Thorough Thursdays : CITY OF HEROES

Prior to this post I have only mentioned City of Heroes, the Massive Multi-player Computer Role Playing Game launched by NCSOFT in 2004, a mere handful of times. It seems only a single entry with that title as a tag has ever been posted and after reading the entry, I really have not idea why that is the one place I decided to place said tag. 

That's just wrong. 

It's difficult to know exactly where to begin in describing what City of Heroes meant and means to me. 

At the time City of Heroes was released I was living with my then girlfriend, now ex-wife, and it was one of the many things we enjoyed doing together. It was very much an 'us' activity. Sure we'd both go on and play solo (by ourselves) every now and then but we generally preferred to operate as a team. 

The Midnight Hour and Lady Touche'

Illustration for a City of Heroes based

Mutants and Masterminds campaign

The Midnight Hour Returns!

One day, fairly early in our progress in the game, our dynamic duo ended up biting off more than we could chew, accidentally drawing in two huge gangs of street thugs. Just when all seemed lost, a machine gun-toting Iron Man look alike fellow showed up and helped us clean the streets of those dirty crooks. 

The player of this character who eventually become a real life friend who remains so to this day. 

When my ex-wife and I separated and divorced, I couldn't bring myself to play the game again for a very long time. Even when I did eventually go back to it, I would never stay long. I had lost my love of the game as it reminded me too much of her and better times that were now over.

Eventually some friends who had also left and gone back for various reasons got me to return from time to time and we had a blast. Sadly, the game itself had changed so much and so many other MMOs had come out to steal its thunder (namely World of Warcraft) that while fun to return to periodically, it just wasn't the same. 

Recently the operators of a private server released the Source Code for City of Heroes, allowing any individual to host their own servers and start the game up again and indeed people have. I jumped at the chance to tussle with Hellions on the mean streets of Paragon City and try to rebuild (or even improve on) some of my favorite old characters. 

This looks like a job for...

Captain Superpower!

City of Heroes was always different from other MMOs in my experience because it was a game for Superhero fans by people who clearly understood Superheroes. While you definitely ran into the typical MMORPG players, you more often than not ran into people like yourself; players who made fun characters in cool costumes with names like Mister Patriot, Neutrino Woman, and Tachyon Flare, who were stoked to fly over the world presented, swooping down to save a citizen from a horde of zombies or do battle with clockwork robots.

That same feeling remains. While I am not the die hard MMO fan I was when City of Heroes was at its height, it was City of Heroes that got me into MMOs and made me a fan, so I can't help but smile as I sprint through Atlas Park, run along the elevated train tracks, and leap around staring at all the great costume designs my fellow heroes are sporting. 

If you were a fan of this awesome game back in the day, come on back and feel the rush of nostalgia. If you've never tried it but you are a fan of Superheroes and Computer Games, what are you waiting for? It's free to download and play and crime isn't going to fight itself!

Tell them Starguard sent you!

Verily!

Up, up, and away!

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Barking Alien

We Have A Lot To Talk About

Welcome to May and what I am going to call, 'April Aftermath!'.

A lot of fandom things happened in April that need - I said NEED - to ruminate on them and I invite you all to join me. Grab a chair, sit down, and I'll replicate use some Raktajino. How do you like yours? Two sugars and a little Blue Milk for me. 

Where to begin is the hardest part. I mean, we need to seriously talk about...

Avengers: Endgame

City of Heroes: Homecoming - The Return of the Greatest Superhero MMO of All Time!

Game of Thrones - Yes, me, Game of Thrones. Some observations for the Final Season. 

The Orville - Season 2 and Beyond.

Star Wars Episode IX, The Final Season of The Clone Wars, and The Mandalorian.

...not to mention some thorough thoughts on some GREAT gaming.

Alien RPG - A new, official Role Playing Game set in the Alien film universe is coming. 

Ghostbusters RPG High School Reunion Session - Over 30 years in the making!

Plus notes and ideas on gaming in general, new Kickstarter games, and a host of other subjects. The last few months have been pretty meager here at the ol' Barking Alien Blog but May looks like it might just make up for it (I hope). 

