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Continued from page 1 He picked the man off the box he was sitting on and pulled back the blanket from the head. He almost snorted when he saw the familiar uniform of the Paragon Protector and his broken helmet. "Well, this is unusual," Mortiganen commented as he looked over the man they had sitting on the stretcher, "Mr. Redshadow... You should be dead." "What?" the man asked, "What do you mean?" "You've suffered an aneurism," the wizard replied, "You should be feeling a massive headache, but something complicated happened, and your bleeding from your nose has been relieving the pressure from your brain." "That sounds bad." "It could be, but it gives me something to work with. Genji, get somebody, anybody, with medical experience over here. I don't want to leave anything to chance..." "Sir?" the former Tsoo sorcerer asked. "Hurry, we don't have much time!" the pale-skinned old man barked, "I want to get this right!" He turned back to Redshadow as he pulled a large black book from where it hung on his hip. He laid the tome on the stand next to the stretcher and started flipping through the pages with a dexterity far superior to what his gnarled fingers conveyed as possible. "What are you doing?" the Protector wheezed. "Saving your life," Mort rasped, "And hopefully acquiring one of Crey's favorite projects for this group here... This second task is notoriously difficult, young man, as I have experience with the Protectors, and they are known for never giving quarter, and any that have been captured mysteriously wind up dead..." The old man took a hold of Thomas' head and glared into the injured man's eyes. "They die of brain aneurisms, normally; some of heart attacks. I'm going to make sure nothing like that happens to you, and I'm hoping you're grateful enough to pay us back with your service." Thomas nodded. The man was intense, and more than a little frightening. However, he could sense that Mortiganen seemed to have his best welfare in mind. At least, for the moment... Get Your Freak On temporarily delayed By TopDoc It was very easy to find Dreck this week. He was in the Zig. Unfortunately, he wasn't all that interested in talking to me. I probably shouldn't have mentioned in my last article that I was the one who phoned in the tip on him. The DA said there's a good chance he'll be walking soon, thanks to a high priced lawyer and a continuous stream of motions regarding lack of evidence, lack of probable cause, and irregularities with the search warrant. So I'll be looking for him in a week on the outside. Maybe by then he'll be willing to judge the next set of winners for the "Get Your Freak On" contest originally posted in the August 29th City Scoop. I was also contacted by Krekka, one of the winners from last week. He mentioned he has a higher rez version of his Like a Freakshow video posted on Youtube. So go ahead and check it out.

Costume Contests: Epic Phail? By Soviet_Russia As we all know, costume contests are a very common event in COH/COV. On some servers they can happen every 5-10 minutes! And although most CCs are very quickly put together, there are some that have more though put into them. Moondreams is one of those CC hosts that actually takes the time to look at a person's costume and, using her own method, decides which costumes she likes best. "I like to see costumes that are simple, but not too simple. I like color balance and good use of patterns and textures provided in the character creator. It is very hard to say what a good costume is, because it all boils down to what is visually appealing to me." It turns out that there is more thinking and judging thank just saying "I think that one is cool." CC's go more in depth than previously expected. The question is, is it worth it? Well, Moondreams says yes. We asked her if she thought that CCs were a good experience. "I certainly do, otherwise I wouldn't hold them! I believe it is a good way to see what other people think of the costumes you make, and also an excellent way to make money if you have a look that people like." So Heroes and Villains, now you decide, is it really worth it, to put your reputation and ego on the line just for some inf? Most believe that it is. Many CCs pay anywhere from 1 Million to 10 Million inf. and usually have runner-up prizes for those 2nd and 3rd place winners. The winners of Moondreams' contest were Chill factor, Selfless Shield, and Code Yellow, in that order. The prizes were: 5 million for 1st, 2 million for 1st, and 1 million for 3rd. So there you have it folks. Fame, Fortune, and a major ego boost await you in the finalist round of a CC. Be sure to check out local events in a city near you! Click for more information.

The City Scoop
City Fiction The Redeemers By Mr_Grey It was sort of like a gong sound when the heavy body hit the store window. Almost a minute later, the door opened and Briggs was dragging the three unconscious thugs into the street while the store owner yelled at him. "How was I supposed to know it's bulletproof glass?" he barked back, "Come on!" "You could have killed that idiot!" the clerk kept shouting, "And what if you'd cracked it?" "It looks fine," the troll unceremoniously dropped the bodies in a heap on the sidewalk and turned to the young man, "Besides, any damage incurred while a hero is saving your place of employment can be charged to the perpetrators. I know this because it happened to me in the old days!" The clerk was about to say something more, but stopped suddenly. With a devious thought, he walked back into the store, stroking his chin. Briggs didn't like the look of that. He figured in a couple days, he'd be getting a call from Chris Jenkins. Before he could dwell on the question any further, the police arrived. They were about to try arresting him with the thugs, but he remembered to show them his identification card that indicated he was a hero. Although the cops stared dubiously at the card (in fact, they scanned it almost ten times before Briggs got fed up and snatched the card back from them), they grudgingly admitted that he was a super-powered citizen who'd helped stop a criminal act.	Vol. 2, Issue 22 November 7th, 2008 This Issue: The Redeemers Community Get Your Freak ON Costume Contests: Epic Phail? Base Showcase
"I just wish you guys would leave these sorts of crimes to us, you know?" one officer commented as they started reading the would-be robbers their rights. Briggs waved them off and started heading down the alleyway to where he parked his van. There were some Clockwork robots gathered around some bum sitting on a box and he waved them away. At first, the machines looked like they were going to do something, but they took one look at the ugly green man, did a double-take, and skedaddled before he could smash them to bits. "I thought they weren't supposed to be scared," he grumbled, "Being robots, and all..." The bum groaned loudly, and Briggs looked down at the guy. He was wrapped in a dirty blanket, so much that he had covered up his head to disguise his features. For some reason, he was doubled over and clutching at his abdomen while he grunted and coughed. "You okay?" McBain asked, "Do you... Do you need a lift to the clinic?" It was weird. Ever since he'd gotten off Superadine, he'd had this nagging concern. It wasn't for anything about himself, no, he felt fine. However, ever since a protracted battle with Ice Mistral early on in the Redeemers' inception, and having to save people's lives, he'd found it was getting harder and harder to ignore people in need. It wasn't that he didn't like the idea of helping people, but the whole responsibility of it was so foreign to him that he didn't know how he should feel. The best he could figure to do was to ask people if they needed help and hope he did the right thing if they answered in the affirmative. "No..." the man replied in a whisper, "No hospitals... They'll get me..." "His mind has been broken," a voice called from the end of the alley, "His life has been shattered. The rest of his kindred search for him, scattered. They must not find him, they must not win. You have to help him break from his sin." "What?" the troll asked, "Who are you? Come over here where I can see!" A disheveled bum walked into view. It was the Can Man, Briggs knew of him through reputation. Trolls had tried roughing him up before, but they'd been soundly corrected by Synapse and Mynx repeatedly to never make the attempt again. Now, it seemed he helped heroes, but it was usually the higher-end, more popular or more powerful ones. Briggs could only wonder why the disheveled man was helping him. "You saying this guy's important?" "Every life is important, even if it's false," the Can Man replied, "This one was not the original bearer of his soul, yet it makes it no less true." "I thought you were supposed to talk in rhyme, not in riddles..." "Help him this day, and he will show you your way. There is a long fight ahead, many will be dead. The world needs its strong to combat what is wrong. You stand in the shadow, between the dark and the light, will you make the choice that you know is right?" "So, it's rhymes and riddles now?" Briggs' eye twitched with annoyance and the buckshot caught in there burned anew. He started digging at it and pulled a couple pebbles of tungsten alloy out. There were still some in there, but the burning sensation had lessened. When he looked to the end of the alley as his vision cleared, though, the Can man was gone. "Okay," he muttered as he turned to the bum next to him, "Well, I guess he was referring to you, little man. Let's see what makes you so special." Continued page 2

Now through Monday, November 10th is your opportunity to vote on the 9 Finalists in the Create a Character Costume Contest

Click here to Vote!

Anyone can vote in this poll so get your friends and family to check out some great City of Heroes costumes and characters and vote for their favorite!


