Originally Posted by Durakken
![]() so even with the ability to know something it is not like everyone does know it.
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Superhero License...
Knowing that it might be an issue and knowing that there are ways to help with I think you could create IDs that incorporate magic and tech to prevent most people from learning a hero's ID. |
Not 100% but pretty close to it and the FBSA would issue them as one of the concession law makers made to get hero support for the laws. |
So you know Madonna's or Prince's real names? |
I would argue even well known people aren't all that well known by real names... |
If magic and psychic powers existed and i had a way to help prevent my agents' mind from being scanned and their identities revealed I'd use it. |
We live in a world where a good number of people know these people and yet don't know their names even though the information is rather easy to look up so even with the ability to know something it is not like everyone does know it. |
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
I'm not. N.b. that Twinshot knows who "Justin Sinclair" is, and she's a relative nobody. Real names of canon characters are bandied about without much fanfare. Again, the average schlub on the street probably doesn't know who "Jessica Megan Duncan" is, but anyone with a cape probably does, and Malta can tell you what color panties she's wearing today.
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Personally, I get around the problem of secret identities by not having secret identities. Never was a fan of the basic concept. I grew up more on animé and video games, very often taking part in a world where this kind of fighting is commonplace, so that's what I modelled my characters after. They're not "common people" who developed super powers, they're super-powered beings without common lives. I have a few that do have more common lives, of course, but they're the exception, rather than the rule.
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.
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Most importantly, of course, we know about our own stories and explanations, even when they fly in the face of all these established "facts". I believe firmly that the lore is not established on facts, but on facts that seem necessary at the time, in each instance of the universe, experienced by each player character. This is our lead designer's own belief about the way his team should approach established facts, and it fits a comic book universe that is host to many thousands of writers, if you include us and our stories. This is our world too. When we create our characters and their stories, we help create the world. Our bios don't exist in a vacuum, and in that sense our separate experiences aren't islands, but neither do we have to seek approval for our creations.
I posted that today in response to an RP thread, where the OP doesn't quite have the delivery possessed by Venture, and is under fire for informing other players exactly what sort of game world they all live in. Here is an example of what I mean by "under fire."
You must die inside a little whenever you see someone fall off a building and survive.
I felt you first post was overly preachy and more of a peeve than actual advice; regardless of how you intended it to sound. This latest one though, this is just silly. Almost nothing in the game world is accurate or realistic, and trying to pin down a whole genre of character concepts to fit your conceptions of what they should be based on your own limited interpretation of a narrow real-world field is just over the top. People's characters are inspired by a long tradition of comic literature and lore that is evidently beyond you. Excuse me now, my character needs to go pick up a cache of enriched plutonium one of these street thugs happened across, and I need to get it done between dawn and dusk, which as you know is a fifteen minute window. It's okay though, since I run at 60 miles per hour, even while wearing a ridiculous costume. Mostly I worry about gunfire from snipers on local buildings, but since bullets only travel a hundred feet or so, and rarely break skin when they hit, I think I'll make it. |
![Stick Out Tongue](images/smilies/tongue.gif)
@Captain-Electric � Detective Marvel � The Sapien Spider � Moravec Man � The Old Norseman
Dark-Eyes � Doctor Serpentine � Stonecaster � Skymaiden � The Blue Jaguar
Guide to Altitis � A Comic for New Players � The Lore Project � Intro to extraterrestrials in CoH
And no one needs to point out that this isn't the most sane and reasonable interpretation of the whole game universe, or that I might have overstated Positron's position. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't.
However, this is the ONLY option for anyone whose characters live in a universe based not just on canon lore, but their own lore and that of their fellow RPers. I accepted a long time ago that I could not separate these facets without completely invalidating my own experiences and the experiences of my in-game friends. And that's not fun.
The only solution is to live in a truly whacky universe. The water's fine over here. Really.
Identity crises happen occasionally in the comics, but they're not lurking around every corner. In the game, I can walk into the strangest situations without worrying about it, if the current plot (or my current plot) doesn't have an identity crisis on tap that evening.
At the end of the day, for most RPers, these are just stories we're telling. You go with the method that best tells the story. In comics especially, don't let those pesky little details stop you. I love the comics because I've taught myself not to take them too seriously.
@Captain-Electric � Detective Marvel � The Sapien Spider � Moravec Man � The Old Norseman
Dark-Eyes � Doctor Serpentine � Stonecaster � Skymaiden � The Blue Jaguar
Guide to Altitis � A Comic for New Players � The Lore Project � Intro to extraterrestrials in CoH
The City of Heroes signature characters have no secret identities. They really never have. We know them by their real names, and those are in their character profiles, as well. Everybody knows who these people are. What's weirder to me is why we keep referring to them by those goofy names they picked for themselves instead of referring to them by their real names, like in Praetoria? I mean, I keep using them because I - the player - just can't seem to remember most of their. I know the Statesman is Marcus Cole, I know Manticore is Justin Sinclair, but I don't remember what Liberty is (Something Duncan, I think), I don't remember what Psyche's name is (Something Tillman?) and so on.
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Here, on the job it's Superguy. Off the job, it's Nelson Periwinkle von Flufenhauser.
Wanted: Origin centric story arcs.
If you've only played an AT once (one set combo) and "hate" it - don't give up. Roll a different combo. It may just be those sets not clicking for you.
