Post by Nocturne on Mar 29, 2018 16:38:05 GMT
Hello again, PbP forum community! This time I present to you, a very heavily Warframe inspired campaign. It's essentially a mixture of Warframe, Pokemon and my own vision, resulting in a strange post-apocalyptic, space western hybrid. Anyway, here's the link to the Recruitment Chat Discord. Recruitment will last until the 15th of April. Recruitment has been extended by a week from its original span. If anyone wants to listen to the instrumental track that partly inspired this campaign, check out the music below my avatar, or look up Kintsugi by Droeloe. Oh, also I'm looking for 3-4 players for this game. I won't go above 4.
Please read the document below. It should tell you all you need to know to build a character for this campaign. Be warned that it's a little long however.
Kintsugi Setting Document
Pokeframes
As touched on in the blurb, Pokeframes are essentially mindless corrupted Pokemon within exoskeletons. The artificial is fused with the organic, enabling a full range of maneuverability one might expect from a human body. In fact, Pokeframes appear roughly in the shape of a human body, generally having a head, two arms, two legs and a torso. As Pokeframes are custom-made, there is room for creativity, meaning that a Pokeframe may have additional features.
Kintsugi
A Kintsugi has the ability to control a Pokeframe using their mind from the safety of their personal ship, which has a Somatic Link installed in it. Pokeframes are customized to each Kintsugi, built with a corrupted Pokemon that they have captured.
A Kintsugi’s team is kept on their ship, as usual, but the rest of their Pokemon are placed within the ‘Reservoir’ on Lua, as Lua is shielded from Void corruption through Lotus’ abilities.
Somatic Links operate by giving your PC access to the Symbiotic Aura. I'm going with an interpretation of it according to which as long as you have the Symbiotic Aura, neither you, nor your Pokéframe, can die (the reasoning being, as long as an Aura is active, you cannot die, however in order to deactivate this Aura, you have to die).
For reference, here is the Symbiotic Aura.
Of course some of it is not relevant due to the nature of Pokeframes. I’m taking the liberty of extending the telepathy to general use. As long as you are using a Pokéframe, you may telepathically communicate with other people as well.
You may be wondering what the downside to going unconscious in battle is. Well, for one, Pokéframes are incredibly valuable specimens to study for the Corpus, being mindless Pokemon bodies that have had their corruptive influence neutralized, which are of great use in improving Pokebot designs. As for the Grineer, well, you didn't think you were the only ones that could survive Void exposure did you? Many Grineer tribes have their own version of the Kintsugi, though with their degraded tech, their methods are much more rudimentary, meaning that studying a Pokéframe is very beneficial to them.
As a result, if you and your teammates fall unconscious in battle, you shouldn't be surprised to later find your connection to your favourite 'frames snapped, and the 'frames themselves gone. This would then require you to seek out the Infestation, in order to acquire a new Pokeframe. Note that with the connection snapped, you are also vulnerable to, well, death. Should you ever fall into the hands of the Grineer or Corpus without a Pokeframe… Well, the result likely won’t be pleasant.
Capturing Corrupted Pokemon
To capture a corrupted Pokemon to use for a Pokeframe, you use a ‘Void Beam’, a special ability of Void scarred people, making an AC5 Status Attack with a Range of 6 + your Focus Rank. If it succeeds, this turns the corrupted Pokemon into an energy form that can be captured using special Pokeballs known as Void Containment Balls, or Void Balls for short. The aforementioned mechanics replace the Pokeball AC and roll, so the order is Void Beam > Capture Roll.
Character Creation
Characters should be above the age of 18 and under the age of 30.
Players start off at TL10, with one Pokemon at PL20. Choose another Pokemon at PL20 that will become the basis of your Pokeframe. Don’t forget to choose a cool robot image for your Pokeframe! Evolution of Pokeframes is simple. You start in whatever form a Pokemon can have at level 20 and in order to evolve, you return to your home base to have your Pokeframe upgraded.
Players may start with any Underdog Pokemon that has at least one evolution and is not legendary, pseudo or otherwise. This applies to Pokemon and Pokeframe both. Starter Pokemon will receive one Egg Move learned at level 1.
All playtests are in effect, except for the capture rules, and you may use the Ultra Aloladex to pick your starter.
Players receive 15000 Pyen at character creation to buy items with. Anything leftover after character creation is not lost, but you may find it difficult to immediately make use of it. TMs can be bought, however these don't work on Pokeframes. One important thing to note; Pokeframes handle Equipment like Trainers rather than Pokemon, meaning they have Head, Body, Main Hand, Off-Hand, Accessory and and Feet Slots.
