Shadowe

Controversial addition - Added a page to Community Plots for the Requiem War of 2006 earlier today, and linked it to every appropriate place I could find. Given that my memories of what actually happened 18 months ago are a little hazy at best (and trawling through the forum posts to find everything from that time is something I'm saving for work next week), any edits are naturally welcome.

Well, K, you'll be sorely missed, as ever.

Hopefully see you soon, though.

Hmmm...

This is a tough one. My main villain (Psychonova) is a complete psychopathic nutjob wrapped in a relatively friendly exterior. I enjoy RPing him (but there are various IC reasons why I don't do so very often), but prefer my hero characters far more. He's not too much of a drain on my emotions, though I will freely acknowledge that he is a drain on them, but only when I actually let his utterly sadistic side out.

So, I'm inclined to say that this theory has a pretty good basis in fact, but the mark of a good roleplayer is to know when to step back from the psychotic nature of the villain, take a time out, and get back in touch with reality.

Having said all this, I think I'll take him for a spin in PD tonight.

[Edited for spelling]

The biggest problem has always been that villains tend to be more suspicious and antisocial than their heroic counterparts - from my experience, that was why the Clocktower meets died a quiet death.

It's difficult to explain why a large number of villains (i.e. more than about three) would decide to meet up at the same place at the same time, every night (or every other night, or however often suits the players) because of this. I'm not saying that all villains are antisocial, but those that aren't tend to be the ones who are already in RP SGs and the like.

Also, I have noticed that there is a decidedly stronger RP 'vibe' for villains when there are HEROES available for them to trick/talk to/annoy. This makes PD a pretty damn good place for villain RP.

One thing I did encounter in a recent plotline (still ongoing, actually) I ran/am running is that if there is a hero 'slumming it' in the Isles, then villain RP can be very entertaining, particularly if there is a reason for the hero and the villains in question to work together. I am fully intending to expand upon this in the future (when the two plotlines I currently have on the go are finished). It's a fascinating idea to 'port' a hero across to the Isles on a solid basis and explore him/her coping with how different life is out there.

{Huntington Manor, 4 December 2007, 7.55pm}

Richard Huntington Sat in the dim study that he claimed as his own on the
ground floor of his manor house, fingers flickering across the keyboard of
his desktop computer as he worked frantically to improve the design of the
latest generation of battlearmour for Amy to test. The vectored
thrust/anti-grav unit was functional, but he needed to improve the overall
shielding effectiveness, and there was a shipment of prototype exoskeletal
'muscles' designed to reduce the user's exertion that was due to arrive
tomorrow.

A holographic representation of the armour flickered in the air in front of
his desk, mostly ignored by him as he peered intently at the monitor
directly in front of him.

"Helena? See what impact we'll have on the shielding ratio if we strip
inner-arm and -leg protection to six milimetres and use the resultant mass
reduction to boost the power of the field generators."

There was no response for perhaps three seconds, as Helena calculated and
adjusted the armour.

"There will be a 0.75 scale reduction in physical protection as a result of
the strip-down. The additional shielding increases the scale by 1.02. This
is sub-optimal. Calculations indicate that eight milimetre protection
provides the most efficient result with the latest generation shields."

Richard's eyes narrowed for a moment before he nodded. "Do it."

The hologram flickered as the proposed changes began, then the image
vanished completely for an instant before returning.

Helena's voice broke across his own as he started to ask what had happened.
"Emergency power supply active. Fission pile now providing full domestic
and defense supply. Interruption in normal power supply from Terra Volta.
Unknown cause. Power now restored to optimal levels. Maintaining emergency
supply for 24 hours, as per standing instructions."

Richard reached for the telephone on his desk, muttering to himself. "I
wonder what that was..."

A tall, red-headed woman appears, and looks around in frank wonderment.

"Umm, wow. This place is... wow. Hi there, all of you. I'm Helena. Helena Huntington. I was given a key by my sweet sister, Promethea. Umm... that's okay, isn't it?" She looks around nervously, eyes still drinking in the sights and sensations of this place, unsure what to expect.

((A Longbow Officer heard talking to her friend on the phone))

"Yes, I know. Richard Huntington, yes, the handsome dead one, well it turns out he might not be dead. Someone told me that he blew up a Longbow base on Sharkshead Isle. Killed everyone inside."

