Lord of Storms

For those that may have wondered, we have in fact been getting together on Sundays. Today we had 5 players in the team, last week 6, so if you want to meet up with some old AE friends, you just might! Come join us and find out! If nothing else, you can enjoy playing AE with the Storyteam, even if you don't know all of us.

BTW, I will be out of town Saturday but expect to be back in the afternoon and of course playing Sunday. Just a warning if something comes up and I don't make it back in time.

BTW, If someone could update the MOTD in the MA channel, many thanks. I have no idea how to do it.

I was hoping for more feedback before starting, but we are getting closer to the end, so here goes.

I will be starting tomorrow, October 28, 12:00 Eastern time (Sunday at noon, or 9:00 am Pacific, the same time it has been for the last year or two). Triumph and Liberty will be the servers, I am open to either. The Game is ending, so I would guess those that want to join in could always use some transfer tokens.

I am open to other servers, but I know most of the Storyteam has characters on those two servers.

This is meant as a tribute to the stories we have enjoyed, so bring your favorites list.

PS. I plan on continuing this until the end, so join when you can.

Anyone interested in reviving the MA/AE Storyteam for a replay of a few of our favorite arcs? I am thinking we could get together one last time (or several, if there is enough interest) and play through some of the "best arcs" of the "best authors" as a tribute to the part of the game some of us loved the most.

I know most of us gave up on AE a long time ago, at least in varying degrees, but perhaps we could come together for a last hurrah, so to speak. I know I have several arcs I will be playing again before the nights go out, and I suspect some others do to, so why do some of them together?

As for Server, I would suggest Triumph... Maybe a Saturday or Sunday, or if it is only to be one last time, then the last Saturday and/or Sunday.

Anyone else interested? Just some thoughts off the top of my head, we could always do a different server/day/time, or several of them.

This Sunday's Theme, in honor of the coming anniversary of D-Day, is World War II.

For those that might be wondering, the Storyteam is still going on Liberty. I have been thinking of making some changes, so I would like to post them and see what people think.

1.) The 1st change is one that has been done before, has been discussed recently, and I would like to start again... Have the Storyteam meet on a different server each week. I would like to start this soon, but with I23 having just come out, I am not sure what date to set. We would rotate through the servers alphabetically, including the EU servers but only the English-speaking one(s). I don't speak French or German, sorry.

2.) Dropping the idea of Themes, at least for the short term. The Storyteam has been active for a while, and let's face it; there are only so many themes that work in AE. That means either repeating the themes or do something different. What I would like to do is have everyone that joins us that week bring a list of arcs they want to play. I would like to also put some restrictions on what can be on that list, but the restrictions could be changed based on the next item, so I will leave that open for now.

3.) I would like to start a list of arcs, something like the "AE Storyteam Recommends" List. These would be picked from arcs we play as a team, with each player voting yes or no on recommending it. I would suggest we use a majority vote, but state what the "vote" was by listing the number present and how many voted yes, i.e. "4/7" meaning 4 recommended it out of 7 playing it. Rather than searching through old lists and making up numbers, this list would start fresh, with only those arcs the team plays after this starts. IF we do this as I propose, we would likely be playing a lot of older arcs as well as newer ones since the only arcs that would go on the list have been played by a team.

I am open to discussing these ideas to clarify points, determine if they are feasible, whatever, so have at it. For example, perhaps arcs that the author recommends be played solo might have several individuals play it and use those for the numbers (5 players solo it and recommend or not, for a #/5 score).

Today we played

Deadfellas, #322373: Best (better) Dialogue

and

Rise of the Copper Legion, #60280 : Best (Better) Customs

Story on both was about equal, with Copper Legion being a little better.

These arcs are in the DC nomination thread, so thought we would try them. Since I currently have to workable Theme ideas, we will continue with more nominees next weekend. True, next Sunday is a holiday here in the US, so not sure if we will actually play (depends on if anyone shows up!).

This last weekend the Theme was Spring and we played:

#253903 Bunny Brigade Task Force1.0!

