Pokemon, Through a Mirror Darkly

[industrious]

So, I'm going to be starting a quasi-horror game set in the world of Pokemon. Only, well...not exactly.

I'm trying to bend and twist the bright, upbeat Pokemon world of Kanto into something horrific. Something out of a nightmare. Something dark and shivering and soul-crushingly wrong. And I want to do it not by shattering the world, again, but by twisting it. Little details brought to logical conclusions. Very little that outright contradicts what Pokemon is/are, but there's nothing wrong with changing a detail here and there.

I've got some information about the setting drawn up, but was get some ideas from other people, to confirm and to expand on my own thoughts and make my twisted mirror even more terrible.

Anybody willing to chime in with some ideas?

[Chess435]

Honestly, I've been waiting a VERY long time for someone to do something like this.

Here's stuff to get you started. Might not be exactly what you're looking for, but it'll be some good inspiration along the way.
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=264
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=282

[Lord Seth]

You could always give Pokemon Master (http://members.iinet.net.au/~aceywacey/pokemon.htm) a read. No idea if it'll help you any, but it's worth a look anyway.

[Whiffet]

Read the various Pokedex entries. You'll have plenty of material even if you stick with Kanto.

Let's see, I'll select a few random Kanto Pokemon...

Once Golbat starts draining your energy/blood, it doesn't stop. Even if it gets too heavy to fly.

Flareon gets very hot. At least 1600 degrees Fahrenheit. Its fur releases that heat. Also, Eevees (and by extension, their evolutions) are used as pets. Doesn't it look fluffy enough to hug?

Nidorino's horn has a powerful venom. It uses that horn to attack. It attacks "anything" that it senses. The horn can punch through diamond. Oh, did I mention these guys can be found in the Safari Zone where you can't use your own Pokemon to defend yourself?

EDIT: Ugh, I misspelled Nidorino. Stupid me.

[No brains]

Said Sir Robin: "That's easy!"

There's plenty you can do with forcefully imprisoning sentient creatures and having them maul each other for amusement.

Another angle is to take some horror out of Earth's ecology and add it to the Pokemon world. Example: a great new Pokemon is discovered and it is captured by the gross by trainers until it is extinct in its natural habitat. This mon was a predator of some cute herbivorous mon like a pikachu. Suddenly, pikachus are over populated: they're out-competing rattatas causing them to genetically bottleneck from inbreeding making them vulnerable to a disease that wipes them out too. Corpses of adorable monsters litter the landscape and those who don't want to starve raid human trashcans and even homes. Pokeballs run short and casualties rise until culls are called and pokemon trainers sudden become enlisted as exterminators. Poke-Greenpeace assassinates trainers with human methods for their meddling in nature. A world of colorful collection and sporting competition suddenly becomes a screaming abattoir bathed in blood.

Oh, and a kid was once killed over a charizard card. You ever hear that one?

[Lord Raziere]

Easy.

Prof. Oak. He is actually a mad scientist bent on world domination.
The pokeballs, unlike previous versions mindwash the pokemon to be friendly and willing to fight for their trainer.
However Pokemon slowly start to recover their memories as they fight as it reminds them of the wild, so during healing they need to periodically be re-mindwashed.
So how is Oak going to do that without letting more people in on the conspiracy? its obvious, he creates the Joys as identical half-pokemon to mindwash pokemon as they are healed, and Jenny's as enforcers to make sure no one tries to find out about it.

The master ball is his latest invention, and his pokedex is his device to map and catalogue every wild pokemon in the world, so that every pokemon in the world can be targeted with a master ball which are released from missiles that are fired all across the world, thus gaining control of all pokemon in the world.

and guess what? this is all coming about, because Oak was commissioned by the government to help make better pokeballs to stop the wild pokemon rampaging across civilization and destroying it.
Think about it, given that all those times Ash deals with pokemon raging about destroying things all within like, a year or so, pokemon all across the world must be just wrecking things like weekly or so.

not really horror, but I personally like my view, of how it takes whats already there and comes up with the darkest explanation possible while still being very reasonable and plausible.

[Whiffet]

The master ball is his latest invention

and guess what? this is all coming about, because Oak was commissioned by the government to help make better pokeballs to stop the wild pokemon rampaging across civilization and destroying it.

Wait, so Professor Oak is secretly in charge of Silph Co.?

Oh, MAN, Silph has control of the entire Kanto economy! He's closer to world domination than you thought! :smalleek:

[supermonkeyjoe]

I see nobody has mentioned Shedinja yet, just read the pokedex entry of Shedinja *shudders*

[John Cribati]

Oh, and a kid was once killed over a charizard card. You ever hear that one?

He went to the same school as me. I was about 7-9 years old.

@ Pokedex:
Kabutops slices things open and sucks out their fluids.

Beautifly stabs things with its proboscis to suck out their fluids.

Gorebyss turns a vivid shade of red while it's stabbing things and sucking out their fluids.

[Mando Knight]

Just go through the Pokédex, and read everything literally.

Also, the mice are the size of small cats. The cats can become as large as a moderate-sized dog. The pigeons become larger than bald eagles, and the eagles are larger than that.

