Pinstar

Of creatures great and small
A choose your own adventure Arc

(Note, read this as you would a movie trailer. Different color text are different people speaking. Black is the deep voiced narrator)

It was a peaceful and pedestrian day in Paragon City.
“Home of the free”
The members of MENSA, the high IQ society, were hosting a friendly chess tournament.
“Knight to B7”
“Argh, the royal fork gambit, well played child.”
Little did they know that murder was in the air, and that some of their members would not leave the tournament alive…
“What’s that yellow blur? My god! They’re dead”
“A Mouse spirit? Why….”

The race is on to find the killer.

“The politics of the Mice are none of my business, but when it means the death of innocents, I MAKE it my business, I need your help heroes”
Before it kills again
“Mouse spirits here too? I fled Paragon to get away from them!”
Signs point to a vengeful spirit, but who?
“I just saw a yellow blur, I couldn’t make out any details…”
And why?
“Mouse spirits have an affinity for intelligent people, what would drive one to murder them?”
Is it a powerful entity visiting from across the planes?
“We’ve had no trouble at all with the Mice until IT showed up.”
Or has one of Paragon’s heroes turned down a dark and deadly path.
“Did you really kill those people?”

You are the detective, judge and jury in this summer’s biggest little murder mystery.
Determine who is guilty,
“You are not above the law, Mouse!”
Who is innocent
“He’s got an iron clad alibi.”
“DAMMIT!”
and the fate of everyone involved.
“a-are you going to kill me too?”

Two possible paths, four different endings; the choice is yours.

This summer, don’t miss

“Of Creatures Great and Small”

“I need you to lie to MAGI!”
“Why should I listen to you?”


<fin>
(Arc #435474)




(Between now and the release of Going Rogue, the ending most often chosen by players will become cannon for the characters involved. In the event of a tie, the ending most recently voted on by a player will win. Feel free to play through both branches, but please only cast one vote)

My arc has a whole trailer for it! Enjoy
Of creatures great and small
A choose your own adventure Arc

(Note, read this as you would a movie trailer. Different color text are different people speaking. Black is the deep voiced narrator)

It was a peaceful and pedestrian day in Paragon City.
“Home of the free”
The members of MENSA, the high IQ society, were hosting a friendly chess tournament.
“Knight to B7”
“Argh, the royal fork gambit, well played child.”
Little did they know that murder was in the air, and that some of their members would not leave the tournament alive…
“What’s that yellow blur? My god! They’re dead”
“A Mouse spirit? Why….”

The race is on to find the killer.

“The politics of the Mice are none of my business, but when it means the death of innocents, I MAKE it my business, I need your help heroes”
Before it kills again
“Mouse spirits here too? I fled Paragon to get away from them!”
Signs point to a vengeful spirit, but who?
“I just saw a yellow blur, I couldn’t make out any details…”
And why?
“Mouse spirits have an affinity for intelligent people, what would drive one to murder them?”
Is it a powerful entity visiting from across the planes?
“We’ve had no trouble at all with the Mice until IT showed up.”
Or has one of Paragon’s heroes turned down a dark and deadly path.
“Did you really kill those people?”

You are the detective, judge and jury in this summer’s biggest little murder mystery.
Determine who is guilty,
“You are not above the law, Mouse!”
Who is innocent
“He’s got an iron clad alibi.”
“DAMMIT!”
and the fate of everyone involved.
“a-are you going to kill me too?”

Two possible paths, four different endings; the choice is yours.

This summer, don’t miss

“Of Creatures Great and Small”

“I need you to lie to MAGI!”
“Why should I listen to you?”


<fin>

(Arc #435474)




(Between now and the release of Going Rogue, the ending most often chosen by players will become cannon for the characters involved. In the event of a tie, the ending most recently voted on by a player will win. Feel free to play through both branches, but please only cast one vote)

I am in the process of building a choose-your-own-adventure arc.

Using my 3 arc slots, you will start in the first and make a decision that will send you to one of the other arcs. At the end of those arcs, you are faced with one more decision. Your choice there will determine how the story resolves itself. The effects of these choices will be shown in the form of an epilogue.

My question is this: Where would you recommend I upload these epilogues, and will I have any problem sending players to these URLS? (I'm not sure if MA prevents web links in any of the sections of an arc)

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Fara Carae is 3rd generation French-Canadian...does that count?

Thank you SOOOOO much for the color job on Fara, She looks perfect! LOVE how you did the chest emblem.

Welcome back Moggie and Happy B-Day!

I like having a unique name for my characters. Yes it can be sad when you have to compromise a 'pure' name when it is already taken. (For example, I wanted my original 50 to be named "Fara" but it was taken so I put on her last name to make it unique "Fara Carae"

Ahh for the days of Gemini Park RP (which is sadly no longer)

Your best bet is to start your search in the D. It can be difficult but it will at least let you locate the other RPers in the game. Once you strike up a few conversations with them you can break off and seek further RP with them/their SG.