Congratulations to our 9 Finalists!

We had an overwhelming response to the contest and the judging for the 9 finalists was very tough. But, when all was said and done, we want to congratulate our 9 Finalists:

American Shaman - Pinnacle


Cosmic Watcher - Pinnacle


Emcc - Infinity


Global Taxi - Freedom


Jest Desserts - Virtue


Miss Marsha-Ann Pinnacle


Mister Maniacal - Protector


Samurai Jiminee - Liberty


Swiftwing - Virtue



To discuss the finalists, please join us in the existing discussion thread for the Costume Contest.


Due to two contestants being removed for potential IP violations, we have decided to extend the voting through this weekend to give folks that hadn't had a chance yet to cast their votes.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the contestants that were removed from the final contest please contact me via PM or email at exlibris@ncsoft.com. We have more announcements coming soon on the in game portion of this contest so stay tuned for more details.

Vol. 2, Issue 21
October 31th, 2008

The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers! With this issue we have many of our regular features back and moar!

Read the latest publication and then join in on the community discussion!

If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Lighthouse or Ex Libris.

If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe.

If you need some “Advice” contact Lady_Athyna or would like to “Ask The X” contact LiquidX.

If you have a base you would like featured, please contact EnnVee.

Finally if you have a Classified Ad or Recipe you would like included please contact: MistressNoire.

Vol. 2, Issue 21
October 31th, 2008

The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers! With this issue we have many of our regular features back and moar!

Read the latest publication and then join in on the community discussion!

If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Lighthouse or Ex Libris.

If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe.

If you need some “Advice” contact Lady_Athyna or would like to “Ask The X” contact LiquidX.

If you have a base you would like featured, please contact EnnVee.

Finally if you have a Classified Ad or Recipe you would like included please contact: MistressNoire.

The City Scoop Staff Editor-in-Chief Snow_Globe Editors / writers By Popular Request, Point/Counter Point Bowfling Under the hood TopDoc Content Watch Plater Rogue Isles Legend Blood_Spectre Comic Lattice Why I joined... Otterine Food ~Mistress Noire~ Humor Hostile_V The People On HumanMiracle Spandex Spotlight EmperorSteele Bases EnnVee Advice, Horoscopes Lady Athyna Advice LiquidX Fan Fiction Spotlight Mr_Grey PvP Correspondent Neuronia Wentworth's Advice peterpeter PvP Correspondent Acanous_Quietus Top Ten Lists Rastafari_Man Event Reporters White_Gravel More needed! Behind the Scenes Lead Layout Layout assistants Mantid Frost Snow_Globe Copy Editor PhoenixRaz More welcomed. Additional Staff Lemur Lad Bonker Marcian Tobay SpaceNut Positions needing staff Puzzles Art Correspondents Event reporters Writers The City Scoop is always seeking comments, suggestions, and articles from our readers. Just send them to the corresponding department or one of our Editors-in-Chief.

Classifieds

ARTIST WANTED Published author seeks superhero artist for politically progressive comic book project. Speculative: no money up front, any profits to be split 50/50. Character designs to start; full script pages will follow. Interested parties should PM DoctorJ through the forums or @DoctorJ on the game. Better Base and Fortress Otto is seeking volunteers for upcoming episodes of Better Base and Fortress. Do you think your base has what it takes to get 5 out of 5 Otto's from Otto Plair? Contact Mindscythe in game @Mindscythe to arrange a base tour and discuss the details of becoming an upcoming episode NOW HIRING Paragon Underground Radio is now hiring bouncers and bartenders. Please send an in-game e-mail to DJ Durango on the Virtue server for more information or an application. WANTED Fan Artist to draw my character. I cannot offer much compensation other than any of the wares I would otherwise sell on the Auction House. If you are interested, please contact Hakuro de Killer on the Virtue Server. Want your character to be interviewed by Scoop Man? Send a PM to HumanMiracle! Want your character to be interviewed by Patty-Sue Ivanova? Send a PM to Emperorsteele! Want to be part of the VEAT Army? Yes we are an offshoot branch of the FUSION empire in the Protector dimension loyal only to Ghost Widow. We are destined for greatness. Ghost Widow has ordered my organization to form a new sect in support of special operations. I will recruit within our ranks as well as go outside of our known coalition. These chosen members will go to an academy for training as various Arachnos soldiers. While I do not like to be told how to run FUSION, Widow assures me that I will be rewarded for forming this group. My first order of business is to choose villains among my organization that display some of the following qualities: Mind control, knowledge of poisons, stealth, acrobatics, weapons fighting, and most importantly do not display fear and that would die if I ordered them to do such. I have at least 20 in mind from my 150 Villain organization that fit this criteria. Over the next few weeks I will begin listing them in preparation for training. This training will consist of a series of trials and strike forces ordered by Ghost Widow. More to follow soon. Want to know more? Please come to the Veat Army Project. Need to sell something? Post it in The City Scoop Classifieds. Send a PM to a scoop staff member. DO YOU LOVE MUSIC? Well, so do we! KJSR.net, the Voice of Jello Shooters, is a relatively new internet radio station, and we're looking for new DJs! So if you love all kinds of music, and want to "share the love" so to speak, contact either @Kyo-chan or @Steampunk Charlie right away! And for our devoted listeners, we've got MORE shows, and MORE prizes coming up, so tune in! Introducing Two-for-Tuesday at El Super Mexicano! All regular quesadillas just 2 for $5 all day Tuesday! Reward $20 for substantial photo evidence of Bigfoot in Paragon City or the Rogue Isles. $1,000,000 for Actual Capture of Bigfoot. -HellSpite Lost Paradigm Shift Device. Contact Demented Cynic at Portal Corp. by Friday. Remember to bring Hawaiian shirt. HELP WANTED Writers for The City Scoop. Please contact Snow_Globe or Marcian_Tobay for submission details. Do you have an event coming up? Are you going to attend an upcoming event? Do you want to see or even write an article for The City Scoop? Drop a line to an Editor-in-Chief a week in advance, and you too could be a guest writer for The City Scoop.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! This has to be one of 3 fav holiday's of mine! This week I have a couple great recipes to do for halloween party's or just fun snacks! I found it in a Halloween cookbook of mine! Enjoy! Mistress Noire Meaty Bones 1/2 cup hickory smoked BBQ sauce 1/4 cup grape jelly 2 tablespoons of steak sauce 1 teaspoon of orange rind Nonstick cooking spray 12 chicken drumsticks, patted dry 12 peices of gauze, 12 inches each 1. Preheat Broiler 2. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine BBQ sauce, jelly, steak sauce and grated rind. Place in microwave and cook on HIGH (100%) 1 minute, or until jelly has melted. Stir to blend. Divide in half. 3. Coat a broiler rack and pan with cooking spray and arrange chicken peices on rack. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Broil 25-30 minutes, or until no longer pink in the center, turning frequently. During the last 5 minutes of broiling, baste chicken with half of the sauce. Remove from oven. Baste all sides with remaining sauce. 4. Let stand 5 minutes to cool slightly. Wrap bottom portion of each leg with a strip of gauze. Creamy Crypt Coolers 2 cups of orange sherbet 2 cups of vanilla ice cream 2 cups of Orange juice 5 drops of yellow food coloring 5 drops of red food coloring 1 cup of lemon-line soda 1. In a blender, combine sherbet, ice cream, juice and colorings. Blend until smooth. 2. Add soda. Hold lid down tightly and process until just blended. 3. Serve immediately.