Some Kadabra are psionically gifted humans that suddenly transformed. All Cubone wear their dead mother's skulls for helmets. Yes, even the ones that you hatched by the half-dozen from the Day Care.

Hydreigon, Salamence, and Tyranitar devour everything in their path. Garchomp is a freaking land shark that can move at supersonic speeds.

[Traab]

All it would take is a slight personality change. These pokemon are clearly intelligent, some more than others. What you do is you turn the pokemon vicious. Viridian forest becomes a death trap. Weevils are dropping on top of you stinger first, so they can paralyze and wrap you up, like the spiders of mirkwood. If you wander too far off the beaten path, you will see kakunas and metapods dangling off strings of webbing, waiting to hatch. I wouldnt spend too much time waiting there though, as they are guarded by poison spore spewing butterfrees. And there are swarms of beedrills capable of tearing you in half buzzing nearby.

Poke balls are like the slave crown terra wears in final fantasy 6. Do NOT lose your pokeball after releasing a pokemon, its the only thing keeping them from turning on you and wreaking a bloody vengeance. Towns and villages are now armed encampments, with special defenses to keep out swarms of vicious creatures. The sighting of evolved pokemon can create panic in nearby settlements. Squads of pokemon trainers are often sent out to capture, chase off, or kill the venusaurs, blastoise, and charizard level pokemon that sometimes approach too closely.

[Mando Knight]

In short, it's dangerous to go out there alone. Take one of these.
http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/93/Bag_Pok%C3%A9_Ball_Sprite.png (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Bulbasaur)http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/93/Bag_Pok%C3%A9_Ball_Sprite.png (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Charmander_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29)http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/93/Bag_Pok%C3%A9_Ball_Sprite.png (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Squirtle_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29)

[Traab]

In short, it's dangerous to go out there alone. Take one of these.
http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/93/Bag_Pok%C3%A9_Ball_Sprite.png (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Bulbasaur)http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/93/Bag_Pok%C3%A9_Ball_Sprite.png (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Charmander_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29)http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/93/Bag_Pok%C3%A9_Ball_Sprite.png (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Squirtle_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29)

Heh, basically, yeah. Its the real reason why ash is traveling with brock and misty. There is safety in numbers, that and its easier to have guard rotations at night when there are more than one of you. :p In this world, trainers like ash are a rare breed. Most dont dare to travel further from town than they can return to safely when they need to rest. Those who wander the wilderness face the toughest battles, the most danger, and if they survive, become the strongest. This Ash would wind up with some scarring from the spearow swarm he was attacked by. His pikachus pokeball is malfunctioning, it doesnt really control pikachu very well, but that same sacrificial act of trying to protect pikachu is still what gets them to become allies, if not friends.

[Bearpunch]

Well think of it this way: there are pokemon larger than any creature known to man. These pokemon (Groudon) can cause earthquakes by walking.

[Traab]

Also, another twist would be, wild pokemon dont always focus on your pokemon when it comes time to fight, so get ready to do a lot of dodging yourself. The smarter wild pokemon would likely try to only target you, knowing that if you die, and they can shatter your pokeballs, then your team of pokeslaves would be freed. And bearpunch, yeah, those pokemon would be unholy terror inducing pokemon when wild, but even the smaller ones would be very dangerous. Imagine facing a few scyther? They are human sized, blindingly fast, and able to decapitate you before you even know they are there!

[Maho-Tsukai]

Also, don't forget about team rocket. Their also a potential massive goldmine of this kind of stuff, mostly in the form of evil experiments. Thus if you wanted an excuse for pokemon suddenly becoming monstrous you could always blame it on a TR experiment. Heck...a great idea for a horror game in the pokemon world would be to have the PCs be a team of trainers or even rangers on a mission into a TR lair only to find the lair in shambles and mysterious signs of some kind of struggle...as time gose on they slowly unravel more and more of what went on there as they struggle for their life against some mysterious "monster(s)" that they can't identify...

Your imagination can create the rest of that scenario...

[Lord Raziere]

Wait, so Professor Oak is secretly in charge of Silph Co.?

Oh, MAN, Silph has control of the entire Kanto economy! He's closer to world domination than you thought! :smalleek:

How do you think he was able to set up such a widespread network of Joys and Jennys in the first place? that stuff needs money.
that and Oak invented the pokeball, Silph Co. sells the pokeballs that he invented. Of course he is secretly in charge of it.

also, I think there was some pokemon dark fan fiction that fit this. one is about some guy named Karuta and how he is one of the "darker" trainers. t'was good, I recommend it, but I forgot the name of the fic itself......

[Bearpunch]

Also, another twist would be, wild pokemon dont always focus on your pokemon when it comes time to fight, so get ready to do a lot of dodging yourself. The smarter wild pokemon would likely try to only target you, knowing that if you die, and they can shatter your pokeballs, then your team of pokeslaves would be freed. And bearpunch, yeah, those pokemon would be unholy terror inducing pokemon when wild, but even the smaller ones would be very dangerous. Imagine facing a few scyther? They are human sized, blindingly fast, and able to decapitate you before you even know they are there!

