pocky-monster jurney fam 5.0

I want us all to be the bad guys for once, and work against NPC-controlled protags. I wonder what that dynamic would be, being foiled by ridiculously strong children every so often, until there's a point in time where we could actually make it. We could actually accomplish the outrageous dreams of our boss--or lead a coup d'etat against them for an even worse dream.

Like how Team Galactic was working under a boss whose true aspirations were unknown to even the admins, namely Mars.

I think it would be done in the same way as the video games do it. You provide a front for the story, badge collecting, and then paint the story on top, team rocket is torturing mons, team magma is trying to expand the landmass, etc.

The badges are just a side track to the fun stuff.

Emakrul said:

I think it would be done in the same way as the video games do it. ... The badges are just a side track to the fun stuff.

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So, essentially, what every journey roleplay is or has been doing: Trainers travel around a region and there are bad guys to beat along the way. I assume you just prefer basic bones Pokemon journey-style roleplays as they are, then?

Just a note about badges being a "side track", though: in most RPs I've seen, gym badges are a major motivation for every Pokemon Trainer and are commonly used almost as a way of representing player/character progress. I myself haven't seen a roleplay where players have actively turn downed or avoided gym battles and badges; they're largely seen as a main priority. Would you rather, perhaps, a Pokemon journey roleplay—with Redux: The Sinnoh Stories and Rainbows being examples of what kind of roleplay I've been referring to—focus more on trumping the antagonists rather than fulfilling the League challenge?

I don't know if you can make a whole game around the concept, but there are other goals besides badge collection (not that the games ever treat them as more than distractions). What if we made a journey centered around Contest stars or PokeAthletes? I remember there was a game a few months back (I was in it, it didn't get off the ground) revolving around contests.

Or maybe I should just join a Journey game and ignore the badges. I always liked the minigames more than badge collecting, anyway.

I have too agree with Godzil, a Coordinator/Athlete-centric RP would definitely spruce up the old journey trope, another idea is to have the journey set in an entirely new region, I haven't seen any recent RP's that doesn't use the generic regions as the settings. Or maybe incorporate/crossover mechanics from other anime/pop culture things into the RP.

Disclosed said:

So, essentially, what every journey roleplay is or has been doing: Trainers travel around a region and there are bad guys to beat along the way. I assume you just prefer basic bones Pokemon journey-style roleplays as they are, then?

Just a note about badges being a "side track", though: in most RPs I've seen, gym badges are a major motivation for every Pokemon Trainer and are commonly used almost as a way of representing player/character progress. I myself haven't seen a roleplay where players have actively turn downed or avoided gym battles and badges; they're largely seen as a main priority. Would you rather, perhaps, a Pokemon journey roleplay—with Redux: The Sinnoh Stories and Rainbows being examples of what kind of roleplay I've been referring to—focus more on trumping the antagonists rather than fulfilling the League challenge?

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The first three generations pulled off a good story with gyms and the league being a memorable backdrop. The real antagonists of these games were teams rocket, magma, and aqua. Sure red/silver/May would still fight the gyms, but the game would be cut quite considerably without those bad guys. (I'm only referring to the first 3 gens since I didn't care as much for the games that followed.)

As a big contest fan, the idea of playing as a co-ordinator sounds goddamn amazing, even if it sounds hard to pull off. What I'd like to see (and I know it's pretty ambitious) was if the trainers' goals were to become gym leaders. Though one major concern I can think of with that RP would be that people would start dropping off (as they become gym leaders) along the way, which some people may not like.

Godzil said:

I don't know if you can make a whole game around the concept, but there are other goals besides badge collection (not that the games ever treat them as more than distractions). What if we made a journey centered around Contest stars or PokeAthletes? I remember there was a game a few months back (I was in it, it didn't get off the ground) revolving around contests.

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Gee, that sounds familiar.
I feel the need to apologize again for the International Idol Star whatever it was. It was a fun idea but I really didn't have the motivation necessary to run it. I was thinking about writing out the story independently to get a better hang of the mechanics before re-introducing it to the forums.

Etherion said:

I have too agree with Godzil, a Coordinator/Athlete-centric RP would definitely spruce up the old journey trope...

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Foxrally said:

As a big contest fan, the idea of playing as a co-ordinator sounds goddamn amazing, even if it sounds hard to pull off.

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Where the hell were ya'll a few months back
#reviveIIS2016

Etherion said:

another idea is to have the journey set in an entirely new region, I haven't seen any recent RP's that doesn't use the generic regions as the settings.

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LinearAxel's RP is basically doing that. I forget the name of it but the region is of their creation and some of the Pokemon have type and ability changes.

Foxrally said:

What I'd like to see (and I know it's pretty ambitious) was if the trainers' goals were to become gym leaders. Though one major concern I can think of with that RP would be that people would start dropping off (as they become gym leaders) along the way, which some people may not like.