And

#26811 Love is in the Error

Both mentioned Spring in the descriptions, and since I can't honestly say what a Spring Arc should be like, I guess they both fit the bill. Both were less than serious, though "Love is in the Error" was more of a comedy, while Bunny Brigade was several missions of rescue allies from "Qhaos" and then go after a boss or two in the last mission.

For those that are looking for such arcs, I will say that "Love is in the Error" is more of a story based comedy for all you villains at heart.

I know I could do it earlier, but I am on the East Coast so it is at noon for me. For the West Coasters that is 9 in the morning, so I think you are right; they would not agree.

Congratz, PW!

At long last. This arc certainly deserves it!

Last Weekend we played:

'Tis Nobler in the Mind, by @LaserJesus
#257226

The Sick Rose, by @Clave Dark 5
#537898

Both had good stories and were fun to play.

For this weekend I would like to do a Spring Theme!

This Sunday was player's choice. Due to time constraints for some of the players, we only managed to play one arc to completion.

More Tsoo Shenanigans? - Part 3, by @Teh Hippeh
#402714

We started but did not complete (Will run it next week)
'Tis Nobler in the Mind, by @LaserJesus
#257226

This Sunday's Theme will be player's choice, so bring some arcs you would like to play. We will be rolling dice to see who picks.

Sorry about this, but I need to go out of town unexpectedly and will probably not be back Sunday for the Storyteam run.

I planned on running the arcs some players suggested we run in this thread, starting with

"Two Households Alike" (#126582) by Venture

We played "The Serpent Beyond the Horizon" as part of the American Legion Winners, so next up would be

"The Directive" - Currently a 4-part 'arc', with each chapter being it's own arc. The story itself is not finished because over on Virtue, the arcs are run in-character, staggered over a period of weeks and months to give players a sense of progression. As such, each 'arc' has level tiers to reflect the levels at which the arcs were made (I started them back when I started CoH). There's lots of information in the briefing and the clues, so it's a bit text-heavy.


"This Inglorious War" - A one-shot arc I wrote as a tribute to something I very much enjoyed outside of City of Heroes. Again, very story intensive arc.

By Issen.

Or if Backfire or one of the others have some to run, be my guest. I hope to be back next Sunday (well, back in town much earlier, of course).

Finishing out the Villain-tines and Valentines, this last Sunday we ran Valentines

Digital Love #3571

Heart of Steel #407104

Next week we will be running some older requests and possibly again the next week. After that, we will see. I plan on a player's choice soon, so might want to start looking for arcs you will want to bring with you. The random player wins the right to pick during a player's choice, but you can't win if you're not there.

I'll add

Once A Hero #524193

This Sunday will be "Villain"-tines and Valentines! I am not sure what "villain"-tines are exactly, but trying to go with the flow here! We will be running AE Story arcs that are flagged Romance or have a romance as part of the story in honor of Valentine's Day. For those with a darker view, "romance" might not be the right word (maybe "obsession" fits better?), but we will be giving both a try this weekend and perhaps next weekend.

Feel free to come join us!

Finished the American Legion Winners for Last year (of the arcs most of the Storyteam - of those present - hadn't played).

For those interested in knowing which ones:

Tales of Cimerora: Of Feathers and Fur... Arc ID 12647 by @Nebulhym

Suppression Arc ID 374481 by @Gypsy Rose

Nova Roma: American Empire Arc ID 347594 by @Liberty X

Day Job Hell: A Villain's First Day Job Arc ID 322480 by @Clave Dark 5

The Golden Scepter Arc ID 9852 by @Mystic Fortune

The Coldest of Wars Arc ID 299972 by @Zaphir

The Serpent Beyond the Horizon Arc ID 515140 by @Ankylosaur

*City of Ho Ho Ho Arc ID 18775 by @Tubbius

*Played in December before it was named a winner...

All were good arcs and I recommend them, although 1 or 2 proved difficult for us to play for whatever reason

Next week will be some new releases for the New Year

Well, I will try again with

Terra Mystika: The Nexus #514570

and see if it does better this time.

Let's see if this is the right place....

