Mangrale

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Aberrant Emissary (PMD w/ Fusions) [WIP]

Hello again. Went a little longer than I'd like without an update, but what limited time I've had was spent on multiple aspects of world building. It's that sorta thing in which progress has been made, but not on any one thing enough to outright warrant showing yet. I gotta say, PMD is a lot more fitting for my first go at it than I thought, considering how naming things is a relatively simple matter compared to other settings.

I believe focusing on locations first is the way to go for now (names and overviews in the next update). What I can tell you now is that there'll be three regions of Aurora in play at the start of the RP, with the third being the least explored, and where the players will operate from. Travel to available regions will be a thing, as there's to be plenty of points of interest and even new things to discover. Probably not gonna be able to detail everything about a region before the game starts, but I would like a few key places each (probably another update in itself).

Aside from that, a rough version of the CS is complete, though I'm thinking that it may be best to release it at a later point, near the end of the development period. "Faction" concepts are well underway and they're meant to flesh out the world and add that extra bit of depth to the story. Speaking of which, considering how there's to be an in-game calendar, very soon I'm gonna do some passes over and set some annual events everyone can look forward to.

TL:DR - Not dead, just busy. Thanks again for the read. Will be back sooner next time hopefully. Take care until then.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Aberrant Emissary (PMD w/ Fusions) [WIP]

Hey again. It'll be all too easy for me to put my head down for multiple weeks, all the while everyone thinks I just sort of gave up or whatever. Over my free time, I've started looking into how CS's are going to work, likely something very stripped down as I want this to be fairly easy to pick up despite the odd fusion mechanic I'm asking players to consider (plus I'm likely to fill out the cast with my own side characters).

Aside from that, I've started getting my head around the main continent that the RP will take place in. Here is the working brief overview of it, which I plan to include in the setting portion of this world-building "all in one" I'm working on.

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Aurora Continent

In the year 83, the biggest seismic event in all recorded history shook the prosperous landmass to its core. With the epicenter located directly within the then very active Mt. Mantle, the ensuing volcanic eruption and earthquake violently reshaped the very land under the feet of everyone who'd called the land home. Settlements were lost, their denizens scattered all throughout Aurora in the hopes of starting anew. Yet like in so many places in the aftermath of disasters, the number of wild pokémon have risen dramatically. Couple this with all those who've turned to crime in their desperation, and Aurora has largely remained resistant to committed restoration efforts right up until the year 128, when an eastbound expeditionary force made contact with the southern coastal village of Tidal. Since then, even with the continued work of Stampede-affiliated guilds, there's only little more than a foothold to show against all the mysteries that still remain to be solved.

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"Factions" like Stampede that play a part in this story are quickly coming up on my to-do list. But everything will come with time. Thank you to all those quietly watching how this turns out.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Aberrant Emissary (PMD w/ Fusions) [WIP]

I will need to return to the fusion overview later on I'm thinking, but for now I've added that to the original post too. I hope it sums up most of the major aspects of fusioneering. Let me know if you have any questions or if I missed anything.

The fusion feature connects to things like coalescite variants and character sheets, so I haven't decided what to write up for you guys next.

Edit (11/8): I've been preparing a single post that holds most if not all the world building I can manage for this project. Hopefully I'll have something to show for you guys soon.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Aberrant Emissary (PMD w/ Fusions) [WIP]

Thanks for your patience. I've added those project details I mentioned into the original post. I've been a part of RPs of this potential scope before. Hopefully I can do it right.

Edit: Added Hiders

Edit (11/3): Been busy, but will write up the new update over the weekend.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Aberrant Emissary (PMD w/ Fusions) [WIP]

@Crimson Flame@Lord Orgasmo@Thunder999999
Thanks for the comments guys. Nice to see there could be something to this concept after all. I'll get those details out tomorrow if I can.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Aberrant Emissary (PMD w/ Fusions) [WIP]

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
^{Aberrant Emissary}

Prologue 1 - Wandering

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Prologue 1 - Wandering

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The Southeastern Scar

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Depala 13, Year 149

║The Howling Valley║

Bitterly cold were the first few days he found himself in this less than welcoming land, not that telling time had been that easy to begin with. Prior to him feeling brave enough to emerge from the small den he'd discovered, a raging storm engulfed the surrounding land in a chaotic swell of turbulent winds and calamitous lightning. From nearby the shelter's entrance, the small minccino repeatedly attempted to peer into the stark wilderness, the fleeting moments of light that illuminated the sheer darkness for him followed by roaring thunder that almost shook the ground and sent him scurrying deeper into his makeshift home.