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Yeah, I don't really see that going well or lasting long, especially if people were, as you put it, "dropping off". Might as well have a roleplay incorporate gym leaders or aspiring gym leaders rather than make it revolve entirely around the concept.

Emakrul said:

The first three generations pulled off a good story with gyms and the league being a memorable backdrop...

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...what's your point? That Pokemon videogames have plots?

Disclosed said:

So, essentially, what every journey roleplay is or has been doing: Trainers travel around a region and there are bad guys to beat along the way. I assume you just prefer basic bones Pokemon journey-style roleplays as they are, then?

Just a note about badges being a "side track", though: in most RPs I've seen, gym badges are a major motivation for every Pokemon Trainer and are commonly used almost as a way of representing player/character progress. I myself haven't seen a roleplay where players have actively turn downed or avoided gym battles and badges; they're largely seen as a main priority. Would you rather, perhaps, a Pokemon journey roleplay—with Redux: The Sinnoh Stories and Rainbows being examples of what kind of roleplay I've been referring to—focus more on trumping the antagonists rather than fulfilling the League challenge?

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In my old journey RP Crossroads, some characters chose to not challenge the gyms. They were traveling to raise specific pokemon from the professor (shiny starters) who were part of a bigger Team Rocket plot, and the main story points were the dramatic encounters with said team. Also we shipped our chars a lot so the characters' personal arcs became driving for the story as well. Maybe we were mostly lucky with that, but the fact that I forced everybody to interact might have had something to do with it?

Disclosed said:

Just a note about badges being a "side track", though: in most RPs I've seen, gym badges are a major motivation for every Pokemon Trainer and are commonly used almost as a way of representing player/character progress. I myself haven't seen a roleplay where players have actively turn downed or avoided gym battles and badges; they're largely seen as a main priority. Would you rather, perhaps, a Pokemon journey roleplay—with Redux: The Sinnoh Stories and Rainbows being examples of what kind of roleplay I've been referring to—focus more on trumping the antagonists rather than fulfilling the League challenge?

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RAINBOWS also certainly is not just a generic 'visit gyms and challenge the league' RP, you know. At least two of our players don't intend to take the gym challenge at all, and we'll certainly be having an antagonist and their story unveloping in the background just fine... It's still in the realm of normal Pokémon game storylines I guess, but since it's supposed to be an introductory RP basic felt better.

But I would love a RP from an evil team point of view too. I've done that kind of thing before elsewhere too, although we had the mentioned style of rebelling to the rest of the organization because their ideals went too far and stuff. Otherwise maybe a contest RP in which every character specializes in a different aspect? Cool/cute/tough/smart/beauty? Though then you'd only get 5 players, lol...

Adventure said:

In my old journey RP Crossroads...

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>shipping
ew.

Yeah, I remember Crossroads. But what would you think would be an interesting take on the typical journey roleplay scenario? Perhaps more "forced interaction", as you mentioned? Many Pokemon journey roleplays leave things very open-ended so having some forced collaboration elements might be intresting.

Sayoko said:

RAINBOWS also certainly is not just a generic 'visit gyms and challenge the league' RP, you know. ... Otherwise maybe a contest RP in which every character specializes in a different aspect? Cool/cute/tough/smart/beauty? Though then you'd only get 5 players, lol...

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Never said Rainbows was completely generic (I'd honestly apply if the slots weren't full since I really want to do a journey RP right now, consider that the inspiration for this thread); this is a brainstorming thread not a shit-talking thread, after all. Though I had no idea the gym challenge was optional for some players. Suppose I was thinking more about Redux then, but both roleplays, I think, are just as open-ended.

Really, I think a journey roleplay can go from get-badges-beat-bad-guy typical, which isn't even bad in the first place if the idea doesn't become over-saturated, to something more unorthodox with just a simple mechanics tweak or something even subtler. What do you all think?

Of course everyone wants a contest RP after the fact, smh That idea would work best for contest judges, imo.
Though, here's an idea: A roleplay where players are judges critiquing NPC contestants rather than the other way around.

Collector Elwood said:

I tried to prototype something more challenge-orientated when I quickly threw up WUNDERTAUSCH...​

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Oh, I can recall a WUNDERTAUSCH, though the basic premise I've mostly forgotten. I think I found the OP hard to read, if anything.

But I'll take the time to say that I really like the ideas that are being presented so far! What would you guys say to compiling them into maybe a poll later? It'd be a good way to judge, if anyone wanted to further develop what's been drummed up here, which ones garnered the most intrigue.

[Quotedisclosed]

...what's your point? That Pokemon videogames have plots?[/QUOTE]

Exactly, and they were pretty good ones at that. I'm defending the gyms as a game pacing mechanism. They're just doors between areas of the region. Kind of like the time warps in chrono trigger, or the underwater bus things in bioshock. The game coul exist without them, but those doors help pace the real story.


