The Emerald Cataclysm | PTU | OOC

[DasIrrlicht]

The Emerald Cataclysm

The Region of Hoenn faced quite a few crisis over the years, the Organizations of Magma & Aqua have attempted to lay waste on the peoples way of life before. Attempts on erupting Mt. Chimney, theft of parts for important machinery, the kidnapping of Pokémon, multiple confrontations with scientific teams, and semi-finally, the desecration of Mt. Pyre... However, they themself could not have forseen what happened as their grandest, and possibly last, plans succeeded.
The awakening of Groudon and Kyogre resulted in the Cataclysm, a disturbing weather pattern that spread from Sootopolis City and after mere days covered the whole region. From Downpour to scorching rays and back in moments, people retreated to their homes in hopes of sitting it out. Days turned to Weeks, and the situation worsened. Lightning Storms & Droughts, Tornadoes & Tsunamis, and the shifts started to stretch in-between changes. Many smaller towns got abandoned, many larger ones suffered from the sudden overpopulation as their own walls barley withstood the Natures onslaught.

Yet as six years passed, the world settled in some ways. The Weather still shifts multiple times a day, in barley predictable ways. The routes are still not save for travel as the infrastructure became unmaintainable and desperate pokémon and people prey on anyone who is required to travel. The Mauville City Complex is considered one of the safest cities to be in, but the daily struggle continues as overcrowding, food shortages and power troubles keep even this safe haven far from its former glory. The only way to keep the city and its inhabitants safe is by sending out people to retrieve parts, food, fuel, and whatever useful they find, contact other towns holding out and make something of a safe travel for any transports, and keep searching for a way to reach and enter Sootopolis, and finally put a stop to the Catastrophy.

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So, this should serve as a good enough synopsis. While here is a focus on Mauville it is mainly because it would be the most significant city still standing. We don't have to have you come from there but you inevitably would have heard of it or meet someone who was there in the last six years, and I think it does serve as a decent hook and some promised safety one needs every once in a while between things going down.

Money is still in use there and in extension other places that manage some occasional contact are likely to take money as well... Even if directly getting goods is often plain better given the situation. But naturally not every place will have everything one can buy available, so even when you are not on the road you won't have total access to trade.

On the note of that, I assume most travel along what once was a route would now take multiple days when the weather allows it, and being not every town is a functional place anymore the time traveling across the region can stretch itself. Towns that just aren't anymore naturally still have remnants of buildings however which makes them better protected from the weather, which travelers, criminals and wild pokémon alike are likely to exploit.

So yeah, time to make the world better, be it as a traveling group of freelancing do-gooders or under permanent employ of some specific settlement.

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Stuff for Reference:

Spoiler: Big 16

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1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS, etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, etc.)?
PTU
2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?
Hoenn Post-Apocalypse: ^{The Weather is WACK.} The Emerald Scenario run to the extreme of never being resolved made travel and life in the Hoenn region exceptionally problematic. Many towns became unable to sustain themself and have been abandoned, and the clusters of civilisation have to send out parties to retrive anything useful to hold on and out. After Six years, the chances that the weather ever normalises again seem slim, but humanity never stops working.
3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?
The Three already here.
4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?
This forum. A IC & a OOC Thread.
5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?
5th Trainer level. Two Pokémon each at Level 10. Underdog not required but you are encouraged to be reasonable. If they can evolve at that level, they may be evolved.
6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?
7500P seems reasonable. No gear is pre-provided and you have access to all shopping before gamestart. After that local availability possibly becomes relevant.
7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?
Core, GoT, the three Errata & DPDoM's Jailbreaker are considered fair game. With the exception of ball cases, DPDoM Equipment is considered double the listed price.
8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?
The PTU dexes up to Hisui (Given, if you use Hisui mons you should be able to explain it) are fair game. There will be no Fakemon for the sake of sanity, but assuming you have the correct feats I am open to agure about typeshifts.
9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?
N/A - Please use the semi-automatic google sheet, you know the one.
10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?
You are the good guys! Or at the very least, morally opposed to curlty and murder. This does not exclude Taskmaster, depending on how you run the class.
11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?
Standard
12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?
Roll in the OOC Thread and mention while rolling what you roll for. You then can describe the details of it in IC.
13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.
As mentioned: "To ease the combat slightly, Trainer Turns simply happen at the same time as their Pokémon Turns. This possibly gets some unforseen consequences but should speed up combat rounds significantly. (Taking the Pokémons speed for initiative for ease of play.) ^{[Obviously, League Rules never apply, cause you know, setting.]}"
14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?
You are all old enough to remember the time before the legendaries awoke and started fighting with the region in the crossfire. It would be nice if the characters know each other before IC starts so one can avoid the most akward meet & greet. Remember to mention your pokémons backstory/personality with a sentence as well. You are in control of them afterall.
15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
It is hard to predict, but I want to say a mixture of fighting, helping and figuring out the right course of action at any given moment. Not much what I would traditionally call a puzzle however.
16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?
Killing God and absorbing their powers is not planed at the moment. You are free to reference 'Blessed and the Damned' for religious or archeological purposes if you so desire.

