NuttsnBolts

Avatar/Pokemon (A Crossover Roleplay)

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Interest Check - Characters

This is a unique roleplay in which the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender will be crossed over with the universe of Pokemon, thus allowing each bender to pair up with a familiar that uses a similar set of abilities to their own. It will contain a light story for people to follow but will more or less be focused on the personal journey that each character will endure.

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Since this is going to be such a different style of roleplay, it will more than likely be set in a different timeline to the one that contained Aang and Korra. I will admit that I haven't completely thought of all the storyline details for the adventure but I am willing to listen to the input of those that enter the roleplay. As of this moment the current Avatar is Avatar Kyoshi, an Earthbender, who has fallen gravely ill thus making it difficult for her to keep the balance throughout the world. Due of the severity of her illness it has the possibility to break the link between the spiritual world and the current realm, triggering a chain reaction that may end all bending abilities.

The Earth Kingdom, both hungry for power and believing that the Avatar's illness was the cause of another nation, has set forth and started to push their might unto the rest of the world. The Fire Nation, who is currently under a heavy spotlight for their aggressive ways, has being accused of poisoning the Avatar. Could this be a selfish desire to trigger the next Avatar cycle who will be a Firebender? Throughout all this are the Air Nomads are desperately trying to disarm the tense situation with a more peaceful manner. They believe that everyone's hunger for anger and short-sighted blame is blinding all those that should be focusing their efforts elsewhere, or more importantly on someone else. The Water Tribes, who are both experts healers and ones blessed with raising the previous Avatar, have been commanded to help aid in the recovery process. While this is an important duty, the Waterbenders don't seem too happy about it and feel that they are being treated more like slaves to the Earth Kingdom than actual people.

Times are tough, people are becoming less trusting of those that are not of their kind, and the people that you meet may either become worthy allies, or a fierce opponents. As a player your character(s) have been thrown into this harsh world whether they like it or not. They are normal people, living normal lives with not much to really aspire to other than the faint call of adventure.

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All players will select 1 of the displayed nations for their desired character. Once you have made your selection there will be a set of rules that will govern which Pokemon you can choose from. (You cannot select the Avatar)

Water Nation:
Air Nation:
Fire Nation:
Earth Nation:

All Nations: *

✻ You are allowed a Pokemon if it will gain a type assigned to your selected Nation in it's final evolution.

(ie: A Torchic can be used by an Earth Nation as it will gain the 'Fighting' Type)

✻ If by evolution a Pokemon is not compatible your Nation cannot use that Pokemon.
✻ Normal and Fairy type can be used by all Nations but if there is a second type attribute than only the nation with that attribute can use that Pokemon.

(ie: All Nations can use a Ratata, but only Water Nations can use an Azurill since Azumarill is a 'Water/Fairy' type)

Adding to this, new Characters will only be able to start off with a single Pokemon that is at it's first stage of evolution. As you venture out onto your journey you will have the opportunity to extend your party up to a maximum of three Pokemon. There won't be anything such as Pokeballs so your Pokemon will simply tag along. Legendaries cannot be caught and characters will be limited to only 1 Pseudo or Semi Pseudo Legendary. This is mostly to prevent any Mary-Sue like characters.

In order for your Pokemon to evolve your Bender will have to train with them and teach them various techniques for them to master. Therefore the stronger your Bender becomes, the higher the chances are that your Pokemon will be allowed to evolve. Remember however that your Bender is a normal person so their skills will be fairly poor, much like Katara in the first few episodes.

