Scientist_16

O_o

Well, I guess it's technically Tuesday. But I'm still awake from Monday. >_>

Branching dialogue and dare we say it branching missions would be enough to make some mission designers explode in titillated delight. Projecting on the NPC's is really not that bad, it's fun watching them act in humorous, out of character ways, but a lot of folk get unhappy when you touch their characters in bad places to put words in their mouth, so giving them fun branching dialogue would help immensely and remove my main complaint about an otherwise stellar pair of arcs. Then again, I've had my sense of humor and ability to feel joy surgically removed, so what do I know about that.

What I DO know is that my characters are usually Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot mashups with convoluted backstories, and I'd been hoping that illustrating them with an Arc would be a perfect way to explain some of the weirder ones. So, keeping in mind that this is a REVIEW section instead of a help one, what would you recommend to de-twist some of this arc's confusion? More text? Less text? Simplify it? Replace the Elixir of Evil with some sort of psionic amplifier and explain it as mind control?

Mission 3 is the Scrappy level . I hate CoT, but I'm not really sure how to streamline the mission in any significant way.

Ran the Two Chicks at Once arc and the Curiouser and Curiouser arc back to back, for ultimate story continuity! Oh yeah!

The first was sent under the name @Crasical, so you can find it there, and the second I'll post here.

My first, second, twelveth, and nineteen sixty-ninth complaints are as thus: It is considered bad form to dictate the player's reactions for them. And this arc does that in SPADES. The Two Chicks at Once avoided it to some degree, only really coming to prominence at the very end of the story, but it comes back with a vengeance at the beginning of Curiouser and it keeps going strong to the very end. The arc dictates a huge range of stuff like the Character's favorite south park episode, or more egregiously making them EAT, for robots ect. . . It's slightly immersion breaking if you don't have the right kind of character for that action. I try my best to write for AFGNCAAP protagonists, making as few assumptions about the character as possible.

Now, on to the good side! I rather liked the 'tiered' difficulty in the Curiouser arc. I like EBs, but I know a lot of people don't. Making them bypassable is a nice workaround, and it worked beautifully in all but one case, with Nemesis spawning right next to the smashable server and forcing me to fight him. I was hoping for a bit more info or humor from the clues they dropped, but it was worth it anyway.

Arc I'd like reviewed:
The Secret Origin of Lil' Red Hood
180333

Also, this is the origin story of the character I did both of the mission with. So, for bonus amusement, consider the dialogue of her walking in with Frost Mistral and Silver Mantis under her arm when you see her in the last mission.

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Not to gratuitously bump or anything, but any word on when we can see another act of Ham1337, Scientist? I ask because today I happened to have watched "Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" and felt the echo of Ham1337 desire strike my heart.

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O.o I was under the assumption that this little story had passed without notice. Seeing all your comments warms my heart, and I'll get right on the next act. . . Right after finals are done. Hey, they're over thursday. Shouldn't take too long.

(( Act 1.1 of hamlet adapted to take place in the freakshow fortress at sharkhead. Feel free to respond. ))

It was dark, but not very stormy. Nonetheless, the ocean chill blew through the scrapheap fortress of sharkhead island, breaking against the armored walls and chilling the unlucky occupants on sentry duty. Bernard "Burnaboi" Adler, Enforcer smasher of the freakshow, was one of the luckless members on guard duty that night. He stamped his boots and huddled closer into the one-sleeved jacket he'd borrowed for duty and resisted the urge to turn up the dial on his excelsior feeder. Sure, it'd keep him warmer, but he'd burn through it all before long and then he'd have to go explain to the meat docs why he'd used so much of it . . .

The sounds of revelry and the nightly wild partying of his fellow freaks resounded and echoed through the compound, bringing the discord of metal-on-metal screeching, raucous laughter, and a few lighter, feminine squeals that indicated that a few of the party goers had found entertainment to bring back to the base. Or maybe a few of the "chixorz" had wound up, back at the base tonight, although that seemed unlikely.
Bernard mentally switched tracks to this new line of thought, considering that the for one of the more powerful gangs in paragon city and with the lure of a life of hedonism and excelsior, they had depressingly few female members. Might want to mention that to on of the bosses, actually. Maybe there was a decreased effect of excel on women, or maybe they all thought that the shirtless look was compulsory. regardless of the reason, he . . was that movement? another raid by one of the "destined" stalkers?

