Pokemon Missions Discussion

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

(Does anyone else think neonsands avatar/title is awesome?)
So this thing will be in the national park section right? Not in ultra worlds.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

Its always been in National Park. Harrys just adding it to ultra world

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

no you really did not

anyway question to trilo you said somthing about posting up a draft thing and just wondering if you yet have or not

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

Well, the plan was to post said draft. However, things came along (said things being distractions/ref requests) and such has resulted in delays. However, the status effects draft will be up sometime early next week.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

Well this sounds pretty awesome. To keep discussions on it going...

will there be some kind of progression system? that would be cool, like a level-up system. Since the pokémon games are rpgs with leveling up, everything we would need is already there. though it would be annoying to keep track of, I'm sure there are ways it could be simplified. though on the other hand some players would easily end up behind others and potentially left out so that could be a bad idea.

also if there's any way I could help I'd love to! I've played games like D&D for years (albeit infrequently) so I've got a bit of experience with that.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

I've heard the idea of trainer classes floated - though this was in a PnP Pokemon game a friend and I are trying to get playable; the basic gist was that Pokemon Trainers could pick a terrain to represent their trainer style (E.G. Misty, as a Water trainer, would pick the Water terrain; Brock, or the Hikers, would pick Mountains) and that so long as the trainer is within that terrain, their Pokemon got a 1-stage boost to all stats. For trainers like Ash and Gary, they would pick the Normal terrain, which awards them this bonus in organized arenas rather than in random battles in the wild.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

That sounds like a good idea. However, there's the issue of not all trainers having a special terrain. For example; an electric, dragon or fighting type trainer.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

Then I suppose they could instead pick one element of Pokemon, and so long as they were battling with that type they get the bonus.

Edit: Had misread slightly. They don't necessarily have a set terrain that goes with their Pokemon; and they can specialize in a type of Pokemon as well, that may simply be represented by having a more common typing among their 'mons. If I wanted to be a Dragon Tamer, I'd probably pick Mountains and simply have several Dragon-types, whereas if I were a Black Belt or w/e, I'd likely pick the normal terrain, since that could cover a boxing ring as well.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

You know, that's a really good idea. If the characters had a "class", they could get special abilities and stuff and "level up" from participating in a lot of pokemon missions. That way there would be progression, but without the annoyance of pokemon's stats actually changing.

Like...

Level 1 Dragon Tamer gets +5% to the damage of dragon moves his pokemon use.
Level 2 Dragon Tamer is less effected by the fearful presence of strong opponents, and is less likely to cower in fear and is more able to act in stressful situations.
Level 3 Dragon Tamer your Dragon pokemon are particularly resistant to fire and electric attacks, and take 10% less damage from these attacks.

stuff like that. they could also get other things that effect their interaction with the world, like Hikers could have "Stamina: You're more able to resist harsh climates then other characters, and can endure strain longer. You can also walk longer without taking a rest" or something.

Classes could all be stuff from the game, and there'd be maybe one for each type, and maybe a general class.

classes would of course like mentioned by you guys be stuff like

Dragon Tamer, Hiker, Battle Boy/Girl (or Black Belt), Swimmer, Bug Catcher (Bug Maniac), Super Nerd, Sailor, PKMN Breeder (specializes in baby pokemon?), etc etc.

This could be overdoing things and might be too much work, but I think it could be a cool idea. I'd also be willing to help make classes like the ones mentioned earlier, with abilities, and even help work out an experience system if you guys thought it was a good idea.
Since the class obviously doesn't make a major difference (maybe adding at most a 20% boost to attacks at the highest levels, which would probably be level 10), a "party" could easily consist of, say, a level 7 character and a level 2 character, and it wouldn't be unfair.

A lot of the abilities wouldn't be so much stat-based (that is, provide a bonus or penalty or have clearly laid out rules), but rather be things more like the dragon tamer resistant to fear like I listed earlier. Swimmers would obviously be good at swimming, and maybe get some bonuses to their pokemons attacks while they're in water and/or just water pokemon in general.


Ok... I'm going overboard with brainstorming, I'll stop now xD
anyway I think these sound like cool ideas, but I won't be offended or upset if no one else does hahah

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

i do like that idea that you have specialist trainers to help your pokemon extra, yet you will probley want somthing to allow people to be just normal trainers, and they would need somthing to help boost there pokemon. maybe exmaple as above where a dragon taimer boost the move of dragons by 5%, you could use a trainer boost of 2.5% or somthing for all moves.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

As food for thought, I have here the two initial trials I ran for the Missions back on PE2K.

They never were finished (being trials and all, that's to be expected) but it can give you an idea of how it's supposed to work.