Banned
Glitch Bender and Blessed and the Damned.
Just a note, in case there might be confusion, your characters themselves act through their Pokeframe, so you get two actions per turn, Pokeframe and Pokemon, not three.
Edit: I keep forgetting, but I should probably warn of possible spoilers in the blurb, setting doc and Discord chat.
During the mythical Orokin Era, humanity wasn’t a utopia, but for many, it was the closest it had ever gotten. The upper class of humanity were those who became like gods, called the Orokin, though that name eventually grew to extend to the middle class, where ‘human’ and ‘Orokin’ became interchangeable. The middle class, also known as the corpus, could live forever. Common folk existed, living on planets and all classes were ultimately served by clones designed for labour.
Then of course, came the downfall. The Reckoning was not of humanity’s own doing, but rather came from beyond the stars. Humanity called them Ultra Beasts, raving mad gods that would destroy anything that came into their sights. They were simply too powerful to be fought even with all of humanity’s cards, technology, alchemy and Pokemon.
It was only when humanity had almost reached the breaking point, that salvation came, in the form of a newly born goddess. What kind of power over reality a god gained was mostly random, but this woman had the most powerful abilities yet, allowing her to create entire dimensions. Baptized as ‘Lotus’ upon going through the process that made her a goddess, she banished the Ultra Beasts into another dimension, therefore ending the threat. The energy it took to banish these powerful beings however, left her in a coma.
As if that wasn’t enough, many years later, the Dusk came. When Lotus banished the Ultra Beasts, she opened a rift in dimensions. This rift did not close afterwards, leaving the universe exposed to another dimension known as the Void, known as that because it was empty except for one being; Necrozma, people called it. When it awoke, it rampaged across the universe, stealing all light wherever it went. Humanity and Pokemon alike came to learn true fear of the dark, as entire galaxies lost their light and life with it. The more light it absorbed, the more powerful it became, and soon, neither technology nor alchemy were enough to prevent it from ravaging humanity. Researchers sent their strongest and most powerful Pokemon, practically weapons of mass destruction, but the strongest of those were absorbed into Necrozma’s being, bringing its strength to even greater heights and so ravage humanity it did. Those Pokemon that weren’t absorbed into Necrozma’s being and survived encounters, were irrevocably changed. Not by Necrozma, but by the energies of the Void itself. This corruptive energy spread across the universe, infecting Pokemon where it went, leaving them as part of a hive mind dedicated to the code of ‘consume and be consumed’ the latter part pertaining to Necrozma. This hive mind was referred to as the Infestation.
Humanity wasn’t truly alone, Pokemon that weren’t corrupted still existed, but for the first time in history, they were unable to rely on their partners.
The only people capable of standing up against Necrozma were humanity’s divine upper class, however when they joined forces and rose up against their enemy, they were massacred.
Lotus awoke from her coma, saddened by what her actions had wrought. She used up most of the energy she still had in order to stop the void from expanding further into the universe, halting the corruption of Pokemon. As it had been proven that the gods were not always as strong as they had previously thought, Lotus had another idea to combat Necrozma, based on the discovery of humans who had survived being exposed to void energies, gaining supernatural powers similar to that of the former gods, which among other things, allowed them to telepathically communicate with Pokemon and the Infestation hive mind. With the help of researchers, she created machines known as Somatic Links. These allowed the void scarred humans to give orders to Pokemon that were part of the hive mind. However ordering them around wasn’t enough and the Pokemon on their own were far too weak, and so they built steel frames around them, constructs to drive away the influence of the hive mind, channel their power and the power of the Void into something greater. These ‘Pokeframes’ were used to drive Necrozma back into the Void.
Humanity was left to survey the damage that had been done. It’s leadership and people massacred, not just humanity, but also the universe itself, was undoubtedly broken.
In time, humanity grew once more within Origin. With Lotus unable to affect humanity while recovering, the rebellious lower class clones became the Grineer tribes, segregated by the cloning devices used to make them. The middle class seemed to band together, but eventually split into various groups, while the common folk remained in their settlements.
With the resources to create more gods inaccessible and the method itself lost, humanity was more vulnerable than ever however. Wild Pokemon were menaces that could wipe out settlements in seconds if given the chance.
The Dusk has left much of the Universe basked in darkness, and Origin is no different. Many areas of the Origin System are forever kept within eternal gloom that even the light of the sun can’t penetrate. These areas are the perfect breeding grounds for the Pokemon hive mind, and as a result are generally avoided.
Though she was still recovering, Lotus saw the discord, division and darkness in the world and found that she couldn’t abide it.