Well, I told you this earlier, Z, but I'll tell you again, here: Count me in with Shadowe, and count me in with Luminescence.

Loving this idea.

Old guard? Who you calling old? Welcome back, K. We've missed you.

Happy Birthday, Plasmarch.

Any reason for this, Z? You can tell me via PM if you don't want to make it public, but I think it's a brilliant idea and wanted to bring Sam along to one at some point, and Helena, and only my regular Wednesday night commitment prevented me from attending.

I would like to take this opportunity to, as has been pointed out to me, apologise to Ammon for inadvertantly linking him to things he has not said.

It is never my intention to do such as this, and I am most chagrined to find that I have. So, I'm sorry for that, Ammon. Your points to me have been cogent and relevant, and I appreciate them. I may not always agree with what you say, but that's another matter, isn't it? (Oh, and I'm assuming you're male. If you're not, sorry for that, too!)

Blackdove.

Not even going to respond.

No point.

Plot ignored.

[ QUOTE ]
This is still being proposed and discussed, just not so much on this forum, where so much OOC opposition and stomping on other player's roleplay has happened.

I don't recall the intentions of the soryline ever being a 'community wide RP project'. Indeed, I've stated many times that I was more surprised than anyone at just how many people took part. It was open to all, not all encompassing, and there is a significant and important difference there. Many posted to dissent.

[/ QUOTE ]

Go for it! Do the plot! I think it's a great idea! Just don't tell me that it's "Community Wide"! Which, by the way, you did. I direct your attention to the OOC section of the original post in "Heroes Among People". If you find any of what I've said to be "stomping on other player's roleplay", please, tell me.

You're the one who has basically invoked the entire RP community in this game for this plot. And when someone says "I don't think you should be doing that", you claim that they're stomping on your creativity.

[ QUOTE ]
Finally, in a city of presumably millions, which the City Council must represent, just how many votes do you think would be needed? I have always assumed that even if every hero in existance voted for the petition, it would still be a minority (although a very powerful and vocal one) of those the City must represent.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're absolutely correct. There's no way that every hero together could be a political force if the civilians don't support them. But, and again I direct your attention to the first post in the "Heroes Among People" thread, you have decided that this is "Community Wide Plot", and you have decided that you are going to GM it. Go ahead and GM a plot if you want, I'm never going to say anything about that unless you go totally out of whack with canonical references, but you have, as I said, unilaterally decided to GM the RP community, and you are somehow surprised when people don't like that.

[ QUOTE ]
My character started a petition that (due to game mechanics) could never succeed in anything but creating IC player participation. I'm frankly quite disturbed at the levels of argument and sniping since seen. No wonder GG is apparently getting quieter when this seems to be the knee-jerk reaction to any new ideas or anyone else's idea of how they may play their characters by a relatively tiny number of people.

[/ QUOTE ]

I shall state it again. You have decided to GM this plot. You have said that this plot affects the entire RP community whether they like it or not. You have not, at any point, despite alluding to it on occassion, stated that this is NOT going to be a "Community Wide Plot", and thus to me your intention appears to be to continue it in that vein.

All I'm really asking for is clarification, and you seem to think I'm trying to ruin your fun.

Allow me to ask a simple question:

Do you, or do you not intend to GM an RP plot that affects the entire CoH RP Community? Yes or no.

If the answer is yes, you and I are going to come to blows.

If the answer is no, then I respectfully suggest that you revise your plot, again, and remove that implication.

Edit: Note to self - PRETENDY FUN TIME GAMES. AKA, some person calling themself Ammon and pretending to be a super hero is trying to get a non-real character called Richard Huntington to pay attention to something that has no impact on anything whatsoever. I am now offically laughing this off.

[ QUOTE ]
Personally, I don't understand this reaction. Some people are running with a plot that they enjoy doing. You don't enjoy it. Why don't you go and do your own thing that you do find fun? If the ideas of what is fun differ that much, you probably wouldn't enjoy playing together much anyway, so no loss there. If you happen to have a friend who likes the plot, you can just not discuss that with him, and turn a willfull blind eye to the few remarks. Talk about something else. Do something else. Don't come to the forums and call someone else's plot a "half-wrecked car". Do no OBJECT on the way other people do their plots. Ignore them. Stay away. If you don't like a plot, don't take part, ignore it, but don't come to forums and try to tear it down.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not trying to tear it down. I think more power to them. They want to run this plot, that's fine.

