FoundBoy

PoliceWoman reviewed Threefold Rule and rated it a "high 4". Thanks!

Read the review here.

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I had a really strange experience with Threefold Rule. I meant to try it earlier this week, and in fact did start it up. The objectives in the first mission were ambiguous, but I figured what the hey, I'll search around and see if anything stands out. Well nothing stood out, and I started to get very confused about "what are these objectives anyway?" So I quit out and took a look at the mission description: a defendable object and a boss. I figured "ok, I'll try it again this weekend and look for those"

So this evening I jumped back on and even got my husband to duo it with me. For the life of us, we couldn't find a boss or a defendable object on the map. I even made a target custom next "pillar" macro, and didn't find anything. We started killing mobs because we figured we'd find it eventually... but we didn't. We killed a lot of the mobs (stopped short of a defeat all), but never found the objectives.

So I wanted to say that we didn't rate it, because we feel the map may be bugged. We both really liked the writing and the custom mobs, so I hope this can be fixed up (and/or made much less ambiguous) and then we'll be happy to run it again.

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There are some tricky mechanics in that first mission. I'll see if I can clear things up in the next couple of days. (Thanks for giving it a shot though, and for letting me know about the problems. I really appreciate it.)

Thanks for the warm review and the constructive feedback.

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Found an "Aspect of the Pillar" which looked just like a Nictus crystal, which was a bit jarring; for that reason, I'm not sure this is the best graphic to use.

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I'm not thrilled with it either, but the MA tools don't have an actual Ouroboros crystal in their options. In the crystal's description, I tried to include an explanation for why it looks different.

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Defeating the guards surrounding it ended the mission. What happens if I rescue the "Aspect of the Pillar" before the Maiden? I wonder if that might make less sense. (Unless they are triggered in this particular order.)

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Bingo. The objectives are actually chained, though I tried to obscure that in the way I worded the nav text.

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So I return back to the present time. I think either rescuing the Maiden or completing the mission should give some instructional Clue indicating what the player has learned by Observing History; something about the schism between the magical factions, I would say. A lot of this is contained in the briefing for mission 2, but maybe should be clues learned from mission 1. You might also consider adding a clue indicating the Maiden is somehow significant in what is to come.

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I think I'll add a mission complete clue, just to indicate that the player has, indeed, learned something from their history lesson. I'm hesitant to give a clue for the maiden, because I want that encounter to be mysterious, so the player can discover her significance as the story progresses.

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Found that the stacked web grenade from the Heralds (they all seemed to do it) was pretty nasty.

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It should only be the bosses and the lieutenants who have web grenade. The minions should have Martial Arts instead of Devices. I'll take another look to make sure they have the correct powers.

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The mission title seems overly long -- I like that the "Horned God" has all these titles but it makes the nav tool very cramped.

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Maybe I'll trim that. Mostly I wanted to build up the players' expectations of the Horned God to set up the joke of his reality. There may be a better way to do that, though.

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Mission objectives of "Cabal priestess, Legacy Chain priest, Agatha, Horned God" all just use the name of the NPC, but should have some words explaining how you're supposed to interact with them. Something like "Link up with Cabal priestess" or "Meet up with Legacy Chain priest" or "Rescue the Horned God".

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I was worried about making the nav text even more crowded than it already was, but I can still work with it. (Particularly if I trim all the Horned God's titles.)

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A little disappointing that there wasn't a Herald leader to fight somewhere in here; with 3 allies I have a lot of firepower at hand, more than enough to overrun the normal spawns.

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I set the final hostage's guards to "Hard" to try to make things a bit challenging at the end, but that may have been insufficient. I'll see what I can do. Maybe set the mission difficulty to "Ramp up."

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A bit later I was writing up my notes and thought more about it, and was tempted to raise the rating as I liked how the later story elements fit with the initial "flashback" scene; but held back mostly over issues of story motivation (why Agatha decides to reunite the covenant, why the Legacy Chain captures her, why the Heralds attack -- all things I think I could buy, with a little additional explanation of why it's happening).

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I'll try to make their motivations more explicit.