Spoiler: Player Characters

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Player	Character	Text Colour	Descriptive Snippet
Kuro Dmon	Willow	"Sample Text"	???
tonberryking	Mossopal	"Sample Text"	Friendly Corpse Ninja Girl with a Gasmask Around Ambiguous 15-ish
Volthawk	Tobias	"Sample Text"	???

[tonberryking]

Mossopal is mostly done. I did end up splurging on a simple weapon after realizing that she doesn't need a gas mask if she can spend AP to turn off her breathing...

...I think?

Anyway, I'm hoping it's okay that I have the hard plastic sword (a gift from her 'Uncle') with the Bash! move; I can change it if necessary. Butin general, her strategy is to hide behind either of her pokemon and wail on her enemies with her reach capacity.

[DasIrrlicht]

she doesn't need a gas mask if she can spend AP to turn off her breathing...

...I think?

Jup, Dead Silent means you need no gas mask against things only harmful if you breath them in since you can just decide not to breath in. Regarding range, I think 'staying behind your mons and reaching over with your capability' is fair enough to keep in the back of my head for combat when it goes for targeting.

Anyways, gonna throw in three minor things I noticed about your sheet, merely clerical errors.
1. You forgot to up your combat, you took that edge afterall.
2. For Trainer Advancement Bonuses, its 'Either/Or'. So for your level 5 choice it is Either the Feat, Or the Stat increase.
3. On the Combat Page, 'Bash!' goes into the field F15. It helps with damage calculation.
And the non-clerical thing:
- You say Kid a few times, and while I did not press it before (Mainly refering to old enough to remember the better times), I do believe in a lower limit of at least mid-teens as did the original posting. Of course teens get called Kid all the time by anyone older then them, but since you are also gave age as ??? I gotta pry a bit into how old they actually look and act. Being dead for half a decade would not be a excuse to bring a more literal child. (And it is gonna make it a lot easier to decide how serious NPCs would take the character.)

Oh, and if you wanna use one, picking a Text Color would be good.

Otherwise, looks good on a glance. You are the worry of every medical professional that sees you, and I am just gonna assume you have gotten away with not being given a medical examination yet.

[tonberryking]

"How's this color for the ghost-type heroine?"

While I always had pictured Mossopal's age as sort of nebulous, for the intents and purposes of this game she's a short 14-15ish looking girl.

Spoiler: Previously

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In a prior game she was literally the abandoned childhood of someone who made a deal with Giratina, who in turn gave her a human form/soul/identity and she was like 12.

Here, though, I picture this version of Mossopal grew up a little and went to ninja school for a few years so she is just getting into "old enough to drive" territory.

As for her behavior, I do admit she likes cutesy stuff (her biggest desire is to make friends with a buneary of all things) but she's not all overt and annoyingly ~uwu~ about it. She has a calm/deadpan manner. All serious about her job/tasks but probably goes home to a room with a big snorlax pillow and pictures of [Insert Fairy type pokemon here] over the wall.

As for the errors, I'm going to take the stat bonus over the feature and will fix the other things.

[DasIrrlicht]

"How's this color for the ghost-type heroine?"

While I always had pictured Mossopal's age as sort of nebulous, for the intents and purposes of this game she's a short 14-15ish looking girl.

Neat & neat. Also, I just see you forgot your free Training Feat. Anyways, now to wait for the rest.

[Kuro Dmon]

And since Kuro Dmon edited the first post, I am gonna assume they are also confirmed 'In'.
So here is the Out ^{(Of Character)}. The name is the best I could come up with I am afraid.

Yes, I indeed was in. Actually tried to edit the thread that it was full, but unfortunately it wouldn’t let me change the tag, or even the title. I even put a report on it, because I don’t know why it didn’t give me the option.

As for this game’s title, I was going to laugh at it in amused acceptance of it… then I realize that the soft gardener type I was thinking about makes Emerald Cataclysm suddenly sound like a euphemism.
But acceptable title it is. I sure as heck don’t know any good names myself.

Random observation: I wonder if Rayquaza could stand as a win-con for the setting. Not that any of the players should know about that too early, but it did suddenly cross my mind that this climax does have its own internal fix…

Fine with not belonging to Mauville if needed but still living there, and it does have a nice central location that’s not immediately vulnerable to any of the weathers.

On the idea of characters, I *was* contemplating building one of those medical folk. As a contrast to the last PTU character I built (who our DM is acutely familiar with) who was very athletic and tough, or the one before that who’s literally throwing hands alongside his Pokemon, the trainer I’ve got in mind would be someone who would indeed deeply worry about their fragile looking friend in Mossopal...
Green-Thumb/Medic looking type at a glance. Depends a bit on what our 3rd ends up wanting to build. Might put Channeler in there if we’re that at home with folk being supernatural, and make them the empathic sort. Heck, with imagining some shade of Greenish Blue as their color, they could be a relative of Wally…

[DasIrrlicht]

if we’re that at home with folk being supernatural,

The Pokémon series always had Witches, Magic, Psychics, Ghosts, some guy called Natural Harmonia Gropius, Possession, Aura, multiple cases of people being turned into Pokémon (temporary) and whatever the docens of ancient civilisations pulled of. The reason sci-fi stuff comes to a jacked-up price is in turn a mix on how the one in the book is more so of a different direction then the one in the games/anime (Despite Holograms and Robotics being surprisingly common... The later more so for villains however) and I think a lot of it simply does not withstand the situation well.