OR, god forbid, a pikachu? Adorable, right? It can shoot 50,000 volts out of its face!
Or any of the starters, or a spinarak!

Play up the horrifying danger of even the tiniest of pokemon aspect, and you've got GRIMDARK.

[Traab]

OR, god forbid, a pikachu? Adorable, right? It can shoot 50,000 volts out of its face!
Or any of the starters, or a spinarak!

Play up the horrifying danger of even the tiniest of pokemon aspect, and you've got GRIMDARK.

Jigglypuff. Cute little bugger? Likes to sing? Yeah..... now you are asleep, will STAY asleep through a random number of attacks, and are at the mercy of whatever hellish fiend walks by, discounting what the jigglypuff does to you. Im honestly picturing a more varied version of that Goblins webcomic alternate world where goblins are horrific monsters that everything else lives in fear of. Only without having to mutate the pokemon to make them terrifying. They already ARE freaking terrifying! Most D&D parties would be SLAUGHTERED by an aggressive swarm of beedrills, or pigeottos, glooms would be incredibly nasty to fight. Hell, I remember trying to get through a cave full of zubats in the game. Chain confusion anyone? A flock of zubats, half spamming supersonic, the other half drinking your blood while you flail around doing as much damage to yourself as to them, and you would need an army armed with earmuffs to survive.

[Bearpunch]

Or even a swarm of rattata. Constant gnawing... god that sounds horrifying.

[Mewtarthio]

And what about the Tentacool? Sure, they were just annoying in the video game, but did you ever stop to think what would happen if the abstractions of game mechanics weren't there to help you? Say, if you actually were in the middle of the ocean, where most of your Pokemon had no place to stand? Just how is your designated Surfer supposed to fight with you riding on its back? And what happens to you when the Surfer faints?

To say nothing of their appearance in the anime, where they're deranged Guardians of Nature who swarm and destroy entire cities. Also, they can stick their tentacles into your brain and use you as a meat puppet.

Yep, there are a lot of times when you don't even need to exaggerate or take something more seriously than the games do. Just look at the adaptation, and things are scary enough already. Anyone remember that episode with the Ghastly who could speak English? Turns out that, when a ghost decides to ignore your silly battle system and engage you on its own terms, you lose. There's not much your Pokemon training skills can do against spirit possession and mind control, and even when you do engage it in combat, it just takes the form of your Pokemons' worst fears and renders them helpless. You can't just claim that it doesn't count because the anime isn't canon or that was a unique Ghastly, either: The ordinary ghosts of Pokemon Tower do the exact same thing, except there are more of them.

[Dr.Epic]

Four words: There Will Be Brawl (http://therewillbebrawl.com/)

[The Glyphstone]

Some great stuff in LoneStarNorth's campaign journal (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=200481)here.

[Prime32]

The VGCats strip (http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=282), while hilarious, is untrue. Catching a legendary seals its power (which is why Team Galactic needed the Red Chain to control one), though there's an event in one of the games where you can take a caught Arceus to a temple and have it create a legendary.

I thought that the whole might-makes-right thing, your skill as a Pokémon trainer has a big effect on your political influence, would be dark enough. :smalltongue:

As mentioned, ghost Pokémon are literal ghosts. Just look at the info on Yamask (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Yamask) and Shuppet (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Shuppet)/Banette (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Banette_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29). Then there's the species that appeared spontaneously due to human activity, like Grimer from toxic waste, Magnemite from electrical plants and Voltorb from Pokéballs.

And read Pokémon Adventures/Pokémon Special/whatever the manga is called now.

[An Enemy Spy]

What if the more human pokemon like Hitmonchan or Mr. Mime were once people who have horribly and irrevocably changed by some dark power, doomed to walk the earth as cruel parodies of the people they once were.
Also, pokeballs are mind altering devices that turn once independent and strong-willed pokemon into mindslaves following their trainers orders, no matter how much it hurts them.
Kinda like Pokemon already is.

[No brains]

If you press your ear to the outside of a pokeball in a quiet room, you faintly hear screams for help.

[Frozen_Feet]

Here's a past thread of mine you might find interesting. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152973)

But to echo earlier posters: there are a lot of Pokemon which are scary as-is, no need to add or remove anything. The Pokemon Tower from the first games was as freaky a place as it gets - ghosts of dead pets, haunting and possessing people? I couldn't play that part of the game without turning the music off when I was a kid...

[Gorgondantess]

Just take the pokeverse to its logical conclusion. What happens when you give a 10 year old a creature of great power that follows his/her commands explicitly?
Bullies beware.:smallamused:

[Traab]

Just take the pokeverse to its logical conclusion. What happens when you give a 10 year old a creature of great power that follows his/her commands explicitly?
Bullies beware.:smallamused:

Bullies get pokemon as well ya know.

[Worlok]

Thanks, Traab. You made me imagine Machamp giving two Mr. Mimes a wedgie - at once. :smallannoyed:

Other than that, I find it most curious noone has linked this (http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2009/04/09/pokemon-explained/) yet... People with innocence or vestment in the same still intact, you may want to skip the link or at the very least not listen to any song from the show. :smallfrown:

[Das Platyvark]

If you press your ear to the outside of a pokeball in a quiet room, you faintly hear screams for help.

