Rusted_Metal

The comparison to pen and paper games shows the problems with this idea.

You play solo, rolling the dice yourself, completely random. YOU are honest, so your character isn't break the bank, you've died plenty of times and been brought back through your whatever plot armor, and had fun.

Chuck plays, and fudges dice rolls, just picks what he wants his character to have, and munchkins it out.

You play with your friends, with a GM, and you all play by the book. Fair rolls open on the table, core mechanics only, and none of you cheat.

Chuck finds a group just like him. They load up on the best gear, the campaign is Monty-Haul all the way with tweaked out munchkin characters. They use every single splat-book and downloadable content they can find, using rules that were intended to be used with one setting/book, and ignoring the disadvantages.

Both you and Chuck start going to random games, as found on the board at the local brick & mortar FLGS.

Both of you submit your characters to the GM, and the majority of the time the GM says the same thing.

"No."

Why? Because every game is different. Your character might be underpowered, or you might be using a core rule that they houseruled out/modded, and fixing it would completely rewrite your character. In Chuck's case it's because only a maniac or a masochist wants Chuck's character wrecking up their world.

You go to GenCon, look for games you can play, and ask to use your character.

Chuck does the same thing.

Both of you hit the same thing from DM's there.

"No."

Why? Because the GM knows that the world is full of Chucks. He doesn't think you're too bad, but if he says yes to you, he has to say yes to the Chucks of the world to appear impartial.

Now, with the solo games, the downloadable content suggestions, all does have its analogies to the tabletop game setting, and you end up with all those problems that are inherent with that system.

Certain things unintentionally break things, even from the IP creators. (Vow of Poverty, anyone) A single line that was supposed to be edited can destroy tons of stuff. BUT, only the people who buy that expansion have that opportunity.

In video games, if the DLC increases your power in the game, it becomes number one. Nobody wants the one that keeps you at the steady grind, although they might pick it up for a buck, but the one that allows you to get your hands on top of the line gear and stat boosts? EVERYONE wants that one.

That puts the pressure on to create DLC's that are market competitive, which means making ones that give bonuses. Thus perpetuating the true Pay 2 Win market out there.

Saying it won't happen doesn't mean it won't happen. It happens, in almost every game, unless the original designers take steps to prevent it.

Now, let's move back to single player games.

Sure, you add a chat channel, but I can do that with Fallout New Vegas and Skype. Hell, I HAVE done that with my friends. We'd go to the same places, compare loot, laugh at each other, but in the end, WE WEREN'T PLAYING THE SAME GAME!

I had a supermutant spawn on the road that I watched the ghouls tear into, then put a single .308 round into his head. He was packing a sniper rifle with a ton of ammo. At that time my friends were running around with 10mm pistols. Between Boone and I we cleaned up the wastelands of scum from 1,000 yards out with steely glares and cool berets.

My friends got crushed by rad-scorpions, deathclaws, and Legion.

Same game, different experiences.

So then I can invite my friends into the game, and we can play together. That means we are basically forming a perma-team. Something that happen in every multiplayer game we own, from Dungeon Defenders to L4D(2) to The Secret World to CoX.

There we run into the same problem. If my friend wants to run with me, we have to have separate characters to run together. Even with the Sidekick mechanics it can have an effect on the game. Three of our permateam members lost touch with the story because they missed a few weekends, and were basically relegated to permanent sidekicks.

Boo. Nobody wants to be Robin. ROBIN doesn't want to Robin. And God help Aqua-Lad.

So I want to perma-team. I look up the server list. HOLY GOD! There's tons of servers, with all kinds of mods listed, or maybe not even a mod-list until you load up the server.

We see that ALL the time with Left 4 Dead. Multicolor tanks, crawling, 12 survivors, rapidspawn/choose special infected, headshots, unlimited ammo, all of that kind of stuff. And these are just generic servers it can drop you into.

So to choose a "trusted" server I have to load in and hope for the best, or spend the time researching and downloading what mods they have.

The "Nemesis Brass Christmas Pack" is necessary? OK, that's $2.99. The "Countess Crey Fruit Pie Pack?" OK. That's $1.99. The "Supa Troll is Supa Pack"? OK. That's $0.99. "To Hell & Back with the Hellions Pack?" Damn... $4.99. What's this, it was written by the hoster of that shard. Figures. So, I'm up to $10 about just to play on this "trusted shard"?

Screw that.

So the trusted servers are all running different DLC's, or worse yet, ALL of them! Meaning I might have to drop another $200 just to play on the shards. (CHeck out how much all of the Oblivion packs might cost you)

Then you have the different gear. One might get rid of ED, another might get rid of soft/hard caps, another might get rid of inventions.

So now, I basically have one character per trusted server. Moving it back to solo? Now my game's completely out of whack. Playing with my friends? Now they're annoyed because I have to copies of "Brass Monkey Fist" in my heal-brute's attack powers and they still have core-rule vanilla IO's.

Then people would gravitate toward the "trusted servers" that support their playstyle. Since the people running the servers would have to have SOME way of recouping their bandwidth and server costs (At my job I have to deal with those costs, and they are NOT pretty) so will it be pop-up adds? Is the server owner a modder so he codes in DLC that the people playing HAVE to buy every month or so, turning the "free" service to "$30/mo in DLC" service? One of my friends is a modder and I'm a world builder (NWN, Doom, UDK, Hammer Source, Diablo 2, Fallout series) as well as a story writer and a third is a professional code cleaner and a hobbyist skinner and between the three of us we could throw out 2-3 easy mods for our server. (The great NWNMMO experiment with Novak-Dek Online that lasted about 3 years before we got bored, and that's another risk. Boredom on the part of those creating/hosting the servers)

The biggest/most successful trusted servers will be those who cater to certain player bases, meaning that those servers will be able to outlast the others by simple fiscal math.

