Brose

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams Interest Check (WIP)

I usually tend to avoid system heavy roleplays, not because of any legitimate issue, just because of personal preference. But the amount of detail you're putting into the region totally shows, and it seems cool! So I'm on the fence, put me down as tentatively interested?

@GubGar

Thank you and will do!

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams Interest Check (WIP)

Hello! It's been about 3-4 days since I first posted, and I've made some progress on the rp. Still got a lot left to do, but I wanted to share some more stuff for the rp that has been completed. As always everything is WIP and subject to change, but below you can get a basic idea of the Starre region and what it's like.

~~
 

Map of Starre Region

Map Base Credit: Here

Settlements (Numbered in green)

#1: Beryl Town – Located in the smack center of Starre region. Although large in size, most of the actual residential part of the town makes up only about half of the area. The rest are mostly large fields that belong to the Institute. The Institute of Beryl Town is the largest of its kind in the region and home to many Pokemon owned by various trainers. The fortifications of the Institute’s property are well kept and there have been no complaints from the Beryl Town residents in regard to the Pokemon there. Other than the Institute, there is the Starre Academy, a prestigious school for trainers. It is tradition in the Starre region every year to hold a ceremony of the beginning of the Championship League season and to give trainers a Pokemon egg; a symbol of a new beginning and potential.

#2: Peridot Town – A rural town in the south full of farmers. It has lately gained a rise in popularity due to the efforts of its local gym leader and one of Starre’s most iconic influencers. The gym leader’s gym is full of bug type Pokemon and a common early stop for trainers planning to take on the League.

#3: Zircon City – A bustling city in the south, Zircon’s major business lies in steel. At the head of the steel industry, is the tycoon Kouki Ito. Decades ago, he came to Starre from the east and set up business here, forever changing the face and progress of Zircon City. Kouki Ito is also the leader of the Zircon City gym, which specializes in steel Pokemon.

#4: Obsidian City – A large, grimy city full of smog and pollution from the local factories. The city is full of rampant crime, corruption, and gang activity. Years ago, it was much worse. It was only due to the influence and efforts of one Granny Mae that Obsidian City started to clean up its act. The city is split up into three districts; the center district being the safest (and nicest looking) of the three and the one that tourists are recommended to go to. The other two are full of gang territories, with battles breaking out there being a regular thing.

Due to Granny Mae’s influence, most Obsidian City gang members keep their illicit activities in the West or East Districts; Central District is a “neutral” zone and Granny Mae’s turf. And nobody crosses Granny Mae. But if that is not enough, visitors can rent Pokemon to protect them from criminals – for a price. At the heart of the Central District is Granny Mae Headquarters, home of Granny Mae’s famous cookies, which also serves as Obsidian City’s local Pokemon gym. Granny Mae is the gym leader and she’s proficient in dark types.

#5: Amethyst Town – A small town to the west. Amethyst Town biggest name to itself is its Contest Hall, which is home to its Normal Rank Pokemon Contests. Otherwise, it’s simply your average-run-of the mill town.

#6: Jasper Town – A moderate sized town in the central north, Jasper Town has been making some rapid growth and development over the years, all in due part of the mines located next to it. The town itself doesn’t have too many tourist attractions other than the local Pokemon gym, which features ground type Pokemon.

#7: Diaspore City – A cold, isolated city in the north, the people of Diaspore are a hardy bunch. When the weather isn’t extreme, you can find quite a variety of entertainment in Diaspore. Being the closest city to Mt. Aquila, numerous tours and tour guides of the mountain can be found here. Diaspore City also has its Contest Hall, home to Starre’s Super Rank Pokemon Contests.

#8: Diamond City – Diamond City is the city of all cities. Stars are made and born here; many of them live here. Massive in size, the city lies between Mt. Cygnus and Mt. Corvus. It is said to be one of the oldest cities in the Starre region, built on top of the ancient ruins of its predecessor. A large metropolitan, Diamond City has multiple stadiums spread throughout, with the biggest being the Central Stadium. All five stadiums are used during the yearly Pokemon Championship League. Next to the Central Stadium is the Diamond City Contest Hall, where Starre’s Master Rank Pokemon Contests are held.

#9: Alexandrite City – A large city in the north. Powered by the wind turbines in the Windy Valley, Alexandrite City is a bustling, vibrant city. As it lies as a connector between Victory Road and Diamond City, the Ophiuchus Canyon, and Emerald City; it’s a popular town for travelers and trainers alike. Alexandrite’s gym is home to dragon type Pokemon, and it’s building is instead a large dome where dragons and their trainers train.

#10: Topaz City – A beautiful, vibrant city; Topaz City is the number one stop for travelers on the western side of Starre. It’s popular for its beautiful sandy beaches and deep blue waters. Unfortunately, its tourism has gone downhill over the years due to the increased pollution coming down from Obsidian City. Besides its beaches, Topaz City is famous for its fighting arena; the Combat Dome, where both Pokemon and people alike spar. Warriors of all different kinds come to Topaz City to train and show off their skill. Topaz’s gym is home to fighting type Pokemon, located in the center of the city not too far away from the Combat Dome.

#11: Emerald City – To the east of Starre and along the coast of the Eastern Starry Sea, is none other than the glistening Emerald City. Famous for its picturesque beaches and gorgeous scenery, it is one of the top ten of Starre’s tourist destinations next to Diamond City and Amber City. For things to do, look no further than Emerald’s City Contest Hall where Hyper Rank Pokemon Contests can be found. At Emerald City’s docks, one can usually find the S.S. Nereid; Starre’s number one cruise ship.

#12: Amber City – The most popular city in the Three Islands. Located on Mother Island, it’s a famous tourist trap. Stunning tropical beaches and clear blue ocean waters, many of which can be seen from Amber City’s local amusement park. It is also home to a Pokemon Gym that focuses on rock-type Pokemon (many of which can be found at Mother Island Park).

#13: Tourmaline Town – A small sleepy town to the south of Starre. Not much happens in this town, the most exciting attraction is usually cited to be its Pokemon Gym. Its gym leader, Caelia Arkwright has recently taken up the helm as gym leader and specializes in fairy type Pokemon.

