Wild West zone

I'd like to see a zone based on the late 1800s wild west. There are a lot of inspiration possibilities in that, everything from the movie Westworld to classic "chase down the outlaws" movies.

Throw in "Western Fight" melee powers (think bar brawl, where you could maybe even pull out a chair and smack your opponent over the head), "Western Shot" ranged powers (a mix of pistols, rifles and shotguns; if you have ever been to a Cowboy Action Shooting match you know what I mean), and "Western Mystic" control and/or healing powers and you have the opportunity for every AT to get involved.

And of course, western costume additions: gun belts, western rifle choices, chaps, vests, bandannas, saloon girl, cowgirl/cowboy gear, and a million other things I'm leaving out.

The only way I could see this being the least bit feasible is through a time portal, and even still someone with superpowers would easily be able to take over the world or kill all the villains in a month. Doesn't seem very fun to me.

Extra costume options, however, are always a plus.

Yeah, the big question is "How to fit it into the rest of the world."

I could see it as part of an arc or two ("we have to send you back to deal with XYZ") but as an entire zone... eh... less so. We know they'll spend time creating "limited use" art assets (see: the Eden trial) so it's really a matter of giving a case of "why" and "it's worth it."

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Actually, I once had an idea for an old Western style Villains zone where it would kind of make sense for it's history after the villains go through it to be obscure, and all in all the whole plot would be a mind screw.
The idea was that it was two zones, the villains lived in the Wild West Past of the zone with missions occasionally sending them to the present or more modern past (like the 1960s), heroes would live in the present and occasionally dive backward in time. It is, up front and made clear to you on the villain side, and to a lesser extent, the hero side: This is a Nemesis Plot. Nemesis has apparently been monkeying with time travel and set up a stronghold in a California goldrush boomtown that was seeing the last legs of its prosperity and invites PC villains for a bit of a hand with promises of wealth, power (lots of temp powers both sides for this), and even would let villains in on what this grand plot of his is, and the big question is just how does this all tie in with his plot? He could easily take over the world or help his past self in his current standing, and if his small boomtown grew into a full city down the road, why has he apparently abandoned it?

In the end, the big idea was to provide a mystery that spanned across time and alignments as well as provide real insight into Nemesis, both the faction and the villain beyond "he's behind everything".

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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

It technically wouldn't be the old west, but 19th century Paragon City could be added to the Midnighter's Club portal.

No reason that It couldn't be the "Old West". . . It's not like Cimerora is ancient Paragon City. .

I love the idea that it would be a new Mid-nighter Arc/Zone. Even more more fun would be being able to create a western themed toon or even a Cimeroran themed toon who travels to present day Paragon City or Rogue Isles. . .

Perhaps the Western theme could come from a Praetorian version of the Mid-nighters Club?

What if ? ? ? Emperor Cole learned that Longbow and Arachnos were messing around in Praetoria's past? Might he not set up a branch of the Powers Division to stop them? Maybe they would even go so far as to CREATE 19th Century super powers to prevent an unfavorable change in history?

Perhaps he might even attempt to reach into Primal Earths past at a pivotal point? Maybe Cimerora to create his own time agents?

I'm firmly "meh" about an actual OLD Western zone, having no interest in the setting and no interest to kludge it into the game.

That said, anime in general has had a LOT of success with "new" Western settings, where the world is replete with modern, often futuristic technologies, but still exists as small, segregated towns that have to look after themselves, creating a Wild West atmosphere all the same. Trigun basically thrives on this, Fist of the North Star is built on this, and even something relatively unrelated like Vampire Hunter D (specifically, Bloodlust) has elements of this nevertheless.

A Wild West STYLE zone would indeed make sense for villains, at the very least. A lawless area where people live in small communities with no overall law enforcement system, forcing each township to hire its own protectors who are often inadequate, seems like a good place for a seedy villain to visit. That's the staple of any decent Western - the Sheriff can't keep the outlaws out of town and either ends up shot with outlaws taking over, or otherwise extorted, or even corrupt, all resulting in a town where you can get shot for looking at someone funny and no-one will be punished.

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

okay so maybe I am revealing how old I am but has anyone ever heard of the movie .. Westworld? Sure time travel is one option but another is a vacation zone gone bad. The robots designed to provide the tourists with a taste of the "old West" have somehow gone haywire and are now KILLING anything that moves.

LOL .. okay the legal aspects of ripping off an old Yul Brenner movie as a way to explain how we end up with cowboys could get sticky but WHO says we have to time travel to do anything? We have Portal Corp in Peregrine that for years has taken us to alternate universes so why not one where the inhabitants never mutured(?) beyond the wild, wild west stage of Primal earth's exisitance? Between Tina McIntyre and Unai's arcs in PI we have seen entire worlds populated by Paragon Protectors, Axis America (Hey a world where the Council don't need to hide in the sewers all the time LOL), worlds filled with Warwolves, ones with nothing but Hydra, ones inhabited by nothing but ghosts and I have yet to check out Maria's new arc but in the old one we had TWO missions where we faced Battle Maiden or her minons and they carried shields and swords (LONG before Cimerora ever existed).

I'm not saying a Wild West zone is high on my own personal priority list... I'm into sci fi myslef and would much rather see the LONG rumored Moon Zone become a reality before we start playing cowboys and indians but between Ouroborus (time travel) and Portal Corp (alternate realities) I don't see why anything couldn't be explained away.. maybe not as a functioning zone but certainly as a mission or two anyway. :-D

Hmmm, I don't really think a Wild West Zone as such would fit the game setting and feel, and too much time travel gets boring after a while.

(Though on the other hand it does hold a certain appeal)

Here's a suggestion though; not a Wild West Zone, but an Abandoned ThemePark Zone. With different sections having different feels, coasters, horror, wild west ... clowns...

It's an old superhero trope, to be sure.

How about an Underwater Wild West Zone on the Moon?





Sorry I couldn't stop myself from going there.

How about a 'movie set' zone instead?

Just a thought.

Here's a thought....

Why not have a largish zone that is mostly open wilderness with mountains and open plains and the occasional modern small town that just happens to be plagued by a group of criminals that have patterned themselves off of the cowboys of the old west? They could easily use modern technology for their weapons.

For flavor you could even add a villain group patterned after the Confederate Army that attack most anyone as Union spies!


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I am definetely for thematic zones, kinda disappointed CoX had not pursued it more. They did an awesome job with the Roman theme, Cimerora was a real nice piece of development. A Cowboy setting, OK Corral and all could be really exciting and so cool, even have Wyatt Erp as an NPC there...

Smokem