Edit: it's hard to quote things on mobile.

Personally I've always thought of doing it a different way. Basically, have seasoned trainers who gather for a competition of sorts to show how quickly they can complete challenges such as badge collecting and all. As they start off on their journey they begin to notice that sometimes they are stalked by random strangers they've caught sight of on the roads or in other small towns they pass by.

Not only that, but as trainers arrive at the challenge areas in the region they find them empty of anyone else and instead weird mishaps begin to happen. Stuff like falling into pit traps while traveling along roads, waking up in their tents and finding a pokeball or two missing, having their phones fail them on more than one occasion and produce static, maybe even getting creepy emails that raise a bit of paranoia.

Basically, a journey rp that slowly morphs over time into more of a horror themed esque journey with the trainers having to survive whatever is thrown their way.

Disclosed said:

>shipping
ew.

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Say what you want, but it worked wonders (8

Greiger said:

Basically, a journey rp that slowly morphs over time into more of a horror themed esque journey with the trainers having to survive whatever is thrown their way.

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Such as Totodiles eating Rocket members, fathers becoming criminals and Pidgeys burning to death?

Emakrul said:

I'm defending the gyms as a game pacing mechanism.

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Why are you defending something that was never attacked? You said "gym badges are a 'side track'", originally, and I said "never seen it" because I thought you were referring to Pokemon journey roleplays as a whole and not an isolated story-telling element. I also asked you these questions:
1. "I assume you just prefer basic bones Pokemon journey-style roleplays as they are, then?" Would you prefer a journey roleplay in their common, formula-following state instead of something more out there or unorthodox?
2. "Would you rather, perhaps, a Pokemon journey roleplay... focus more on trumping the antagonists rather than fulfilling the League challenge?" Would you prefer a journey roleplay maintain the gym challenge as a priority, just like the games, or would you rather the antagonists be prioritized farther than that? Videogame plots and roleplay plots can afford to be different in how they go about unfolding themselves because they're different mediums. Therefore, your argument about the "doors"—using your metaphor—being a good plot-pacer doesn't necessarily have to apply to both.

and way to ignore my question to you, adventure. gj.

Speaking of a "game" feel, what if you modeled the role-play after the mechanics of a Nuzlocke challenge? Nuzlocke has so many fan-made variations as well to employ, you could work off of those, too.

Jauntier said:

Speaking of a "game" feel, what if you modeled the role-play after the mechanics of a Nuzlocke challenge? Nuzlocke has so many fan-made variations as well to employ, you could work off of those, too.

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REST IN PEACE, HOENN HARD-MODE, YOUR SOUL SHALL LIVE ON IT ALL OUR HEARTS
But what HHM did before it's untimely demise was the game master rolled a number for your character and something happened based on the results. As an example: if you rolled a 1, one of your Pokemon would die that chapter, though it was up to you how and why. Another example: if you rolled a 5, you could encounter an evolved form of an existing Pokemon on a route, and what that impacted was up to you.
That was how it incorporated the Nuzlocke elements, anyway, or element I should say. The only real incorporated Nuz rule was "Pokemon die when fainted" and even then, I don't recall Pokemon necessarily needing to die after fainting in a battle. I did like the dice mechanic, though. It would probably work better when unrelated to the whole Nuzlocke thing.
I think a Nuzlocke or similar challenge roleplay would need to build a universe centered around the rules rather than have Nuzlocke-esque elements be used as an added-on mechanic to an ordinary adventure.

Disclosed said:

I think a Nuzlocke or similar challenge roleplay would need to build a universe centered around the rules rather than have Nuzlocke-esque elements be used as an added-on mechanic to an ordinary adventure.

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Nuzlocke in essence only has two rules: Pokemon who faint are dead, and catch the first encounter on a new route. Decide on an interesting 'Locke variant and craft a universe around it to justify or support it. But it clearly would take on a mature route, that Pokemon are feral creatures intent on killing to assert their dominance.

Which gives me another idea: What if we were hired by a rogue, non-profit coalition of "professors" to capture animals infected with the virus known as Pokerus, which, untreated, mutates animals into what we know as Pokemon. We're trying to capture different strains of the case to return back to base of study for a cure, but the government would prefer new cases be round up and trained for use as bioweapons of war, as a kind of arms race against another afflicted region whose government is harnessing the fact that Pokemon exhibit not only unique scientifically-explained abilities, but a violent nature against others that have become mutated--so the more they are trained, the more disparity in their advantages should a rival government try to challenge fire with fire late in the game. Government workers for the round up operation are called Trainers, and workers of professors are Aides. Due to Pokemon's violent nature towards each other, Trainers and Aides often get into battles as their interests out in the field clash.

Or something. It's a really rough idea I just came up with on the phone and personally don't care for, but some might like it.