[tonberryking]

I’m still surprised we don’t have what is essentially a werepokemon class, to be honest. “Mossopal is unwittingly a ghost type pokekon who got turned into a human” was admittedly an origin idea I was tossing around for this version, but the closest thing we have is that weird class from BotD that exclusively focuses on legendaries instead of practical scenarios like were-lycanrocs, or were-arcanines or whatever.

[Volthawk]

Oh, I forgot to mention concepts earlier. With ton going trainer combat heavy and Kuro seeming to lean more supportive, I'm currently leaning towards just going with someone more focused on the leading Pokemon side of thing - probably a case where they started out with Pokemon a little before before the crisis but only now has enough freedom of movement and backup to try to do something about it all. Build-wise...commander for active stuff (maybe replaced with one of the combat/supernatural classes that doesn't require heavy attack investment if we end up going heavy in that regard), one of the stat/type aces (mainly considering fire ace), then if I have space at the end I can fit in a battling style or whatever else comes to mind, that sort of thing.

[Kuro Dmon]

The Pokémon series always had Witches, Magic, Psychics, Ghosts, some guy called Natural Harmonia Gropius, Possession, Aura, multiple cases of people being turned into Pokémon (temporary) and whatever the docens of ancient civilisations pulled of.

Heh. I know Pokemon itself isn't that distant from supernatural elements. I was just thinking about the type of game/story we were going to be telling. I know not a League Romp, and I'm certainly not opposed to some mysticism. I just didn't know if it was going to be to the forefront of matters.

Oh, I forgot to mention concepts earlier. With ton going trainer combat heavy and Kuro seeming to lean more supportive, I'm currently leaning towards just going with someone more focused on the leading Pokemon side of thing - probably a case where they started out with Pokemon a little before before the crisis but only now has enough freedom of movement and backup to try to do something about it all.

I'm curious if you'll be mixing your personality with this leader-ish sounding trainer. DasIrrlicht did want us to contemplate how our trainers would interact to help us hopefully sidestep the "meet and greet", and I'll admit I'd been just as curious about how they'd mesh as people as much as mechanically, if only because I was feeling pretty open about that last one myself...

I’m still surprised we don’t have what is essentially a werepokemon class, to be honest.

I'm pretty sure that's because, aside from just getting tired of trying to put all those ideas into mechancis anyway (which is why the PTU Devs let the system set and switched to working on something more rules light), they also weren't as big a fan of some of the different types of magic anyway. Could be putting words in their moves, but some of the potential warnings and restrictions on the few Supernatural Classes that are in the base game between editions mad me thinking that way.
I do swear I remember hearing that they'd actively voiced such concerns with how such classes tend to pull more narrative focus, let alone tend to be flashier mechanically, than others.

But yeah, if I remember right, hadn't official support technically dried up part way through Gen 7, if not the start of Gen 8 as it is, from the PTU Devs? It's definitely up to players to do any of that sort of thing now...

[Volthawk]

Heh. I know Pokemon itself isn't that distant from supernatural elements. I was just thinking about the type of game/story we were going to be telling. I know not a League Romp, and I'm certainly not opposed to some mysticism. I just didn't know if it was going to be to the forefront of matters.

I suppose Gen 3's plot is...semi-mystical, what with the orbs existing and reacting/being reacted to by Groudon and Kyogre being the main thing driving the plot where they're involved (well, along with the two team leaders being colourblind). That said, this game's plot is its own and so the orbs may or may not matter, the teams may have gotten control this time around, and so on - so it's hard to tell at the outset how relevant any of that stuff might be. As far as personal preference goes...eh. Can't say I feel particularly strongly about the topic.

I'm curious if you'll be mixing your personality with this leader-ish sounding trainer. DasIrrlicht did want us to contemplate how our trainers would interact to help us hopefully sidestep the "meet and greet", and I'll admit I'd been just as curious about how they'd mesh as people as much as mechanically, if only because I was feeling pretty open about that last one myself...

Yeah, that last post was a little rushed to get it out before I crashed out, and so was a little light on personality stuff (particularly since I'm still figuring that out to some extent). That said...as far as "leader-ish" is concerned, that kinda depends on how the group shakes out, really - there are a lot of dynamics where someone taking that role probably wouldn't work, but if the group does end working out as one where someone is in charge, yeah I could see Tobias (working name that I'll probably stick with for the guy I'm working on) fitting in that kinda position. As I said, still figuring things out a little, but the main thing I see with him is sorta...a clash between an inherent impetuousness and a self-imposed need to be careful and considered in what he does - this is a guy who would've run of to try to stop things, unprepared and alone, six years ago if people let him (and so probably would've been in a real bad spot by now), but instead he was held back by someone who impressed upon them to need to think about the bigger picture and think about whether or not there's a better way to do things. Hence him having more of a tactical bent with Commander (but that inherent recklessness meaning its paired with an appropriately offence-oriented ace and probably ravager orders), and why he's only doing this whole thing now, with people by his side and (depending on how the GM opens things) either a mandate from someone in authority or fate dropping an opportunity in his lap.

