Shadowe

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Of course it only works if people actually listen to her, but that's an entirely different gripe!

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*waits until the Winter event for anyone who hasn't experienced the terror of Chalet RP*

Oh, you're absolutely right that the chances of him finding out about her in such a short time-frame are unlikely. And he's not much of one for actively trying to poach people...

But is she at all likely to have responded to a discrete advertisement in the local newspapers asking for professional, dedicated, capable persons interested in security for a local subsidiary of a multinational corporation. No previous experience required, though ideal, contact Helena on 555 2734 with reference SPS843.

Huntington Technologies: Innovation through Dedication

That would be a nice easy retcon that affects nothing else at all, and then if Helena (through Dicky's recording gear) hears her name, she would advise Richard of said response.

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I don't have an "uber" character that I play regularly, but I imagine that having fun with one is hard unless you create elements within the character's story and persona that impose limitations on them. I don't have any uber-characters but my guess is that they're harder and less fun to play if they don't have limitations and flaws created for them.

Is that why there's so much angst flying around at GG?

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Hahahahaha!

And yes, you're quite right. That is why there's a lot of angst flying around the place. Or at least it's a contributing factor.

The key to playing an 'uber' character, as you quite rightly say, is to humanise them. Since we can't have an all-too-human foil character to contrast them to (at least, not easily), we have to explore the human side of their nature. The more powerful, the more it affects them, and therefore the more angst you get. Which is why characters like Richard and Ellie seem to be angst-magnets - because they can (to a certain extent) laugh off things that other people would be afraid of, it takes a delve into their psyche to find out about their hopes, dreams and fears.

Hehehe. Honestly, Zeero, it doesn't matter - if you've done something IC and In-game, that takes precedence over a 'maybe' posted on the forum!

Of course, we (that's you, me and Random) could always try to arrange something with Dicky trying to poach Sarah, and see what happens. Of such things are good RP made!

Goodness me, no!

No more heroic than Superman...

I could go on about Richard for hours - naturally, really, as he's my favourite character to RP - but to him it's not that he's acting heroicly in the risks he takes (he is at risk - he's only marginally more durable than a normal human), but in the decision to use his immortality/ability to recover from extreme trauma/energy projection powers in the defence of other people who are less capable than himself eg. the citizens of Paragon.

He's not a hero because of the risks he takes, but because he's selfless about doing what he can to protect those less able to protect themselves. This comes out a fair bit in social situations - I know that a number of people have commented, IC & OOC, that Richard cares about people. Stupidly so, in a large number of cases. Heck, in my current plotline he has a group of ladies of questionable ethical standing living in his house.

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This isn't a chapter; it's not even a page.

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I've read a lot of books where a chapter doesn't even fill a page. So it can be considered a chapter. I do agree with everything else you have said though.

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/signed.

I think this has a lot of potential, to be honest, but I think that taking on-board FFM's comments would be a good thing.

If you want to read a large selection of stories written by your fellow board members, in a variety of styles and skills, take a look at the IC Story Thread in the Roleplaying board.

I agree, Fans.

My take on it is that everyone is roughly on a par, as far as power is concerned. Richard certainly makes no assumptions about how powerful other people are compared to him, with the sole exception that he is very confident that no one can actually kill him (ooh, look, I use a game-mechanic (no permanent death) but an alternative explanation for it).

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How does a level 1 enemy with a pistol differ to a level 50 with a pistol? Are they better shots, different bullets, some strange quantum effect that means a level 25 being shot by a level 1 with a pistol will take minimal if any damage even if they're a normal human with a bow, standing still, while a level 50 will leave them bleeding on the floor?

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And this is why I say that Player Canon > Game-mechanic Canon

There is NO good reason for this. There is NO good reason that a Tsoo warrior can annihilate a L1 character, but a L50 hero can do the reverse in the blink of an eye. An AK47 is an AK47, and will cause the same trauma to a single person, yet a L50 enemy with one does more damage than a L1 enemy. You can say something about the skill of the person firing the gun, but you can only take that so far.

If I want a Hellion to get a shot off at Richard, and hurt him, then it WILL hurt. Just the same as if he'd been shot by a L50 enemy. The story WINS over game-mechanics EVERY TIME.

