Pokemon Roleplay Discussion

[Feign]

There is also another way of RP fighting, this way is much more difficult, as it takes not only good RPers, but fair ones too.

So the first person would describe an impending attack, than the 2nd person would react to it. Now staying with realism, you'd write out a battle, being careful not to god mod each person's character. Now this might sound difficult, but this is why these posts are usually quite short.

Also, detail can be your best friend and your worst enemy. That is to say, whatever you type can allow and disallow a certain action by the opposing player.

To determine a winner, there are a number of ways to do this (some already mentioned above). One way is if one of the players isn't the best RPer and more or less asks for their character to be killed, another way is getting the RP master to decide, and the other one is where the two RPers decide etc.

 

[Phanima]

There is also another way of RP fighting, this way is much more difficult, as it takes not only good RPers, but fair ones too.

So the first person would describe an impending attack, than the 2nd person would react to it. Now staying with realism, you'd write out a battle, being careful not to god mod each person's character. Now this might sound difficult, but this is why these posts are usually quite short.

Also, detail can be your best friend and your worst enemy. That is to say, whatever you type can allow and disallow a certain action by the opposing player.

To determine a winner, there are a number of ways to do this (some already mentioned above). One way is if one of the players isn't the best RPer and more or less asks for their character to be killed, another way is getting the RP master to decide, and the other one is where the two RPers decide etc.

Those options have been considered and I'm only really comfortable deciding who wins and loses by killing off characters if either their behaviour is bad or if they continuously break the designated rules. I do agree that having fair roleplayers sign up would inadvertently make things much easier, but I don't really intend on excluding those who aren't. I assume that's what the sign-up form is for to decide in the first place.

I like hearing that there are some alternatives to number 1. It can be really time consuming and stressful to write a battle when you have to try so hard not to godmod. Every attempt to land a hit is a full post. You can't write "he kicked" or "he punched" because you would be infringing on the other character's right to dodge. The end result is a battle where everyone is being polite and holding doors for everyone else. "Can I land a hit now? Thank you very much."

Number 3 is like number 1 but with the gamemaster involved. You probably don't want that. Either you'll be checking the roleplay every 2 minutes, or you'll hold everyone else back by going to bed at a bad time. The roleplayers will be doing their hardest to embellish their posts and gain your support, and you'll have to pick favourites. Not pretty.

I agree. I did consider the timing for the gamemaster and while most roleplays begin quite hurriedly, I've noticed that many slow down considerably, so I didn't consider reviewing each post as much of an issue. General sucking up and favouritism is something I do wish to avoid though, so I may overlook this method.

Maybe a combination of 1 and 2 would work. The roleplayers could decide between themselves how the battle would look (which hits would land and which would miss) and write it out. Then the other roleplayers would read their posts and vote on the final outcome.

I actually really like this idea of having the two roleplayers decide how the battle will develop, with attacks landing and missing as they'd like, and then have the others determine the outcome based on how the battle is played out. The problem I see with this however, is the same with method 3, in that instead of sucking up to the gamemaster, they'll be trying to garner votes from each other. It might just come down to the mood of the roleplay and how seriously they all take it, so ensuring anonymity is probably a given.

 

[GodofPH]

Hm, is it possible to create a roleplay that is so different from most Pokemon worlds that it disregards canon? Or would people flame you for that?

If speculative reimaginings are wrong, I don't want to be right. :D

 

[Alter Ego]

1. let the actual roleplayers battling decide who wins and loses;
2. have all the other roleplayers who aren't battling vote on who should win and lose and have the two do so accordingly; or
3. have the gamemaster look over each post, decide which attacks hit and miss and then decide who wins and loses by judging how detailed and entertaining the two roleplayers' posts are.

Personally, I find the third option the most trouble free, but are there any other thoughts on the matter? Or other suggestions that could work with roleplayer verse roleplayer pokemon battles?

Well, Phani, you've already got my initial thoughts, but I'm going to go ahead and elaborate. Yes, number three can work, but the only time it really works out smoothly is if the judge is running one of the battling parties and genuinely has no vested interests in the outcome, and that may be a tall order unless the character in question is a disposable NPC.

What you can do, however, is run a hierarchial kind of combination of all the above. If the RPers are capable of deciding the outcome between themselves, then leave it at that (1). If they can't, let them fight it out with RP master/possible other appointed judge calling out fouls as necessary (3), and then either have said judge decide the outcome or (2) put up a quick vote between RPers before deciding the fate of the finishing blow.