The player base will be fractured, new players will be orphaned, and characters will vary wildly, not even on the trusted servers, but on single players games. (Check Saints Row the Third, where who has what DLC decides just what they've done and how they look) Even having it so you set up your own "server" to play the game, use a GUI to decide what rules you want to mod according to how popular the mods are, and use your client to play a single player game based on the "core rules server" or even the trusted server, everyone's character will be wildly different. Hell, just trying to get a name will be major suck, unless you turn off possessive names, in which case I expect to see 300 Fiery Ninjas and 22 Wreckerbot and 48 Big Metal Units per server online at the same time. Not to mention that some servers will allow names that others don't, like Sex Deviant or Superho on one, and only Ablebot2000 on another. Leading to further problems.

Since everyone running a trusted server gets to decide what's fun in the game, the game is no longer a community effort, but rather the design of one person. The tyranny of the minority complete with a pay to play to win design. The more popular the server, the more emulators will pop up, the more the DLC designers will support the successful servers. Then we end up with those preferring vanilla or Nemesis Brass Army storyline or Dr. Vahzilok for President Dimension completely shut out by "Supa Troll is Supa" servers.

Which means that different servers could have up to 4.5 GB downloads just to play on that server where the files don't cross-pollinate, meaning inflated directories where half the files are only applicable on certain servers. Add in costume mods (because SOMEONE will code in the costume parts that City of Heroes avoided to avoid copyright infringement, not to mention the ever popular and always appearing nude packs) to the downloads and badly skinned costume parts, and triple-cape addon and My Little Pony Rig and and and and well, you get the picture. A badly compiled/optimized costume file can bloat the game, and if enough people are running around wearing it, it bloats the bandwidth, bogs your performance, and causes crashes. (Fallout New Vegas we hit that problem, with a REALLY cool set of powered armor based on the Rifts SAMAS but we'd messed up on ONE little thing and the next time we ran into NCR troops wearing that skin it ALWAYS bogged/crashed the game. We cared enough to fix it, but what's the chance that the guy who coded it and sold 20K worth of them at $1.99 a pop is going to bother with that, or just going to move on to the Glitter Boy?) Further file bloat, further player base splitting. And that's not even getting into to the fact that in order for you to even SEE people using those costume pieces you haven't purchased those players who are using it would either have generic costume pieces, missing limbs, or the creators would somehow have to allow to you download a visual component and make it so that your certificate of ownership for that pack enables you to use it on THAT server. Which brings up other servers that will allow you to use that costume/power/archetype/mission pack without a certificate with enables larger piracy. OR, you can make it so that as long as one person has the "Countess Crey's Bordello of Purple Drops" everyone can run it, which means people could charge ingame money/whatever to run you through it so you can get the drops without dropping $2.50 on the market. Because everyone wants free stuff.

Which will cause even more splits, more code-based arguments, further community drift, not to mention infighting and bickering on what is better.

City of Heroes is enjoyable because we are ALL on the same page. We might not like the mechanics. We might bicker on whether or not the mechanics are just fine. But in the end, we are all on the same page because the GAME is on the same page across servers.

As far as just solo goes, we see that in the Secret World, where many storyline missions ARE single player, which means everyone has two builds. Their grouping build and their solo build. Where Secret World can get away with it because of their no-archetype style, we are STILL seeing the problem that plagued CoH in Beta/Alpha.

Healtanks. Roles dynamically evolving. (There are "right" builds and wrong builds, and good luck getting into a nightmare dungeon group with the wrong build and gear) Gear checks are common, and it HAS to be that way, because a poorly geared member can be WORSE than nobody at all. There's group-kicking for a single mistake, because a single mistake can wreck an entire dungeon attempt.

Then some have suggested scalable enemies, so you can be the "Scourge of King's Row" and all of that.

You can do that by turning of XP in vanilla CoX if you want. Or you can establish scalable enemies. Beyond what we already have, where zone defining bad guys often scale in the mechanic of Giant Monsters or Preatoria zone events.

Scalable enemies across the board are TERRIBLE IMHO. They wrecked Oblivion for me. They've wrecked every single game they've been tried in IMHO. Reviewers often hate them.

Ever wondered WHY tabletop games and MMO's and single player games have it so that different areas are different strength? Why there are CR3 and CR25 monsters? It's to establish a working difficulty curve. It's to give people places to be and foes to face depending on power level so you aren't fighting Orc #387 or a gimped out Aztechnology Blood Shaman without 95% of his powers.

Take Oblivion. When I first fought those bandits, they had rags and crap. A month later, those SAME DAMN BANDITS were wearing diamond armor and packing epic gear! WTF? How did they get that? Why didn't they have that the first time I come through?

That breaks immersion, and makes it so that teaming with other people means that the enemy is scaled to them, AND drops loot for the highest. Now, we can get around that by "reserved for..." like DDO does, and eliminate the ability to use it, or we can level require that gear, meaning that almost nothing drops that one person can use.

Scalable enemies work in some games, but not many. For a LOT of people it ruined Oblivion (I'm one of them), and in a few servers in NWN or other games (Ultima Online or even Wasteland 2000 Online for those of you familiar with the ASCII dialup games) where no matter how badass you were, everyone else was tougher. Some people say "Well.. challenge!" but it makes a lot of people feel just as weak as they were starting out, with no feeling of progression because those bandits back at the starting area can STILL kick your ***.

And that leads us to the other thing putted forward, which is the new loot types.

My favorite thing about City of Heroes is the fact that loot is so straight forward. I don't have to worry about that much about rare drops. I can still play effectively without rare drops. But how much competition is there for the purple drops?

