Shadowe

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And yet they have the same cutoff point for villians who don't have a security clearance level to work off of.

In fact villains have a threat level, which would suggest they are offered access purely by how dangerous vanguard think they are.

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Is it unreasonable to assume that 'Threat Level' is a basis by which Arachnos measures the skill and trustworthiness of their Destined Ones? In which case Vanguard, who don't CARE if someone's a 'good guy' or a 'bad guy' as long as they're willing to fight Rikti, are simply using a piece of information available from Arachnos, the same as Security Level is available from the FBSA.

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Simple they don't think you can punch Rikti hard enough.

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Utterly beside the point. Combat Level =/= Security Level, but Vanguard work off your Security Level. I'd say that since Vanguard work, to a certain extent, outside the law, employing people from the Etoile Islands as well as Paragon City, they simply use SL as a way to judge if you are experienced enough, in the eyes of others, to handle the things you find out.

Fair point, FFM.

Anyone can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this bit, as it's a little laden with assumptions:

Firstly, registration is simply a person choosing, under Paragon City Law, to exercise their rights under the Citizens Against Crime Act to possess police powers.

Secondly, newly registered people get directed to a local FBSA office that is dedicated to their origin (MAGI, GIFT, DATA etc). Your first contact is a government official.

Thirdly, as you progress, you become more famous (earning influence), and the trust that your particular associated-branch of the FBSA has for you is reflected by increases in Security Level. Without that trust you cannot get into hazard zones.

A player would be well within their rights to say that their L50 hero is actually treated as L0 for Security Level purposes, to reflect not being registered, but there are ICC for doing so, which is reflected by the fact that you would not be allowed into hazard zones.

Alternately, you can register, and then have nothing at all to do with the FBSA, making your own contacts (not those in the game) - you would still have the police powers, but your Security Level would not reflect your Combat Level (to use in-game parlance).

So, while it's possible to play a powerful character whose SL does not reflect his CL, such a character would not have the run of the city. And if you're unregistered, then if you choose to exercise police powers as if you were, you can expect every hero and cop around to drop on you like a tonne of rectangular building-thingies.

Heh. Plasmarch has a lawyer character plot-monkey. She's great. I can never remember her name (which is annoying, coz she's a prestige-monkey member of the WoD). Unfortunately, I have 24 character slots full on Union, all with RP toons (and thanks to Solar I now have a burning desire to bring Maera out to play...), so until we get the bonus character slots, I couldn't do this, but oh, it should be fun.

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With the arrival of Issue 12 and a 10 global channel max, it might be nice to have a Looking For RP channel set up, where RP'ers could request RP teams, missions, or just general IC meet ups somewhere in the city. As said, GGOOC can get a bit weird, and it's mostly just a social chat room instead of something as a tool for RPing.

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/signed

And don't get me started on Crey Paragon Protectors...

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Why are we getting hung up on the fact that it's the heroes life that his actions are protecting?

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Probably because Superman never worries about it, either.

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Sure, if a bullet is fired at Statesman then it won't hurt him, but what about the ricochet? What if that same bullet, fired by Mr A. Random-Hellion and rebounding off of Staesman's manly chest, hits an innocent bystander and kills them. Is Statesman inactivity then an attributing factor to that person's death? If he had acted to prevent the gunman from firing, and used deadly force (not lethal force) to do so because he felt it was the only way to do it quickly, then that bystander would still be alive.

A hero's inactivity can come with just as many reprocussions.

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Oh, absolutely. Heroes (I use this term abstractly, not to refer to Registered Superpowered Beings) have a responsibility to protect the innocent. If their action or inaction causes the injury or death of an innocent when they know that they could have prevented it by acting in a different way, then they may be guilty of such crimes as ABH, GBH and 2nd Degree Murder, and I think you could make a case for Causing Death by Misadventure in some cases. On the other hand, this is City of Heroes, not City of Lawyers, so I don't want to get too bogged down. The crux of the 'Responsibilities of Registration' can, I think, be covered by FBSA investigation of any deaths caused, and then the consequences are played out however the player wants them to be. With, I suppose, the added point that it needs to make sense. If the investigation would find the character guilty, then the character should suffer the ICC of their ICA.