However...

[ QUOTE ]
But perhaps most important of all, on the second day, your hard-working 'supers' shall decend from the skies just to say 'thank you'. Thank you for your support, or your information, or the various other ways you have helped them help you

[/ QUOTE ]

How is this going to be enforced? Is it compulsory? Will my hero be ridiculed for not taking part, just because I choose not to take part in this plot?

Remember, this is, in the words of the plot creator a "Community Wide Plot". That mean that they, without my permission or desire, have unilaterally decided to involve me and my toons. I've not yet seen any other plot run in this entire game that in the very first post informs me that, regardless of whether I choose to ignore it or not, this is going to happen in the game world, and not just affect the toons involved, but the city in which those toons live.

You're right about the likely impact. Not very much. So what? That's got nothing to do with the fact that, on the basis of this plot that you support, I could create a "Community Wide Plot" tomorrow in which the Hero Register is lost, and suddenly every hero in the game is a wanted criminal. Or I could create a "Community Wide Plot" in which every hero with a Mutant origin contracts a mysterious virus that kills them all in a week.

Sure, people have a right to ignore either of those. But "Community Wide" suggests that the entire RP community in the game supports whatever result the GM of the plot finally settles on and that the entire community will accept it as canon. This is clearly not the case.

And the choice of such a controversial issue for a "Community Wide Plot" is, IMO, a poor one.

I couldn't care less about the plot. But someone has decided that they are going to GM the entire RP community in CoH and I object to that.

Okay, I'm going to step up to the plate and point something out.

The original petition failed.

For whatever reason, it caused so much controversy IC (and a fair amount OOC), that it was almost doomed to fail.

I'm not talking about the number of signatures on the petition. That's irrelevant. Sure, there were a fair number. And there are some on the new one, too. But the original was pretty much doomed to fail because enough people objected to the petition that City Hall would have had to pay attention to that.

So, what happens after that?

Oh, someone comes out and creates it again. OOC. Oh, it makes sense IC for a revised petition. I'm not going to deny that. In fact my characters proposed as much.

But there was OOC controversy surrounding the original petition and the plot creators knew it and they decided to go ahead again anyway.

So, while I agree that the journey is the interesting thing, not the destination (at least as far as RP is concerned), we already had a crash on this trip, and the plot creators have decided to just get back in a half-wrecked car and carry on.

That, combined with the changes to the text of the petition, mean that there is actually unlikely to be anyone who would refuse to sign it IC.

Now, in my mind, the implications of this are that the plot creators are going to make the petition succeed. Sure, City Hall might not be able to implement it. But in the end it appears to me that the plot creators have decided on a political future for heroes in Paragon that is inevitable. And if I don't agree with the direction it's taking, I can't argue.

So, I object to the creation of this petition as a 'community wide RP project' because it's not. But it affects my characters whether I want it to or not. Sure, it's a fun plot. But when I turn round and say IC 'no such petition was presented', what are the plot creators going to say? Why do I have to acknowledge it? Even the Requiem War arc run by Doc T last year could effectively be ignored by people not interested in taking part.

But if this petition succeeds, and City Hall agree to it, what happens when my hero refuses to acknowledge 'Hero Day'? Not refuses to take part, that's his right, but refuses to acknowledge that it even happens? Am I splitting the community? Why does the blame fall on me, when it could have been avoided by allowing the original plot to just finish? IIRC the proposal on the plot thread says something along the lines of 'Heroes will spend time in the community on the second day'. Are they going to be forced? I don't want to be forced into anything. Ever. And I shudder to think of what the criminals will get up to while the heroes are all elsewhere.

So, I object to the recreation of this plot. Because it looks to me as though the plot creators are trying to potentially force me into doing things I have no interest in doing.

There are three possible outcomes from this petition:

1) It succeeds completely. Sorry, I'm not interested, for all the reasons given above.

2) The petition succeeds but it gets stuck in City Hall. *shrug* Life goes on, nothing changes.

3) The petition fails. Again. *shrug* Life goes on, nothing changes.