Week Two of running the Amercian Legion AE Contest Wrinners. Last week had a decent turn out, even with a few old faces we haven't seen lately.
Last week we ran:

Tales of Cimerora: Of Feathers and Fur... Arc ID 12647 by @Nebulhym

Suppression Arc ID 374481 by @Gypsy Rose

This week I ran:

Nova Roma: American Empire Arc ID 347594 by @Liberty X

Day Job Hell: A Villain's First Day Job Arc ID 322480 by @Clave Dark 5

With a player new to the AE Storyteam.

Any suggestions on what Theme for next week?

Helps if you post to the correct topic.....
Sorry about that, will now post it in the AE Storyteam

For those that still want to play, I will be running some "American Legion Winners," part 1, this Sunday. Yes, Sunday, January 1st. That is at Noon eastern. If no one else shows, then we will be starting next Sunday.

See you then!

Arc #482914 Black as Midnight: Team Spirit by @Supafreak

I actually played this with the author (twice, once was quite a while ago when it was several missions, not just one) and discussed it with him, so I am not going to say a lot. I fear I might talk about things not yet in the current arc or that were in the original longer arc, and I don't want to spoil things.

One thing I would mention after thinking about it some more would be to suggest making the arcs 2 or 3 missions (best might be 2 for later arcs, 3 for the 1st arc) to give the player time to learn more of what is going on. Then they could start to make decisions on which directions to go in later and feel like they know enough to do so. We all know that as authors we think we have made the point clearly enough for everyone to see, but often we haven't (points to self as example). We know what we are talking about, but others may have missed clues or misunderstood them. It is even possible we THINK we put all of the clues and hints into the text and we simply forgot about it in one of a dozen rewrites. Or meant to move it and forgot to (deleted it from mission one intro and forgot to add it back in to the mission 2 send off, etc.).

Overall, it is a good beginning, if a little confusing with so many characters introduced in one mission. I look forward to seeing more of the story and playing through the different choices we will have.

Arc #508837 Whack a Mole! Incarnate Edition! Lambda Sector by @Bubbawheat

Another arc I seem to have played through with the author (a while ago), so played through again to see what changes have been made and to refresh my memory.

It is a little lighter on the story than most arcs, even as a 1 mission arc. It is not meant as a story arc, but more of a comedy/parody of the trials some of choose to endure. I'm afraid I don't do trials, so some of the jokes had less of an impact on me than on others that run them weekly. I still had a few chuckles, though. Some jokes are universal to gamers.

The arc is meant to be more action oriented, and in that regard, it does the job. Get as many points as you can in the time allowed... I have to admit to playing in arcades, but I was more into video games like Gauntlet. Friends like to play those games, but I didn't see the point. After playing this the 1st time, I think I see the appeal of it. And, once you get into the spirit of it, thumping as many bad guys as you can in as short a time as possible is always good fun.

Thanks for the Feedback!

I was going to respond by starting a forum post for Terra Mystika: The Nexus, but since I haven't yet, I thought I should respond here.

I actually agree with some (or most) of the points: The 1st through 3rd mission have the goal of closing the portals to end the flow of re-enforcements. This is critical to all 3 missions, but does give it a feel of lather, rinse, repeat. I have an idea to at least change the 3rd missions (the Romans) so it won't be quite so repetitious. Now to wrestle with the mechanics to find a way to make it work...

Not confronting the boss in the end... The original reason was I had planned to do a sequel and wanted to keep the boss (The Betrayer) alive for that. This is a comic based game and we all know major villains appear to die on a regular basis only to return later with an elaborate story about how they survived, a detailed plan for faking their death, or whatever. Given that, it doesn't make sense to not have a confrontation... So added the Betrayer as a foe to defeat in mission 4. I am also thinking about adding another mission (mission 5, leaving 4 in place) to complete more of the story.

I have not yet ruled out a sequel ( or prequel, or both...). I like the Wardens and am thinking about using them and the Nexus again.

Best Arc - Heroic or Vigilante

1. A Very Special Episode #457506 by @Wrong Number
2. When The Words Stop #494099 by @Clave_Dark_5


Best Lowbie Arc: designed for levels 20 or lower

1. The Blue Devils #468738 by @Flame Kitten (aka Coulomb2)
2. Cole in Your Stocking #474611 by @Venture