For Pokemon with only two stage evolutions or no evolutions they will be given an easy to judge skill ranking (ie: apprentice, intermediate, master). Master ranks will allow any secondary evolutions but more importantly the Pokemon's full potential. My reasoning for these rankings to be included is to allow other players to make a judgement on how powerful a single or two stage evolution Pokemon will be. Other evolutions (ie stones, trading, happiness, etc) will be discussed later and catered for the individual players as many of these traits won't work well in either a roleplay scenario or the Avatar universe. (No Mega Evolutions will be in this Roleplay)

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I always disliked how Pokemon were roleplayed with the ability to only know 4 moves. It's silly, counter constructive, and simply an over-abundance on controlling the roleplay to the n'th degree. In this Roleplay any Pokemon or Human conflicts will be treated more like an Arena battle, allowing more fluid and more natural fights with an emphasis on writing rather than game-style move selections. You can discuss with me how certain moves/techniques may work in a non turn based format but I don't want to see any "Pikachu used Thundershock, it was super effective" turn-base silliness.

In regards to type match-ups, these will be more of a guide as to what will happen in a conflict and who may have the upper hand. Benders in the Avatar universe don't have type weaknesses like Pokemon and therefore Pokemon will be treated in the same way. To give an example of this a Flying type Pokemon will not be immune to a Ground type Pokemon, much like how an Airbender is not immune to an Earthbender. Instead a Flying type Pokemon will have a much higher chance of evading attacks.

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This is going to be a casual to advanced level roleplay with an emphasis on quality posting of a reasonable size whilst also responding to the IC around a couple times a week. If any speed posting occurs I will give you a warning, tell you to be considerate of others who may not have posted yet, and next time use a collaborative post instead.

I will only be accepting 5 players to start off with as GMing does seriously affect my anxiety and trying to motivate such a large crowd is not as easy as it sounds. This means I may be on the lookout for a possible Co-GM to help but I will not be handing that privilege out for the sake of handing it out. It'll be someone I can trust and who will be able to keep the Roleplay going if I'm caught up for a couple of days. In order to prevent several people from gravitating to one Nation I will be limiting characters to 2 per Nation.

Failure to keep up with the regular posting schedule will mean that you will run the risk of being dropped. If you do feel that you with to leave the Roleplay for any reason, please let me know. That way I can make adjustments to the story and open up positions for any new applicants.

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Links, info and various other things...

✻ TitanPad Collaborative Workspace
✻ Avatar Wiki
✻ Bulbapedia
✻ The Martial Arts that Bending is based on
✻ Fantasy Name Generator

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- Berry Recipe Chart
- Bending Techniques Flowchart
- Tweak format of Char Post 1 until happy
- Character Bios for NPCs
- Map/Location Listings
- Sleep...

Avatar/Pokemon Crossover RP

@NuttsnBolts Gotcha. Really need to marathon avatar, it's been so long since I've seen one of the original series episodes. I'm thinking either a Dai Li inquisitor corrupted by the splinter group, or maybe a water-bending assassin with special interest in earth-kingdom contracts, due to the tensions you described in the OP.

Also, in reference to number 5: Maybe the airbenders host a competition or festival to try and help defuse things and soothe some of the tensions?

@BrassOtter

Just remember that this isn't always going to be a fighter/brawl RP and there will be some elements of tension and mystery, hopefully. As long as the character design is believable in the context they are presented in and it fits in with the roleplay's theme it should be fine. :)

Extra

My one example of how a cool idea can be presented with a poor design was someone I saw in a sci-fi/high action RP who had an overweight female that carried around SMGs, and was a part of an elite tactical squad.
Number one... Overweight means less speed and therefore was not suited for a fast pace RP.
Number two... How many tactical squads have an overweight fighter? Think about that...
Finally... An overweight carrying a SMG? It's almost as ridiculous as a 7 foot man driving a VW Beetle. #simpsonsreference

@BurningCold I don't really like putting out Character Sheets templates before the RP goes live. I'm also not going to rush anything and accidentally miss an element I was planning to include, nor will I handicap other entrants because a few people got a running start. It'll be the same with the posting speed, a couple times a week or every few days so that everyone can keep up and no one is written out of the roleplay.

Avatar/Pokemon Crossover RP

@NuttsnBolts I like the idea. So T here'd be the normal Dai Li that are loyal to the king and Ba Sing Se, and then the splinter group that wants to help Avatar Kyoshi? Or what was your full idea?