If we start adding all the gear drops, complete with body gear slots, we start coming up with Champions Online and DCOU. Then we end up with gearscore again, people ******** about drop rates, people clamoring that the game is too easy because their T3 Purple geared out.

Then we're back to DLC's. Where you could throw out $5.99 to buy "Bob Barker's House of Purple!" where someone altered the drop rate, and now you can do one mission where you rescue cats from trees and get T3Purple drops. One run through it, and you're fully geared out in that gear.

Sure, that's fine for single player games, much like the Gold Pack for Sleeping Dogs, but for multi-player we're back in Pay 2 Win and server costs and trusted servers running this and you HAVE to have it for your hashkey or CRC check to match up.

And what about the way that gear looks? Shall we implement a switch to turn off all gear appearance or just some of the gear appearances, or shall we just end up like so many other games where everyone else looks the same because they have their SupaTroll is Supa Armor complete with Tier 3 Venom Hoses and Silver Surfer Skateboards?

That brings up bandwidth again. Instead of being able to just send a little data, you have to send it all, with all the switches, the gear appearances (is it dyed too?), and everything else.

If CoH2 was made, it needs to based just like CoX. Centralized server rules, no modded servers.

There's a lot wrong with this whole thing.

It isn't CIty of Heroes, for one. It's "Solo Hero who sometimes teams up in Overpowered Land", or a LAN type game me and my buddies play.

Mod drift, removing the MMO element, adding DLC drift, costume drift, and all the other problems.

To finish up with the RPG analogy: The servers will be just as divided up and wildly different as tabletop games are from each other, and importing a character will be just as difficult or impossible as it is in those.

Just look at the rules for the persistent "living worlds" in RPG's. They all have guidelines on what supplements are used, what aren't, offer a database of the articles they use, and in general have tons of reading before you can even roll up a character.

All in all, this sounds good on paper, but once you start looking at the mechanics of it, it quickly becomes NOT City of Heroes.

I've gone through a ton of MMO's in the last 2 days.

D&D Online: Sorry, try again.
Champions: Sorry, try again.
DC Universe Online: Sorry, try again
Rift: Close, but try again
Guild Wars: Meh. Another fantasy game
The Secret World: Closer, at least I can play dressup, but I can't fly.
Star Trek Online: Meh
Fallen Earth: Ugh
Everquest 2: Meh

There's just something about City of Heroes that the others are missing.

Maybe it's the costume creator. Maybe it's the lack of landmarks on the outdoor maps. Maybe it's the Generic Fantasy Simulator 398a.

I don't know, maybe I'll feel different later, but right now?

Meh.

Back to City I go.

Till the lights go out, and the Nothing devours us all.

Skrunchie will have her sock-monkey.

I've been here since the email inviting me to a Closed NDA Beta-Test. Jumping Jacks for XP. Hiding under the courthouse. the bar at the docks, the Rikti Monkey Invasions, and all the fun stuff.

I'll be here till the infamous LOST CONNECTION hits me.

There's screenshots to do, missions to run, people to say goodbye to.

Until the feed cuts out

I'll be there.

The hardest thing to do will be to delete the City of Heroes and Beta folders, and putting my hundreds of screenshots in an archive directory.

Then I'd finish writing Year of the Zombie Reloaded and figure out a way to make three of my favorite characters NPC's in the setting book.

And sadly cruise Steam for any type of MMO that will let me fly.

Thanks for all the hard work, War Witch.

I'll miss you too. We talked a few times in game a few years back.

--TWillard

Till 30 November being a fight against the Hamidon from Praetoria.

As we lose one section by one section.

Characters that get dropped in the fight too many times are restricted just to a Pocket-D like area.

As our characters fight, and each day we see how many civilians we've managed to save.

Until it just all goes dark.

And we find out that someone managed to get all the baby duckies and bunnies through a portal at the last moment.

And Skrunchie held her sock monkey at the end.

Skrunchie will miss you, Magic Clockwork Man.

It was good times, Zwill.

I'll miss you.

--TWillard

CoH was my first MMO. Before that I'd been like "Pay to play a game I *bought* each month? Screw that!"

Then I started to play it. And loved it.

I've let my subscription lapse a few times, mostly because I was between jobs. I'd tried other MMO's, but I always came back.

You let me fly.

My friends and I build AE stuff to carry on our own RP. I sat down and started converting everything over to Mutants & Masterminds, and then thought about doing it in Champions.

I loved this game. You helped bring Skrunchie into the world.

Thanks, Matt.

You let my imagination soar in a video game.

Fond regards;

Tim Willard

I'm Tim Willard.

10 year Army veteran during the Cold War. Former NATO observer/NBC expert. I worked on the MAD program, and was an honest to God Cold War Supervillain.

I ran a top secret site full of chemical and nuclear tactical weaponry. It had underground tunnels for us to ride out the nuclear strike that would hit the site in the opening of World War III. I had Rangers to provide emergency security and strikes. I had GSG-9 teams at my command. I had West German Army guards.

It was my job to make sure that nuclear fire and chemical death was brought to Warsaw Pact targets if they every jumped at us. I helped plan MAD protocol. I helped rewrite the NATO doctrine for chemical weapons use in an urban environment.

I was 18 and a supervillain.

Now, I'm old. I'm a published writer, RPG designer who has written a best selling tabletop role playing game. I work for a publishing company with the official job title of "gunslinger".



I'll miss all of you, and miss this game.

