[Meta Thread] Dragonstrike's Pokerole Test Game: Mount Coronet Mystery

[Lord Windos]

Note: You don't have to come up with Stat Blocks for the Gyarados (or type them out), Dragonstrike. I ain't planning on using the ever for fairly obvious reasons, so you can save yourself the trouble of doing so!

Already typed it up by the time I saw this, lol.  Besides, there are some data points that you might find...interesting.

Plus, catching a pokemon is one of the few ways that you get to reeeeaaaaallllly analyze the design of some of the pokemon I create, and I'm happy to share!   (provided you spend the resources and time to obtain those pokemon for yourself, of course)

 
Well, you were right, those Gyarados and the Surprise(s)! they have ARE intriguing. It's raw Attributes are pretty low surprisingly for a Lv 70, but it's bulk and wealth of Moves/Specialties does balance that out. Particularly interesting thing about it is the Damage Reroll Mechanic it has, as that reminds me of the use of Luck as a stat in my campaign, only more specific but arguably more useful. Having access to Screech and Aqua Jet is also quite nice, but Ran's Gyarados (Which will be Male, btw, as I find the idea of a male dragon serpent getting totally emasculated by a bunch of little girls supremely funny!) being Happy with him, even only slightly, is perhaps the biggest surprise/Surprise! . If I had to guess, it's 'cause he forced the darkness out of them with Espeon's help?

Not entirely sold on the idea of still using them, though. They're certainly uniquely powerful in the best ways, but that doesn't change the fact that they're basically Sekmet but worse in terms of potential havoc they can wreck. That, and at 5 Disobedience it'll automatically try to ditch/rebel at Ran every step of the way until he gets its 8 total Loyalty/Happiness or finds a way to bargin with the easily angered and highly destructive carp dragon. If he ever ends up using it, it'll probably be in a situation of extremely dire need, as you don't unleash Godzilla unless everything is totally *&^% .

Also, just to confirm, those Gyarados were what I think they were, right? Don't want to really spoil things if neither Spirit or Phantom don't know, so you don't have to directly confirm it.

Going to post more tomorrow, mate. Getting tired now, and I want to savor that victory a little longer before it's time to move on.

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Well, you were right, those Gyarados and the Surprise(s)! they have ARE intriguing. It's raw Attributes are pretty low surprisingly for a Lv 70, but it's bulk and wealth of Moves/Specialties does balance that out. Particularly interesting thing about it is the Damage Reroll Mechanic it has, as that reminds me of the use of Luck as a stat in my campaign, only more specific but arguably more useful. Having access to Screech and Aqua Jet is also quite nice, but Ran's Gyarados (Which will be Male, btw, as I find the idea of a male dragon serpent getting totally emasculated by a bunch of little girls supremely funny!) being Happy with him, even only slightly, is perhaps the biggest surprise/Surprise! . If I had to guess, it's 'cause he forced the darkness out of them with Espeon's help?

Not entirely sold on the idea of still using them, though. They're certainly uniquely powerful in the best ways, but that doesn't change the fact that they're basically Sekmet but worse in terms of potential havoc they can wreck. That, and at 5 Disobedience it'll automatically try to ditch/rebel at Ran every step of the way until he gets its 8 total Loyalty/Happiness or finds a way to bargin with the easily angered and highly destructive carp dragon. If he ever ends up using it, it'll probably be in a situation of extremely dire need, as you don't unleash Godzilla unless everything is totally *&^% .

Also, just to confirm, those Gyarados were what I think they were, right? Don't want to really spoil things if neither Spirit or Phantom don't know, so you don't have to directly confirm it.

Going to post more tomorrow, mate. Getting tired now, and I want to savor that victory a little longer before it's time to move on.

You'd be surprised how high you can push a pokemon's levels just by teaching it level up moves.  A good chunk of the levels on Lucas's pokemon actually come from the sheer variety of moves they know.  It's kinda ridiculous.

Yup, that single point in happiness is due to freeing them from that darkness!  They may be a type of pokemon known for being rebellious and difficult to control, but they damn well know they were pretty f@#$% if you guys hadn't come along.  So...it's something, I guess?  *shrug*

I dunno.  What do you think they were?  (I'll clear out my PM box a little bit if ya want to double check your guesses/hypotheses that way.  Seems like I'm gonna need it fairly soon anyways...)

Edit: I have some space in my inbox again. I need to clean that damn thing out properly tomorrow, tbh.

[Lord Windos]

You'd be surprised how high you can push a pokemon's levels just by teaching it level up moves.  A good chunk of the levels on Lucas's pokemon actually come from the sheer variety of moves they know.  It's kinda ridiculous.

Yup, that single point in happiness is due to freeing them from that darkness!  They may be a type of pokemon known for being rebellious and difficult to control, but they damn well know they were pretty f@#$% if you guys hadn't come along.  So...it's something, I guess?  *shrug*

I dunno.  What do you think they were?  (I'll clear out my PM box a little bit if ya want to double check your guesses/hypotheses that way.  Seems like I'm gonna need it fairly soon anyways...)

