Pokemon x Mouse Guard RPG

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>>34536191
Cont'd

2) What will the cultures of the civilized races be like?

I'll include my one example from the archived thread: I was thinking Meowth could be power hungry antagonists, driven by their greed. They'd be militaristic and violent, but cunning and strategic. Perhaps they're the most industrialized, a la Orcs in Tolkien.

Further as I've kind of eluded to above, the Pikachu (and maybe any other electric races) worship Zapdos and treat any of the places its nested in as a shrine/holy site. I imagine Pikachu as kind of the human analogue in the world. Not necessarily the only human analogue, but one of them. Maybe they're the most Paladin-esque, heroic fighters who follow their Lord of Light's word and bring peace, culture, and knowledge wherever they go. Of course not ALL Pikachu will be like this, but it'll be the defining feature of most of the culture.

3) The system and mechanics.

Thus far, I'm planning on hacking together the mechanics in Savage Worlds, and using the Super Powers rules to implement canon Pokemon attacks like Quick Attack, Thunder, etc. Anyone have any suggestions for another system? Also, should I make players have to decide between their regular skills and their special Pokemon attacks, or should they be able to advance both at the same rate, i.e. should a Pikachu Paladin have to choose between increasing his sword fighting skill or his Lightning attack? Also, since my inspiration is Mouse Guard, one Anon suggested I implement a Nature mechanic from Mouse Guard. This would make sense in implementing with the "evolution causes a Pokemon to become more feral" idea that was put forth, especially if we fluff it as fighting and violence is what forces evolution, and without the love I guess of humans and trainers, evolved Pokemon simply become wild.

Welp, that's kind of where I'm at now. Come on /tg/ give me your best ideas. Tell me I'm being too restrictive. Fluff some Fantasy type cultures with a Pokemon twist.

>>34536191
Bump. Slow day or no interest?

Would it be too much work to implement abilities?
I know Pikachu has a good one named Static that punishes melee attacks. I think it would add some variety to encounters without being overcomplicated.
As for the issue of advancing regular skills vs. moves, I'd say players should have a choice, but PP should refill slowly (1/5 max per day?) so that swordfighting remains a good investment even at high levels.

I think this is a neat idea. Bump for interest.

>>34538293
As I mentioned in last night's post, I haven't played the games since Gen 2, and even then am most familiar with Gen 1. Reading Bulbapedia (which I'm using as my main reference resource), it sounds like this Static abilities is a sort of passive ability and is always on, is that the case? I'll have to look through the Savage Worlds rules to see if there's a power I can repurpose for this. That said, do you have any ideas or suggestions on how it should work?

I'm also wondering/ debating posting this in /v/. I don't go there at all, but have heard that it's a horrible place, but I figure a video game related board might have some good ideas. Don't want them to come troll or crash this thread though. I might do it if it's slow here though.

>>34538451
Sorry, I don't know the first thing about Savage Worlds.
But if paralysis is a thing in your game (and why wouldn't it be, this is as basic as it gets) and you have a d20, you can simulate Static on tabletop. Most abilities do things you should already have rules for.

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You should focus your races to the starting pokemon (Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle for your initial ones, proceed to older generations later)

Some of these are not bipedal like you asked but bulbasaur can get around this (vines used like hands) and other starters who arent bipedal can be refluffed as if they were (See Tepig in picture)

>>34536191
>http://4archive.org/tg/thread/34513132#p34527873
Link is down.

My GM is currently running a Pokemon game in Savage Worlds. Regular Pokemon, not what you're suggesting. For the most part, we just make up the stats and he approves/modifies.

>>34538782
>>34536191
Try this link?
http://www.4archive.org/tg/thread/34513132

It seems to work just fine for me, but I noticed I accidentally linked to a particular post

>>34538782
How do you guys handle attacks and special movies? And pokemon abilities and such?

>>34538863
Attack is fighting skill vs. parry as normal. Special effects are added on as necessary. Like I said, were just hammering out the details as we go along. I'm on the wrong computer, or I'd post some of the stat-blocks we've made.

>>34538863
>>34539082
Some of it is also pokemon edges, like Intangible makes it so they can go through walls. Whenever we have downtime, we make command roles and get to improve the Pokemon based of successes.

But Kantor has always been post apokelyptic that's why Lt surge and all the others tall about the war.

Its also why there are so few people.

>>34539363
Sure, but this is maybe after some other great calamity that has finally and completely wiped away humanity, so now all the cities and everything is in ruins. Pokemon have become intelligent (related to the calamity? Who knows) with the existence of man only retold through the Pokemon's myths and legends, and have built their own civilizations. Technology is up to the middle ages, and human tech is unknown but maybe studied, being mysterious and seemingly magical if it can be fixed and put back to use (unlikely and rare)

Frittata are everywhere but are not bipedal. Does that make them like works or something?