Doing just the RPer vote thing has the drawback that you'd have to have each battle end in a dramatic finisher-against-finisher situation, which limits the other options offered by different systems (such as, for instance, delivering a character-building humiliating kind of loss, such as could be arranged by player agreement); RP master micro-management, on the other hand, has the drawback of said RP master fiddling with the battle at every turn, which gets really bothersome if they're not actually controlling one of the battlers.

So yeah, I think a cross-breed would provide the best mix of fairness and room for creativity. The best battles come from players who both enjoy what they're doing too, so unnecessary RP master involvement is not something I'd recommend.

I wasn't aiming for a crossover, my idea was for an amalgamation of the two. It's not as if the game's/anime's canon would suddenly find themselves swimming in superheroes and supervillains, but taking place in a universe where they've been a part of each other for a long time.

You see, I myself don't like working explicitly within confines of a universe, I prefer to make my own rules and create my own worlds, and that was the idea I was shooting for.

Well, I'm not a big marvel fan either, but speaking as the person who literally blew up the entire existing canon cast to make way for their own plot and got away with it (different forum; long story), I'm going to go ahead and say this concept has every chance to work. The pokéverse already has certain aspects that fit a superhero story to begin with (thematically coordinated villain teams with world-conquering motives and a thoroughly incompetent police force, just from the top of my head) and superpowers are nothing unheard of (pokémorphs, not to mention Pokéspecial with the Viridian bloodline, come to mind here), so there is overlap to build on.

Just make sure that the pokémon are actually a just as essential for the RP universe as the superhero aspect. I do so hate it when crossovers/fusions/whateveryouwanttocallthem only explore one of the fandoms they're tapping into and drags the other one along as deadweight. Pokémon of themselves are creatures with abilities you could quite easily label 'superpowers', so there is an avenue from derieving the Marvel side of things from that too if you feel like it (Moon Stone = Kryptonite? *shot*).

But yeah, long story short: if you feel up for it then go for it. The section could really use more variety in RPs and yours sounds like an interesting addition.


...and seeing as I'm heading towards the one year anniversary of my last RP hosting here, I might set up something of my own in the relatively near future. But that's a topic for another day when I've figured things out better. ;P

 

[I Laugh at your Misfortune!]

There is also another way of RP fighting, this way is much more difficult, as it takes not only good RPers, but fair ones too.

So the first person would describe an impending attack, than the 2nd person would react to it. Now staying with realism, you'd write out a battle, being careful not to god mod each person's character. Now this might sound difficult, but this is why these posts are usually quite short.

Also, detail can be your best friend and your worst enemy. That is to say, whatever you type can allow and disallow a certain action by the opposing player.

To determine a winner, there are a number of ways to do this (some already mentioned above). One way is if one of the players isn't the best RPer and more or less asks for their character to be killed, another way is getting the RP master to decide, and the other one is where the two RPers decide etc.

I've personally done this several times myself - both by making each attack a separate post in the actual thread or by sending a PM back and forth with the other RPer until a conclusion was reached. However, I have to emphasise one thing - make sure your fellow RPer is going to play it fair, ESPECIALLY if you're fixing up your post via PM.

I've personally had it happen where the other RPer's just said "Lol your Bellsprout is KO'ed." That was kinda annoying, but I just kinda acted all British and polite and completely pretended it wasn't happening. >.> Then my fellow RPer decided that his Pikachu could use Thundershock and Quick Attack and that was the same as Volt Tackle. AND it had an effect on Cubone. Who was then sent flying into the sea. >.<

Yeah, that was kinda annoying. So, I have one word of advice - if you do this, then don't go via the PM system if you're British.

 

[GodofPH]

Well, I'm not a big marvel fan either, but speaking as the person who literally blew up the entire existing canon cast to make way for their own plot and got away with it (different forum; long story), I'm going to go ahead and say this concept has every chance to work. The pokéverse already has certain aspects that fit a superhero story to begin with (thematically coordinated villain teams with world-conquering motives and a thoroughly incompetent police force, just from the top of my head) and superpowers are nothing unheard of (pokémorphs, not to mention Pokéspecial with the Viridian bloodline, come to mind here), so there is overlap to build on.

Just make sure that the pokémon are actually a just as essential for the RP universe as the superhero aspect. I do so hate it when crossovers/fusions/whateveryouwanttocallthem only explore one of the fandoms they're tapping into and drags the other one along as deadweight. Pokémon of themselves are creatures with abilities you could quite easily label 'superpowers', so there is an avenue from derieving the Marvel side of things from that too if you feel like it (Moon Stone = Kryptonite? *shot*).

