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Cravix
2017-11-12, 09:09 AM
Now this may seem a bit morbid and for that i apologize in advance. I am however working on a theoretical campaign where pokemon are also used as food. In fact many trainers go to dangerous locations to hunt rare, delicious pokemon. Think Toriko meets Pokemon. Wondering if anyboyd knows of any material official or homebrew that focuses on cooking skill or just pokemon as food in general.

TheTeaMustFlow
2017-11-12, 09:30 AM
Given that such would be totally contrary to the any of the desired "feels" of PTU, as well as being horribly evil, because Pokemon are at least kind of sentient... I don't think so, no.

Cravix
2017-11-12, 10:21 AM
Given that such would be totally contrary to the any of the desired "feels" of PTU, as well as being horribly evil, because Pokemon are at least kind of sentient... I don't think so, no.

So you wouldnt eat a Taurus burger then?

The Glyphstone
2017-11-12, 11:21 AM
It's part of Farfetchd's official backstory, to the point where it for some inane reason carries around its own side dish. But I don't know of any written PTU material about the topic.

PhantasyPen
2017-11-12, 12:12 PM
I mean... I'm pretty sure Chef is a trainer class, but most people seem to assume everything in the pokemon verse just survives off of berries and plants. Or they somehow "have access to this strange alternate dimension where normal food exists." Honestly, I don't think pokemon as food should have any mechanical weight to it (although I think your campaign idea sounds very interesting, albeit I'd be concerned for your players' starter pokemon turning into emergency rations). After all, it's not like you get any superpowers for eating a bison burger versus a cow burger. (Although I think eating a tofu burger counts as being poisoned)

Asmotherion
2017-11-12, 02:43 PM
I think you can work around homebrewing the cook class materials? Perhaps having each pokemon giving a temporary +1 combat stage in his highest (natural) stat, when digested per evolution stage, twice that much when using your digestion buff...

You can also work around other buffs and debuffs like poisons with specific effects for the Ninja class by hunting coffings/Arboks etc, Augmenting the Psychic capacities and abilities of Psionic classes by eating the brains of specific psychic pokemon (like Alakazam or Hypno), or capturing the remains of ghost type pokemon to make a special food that when digested, the person is possesed by the ghost (for example a ghastly) and then under the control of the person who captured the ghastly.

Those are some crude (and admitingly a bit cruel) examples of how you could use your imagination to adapt Pokemon in a less Animal Friendly, and more Eat-or-be-Eaten world. Hope I gave you inspiration. Good Luck :)

Cravix
2017-11-12, 06:41 PM
I mean... I'm pretty sure Chef is a trainer class, but most people seem to assume everything in the pokemon verse just survives off of berries and plants. Or they somehow "have access to this strange alternate dimension where normal food exists." Honestly, I don't think pokemon as food should have any mechanical weight to it (although I think your campaign idea sounds very interesting, albeit I'd be concerned for your players' starter pokemon turning into emergency rations). After all, it's not like you get any superpowers for eating a bison burger versus a cow burger. (Although I think eating a tofu burger counts as being poisoned)

You must not have read or watched Toriko. Its DBZ style anime except they literally power up if they eat delicous food and some food are more compatible than others with their biology.

PhantasyPen
2017-11-12, 07:23 PM
You must not have read or watched Toriko. Its DBZ style anime except they literally power up if they eat delicous food and some food are more compatible than others with their biology.

I have read Toriko, I understand how it works perfectly. I just don't think pokemon is the best setting for those kinds of antics.

Lord Raziere
2017-11-12, 09:27 PM
given that there is meat that both humans and pokemon have been shown to eat in the anime, I've always just assumed that normal animals exist to, its just that they're never shown and both humans and pokemon consider them expendable. like check some early episodes, Ash's pidgeotto was eating a worm before it was caught while ash passes by a normal fish in the Cerulean city Gym's aquarium.

Nerd-o-rama
2017-11-13, 03:28 PM
It's part of Farfetchd's official backstory, to the point where it for some inane reason carries around its own side dish. But I don't know of any written PTU material about the topic.

It's a play on a Japanese idiom: "Kamo ga negi wo shottekuru," or "a duck comes carrying a leek on its back". According to the thing I just googled, it means "good things come all at once."

DataNinja
2017-11-13, 11:53 PM
As far as I know, there isn't any homebrew on this sort of thing, at least not that anyone has put on the main forums. It's also not something that the canonical Pokémon media really delves into - anything just tends to be avoided or handwaved away.

However, PTU lends itself to exploring things through the lens of different settings or tones, so there are a few ways you can deal with Pokémon as food (or not). It's not exactly answering the OP, but let's just take a look at them all:

1. Pokémon are the only animals, but Pokémon themselves aren't eaten (at least if you're morally sound):

This is the one that sort of stretches credibility the most, but there are a lot of things that require a bit of handwaving in general, so if you're going for a canonical-tone game, this could work out. Sure, you get people drinking Miltank milk, and eating Tropius fruit, but people survive off of meat substitutes. Of course, you get those dubious people poaching slowpokes for tails, or hunting Farfetch'd, but, for the most part, you'll not find a living creature on the menu.

2. Pokémon are the only animals, and Pokémon themselves are eaten:

This strains credibility in a different way, in that there are just so few Pokémon compared to real-world animals. There are a few different routes that you can go with this. Only some Pokémon could be generally eaten (such as herd animals, certain fish, etc.) with more humanoid and/or intelligent ones like Machamp, Alakazam, and the like being considered taboo (not that there might not be a black market for this). Alternatively, all could be eaten, though, in this scenario, it's likely to be a more survival PC-vs-nature campaign, or else Pokémon are considered basically animals regardless of traditional representations of sentience.

3. Pokémon are not the only animals, and Pokémon are not eaten:

This will probably be the easiest to deal with, gameplay-wise, because you can have Pokémon as fairly intelligent companions, while still having a standard ecosystem and diet. You don't need to worry about the whats and hows of where your people are getting your nutrition from, the answer is from all those unimportant background animals.

Alternatively, it might be a standard 'Earth' setting, but the Pokémon are aliens or something.

4. Pokémon are not the only animals, and Pokémon are eaten:

This is basically just 3, combined with one of the versions of 2. Everything is food. In this case, rarer Pokémon are probably delicacies of some kind, whether or not they actually taste any different, or confer any benefit. This is essentially just a 'more believable' version of the second point, since there's a full other ecosystem. You do have to explain how standard animals compete against Pokémon, though, if you want to think about it.

Cravix
2017-11-18, 10:36 AM
Thanks everyone who contributed. I think i got how im gonna work this all out.