YES. That is all.

[Traab]

If you press your ear to the outside of a pokeball in a quiet room, you faintly hear screams for help.

I just hear quiet sobbing. But that may just be the woman locked in the basement. Give me a second to shut her up and ill try again.

[Worlok]

Last post of mine was page-end, so... polite repost of Link (http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2009/04/09/pokemon-explained/) without intent of spamming. Warning still attached, though: It is really dark for something about Pokemon, in my opinion...

[Chess435]

Last post of mine was page-end, so... polite repost of Link (http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2009/04/09/pokemon-explained/) without intent of spamming. Warning still attached, though: It is really dark for something about Pokemon, in my opinion...

That was...... interesting......

[Gorgondantess]

Last post of mine was page-end, so... polite repost of Link (http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2009/04/09/pokemon-explained/) without intent of spamming. Warning still attached, though: It is really dark for something about Pokemon, in my opinion...

Ah, yes, one of my favorite fan theories, up there with "Neville is the Chosen One.":smallbiggrin:

[Worlok]

You mean he isn't? :smallconfused:

But yeah, "interesting" is probably putting it quite well... :smalleek:

[industrious]

Excellent theory, Worlok. Amazing article.

But seeing as I'm going more Lovecraft and less Twilight Zone, it doesn't fit the world. Unfortunately. Players hate "oh, and you're actually in a coma and not having these awesome adventures," for obvious reasons.

[Worlok]

Don't praise me, praise /a/. :smallwink: But yeah, it kind of seemed to fit. :smallredface:

Then again, sure, pulling the "coma" plot on players ends with DMs in comas, so I can sort of see why you would not take that direction. :smalleek:

[industrious]

I mean, I could pull a Red Dwarf, and have them go through an arc like that, but end up having it be the result of a Confusion effect or something, but that seems like they'd be much too angry to let me play out that arc.

[Androgeus]

I'm surprised this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDX1m0Y2Vkg) hasn't been linked yet.

[Worlok]

Thing is that having your cool and powerful fantasy dudes turn out to be the fevered visions of a sick, unfortunate person of uncertain hope kind of kills it for everyone, yeah. Insanity catches less flak for some reason, and drug-induced hallucinations are sort of a mainstay since Hist Sap at the latest, though...

[Forum Explorer]

I like that article but it only explains Ash's never-ending journey. Remember he got Pikachu before getting struck by lightning. So pokemon do exist in that world. Just Ash isn't around to do anything.

[An Enemy Spy]

It never said Pokemon don't exist, just that they were were more prominent in his coma dream than they were in the actual world.

[The Glyphstone]

The 'ash is in a coma' theory is a good one, though i also like the 'Pokemon is a post-apocalyptic civilization' one and its variants.

[Kobold-Bard]

... 'Pokemon is a post-apocalyptic civilization' one and its variants.

That's my personal favourite:
http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lcreab070G1qcamaso1_500.jpg

[DiscipleofBob]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Nuzlocke Runs and Forums (http://s7.zetaboards.com/Nuzlocke_Forum/index/) yet, where Pokemon die instead of faint. On the forums, there are lots of comic and story runs where the Pokemon adventure becomes EXTREMELY dark.

One of my favorites that comes to mind is SoulSilver: Apocalypse Johto (http://s7.zetaboards.com/Nuzlocke_Forum/topic/8476828/1/), where swarming Pokemon and insane gym leaders have laid waste to the entire Johto region and the protagonist loses more of her mind (and body due to all the physical scars) each chapter.

There are plenty of others in screenshot, comic, and story format for inspiration.

[Coiler]

My mind is full of dark Pokemon theories, and one of mine goes something like this:

The Pokemon world was once a great, powerful nation in East Asia, a former American colony grown independent. Pokemon training existed alongside a powerful, central state.

But then, one time, the ideal of training Pokemon grew. Desperate to create a world of "strength and equality", extremists on the level of the Khmer Rouge took over. They destroyed the nation's economy, and the subsequent war wiped it out. They were toppled, but there was nothing to replace them. Pokemon world, like Somalia, became a nation without a head.

Except for the Pokemon League, the only institution left in the nation with any political power. Many of the extremist government members took power there, so even in defeat, they still won.

With the exception of a few cosmopolitan cities, the nation is as isolated as North Korea. The Trainer's Journey is developed to keep the young people indoctrinated and busy, so they can't challenge the League's power.

I know that's more 1984 than supernatural horror, but it could work as one piece of the Nightmare Pie.

[Prime32]

The Trainer's Journey is developed to keep the young people indoctrinated and busy, so they can't challenge the League's power.Um... isn't the whole point of the trainer's journey to defeat the League?

We know that Pokémon have been around for a long time, so this apocalypse must have happened a looooong time ago. Plus there are legendaries which created the universe, space, time, thought, memory and emotion, so it's likely that this was a DC-style cosmic reboot.

[Kobold-Bard]

Um... isn't the whole point of the trainer's journey to defeat the League?