But yeah, long story short: if you feel up for it then go for it. The section could really use more variety in RPs and yours sounds like an interesting addition.

All right, thanks for the advice. It's been nearly two years since I've done any sort of RPing, so I'm going to ease back into it before I go as far as hosting my own. So I'm going to sit on this idea and develop it more.

 

[Feign]

I've personally done this several times myself - both by making each attack a separate post in the actual thread or by sending a PM back and forth with the other RPer until a conclusion was reached. However, I have to emphasise one thing - make sure your fellow RPer is going to play it fair, ESPECIALLY if you're fixing up your post via PM.

I've personally had it happen where the other RPer's just said "Lol your Bellsprout is KO'ed." That was kinda annoying, but I just kinda acted all British and polite and completely pretended it wasn't happening. >.> Then my fellow RPer decided that his Pikachu could use Thundershock and Quick Attack and that was the same as Volt Tackle. AND it had an effect on Cubone. Who was then sent flying into the sea. >.<

Yeah, that was kinda annoying. So, I have one word of advice - if you do this, then don't go via the PM system if you're British.

Yeah, via VM would be best perhaps, so that the RP master could read it. It is a very touchy thing, but it can be fun, when done properly. It's funny though, what makes the person lose is actually themselves XD

 

[Kazukii]

I'm really interested in doing these roleplays but they look so complicated =/ Are there any basic starter ones for newbies?

 

[Feign]

I'm really interested in doing these roleplays but they look so complicated =/ Are there any basic starter ones for newbies?

The best ones I would recommend, are ones that you find to have either the simplest plot, or are started by members that are also relatively new to RPing. However, you get the challenge of a harder RP with a old-timer, thus improving your skills greatly.

As for the best tips, be detailed in your sign-up. This crucial part sets up your character. If you are having trouble determining how your character acts and looks, try emulating the character after yourself, than do some tweaks from there.

Once you got that underway, and have been accepted you can write up what your character does and reacts to. That being said, you'd have to make sure that the actions it undertakes matches with its personality. For example, you would not see a shy loner, suddenly talking perfectly in a room with a thousand people.

Also reading what others have had to RP is also a good starting point.

 

[Kazukii]

Thanks for the advice! Can you link me to any RP's that vaguely might suit me? :)

 

[Feign]

A lot of them have already started and no longer accept sign-ups so perhaps a new one might suffice, such as Screw the rules, I have green hair!'s new RP.

 

[I Laugh at your Misfortune!]

Sorry, that's just filled up :P

 

[Kazukii]

>.< Well maybe someone could start a begginers one?

 

[Feign]

Every few days this thread is updated to show the new RPs that might be accepted https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?p=4895327#post4895327

But sometimes RPs take a few days to be accepted, because Alter Ego can't be on all the time. I'd edit my own, but I have to write some other stuff here XD

 

[pumpkinziggy]

I'm starting to get an idea for an RP, and if you want, Zenus, I can make it a beginner one so that you can start out RPing. :)

 

[{Swan}]

I definitely think there should be more people hosting rolaplays. It's so competitive here, in a few hours a good roleplay will be booked. We need more!

 

[Feign]

If anyone would like to refine mine (according to Alter Ego mine was: declined for lackings in plot. It was...confusing, to be honest. Original settings are all well and good, but you need to give a bit more information on them. As it is, I really don't have a clue about who was fighting who and why, nor of what kind of place the region was, let alone how pokémon entered into it.)

I don't 100% have the time to finish it (I'm writing some other stuff atm), so if anyone wants to fix it up they can. PM/VM me if you'd like and I'll PM you the post-to be.

 

[Kazukii]

I'm starting to get an idea for an RP, and if you want, Zenus, I can make it a beginner one so that you can start out RPing. :)

That sounds great. Leave me any information to this on my wall ;)

 

[pumpkinziggy]

OK, the RP is probably going to be called the Essence of Mew. But since it's crucial to part of the plot, I'm wondering if eight or twelve people would be better for the RP. These people will each create one character to go on a journey, and I need a reasonable amount of characters. Additional players may be added to be the antagonists, but I need a recommendation for protagonists. Should I even limit protagonists at all?

 

[Underoos]

I'd suggest about 8 people. 12 might get a little hectic (I'm not 100% sure about t his, but I'm sorta guessing)