Get ready, get set, and stay tuned...

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Barking Alien

The Universe Awaits

Oh boy. I'm already falling behind.

I've got a few posts ready, and waiting in the pipe, and I'm going to try to get a couple out today. Frankly I've been a bit off this week (not sleeping enough), and I'm trying hard to catch up. I hope to use the weekend to reboot myself, and be back to normal (for me) by Sunday.

I had this cool idea though, and I was wondering what you all thought of it...

When I begin playing No Man's Sky (which comes out next week - SQUEE!), I'm thinking of doing a series of posts in form of journal entries by my character in the game.

Essentially, each time I land on a new planet, or perhaps at the end after I leave it, I will write up my experience in the massive virtual environment of the computer game as if I were a future space explorer keeping a 'travel log' style record.

What do you think? I think it will be fun, but will it be interesting to read?

Let me know in the comments.

Thanks, see you round the galaxy!

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Barking Alien

Age of The Pussyfoot

  

WARNING: The Snark Level on this bad boy is pretty high.

I'm just griping about a pet peeve. Feel free to ignore me.

I had the pleasure of hanging out with a good friend of mine a few evenings back; one who just so happens to be a pretty damn good GM (high praise from me, as those who've read my blog before can attest).

While we hit upon a number of subjects, there was one that I knew I had to talk about here. It's something that's been bugging me for a while and I want to find out if other gamers have experienced the same thing.

In recent years I have been playing with very different groups of gamers than those I'd gamemastered for in the past. It should be noted, I'd played with my old New Jersey group in one form or another for almost 20 years before encountering/assembling the members of my current New York ones.

I've noted repeatedly that there are considerable differences in style, approach, and just over all synergy at times.

This is not to say my current groups aren't fantastic role-players and excellent gamers (not to mention just great people). It is more a question of us not sharing that intrinsic trust and understanding of each other, the kind that develops over time to the point where none of you have to think about it. 

In addition, our likes and dislikes, and our (though far from identical) 'Appendix N's* as it were, were much closer to each other in my older groups. We drew inspiration from the same or very similar creative sources.

My newer groups don't always gel as easily, but oh man, they CAN gel. When they do, it's priceless.

Now, on to my gripe...

The one area where we don't see eye-to-eye that pops up fairly often is in how timid, and often remote, the players are about putting their PCs in physical danger.

When encountering any given situation, I noticed a propensity for players to resort first to long range observation (such as a telescope, using sensors to scan, checking things out with heightened senses), followed by shorter ranged scans, followed by short range - nearly close up - observation, followed eventually by listening at the door. In between each of these 'investigations', the PCs will stop and spend as long as possible discussing the information they obtained from their observations and try to decide what to do about it. 

Where and when at all possible, they will launch a probe, send in a droid, or perhaps a henchmen, and otherwise see if they can interact with the gaming environment via remote control. Heaven forbid adventurers, explorers, and superheroes should walk over to the TV and actually press a button to change the channel.

Pure cowardice? Perhaps. But no, it's more than that.

From where I sit, there are several contributing factors here. The major ones are Gary Gygax, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Computer games.

Thanks Uncle Gary!

For a large number of Gamemasters, especially those who call themselves 'Dungeonmasters', the relationship between themselves and the players is adversarial. It's a contest to see who can foil whom the most effectively, over the longest period of time.

This is helped by tales of Gygax himself and those who GMed D&D in its earliest incarnations. According to Gygaxian history and sciences such as ecology, biology, and biodiversity, the entirety of the average D&D setting is a thousand time worse than our homicidal home planet in After Earth**. The setting, the world, is actively out to kill you. The air has spores, treasure chests and furniture might try to eat you, there's likely a Trapper beneath your feet, and a Lurker Above over your head.

Those who grew up on a steady diet of this kind of gaming***, well, no wonder they're so paranoid. If they walk forward through the wrong door or tap the hidden wall panel that releases the spiked, 50 ton ball of rolling doom, or touch practically anything, the character they have grown to care about will die a meaningless, sad death in the bowls of some crazy priest's oversized basement.