Yet as quickly as his frayed nerves would pull him away, the kid would cautiously return to his spot, somehow fascinated by the powerful phenomenon. For him, it was one of the most awe-inspiring occurrences that he'd come across, and his thoughts were captivated by questions of exactly what it was and what had brought it about in the first place.

However nothing could have prepared him for what he saw late into the night, the windchill alone having ensured that he wasn't going to sleep. No instead he sensed something amiss, his ears perking up as he vaguely discerned wind howling in a way that he hadn't heard before. To his very limited knowledge, it almost sounded like rapid-fire gusts bordering on powerful impacts in sets of four, at first faint but quickly getting louder as if approaching.

Then, in an instant, from a few dozen meters away from his den, as the kid stared out to where the pummeling was set to reach it's loudest, a cataclysmic lightning bolt, the largest by a long way, struck, bathing everything in an almost blinding light, the nearly simultaneous clash of thunder that accompanied it feeling as though it reverberated clear through his stomach. Regardless, something within the minccino drove him to hazard an attempted look anyway, his eyes widening at what he saw, or rather what he thought he saw: a haunting yet strangely majestic quadrupedal form dashing across his field of vision. It seemingly paid no notice of the child at all, and as quickly as it came into the scene, it was gone, as though it were merely a figment of his imagination, leaving the world in darkness once more, the storm itself with a marked decrease of its fury in the hours to come. And the boy was more than a little unsure of the whole thing himself, as even a search of the area following the storm failed to give him any tracks as a way of proof, nothing but charred ground where the lightning struck.

With the storm now passed and the minccino free to start his journey in earnest, he took note of the sky once more. In truth, he'd been one of the latest to realize what many that called these scars home had taken for granted. The sky seemed to be trapped behind a gloomy, nebulous shroud, a dark cloud layer that blotted out what bright light the heavens would have otherwise provided, casting the region under a dull shade of grey. There was indeed not nearly as much actual rain in that storm as there would be elsewhere, that holding true for a long time considering how parched the pale colored ground was.

But even with nothing to go on, what could the little minccino do but follow in the general direction that the ghostly figure went, his feet slowly taking him deeper and deeper into this foreboding land. He could almost still feel the tremor from the closest lightning strike that night, the way it rumbled from within him... no wait, this was different. The kid winced over the dull pain in his stomach. It had only gotten worse since the day he first woke up. There was only so much time he could go without food, yet as he was finding out the hard way, sustenance was exceptionally hard to come by. Fear, in a way, had kept him out of trouble in the days prior, but it was very quickly catching up with him.

New Beginnings

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Try as one might, it is impossible to fully remember the time before the land became what it is now. The balance among the forces that once shaped reality has been disrupted, their legendary guardians caught in a great turmoil that few if any have escaped untouched, leaving behind a realm altered and reshaped. And they would be far from alone in their fate. Across the many regions that pokémon now roam lies small pockets of mystic fields rich in a powerful kind of crystal, Coalescite. Among the numerous varieties of these powerful constructs lies arguably its most important in the form of White Coalescite, the vessels believed to have carried countless souls into this new realm.

To finally awaken from slumber is to emerge from the light encased within, always in the earliest stage of life, but not always in the form one expects. In the century that has passed, new generations have risen, yet occasionally another child will emerge from the wilderness, disorientated and with no memory. Often greeting them are settlements of varying size and structure, havens for anyone willing to do their part in support of their fellow pokémon. Furthermore, where there lies common cause, pokémon in need, mysteries to solve, and treasures to find, there will be adventurers brave enough to face the unknown.