Agreed, Mighty. On more mature consideration, I think FFMs post to the effect that a registered hero would be investigated under the same restrictions as any police officer is probably the best one to go for as an assumption. And could also offer all sorts of fun "I'm waiting for my hearing" plots, too.

Okay, back to the real meat of the thread, then. Registration. I personally like the solution presented in Mutants and Masterminds' Freedom City setting, which is that it is possible to register an heroic identity, which (to use UK law terminology) would constitute a legal 'person'. Said 'person' can then be sued, tried, arrested, judged, employed, paid, whatever just like a normal person can be, but does not require the disclosure of the actual identity.

Yes, there are lots of problems with this approach, notably copycats, but it's not a bad one, all told.

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Sorry, but that's... silly. If characters can defend their actions because of possible unknown factors - "That random civilian who got caught in the crossfire might have been one of the criminals!" - there are no limits. Yes, of course Statesman was entitled to stop the Hellion using reasonable force, but there's no way he could claim he believed his life to be threatened unless he had prior knowledge of whatever secret weapon this was.

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I'm not saying that he could claim he believed his life was threatened. I'm saying that his actions would, by law, be judged on two factors: 1) What he believed to be the case at the time and 2) What actually was the case at the time.

So, Statesman gets shot at by a Hellion. As is his long-standing belief, bullets cannot harm him, so he stands there and takes it. But it turns out that actually the bullets are somehow capable of harming him. By the first point, he would be utterly unjustified in the use of deadly force throughout the battle. But the law includes provisions that makes allowances for acting without knowledge - a policeman who shoots a man by accident, and the man happens to be a suicide bomber with the bomb strapped to his chest is NOT going to get put in the slammer for it.

I'm not saying that Statesman should or would use deadly force if Mr A. Random Hellion pulls a gun on him, simply that the law will make provision to cover the potential circumstances if he does. If he decides to kill Mr A. Random Hellion, then he has to suffer the consequences of his actions, but would any sentence pronounced on him be adjusted if it turns out the Hellion had Anti-Statesman ammo in his gun?

I'm certainly not interested in anarchy in Paragon. I'm just trying to get a handle on what we think the law makes allowances for.

A couple of points I'd like to make: Firstly, everyone here is doing a damn good job of debating this, and there have been many things said that are making me question my assumptions, so I'm loving it.

Secondly, in an attempt to add a level of direction to this discussion, there are a few things being discussed:

What constitutes a reasonable situation for a hero to utilise deadly force? Is it entirely subjective, or does the law make a hard line?

Why are heroes registered? Is it so that the state can watch them?

What does registration mean to the hero? What information does he give to the FBSA when he registers? Is it actually possible to be registered and really maintain a secret identity?

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might the precedents set not perhaps state that deadly force as it applies to a normal human makes the use of deadly force appropriate?

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I'm not sure I follow. You're saying that if a Hellion were stupid enough to pull a gun on Statesman, he'd be fully justified in killing the guy out of hand, because although a normal bullet poses no threat at all to a being that can shrug off a nuclear explosion, it would have posed a deadly threat to a normal human? That would be... very strange.

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There is a huge distinction between killing someone out of hand and authorisation under legal terms to utilise deadly force. For a start, the first one is 2nd Degree Murder (or Manslaughter, as we would call it in the UK), while the second is the use of appropriate police powers by an individual mandated by the state to do so.

To use your example... what if the Hellion in question happened to have ammunition which is capable of bypassing Statesman's invulnerability? Does the supposition that States doesn't know about it mean that he is required by law not to defend himself, up to and including a preemptive assault? I think not. Pulling a gun on someone is a show of force that the individual in question is prepared to use deadly force, and the police powers state that in that circumstance you are justified to use it in return.

By personal choice Statesman may decide to avoid using his full strength and power against the Hellion, but I think the law will make provision for him to do so. If it does, then we have a coherent set of rules, which makes it easier for us as RPers to know where the line is drawn.

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As for characters without non-lethal means, I suppose that raises the question of just how the city decides who to give a hero license to. If your only way of "arresting" suspects is with lethal force, there's a good argument for saying you wouldn't get a license.

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So why are there so many Fire blasters? AR blasters? Katana scrappers? Dual-blade scrappers? Broadswoard scrappers? Superstrength tanks?