As far as commenting on how they'd mesh goes, haven't got a particularly strong read on what you're doing beyond being a bit of a worrier and overall a basically smart, nice guy, but it seems like they'd get on fine - it does sound like your character might be a situation where Tobias isn't sure if the guy should be leaving safety to travel with the rest of them, but that's something that can be resolved during the game (and might not even be a thing, depending on how your character ends up looking). Where Mossopal is concerned...well, Tobias probably appreciates the effort she's making to fit in and get on with everyone (even if it does sound like she might sometimes overdo it), and her tendencies in battle - if he even knows about that, I guess that depends on just how well they all know each other at the start and what's happened so far - would...honestly also be kinda okay with him, given his own battle tactics being on the more aggressive side anyway. Seems like they're a pretty good fit, all things considered.

But yeah, if I remember right, hadn't official support technically dried up part way through Gen 7, if not the start of Gen 8 as it is, from the PTU Devs? It's definitely up to players to do any of that sort of thing now...

Looks to me like the last official content was over half year before Gen 7, hence 7 and 8 (+Hisui) all having seperate dexes done by other people and given the thumbs up/a link from the devs, rather than them being made part of an updated main dex.

[Kuro Dmon]

On the subject of Gen 3, I'm gonna have to fight hard to keep OOC and IC Knowledge seperate. I absolutely will, but that was definitely a generation I enjoyed, played, and read many times, and I get the feeling I'm not alone in that matter. But indeed, its plot is its own, and boy am I curious what our DM will present us with in regards to twisting that non-applicable knowledge.

Yeah, that last post was a little rushed to get it out before I crashed out, and so was a little light on personality stuff (particularly since I'm still figuring that out to some extent). That said...as far as "leader-ish" is concerned, that kinda depends on how the group shakes out, really - there are a lot of dynamics where someone taking that role probably wouldn't work, but if the group does end working out as one where someone is in charge, yeah I could see Tobias (working name that I'll probably stick with for the guy I'm working on) fitting in that kinda position. As I said, still figuring things out a little, but the main thing I see with him is sorta...a clash between an inherent impetuousness and a self-imposed need to be careful and considered in what he does - this is a guy who would've run of to try to stop things, unprepared and alone, six years ago if people let him (and so probably would've been in a real bad spot by now), but instead he was held back by someone who impressed upon them to need to think about the bigger picture and think about whether or not there's a better way to do things. Hence him having more of a tactical bent with Commander (but that inherent recklessness meaning its paired with an appropriately offence-oriented ace and probably ravager orders), and why he's only doing this whole thing now, with people by his side and (depending on how the GM opens things) either a mandate from someone in authority or fate dropping an opportunity in his lap.

As far as commenting on how they'd mesh goes, haven't got a particularly strong read on what you're doing beyond being a bit of a worrier and overall a basically smart, nice guy, but it seems like they'd get on fine - it does sound like your character might be a situation where Tobias isn't sure if the guy should be leaving safety to travel with the rest of them, but that's something that can be resolved during the game (and might not even be a thing, depending on how your character ends up looking). Where Mossopal is concerned...well, Tobias probably appreciates the effort she's making to fit in and get on with everyone (even if it does sound like she might sometimes overdo it), and her tendencies in battle - if he even knows about that, I guess that depends on just how well they all know each other at the start and what's happened so far - would...honestly also be kinda okay with him, given his own battle tactics being on the more aggressive side anyway. Seems like they're a pretty good fit, all things considered.

.... I guess I'll just float this out there. Honestly, I guess if as a contrast to my previous trainer, let alone fitting a niche between the more directly aggressive and spirited Mossopal versus the leaderlike Tobias treading a line between doing what need be done vs trying not to be reckless... Willow (working name for her) seems like the perfect candidate for the Team Mom type. Trying to help care for other people would hopefully put her in a friendly position with each of them, assuming we aren't all in a friendly trio outright, as part of the folk best equipped to try to help our piece of civilization in our own ways. Hopefully that wouldn't conflict too hard with Mossopal's loner image, or have her or Tobias regret having a hanger-on not nearly as skilled as them at combating any problem they might encounter... somewhat banking on being able to potentially help provide for or enhance supplies with crafting, and potential healing or medical options meaning she can be used to put them and all our Pokemon together after folk have gotten into fights; maybe that might convince Tobias to let Willow help him and Mossopal.

That and the additional Pokemon, because basically any character brings extra support when we've got dogs shooting lightning for us and everyone's capable of raising said dogs.

But yeah, looking at the Channeler / Medic... and I guess with no issue with it being too overt, possibly with some combination of Sage, Hobbyist, Chef, and Researcher. Just depending on features to try to round out usefulness to the group.

