ZaxOmegaverse

You can contact me in-game about FORCE if you'd like. We have regular RP Days on Thursdays and Sundays, and we interweave long running storylines, if that's your thing.

http://www.virtueverse.com/index.php/Caliber_Gold

That right there is the iconic character in the storylines that are ongoing in my little RP corner. All chat logs of the "issues" referred to are available on request. 33 RP sessions so far!

I want a map made specifically of gridwork, without the skins, looking like a testing ground. This would be great for missions designed to test opponents. Training mission for an SG. And it might be Dr. Aeon's early work...

First, the issue of farming is transparent, largely because it parallels the tabletop gaming world in that you have Munchkins and God-Modders who think that you can "win the game". As far as I know, City of Heroes has no such measurable mechanism except perhaps being the top ranked SuperGroup.

Second, even the most hardcore XPers (the better, less insulting, and more inclusive term than farmers) want to have fun. If they can see that RPing is not ego-stroking but the creation of drama and can feel included in it, even most Munchkins come around eventually.

Third, eventually those players who run AE or are heavy XPers... those players just run out of instant coolness after a while, roll up a different set of stats, rinse and repeat. This drives the fundage for the designers to continue to improve the game. So, I say let 'em play Super-WoW. For then, eventually that well runs dry. But it generates new content for those who can build on the game with their own imaginations instead of being satisfied with being spoonfed content.

Fourth, there will always be exploitable XP or influence mechanisms as long as the MMO is based on a system of numbers that can be easily analyzed and maximized. After all, without powerlevelling, who'd man those Chinese Internet sweatshops that generate those lovely emails in-game we love so?

Finally, if we really want other players to be introduced to a broader, more immersive and personal experience than an automated world can provide (which, after all, is what RP is for), more people need to realize that XPers access this Virtue forum far less than RPers do. I personally teach RPing in Atlas Park from time to time. Why fight when you can teach?

That's all I've got. Long live AE, because it's the farmers that eventually through their spent money grow the real fruit for us RPers. Don't hate the playa, hate the play.
- @ZaxOmegaverse, OmegaVerse Editor-in-Chief

Name: FORCE

Currently Recruiting: All levels, ATs, themes; antiheroes accepted, but classic hero themes preferred

RP Level: Heavy RP, OOC chat noted either by a leading (( or OOC: , All channels can be both IC and OOC as long as it's noted as such

PvP Level: None... yet.

Theme/Concept: The OmegaVerse is a 15-year old tabletop universe that I'm porting into CoH. This means that new toons [and newer players!] have an advantage over older ones. I have about 60 ready made characters for those who have alt-itis and have trouble creating charcters. I can e-mail the .costume files, builds and beginning bios, reserve the names of OmegaVerse characters that I find to be available, and pass the complete package including your new character's planned story arcs directly to you that will tie you in with other characters and with AE mission arcs we create.

Have trouble creating a character concept? Want to be part of a long running canon? This is the Super Group for you.

Activity: We have a core group of three thus far, so we are very new. Current level range of the members is 19-39. We are very alt-friendly, at least for now. 10 or so unique members, with many alts across all levels but with a general concentration in the mid levels(20-40). I personally am on most days from 6-8PM EST.

Requirements for Membership: Members are expected to engage in a roleplaying session once per week or so.

A full bio is required. If there is no bio, we'll help you write one.

Members are also expected to keep a numbered series of "issues" for their character's "book". These "issues" will contain the chatlog of that RP session. Thus, chatlogs must be enabled.

Also, each member is expected to create their own "origin" AE mission arc. Much assistance from all players in the SG will be granted for that. This mission can be unpublished and republished as needed, but should be available upon request.

No silly toon names are accepted, and no toon names with numerals or faked spellings (e.g.: capital I substituted for a lowercase L) except where that name can be backed up by the bio.

Leadership: Caliber Gold, Mr. Lantern, Kennady

In-Game Contact(s): @ZaxOmegaverse, @Ravencry

Out-of-Game Contact(s): zaximillian@yahoo.com

URL: None yet, and looking for a web-savvy player to help with that.

Coalition(s): None thus far.

Other Details: Advancement is determined by issue count, not by level. Thus, this SG is RP dependent. Issue count is the number of RP "issues" your character has appeared in. First advancement is now set at Issue 2, but will increase to Issue 10 as we expand.