That’s where you come in. Colonists chosen due to your survival of exposure to void energy, you are to become Kintsugi, the menders. Serving as the ‘lights in the dark’, Kintsugi operate from a homebase on the moon, using Pokeframes to perform missions aimed at fixing this broken world.
Then of course, came the downfall. The Reckoning was not of humanity’s own doing, but rather came from beyond the stars. Humanity called them Ultra Beasts, raving mad gods that would destroy anything that came into their sights. They were simply too powerful to be fought even with all of humanity’s cards, technology, alchemy and Pokemon.
It was only when humanity had almost reached the breaking point, that salvation came, in the form of a newly born goddess. What kind of power over reality a god gained was mostly random, but this woman had the most powerful abilities yet, allowing her to create entire dimensions. Baptized as ‘Lotus’ upon going through the process that made her a goddess, she banished the Ultra Beasts into another dimension, therefore ending the threat. The energy it took to banish these powerful beings however, left her in a coma.
As if that wasn’t enough, many years later, the Dusk came. When Lotus banished the Ultra Beasts, she opened a rift in dimensions. This rift did not close afterwards, leaving the universe exposed to another dimension known as the Void, known as that because it was empty except for one being; Necrozma, people called it. When it awoke, it rampaged across the universe, stealing all light wherever it went. Humanity and Pokemon alike came to learn true fear of the dark, as entire galaxies lost their light and life with it. The more light it absorbed, the more powerful it became, and soon, neither technology nor alchemy were enough to prevent it from ravaging humanity. Researchers sent their strongest and most powerful Pokemon, practically weapons of mass destruction, but the strongest of those were absorbed into Necrozma’s being, bringing its strength to even greater heights and so ravage humanity it did. Those Pokemon that weren’t absorbed into Necrozma’s being and survived encounters, were irrevocably changed. Not by Necrozma, but by the energies of the Void itself. This corruptive energy spread across the universe, infecting Pokemon where it went, leaving them as part of a hive mind dedicated to the code of ‘consume and be consumed’ the latter part pertaining to Necrozma. This hive mind was referred to as the Infestation.
Humanity wasn’t truly alone, Pokemon that weren’t corrupted still existed, but for the first time in history, they were unable to rely on their partners.
The only people capable of standing up against Necrozma were humanity’s divine upper class, however when they joined forces and rose up against their enemy, they were massacred.
Lotus awoke from her coma, saddened by what her actions had wrought. She used up most of the energy she still had in order to stop the void from expanding further into the universe, halting the corruption of Pokemon. As it had been proven that the gods were not always as strong as they had previously thought, Lotus had another idea to combat Necrozma, based on the discovery of humans who had survived being exposed to void energies, gaining supernatural powers similar to that of the former gods, which among other things, allowed them to telepathically communicate with Pokemon and the Infestation hive mind. With the help of researchers, she created machines known as Somatic Links. These allowed the void scarred humans to give orders to Pokemon that were part of the hive mind. However ordering them around wasn’t enough and the Pokemon on their own were far too weak, and so they built steel frames around them, constructs to drive away the influence of the hive mind, channel their power and the power of the Void into something greater. These ‘Pokeframes’ were used to drive Necrozma back into the Void.
Humanity was left to survey the damage that had been done. It’s leadership and people massacred, not just humanity, but also the universe itself, was undoubtedly broken.
In time, humanity grew once more within Origin. With Lotus unable to affect humanity while recovering, the rebellious lower class clones became the Grineer tribes, segregated by the cloning devices used to make them. The middle class seemed to band together, but eventually split into various groups, while the common folk remained in their settlements.
With the resources to create more gods inaccessible and the method itself lost, humanity was more vulnerable than ever however. Wild Pokemon were menaces that could wipe out settlements in seconds if given the chance.
The Dusk has left much of the Universe basked in darkness, and Origin is no different. Many areas of the Origin System are forever kept within eternal gloom that even the light of the sun can’t penetrate. These areas are the perfect breeding grounds for the Pokemon hive mind, and as a result are generally avoided.
Though she was still recovering, Lotus saw the discord, division and darkness in the world and found that she couldn’t abide it.
That’s where you come in. Colonists chosen due to your survival of exposure to void energy, you are to become Kintsugi, the menders. Serving as the ‘lights in the dark’, Kintsugi operate from a homebase on the moon, using Pokeframes to perform missions aimed at fixing this broken world.
Please read the document below. It should tell you all you need to know to build a character for this campaign. Be warned that it's a little long however.