[tonberryking]

What if we're ALL, like, the Z-team that the adults are all "Eh... whatever, kids. Just try to bring back some supplies and don't get yourselves (even more) killed." We may not be getting much recognition or official support, but at the same time they've unwittingly given us alot of freedom out of indifference. Just tossing that out. I don't mind if we DON'T go that route, but with what I've set up for Mossopal, it made me think she could be partnered with a group strictly because someone else wanted her out of their hair or we're The Rookies nobody wants to deal with.

But most importantly: do our characters know each other casually? Were we friends growing up/are friends regardless if we're going on adventures together, or did whatever leader/authorities we answer to just lump us together?

Mossopal would certainly be loyal to anyone who didn't treat her like a doormat (or she'd be loyal to someone she THINKS has been nice to her even if they don't realize it. Like "Tobias frequently says hello to her on the street, making him her friend by default." or such.)

EDIT:

I started this post before/after Kuro posted. Regarding Willow... if she's as nice and caring as you're implying, Mossopal might be more willing to listen to her "friend" rather than just running off headfirst into danger on impulse.

[DasIrrlicht]

I would say despite magic featuring all over the franchise, it is still not the norm, and most people of some power either are on the down low about it or have an actual position of power as well. Except Psychics, who are the middle child of supernatural powers that is slightly more common but still rare on the grand scale of population. Given, having a team where a lot of members step into the supernatural side would not be out of question.

On the subject of Gen 3, I'm gonna have to fight hard to keep OOC and IC Knowledge seperate.

In good news, as Hoenn Locals (Or at least people who have at this point spend a significant time there) your IC knowledge should be rather decent. It is mostly history at this point of course. A lot of things Aqua/Magma did are public knowledge, some of the stuff happened in front of cameras even. But the orb stuff is probably only known as graverobbing/desecration of a spiritual site for people who don't know their occult stuff well enough to connect that with the legendaries. The fact that magma 6 Aqua awakened the Legendaries is probably just a commonly accepted theory because 'of course it would be their fault'.

What if we're ALL, like, the Z-team that the adults are all "Eh... whatever, kids. Just try to bring back some supplies and don't get yourselves (even more) killed." [...] The Rookies nobody wants to deal with.

The all kids team is not what I totally hat in mind, but Rookie Z-Team could work. You are at the very least trusted to get some things done however. Kid-Kids stay at home and help the nurses/gardeners/electricians/mechanics/ecetra to keep the place from falling apart.

But most importantly: do our characters know each other casually? Were we friends growing up/are friends regardless if we're going on adventures together, or did whatever leader/authorities we answer to just lump us together?

I mean, if you are lumped together, then out of own initiative because people in charge said sending out people alone is a really bad idea. Forcing people to go out against their will is only a good idea if its a punishment of some kind, or nobody volunteers to go if it is necessary. But knowing each other at least on a passing level is where I am putting the floor. No need to introduce you to each other. Anything closer then that is up to you.

[Volthawk]

On the subject of Gen 3, I'm gonna have to fight hard to keep OOC and IC Knowledge seperate. I absolutely will, but that was definitely a generation I enjoyed, played, and read many times, and I get the feeling I'm not alone in that matter. But indeed, its plot is its own, and boy am I curious what our DM will present us with in regards to twisting that non-applicable knowledge.

Yup. I'm particularly curious about what the GM has cooking when it comes to Aqua and Magma given that the canon teams are...look, I'm in the same camp of adoring Gen 3, and loving those two teams, but once you put them in a context where the PC can talk and ask questions instead of just being an inexorable blender of both teams*, the GM has to do some work to make the two teams not look like idiots.

*Funny thing, I started playing Emerald (using a randomiser with sanity checks) again just before seeing this game advertised and I'd forgotten how much a lot of the teams' dialogue has them constantly going "who the hell is this kid, why is he fighting both us and our enemies, and why can't we stop him?". It's good fun.

.... I guess I'll just float this out there. Honestly, I guess if as a contrast to my previous trainer, let alone fitting a niche between the more directly aggressive and spirited Mossopal versus the leaderlike Tobias treading a line between doing what need be done vs trying not to be reckless... Willow (working name for her) seems like the perfect candidate for the Team Mom type. Trying to help care for other people would hopefully put her in a friendly position with each of them, assuming we aren't all in a friendly trio outright, as part of the folk best equipped to try to help our piece of civilization in our own ways. Hopefully that wouldn't conflict too hard with Mossopal's loner image, or have her or Tobias regret having a hanger-on not nearly as skilled as them at combating any problem they might encounter... somewhat banking on being able to potentially help provide for or enhance supplies with crafting, and potential healing or medical options meaning she can be used to put them and all our Pokemon together after folk have gotten into fights; maybe that might convince Tobias to let Willow help him and Mossopal.

Sounds good to me. As I said, any objections/misgivings Tobias has will probably be of the kind that gets cleared up once we've fought together for a little bit (or may have already been sorted if our prior contact involves actually fighting together against something), and her support will always be appreciated anyway. Personality-wise, Willow feels like a good fit too given the other two...kinda need that sort of stabilising influence, I think.