Best to be extra, especially, super-duper, triple check careful.

It's not like you can just roll up another guy. Oh wait...

Make It So! Eventually.

Star Trek: The Next Generation took away many of the more military elements of the Original Series' universe, making Starfleet seem even less like an armed force. Phasers looked like dustbusters, uniform dress codes were fairly lax, and the flagship of the fleet carried scores of civilians (including children) into the unknown reaches of time warping, doomsday machine having, hostile alien having space. Genius.

However, they did keep true to one of the U.S. Army's most sacred tenets; Hurry Up and Wait.

Whether it's used to give out assignments to see if they can save the day or to see how their day-saving assignments are coming along, there is just nothing like a good board meeting.  The only thing better than working to stave off a catastrophe is getting the chance to sit and overthink how that can be done for a half an hour. Anything to kill the tension, fast paced action, and/or momentum of the story.

Good grief, shoot me.

The advanced technologies and futuristic setting simply give players more amazing and innovative ways to avoid physically doing very much.

Why beam down to a planet and have to deal with it's annoying natives when you can scan them, blast them, or beam them somewhere without ever having to leave the safety and comfort of your city-in-the-stars. Remember when we had to look at the landing site, talk to people, fist fight a Klingon, or maybe kiss an alien hottie (male or female)? Thank goodness that's over.

Soy milk, low fat, Raktajino latte anyone?

Just Farming Until I Get Better Gear.

Much of my frustration with the timid, tentative nature of so many players is aimed at the younger generation I'm afraid. I wish that wasn't the case, but looking at which players I feel overanalyze, and under-commit to action, and which ones think on their feet, and then take their chances, the more I think most of the latter are the older veterans.

This sucks, as it means, in part, that I am becoming the old grognard I have desperately been trying to avoid turning in to.

I blame Video Games. No seriously, I do.

A casual fan of them myself (though not a diehard fanatic by any means), computer, and video games, and especially MMOs, distance the player from the game experience in a way that is both subtle, and very different from the immersion you get in a good table top RPG.

As deeply connected as you can be with your character in some computer games, that fact that you don't create them to the level you do I a pen & paper game, makes them not as much 'yours'. If you think up a background, and a story for your MMO character, that's nice, but it doesn't effect your gameplay. The fluff you fleshed out in your mind have no bearing on your World of Warcraft character's interaction with the NPCs in the game, or the environments you travel to.

A side effect of this is that a fairly large portion of table top gamers who are also computer, and video gamers (and let's face it, that's a lot of people), see the investment in their PCs are either not worth it, or worth it, but then they have to keep them safe. Table top characters don't respawn. You don't get numerous lives. You get one. Best to safeguard it.

***

Normally, my game sessions run a good 8 hours on average. In 8 hours I am used to getting a lot done. I am constantly stunned and confused by people who describe their sessions in terms of a certain number of encounters (usually two or three tops) and a couple of role-playing sequences.

Seriously? Why do you bother? If I ain't getting in at least five role-playing scenes, two or three major plot reveals, two or three moments that progress some of the subplots, and at least two or three small battles with one or two major ones then hell, why did I leave my house to come to the game?

Now some campaigns have less combat by nature, some more or less subplots, but for the most part I am use to players taking in the situations, thinking on it for a few minutes tops, than initiating some course of action. After the action they see if they learned anything additional during the scenario, and if they did, it's time to regroup, plan their next move, and then perform that move, whatever it is. If they didn't learn anything new, take a moment to breath, and figure out how to learn more, or pursue their goals, and interests.

These are games. They are games in which the group playing the game combines their talents to create a work of narrative fiction overseen by die rolls.

Get active, make decisions, roll dice.

For Henson's sake, do something.

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Barking Alien

* We all know what Appendix N is by now right? Hmmm. May have to update mine.

** When I say, "A thousand time worse than After Earth", I don't mean worse than the actual movie. I don't like D&D, but jeez. After Earth just sucked.

*** Worse, those who continue to do so. Talk about an abusive relationship. I guess everyone gets off on different things. Whatever floats your boat brothers, and sisters.

