Peter Parker Quest Chapter 48: Author: Letters to the Editor Edition, a spider-man fanfic

Publisher's Note: This is recommended to read if you will continue reading this story so you can understand how the coming chapters will proceed as well as how things will change as well as some things will be revealed and explained.

Peter Parker Quest: Letters to the Editor Edition

By: Cosgrove

Cosgrove: Well, there's been a lot of missteps, I think, most of which are on my end here. I started Peter Parker Quest trying to have a happy and fun quest focused on Peter Parker- a 'what if' universe of my own making. Unfortunately, I think I've compromised too much, let my own preferences and other nonsense in.

As it is, Peter Parker Quest isn't really what I originally envisioned, but whatever matches up to the original idea in one's own head?

I had fun, though, a lot of the time. But there's other issues IRL that affected how I ran things and now here we are… on the roof. And I'd like to apologize for that.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the quest, how it's gone and how we can go from here, because I have a few ideas and after listening I'll adjust them as needed and present them. I'll answer as much as I can, too. Might not be able to respond to every post, but I'll do the best I can.

Commuter:So what was your original vision?

There is a certain lack of consistency and expectation.

Consistency of combat: Taking apart the tunnel rats effortlessly off screen. Getting mowed down by crime masters goons, and being expected to view armed hostage takers with children as a light encounter.

I was not present for that last one, having fallen asleep, but from what I surmise no one saw "wait" as the option to do absolutely nothing. Once action began, a potentially long by Spidey reaction time, there was no prompt to join in or do something, as though a cutscenes unfolded we had denied ourselves access to once the circumstances of the situation changed.

Our success and failure in action as Spidey is always fun, but to be told we do absolutely nothing while everyone who was still up was worried about how to go about the situation, with one of the short listed options, seemed very far off.

I know you can do better, and I understand you are under great stress in both a professional capacity and within your home life; it's human.

Moving forward, I don't want this quest to reboot. I don't want it to end whole cloth. The adventures of PTSD Peter are fun, even if we're off task.

What were your original intentions?

Where do you think we can go, if we can go forward? As it is ultimately up to you, as the QM and as a person who is seemingly stretched thin.

SnowLess:Personally I have enjoyed Peter Parker Quest and Bleach Quest; but it was a bit silly for you to expect we'd rush in and try to deal with 24 armed (with guns) men with children as hostages and be gang busters about it. That's a recipe for nothing but tears really so folks took the childsafe option and felt there was just no winning with you when Concrete showed up.

Perhaps people would have jumped in if they weren't kids? I don't know.

The most important thing here is to note your players are EXTREMELY passionate about your quests. There wouldn't be such massive and long shit storms if they weren't.

One last thing I'll say though is to just not run for the night if you're not feeling it. I hope we can all learn from this experience and I hope your home life improves and we can one day go back to web slinging and/or ghost busting.

Anonymous 1: Cosgrove, besides the bad dice rolls I really enjoyed this rendition of Peter Parker, it was...is a blast.

If I had any real problem was that your image of a crazy/wacky fun involving spider-man might have been as well conveyed especially how the recent turn of events had transpired.

The threat of a messed up future via carnage, Peter not only being blasted by Cyclops, got shot by a criminal, been electric shocked out of our alien suit, and sick for quite some time.

It might have been at least to me a bit like hearted like in any marvel rendition but at this point we were in a serious story arc/mission.

Though certainly the last part where we failed to pick up on the clues where it was okay to attack, since in our minds we were in such a serious situation and considering the numbers we felt our presence might had made it worse or cause an accident.

With that said, I guess the major freak out was exactly due to your writing and how attached are we to the characters you characterized and didn't want to disappoint.

To make a long story short, I guess it was just how we viewed the situation was what we're worrying about.

Anonymous 2: I think one of the biggest issues with the quest is its tone. It's hard to have a good idea on how to vote because sometimes it seems like we're in a 90's grimdark comic world and sometimes like we're in the Spectacular cartoon. So when a situation comes up like the hostage crisis I don't know whether to vote to jump in because that could lead to heroic action or reckless bloodshed.

And also a lot of characters act too…bipolar?
For example Stella, first she was like a magic loli than a ball of murder, after some time she was disappointed that Peter didn't killed the X-Men in cold blood AND after that she wanted peter to act more like an actually gold-age hero.
Then there is also the matter of team mates/aliases who are worse than useless. For example wtf is Dr. Doom doing? Sure he has a country to run but he is very aware that somewhere in NYC there is an unsinkable rip-off of the thing from Carpenter film that wants to skin-off Peter any second/anywhere, couldn't he at least leave an emergency telephone number or some kind of guy/mentor/trainer for Peter in case of emergency?