I understand where you're coming from, FFM, but my point was even more basic - ignoring the artificial game-mechanic that allows a granny in Talos Island to be stronger than my L8 Inv/SS tanker (after all, she can be in a tug-o-war with a Tsoo for hours, and I can't take more than one punch from him), I think (and am happy to debate, that's what this thread is for) that to account for the fact that the city allows heroes to run around with Rifles, Fire powers, swords and all sorts of nonsense that it's hard to fudge away being lethal in the use of (wow, that was a tough sentence), I am inclined to think that the law (in our fictional setting) would say that if the force being used by the criminal would be deadly to a normal human being, then the use of deadly force in dealing with them may be justified.

On the other hand, if you're in one of those warehouse or office maps with running peds, and a group of Council opens fire with machine guns... there is a risk of civilian casualties, which ticks 4a.

There are many many circumstances that exist in-game that would allow us to utilise deadly force in the apprehention of criminals.

Actually, that's a point: Although it makes sense for the city to be strict with superpowered indiciduals and the deadly force legislation (particularly with regard to physical invulnerabilities and so forth), from a verisimilitude perspective (I'm thinking Fire and AR blasters here...), might the precedents set not perhaps state that deadly force as it applies to a normal human makes the use of deadly force appropriate?

This is something that has cropped up a bit recently, as someone has questioned something that many of us seem to have assumed was the case:

What level of oversight is there on Heroes?

You see, a lot of us (from what I've seen) have noted that there is Registration of heroes in Paragon, and we appear to assume that the registration certificate (the little card you get when you look at your character's ID) is in fact a License.

Now, this may be a legal technicality, but what I'd like is to see gathered together is the historical references regarding heroic registration, and a 'unified' (or as unified as a bunch of rampant individualists like us RPers gets) understanding as to what registration actually means from a legal standpoint:

What can heroes do?
Do they have law enforcement powers?
Is registration simply a remit to use 'superpowers' for acts of vigilantiism?
What are the responsibilites of a registered hero?
What are the rights of a registered hero?
If a secret identity is maintained, who (if anyone) knows about it?

Thoughts, facts and references, please! (I'm a tad restricted about what I can view right now, so I can't hunt a lot of this stuff down myself.)

Always good to get a non-RPers perspective on things. Ta Mighty.

I think that sometimes a lot of us get blinkered by our personal perspectives of the 'reality' of the CoX multiverse. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is something of which we should be aware.

I'm inclined to agree with the point of view that Recluse would be unlikely to deal favourably with versions of him from other realities (and I have to admit that seeing a piece of official fiction in which one of the signature characters makes reference to the other realities would be really nice - in this case I'm refering to the common RPer view that another server = another reality). That's not to say that he wouldn't use them to meet his own ends, just that he's not going to keep his word on any sort of pact or treaty he makes with another Recluse.

There are a lot of problems with RPing in CoX and trying to accept the canon information (among the biggest being that events don't move very quickly in the official world, and it's very hard to reference some of the in-game canon, like TFs without screwing something up), and my method of dealing with it is to assume that new content (such as that which comes in a new issue) becomes 'historical' IC about a week or two after the issue is released to the live servers. Also safe to say that everything's very situational, and it's not unusual to fudge things. A lot.

I'm not sure there was a point to this, other than rambling. On to my next post, elsewhere, now, before I make more of an idiot of myself.

Ah, the old canon vs. fudge discussion. I love this one.

My personal interpretation of Syra's point (which I appear to agree with, in case this comes out wrong) is that IF you want to use SoA equipment IC, then as far as many RPers are concerned, you should have a good reason that you're not on Lord Recluse's hitlist. If your backstory makes sense, no one will bat an eyelid, but if you start claiming that you (say) killed a Night Widow and nicked her stuff, suspension of disbelief is damaged. It makes it harder to believe that the character could exist for more than the few days it might take for Recluse and Co. to have you hunted down and shot.

I solo my L50 Eng/Eng on Invincible, and Energy Torrent/Explosive Blast are my two first attacks against minion-only spawns. Not so useful against Lieuts and only handy against bosses for doing a bit of damage/KB to the minions hanging around.

