» [Pokémon RP] Sign-Up

This is the sign-up thread for an upcoming Pokémon RP, which will be GMed by myself. I've heard that several people are interested, but now I need to hear from them!

Alright, so my ruleset (link) has been online for a week now. If you haven't already, check it out. I understand that it might be a bit overwhelming and even confusing, but I will be here to answer questions and to guide you along. Don't feel like you need to grasp everything right away.

In this RP, you will take the role of a trainer about to receive his or her first Pokémon. We will roughly follow the format set out by the video games and the anime (catching, training, gym battles, blasting off again, etc.), but with a few twists along the way. The setting will be more urban than the source material, being set predominately in one large metropolis and the surrounding region, and, as is my style, you can also expect some political themes to creep in. But, for the most part, it's good, old-fashioned, gotta-catch-em-all, you-teach-me-and-i'll-teach-you Pokémon.

Characters should be young but probably not the 10-11 that Ash and friends supposedly are in the series. 14-18 seems more appropriate. There's no need for overdeveloped back-stories; we can develop the cast over time. Just have a good idea of your character's personality, their likes and dislikes, and what makes them special. If you're having trouble with motivation, "to be the best" is setting-appropriate and perfectly acceptable. Characters are not necessarily from the city in which the game is set; feel free to reference locations from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh.

For now, posters in this thread just need to post their character's name and maybe a couple sentences of description: nothing elaborate and nothing set in stone, just a rough concept to kick off from. Also, post which starter Pokémon (link) catches your character's eye. If you are planning on building this Pokémon yourself, I encourage you to start pouring over the ruleset now and PMing me as soon as possible so that I can look it over and help you out. Alternatively, if you'd rather ease into the system (which I recommend), just let me know in your post here that you'd like me to make your starter for you (you can always change things later should you desire). Starters will be built from 15 points.

I don't want to put a hard deadline on this, but it would be incredibly helpful to hear from all interested parties in the next week or so. Although I'm very busy and I'm sure that many of you are as well, I'm also very much looking forward to getting this rolling. Thanks!

Yeah, sign me up.

My character's name is Lucas. Tanned skin, white hair, purple-red color scheme. I'll probably do a picture later.

I'd like to start with a Chimchar (named Ramstein, please). You can build him, since I'm certain I'd mess it up somehow.

How about this?



Ramstein (Chimchar)
Fire, d6, 15 pts, Size 1
Weaknesses: Ground x2, Rock x2, Water x2
Resistances: Bug x1/2, Fire x1/2, Grass x1/2, Ice x1/2, Steel x1/2

HP: 20
Defense: +1
Save: +1
Agility: +1
Move: 5
Traits: Blaze, Fire STAB

+1 Taunt (Main attack, Dark)
Range 2
No Damage
Taunt

+2 Blaze Kick (Secondary attack, Fire)
2d4 Damage

+3 Overheat (Encounter attack, Fire)
2 Targets
3d4 Damage
Exhausting


Alright, now in English. Blaze Kick is your normal attack; reliable, but unimpressive. Overheat is usable only once per battle and comes at quite a cost (Exhausting - The Pokémon must spend an action to recharge after this attack. Until the recharge action is taken, the Pokémon cannot move or attack and may not be recalled to a Poké Ball), however, it can hit two adjacent targets if Ramstein can find a way to navigate up to two opponents, and its accuracy and damage exceed Blaze Kick's.

The general strategy here is to use Taunt to get enemies onto Ramstein (Taunt - Anyone inflicted with Taunt status takes a -2 penalty on Accuracy rolls when attacking anyone other than the Pokémon who taunted them). The obvious benefits of this are: getting enemies off of allies and getting enemies to come within range of Ramstein's melee attacks. However, the real key is getting Ramstein's HP below half so that the Blaze trait kicks in (Blaze - The damage dice of the Pokémon's Fire-type attacks increases by one size if the Pokémon has no more than half its Hit Points remaining); that will increase the average damage of Blaze Kick by 2 points and of Overheat by 6 points!

Ramstein's stats are all average, except for HP which is low to increase the frequency of Blaze. Chimchar has more resistances than weaknesses, but, with relatively low HP, you need to look out for those weaknesses; a solid hit from a Geodude or Squirtle could be devastating. Ramstein lacks any real ranged attacks (even taunt only reaches 1 square beyond melee range), so, unfortunately, some turns may be wasted because no targets are close enough to attack. Also, because both of the damaging attacks are of the same type, Ramstein might experience problems against opponents with resistance to fire.

I'm in, of course.

Rose, 15 years old. She had long black hair with green bangs and green eyes. She likes to wear sleeveless turtlenecks with jeans.

Would you mind making mine as well? ^^;

I'd like a female dratini named Amatis, pwease.

Amatis (Dratini)
Dragon, d6, 15 pts, Size 1
Weaknesses: Dragon x2, Ice x2
Resistances: Electric x1/2, Fire x1/2, Grass x1/2, Water x1/2

HP: 22
Defense: +1
Save: +1
Agility: +0
Move: 4
Traits: Dragon STAB

+2 Twister (Main attack, Dragon)
Range 4
2d4 Damage

+1 Thunder Wave (Secondary attack, Electric)
Range 4
1d4 Damage
Paralysis
Blunt


As a dragon-type, Amatis conveniently grabs resistance to electric-, fire-, grass-, and water-type attacks. Combined with average defense and above-average HP for a starting Pokémon, her guard will be quite solid against most opponents. This is good, because, with low agility and mobility, her opponents can often get a jump on her, and taking a couple hits may be unavoidable.

On the offense, Amatis is most effective at range. She can open with Thunder Wave to paralyze a target (Paralysis - Anyone inflicted with Paralysis status cannot move voluntarily). With her opponent immobilized, she can safely attack from a distance. However, Thunder Wave itself does not deal much damage and can't be used as a finisher (Blunt - If the attack would reduce a target's Hit Points to fewer than 1, it reduces them to 1 instead). Instead, Amatis can switch to Twister, her primary method of dealing damage. Like Thunder Wave, Twister has a long 4-square reach. Unlike Thunder Wave, it deals a reasonable amount of damage, it can be used as a finisher, and it is more accurate.

Amatis will likely be a good supporter when fighting alongside other Pokémon. She can use Thunder Wave to hold opponents away from her friends will use Twister to soften their targets from a distance.


Question: How many more are we expecting? I can start whenever, but I'll hold off for one or two more people if we know that they are planning on signing up soon.

To be honest, I'm not completely sure. My friends showed a great interest when I first mentioned it to them, but they have said nothing about it since the rules were put up. I'm a little afraid they were scared away. I'll try to contact them however, and see if they still plan on joining.

Yeah, I was a bit worried about that. How about this: we'll get rolling as soon as one more player signs up. The others are free to join as soon as they realize how much fun the rest of us are having. :P

xD That sounds great. I'll keep working to get us that one more member.

Update?

Hey, I could give this a try.

I'm afrad I only breezed through the rules you posted, but I'd guess that's par for the course at this stage. Is this still on if I do sign up?

It can be if those other two are still interested. Admittedly, I haven't been thinking about this lately, but I made plenty of notes off of which I can go.

If we do go ahead with this, I might just drop the rules altogether, depending on what the players want. I'm also going to be running a D&D game online by year's end (not here, on Google Wave), so I'd prefer not to have the extra overhead.

I'm still game, and I'm sure aritd will be, too.

The rules could come in handy if things end up getting technical, but if you don't feel they're necessary... I can go either way.