Or so it would seem. The Champion is a figurehead, easily replaced but a great symbol to keep trainers on the journey. The Elite 4 & their Gym Leader subordinates are the true power.

[Coiler]

Um... isn't the whole point of the trainer's journey to defeat the League?

I meant challenge the League politically, not in their organized Pokemon battles.

[Prime32]

Or so it would seem. The Champion is a figurehead, easily replaced but a great symbol to keep trainers on the journey. The Elite 4 & their Gym Leader subordinates are the true power.Well, each region has their own Four Heavenly Kings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Heavenly_Kings) (yes, that's what they're called in Japanese) and Champion, excepting the ones with low Pokémon populations.

Also, three Champions are former Elite Four/Gym Leaders...

[Arcran]

If you guys ever make this game, I'd like in.

[Worlok]

Props to Arcran for quick thinking. Count me right the hell in there, as well! :smallamused:

[Arcran]

Props to Arcran for quick thinking. Count me right the hell in there, as well! :smallamused:

Also, if this game over goes up, would you let me play as a sadistic Gastly that posseses people? Think Ash's Haunter in Sun Soul.

[onthetown]

Ever notice, in the anime, that they eat burgers? And yet, there's supposedly no real animals in the world...

I think that's all I need to lend to this.

[Arcran]

Ever notice, in the anime, that they eat burgers? And yet, there's supposedly no real animals in the world...

I think that's all I need to lend to this.

I secretly think they are Pikachu Burgers. That's why Pikachu is so nice to Ash. So he doesn't get eaten.

[Arcran]

Also, a Sun Soul setting would be perfect for this. If you haven't read Sun Soul, you need to read it if you like somewhat darker Pokemon. Also, in the spoiler is basically what I took from the newest section.
The world they are in was our world, but Arcues or Deoxys or something came and took over. We then made Kyorge, Groudon, and Rayquaza to defend us while the Creators are Dialga and Palkia. The rest of the legendaries were drawn in the battle. The rest this part explains, with the world being destroyed and moved around and humans rising up again with the help of Pokemon in the new world.

[Worlok]

Great. Now that I had this about the Pikachu burgers and weaponised Pokemon gods, I really need something harmless and innocent. I mean, suddenly even

http://www.halolz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/halolz-dot-com-pokemondpp-psyduck-wantsyourbadromance-ladygaga.jpg (http://www.halolz.com/)

And that's just not right. :smallannoyed:

[Arcran]

Great. Now that I had this about the Pikachu burgers and weaponised Pokemon gods, I really need something harmless and innocent. I mean, suddenly even

http://www.halolz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/halolz-dot-com-pokemondpp-psyduck-wantsyourbadromance-ladygaga.jpg (http://www.halolz.com/)

And that's just not right. :smallannoyed:
That is mostly creepy.

[Forum Explorer]

If a game starts I'm in as well

[Prime32]

Ever notice, in the anime, that they eat burgers? And yet, there's supposedly no real animals in the world...

I think that's all I need to lend to this.That's not even "through a mirror darkly", they outright say that Pokémon are used for food in both the anime and the games.
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Sinnoh_myths
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Farfetch'd

[Arcran]

This thread dead now?

[industrious]

Still taking suggestions.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

Remember the end of that movie with the wish-granting pokemon? That was terrifying.

[Arcran]

What if Ditto eats Pokemon eggs and evolved into a shapeshifter in order to make obtaining its food supply easy?

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

I think, to create a truly horrific Pokemon re-imagining, one would have to take a leaf out of the book of H. R. Giger.

Imagine MewTwo, plugged and grafted into a giant nightmarish machine (http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=giger&hl=en&biw=1600&bih=799&tbm=isch&tbnid=xFENtlW0dbPo4M:&imgrefurl=http://artmuzes.blogspot.com/2011/02/h-r-giger.html&docid=hyRR0LnPRYorsM&w=450&h=365&ei=TMaNTo6wM-yPsALosYSaAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=340&vpy=170&dur=1209&hovh=202&hovw=249&tx=88&ty=101&page=1&tbnh=112&tbnw=155&start=0&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0), writhing and screaming as its life force is drained and its godly power is harnessed to wreak destruction on Kanto.

Imagine shelves containing endless rows of transparent pokeballs, containg thousands of imprisoned pokemon, squirming and entombed in slime (http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=giger&hl=en&biw=1600&bih=799&tbm=isch&tbnid=2qSEI1B2p5uoaM:&imgrefurl=http://skvot-pop.blogspot.com/2011/02/hans-ruedi-giger.html&docid=9S8GpXSs3uxYyM&w=700&h=484&ei=TMaNTo6wM-yPsALosYSaAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=497&vpy=476&dur=5234&hovh=187&hovw=270&tx=203&ty=104&page=1&tbnh=112&tbnw=155&start=0&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:20,s:0).

[Yanagi]

Dude, the dystopia is right beneath the surface.

- It's a bright and shiny world where everyone is obsessed with battles that are nonlethal dog-fighting. A simple enough piece of horror is to transplant in human banality: if there's an audience for nonlethal fights, they'll be an audience for lethal ones. Read up on old school bloodsports: bull-baiting, rat catching, fox hunting, bull-fighting, even gladiatorial events. Transplant this over at will.

