Karud - Basic Setting

Dive into the world of Karud and explore Pokémon like you've (maybe) never seen them before! This RP is currently headed by our resident hitogoroshi with assistance from the typical Kaome and Rising_Dusk.
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VZhitogoroshi
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Karud - Basic Setting

Post by VZhitogoroshi » Sun Aug 17, 2008 1:14 am

[Reposted from The Construct]

"Seriously? Trainer battles were the only way they fought?
"Yeah. The Legendaries had some kind of influence, kept it all in line."
"Legendaries? Those are myths."
"But they WERE real."
"Seriously? I've heard the stories about them. What could kill Poke's like that?"
"No one knows. But they all left. That's when the fighting started."
"Us versus them."
"Us versus them. A lot of trainers killed their own, didn't realize that as long as your will was strong you still had control. Horrible times, man."
"That's when they changed, right?"
"Yeah, each one filling it's little niche. Some stayed cute and got the elite to coddle em. Some went feral and didn't rely on trainers, like Pikachu heading to the sewers. Some just got tough enough to stick around in our presence. Even though we can shoot them all we want, the best force is still a classic trainer. Six pokemon, and you can change the world.
"If you can control them."
"Hah! Yeah, the containment devices work a lot less, without the legendaries doing their part. That's why the trainer fields are still used. After all that work taming, you don't want them to die. Fight in the wild, they can die. Fight in a trainer field, and they'll live another day. That's why those fake fights are so important. It's a show of force. One trainers team against another, and then it doesn't have to come to force, because everyone knows who would win."
"But something doesn't make sense."
"Eh?"
"Aren't the trainers part of the battle?"
"Well, not usually. You can step outside the protection field, but take one hit, it's game over. It's a last resort."
"What's stopping a trainer from just getting a machine gun and going to town?
"Training. Any trained poke worth it's salt has plans for that sort of thing. You have to understand why they submit to training. They're the best. Best trainers and best pokemon find eachother.
"Like the Elite Four."
"Elite Four - they give me nightmares."
"Didn't you have a team to fight them once?"
"Yeah. But when you actually come up against them - well. You get to be a ruler of the world if you win...but you're not going to win."
"Makes you wish for the old leadership?"
"No, no, never. Sure, if an Elite Four member gets corrupt, you can't vote him out of office. But it's a meritocracy. The people running what's left of the nation are people who can take a team diverse enough to win and train them to work together. A lot better than what we got before."


Some basics.
  • Bad things have happened: - The world was torn apart in the ensuing warfare. It's slowly being built back. but most of it is still pretty trashed. No planes, cars are limited to emergencies, trains only on very short, local routes, etc. Basically, think present day technology level, but only on a small, individual level.
  • Bad things are continuing to happen: - Most towns have fortified walls that use a trainer field as an impromptu gate - can't be too paranoid, with wild Pokemon roaming almost everywhere. (No more of this tall grass crap!) The trained ones can talk and are much smarter than wilds. However, those who are trained and then escape usually marshal forces of ferals or, worse, form a force themselves.(It should be noted that even ferals are hindered by trainer gates – so they are “safe points” to ensure you don't get mobbed.)
  • Who's awesome? You're awesome!: As a trainer who can control six (it takes more willpower to have more, even captive) we're roleplaying top of the line characters. The threats are instead large organized forces (pack of Pinsers, Electrode Cannons, etc.) and, of course, the Elite Four. But in a one on one, our only real threats are eachother.
  • Lets skip the boring stuff: I don't want to watch you catch every pokemon. You start with them all. Go nuts. HOWEVER, there are no PC's – six is the limit. And at some point, it would probably be best to let one of yours go and catch a new one, for varieties sake.
  • Random roleplaying note: The areas won't be split into different threads. I think that's a big reason why our RP's die. We need to focus all of our activity and have a feedback reaction, or something.
  • Injuries: This is a big'un. There are no Pokemon Centers. The trainer fields prevent death, but if you're “KO'd” I doubt that thing is going to be in shape to leave it's ball for weeks. So don't overwork one Pokemon, and don't get in too many battles. You have to distribute labor equally, and if you over-use one I will throw out a “He's tired” note. So instead of PP, think of it in terms of Health and Energy. Either one can take you out of comission.

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Rising_Dusk
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Re: Karud - Basic Setting

Post by Rising_Dusk » Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:08 am

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"I'll come to Florida one day and make you look like a damn princess." ~Hep

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VZhitogoroshi
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Re: Karud - Basic Setting

Post by VZhitogoroshi » Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:56 pm

On Willpower

With the power issues we've been trying to nip in the bud, I think it's fair we talk about willpower. First off, I'd like to point out that the power/difficulty control curve is exponential. That means that only having one does not make it six times more powerful, it makes it maybe 2 times more than an average. That's why the six number is there, because having multiples is easier than one super.
Now, to talk about the various aspects of combat and how it relates to control.

Passive vs. Active Control

Passive control is what something takes in the pokeball. It's pretty low. That is, the control to keep them in the pokeball isn't much, and if you lose control a friend can probably take all your pokes without too much hassle. However, losing passive control is very very bad - as many of your pokemon can escape into the wild as they want. So you don't want your trainer to "white out" under any circumstances. (Unless of course, all of your pokes are knocked out themselves - can't escape when they are unconscious.)
[Special plot note: Dayrll's big charizard is in a special ball that mitigates this effect. Otherwise, no one could keep that thing contained.]

Active control is what it takes to keep them out. That's higher. That's why you only send out one or two at a time - if you send out too many, you could black out and lose them all. As a general rule, high energy low endurance pokes require more active control, while low energy high endurance ones take more passive control.

On Intelligence

One of the big things about our setting is that pokemon can talk. However, not all of yours can or should. The smarter the poke, the higher active AND passive control it takes. This applies even if it doesn't want to escape! Using my own character as an example - Marburg the Tentacruel is not my strongest, but he IS my hardest to control because of his intelligence and dislike of confinement. Kesshi has to carefully moderate his control to ensure Marburg doesn't escape - in fact, the only reason he's stayed confined this long is because he's not going to escape until he's near water. So while strategists take the mental burden off of you, they also tax your willpower quite a bit. And remember, stronger pokemon take more willpower - so if you go overboard with your lineup, you WILL have to dealing with focus issues.

I realize we've been a bit vague talking about being "overpowered", so hopefully this will show better the consequences of stacking your team. This is an open injuction - anyone who wants to edit or just have me look and tell you how hard it'll be to control your army is welcome to do so.

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