Hmm...fair point you bring up, but I'm not too keen on purchasing Moves just to do so. Given that Pokemon are practically individual character in of themselves, purchasing Moves over Stats seems to be a poor idea unless they just don't have many options to work with in the first place or the Move you want to buy is really useful, as its the Stats that fuels everything about a Pokemon outside its Character Stats (Loyalty and Happiness). Even getting Surprises! is less appealing that going for straight Stats, as doing the later is probably cheaper and therefore a more efficient way of giving a Pokemon a power boost.

*Nods* Fair enough!

Well, I have a pretty good idea, but I can keep myself in suspense for the time being and remain truly ignorant of what those Gyarados were. Makes Ran's reactions more authentic that way!

[Dragonstrike]

Hmm...fair point you bring up, but I'm not too keen on purchasing Moves just to do so. Given that Pokemon are practically individual character in of themselves, purchasing Moves over Stats seems to be a poor idea unless they just don't have many options to work with in the first place or the Move you want to buy is really useful, as its the Stats that fuels everything about a Pokemon outside its Character Stats (Loyalty and Happiness). Even getting Surprises! is less appealing that going for straight Stats, as doing the later is probably cheaper and therefore a more efficient way of giving a Pokemon a power boost.

Stats are also where you get most of your levels from regardless And they give you loads of 'em, too. They scale a lot better for leveling than moves do.

So as you said, fair enough!

[Dragonstrike]

So, now that I've introduced my four major elements for my test game (Space-Time Distortion, Mystery Dungeons, Primal Pokemon, and Shadow Pokemon), what do you guys think of the story I've been weaving so far?  

I know we had a really long period where nothing was really happening, but now that we're getting into the meat of the plot, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

[Spiritmon]

So, now that I've introduced my four major elements for my test game (Space-Time Distortion, Mystery Dungeons, Primal Pokemon, and Shadow Pokemon), what do you guys think of the story I've been weaving so far?  

I know we had a really long period where nothing was really happening, but now that we're getting into the meat of the plot, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

To be perfect honest, I kinda feel now a jerk for be such a hurry and annoying person I act toward the time you been preparing the plot. I suppose I owe you apologizies.

Regard the plot, it is fascinating. The Primal Pokemon we might offer powerfull enemies more strong than normal for us to battle, along with the Shadow Pokemon. And these Mystery Dungeons and Distortions also show a extra mystery for us to discover. Who or what is causing such events? And more importantly, why?

I think waiting was worth, since so far this whole Coronet bussiness as been rewarding so far. And didnt expect the conversation work so well with Milotic.

You people gonna be surprised what me and Dragonstrike have stored.

[Lord Windos]

So, now that I've introduced my four major elements for my test game (Space-Time Distortion, Mystery Dungeons, Primal Pokemon, and Shadow Pokemon), what do you guys think of the story I've been weaving so far?  

I know we had a really long period where nothing was really happening, but now that we're getting into the meat of the plot, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Hmm....it'll take a little while to fully summerize my thoughts on this, but right now I can confidently say you certainly are doing a well enough job of mixing all these disparate elements together into a cohesive and rational story arc. The fact you've mostly telegraphed these element's introduction with characters that reference them but don't explicitly state it so as to keep some level of suspense is a nice narrative touch too, though it did spoil the surprise and impact of the elements somewhat . I'd be a lot more taken off guard about Mt. Coronet becoming a Mystery Dungeon (to some degree) if Scizors weren't around to explain it, for instance, and the resulting scenario would probably be quite puzzler IC for our protagonists to work out. 

The element I'm most uncertain about is the S-T Distortion aspect, as that has the potential to go horribly right or wrong if the things it can bring to the table or the influence it exerts over the setting gets out of hand. Right now you've done a fine job at managing it, but all it takes is one particularly interesting event to shake things up for us in an unpleasant way. The element also essentially turns the whole campaign into a sort of open ended massive cross over with any Pokemon relative universe you want to include, which is a fun idea in of itself, but I'm uncertain if future inclusions (or even current ones, potentially) will have a lot of story relevance or the opposite problem (too much).

The element I like most is the Mystery Dungeons, as they add quite a lot of spice in navigating and interacting with the campaign for both player and DM, and it opens up the possibility of potential replays that end up whole unique for new and old players (Which the S-T Distortion Element can significant help out with). They do have the potential to turn into a slog if our rolls for what rooms we end up with turn out to be crap outs or dead ends, but I imagine you have a certain amount of rooms per Floor limit that would reduce such long treks for all but the most super massive dungeon Floors. That, or you summon The Wind to kick everyone out of the Dungeon or where you need everyone to git too if we can't clear a Floor in time, but in the former case redoing the Dungeon would be a rather disheartening experience (as well as wholey detrimental, due to all reality breaking down at a steady, unhalting rate), and in the later wherever we end up will probably be terrible to reflect our failure to progress through the former challenges.

