Arc Development:Pokesona

This is a development tracking page for the Pokesona Arc proposal.

Arc Design

Pokesona is designed to be a side-plot/ mini-arc that will run paralell to the main plot/arc at the time. While the Big Bad's plans are extremely large in scope, it starts of seemingly small and doesn't start getting larger until the final stretch of the side-plot and the full scope of the won't be revealed to the PCs until right before the Final Battle. And even once the the scope starts getting larger, it will only affect an small area in a rather plain way.

Arc Brief

A Legendary - most likely one of the Lake Trio - asks a group of J-Team members to help deal with what seems to be a minor problem - an entity that it locked away in the Collective Unconsciousness (the CU from now on) a VERY long time ago has broken out of its "cage". Fortunately, the entity is weak after breaking out, so there is no reason to get the Whole J-Team involved in the problem. The Legendary also has a secondary reason behind choosing to send the J-Team on this mission: "Personal issues left unaddressed in a large World-saving group like the J-Team tend to lead to problems down the line". So this quest that they give the group is also a way of minimizing problems that can affect the J-Team's effectiveness during times of crisis.

But the group will need help because battles can't be fought through conventional means in the CU. So the Legendary helps the group get to the Velvet Room, and get aide from the Room's inhabitants. To properly fight the entity properly in the CU, the group must use Personas and Pokesonas. The occupants of the Velvet Room agree to aide the group and give each member of the group a "Contractor Key" that will allow the holder to use the signature Portal Doors of the Velvet Room to travel in between the Physical Realm and the CU. Hence the Velvet Room will act a hub for the Pokesona Plot.

However, it eventually starts to become apparent -read, "literally right before the final stretch of the Plot"- that the entity is much stronger that the Legendary originally thought so the Group is forced to fight the Big Bad of the Pokesona Plot without the full J-Team to back them up.

---

Known Operational Details

Details from here are much more technical and are subjected to change. None of this should be taken as an official decision unless it is stated as such in the Discussion Thread!

• Players running the Pokesona Plot:

Keys2tkingdom and DuneTheWander. Others are welcome to apply to help out.

• Arc-specific rules
  
  • All transformations nullified while a PC is in the CU. As we're going with P4's theme of "Truth", all PCs will revert to their "original state" while in the CU. Please note that this doesn't mean that the CU removes transformations, it just negates the effects of a transformation.
    
  • Starter Pokesonas will be assigned to the PCs by the those running the plot. If you do not like your PC's Pokesona, please discuss it with Keys2tkingdom and those helping run the plot.
    
  • No PC will have "The Power of the Wild Card", nor are they allowed to gain it. This for balance purposes as The Wild Card is a ridiculously broken ability.
    
  • Due to none of the group being able to have the The Wild Card, once a PC gains their Persona or unique Pokesona, they lose the ability to use their Starter Pokesona and can no longer summon it.
    
  • Mental constructs: See Discussion
  • Meta Awareness and Forth Wall Manipulation abilities will be disable for Dungeons and Trials beyond Rule of Funny. This is ensure that PCs can't circumvent their Shadow Selves or No Sell Guardians.

• Battle rules (different engine, etc, and how does it interact with the RP)
  
  • Bosses have the option of using a select set of using moves un available to the PCs.
    
    • Twofer - Allows the Boss to use to moves per turn with no time penalty
      
    • Spirit Drain - Influcts a PP limit on a PC's Pokesona's move, then drains PP from the target to refresh the Boss.
      
    • Power Drain - Basically an Oblivion Wing-esque move that drains HP from a target to heal the user
      
    • Other special moves and abilities can be discussed for gimmicks.
      
  • Personas and Pokesonas can be defeated in two ways
    
    • Damage the Persona or Pokesona enough to forcefully dismiss it. This method leaves the user severely weakened and possibly unconscious.
      
    • Render a Persona's or Pokesona's user unconscious
      
  • PCs are going to feel the pain and exhaustion their Persona or Pokesona feel, as well as receive a minor degree of physical feed back.
    
    • Under normal circumstances, the most Physical Feed a Persona or Pokesona can receive is some knock back and being restrained.
      
    • A Persona or Pokesona user can NOT receive physical injury of any sort directly through the the link that they have with their Persona or Pokesona. With the only exception being it Played For Laughs/ Played for Drama or because of Rule Of Funny/ Rule of Drama
      
  • All human and Pokemon PCs can be directly targeted by attacks.
    

• Requirements for players (availability, NPCs, etc)
  
  • The following information MUST be documented and approved be a player can participate.
    
    • Information on the Three stages of a PC's Persona or unique Pokesona (Initial, Evolved, and Ultimate).
    • Information on a PC's Ultimate Persona's/ Ultamate Pokesona's signature move - Including Base Power, Accuracy, and additional effects.
      
    • Additionally, an outline of a PC's Berserked Shadow Self's abilities and strength level must be documented and approved before hand.
      
  • Everyone will need to write for their Character(s) Shadow Selves, the berserked Shadow Selves, and small battles leading up to that point.
    
  • Players must be prepared to to give feedback if asked. The second part of the plot will be run by Keys2tkingdom and the others helping him run the plot - and participants' input will be needed to make things go smoothly.
    

