Pokemon Missions Discussion

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

i like both of the ideas and i would suggest using both of them however the second one has a few risk. i could see many abusing the 'power' that they have, by obtaining high rewards that a dungon master would not give them and not being monitored as often as needed. also there is the incative problem. if a dungon master is invative or unable to take contuie the mission, another Dungon master could be requested to take over. However if its somone running there own mission, it would be harder for smone to know what was going on to take over the role.

if anyone understand what i am saying, please feel free to right it in a way that others can as well.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

Regarding the ability to attain "Dungeon Master" status:

Personally, I much prefer HKim's second method over his first (a petitioning review system over a simple signup). For example, the road to Referee is (if I remember) a quiz and then a test, both of which the answers can be figured out/calculated, and there is a clear wrong/right. And this is fine, because battling is a numbers and strategy game. The road to Ranger (National Park), however, is a quiz and then an rp sample. The rp sample's quality is discussed by a board of high-ranking Rangers, and they decide as a group whether or not to instate the applicant as a Ranger.

I think the second option is much more suited to Dungeon Master applicants, because there are so many more variables when it comes to rping.

In battles, moves have set damage and accuracy, and they happen or not according to dice rolls and will do the exact same amount of damage every time. In the Park (and theoretically, this too) the quality of the posts should determine the effect of Pokemon attacks.

I mean, I like to think that a low quality Surf will usually beat a high quality Water Gun, but that's just because I enjoy the maths behind Pokemon. Regardless, the DM will have to decide on the effect attacks have, and that's something that there is no correct answer for. There are many different ways it could be done.

That's why I feel there should be some kind of review stage: there is no simple, clean-cut way of damage calculation that can be applied like in battles. The outcomes need to be fairly determined by the DM (like the Rangers in the National Park) and each person's definition of "fair" is different, thus necessitating this review stage.

Regarding Sennyo's worries of corruption, yes, this is possible. However, the URPG doesn't seem to have any higher-up power struggles that I can see, and in the one problem case I've seen since joining (names not being used) the problem was swiftly dealt with by the higher-ups and there have been no problems since. The URPG is built on a foundation of trust, and I believe that any DMs that pass a review stage wouldn't skew the campaign in their favour.

However, the other worry, about inactivity: yes, this is a problem. There is a solution to it, I just haven't thought of one. It's definitely something to think about, but at a later stage.

Just quickly, regarding campaign creation, I'd keep a fairly tight lid on this until the section itself is running smoothly. Have the higher-ups create three or four campaigns (two/three Beginner ones, and a Medium or so one) and just run them for a while, balancing issues and cleaning up until it runs smoothly. Then, you could create a Campaign Review Council, and these people take Campaign Submissions and review/tweak them until they work fairly.

I like the idea of basic, ordinary members being able to apply to run a campaign, but in reality, I have reservations about whether this would work. They'd need to be watched closely, and the CRC would probably get an insane amount of campaign applications. Once campaign applications become allowed, imo potential campaign designers have to pass the review stage first. Also, having just ordinary members run campaigns could make wages really, really painful.

I'm not going to launch into a discussion of wages and rewards, however, just quickly, I don't think the DM wages should correspond to the rewards of the players. This could encourage the DM the make life easier and more rewarding for the players so that the DM themself end up with mawr cashz. I reckon some kind of post payment system like the Rangers use (roughly $500 per post) would be the best way to do things. In any case, wages should be one of the last things to be worked out.

*looks up* Wow, I talk too much.

(btw would be interested in helping out and/or being a DM )

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

Sorry for the late response everyone, was away at vacation!

And I'm glad there are people interested in being DM's, I'll definitely start up a list to keep track of invested parties.

Anyway, I'll assemble some of the ideas discussed in the near future, but let's talk about the campaigns, that seems like a topic we'd probably all like to input on.

Like before, we can work it in quite a few different ways.

Wizards of the Coast, the publishers of Dungeons & Dragons, offer to the players a variety of pre-written adventures for the Dungeon Master to run. Certainly the players will vary from the written course, but generally the story is the same each time it is run. After all, there is only so much the DM can change before it becomes and entirely new tale.

In the same way, many computer games follow this course. Sometimes there are choices, but often the player follows and single storyline that has been written beforehand. Her friend, who also owns the game, plays through the same story no matter what. Regardless of how many people or how many times the person plays through the game, the story remains the same.

We could create, at least at first, 4 or 5 story lines for the Dungeon Masters to run their players through. Looking at our talent base here, it would be no challenge to put together an adventure for our eager roleplayers. Anyone can run through the adventure and the DM simply has to look at the written plot to figure out what each step is. If you play World of Warcraft, you could compare it to an Instance. Everyone plays the same scenario and it's easy to implement. That is the first method.

