[lunacat16]

Ok so basically, the concept is right in there. I'm thinking of an RP that really captures the...I guess essence, of the PMD games. Not so much the walking through a bunch of narrow corridors, but the whole idea of going out and exploring this new place and not knowing what can happen, with risks but also with a ton of rewards, and fighting against evil with the power of friendship and all that.

The AU part mostly comes in because the RP would use gjinkas instead of just plain old Pokemon. Mostly because I myself can't really get involved without animanga fcs mostly a problem of mine really. They'd be like shifters though, so it would be more like humanish form for interactions and such and Pokemon form for actual fighting. It's mostly just an interesting little twist, and could be used as the subject of site plots in the future.

The main idea I've got so far is that years ago in that particular region, a distortion came over much of the land that produced Mystery Dungeons and also drove a lot of Pokemon to be mad and feral. The small area unaffected, including the town hub, now has Pokemon coming together in exploration teams to both rescue folks stranded out there, apprehend outlaws taking advantage of the mess the distortion is causing, and trying to figure out its cause and stop it.

The main drive behind the RP's story would be pretty much just exploring. A lot of areas would pretty much only be spots on a map without a name until people had enough threads in it, and then it would be sort of 'revealed'. Threads in those areas would likely be subject to NPCMod interruption though, which might be a downside for some folks? There would be a lot of randomly generated events, from enemy encounters to finding items to maybe even finding a path to another place? It would be taking the 'random dungeon' aspect from the games up to eleven, you could say. Team ranks could be earned by both completing missions and derping around, and that would let you access more higher level places, and through it figure out the whole mystery.

No levels or overly complicated stats though. Eugh. Probably just that you can't be a Charizard at the most basic team rank, because that would also have to do a lot with how strong you are already,,,

So yeah. Basic gist: PMD but with shifters/gjinkas, and a more story-driven exploration plot. I have more info written up for this and I will likely go through with it regardless of response/lack of response, but I just kinda want to see if there'd be anyone out there who'd be interested in the concept.

[GIA ♥]

i'm not one to join many sites at once i currently only rp on one and plan to beta another shortly but i would be interested in joining this site. i love playing gajinka/shapeshifters, granted i tend to prefer that in a setting where my gijinka has / can have a trainer. nonetheless, i like this concept as well.

i wouldn't be able to play an actual pokemon either, i can't rp as anything other than an animanga fc. you are not alone. the feature of being humanoid when interacting normally with other characters and being a relatively normal pokemon for battles can be taken two ways though. on the one hand, it brings in the shifting which is pretty cool. on the other, it brings up the question of 'why can't they use their moves in humanoid form?' i'm okay with the shifting, just thought i'd mention that.

the way you're planning to do the dungeons is amazing, i love it. the locations being 'unknown' until they're well explored is an interesting way to go about it. it'll be fun to watch new locations open up as the rp grows. i, for one, don't mind npc-mod interruptions in this kind of site. it makes sense to have them, the site wouldn't function as well without them.

[lunacat16]

I might make an exception in the case of special moves like Psychic, or for stuff that their human forms might naturally have, like someone with claws being able to use Slash. Humanoid forms have their own pros though, specifically in that they might have weapons that they couldn't use if they were, say, an Espeon, and in that they're generally more suited to figuring out some of the puzzles in the old ruins. So it's not so much that one form is useless for dungeons, it's just different uses. I'm still kind of juggling things about, but I do want to get a balance so that neither form really falls by the wayside, but people can still pick which one they'd prefer IC.

[GIA ♥]

that makes sense enough. there are a lot of moves out there that don't require any particular 'pokemon aspects' like wings of claws. i would suggest choosing maybe two moves per type that anyone -of that type- can use in their humanoid form. lower level moves, maybe, to give incentive to use the pokemon forms? of maybe do it on a level curve? here's what i was thinking:

since you'd rather not use actual levels, to keep things simple, maybe grant new moves on an evolution base?

in their humanoid form, a charmander would have ember. it's a basic 40 power move that wouldn't be terribly out of place being used by a gijinka. upon evolving into charmeleon, the gijinka gains incinerate, which is a base 60 power move. and then charizard would gain fire pledge, a base 80 power move.

the same general layout could be applied to every other type, though some may have slightly stronger or weaker moves at any given level.

the problem, then, would be pokemon that don't evolve and a line with only one evolution. there would need to be a way to track their progress and level their moves as well. i'd probably base their level on their post count, for every 20 posts you gain a new attack. with that method, you could gain attacks in the base power groups of 20, 40, 60, 80. and 100. maybe have everyone start out with tackle or something until the hit 20 posts.

and for anyone who makes it to 150 posts, i think most, if not all, types have an attack in that range as well. though that would be as high as it could go.

anyway. being generally more suited to figuring out puzzles and having the capability of carrying some kind of weapon would make up for only having the one 'type based' move a gijinka would have. having claws or fangs would give you bonus attacks as well, so it could be rounded rather nicely. you could limit gijinka to two forms of physical attack (claws and fangs, fangs and a sword).

that all makes it possible to battle in humanoid form, but you'd have access to more moves and abilities as a pokemon.

- - this became more of a discussion, on my part, than an interest check. xD sorry about that. i just couldn't help but tell you what ideas popped into my head. i look forward to seeing the site though! maybe i could help a little? if you like my ideas, i mean.

