Pokemon Mage: OoC and sign-ups open!

[Ysavvryl]

Pokemon Mage

The region of Hoenn is home to many ancient traditions and mysteries, the most prominent being related to the land's three major deities: the land-raiser Groudon, the sea-master Kyogre, and the mysterious sky dragon Rayquaza. But in the past year, strange things have been occurring. Black flames can be seen on top of Sky Tower and the spirits of Mount Pyre have been unusually restless. The waters of the eastern island chain have been rough with storms, while the rains have slowed around Route 119 and Fortree. Perhaps more worrisome, the shrine of Groudon near Lavaridge has seen unusually heavy rains while the shrine of Kyogre near Dewford has been experiencing a drought. No one is certain what is going on.

Despite these signs, it is late March and the time has come to initiate a new group of Pokemon mages.


Your role

You are one of these young students of magic who has come to Professor Birch's magic and science research lab in Littleroot Town to have your guardian Pokemon summoned. From there, you can seek out an apprenticeship to one of the great wizards of the region (many in the Pokemon League) or strike out and learn on your own by following the League's mage challenge. You might become involved with the strange occurrences to help solve them, or you might even become the next Magic Champion of Hoenn. It's all up to you.


My role

I won't have my own character in this game, as I'll pretty much be running the 'world'! I'll control plot important NPCs, give you potential challenges, and maybe even give you some gifts based on performance. I do have a plot in mind, but I'm mostly concerned about making sure you players have fun and get to explore your character and this world freely.  

[Ysavvryl]

Rules and Character Sheets

Rules

1. Be respectful of your fellow players. This includes keeping spells and abilities reasonable, being polite and friendly, and not using another's characters without permission. NPCs not currently under my control are free to use.

2. Keep things at a PG-13 level. Romance is okay, but no sex. Don't be excessively gory in descriptions.

3. Please use regular English, not text talk or chatspeak. Thankfully, I'm not much of a grammar nazi; I'm fine as long as its legible. xd

4. If you want to use a post style for this game, send an example to me by PM for approval first. I don't mind most, but I am light-sensitive to a degree and some post styles and colors are literally painful for me to read. After all, it would be hard for you to participate if I can't read what you're doing.

5. You will need a human mage and a Pokemon guardian to post your sign-up in this thread You may sign up with one extra Pokemon, but any others you will need to capture.

6. When you want to capture a Pokemon, tell me what your character is looking for and I'll use a dice roll to decide how difficult it is to find and acquire. You'll need to add the new Pokemon to your team by editing it into your character sheet.

7. You may have up to six Pokemon on your active team; any more than that need to go into storage. Except for the guardian; the guardian must be with your character at all times, but it can be not actively on the battle team as a seventh Pokemon.

8. We'll be sticking to Hoenn for this game, so please no travels out of the region!

Recommendation

Not a rule, but my personal preference... the Pokemon your character trains should be treated as their own characters, not just things that your character uses. Give them their own personalities, friendships, and quirks so that the team is made up equally of the Pokemon and the human. Of course, if your character doesn't believe in such equality, that's fine too, but still write the Pokemon well and have fun with them.

I will have a separate thread for the story, so OoC chat and profiles will be posted in here.

Character Sheets

Human

Name:
Age: (preferably in the 10 to 15 age range, but I will take older characters that have good reasoning behind it)
Goal: (what your character plans to do, such as get an apprenticeship with a particular canon character or to become the League Champion)

Description: (physical description, just to give me an idea of what s/he looks like. Tekteks are fine, but I'd like to get an idea of your writing style and skills either here or in the following fields)

Personality: (remember that a guardian evolves with the mage's development)

History: (just some idea of what their life was like, no need to go overboard)

Spells Known: (keep this updated as much as you can. You will start with the moves your guardian knows, plus Detect Magic and Mail as those are taught at the summoning ceremony. Also, some moves have different functions as spells, such as Sweet Scent, but I will explain as you acquire them.)

Guardian

Name:
Species: (Any non-legendary is fine, but if it is a multi-stage, then it must be in its first stage)

Personality: (guardians are summoned from their partner, so they will be similar to the human character. However, they might also represent a hidden part of their partner's personality.)

Moves: (try to keep this updated with game developments. Assume your guardian starts at level 5 with basic moves. Once you're accepted, I'll give your guardian a few extra moves.)