Base Showcase By EnnVee
SinnerSaint’s Lair
	Who is your base designer and who are your supergroup leaders? I am the supergroup leader and designer. What server is your base on? Guardian .wait, you mean there are others? When was your supergroup established? I began the supergroup in November 2007. I was in a very large VG that had hit its member cap (75 at that time), so I made a solo VG for all my alts. Once I did that, I figured well, I may as well do it blue-side as well since that’s where I primarily play. How many players are in your supergroup? Well, I started it off as a solo SG (as you could tell by the name), but in March my wife and boys started playing CoH here and there. A few months after that, we got my wife’s sister and her boys hooked. So what started as a solo SG became a family-only SG (poorly named now) with seven members. What is the approximate value of your base? At this moment in time, our base is worth over 8 million prestige. How much time do you spend working on your base? How much time have you invested so far? Geeez ..I just upgraded from the 8x8 to the 8x12 last month, so I have spent a SIGNIFICANT amount of time on it. What is your favorite base item? Least favorite? I don’t know if I have a very, very favoritist base item; there are quite a few items I really like though. The Mystic Advisor, the Heads, the ceiling spikes are awesome for that arcane feel ..just lots. Just like a favorite, I don’t really have a least fave. There are items I never use, I don’t dislike‘em, per se, just don’t use‘em. I will say one thing though, they NEED to come out with more arcane wall items .if I look at that eyeball one more time .. What is your favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite? My favorite thing about editing ..hmmmmm I guess I really like being able to make magic desks, I really like adding the lofts. I would have to say it’s also probably my least favorite as well ..my workshop took over 3000 of those things What is the highest thing on your wish-list for new base items? Well, the easy answer is some type of floating tool so I don’t have to make more of these desks, but I’d like to see a few other things as well. The ability to convert tech base salvage to arcane would be nice. Windows for the walls and ceilings, but not just plain windows, windows with a decent variety of views would be awesome. A variety of entries are kind of needed, how does everyone have the same door to all of their SECRET lairs??? OH!!!! Raid Pathing MUST die!! MUST!!!! If you could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor, what would it be? Have patience, ask questions. The best place I found to ask questions is the in-game global channel, BaseBuildersInc. (yes, the period is part of the name, don’t ask me, I didn’t form it).

Market Watch

The View on Blue Which Bid Wins? By PeterPeter Gold Cop by ScorpiusRisk A couple of weeks ago, I decided to tackle a question which has been puzzling marketeers for countless generations. When there are multiple bids for the same item at the same price, which bid is resolved first when an item is listed? If the bids are for different amounts, then the highest bid should always get the item, but when the bids are for the exact same amount, no one really knows what happens. There are two dominant theories. The first is the FIFO theory: First In, First Out. According to this theory, the first person to place a bid will get an item before the second person who places a bid. The last person to place a bid will be the last person to win an item. The other theory is that the bids are resolved in random order. According to this theory, there is no way to know which person is going to receive the item when the bid amounts are the same. Some random roll of the dice on the server makes that determination. In order to put these two theories to the test, I gathered up a few stacks of unpopular recipes: Level 11 and 14 Fear/Range recipes in the Horror set. I asked for volunteers from the Market section of the forums and the global channel TheMarket. I asked each of the volunteers to place a bid for exactly 89 influence on the level 14 recipe. Nine people offered to help. I carefully recorded the order in which they placed their bids. 0th Power placed a bid first, then Miuramir, Macskull, Anti-Gravity Man, Lili, AC Bolt, Blazing Stone, Ironblade1, and finally Grandpa Squeak. Once all nine bids were in place, all for the same item, all for the same amount, I listed one recipe for sale at 1 influence. The recipe sold instantly to... (drumroll please) ... 0th Power. I listed another recipe. It sold to Miuramir. So far, it was looking like the FIFO theory might be correct. I listed the third recipe and leaned forward into the monitor, waiting to see who had bought it. Would it be Macskull? No! It was AC Bolt! The sixth person to place a bid was the third person to get an item. The next recipe went to Grandpa Squeak, the last person who had placed a bid! FIFO was out the window! The remaining recipes went to Ironblade1, Lili, Macskull, Anti-Gravity Man, and Blazing Stone. First in was definitely not first out. We could have stopped there, and just assumed that the random theory must be the correct one. After all, the results looked pretty random after the first couple of names. That wasn't good enough! We decided to run the exact same experiment over again: the same people placing the same bids in the same order on the same recipe. If the purchase order was determined randomly, then we would see a new and different mix-up of names. That's not what happened. I listed the first recipe, and once again it went to 0th Power. I listed the second recipe, and once again it went to Miuramir. Who would get the third recipe? Would it be AC Bolt again? Yes! Yes it was. The exact same people received the recipes in the exact same order. The random theory was sporting a black eye! Now we were eager to learn more. We tried the same experiment with level 11 recipes instead of level 14. It didn't make the slightest difference. The buy order seemed to be fixed in stone. What magical power gave 0th Power a lock on first place? What dark curse kept Blazing Stone stuck in last place? It didn't look alphabetical by global name or character name. We tried comparing the levels of the characters, and the number of vet badges. Nothing made any sense. What about other badges? Market only badges? Influence on hand? Server? Age of the character? Time zone? People were throwing out information and data points as fast as they could type, and I was trying to compare everything. Suddenly, I noticed one point of correlation: origin. The first two characters to get buys were both Natural origin. Next was the one Magical character, then all three Science characters, followed by the lone Mutant. Did the market favor Natural characters and punish Mutants? I double checked my notes, and realized that one origin was missing. For the correlation to be perfect, Grandpa Squeak needed to be either Science or Magic. I typed out the question, and waited for a response. Grandpa Squeak's character was... a Mutant. The series was broken. Humans are very good at spotting patterns. Our brains are wired for it. Sometimes we're so good that we spot patterns which aren't even there. I decided the partial correlation could be chalked up to coincidence. We still didn't know what factor determined the buy order, and we had an endless stream of possibilities. Luckily, our next experiment pointed us in the right direction and away from the vast swamp of character details. We ran the same experiment as the first time, except we reversed the order in which people placed their bids. Would 0th Power still come out on top, even when he was the last person to put in a bid? Would Blazing Stone still come in last, even when he put in the third bid? Nope. Grandpa Squeak put in the first bid, and Grandpa Squeak got the first item. Ironblade1 put in the second bid, and got the second item. Blazing Stone put in the third bid, and the third item went to... Anti-Gravity Man, who had put in the sixth bid. Even though we had changed the people around, the bids were still resolving in the same order relative to when they were placed. The last person to put in a bid became the fourth person to receive an item, just like last time. Which person actually placed each bid didn't matter! Once more unto the breeches! For the next round, I assigned a random order, starting with Grandpa Squeak and ending with Miuramir. It made no difference who placed which bid. The first two bids always received the first two items. The third bidder was always the seventh buyer. The last bidder was always the fourth buyer. Obviously there were many potential variables which we did not test. What if each person placed two bids? What if they all bid something other than the 89 influence we had used over and over? What if a few bids were placed, then a couple of them were canceled, then a few more placed, then two items were sold, and then another bid came in? Sadly, we only had time for one more test. What if there were only eight bids instead of nine? Quat and Hecktender stepped in to replenish the dwindling ranks of volunteers as we ran our last experiment. Once again, the first bidder got the first sale. Once again, the second bidder got the second sale. The first surprise came when the fourth item sold went to the eighth bidder instead of the ninth. Of course, we only had eight bidders, so it wasn't that big of a surprise. There was a ripple effect, though: the fifth item went to the fifth bidder instead of the eighth, the sixth item went to the third bidder instead of the fifth, the seventh item went to the fourth bidder instead of the third, and the eighth and final item went to the seventh bidder instead of the fourth. The numbers were different, but clearly the same pattern was still present. The conversation quickly dissolved into a complicated analysis of random number generator seeds and number sequences patterns. In the end, we could only resolve to come back and puzzle away at it again on some future date. We certainly accomplished what we set out to do: to thoroughly test the two main theories regarding bid resolution order. The system is clearly not FIFO. The system is also not truly random. The bidders may have been jumbled up a bit, but they were jumbled up in the exact same way every time. There may have been a random sequence generated at some time, but during our testing window we were clearly dealing with a fixed sequence. I will leave you with a few rows of numbers to think about. The first row is the ID of the bidder, from bidder #1 to bidder #9. The second row shows the order in which each bidder received an item. Bidder 1 received item 1, bidder 2 received item 2, bidder 3 received item 7, and so on. The final row shows the order in which the bidders received items during the final experiment, when there were only eight bidders and eight items instead of nine. Bidder Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Order Received 1 2 7 8 6 3 9 5 4 Order with Eight 1 2 6 7 5 3 8 4 -