[lunacat16]

Mhm. Like you know how the PMD games have ordinary 'attacks' that aren't moves and are less powerful? I think it'd kind of be like that for humanoid forms. So while they can use the equivalent of Surf or something, it wouldn't have nearly as much of an effect. And the two moves idea sounds awesome! Though perhaps just one type-related move like Surf and then a status move like Growl? Because the basic physical attacks could probably just not be counted as a move, seeing as they'd be weaker versions of an actual Double Edge or Slash.

And hm, the level stuff is difficult. I mostly just don't want to use, say, word counts and have to keep track of that/have to make other people keep track of that, or have to make judgment calls for leveling up myself cause that's a bit vague. That's mostly why I'm looking at the team ranks themselves as sort of 'level judgments'.

Like, at the basic rank, you could learn moves up to level 15 or 20. Above that, up to 30. Above that, up to 40. People don't have to start out at the lowest rank either since it's both a judgment of how strong you are and the stuff you do, so I think that gives a pretty good leeway as to what species you can be? Still debating on whether to stick to the traditional four moves set for Pokemon or to change it up.

And nah, it's cool! Discussions are great and your ideas are pretty dang awesome. and yes help would be awesome, i could pm you with the plot and stuff so far if you'd like,,,

[GIA ♥]

i've only played through one pmd and it's been ages. x] so i'm not entirely sure what 'ordinary attacks' you mean unless you're talking about surf and strength and other 'attacks' that can be done be regular people. the should so let plays swim and stuff in future games... and all basic physical attacks would fall with that because, really, what humanoid couldn't punch or swing a sword?

keeping track of individual levels can be pretty time-consuming and complicated. using the post count would cut back on that, but you'd need to find a good level-post ration. one lever for every 5-10 posts of something. but i also just had another idea for that. maybe keep track of how many dungeons a character has explored and reward moves based on that? -- the previous idea, where leveling gains moves, could be gaining the new move and replacing the old. they'd only have the one type-based move, it just becomes more powerful.

that being said, awarding a 'move upgrade' based on team ranks would probably be the simplest way to go. it would tie in to the original idea you had for 'levels'. and depending on how many ranks there are, there could be a very good range of attack powers to gain.

i, personally, tend to start at the lowest level, where possible, but it would really depend on the pokemon i chose to play. i think that'll probably be a similar mindset for other rpers. at least, i don't think many people will choose pokemon like charmander and start at a high rank. but who knows.

you could find some kind of balance for the move sets? maybe have it so that pokemon can have two status moves and four attacks? you could also do three and three or three and five. (as long as it totals even.) that way everyone has a few more moves to choose from and don't always spam the same one. two and four is probably the most balanced, as most people probably wouldn't keep the status moves at all if they only had four slots total and they don't really need more than two. but i don't know. that's just how i'd prefer it.

you can definitely pm me what you have so far!

[lunacat16]

Like, you could just press A and your Pokemon would attack, and it wasn't a move and didn't expend PP or anything, but it was weaker and you'd get less experience points if you only used that to defeat enemies. So that could work in place of taking up a normal physical attack slot for the humanoid form?

Post/level would work, but there's also the question of post counts in different boards too, or the content of the posts. If you're exploring a dungeon and have had very few actual battles, or spend most of the mission walking around before finding your objective, would that work for a level gain? Even if you took off post counts from some of the more casual areas like towns, it's still a bit subjective.

There'd be quite a few ranks, and the more ranks you got, the smaller the 'equivalent level' window would be. When you increased in rank, you could have the ability to change your moves depending on which Pokemon you were, and also to evolve, though I think that'd be more left up to the player? Like they could choose whether they wanted to evolve right away or wait a bit for a more fitting occasion -- though Pokemon with multiple evolutions in the same 'rank level' would have to wait a bit between stages.

Mhm! Though it'd be impossible to start at a higher rank if you were just a Charmander. It's mostly to give people a good starting variety, like if they wanted their character to be a Weavile, which could take a while to get to otherwise because of the item and level up requirement.

Ahhhh the two/four idea does sound awesome. I think I'll go with that Pokemon-wise.

alright. the site doesnt have a skin or anything yet so i'll just send you the plot info and stuff!

[GIA ♥]

oh, you mean when your pokemon just kinda jolts forward? xD it was just a weaker tackle or something, right? that could certainly be an option for the humanoid forms. and, theoretically, you could allow the humanoid forms to used most of their pokemon form moves, the power would just be halved.

that is true. going by post count would be a bit unfair in that aspect. it wouldn't be fair for someone to gain levels faster because they're just walking around and making shorter posts, when compared to someone who's accomplishing things and making longer posts. the ranks definitely keeps things more fair.

it would probably be a bit better to have the 'equivalent level' window be a bit on the smaller side, simply because gaining moves and evolving would be a bit more fair that way. with a bigger window, there would be room for some pokemon to gain access to fairly overpowered moves in comparison to other pokemon. i think that would probably also space out evolutions a bit better as well.

i should think about what pokemon i'd want to use. so that i can, in turn, decide if i'd want to start with one of it's evolutions. -- i'm sure plenty of people would definitely appreciate being able to start off as a later stage pokemon.

two/four for regular pokemon. how were you thinking of doing the humanoid moves? or were you going to go with the 'watered-down' versions of the its pokemon-form's moves?

that's fine, i can wait to see the site x]