The City Scoop! ~ Front Page ~ October 24, 2008
By
Ex_Libris,
Posted on: 2008-10-24 14:40 in Announcements
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City FictionThe Redeemers"You okay, Tom?" Henry asks, "You seem down in the dumps." The young man shakes his head and snorts. "I came to this city thinking I had an edge..." he looks at his curved blades and scrunches his face up in disgust before continuing, "I didn't mean that as a pun! I thought, with my sword-skill, ambidexterity and agility, I'd be on the fast track as a major hero here! Then I got here, and it seems almost every other hero has got two blades of some kind." "You came here to be famous?" Wong arches his eyebrow and grins. He notes the hero's disappointed expression and shakes his head amusedly. "Relax, kid. Ambition's not so terrible a thing in this business. Sure, the major players like Statesman and Sister Psyche look down their noses at those of us trying to make a living, but in this day and age, its time we recognized just what kind of a lucrative position up-and-coming heroes like you are in. Well Tom seems apprehensive, but hes still open to the sales pitch, I didnt come here for money, but it would be nice to be able to pay my rent Look, Henry reaches over and takes the hero by the shoulder while slipping him a card, Ive been watching you street-sweep the Hellions around here. Ive also been paying attention to your broadcast traffic, and Im glad you finally came to me. Youve got talent, kid, and I think its time it was both recognized and properly honed. Now, Ive been getting word from Crey about a job they want someone of skills like yours for. If youre not up to snuff, theyll get you the training you need. Crey? he looks at Henry with a bit of trepidation, Are you sure? I mean, with whats been in the news Hey, the Countess is in prison, its a brave new Crey Thomas Redshadow woke up coughing blood. He pushed himself off the floor and wondered where he was. There were Crey guards strewn about everywhere. Some of the men were groaning and others were just unconscious. There wasnt the tell-tale scent of gunpowder, so he had no idea what had happened. Maybe it was some kind of gas, he gurgled as he pushed himself up, Oh Where am I? That was when he noticed that his vision was severely hampered. Half his vision was obscured by blood. The other half was fractured and yellow in some parts. Reaching up to the visor he was wearing, he started pulling bits of glass away from his face. As he plunked the third piece away, stopped. Wait I dont wear a helmet He sat back and looked at himself. He didnt recognize what he saw. His home-made outfit of armor-imbedded leather was gone. It was replaced with a bizarre blue-and-yellow uniform that he recognized as that of the Paragon Protectors. Im not a Thomas stopped. He wasnt a Paragon Protector. Why was he wearing one of their uniforms? What was he doing in a Crey facility that seemed to have just suffered an attack? What was going on? Is everybody alright? he called over to one of the guards picking himself back up. | I think were okay, Protector, the guard grunted, What hit us? I dont know Redshadow pushed himself off the floor, wobbled a little from dizziness, then lurched to the door. Ill go Ill go check and see whats outside. He didnt turn back when the guard asked if he was alright. He didnt turn back when he was half a block away. He didnt turn back when he heard the guards shouting for him. He had to get away and find out what was going on. Henry was looking over his reports when he heard the hero walk in front of him. He nodded to him and reached for his communicator to find a list of objectives that needed doing in Atlas Park. However, the tip of a blade touched his wrist and he looked up to see a man in a bloody Paragon protector uniform glaring at him through a hole in his visor. A pair of steel-blue eyes pierced into his and the mans mouth was held in a thin line. A trickle of blood was running down the mans nose and the white of his left eye was extremely bloodshot. Who are you? Henry Peter Wong asked the Protector, And why are you threatening me? Crey needed somebody of my skills, Thomas Redshadow said coldly, Why cant I remember most of this past year? Wongs eyes widened as he recognized the man. The last time hed seen him, he was boarding the Yellow Line for Kings Row and the Crey offices there. He remembered the hero because when he never heard from the man again and when he had asked around among his contacts in Crey, they thoroughly chilled him to the bone when they replied that theyd never heard of the hero and that it would behoove him to never ask again. Wong knew what that meant, and it made him sick to his stomach that he had led this man to a fate worse than death. What was worse I was trying to help you, he whispered. Right, Thomas expression didnt change, Do you mind-? There was a shout that came from the Universal Super Group Base Portal just behind Wong. The Hero Corps representative turned to see a band of heroes come barreling over the edge of the podium holding up the statue to take down the Paragon Protector harassing the man who had helped a lot of them at the beginning of their careers. He tried to raise his hands to stop them, but the cry of Badge! went up and they seemed to be blind to the idea that this wasnt what it looked like. When he turned back, Thomas Redshadow was already long-gone, leaping into the distance with a band of heroes giving chase. Ill see what I can do to help you, Henry pulled his communicator from his belt and started dialing for Colleen Saramango, Were getting to the bottom of this.
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Phil's Philosophical MeanderingsOn the Nature of Good and EvilWhat is good? What is evil? Philosophers have been trying to define these two elusive terms for millennia. Honestly, we will probably never know the answer. However, let's take a look at this question from the perspective of our game world, shall we? City of Heroes is a game about good vs. evil; it's a game about Heroes vs. Villains. But are Heroes good and Villains necessarily evil? Well, what could define good and evil are a few different categories: action, motive, and result. Let's look at action first. In this game, what do Heroes do, essentially, to level up? They pummel, pound, zap and immolate their adversaries. What do Villains do? Essentially the same thing. Well then, just looking directly at a character's actions can't really tell you whether those actions are good or evil. There must be something more, some greater context that determines the classification of these actions. Let's take a look at motive. What makes Heroes and Villains do what they do? Well, there are a thousand origin stories out there and a thousand motivations. A true discussion about motivation could take an entire novel just to tap the surface of the subject. How about we take the two patrons of the respective communities, Statesman and Lord Recluse, and analyze them. What does Statesman stand for? Probably what comes to mind first are order, justice, and stability. What does Lord Recluse stand for? He would probably say chaos, freedom, and a Darwinist theory (Note Darwin's Landing as the first thing a villain sees in the Rogue Isles). Why does Statesman fight against Lord Recluse? Because he values the protection of the weak whereas Recluse fights for the ideal of survival of the fittest. These are two diametrically opposed ideals. As are freedom and order, as complete freedom is chaos, and complete order is servitude. However, does Statesman fight for servitude, and does Recluse really fight for complete chaos? I would say the answer is no, for Statesman helps to maintain freedom from tyranny in his fights, and Recluse has created and controls the organization of Arachnos, which is not completely chaotic. So the two must agree that either extreme is not truly desired, and yet they still sit at opposite ends of the table. So what makes more order better than more freedom? I would argue that neither side is necessarily more good or evil than the other. While the motivations of Statesman and Recluse are diametrically opposed, they do share quite a bit of similarity over their most basic views, the only difference being which side of the order/chaos, control/freedom line they stand on. Apparently motivation cannot tell us what is good and what is evil, for villains sometime bring good into the world through their own self interest, and heroes have often times brought evil into the world through the best of intentions. Which brings us down to the final category: result. As you may have guessed by now, the hypothesis with which I wrote this article was that the end result is indeed what can determine the nature between good and evil. Not what you do, not why you do it, but what the results of your actions are on the world. The results of Recluse's actions on the Rogue Isles has created a world that is almost completely free from control, however most rational people looking at that world would most likely not want to live there. Statesman's actions have created a bright and clean world, which does constrain its citizens, but one could argue not excessively so. The game designers were obviously creating a game world where good and evil could play out in moral dramas and dilemmas while at the same time allowing players to input their own creativity into the world via their own characters. Looking at the designs of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles, and looking at all of the game documentation, packaging, and marketing. Looking even at the names of the two games which are now one, I believe that it should be obvious to most people that good in the City of world is represented by the Heroes, while evil is represented by the villains. However, this is the perspective of one group of authors, the game designers. What is your perspective? Do you agree? Do you believe being on the side of order is good, and that playing a villain is essentially a guilty pleasure, or do you believe that the villains have it right, and that playing a hero is too morally constrictive? As with most philosophical questions, this is one which has as many answers as there are minds to ponder it.