I tried to vary the two missions slightly, and how each group reacted generally gave way to how I responded. Possible improvements include having another Dungeon Master to help out and keep the plot moving as well as not dragging out every little detail.

Still, the quality here is decent and it's the general direction we probably want to go. Also, each team had a cool name.

Mission Trial: Eccentric Lunatics
Mission Trial: Fabulae Textores

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

Disregard this message here, life sucked cocks.

Status draft will be up within the next 48 hours if lucky.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

Looking forward to this more and more; the regular RPs don't have enough plotline for me to really enjoy. I think that if there was a goal we were all striving for, it would lead to more cohesion in the posts, and hopefully more regular posters.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

Okay, we'll get to Trilobyte whenever he's ready.

In the meantime let's discuss a few ideas. Feel free to say anything you want. We all want to make this the best section it could be and that only works when everyone is involved. I have only one perspective, ultimately, and you have all the rest. So let's get started.

Additionally, as we settle various aspects of Pokemon Missions, I'm going to edit it into the front post or create a new thread for it so we can mark our progress! Let's aim for the top!


Leveling

I like the idea with the leveling system, though I'm not sure how we could implement it where each level gives you extra powers like most games. After all, this is about roleplaying and your strength is ultimately determined by your RP ability more than anything else. A Cleffa can beat a Garchomp with good RPing.

I see it as a good way to keep track of one's progress. Your level could be an indication of how many Missions you've accomplished (like maybe finishing 4 or 5 missions earns you a level). Additionally, perhaps we can create prizes for when you reach the next level, such as extra items, money, or even Pokemon at higher positions.

Additionally, we could make it so that being a higher level earns you more rewards than a lower level. So if a group of 5 people complete a mission (Three Lv. 1 and Two Lv. 2), the Lv. 2's would receive a slightly better prize than the Lv. 1's. I'm actually not sure about this idea yet, but I figured I could throw it out there and see if I'm completely crazy or somewhere on the money.

The big thing that will appeal to all of us is that we could create Missions that are designed for higher level roleplayers, aka, experienced roleplayers. These mission would be more challenging and perhaps require more dedication and creativity. A greater risk for greater reward. It's the same way how only members with a complete set of league badges can challenge the Elite 4. You earn your way to participate in these Advanced Missions.

Anyway, that's only one aspect of the RP for now. Let's discuss it, settle it, so we can move on to another!

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

Hmm. I would have actually thought that using lower level Pokemon would provide a greater reward.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

I apologise for this massive post, but I'm in a debating class, and I have a fair bit of experience with roleplaying and video games, both playing/roleplaying and creating them.

[QUOTE="HKim']I like the idea with the leveling system, though I'm not sure how we could implement it where each level gives you extra powers like most games. After all, this is about roleplaying and your strength is ultimately determined by your RP ability more than anything else. A Cleffa can beat a Garchomp with good RPing.[/QUOTE]

The RPer in me loves this idea, but the gamer hates it. I suppose which way you go depends on how this would be implemented. I mean, I like the idea of using your creativity to overcome stronger foes. That is awesome. But, the thing that stops me is that this is all based on a video game, and without some extreme luck and use of hax, there is NO WAY a Cleffa would be able to overcome a Garchomp. At the very least, there should be a large disadvantage placed against the Cleffa. My opinion is that while creativity should be the driving force, the established stats of Pokemon should be taken into account quite seriously as well.

[QUOTE="HKim]Additionally, we could make it so that being a higher level earns you more rewards than a lower level. So if a group of 5 people complete a mission (Three Lv. 1 and Two Lv. 2), the Lv. 2's would receive a slightly better prize than the Lv. 1's. I'm actually not sure about this idea yet, but I figured I could throw it out there and see if I'm completely crazy or somewhere on the money.[/QUOTE]

This brings to mind the Oblivion Enemy-Scaling. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Oblivion is a fairly-recent video game RPG set in medieval times (with magic, monsters, etc). It used an enemy level up system, where the random monsters you fought were scaled according to your level. This meant that a Skeleton would have (say) 200 health when you were level 3, and (say) 280 health when you were level 7. This sounds fine and fair in theory, but many players complained about the feel of it. And I can understand that. When you start, at level one, you fight off giant rats and skeletons. When you visit the starting dungeon 16 levels later, it is potentially just as hard, and that seems wrong. You've spent all this time theoretically getting stronger, but the enemies level up with you so statistically, you aren't really.

Looking at this proposal, I'd say that, without further explanation on how they would work, best leave level-discerning rewards out. It seems unfair to me that, on a given Mission, if three people all rp exactly at the same level (assume), particular players earn more rewards simply because they've played more often.

