Blacklight
2010-07-08, 04:20 PM
Hello all! I am Blacklight, an often silent, lurking little comic reader that hasn't done much on the boards thus far. I plan to change that today, however!
I had been thinking recently about putting Pokemon creatures (and possibly also items and abilities) into the Forgotten Realms world—but with a twist. Rather than have these creatures (items/abilities) think and act in the way they would in say, Johto or Shinnoh, I wanted them to work as though they had already been a naturally occurring part of Faerun, complete with their own names, background info, and legends.
The problem I have with this endeavor is the fact that I have never made ANYTHING for Dungeons and Dragons at all, ever. I do enjoy fantasy, I have played the game before (briefly, but I enjoyed every minute of it and hope to play again if the opportunity arises), but my forte seems to be coming up with ideas and writing. I haven't found many resources for learning how to make 4e anythings (and if I need to buy anything to learn how, I haven't the money to do it either). So I thought I would bring this to you all.
Now, this is a teensy bit bigger than what I believe I should put into the Request a Homebrew thread as there are nearly 500 Pokemon. I have seen that there are a few people on the forums who have Pokemon avatars, and if that is any indication that people here like Pokemon and would take interest in this before I scrap it for good, I feel I should at least give it a shot. If there IS an interest in making Pokemon fit enough for your campaigns that the local NPC can spout stories about their greatest heroes killing (or their nightmares coming from) them, then please do let me know.
Personally, since I have no idea how to make my own 4e things, I would feel very open to someone/several people showing me how it's done, or (if you're really into this) just writing something up on your own and posting it here for PEACHing (by the other people who know how to do this. Not me. >>) to add to the collective list of interesting things this thread may make. You will of course get full credit for your thought babies.
Besides that, I feel like I could do pretty good with coming up with the general information, habitat, life cycle, physical characteristics, adventure hooks and all those other good happy written thingies until I learn better how to make statistical adjustments.
So that's about it... Save for a rather small taste of what's going on in my head. These next critters will be based off of what I'm thinking about for the (horribly renamed) Bulbasaur evolution line:
(Bulbasaur) Lesser Trap Plant: Minion
Native to the (whateversoundsgoodforyourgame) rain forests, these tiny, frog-like creatures are the offspring of adult Trap Plants. They are small, barely the size of a human hand, and with a greenish-blue hide covered in different shaped markings depending on the region they are from. Lesser Trap Plants hunt insects for food by using vines that sprout from their body to feed the massive parasitic bulbs on their backs, and they usually only become a threat to humanoids when one enters the seedling grounds...
Tactics:
Lesser Trap Plants are too small to do much damage on their own, but in groups they will swarm opponents. Like their elders, Lesser Trap Plants eventually develop an urge to collect shiny objects, which means that the creature with the most obvious shimmery items will be swarmed first. Lesser Trap Plants lash out with their vines and whip at opponents, and, if old enough, will attempt to use poisonous gases to bring attackers down. If too many of their number are injured, Lesser Trap Plants will fall back or cry out for the adults.
Lore: A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.
DC15: Lesser Trap Plants are often found in rain forests, taking refuge and blending into the foliage of their hatching grounds. Though frog-like, Trap Plants do not begin life as tadpoles, and prefer to be surrounded by greenery rather than water after hatching from seed-like eggs (though a few species have been known to inhabit swamps).
DC20: Lesser Trap Plants are half animal, half plant, and the mobile animal section of this creature must feed the immobile plant section in order to survive. As the creature grows, it seeks larger prey, but the roots of the plan embedded in its back grow deeper into the muscles and begin to restrict movement slightly. Once big enough, Lesser Trap Plants guard their hatching grounds on the outskirts of the adult territory, and only migrate into the center of the region when large enough to breed. They have no intelligent language, but speak through chirping calls.
DC25: Lesser Trap Plants can create poisonous spores, and though they have functioning mouths they rarely bite. Eventually, they grow an odd attraction to shiny objects and try to collect anything that glitters into a tiny horde—making humans who enjoy glittery gold a target if they ever cross paths with a mob of Lesser Trap Plants.
...And that's about it. If you get excited about getting creative, then you can see that there are several options one can take from this point. What do Trap Plants do? Would Venasaurs be Greater Trap Plants, or should they be a rare strain of Trap Plants that bloom? Do these creatures eventually get control over the plants, or do the plants eventually control them? Will older Trap Plants horde shiny treasures, or use them to lure in victims? Do we really have to stick to three monsters (One per Pokemon in the evolution path) or can we branch out and make little swampy lines of Trap Plants? (Will I ever come up with a name better than Trap Plant?)
I have several other ideas hidden away in my head that I'm sure I'll eventually put up here if there's enough interest. If anyone has ANY kind of suggestion for me (even if it's a polite “give up while you're ahead, no one cares”) please let me know. This idea may not be novel... But I feel like with enough effort, it could be.
