Pokémon World Building Discussion Thread

[kyuukestu]

Hello, Hi! As we all know, the Pokémon World is ridiculously expansive between it's many games, the anime, manga, side-games, trading cards, etc. Some of these mediums are more RP-friendly than others, but I believe most of them provide interesting tidbits of world building that would be great for an RP setting.

The purpose of this thread then, is to tackle the world of Pokémon its in entirety and wrangle together an expansive set of rules, events, systems, whatever that would make for a good RP. I've already started on this, but I figured more opinions and more help is always welcome.

Of course, this is an expansive task so to give the conversation some focus, let's start with the traditional League/Gym Challenge. How would you improve the Gym Challenge to be more entertaining in RP?

 

[Psycho Monkey]

I'm not sure what you're trying to go for without any examples, but I'll give it a shot anyway. To make the Gym Challenge more entertaining you could take queues from the game and have Gym puzzles or trials for the players to solve. Whether or not the players work together or are forced to compete against one another would depend on the Gym Leader and what they're having prospective challengers do before facing them. Like in the games, Gym Trainers could also be present to impede the challengers and potentially offer hints or advice upon defeat. As for the Gym Leaders themselves, their teams would reflect the number of badges the challenger currently possesses. For example, if Norman is your first Gym, he'd probably use Slakoth and Zigzagoon whereas if he's your eighth Gym, he'd have Slaking, Linoone, Spinda, Exploud, and Zangoose. After that, it's as simple as pulling up the move lists of the Gym Leader's Pokemon, your Pokemon, and choreographing the battle to go however you want it to whether you want your character to win or lose. As per Charms rules, you aren't bound by level and move restrictions so let your imagination run wild with every move that would realistically be at a Pokemon's disposal. First Badge Norman would be limited to Tackle, Scratch, and other early moves while Eighth Badge Norman would have access to far stronger moves and TMs like Giga Impact, Slash, Body Slam, and Hyper Voice. Use discretion and keep it reasonable.

But yeah, that's my take. You said you had already come up with some ideas, so go ahead and share them with the class so we can build from there.

 

[Charlotte Pryce]

I'd implement a special challenge for the post-game. Your first run collecting all eight badges and facing the elite four would be traditional. However, once you become League Champion, all gyms will switch to double battles AND double Pokémon type format. For example, the fire-type gym leader might be paired with an ice-typed partner and the dragon-type gym leader would be paired with a fairy-type partner. In a sense, you would become a champion of both solo and double battles.

 

[kyuukestu]

I'm not sure what you're trying to go for without any examples, but I'll give it a shot anyway. To make the Gym Challenge more entertaining you could take queues from the game and have Gym puzzles or trials for the players to solve. Whether or not the players work together or are forced to compete against one another would depend on the Gym Leader and what they're having prospective challengers do before facing them. Like in the games, Gym Trainers could also be present to impede the challengers and potentially offer hints or advice upon defeat. As for the Gym Leaders themselves, their teams would reflect the number of badges the challenger currently possesses. For example, if Norman is your first Gym, he'd probably use Slakoth and Zigzagoon whereas if he's your eighth Gym, he'd have Slaking, Linoone, Spinda, Exploud, and Zangoose. After that, it's as simple as pulling up the move lists of the Gym Leader's Pokemon, your Pokemon, and choreographing the battle to go however you want it to whether you want your character to win or lose. As per Charms rules, you aren't bound by level and move restrictions so let your imagination run wild with every move that would realistically be at a Pokemon's disposal. First Badge Norman would be limited to Tackle, Scratch, and other early moves while Eighth Badge Norman would have access to far stronger moves and TMs like Giga Impact, Slash, Body Slam, and Hyper Voice. Use discretion and keep it reasonable.

But yeah, that's my take. You said you had already come up with some ideas, so go ahead and share them with the class so we can build from there.

Ah yes, my apologies I have indeed left out the examples.

I'm all on-board for dynamic matching, ensuring the Gym Leader meets the challenger at their level. I've always been more focused on the battles than the Gym Puzzles, so my ideas revolved around revamping the format at which you challenge. Similar to what Charlotte suggested.

In my current RP, I allow Trainers to challenge in either: Single Battle, Double Battle, Gauntlet, or Doubles Gauntlet.

The Gauntlet being more akin to the games where you have to battle Gym Trainers as well as the Gym Leader back-to-back. Trainers are allowed a set number of 'healing items' throughout their fights and the idea is to plan ahead and have a well-rounded team instead of investing in one Pokémon who has a type advantage.

I'd implement a special challenge for the post-game. Your first run collecting all eight badges and facing the elite four would be traditional. However, once you become League Champion, all gyms will switch to double battles AND double Pokémon type format. For example, the fire-type gym leader might be paired with an ice-typed partner and the dragon-type gym leader would be paired with a fairy-type partner. In a sense, you would become a champion of both solo and double battles.

This is...interesting. I've never considered a post-game scenario for an RP. I'm definitely partial to using different battle formats like Double, Triple, and Rotation Battles, but some of them are definitely more difficult to manage in an RP. I tend to use them in the Conference Qualifier rounds to add some spice.