@BrassOtter

No, the Dai Li was loyal to both. It was their own desire for power that drove them to eventually conspire with Long Feng in taking over Ba Sing Se. So the splinter group would form hidden away from Kyoshi's watch with an overall desire to become more than they were intended.

So far I've got a firebender named Yaze starting with either a Vulpix, Deino, or Houndour, as well as a basic outline of what I want their personality to be like.

@NuttsnBolts Questions once again.
1. What's the age rating we're shooting for on this, generally speaking? PG-13, PG-15, 18+, etc. etc.
2. What's the general age range that we're looking at for our characters? Is their a maximum or minimum age?
3. Is there going to be some sort of overarching plot/baddie that will gradually make themselves known as the players grow in strength and all of that jazz? I know it's a common trope but one that works well and can add another layer of depth to an RP.
4. Right now I see these adventure hungry children/teens/adults (dunno which yet) parading together or alone around a world that seems on the brink of being thrown into a full on battle royale. My question is, is this leading anywhere? You say that you hadn't given much thought to plot which is alright, I'm open to spitballing ideas. With that being said....
5. I think a sort of tournament where benders fight side by side with their Pokemon would be fairly cool, and a good juncture in the story for something related to an overarching plot to be revealed. Thoughts?

My Hider

Sorry if those questions seem hard to understand or reply to, my mind is a bit scrambled atm.

@BurningCold

1: Avatar is actually a very dark series when you look into it. Human torture, mass conspiracy, murder, and much more. I don't want it to be "dark" with people describing things that would push the age bracket up to adults only, but it'LLC be somewhat mature.
2: Late teen, young adult.
3: There will be something, hopefully. Lol. I haven't thought too far ahead cause many times when I do one person always does something innocent that throws the plan on it's head. Story twists are quite hard to do without it coming off cheesy or stuck on railroads, and then people are afraid to innovate in case they metagame the story.
4: Same as above. I have a rough idea but it ultimately comes down to what each player wants out of the story. The more you create your own conflicts, place your character in turmoil and introduce elements for others, the more I can weave into the story. Let's say you create a character from a village that burnt down. The question would be who burnt it down? Why? Are they someone you're looking for or running from? That little bit of info could be used and I could come up with the situation where the Dai Li was involved, meaning your character and BrassOtter's would have a connection. I'm not creating a story, just stitching it together for you guys to play out.
5: No problem with having a comp of some sorts, or a festival... although since the avatar is sick it may be a bit tense. I'll think about it and see if it may work.

Cara's Originally Titled OoC Hangout Thread ♥ (Still)

@Dynamo Frokane It might be the thing that could come across as peverted or bad taste if you did it the wrong way. Many might not even reply or be annoyed by it because they don't want to have a bad image placed on them by some of the trolls that post.

Avatar/Pokemon Crossover RP

@Aquaknight
Haven't opened up the OOC yet. That'll be this weekend (Fri or Sat for me)

Hmm... I'm trying to come up with ideas for a character. How would a trainee from a splinter Dai Lee faction sound? Someone brainwashed into believing in the 'glory' of the Dai Lee before Aang ruined it?

@BrassOtter

There's a few things that may cause this to be difficult and it's mostly to do with timelines... however read through because I do have a question not just for yourself but others that may resolve not only this question but many more.

The Dai Li was originally set up as a secret police force by Avatar Kyoshi to protecting the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se. Due to the Avatar Cycle (Earth->Air->Water->Fire) the next Avatar who is an Earthbender would not appear for another 300ish years, assuming each Avatar lived to an age of about 75. Add the 100 year Aang absence and that is a rather long time for a splinter group to still exist, and hold a grudge (not to mention it would break into the steampunk era of Korra which I want to avoid). It's partly why I want a different universe so we don't have to work with "all" these details, but it's a fine line between that and re-inventing the wheel.