"Who's there?" "N0, Wh0 are y0u? St4y r1ght th3re, f00l." Bernard relaxed slightly. Although some villains could replicate freakspeak, few where willing to go the rout of cybernetic enhancement, and he could make out the distinctive shape of a swiper's metal arm in the gloom. He shifted slightly, bringing his hammer up into the inquisitive beam of the flashlight carried by
the other sentry. "Fellow freakshow, stand down." the other freak peered closer shining the beam of his flashlight into bernard's face.
"Burn4b01?"
"Yeah." The swiper lowered his light, and once bernard's eyes had adjusted, herecognized the other cyborg and struggled to recall his name. "Y0u're r1ght 0n sch3dule, Burn4b01."
Bernard suddenly felt the flash of insight and held up his watch, triggering the luminescencent face. "It's midnight, Francis. You're off duty now". "Fr33f1re" Francis the swiper heaved an impressive sigh of relief at this, more than usually merited by the situation. "Th4nks. It's d4mn c0ld, and I'm k1nda d0wn." Bernard had to prevent himself from physically starting at this information, depression was obviously not a usual affliction of the freakshow. Rather than call attention to it, he decided to hastily change the subject.

"All quiet tonight?" Francis gave a brief affirmative "N0t ev3n a m0use's squ34k." Bernard decided to take this with a grain of salt, by the time that most villains had taken a foothold on sharkhead, they'd had the weakest members weeded out, and midnight stalker raids weren't uncommon. "Well, goodnight. Oh, and if you see Horace or Massacre, tell 'em to get their butts up here." Francis gave a grin and cocked his head, prompting Bernard to become aware of a backround shuffling of boots on the metal plating. "I th1nk th3y're alr34dy c0m1ng. St0p r1ght th3re and id3nt1fy y0urs3lf!"

The response came swiftly as the other gang members approached "Fellow freakshow!" "And w4rr10rs of sh4rkh34d". Francis watched the two freaks approach, Horus crackling with the electrical discharge of his Stunner implants, the huge claws at the end of "Massacre" Marcelo's cybernetic arms gouging grooves in the scrap metal wall as he instinctively ran his "hand" across it. Francis gave a brief wave to the other two and started along the beaten track towards either a door or a wall sloped enough that he could climb up it. "G'n1ght. S3e y0u l4t3r." he called briefly back over his shoulder.

"W41t, Fr33f1re. Wh0's on w4tch n0w?" growled
Marcelo, his role of as a champion apparently instilling some sense of obligation to make sure that the walls where not being left unguarded.
"Burn4b01's on p01nt. C4tch y0u l4t3r." apparently not to be deterred, Francis found a low point in the wall and hooked his scythed blade over it, using it to lever himself up and over into the compound.

Marcelo shrugged at the vanished sentry and turned back to the Stunner and Enforcer standing with him "H3y, burn4b01. H0ld1ng 0ut pr3tty w3ll?" Bernard nodded, and winced as a stray electrical charge grounded itself in a peice of rebar sticking out of the ground uncomfortably close to where he was standing. "Hey, Marcello. Horace is here too?" he asked retorically. "More or less" groaned the unfortunate stunner, apparently upset about being roused by the large Champion to stand outside in such inhospitable weather. on closer inspection of the situation, Bernard could hardly blame him. "So, s33n anyth1ng s0 f4r?" interrupted Marcelo, leaning in eagerly. "I haven't seen anything." Bernard replied, grateful for the fact but certain that these circumstances where unlikely to persist for much longer. "H0r4ce th1nks w3're nuts, he w0n't l3t h1ms3lf b3l13ve w3've s33n anyth1ng at all. Th4t's why I ask3d h1m to c0me st4nd gu4rd w1th us t0n1ght, s0 th4t if it sh0ws up ag41n h3 c4n s33 it and try t4lk1ng t0 it", Marcello intoned to Bernard.
"Nonsense. Nothing is going to happen tonight" Grumbled Horus, adjusting his rectangular pince-nez glasses as he spoke. Bernard sighed inwardly at the vain freakshow scholar and prepared himself for another round of the story. "Let's sit down for a while, and Marcelo and I will tell you the story *again*, even though you refuse to believe it." "
I agree." concurred Horus, and found a relatively cozy piece of
debri to lounge upon, igniting a pile of driftwood with an electrical blast as he did so, causing the other two present to jump and suffusing the area in a warm glow.
Once he'd gotten over the surprise and had gratefully huddled down next to the warmth, he began to spin his tale, recalling his long ago English lessons and beginning to artfully spin his tale. "Last night, when that star there was west of the north star and had traveled across the night sky, past the hellforge stacks to that point where it's shining now, one o'clock in the morning,