City Fiction The Redeemers By: Mr_Grey They didn’t catch him. He had to dive into the filth of the sewers and get lost in all the twisty passages there to escape them, and he himself got lost. It wasn’t until a week later, after fighting through Lost, Vahzilok zombies and Hellions that he found his way out of the sewers and back into the streets of Skyway City. Reeking of sludge and filth, he made his way first to one of the rivers. A set of Trolls watched him like he was insane, but they didn’t do anything to stop him. The filth washed easily from the surface of Redshadow’s uniform and he was glad the smell went with it. Once he’d finished rinsing the outfit as best he could, he turned to his own body. After a week of rolling in waste, it felt good to have reasonably cleaner water to rinse off with. ----- “Okay, Synapse, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Mynx called as the last of the day’s training wrapped up, “Those guys you had investigating the Clockwork show up yet?” “Nah,” the super speed hero replied, “They were pretty green I’d have thought a veteran would have shown up to help them or something Maybe I should go check up on them.” “Maybe ” Mynx started heading for the Yellow Line. She had a party to go to in the club, Pocket D, and she didn’t feel like taking the long way to either the Founder’s Falls Entrance or the Talos Island entrance. She was just debating whether or not she would go to Overbrook to avoid having to go to Kings Row when she saw him. It was a Paragon Protector with a broken visor. He was standing on the walkway between her and the railway station. “I know who sent you!” she shouted as her claws popped out from her fingertips, “I’m not going back to Crey today!” “Wait!” was all Thomas could get out before she dove into him. At the base of the bridge, just under the station, Mynx looked to see she’d stabbed into the Protector’s abdomen. As she tensed to have to fight more, however, he simply grunted and tried to push her off. There was something strange about how he did it, though. It was too gentle for a fight. “Help ” he said weakly, and she recoiled in shock. Thomas looked at the girl and had a passing memory. It was something about getting bowled over and she was standing over him afterward, but it was all foggy. “Help Me ” Mynx seemed to notice there was either something different about him, too. “Wait ” she said as she pulled her claws out of him, “Just Just hang on, let me get some help ” The catgirl bounded off of him and started dialing into her communicator, calling for any heroes with healing magic, technology or medical training who could help. Most were already involved with teams fighting crime or had to get their equipment ready before they could arrive, others were simply dismissive. A lot of heroes didn’t care if a Paragon Protector died, anyway. “Come on, come on!” she shouted into her communicator, then started turning back to Redshadow, “You’re that guy we saw a week ago, right? That one with the swords I I should have known something was up ” But when she looked to where she’d left the broken Protector, he was gone. -----

“Alright, boys, listen up!” Garm shouted as he called the meeting to order, “Mort’s busy with research over at the Midnight Squad, so I’ve got the helm tonight.” “You sure?” Johnny Slag asked, his voice issuing mechanically from his throat, “I thought you were on suspension.” “Suspension’s up,” Garm grunted, “Only lasted a week.” “Even after that stunt you pulled?” the former Freak Swiper asked. “Yep. Now We’ve got some business coming down the pipe There’s an A.P.B. out for a Paragon Protector Crey’s trying to tell us that it’s their responsibility to ‘bring this dangerous rogue in,’ which, for any of you with experience with the Protectors, means he’s not a bad guy like the others are.” This got a chuckle from the crews gathered in the meeting hall. “Still, we don’t know how cool or uncool this guy is, so if you see a Paragon Protector in a disheveled uniform and a broken helmet, approach with extreme caution, alright? That’s the only heads-up I’ve got out of Freedom Corps ” Doug smacked his forehead suddenly and Garm turned to him. The ogre looked agitated with himself and when asked what was bothering him, he explained. “I saw him. I saw him earlier today. I was trying to get some information on the Family’s shipments when we saw this guy crawl into the river under us.” “Alright,” Garm nodded, “That’s not bad, Doug. We’ll patrol the area, see if he comes back The rest of you, you’ve got your assigned patrols. Get to it.” The other former rogues nodded or grunted their compliance and started shuffling out. Garm’s crew got together, and the Caliban stopped his head count when he noticed a particular member wasn’t around. “Where’s Briggs?” ----- The squat green man was used to people staring at him. It came with being a Troll. However, he wasn’t used to people thinking he was just like everybody else. This is why it was such a surprise that these idiots in ski masks went through with their plan to rob the convenience store he was shopping in. “I told you,” the leader of the group shouted, “Down on the floor!” “Get that gun out of my face,” Briggs growled, “And get the Hell out of here before I make you regret this!” The thug squeezed the trigger and the store’s patrons screamed. The thugs shouted for everybody to calm down, but the one who shot the Troll was feeling particularly smug about what he’d done. At least, until he turned back to examine the body. Briggs was digging some of the buckshot out of his eye. “That’s gonna be stuck in there,” he grunted as he squeezed the eye shut and glared at the man with his good one, “Probably for a few days. You’re gonna pay for that, bucko.” Kobolt By Drunkfu

Community

Fan Fiction Spotlight Presented by: Mr_Grey Eensy Weensy Spider-A Bedtime Story Megan settled in to her bed, moving Mimsy, her favourite rag doll, to the bedside table where she spent each night. She picked up the book she had got out for her mum to read and stared at the picture on the cover. One day , she thought, I’ll be a princess with my very own prince to look after me. She was about to open up the book and try reading a few lines herself when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking up she saw the shape of a spider crawling across her ceiling. Panic caused her to freeze for a few seconds and then she found her voice. “Mum!” she screamed. “Mum! There’s a spider on my roof.” Her eyes refused to leave the large black thing. It had obviously heard her calling for her mum as it had stopped moving. Megan really hoped it didn’t decide to drop on to her bed. If it did that she would have to make a run for the door, or maybe throw the quilt over it. She glanced at the slightly open door. “Mum!” she called again. Then louder, “Mum! Quick!” There was the sound of footsteps on the landing and then the bedroom door opened wide, bright light making Megan squint for a moment. “What’s the matter, hon?” her mother asked. “Up there,” Megan pointed to the giant creature, looking up at it again. “Oh, now, that’s only a tiny thing. Do you want me to get rid of it for you?” “Please,” Megan nodded. “I don’t want it coming back again.” Her mum stepped on to the bed and reached up to catch the spider in her upturned hand. “Well I’m not going to kill it, just put it outside where it belongs,” she said as she walked over to the window. “But, mum,” Megan appealed, “it could come back in again when I’m asleep.” Her mum closed the window, brushed her hands together and sat down on the edge Megan’s bed. “It won’t come back in to your room, dear, because we’ve been nice to it. Do you know why you shouldn’t kill spiders and why you should be nice to them?” Megan shook her head. “I’ll tell you the story of Stefan Richter then,” her mum said taking the book Megan had got ready and placing it on the bedside table next to Mimsy. This is a lot like a Grimm fairy tale (curse you, Slick, you beat me to saying it!), only with the source material being taken from the game world and heavily manipulated. Here, Megan's mother tells a story involving Stefan Richter and spiders. It's a bit crazy at the end, and I'm sure it'll give you readers a smile.