Orks*

Godamn tiny phome keyboard

I think good playable races would be
>Bulbasaurs
>Charmanders
>Squirtles
>Pikachus
>Meowths
>Cubones
>Machops
>Abras?
And then a Dark type or a Poison type. Maybe Sneasel or Croagunk/Nidoran?

Spinach has an advantage of only evolving if exposed to a thunderstobe ( this auto correct is driving me nuts) but the other races evolve naturally.

How does pika chu become a leafy green I ask you?

>>34539938
>Spinach evolves from thunderstrobe
Man, I really need to catch up on the new pokemon that keep coming out.

Spinach should be a physical sweeper what with the super strength and all

>>34539640
>Frittata
>>34539938
>Spinach

CHEF RPG WE'RE MAKING IT NOW

>>34540064
>>34539982
>>34539984
>>34539938
>>34539640
Jesus, intelligent sentient Medieval food is terrifying

>>34539640
Considering that my inspiration is Mouse Guard, I figured Rattata should be a playable civilized race that are fairly vanilla. Maybe they'll typically be the peasantry whereas Pikachu tend to be the nobility. I also am beginning to envision this Pikachu kingdom becoming more of an alliance, The Western Alliance of the Viridian Forest, composed of the territories between Pallet Town and Route 5, primarily made up of Pikachu, Rattata and Sandshrew. Man, now I can imagine some elite cavalry riding on top of Flying Pidgeottos. That would be cool, what should be their ground mounts?

>>34536191
>Playable Pokemon Races
Make it like the Mystery Dungeon Games in that the civilized vs uncivilized thing varies from individual to individual. Make it cost Xp, or whatever your chosen system has in lieu of it, to be stronger pokémon, or to evolve.

>What will the cultures be like?
Varies from region to region, like it does in real life.

>System and Mechanics
Actually base core ability scores off of pokémon's stats. Same for attacks and the like. Making them choose makes it so that they're leveling up, in a class, without leveling up, in regards to being a pokémon, which might not make sense to them. Not making them choose allows for greater variation and customization, but also more paperwork, for you -and- for them. Choose whichever one you like the idea of the most, and stick with it, because if your players want this as much as it seems like you think they do, they won't care one way or the other.

>>34540313
I guess this proves that PC races don't HAVE to be bipedal

Pikachu are a rare spawn don't make them to common.

Also in r/b pikachu are fat

Surely look at the sprites.

Maybe have like areas. Pikachu and Pidgeottos rule Veridian Forest because they are the strongest pokemon there with other pokemon filling out different societal roles. Like Kakuna and Metapod make clothes, the worms are farmers, etc.

The clamaity that killed humanity warpwd evolution stones to make pokemon smart.

There is a whole lot of science in the pokemon series. Perhaps a pokexomputer experiment madw people into the computer system instead of pokemon. Now box a to box zz9 are filled with humans.

Pokemon societies could revolve around beliefs that fit the personality of the pokemon. Pirate squirtlea environmentalist bulbasaura. Research oriented alakazams.... Totes not lpha centuri.

Squrtle are punks

>>34540692
Not all creatures need to be the same. Surely pikachu who have trained for battle would be more fit. This just reinforces my thought that Pikachu would tend to be more of a ruling class / nobility type, keeps them rare but important.

>>34540315
How do the Mystery Dungeon games handle the civilized vs uncivilized thing anyway? It sounds kind of arbitrary.

You can either separate into kingdoms based on type (Fire is aggressive and militaristic, Steel is advanced and industrialized, Psychic is cultural and hermetic, etc) or you can make the more humanoid Pokemon the civilized races while everyone else remains wild.

>>34542339
>It sounds kind of arbitrary.
Pretty much, yeah.
In the first game, Rescue Team, the land was being raveged by fissures and quakes and that made more "bad" pokemon show up.
In Explorers they where portrayed more like savages ala native americans, just as smart as other pokemon but living wild and free like the nomadic group of Luxio you face later.
Then theres also the other type of pokemon that are just dicks and assholes like drowzee that become wanted criminals.
Really, those pokemon are just as complex as humans, OP should just make the wild pokemon be as smart but have an intense hatred for the establisment, society and anyone that agrees with it, prefering to be able to live free like the old days before the calamity.
These pokemon might go lone wolf and and hunt each other or attack/steal from civilized travelers or they might form packs and become bandits or just use their numbers to be on top of the wilds, staying away from the sharp blades and organization of societies.
Considering even the pokemon in the show are clearly more than animals its hard to find an explanation for why they'd want to be savage.