The only reason I can see for the recreation of this, after number 3 already happened, is to make option 1 or 2 occur. Unless the plot creators can assure me that option 2 is going to be the end result (I doubt they will do that, to be honest, simply because knowledge of the outcome of a plot spoils the plot), that means that they have some intention of making option 1 come to pass.

So, the plot creators have some intention to control my characters for me. To control the city in which my characters live. Possibly to force my characters into doing things that they wouldn't and I don't want them to do.

There was an OOC disclaimer in the revised petition thread that it may look like god-modding. Maybe that point should be revisited. If something looks like god-modding, would you perhaps consider that it will be percieved as god-modding by people? And we all know how RPers feel about god-modders. In fact, that disclaimer near as damnit says 'We're going to control the political situation in Paragon for a while, and if you don't like it, tough'. I think the petition is a wonderful idea. I think it being adjudicated by players is a terrible one. The original plot was a good one, in that the petition was created and things ran. Now we have people GMing the plot and deciding what happens as a result of it. Not just 'when the petitions are presented to City Hall' or any of the objections that were raised in the previous plot. But actually deciding whether this happens or not. Whether we get 'Hero Day'.

Perhaps I'm in a bad mood today, but I don't think players should make decisions for such a major group of NPCs as the City Council.

Welcome, Finch.

About six or seven posts down from this one you'll find a thread called 'Heroes Among People'. There's also another one called 'Heroes for People', which was the precursor to this. Take a read of that one first, then the Heroes Among People thread, and you'll have an idea what's going on.

OOC stands for Out Of Character. As opposed to IC, which is In Character.

We hope you enjoy RP in CoH (and looking at your alt-list you've been in-game for a while)!

See you around.

Edit: Take a look at the stickied thread for New Roleplayers, too. It's quite helpful.

Well, I have to say that the only way I could possibly get involved in it is if someone actually comes along to GG after 9.00 on a night I'm there and tries to get everyone there to sign.

As something going on in the background, I appreciate the effort being gone to, as it shows that people are interested in moving the plot of the city forward, which is a good thing as long as it's not taken too far. But I have what you might call a knee-jerk objection to being told what I can and cannot do with my toons in RP, and I therefore immediately rebel against a 'community-wide plot' when not everyone in the community has agreed to take part in it.

I'm not saying that the plot is good or bad, I'm just wondering if it is possible to avoid it completely. I have no intention of taking part, except where strictly necessary IC.

"Sharon Jackson, Paragon Eye." The attractive, dark haired young woman peered over her glasses, notepad and pen in hand.

"Can you explain how the use of such a device is not in contravention of the subject's human rights and what measures are in place to ensure that the device cannot be overidden by an unscrupulous third party to force these young people into performing even more heinous acts against society?"

I've never paid any attention to the badges, really, though there is a distinct trend to pick a badge that suits your toon. So I proudly wear "Charmer" on Shadowe and "Reveler" on Luminescence. Can't actually remember what badge I have on Samantha Huntington right now... Must check.

Thursday suits me fine! Now I just have the panic about which toon to inflict on the poor masses...

Oooh... This gets my vote.

Gives me a chance to bring along one of my reserve RP toons (given that Shadowe is kind of attached and Samantha is in a stable relationship).

Yay!

Well, I've got a Champions (Hero 5th Ed) version of Shadowe (tucked away somewhere at home, no idea where). I'd say it's probably the best system I've seen for being able to describe powers, multi-form characters with different powers in each form, powers in groups. It's HUGELY flexible. But, as has been said, the maths gets complicated.

I'm under orders to post this link, for any poor people who have never read them.

There's a fair number of D&D jokes and WoW jokes in here, but they're still damn good.

RPG Motivational Posters

I would like to point out (for informational purposes) that Luminescence/Samantha Huntington has a) Never hidden her identity and b) has a well known residence.

I chose to have a signature-seeker get her at home, simply because there are a lot of people who know that's where she lives, know that she's a hero, and therefore it seemed logical to do so. It was my choice, and was not in any way influenced by any other characters than my own - notably that Richard does (generally) try to keep his heroic identity a secret, so I couldn't have him sought out at home, and I wanted to examine the 'asked at home' scenario.

It's too late for me to go into why I chose a young man for either of my tales, but the reasons aren't quite anything anyone else has posted. I'll try to get that done tomorrow.