- In a similar vein, watch a few Animal Planet shows about law enforcement people who work in animal welfare. Transfer over horror stories.

- Pokemon have abilities with industrial applications, sapience or near-sapience, and basically no legal rights. Read about stuff like child labor, slave labor, and factory farming.

- There would totally be people eating Pokemon and raising them for eating. Given the basically magical abilities of most types, there'd also be a lot of folk medicine based around Pokemon parts (like real-life poaching to get rhino horns and tiger sexual organs). Upton Sinclair plus sapient cattle.

- A "Pokemon Journey" involves allowing tweenagers wander the world unsupervised with basically no assitance and minimal support system. My first thought was compare this to King's "The Long Walk," but it could also be "Battle Royale"--basically, why would any government system let this occur? Even darker would be the realistic outcome...an entire predatory criminal world that exploits young and naive people. Sidebar: you've got a culture where parents view this entire process as natural and inevitable...is that banality of evil, grim resignation, or active malice? Are they sending off their kids as part of some giant version of "The Lottery," because that's how things are done? Or has some cultural force...ideology, government...stamped out any questioning of this process?

- Gym leaders are basically cult leaders: surrounded by devoted followers in an enclosed compound, often operating in a manner exempt from jurisprudence. For that matter, the international organization that arranges tournaments seems to be a ridiculously powerful extralegal and extra-national organization that has its own enforcers (Rangers). Make it work.

- The horror inherent in every town having a Nurse Joy and an Officer Jenny (?). Yeah, the story is they're all extended family, but there's Hapsburg level inbreeding going on if that's the case. It's played for a laugh on the show that there's that many identical people...but it could equally be played as psychological disturbing. I mean, you know there's several thousand other people who are physically interchangeable with you--that's got to mess with your head. It also leads to the question, who would know if one were replaced? This could also be played as body horror...are they clones; an unwitting super-organism (like an ant colony); people abducted, altered and brainwashed? Heh, maybe that's what happens to the kids that go missing on the Pokemon journey. They become Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys.

- Final thing: Pokemon are eldritch abominations with good marketing skills. "Pokemon like to fight battles" is taken as axiomatic and inevitable rather than viewed as insanely contradictory to survival instincts. Nobody pauses that they're simultaneously sapient yet treated as domesticated animals, brought into homes and given to children in spite of lethal abilities. Nobody freaks out that the routinely violate basic scientific principles--up to and including the time-space anomaly of the Pokeball.

As the show progresses we encounter more and more beings with incomprehensible agendas and god-like abilities, and nobody blinks...dude, the world of Pokemon is the world after the Old Ones and their servitors came back....

[Arcran]

Building on the Old World thing, I am currently running a game that is our world but Pokemon came to reclaim their world. With their rapid reproduction and powers they manage to quickly destroy human society. The PCs are some of the lone survivors in the world. I fully plan on making them fear Pokemon. I actually have a list of ways I plan to kill them off.

[Traab]

Dude, the dystopia is right beneath the surface.

- It's a bright and shiny world where everyone is obsessed with battles that are nonlethal dog-fighting. A simple enough piece of horror is to transplant in human banality: if there's an audience for nonlethal fights, they'll be an audience for lethal ones. Read up on old school bloodsports: bull-baiting, rat catching, fox hunting, bull-fighting, even gladiatorial events. Transplant this over at will.

- In a similar vein, watch a few Animal Planet shows about law enforcement people who work in animal welfare. Transfer over horror stories.

- Pokemon have abilities with industrial applications, sapience or near-sapience, and basically no legal rights. Read about stuff like child labor, slave labor, and factory farming.

- There would totally be people eating Pokemon and raising them for eating. Given the basically magical abilities of most types, there'd also be a lot of folk medicine based around Pokemon parts (like real-life poaching to get rhino horns and tiger sexual organs). Upton Sinclair plus sapient cattle.

- A "Pokemon Journey" involves allowing tweenagers wander the world unsupervised with basically no assitance and minimal support system. My first thought was compare this to King's "The Long Walk," but it could also be "Battle Royale"--basically, why would any government system let this occur? Even darker would be the realistic outcome...an entire predatory criminal world that exploits young and naive people. Sidebar: you've got a culture where parents view this entire process as natural and inevitable...is that banality of evil, grim resignation, or active malice? Are they sending off their kids as part of some giant version of "The Lottery," because that's how things are done? Or has some cultural force...ideology, government...stamped out any questioning of this process?

- Gym leaders are basically cult leaders: surrounded by devoted followers in an enclosed compound, often operating in a manner exempt from jurisprudence. For that matter, the international organization that arranges tournaments seems to be a ridiculously powerful extralegal and extra-national organization that has its own enforcers (Rangers). Make it work.