Finally, I'm somewhat concerned by the fact that it feels like the group is either going to be stuck in the Mystery Dungeon for a quite a bit and it's going to end up somewhat taxing on us, or we'll breeze through it quickly enough but have little time to really benefit off the Treasures/Pokemon we acquired within it before confronting the Big Bad for the campaign, after which point the game will end and such things don't matter unless they carry over in some way to your proper campaign. The story progression is great so far, and its all enjoyable so far (for me, at least), but I'm worried I won't get the chance to have Ran try to build up his bonds with his new/old Pokemon (Like with Sekhmet, Belladona, or the new Paula, who probably Evolves based on Maxed Happiness/Loyalty, unless you decide to follow the main game's approach on Friendship Evos, which means I'll have to increase her Level when she ha high enough Happiness/Loyalty) or grow his own character before things come to the inevitable climatic head. Game would still be a great experience in the end (provide we all don't fail horribly in our quest, or something happens that undermines the whole experience), but I'll always feel I 'missed out' on what I could've achieved. Which could be partially my fault for not focusing on that stuff, but the time I had to do so is also a factor.

Overall, I think you've done a good job at the story you've made so far, narratively speaking, which is remarkable consider this is your first proper campaign you've made and DM. Then again, you had Iron's and my to drawn upon as a foundation for yours (and what not to do, mostly drawing from the mistakes I made with mine), so I guess you've just been a good study! 

Mechanically speaking....I have my own set off criticisms about the campaign, but I'm saving them up until all's said and done with it, and see if they're really so bad in retrospect or if I'm just taking them out of context based on what I'm used too.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

So, now that I've introduced my four major elements for my test game (Space-Time Distortion, Mystery Dungeons, Primal Pokemon, and Shadow Pokemon), what do you guys think of the story I've been weaving so far?  

I know we had a really long period where nothing was really happening, but now that we're getting into the meat of the plot, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Well, I like it so far, I don't really know whatelse to say... The pace is fine, the battles are tense without being too hard and the Encounter Lists are good so far, I especially like that lots of colors are used in the posts themselves since I'm the visual type of person. The Mytery-Dungeon-Parts are my clear favorite so far because dungeon-crawling.

The only negative point for me is that.... Well, I do feel a tad bit overwhelmed and semi-confused that all of these four major elements are thrown at us almost simultaneously, or so I at least feel: Like previously nothing plot-wise-important was happening and now the whole plot has unfolded itself so sudden, this feels a bit...tiring? It's hard to describe. On the other hand, a test game doesn't really leave space to build things up slower, that's reasonable.

Oh, and I know nothing about Shadow Pokemon bar that they exist and that they're corrupted in some way since that aspect of Pokemon never really interested me like others aspects, if that matters? Means, Kee will/does know nothing about these at all.

Something I'm also curious about is how the issue with Kee's Stats and his Pokemon's Stats is handled, since I'm leaning into keeping him for a Main Game, too many Pokemon by now I don't wish to give up on.

[Dragonstrike]

Thank you for your thoughts everyone.  A few comments of my own concerning them:

- Currently, I am still trying to play it safe with the amount of stuff I'm adding.  So while the S-T distortions give me a lot of freedom concerning what I can add, I don't wish to go too overboard.  I have my main elements introduced, and I'll be sticking with those.

- Concerning things that will transfer to my main game should characters make the jump, I have a few plans for how to handle that.  If you don't have the time to take advantage of some things now, you should be able to do so at a later point.  There's still lots of character backstory stuff I'd like to experiment with in the future, so fitting in things that happened in this test game shouldn't be too difficult.

- Concerning the NPCs explaining the new elements when I introduce them, that's kind of the result of two things.  

• One, me wanting to play it a little safe with the concepts of this test game, even though the plot is certainly...ambitious, to say the least.  You guys have an idea of what you're dealing with, so it makes it a little easier to manage, both on my side and yours (easier for you guys to give me input on those elements, for example).  
  
• Two, the 'talking' Lucario kinda makes it easy to get information from characters it would normally be difficult to get specific information from, lol.
  

Of course, knowing what you're dealing with is quite different from knowing exactly what's going on, and that's where the bulk of my storytelling is likely going to lay, at least for the test game.

- Concerning Kee's stats and stuff should he specifically make the jump to the main game, as I have stated previously, I will work on his pokemon's stats myself since they will end up being more like individual characters in my main game.  Kee's stats...well, let's just say I have a special plan for the player characters, so I'm not too concerned about that atm.  I'm glad to hear that my game's caught your interest, Phantom

- It's fine if Kee doesn't know much about Shadow Pokemon. IC, it's one of the lesser known facts about the pokemon world, after all. Orre's not a very large, well known region.

We're nearing the end of this little one-shot test game, and I'm excited to be putting some of my long term plans into action at long last.  I hope you're all ready for the rest of Mount Coronet!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

We're nearing the end of this little one-shot test game, and I'm excited to be putting some of my long term plans into action at long last.  I hope you're all ready for the rest of Mount Coronet!

Oh I certainly am~ ...After I decided which TMs I'd like to have, but I can still do that in-chara-wise in a flashback, so there's no direct need to wait for me.

Here's also that map of the first Floor that I've crudely handdrawn, does it match with your GM-version of the Floor's map? Just curious whether I got things right!~