Supervillains A-To-Z: A is for Afterlife

I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to come over and check out my little corner of the internet. Hopefully you will find this series entertaining. That said, it has been rather difficult to get started from a technical standpoint.

I am still using Windows 8 which, as you may or may not know, was created by an unholy horde of foul and loathsome demons to annoy mankind as vengeance for some slight upon the Nether Host eons ago. It is slow, unwieldly and just a terrible, terrible design, even with the modifications and improvements I was able to make.

Google and Blogger are being impossibly slow and glitchy, making it a chore just to post an entry. Adding the art is like trying to thread the eye of a needle with a shoelace.

Last but not least, I am also using the ICONS system to translate the characters I have created in a variety of different RPG rules system into a single set of quick-and-easy (*cough*BS*cough) game mechanics for the purpose of this challenge.

Wow. I forgot how much I disliked this game until I started putting the character sheets together. It simply doesn't have enough detail or even categories of things to explain half of what my most basic villains are about/can do. I highly recommend modifying and kitbashing when it comes to this system. By all means expand the list of 'Specialties'. I did.

Oh well, here goes nothing...

***

AFTERLIFE

True Identity: Unknown

Description/Appearance: Afterlife appears as a ghostly, deep black silhouette or shadow approximately 6 ft. in height, not including its 'hat'. The silhouette resembles a man wearing a trench coat and either a Fedora or a 1800s American undertaker's hat. Its body has a smoke like texture and images of skulls, often seen glowing faintly yellow or green, can be viewed swirling within the dark mist inside him. While he has no facial features, there are two glowing orbs that resemble eyes on what is believed to be his head. The right eye appears slightly larger than the left one.

Origin and Background:  Exactly how the being that calls itself Afterlife came into existence (or its unique state of nonexistence or quasiexistence) is unknown at this time.

There is some indication that Afterlife may have been around as far back as the 1800s but it first appeared in modern times during a murder investigation in Chicago. Police were baffled by a series of executions of organized crime figures using the M.O. of Chicago mobsters from the 1920s and 30s.

It wasn't long before the crimes came to the attention of the mysterious costumed detective known as 'The Mourning Man'. With the help of underworld contacts and the supernatural entity known as The Silver Spectre, Mourning Man was able to track the then unknown culprit to an abandoned warehouse where he was shocked to discover a group of mobsters and Afterlife.

As it turned out, Afterlife was performing the murders to keep the police off the trail of a drug smuggling operation being undertaken (no pun intended) by one of the largest of Chicago's crime families.

With Silver Spectre's assistance, Mourning Man was able to capture the mobsters and expose their operation but while they were able to drive off Afterlife, they did not catch him. Afterlife would return numerous times to aid various criminal kingpins and hitmen, each time escaping into the 'great beyond' before being captured. He has faced heroes such as Silver Spectre, The Black Ace (Ace of Spades), Chicago's Nightwatch and The Ebony Angel, among others. Afterlife's arch-enemy remains Mourning Man and the feeling is mutual.

Powers and Abilities: Afterlife has three primary abilities, in addition to other minor ones attributed to its supernatural state. Some of the more well documented abilities will be listed at the end of this entry. As for his major powers:

First and foremost, Afterlife has the ability to perceive and communicate with the spirits of the deceased and, in an as yet not fully understood manner, obtain their knowledge and skills. He is essentially able to duplicate the abilities (though not superhuman powers) of any dead person. The physics knowledge of Einstein, the tactical skill of Napoleon or Charlemagne and the speed and accuracy of Billy The Kid is apparently at his disposal.

Exactly how he does this is not only unknown, it also brings up questions on the nature of life after death and the existence of the higher and lower planes. For now, the truth, like Afterlife's very presence upon the Earth, remains a great enigma.

Afterlife's second most notable trait is his ghost-like form, which enables him to pass through anything, be it matter or energy. There are limitations to this however. It has been noted that his default form is intangible and he must actually concentrate to touch the physical world. Also, he can pass through and is injured by anti-matter and anti-energy. Negatively charged materials and/or energy forms are a definite weakness of this being.

