City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Suggestions needed for KID-FRIENDLY missions.

Coulomb2

By Coulomb2,
Posted on: 2012-08-30 15:13 in Mission Architect

 

Posted

Okay, so my pre-teen boys are becoming superhero freaks and LOVE flying my alts around Ouroboros, doing costume changes, running around my base. They might be ready for the next stage of play.

I'm looking for some suggestions for very easy but viable AE missions I might design:

1. Mobs that are not humanoid (I'm thinking about Rularuu watchers, Banished Pantheon spirits, Storm Elementals, etc., but these all seem like difficult fights).

2. Powers within power sets that are less scary and less punching/shooting/throwing violent (like Sonic blasters, psychic powers, plant controllers)

3. Sample AE missions I might look at to get some kid-friendly ideas.

Any other ideas for creating an "E for Everyone" mission or two?

Thaks.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Maudy View Post
Okay, so my pre-teen boys are becoming superhero freaks and LOVE flying my alts around Ouroboros, doing costume changes, running around my base. They might be ready for the next stage of play.

I'm looking for some suggestions for very easy but viable AE missions I might design:

1. Mobs that are not humanoid (I'm thinking about Rularuu watchers, Banished Pantheon spirits, Storm Elementals, etc., but these all seem like difficult fights).
Let's see, you've also got Rikti Drones, Steel Valkyries (in the 5th column), whatever the Council version of the Steel Valkyrie is (strange, I can't remember at the moment), Police Drones (although you might be opposed to them for thematic reasons), both the minion and lt. Arachnos Drones (along with the Tarantulas and the Disruptors in Arachnos) - although you might consider those a bit scary looking. I *think* you might be able to include a Kheldian nova (they've never struck me as scary looking) too. I don't know if they're in the MA yet, but you've also got the Druge's Lanterns, and almost anything in the Animus Arcana group.

Quote:
2. Powers within power sets that are less scary and less punching/shooting/throwing violent (like Sonic blasters, psychic powers, plant controllers)
Hmm ... that potentially creates a problem. You can only assign powers to custom foes, and those are automatically going to be humanoid, since they use the same costume creator your kids will use.

Quote:
3. Sample AE missions I might look at to get some kid-friendly ideas.
Can't help here. I can't think of a single MA mission that didn't have humanoid opponents in it. You'll probably have better luck making your own.

Quote:
Any other ideas for creating an "E for Everyone" mission or two?



Thaks.
Just to throw it out there, a couple of "humanoid" types that don't look so much like you are taking out actual people (and, at least in my opinion, don't have terribly scary looking powers) are the Devouring Earth. Also the clockwork (pretty much all versions) are humanoid, but are very clearly mechanical, if that makes a difference (to be fair, though, the praetorian versions flamethrower type attacks might look too violent for your taste). The psychic clockwork are very mechanical looking, and actually use psychic attacks (although they're pretty high level - and I don't recall if they're in MA or not). If that's palatable, you could also include Mek Men. Just trying to think of a few options that are humanoid, but don't give the impression of beating up people (at least not for me).

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Intended for high level play: The Primus Trilogy (Arc #s 10931, 283821, 283825), "Freakshow U" (Arc #189073), Purification (Arc #352381, Dev's Choice! )
Intended for low level play: "Learning the Ropes" (Arc #100304), "Cracking Skulls" (Arc #115935), "The Lazarus Project" (Arc #124906)

 

Posted

Animus Arcana will be added whenever I24 hits. Likewise for the lanterns within the Drudges.
Dwarf and Nova Kheldians are available as bosses in the Nictus group.
The Assault Bot from Mastermind Robotics is available for boss fights though some of the weapons might be problematic.
Winter Horde might work.
Will o' the Wisp are within the Red Caps.

If robots are okay, you just might be able to use the costume creator for your uses and use sets like Columb2 suggested such as Sonic.

If xp isn't a concern, you could potentially setup a non combat mission based around leading an ally out or finding a glowy. Particularly if you find an interesting map for it.

 

Posted

Some of my suggestions:

Minimize the amount of fighting and rely on non-combat objectives.

Use non-required boss fights where the boss run away at 50% health. Thus you "just win" the fight instead of defeating enemies.

Have friendly characters in the same age range as the kid, so kids have easier to relate to them.

I think you can use the costume designer for enemies, the tech, supernatural and animal options allow for fable creatures that neither look too human nor resemble actual animals.

Use video games and movies that you enjoyed as a child for inspiration.

Good luck!



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Posted

These are really good suggestions. Thanks everyone! I like the devouring earth and wisp suggestions, young good guys, the animal heads, and the strategies suggested.

It's okay if the enemy is humanoid, as long as they don't use powers that are too easy to imitate in a bad way. So, sonic blaster powers are not a big deal (yell at the bully until he runs away), while mace powers (mercilessly beat down your enemies with a baseball bat) are probably not what I want to see imitated in my house