Patriot Brigade Tactical Planning Team

Location: Patriot Brigade Superbase
Time: Day One
Present: Colonel Victory, John Dunlop, Miss Moral, Sergeant Longshot, Wahl

Above the table were multiple holographic images displaying Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, Primal Earth, Praetorian Earth, and Imperial City. A rough and strangely put together holograph is a ruined Paragon City, complete with below-ground maps was on one side, and everyone at the table was staring at it. Sergeant Longshot and Colonel Victory were examining the topographical maps that surrounded both Paragon Cities and Praetoria's last remaining city. Once in awhile they looked at the rough hologram, labelled "Paradise City", which was a map of Paragon City from an alternate Earth that pinpointed Hamidon's assault on Paragon City and then Hamidon's occupation and domination.

"We need information." John Dunlop said, leaning back and staring at the maps. "We need to know the disposition of Vanguard, Longbow, UN, NATO, and US military forces in CONUS. We need to ferret out the disposition of Praetorian military forces."

The scarred face man sighed and rubbed at his temples, his West Point ring glittering in the holographic lights.

"If any of us go back to Praetoria Powers Division will be all over us. Emperor Cole will look at it like another invasion strike force." Dunlop said. "Hopefully Omicron Team can find any useful information."

The scarred face John Dunlop rolled his shoulders to crack his neck and then shrugged.

"We need to do intel gathering, and fast, before Hamidon is moving too fast for us to track." He looked at the other military or paramilitary members of the Patriot Brigade at the table with him.

"Suggestions?"

Out of Character Update

Omicron Team was recruited, based on recommendations from members in good standing of the Patriot Brigade, and sent out on their first mission, which was to investigate the rumors of something growing withing the sewers of Paragon City.

As many members of Alpha and Gamma Teams have seen that Hamidon starts below ground building their army (Including Sergeant Longshot and Tachyon Hammer's experiences in Paradise City) the rumors that something was building down in the sewers could not be ignored.

Colonel Victory, Tachyon Hammer, Male Mantid, and Sergeant Longshot had discovered that Hydra, an extra-terrestial mold ball, had taken up residence in the sewers, but Colonel Victory and Sergeant Longshot possess the institutional paranoia of professional soldiers and Tachyon Hammer a paranoid psychotic. They decided that sending Omicron Team into the sewers for a short recon was better than making the assumption that it was just Hyrdra when Hamidon could be creating breeding pits.

Omicron Team managed to reach the center of the disturbance, finding Hydra buds in the sewer rather than anything from Hamidon.

Mission Status: Success
Intel Gathered: Hydra Biosamples
Misc: This allows the teams to tell the difference between Hydra and Hamidon creations.

Mission Two
Once they reported back, Omicron Team was then sent to investigate the Praetorian sewer system from an alternate route. Resistance Contacts had identified a relatively unguarded area that appeared to be of little to no value.

Omicron Team entered Pocket-D at separate times and then used the portal located there to enter Praetoria. From there they made their way to Nova Praetoria and accessed the sewer system beneath that section of the city. From there they fought their way to the access point and disabled security to enter the area.

Once into the area they faced ghouls, which according to contacts are fairly prevelant in the sewers. However, once they reached the access point to the next level Omicron Team was aggressed and attacked by a group of altered Resistance led by a modified ghoul.

Cleric Jr. took tissue samples, and from there, Omicron Team is preparing to venture further into the sewers.

Mission Status: In Progress

HAMIDON is friggin' copyrighted?

YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!

With everything going on, HAMIDON sets off the copyright filter?

How in the bloody blue blazes am I supposed to do the next set of AE missions for "Ashes of Praetoria" if I can't name things Hamidon?

Dev's PLEASE FIX THIS CRAP!

d20 Modern Mechanics

We'll be using d20 Modern for RP dialogue decisions. I'll take a look at your writeups (email them if you don't want to post them), your badges, and give me a list of completed contacts. I will also be taking background into consideration.

Contacts will move to additional contacts ala d20 Modern. Some badges will give skill bonuses, others will result in penalties with certain groups. We will use an off-site roller (probably in mIRC) to do rolls.

Gamma Team would be best served by non-AE characters, who have contacts and have good statuses with those contacts. For the new characters who are part of Omicron Team, I'll assign (either in private or here in a post) contacts and how close you are to them. Level doesn't really matter all that much toward your Diplomacy rolls.

For example: Tach (as we all know) is kind of messed up, but has contacts all over the place. But, due to her current depressed state and the fact she's having PTSD issues, her Diplomacy has suffered.

So, she's 50th level (20th level for d20 Modern), but she wasn't that big on Diplomacy, giving her: 8 ranks, her 16 CHA gives her a +3 stat modifier, but her PTSD and depression gives her a -4 (offsetting her Charisma and a touch more) for just about everyone.

Colonel Victory would have 10 ranks in Diplomacy (As career military, the public face of the Patriot Brigade, and a skilled diplomat who is called upon to negotiate by the US government), a 14 Charisma, he has a base of +12 to Diplomacy Checks. If he is dealing with the US Military he gains a +8 (Epic) circumstance bonus. For the UN, as he has often worked with the UN as an advisor, military and diplomatic, and other functions, he's gain a +4 circumstance bonus when dealing with Vanguard, Lady Grey, other NATO/UN personnel.

Wahl, as a former police officer in the Rogue Isles with extensive contacts in both Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, as well as being respected for being incorruptible and a man willing to see justice done for even the poor and downtrodden, has 10 ranks in Diplomacy, as a charismatic man he has a 17 Cha (+3), and focused on his diplomacy skills to give him another bonus of +4, giving him a base total of +17 to his rolls. When dealing with the RIP, he gains a +8 (he's got legendary status with them, knows judges and Arbiters, and also has blackmail if reason fails) Circumstance bonus, with the underground of the Rogue Isles he has a +2 to a massive +10 depending on who he is speaking to.