Pokemon

Name:
Species: (as stated, you may start with one extra Pokemon if you wish. Any non-legendary)
Origin: Where, when, or how your character got this Pokemon. If it's an unusual Pokemon for Hoenn, there should be an acceptable reason for its presence.

Personality:

Moves:  

[Ysavvryl]

Character List

(will be updated once I get characters approved and NPCs fully formed)  

[Ysavvryl]

Common Knowledge and News

These are things that most everyone in Hoenn will know. If a question gets asked or an idea posted that I think qualifies for here, I'll add a copy to this list. I'll also add news updates to this post; you might even see one of your accomplishments here!


The current Magic Champion of Hoenn is Steven Stone with his Metagross guardian Argent. The current Trainer Champion of Hoenn is May Birch, the daughter of Professor Birch; she's not a mage or wizard, but is respected for her skills all the same.

A couple of days after the guardian summoning ceremony, a new Gym Leader named Norman will be inducted into the League at his Gym in Petalburg. Part of this includes a battle between the current Magic Champion and the new Leader (so it will be partly a battle demo). However, it's rumored that the new Leader won't be accepting low-level challengers for some time.

There is a group in Hoenn that claims that the current hierarchy of wizards and the Pokemon Leagues is a conspiracy to keep power within a chosen few, but many believe them to be grasping at straws. It is unknown where the group operates out of; in fact, much about them is uncertain.

There's a local legend about the lake on Route 120, that if you go to the island cave on a new or full moon, you might end up in a nightmarish dungeon run by a cruel ghost and will die if you don't escape by dawn. The truth of this is uncertain, as contradictory reports exist about what's really there.  

[Ysavvryl]

Magic

And now to the nitty-gritty mechanics. Some of the finer details of Pokemon magic will come out through gameplay itself as your characters learn, but here's a quick tutorial about it.

Terms

Guardian: A special Pokemon that partners with a human in order to enable better use of magic. Guardians cannot be kept in Pokeballs, but they can turn into a fairy-like ball of light if they need to follow their partner somewhere unusual (such as a Fire guardian when its partner uses Dive). Sometimes they are believed to be angels; their true origins are unknown.

Mage: A student of magic. Typically, a mage starts between the ages of 10 and 15, but there are cases of younger and older people acquiring a guardian. Not everyone has the potential to become a mage.

Wizard: A user of magic who has graduated from being a mage. There are several ways to do this. A mage that has apprenticed to a master will be tested by his/her master after several years, while a traveling mage can ask for testing from several wizards. Also, if a mage manages to become Magic Champion, they are immediately recognized as a wizard.

Master: A magic user recognized as highly knowledgeable and skilled in magic, usually within a particular type. All members of the Pokemon League (save for the Champions) are required to be masters so they can tailor their challenges to the challenger's skill level.

Champion: A Pokemon Trainer that has passed the entire Pokemon League challenge (defeat eight Gyms, then defeat the Elite 4 and current Champion in five consecutive battles). There are two, the Magic Champion who fights alongside his/her Pokemon and the Trainer Champion who guides his/her Pokemon in battle. Both are recognized as skilled Trainers with excellent Pokemon, but the Magic Champion is required to have a guardian to succeed.

Magician: A person who uses magic without the aide of a guardian Pokemon. It is possible, but very limited. Crafting potions and charms are common magical-related trades of magicians, although many who don't have guardians use technology instead.

Aura: The energy for magic, it is produced by emotions, formed by intelligence, and controlled by willpower. Pokemon can manipulate aura naturally, but humans require a guardian Pokemon to truly use it. However, humans have the advantage of not being constrained by type and natural limitations.

Type: The 17 types of aura, which follow the types of Pokemon in the world: Fire, Water, Grass, etc.

Rune: A symbol which is used in magic. Unown text is considered one form of a runic alphabet, but it is not the only one.

Diety/god: This is in the sense of nature spirits, such as is common in older cultures of Japan, China, and Greece. There are a certain number of immortal Pokemon gods, such as Rayquaza and other legendary Pokemon, which have their own roles and duties in the world. They are immensely powerful, but not always omniscient or omnipotent. Since this takes place in Hoenn, Hoenn legendaries are most prominent.