Marcelo and I where on duty when-"

"Shut up! It's c0m1ng!" Hissed Marcelo, jumping to his feet and
readying himself as he would against any intruder. Horus and Bernard followed suit, leaping to their feet to be faced with a horrify apparition. "It looks just like our old boss. ." murmured Bernard, face white at the spectral figment of the once mighty Freak Tank, the keystone of the sharkhead enclave. Marcellus essayed a quick jab at the gratifyingly dumbstruck Horus, prompting him to jump. "Y0u're the sch0l4r h3r3, H0rus. G0 s4y s0m3th1ng t0 it!" Bernard barely heard them, staring at the ominous hulking mass of the freakshow ghost, the light reflecting off of his meticulously shaved head and polished metal. "Doesn't it look just like him?" he whispered. "Very much so. It's. . Terrifying." replied Horus, glancing at the enforcer as if his behavior worried him far more. "It wants us to speak to it" continued Bernard in his hushed tone. "Ask it s0m3th1ng!" shouted Marcelo, grabbing Horus and roughly shoving
him forward, directly into the path of the lumbering ghost. Horus stared up at it, mouth moving soundlessly for a moment before ringing out his challenge in false bravado:
"What are you? Out so late at night and looking like the dead leader of this fortress when he was geared up for a fight? I command you, answer me!". The silence was deafening for a moment, then the spectral figure became more and more indistinct in the light of the impromptu campfire "L00ks l1ke y0u ups3t it." called Marcelo, who was crouching behind a nearby piece of cover as if expecting the ghost to explode or eat Horus any second now.
"Look, it's fading away!" resounded Bernard, standing and pointing at the fading figment. "Stay! Speak! Speak! I'm ordering you to speak!" Shouted a significantly emboldened Horus, as the last few fragments of ectoplasm faded away.
"It's g0ne. N0t g0nna answ3r n0w." replied Marcelo, stepping out from behind the sheet metal he'd been taking cover behind. Bernard couldn't help needling the shaking Stunner, "What's the matter, Horus? You agree that this isn't some imagined figment of ours now? What do you think?".
Horus took a few deep breaths and a swig of some acrid smelling liquid from his hip flask before responding, "I swear, If i hadn't seen this with my own eyes I would never have believed you." "Doesn't it look just like the old boss?" quipped Bernard, practically bouncing with excitement at the question. "Yes, just as much as you look like yourself. I remember him looking exactly like that when he fought the Family's squads getting a foothold here. And I remember him scowling like that
when he attacked those Sky Raiders who where doing dive bomb runs on our guys. It's weird." Horus paused and ran a hand through his fussy shoulder-length hair.
"It's h4pp3n3d tw1ce b3f0r3, alw4ys at th1s t1me of n1ght. He st4lks p4st, dr3ss3d l1ke h3's h34d1ng 0ut to b4ttl3" supplied Marcelo, hoping for some insight from the self proclaimed scholar.
"I don't know how to explain this, but I've got a feeling that this means bad news for our little fortress here." responded Horus. Marcelo sagged visibly, but rallied after a moment. "All r1ght, l3t's just s1t d0wn and d1scuss th4t qu3st10n. S0m30n3 t3ll me why w3'r3 on such str1ct gu4rd duty, why s0 m4ny n3w w34p0ns are g3tt1ng sh1pp3d in, and why our m34t d0ct0rs are s0 busy th3y b4r3ly st0p f0r sl33p. Is s0m3th1ng g01ng 0n th4t m3r1ts th3m w0rk1ng d4y and n1ght?"
"Actually. . .I can answer that." Horus grimaced and settled himself down on his bit of rubble again, beginning his story.
"Or at least, I can describe the rumors. As you know, our late leader, who we just now saw, was the great rival of Falcon Marcone, one of the Family Dons in this area. Falcon dared to challenge him to battle, and in that fight, our courageous (or at least that's how we thought of him) leader Hasegawa cut him down with that huge sword of his."
"Wait, wait, wait." Interrupted Bernard "Hasegawa's the name of our boss's son, not the boss's name."
Horus shot him a glare before continuing "It's his LAST name, you fool. Japanese introduce themselves last name first".
"Oh.", responded Bernard, faintly cowed, "But what was the boss's first name? and his son's name, too?"
Horus stared at him a moment, then simply replied, "Good question". Bernard started to continue the subject, but Horus lifted his chin slightly, getting the light to reflect off his glasses and exuding a nearly palpable aura of menace that stated in no uncertain terms that the subject was closed.
"Where was I? Hasegawa cut down Falcon, and law of the jungle went into effect. We scooped up all the territory he'd been holding before dying, since they'd have done the same if the boss had been killed. But Falcon's kid, Fawkes- brave, but still wet behind the ears- gathered a bunch of capo's from the outskirts of the family territory. They're just building up arms to take back all the territory that Falcon lost. So, that's the basic reason we're posted out here and that there's such a commotion going on lately."