So what do you think?
I had been thinking recently about putting Pokemon creatures (and possibly also items and abilities) into the Forgotten Realms world—but with a twist. Rather than have these creatures (items/abilities) think and act in the way they would in say, Johto or Shinnoh, I wanted them to work as though they had already been a naturally occurring part of Faerun, complete with their own names, background info, and legends.
The problem I have with this endeavor is the fact that I have never made ANYTHING for Dungeons and Dragons at all, ever. I do enjoy fantasy, I have played the game before (briefly, but I enjoyed every minute of it and hope to play again if the opportunity arises), but my forte seems to be coming up with ideas and writing. I haven't found many resources for learning how to make 4e anythings (and if I need to buy anything to learn how, I haven't the money to do it either). So I thought I would bring this to you all.
Now, this is a teensy bit bigger than what I believe I should put into the Request a Homebrew thread as there are nearly 500 Pokemon. I have seen that there are a few people on the forums who have Pokemon avatars, and if that is any indication that people here like Pokemon and would take interest in this before I scrap it for good, I feel I should at least give it a shot. If there IS an interest in making Pokemon fit enough for your campaigns that the local NPC can spout stories about their greatest heroes killing (or their nightmares coming from) them, then please do let me know.
Personally, since I have no idea how to make my own 4e things, I would feel very open to someone/several people showing me how it's done, or (if you're really into this) just writing something up on your own and posting it here for PEACHing (by the other people who know how to do this. Not me. >>) to add to the collective list of interesting things this thread may make. You will of course get full credit for your thought babies.
Besides that, I feel like I could do pretty good with coming up with the general information, habitat, life cycle, physical characteristics, adventure hooks and all those other good happy written thingies until I learn better how to make statistical adjustments.
So that's about it... Save for a rather small taste of what's going on in my head. These next critters will be based off of what I'm thinking about for the (horribly renamed) Bulbasaur evolution line:
(Bulbasaur) Lesser Trap Plant: Minion
Native to the (whateversoundsgoodforyourgame) rain forests, these tiny, frog-like creatures are the offspring of adult Trap Plants. They are small, barely the size of a human hand, and with a greenish-blue hide covered in different shaped markings depending on the region they are from. Lesser Trap Plants hunt insects for food by using vines that sprout from their body to feed the massive parasitic bulbs on their backs, and they usually only become a threat to humanoids when one enters the seedling grounds...
Tactics:
Lesser Trap Plants are too small to do much damage on their own, but in groups they will swarm opponents. Like their elders, Lesser Trap Plants eventually develop an urge to collect shiny objects, which means that the creature with the most obvious shimmery items will be swarmed first. Lesser Trap Plants lash out with their vines and whip at opponents, and, if old enough, will attempt to use poisonous gases to bring attackers down. If too many of their number are injured, Lesser Trap Plants will fall back or cry out for the adults.
Lore: A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.
DC15: Lesser Trap Plants are often found in rain forests, taking refuge and blending into the foliage of their hatching grounds. Though frog-like, Trap Plants do not begin life as tadpoles, and prefer to be surrounded by greenery rather than water after hatching from seed-like eggs (though a few species have been known to inhabit swamps).
DC20: Lesser Trap Plants are half animal, half plant, and the mobile animal section of this creature must feed the immobile plant section in order to survive. As the creature grows, it seeks larger prey, but the roots of the plan embedded in its back grow deeper into the muscles and begin to restrict movement slightly. Once big enough, Lesser Trap Plants guard their hatching grounds on the outskirts of the adult territory, and only migrate into the center of the region when large enough to breed. They have no intelligent language, but speak through chirping calls.
DC25: Lesser Trap Plants can create poisonous spores, and though they have functioning mouths they rarely bite. Eventually, they grow an odd attraction to shiny objects and try to collect anything that glitters into a tiny horde—making humans who enjoy glittery gold a target if they ever cross paths with a mob of Lesser Trap Plants.
...And that's about it. If you get excited about getting creative, then you can see that there are several options one can take from this point. What do Trap Plants do? Would Venasaurs be Greater Trap Plants, or should they be a rare strain of Trap Plants that bloom? Do these creatures eventually get control over the plants, or do the plants eventually control them? Will older Trap Plants horde shiny treasures, or use them to lure in victims? Do we really have to stick to three monsters (One per Pokemon in the evolution path) or can we branch out and make little swampy lines of Trap Plants? (Will I ever come up with a name better than Trap Plant?)
I have several other ideas hidden away in my head that I'm sure I'll eventually put up here if there's enough interest. If anyone has ANY kind of suggestion for me (even if it's a polite “give up while you're ahead, no one cares”) please let me know. This idea may not be novel... But I feel like with enough effort, it could be.
So what do you think?