Professor Arcanus is fairly low level, however he has contacts throughout the Paragon University system, the Midnighter Club, his former students in the arcane, and has worked with people his entire life. Despite the fact that he's only mid-20's, I've already assigned him a massive 14 ranks in Diplomacy, his Charisma is high from working hard to be empathic to people, his listening skills, and his ability to gain a rapport with people so I've assigned him a 16 Charisma, plus his outward appearance and other considerations gives him a whopping +20 base Diplomacy, without the bonuses he gets among the magical community and education community. His career and RP thus far has made the majority of this possible. That makes it difficult to decide if he should be on Epsilon Team or Gamma Team. He'd be an extremely valuable member of Gamma Team, providing a LOT of contacts and influence in a difficult sphere of influence. As part of Epsilon Team his investigative skills and magical abilities would make him critical, and his studies and experience would make him invaluable in anything that relates to the current First Ward or the upcoming Night Ward.

So, you can see I've got some nice formula again, and I will give you your non-CoX stats in a PM once you have put up who you are using and either posted/PM'd/emailed me a background and status on your characters.

Choose your characters for both Alpha and Gamma Teams carefully, ladies and gentlemen, because even though the focus isn't directly on them for the AE missions and in game RP sessions, their actions will be extremely critical to the success of this campaign arc.

Investigation

Research and Knowledge Skills we'll be assigning will also matter quite a bit.

For example: If Mythus, Tach, Miss Moral, Wahl, and Sergeant Longshot manage to retrieve a computer database from an abandoned and damaged Praetorian firebase that was overrun during Praetorian's war with Hamidon, they don't automatically get all the data inside. It will require Computer Hacking and Research Skills to get any valuable data from the computer core.

However, powers can help with investigation. As you remember, post-Raluulu-Wade the character's psionic powers have been inhibited or damaged, so no "I use my telepathy to scan all of Atlas Park" for investigation or research.

However Miss Moral's knowledge of human anatomy and sensitivity to psychic impressions would allow her to gain bonuses on her investigation of an abandoned and damaged firebase in what used to be Illinois to try to find out if Hamidon slaughtered everyone or if the rumors were true that some soldiers and civilians managed to get away, and depending on what she decides to use to focus her empathic powers on, she might even be able to find out where they went.

Finally

This is Omicron and Epsilon's time to shine, to make a name for themselves. The Bounty Hunter's War and the Herald of Hamidon campaigns are over, and I think it's time to do a new campaign.

Tachyon Hammer
Pocket-D was jumping, the dance floor full, the bar sections packed. Sitting next to the jukebox with a drink in one hand and a Devouring Earth spine in the other, she's studiously ignoring everyone, Tachyon Hammer sits and stares at the floor. Obviously drunk already, her open leather sleeveless jacket shows the bandages on her stomach, and she's done little but sit and stare for over two hours.

She's normally one of the more aggressive members of the Patriot Brigade but since returning from an assault on Praetoria several days ago she's been subdued and constantly drunk. She's only in the supergroup base to pass out drunk on the couch in a dark room with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and tightly gripping the Hamidon spike in the other. Since returning she wakes up screaming, swinging, and occasionally throwing lightning at the walls as she panics. She often returns from Pocket-D with blood seeping through the bandage over her stomach where the Hamidon spike she constantly holds had been embedded, but won't let anyone get close enough to her to examine the wound, changing the bandage herself.

Right now, she's just staring at the floor, once in awhile using the spike to carve in the tile of the floor in front of her the same thing over and over and over.

"SUBMIT"

Skrunchie

The young girl's fire trails behind her as she chases Nemesis robots through the streets, swinging her rocket-hammer and screaming "CANDY!" at the top of her lungs. Having slipped Miss Moral's supervision she's enjoying the rush of combat and trying to find out which Nemesis drone is packed with candy. After all, everyone knows that Lord Nemesis uses his automatons to rob candy stores and hides the candy inside of one drone.

Now, if she can just find it! Soooo much yummy yummy candy.

With a jump and twirl Nemesis automatons flew away, brass gears and steam bursting from their steams. She could hear Nemesis' voice booming through the streets and immediately homed in on the sound.

After all, hadn't Ascendant told her that one of the Nemesis was really made of solid chocolate, complete with milk chocolate coolant, chocolate gears, and just brass foil coating it? She'd find it, beat down its force field, and jump on its back to see if she could gnaw through its head!

Around her people screamed and fled from the oncoming Nemesis automatons, but Skrunchie merely moved faster toward the sound of Nemesis' booming voice. A car flew toward her, propelled through the air by a Nemesis Warhulk, and Skrunchie leaped up at it. Her blue eyes noticed that there wasn't anyone inside, making it safe to smash it into the ground with her rocket-powered hammer. With a scream of "FOR SOCK MONKEY!" she swung the hammer, slamming it into the pavement and using the momentum to propel her into the next group of enemy.

"CAAAAAAANDY!" erupted in a scream from her lips as her fire melted brass, her hammer shattered automatons, and her sugar fueled rampage picked up speed.

Her attention jumps from one subject to another. Where hidden Nemesis automaton full of candy? How many visitors and readers has my latest slash-fiction about Ascendant and Ghost Widow ha? Is Positron actually a person or just a puppet operated by a dozen Rikti monkeys? Who stole my shoe? I like Pixie-Stix! Where is the brass-foil chocolate Fake Nemesis? Who does Lady Grey's hair? Will Mythus give me a piggy back ride?

but above all...

CAAAAANDY!

As usual, there was no thought of Galaxy City in her chaotic little mind.

John Dunlop
"Your grades are slipping, Miz Arnold, and if you keep up with this trend you have been following since last semester I'm afraid that you will be able to attend the college you set your sights on at the beginning of the year." John Dunlop, High School Guidance Counselor, told the young senior in front of him.