I like this. This is a much better version of above. Instead of having prizes depend on player level, have them depend on mission difficulty, and bar off the harder missions. Use levels to determine when rpers can attempt the harder ones. This way, you wouldn't have level 10 RPers getting insane amounts of loot from continually grinding quick, low-level quests. Your profit would increase only by attempting the harder missions: playing the first Mission would yield the same amount of loot at lv1 as it would at lv10 (assuming rp quality is the same).

Just my two cents, I've been watching this potential addition very closely and I will continue to do so. I want to see how close it will/may be to some of the Pokemon rps I've run/participated in.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

A rewards system will need to be worked out later. In terms of what I think might work best, I want to design it so that the reward is based off the overall quality of the role playing in the group, the level of the challenge, and if all the objectives were completed or not.

Certainly true. That example was probably far too extreme and I apologize. The roleplaying will generally follow the common sense model that we've seen in the anime and gameboy games unless there is a good, rp reason for it.

Reading through your comments and thinking it over, I think this is the best model to follow. It might be unfair to reward players more than others just because of their level. Let the mission determine the reward.

And I certainly appreciate the comments. The more we discuss this, the more we can improve it. Feedback never hurt anyone (probably).

The rate of leveling is another matter of discussion. The random number I pulled out of my head is that you level every 5 missions, but that might be a little too high. We could go with three. An active member could probably finish 3 missions within a few months and advance. That might be the better number.

I think one of the things we have going for this system is that the URPG already runs on an economy that relies on both income and expense. A created reward for effort and work that allow members to better enjoy their experience. The same system can be applied here. We can reward members for good roleplaying and pay dungeon master's for their work guiding the members through a mission. Add in the fun that roleplaying generally brings to the table, and we have the incentives for a good section.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

I can't believe it took me so long to notice this...

This sounds like an incredible amount of fun. I've always loved D&D style RPs, but it's hard to play when no one else wants too... In any case, this really appeals to me. The possibility of earning cash, items, and maybe even Pokemon through RPing is definitely something I can get into. I assume that Dungeon Master will be a new attainable position?

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

I'm tempted to go about this in two ways, possibly using both methods.

The first is the way we're all familiar with. You take a test to become a Dungeon Master (or whatever we name it) and if you pass, you can run adventures without oversight.

The second method involves something closer to petitioning. An interested member or two can compile an adventure they want to run and petition the Dungeon Headmaster for the chance to run it. He can review the adventure, their general rp history and resume, and then decide whether or not he'll allow them to run the adventure.

The second method has the advantage over the first of allowing newer members to jump in to running an adventure without necessarily becoming a rank-and-file positioned member. However, that adventure is likely to be more closely monitored and unlike a Dungeon Master, the rewards of the adventure will be determined by a higher ranked party. It's a give and take sort of thing.

I want to make it so that it is rewarding to members to run adventures for others. They shouldn't be extremely long (except in certain particular cases) so as to keep the momentum moving forward. If a campaign is very extensive, the storyline plots can be divided into their own missions. If there are a lot of people interesting in running RP's, then there will also be greater participation in this section. After all, I think people generally enjoy it when someone moves the plot along, revealing the next step in a glorious adventure.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

I'd say go with the first method, but I don't necessarily think we should let them run without supervision. "Oh, hey, you come across four Pokeballs with Dragonites in them, congrats." While I don't think it's exactly likely, I'd still like to see a little more control kept on things - I'm not very familiar with the National Park or how they determine what events/Pokemon/items are in an area, so I don't know if there's an oversight board, or committee that determines that sort of thing.

As to the newer members, while I'd be in favor of them having some freedom, I also think that there's a community aspect to this game that is critical to its success; the time needed for an investment of a 'salaried' position helps them integrate with the board(s) and gives us plenty of time to make sure they're a good fit for the position they are aiming for. It also helps solidify their interest in the game; I can't say I'd be as active as I am now (or as vocal) if I hadn't put forth the effort to become a Grader, and now feel like I have some input in the overall game.

As to rewarding for the members, what about their wages being one-fourth the total value of gains that the party of adventurers get? This would be the cash value of items and buyable mons, or the average character length needed for a story in Pokedollars for non-mart mons. That way, their reward is on par with what they would have gotten if they were actually participating in the adventure.

I would also say set a limit on the total value available based on level of the adventure; say, for first level, limit it to 30k worth of TM's and Pokemon that they can be rewarded with, with the specific rewards being left up to the DM. Second level could be 50k, 3rd could be 75k, etc. All numbers have been pulled from a specific darkened crevice and were based on an assumption of short-ish adventures; we could theoretically make it more scaling, with the total reward amount depending on the quantity of posts. Or say, perhaps, that every post in the thread gives you $1000 towards rewards, and once there's been 10 posts, the DM could find a way to reward a player with a Dratini, or something along those lines.

(BTW, totally tossing my name in the hat for a DM position if we choose that model )