Fanservice

I never said you can't have a 'plot' to blow it up, just that you can't physically blow it up. The outcome of that plot is that it is predestined to fail. If people are fine with that then by all means, go for it. However be aware that this is only one half of this discussion.

Basically, there's two 'problem' plots on show here.

1. Plots that would incite a city wide response. Mass Child Murder. Nuclear Bomb Threats. Giant Alien Spaceships with Planet Busters. These are plots a character can't really justify ignoring because they're simply too huge in their impact on the city.

2. Outcomes of plots that leave things in a state that the game world flatly contradicts. Bulldozing Perez Park. Toppling Atlas Statue. Turning Kings Row into Glass. Murdering Statesman. That sort of thing.


I'd elaborate on this, but it seems I need to be sure on what this discussion is about as people keep moving the goalposts. Do you have any problem with the above two rules?

The Game isn't immune to silly plots either.

No! No. You don't understand. You are missing the point.

Don't blow up things which have a physical presence in game. Don't destroy Agincourt. Don't topple the Atlas Statue. Don't shrink and steal Freedom Corps.

That's it. That's all this is about. You're making it way, way more complicated than it needs to be. It's got nothing to do with people's characters 'claiming' an area. It's about not changing the game world in a way that should be physically represented but isn't. That's all this is about. Your example with Agincourt isn't "My character works and Agincourt so you can't blow it up" and is more "You can't blow Agincourt up, as it'll remain unexploded in game. So don't blow it up"

God you're killing me here. This is such a simple point, how can you miss it so badly?

Superman isn't always there. There's hundreds, nay thousands of stories that happen in DC that doesn't involve Superman. So that's a bit disingenuous to start with. But it's also pretty much not what anyone argues either.

What people mean by "Too big to ignore" is plots like ... a Skrull invasion, or the Joker planning to blow up the entire of Las Vegas, or Darkseid invading the earth. Plots that everyone, not just Superman, can't really ignore.

Really Shadowe explained it just fine in the thread. It's entirely fair to ask people not go overboard. No plot should require this kind of citywide upheavel to tell it. It's also a bit rubbish. If you're threatening the entire city, your loss is guaranteed. As you're not going to blow it up and say "Okay guys, RP's all over now thanks for playing" and have anyone take you seriously.

You're arguing against something that no one else is saying. You're right that it'd be rediculous if someone had a character who'd 'know' about any plot going on and rush to stop it. No one does though, so it's entirely pointless to argue that.

Emma Sparks:

"Would you rather be an egg or a tomato?"


Tomato duh. Who want's to be something that comes out of a chicken's butt?


"Velma or Daphne, if you had too, which one?"


Had to what? Oh my god whatever it is I'd go with Daphne, she seem's like she'd be more fun to talk too.


Fanservice Girl:

"Would you rather be an egg or a tomato?"


Well I've a love for eggy food, so if someone absolutely has to eat me I guess I'd pick the potentially tastiest option. So egg it is.


"Velma or Daphne, if you had too, which one?"


Daphne. I like long legs, that's no secret.



Wrench Wench:

"Would you rather be an egg or a tomato?"


I've already been an egg once and I survived that, so egg seems fairly obvious. What kind of question is that?


"Velma or Daphne, if you had too, which one?"


I think the thing you have to take into mind when taking one of these hostage is that ultimately the other will come looking for you. So you need to deprive the opposing side of a valuable asset while also making sure you don't leave them with someone even more capable. Daphne is the more athletic of the two, but ultimately this is all she has going for her as she's the common sense of a bowl of cress. While Velma is the Scooby Gang's brains and the usual perpetrator of devious plots to catch the episode's villain. Velma's know how is useless if she's taken early, while Daphne's speed may prove difficult some well placed caltrops should tie this advantage down nicely.

So Velma. I'd smash her glasses too, she's quite inept without them.

I'd be playing City of Heroes 2

Because that's the only reason they'd be allowed to shut down CoH. The only one. Don't even think about it.

I don't have a farm toon but I wouldn't say I'm proud about it.

I just don't farm, so I don't need one. If I did farm I probably would make one, makes sense to me to not make it longer and more tedious than it already is.

Oh hell yes.

Go read Powers if you haven't people, it's good stuff.

Ravenswing brings up a good reminder for me with that!

Soaring Horizon might be classified as a god. She absorbs the powers of long forgotten and malevolent gods and redifines them into her own expanding Pantheon.