• Planned (scripted) battles or events:
  • Pokesona Plot gets kicked off IRP
  • Some of the J-Team is asked to help the Legendary fix a minor problem
  • The each of the Group will be assigned a Starter Pokesona so they don't go into the UC unprepared.
    • Except for Mendel, whose Persona will be unlocked form the beginning as he will act as a Mission Control while in the UC.
  • Our PCs then get thrown into the Collective Unconsciousness
  • Our PCs spend the rest of this Portion going through Dungeons and facing Shadows Selves and claiming their Personas and Pokesonas
    • The Velvet Room will be accessible between boss fights to allow the group to exit the UC and return to the normal world.
  • Next up our PCs undertake shorter, but harder to cross hurdles that Prompt their Persona's and Pokesonas' evolution.
  • The group will fight and defeat the Big Bad's agents (although no one knows that at the moment).
  • End Game starts which the Fog starts to enter the Real World in a very localized area.
  • Reveals and Exposition happen to reveal the true Big Bag - Izanami
  • Challenge Izanami and win an Epic Boss Battle.
  • Our PCs beat down the BigBad to easily handled levels by [The Legendary that sent them on the journey] who shows up in time to slap the BigBad back into storage for another few thousand years and sets an alarm reminder to check on them every couple of centuries.
  • (Possible) Participation prizes MIGHT be given out be for our PCs as they are sent home
  • The End - What more do you want?

• Expected timeframe to run the arc

Start time: Spring 2016

End time: I'm Hoping for this to go no longer than three or four months, but that might be wishful thinking.

---

More

!!!Special Notes for Applicants!!!

• All approved applications will be marked by an “(Approved)” next to the user’s name. Please do not add this yourself. Keys, Dune, or Verax will add it upon your application’s approval.
• Starter Pokesonas will be added by Keys, Dune, or Verax once an application is approved. Please do not add them yourself. However, you can request that a Starter Pokesona prior to approval if you want to incorporate the Starter Pokesona into your application.
• “Special Enemies” sections are meant for Pokesona Plot-relevant enemies. Please do not add a Special Enemies section or use enemies from existing Special Enemies sections without permission from Keys, Dune, or Verax.
• Please post your application in the Pokesona Google Doc

• On a Functional level, there really is no difference between a Persona and a Pokesona, but here is a rundown of what they are (note that there can be exceptions to the following rules):
  • A Persona is an anthropomorphic manifestation of a human's ego.
  • Personas will take the form of a human character's Borked Pokeform. Note: a Borked Pokeform is when a human PC's pokeform transformation doesn't fully take, which results in the PC becoming what is essentially a Petting Zoo Person.
• A Pokesona can mean one of two things:
  • A manifestation of a Pokemon character's ego.
    • This type of Pokesona is unique to a given Pokemon Character
    • A Pokesona can be an "altered" version of the the Character's evolutionary stage or their evolutionary line (e.g. A Turtwig's Pokesona can be a ***Torterra with hover jets for legs and have tree-like cannons on its shell)
    • A Pokesona Can be an "altered" version of a Pokemon/ evolutionary Line that the character identifies with (e.g. A Turtwig's Pokesona can be a Sawk in Full plate armor that wields a spear.)
  • A manifestation of power that comes from within a human's or a Pokemon's soul.
    • This type of Pokesona are generic and are not restricted to a specific Character whether human or Pokemon
    • This type of Pokesona are generally weaker than a Pokesona unique to a Pokemon character.

• All information of a Persona/ Pokesona should be submitted in the following format
  • User: The PC controlling the Persona or Pokesona
  • Arcana: As a major thematic element in the Person a series, Please pick the Arcana that best represents the PC. A good reference is the Megami Tensei Wiki's Aracana Page.
    • If too many PCs end up with the same Arcana I will ask people to change their PC's Arcana to something else If they can't justify their reasoning with a strong IRP reason.
  • Initial Persona/Initial Pokesona: What is your PC's Initial Persona or Initial Pokesona? What does it look like?
  • Evolved Persona/Evolved Pokesona: What is your PC's Evolved Persona or Evolved Pokesona? What does it look like?
  • Ultimate Persona/Ultimate Pokesona: What is your PC's Ultimate Persona or Ultimate Pokesona? What does it look like?
    • All Unique Personas of Characters in all the Persona games are off limits to be used as a basis for Unique Personas/ Pokesonas in the Pokesona Plot unless cleared by the plot runners.
  • Ability: What is the Ability of the PC's Persona or Pokesona. For Personas, the ability is based on PC's Pokeform. A Pokesona's ability is based on the mon the Pokesona is based on. Abilities can't be changed once selected.
  • Signature Move:: What is your PCs' Ultimate Persona or Ultimate Pokesons's Signature Attack? Describe how the move works here: Range, Base Power, Accuracy, Typing (fire, Normal, Steel, etc.), Type of move (Status, Special, or Physical), Secondary effects, and appearance should all be listed. !!!BALANCE IS IMPORTANT!!!

• All Information on a PC's Shadow Self should be submitted in the following format:
  • Personal Issue(s): What Personal issue(s) does the Shadow Self Represent?
  • Dungeon: In what setting will the team encounter the Shadow Self? In most cases, the "Dungeon" will be reflective of a PC's Mindscape, but without the aspects.
    • Note: A Shadow Self IS NOT an Aspect and should not be treated as such. However, there are some exceptions to this.
  • Mooks: What Shadows and/or Demons (Demons are basically "wild" Pokesonas) will be found in the Dungeon? All Shadows and Demons MUST be themed after Pokemon.
  • Berserk Form: What does the Shadow Self look like in its Berzerk Form? How strong is it? Does the fight have any Gimmicks? All Berzerked Shadow Selves MUST be themed after Pokemon.
    • Note: A Shadow Self's Berzerked form is stronger based on the PC's age, the more issues they have, the severity of those issues, and the length of time the issue(s) have gone unaddressed.

• Feel free to use the Talk page for the article, in case anything more hard-coded needs to be discussed.