Bored with the whole Praetoria schtick

It got boring, so we moved on.

I'm just waiting for the "Everything is a Hellion plot" Issues.

This, pretty much. I kinda feel sad that States and Recluse seem to get lumbered with the most boring and bland writing in-game. Sure, the new bits are slightly better...but then again, near much anything would be.

Would really like to step up the quality of these pieces, someday. Maybe get the Grand Moff Hickman himself in to fix it...


Grandpa, get your prune juice and go sit down in your lawnchair, dangnabit!

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.

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

Just because they had a bad idea once doesn't mean it's okay to repeat it. What's a big complaint about villainside? Too much Arachnos and Longbow. You would think that would have sunk in after four years.

Besides, CoV had stories dealing with CoT, Council, Sky Raiders, Wyvern, Legacy Chain, Goldbrickers, Malta, Crey, Tsoo, Family, etc etc etc. as well as Arachnos and Longbow. Praetoria has much less variety, and the Praetorian end game has almost none.

No, but we're bored of people who complain about how they're better than all the "newbies" but nobody respects them for it.

Alien invasions that frequently have no character other than the survival stories of those who fight against it you're not interested in, but a dimensional invasion with people that could very well have motivations that they might talk about eventually you do have a problem with?

I love me an alien invasion, but alien invasions are rarely good vehicles to get into good meta plots. Invasions in general aren't good for that because the morality of the situation falls away when it becomes a fight for not only your life but you're whole right of existence.

I read the comics (although not the novels; as a general rule games turned novels aren't great literature) and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt about the limitations. Sadly, this doesn't change the fact that I find Statesman to be booooring. Works great as a hero who you know is running things and don't have to interact with a whole lot -- Statesman would make a great comptroller. As a focus, he's just dull and his attitude puts me off rather than draws me in.

I don't find it any great exploration to wonder "What is Statesman was an even bigger jerkbag than he is now?" because the answer is obvious: he'd make himself the boss and push people around and go around breaking stuff. So what's he do in Praetoria? He makes himself the boss, pushes people around and wants to go to Primal Earth and break stuff. Couldn't have seen that coming...

I'm not

The Well gives Tyrant his power because he serves it - Statesman and Recluse aren't so keen on that idea

The next two Incarnate Trials after I20 will be an atatck on Anti-Matter's reactors, and a fight with the Praetorian Hamidon in the Underground

Actually, he's powerful because he's surrendered himself to the Well - he's the champion of the Well, not the master of it.

Do you want to rule the world, or be a slave of Tyrant's multi-dimensional empire?

Imagine:
- Emperor Cole sees himself as above mankind, but the protector of it-- the one to bring about a better, ordered society. He's become a "god." He faced off with his world's greatest threat (Hamidon) and started building his (twisted) version of utopia. He sees threats everywhere- Hamidon, the reckless and chaotic Primal Earth heroes and villains, prehaps Nemesis and Rularuu. The only way to make his utopia safe is to eliminate those threats- take all the power within himself that he can and conquer all-- become the "benevolent" overgod that spans all dimensions and imposes his will and his order everywhere.

OR

- Emporer Cole IS a tyrant, bent on conquering all and letting the meek remain to serve and adore him. He wants to be a "god." He's faced off against the greatest threat of his world (Hamidon) and started building his domain... but he's constantly at risk from the reckless and chaotic Primal Earth heroes and villains, perhaps Nemesis and Rularuu. He must seize what power he can-- before they seize it-- and take the war to them until he defeats everyone.

OR

- The stone tablets indicate that all "power" once originated in the same place. Over time, pieces branched away-- whether it was someone giving Magic to mankind, or mankind's own mastery over science & technology, or man's mastering his own limits. Perhaps it was an intentional act of deception, perhaps its just natural entropy. Regardless, what we see as the "well" is the semi-sentient entity that remains. It wants, above all else, to make itself "whole" again- to take all that has been released and bring it back to the whole.

To that end, it sometimes endows individuals with a hint of power, hoping that it will grow intoxiacted with it, invite more in, seek more outside, and eventually destroy all other entities that hold some of that power... eliminating those "branches" and re-absorbing that power. It has tried this several times with various degrees of success before finding its new willing agent/pawn- the one called Emporer Cole.


Granted, it isn't the Illiad, but it gives reason where you see "no sense" and actually leads to some interesting suspense-- we don't absolutely KNOW which scenario is true, and while each explains a rationale for invasion, each could lead to very different "next steps" in the story.