Though they're hardly all powerful. Heck you beat up a god in CoV and that one was fairly powerful, these are mainly the chump change.

Why not? Does it actually cause issues?

Kumi is a character I have who made her money through childhood stardom and now uses the money to fund a relief charity and leave herself time to do Hero stuff.

Bodyshop is a character who's not really a hero or a Villain. Able to do the work of a plastic surgeon and more with the touch of a hand, she's made a fortune doing just that. She's mainly there for people to use if they want to change their character's appearance, but it'd be silly to say she didn't get rich off it.

Wrench Wench uses her insight into systems to play the Stock Market and make a fortune. But she builds giant robots and all other kinds of gadgets, so this one's actually a requirement.

I've got characters that are broke too, or at least have to juggle worklife and hero life. But I don't really see how having a lot of money is a problem. Billionare Superman isn't hard to imagine, he could easily have been a Billionare if he wanted to be.

Yeah my heroy characters still do stuff in Kings Row, same as the rest of the city, while Ravens line there gives the impression that they don't. I don't really have a character that exclusively focuses on one area* like Louise if that's what it meant, but I also don't have a character that used Kings as a stepping stone. I tend to ignore the in game zone levels, as there's bound to be small time crooks in every bit of the city not just the sub 25 ones. King's just has it the worst!


*Okay Horizon does, but the bit she lays claim too isn't even in the game so it'd be rather hard for someone else to claim it.

But that's the problem. Soon as you set RP as something that can be "won" no one wants to lose. Deciding who gets to win should be done beforehand, else it's only going to lead to frayed tempers. How else do you decide the resolution? The better RP'er wins? Yeah I can see people swallowing that one easily.

The only other alternative is actual PvP, which people are adverse too due to it being horribly unbalanced.

It doesn't work for a few fairly simple reasons.

The main one is most people just don't want to lose. The Heroes don't want to lose, the Villains don't want to lose. People say "Oh the heroes should lose now and then" but what they really mean is "My Villain shouldn't ever lose, he/she is that awesome". Even if everyone denies this, I think we can all agree that an open thread will have at least ONE of these people in it. And it only takes one.

Power levels. They're all over the shop. Some Heroes and Villains are street level, some are your standard Superhero level and some are on such a ridiculous power level that they're going to absolutely dominate any plot they join. No one likes being marginalised for a plot, but generally I find when Villains go up against Heroes even Kumi, who's an incredibly powerful Regen/Super Strength, is not even close to holding a candle to others who claim her toughness and Strength as just a given and then expand on that with a huge list of 'extra' powers. Worse, some people play nothing BUT these characters and frankly I'm not interested in it one bit.

These people generally refuse to take it to the arena too. So what..... I'm just meant to accept I'm facing a walking god who my character is completely useless against? No thanks, that kind of plot is incredibly hard to pull off at the best of times and even then it should be very, very rare. Not the standard.

So this stuff needs to be loosely pre-arranged. Which kills the 'open' part of it.

Finally it's the tone of RP. Some people like light hearted RP (Yo), some like it to be dark and gritty, some like buckets of angst, some like elements of silliness (Yo again), some like big punch ups and some people are just there to show everyone how awesome their character is. Usually any big mixed RP is a struggle to 'wrench' the plot over to their favoured style, which leads to a lot of dissonance when you've got grim-dark heroes who's parents are DEAAAAAD paired up with a super powered hairdresser with suitably bad lines (Looks like this case was .... cut and dry) fighting a group of miniature God Villains who conquer whole states in their off time (But we never see it as you can't actually do that in CoX)

I think there is a divide in the Unionverse yes, the Heroes tend to fight NPC villains. The Villains tend to fight NPC heroes. It works and it's fairly enjoyable, we just don't have enough people for themed Supergroups to organize some cross faction RP that both sides would enjoy. I can find RP on MMO's hard at times. There's no GM to keep people focused and no incentive to stick to power levels either. Which means there's people out there I just wouldn't RP with if it was a tabletop game and so yes, horrors upon horrors I do ignore people these days if I really don't like their style. I don't think they should stop, there's bound to be people out there who DO like their style and good luck to them but I don't want to RP with them nor do I feel it's my 'duty' to go through the painful process of trying to teach those who don't want to be taught. So a big 'open' plot is never going to be my thing, there'll be people in it I don't like RPing with and I can't exactly ignore them, so stepping back is a good second best