What if we're ALL, like, the Z-team that the adults are all "Eh... whatever, kids. Just try to bring back some supplies and don't get yourselves (even more) killed." We may not be getting much recognition or official support, but at the same time they've unwittingly given us alot of freedom out of indifference. Just tossing that out. I don't mind if we DON'T go that route, but with what I've set up for Mossopal, it made me think she could be partnered with a group strictly because someone else wanted her out of their hair or we're The Rookies nobody wants to deal with.

That does make a fair amount of sense, yeah, for facilitating us running around doing whatever and letting the wider city chug along as normal. It works particularly well if whatever the hook ends up being is a bit of a long shot that the authorities judge to be mere rumour or not worth the risk but we decide is still worth pursuing, but less so if the hook is something big that the big bosses couldn't feasibly ignore.

But most importantly: do our characters know each other casually? Were we friends growing up/are friends regardless if we're going on adventures together, or did whatever leader/authorities we answer to just lump us together?

Mossopal would certainly be loyal to anyone who didn't treat her like a doormat (or she'd be loyal to someone she THINKS has been nice to her even if they don't realize it. Like "Tobias frequently says hello to her on the street, making him her friend by default." or such.)

I figure somewhere along the lines of us knowing each other and having worked together to some extent, but not exactly being friends yet, works best. It's enough that we know each others' basic deal and don't need to run through introductions and agreeing to be a team, but not so close that it feels weird if the dynamic in-game ends up differently to what we thought it'd be in our pre-game planning (as often happens with parties in my experience) and, say, people we established to be close friends end up not getting on well at all.


Oh hey, GM post while I was very slowly working through all this. To save quoting a ton of text to just say "looks good", all that stuff about the supernatural stuff and our knowledge makes sense to me. For what it's worth, I've thought about it some more and Tobias will be 100% mundane when it comes to classes, there's enough other stuff I want before getting to those classes.

The all kids team is not what I totally hat in mind, but Rookie Z-Team could work. You are at the very least trusted to get some things done however. Kid-Kids stay at home and help the nurses/gardeners/electricians/mechanics/ecetra to keep the place from falling apart.

Oh, I didn't mention character age, did I? I figure Tobias isn't a child but somewhere in the young adult range, probably 18-20 I guess, partly depending on if we're saying that the thing in the games of sending out preteens to adventure alone was still a thing in our version of pre-apocalypse Hoenn. The idea was that he was about to do just that, then things went bad and he ended up instead staying put to do what he could to help with the response, so he's at...typical trainer starting age + 6 years old, if that makes sense (with some leeway of adding a few years by saying that he set off/the apocalypse started when he was a little older than the typical age, I guess).

I mean, if you are lumped together, then out of own initiative because people in charge said sending out people alone is a really bad idea. Forcing people to go out against their will is only a good idea if its a punishment of some kind, or nobody volunteers to go if it is necessary. But knowing each other at least on a passing level is where I am putting the floor. No need to introduce you to each other. Anything closer then that is up to you.

Makes sense. Tobias at least would have the desire to get out there and see what the state of things are and try to find a solution, and I suppose the other two probably would have something vaguely similar going on since, well, they're PCs. If that's the case, I could see the three of us realising that we're kindred spirits to some degree and resolving to team up to explore together, since we're all probably smart enough to realise that going it alone is a terrible idea but having people and Pokemon to watch each others' backs might just be enough to tip the scale to the point where we're willing to get out there as a team.

[tonberryking]

While part of it is me being used to Ash and Misty aged characters running around having Pokemon adventures, when I used Kid back there I meant kid as in rookie, greenhorns, padawans, privates, fresh recruits who are going out with adulthood’s responsibilities for the first time.

[Kuro Dmon]

Fighting through an annoying … not quite a migraine, but prolonged headache that I ended up sleeping with. So scattered thoughts.

Also, amusing how we had 2 sets of posts that were made at the same time, and thus one ended up interrupting the thinking of another, haha.

---

@Age/Kid; I figured there’d be a number of reasons to keep this number high. It’s all well and good for the anime to joke that Ash is an unaging 10 year old, but it’s harder to tell more interesting stories and keep anything that might happen to protagonists age appropriate that way. I definitely prefer the Adventures/Manga's approach to things.

Even in past PTU Games, I’d figure “barely a teen” to be the absolute minimum, and frankly I still call folk who are younger than 21 “Kid”. Sometimes even older than that, depend on how fresh-faced they are or how naïve/inexperienced they act.

I’d like to also note this I spent a ton of time this past year watching/getting into the Hunger Games with my Best Friend, so big “Young Adult being Competent” vibes throughout this project.

But yeah, my initial thought on the game was going to be that most protagonists would have been too young to have really understood what had happened when the Cataclysm started happening, regardless of the form it took. Aside from room for a few outliers, I was imagining a “10-5ish years past point of games” sort of approach, and cast at least post adolescence/young adults.

---

@Group Status; I would have been all in on “we’re all friends”, but absolutely fair point about relationships potentially changing once in action. Tobias and Mossopal knowing Willow as a friendly face who helps work in the makeshift medical facilities is fine with me, though she was crafted to indeed help give both of them some stability. Moss’ sounds like she could use a big sibling, and Tobias a supporting hand.