Given that a solid half of the characters that I see running around the city either look like or explicitly state in their description that they are some kind of robot, demigod, demon, alien, apparition, homunculus, et cetera, it seems like any serious consideration of the super hero license as anything but an attempt to tie character creation together back when the vast majority of existing costume parts were pretty standard superhero stuff will fall apart when the de jure roleplay ideas slam into the de facto reality of the game as it's played, i.e. by a wide variety of character concepts that would have no use for a secret identity in the first place. Exhale.
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
This would only get much, much worse if hackers had literally superhuman or magical powers, especially in such a wide variety of ways as we have here in the Cityverse.
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I'm sure it's been done! But anyone have any source material? This may be the workings of a new character for me
![Stick Out Tongue](images/smilies/tongue.gif)
Madonna is Louise Ciccone. Prince, IIRC, is Roger Nelson. I didn't have to Google either.
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The City of Heroes signature characters have no secret identities. They really never have. We know them by their real names, and those are in their character profiles, as well. Everybody knows who these people are. What's weirder to me is why we keep referring to them by those goofy names they picked for themselves instead of referring to them by their real names, like in Praetoria? I mean, I keep using them because I - the player - just can't seem to remember most of their. I know the Statesman is Marcus Cole, I know Manticore is Justin Sinclair, but I don't remember what Liberty is (Something Duncan, I think), I don't remember what Psyche's name is (Something Tillman?) and so on.
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....I think I'll just call you SG for short >_>
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I know of at least two "magic hacker" type books.
Both have some poor mundane schmuck pulled from our world to another.
One is Rick Cook's Wizard's Bane
That's ones interesting because complex spells take on a form...
His Rapid Deployment Recon Drone (R2D2) takes on a familiar form...
Then there is S. Andrew Swann's Broken Crescent.
Guy gets put into a world where ages ago, due to two gods making a bet, man went from enslaved to the enslaver of the world's original humanoid race, and did some nasty magic on them. And so the magicians of that world hate change and do not allow research.
Also, the guy happens to mention he (as a former black hat hacker) used the name Azrael - a name auto translated to "Angel of Death" by the mages' artifact (as they don't speak the hero's language), the name for the figure the original race's god gave to the tall, pale skinned human "who would teach them more of his language (the magic language) than even he could".
Anyway - in both books the "Magic Language" tends to follow the rules of good computer programming.
In the later the guy even designs a virus
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
I believe security level advancement is currently held by the super secret organization called F.A.R.M. They took over when official channels couldn't keep up with how quickly new heroes would rise through the security levels (it actually doesn't sound COMPLETELY implausible)
The majority of my characters are simple incapable of having a "secret identity". Kinda hard to disguise a 8.5 foot cyborg that looks like a Rhino and an Abhrams tanks had a love affair as anything else.
However there are a couple characters that while they don't go as far as duel lives or anything, they don't exactly broadcast that they are super heroes. One being an introverted extremely shy 22 year old woman just can't look someone in the face and so is very unlikely to get to a point of being able to talk to someone long enough to bring up the topic of super powers.
Another character is a school teacher that is technically speaking a magical trans-sexual. Yeah... if that little note got loose imagine how fast some parents would stop paying tuition for their kids.
In both cases it's not that they try and deceive everyone around them, they are simply selective about who knows it. The teacher has to transform into his alternate form to use his powers, so someone casually recognizing him is unlikely, while the woman wears a full head mask so people can't meet her eyes so same point.
![](http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a316/maverike_prime/city%20of%20heroes/sig-rikti-1.jpg)
Hmm, a hacker who uses magic...or maybe someone with the ability to 'hack' magic?
I'm sure it's been done! But anyone have any source material? This may be the workings of a new character for me ![]() |
Magitek from FF6 is an example of Technology that is powered by magic as fuel so that it can uses magic in it's raw form.
There is Code/Lingual Magic which is a form of technology where the person is able to "hack" the universe to cause something to happen either through some means... for example Feng Shui is technically a form of this where it takes the arrangement of items to produce a result such as increased wealth. It's also used in Doctor Who in the episode where he goes to Shakespeare's time
There is technology which is imbued with magical properties such a remote that can control the universe
There is Magic that acts like technology where for example if you had a treasure chest and placed a lock spell on it that lock spell would summon something to input a password to unlock it.
Then there are the various combinations... like where a keyboard is a regular keyboard but you can add magic to it that causes a magic keyboard to expand from it that allows you to input commands to perform magic spells like say a fire ball...
It's a fairly common concept >.>
I have one hero who has a secret identity. The organization he works for provided false documents and records to register.
Another, a magic user, caste a spell to create a hero I.D. and within the system.
So both have their secret identities covered up within the registry system.
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Storylines:
Introductions, Obey,
I know of at least two "magic hacker" type books.
Both have some poor mundane schmuck pulled from our world to another. One is Rick Cook's Wizard's Bane .... Then there is S. Andrew Swann's Broken Crescent. ... Anyway - in both books the "Magic Language" tends to follow the rules of good computer programming. In the later the guy even designs a virus ![]() |
![Wink](images/smilies/wink.gif)
There are a few forms of Magic and technology forms...
It's a fairly common concept >.> |
Currently working on a character who basically has dozens of grimoires on kindle and an automated search engine. A form of 'archive/database magic' leaned more toward magic with the aid of technology.
The specific concept of hacking with some element of magic to it is what I'm aiming to read about. For making such a character in-game? I don't care if I can or not, just interested in where the concept has gone and where I could take it.
Note: I'm not a hacker, nor have knowledge of what a hacker is capable of. And a magician/sorcerer can do practically anything...mix that together and I've got nothing so far >_>
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