Two things

[holofluff]

First - any suggestions for what this PMDrp should be named?

Secondly, and more importantly - off to take my English graduation requirement exam, hoping for the best...!

update: that was the easiest test I've taken in years. Kind of makes me worry - this is the minimum requirement? o_O the fuck is happening in our school system?

Comments

[holofluff]

I...don't like Macs, they work weird and I can never figure out where anything is Dx

well, the NPC cast is pretty much all original, so Chatot's out...I was thinking of having one account for all of the shopkeepers, to cut down on the number of NPC journals we'd have to keep track of. Kangaskhan and the Kecleon Brothers are standard PMD fare, so they're still in their positions (relatives of the Treasure Town crew? idk the idea of the Kecleons being the Jenny/Joys of this universe amuses me), the box-opener is a Shedinja, haven't decided on the move technician or banker, there won't be a dojo around until later because that takes modding and needs to wait until everything is running smoothly.

Uhm, Wingull is sort of...hm. IC, he puts SOS Mails and Guild Association announcements on the Bulletin Board, greets newcomers, delivers messages, and is the go-to Tutorial Guy. OOC, he is the chief mod account.

Castform's account posts the Pokemon Gazette once a month, which contains the next month's weather summary for the Archipelago, any big "news stories" (keeping characters ICly in-the-know), upcoming shop events or organized expeditions...stuff like that. That, like the Dojo, won't get started for a while.

Also - and I think this'll go in the shopkeeper's account - there is an Abra. It is the explanation for SOS Mails. Abra is, as canon states, perpetually asleep - however, is maintains a telepathic radar that picks up "distress signals" from anyone in need of an exploration team, and creates an SOS Mail which is then posted by Wingull. Its gender is unknown because it never wakes up. It would have a post in its journal where people can put "player SOS Mails" - basically, a player character in need of rescue rather than the usual random NPC fare. Hopefully, this won't happen often.

.....bloargh okay maybe I'm overthinking everything. t-trying to figure out a system so that this doesn't get too high-maintenance...

[kitsune_prophet]

I've had a mac for about a year and a half now. We're bros. Failure bros but bros nonetheless. It hates the internet but man does photoshop run beautifully on it.

Move technician --> Smeargle?
Banker --> Shelgon? (You know, dragons hoarding treasure etc etc)

We could set up a handful of smaller NPC 'guilds' for people that want to start with one instead of going with their own team. I could manage a couple of those with relative ease so that you don't have to worry about the complications of it.

Such would also be a perfect excuse for me to have my dynamic duo of Persian and Ninetales from my playthrough of PMD. Felix and Enya... Team Cream! Whip up the bad guys and bring home the butter!

[kitsune_prophet]

We could set up a handful of smaller NPC 'guilds' for people that want to start with one instead of going with their own team.

*Also it might be good to force characters that otherwise wouldn't get along together and mix-match "Teams" for missions. Because well. UNWILLING CHARACTERS MAKES GOOD CR A LOT OF TIMES.

[holofluff]

aha, I was thinking about the way teams are arranged...

Characters from the same canon are probably going to congregate, as seems to be the case in panfandom RPs. So it's likely that of the ones that end up being explorers (and that's only a portion, since some characters will stick around town and take up other occupations), most teams will be groups of two or three canonmates.

But I like the idea of guilds. Just like the maingames...have a guild in town to train individual explorers and pair them off for missions, then award special privileges to those who graduate. Or stuff. Y'know.

Shelgon = Banker and Smeargle = Move Guy, that sounds wonderful, adding that to the list~

And there should probably be a few mod-controlled rescue/exploration/treasure hunter teams, yeah, to provide IC inspiration or example or whatever. And kick off new-dungeon events. And give Castform something to write about if nothing's happening.

[kitsune_prophet]

Well yes but so long as they're under the guild they get to be mix/matched with others, heheh. A bit unlike the games since you had your bro with you at all times, so you were matched with your own group of three and could bring a bro if you wanted. If it's panfandom we can't very well just let them up and run off on their own all the time. Hahah the way this is starting to organize is starting to remind me of my first rp, Sorting Hat RP.

Of course there would be the daily small jobs for them to do offscreen but if they want big jobs they'll have to consult guilds. Or receive assignments from guilds. And we can have guilds that specialize in a certain type of mission, too! For example the ninetales/persian guild could focus more on retrieval of stolen items/treasure hunting, or something. That way characters that aren't really mentally strong in terms of fighting don't have to go to too many events involving battle. And events don't have to be guild-exclusive, either. Probably just expeditions.

Needs town elder. :|a Or someone similar to help introduce newbies to the town until the characters start doing it themselves and otherwise showing up to tell old stories and maybe unlock events.

Oh I could whip up teams in a second if the thought presented itself, pfft.

[holofluff]

Yup. Permanent teams are permanent teams - probably people who worked together in their own world - but most would go into a guild and get paired off for different missions. Gonna try to work out on paper how the guild system runs...

How about this? Each established team has a weekly "allowance" that basically assumes that the team does small jobs offscreen each day, and adds a small amount to their Shelgon Bank account once a week. Actually playing out bigger jobs - of the kind posted on the Bulletin Board - nets a whole lot of money and item rewards. Guild members don't get an allowance, but are allowed to use guild supplies when out on approved missions, so they don't have to worry about buying Oran Berries and Heal Seeds and the other basics.

