Eterna Forest PTU One-Shot

[M&F]

Gentle orange tones start to streak across the sky; it will be dark in a few hours. And yet, Eterna Forest is known as the place where time stands still -- and several Pokémon-training wayfarers are on the path to put that claim to the test, whether out of foolhardiness, haste, or some other reason. The crossing may be tough, with dangerous wild Pokémon and rowdy trainers about, to say nothing of any unexpected dangers that might lurk under the dense canopies; at least, though, the journeyers will not be alone, between the company of their Pokémon and of their newfound party.

-----

so, considering the amount of us who mentioned being tabletop nerds in our intros, this was unavoidable, huh? so here's me, trying my hand at DMing some PTU v1.05; I haven't played that one before or DMed anything before but, best foot forward, I suppose!

for this quick slow thing, the players will be participating as trainers who are trying to reach the northern exit of Eterna Forest; at least, that's the primary objective, but who knows what sidetracks might appear along the way? at any rate, characters for this should be ones who have their reasons for a) going through Eterena Forest and b) joining a group to do so; otherwise, go wild, make it as pastiche or as complex as you'd like!

once the main goal is done and dealt with, I may also be running an optional Eterna City gym challenge, for anyone who'd like to cap off the one-shot with a big endgame bash!

players will also have one of two options for their starting party: two lv20 Pokémon, or three lv18 Pokémon. further stipulations are as follows:
-they can be in up to the highest evolution form appropriate to the level; for non-level-up evolutions, they can be at up to their highest non-fully-evolved stage (eg, Azurill and Marill both have non-level-up evolutions; Azurill and Marill are elligible, but not Azumarill).
-only one Pokémon in each party can be any one of the following: Steel-type, Ghost-type, Dragon-type, and/or non-evolving.
-players get to choose their initial Pokémon's Nature, Abilities, and one move (7 or less Base Damage) for each one to know from their TM/HM, Egg or Tutor move list, at no Tutor Point cost. additionally, players with a two-Pokémon lv20 party may give one of their Pokémon a free Poké Edge to start with

lastly, instead of the usual item inventories at creation, I'll be putting up 4 choices of starting inventory in a jiffy. Pokéballs will be included, so you may not have to be restricted to your starting party!

anyways, as this is my first time DMing, I'd rather not have a huge party to run, so I'll take up to 4 people; if interest is high enough, however, I can also set up a Wayward Cave one-shot to fit in more people. anyway, who's in?

 

[kyeugh]

i'm totally in! :D

 

[Umbramatic]

I'm in

 

[The Walrein]

I'm up for this! Time for the obligatory barrage of questions:

1. What trainer level are we starting at?
2. Are skill backgrounds allowed for Pokemon?
3. What playtest packets are in use?
4. Are supernatural classes allowed?
5. Is any material from any of the splatbooks (Game of Throhs, DPDOM) allowed?

 

[M&F]

I'm up for this! Time for the obligatory barrage of questions:

1. What trainer level are we starting at?
2. Are skill backgrounds allowed for Pokemon?
3. What playtest packets are in use?
4. Are supernatural classes allowed?
5. Is any material from any of the splatbooks (Game of Throhs, DPDOM) allowed?

1. let's say, level 3
2. sure
3. may 2015, september 2015, and february 2016, at least in the capacity that I remember that they're there-
4. I'll pit that question into the crowd later alongside the remaining optionals
5. I'm putting the kibosh on that for now, maybe elsewhen

I also forgot to mention one other thing I had planned; I'll be editing the intro post to mention it as well, but once everyone's out of the forest, I can also cap it off with an optional Eterna Gym battle for anyone who might be interested!

 

[Namohysip]

I'm tentatively in, depending on if other people want in but the crowd is full but they super want in.

A few questions of my own:

1. Are we going by how some fics have Pokemon that can talk if they're with the trainer for a long time, were taught, or other circumstance, or are they exclusively incomprehensible?
2. How easy is death?
3. I have very little experience with full-on D&D style games. How easy is this to get into, and how willing are people to deal with someone with little meta knowledge on this style?

 

[M&F]

I'm tentatively in, depending on if other people want in but the crowd is full but they super want in.

A few questions of my own:

1. Are we going by how some fics have Pokemon that can talk if they're with the trainer for a long time, were taught, or other circumstance, or are they exclusively incomprehensible?
2. How easy is death?
3. I have very little experience with full-on D&D style games. How easy is this to get into, and how willing are people to deal with someone with little meta knowledge on this style?

