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View Full Version : DM Help I have encountered an unhandled Genre Collision. Requesting administrator assistance.



SangoProduction
2016-09-08, 06:34 PM
OK. For the past 2 days, I've been playing Open Sorcery. Basically, it's computer science meets elemental spirits.

I am currently running a game of Pokemon set in a D&D world - elves, werewolves, necromancers, the whole nine yards. The current explanation of Pokemon coming in to being is that they are "spiritual creatures", and "capturing" one "bound" it to the trainer's soul (letting it not die at 0% hp).

You can probably see a bit of where I'm going with this. I want to introduce the main character of Open Sorcery (A firewall elemental) as a supporting character (or perhaps sidekick) of my party (assuming they accept/don't kill it first).

However, as the title suggests, the idea of a computer-based elemental spirit sort of clashes with the D&D setting, and doesn't entirely fit Pokemon either. There are plenty of ways of handling this, but I can't decide.

---------

First, and simplest: just let it go, and don't add it in at all. This seems...eh. It works, but I want to put it in.

Second: Well, Pokemon being spirits doesn't entirely fit Pokemon already, and the players are OK with it. Just go a bit further if they investigate, and say all Pokemon - and in fact, all spirits - are technological marvels.

Third, an extension of Second: The entire world, though they don't have a way to realize it yet, is actually a digital simulation, and Pokemon (and spirits) are more like bugs or viruses which kinda fit the "possess and convert" theme I have going on so far.

--It would also change the Undead Cult's (the main antagonists/misunderstood good-guys/whatever) goals from "helping those who can't help themselves...by whatever means necessary" to "break open a portal to the 'overworld' and free everyone from the simulation". [Note, the Undead Cult, are suspected to be responsible for the Pokemon.]

Fourth: Just change the fluff of the firewall elemental to just be a talking spirit, rather than a robotic spirit.

I had more...but I'm really glad I decided to go ahead and write this out. I wouldn't have thought of the Third option otherwise. I really like it actually.

Demidos
2016-09-08, 06:44 PM
Sounds like you already answered your own question, but for the record I can confirm that the third option is indeed awesome :smallbiggrin:

Name1
2016-09-08, 07:04 PM
A computer-based elemental spirit? What, like a Rotom (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Rotom_(Pok%C3%A9mon))?

SangoProduction
2016-09-08, 09:52 PM
A computer-based elemental spirit? What, like a Rotom (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Rotom_(Pok%C3%A9mon))?

... I have no words for you.

fishyfishyfishy
2016-09-08, 11:30 PM
I'd just like to point out that Porygon and it's evolutions are digital Pokémon. They are man made creations and the evolutions are specifically made by them holding an upgrade disk and going through the data transfer of a trade. Digital Pokémon are not unheard of.

Extra Anchovies
2016-09-09, 03:30 AM
Third, an extension of Second: The entire world, though they don't have a way to realize it yet, is actually a digital simulation, and Pokemon (and spirits) are more like bugs or viruses which kinda fit the "possess and convert" theme I have going on so far.

--It would also change the Undead Cult's (the main antagonists/misunderstood good-guys/whatever) goals from "helping those who can't help themselves...by whatever means necessary" to "break open a portal to the 'overworld' and free everyone from the simulation". [Note, the Undead Cult, are suspected to be responsible for the Pokemon.]

It doesn't have to be a simulation - it just needs to function in a vaguely similar manner. Maybe this Firewall Elemental is a creation of the gods to search for and correct any "bugs" that they missed when writing the code for the worlds they were creating. Verbal spell components could turn out to be lines of code in the divine programming language.

Edit: ironing out the "bugs" in the "program" seems to me like a solid purpose for a type of Inevitable, if you want to include more than just the one Firewall.

SangoProduction
2016-09-09, 11:00 AM
It doesn't have to be a simulation - it just needs to function in a vaguely similar manner. Maybe this Firewall Elemental is a creation of the gods to search for and correct any "bugs" that they missed when writing the code for the worlds they were creating. Verbal spell components could turn out to be lines of code in the divine programming language.

Edit: ironing out the "bugs" in the "program" seems to me like a solid purpose for a type of Inevitable, if you want to include more than just the one Firewall.

Oooh. Now that's an idea.

Bronk
2016-09-09, 12:49 PM
There are also the Moignos in Mechanus, which are a lot like wee digital pokemon already...

SangoProduction
2016-09-09, 12:51 PM
By the way. I meant Pokemon on the whole. Not individual pokemon.

Bronk
2016-09-09, 01:06 PM
By the way. I meant Pokemon on the whole. Not individual pokemon.

In that case, PAO, or the freed experiments of a mad wizard, like the owlbear. The elemental ones can just come from the various planes.

Edit: Ooo, maybe an entire multi-planar wizard tournament gone wrong?

BowStreetRunner
2016-09-09, 01:22 PM
You may also want to take a look at Digimon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digimon), which was a competitor to the Pokemon franchise. Simulated Reality in Fiction (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_reality_in_fiction) is actually a fairly common theme, and there are lots of other sources for ideas out there.

SangoProduction
2016-09-11, 09:41 PM
Well, my players just thought it was weird and attacked lol. Still think I'm going to use the general idea.