#14: Pearl Town – A small, quiet town on Maiden Island. It is a common stop for tourists who want a more “relaxing” vacation experience. Many of the residents living there work at the Maiden Island Reserve Park.

#15: Coral Town – A small, but busy town on Crone Island. Tourists come through there on their way to Mt. Hekatea. Tour guides of Mt. Hekatea can be found at Coral Town.

#42: Ye Olde Starry Faire – A medieval fair full of historic reenactors for the amusement of its guests, it is only open for a season or two. Many of its workers come from Tourmaline Town for seasonal work.

Landmarks (numbered in green)

#16: Floral Meadows – A meadow full of bright, beautiful flowers that are home to many kinds of Pokemon.

#17: Bamboo Grove – A large bamboo grove with many streams and rivers nearby. Home to many Pokemon of a certain (eastern) ancestry.

#18: Ancient Ruins – Local ruins that have stood the test of time, but are slowly withering away. Murals of letters written in the Unown can be seen on the walls that remain standing. There isn’t much to be seen in the area, except for a large array of (mostly) psychic type Pokemon that are attracted to the energy of the lands. There are rumors of a hidden door that leads underground, and the ruins are said to go much further there and at the end supposedly lies a great treasure. Those are just rumors though; the place has been picked clean of any treasures or remarkable artifacts for years now and no one has found a hidden door. Yet, at least. There are also rumors of a ghost knight rider that can be seen at night…

#19: Grimm Forest – A dark, thick forest full of bright, colorful, neon mushrooms. The forest is full of mischievous, if not dangerous, Pokemon and travelers should take caution not to get lost.

#20: Southern Marsh – A large marsh located in the south of Starre. It frequently rains here.

#21: Lyra Cave – A cave system with a noticeable electric charge in the air. Many electric Pokemon can be found here.

#22: Hercules Woods – A dense, thick woods full of bug type Pokemon.

#23: Arkwright Mansion – An old mansion of the Arkwright family. The building has endured much of the centuries and is constantly being repaired. Many lives have been lost in that building over the years, so it is said to be haunted. Although owned by the descendants of the Arkwright family, it is said to mostly be now a habitat for ghost Pokemon and open to the public.

#24: Jasper Town Mines – A large, sprawling mine system. Many Pokemon can be found here.

#25: Starry Pass – A long mountain pass that can be found next to the Aquila mountain range.

#26: Mt. Aquila – At the end of a series of mountains is the tallest mountain in Starre region; Mt. Aquila. Covered in ice and snow most of the year, it is home to many ice type Pokemon and the Aquila slopes. Although popular with tourists, some of the locations are dangerous and not to be trifled with.

#27: Dragon Lake – The largest lake in Starre region. It gets its name from some of the dragon Pokemon that are known to reside there, but it is also home to a variety of Pokemon.

#28: Crystal Falls – A large set of waterfalls. It is one of Starre’s most iconic tourist destinations.

#29: Ophiuchus Canyon – A large canyon that holds a series of caves and caverns within it. Home to a variety of Pokemon.

#30: Scorpius Desert – A large, sprawling desert that is known to have a lot of sandstorms.

#31: Windy Valley – A large, verdant valley with notable high winds. Numerous wind turbines can be seen throughout the area, as these power the nearby Alexandrite City.

#32: Lighthouse – A large lighthouse on the eastern coast.

#33: Andromeda Shores – A series of beaches along the eastern coastline of Starre.

#34: Lake Clearwater – A small lake in the southeast. Home to many water Pokemon.

#35: Mother Island Park – A park that features a variety of attractions. The first attraction being its archeological dig site, which is opened to the public, as well as the part of the park that is home to many revitalized fossil Pokemon in attempts to recreate a vision of what prehistoric Starre would’ve looked like. Its owner is the grandson of the founder of the park and is also the gym leader at Amber City’s gym.

36. Desert Ruins: In the far east of the of the Scorpius Desert, lies the Desert Ruins. A series of tall ancient structures with murals of ancient text written in the figures of the Unown can be found. Archeologists can be found studying the ruins. Lurking in the structures are also a variety of Pokemon.

37. Abandoned Ship: Formerly called the S.S. Calypso, eighteen years ago, the cruise ship crashed into a large rock formation and damaged its hull and began to fill with water. All occupants on the ship were swiftly evacuated and no one was majorly injured, however, it occurred shortly after a previous catastrophe; the daughter of a famous actress went missing and was presumed to fall overboard. Many people began to spread the rumor that the cruise ship’s demise was due to the little girl’s ghost cursing the vessel, and so nobody wanted to go near the ship.

But just as the owner of the S.S. Calypso finally found a crew willing to dismantle and salvage the ship for the parts; environmental groups swiftly stepped in and said they could not interfere with the ship as it had become home to many rare and protected Pokemon in that time frame. No one could legally touch the ship without facing serious penalty; so, it was promptly abandoned. Although it technically stands semi-afloat now (stuck between large rocks), it’s predicted to breakdown and sink at some point in the coming years.

#38: Mt. Hekatea: A large, active volcano on Crone Island and the only volcano in the Starre region. Many tours are given here, and trainers can find many fire type Pokemon roaming around the volcano.

#39: Maiden Island Reserve – A large reserve of Pokemon. There are two halves; one open for the public (and for trainers to catch Pokemon in) and the other that is off-limits and mostly for the protection of certain Pokemon. The reserve often has a problem with poachers trying to get into the off-limits area.

#40: Mt. Corvus – One of the twin mountains to the north-east of Starre. An ancient temple is said to lie at the top of the mountain.

#41: Mt. Cygnus – One of the twin mountains to the north-east of Starre. An ancient temple is said to lie at the top of the mountain.

Routes (Labeled in red)

Note: Descriptions of the routes are based on the direction going. If you’re going the opposite way, just flip the order.

Route 1: Beryl Town to Floral Meadows. A quaint little trail with lots of greenery. As one gets closer to Floral Meadows, they’ll find flowers appearing more frequently.