Lastly, Afterlife's form and appearance are so disturbing that he is able to generate unreasonable fear in those that see him. Those with a strong Willpower can resist this effect but it is very affective against the average person.

Other minor abilities Afterlife has displayed include appearing not to need to sleep, eat or breathe, a sixth sense of the approach of other ghostly or supernatural entities and the ability to float (though not fly apparently). In addition, Afterlife usually escapes by passing through the floor or a nearby wall and not rematerializing. Whether this is teleportation, dimensional travel or something else is unknown.

Personality and Motivations: Afterlife is a paradox and his true motivations have yet to be revealed. It rarely speaks and when it does the sound resembles numerous people whispering at the same time. The voices are hoarse and gravelly.

It enjoys playing up its creepy, ghost status and delights in taunting and scaring civilians and heroes alike. Afterlife prefers to fall into a gathering from above or rise out of a table for effect.

It seems proud of its unusual and unique status as well, often working for the dead as much as the living. Long gone gangsters looking to tell a descendant where their last big score is hidden or recently slain wise guys looking for revenge on the guy that offed them.

Afterlife is always looking to add to his repertoire of skills and abilities and therefore looks forward to taking out particularly skilled individuals or helping living employers do so.

Finally, though it speaks very little, a bit can be gleaned from the few sentences it does utter when it appears. It seems to hate the living with a passion, angry at those full of life since it can not enjoy such physical pleasures. At the same time, it feels envy for those it steals skills from since, unlike those spirits whose abilities it copies, it seems to lack quite a bit in the way of knowledge and skill without doing so.

***

Afterlife first appeared in a Villains & Vigilantes campaign. It has since been used in Champions, Mutants & Masterminds and Stalking The Night Fantastic/InSpectres.

Afterlife for ICONS:

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Barking Alien

Sad GM is Sad - But Not About GMing

Great Bird of The Galaxy and Allfather's Beard I do so despise Windows 8.

Frustrating to use when it does anything you want it to at all, it is also incompatible with half the programs I had on my old computer and does wonders with formatting for my blog. By 'wonders' I mean, of course, that it is a wonder that the creators and programmers of this monstrosity are allowed to wipe their own butts since I wouldn't put it past them to mess up something that simple either.

Anyway, as I stated in the previous post, these next two weeks or so will likely be light as I decide exactly what I am going to do in regards to my current computer dilemma. Most likely I will be uninstalling this OS (and I use the term OS very loosely here) and installing Windows 7 and some version of Office prior to '365'. I have not made a definitive decision on that latter part. I simply know that Office 365 was made to go with Windows 8 and based on the poor design and performance of that, the idea of using Office 365 has me more than a little wary.

***

In other news, I also have a few personal things to take care of, which will also contribute to the lightness of posts for the next two weeks. Don't worry all you cool cats and kidding kittens, your chronically hip Barking Alien is fit and fine. I just have to make some serious changes around here and I need time to do it.

***

Yeah, life has me feeling kind of blue and for a Green Dog, that's no fun let me tell you.

On a positive notes, actually two positive notes, our second Traveller session went well and we are starting up a new Champions campaign in the very near future (completely unrelated to the previous one).

These things (and my dog) make me smile.

***

Fret not, I will be by periodically to toss out some bizarre thought, crazy campaign idea or simply remind you all that I ain't dead. Nice of me I think.

Later days,

Adam

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Barking Alien

User Unfriendly - Inter Face-Off

I got a new computer.

Yay!

It uses Windows 8 (for now).

Boo! Hiss! Punch the developers in their short-sighted, low intelligence, do-these-people-actually-use-computers hipster-nerd faces.

I can barely do anything with this thing, none of my favorite programs (including and especially my art programs) are compatible with it and any time spent on it is an exercise in utter frustration so...don't expect a lot of posts this month unless I can fix this.

By fix I mean I am either going to figure out how to make it work passably, downgrade to Windows 7 or through the whole think out a window.

Place ya bets!

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Barking Alien