And on the eve of a century and a half into this enigmatic age, none of these things are in short supply. Legends surrounding many of the Old Trailblazers have served as the foundations of various towns across the land, yet surrounding all of these persist the myths and fables of the wilds, chief among which are tales of locations so labyrinthine that many who enter are said to never be seen again. The most infamous places have long been forbidden, but within the last decade, interest in exploring lesser known spots has grown among reports of supposed escapees speaking of abundant treasures, the eventual proof of these claims ushering a veritable industry dedicated to adventure.

A PMD RP With a Twist

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Greetings anyone. Turns out "before too long" meant more than a month in length this time. I believe this counts as my first real bid to GM a group rp of my own and saw no better topic than PMD, approaching it again as someone who's played the earliest games in the series back in the day. And yes you read that title right, pokémon fusion is definitely a thing here, and indeed an option open to any player that wants to make use of it for their characters. Pokémon Infinite Fusion is definitely a large influence coming into this and by more or less following its fusion rules as shown over here, I believe some semblance of order can be achieved.

The miracle material that makes it all possible is "Coalescite", and as the setup alluded to, there are pokémon who "start out" already fused, meant to operate as a normal character. Truth be told though, an early idea that I'm still deliberating over centers around the possibility of other types of coalescite having the power to fuse pokémon together, either for a short or extended amount of time. What does that mean? Well it means players could see their characters fused (temporarily at least) over the course of the story. It's quite the absurd avenue that would see two players direct the actions of a single character for a time. Even with both fusers, as I imagined it, having their consciences deliberate between each other (representing their synergy), this feels like a more manageable feature in a 1x1 RP.

That said, between the right players showing up who're up for it and perhaps the chance of multiple characters per player being a thing, it might not hurt for the option to be available. Aside from that, I'm eager to see the reception to this IC such as it is. As anyone can figure, this likely isn't the kind of RP idea that typically gets that much attention. Failure to launch is always an option, and unfortunately I'm not quite ready to commit so much work to an idea hardly anyone will care about in the first place. That was partially why I considered putting this in the Free Section, but again an upgrade to casual can happen if interest pushes it in that direction.

Course, your own interest might be dependent on further updates from me, assurance that I have a foundation in mind for how to go about this, where our characters come in and so forth. Rest assured that more info is forthcoming whenever I get enough time on my hands. But until then feel free to let me know your thoughts or even that you're keeping an eye on this.

Project Details

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Essentially, what I'm aiming for is a kind of balance between dungeon diving and the more relaxed elements that come with building up a new town, an entire community made up of everyone's characters. From a once abandoned outpost in a less than welcoming area, one of my primary characters will seek to do the impossible and reestablish it as a thriving town, complete with a town square with shops and a guild ready to train eager new adventurers. Can a merchant find themselves running dungeons now and again? Yes they can, though it is likely that they'll need a good deal more experience under their belt before they can tackle the harder locations.

Now running these different facets of the RP, and quite possibly simultaneously I might add, sounds like the kind of thing even more experienced GMs would struggle with. On top of that, I found myself at odds with a lot of RPs where everything was already laid out by the GM, even the dungeons the player can go to. For this though, likely as many dungeons as possible would be discovered over time, directly by the players if we can manage. As a side note, depending on how we feel about it, I'm open to players approaching me about submitting their own ideas for dungeons for expeditions to discover, along with all the treasure, traps and wild pokémon they're apt to find within (other non-dungeon encounters and points of interest may also be an option down the line).

Tying it all together is the basic seasonal calendar, where all 365 days of the year are divided into four seasons of 91 days each and a singular special day at the beginning of each year. I will be the one to decide how days progress forward over the RP's duration, but will of course cater things so no one is left behind post-wise.