1. I have no strong preferences either way, so let's see what everyone prefers
2. as best as I understand, not very; it's also 100% optional anyway
3. I myself am totally green on PTU, so yeah, it's not the end of the world if you're learning your way in; I'd do the best I can to acommodate it, and would expect the same of other players! I do have to say that PTU in particular strikes me as on the labor-intensive side to learn how to play, but if that's fine by you, you're welcome on board

anyways, that's a tentative 4 people, then, although anyone else who has an interest in this should feel free to speak up -- if there's enough interest for a second one-shot, I'll see about running two! and also, since we potentially have a party up and running, I'll start by asking some questions myself, to see how folks would like the optionals for this:
-is everyone cool with psychic/occult elements like Occult Education being a skill, supernatural classes being around, etc.?
-what's everyone's preference on whether we'll have death as a mechanic at all?
-as brought up above, what's everyone's preference on the extent to which Pokémon are intelligible?
-and, last but totally not least... does anyone have strong feelings either way on whether fully aquatic Pokémon can airswim on land or not?

I think that's all the stuff I need to clear up, at least, but I'll be sure to speak up if anything else comes up

 

[Namohysip]

Regarding psychic/occult elements, I'm not against it.
-Regarding death as a mechanic, I personally don't care for it when it comes to tabletop Pokemon, though allowing it for Particularly Big Idiots or something along those lines might work? I don't know. I've made my bias against it clear enough~
-As someone who writes PMD, intelligible Pokemon is my bread and butter, though in a human setting, I understand that their vocabulary could be limited to simple phrases, or the idea of a talking Pokemon is incredibly rare, or otherwise limited to "pokespeak" or something else. I'm fine with a compromise if necessary, since I know full-on talking Pokemon is a bit on the odd side. I think.
-Regarding aquatic pokemon that can swim through the air at low altitudes, I'm of the "throw it in!" opinion. Let's Go does it, the games seem to do it, the anime... sorta... does it for some of them... I say why not, but I understand if some would prefer otherwise.

Unfamiliar question territory: How 'out there' do these "Poke Edges" get?

 

[The Walrein]

As for my preferences:

- I'm fine with psychic/supernatural stuff.
- I do like a little risk, so I would prefer to keep death in. The default death mechanic in PTU is pretty forgiving, though.
- I think I'd prefer more "unusually empathetic animal"-level intelligence for Pokemon. It might be tricky effectively roleplaying a lot of different sapient characters at once.
- Generally I tend to like more realistic games, so I'd be for no flying fish. But I could live with it if needed.

Also, here's a good character sheet to use: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TM_ccFzhZ2z1Hl61TOqS8Jo0tJBf7yceLFIQXKRe2-I/edit#gid=39

As for how "out there" Poke-edges get, not very. They mostly just provide small numeric improvements to existing capabilities.

 

[M&F]

alright, so, from what I've gathered (here and on discord), we can settle for all of this:

-all in favor of supernatural classes, so sure, let's keep that
-most against death, and indeed as mentioned it might be a little much for a one-shot, so that I'll be nixing
-it seems we're mostly for at least slightly intelligible Pokémon, but as mentioned, as-is it creates some roleplay complications (the least of which not being that, from where I'm standing, it might make it too easy to talk one's way out of a wild encounter) -- what does everyone think of compromising by having well-trained Pokémon be intelligible, but not so much wild ones?
-seems like the strongest feeling I'm getting on flying fish is an against, so, eh, nixed except in such a situation as when it'll make my job a lot easier-

we should be good to proceed, then! we can start on character creation. most anything you'll need for that should be in the sourcebook, but I'll be happy to help as I'm able if there are any doubts (feel free to contact me either on here or discord!). and, of course, don't forget that there's no need to be an island; you can work on your character individually if you'd prefer, but you can totally ask other players for opinions or even work with them to make characters with pre-established connections! on the more, when you have a character down pat, just run it through me and you'll be ready, yes?

and last but not least, I've finished the starting inventories; ignore the sourcebook on that matter -- instead, you get to choose one of the 4 sets below (that's the entire horizontal row you're picking, incidentally). additionally, if you're playing a class that functions through certain specific items, you can also have those on your starting inventory!

 

[Namohysip]

what does everyone think of compromising by having well-trained Pokémon be intelligible, but not so much wild ones?

I was actually under the inpression that this would be how it was done, so I have no complaints.

I’ll be asking a lot of questions in the process of making my character, potentially in the discord so it’s not spammed up here. If anybody has read HoC and wants to request a normalized version of someone, feel free because I have no idea who to bring.