Post by lonelycube on Jan 30, 2019 20:29:59 GMT
Hello! I've been thinking about an idea for a PTU campaign for awhile, and I was hoping to get some advice on it. I should probably mention that I haven't GMed PTU before (though I have played a fair bit of it, and GMed other game systems), and I also haven't played in or GMed a PBP game before.
The idea is a sequel to Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness, following the same basic premise: An evil group is trying to take over the world with Shadow Pokemon, so the players have to steal the Shadow Pokemon using a Snag Machine, purify them, and use them to defeat the group.
One idea I had was to have three character roles, and have each PC fill one of those roles. The Snagger has a Snag Machine and is able to use it, the Seer can identify Shadow Pokemon, and the Purifier can fully purify Shadow Pokemon. My intention here is to create a similar dynamic to what Wes and Rui have in Colosseum, though of course all of the players are trainers. The main issue I can foresee with this is that only one player is able to capture Pokemon. That player will be expected to distribute the Shadow Pokemon fairly equally, but there could still be issues if multiple players want the same Pokemon. In a normal game, the Pokemon would just go to whoever manages to catch it first, but here the decision is being placed on one of the players, and it's the same player every time. Do you think this would be a problem? Another issue I can think of is that I plan on having capturing Shadow Pokemon be a fairly important part of the campaign, and it might be less interesting for the other players if only one of them can directly participate in that. The alternative would be to give every player a Snag Machine (probably with a built-in Shadow Monitor, so everyone can identify Shadow Pokemon), but I think that would be less interesting.
My second idea that I'm a bit unsure of involves the rules for Shadow Pokemon. I'm considering not telling the players what those rules are right away, and having them learn them gradually. I looked around and found a few different rulesets for Shadow Pokemon, and I'm using a slightly modified version of one of those, so I'm not just making things up and throwing them at the players untested. Do you think people would have a problem with this? The point is to keep Shadow Pokemon at least a little bit mysterious, since I don't think I could hide the fact that Shadow Pokemon are in the campaign from the players (especially after posting this).
Another thing that I thought of, but probably won't do, is having all of the battles be double battles, like in Colosseum and XD. This seems like it would make combat drag out really badly, especially in a PBP setting, since every player would have three characters to control at once. If anyone knows of a way that it might work, I'd love to hear it, but I'll probably just have single battles like normal. I do plan on only having three players, if that helps.
I'd really appreciate it if any of you more experienced people could let me know what you think on any of these points. If you have any other questions or suggestions, please let me know those too. Thank you.
The idea is a sequel to Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness, following the same basic premise: An evil group is trying to take over the world with Shadow Pokemon, so the players have to steal the Shadow Pokemon using a Snag Machine, purify them, and use them to defeat the group.
One idea I had was to have three character roles, and have each PC fill one of those roles. The Snagger has a Snag Machine and is able to use it, the Seer can identify Shadow Pokemon, and the Purifier can fully purify Shadow Pokemon. My intention here is to create a similar dynamic to what Wes and Rui have in Colosseum, though of course all of the players are trainers. The main issue I can foresee with this is that only one player is able to capture Pokemon. That player will be expected to distribute the Shadow Pokemon fairly equally, but there could still be issues if multiple players want the same Pokemon. In a normal game, the Pokemon would just go to whoever manages to catch it first, but here the decision is being placed on one of the players, and it's the same player every time. Do you think this would be a problem? Another issue I can think of is that I plan on having capturing Shadow Pokemon be a fairly important part of the campaign, and it might be less interesting for the other players if only one of them can directly participate in that. The alternative would be to give every player a Snag Machine (probably with a built-in Shadow Monitor, so everyone can identify Shadow Pokemon), but I think that would be less interesting.
My second idea that I'm a bit unsure of involves the rules for Shadow Pokemon. I'm considering not telling the players what those rules are right away, and having them learn them gradually. I looked around and found a few different rulesets for Shadow Pokemon, and I'm using a slightly modified version of one of those, so I'm not just making things up and throwing them at the players untested. Do you think people would have a problem with this? The point is to keep Shadow Pokemon at least a little bit mysterious, since I don't think I could hide the fact that Shadow Pokemon are in the campaign from the players (especially after posting this).
Another thing that I thought of, but probably won't do, is having all of the battles be double battles, like in Colosseum and XD. This seems like it would make combat drag out really badly, especially in a PBP setting, since every player would have three characters to control at once. If anyone knows of a way that it might work, I'd love to hear it, but I'll probably just have single battles like normal. I do plan on only having three players, if that helps.
I'd really appreciate it if any of you more experienced people could let me know what you think on any of these points. If you have any other questions or suggestions, please let me know those too. Thank you.