PuGs are a crap shoot for RP. If you just go with it and be IC during the Pug you'll sometimes get surprisingly positive responses. Just make sure the RP doesn't slow down the mission so the non-RPers don't start to sour the exchange.

Going Rogue will hopefully offer some new, alternative, locations to the D to RP for both reds and blues.

Its hard to stay away from CoH. No matter how many breaks I take, my wife and I can't stay away. Just like some couples have 'their song', we have 'our game' and that game is CoH.

See you all in game!

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I'm still mourning Firefly.

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I was wondering if anyone would mention this. I really don't think they should have canceled it either.

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/Agree on Firefly, and since we're bring up old canceled shows, I'll throw in my hat for Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Thankfully it lives on in spirit at www.rifftrax.com

"Force player completion to rate" option on missions

Oh please oh please oh please.

I would like to submit my lowbie-specific arc #85098 "Galaxy City Little League"

For a higher level mission, try #3335 "Kidnapping Kelly the Kow"

That is why flagging your mission for this rating system would be optional. You wouldn't be FORCING players to play through all arcs before they rate... just your arc.

You wouldn't get caught playing an 'force play' arc as it would say if it was that right on the mission select.

The attempts suggestion is notable, but then that could lead to 'attempt griefing' where someone just joins and quits an arc a bunch of times so it looks like nobody can actually finish the arc.


I do agree with a back-end rating nullifying system that gives ratings diminished effects based on how far in the arc you got. Heck, make it a % of total missions completed.
Finish 4/6 missions in an arc, your rating counts 4/5 its weight. Finish 0/3, your rating counts 0/3.

Regardless, the current system needs protections of one form or another.

Allow players to have an option on their stories to "Force play-through for rating"

Arcs with this setting on would have to be completed entirely before anybody is allowed to rate it at all. Arcs created with this option would have this flag visible on the arc select screen to let players know that that arc's rating was made up of only players who experienced the whole thing.

This flag would be added to the search filters, allowing you to display only missions with this flag (or missions without it).

Once a mission is marked with this option (flagged for play through or not flagged) you would not be able to change it without unpublishing and re-publishing the mission.

Reasoning:
Reduced ratings griefing. A player with a bone to pick with you would have to take the time to play through your entire arc(s) in order to do their damage to your ratings just to spite you. As a result, low ratings more likely be the result of people actually not liking your mission rather than just the player.

Reduced rating padding. A brand new mission wouldn't instantly jump to a bunch of 5 star ratings just because your SG signs on and all 5 stars it real quick. It would require a concious effort for your SG mates to actually play through before they could give you that 5 star. This would reduce the number of "5 stars because your my buddy" ratings that would inflate mediocre/bad arcs.

What you are left is an arc whose rating better reflects its actual quality than the number of people who like/dislike the author.

"But what if I come across a really awful arc that is literally unplayable. Do I have to suffer through it to give it the 1 star it deserves?"

Really awful arcs that are unplayable with this flag would remain at 0 ratings. If you saw an arc with 0 ratings but has been published for 3 months, you can be sure its one of those "unplayable" missions.

Of course this would all be an optional flag. Those who wanted the original rating system to apply, they would simply not set the flag.

The existence or non existence of this flag would not affect an arc's chances for DC.


As it stands now, 1 rating griefer can pull your arc's rating down single handedly. A SG seeking blood can completely trash an arc's rating beyond repair.

I personally would rather have fewer raw ratings if I knew the ratings that WERE on my arc were genuine play-throughs. I'd happily take the reduction in 3,4,5 star ticket rewards for the protection against 1 or 2 star griefers.

This would also promote a bit more feedback as "revenge rating" would be more difficult for someone who reacts to a negative comment on their own arc by 1 starring every single one of yours.

I transferred over my two arcs from test so they have new numbers

Arc Name: Kidnapping Kelly the Kow
Arc ID: 3335
Faction: Custom, Crey, Arachnos
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Pinstar/Pinstar
Difficulty Level: Medium
Synopsis: The day starts simple enough: You are paid to kidnap the star of a popular children's television show. Things do not stay normal for long, however.

The sequel to this story is:

Arc Name: Blackmail
Arc ID: 3347
Faction: Custom, Crey, Circle of Thorns, Knives of Artemis, Family
Difficulty Level: Medium, medium/high (1 EB and 1 AV)

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I just (successfully) published my first arc:

Arc Name: Saul Rubenstien's Discount Task Force
Arc ID: 17935
Creator: @Ascendant
Alignment: Heroic
Difficulty Level: Easy to moderate.

Synopsis: Friends, do you want action, adventure, danger, and maybe a little romance, but don't want to pay for "Name Brand" Task Forces run by pricey heroes like Positron or Statesman? Then, come visit me, Saul Rubenstien, and I'll put you and any of your friends in a brand new Task Force for only $19.99!

Number of Missions: 4

Length: You can probably do it in under an hour, especially if you have a team.


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And this TF was the most fun I've had in game for a long while. I won't spoil it for anyone, but I definitely "LOL'd" when reading through it. OH, again, no spoilers, but Make sure you read all the text - Big A definitely put some work into this. Can't wait for the sequel...