The Top Ten Ways to add a little CoX to your Halloween. By Rastafari_Man Ah All Hallow's Eve. I remember when it was it's own holiday, and not the pre-game show for the guy in red. But enough about me yammering on like Grampafari-Man. Tonight is a night where you can add a little CoX flavor to your festivites, and probably alienate your friends in the process. But hey, if they don't appreciate a little CoX humor, then how great of friends can they be? Number 10 - Bring along one of Mistress Norie's tasty dishes! Number 9 - Don't call em Jellybeans, call em Inspirations! (Grape = Luck, Lemon = Insight etc etc) Number 8 - Smash the biggest pumpkin you find, then demand your badge. Number 7 - Just stay home and host a costume contest. Number 6 - If you see a person dressed as a person from some "other" MMO, laugh at thier lack of customization. Number 5- Ask folks in ugly costumes if they are a result of the random button. Number 4 - While out Trick or Treating, ask every house why no zombies or werewolves are coming out. Number 3 - Report all copyright infringing costumes to the party hosts. Number 2 - Dress up like a police officer and run like a sissyboy anytime someone looks even remotely threating. And finally, The Number one Thing you can do to add a little COX to your Halloween is...Eat as much candy as possible and give your self a nice sugar induced Speed Boost! Lady Polgara by Drunkfu

Get Your Freak On Third set of winners of the City Scoop Freakshow Costume contest By TopDoc It was time to visit Dreck again. He wasn't hard to find, despite the surprisingly large population of heavily cybered individuals in Paragon City. It's amazing how easily a level 50 Empathy Defender can intimidate a level 21 Freak Tank in Talos Island. So I found out where he was, and as usual had to promise not to ask any questions about what he was doing or why he was there. I met him outside a warehouse in Brickstown in the evening. I met him without bubbles or anything, and he seemed to like that I was being discrete. "Take your time and look them ALL over. After all, you promised." I had a copy of the original August 29th City Scoop where the contest had been announced, not that it really meant anything. But last time he hadn't really spent much time looking through the entries, and I was trying to make him feel guilty. This was my third trip and he'd already picked out 5 winners during the previous two weeks. I wanted to make sure he'd keep going. So he read the stories, watched the videos, and started looking through the pictures again. He stopped at one, then looked around at the other Freakshow. "Bip 'n Bop, you're famous." He showed the two Freak Tanks a picture, then checked the name on the back. "Syn_of_ages is the first winner. The next time you two decide to boost some computers, check for tights. I also liked that video, Like a Freakshow by Krekka2.0. There are your two winners. Now if you'll excuse us, we have some business to do." I left, but I phoned in an anonymous tip to the police once I got far enough away.

Alf-Hassed Halloween By Hostile_V If you're reading this, chances are it's Halloween. Or you're on my computer. Shoo. But my point is that you SHOULD be out in fanciful costumes, trick or treating or basically flirting with people who you assume to be the opposite sex. In my defense, a man or woman can wear a gorilla mask. But the problem with Halloween is that some people either don't care or are too lazy to think of their own dang costume. So with a loving tribute to HexGirl, here's Hostile V's Guide To Last Minute Halloween Costumes For Cheap/Rushed/Unimaginative People. Your experiences may vary. If you are a cat-girl: Wear a grammatically incorrect sign around your neck and look cute in human situations. If you are a cat-man: Wear some damn clothes. If you are male and have sonic powers: Rick Astley costume, Sonic female: Fran Drescher. If you are missing an arm: Slot machine. If you are psychic: Claim to be the guy from Scanners. If you are a Stalker: Adam or Eve, depending on gender. Chances are people will ignore you, so just go buck naked. If you have stone armor: Giant, living piece of.....coal. You'll need a lot of spray paint. If you have bird wings: Apollo from the Led Zepplin albums, men only. Bat wings: Study biker tattoos for ideas. If you have an assault rifle: Take off your shirt. People will assume you are some action hero. Smile and nod. If you are a ninja: Why do you need a costume? The WORLD is your costume! If you are a Crab Spider: Use paper-mache, go as a Hydra. Female Crab Spider: Clingy ex-girlfriend (with the extra arms, amirite?) Bane Spider: Angry Combine Security Guard. If you are a ghost: Ghost of Christmas Present. Just bluff it. If you have no powers and are completely normal: Nemesis robot. If you look like you have half a football taped on your chest symmetrically: Uh.....anything. Expect lots of compliments.

The City Scoop
No Need to LFT By Lemur_Lad This article is about my most recent trip to 50. When I came back to the game, lots of things had changed. Most notably my girlfriend had decided to come back to the game with me and play this game exclusively for a while. Previously she was playing this game and World of Warcraft, but lack of time meant she chose the one I was most interested in at the time. Issue 12 was calling loudly to me, and the real life family commitments that kept me away were easing. Why I was gone isn't the point though. What is the point is how we decided to play together as a couple, and how we made it work, and how it ended up being a really rewarding experience. It's great to have a guaranteed teammate most of the time. However it's also a challenge. In the normal game world, if you're around a teammate that things aren't working with, then you leave the team, no harm no foul usually. Even with online friends, you're not often in a situation where you must find a way to make things work. Part of any relationship is compromise. I respected that she was playing this game so we could spend time together. Even though we're together, that doesn't mean we're going to want the same things at the same time, and we had to work it out, because both of us were going to be there the next day. It's not the kind of team you can walk away from. True to my nature, I went for the biggest shiniest aspect of the new issue first, and rolled up a new VEAT. I had taken a quick look at them in beta, but only for about an hour of play. My girlfriend puttered through her character list, and decided she wanted to get to 50 at last. She'd played off and on for years, but never made it to 50 anytime. She heard me talk about the Epics and decided she wanted the option to make one. Hero or villain didn't matter much to her, but she preferred her low 20s Fire/Fire Dominator named Darling Darkling. It worked out well for my desire to play a VEAT. Over a couple of weeks, I played my Solder up through the levels while she was taking care of her real life commitments, and I would play a mid level alt I had with her when we had time to play together. I could have lackeyed up, or she could have malefactored down. Why didn't we? Well we didn't want to hold up her advancement too much since her playtime was limited. For me, I wanted to play up through the levels and get a real feel for my guy. I'm not big on super fast leveling, and I like the early levels to get an understanding for the AT. As we got closer and closer, that became my incentive. The character got more and more fun to play, and the thought of playing as a duo was appealing. Her Dominator's controls would help keep enemies in position for my Area Attacks, and also keep me safe from sustained damage, which is a big deal in the lower levels for a VEAT. Also the magic level 24 is such a big deal for VEATs and that pushed me hard too. Right around level 22, we began playing together consistently. It took several levels to get the hang of things. Several reasons for that were I had to learn how to do things on my character, she was still relearning how to do things on her character, and the biggest of all: We had to learn to communicate what we were doing and when and how and what things to do to handle fights. Unfortunately, it's a long distance relationship. We get to see each other nowhere near often enough. So playing together becomes even more important. Phone calls are key, but expensive. The game is a convenient and inexpensive way to spend time together. Unfortunately, my microphone was broken, so for a couple of months, voice chat wasn't an option, until I gave up on my stubborn desire to fix it and got a new one. So learning to fight involved a lot of typing. Teaching the ins and outs of different powers did too. This is the paragraph I get to talk up my girlfriend as a player though. She was a real champ about really learning how to play. You could just be-bop along and toss powers and let someone make decisions for you. She wanted to do the best she could with her stuff and understand why to do different things at the right times. Learning how to use the market, what to look for, what kind of goals she could set for her build, and how to slot things for the best. She gets mad at herself for dying or messing up a situation, but it doesn't happen often, and it never happens for the same reason twice. It made me proud, but when I try to tell her that she calls me biased. She thinks I'm some huge expert, but conveniently forgets I'm the idiot who had to burn two vet respecs on my VEAT (on top of the mandatory at level 24) because I either was in a rush and didn't research, or screwed up a power pick. So yeah, there ya go, I'm a noob.	Vol. 2, Issue 21 October 31th, 2008 This Issue: Get Your Freak ON Halloween Community Fan Fiction Spotlight The Top Ten The Redeemers Market Watch Base Showcase Mistress Noire's Kitchen Classifieds Comic Upcoming Events: November 1st Freedom Arachnos Flier Saturday Champion Master of Statesman TF November 2nd Victory Q Patrol SpooQy MasQerade November 8th Justice 500 Million PVP Event November 15th Justice Saturday Morning Massacre
So we played through the mid to late 20s that way. It went pretty smoothly but we did have some minor bumps. It was all about pacing at this stage. When you're not in the same room and can't hear the other person, it's really hard to gauge their mood. My pace is pretty quick, and I like to run through several spawns or even full missions without stopping too often. Sometimes my girlfriend wants to chat about other things or even just talk about the game but stop to type between spawns. I think it's safe to say this led to some friction on some nights. So how do we deal with it? First off, we try to be clear with each other what we're looking to do and how we're feeling when we start. Second, sometimes it means I throttle down and we talk a lot about this and that, and we only get 1 or 2 missions done. Other times she holds her tongue for a little while and we muddle on and talk between missions. We don't keep score and we don't argue about it. We just talk and make it work. By the time we hit 32, things were going smoothly. It was a big night when she got her Fire Imps. They were the main reason she made the character. She was happy, and I hit on a way to make her happier. I was in a rush to make my VEAT and had picked a kind of lame name (Prosimian Agent). I wasn't happy with it but I really wanted a VEAT ASAP. As we were leveling, she and I had talked about other duos, and I knew she really wanted two characters that made it obvious we were a couple. We had other ideas and we've made them and played them some. But that evening I dropped a spare tens dollars of my monthly Fun Money on a name change. Darling Darkling now had Operative Darkling as her partner. I got major Good Boyfriend points that day. As for missions, our kill speed was faster, and she was more comfortable with playing so it took less time to get things done and we could talk more comfortably. We were even looking for more challenges because she felt the Elite Bosses were too easy. It took a lot of practice, and we used Shivans, but we upgraded ourselves to Archvillains and Heroes. That was pretty satisfying for both of us. Our next big step was other people. My Darling Darkling told me one day that she wanted to start playing in groups more. Prior to that, I was operating based on what she had told me about not feeling confident enough to not mess up. I'm not a big team guy, but I don't mind finding them. We started jumping in on occasional PuGs, and joined some friends of mine in a small global channel. I even stepped out of my comfort zone and formed some teams for us at times. I'm not against teams, I'm just a bit lazy. Also I'm big time into the journey being more important than the destination. However I had forgotten something. This was her first 50. The Need-It-Bad Bug came and bit her. She wanted to level faster. As soon as she told me, I understood. I remembered the single minded way I made the trip on my first characters. So we reached the last point of friction and compromise. She put up with me when I wanted to putter a little slower and get some of our story arcs done, and I jumped in on some teams and we did several ITFs to speed up our leveling. That is about it. We both hit 50 on an ITF run after her first LRSF run. It was her first 50, and my sixth. However for me this one was the most satisfying since the first. It's definitely the one that inspires the most warm fuzzies. Here's hoping my story is interesting to some folks, and some couples out there that play can find something about how to play and have fun together. We're both looking forward to Issue 13 and the Leveling Pact. As much as she wants to play her VEAT she's decide we're going to wait until the feature is in so we can link that way, and we won't have to stress over doing a mission or two when the other can't play.