Cosgrove: A middle ground somewhere between Marvel Adventures/Spectacular Spider-man and Ultimate universe in tone.

Well, again, I screwed up how I did the crime event. Honestly, I would have been better off having a few nervous goons having kids in the house, with only like one guy with a gun and the rest with things like knives.

But, I also agree with Carnage. I should have kept it as a backburner until something like the final arc and there's a lot that should've been done better in pacing.

To answer your question Anonymous 2
Stella, well... she was something I thought I could execute better than I have.

Doom is a leader of a country and he's also working on trying to free his mother's soul. To him, there's more important shit going on. He's grateful to Peter, yes. But Doom's needs and country come first.
So, if I did continue PPQ how would you all feel about some retcons to cut out the Grim tone and hopelessness and make it a bit easier on you guys. Would that work better? Mind you, being a comic book quest- the retcon would be a bit of a minor plot point, but it would also not be something TOO major, and it wouldn't be anything to deal with immediately. The immediate plot- Kingpin- would continue relatively unchanged- with some exceptions- and I'd be able to make sure everyone's on the same page and knows what they're supposed to know. It'd also let me cut down some unnecessary elements that have cluttered up things a bit.

Would that work for people?

I'm just throwing an idea out there, mind you.

Anonymous 3

I honestly didn't mind how the quest was a synthesis of real world and serious. I wouldn't mind just finding the right balance of that.

As long as Peter doesn't sell his soul to Mephisto to get this retcon I'd be interested to see what you had in mind.

Anonymous 4: I wouldn't say "easier", per-se. I just want to know what tone you want to set for the quest. If you decide we should act like the smartass Spectacular Spider-Man and jump into hostage situations like nothing, beating up badguys, then I'd be fine with that. A lot of the fun is inventing stuff and getting our social connections.

If the retcon isn't TOO major, then fine, but I must ask, what is it?

Cosgrove:

Well, the things I'd retcon would probably be some initial stuff- I'll make an actual list out of it

Gwen not initially realizing she has powers and having to come to terms with them is why she freaks out and leaves. The stalker was meant to be Phil Urich, yes, and that will no longer be a real issue. As for how Phil got the goblin suit Smythe got him up on goblin gogo juice and armored him up because he's testing different serums.

Another thing is that most of the Jojo Bizarre Adventure stuff will go. The future arc will be affected, but how will be worked out once I've gotten everything else hammered out.

The Christmas... fiasco will be retconned into having not have happened as well as some Fantastic Four bits, because I'd like to resolve them better.

As for the Richard Parker Story arc, it'll still be sad, but less horribly so. It'll also let me streamline things to set up for any SHIELD stuff.

Carnage will be gone. Hikiko MJ will still be a thing, but for a much, much lesser version and much less tragic backstory- with Cletus Kasidy being blamed and jailed. It'll be over and done with.

Smythe will be more prominent and some more classic Spidey elements will appear more prominently (Nobody expects Paste Pot Pete!).

There's also a good reason for all of this happening, but the reason it all happens will be Kaine's fault in a way that makes sense and will never have to be brought up again. No deals with the devil, no real negatives for Pete, but he'll also sorta notice that everything's... off somehow, but it will mean the disappearance of a character for a while.

Felicia's mostly going to be untouched, but I might add some more fleshed out scenes to make some of her and Gwen's interactions make more sense. Maybe some past fleshing out, too.

Flash... is undecided, but possibly will remain as is. If it did, I'll change how things turned out. Like Electro were to happen. I'm also revising some background plot with Spyral.

Anonymous 5:

(Hikiko MJ will still be a thing)

Good.

Loved that character change.

Anonymous 6:

From Cosgrove (as well as some Fantastic Four bits)
Response: Which parts?
Did we not help Susan and Johnny or did it turn out differently

Anonymous 7:

From Cosgrove (Another thing is that most of the Jojo Bizarre Adventure stuff will go.)
Response:

...No! No nonononono!
I mean just WHY? I personally was a fan of it, especially the battle against Carnage was something that stuck in my memory as a particularly awesome moment. If anything I would have liked MORE of them, if only for the more upbeat/awesome feel it offered.

Cosgrove:

Reply to (Anonymous 6)- Pete would have helped them more and Richards will be less of a dick. More like the comic where he's able to talk about their children as an experiment- "Of Course not, one will be the control"

Pym will still be the hero Christmas needed in the Christmas Special.

To (Anonymous 7)- Well, the more OVERT JoJo things, that is.