Power Boost+Aim+BU+ET+EB = Orange minions down to a teensy tiny fraction of their health, and most of them flat on their backs. Then single-target attacks while EB recharges, hit it again, and everything's down. My build is not specced for uber-damage. Pop a red insp and orange conning minions drop like flies.

Energy Torrent and Explosive Blast are the two major KB powers in the set, and coupled with Conserve Power+Fly or Hover, you can change the KB to KD, which is very effective soft control for teaming.

((A departure from my usual style - going for first person for once. Also SPOILER ALERT - OMEGA LEVEL INFORMATION IS REVEALED IN THIS POST))

{Founder's Falls}

I remember it clear as a photograph. I suppose I could always ask Helena for a holographic replay of the events, but an image like that doesn't convey the terror, the shock, or any of the other myriad of emotions that you feel while you're actually there.

I was sitting outside at my favourite coffee shop, having my usual cappucino, served by Debbie - a rather sweet young blonde girl of maybe nineteen, working to help pay her college tuition - who for the usual inexplicable reasons finds me easy to talk to, and who was at that moment explaining to me about her boyfriend, Justin, and the problems he was having. I'll admit that I was only half-listening to her, since I'd heard most of it before. Coming here every day, she knew that I didn't really listen, but just needed someone to talk to who would give a male perspective to her problems. It's an equitable arrangement, whereby I get to lounge around away from the pressures of the job, drink as much coffee as I want, and flirt with the barristas. In return I make a point of leaving a generous tip, which is probably why Joanne, who runs the place, will every now and then give me a free slice of cake.

It's good cake.

Still, I digress. Debbie had just launched into "What that Selene said about my Justin, and why I hate her", when Helena pinged a comm alert to me from Vanguard. Rikti inbound. A dozen dropships, and the War Walls were down. Glancing up and down the street, I couldn't see hide nor hair of any other heroes, but the sudden darkening of the sun that always seems to precede these assaults had everyone looking up.

Smoothly rising to my feet, I rested a hand on Debbie's shoulder and passed her a twenty-dollar bill. "Here's today's, my dear. Now, please, get inside, get everyone else, and get safe." She just goggled at me, which was about the best I could expect, really, so I turned her gently by her shoulders and gave her a little push toward the door back into the shop.

Perhaps not the best move I could have made, as at that moment a dropship drifted overhead, and sent a viridian energy beam lancing down at the street. The shockwave knocked me from my feet, and I cursed as I felt hot metal slice into my thigh. Not enough to slow me down yet, but enough to cause me problems further down the line if I wasn't careful.

Tactics. Not exactly my strong point. When you're an immortal singularity with a theoretical mass twice that of the planet you live on, you tend to be aware that you can bull your way through most problems. I could destroy this dropship easily. Negligible effort. Hundreds of dead Rikti, thousands of people saved. Of course, the downside to doing so is that I'd be a black hole ripping through space at a sizeable fraction of the speed of light, with no easy way to slow down until I rebuilt my body, which would take between five minutes and half an hour. The Sun is only just over eight light minutes away. I've been there. It's quite nice, really - very good for getting away from it all. But coming back would take a lot longer, even at half light speed - which is about as fast as I can get in space with my body intact, and expecting it to stay that way. I'd miss the landing force. Not really good to make it look like I'm fleeing the scene. So, once I again, I was forced to stick with my body, and stand and take whatever punishment was hurled my way. Just like always.

I twisted the dial on my wristwatch, which shifted me from my suit into my battlesuit - far more reasonable for fighting. As the suit's sensors came fully online, I saw a bomb thump into the tarmac nearby, and I braced myself for the explosion... which didn't happen. Debbie, standing stock-still in terror beside me, simply stared, and I knew I only had a few seconds before the bomb exploded, killing everyone near me. No time to reflect, no time to plan, no time for anything except action.

Drawing on the near-infinite reserves of energy within me, I channeled subatomic fury at the bomb, hoping to crack through the outer casing and fry the dense circuitry within, preventing it from going off. The warning lights that the Rikti thoughtfully installed on their explosives changed from an angry red to a pleasant secure blue in the couple of moments, and I knew that I had time. Time to spin around, drop my weight, and grab Debbie.

Well, that was the plan.

Agony exploded across my back as a Headman opened fire from a nearby rooftop.