I love the guild specialization idea. Again, we'll have to hold off for a bit - the first island is sort of eensy, and the "town" is really just a base camp, but once the explorers hit the second (main) island, there's like this whole few square miles of grassland to settle. That'd be a good opportunity to put the dojo and guild system into play.

Exploration really falls into three categories...civilian rescue/escort/assistance, treasure hunting/pure exploration, and bounty hunting. So three guilds in all, maybe?

[kitsune_prophet]

Well yes.

But there should still be ONE guild to sort of, you know, give the players a place to chill until their characters adapt. Perhaps one guild (meant more for helping folk) could be right off town, while the other two are a bit out of the way and could come in and open recruits for apprentices later on.

I personally don't think we should run a money system, and just let the players either pay mind to that or ignore it completely. Shopkeepers themselves could be sources of events. Like, the Kecleon brothers have those fake items and don't realize it, pff.

Each guild should be relatively large and/or able to expand. Set in forests where treehouses can be built, or in a mountain where tunnels can be excavated, etc.

I can take care of the guilds entirely myself so that you don't have to fuss with that specifically. But while the guilds may open events, we should maybe have another mod willing to take care of the events themselves.

[holofluff]

sounds like a plan! I'm working on the map of the first island, but forests are being a biiiiitch so I might just end up doodling something and sending you a photo so we can work on locations before I go too crazy with the spritemap hurgh

....that's a better idea, actually. Now I think about it, keeping track of money would be...tedious. Just tell the players to keep their inventory within reason. Put a limit on things like Reviver Seeds and scarves and stuff. And the shopkeepers are there for ic interaction and things.

That makes sense. This archipelago is so much Pokemon Geography in that there's a volcano and mountain ranges and a snowy place and jungles and grasslands and a freaking desert all sort of mashed together, but man nobody even blinks because IT'S THE FREAKING WORLD OF POKEMON \o/ PARTAAAAAY

...yeah, erm. Locations aren't a problem. :Db

thanks! So that's the guild system taken care of...we'll need a mod whose main job is to play DM on plot expeditions, too. I thought about having mods sort of pass DM duty around, but that could get messy with continuity...? Anyways, that job requires ~creativity~ in spades, to keep it from being crazy wild Pokemon and earthquakes over and over again....

[kitsune_prophet]

Yep yep just scribble something legible, make some notes and I'm sure I could construct a map. Kyo is better at spritework but I'm no slouch myself. Maybe I'll look something up that will set up the map so that if you scroll over it you can see the label of the place. That will take forever to figure out and forever more to do it but still.

The guilds shouldn't be TOO far from town, just a minute or so beyond the outskirts and closed off until the guild returns from a massive expedition. In fact if we have it THAT way, we could both introduce a new guild AND a new section of map.

I mean we can all contribute a joint effort in events, but we'll need someone willing to pay close attention to massive mod posts and tag as NPCs where appropriate. TBH I don't know any other pokefans that are really really big PMD fans so I can't really help there. You'll be the head mod of course, taking care of the framework of the community, I'll be fleshing out the guilds and other structure involving the players themselves and we may need a third to play the part of NPCs in massive events, i.e. bad guys with humongous bounties or the occasional legendary etc etc. Of course we'll all have to do a little of everything, but having specialties lying in areas makes it easier for us to do a better job I think.

[holofluff]

I was trying to be an analretentive little twitch and actually sprite it in PMD2 Wonder Map style but this is as far as I've gotten and that's only the first island, the second is like twice the size Dx I THINK I'M DOING IT WRONG

That works! It makes IC sense that the guilds would be out exploring pretty much perpetually, because this is a newly-discovered chain of islands...so the chars would hang around a bit, and when the guild came back for business they would bring back another piece of Wonder Map~ Yeah, that's a great way to do it.

Yeah I see what you mean there. Personally there are a handful of NPCs that I am ridiculously attached to and want to mod when it comes to that, b-but otherwise yeah we need a big NPC person. That was one of the things bothering me, I don't know where to advertise a request like this/most PDers are busy with life/I don't want to recruit my rl friends for a variety of reasons/WHERE CAN I HAVE CO-MOD D8

yeah.

[kitsune_prophet]

Doodle it, then sprite over top of the outline?

And if we want to expand even further, lol more expeditions.

Hum. No other people have come forth to offer?

[holofluff]

I need to get my scanner working. D:

Ran's busy with modding...something else, but she's sticking around to give advice...and what's there on that anoncomm thread is all I got.

Saw something farther down in a Route 29 thread about anon thinking about apping into the upcoming PMD game, though.

[kitsune_prophet]

Hmm...

Well, I don't think it'll hurt to give Kyo a ping.

And tbh we could probably start without our honorary third mod and have mod applications after we get some players nice and cozy. Until then we can split the difference.

[holofluff]

I'm...a bit uneasy about bothering him, since he's a mod at Luceti, right? But I guess it couldn't hurt...?

That could work! Just...look for a mod once the player count starts to rise, I guess?

[kitsune_prophet]

I mean that he might know someone willing to help/have suggestions.

Right. For now two should be good!

[holofluff]

Ah! Right. -derp- I do need to be stalking formal RPs and asking around, so that I have some idea of what goes on...

th-there was actually a thread a few pages later about being uneasy with young mods. They used 16 years as an example. This makes me very nervous. >//