What if it was all a dream...?

[Steelclaw]

I mean that in the best possible way, actually.

What if we could all log-in to City of Heroes/Villains, but only as we slept?  Here are the rules:

* When you go to sleep you are transported astrally to Paragon City, Rogue Isles or Praetoria... your choice.

* You can only have ONE character in these dreams.  That character is you.  You are not playing the game third person but are actually in the body you've constructed in the costume creator.

* The "Dream Server" is just like the real ones, if one of your usual team mates is having insomnia or has to study for a Biology Final then they won't be there to play with.

* Since you are playing from a first person perspective you will feel all the effects of enemy punches, bullets and baseball-bats-to-the-head.

* If your character dies THEY are sent to the hospital... YOU however wake up and will be unable to re-enter the Dream Servers until your next scheduled sleep time.  Conversely, if someone in the real world wakes you up you have Map Served and will have to wait until your next sleepy time to pick up where you left off.

* Because our collective brains are taking the place of the Servers there will be an added depth of reality to play.  A few examples might include the ability to crouch behind cover when being shot at, enemies who don't automatically know where you are even if they can't see you and cops who actually have a level of detective/combat skill.  Additionally NPCs will now have a depth of complexity and personality to put them on par with full-fledged people.  However, because our COLLECTIVE minds are creating this reality these personalities will be a composite sketch of how we all perceive any given character.  So, just because you've always had some naughty little fantasies of Swan wearing a French Maid's outfit and adoringly addicted to giving you foot massages the rest of us probably haven't had the same thoughts.  Not to say you can't ask her... just let the rest of us know when and where so we can arrange to have popcorn handy for the show.

* A lot of the video game aspect of this world will be gone.  Contacts and Trainers have their own lives to lead so won't always be standing in the exact same spot waiting on you to show up.  Not to worry as everyone will be given their own cell phone and every appropriate NPC will give you their number after your first mission for them.  The whole system will still work very similarly but will be much more organic and natural than the game version.

* Your new character starts out at level 1.  No porting in your favorite Incarnate and starting from there.

* Another aspect of the Reality Effect is that the City will grow and change much more like a real one than it did in-game.  Environmental damage will not only be possible now but will last until someone cleans it up.  If you fail to find all the explosives in the office building in time, there will be no "last second random event" that keeps them from exploding.  They WILL explode.  The building WILL burn/be damaged.  The press WILL blame you.  Public opinion is a real thing in this dream version and you have to live with your mistakes as much as you can revel in your successes.

* City of Dreams will be rated M for Mature audiences only.  'Nuff said.

So, would you play if some random cosmically powered entity made this possible?  If you did play what archetype/power set would you choose?  What aspects of the dream version would you fear and which ones would you be eager to try out first?

As for me I would definitely play this.  I'd probably go for my main Claws/Regen Scrapper, although I might add something in my bio to the effect that my regeneration has the side effect of generating a "temporary endorphin high state that renders my body's pain receptors dulled during periods of battle rage".  What?  I don't like pain. 

I would probably be a bit nervous about the reputation my warped sense of humor would get me among the general populace.  I imagine it would be similar to what The Joker would be like as a hero.  The thing I would be most eager to try out would be Travel Powers.

[Mr. NoPants]

Wait...if we die we wake up and can't go back to sleep?  No thank you I have to work.

[Rotten Luck]

No love for Altaholics  :(

Wait what if we had/have Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder)?

Hmm me I guess if I had to I be Rotten Luck.  I tried to separate myself from him on CO and DC but nothing felt right.  So Rotten got reborn in both worlds hmm not sure I play a Zombie thought in a more realistic reality maybe a version where he becomes undead state when he activates his powers.  Street Justice/Willpower Brute.

[Absolute]

* You can only have ONE character in these dreams.

* If your character dies THEY are sent to the hospital... YOU however wake up and will be unable to re-enter the Dream Servers until your next scheduled sleep time.

Guess I'm not rolling a blaster then.

Maybe a DA/SS tank.

[houtex]

...because you've always had some naughty little fantasies of Swan wearing a French Maid's outfit and adoringly addicted to giving you foot massages..

Change that to Mother Mayhem, and her regular outfit and I'm in.

Oh, and I'd roll a brand new Thing of Bigness (SS/Willpower brute) and roll on to Victory! 

/The achievement, not the server.
//Not that there was anything wrong with the server, just... well, Pinnacle Represent!

[Triplash]

* City of Dreams will be rated M for Mature audiences only.  'Nuff said.

Oh holy kittens. Then please, for the love of decency and sanity, stay out of Pocket D!!! That place would be like Arkham. :o

[Brightfires]

I'd have a bit of a problem... My hero-side main was a guy. I'm not. That would take some getting used to.   :o
(Not to mention Palrah was a very tall guy. I'm 5'2... Can you imagine the head-banging? And then there's the matter of his wings... o_0)

[Steelclaw]

I'd have a bit of a problem... My hero-side main was a guy. I'm not. That would take some getting used to.   :o
(Not to mention Palrah was a very tall guy. I'm 5'2... Can you imagine the head-banging? And then there's the matter of his wings... o_0)

Heh.  My main had Super Jump... and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - like rides make me hurl... boing... splortch... boing... splortch... boing... splortch...

"Look!  Up in the sky!  Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?!  No!  It's Steelclaw!  Umbrellas OUT!"

On the other hand, if I were to go with my second favorite ever character Mistress Monolith (7'0.. blue skinned will power/super strength tank a little generous on the breast slider)... I very well might be around 10 or more levels behind the rest of you as I spend the first week or so ... er... let's just say... "Playing with the costume creator"...

[Xnarl]

So, just because you've always had some naughty little fantasies of Swan wearing a French Maid's outfit and adoringly addicted to giving you foot massages the rest of us probably haven't had the same thoughts.  Not to say you can't ask her... just let the rest of us know when and where so we can arrange to

But wouldn't that make her attire less... I mean, pale underwear the same colour as her hair...
Errr....

So, what is about any relatives, partners/spouses and friends (or archenemies) that belong into my background (and are original characters), do they exist?

[JWBullfrog]

Considering that I almost exclusively play female characters that would be...awkward.

[SerialBeggar]

How do you explain all the lag I experience?!  :gonk:

[Brightfires]

On the other hand, if I were to go with my second favorite ever character Mistress Monolith (7'0.. blue skinned will power/super strength tank a little generous on the breast slider)... I very well might be around 10 or more levels behind the rest of you as I spend the first week or so ... er... let's just say... "Playing with the costume creator"...

Hee. My villain-side main was a gal, so I'd have a little more in common with Kestrel than with Palrah... but Flying Code Monkey (Mr. Brightfires) would probably give her Adept partner the evil eye. ;D He knows I always wrote and roleplayed those two as a pair...

[johnrobey]

 8)  *chuckle*  SteelClaw, this thread is just too much fun!!!!  Each Titan's post, whether serious or silly, has me ROFLMAO!!!!!  From, it's SteelClaw! Umbrellas OUT! to No love for Altoholics, and all the flavors in-between.   Conceptually, this feels (imo) like something between The Matrix and Dark City - in which case I go with Dark City not only for Kewl but also as a better representation for how things work in a quantum universe where perception literally creates reality (rather than merely informing perception and/or interpretation.)

To Triplash, Pocket D on Virtue especially after midnight was, um, interesting - so much so that I don't believe this could possibly be any more wonderful or weird.

To Sentry44, man do I feel that!  And, dang! 'cause RPing a blaster was da bomb and (imo) the best time (not counting playing a Def, or else way cool Controller or Dom (again just IMHO))

Houtex, I have to agree.  I can still see vividly in my mind's eye a certain Incarnate Trial cut scene wherein Praetor Tilman, pounding her fist, asserts that our love for "Mother" means we shall not fail her.  LOL, she was even kinda right.  After that NPC pump-up speech, incarnate leagues in the B.A.F. trial almost always defeated Nightstar, Siege, the War Walkers, etc. and often ("Not On My Watch") kept all mindwashed Resistance from escaping.  Gee, who says I have to be sleeping to dream...   ;)  That was a fun fantasy!  Now I am ready for another one, perhaps involving paper and pointy-sided dice   ;D

[Sailboat]

Would we be able to team with others in this dream world?  If we're solo-only, I'd expect proportionately more Scrappers and Brutes.

One thing I like is the idea of activating powers and inspirations without having to fumble at a keyboard (certainly a benefit for Regen and other

My first thought was not unlike yours, to go with my Claws/Willpower Scrapper, American Pit Bull.  He is...err, was...dammit...expensively outfitted for supreme durability.  An extremely capable character.  However, he had no travel power  -- Beast Run FTW! -- and you're right, those are not to be missed.

I had a Dark Miasma/Sonic Blast Defender, Nightjar, who flew and had some neat powers...but they were based on her nightmares and suffering, so I'm not going to spend my time inside her head.  Same with a couple of other tragic characters.