Mistress Noire's KitchenThis weeks recipe comes from Krekka ! Enjoy ! Lemon Cookies Cookies: 1 package cake mix(plain) 2 eggs 1/3rd cup oil 1 tablespoon lemon juice Icing: 1 cup confect. sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice Process: Combine all Cookie ingredients in bowl. Beat at low until all is well blended. Shape into 1 inch balls and place on greased cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Bake for 6-7 minutes at 375 degrees or until lightly brown. Cool for 1 minute on baking sheet and then cool on rack. Either dust with powdered sugar or frost with above recipe (Icing) See you again next week for some holloween treats! Mistress Noire | Fan Fiction Spotlight
It was difficult finding a good portion of this story to utilize for a preview without giving anything away. See, there are two parts to this so far, the story and the theory working behind it. Since it deals with time travel, the story really needs the theory in order to work well, but I think it's better if Slick explains it. Unfortunately, theory tends to do little to convey what's going on in a story, so I figured this introduction of the character, Eddi, would suffice. It's not often that a story deals with background characters as strongly as this one does. Most fan fiction writers tend to want to explain their own characters or the ones who work with the characters presented by the developers tend more toward the major plot-centric characters like Statesman, Lady Grey or Nemesis. It's not too often we get a story that features Detective Brogan and Holsten Armitage, characters that are often skipped or overlooked by players and tend not to have much involvement in the total lore. It's both unusual and comforting that SlickRiptide is writing a story like this. While we could probably have assumed that Jose Brogan continued to work as a police detective, whether or not we did his missions, there is nothing to tell us what happened with Holsten Armitage, who sends you on a mission to save a Senator once your Hero hits level 30 but only runs a science store afterward. Mind, you, however, that these two are not the only ones involved in this story. The "Goonbot," Eddi, must be taken into consideration as well. I strongly suggest the reader pay special care to what's going on with this character, for if I have this right, that's Slick's character, and the one this story is really about. Still, it's good to see some characters go beyond their programmed moorings. The Top TenThings overheard during Hero-Con.In the intrest of protecting those who were, umm, well let's just call it, not at thier top mental capacities. So in thier best intrest, I won't be adding any names, and that allows me to not have to ask permission, and put words in people's mouth, even if they, and you, don't know who they are. So without further ado or secret turtle wax give aways, here are, the TOP TEN, things overheard during Hero-Con. Number 10 - Brb Bio. Number 9 - More Rum! Number 8 - Your thinking too hard. Number 7 - We're not allowed to talk about that. Number 6 - Jager! Number 5 - No, sign THESE! Number 4 - Anyone got a light? ( I was outside smoking....ALOT ) Number 3 - Well whose pants ARE they? Number 2 - And now our guest of Honor, Mr. Jac---Oops wait, this is for the Top Ten things NOT heard at Hero-Con. And the Number One thing heard at Hero-Con... I'm Overpowered. Or at least that's how I'm twisting the words for the sake of my own tiny shattered ego. ( Making my own personal moment number 1, helps too! ) |
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SpectralPhantomCan you tell us a little about yourself? Age, occupation and your natural habitat? I'm 25 and work in a factory in Ontario, Canada. Working on getting my pilot's license. I have a wife and a 10 month old. Have a favorite movie? Have to say Gladiator. Named my son Maximus How about musical tastes? Alternative/Rock guy. OLP, 3 days grace, Nickelback, Skillet, oh and let's not forget New kids on the block. When did you first discover PvP in City of Heroes? When it was introduced. Enjoyed the zones until my friend Antman introduced me to Moe, leader of Velocity, and I found a whole new world that was test PvP. Any PvP experience outside this game? Not really, some console, but this was my first in depth comp game.