And this is the biggest problem I've had with the M&M project, too. But I've solved it.

See, this is another place where 'Game-mechanic canon' should take a back-seat to Story and Player canon.

The artificial level-based advancement of CoX does not follow the trends of comic-book heroes, who tend to have 'their powers' and that's it. The rare few who have an 'omni' or 'variable' power (as they tend to be described in PnP RPGs) tend to have a single schtick that they use.

So, any given existing comic-book hero will usually have a small array of abilities, perhaps learning new uses for them over time, but rarely to the extent we see in CoX.

This part of the discussion is one I've had many times in the past - If I want to create a L1 version of Richard, does he suddenly becomes a huge amount weaker than the L50 version of him? Of course not! But in-game he is. Since that's impossible to justify, I simply state that Player Canon > Game-Mechanic Canon, and any problem is solved - and I can prove that Shadowe is more powerful than a L1, because I can drag out my L50 version any time I like.

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Personally, game/story cannon is way more important than player canon, to the point where player canon should be built WITHIN it. I also hate over-powered heroes. As soon as somebody makes a claim of power beyond what you SHOULD be able to do as a level 50 toon I IC assume mental instability. If you're strong enough to single handedly destroy the world (or say you are) My chars assume you're nuts. If you have the power to affect my powers against my wish (or claim to) you're nuts. If you claim to be so powerful that you could wipe out scores of Rikti in a thought, I'll invite you to the warzone in an 8 man group and watch you solo it, then why you die, I'll KNOW you're nuts. Simply put, make a character with powers WITHIN the constraints of the actual game. (Passive/none-huge game affecting powers notwithstanding as the odd bit of mind-reading etc isn't NECCESSARILY out of question.) To all of those who create uber/godly/way-over-the-top-just-designed-to-take-the-limelight-because-you-aren't-creative-enough-to-be-equal heroes who then add "limitations" to explain them, I'll ask this question. "Why bother with all that when you could just create a toon without the powers or the limitations, and you'd have what you have now without all the nonsense fluff that makes my toon think you need psychiatric help?"

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Well, that almost struck me as a personal attack. I know it wasn't, so I'm not going to treat it as one.

To take the things you describe, though - Theoretically my main could destroy the world with a thought. I know it. Other people who RP with him know it. The potential is there, but yes, we have to operate within the constraints given by the game engine when we try to do things IC utilising the game engine, so I (though I am not alone - FFM, ShadowGhost, Ravenswing, Zortel and many more players have what might be described as overpowered characters) have an obligation to have an explanation why it doesn't happen that way.

So, Dicky-boy (as Shadowe is affectionately known) can be dragged to the RWZ, stuck on an 8-man team running at Invincible, and will NOT be able to solo the spawns. There's a good IC reason for it. I don't feel any particular obligation to explain what it is, but the explanation does exist, and is utterly consistent with the character's history, motivation and feelings.

Some of the best stories around come out of characters like this - those who are powerful enough to do almost anything they want, but if they do it will betray what it is that makes them a hero.

You won't see Richard brag about what he can do. He's ashamed of it. You won't see him claim to be able to destroy the world. It scares the hell out of him, and he doesn't want to do it by accident. What you will see is a man, confident in his power and ability (he is, after all, a L50 hero), driven to help people as best he can, and trying to find his particular place in the world. That's the story. That's part of what makes him a compelling character to me. If he 'just had the powers of a L50 hero', it would detract from a lot of that, and I don't want to retcon him to such an extent that I effectively screw over what made him become a hero in the first place.

Always nice to have one shill in the audience.

Thanks, Birdy.

You're a member, too?! Yay!

Anyway, dragging this slightly further back on-topic from our somewhat silly semantic shennanigans, as I said, she sounds like the sort of person Dicky would be happy to have around the place (*waits for the cries of "yeah, she's missing a Y-chromosome!"*).

Your call, at the end of the day, Zeero, but Special Projects Security Liaison Officer sounds like a nice fancy title, and Huntington Technologies' Special Projects division (the one based in Paragon ) is in need of a physical presence.