- The horror inherent in every town having a Nurse Joy and an Officer Jenny (?). Yeah, the story is they're all extended family, but there's Hapsburg level inbreeding going on if that's the case. It's played for a laugh on the show that there's that many identical people...but it could equally be played as psychological disturbing. I mean, you know there's several thousand other people who are physically interchangeable with you--that's got to mess with your head. It also leads to the question, who would know if one were replaced? This could also be played as body horror...are they clones; an unwitting super-organism (like an ant colony); people abducted, altered and brainwashed? Heh, maybe that's what happens to the kids that go missing on the Pokemon journey. They become Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys.

- Final thing: Pokemon are eldritch abominations with good marketing skills. "Pokemon like to fight battles" is taken as axiomatic and inevitable rather than viewed as insanely contradictory to survival instincts. Nobody pauses that they're simultaneously sapient yet treated as domesticated animals, brought into homes and given to children in spite of lethal abilities. Nobody freaks out that the routinely violate basic scientific principles--up to and including the time-space anomaly of the Pokeball.

As the show progresses we encounter more and more beings with incomprehensible agendas and god-like abilities, and nobody blinks...dude, the world of Pokemon is the world after the Old Ones and their servitors came back....


1) I like that. Pokemon Thunderdome. Two mon enter, one mon leaves!

2) Easily done by exaggerating the effects that happen in actual canon episodes. The trainer that abandoned his charmander and left it out in the rain just for starters. Actual battle damage being done in fights, I mean, lets face it. You are watching animals get set on fire, half drowned, smashed by boulders, electrocuted, attacked mentally, poisoned, its horrific! Have actual damage be done with real lasting consequences. You could even use that with the thunderdome style pit fighting. The official league has outlawed specific attacks because they cause such horrific damage, the underground league though, has no such rules.

3) I think they have done things like this with pokemon slaved to manual labor. so once again, only a slight bit of realism added to show the damage this causes. Electric pokemon being constantly drained to power towns and large buildings, machamps being forced to endlessly carry heavy burdens, or turn giant gears like conan the barbarian.

4)Tauros herds for beef, pigeottos for "chicken", shellders and cloysters for shellfish, and the various fish pokemon being stored in crowded aquariums like goldfish to be killed and served for dinner. And thats just covering the standard industry slaughter of pokemon, im sure there are hundreds of options for pokemon part poaching.

5) I look on it as a spartan style survival of those fit enough to handle it. Instead of "come back with your shield, or on it" its, "Come back with your gym badges, or dont come back at all." They send their children out to survive wild pokemon attacks, bandits, rival trainers, gym battles, all to pass an adulthood ritual. If you couldnt cut it, noone will mourn you.

6) It could be done that way, or they could be the official tests to prove the trainer deserves to be an adult, to continue to live in this society. "You must collect 8 gym badges before you are allowed to return home, and be considered an adult" The tournament is for those who seek further glory and recognition as an elite trainer.

7) Stepford wives. They are all near human animatronic robots, slaved to a single mission. Enforce the law, or Treat the pokemons injuries. No human wants either of those jobs. Nurse joy is dealing with a constant stream of burned, electrocuted, half drowned, poisoned or crushed animals. That would shatter the heart of just about any thinking human. Especially when you know your entire purpose is to make them healthy enough to go back out and have it happen again! As for jenny, short of judge dredd style law enforcement, no normal human could deal with law breakers armed with a limitless potential selection of weapons. The attrition rate would be disgusting in that field, so its cheaper, easier, and more effective to use robots.

8)Has possibilities, but I dunno how well that would mesh in with most of your other points.

[Yanagi]

Well, it's sort of a conceptual scattergun blast. A bunch of ideas group together and make a pattern, a few are outliers. I just figure the OP will take what he wants and roll with it.

[MammonAzrael]

If you use any pictures...don't use sprites. Have the pokemon look like these (http://www.gossipgamers.com/pokemon-redesigned-in-traditional-japanese-style-artwork/).

[DiscipleofBob]

I know I've mentioned Nuzlocke stuff before, but there are two more comics (both of which are fairly new and nowhere near finished) that are relevant here.

The first is called Pokemon Pitch Black (http://s7.zetaboards.com/Nuzlocke_Forum/topic/8579823/1/), and it's less about how grim the world really is and more about what happens when a psychopath is allowed to take the Pokemon challenge HIS way. The kind of psychopath who likes to kill and dissect small animals for the fun of it. Only a few pages so far, but the highlight is the main character catching a Lillipup, forcing it to scavenge inside the body of a Patrat corpse (freshly killed by the trainer's way too enthusiastic Oshawott) to use its Pickup ability, being forced by its trainer to murder his entire family for XP, and then a way-too-detailed diagram detailing how to prepare one of the dead Lillipup for dinner and FEEDING it to the trained Lillipup.

The other is In Black and White (http://s7.zetaboards.com/Nuzlocke_Forum/topic/8566969/1/), where the moralities of the Pokemon world are explored just as you describe. Pokemon are used for everyday amenities like food and electrical power, gym battles are to the death (of the Pokemon) with the gym leaders basically mass-breeding the same Pokemon to make up for losses, and the only people who really question whether or not there's something wrong with this are N and Team Plasma.