"RUN!" My scream left my throat raw, and finally snapped Debbie out of her stupor. Just in time for her to run headlong into a Conscript and a Comm Officer. Choices, choices, choices. Tactically, the Headman was the biggest threat to me. Personally, the Comm Officer was about to open a standing portal through which many more Rikti would be able to enter the area, and Debbie was about to be killed very messily. Which meant it was no choice at all.

You see, the people of this city call me a hero. That's what it says on the license. Back home in England I'd be a 'Registered Super-powered Entity'. I don't think of myself as a hero. I'm just a man who has some abilities that mean I can cause a lot of damage in a very short space of time.

A LOT of damage.

A pulse of energy hit the Comms Officer in the face, knocking him to the ground. Darting forward, far in excess of local speed regulations - I'm embarrassed to admit that the broken window on the coffee shop was from the sonic boom, not from anything the Rikti did - my fist met the Conscripts stomach with every ounce I could muster. Overkill. My hand punched through his spine, but I was withdrawing it immediately, twisting myself into a spin, firing bolts of energy as fast as I could at the Comm Officer who was struggling to his feet, shaking his head dizzily. One, two, three blasts punched into him, and he stopped struggling. Grabbing Debbie by the arm, not caring how rough I was being, I turned to look at the Headman, launching an unstable sphere of particles in his general direction, hoping the explosion that would result on impact would distract him. Still moving, I dragged Debbie toward the shop, half turned and lifted her to barrel through the door.

It was then that I noticed. She was clutching at her stomach, her face twisted in agony. The ******* had shot her. Debbie, who was just getting to grips with life. Debbie who was oh-so in love with Justin. Debbie, who made a mean cappucino. Debbie, who always had a smile for me. Debbie, who had everything to look forward to. Debbie, who was now dying in my arms.

I slapped my personal med-beacon on her. She needed it more than me. What's half an hour without a body compared to a life snuffed out? I can recover, she can't. The equation is simple.

As she faded, heading for the local hospital's rejuvenation suite at my expense, I turned to face the Headman, who was once again aiming his cannon in my direction. Red rage filled me. I knew it for the destructive force it was, and I welcomed it. The Rikti may be human, but the minute they chose to take a life, they became my mortal enemies. Of course, I'm not exactly mortal these days.

I launched myself into the air, my anger boiling, urging me to feel the visceral sense of gratification that would course through me when I hit him. A blast from his cannon struck, and I simply absorbed it, revelling in the sick, stomach-twisting ripple as extra-dimensional energy was sucked inside. Turning up the volume on my suit's exterior speakers, I yelled at him, screamed, bellowed to let him know that his doom had come.

"You are DEAD!"

My fist tore toward him, and he twisted to avoid it, taking the blow on the shoulder. I heard bone snap, though whether it was in my hand or his arm I couldn't say. I slowed, and turned, and shifted my body partly into another world. A world that fills me with more terror than I'll ever admit to anyone. I slid inside the Headman's armour, and laughed.

"Welcome to my world. Goodbye."

And I let fly an explosion that would collapse a skyscraper.

* * * * *

{Later}

I limped into the hospital. No med-port beacon, and I was too weary to do anything other than walk slowly along. My suit was in a bit of a state, and I wasn't a lot better. Half an hour of solid fighting, scores of Rikti dead or fled, dozens of heroes mopping up the few remaining.

Inside, doctors and nurses were rushing around, tending to the injured, writing on notepads, checking the severity of injuries. A man with a limp was probably pretty low down the priority list, and I could feel the pain subsiding even as I walked.

I stepped up to the reception nurse, and gave her my most winning smile.

"Good morning. A young lady was med-ported in earlier, at the very start of the attack. Would I be able to see her, please?" I pulled out my hero license and handed it to her. She swiped it through a machine, which bleeped in response. "Ah, Shadowe, right? She's in Violet ward - that's private care. Is she family?"

I shook my head as she handed me the card back. "No, no, no. She's just a girl who works at my favourite coffee shop. Right place, right time and all that."

The nurse stared, not quite understanding, as I turned and walked away. I heard her whispering to a colleague. "That's Richard Huntington - he's got a victim of the attack in Violet ward on his own medical insurance, just because. That's the sort of heroism I like to see."