| Which Test PvP groups have you been a member of, could you tell us about them? Velocity was the first. I learned about things in this game I never would have otherwise known from them. Left them near the end of the Velocity run and joined Old School Legends Heroside. Both groups had some great players and I had a lot of fun with them. Villain side, Raz and I started The Renegades from a live group named Bedlam(Liberty), which was lead by Kurgain. We picked up some other players, and haven't looked back. Your favorite role in the Arena and most challenging? Most challenging IMO is healing/buffing. Props to all those that pick that role. Alot of grief and very little recognition. My favorite role has been leader/coach. I enjoy working on strats and calling team lineups. Rad/Psi(Target caller) has probably been my most rewarding toon to play. What is your most memorable Arena moment, team or otherwise? Beating VORI for the #1 spot on the villian ladder. We now have an 11-0 winning streak on the ladder, something we are very proud of. Also, watching players on my team grow and become amazing at their roles. You're co-leader of the Renegades. How did you get the job and how do you and Raz hold the team together? We started The Renegades at a time when I thought Velocity was going to die. I knew I was ready to have a go at leading something. I had never done alot of Vill side PvP and had alot of team and strat ideas. Raz and I are good friends IRL so that helps alot with leading. The Renegades are more a family than a team. It almost holds itself together. We have been blessed with very little drama and it has been an awsome run and a pleasure leading this great bunch of people. Special thanks to Raz, Kurgain, Marne and Max. |
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The Horde | |
Who is your base designer and who are your supergroup leaders? I am both the leader and base designer for super group The Horde. Global @Knight Shayd but Growlie is the actual alt that leads and edits the base. What server is your base on? The Horde base is located villain side on the Infinity server. When was your supergroup established? The Horde was established 10-30-2005 which was during the 3 day head start at the launch of City of Villains. How many players are in your supergroup? Alt-wise we are about at capacity. Overall between active and more casual players with have, I would say we have about 30-40 different players with about 1/2 that # being on the more active side. What is the approximate value of your base? I would estimate the base to be worth about 10-15 million prestige with all the items and rooms. How much time do you spend working on your base? How much time have you invested so far? I don't spend much time working on the base regularly, maybe an hour every week or so, just tinkering around. If I get an idea or a request from an SG member, then I can spend a considerable amount of time in the base. In its current incarnation, I have spent about a month or two worth of play sessions (couple hours a night, most nights a week) getting it to where it is now. Many months ago it was completely different, and on a whim I just decided to redesign it all into the beach/boardwalk type theme and just stayed in base edit mode until complete. What is your favorite base item? Least favorite? I would have to say the control A.E.S. is my favorite base item due to just how cool it looks. As for least favorite...well I don't really have one. Every item has its place somewhere, in some type of room. What is your favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite? I would have to say just how it adds another element to the game and gives you another outlet for creativity. Least favorite would have to be all the limitations you run into while editing due to pathing, stacking, etc. What is the highest thing on your wish-list for new base items? As far as items, the things I want to see most are more recreational items. Fun things like the pool tables in Pocket D or the slot machines in the Golden Giza in St Martial. Due to the non-PvP/casual nature of The Horde's base, these things would be really great. After that I would love a terminal that lets you access the market from the base. If you could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor, what would it be? Visit the base construction area of the CoH/V message boards. It's just a great place to go if you need a question answered, are stuck for an idea, or just want to share what you have created. |
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Vol. 2, Issue 20
October 24, 2008
The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers! With this issue we have many of our regular features back and moar!
Read the latest publication and then join in on the community discussion!
If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Lighthouse or Ex Libris.
If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe
If you need some Advice contact Lady_Athyna or would like to Ask The X contact LiquidX
Finally if you have a Classified Ad or Recipe you would like included please contact: LadyK or MistressNoire
The City Scoop
Get Your Freak On
Second set of winners of the City Scoop Freakshow Costume
contest
By
TopDoc
valarion
With some solid backup, I once again went to have a quick chat with Dreck. I
didn't need to remind him about the Get Your Freak On contest that he had
agreed to judge, he knew what I was there for. I noticed a copy of the
October 29th City Scoop where the contest had been announced, as well
as the
October 17th City Scoop where the first three winners had been
announced. Obviously he was quite interested in it. I gave him the remaining
entries and he accepted them with a grunt. "Turn down the music so I can
think!" he yelled. The nearby Noise Tank turned down his volume, and wandered
away.