Kintsugi Setting Document
Pokeframes
As touched on in the blurb, Pokeframes are essentially mindless corrupted Pokemon within exoskeletons. The artificial is fused with the organic, enabling a full range of maneuverability one might expect from a human body. In fact, Pokeframes appear roughly in the shape of a human body, generally having a head, two arms, two legs and a torso. As Pokeframes are custom-made, there is room for creativity, meaning that a Pokeframe may have additional features.
Kintsugi
A Kintsugi has the ability to control a Pokeframe using their mind from the safety of their personal ship, which has a Somatic Link installed in it. Pokeframes are customized to each Kintsugi, built with a corrupted Pokemon that they have captured.
A Kintsugi’s team is kept on their ship, as usual, but the rest of their Pokemon are placed within the ‘Reservoir’ on Lua, as Lua is shielded from Void corruption through Lotus’ abilities.
Somatic Links operate by giving your PC access to the Symbiotic Aura. I'm going with an interpretation of it according to which as long as you have the Symbiotic Aura, neither you, nor your Pokéframe, can die (the reasoning being, as long as an Aura is active, you cannot die, however in order to deactivate this Aura, you have to die).
For reference, here is the Symbiotic Aura.
The Possessor of the Symbiotic Aura extends this Aura to their Symbiant. The two of them are always aware of each other’s locations, health and mood. They can always communicate telepathically. They may also access each other’s Moves, Features, Skills and Edges, always using the higher of the two’s Skills or Stats. The Combat Stage bonuses of the Aura are also applied to both parties. Unlike most Auras, this Aura cannot be disabled by normal means, and requires slaying one of the pair to undo.
Of course some of it is not relevant due to the nature of Pokeframes. I’m taking the liberty of extending the telepathy to general use. As long as you are using a Pokéframe, you may telepathically communicate with other people as well.
You may be wondering what the downside to going unconscious in battle is. Well, for one, Pokéframes are incredibly valuable specimens to study for the Corpus, being mindless Pokemon bodies that have had their corruptive influence neutralized, which are of great use in improving Pokebot designs. As for the Grineer, well, you didn't think you were the only ones that could survive Void exposure did you? Many Grineer tribes have their own version of the Kintsugi, though with their degraded tech, their methods are much more rudimentary, meaning that studying a Pokéframe is very beneficial to them.
As a result, if you and your teammates fall unconscious in battle, you shouldn't be surprised to later find your connection to your favourite 'frames snapped, and the 'frames themselves gone. This would then require you to seek out the Infestation, in order to acquire a new Pokeframe. Note that with the connection snapped, you are also vulnerable to, well, death. Should you ever fall into the hands of the Grineer or Corpus without a Pokeframe… Well, the result likely won’t be pleasant.
Capturing Corrupted Pokemon
To capture a corrupted Pokemon to use for a Pokeframe, you use a ‘Void Beam’, a special ability of Void scarred people, making an AC5 Status Attack with a Range of 6 + your Focus Rank. If it succeeds, this turns the corrupted Pokemon into an energy form that can be captured using special Pokeballs known as Void Containment Balls, or Void Balls for short. The aforementioned mechanics replace the Pokeball AC and roll, so the order is Void Beam > Capture Roll.
Character Creation
Characters should be above the age of 18 and under the age of 30.
Players start off at TL10, with one Pokemon at PL20. Choose another Pokemon at PL20 that will become the basis of your Pokeframe. Don’t forget to choose a cool robot image for your Pokeframe! Evolution of Pokeframes is simple. You start in whatever form a Pokemon can have at level 20 and in order to evolve, you return to your home base to have your Pokeframe upgraded.
Players may start with any Underdog Pokemon that has at least one evolution and is not legendary, pseudo or otherwise. This applies to Pokemon and Pokeframe both. Starter Pokemon will receive one Egg Move learned at level 1.
All playtests are in effect, except for the capture rules, and you may use the Ultra Aloladex to pick your starter.
Players receive 15000 Pyen at character creation to buy items with. Anything leftover after character creation is not lost, but you may find it difficult to immediately make use of it. TMs can be bought, however these don't work on Pokeframes. One important thing to note; Pokeframes handle Equipment like Trainers rather than Pokemon, meaning they have Head, Body, Main Hand, Off-Hand, Accessory and and Feet Slots.
Banned
Glitch Bender and Blessed and the Damned.
Just a note, in case there might be confusion, your characters themselves act through their Pokeframe, so you get two actions per turn, Pokeframe and Pokemon, not three.
Edit: I keep forgetting, but I should probably warn of possible spoilers in the blurb, setting doc and Discord chat.