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Call it a high 4.

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Thanks!

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Ally ambushes don't currently work, FWIW. Only one critter will leave the ambush spawn point; everything else stays put.

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Nuts.

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Hm. Good point. Some mobs during the fight that go after both Escalation and the hero could be fun. And doesn't really increase the difficulty because the player can just back off and let her do all the work if wanted....

thanks!

em: goes off to ponder and plan.

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Be careful with this option. I'm pretty sure even an ambush set to "rogue" will target the player by default. And getting ganked by a surprise ambush while already engaged in a pretty tough fight could lead players to ragequitting before they realize that the ambush is attacking Escalation as well.

On the other hand, if the ambush was set to ally ... hmm ... okay, here's an idea.

One criticism I have of this arc is that the player's role is highly reactive. Escalation shows up wreaking havoc, you kick her [censored], but you never actually do anything proactive to stop her spree. I thought the story started moving in this direction when you raided her lab, but no such luck. In the end, she defeated herself. A classic villain downfall, but one that can still leave the player feeling powerless.

Another thing I was wondering about were the clones. They were full-bodied human beings, right? Complete with their own nervous systems? But wouldn't they have their own consciousnesses, when Escalation isn't occupying them? How would the clones feel about getting used this way by their big sister?

Here's a plot line you might develop: Maybe the clones resent being used like disposable flesh suits, and your intrusion into Escalation's lab involves a couple of "free captive" objectives that provide you with an opportunity to liberate the clones.

Studying the clones allows you to develop a way to shield or "inoculate" them from having their minds overridden by Escalation. Then, in the final battle, when Escalation tries to flee her body, she discovers that the other clones are resisting her attempts to take them over. For the grand finale, an ambush of ally-aligned clones rushes to your side and helps you take their former master down for good.

Just one possibility. Do with it what you will.

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I will definitely play your arc tonight, and give you feedback. Do you have a feedback thread? Also, I should say that I played your Dead and the Damned a while back and enjoyed it.

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Oop, yup! I should have posted a link to the thread. You'll find it here. Glad you enjoyed TDatD!

Hi, I enjoyed this arc. It was nice to once again have my street-level hero engage in some street-level heroics.

Mission 2: The fact that these were security guards (I presume from a private firm) kind of threw me. I don't know if rent-a-cops would be so cavalier about the dead body lying right near them. Or that they wouldn't know who hired them.

Mission 3: This mission was basically farmer kryptonite, bute I liked it. It felt like I was actually investigating a crime scene. I thought the flavor text from the NPCs was particularly nice.

Mission 4: Freezing Mantis killed me. As in, made me laugh. His lame flailing was no match for my Martial Arts.

Overall a quality arc. Mention also should be made of the choice of maps, which were very suited to the crime-scene investigation story.

Anyway, would you play Threefold Rule (197183)? Thanks.

You know, you could just stuff all these suggestions in there, and make them all optional (so we can just skip the ones we don't really have a grudge against).

Yeah, I know you'll need at least one required objective. Maybe a glowie.

Nobody else seems to be responding, but I'll go ahead and give you the pat on the back, thumbs up, and say "I'd play it."

I'm surprised you didn't ask for a review of your arc, Anachrodragon. Did you want one? I'll gladly provide.

(I'm still trying to play by this thread's original rules, so I only want to review an arc by someone who already reviewed someone else's.)

Can I recommend additions to that list? Because Willy Wheeler and Mender Tesseract both have it coming.

Threefold Rule (197183) was reviewed over at City of Heroes Mission Review. 4.5 stars, and highly recommended. Thank you!

These arcs get Found Boy's flying face-kick of approval!

Mr. Bocor and the Krewe (190969) by @Uru
This supernatural revenge story does a great job using all the elements of the MA--from the critter design to the contact dialogue to even the final map choice--to really create a powerfully southern-gothic tone that feels right out of New Orleans.

Duality (84105) by @DK424-B
A great crime mystery. The serial killer's concept and M.O. are both original and brilliant.

