Quote from: Xathan
QuoteI really want to do a Pokemon inspired setting, with BLANK modifications
Watching the threads and shout box for as long as I have, at least once a month someone mentions wanting to do a setting based on the basic premise of Pokemon. A few get started, but never last particularly long.
Let's fix that.
The goal here is to create a unified setting focused on the core element of Pokemon - the world is inhabited by a variety of creatures that people capture and train to various ends. Most of the settings I've seen propose a feudal-japan style time period, since guns and planes and cars would render some of the more interesting uses of these beasts obsolete, but I've seen 'em all. (HA! See what I did there?)
I'm interested to see who all actually wants to work on this and get the whole thing going. There's not much here yet because I'm keeping it flexible - just going to see who is interested in the concept of a Pokemon collaboration before we go into details.
Hey guys! I keep going back to that old thread that Xathan started a few months ago. I really wanted to be a part of it. Unfortunately I was out of state at the time, and didn't have internet access.
So I decided to start a second try at it! But with twists in the concept...
First off, to make it not like Pokemon. I think the Mon genre is awesome, but there are a few things that bug me about it. Just for the record I am a Pokemon child, but looking back on both Pokemon and Digimon, Digimon was the one that had a real "point" to it (besides selling merchandise). You're not just running around collecting badges, you're actually saving two worlds at once!
And I will say that that's what I appreciate about Pokemon Conquest. Who here wouldn't use there legendary pokemon to conquer the dang world?
So I say we actually have there be a "point" in the big picture if that makes any sense.
Secondly: Let's not set it in japan or asia. I have nothing against japan or asia, but it's what we did last time so lets' shake it up a bit. Or atleast set it's focus on the whole world if we want to take it there.
So is anyone interested? If so then I'd like to put forth my two cents.
I really want to do something alternate history-ish. There was a series of novels that I can't remember there name about dragonriders in the Napoleonic wars, and after playing Pokemon Conquest I think it would be fun to set it in some sort of historical conflict.
I haven't really thought through this, but what about a vicious bloodsport between crudely-engineered Lamarckian chimeras in the slums of Regency-era Europe?
Quote from: Superbright
I haven't really thought through this, but what about a vicious bloodsport between crudely-engineered Lamarckian chimeras in the slums of Regency-era Europe?
I like the way you think.
Although I wouldn't know if "blood-sport" was the way to take it. There was a part of me that wanted to make a "mon" setting based around the American Revolution, but honestly that's only interesting to americans, and with AC3 being kind of new, I think it's a bit cliched.
One thing I would like to see more explored though Is the War of 1812. Honestly that's more interesting because you have the Napoleonic era going on at the same time.
Despite not being especially big on the "Mon genre" I contributed a few ideas last time round and enjoy collaborative world-building, so I'll throw in a few thoughts...
One thing to consider is the nature of the monsters. Are they just weird animals? Genetically engineered? Spirits? Demons? Other supernatural creatures? Something else? This will dictate the way the world feels and might suggest the time period to an extent as well. What kind of relationship do people have with the creatures? Are they intelligent? Sapient? Are they used for labour? Warfare? Pets? Companions?
Quote from: Steerpike
Despite not being especially big on the "Mon genre" I contributed a few ideas last time round and enjoy collaborative world-building, so I'll throw in a few thoughts...
One thing to consider is the nature of the monsters. Are they just weird animals? Genetically engineered? Spirits? Demons? Other supernatural creatures? Something else? This will dictate the way the world feels and might suggest the time period to an extent as well. What kind of relationship do people have with the creatures? Are they intelligent? Sapient? Are they used for labour? Warfare? Pets? Companions?
i just got back from my local mall, and we have a board game store there. I was beginning to play a copy of Evo (the board game, not NES game), and I really like the ideas presented in it. Alchemical solutions to expanding dinosaur evolution for instance immediately grabbed my attention.
I did a little research into Lamarckian evolution. What if we make an alternate history setting where Charles Darwin was born a lot earlier, and could make his discoveries? Then there could be an epic arms race between Lamarckian France, and Darwinian Britain?
So to answer your question Steerpike, I would personally suggest something genetically involved? I'm not sure. I'm trying to keep this open for collaboration.
I'd go for genetics as well. But I wouldn't just make it so that Charles Darwin was born earlier - if you wanted to avoid a nineteenth-century setting and go for 18th century instead, you could have evolutionary theory pioneered by Erasmus Darwin, who claimed IRL "that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, which THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE endued with animality, with the power of acquiring new parts, attended with new propensities, directed by irritations, sensations, volitions, and associations." All Charles Darwin really added was natural selection as a mechanism for change, after all. Perhaps in this world someone else made those connections. You could have other luminaries, such as Burnett and Diderot, advance their theories further in this timeline. The trick might be to come up with some kind of persuasive point of divergence that leads these early evolutionary theorists to develop their theories further.
Or this could be a universe in which Lamarckian evolution works? I think the Lamarckian angle really suits the "Mons" genre. But you could have the same scientists be the pioneers i.e. Erasmus, Diderot, Burnett (and obviously Lamarck himself!).
If I was doing this I'd throw in a bunch of clockwork stuff to fit the 18th century theme.
You could also play up an experimental surgery angle. Vivisection was pretty common during the Enlightenment and 19th century, though subject to enormous controversy. Maybe there's a Doctor Moreauish angle to some of the creatures... chimeric hybrids of other animals etc.
