Discussion: Relating A Toon to Canon NPCs

DP/* Blaster: Loadabull?

Glad to see my post is fodder for forum jokes!

The closest I've come to using any sort of canon in my toons backgrounds have been with my first level 50 toon: Officer Reno, and his Praetorian counterpart: Praetor Reno.

Officer Reno (son/nrg blaster) is a former NYPD officer who transferred to Paragon City around the time of the first Rikti invasion (although my badges don't reflect this - dammit! I would've had it though if I got the game 2 years earlier!) He joined the PPD, and during his time in the PPD he gained his powers from being injected by a crazed scientist that was working with the Skulls to produce insane amounts of Superadyne. That scientist actually got a particular needle filled with nanobots from another scientist/doctor, my main mastermind Doctor Mechan. Neither of these villains are in any piece of canon, just the whole Skulls/Superadyne/PPD thing. I can use my late arrival to CoH for this part: Officer Reno retired from the PPD, not doing much of anything after being injected. He laid low, until he discovered the nanobots weren't going to kill him. Now he fights crime as - of course, Officer Reno!

Praetor Reno (elec/psi and elec/nrg dom[2 versions on different servers]), on the other hand, is a hardcore Loyalist. He isn't a Praetor in Praetoria City, and with the lack of background on Praetoria Earth I can't narrow down where he actually came from. I could say New Vegas or New Orlando since those cities are mentioned in story arcs in Praetoria, but I'd rather him be closer to NYC than anywhere else. If NYC still exists in Praetoria, then that's where he's from, that's where he helped fight back against Hamidon and other threats to Praetoria (and Cole's administration as President and Emperor), and where he obtained his cybernetic arms. By no means is Praetor Reno THE city leader, however. He was just able to obtain a Praetorship from his loyalty, service and sacrifice. Now, he must do it all over again, as he's been on of the few Loyalists called up to be one of the first to crossover to Primal Earth.

See, toons don't have to be related to canon characters to have canon-esque backgrounds. Although I do see Blue's reasoning in wanting to do so - as I share in the insanity of altitis as well.

I'll just point out, do we really really really want PC Pretors? I mean think about it for a moment, Preator is a hard title to earn, heck there's evidence that there's a limited number of them!

Just look at what happened to Anti-Matter!

Oh, Fea, you missed my earlier posting in this thread - I don't make toons related to canon NPCs. Also - these two particular toons are the ONLY ones I use any sort of anything from CoH canon in the backgrounds.

Anyone else that uses family history with canonical NPCs has to be a damn good writer like BlueBattler is. Otherwise - yeah what you were getting at lol.

I wasn't getting at you specifically Kyzock, I just meant that everyone has the right to make whatever toon, with whatever backstory the like. Equally, people have the right to choose to ignore them completely. Personally I favour using the cannon NPCs as inspiration, but not using them and/or their stories directly.

For example, my main got her powers from a botched CoT ritual. However, there were certainly no specific NPC mages involved in it. Personally I would never dream of making a toon who was related in some way to the Dev's creations, but I wouldn't balk at having one of my toons get to meet someone like that briefly -although I'd be more likely to go with the option of "was once in the same concert hall as x" or something like that.

I seem to recall having Lady Gray congratulate Nitoichi on reaching level 50. Well, she does stand right beside the Vanguard Field Trainer.

Hey - Primal Earth and Praetoria Earth, while not excessivley HUGE planets, are still pretty big places. So while Cole has his Praetors in Praetoria City, and there are definitely other cities on Praetorian Earth; Praetor positions are bound to be open to anyone who are strong enough and willing enough to take them.

Of course, that is, if the other cities don't use a ranking structure like Praetoria City does. /e shrug. Perhaps the devs could've put the word "Praetor" on the bad words list for when people make toons. Also yes it's quite obvious toons that haven't reached 50 yet shouldn't even be called Praetors - but the devs should've made it a 1-50 expansion from the get-go.

Good thing I don't RP in the Unionverse then. Also a good thing I don't RP a bunch of my toons in-game with - because that's just ugh.

As Omy says, we do know (or think we know) more about the world outside Preatoria City than you think, if only from badge texts. What evidence we have suggests that the world outside the city is massively devastated.

However, you fail to see my point. If you're a Praetor, you have authority (and people must respect your authoritee!). By no action of your own other than selecting a name, you have decided that your character can order other player characters, and NPCs, about. You've simply decided that your character is better than everyone else.

Now, since Cole didn't give you the title, as far as my characters would be concerned (and remember, there are very few Praetors, everyone knows all of them) it's the equivalent of your character saying he's Napolean. Clearly a nut. Mother would likely have a few words. You are, in fact, relying on the game mechanics to avoid the natural outcome: death or being sealed up in the BMF.

BTW, if they'd made 'praetor' a 'bad word' we wouldn't be able to use them in AE. There's only one list.

What Birdy said, really.
Now, I made my Crab Spider an Arbiter for a while. However, there were a number of stages to it.

First, and arguably the most provable, Riechsman SF. The badge is even called Arbiter. The character is level 45, and has the badge.

Second, it fitted the characters backstory to have him be put somewhere it was impossible for him to really do anything secretly. Being an Arbiter means just that; you are highly visible.

Third, I wanted to see if it was possible to actually RP an Arbiter without it being a heap of godmoding jobbies.

Ultimately, he quit the post, which made him a few more enemies and painted a few more targets on his back IC at least, because 1) the character himself got so sick of the paperwork and not actually being in the field and 2) it was dull as heck to play.

*shrug*
Thats as far as I took it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I've been watching this thread, and I had a question that went in a bit of a different direction: what about interactions with NPCs?

Not relatives, but specific plotlines that involve main characters from the game. For instance, I recently (and when I say recently, I mean yesterday) was hit with an idea for a villain who'd previously been a hero, and worked with the Phalanx. So naturally, she has a vendetta against them. It gets deeper than that, but that's the part where I'm like "Eh," because it sounds Sue-ish, and I really don't like Mary Sues as much as the next person.

What do you guys think?

I think interacting with NPCs is fine, as long as such interaction is kept to a minimum and they don't become a focal point of the story.

Exception: If you're only writing about them, that would be fine, too.

Good thing I play on the US servers, and rarely RP any of my toons.

Back to the main subject: I believe if Blue can write the stories he does, he can pull off RP'ing any toon with any sort of familial history to canonical NPCs. It's highly doubtful many other players would be able to perform such a feat.