Astoria in D Minor (41565) by @The Cheshire Cat
In a word: chilling. Play it late at night, alone, with the lights off. Makes excellent use of Dark Astoria's untapped story potential.

Forget the Rose, Send me the Thorns (8925) by @Hydrophidian
Hilarious and absurdist romantic comedy. Play it, anon!

Household Chores of the Damned (4562) and The Best of the Rest of What's Left (2539) by @TwoFlower
Awesome humor arcs that you've probably already played. If you haven't, play them. If you have, play them again!

The Tannhauser Gate (96322) by @Aisynia
Usually I'm leery of stories that involve this much magic. Too often they involve an overabundance of magical plot-device talismans and a-wizard-did-it explanations. This arc skirts dangerously close to these sorts of abuses, but it won me over completely with its excellent mood and gothic, brooding atmosphere.

Fool Me Once (1072) by @Longshot
A great, fun arc where you're a contestant on a (seemingly innocuous) game show.

To aid your search, you might check out "From the Nadir to the Apex", an MA arc that explores what happened to Apex after his last appearance in the comics.

It's not my arc, so I can't tell you what the ID number is, but you should be able to find it pretty easily.

My arcs are i15-compliant, with the following updates!
-Contacts now have info!
-Some custom critters are a smidge easier.
-Arcs now have keywords! (As follows.)

The Dead and the Damned (87912)
Keywords: Custom Characters, Comedy, Romance

Threefold Rule (197183)
Keywords: Custom Characters, Complex Mechanics, Magic

I played this one a short while ago, and overall enjoyed it fine, but like a lot of people, I was unsure what was going on in the story.

Part of my confusion was over the role of Blappy in the story. For most of the story, she's out of sight, and yet everyone's making such a huge fuss over her for reasons that aren't entirely clear. Blappy almost felt like Godot, mysterious and invisible, enough that I half expected her never to put in an appearance at all, and was actually a bit disappointed when she did show up in the final mission.

But unlike Waiting for Godot, I wasn't watching the fruitless antics of Vladimir and Estragon. I was the feckless protagonist, uncertain of why I was also making such a fuss over this unseen character even as I was desperately trying to find her. This is a comedy arc, sure, but it actually feels closer to an existentialist tragicomic style than slapstick or "dramedy".

This is a pretentious post, so I'll end it quick with this: I don't know what was going on in this arc, but it feels like something was going on, even if I'm still scratching my head over what.

Almost forgot about this one! From the mission arc critiquing thread, StarkRavingMad2's 4-star review of The Dead and the Damned. Thanks!

I actually prefer to avoid using clues whenever possible. In my personal opinion, having to open the clue window interrupts the pacing of the game. The alternative to this is to just leave the clue window open, but that contributes to screen clutter. It's not a huge deal, but at bottom, I think clues make for a less streamlined mission experience.

My newer arc (197183, Threefold Rule, which people should pleeeeease go play) actually manages to tell a coherent, cohesive, and (I hope) quality story without using a single clue. The lack of clues is partly due to a lack of space (the story arc comes pretty close to 100% of the space allotment), but also because, really, the story didn't need clues and functions very well without them.

But this'll vary depending on the needs of the stories. I'm currently working on an arc designed to be very cyberpunk, which will be very clue-heavy, since the player will be required to sift through a lot of hacked datafiles and the like. If you're telling a story in a genre (such as mysteries, in particular) that by their nature require the hero to inspect lots of, well, clues, then of course they're going to be very appropriate.

One way to think about whether or not you need clues is to consider their effect on pacing. If you want your story to have slower segments where the hero must look over her collected information and try to divine the meaning of them, then clues can be very useful for that purpose, and can be very effective for making the character feel like an actual investigator, rather than just a goon.

Hi, I ran Celebrity Kidnapping on my Thugs/Poison Mastermind. (It was either that or Axis & Allies, which sounds too dark for me.)

Anyway, feedback:

Mish 1:
Good assortment of enemy types in the map.

I laughed at the paparazzi ... and then they killed me! I feel just like Princess Di.

When you grab Paris, you should spawn bosses or patrols, to make the trip out a bit more interesting.