This IC had initially been set as "small group" because I had doubts I would even get the few player necessary for that requirement. It's also what makes me consider letting players have multiple characters to help fill out expedition teams and guild/townsfolk. All things considered however, "large group" is indeed possible, but if things get to that point, part of me leans toward considering the aid of a Co-GM or two. To anyone still looking for the bare RP requirements/expectations in general, I could certainly list them out if that's the best way to go about it. But for now, I can say that I'm leaning towards a solid paragraph or so a week from players. At minimum though, whether a player can't post in a week, is working with someone else on a post for that or another week, or what have you, I'd much prefer to be in the loop.

Fusion Basics

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Since it must be kinda annoying to be directed to an unwieldy fandom page to learn this central mechanic of an RP that's quite frankly a much simpler beast compared to the fangame that partially inspired it, I'm fixin' to try and sum up the most important points here for all of us, something of a quick reference. For the purposes of this RP, as far as I can figure, there are four main aspects where generating a fusion is somewhat more involved. I've tried to sum them up below, as well as examples around the closest thing to a mascot I got: "Ivytortle", who, as I've only found out by the end of making this list, might not be the best choice to showcase the fusion process.

Not counting move pool (of the standard four limit I'm thinking), which you can pick and choose from among all the moves the two pokémon can learn within the fusion's final level (still deciding how final level is determined during the fusion process), the order of the fusion has a key influence over the final product. I should mention that for the first two features and especially for the form/appearance of the fusion, what the page says can be likened more to guidelines than hard rules. I've seen many really talanted artists take quite a few creative liberties when submitting sprites for the game, so I intend to be a good deal more lax when it comes to this part of the whole thing.

Example Fusion (Ivysaur / Wartortle)

▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Pokémon 1 ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Fusion Head & Color Poké1 typically accounts for the head, color pallet and pattern (Ex: Ivysaur's coloration, pattern and certain features) Naming (First Component) The first part of Poké1's name makes the first part of the fusion's name (Ex: Ivy-) Typing (First Type) The Fusion's primary type will share Poké1's primary type (Ex: "Grass Type" from Ivysaur) Ability Option A Poké1's second ability is available to choose (or hidden move instead if active) (Ex: Ivysaur only has "Overgrow" as an option normally) ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄

▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Pokémon 2 ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Fusion Body Poké2 typically accounts primarily for the body (Ex: Wartortle's core body including its shell and limbs) Naming (Second Component) The second part of Poké2's name makes the second part of the fusion's name (Ex: -tortle) Typing (Second Type) The Fusion's second type will share Poké2's second type (or primary if there isn't one) (Ex: "Water Type" from Wartortle) Ability Option B Pokés's first ability is available to choose (or hidden move instead if active) (Ex: Wartortle only has "Torrent" as an option normally) ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄

Thanks for giving this IC a read and hope to hear from you.

Next Up: Dungeon Location(s)

What kind of RP mood are you in?

I'm not gonna lie, I'm having a powerful urge to finally GM an RP just to get the feel for it finally, and the Free section seems like the best entry point for anyone unsure of their abilities, so it feels like as good a place as any to start. If interest and inspiration align, then maybe it can be upgraded to casual, but we'll have to see.

As for what to make the RP about, I feel like that PMD idea I had a while ago would do nicely, though of course I can't guarantee I'll have what it takes to see it play out to its fullest potential. And because I can't leave well enough alone, I'm fixin' to make fused pokémon feature heavily into the setting - that's right, like this guy:

My Hider

Why yes, I do have a crippling addiction to the Infinite Fusion discord. General rules over fusion mechanics may apply, but I'm not about to make things much more complicated than that. I'll get the IC up before too long.

What Are You Listening To?

Blue Moon, a time to be out of character.

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

Not to mention

What kind of RP mood are you in?

What started as a bid to reconnect with some of the old shows from my childhood and branched into me watching every Zoids series one after the other has left me wondering what a competently written fantasy adventure with mechs could look like. What it lacks in futuristic, militarized conflicts and even space travel, it hopefully makes up for with a thoroughly interesting world explored by an endearing party of adventurers/pilots. Couldn't say how many Zoids fans are around here though, so maybe something original might do just as well.

Sidenote: I still think New Century Zero is the best, and Chaotic Century > Genesis.