Of course, then there's the interview...

*starts plotting fun things*

Read it again, then

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She is incapable of willingly killing a human being, thus if she uses a weapon, she uses rubber bullets.

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A naked insanely powerful grav controller would work... trust me

But actually, yes, Jess is one of the things that would be capable of stopping him, and not particularly because she's a grav troller. It's something a little more fundamental than that.

Are you sure, Dan?

I think she sounds perfect for Huntington Technologies, to be honest. Would even give me an excuse to drag Charles out, too. (Hardly anyone knows him, but he's HT's Head of Security... kind of )

I usually weigh in on these threads pretty early on (heck, I usually seem to cause them), but I thought I'd wait for everyone to have a say before I leapt into the fray.

The thing is, there are two types of 'Official' canon.

There's 'Story canon', which is things like "Statesman and Lord Recluse are the most powerful super-beings in the world" and "Sister Psyche is one of, if not the, most powerful psychics in the world".

Then there's 'Game-mechanic canon', which has some really weird stuff in it, like... "A Tsoo who accidentally spawns in Galaxy City would beat the ever-living hell out of any hero in the zone's level range, but still not be able to wrestle a handbag off a granny", and "My character can defeat Tyrant single-handedly, because he's only an EB as long as I don't have my rep set to Invincible, in which case, chances are I'm a grease-stain on the floor". Other game-mechanic canon, though, is actually useful, because it covers things like the powers and abilities of enemy types. Some Freakshow can self-rez, for example.

The problem comes when people say that 'Game-mechanic canon AND story canon must be taken into account at all times'.

Balls.

We're here trying to tell interesting stories, and things that flat-out interfere with our ability to do so can be... allowed to slide a bit.

There is an heirarchy of canon, IMO, and mathematically it could be expressed as follows:

Story canon > Player canon > Game-mechanic canon

The official story of CoH is what we have to work around - the history of Paragon City is 'real', and should be treated as real by player characters.

Then comes the stuff we make up - if I want my character to be able to travel at the speed of light (or close to it, as long as he's not in atmosphere), then I can do that. Provided that I don't break the core story (and really, the only biggie here is as long as I don't make my character more powerful than Statesman or Lord Recluse - even if I can defeat them game-mechanic-wise - then I'm pretty much okay) there's nothing wrong with any storyline or plot device I attempt to use.

Lastly, and least, is the in-game restrictions. Shadowe can't travel at a sizeable fraction of the speed of light, because the game restricts him to less than 100 mph. I can ignore this, for the purpose of story. Shadowe can defeat an EB Lord Recluse - I can fudge this by saying that I got in a few lucky blows and forced him to retreat, because, thanks to Story-canon, I know that Shad isn't more powerful than Lord Recluse. We give a nod to game-mechanics, but it's not important. The story we create in this shared world is important. Further, there's nothing actually wrong with creating a character more powerful than the story and game-mechanics allow (Shadowe is one of them, and I know it), provided that there is a rational reason that the character doesn't at least appear to fit within the story restrictions. Case in point, then: Shadowe. At the end of the day, he's insanely powerful. I am well aware of this. He can destroy the world, if he wants to. There's only a few things that could stop him, really (yes, I know what they are), but I've consciously limited him. While his theoretical maximum power is vastly in excess of any of the official characters, he is restricted by his wish to be more human. This is an artificial limitation set by me to explain why although he is more powerful than Statesman or Lord Recluse, he can't access the upper limits of his powers, because if he were to do so, he would lose his humanity, which is something that he, as a character, does not want to do.

Now, there are some huge gaps in the official story, and that's great, because it allows us to make more stuff up. But there are some inviolable 'facts' that we should all attempt to live with, such as the oft-mentioned 'Power cap' at Statesman/Lord Recluse levels, where the City Zones are, and so forth.

If we all suspend our disbelief, and accept the official story, and attempt to avoid breaking that, and give at least a nod toward the game-mechanics, then any player-canon we create can be accepted by the majority - it becomes a case that there's a problem only when we contradict each other.

Another possible solution is to reboot your PC - that helps me when I get that problem.

Technically you don't have to pay. You just have to register to play.