The young girl snorted and rolled her eyes before looking off to the side. John felt anger rise up and pushed down the urge to grab the young woman's hand, press it flat on his desk, and drive a combat knife through it.

Instead, he leaned back in his chair, folding his hands over his stomach and twisting his OCS ring with his thumb, staring at young girl. "I have it on good authority, Miz Arnold, that twice you have been rescued from the Carnival." The young woman jerked and stared at the scar faced man across the desk from her. "If you'd rather go through life a minion of someone else, chained to their will by a mask that was grafted onto your face, dancing to the tune of someone else, then you are well on your way to that."

The young girl opened her mouth, but John kept speaking. "Which is fine, if that's what you want." John lowered his head to stare at the young girl over his glasses. "You can be just another statistic when some Rogue Isles stalker jams a sword through your heart, or some brutal street fighter in spandex puts you in ICU for two months. Either way doesn't matter to me."

She opened her mouth and John cut her off by slamming his hand down on the desk. "But it matters to your parents, Miz Arnold. It'll matter to your friends after you vanish into the Carnival." He leaned back again, touching his OCS ring with his thumb. "And it will matter to you when the mask you put on your face completely obliterates your personality, uses your soul to fuel magics, and renders you an empty shell full of nothing but hedonistic thoughts."

The girl was trying to work up the anger to overcome her sudden fear. Mr. Dunlop was usually silent, just watching the students of Kings Row's Liberty High School, but the way his head was tilted made the deep scars on his face more prominent, the way he kept playing with that thick and ornate ring kept bringing her attention to it, and she was suddenly aware that the picture on his desk showed a younger Mr. Dunlop, dressed in desert camouflage, unscarred, standing in a desert with seven other men. Her eyes kept drifting to the fact that he held a *gun* in his hands and his expression in the photo matched the one he was giving her. Sharp, intense, focused.

"So the choice is yours, Miz Arnold." John said, his voice low and intense. "You will leave my office and make your choice."

"What?" Lois Arnold was confused. Where was the fussy man who cared about grades and getting kids into colleges and to better their attendance records? Who was this stranger staring at her from across the desk?

"You stink of the Carnival. You reek of their magics." John's face twisted and the urge to grab the girl and take her down to the nearest morgue so she could see what a subjugate of the Carnival looked like after the mortician managed to pry their mask off.

The young girl, Lois, pulled away at the expression of loathing and rage on the adult's face, at the harshness of the tone.

"So you will leave my office. Once you do, you will either return to class, never approach the Carnival again, and try to get your grade point average up." Dunlop told her. "Or you can just leave and I will call your parents, inform them that you wish to drop out, and you can run back to the Carnival."

That made Lois Arnold smile, until John continued.

"And someday soon, a costumed vigilante will kill you, but you'll have been dead."

To Lois' surprise, John stood up, walking around the desk to open the door.

"Either way, I no longer care, Miz Arnold."

With that John Dunlop, Guidance Counselor, left his office, going to the principal's office and simply walking in. In the hot seat in front of Principal Strickland was Tommy Pullman, who had recently discovered he could coat small areas in patches of frost.

"Mr. Dunlop, I'm in the middle of disciplining young Mr. Pullman." Strickland started.

"I'm taking leave. Immediately." John Dunlop told the other man. When Principal Strickland opened his mouth John turned around. "I'm going to check in at the Steel Canyon Veteran's Center and see about admitting myself."

Without waiting for an answer John Dunlop walked out of the Principal's office, pausing at the desk of the office secretary long enough to toss his ID badge on the desk. Without answering any more questions he left the school, stopping in the parking lot.

A twist of the OCS ring and a press on its stone made the man vanish from the parking lot to reappear in the superbase.

God, I hate kids. John thought. He twitched his wrist and the Detonics Combatmaster .45 popped out of his sleeve and into his sleeve.

Maybe some time at the base firing range will calm me down. John mused, his fingers caressing the barrel of the compact pistol. Don't worry, Miz Arnold, if the Carnival takes your soul, I'll put down your shell myself.

It was a thought that would have frightened the young girl if she could have heard it.

The following are available AE arcs and missions for the various teams.

Alpha Team
Targets/Missions: Location Scouting 1-3, Anti-Incursion Mission 1
Accepted Missions:
Mission Status:
Story Bonuses:

Epsilon Team
Targets/Missions: Emergency Transmission 217s, Check Outpost 492KS, Raid Target 1
Accepted Missions:
Mission Status:
Story Bonuses:

Omicron Team
Targets/Missions: Raid Target 2, Raid Target 3, Emergency Transmission 162b
Accepted Missions: Recon Target 1 (Completed), Recon Target 2 (In Progress)
Mission Status: Recon Target 1 (No Data)
Story Bonuses: Tissue Samples to compare Hydra to Hamidon

Gamma Team
Targets/Missions: Get a portal set up; get a refugee area; create infrastructure
Accepted Missions:
Mission Status:
Story Bonuses:

Character Statuses
As of Pre-Mission the following player's characters have the following statuses:

TWillard
Tachyon Hammer: INJURED; Unavailable Powers: Ion Judgement, Electric Armor Epic power, Lore Pet, Barrier.
John Dunlop: Uninjured; No Day Job's available except Superbase.
Skrunchie: Uninjured

Wolvorine

GMRiley

HeatherDawn

OK, guys, this is the thread for Out of Character stuff.

Making plans, suggesting new missions, posting the desire to go off what will be in AE to take on another mission.

Additionally I will be posting how well you are doing, as well as possible targets.

Right now, Omicron Team needs the new heroes. I'd like either the scout position or the Assault Firepower on Omicron Team. Choose 2 you'd like to be part of. We can use NPC's in missions (I'll fill it from the ranks of the Patriot Brigade) if a slot ends up open.