>>34547230
Ok, I think I'll go with this idea. They'll be intelligent and all, but for the most part it'll be in their nature to choose to not partake in civilization. Although if all Pokemon are intelligent, it'll make hunting for meat all the more interesting. I can imagine a Tauros or something begging for its life as you put an arrow in its head to carry back to your village of Cubones for tonight's supper.

>>34547230
>>34547494
Considering the OP mentioned it could be Post-apoc. One could guess that a lot of pokemon see civilization as the thing that could cause another calamity even if it was hundreds of years ago...

I actually want to see this fluff done to completion. I'd run it.

>>34547575
I like this idea, quite a lot. Again though, which Pokemon do you think should be those striving to rebuild civilization in the image of their long dead masters? I've been getting lots of suggestions to just leave it open, but as I've mentioned before, I want to keep the Mouse Guard feel of a small animal in a big big world, facing threats much larger than itself. In the same vein, I don't see some pokemon as being particularly intelligent enough to create anything that resembles a rudimentary technological civilization, like a lot of the bug types, or the rock types like Geodude. I see these as being livestock, or at best friends and allies like dogs or horses are to us, for the Pikachu or whatever civilized Pokemon to use and gather resources from.

>>34547757
Also as cool as a charmander Paladin would be, or a Dragonite paladin or something, these Pokemon are canonically rare, so I think they should stay that way, and to keep with the fantasy theme, should be mystical and magical and untameable forces of nature, as dragons tend to be in old myths and in literature.

>>34547757
>>34547797
Also if it wasn't clear this is OP, still monitoring this thread. I've posted a thread over in /vp/ hoping they can help with some fluff. They've been a little helpful.

>>>/vp/20788266

>>34547797
Some times these rare breeds enjoy civilization and are regarded as fairy tale heroes and superstions about them start showing up, like, you can measure a charmander's worth by how bright the flame on the tip of his tail burns.

>>34547911
So like a rogue charmander will walk away from it's "wild" upbringing and join civilization? I could do that, but again, it will be a rare thing.

>>34547960
Also I keep forgetting, but what are your guys' thoughts on evolutions? I kind of want to make it difficult to evolve, maybe by making those that evolve more savage (could take some negative edges in SW or something), predominantly to avoid a situation where you have a party where everyone is the same high level, but one guy has a Pikachu, and one guy is a fucking giant Blastoise or something. It just seems, unbalanced size wise and stuff, and again, goes away from the Mouse Guard gritty kind of feel I'm going for?

>>34548016
Actually...that might be as big a problem. Just because something is bigger doesn't make it better...and shit, the game itself has evidence of pokemon that should never win winning because they are on that level.

Also. I nominate Chespin to be one of the Civilized races. After all...evolving into Chestnaught would put credence into that...Technically the Oshawott line has something similar going on...But I'm going to make a joke about them being from the far east and that whatever you do do not pursue a Lopunny named Lubu.

>>34547960
of course, or some, extremely rare, chance those special breeds ARE born among civilization and don't no anything but.
>>34548016
Maybe restrict evulotion to only happen when using a stone of the pokemon's element, which is an extremly rare and precious resource either given to great nobles or knights when the time is right, or are either given as a reward to adventurers for some kind of near impossible heroic feat. Yet many stones are hidden throught the lands and some times are found and used by "wildlings" or adventurers on a quest.

>>34548148
I don't get your what I assume to be jokes about the last two Pokemon, but I'll assume they're furry related since I keep getting furry fetish comments in these threads

>>34548169
Problem with the stones thing is I want to try to keep this as canon as possible, and also want to allow for finding the rare evolved version of "wild" Pokemon. I imagine this like going off to fight a Charizard that's been plaguing the countryside, killing it, and being known as Sparky, the Dragonslayer or some shit. In the end, I want a reason for PC pokemon in particular to not want to evolve.

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>>34548305
Its actually a Dynasty Warriors joke. Lopunny has long ears and Lubu has these two giant head piece tail things coming from out of his helmet. I most likely should have posted a picture of the guy. Ah well. My fault for flubbing it. ANYWAY. I was mostly making a reference to samurai and such with the Oshawott line which is why they would be civilized.

>>34548305
>I don't get your what I assume to be jokes.
I think hes refering to chinese history, Lu Bu was a renowend general, I think.
>Problem with the stones thing is I want to try to keep this as canon as possible.
Well going by that, just have the evolutions as a aging thing for pokemon, i.e levels.
First evolution are seen as children or young teens, second late teens young adult, and third if it as it are seen as old, but old doesn't mean decrepit, these pokemon are much stronger than others and often are wisemen, sages or leaders.

Use the Nature mechanic. Low Nature makes for more versatile characters, allowing them to pick up skills easier. High Nature allows you to buff your base abilities. Max Nature and you evolve.