Hah. Heroism they call it. Well, perhaps doing the right thing is heroism. But I can't forget that I had to kill to be this 'hero'. And as much as I know it's necessary, as much as I know it's not going to stop any time soon, I can't forgive myself for the deaths. Even though I know I'll kill again. Kill to defend this world I love, and the people on it.

I don't feel like a hero. I feel like a monster.

Seen on an internet chatroom:

HeroGrrl: did u hear? Shadoew got a new gf
Spandex_Sux: U mean shadowe? dude goes thru more chicks than Bush goes thru stupid comnemts
HeroGrrl: hes sorta cute tho.
Seven777: thats what? six in the last year?
Spandex_Sux: maybe ur nxt 7
HeroGrrl: hey I'm next!
Seven777: dude, I'm a GUY!!!1!
HeroGrrl: he can go thru me if he wants...
Spandex_Sux: Yea, btu he hangs out with thqt queer actor kid- you might get lucky 7
Seven777: guys a ****. i took a look on heroes-now.com and there are liek 7 chciks living inh is house right now.
HeroGrrl: Hey, 1 of thems his MOM!
Spandex_Sux: So? i think incest is something he might be into. think about it. Mum, SDister, Kitmarch, Scarlet Starlett, Sakuri Winter and that new chick he took home last week. U think his new gf doesn't know he's shacked uyp with the lot of them?
HeroGrrl: Span, ur an idiot.hes so totally not like that its unreal
Seven777: HGs got a point, dude. Huntington has an eye for the ladies, sure, but youre the only person I know who thinks hes got it hot for his MOM
Spandex_Sux: ... wotever. u've not been on hero-tales.org, i guesss?
Seven777: hero-tales is a load of bull, dude. Always has been
HeroGrrl: besides his sister and kitmarch moced out a couple of weeks ago.
HeroGrrl: moved
Spandex_Sux: lezers!
Seven777: lesbos!!
HeroGrrl: lol
Spandex_Sux: roflol
Spandex_Sux: so whos Dick shacked up withnoow then?
Seven777: i think Luminescnece and Kit are a couple
HeroGrrl: Cassandra Zero
Spandex_Sux: the army chick?"!
Seven777: nowai!!! she's an ICE QUEEN!
Spandex_Sux: 7 u think EVERYONES a couple
HeroGrrl: seems hot-huntington meltled the ice
Seven777: whats he see in her?
HeroGrrl: shes sorta pretty
Seven777: u fancy her HG?
Spandex_Sux: itll never lasty. shell freeze his balls off
HeroGrrl: I DFO NOT FANCY CASSANDRA XZERO! I LIKE BOYS!
Seven777: HG and Zero, sitting in a tree...

While your point is fairly valid, Londoner, I assume that this discussion is about the text-based RP of the type we have in CoX.

Yes, we could just set up a server to chat over vocally, but some people won't be able to, some people won't want to, some people will have pathetic connections and quality will go to pot and make it unintelligible.

Far easier, in this circumstance, to consider our common RP-ground, which is RP in this game.

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God modders! KILL!!

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I have to admit that I am as guilty as all sin of god-modding... but at a very specific level of interaction. And that is personal, one-to-one interaction between characters who are friends.

Example time: Shadowe rests his hand on Ryan's shoulder and squeezes gently. "It's alright, my boy."

Oops. I just god-modded. Ryan being Cindersnap, one of Zortel's characters, and if I do that emote (which would be pretty typical of my main), I have technically god-modded. I catch it every time, and if you ever see me saying something like Shadowe moves to rest his hand on Ryan's shoulder... then that's me noticing and avoiding it, particularly with characters that my toons don't know very well.

On the other hand, if I end up in a 'fight' scene (which doesn't necessarily mean two characters going at it, just one where the two characters have a personal interest in the other NOT having free reign on actions), then I'll go out of my way to avoid it.

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That's why, IMO, it's better to run plots that just affect small groups of people. Minimises player conflicts, makes them easier to keep a handle on, and are generally more fun.

Of course, YMMV, but it's pretty hard to convince players that their world is going to end.