---

@GameKnowledge; … wonder how much we’d know for investing in General/Occult Education. Considering my last 2 trainers dumped those, Willow might be a bit of a bookworm.

[Kuro Dmon]

So, double posting just to check to see how folk be doing in these times. I found a new character sheet (at least as an update to the one I'd been using in the past), so here will be the base I use for Willow.

Mechanically, I think I'm gonna go for Channeler / Sage / Chef / Researcher (Apothecary/Botany). In addition to trying to support folk, a decent amount of crafting might be useful for trading with other folk still trying to survive in this setting. At least depending on how our DM feels about a dedicated crafter sort...

Pokemon wise, Botany-Research means using some of those spore moves, and after looking over candidates, a Hoppip sitting on people's heads is cute and adorable. As for a second choice, I'm trying to decide between a few of them.... was gonna go for a water type early, but there's so many that could be picked, and in the end it is based on Gen 3, so Water Types abound. So I'm feeling a different type instead; how about Wattrel? It's past Hisui, but the latest fan sheet does support it, and a bird seems like something that could be found in most places, right? If not, I could pick something else; G-Ponyta was drawing my eye as well.

[Volthawk]

Ah yeah, I spent a while figuring out what I wanted to do and going between ideas, and then I forgot about this for a while.

Build-wise, I've ended up dropping the idea of a type/stat ace, because I decided I wanted to keep my options open team-wise, so instead I've gone Commander/Duelist, going into both enough to grab Battle Conductor and Directed Focus to make the two halves play nicer together - it means that my general buffing order can apply to more than just me while also playing into my personal Momentum stuff. He ended up with one or two status moves too, just in case reducing Defence is more useful than +Accuracy to a load of people.

When it comes to the Pokemon team, I've gone local instead. Figuring that Tobias was originally from Rustburo City, and that we're somewhere around Mauville, I took Pokemon that live along that way, so Tobias has a Nincada, because I like both Shedinja (Speed Boost looks kinda fun, particularly with trainers having access to After You and this game making them use Pokemon speed) and Shedinja and that whole weird setup feels like it'd be better being focused a starter rather than a random Nincada I might find, and a Corphish (apparently you can fish one up in 117) because I like that little guy and he looks like a fun brawler.

That said, I'm considering spending a load of his starting cash to start with a Good Rod (and maybe swapping a novice skill to Athletics accordingly) to ensure we can get any Water types we need in which case my second would be...something else. There's a few other options I'm considering.

Haven't made the changeover yet (figured I'd see if either of you had an opinion about that), but here's Tobias. Only thing left to do mechanically is spend his money and decide that rod thing, I think, although I also have some naming to do.

[DasIrrlicht]

So, double posting just to check to see how folk be doing in these times. I found a new character sheet (at least as an update to the one I'd been using in the past), so here will be the base I use for Willow.

Mechanically, I think I'm gonna go for Channeler / Sage / Chef / Researcher (Apothecary/Botany). In addition to trying to support folk, a decent amount of crafting might be useful for trading with other folk still trying to survive in this setting. At least depending on how our DM feels about a dedicated crafter sort...

Crafters are not bad by any means... But well, I do wanna point out: I am just having and using, as mentioned, the Pokédexes 'up to Hisui' and I have no idea if there is other changes made to moves or so on on your sheet, so if it and what I have at hand differs I am going to rule with what I have at hand.

That said, I'm considering spending a load of his starting cash to start with a Good Rod (and maybe swapping a novice skill to Athletics accordingly) to ensure we can get any Water types we need in which case my second would be...something else. There's a few other options I'm considering.

If you prefer to go fishing or not does probably not have to be nailed on the availability of water types, I would say. Water is the most common type of pokémon by all means.

[tonberryking]

I didn't forget about this, but stuff's been kinda quiet and it seemed like this website just wouldn't load on my phone every other damn day...

Water is the most common type of pokémon by all means.

...No kidding? Would that mean Mossopal's starting at a disadvantage with a Golett? Should I start with an elec type instead?

I would possibly suggest to not get an expensive rod at this point? It feels like starting with one would lead to an overabundance of water types in our team, since we'd be tempted to go fishing regularly.

[Kuro Dmon]

Ah yeah, I spent a while figuring out what I wanted to do and going between ideas, and then I forgot about this for a while.

Build-wise, I've ended up dropping the idea of a type/stat ace, because I decided I wanted to keep my options open team-wise, so instead I've gone Commander/Duelist, going into both enough to grab Battle Conductor and Directed Focus to make the two halves play nicer together - it means that my general buffing order can apply to more than just me while also playing into my personal Momentum stuff. He ended up with one or two status moves too, just in case reducing Defence is more useful than +Accuracy to a load of people.

I don't know why I expected you to be able to throw hands as well for some reason. I guess our Apparationinja is the only one who can do that inherently, haha.

That said, I'm considering spending a load of his starting cash to start with a Good Rod (and maybe swapping a novice skill to Athletics accordingly) to ensure we can get any Water types we need in which case my second would be...something else. There's a few other options I'm considering.