Elf: Elves are a mysterious sentient race that are naturally magical. They run the Pokecenters and hospitals, as they are known as exceptional healers. Their private lives and homes are virtually unknown, but any that is on duty will respond to the name 'Joy' and be kind and polite. If a mage or wizard earns the favor of the elves, they might be taught a healing spell as a reward.

Spell method

In order to cast magic, the user must focus their mind so they can sense aura. This may take a little time for a new mage, but skilled users can do this as a seemingly natural reflex. Once the caster is focused, s/he forms aura into the spell in his/her mind, most often in the form of runes. Then the spell is activated, through the method the caster feels more comfortable with. This could be hand motions or a spoken phrase.

For gameplay purposes, you may simply use the activation motion/word to use a spell. An example would be Cut: it could be done by snipping a pair of fingers like scissors or a phrase like 'slice that (object)'. Just keep in mind the need for focus; a distraction could be an obstacle for your character to pass.

A mage character will most easily learn spells that his/her guardian learns naturally or are of the guardian's type. For instance, if you have Torchic, the Scratch and Ember spells will be really easy while Absorb or Poison Powder would require some effort. The toughest spells to learn would be those the guardian is weak to or cannot do much damage to. The mage with a Torchic would have difficulty learning Water Gun and Rock Tomb, but could conceivably do so.

Guardians are capable of evolving like their normal kin, but their requirements are different. Because they are so deeply connected to their partner, a guardian can only evolve if their partner has grown in some manner, such as conquering a fear, overcoming a personal flaw, or experiencing a personal change. This is why mages are normally found in that particular age range, since their developing maturity is mirrored by their developing guardian.

Guardians and their partners share a deep bond of empathy. What affects one will affect the other, such as mood and illness. This includes injury and is often a big challenge to young mages and guardians. If one of the pair is knocked out, the other will be unable to concentrate and may be disoriented. The guardian of the pair is known to get defensive and even hostile to all but healers if their partner is badly hurt. Death is devastating and in most cases, death of one will be soon followed by death of the other.

Special skills are easily translated into spells, so what about physical moves? That can be up to your interpretation, but one way to do it is to have an image to a Pokemon that can use that move appear briefly to use it.  

[Ysavvryl]

Spell compendium

This is a reference list to any spells unique to this setting or Pokemon moves that have extra use out of battle. Added to as such things are discovered through play.


Detect Magic: As it states, this spell will detect the presence of an enchantment or active spell. Said to be a lower form of Detect itself and is commonly used to determine someone's potential for becoming a mage.

Mail: A very common spell, perhaps one of the most used by nearly everyone. Mail will send a letter or other very lightweight object to the recipient written on the envelope. It's not that secure, though, as the mailed letter can be intercepted. Because of that and the weight limitations, delivering mail is still a regular chore or request.  

[Ysavvryl]

Battle method

Battling is one of the trickier things to do in a roleplay, especially between two players. Plus, I don't like dragging battles out. For this game, I will conduct an abridged battle style.

When your character enters a battle, you will write a section of the battle. I will assess the quality and fairness of the section, then calculate the challenge level behind the scenes (practical things like type match-ups and experience of the opponent, as well as the written section) and decide the winner from that. If the calculations are close, I may do dice rolls.

You may simply say, “we spent time training and I focused on the Bide spell' to avoid writing boring grinding scenes. There will be times when I'll announce time skips to get everyone on the same page. We'll assume grinding, studying, and not much else interesting happened during those times.

Boss battles, such as Gym Leaders, major antagonists, and a rival PC if both of you so choose, will require multiple written sections to decide. Most likely one per opponent Pokemon, but we'll see on a case by case basis.

Some things that would detract from a win: not treating an opponent well by writing out-of-character, writing a certain win in a battle section, writing something that wouldn't work mechanically (like a Ghost move hitting a Normal typed Pokemon, or striking a Rhyhorn's horn with electricity).

Some things that would put my numbers in your favor: a challenge that comes across in the battle section, good in-character personality from your character, Pokemon, and opponents, or good description.  

[Ysavvryl]

And that's that, so the thread is now open! Feel free to ask me any questions about all this or bounce ideas off me. Part of the reason I made this game is because I'm re-testing this magic system, so questions and your thoughts on it would be very welcome.

I will get together a character sheet for Professor Birch because he gets used right off the bat, and I'll start up the story thread when I have a couple of players.