Yeah - the twirl reading on the moustache-ometer is over 9,000 for Tyrant - he's an epic villain who must be totally making the other supervillains int he agme jealous

By definition, an alien is a being that does not originate here.

In regards to where they are from, Praetorians ARE aliens. SO, a Praetorian invasion is exactly an alien invasion, they just happen to look just like us. Who says all aliens have to be weird looking?

Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.

Nemesis created the Praetorian Hamidon 25 years ago to bring about the current situation to distract people from complaining about everything being a Nemsis plot.

When GR launched, I made a few Praetoria versions of some characters. My old main, Polish Princess, was recreated as Polish Eagle who dreamed of bringing a New Poland to prominence. Her thought was that, upon the conquest of Primal Earth, she could be given Eastern Europe to oversee (as a Queen, Praetor, Administrator or whatever) under Cole's empire. Therefore, it was in her best interest to see Cole win since a free Earth wasn't likely to give her half of Europe.

Unfortunately, she has no option to work for Cole past level 20 so the whole concept was shelved.

I have this issue too. I have a character who is a loyal servant of Praetoria and wants to ensure Praetoria's dominance over all worlds.

But of course there is no option to fight for this goal, so I'm stuck wondering what to do with him.

Something I have to ask, and maybe I'm missing something: Nemesis pre-dates Marcus & Stephan's Excellent Adventure, so... where's Praetorian Nemesis?

Blood Widow Ricki * Tide Shifter * T-34 * Opposite Reaction * Shaolin Midnight * ChernobylCheerleader

Entropy Legion * Hyperion Force * Hero Heights

At Hero Con 2009, the devs said that they liked to think that the Praetorian Nemesis died as a happy old clock-maker.

Blood Widow Ricki * Tide Shifter * T-34 * Opposite Reaction * Shaolin Midnight * ChernobylCheerleader

Entropy Legion * Hyperion Force * Hero Heights

Died of old age, as a standard toy-maker.
Thats the Dev canon. No plot.

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.

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

That's what he wants you to believe...

Blood Widow Ricki * Tide Shifter * T-34 * Opposite Reaction * Shaolin Midnight * ChernobylCheerleader

Entropy Legion * Hyperion Force * Hero Heights

They made sure to say that "liked to think" that he died as a happy old clock-maker - they never actually came out and said "he's dead"

Well, that's the idea - you're meant to turn against hm so you're ready for the Incarnate system at 50.

Maybe, but there's legitimate reasons to want to work with Cole even after the "Golly, what a monster!" reveal. Well, one major legitimate reason and that's power. Cole needs people to run the bureaucracy and that means plenty of opportunities for power and wealth even if you're not the guy on top. Heck, I could easily see a red side villain thinking "Pffttt... why not turn on Earth and join this guy and get a gig overseeing Brazil draped in wealth?"

Not everyone wants or needs the whole pie, just a big enough slice to keep them fat and happy.

I dunno, I find Hro'Dtohz a much better example of "I had a taste of power and found that I liked it and now I don't want to give it up" than Tyrant. For an "alien," his motivations are a hell of a lot more human.

Nope. My only actual Loyalist is a Malta spy. So he's not really a Loyalist at all. I ran the Responsibility path with an undercover Resistance member.

Conceded.

The point was that this wasn't necessarily a "Bizzarro world." heck, you can't even say that the story is all about Cole. He's cold and distant, which will seem dull if you mistake him for the protagonist - or even the antagonist - of the story. In many ways, his impersonality fits the overarching plot:

Through most of your time in Praetoria, Cole's presence is reflected in the cold, impersonal "utopia" city-state, but the story focuses on your emergence within this realm. He's the backstory. He's what got Praetoria thus far and that makes him critically important, but he isn't an actor in much of your level 1-20 content. He isn't center-spotlight for the story. He's just a stage prop. A big stage prop, mind you, but that's all- a symbol of a cold, uncaring, unforgiving, impersonal world. Eventually, if you truly plan to make your own mark on that world, he will be your antagonist... but that's not until much later.

That act is only beginning to play.

Of course, I'm one to talk-- I routinely discard the dev metastory and just write my characters' own however I choose. I'll always be able to write a better foil for my characters because I can create a foil that reflects that character, something you can't do when developing for several hundred thousand. The story doesn't bother me or excite me because I won't be looking at it as actually part of my characters' story at all.