<center>The City Scoop, May 18, 2007
Inaugural Issue- Paragon University profile, Costume drop fix, everything is new! Behind the Mask, Horoscopes, Crossword.

The City Scoop, May 25, 2007
What’s New- Consignment House profile, Point/Counterpoint on Hot Topics, Advice columns.

The City Scoop, June 1, 2007
What’s New- Dark Astoria profile, new series: State of the Archetype, event listing, Player Art coverage.

The City Scoop, June 8, 2007
What’s New- Abyss/Monster Isle profile, Market Watch, Leather Weather Report, Rogue Islands Repast.

The City Scoop, June 15, 2007
What’s New- Double Experience previews, Rainbow Prom coverage, Talos Island profile, Hero Quiz.

The City Scoop, June 22, 2007
What’s New- Double Experience Weekend coverage, Cruelty of the Week, PvP coverage, Sudoku.

The City Scoop, June 29, 2007
What’s New- Issue 10 Closed Beta Test coverage, IMHO, all your regular favorites.

The City Scoop, July 6, 2007
What’s New- Steel 70 drop ship battle, Encounters in character interview, Where am I?, Classified Ads.

The City Scoop, July 13, 2007
What’s New- Call to Arms speechwriting contest, Robot Rampage, Heroes in Pink, Ingame Ads, City Scoop submission Guidelines.

The City Scoop, July 20, 2007
What’s New- Port Oakes profile, Letter from the editor, Hot Threads, and more.

The City Scoop, July 27, 2007
What’s New- Civil Defense Invasion primer, How do I role play, Fashion Forward.

The City Scoop, August 3, 2007
What’s New- Invasion! Player reactions, /em Smack is born!

The City Scoop, August 10, 2007
What’s New- Call to Arms Speech Contest Winners, Base Showcase.

The City Scoop, August 17, 2007
What’s New- Developer Interview: Castle, Call to Arms: highlights.

The City Scoop, August 24, 2007
What’s New- Ultimate Grats: player gets 1st 50 at GenCon, City of Zeroes: Scoop Edition.

The City Scoop, August 31, 2007
What’s New- In character interview with Developer Ghost Widow, regular favorites.

The City Scoop, September 14, 2007
What’s New- City Scoop attacked by Rikti (honest!), CoH player wins Who Wants to be a Superhero, Rumor Mill, Character Transfer Rename rundown, The City Traveler: Atlas Park.

The City Scoop, September 21, 2007
What’s New- Developer Interview: Matt Miller lead designer, Goodbye Arctic Sun.

The City Scoop, September 28, 2007
What’s New- Meet ‘n Greet Austin, Texas! Myth Smashers

The City Scoop, October 5, 2007
Issue 11 Announcements, Tanker Tuesday.

The City Scoop, October 12, 2007
Go. Hunt. Get. Badge. City View, City Traveler.

The City Scoop, October 19, 2007
Collectors Corner, Go. Hunt. Get. Badge. City View, City Traveler.

October 26, 2007
Week's Winners, Recipes, Go Hunt Get Badge, Base Spotlight, City Traveler, Commission Corner, Interviews, /em Smack

November 2, 2007
Saturday Night Fights, Costume Contest Results, Recipes, Go Hunt Get Badge, City Traveler, Collector's Corner, Interviews, /em Smack

November 9, 2007
NCSoft Buyout, Popular Request, Go Hunt Get Badge, Cruelty of the week, Content Watch, Collector's Corner, Interviews, and more

November 16, 2007
Fan Site: Woot Studios, Art Spotlight, Fanzine Launch, Kid's Korner, Veteran's Day, Regular Features

November 23, 2007
Secret Turkey Day Issue! Recipes, Meet and Greet info, Black Friday

December 7, 2007
Content Watch, Base Showcase, Recipes, How Not to Get Sick

December 14, 2007
Interview with Manticore! Meet n Greet Highlights, regular features

December 21, 2007
Holiday Issue 2007, Content Watch, PERCy Answers, Artist Spotlight, and more

January 11, 2008
Go Hunt Get Badge, Base Showcase, Top Ten List

January 18, 2008
Saturday Night Fights, Point Counterpoint, Top Ten List, regular features

January 25, 2008
Giant Monster Exhibit, Content Watch, The Arena, City of Zeroes

February 1, 2008
Behind the Mask: Dev Incognito, Date Date Revolution, Top Ten List, the usual insanity

February 8, 2008
Double XP weekend info, Toons on Film, Valentine's Recipe Spectacular.

February 15, 2008
A marriage of Heroes, Dimensional Lockdown, Advice from the X, City of Commercials contest, the Arena, and more

February 22, 2008
Welcome to the Big League, Content Watch, Base Showcase, Recipes, Horoscopes, Top Ten

February 29, 2008
Better Bases and Gardens, Go Hunt Get Badge, Point/ Counterpoint, Game Dialogue Gems

March 7, 2008
Rikti Invasions schedule, Villains and Black, Bases, Recipes, PvP, and more.

March 14, 2008
Issue 12 Announcements, Robot Rampage, Fan Fiction Highlight, the usual goodies.

March 21, 2008
Roleplaying Forum info, Recipes, the Arena, Love Leather, Behind the Mask, Issue 12 uproar.

March 28, 2008
Issue 12 powersets, Fan Fiction section, the Arena, Recipes.

April 4, 2008
Fan Art Contest, Knockback is your friend, Spring into fashion, Community section.

April 11, 2008
Heroes Villains and Witches event recap, Hard Knocks, Panic and Mayhem in the streets, Market Watch, and then some!

April 18, 2008
Additional Character slots, Lord of the Losers, Point Counterpoint, Teenage Fun event, Guardian Love story

April 25, 2008
Have Video Camera Will travel, Right is not always right, Events, Community, Recipes, Market, Bases, Food, Moar!

May 2, 2008
Billion Inf Contest, In Retrospect, Community, Advice, Market, Bases, Interviews, Food, and stuff.

May 9, 2008
Costume Sets, Popular Request, Fashion Spotlight, Market, Bases, Interviews

May 16, 2008
Content Watch, Top Ten, Community section, Black Market, Bases, Interviews, Nom Nom Nom

May 23, 2008
Guardian Love Story, Community Section, Market Section, Bases, Food.