Route 2: Floral Meadows to Peridot Town. A flower filled trail that turns into a path surrounded by farmlands.

Route 3: Peridot Town to Ancient Ruins. Fields of farmland soon turn into just regular fields that are full of random bits of ruins.

Route 4: Ancient Ruins to Tourmaline Town. Fields of ruins quickly turn into just regular fields as you get closer to Tourmaline Town.

Route 5: Tourmaline Town to Southern Marsh. Regular grass fields soon begin to get more damp and mud-like as one gets closer to the marsh. It frequently rains here.

Route 6: Southern Marsh to Topaz City. It’s all swampy marshland up until you reach Topaz City.

Route 7: Tourmaline Town to Grimm Forest. Starting from Tourmaline Town, it’s mostly clear grassland but trees start appearing more as you go along the trail. Halfway through there is a turn to go to Ye Olde Starry Faire. Otherwise, you head straight into the Grimm Forest.

Route 8: Grimm Forest to Obsidian City. The road is foggy, with trees covering up the sky along the path. The nearby grass is high and is knee length. The route is shady and dangerous, but is the only one to Obsidian City.

Route 9: Grimm Forest to Lyra Cave. The pathway starts out heavily wooded, having come from the forest. But as you continue through it starts to clear up and its mostly just grassland and some hills.

Route 10: Lyra Cave to Amethyst Town. Coming from Lyra Cave, it starts off being surrounded by hills but eventually evens out to regular flat grassland.

Route 11: Amethyst Town to Hercules Woods. Coming from Amethyst Town, it starts out as grasslands and progressively trees start to appear more and more as you get to the woods.

Route 12: Hercules Woods to Beryl Town. The left side of the route is more wooded while the right side of the route is mostly grassland.

Route 13: Beryl Town to Arkwright Mansion. Mostly just grassland with some hills. At the top of the biggest hill is the Arkwright Mansion.

Route 14: Arkwright Mansion to Tourmaline Town. Mostly just grassland with some hills. Along the route is a large graveyard.

Route 15: Peridot Town to Bamboo Grove. Mostly grassland with some small rivers.

Route 16: Bamboo Grove to Zircon City. Remnants of the bamboo from the bamboo grove and grassland.

Route 17: Zircon City to Lake Clearwater. A small, hilly path that leads to the lake.

Route 18: Lake Clearwater to Andromeda Shores. Features a large bridge that travelers can walk alongside.

Route 19: Andromeda Shores to Lighthouse. Mostly coastline next to the ocean.

Route 20: Lighthouse to Beryl Town. Mostly grassland. As you leave the Lighthouse, the salty scent of the ocean begins to fade.

Route 21: Beryl Town to Jasper Mines. Starts out as mostly grassland, but starts to get rockier with some hills as you go further north.

Route 22: Jasper Mines to Jasper Town. Hilly terrain all along the path.

Route 23: Jasper Town to Starry Pass. A path full of hills where you can see mountains in the distance.

Route 24: Starry Pass to Diaspore City. A path that is often covered with snow for most of the year. Mountains can be seen in the distance.

Route 25: Diaspore City to Mount Aquila. A snow-covered path that can be a little dangerous.

Route 26: Beryl Town to Windy Valley. Wide open grass fields that stretch for quite the distance. You can feel the wind start to pick up.

Route 27: Windy Valley to Alexandrite City. As you feel the wind die down, you can feel it start to get more warmer.

Route 28: Alexandrite City to Ophiuchus Canyon. A path mostly of grassland, but as you get closer to the canyon the air begins to get drier and the grass becomes less frequent.

Route 29: Ophiuchus Canyon to Emerald City. Some grassland, but mostly coastline.

Route 30: Emerald City to Scorpius Desert. Sand from the beaches quickly turns into sand from the desert. Either way, it’s hot.

Route 31: Scorpius Desert to Ophiuchus Canyon. Lots of sand. A little patches of grass here and there, but mostly sand.

Route 32: Alexandrite City to Diamond City. Also known as “Victory Road.” The path is full of hills and mountainous terrain, with the occasional spots of grassland in between.

Route 33: Diamond City to Crystal Falls. A small path in between some mountainous terrain.

Route 34: Crystal Falls to Dragon Lake. A long path that starts in some hilly terrain but then ends in regular grassland.

Route 35: Dragon Lake to Jasper Town. The path starts out flat and then becomes hilly as it approaches Jasper Town.

Route 36: Emerald City to Amber City. A long stretch of ocean, where in the middle you can see the remains of S.S. Calypso. Can be surfed or take the ferry.

Route 37: Amber City to Pearl Town. A short stretch of beaches and ocean, frequently filled with tourists and vacationers. Can be surfed or take the ferry.

Route 38: Amber City to Coral Town. A short stretch of beaches and ocean, only really frequented by the most determined of ocean-goers. Can be surfed or take the ferry.

Route 39: Pearl Town to Zircon City. A route that starts out in the ocean and ends up back on land. Can be surfed or take the ferry.

Route 40: Scorpius Desert to Desert Ruins. Nothing but mounds of desert sand can be seen.

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams Interest Check (WIP)

I'd be interested.

As for those mechanics

Gone through writing bullet points as I read them, hope that's useful to you. I really hope it's not too negative because the setting intro sounds great.