[Forum Explorer]

Building on the Old World thing, I am currently running a game that is our world but Pokemon came to reclaim their world. With their rapid reproduction and powers they manage to quickly destroy human society. The PCs are some of the lone survivors in the world. I fully plan on making them fear Pokemon. I actually have a list of ways I plan to kill them off.

hmmm good to know. Its a good thing I have a list of way to use my comrades as shields :smalltongue:

[Arcran]

hmmm good to know. Its a good thing I have a list of way to use my comrades as shields :smalltongue:

Well that will make it easier to kill them...

[No brains]

You could also make Mew-Two look like this!
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/pokemon-baby.php?page=2

[Tenno Seremel]

Assuming it wasn't posted yet… http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Pokemon

[industrious]

Personally, I'd go with these pokemon images:

http://soupandbutter.deviantart.com/

[Forum Explorer]

Personally, I'd go with these pokemon images:

http://soupandbutter.deviantart.com/

I still find the eevee and umbreon to be adorable. Same with the Milotic. Really the adorableness didn't really change. It just increased the difference between adorable and non Pokemon.

(adorableness is a word? what the **** spellcheck?)

[Arcran]

Personally, I'd go with these pokemon images:

http://soupandbutter.deviantart.com/

Thanks for posting those! They'll help me with my campaign. If anyone wants in, a player recently quit so if you would like in please PM me.

[Xondoure]

Personally, I'd go with these pokemon images:

http://soupandbutter.deviantart.com/


The Typhlosion picture is the coolest thing ever.

[Illven]

This will be fun! I love nightmare fuel :smallamused:

My let's play explores nightmare fuel, along with general insanity.

Some assumptions are necessary

-Assuming caught pokemon can't say no to their trainers unless traded
This allows for a caught pokemon to do anything their trainer tell it to. This allows for evil people to order their pokemon to commit theft and robbery and maybe even murder. In addition if a trainer takes a special shine to their pokemon, what's stopping the trainer? The pokemon have little to no rights. Worse pokemon that are typically applied to rule 34, are probably exactly as popular in the pokemon world.

-If pokemon have no to little rights.
This allows people to kill and eat pokemon in the extreme. The worse that could be done, is if you killed and ate a trainers pokemon, where the crime would be property destruction. This combined with the previous one allows trainers to eat their pokemon if they are really hungry, and the pokemon is under-performing or if they just want to. Nothing will motivate your pokemon faster then regularly eating the weakest performer. Assuming that you can keep catching pokemon.

-Some pokemon have no damaging attacks.
From Ralts/Magikarp/The cocoons to even the Linoones in emerald on route 119. (Last one is personal experience) Some pokemon have no ability to defend themselves. What is to stop people from taking out any sadistic urge they have on these pokemon. They aren't owned by people, and they can't defend themselves. Even worse Ralts kind of look like little boys or girls. What's to stop a group of people from capturing it with a net, and proceeding to torture it to soothe the desire to do it to a human. Or until it dies.

-Pokemon can and must be eaten
Assuming that there is no synthetic food in pokemon, all non grass types must get fed somehow. Even some grass pokemon that cannot be assumed to use photosynthesis. So since all pokemon are sentient all non-grass pokemon are evil unless they consume berries. Which can't be found in kanto easily. For even more horror, think about two pokemon producing an egg and hatching it, for the sole purpose of eating it, the moment it hatches during times of famine. Or if the pokemon imprints on the parents the moment it hatches, eating the child alive for sheer horror.

-Pokemon can die.
Frankly this is merciful compared to being digested alive. However once a pokemon is unable to battle anymore, what's stopping the other pokemon from being beaten it's fallen victim until it is killed.

-Any pokemon with effect spore, poison point, roughskin or cute charm
The pokemon is your pet, and unlike those mean other trainers you care for your pokemon, so one day you just want to cuddle with it.
Effect spore= Well now you're asleep, hope no wild pokemon come by while you are, and if they do, hope you're pokemon wants to protect you, or your paralyzed
Poison point= Well I hope that you can get it cured quick enough
Roughskin= Well now you're bleeding to death,
Cute charm=Infatuation Well now you can't help loving your pokemon. Who can't say no.

-Drowzee
Drowzee needs to eat dreams to survive, but can't learn dream eater naturally, ergo you have to teach your Drowzee/Hypno how to not starve to death, and in Ruby and Sapphire it is impossible to do. so wild Drowzee's invariably die of starvation

More may be added later :smallamused:

[No brains]

Assuming it wasn't posted yet… http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Pokemon
:smalleek:
The pokedex entries here are really goddamn creepy. H.P. Lovecraft would goosh his pants from the horror and H.R. Giger would puke from some of the creepy images.

It looks like Pokemon beat you to making things really unsettling and maybe we should stop talking about it so we can try to forget we were frightened.

Thread over, man! Thread over!

[Forum Explorer]

:smalleek:
The pokedex entries here are really goddamn creepy. H.P. Lovecraft would goosh his pants from the horror and H.R. Giger would puke from some of the creepy images.

It looks like Pokemon beat you to making things really unsettling and maybe we should stop talking about it so we can try to forget we were frightened.

Thread over, man! Thread over!

Not yet. We must push the boundaries even further! We haven't even gotten into mental disorders yet! :smallbiggrin: