{"id":8490,"date":"2005-10-31T13:03:01","date_gmt":"2005-10-31T20:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2005\/10\/31\/the-web-of-arachnos.html"},"modified":"2005-10-31T13:03:01","modified_gmt":"2005-10-31T20:03:01","slug":"the_web_of_arac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/10\/31\/the_web_of_arac.html","title":{"rendered":"The Web of Arachnos<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The Web of Arachnos<\/a><\/em> is the first of a proposed trilogy of novels set in the City of Heroes<\/a> universe. Written by Robert Weinberg<\/a>, it details the entangled origin of both Statesman and Lord Recluse, and the beginning steps of moving Prohibition Era Paragon City from a hotbed of crime and corruption to the gleaming metropolis we “see” today.<\/p>\n

For CoH\/CoV players, there’s a certain charm in learning some of this backstory, as well as more about Nemesis, some of the early heroes of Paragon (previously only hinted at in various plaques and statues about the city), and other geeky goodness like that. Aside from that, though, this is ultra-lightweight fluff. Though Weinberg occasionally tries to play on Doc Savage\/Avenger\/Shadow-style pulp conventions, it’s never maintained for long enough to actually impart some flavor to the tale. <\/p>\n

Instead we get a bunch of stock characters moved through inevitable, predictable, uninvolving motions — the plucky girl reporter, the hardened Great War veteran, the “band of brothers,” the cunning inventor, the venal city officers, the gangsters, the megalomaniac villain, a ho-hum romance … Only bits of the tale sparkle, usually involving backup characters — a trio of sisters, for example, and a few of the fellow founders of the Freedom Phalanx.<\/p>\n

Any of our gaming friends in the area who wants to borrow my copy is more than welcome to do so. It’s certainly better than reading the newspaper or office memos, or being poked in the eye with a sharp stick. But it’s not something I’d recommend to anyone other than someone who plays the games the novel is based on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Web of Arachnos is the first of a proposed trilogy of novels set in the City of Heroes universe. Written by Robert Weinberg, it details the entangled origin of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-books","category-gaming"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30047,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/31\/city-of-heroes-is-shutting-down-dammit.html","url_meta":{"origin":8490,"position":0},"title":"City of Heroes is shutting down. Dammit","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 31-Aug-12 12:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Development is frozen and nothing new is expected before the game shuts down toward the end of the year.All the news I had heard about how the game's finances were going had been positive, so this is a surprise to say the least. \u00a0It's not clear the specific factors behind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33121,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/04\/11\/looking-back-sadly-at-the-city-of-heroes-shutdown.html","url_meta":{"origin":8490,"position":1},"title":"Looking back, sadly, at the City of Heroes\u00a0shutdown","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 11-Apr-13 11:17am","format":false,"excerpt":"Sigh.There were plenty of indications that the Paragon Studios team were scrambling to try and make things happen. NCSoft's explanation that they had to shut the game down because they couldn't find someone to \"support City of Heroes' fans in a manner they were accustomed to for years to come\",\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30264,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/14\/the-plight-of-city-of-heroes-reaches-cnn.html","url_meta":{"origin":8490,"position":2},"title":"The plight of City of Heroes reaches CNN","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 14-Sep-12 2:13pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow. #savecoh \u00a0 #cityofheroes \u00a0 Embedded Link Affecting Change Through Social Networking and Virtual Capes Paragon City, RI Clouds of dust surround a crumpled, caped form. Cracks in the pavement radiate from where it lies. A dark, ominous figure stands over the fallen champion. \u201cIn three months, you, Google+: View\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30048,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/31\/my-first-pass-post-mortem-of-city-of-heroes.html","url_meta":{"origin":8490,"position":3},"title":"My first-pass post-mortem of City of Heroes","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 31-Aug-12 1:25pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Feeling myself go through the whole \"stages of grief\" thing on this. Which seems silly, of course, for a game. But, on the other hand, given the number of years and how much time I've spent on it, is perhaps not surprising.Firk ding blast! Embedded Link The End of City\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&gadget=a&resize_h=100&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhill-kleerup.org%2Fblog%2Fheroes%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F01%2Fcohf_logo-300x147.png","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28181,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/08\/whats-the-matter-with-penelope-yin.html","url_meta":{"origin":8490,"position":4},"title":"What's the Matter with Penelope Yin?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 8-Jun-12 1:25pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Wherein I delve deeper into some complaints I raised in the +City of Heroes Freedom\u00a0\"Freedom Friday\" earlier today.\u00a0 Embedded Link What\u2019s the Matter with Penelope Yin? | Blog of Heroes The Paragon Studios team does a Freedom Friday weekly quasi-chat on Google Plus, answering questions that people pose, etc. \u00a0Today,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&gadget=a&resize_h=100&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhill-kleerup.org%2Fblog%2Fheroes%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F06%2Fcoh-freedom-penelope-detail-595x650.jpg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&gadget=a&resize_h=100&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhill-kleerup.org%2Fblog%2Fheroes%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F06%2Fcoh-freedom-penelope-detail-595x650.jpg 1x, https:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&gadget=a&resize_h=100&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhill-kleerup.org%2Fblog%2Fheroes%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F06%2Fcoh-freedom-penelope-detail-595x650.jpg 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47940,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/11\/asimovs-foundation-trilogy-to-become-an-hbo-series-hmmmm.html","url_meta":{"origin":8490,"position":5},"title":"Asimov's "Foundation" trilogy to become an HBO series? Hmmmm","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 11-Nov-14 9:23pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting idea, though as a series of stories and novellas early on, it's hard to see how this will work as a continuous TV series. Which is fine -- a series of segments where the actors (and century) changes between would be okay with me.I'm also hoping this will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}