• That's a lot of hp, if you're doing only 1 damage per turn (and therefore per attacking post) it's going to take a long time to whittle each other down. Even the best case scenario is 5 turns (and that's without missing)
• A longer fight wouldn't be bad if it was interesting, but with how simple it is, there's not going to be much variety in tactics. Just not sure how interesting anyone can make doing the same thing 5-10 times in a row sound.
• I'd suggest making the fights shorter by handing out less hp/more damage, fights in the games are usually pretty fast after all.
• You could try for a more complicated system, but I know a few attempts that have been made to turn pokemon into a ttrpg and it's a lot of work and it really doesn't seem necessary for what you've planned, so I'm not about to suggest it.
• So with the current system I think toxic would be a bit OP, with how long these fights would take that increasing poison damage would stack up fast, by the third turn it's outdone a super effective same type attack by 50%.
• Similarly, paralysis being a 4/5th chance to not attack seems a bit high and would really drag things out. It's strong already in the games with only a 1/4 chance to stop you acting.
• Sleep might be OK, it'll take far fewer turns away than paralysis, which feels a tad backward, but is more on how crazy an 80% paralysis chance is. It is rather effective, but that's true of the games, I'd suggest doing what they do any making sleep inflicting attacks less accurate, probably just a 50% chance since stats aren't a thing.
• Confusion is similar to paralysis, shuts things down way too hard.
• Stat influence seems a little unlikely to do anything, but otherwise fine.
• I think you might want to make levelling a little faster, only every 20th level actually does anything in your system and with 3 battles per level that's 60 of them. In general one thing I've seen from other pokemon games, and ttrgps in general is that you probably don't want to actually simulate grinding against random encounters.
• Not sure what to say about the contests, sounds pretty close to the games I guess, I've never really paid much attention to those so haven't got much to say, sorry.

In general if I had one big suggestion, make a setup that'll make resolving encounters with Gym Leaders and Villains fun, and don't worry too much about the random encounters on routes, closer to what you'd read in a fanfic or see in anime (not that I've actually watched that since gen 4). There's a big difference between running back and forth in some grass pressing the A button and writing out a full description of every turn after waiting for another person to roll some dice. Of course this is subjective.

@Thunder999999

@Thunder999999 Thank you for the feedback! And no worries on the negativity part, all feedback is good in my book. Happy you enjoyed the intro, though!

Direct teply to the feedback

In regards to the HP, initially Tier 1 Pokemon were going to have 5 HP but I was worried that when you consider bonuses into play (type advantages, stat boosts etc), it would go by too quickly. But I think you're right that it should be faster, more-to-the point kind of fights and 10 HP is probably too bloated if the average attack is going to be 1-2 HP points. So, I'll bring it back down to 5HP for Tier 1.

With Toxic, I think halving the HP should help the issue but worse comes to worse I'll just change it so it's a regular kind of poison effect.

For Paralysis and Confusion, I'll change it so it only has 1/4 chance of stopping attacks. I think I just wanted a reason for people to use status items, but I think it'll probably just unnecessarily bloat battles versus make them interesting.

For Sleep, since it is semi-relevant to plot & themes (You'll never guess what strategy the baddies at Team Sleep use! /s) I didn't want Sleep status to be a push-over (but still fair), but I'll strongly consider making the inflicting moves less accurate.

I may look at stats again in the future but for now as long as it's not game-breaking or too complex, I think I'll leave them be. My goal is definitely to keep things as simple as possible.

For leveling, I think what I'll do is have it so you only need one successful battles to level up and quick battles can count for those. My main concern was that, in regards to general pacing, I just didn't want people blasting through levels. But you make a good point that there isn't much difference until you hit every 20th level. Bringing it to one battle = one level + EXP share effect should be good, especially with the option of quick battles if people are in need of a quick boost.

As for the Contests, I think relying on the ORAS system should be simple enough. It's pretty to-the-point. The only downside is that some certain move effects are not explained properly (too vague) or straight up too situational that it might be a problem. But worse comes to worse I'll just ban certain moves or change their effects.

And thanks for the suggestion! I'll try to keep that in mind. Much of the random encounter stuff is (at least intended to be) more foundational and simply to try and create small challenges or hurdles (versus getting the results you want immediately). But I also want this RP to be fun and not a drag, so my hope is to find a balance in that. I want to recreate the fun elements of the Pokemon (games), but you are correct some stuff doesn't translate well across mediums.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback! Really appreciate it.

Pokemon: Starlight Dreams Interest Check (WIP)

Starlight Dreams' Intro

A figure sits alone in a dimly lit living room. Surrounded by empty seats, they stare blankly at the television before them, its black screen reflecting at them. On an impulse, the figure reached for the remote beside them and pressed a button. A light on the television promptly turned on and soon the room was lit up with the bright light of the screen. Starring at the screen, footage of landscapes began to show in succession.

“Are you tired of the same old thing? Bored? Feeling down? Ready for some adventure?” the voice on the television inquired. The figure in the room gave no answer to the question.

“This is Starre. Home of a variety of Pokemon and people with a rich history and culture.” The voice continued, scenes of footage of Pokemon and people quickly flashing on the screen. Delicious food, happy people, and beautiful landscapes came in quick procession.

“Whether it’s the snowy slopes of Mt. Aquila, the scenic views of Windy Valley, or the luscious tropics of--” the voice was cut off with a click of a remote. The screen quickly flashed through multiple channels before it stumbled upon a selection. On the new channel, two news anchors sat, talking to one another, with the words “Starry News Network” in big bold letters at the top.

“That’s right, Joanne.” A man in a suit said, starring straight at the viewer. “We are seeing a rise in criminal activity all over Starre region from a mysterious group simply known as ‘Team Sleep.’ Don’t let their name fool you though; these aren’t individuals you want to take lightly. There have been many reports of this group stealing Pokemon and valuables alike. For more details we turn to--”

Click. Aiming the remote at the tv, the figure changed the channel. Flashing lights suddenly appeared on screen with a brief flicker of a masked individual as someone with a camera quickly tried to pursue them.

“Prince? Prince! Can you tell us about—” the paparazzi exclaimed as he pursued the masked individual. The footage was quickly cut off and replaced with a different one, the same masked individual but now in the center of the stadium. The figure was in the middle of a Pokemon battle; the camera focused on him.

“The Starry Prince; Starre’s biggest celebrity and biggest mystery is its own reigning champion who has yet to be dethroned. But who are they really? And what’s behind that mask? Stay tuned as we--”
Click.

“Are you a fan of Pokemon?” the voice on the television asked, footage of various Pokemon dressed up standing in line on a stage on the screen. “Do you crave fame and stardom but can’t get the knack for Pokemon battles? Then become a coordinator and join one of the many Pokemon contests across the Starre region! Show off your Poke--”

Click.

