that all wanted a piece of her was nothing new to the former front woman of the Gothic Overtones.

Suzi did an obvious double-take at the unexpected person who'd greeted them.

"Edward? Oh my! What are you doing here?", Suzi asked incredulously, still brushing dust and debris from her dark red Hyperion Watchman costume. Suzi desperately wished she had a brush for her hair.

Yay!! *does the happy dance*

From the OP
[ QUOTE ]
((This is an advanced notice of a The Last Word event and costume party in Pocket D at 9pm on Wednesday, October 31. On the day a report/review of the gig will be posted so that players can rp their characters having been there. The actual in game portion will be an aftershow/costume party starting at 9pm. More details and pretty posters and such to follow.))

[/ QUOTE ]

And from the poster:
[ QUOTE ]
Aftershow Costume Party
The Jolly Roger Bar (Villains Side), Pocket D
9pm Til Late
Wednesday, October 31

[/ QUOTE ]

Missing one mention happens, missing both is surely a new super-power

The greatest villains are those one loves to hate.

There are two main paths that lead to such a dark love.

The first is to be iconic. This often takes originality, and always comes with a very distinct, moving and memorable appearance. These villains make you shudder a litle at first sight.

The second path is to be a villain one can empathise with. You can see a certain logic and sense to this villain, and could almost feel you could join him.

There are even examples of those who take both paths togethe, though rare. One would surely be Darth Vader, who after all these years is still one of the mst iconic super-villains of fiction.

His appearance is certainly iconic, not just in one of the most stunning designs of costume, with that gleaming black helmet that evokes both the human skull, and the infamous Nazi helmets of WW2, but also in the artificial forced breathing, and the mechanical edged rich voice.

One can see all too easily how his desire for power, originally desired for noble puposes, brought him down a dark path and created a monster. But a monster one can feel empathy for, and certainly respect.

Rumour always had it that Statesman's favourite character was Submariner (though why that should be I have not the faintest idea).

Rumours also said that the appearance of so many docks, submarines, and large bodies of water was for a "one day..." plan to introduce underwater areas and missions.

Personally, I think the idea is about as great as casting Patrick Duffy as The Man From Atlantis, and found Prince Namor about as thrilling as watching the laundry go round in a tumble-drier. Judging from the dedicated fans of both the things I mentioned (few and far between) I think there's a lot better things to work on.

Of course, RP characters don't need to wait for water powers, as we have a lot of aliens without needing outer-space missions, phaser rifles, or green tentacles. If there's an idea that interests you in an aquatic character, then there are certainly plenty of options.

Spines Scrappers could certainly work, as well as the controller types mentioned, and Ice (blasts or control) could also work well, plus of course that super-strength works for any location, as does invulnerability, and there's no reason any powers really can't be adapted.

Heck, even Fiery powers can work, with the character choosing to interact on land after discovering that his powers to shoot steam work a whole lot more spectacularly out of water...

Just a few ideas to play with or dismiss as you like:

How about that there was an entire fleet of escape ships, but travelling such vast distances, there was no way to predict all of the asteroids and debris in the way. At some point, the Haven Novae hit that meteor/asteroid problem, and it is assumed that the rest of the fleet may have too. It is possible that you were intended to be safe in stasis for the trip, all pre-planned and computer controlled, and so were awoken to havoc, with a lot of debris around, and some extensive damage to the ship and many of its systems. You have no idea if you were the only ship damaged, or the only one to survive... In fact, only the gravity controller's immense powers saved you.

Can you expect the rest of the fleet to seek you? Will they assume your ship destroyed? Or are you the sole survivors?

This offers the possibility that the player who wants a 'planetary governor' character could have also been involved in the meteor/asteroid catastrophy, their private space-yacht destroyed, and forced to put themself into an escape pod that you barely managed to rescue, against all odds. (offers the interesting turnaround of a person used to great power now 'owing' you all, and almost being the stowaway and charity case of the group)


Just a few ideas I offer to play with or dismiss as you like.

Powerstone can make most dates with just a little notice making certain.

Isn't Saturday when people at the Con are getting Bridger pi... er, saying goodbye to Bridger? If it is, I was hoping to be there. Its still early for me now, so will need to recheck when properly awake.

This forum itself, the Roleplaying forum of the CoH boards, is filled with hundreds of threads detailing the ongoing stories and character developments of hundreds of characters.

The RP varies a lot. It all depends on what you yourself are looking for.

You'll see in the forum a list of Roleplay Super-groups, for example. These are groups where there's an ongoing collaborative story to the entire SG, all with detailed background, interactions, and most of all, continuity. Most maintain their own forum sites where many aspects of Roleplay can be played out, rather like old-school play-by-mail, etc.

For most, the roleplay is about character development. The missions may let your character grow in powers, but how does that affect the character themselves? The roleplay lets you explore, express, and develop the personality and uniqueness of your creation.

The kind of character you've created has a lot to do with what that characters daily life is like. If you permanently spout forth flames, a radioactive aura, and look like a gient red demon, you probably don't have a secret identity.

However, I have met playboys, models, singers, journalists, businessmen, police officers, shopkeepers, and even insurance salesmen who also have a super-hero identity. I think most heroes have a 'secret identity' though for a great many it is not so secret. I also think there's just a teeny amount less villains with secret identities, at least, ones that properly remained 'secret'.

Once you have a second costume slot (level 20 gives another costume you can 'switch' to) its a lot easier to clearly mark out different identities, and there are certainly many 'plain clothes' options in the costume builder. At the thigher levels, it is possible to have 5 different costumes all set up, which you can switch between from the Menu options, so many RPers will have a few different looks. (And I know I raced my way to 20 to get that all important second costume).

There is a LOT of hero and villain interaction in Pocket D, which is part of the reason Pocket D became such a popular and useful roleplay spot in the first place. But hero-villain interaction is probably one of the most contentious issues in RP.

For starters you get a lot of characters who feel they could never mix, (and also some players who maybe don't allow others the depth of 'shades of grey' that many Roleplayers prefer).

But yes, heroes and villains can be friends, within limits and certain circumstances. There are villains who are law-breaking vigilantes, bounty-hunters, on the run because they kill other villains rather than arrest them. It can be easy to see a hero feeling friendship for such a villain without their disaproval at the lethal methods being a 'deal-breaker'. Its going to depend on the characters involved, the reasons for attraction, and the issues that could break that friendship.

As for storytellers and storylines, please do read the forum posts, and I'd say you could get a very good idea of a couple of different styles by looking at the story posts by Coile, and the story posts by Britanic. Both show excellent storytelling, but the styles are quite different.

Same. The forum is down.

Poor Mr. Carter - death by free hosting.

((OOC: Oh heck, I nearly spat tea all over the keyboard reading that. I can see a certain amount of - dear lord I almost said friction - arising as he joins the group.))

Given that you've located a few here who might be willing to turn up for a weekly or twice weekly session, it could be worthwhile coming up with some ideas about grouping them. e.g desired level ranges of characters that could team with your own, etc.