Frankly, I wonder if you'd even need the fishing-rod to snag a Corphish. I know in game you might need one to fish it up, but getting approached by a crab either at low tide or washed up seems even more likely when the weather's being crazy.

Crafters are not bad by any means... But well, I do wanna point out: I am just having and using, as mentioned, the Pokédexes 'up to Hisui' and I have no idea if there is other changes made to moves or so on on your sheet, so if it and what I have at hand differs I am going to rule with what I have at hand.

I don't thiiiink this sheet does too much different from the latest official one (baring a few ways it checks prereqs when filling out features and tying the features page to the overview. Honestly in ways I'm not the biggest fan of, but I kinda wanted to test it/the post Official Support era regardless for my own purposes). But if it becomes a problem in regard to being run, I have no problem with just using the latest official sheet instead.

And likewise, I have no problem with having the second choice not be a Wattrel. I just liked the bird a lot (basically all the Non-Normal "Early Birds"), and was contemplating something else to have on the team; either a more proper scout (because the little fluffball-to-be seems more like a head decoration than anything else), or perhaps something to ride on like one of the other various horse/deer Pokemon.

I like some of the Gen-9 stuff (at least in the games; you know Kat would have loved to meet and catch a Frigibax to add to her DragonClan), but if I should keep a lid on it, I'm fine with that.

I don't know why I'm leaning towards an Electric Type... maybe it is because Hoenn had so much water and we had so few options inherent to the region. Mind, I played a game with an Electrike already.... I could satisfy both a ride-able Pokemon and an Electric Type and pick Blitzle, at least once it gets a bit bigger? If the typing/lack of Hoenn-ness is an issue, I could just go with either an Aron (with Fire and Water powered up, would this be problematic?) or Swablu (this one hopefully shouldn't be an issue in any shape or form...)

I didn't forget about this, but stuff's been kinda quiet and it seemed like this website just wouldn't load on my phone every other damn day...

Yeah, the forum has been kinda crazy recently... everyone in my other games have noticed it. At least it didn't just straight up outright die like it did before...

...No kidding? Would that mean Mossopal's starting at a disadvantage with a Golett? Should I start with an elec type instead?

Hm. You've got access to some Lightning and Grass tech, and your Ghost makes up for that potential weakness in other ways, plus Ground moves to use for Fire Types. I wouldn't worry about it personally.

I'll complete my sheet this weekend after DM-Sama's reply to calibrate my thinking. Skeleton's already in place; just a matter of tweaking the details.

..... I think I might go all-in on crafting and grab Basic Balls as well. If you need anything made, give Willow some of your time and resources, haha. Tobias is the Face, Mossopal's the "muscle", and Willow brings the supplyzies.

[DasIrrlicht]

...No kidding? Would that mean Mossopal's starting at a disadvantage with a Golett? Should I start with an elec type instead?

It is more so a general observation, as the wiki states:

[...]15.51% of all Pokémon are Water-type (counting those that are Water-type in at least one of their forms), making it the most common of the eighteen types among Pokémon[...]
[...]
-Out of every type, Water has the most Gym Leaders, at eight.
-The Water type has the most Pokémon that evolve via trading, at six.
-The Water type has the most Gigantamax forms of all types, at six, as well as the most G-Max Moves, at five.
[...]
-Junichi Masuda has stated that Water is his favorite type.[1]
[...]

Gamefreak has a Bias there. I am considering what mons to place where based mainly on where you are and a general sense of fairness.

But if it becomes a problem in regard to being run, I have no problem with just using the latest official sheet instead.

I do not think it will be a problem. Just in case it becomes one you are aware what materials I reference.

And likewise, I have no problem with having the second choice not be a Wattrel. I just liked the bird a lot (basically all the Non-Normal "Early Birds"), and was contemplating something else to have on the team; either a more proper scout (because the little fluffball-to-be seems more like a head decoration than anything else), or perhaps something to ride on like one of the other various horse/deer Pokemon.

I like some of the Gen-9 stuff (at least in the games; you know Kat would have loved to meet and catch a Frigibax to add to her DragonClan), but if I should keep a lid on it, I'm fine with that.

I am not opposed to Gen 9 in general, I just am not close to satisfied with the only gen 9 PTU dex i have seen so far and instead would prefer to simply use the ones I got workable material for. You can reference Gen 9 mons as much as you want, you just won't be seeing any.

I wouldn't worry about it personally.

That would be my general advise as well.

[tonberryking]

I know the forums have been dying every 13 hours but we doing this still?

[Kuro Dmon]

I assume we might have been waiting on me to get my **** together... which admittedly I still haven't completely done.

I had some... deep personal problems come up recently as I started work. I'll spare the details; I and everyone involved are okay, but it completely shattered my ability to do anything but go to my job, and then stay at a friend's place for a hot minute.

I'm back home and things are better for me, though, so if you can give me a day to work out what Willow should be like at level 1, I'll have her built completely by tomorrow evening.

If not, I understand.... and if that wasn't the issue, I apologize for being so presumptuous.