Next Halloween Event: The Cursed Woods

Halloween is the 2nd biggest Holiday for the U.S., followed by Valentine's Day and then maybe Easter, or Thanksgiving? I don't know, but I know the big 3.

I'd like to add to Halloween with a SERIOUS revamp of a small series of instances, if you will. Instances where you and a team can complete a series of missions in a story arc or two.

The theme: Ever seen the 'Blair Witch Project'? All those talismans? According to the Native Americans, those talismans were put above trees as a 'gateway' into another dimension. I'd like to play upon that.

The zone consists of a very realistic Haunted Woods, with tight, cramped paths that act like a maze, or spiderweb sort of design. These cramped paths will consist of tons of gateways into different dimensions via those Talismans, and as you transverse through the dimensions, things get more and more strange.

If you'd like some idea of what I'm thinking, try playing a downloadable game 'Eversion':
http://zarat.us/tra/offline-games/eversion.html
It's a free download, and the game has a simplistic attitude while keeping heavy overtones of Horror.

For instance, let's say you start in this dimenion: Dimension 1.

You pass into Dimension 2, and the woods look slightly less lush, and the baddies look slightly less active, and maybe the background music changes to something slower.

Dimension 3; now the woods start to look far more bare. The background music is replaced by the sounds of nature; insects, birds chirping, and the occasional rustling of bushes and so forth. The enemies become barely mobile, and only able to do little damage, while looking more gloomy than dangerous.

Dimension 4; things take a freaky turn; the trees began curling in a sinister design. It's not often and not much, but it's something noticeable. The sounds of nature are replaced only by frequent rustling in the bushes. The enemies are no longer enemies, but rather are designed to merely look at the Heroes/Villains as they pass by. They're targettable, but permanently in a phased state; they are the new face of apathy, if you will.

Dimension 5: now things start to get weird; REALLY weird. Your power trays have been shifted (as in, 1, 2 and 3 might shift to 8, 5 and 4), your target window no longer functions, and the chat window begins to 'malfunction', sending you odd tells:
"Ghost: Don't turn around."
"Spirit: Stop."
The bad guys look more evil now, and less like normal 'spirits'. Think less like Croatoa ghosts moving into Rularuu, or Unseelie... They aren't happy to see you.

Dimension 6: you want to go home. Your powers are randomized in their trays, and icons have even been changed, meaning what you thought was brawl might be a nuke. As you're defeated, instead of a button to send you to the hospital/base, you're given only one option: "Delete my Character" This button simply takes you to the hospital... Depending on what dimension you are. You'll also note on your info that you've reached the debt cap (even though any XP gained will add only to exp and you'll stay at the debt cap.)The trees are lined with thorns, every single piece of the environment looks hostile and ready to kill you.

Dimension 7: turn off your game and head back. Certain areas stepping in will trigger shock images of ghostly apparitions, abominations, and graveyards. The thorny trees will deal damage upon touching them, and the foes will chase after you with a frightening thirst for your vital fluids. They see through your stealth with pinpoint perception and accuracy, and they look forward to tearing you to pieces. Your screen will dim occasionally and you get messages like 'Disconnected From Mapserver' at random intervals.

Dimension 8: this isn't a dimension meant for travel. In this dimension, you are immobilized with the only movement available being to turn around and click the exit (thankfully, few gateways will take you to such a dimension). Time will slow down and there will be nothing but pure darkness: this includes no chat, target, powers, and any interfaces will not appear in this dimension. Ahead of you will be two massive, black claws stemming from the rest of the darkness by only an outline. If you don't exit, they will wrap around you and pull you under in a swift motion. You'll get only the message to LEAVE. It defeats you and adds to debt.

There are a number of missions that can be brought out from such a surrounding. Defeating a special enemy, explore the dimensions, etc.

Why the elaborate design over this? Because maybe with the idea of 'alternate realities' there could be some more made form it than a single event.

So... it's... kind of like Croatoa, only much, much more confusing, and occasionally it makes the game lie to you.

Mmm, no, I'll pass, thank you. The high-level mindf--k as a game genre is pretty much entirely not my cup of tea. It's certainly not in keeping with my expectations from a superhero game. If an event of this sort were put in place, I'd sign off until it was over. And that's a worry, because we've seen with Issue 10 and last year's Halloween event that our developers can't be trusted to turn an event completely off when it's "over". If something like this came along and then turned out never to end, like the Rikti and zombie invasions, I'd have to seriously rethink my course of action vis-a-vis MMO solutions, as they say in middle management.

Sorry to rain on your parade, and I mean no personal offense, but I suspect this is way too quirky and niche-y to play well in a broad-based, T-rated game. It's imaginative and clever, but it's just too f---ed up.

That's a whole lot of stuff for a event. Overall I'm just not down with it, /jranger.

I do not want my wood cursed!

I need to build a porch out of it. >.>

It's an awesome idea, but this isn't the right game for it, sorry.