Currently, the following Stats are in place. (I will be updating these every Friday)

Praetorian Allies: 0%
Threatened Praetorian Outposts: Unknown
Praetorian Civilians: Unknown
War Assets - Praetoria: 0%
War Assets - Primal Earth: 0%
Primal Earth Refugee Camps: Zero
Alpha Team Status: Inactive
Epsilon Team Status: Inactive
Omicron Team Status: Inactive
Gamma Team Status: Inactive



Alpha Team
Assault Infantry: Wahl, Mythus, Kinetic Karrie, Zuka
Assault Firepower: Tachyon Hammer, Electro-Circ
Scouting: Sergeant Longshot
Battlefield Control:
Support Team Leader:
Healing: Miss Moral

Epsilon Team
Assault Infantry: Skrunchie, Zuka
Assault Firepower:
Scouting: John Dunlop
Battlefield Control: Professor Arcanus
Support Team Leader: Daemon Mistress
Healing:

Omicron Team
Assault Infantry: Stone Glacier
Assault Firepower: Pulse Wave
Scouting: Strike Ghost
Battlefield Control:
Support Team Leader: Urudu
Healing: Cleric Jr.

Gamma Team:
Miss Moral: Department of Defense, Department of Meta-Human Affairs, Doctors Without Borders
Tachyon Hammer: Freakshow, UN Vangaurd, NATO Meta-Human Affairs, Russian Meta-Human Affairs
Mythus: Egyptian Government, Greek Government, Freedom Phalanx, Vindicators
Wahl: Arachnos, Rogue Isles Police, Paragon Police Department, FBI, Homeland Defense
Sergeant Longshot: US Department of Defense, US Army, NBC Warfare Division (US), NATO, Longbow

Prologue

The Bounty Hunter's War is ashes and the Herald of Hamidon has been escaped. Many fell during the assault on Portal's Corpse and the escape through the jury-rigged portals. Of the heroes who fought through the years and survived Paradise City only a handful reached what some called "Virtueverse" on an alternate Earth.

Most recovered easily, slipping into new lives, even if they had changed their names. Some had left being the life of a superhero, preferring to set aside their costumes and let their powers wither as they nursed their scars and wounds. A few were not able to set aside the wounds, refusing to forget when Statesman returned as the Herald of Hamidon and 6 billion people died.

When Marcus Cole AKA Statesman died at the hands of Wade, those who survived Paradise City breathed a sigh of relief, believing that Hamidon would not return in fire, blood, tearing teeth, and ripping spines.

A single voice, slurred by alcohol, often swore that while the timelines between the worlds had drifted slightly it wasn't enough to be sure that Hamidon would not succeed in his goal to convert mankind.

With the Praetorian War, it soon became knowledge that Emperor Cole had not defeated Hamidon. Instead he had bargained with the ultra-power entity.

But now the bargain is broken, Cole has gone mad, dragging his lieutenants down with him into insanity, and the Devouring Earth have begun to attack the citizens of Praetoria yet again.

The remnants of the Paradise City Survivors and their Virtueverse friends know that it's only a matter of time until Hamidon's endless armies overwhelm Praetoria.

With Tachyon Hammer constantly drunk and recently seriously injured and stripped of her abilities of the Well, Mythus distracted by screams and prayers of fear, Miss Moral's psychic powers unstable since taking on Raluulu-Wade, Inertia Flare vanished into the encampments of the Lost, and Johnny Blaster dead at the hands of Longbow, the Patriot Brigade now turns to its younger members in order to help evacuate the threatened people of Praetoria.

And prevent another Herald of Hamidon from devastating Virtueverse's Primal Earth.

--------------------------------

GM: TWillard
Players: Patriot Brigade
Story: AE Arcs and Forum Thread
Mechanical Support: City of Heroes MMORPG, d20 Modern for out of game requirements.

Currently Tapped Players:

TWillard: Tachyon Hammer, Skrunchie, John Dunlop, Kinetic Karrie.
Wolvorine: Mythus
HeatherDawn: Miss Moral, Electro-Circ, Daemon Mistress
GMRiley: Sergeant Longshot

Alpha Team: Tachyon Hammer/Kinetic Karrie, Miss Moral/Electro-Circ, Mythus
Epsilon Team: Skrunchie/John Dunlop, Daemon Mistress
Omicron Team: [TBA]
Gamma Team: Miss Moral, Tachyon Hammer, Mythus, Sergeant Longshot

Other players will be listed in this thread once players check in.

This will be a two front campaign for us, ladies and gentlemen. Our high level characters will be continuing the Praetorian War and other high end missions. Mid-Level character will be taking on Hamidon altered meta-humans in Praetoria. New characters will be tasked with saving civilians.

Requirement:
40+ Characters will be part of Alpha Team, which will be Dark Astoria/Incarnate Trial teams, tasked with keeping up the pressure on Mot and the Mad Emperor, as well as taking on Hamidon Hive-Spawn Pits. Additionally, Statesman's body must be kept secure, since we don't want a repeat of the Herald of Hamidon.

20-40 Characters will be part of Epsilon Team, which will be taking on Preatorian Hamidon creatures as well as trying to rally military forces cut off and/or ignored due to Hamidon incursions, the Mad Emperor's obsession with Primal Earth, or damage done by Primal Earth Incarnates to the military supply lines.

1-20th Characters will be part of Omicron Team, which is tasked with getting civilian refugees from cut off areas or endangered areas to Primal Earth. Each player will be required to create a new member of the Patriot Brigade.

Gamma Team: This team will be engaged in political discussion with Primal Earth authorities, using contacts, favored owed, whatever they can, in order to get refugee zones set up. This is a non-combat team for injured characters, tasked with everything from convincing Primal Earth authorities to set up encampments to keeping supply lines open to ensuring that the refugees aren't preyed upon.