Suddenly Dreck looked at me with an unhappy expression. "Wait, I like that
song. CRANK IT." The Noise Tank obviously didn't hear. Stories and videos
ignored, Dreck just tossed two pictures at me. "They win." He got up and went
over to the Noise Tank, yelling things can can't be printed in this newspaper.
I got out of there, long before the bubbles on me started to flicker out. I
didn't bother trying to tell him that I'd be back in a week. He probably knew.
Gratz to the winners dvntmind and valarion.
"Friendly" Free-For-All
By
Hostile_V
dvntmind
I personally think it's a load of Devouring Earth mulch that all of you heroes
can just get together in some fancy, legally assembled conventionary form and
just party together. Last I checked, Pocket D was a good place to party (save
for the perpetually vomiting man in the corner)! That's why it's my duty as a
"legally registered" villain to formally protest the exclusion of "Hero Con".
And by protest, I mean we villains had our OWN convention: SCONdrel '08. Allow
me to recount some choice events.
Entry: All villains were required to turn in weapons. Well, those who couldn't
overwhelm the guards. Sure, I complied. But you gotta love super strength, eh?
Karaoke Contest: Came down to a very close tie. Between the Wailer King, "Rebel
Yell", and a Freakshow Noise Tank, B4CK-B347, the judges could barely decide.
Upon inspection of the official rule-book and the decision to use Tie-Rule
#27-A, sub clause 34, footnote #G the stage was cleared for a fight to the
death. B4CK-B34T promptly won.
Costume Contest: By far the most disturbing event. It was a cavalcade of
grotesque parodies of the Surviving Eight and popular culture. I'm not sure
what was worse: the naked Statesman costume, or the giant male widow dressed as
Sister Psyche. I believe that common sense dictates that you should not dress
up as something if you are not its gender. On the plus side, I enjoyed watching
the man who dressed up like Manticore set himself on fire.
Concessions: Had to say, a pretty solid group got together to provide food. Run
tightly by a professional crew from The Cutting Edge sent in by Dr. Vahz
himself, there was a good selection. Boneyard Barbeque, a medium sized dumpster
from Cheep Fuud, Smash-N-Grab, Archon Steele's and a newcomer, Mama Marcone's
Classic Home Meals, made up the general food supply. Not including the few
villains that turned on the others and ate them for provisions.
Video Gaming Contest: At first, I thought it was extremely unfair that Freaks
could hook up their neural implants to the game systems. And then I realized
there was a greater threat than them: Crey lab technicians. Come on, it's not
like ALL of them are working on top-secret projects of dubious morality. Most
just sit around, doing jack-all or screwing around on video games. Guess who
won?
$600 Million Raffle: The raffle was indefinitely cancelled. Gee, I wonder why.
Standoff '08: We were all very surprised that the cops were called on the second
day. It took you all that long ? So of course......the time had come. Down to a
tag-team offense/defense scheme, things quickly escalated from "mall cop" to
"SWAT team", from "National Guard" to "Every available hero". And of course
things really got going once Recluse and crew showed up to fight Statesman and
company. Because you gotta fight for your right to party, correct?
What's the moral? Exclusion breeds contempt. Of course, it doesn't matter if you
do let villainkind come to next year's Hero Con. Because that one will
definitely end with Standoff '09, whether we host it or you do.
Vol. 2, Issue 20
October 24th, 2008
This Issue:
Community
The Redeemers
Fan Fiction
Mistress Noire's Kitchen
Phil's Philosophical Meanderings
The Top Ten
Behind the PvP Mask
Base Showcase
Comic
Upcoming Events:
October 25th
Champion
UHB
Halloween Event
Freedom
1st
Annual Coalition of Arachnos Halloween Hunt 'N Party
Guardian
The
Halloween Ship Raid
Infinity
The
Devil's Ball
Justice
PvPEC:
Gimps Against the World
Protector
A
very spooky Monster Mash
Triumph
Masquerade
Ball
October 31st
Virtue
It's
that time of year again.
October 26th
Champion
PvPEC
Gimps Against the World Event!!
October 31th
Virtue
It's
that time of year again.