The second method is one that I think would allow for more creativity. Why create a set of adventures that DM's run over and over again? Why not simply allow members to create THEIR OWN adventures for other members? I think this is the true gem of roleplaying though certainly trickier to put into play.

Think of it this way. When we write a story or create a character, the idea is our own. We may take elements from other stories, but the unique combination of elements makes it something different entirely. In the same way, when you create an RP on the board, it's a new idea, one worthy of pursuing. That could be the same here.

A DM could submit an adventure idea to the URPG leadership for approval. If approved, the DM can gather a group of members together to run them through his story, one that is unique and never played through before. The players won't know what's coming, only that this adventure is one that only they shall participate in and no on else. A unique and special experience.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

I love this idea. It allows for both freedom of creativity and control over the results; the only caveat I would put on it is to have it set that a DM can't run an adventure they create until they've run at least 2 of the pre-published arcs.

A possible issue with this would be if there were a limited pool of folks interested in running the missions; assuming that people can't replay adventures they've already run, if we only have 20 people to play in them, there's a finite number of times that people can run those adventures. I don't think it'll be a problem, however, as they only need to run 2 of the 5 before they can do their own; and each person theoretically could be in all 5 different adventures.

Just a thought to make sure the people who want to run custom adventures have the quality we want them to have before we give them the reins. Though I imagine they should still be free to contribute stuff for custom adventures.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

^yeah, I really didn't want to waste forum space.


Well, in my own opinion, I would say that I prefer the first method of having a DM (the Name Pending thing) and have them available only through a test of some kind.

As I have seen it since joining URPG, a well tested, qualified person rules things much more smoother than an average Joe. Examples: I turn to the old Ultra Worlds RP section and also the Battle section of the site.

Ultra Worlds RP is, in my own bias opinion, an awesome and great idea for this site. The only problem was 1) Not enough people at the beginning and 2) anyone could run their own RP. The first one is a non sequitur in this post, so moving on to the second reason, I believe that because we could let anyone run an RP, some people (including myself) jumped into the water before learning how to swim. Trilroy, on the other hand, has ran a very decent RP and was the closest thing to a certified DM that Ultra Worlds had. Now with the addition of the Trainer's Estate, you can see where hard working, well knowledge RPers make the difference between success and failure.

Now, moving one to the Battle section, this section show how a well ran, well organized, and a staff of well tested Refs make the difference once again. I know, first hand, that becoming a ref isn't all laughs and giggles: you must know what you're doing and you have to work for it. With the ref quiz and ref test, the way of testing for an official in an area weeds out those that aren't serious about become one.

Now, not to say that other areas of the site aren't important or relevant to my argument, I just don't want to eat up any more cyberspace than I need to.

As I finish, I just have to stress how important it is to have people who know what they're doing. It has worked for refs, it has worked for graders, and it has worked for judges. Why wouldn't it work for DMs too?

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

One consideration that should really be accounted for is where to have these adventures. It seems to me, as a D&D player myself, that utilizing the forums would drastically slow down the flow of the adventures. D&D uses tons of tiny little scenarios, and without instant communication you lose alot of what makes these kinds of games so much fun and involving.

Using instant messengers easily solves this problem, though the problem there would be setting up chat rooms and making sure the chat doesn't crowd are both very hard to do in IMs.

Just food for thought

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

It's something I had definitely thought of; I figured the easiest solution would be to do the majority of the adventure meat on the forums in large chunks, but when we got to dramatic twists, climactic scenes, and tense battles, that we could move to an IM chatroom if everyone had the option; otherwise, things may move slowly, but if everyone arranged ahead of time to be online to post at about the same time, I think we could make that work.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

That definitely solves it, but would be complicated in its own right. Maybe the initial adventures would utilize few, if any, points where AIM would be needed, and as the player gets more comfortable with the whole set up (higher level), more and more switches to AIM could be used.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions: Advanced!

I support both methods, but I'm leaning a bit more towards the second. Many players will enjoy the variety between each story; and this is important. If story/plot creation would be a problem, a DM could work to approve stories before their creation.

As for it being on the forum or AIM, I feel that either could work, but a forum-based version would be more centralized and easier to run, at the minor cost of time.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions General Discussion

This sounds like an amazing idea, and I would be sure to try it.
But are there going to be a set list of rules, for stuff like Godmoding, and are there going to be rewards for completing a mission? I mean, if we save the world, we deserve something

 

Re: Pokemon Missions General Discussion

Yeah, that's already been discussed. Rewards would be given for completing Missions, but what exactly they are haven't been discussed in depth except for a general consensus that the rewards would be money/items as opposed to Pokemon. Think of it as an opposite to the National Park.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions General Discussion

I think rewards will come in two flavors: URPG Currency and RP.