I'm tempted to go with a Tanker -- I loooove durability.  I'd have to rule out my beloved Ironclad, because he eats coal to power his boiler, and I'm not a fan of breathing smoky fire.  I'd be comfortable in one of my Stone Tankers; the mystical Uluru, Australia's red stone native defender, was my best-developed.  Secret confession:  I might be one of the only people who LIKED Rooted, the power that slows you 90% in exchange for big regeneration and status protection.  I admit the slowing was annoying (even with lots of +run speed from IOs), but it gave such an impression of solidity and safety.  I always felt sturdy with Rooted on.  And it was fun stomping around in Granite too -- THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM.  Not to mention, Minerals (with slotting) put me at the soft cap against mental or Psi attacks (albeit outside of Granite) -- that seems desirable in a situation where others might be messing with my mind "for real.".

But, now that I've been forced to try other games for my fix, I think I'm going to choose one of the things COH gave us that was so powerful no other system seems to contemplate giving players anything remotely like it.  STORM, baby!  I tried to make something vaguely approximating a Storm Defender in several tabletop roleplaying systems that pride themselves on their ability to re-create any sort of fictional superhero, and the usual response from those experienced in the systems was, "You want to do WHAT?  Do you realize how overpowered that would be?" and the occasional "the system can't do that, period." 

So I'll pick the Rainy Knight, my top-end Storm/Dark Defender, sporting two self-heals -- both of them hard-hitting attacks -- Hurricane to debuff enemies to below the to-hit floor*, blazingly high recharge, moderate resistance and defense, pseudo-pets out the wazoo, a knockdown conversion proc in autohit Tornado, several slows, a fast-recharging immobilize, two cone damage powers, stealth, flight, Afterburner, three stackable area stuns on high recharge, up to three Lightning Storms out at the same time, an endurance-stealing power, and perma-Freezing Rain.  Oh, and the best damage-buffing Build Up in the game, Soul Drain.

*Hurricane put them at the to-hit floor with a big chunk of overkill to spare, and since knocked-back enemies cannot act for the duration of the knockback/get up period; they got off fewer attacks than they would have  normally, so 'Cane was functionally more mitigation than the soft cap.

I had several Storm characters and always loved the set, but only late in my COH career did I really buckle down and kit one out with high-end stuff.  The result was remarkable and he became my go-to character for unleashing...well...everything.  Just a ton of fun, far and away the most damaging AND safest Defender I ever took out of the barn, solo or teamed.  I always wanted to try an eight-Stormy team, but the best I managed was three Storms on an ITF (and two other players).  Despite our small team size, we just melted everything; Romulus literally went down so fast I couldn't break line-of-sight to avoid his stun-on-resurrection -- and died again, in all the Rains, Tornaodoes, and Lightning Storms still running, before we could recover from stun and get out of the way of his next resurrection.  And that was only three Storm characters.

Man, I miss a lot of my characters, but the Stormies were something special.  And he was the baddest of the lot.  No wonder Marvel's Storm was considered a goddess.

[Rotten Luck]

So when you die you wake... um what happens if you are rezed?  Slip into a coma?  Fall back asleep? 

At one time Rotten had three self rez powers.  The one form willpower,a self rez VIP power, and a temp rez.  SNOOZE ALARM!

[Steelclaw]

The way I should have phrased the whole "Die and wake up" rule is as such...

* There is no hospital port in the Dream Version of the game.  While you can use self-rezzes or rely on the good will of fellow players/dreamers to keep in the game, the little window that hovers in the middle of your vision once dead is not asking if you want to go to the hospital, it's asking if you want to wake up.  If you select to "bed port" then your next play/dream session will begin in your super base in your own little super bed.

Ironically enough, despite the exact opposite nature of its function... the self-rezz inspiration will still be known as a "wakie".

[Everfreefire]

Honestly, I wouldn't want that any other way.

Also, I can imagine it now. "Oh crap, I still have hours to sleep, anyone got a purple or red insp? I need to make a wakie."

[Kuriositys Kat]

Are Khelds allowed for first character? If so then it would have to be my 'Shade:  HH's Kat if not then I would roll with my namesake a spines/regen scrap with FLIGHT! dear ghods to be able to fly again... *sigh*

[Electric-Knight]

I'm always level 1,000 in my dreams... lucid dreaming for the win.  :P

Haha, I'm all in for this though... except I'd probably just induce myself into a constant state of sleep from then on...

;D

[TimtheEnchanter]

When you go to sleep you are transported astrally to Paragon City...

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