A companion villainous SG will eventually be created redside with the same purpose, with organized PvP action as part of the canon. If you want to join me redside, I'm there too: email Lord Overmind in-game for that.

I've got some other tips from my tabletop experience:

1) Play Dumb. It is much easier and much more convincing to play a character under your personal intelligence level than above it. Also, it gives the other players an opportunity to "fill" the RP and take the spotlight for a while. "Dumb" supers can fall into the dumb and earnest, dumb and naive, dumb and brutish, or dumb and huggy (think Sloth from the Goonies).

2) Baffle them with BS. If you are personally intelligent, you can play a hyper-intelligent character. One way is to use technobabble to fill a little exposition. However, if you do this, you have to make up new canonical jargon for each technology or hyperspacial flux your mind invents. If your eyes glazed over at that sentence, this approach is not for you. Also, keep the technobabble to one post at a time. Other players' eyes glaze over quickly with this approach, so make your point and be prepared to rephrase your technobabble.

3) Characters with weaknesses. This is a combat based game, and no amount of RP will change that. Further, there is no way to really build a weakness into a character, but there are ways to roleplay one out. The easiest way is to bring your character's weakness up while your team rests during a mission. Characters get hit with enough of a range of things that eventually you'll get to the character's weakness that you choose. Makes for good RP while the team rests, and RP midway through a mission makes the experience memorable... as long as the rest of the team is okay with it beforehand.

4) Issue numbers in bios. Every character is the "star" ni their own personal comic on CoH, so why not use each adventuring RP as an "issue" in your own personal canon? Starting with #0 (and #1/2 if you're really early on the RP), you can both keep count of your personal progress independent of the game's level grind, give a shout out to the players you game with, and make others who read the bio curious as to the history of that character. Keep an independent log of your "issues", and you can make certain issues special, like #25, #50, and so on. Something to look forward to.

5) Creating a Nemesis. Pocket D is a great place to do this, and puts your character into direct (professional RP) rivalry with another player. I call that motivation. If you can get a player from redside (or blueside!) to be your Nemesis, there are places where conflicts can get played out. I'm still researching ways to best do this for maximum RP impact.

More to come as I think of them,
Hope this helps!
- Zax, OmegaVerse Editor-in-Chief

I held a CC under Atlas recently, but with a slight twist: the characters had to be lowbies (1-15), and a bio was not only required, but was considered to be part of the costume. MAN did it go well.

I'll say one thing: creating backgrounds for villains is harder than creating those for heroes, but you do tend to get more drama into character on the red side, which I like. Hopefully all CCs should include bios as a part of the judging, because on Virtue, story is what we're here for.

ARC ID: 112799

Title: OmegaVerse Mash-Up #1-#4: Breakdown
Faction: Infected, Skulls, Hellions, Custom Baddies, Arachnos
Creator Global/Forum Name: @ZaxOmegaVerse
Morality: Heroic
Length: 4 Small to Medium maps
Difficulty Level: Fairly Easy; 4 Bosses, no Elite Bosses nor Arch-Villains; designed for lowbies level 1-15.
Synopsis: The Add-Man gets wind that the Skulls are pushing a new drug. But a noncombat superhero team is working the situation as its very first case.

Designer's Notes: This is an introduction to the OmegaVerse, a 15-year old tabletop campaign that I ran as Editor-In-Chief. All names of the opponents herein are up for play, and I own the names personally. If I can find a team of four redside players, I'd be very happy to give up the names, backstories, and even e-mail the .costume files and background text files for the characters. Basically, a villain team can get an origin story for free!

I've had good informal reviews so far that the story is above average and that the XP is great for low level characters, which is what I was aiming for. The climactic Mission 5 will be added as soon as I can figure out how to get four unique baddies in one place on one map at the same time. Assistance in this mechanic would be greatly appreciated.

Well, this isn't about a villain group, but instead, a mission build in progress that will offer five villain concepts for free which I own the names to. I'm going to offer those five character concepts to the community as a villain team as part of the mission build. These characters have been my babies for like 15 years, and I finally have a place to set my universe free, so I'm going to start with these guys. If you or someone you know is part of a 4 or 5 villain team that runs pretty regularly, I can give out the whole team (which is themed, so you will want your regular players around), and those players will basically get their own origin story for free as a mission while they're at it. Contact me in-game for more. I'm almost done with mission 2 of 5 at the moment.

- Zaximillian, OmegaVerse Editor-In-Chief