“Hey there, Pokemon fans!” Another voice erupted. The TV showed montages of various Pokemon battles in a large stadium. “The Starre Pokemon League season is just around the corner! Call the number on your screen to purchase seating tickets at the Diamond City Stadium so you too can experience those sizzlin’ hot battles in person! Don’t delay, call tod--”

Click. Purple smoke filled the television screen. Gentle, soothing music played in the background as the silhouette of a woman appeared. Walking closer, she soon became more visible and stood in the center of the screen.

“Hello. My name is Cassandra Stern.” The woman said calmly, with a stoic face. “I am the CEO of Morpheus. Here at Morpheus, we believe in providing a bright future for all. ‘How do they do that?’ you might ask. The answer to that is dreams. Dreams make up who you are, your ambitions in life, and influence your very perception of this world. Everyone dreams. But how do we use our dreams to better suit us? To help us lead to our full potential.

“With our cutting-edge technology here at Morpheus, you now can control your dreams.” The woman continued, the eyes in her serious stare flickering for but a moment. “See: the Dreamlink, which allows you to tap into your true potential with our dream therapy. With it, you will see drastic improvements in your quality of life in record time. Let Morpheus help your dreams come true.”

Click. The TV reverted to the news channel. A pair of familiar faces filled the screen.

“Just a reminder, everyone.” The female news host “Joanne” said. “The Institute is holding a grand event in Beryl Town for the celebration of the beginning of the League season. It is open to the public and seasoned trainers and trainers in training are encouraged to show. The Institute will be giving out free Pokemon and enlisting people in cataloguing their Pokedex. Free food and drinks will be served--”

Click. The television was now back at the channel it was from the beginning. A familiar voice could be heard over the footage of scenic montages. At the very end, a grand shot of Diamond City was displayed.

“—so what are you waiting for? Come on down to Starre: where dreams are made, and stars are born!”

Yep, a Pokemon rp. Familiar concept: Catching Pokemon, exploring the region, battles, gym challenges, contest challenges, etc. This MIGHT be more fitting in the Tabletop section (what with the current RNG mechanic stuff, see below) but I’m not familiar with that at all so I’m going to place it here.

Features:

• Custom Map & Pokemon assigned to various locations on that map
• A (chance based) combat system I made for this RP that is intended to bridge between the Pokemon games and general roleplay. Might be an ongoing WIP or scrapped entirely.
• Gym league procession can go in any order. Each gym leader has about 8 potential teams to battle with depending on the character’s badge procession.
• Contests will be a thing and mechanically taken from ORAS’ system.
• Overarching storyline with an antagonist team called Team Sleep. Not the most intimidating name, I know, but…don’t “sleep” on them just yet! /heh
• Pokemon will include all the way up to S&V. For movesets, I’m going to use basically a mix of Gen 8 & 9 but will (mostly) accept any move from any generation. But I’d strongly prefer it to be limited to Gen 8 & 9 if possible.

Technically, this is early for me to post this as I still need at minimum about a week to finish preparing the RP. Lots of stuff still left to do and all that. However, I wanted to gage if people are interested in this rp and how many are, as well as get feedback on my current planned battle (and contest) mechanics. If most people find it to be too convoluted/a waste of time, it’d be better to know that sooner versus later. I’m not against a more “freeform” rp style but I feel like having a (system) basis for the RP would help keep things fair and less likely for bias. But if it’s too convoluted/unnecessary, then I’ll scrap it.

So, yeah. That’s about it. Please let me know if you’re interested in this rp and if you are, please give some feedback on the Battle Mechanics and Contest Mechanics posts which I’ve listed below. Note that these mechanics require people to volunteer as co-GMs. That’s likely going to be a necessity regardless if I keep the current systems or not. But I guess that'll depend on the size of the turnout for the rp.

Apologies if these are formated poorly or missing steps in the explanations (I didn't want to post everything). Still a WIP.

Battle Mechanics (Features Different Kind of Examples of the WIP)

Wild Pokemon Mechanics

This rp heavily uses RNG to determine outcomes of most of the things. A GM is the one who rolls it for the players and logs the results & informs the players (which they then write out).

Example: Players A & B go into an area for exploration and are looking for Pokemon. In the next post, GM rolls how many Pokemon will appear, what tier they will be, and once the tier is decided, what Pokemon will show up and what their mood will be (Calm or Hostile). Let’s break it down further.

Number of Pokemon Roll: 1-5. 1 is single battle, two is double. If it’s a 3+ group, you must pick one and the rest will disperse. If you have a group of 5, the GM rolls for all of you and each of you can take on one of the Pokemon in the group of 5.

Tiers: Pokemon are broken down into tiers. Technically there are 5, but mostly it’s going to be just three. Each tier consists of 20 levels per. Tier 1 is level 1-20, Tier 2 is level 21-40, Tier 3 is level 41-60, Tier 4 is level 61-80, and Tier 5 is level 81-100. Last two aren’t going to be really used in the wild Pokemon spawns, so just focus on Tiers 1-3.

Tier Roll: For this, it’s a 1-10 roll. Rolling a 1 being the pull that gets you a Pokemon above your tier (so for the beginning, this would be Tier 2 and 3). Rolling a 2-10 gets you a same-tier Pokemon. So there is a 10% chance of coming across a Pokemon that is substantially stronger than you.

Pokemon Selection: Each area has its own selection of Pokemon that can show up (tiers and time of day as additional factors to consider). Roll between the list (which should be numbered) and whichever number rolls out is that respective Pokemon. For large groups, the GM can decide if it’s all one type of Pokemon (ex: 5 Marills) or different individual Pokemon in the group.

Mood Roll: 50% chance roll (1/2) of if they’re calm or hostile. For groups, the rolled mood applies to ALL of them.

Level: For same-tier rolls, the wild Pokemon will always be the same level as the weakest Pokemon in your party. For group rolls, this will be the weakest Pokemon of the trainers in their group. For higher tier rolls, the Pokemon will always be 20-40 levels higher than your weakest Pokemon.