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My wife and I ran through this yesterday and had a blast! Double 5 stars from the two of us!

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Thread has been marked to save and sticked by community request. If this thread is replaced or becomes obsolete please inform a member of the community team to remove this thread.

Regards,

Ex

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Awesome Ex, thanks!

I just published my sequel to "Kidnapping Kelly the Kow" based on the blackmail letter you get as the souvenir at the end of the arc.

It is called "Blackmail" #21165 and continues and finishes the story that the first arc started.

I'd love to get some feedback on the 2nd arc, as well as hear what people thought of the entire story as a whole.

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I lost track. Which arc is up for review?

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I still haven't had a post on "Kidnapping Kelly the Kow"

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"Kidnapping Kelly the Kow"

First off, shout out to Blappy

I Really enjoyed this arc. Three missions so not too epic, nice well written characters and customs. Things I especially liked:

- That you needed to destroy the video machine so you could make a clean get away.

- Knock on head...lol

- The non-required glowies.

- The text when you crak the safe (though wish the devs would make it a little larger)

One other comment. The Purple text in the intro to the third mish was hard to read.

Overall a very nice little story arc.


Mine:

Arc Name: Trademark Infringement
Arc ID: 12544
Creator Global Name: @Wrong Number
Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium
Synopsis: We all know villains are not a very creative lot. Take over the world, pull the moon out of orbit....yada, yada, yada. It's no surprise that they keep the trademark lawyers very busy or that one of the lawyers has finally cracked. He needs to be stopped before this city is sued out existence!
Mission Count: 1
Estimated Time to Play: 15 minutes


Or my Blappy one listed below.


WN

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Thanks for the feedback!

I have a 5 mission sequel in the works that continues the story based on the note you get at the very end.

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I lost track. Which arc is up for review?

[/ QUOTE ]

I still haven't had a post on "Kidnapping Kelly the Kow"

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The Voice of Freedom
Arc ID 19444

3 Mission Length

You and your companions must answer the mysterious call of a hero in need.

May revise later, but this one has special meaning to me, so feedback would be appreciated on it please.

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Just finished it. A very solid foundation of an arc. I was confused to where the story was going, but it resolved itself *perfectly* at the end. A very satisfying play.

My only constructive criticisms would be that leading a person out of a LONG council map can break flow a bit. May I recommend a shorter final map?

Also, since so much of the story centers on the final character, a longer bio giving the curious player a bit more info would be welcome!

Other than that, I'd say you've got a rock solid arc with a good story.

LOVE the use of the contact to give the missions by the way. VERY clever.

5 stars overall!

I've been getting good positive feedback on my latest arc, "Kidnapping Kelly the Kow" and would like to hear from some virtuites to what you guys and gals think.

This is a 3 mission red-side arc.
It contains 1 EB, but otherwise should be soloable by most classes.

Mine

Arc Name: Trademark Infringement
Arc ID: 12544
Creator Global Name: @Wrong Number
Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium
Synopsis: We all know villains are not a very creative lot. Take over the world, pull the moon out of orbit....yada, yada, yada. It's no surprise that they keep the trademark lawyers very busy or that one of the lawyers has finally cracked. He needs to be stopped before this city is sued out existence!
Mission Count: 1
Estimated Time to Play: 15 minutes

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A very funny and light hearted one-shot arc. Good for a quick laugh. I like Ms. Manners as being the contact and the mini bios on each guy were very creative.

My only complaint was that once you've seen all the unique characters, the joke starts to loose its novelty. Depending on how much space you have left, you may be able to add some elements to spice it up. I'd love to see a battle element where the wannabees are fighting over the rights to a specific and super-generic name, or something like that.

Overall a very fun and quick play.

I noticed in your bio that you had a different arc that involved the star of a children's TV show.

As cooincence has it, I too have an arc about a children's TV show and would like some feedback on it.

Arc Name: Kidnapping Kelly the Kow
Arc ID: #19224
Faction: Crey, Kelly the Kow &amp; Friends (The production staff at the studio), Arachnos
Creator global Name: @Pinstar (@Azia1 in test)
Difficulty Level: Medium-high (EB in 1 mission. Ambush heavy final mission soloable by many but not all classes)
Synopsis: A young and very wealthy child approaches your villain and offers a rather large sum of money to Kidnap the star of the hit children's television show "Kelly the Kow &amp; Friends". The child is such a fan he wants the star in person to be his own personal entertainer, rather than waiting for the weekly episodes to air. As the arc unfolds you begin to learn of Crey's involvement in the show.
Mission Count: 3
Estimated Play Time: 1 hour, give or take

Arc Name: Mouse MD
Arc ID: 8881
Faction: Warriors, Freaks, Crey, Devouring Earth, Carnies
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Pinstar
Difficulty Level: Medium (1 EB and some tough custom bosses in 1 mission)
Synopsis: A spirit surgeon seeks to establish a new specialized clinic and enlists the help of the player.
Estimated Time to Play: 60-90 minutes