The 'free game time' gets used up before any paid for game time gets charged, so your friend could cancel the payment before the free month is up (like NOW), and will still have access to the full game features for the free time included with the game purchase.

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I still have fond memories of myself and Max Powerz on a couple of 30ish heroes jumping into a mission only to see a lvl 6 corrupter in the same instance.

After a moment of "omg...is it really?" Max squealed with delight when we realised we could target it. A moment later in local chat the poor dead corr simply pipes up with "What the..!?"

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I had that same bug, once!

Similar situation, too. I was duoing with an old friend (long since left for the 'other' game), we popped into a mission, and it was a soling villain's instanced mish. I sniped the villain just to see if it worked (didn't kill him, just a test). We had a good giggle about that.

Stase, due to a combination of far too little sleep and a long weekend of extreme fun and giggles with a good friend of mine - he of the 'got his head kicked in and missing a huge chunk of his skull' fame - I posted my farewell to you in Tygrrfang's thread. (Yes, I'm a numpty. I know.)

See you soon, I hope, and have a lot of fun. Don't forget us, because we're not going to forget you.

WHERE'S MY COW?!

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OP - a lot of people think you're trolling, because, let's face it, you've done nothing but slam down on CoX since your first post.

As for CO being CoX2... do you have proof? From what War Witch said at Omega Sektor earlier this year, the CO engine was NOT being designed for CoX2, and many of us believe it was being designed for the Marvel MMO, then switched to CO when that deal fell through.

We have nothing against Cryptic - Jack Emmert is a whole other story.

We don't all love NC - most of us think they're a good company with a good history of listening to their customers (for the most part), but they're not perfect.

The vast majority of us, however, simply like this game, and enjoy playing it, and object to being told that it's dying when we don't think it is (if it is, proof, please!).

Oh, wow, is it Friday already?

Can't wait for Ghostraptor to see this. If he doesn't *facepalm* I don't know what he'll do.

To the OP: Let's try and be logical about this: CoX has over 100,000 subscribers worldwide. Okay, it's nothing in the league of WoW, but what is?

Things we know:

NCSoft bought the CoX franchise and told us that they were going to pump lots of money into it.
The post-Cryptic updates have been fantastic, so far, especially the QoL changes.
There is, tucked away on some computers somewhere in some offices that we, the players, can't get into, the FIVE YEAR PLAN for CoX.
Upcoming features and issues for CoX (due before CO is released) are coming to make it competitive with the new blood.

Things we have been told (but might not turn out to be true):
NC will be putting a lot of money into one of their biggest franchises (CoX).
CO is coming out early in 2009
DCUO is coming out late 2009
CO will release with features that read like the CoX suggestion board wishlist.

Things that are flat rumour:
CoX is dying.
CO & DCUO will be better than CoX.


So, given all of the above, I'm quite happy with CoX, thanks. I'll take a look at CO and DCUO, but I'm willing to put money on me not leaving CoX.

Bah! I really need to pay more attention.

STOP LEAVING! I won't make these silly mistakes, then.

Sorry to see you go, Tygrr, too. Bah and humbug, I may be wise, but I can be a right numpty.

Well, I found this thread last night (I've been away, and only got home just now, and didn't want to spend hours crafting a reply on my phone)...



I'm sorry to see you go, Stase. We haven't talked much, I've seen you a time or two at events, and that's about all that I can say about our relationship with each other, I think.

You'll be back - they all come back - and it'll be great to see you when you do.

So, good luck to you, and that blokey of yours who has the coolest first name it's possible to have. See you around.

That's a good question, and somewhat tricky to answer.

A lot of RP in missions tends to happen in between fights, with players acting in character, having a conversation about what's going on. Other players will be skilled enough to carry this on during fights (I'm not one of them).

Because RP is all about the social interaction of the characters, it's hard to involve the enemies, but it can be done. However, most in-mission RP will be the characters talking to each other.

Sometimes, one player will be running a plotline, and will use a mission as the backdrop to it, too. In that case, the characters involved in the plot will be responding to events that the running player includes, as well as the events in the mission itself.

(this reply was posted from my phone, and is not as detailed as I would normally like)