Gender Roll: Roll for gender. Only applies to Pokemon that can be of either female or male gender. Genderless and Pokemon of a single gender line do not apply for this.

Shiny Chance: 1/4096 chance. 1 Being the number that gets you the shiny.

Catch Rate: At full health, a Pokemon has 1/10th chance of being caught. A GM runs the numbers between 1 through 10, if it pulls a 1 then it’s caught. If the player spends time to fight & lower the health of the Pokemon, then it goes down to 1/5th chance. GM sets the numbers between 1 through 5, and if it rolls a 1 then its caught.

The Pokemon’s nature is something the player can decide one once caught.

Battle Mechanics

This goes with the idea in mind that both Pokemon are on the same tier as one another (and close in levels).
Tier 1 Pokemon have 10 “health points.” Each successful attack (barring a few exceptions) removes 1 health point from the other Pokemon.

An example

Battle begins. It’s 1 on 1. GM rolls first to decide who goes first.

First Strike Roll: 50/50 chance between either parties. This is done at the beginning of EACH turn.
Once that is decided, the person to go first writes a post about their initial attack. Once they’re done & posted it, GM then must roll for the other person if they can successfully dodge the attack or not.

Dodge Roll: 1/5 chance. Numbers are 1 through 5. If your roll is number one, you can successfully dodge the attack. Getting 2-5 will do nothing for you.

If they roll a one, the other person can successfully dodge it. Otherwise, their Pokemon loses 1 health point. Rinse and repeat until one person’s Pokemon get down to 0 health points and faints.

How statuses will work

Status Conditions: Moves that have guaranteed status infliction are always guaranteed. Any attack/Pokemon ability that has a chance at status infliction (usually as a secondary effect), the GM must roll for it for each move. Abilities like Synchronize obviously don’t need this and will be automatic.

Status Condition Roll: 1/5. 1 Being successful in afflicting, 2-5 being not.

• Poison: Once afflicted, it reduces your Pokemon’s HP by .5 points for every turn. No chance for it to be miraculously healed. Use an item or move to remove it. In cases such as Toxic, I’m currently setting so it starts out with .5 HP loss in the initial turn, and increases by .5 HP points of damage each turn. If that ends up too harsh/brutal, I’ll amend it so it just poisons regularly.
• Burn: Will fill this out later.
• Paralyze: Each turn, you have a 1/5 chance of success rate of attacking. 1 is the number you want to successfully hit, 2-5 is unsuccessful. No chance for it to be miraculously healed. Use an item or move to remove it.
• Sleep: Once afflicted, your Pokemon will have to roll for a chance to wake up, otherwise they can’t do any action (they’re asleep). For the first turn they are afflicted, it’s 1/5 chance, 1 being the number that means they can wake up. For the next turn, those odds are reduced to 1/4, next turn is 1/3, next turn is 1/2, and if by the next turn they still haven’t rolled a 1; they automatically wake up.
• Freeze: Same as sleep, just with freezing.
• Confusion: Once afflicted, your Pokemon will have to roll for a chance to properly attack, otherwise they hurt themselves in confusion. For the first turn they are afflicted, it’s 1/5 chance, 1 being the number that means they can snap out of the confusion. For the next turn, those odds are reduced to 1/4, next turn is 1/3, next turn is 1/2, and if by the next turn they still haven’t rolled a 1; they automatically snapped out of confusion. If they hurt themselves in confusion, they lose .5 HP (for Tier 1 Pokemon).
• Flinch: For moves that have the side effect of flinching, it’s a 50% chance (1/2 roll) of flinching and not being able to attack that turn.
• Infatuation: Once afflicted, your Pokemon has a 50% chance (1/2 roll) of being “immobilized by love” each turn and not attack. This does not magically go away and lasts the whole battle.

Stat Influencing

For the most part stats aren’t going to be too heavy into play as it’s mostly RNG. But here are a few amendments that should hopefully make them not entirely useless.

For moves that increase attack/sp attack, every time you use the move you can roll for a chance at increasing your Pokemon’s power by half. Instead of inflicting 1 health point base damage per attack, you inflict 1.5 HP base damage. But it’s a 1/5 chance roll and not guaranteed success (Currently, I may change that depending on what move is being used). It can be rolled again for a chance at inflicting 2 HP base damage but that’s the highest it will go.

For moves that decrease the opponent’s attack/sp attack, you roll for the chance of debuffing them so they only inflict half damage. If the stat is initially standard (-1 per attack) but was successfully rolled for debuff, they’d only do -.5 damage to you. It can be rolled again for a chance at -.25 damage but that’s the lowest it’ll go.

Note: “Base” damage refers to the innate damage a Pokemon does at their respective tier. Tier 1 Pokemon = 1 damage. This does NOT include type advantage/disadvantage bonuses, stat buffs/debuffs, or the type match up bonus (where the Pokemon has the same type as the move being used).

For moves that increase defense/sp defense, it’s the same as decreasing the opponents’ attack/sp attack; they just get halved. Lowest it’ll get to is -.25 HP damage.

For moves that decrease defense/sp defense, it’s the same as increasing your attack/sp attack; the attack value increases by .25. Highest you can go to is -2 HP damage.

Increasing/decreasing speed determines who goes first/last in the next turn. If your Pokemon increases their speed, they’re guaranteed to go first in the next turn PROVIDED that the opponent doesn’t also increase their speed. If they do, then it’s back to RNG roll (assuming they’re the same stage level). This effect stays and maxes out at Stage 5. Getting your speed reduced means your going last (provided again, that the opponent doesn’t get their speed reduced as well. If they do, roll time). The person with the highest speed stage can keep going first in the following turns. If both are the same level, they must roll.

Increasing YOUR accuracy translates to your OPPONENT having a lower chance of dodging your attacks. Their dodge roll goes from 1/5 to 1/6 and goes up to 1/7 max. Getting YOUR accuracy reduced means the OPPONENT has a higher chance of dodging your attacks. Their dodge roll goes from 1/5 to 1/4 and goes up to 1/3 max.