>>34548720
Nature came up before with regard to Mouse Guard, I like this idea. Is that how it works in the Mouse Guard RPG?

>>34548777
In Torchbearer and Mouse Guard, Nature is used to measure how alike a character is to his kind. They have descriptors, like boasting or smithing, which they can roll their Nature stat on, if it's applicable to the situation. The higher the score, the more dice. The benefit of having Low Nature is that it's easier to pick up new skills, because you have to test a skill equal times to your Nature rating to unlock it.

>>34548977
Torchbearer sounds interesting. Might you have a link to a PDF so I can take a look?

>>34549023
Sorry, can't do. I'm on my phone. I'll see if I can upload it on my laptop when I get back to my apartment. You might want to check Mediafire or /rs/ to see if anyone's uploaded it before. I doubt it, though. Mouse Guard seems to be the only thing Luke Crane has popular here.

Bump to keep alive

How about pokemon with low nature get bonuses to the wearing and using of equipment and technology but forfeit they're ability to evolve while pokemon with high nature barely understand tool usage aside from anything they already have like cubone's bone club and can evolve. High nature pokemon become better fighters through evolution while low nature pokemon that can't evolve match their strenght with weapons armor and wits.

>>34549994
Nature tends to be animalistic nature correct? Just want to make sure I define nature correctly for the pokemon, like I remember in Mouse Guard it was very mouse-y things like climbing and stuff, and not very people things. Might you have ideas for Nature descriptions for certain Pokemon

>>34550063
Low nature makes Pokemon civil, intelligent, and dextrous in handling tools and such, the higher the nature the more animalistic one is, pokemon become irrational, territorial and aren't phisicly apt to use tools very well. Feel free to expand on this.

>>34550063
>Nature descriptions for certain Pokemon
That's a can of worms I don't want to open, considering my "pokedex" just remember the 151 and bits and pieces of the later generation and still 151 is still alot really you should maybe generalise the nature thing to all pokemon, or if you actually think you could think up stuff then go for it, it might be time consuming though.

>>34550600
Well, considering my setting I'd only have to come up with Nature descriptions for the handful of "civilized" playable Pokemon there are right? Do even wild beasts in Mouse Guard and such have Nature descriptors as well?

>>34550771
Unfortnantly I never played Mouse Guard
>>34548977
I'm not this anon.

>>34550771
I really only know Torchbearer, which does have descriptors for monsters. They're supposed to apply to things that aren't outright skills; elves have remembering, hiding, and singing. Monsters have things like tunneling, scheming, devouring. Things that are kind of abstracted from skills. For this, I'd say try and come up with three adverbs(?) for each race, based off the Pokemon. Flying, for example, would be a good one for bird types.

>>34551327
Cool, I'll have to let this stew.

Last Bump before bed, just to keep the thread alive into the morning hopefully, will probably start a new one sometime tomorrow afternoon or so.

This thread is nice, I hope when 4archive comes back on that I can see the origin thread. So far I'm liking this a lot.

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>>34553240
Saw this pic and thought it was relevant.

I like the idea of larger pokemon being mounts. Not Raichu of course, but tther pokemon. That and some of the other pokemon are like domesticated animals, Miltanks are used as cattle, dairy or otherwise, kinda like that anyway.

>>34538629
The Totodile are split into a multitude of clans who travel the rivers of the land in grand barge-cities. At best they are peaceful travellers, trading fish and fine rods for necessities, at worst they are vicious raiders, plundering villages and taking slaves. Their are rumours of the Red Eye Clan, who eat those they don't kill or enslave.

>>34553641
Interesting, are there any other river fairing pokemon that oppose/endorse this?

>>34553662
The Psyducks are unconcerned, staying in their ponds and lakes to consider their psychic mysteries. The Squirtles, who build their villages on the river bank, are the main target of the Totodile raiders, but their stalwart attitude and strong architecture keeps most at bay.

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>>34553641
Damn it... you made me draw shit... I hate you Anon...

Keep making me draw shit, plz~

>>34553932
Every year there is a grand gathering of the clan chiefs, called the Moot, held in the grand ship-city of Longtooth, supposedly built by Jourgamund, legendary Emperor of all water-ways and Chief of all the Clans. The Chief discuss trade agreements, settle feuds, announce inter-clan marriages and other important business. On a good year, this is a occasion of merriment and good will. On a bad year, the Moot becomes a battleground as feuds flare into murderous rages. A brawl at the Moot was how the last Yellow Moon chief was killed, starting their bitter war with the Red Eyes.

>>34554154
In context of evolution, Totodiles make up the majority of a clan's population. Crocmaws are the most battle hardened warriors of a clan. Feraligators are the Chiefs, either gaining the title when the old chief dies via succession, taking it by force or forming their own clans.