Primary Play Times: Thursday Nights, 20:00 PST. This will focus on Epsilon and Omicron Teams.

Code Vatyna After appearing in "A Few Points to Ponder" my group and I played out the entire Bounty Hunter's War. At the end of it, he vanished, so I moved him to a different server. After "The Herald of Hamidon" arcs, he was brought back briefly so that we could play through those AE missions, and then retired again, moved to another server again.

Forlorn Waif After "A Few Points to Ponder", "From Death to Unlife", and "The Herald of Hamidon" Forlorn Waif went torpid once she managed to get through the portal with the rest of the heroes. The rest of the players involved in our ongoing mission arcs keep a wary out, knowing that she can return.

"No." Colonel Victory whispered as the otherworldly being vanished, leaving behind nothing but ashes. He moved toward his old friend, the man he fought beside in the War to End All Wars and World War II.

Tachyon Hammer rushed forward, pushing past the massive Zuka and the rest of the Patriot Brigade. She threw herself into the puddle that Statesman lay in, raised one hand to the sky, and slapped on the other on his chest.

With a scream of rage and hate, heard too often from her lips in Colonel Victory's opinion, lightning crashed down from the gathered stormclouds, striking the woman's fingertips, arcing through her body, through her hand, and into the fallen hero's chest. The shockwave sent the other heroes stumbling back as lightning arced across the puddle.

Statesman's back arced, then he collapsed back into the water, the rain falling on his unseeing eyes, onto his unmoving chest.

"Live, damn you!" Tach screamed, raising her arm up again.

Lightning crashed again, and the fallen hero jolted.

And went limp again.

She tried again. And again. Each time using her electrical powers to summon lightning down from the sky. Each bolt summoned with a primal scream of hatred and loss.

It changed nothing.

"Damn you, Marcus Cole." She whispered, slumping forward, one hand in the water, the other on her chest.

The other members of the supergroup had gathered around the woman, watching as she began to weep. Harsh, bitter tears.

Miss Moral nudged Colonel Victory, and when the man looked at the group's empath she nodded at the younger woman. Colonel Victory nodded and moved up to the young woman kneeling in the water.

"There's nothing you can do." Colonel Victory said. "We were too late."

"It didn't happen like this. It can't happen like this." The woman snarled. "Not here. Not by someone like Wade."

"His soul has passed through the Void, Julia. His shell is empty." The massive Zuka rumbled. "His family's voices led him through the Void, kept him safe from angry spirits who sought to harm him. Rejoice in his life, let go of his death, for he has gone on to his eternal reward."

"Shut up." Tach spat, knocking away Colonel Victory's hand before reaching out with trembling fingers to close Statesman's eyes. With a sudden snarl she ripped the cape from her shoulders and carefully laid it out over the fallen hero, her face twisted with anger. She sobbed once as the tattered and scorched cape covered the hero's face, hiding the slight smile that was so out of place on the dead man's face.

The young woman, her pink leathers mud smeared and scorched, stood up, staring down at the fallen hero.

"Go away." She said, without turning. "Find Positron, tell him first. Ms. Liberty will go berserk if one us tells her. Tell the Freedom Phalanx, the Regulators, Lady Grey, all of them. Tell them what happened here and where he is."

"And you?" Colonel Victory asked, unpinning the military rank from his shoulder. Without waiting for Tach to answer, he let it drop onto the cape covered chest.

"I'll stay here." Tach's voice was terrible, an echo of the storm raging above.

"What... what if someone comes to take his... his... his body?" Skrunchie asked, peering around Zuka, her eyes wide and frightened. One of her small hands had released the handle of her comically large hammer to seek Zuka's. The massive undead's hand swallowed the little girl's, but both took comfort in the other's touch. "What if Wade returns?"

"Let him come." Tach said, raising one tightly clenched fist. Electricity wreathed it, crawled up her arm, and covered her body. "Let. Him. Come."

Beneath the stormy sky the others walked away through the rain, away from the Roman ruins they'd once fought at, away from the fallen body of the hero.

"Damn you, Cole." Tachyon Hammer wept.

The sky wept with her.

In character, my main character would have attended the eulogy and the funeral.

It was well done, almost made me like the guy again.

Would have definitely swayed my character.

Time to remove the cape.

"What's the use in it? Did it save Cole? Did it really matter? All I could do with it is take it off my shoulder's and cover his face to give him a little dignity back. To hell with a cape."-Tachyon Hammer. Survivor the Bounty Hunter's War, the Coming of the Herald of Hamidon, Refugee of "Paradise City", Incarnate, and known drunk.

Carnival of Light: It was nice, even if I wished I could use the belt with the jacket and maybe the mask was usable on more head option. (Mask+aura+hat+reticle please!) I wish it was in the same category as the veil, since I never use those options on female characters.

Titan Weapons: Grabbed it last month, love it.

Coyote Travel Power: Are you frikken kidding me?

OK, first of all: It turns off my powers. Which means if I get hit in a high level area, I'm almost instantly dead. I guess there's gonna be a lot of dead dogs in the streets.

Second: The jumping looks definitely off. Not that big of a deal, but still...

Third: I can have one vanity pet up? Gee, I wonder which one goes with this? Is it my snowman from the winter pack? No? Is it my Vet Reward Rikti Monkey? No, although it would be hilarious if it rode on my back. I wonder which one it could be?

Fourth: Almost as expensive for a gimped up travel power than it is for the latest Archetype Powerset?

Someone kick this coyote in the face and get it out of here.

My money's on Frostfire.

We've seen him try to redeem himself, get into fights way above his weight class because "It's the right thing to do" and the players can still watch his progression.

Frostfire for 2012!