So the question is this, would people be comfortable with Avatar Kyoshi as the current Avatar? From there we can drop Roku, Aang and Korra, keep groups like the Dai Li and Kyoshi Warriors, and know where we stand in regards to the timeline. (Your idea, @BrassOtter, could then possibly work if the result of the Avatar's illness caused a splinter group of the Dai Li to form of those who want to take further action)

Just food for thought

Avatar/Pokemon Crossover RP

Unfortunately with work I don't have much time to respond to messages and questions as I can only check my phone during breaks. xD

@NuttsnBolts More questions! :D
1. Is the map going to be the one from the Last Airbender, or do you have something different in mind.
2. Pokemon from X and Y are still going to be permitted though, correct?
3. The OP here mentions the Fire Nation's poison types, but you say that poison belongs to the Water Tribes. I'm a bit confused here, not sure if I missed something or what.

@BurningCold

1: To a degree, yes. While the world will be the same as the familiar maps, I'll be narrowing it down to a smaller area to start off with. Having people on opposite sides of the globe will reduce the chances of interaction and may cause people to burn out with ideas and such. If you have a look at this map [Link], you can see an area both west of Ba Sing Se and south of the Northern Air Temple with 2 rivers and a small island. To me that seems like a fairly central starting point where we can create a village or stop over point for people travelling to various locations. Some time later I may make a close up map which will include sub locations that people have created, but that may not happen straight away.
2: Yes. Don't see a reason why they shouldn't be (I actually like a few of them anyways)
3: So I might expand a bit on what I said above and explain the logic for the choices. (I also found this idea from an image so it's not original by any means... but then again what idea is ever original. ;D)

In depth if you're interested

- So the reason why Poison is a Waterbending type is because of both Bloodbending and how many poisons may be liquid based, meaning that they could push poisons throughout the body. Admittedly Firebenders could create smoke through the use of a fire, but there's a difference between a poison and smoke inhalation.
- Fire Nation have Dark because a fire when extinguish it creates a darkness. Although Waterbenders get their power from the moon that is in the night sky, when General Zhao killed the moon spirit it plunged the world into darkness and weakened the Waterbenders.
- Airbenders have the ability to control Psychic and Ghost because they are people who are both spiritual based and believe in more than the physical world... plus those two and Bug don't really fit with any other nation. Lol

If you read the OP again I have edited it so it should make a bit more sense. :P

I'll see how I go but I'm gonna aim for getting an OOC up over this weekend as it seems like there's a fair bit of interest coming in to justify going ahead. :)

Avatar/Pokemon Crossover RP

@Termott
We'll that's where I would like to discuss special evolutions like stones, happiness, trading, etc as there's not much in the Avatar universe that follows these mechanics. What I was thinking was more along the lines of locating the source power for each Pokemon, much like how Aang and Zuko had to locate the dragons to learn true firebending. I'll probably discuss these on a more 1 on 1 basis with participants.

@BurningCold I'll answer the questions after work as I've run out of time, but the list is correct. Sorry about that, I must have gotten mixed up while I was writing last night (was pretty late). If I edit out that small bit about the fire nation it'll be ok. The reason why poison is a water nation trait is because they can heal it and the blood bending aspect.

Avatar/Pokemon Crossover RP

@BurningCold
1: Nope. The story is set in the Aang time period so it's back to the traditional roots (plus I never played x,y, alpha or omega)
2: No legendaries
3: I did think about this a bit and banning them would break the game. Instead I'll probably do something like limit it to one per person, and you cannot start with a pseudo/semi-pseudo. Afterall, those Pokemon are supposed to be more rare and unique so it'd be silly to have 5 people rocking with the rarest of the rare on day 1.

Avatar/Pokemon Crossover RP

@BurningCold I'm not a huge fan of reserving spots as in the past I have declined people because someone has made a reservation, and when the time has come the present character it wasn't acceptable.

What I am going to do is look at the CS sheets and weigh up which ones will be more suited to the RP, that way bias and favouritism is kept to a minimum.

Avatar/Pokemon Crossover RP

@BurningCold A few paragraphs, or about 1500 characters is a good point of measurement. I find that anything less than that is something that I, and others, have trouble working with.