Quote from: Steerpike
I'd go for genetics as well. But I wouldn't just make it so that Charles Darwin was born earlier - if you wanted to avoid a nineteenth-century setting and go for 18th century instead, you could have evolutionary theory pioneered by Erasmus Darwin, who claimed IRL "that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, which THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE endued with animality, with the power of acquiring new parts, attended with new propensities, directed by irritations, sensations, volitions, and associations." All Charles Darwin really added was natural selection as a mechanism for change, after all. Perhaps in this world someone else made those connections. You could have other luminaries, such as Burnett and Diderot, advance their theories further in this timeline. The trick might be to come up with some kind of persuasive point of divergence that leads these early evolutionary theorists to develop their theories further.
Or this could be a universe in which Lamarckian evolution works? I think the Lamarckian angle really suits the "Mons" genre. But you could have the same scientists be the pioneers i.e. Erasmus, Diderot, Burnett (and obviously Lamarck himself!).
If I was doing this I'd throw in a bunch of clockwork stuff to fit the 18th century theme.
You could also play up an experimental surgery angle. Vivisection was pretty common during the Enlightenment and 19th century, though subject to enormous controversy. Maybe there's a Doctor Moreauish angle to some of the creatures... chimeric hybrids of other animals etc.
Oooh... I really like the Surgery angle, although I'm not sure what I'd do. I always thought that Moreau did genetic enhancement injections. Ah well.
I also kind of like the clockwork angle you're going at.
Yeah, Doctor Moreau is surgical - genetics specifically weren't widely known about until the 20th century when Mendel was "re-discovered," and Moreau was 1896, very much in response to vivisection debates raging at the time.
Quote from: Steerpike
Yeah, Doctor Moreau is surgical - genetics specifically weren't widely known about until the 20th century when Mendel was "re-discovered," and Moreau was 1896, very much in response to vivisection debates raging at the time.
Thanks Steerpike.
I keep looking back at 1812 with more and more interest. So much stuff is happening at once that it just keeps tickling my alternate history bone!
Of course this is a collaboration project so what does everyone else think?
It's an interesting era. It suggests that warfare (and using the monsters in war) will be central to the setting. Also, "Pride and Prejudice and Pokemon" pops into my head - coteries of Regency ladies sitting around and petting their lap-monsters.
How closely do you want history to track? Right down to individual people? Does Byron ride around Europe in a carriage drawn by giant frost-lizards? Does Wellington ride into Waterloo atop a firebreathing bird? Electric bear cavalry charging down on Napoleon's armies?
Quote from: Steerpike
It's an interesting era. It suggests that warfare (and using the monsters in war) will be central to the setting. Also, "Pride and Prejudice and Pokemon" pops into my head - coteries of Regency ladies sitting around and petting their lap-monsters.
How closely do you want history to track? Right down to individual people? Does Byron ride around Europe in a carriage drawn by giant frost-lizards? Does Wellington ride into Waterloo atop a firebreathing bird? Electric bear cavalry charging down on Napoleon's armies?
"Pride, Prejudice, and Pokemon". I laughed so hard.
Yeah It's more like I want Britain to retrogressively evolve birds back into dinosaurs (gotta stop rereading "Leviathan" trilogy), France to go in with a pack of mutated battle mammoths (I could see Napoleon doing that for some reason). And of course Russia retrogressively evolves bears into even bigger Arctodus's (short faced bears, Really gotta stop rereading Leviathan).
Now that I keep thinking about it though, I really like the idea I got from Evo (board game) about alchemical enhancements. Maybe there could be something about elemental powers in there as well.
So I've been giving this setting a lot of thought. Who want's to have me host a one-shot PbP game for the Mini-con?
1812: The Lamarckian Insurgency
The World:
It's been twenty years since the British-American Colonies have declared there independence in a long bloody revolution. The British Lion has come roaring back to reclaim it's lost and rebellious cub across the ocean.
In the mean time the French Rooster has risen to become a Basilisk. Napoleon has claimed almost all of Europe. And now he has his sights sit on the Russian Bear.
And by The British Lion, The American Eagle, The French Basilisk, and the Russian Bear, it's quite literal...
This is a world where biotechnology has developed quite quickly, due to the conflicts between Lamarck and the Darwin family. Nobody knows who discovered the trait threads inherent in all living things first, but it spurred on a conflict that soon turned into an arms race between France and Great Britain. Lamarck found out that he could turn roosters and hens into great monsters that took on the appearance of Basilisks from old myth. These behemoths soon became the staple of the French armies in the mid 18th century.
At the same time Erasmus Darwin began making "Great Lions" for the British. A couple of Decades later in the 1780's though the American Colonies would begin to have uprisings. Thanks to the genius of Benjamin Banneker, a scientist from Maryland who taught himself the principles of trait engineering, created giant eagles for the revolutionary war led by George Washington. The eagles would prove irreplaceable in the war and ultimately led to the downfall of the British rule in America, leaving only Canada left loyal to the Crown.
Now is the year 1812: The United States of America is once again at war with the British, and Napoleon rages his wars against Europe.
So what does everyone think so far?
Maybe there could be a major theme/schism of Evolution VS Revolution? The evolutionists would employ eugenics and mutations to promote the inherent potential within natural lifeforms, while the more radical revolutionists would discard this process as too sluggish and limited, prefering surgical alteration and combination of body parts from different beasts to produce chimeric hybrids.