Moves that have secondary effects that result in the gain/loss of stats also must roll for it. 1/5 chance, 1 being the result that means they don’t lose anything if it’s a debuffer roll and 2-5 means they gain the penalty. If it’s a buffer roll, then 1 means they gained the stat increase and 2-5 means they gain nothing.

Damage Effect Calculations & Example

Effective moves get .5 HP bonus
Least effective moves get halved by .5 HP
Same typing gets .5 HP bonus
Effective & same typing boost get total of +1HP damage (added onto base damage)
Same typing but least effective just get +.5HP

Example:
Torchic uses Ember on Rowlet. Both are Tier 1 Pokemon.
Ember is both Effective & Same Type move as Torchic. So instead of doing just 1 HP damage, they do 2 HP damage.
If Torchic used Peck on Rowlet instead, Torchic would just get effective bonus instead, as Torchic isn’t a flying type. Torchic would do 1.5 HP damage instead of the normal 1 HP damage.
If Totodile used Water Gun on Rowlet, it would be a least effective move. But they do get the same type bonus. So they would still do just 1 HP of damage (+5 bonus, -5 penalty cancel each other out)
If Tadbulb used Water Gun on Rowlet, it would be a least effective move with no type bonus. So it’d do just .5 HP damage instead of the base 1 HP damage.

In regards to battling stronger tiered Pokemon…concept is essentially the same. Just the stronger tiered Pokemon have about 5-10 more health points and hit harder than you do so the chances of successfully winning are very low.

Quick Battles

Quick battles will be a thing. They're quick, freeform battles that are mostly used for leveling.

Experience

Levels are gained every 3 battles. However, individual battles only count for non-quick battles. So, taking on a fellow player (or designated NPC) in a battle with a full team will net you 2 levels (6 mons total = 2 levels) while a quick battle it doesn’t matter how many Pokemon are on the team: you only get 1 experience point for the whole thing. It would take 3 separate quick battle posts to get 1 level up or taking on another player/designated NPC in a real battle with 3 individual Pokemon to get the same result. Regular battles are more intensive so hence the reason why.

Fortunately, the whole team gets the same experience gain of whichever Pokemon did the battling. You don’t have to grind them up individually.

WIP of Contest Rules & Mechanics

There are three phases to a contest:
1. Introduction Round – Aka “Dressup Round.” Part of the contest where a character dresses up their Pokemon in a costume and are evaluated based on their sheen & general appearance. Max of 10 points in this category (15 if you have a colored scarf equipped/on).

2. Dancing Round – Part of the contest where the Pokemon (in costume) all dance to one song and are evaluated on their performance. Each character gets 3 rolls of either success or fail (50% chance) and their rolls determines how well their Pokemon performs. Max of 15 points (5 per successful roll). This round can be axed, I just thought it was a cute idea.

3. Talent Round – Part of the contest where Pokemon show off their moves to gain points or sabotage other contestants. There are four subrounds total.

Sheen is the Pokemon’s condition. Basically how cute/tough/beautiful/clever/cool they look. Each sheen category has a cap of 10 points (barring the extension of the colored scarves your Pokemon can hold which will increase it by 5). Each Pokemon can have a max of 30 sheen points total (so 3 maxed out categories at most). You increase your Pokemon’s sheen with either Pokeblocks or Poffins.

You need 4 berries to make either a pokeblock or a poffin. There are two strengths of pokeblocks: regular pokeblocks and pokeblocks+. For poffins, there are regular poffins and strong poffins. Regular pokeblocks and regular poffins give you 1 point of sheen in a category. Pokeblocks+ and strong poffins give you 2+ points. We won’t be doing rainbow pokeblocks.

You can harvest berries, buy berries, or be gifted berries as part of a reward but you must have the correct amount of berries when making pokeblocks/poffins.

After the Introduction and Dancing Rounds, the Pokemon with the highest (collective) points leads the Talent Round. After that, the lead is based on whoever is doing the best in the Talent Round (barring any move that deigns participation order).

1.) A Pokemon must have 4 moves in order to participate in contests.

2.) Performing the same move twice will lead to loss in points and loss in the Crowd Excitement Meter.

3.) If a move is newer (like gen 8-9) and doesn’t have a contest description associated with it, I’m gonna ask that you find another move from the Pokemon’s Movebank to substitute it for the contests.

4.) Each move gives a certain amount of red hearts that serve as points. Some moves are designed to sabotage other contestants, and “jam” their performance (startles them). Those moves have a certain amount of black hearts attached to them and those are the amount of points that is decreased on the Pokemon they successfully sabotage. Sometimes, this can lead to negative points for a Pokemon for that round.

5.) We will be using the Crowd Excitement mechanic. It can be raised/lowered based on what kind of move your Pokemon makes. For example, in beauty contests, a beauty move will increase it. Cool/cute moves will do nothing in beauty contests. While clever/tough moves will lower it in beauty contests. I’ll list the compatibility chart for convenience later.

6.) With the successful raising of the Excitement Meter, your Pokemon gets an additional point per round. This does not include moves like Whirlpool which stops the crowd from getting more excited. When the Excitement Meter is maxed out, your Pokemon gets an additional +5 points (plus the +1 extra point they get for raising the meter).

7.) Points are collectively counted each subround and determine the order for the next subround (barring moves that put them in the front/last of the line). The total amount of points are documented for the Talent Round and combined with the Introduction and Dance Rounds. The Pokemon with the most points is the winner. The winner of the contest will receive a ribbon + prize(s).

8.) There needs to be four participants per contests (and at least one person acting as a judge and co-GM and collecting points/doing rolls). Sometimes, we can’t always get the right amount of actual characters to participate, so to encourage people to help out…if you play as a NPC participant you’ll get rewarded (your respective character will be “anonymously gifted” goodies to use in the rp) helping out.

9.) You only need to win one ribbon in a lower rank to go to the next rank. It doesn’t need to be from the same category either. So, if I win one cute contest in normal rank, I can go to the next rank (super) in a cool contest if I want to.

All the calculations/roll stuff is only for the GMs to worry about. Regular players are just intended to write up their posts and respond to the results they get.