Mish 2:
So if we collect all the ransom money, I get 33%. ... But I'm being sent to grab the first half, which, if I KEEP, would mean I get 50%.

This map looks familiar ... and, suddenly, I'm hungry for a ham sandwich.


Mish 3:
That's some great logic, Willy. And, by that same reasoning, if anything were to happen to YOU....

Wow, we're all a bunch of dirty double-crossers here, aren't we?

This time, when the paparazzi show, I hit 'em with gang war. That seems to work.

Nice Amanda Vines cameo.

Also, nice you-know-who cameo. I was impressed, even if my thugs weren't.

Nice ending. Boy, been wanting to do that for awhile.

Fun arc! Just wish it weren't over so soon. I enjoyed seeing the collision between villainy and paparazzi. Five stars.

Anyway, would you review my new arc: Threefold Rule (197183)? Thanks!

I wanted to wait until I had more than one arc before I made one of these threads.

Anyway, here are my arcs. I'm especially interested in constructive feedback (but kudos are welcome too! )

The Dead and the Damned - 87912
Morality: Heroic
Missions: 5
Levels: 5-14
A romantic comedy about a Hellion, a Skull, their forbidden love, and the supernatural gang war tearing them apart! Starring Skulls, Hellions, Legacy Chain, Longbow, ghosts, demons, zombies, and you!

Threefold Rule - 197183
Morality: Heroic
Missions: 5
Levels: 14-30
The old ways are dying, ever since the Triskele Covenant was sundered and the Midnight Squad's wizards, the Cabal's witches, and the Legacy Chain's druids parted ways. If magic is to survive, they must reforge their bonds anew! An epic story on pagan themes.[/b]

Played this one before, and highly enjoyed it! Some stretches were challenging, but that added to the epic feel.

BTW, with this new thread, you'll need to change the link in your sig....

Let me toss out The Dead and the Damned (87912). Hope it works for what you're looking for!

If you're looking for an established arc that has some of the flavor you're describing, I HIGHLY recommend Impossible Kung Fu Mission (10619) by Spiral-Architect. Give it a play!

You might try Threefold Rule (197183). I recently finished it and am still making minor tweaks, and so would definitely appreciate constructive feedback.

I'll help where I can, though I've got nothing to offer regarding the lore question. I know next to nothing about the Shadow Shard.

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Now, on to the actual MA questions. For the idea I have in mind, I would like some really alien looking maps - no office buildings or whatnot here. Something along this lines of the shadow shard, or something similarly strange looking. However, I don't see anything particularly good, and in particular, no shadow shard maps. Are there any shadow shard maps, and if so, where can I find them? And otherwise, does anyone have any suggestions for good looking 'alien' feeling maps - indoor and out, but nothing too techy.

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You might look at Arachnoid caves or webbed caves. Also, the Eden outdoor map is pretty wild looking. There's also the Thorn Tree map from Nerva Archipelago. There's also the Ruladak cave, notable primarily for the intense fog. From the unique caves collection, you've got the cave of the shaper (with its freaky giant orifices), the arachnoid cocoon map, and the Nerva Isle respec cave. Any of these might meet your needs for something alien and bizarre.

Whichever one you go with, I'd playtest it thoroughly first before publishing.


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Also, another map I want to use is that strange 'circle map in the sky' floating island style map from the last mission of Mage Killer Zuhkara's 'The circle plot' story arc. Does anyone know if that exists in the MA? I can't find it.

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I know which one you mean, it's an awesome map, I wish I could find it, but it doesn't appear available.

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Finally, I originally wanted the contact to look like the phantasm pet from illusion control. I thought you ought to be able to do that, because I once saw a fire imp as a contact. However, the 'pets' contact category doesn't have the controller pets, and I haven't been able to find them anywhere else. Anyone know where these are hiding? My packup plan was to use a cabal sprite - the little things you see floating around kelly nemmers in croatoa. However, these are inexplicably missing from the cabal list. Anyone know why they aren't there

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I don't know why sprites aren't available as contacts. Might I recommend using a storm elemental instead? Believe me when I say that they make for very striking contacts.