"Well, I suppose that explains a lot. The boss is back as a ghost because he's the cause of all of this turf war" proclaimed Bernard, as if this summed up the matter nicely.
"I think this is more of a problem than you're admitting. In the days be fore we showed up, just before the hero Scrapyard was assassinated, corpses rose from their graves and ran through the streets gibbering. There where shooting stars and there was blood mixed in with the morning dew. The moon was put into such an eclipse it was hard to tell that it was there at all. and we're starting to have similar omens of things to come now, as if heaven and earth are trying to warn us of what's going to happen".
All parties started suddenly as a chill more sinister and greater than the cold of the night washed over them. "Wait, look! Here it comes again. I'll try and speak to it again, even if it's the last thing I do. Stand your ground, illusion!" Horus stood challengingly at the ghost as it towered over him, spreading it's huge gauntleted hands. "If you have a voice or can make any sort of sound, speak to me. If there's anything I can do to bring you some peace (and honor to myself) then speak! if you have some secret knowledge that you must impart upon us to ensure our victory in the coming fight, then please, tell us. Or if somewhere you have hoarded the riches you stole in life, and that knowing that they go to waste has made your spirit restless, then tell us. Stay, and speak!"
A rooster crowed loudly, interrupting Horus' monologue and causing all present to start, including the shadowy appartition of the freakshow Tank, who began to fade again at the sound. "Stop it, Marcelo!"
"Wh4t?!? Y0u w4nt me to att4ck it?"
"If it doesn't stand still, yes!"

Marcello, paused, then apparently made up his mind, lunging at the vestigal traces of the figment with both claws, but passing throught the figure and landing in an almost comical heap on the other side. Marcelo stood and dusted himself off grumbling in annoyance. "It's g0ne. W3 wh3r3 wr0ng t0 thr34t3n it, It l00k3d t0o much l1ke b0ss H4s3g4wa. Bes1des, y0u c4n't hurt a gh0st anym0re th4n y0u c4n hurt a1r. Th4t att4ck w4s stup1d." Bernardo offered his hammer down, and Marcelo gratefuly hooked a claw around it and hoisted himself up with it, Bernardo glancing over to Horace and speaking briefly.
"It was about to say something, till that rooster crowed." Horace adjusted his glasses again, as if thinking.
"Yeah, and then it started like a guilty concience. I read once that the rooster's crow calls awakens the god of day, and calls all wandering ghosts back to their hiding places. It would seem that we've just seen some proof of this myth". Marcellus glanced back at the spot that the ghost had dissapeared to, before adding
"Y34h, it f4d3d aw4y wh3n the r00st3r cr0w3d. S0me p30ple s4y th4t r1ght b3f0re chr1stm4s, the r00st3r cr0ws all n1ght, and n0 gh0st d4r3s t0 w4nd3r, and the n1ght is s4f3. N0 curs3s, f4r13s and w1tch3s sp3lls don't work. Th4t's how h0ly a d3c3mb3r n1ght is."
Both Horus and Bernard glanced at one another, wondering at the odd show of piety just displayed by their fellow freak. It was odd hearing Christian gospel from the mouth of a cyborg monstrosity with giant claws for hands. Horace Cleared his throat and cautionsly responded,
"yes, I've head the same thing and sort of believe it, but look. Morning is breaking beyond that hill, Let's interrupt the watch and go tell young Hasegawa about what we've seen tonight. I'm sure this ghost will have something to say to him at least. Come on, don't we owe it to him to tell him about this?"
Marcelo nodded, and the began heading towards the fortresses' door.
"L3t's d0 it. I kn0w wh3r3 w3'll f1nd h1m th1s m0rn1ng.

Gah. It upsets me to have to do this, but I'm really at an impasse now. I have a character that, despite having a few separate facts and character quirks, a costume, a pair of power sets and a cool name, really has no bio.

character: Wu Ming Shao Jwu (translates roughly to "Nameless Little Foot Soldier"

Race: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Shi Chinese Vampire, Hopping corpse.