Clearly the practical reward will be money or some sort of badge system like we plan to use for the Art competitions. Similarly, it wouldn't be out of place to award items that can be found in the Pokemart, especially items that you are likely to use in an RP such as potions. Practical rewards allow you to have something that you can use in other sections of the URPG.

RP rewards will be aspects like fame or reputation. This kind of reward isn't well thought out yet. How it can be implemented is a question for this group.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions General Discussion

Maybe, like the Art Contest, there can be a set of judges, who evaluate the process of the mission. If someone uses really poor grammar and only tries to bring the attention to them, they would get less money. If someone writes spectacularly, doesn't hog the spotlight and their character does a good job on the mission, they would recieve a higher payout

 

Re: Pokemon Missions General Discussion

Yes, this all seems to come back to the current discussion: whether to follow the current URPG System of designating some people in charge (Referees for battling, Graders for writing, Rangers for the National Park, Judges for Contest Battling) or to allow anyone at all to run a campaign and then have it reviewed at the end by a panel of senior people.

Personally, I'm for the first option. It's worked well so far and minimizes problems such as unbalanced campaigns and corruption.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions General Discussion

The fame and reputation could be implemented by allowing those with a higher fame and reputation to get to do harder missions, this would weedle out (sorry about the pun)those beginers jumping into a harder mission straight away. for beginer misions perhaps you would gain 5 reputation points. you could then collect these points and use them. Ie for a harder mission you could make it so you can only do it by giving up a certain amount of points maybe 10 or 15 points. your fame would just be used to show how good you are. through the same way as the reputation points you get the same amount of fame points as reputation. that way it is easier to show who is good, can also say implement an idea of people with fame points ranging from 0-10 can do beginner missions people with 0-25 can do beginner to slightly more experienced missions and so on and so forth further more I know contradicting myself i cant be bothered to go back and edit the reputation points could be used for special missions not just harder ones, such as maybe KEY missions that follow a larger story line.

Just my ideas, if anyone wants to ask me about them just send me a pm/vm or speak to me on aim.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions General Discussion

D&D meets Pokemon. This'll be fun! I'll be glad to help out with anything.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions General Discussion

Something that I've been wondering/thinking about is whether these campaigns will be linear or branched, like how much of your characters' alignment (assuming there will be alignments) you will be able to roleplay.

For example, take my (moderately bad) campaign idea about Poochyena laying siege to Littleroot Town. If the campaign was linear, then it'd largely be a matter of:

Start Campaign -> Sneak through -> Get info -> Fight way to Mightyena -> Defeat Mightyena - > End Campaign

If we allowed for a more sandboxey style of campaign, there could be options, such as:

Start Campaign -> Sneak through / Fight through / Bribe through -> Get info / Demand info -> Sneak to Mightyena / Fight to Mightyena -> Chase Mightyena off / Befriend Mightyena / Kill Mightyena -> End Campaign

By allowing for just a couple of choices at each major plot point, the campaigns can be kept fresh for a long time, and it also allows people to more accurately roleplay their Trainer. For example, it makes no sense for a battle-hungry Trainer to attempt to sneak past all the Poochyena. If a run is completely linear, it might as well be a set National Park run.

On the other hand, linear runs might be a good way for people to get their feet wet before trying the real thing. Opinions?

 

Re: Pokemon Missions General Discussion

I like and dislike the idea of leveling up after a certain amount of RPs done. It would mean more activity in this section. Which is great,Rps are awesome. Especially Pokemon related ones.

I also really like the idea of test running adventures, for people wanting to become DungeonMasters (Like myself )

Another thing, I think a Ceffa should be able to take down a Garchomp, as long as the roleplayer performed well. Stats from the actual game shouldn't hinder your ability to take an opponent down.Just because your pokemons in its first stage of evolution, shouldn't make it such an easy target. Thats something I've always disliked about the URPG.

 

Re: Pokemon Missions General Discussion

I think that in order for it to be fun, it would mostly have to be open. A good GM can worm the scenario into actually happening if the characters aren't cooperative.
Example:
GM: There is a reward for a girl who was lost in the Pokemon Mansion. Many people wish her back.
Player: Screw the Mansion, I want to go to the Pokemart!
GM: You walk along, and you eventually get lost and find your way into the Pokemon Mansion by accident. The doors slam shut as you enter.
Player: Crap! I guess I have to find my way to another exit!

 

Re: Pokemon Missions General Discussion

That's called railroading, and as a player, I despise having it happen. If a player is absolutely unwilling to follow the plot hooks / breadcrumbs, a better result would be to take them aside and explain that's what the plot is based around; if they still aren't willing to work with the plot, I'd ask them to leave. While there should be room for creativity and player options (for example, wanting to hit the Pokemart for items before you stage the raid on the mansion) just making the plot happen anyways ultimately makes the players an unnecessary addition to the game.