May 30, 2008
Test PvP, Those who can't do, Superteams, Fashion Spotlight, Market Watch, Bases, Food, Interviews.

June 6, 2008
Cutting Loose, VEAT superteam, Market Watch, Base Showcase, Puzzles, Comics, No Lemur Interviews at all.

June 13, 2008
FRAD Superteam, Fiction Spotlight, And Nothing's On, Food, Interviews, Puzzles, Comics

June 20, 2008
Mostly Scrapper Superteam, Top Ten List, My Head Hurts, Community Page, Market Page, Base Page, Food Page, Puzzle Page.

June 27, 2008
Goin Green, Tank Mages Superteam, Community, Encounters, Base Showcase.

July 3, 2008
Spandex Spotlight, PvP Superteam, Bases, Fan Fiction, Recipes.

July 11, 2008
Paragon Knights Summer Bash, Legacy Pieces, Content Watch, In the red, Community page, Base Showcase, Puzzle

July 18, 2008
All Access announcement, Popular Request, Community Page, Market Watch, Events, and more

July 27, 2008
PermaDom Superteam, Blockbuster ignored, Requiem for Eye Beams, Community Page, The People On...

August 8, 2008
Rogue Isles Legend, Writer's Block, Anarchy in the USA, Community page, Why I joined Longbow, Spandex Spotlight, Markets

August 22, 2008
Sidekicking for Dummies, Joining the Scoop, Point/Counterpoint, The People On.., Market Watch.

August 29, 2008
Get Your Freak On contest, Go Hunt Get Badge, Message from Positron, Under the Hood- resistance, Rogue Isles Legend

September 5, 2008
Under the Hood- Endurance 101, Content Watch, Market Watch, The People On..., Community Page, Bases.

September 12, 2008
Under the Hood- Endurance 201, Choose Wisely, Behind the PvP Mask, Rogue Isles Legend, Fan Fiction Spotlight, more!

September 19, 2008
Phil's Philosophy, Writer's Block, Market Watch, Under the Hood, Welcome Back Bash, City Fiction

September 26, 2008
The People on Port Oakes, City Fiction, Community Page, Behind the PvP Mask, Base Showcase

October 3, 2008
Under the Hood, Phil's Philosophy, Don't Look Back in anger, Lots of Fan Fiction, Market Watch, Recipes Return!

October 10, 2008
Behind the PvP Mask, Advice form the X, Top Ten List, Fan Fiction, Base Showcase, The People On Time Travel, Food

October 17, 2008
Get your Freak On Winners!, Fan Fiction, Interviews, Bases, Food!

October 24, 2008
More Get your Freak On Winners!, Friendly Free for All, Regular features with fresh and sassy style!</center>

Please add JamoUp's Fire/Fire Scrapper Guide to the next update, this guide was created by JamoUp

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Vol. 2, Issue 20
October 24, 2008

The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers! With this issue we have many of our regular features back and moar!

Read the latest publication and then join in on the community discussion!

If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Lighthouse or Ex Libris.

If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe

If you need some “Advice” contact Lady_Athyna or would like to “Ask The X” contact LiquidX

Finally if you have a Classified Ad or Recipe you would like included please contact: LadyK or MistressNoire

Vol. 2, Issue 17
October 24, 2008

The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers! With this issue we have many of our regular features back and moar!

Read the latest publication and then join in on the community discussion!

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Base Showcase By EnnVee
The Horde
Who is your base designer and who are your supergroup leaders? I am both the leader and base designer for super group The Horde. Global @Knight Shayd but Growlie is the actual alt that leads and edits the base. What server is your base on? The Horde base is located villain side on the Infinity server. When was your supergroup established? The Horde was established 10-30-2005 which was during the 3 day head start at the launch of City of Villains. How many players are in your supergroup? Alt-wise we are about at capacity. Overall between active and more casual players with have, I would say we have about 30-40 different players with about 1/2 that # being on the more active side. What is the approximate value of your base? I would estimate the base to be worth about 10-15 million prestige with all the items and rooms. How much time do you spend working on your base? How much time have you invested so far? I don't spend much time working on the base regularly, maybe an hour every week or so, just tinkering around. If I get an idea or a request from an SG member, then I can spend a considerable amount of time in the base. In its current incarnation, I have spent about a month or two worth of play sessions (couple hours a night, most nights a week) getting it to where it is now. Many months ago it was completely different, and on a whim I just decided to redesign it all into the beach/boardwalk type theme and just stayed in base edit mode until complete. What is your favorite base item? Least favorite? I would have to say the control A.E.S. is my favorite base item due to just how cool it looks. As for least favorite...well I don't really have one. Every item has its place somewhere, in some type of room. What is your favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite? I would have to say just how it adds another element to the game and gives you another outlet for creativity. Least favorite would have to be all the limitations you run into while editing due to pathing, stacking, etc. What is the highest thing on your wish-list for new base items? As far as items, the things I want to see most are more recreational items. Fun things like the pool tables in Pocket D or the slot machines in the Golden Giza in St Martial. Due to the non-PvP/casual nature of The Horde's base, these things would be really great. After that I would love a terminal that lets you access the market from the base. If you could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor, what would it be? Visit the base construction area of the CoH/V message boards. It's just a great place to go if you need a question answered, are stuck for an idea, or just want to share what you have created.	The Horde base: Summer at the shore!

Behind the PvP Mask Interview by Neuronia

SpectralPhantom Can you tell us a little about yourself? Age, occupation and your natural habitat? I'm 25 and work in a factory in Ontario, Canada. Working on getting my pilot's license. I have a wife and a 10 month old. Have a favorite movie? Have to say Gladiator. Named my son Maximus How about musical tastes? Alternative/Rock guy. OLP, 3 days grace, Nickelback, Skillet, oh and let's not forget New kids on the block. When did you first discover PvP in City of Heroes? When it was introduced. Enjoyed the zones until my friend Antman introduced me to Moe, leader of Velocity, and I found a whole new world that was test PvP. Any PvP experience outside this game? Not really, some console, but this was my first in depth comp game. Mender Moebius and SoulTrain 2020 by johnbecaro

Which Test PvP groups have you been a member of, could you tell us about them? Velocity was the first. I learned about things in this game I never would have otherwise known from them. Left them near the end of the Velocity run and joined Old School Legends Heroside. Both groups had some great players and I had a lot of fun with them. Villain side, Raz and I started The Renegades from a live group named Bedlam(Liberty), which was lead by Kurgain. We picked up some other players, and haven't looked back. Your favorite role in the Arena and most challenging? Most challenging IMO is healing/buffing. Props to all those that pick that role. Alot of grief and very little recognition. My favorite role has been leader/coach. I enjoy working on strats and calling team lineups. Rad/Psi(Target caller) has probably been my most rewarding toon to play. What is your most memorable Arena moment, team or otherwise? Beating VORI for the #1 spot on the villian ladder. We now have an 11-0 winning streak on the ladder, something we are very proud of. Also, watching players on my team grow and become amazing at their roles. You're co-leader of the Renegades. How did you get the job and how do you and Raz hold the team together? We started The Renegades at a time when I thought Velocity was going to die. I knew I was ready to have a go at leading something. I had never done alot of Vill side PvP and had alot of team and strat ideas. Raz and I are good friends IRL so that helps alot with leading. The Renegades are more a family than a team. It almost holds itself together. We have been blessed with very little drama and it has been an awsome run and a pleasure leading this great bunch of people. Special thanks to Raz, Kurgain, Marne and Max.