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I tend to agree with this. I have a potential world-destroyer on my list of villains, but I am very careful to ensure that he would never decide to end the world. Destroy my main? Yep. Destroy my main and all his friends and family? Hell, yes! Proclaim himself a God and work to provide peace and happiness to all the cattl... erm... people inhabiting HIS world? Abso-flippin-lutely! But destroy the world? No.

The last and best attempt I saw at a world-destruction plotline was the Requiem War, which a) was phenomenally done, b) involved a large chunk of the RP community, c) needed the tacit agreement of even those RPers who weren't involved and d) caused NO END of OOC conflict because of all of the above.

Better to run a plotline where the impact is relatively minor to the gameworld (which is NOT the same thing as being minor to the characters involved). It's about the same level as the general agreement that kicks around amongst RPers: Don't make your character the President of the United States. Don't make your character Sister Psyche's husband. Don't run a world-destruction plot unless you can follow through if every player in the game ignores you.

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I really hate pets, like a lot...

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That they don't PvP.

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Dear everyone who didn't get this joke by Petitioned...

He hates pets because they don't PvP.

That's how I read it, anyway. I stand ready to be corrected. But I'll bet 5 inf I'm right.

I'm something of a spelling and grammar perfectionist (which is not to say that I'm perfect, merely that I'd like to be, and so try very hard not to make errors), but other than deploring the use of Txt-speak in RP, I'm pretty lax in my consideration of other people's spelling. I must admit that the there/their/they're issue occassionally gets my goat, but mostly because I have to re-read the sentence to double-check what has been written - heck, I know that within the last week I made that mistake myself at least once.

My biggest pet-hate in RP right now is probably players ignoring canon. Not bending it, not twisting it, not finding some of the huge holes that exist in it, but flat out contradicting it with a character. Kinda silly (and there have been all sorts of discussions about it both here and on GGOOC recently), I'll admit, but when someone simply ignores the game-world that we share, it gets my hackles up.

Having said that, I'm not perfect with regard to following it. I don't know the Kheldian information very well, personally, which is why I don't play one (though I have a PB, simply for extra cossie slots). Both of my main characters are reality breakers - neither of them follows the laws of physics, which I personally set great store by - and due to a mild miscalculation on my part one of them should have destroyed the world on 13/09/05, but I've fudged like a mad thing to make it all work consistently.

Spelling mistakes? Make 'em, I don't care.

Grammatical errors? We all make them, every day, so I'm not that fussed.

TXT-speak? Stop being lazy, please.

Capitalisation? No skin off my nose, but it can be hard to read sometimes, so please try to make some effort.

This is a dream. I know it's a dream. It MUST be a dream.

A cold fist gripped Samantha Huntington's heart as she looked around. Faded, shadowy walls leaned in around her, and everywhere she turned she saw heat, fire, the blazing glory of nuclear fusion, eating away at her flesh. Staring in horror down at her hands she saw her fingers boil from the inside out, wither and fall off. Her hair burst into flame on her scalp, searing her with an agony she wouldn't be able to describe.

And all around, the laughter. Andrew Martin, laughing at her for being a feeble, uncontrolled psychic. Richard, laughing at her for dying by inches due to the radiation poisoning her body. Her mother, laughing at her for never being able to hang onto a man. Kitmarch, laughing at her for thinking they were friends. Joseph, laughing at her for thinking he had loved her. Veskit, laughing at her for thinking she could help the Fletched Alliance be true heroes. Vicky, laughing at her for thinking she could help her brother find true love. Everyone she cared about, everyone she was scared for, everyone who mattered in her life, laughing at her for being a scared little girl who thought she could a lot of good in the world, and didn't want to die before she had the chance.

She turned and saw a new face. A face she recoiled from. A face framed by soft fair hair and a luminous glow, and she shrank away from him as his mouth opened in what she was sure would be the cruelest laugh of all...

A persistent ringing snapped her awake, gasping for breath, the sheets pushed off her naked form, and she shuddered as she lay on her sweat-soaked bed. The brilliant light pulsing from her body provided enough illumination as she scrambled to reach her bedside cabinet and the telephone trilling tunefully on it.

Her voice was gruff and sleepy as she picked up the phone.

"Sa- uhh... Luminescence, here." She paused to listen to the voice on the other end of the line, letting out a heartfelt sigh of relief.

"Oh, God. Hey there, sexy. You have no idea how glad I am that you called..."