Anonymous 8 :

From Cosgrove: (Well, the more OVERT Jojo things, that is)
Reply: Did we still use the symbiote like a STAND? The fight in the future still happened?
That was honestly my favorite part of this quest

Cosgrove:

Reply To (Anonymous 8)- Obviously.

Anonymous 9-Did we still have awesome interactions with DOOM?

Anonymous 10-

Replying to (Anonymous 8) and (Cosgrove)

I'll be honest, when we returned back to the past I was hoping we could figure out a way to do that with the present day symbiote on a more permanent basis, it might have helped with the hunger meter
Plus it would have been awesome.

Cosgrove:

Reply to (Anonymous 9)-For the most part.

Reply to (Anonymous 10)-Not really feasible. It's basically the ultimate symbiote. It is not a force of good.

Anonymous11:

So Cos be honest, were you wanting Peter to get the Waifu-suit (Cancer/symbiote-Suit, or was it meant to be for Flash all along?

If we got it would it have really been our Waifu?

How did you plan to have it interact with us?

Cosgrove:

Reply to (Anonymous 11) – There was a chance you could have. But it would have paid a toll on your social interactions and psyche.

Commuter: Right then, all seems well here, though I am happy my shadowruns about MJ turned out to be true.

You can Jojo if you want to, Cos. I won't pose it against you.

Anonymous 12:

What kind of toll are we talking, like the suit telling us that we can only trust it or what?

Cosgrove:

Reply to (Commuter)-

Might, but if I do, I'm probably going to keep it light. Like Hercules might be in a stone pillar (he wasn't actually a pillar man).

Reply to (Anonymous 12)-

No, it wouldn't. Mainly, dependency, and basically the permanent bonding and 'we' happening. (Felicia would not be a cool cat about it).

Also, will say this: Frank Castle might end up involved in the Kingpin arc. But that's not something set in stone.

Commuter:

Did we still save Harry's mom?

Anonymous 13:

From Cosgrove (Also, will say this: Frank Castle might end up involved in the Kingpin arc. But that's not something set in stone.)
Reply:

Shit he might be going after Felicia if she's working for Fatty.
We're going to have to give Punisher a kick to the balls if he tries something.

Cosgrove:

Reply to (Commuter)-

Yep.

Reply to (Anonymous 13)

Right now, there isn't a Punisher. Take that as you will.

Any other questions or such I could answer for you all?

Anonymous 14:

We... saved Harry's mom even though the Christmas fiasco was retconned?

Or do you only mean the X-Men thing?

Anonymous 15:

Will we get to meet other characters more? Like Hank Pym and Squirrel Girl and Iceman?

Cosgrove:

Reply to (Anonymous 14)- X-Men and Fantastic Four.

Reply to (Anonymous 15)- Perhaps. (Squirrel Girl isn't out of the cards).

Anonymous16: Dr. Strange; anything else you can tell us about him? Aside from giving Peter PTSD and the entire future past arc (and catgirl Felicia) it's been my favorite thing in your quest and I'm a bit bummed out we haven't met him yet.

Cosgrove:

Reply to (Anonymous 16)-

Doctor Strange... well, he's basically pretending to be the Mr. Satan/Don Kahnoji of the world when he's also basically the major US individual that deals with the supernatural and is on SHIELD's watch list.

Anonymous 17:

I got two question:
How dickish is SHIELD in this universe?
Is White Nick Fury still alive, through the Infinity Formula?

Cosgrove:

Reply to (Anonymous 17)-

SHIELD Myth arc, but there's been two Nick Furys. One helped found SHIELD during/after WWII. He greatly admired Captain America.

Anonymous 18: Still don't get why you're pushing Cletus as the final boss. Like why him of all people?

Cosgrove:

Reply to (Anonymous 18)- Don't worry, he's basically being cut out of the plot, as of the retcons.

Anonymous 19: Oh god Cos I just realized, I'm fucking begging you man please respond to this please because it's driving me crazy.

Who the fuck was Girl Alucard back at the school Halloween party? I don't think we ever figured that out and it was driving me nuts, this just came back to my mind and I really would appreciate an answer if you don't mind.

Cosgrove:

Reply to (Anonymous 19)-

It was indeed Bloody Mary.

Anonymous 20: Hey Cos did you have any plans if we had chosen to give up our powers to cure Felicia from the Cat Curse?
Would we have gotten the chance to go full Super Scientist?

Cosgrove:

Reply to (Anonymous 20)

Yup, I'd had tons of plans- it was one of the roads that had the biggest chance of leading to the use of the symbiote or genius engineer peter, who could have also used the lack of power to safely infiltrate oscorp and deal with the Smythe situation from the inside. (After all, this is Peter Parker Quest, not Spider-Man Quest).