Archetype: Dominator

Gender: Female

Power sets: Mind/Energy

/Energy is her releasing the life energy she's stolen in the form of Ki empowered martial arts.

Mind/ is zombie mesmerism. Hmm. that could use a little work.

Costume inspiration: Hsien Koh, Darkstalkers. CoH costume is kind of lame, wish we had floppy sleeves.

Character Quirks decided upon:
Finds the Chi of superpowered martial artists, particularly heroes/villains of the natural origin, to be of the highest quality, and thus makes the tastiest meal.

So, she's got some bits of character, but no real backstory. Anyone think they can help with this?

47: [image]http://www.cruisegazing.com/RPG_Motivational/Temptation.jpg[/image]

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46. Your stone tanker looks like a gothic lolita and everytime you run into battle your cry is "EEeee HENTAI!" right before she smashes them with a giant stone hammer.

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I'm not sure you can make a gothloli in COH. If you can I want pictures to see how you did it.

1010: My cleric does not have "Party member is doing something dumb" Sense.

1011: "Fist of Faith" is an offensive cleric spell. "Fist in Face" is not.

31: you combine the powers "Snowstorm" and "Quicksand" on your Earth/Storm controller

32: Gale the same enemy off a building untill they have enough HP that you kill them with brawl

33: You go an entire boss fight with the named level boss laying on his butt due to knockback.

34: you EVER Tp allies off of a cliff, into a mob of high level enemies, in front of a giant monster, into ghost widow's bedchambers, or to wisconsin.

35: You use your mind controller to send random hellions on household errands for you

35: You use your mind Controller to force a Bone Daddy to clean your room.

36: You attack random homeless people and claim that they where Lost.

37: You Provoke a Fire blaster into torching your car so you can collect on the insurance

38: You send a teamate to explore the mysterious flaming vents in the hollows

39: You claim to be blue steel's nephew to get prefferred seating on the monorail lines.

40: You create a female hero with the height slider at minimum and the chest slider at maximum named "Lolicon Lass"

1004: Not allowed to play a parapalegic, midget dwarven mage who is carried around on another PC's back.

19X: Not allowed to re-skin signature characters from animes to use as foes when GMing

982: If I am aware that two party members are attempting to open the same door from both sides by pushing on it, I shall inform them.

<_<

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Then there's the other things Vampires have to worry about. "Wooly Peter" (White Phosphorous) is a wonderful thing. For those not well-versed in (or lacking access to) the military arts/supplies, ascetaline, kerosine, diesel, and good old fashioned gasoline are all very exceptional for putting down vampires.


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Totally off topic, but anyone notice the trend in hollywood of UV Radiation = Sunlight? I have to admit, it kind of annoys me deep down in my geekish soul that it's science rather than theology that wounds vampires in modern movies.

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From my esperience, a lot of RPers tend to look down on White Wolf games. I'm not entirely sure of the reason, maybe the whole LARPing scene with people dressed as vampires and such is weirder than LARPers who dress as knigths and wizards (is the satire getting through here?). My personal look at it, though, is that any RPG, just like any game, is what you make of it. With the right amount of imagination, anything is possible, and that's how I like to view RPs.

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*ahem*

This is all personal opinion, but this is MY reason for personally disliking the White Wolf system, Particularly the Vampire ruleset and system. Overpower. Even right out of the box, Vampires rule. Humans are cattle, other vamps exist only to be manipulated or eliminated to cement your own power. A real conversation with a V:tM playing comrade:

Cras: So, what about humans? What if you're threatened by some SpecOps guys in a bunker or something?
Raven: I pick the guy up and chuck him through the ceiling.
Cras: In a bunker? Underground? with a concrete ceiling?
Raven: Yeah, and with the scores most vampires have, he'll end up out on the surface. Only thing that's dangerous is Hunters, and they don't count as humans.

My opinion of the system has been that it caters to godmode playing characters that are only interested in victimizing NPC's and each other. But then, I'm not a good example of good taste, am I?

And I dunno what else to say that hasn't already been said. Essex summed it up pretty nicely.

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As an artist, music that reminds me of characters really makes me want to make a TON of animations/music videos. However, I don't think I have the capacity to do all the ones I -want- to do, but I still want to share them.

Would anyone be opposed to me using this thread to script out music videos for the amusement of the world? ((I promise they're not all just Essex. XP)) I just think it would be fun to share exactly what I see of you all when I listen to a piece of music.

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CoH music videos for the win!