Phil's Philosophical Meanderings On the Nature of Good and Evil By The Philotic Knight What is good? What is evil? Philosophers have been trying to define these two elusive terms for millennia. Honestly, we will probably never know the answer. However, let's take a look at this question from the perspective of our game world, shall we? City of Heroes is a game about good vs. evil; it's a game about Heroes vs. Villains. But are Heroes good and Villains necessarily evil? Well, what could define good and evil are a few different categories: action, motive, and result. Let's look at action first. In this game, what do Heroes do, essentially, to level up? They pummel, pound, zap and immolate their adversaries. What do Villains do? Essentially the same thing. Well then, just looking directly at a character's actions can't really tell you whether those actions are good or evil. There must be something more, some greater context that determines the classification of these actions. Let's take a look at motive. What makes Heroes and Villains do what they do? Well, there are a thousand origin stories out there and a thousand motivations. A true discussion about motivation could take an entire novel just to tap the surface of the subject. How about we take the two “patrons” of the respective communities, Statesman and Lord Recluse, and analyze them. What does Statesman stand for? Probably what comes to mind first are order, justice, and stability. What does Lord Recluse stand for? He would probably say chaos, freedom, and a Darwinist theory (Note Darwin's Landing as the first thing a villain sees in the Rogue Isles). Why does Statesman fight against Lord Recluse? Because he values the “protection of the weak” whereas Recluse fights for the ideal of “survival of the fittest”. These are two diametrically opposed ideals. As are freedom and order, as complete freedom is chaos, and complete order is servitude. However, does Statesman fight for servitude, and does Recluse really fight for complete chaos? I would say the answer is no, for Statesman helps to maintain freedom from tyranny in his fights, and Recluse has created and controls the organization of Arachnos, which is not completely chaotic. So the two must agree that either extreme is not truly desired, and yet they still sit at opposite ends of the table. So what makes “more order” better than “more freedom”? I would argue that neither side is necessarily more good or evil than the other. While the motivations of Statesman and Recluse are diametrically opposed, they do share quite a bit of similarity over their most basic views, the only difference being which side of the order/chaos, control/freedom line they stand on. Apparently motivation cannot tell us what is good and what is evil, for villains sometime bring good into the world through their own self interest, and heroes have often times brought evil into the world through the best of intentions. Which brings us down to the final category: result. As you may have guessed by now, the hypothesis with which I wrote this article was that the end result is indeed what can determine the nature between good and evil. Not what you do, not why you do it, but what the results of your actions are on the world. The results of Recluse's actions on the Rogue Isles has created a world that is almost completely free from control, however most rational people looking at that world would most likely not want to live there. Statesman's actions have created a bright and clean world, which does constrain its citizens, but one could argue not excessively so. The game designers were obviously creating a game world where good and evil could play out in moral dramas and dilemmas while at the same time allowing players to input their own creativity into the world via their own characters. Looking at the designs of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, and looking at all of the game documentation, packaging, and marketing. Looking even at the names of the two games which are now one, I believe that it should be obvious to most people that “good” in the “City of” world is represented by the Heroes, while “evil” is represented by the villains. However, this is the perspective of one group of “authors”, the game designers. What is your perspective? Do you agree? Do you believe being on the side of order is “good”, and that playing a villain is essentially a guilty pleasure, or do you believe that the villains have it right, and that playing a hero is too morally constrictive? As with most philosophical questions, this is one which has as many answers as there are minds to ponder it. Matt King in Talos Island by Blood_Wolffe Mistress Noire's Kitchen This weeks recipe comes from Krekka ! Enjoy ! Lemon Cookies Cookies: 1 package cake mix(plain) 2 eggs 1/3rd cup oil 1 tablespoon lemon juice Icing: 1 cup confect. sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice Process: Combine all Cookie ingredients in bowl. Beat at low until all is well blended. Shape into 1 inch balls and place on greased cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Bake for 6-7 minutes at 375 degrees or until lightly brown. Cool for 1 minute on baking sheet and then cool on rack. Either dust with powdered sugar or frost with above recipe (Icing) See you again next week for some holloween treats! Mistress Noire

Fan Fiction Spotlight Presented by: Mr_Grey Robots Don't Cry By: SlickRiptide For his part, Armitage was positively effusive once his attention was freed from his work. He strode quickly and confidently across the room, hand extended; the picture of a man who believes that all is right with the world. "Detective Brogan, welcome! I'm relieved that you've finally come. I'd been expecting you yesterday!" Brogan was taken aback. This was nothing like how he'd planned to open the conversation. "You were expecting me yesterday?" Armitage grasped Brogan's hand warmly and pumped it enthusiastically. "Of course, of course!" The confusion on Brogan's face tipped him that he'd put the cart before the horse. "Ah, forgive me. By 'You' I simply meant someone in an official capacity, not you personally. I warned the excavators that they might find Professor Clark's remains and instructed them to inform the proper authorities immediately if that occurred. I had assumed that you came here to release the site so that we can get on with our experiment. The window of opportunity is limited!" Brogan retrieved his hand from Armitage's grasp. "As to that..." he began. He was interrupted by a musical chime from across the lab, followed by Armitage quickly and firmly grasping his shoulder with one hand, his elbow with the other, and steering him several steps to the right. "You'd best step over here." Armitage said. "We're not entirely certain about the radius of the electrical field." Armitage stepped quickly over to a conveniently-placed workstation and began flipping switches. He looked past Brogan expectantly. Brogan turned and saw a brief shimmer in the air a few steps from where he had been standing. Without any warning, the empty space was suddenly full of brass and plastic, as a large copper-colored statue, shaped like an oil barrel with articulated arms and legs and a half-dome for a head, appeared out of thin air! A thrill ran through Brogan, born completely of childhood fear and wonder. He swore under his breath and had his pistol half-drawn before he realized the absurdity of what he was doing. Like many children of his generation who had had spent Saturday mornings in front of the television, he'd followed the adventures of Captain Blastoff and his adversaries, the Goonbots. Unlike most kids, he'd had nightmares about them the first time he saw them; at least, until Captain Blastoff had beaten them a few times. Eventually, he'd found them, if not amusing, at least not so frightening. So he had thought, anyway. It seemed that childhood monsters could still jump out from under the beds to terrorize adults under the right circumstances! "Hello, Detective Brogan", said the Goonbot with an evil grin, its eyes flashing malignly. "It's a pleasure to meet you again." It was difficult finding a good portion of this story to utilize for a preview without giving anything away. See, there are two parts to this so far, the story and the theory working behind it. Since it deals with time travel, the story really needs the theory in order to work well, but I think it's better if Slick explains it. Unfortunately, theory tends to do little to convey what's going on in a story, so I figured this introduction of the character, Eddi, would suffice. It's not often that a story deals with background characters as strongly as this one does. Most fan fiction writers tend to want to explain their own characters or the ones who work with the characters presented by the developers tend more toward the major plot-centric characters like Statesman, Lady Grey or Nemesis. It's not too often we get a story that features Detective Brogan and Holsten Armitage, characters that are often skipped or overlooked by players and tend not to have much involvement in the total lore. It's both unusual and comforting that SlickRiptide is writing a story like this. While we could probably have assumed that Jose Brogan continued to work as a police detective, whether or not we did his missions, there is nothing to tell us what happened with Holsten Armitage, who sends you on a mission to save a Senator once your Hero hits level 30 but only runs a science store afterward. Mind, you, however, that these two are not the only ones involved in this story. The "Goonbot," Eddi, must be taken into consideration as well. I strongly suggest the reader pay special care to what's going on with this character, for if I have this right, that's Slick's character, and the one this story is really about. Still, it's good to see some characters go beyond their programmed moorings. The Top Ten Things overheard during Hero-Con. By Rastafari_Man In the intrest of protecting those who were, umm, well let's just call it, not at thier top mental capacities. So in thier best intrest, I won't be adding any names, and that allows me to not have to ask permission, and put words in people's mouth, even if they, and you, don't know who they are. So without further ado or secret turtle wax give aways, here are, the TOP TEN, things overheard during Hero-Con. Number 10 - Brb Bio. Number 9 - More Rum! Number 8 - Your thinking too hard. Number 7 - We're not allowed to talk about that. Number 6 - Jager! Number 5 - No, sign THESE! Number 4 - Anyone got a light? ( I was outside smoking....ALOT ) Number 3 - Well whose pants ARE they? Number 2 - And now our guest of Honor, Mr. Jac---Oops wait, this is for the Top Ten things NOT heard at Hero-Con. And the Number One thing heard at Hero-Con... I'm Overpowered. Or at least that's how I'm twisting the words for the sake of my own tiny shattered ego. ( Making my own personal moment number 1, helps too! )