EDIT: 10/28: Edited a few things to make it look more neater. Will be working on posting more information for the RP at a later date.

10/29: Here is a post featuring a look at the Starre region map + its locations.

Fire Emblem: Lost Song

Question: what is the "weapon" options for Druid, Summoner, Bishop, and Sage? I realize this are late-game tier classes, but I wanted to know in advance in case the beginning classes locked you in for options. Sorry for the trouble.

Pokemon Stadium Dreamers

Im interested in this. Is there a concrete/updated list that shows what spots are still available?

Dragon Age: Oathbreaker

Edit: Interested, but I may end up just lurking for now.

Persona - Academic Akrasia

Huh... I'm thinking my Jin may have met this person at some point or another.. Jin knows a lot of the 'bad people'. Very interesting, I like him!

@Mistress Dizzy

We could do something like that~ Although ngl I'm tempted right now to change his name cause I just realized how similar Jin/Jun is. Oh man that's gonna definitely trip me up a little. Although not as bad as having two Kimikos.

Btw, I'm assuming the name order is "First" and then "Surname" correct? It's normally reversed in Japan but since most of us are English speakers...I wasn't sure.

Persona - Academic Akrasia

@Crimmy

Name: Jun Oshiro
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Arcana: The Devil
Equipment: Cigarettes, a lighter, pencils, sketchpad, and a container of concealer.
Skills: Pickpocketing, picking locks, running (used to be really into athletic clubs in middle school), and various art skills (particularly good at drawing).

Appearance:

Personality: Jun is a very selfish, angry and turbulent adolescent. He had a good upbringing, but there was always something that unnerved him about his parents. The look in his mother’s eye when he tried to bring up his biological father, the anger in his father’s voice when he tried to push his mother about it. The jealousy Jun felt when he saw how much his mother and stepfather gave so much love and attention to his baby half-sister, than they ever gave to him. Jun grew up hiding a deep resentment to his parents that would just fester over the years.

But when he met Takeo, things became a bit more bearable. Jun adored Takeo. If there was anyone in the world who understood Jun the most, and could calm the anger brewing inside of him; it was Takeo. But in time, Jun began to grow to understand that he himself could never have friends, or relationships. He was a “bad seed.” His selfishness brought pain to Takeo, Takeo’s family and other friends, and even his own parents. Everything Jun touched; he’d end up breaking or hurting. So over the years of his high school term, Jun’s learned to just embrace this part of him that he deems the truth; that he is “the devil.” He thrives in his own vices and destructive habits, and doesn’t plan to change. He keeps his distance from people emotionally and often acts out and is abrasive just to keep folks from getting too close, but secretly desires companionship and friends.

Biography: Jun was born the bastard son of a married, wealthy businessman and his secretary mistress who genuinely believed her lover would leave his wife for her; but unfortunately for Ms. Oshiro, that was never going to happen and she found out that the hard way. Ostracized from her family and friends for the scandal of an out of wedlock child, Jun’s father at least was willing to pay for both Jun and his mother to move out of town and live somewhere far away, where the scandal wouldn’t come back to bite him. There, Ms. Orshiro managed to raise Jun and married a nice man who served as a good stepfather for Jun.

For many years, Jun grew up in this happy environment with little to no problems. He had friends, and one particularly good friend named Takeo. Jun and Takeo were thick as thieves and inseparable for most of their elementary and middle school days, and were so until the two had a big argument one day, which put a heavy strain on their relationship. Takeo started hanging out with other kids and ignoring Jun entirely. Angry and jealous, Jun sought for revenge by leaking a huge secret of Takeo’s to the entire school. Soon, Takeo became the laughing stock of his school. Nobody wanted to hang out with Takeo, and soon he became the prime target for bullies and was harassed for weeks. Jun was content with this; for if he couldn’t be friends with Takeo, then no one could. Takeo would have to come back to him, since no one else would be with him.

But this did not go as Jun planned, for Takeo instead attempted to take his own life at the top of the school’s building. Horrified, Jun just watched as his friend fell to the ground. Jun did not want this. He just wanted to be with Takeo. He just didn’t want to be alone. He never wanted any of this; but it did not matter.

Takeo ended up surviving the fall, but not without being critically injured and in a coma. Takeo’s family was in an uproar and blame fell to Jun, his most trusted friend who betrayed him. Takeo’s family threatened to pursuit legal action, but the school managed to talk them out of it, as long as Jun was transferred elsewhere and moved out of town. Jun’s parents quickly agreed to the deal and moved to a new town as soon as they could. Things were going to be better. Jun was in a whole new town, it was a blank slate and he could start over with no scandal to follow him. It was all going to be okay and back to normal.

Or, it should’ve been, but Jun began to fall into some bad crowds, and started heading down the path of delinquency. Smoking, skipping school, sneaking out at night, picking fights with other students, vandalism, arson…it began getting worse and worse over the years. Every night Jun came home at 3 in the morning, his mother would just break down in tears. Jun and his stepfather would get into fights and in some cases it would get physical. Eventually, it got to a point where his mother had to resort to calling Jun’s biological father, and beg him for help.

His father worked out a deal with Jun’s aunt and uncle (on his mother’s side) in the city of Shikatsu, which he’d pay them to watch Jun and deal with his antics for his remaining high school term. Jun’s father also pulled some strings to have Jun accepted in Uchima Senior High. Jun was not happy about the move, especially since he wasn’t allowed a voice in the decision, and has since then been continuing his antics. His aunt and uncle don’t seem to care as long as they don’t have to get involved if he gets caught, which has been fine with him. Jun spends most of his time out at night in the streets of Shikatsu, or smoking behind the school after hours.

Persona
Name: Loki

Appearance

Traits:
-Reflects:
-Absorbs: Ice
-Void: Dark
-Resist:
-Weak: Fire
Abilities/Skills:
-Bufu
-Rakukaja
-Marin Karin
-Poisma

Angry delinquent son has been delivered. Let me know if there are any issues.

Persona - Academic Akrasia

Will we be doing a two-parter persona set like in the games (Io to Isis for Yukari, as an example) or just sticking to one?