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| Requesting Random Events Help; Could use a collection of small happenings. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 31 2014, 07:16 PM (1,596 Views) | |
| Deleted User | May 31 2014, 07:16 PM Post #1 |
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Deleted User
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There are Random Encounters, and there are Random Plot Hooks, but there is no collection of small, filler-type events that help to move a Scene along or pass the time between big plot points. A good example of this would be things that could happen while traveling a Route. Things like, "You meet a traveling merchant," or, "a Camper did not put out their campfire very well, and now there is a small fire in the grass near the path that is slowly growing." Nothing big, but something that practically forces the player to stop and do something or command one or more of their party to do something to resolve the situation, which should be pretty easily resolved. Little challenges that could be used as a good reason to award a single point of Misc Experience. So any suggestions would be great, and thank you in advance. |
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| malonkey1 | May 31 2014, 08:23 PM Post #2 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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Alright. Are you wanting, like, statted-out events? Because I could probably do that. Here are some rough ones, including one of your examples elaborated on. SMOKEY'S SHAME: A camper failed to put out his campfire and now the flames are spreading! Each turn, the campfire ignites an adjacent square. Each turn, every ignited square other than the campfire has a 50% chance to ignite another adjacent square. Ground-type, water-type, and ice-type attacks, as well as a shovel of dirt or bucket of water used as a Struggle Attack (the fire's Evasion is zero), will put out a square. Once put out, a square can't be reignited. The goal is to put out all the fires before it can spread to the nearby forest. PRECOCIOUS PORYGON: A mischievous Porygon has hacked into your Pokedex/Pokegear/other electronic device and refuses to leave until you solve a series of puzzles. Depending on the party, these puzzles could be as simple as word puzzles, or as dangerous as traversing chaotic streets with malfunctioning stoplights! POKERUS RESEARCHER: Pokerus is a mysterious organism, and those who research it often need the help of adventurous trainers. You and your friends have been offered a sample of Pokerus to administer to your Pokemon so the researchers can gather data. However, you note a few behavioral quirks in your Pokemon that weren't there before. Is it something sinister? Or just a side effect of the Pokerus? POKEBOT CHASE: An Engineer (see "Do Porygon Dream of Mareep?") has lost track of an experimental and fast-moving Pokebot. It's very delicate, and the Engineer needs it unharmed, so he's asked you to track it down and catch it without seriously damaging it. It's fast-moving, so you'll need to outfox and out-maneuver it. |
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| Deleted User | May 31 2014, 08:52 PM Post #3 |
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Deleted User
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Hey those are great! Thank you. In fact, one or two of those could easily grow into an entire mission by themselves. What I'm looking for could be even smaller. It's the little stuff you do when you're on your way to the bigger stuff you do. I'm hoping that we can get this thread filled with tiny ideas so other GMs can use them in their games as well. Daily Pocket Monster is great for big plot ideas, but there's no real wealth of resources for smaller ideas. Just small things that are easily and quickly solved if the player just gives it a few moments' thought. You know, just some fun stuff to do while traveling besides looking for Wilds. It has to be relatively quick, simple, and shouldn't really stop them from traveling to wherever they're going. And, sometimes, there shouldn't really be any consequences for passing it by altogether, because the point is to add flavor to the trip, not solid plot points. Here is another example: - As you travel, you comes across a live wire from a fallen power line. It whips around, sparking dangerously near the path. (That's it! There's no more pre-written info in regard to it. The player just takes it from there. They can go about it any way they want. They could try to fix it, they could try any number of fun, experimental ideas with any Electric-types they may have, or they may shrug and keep moving. The point is they ran into something on their way from point A to point B, keeping it from being a boring trip.) |
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| malonkey1 | May 31 2014, 09:17 PM Post #4 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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Alright, here's a few smaller ones. You find a freakishly large Magikarp, just sitting there in the middle of the road. Your hat gets stolen by a Shuppet. A Voltorb sneaks into your bag, mistaking your Pokeballs for its friends. You encounter a small town, in the middle of a massive Miltank cheese festival. A Fearow makes its nest in your folded laundry and refuses to budge. For some reason, one of your friends is able to attract an inexplicably large flock of Pidove, and becomes King of the Pidoves. A Jigglypuff Karaoke party takes place near where you camp. |
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| Deleted User | May 31 2014, 09:45 PM Post #5 |
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Deleted User
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You're good at this. Those are perfect, and exactly what I'm looking for. Random downtime events. Hopefully, we can get some more users to weigh in as well.- You happen UPON a hat. Is it stolen or just lost? Who took/lost it? How did it end up here? Maybe it's an official League hat, too. Do you take it with you or leave it there? The GM can use it now and decide what comes of it later. - The Magikarp salesman! - A tour guide is leading a group in the opposite direction you're traveling. When you and the group meet, the tourists have some questions for you, since they think you're a "local". - You happen upon a mugging in progress. - You find a hermit's shack. It's guarded by an aggressive dog-themed Pokémon. Houndour, Arcanine, Riolu, etc. - Three Machamp have begun an impromptu bodybuilding competition and want you to judge. - Diglett have done too much tunneling in this area and you fall into a sinkhole. You have to figure out how to get back out of the hole. - You meet a Pokémaniac who pays top dollar for collectible Pokémon parts, like fangs, claws, scales, etc. |
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| malonkey1 | May 31 2014, 10:12 PM Post #6 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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Here's some more. An Aipom steals your pants. You are dared to enter a beauty pageant posing as the opposite gender. You are superglued to another trainer, and the nearest art supply store is in the next town over. You lose control while rollerskating in a very hilly town. You lose your eyebrows in an explosion. You find a Honedge stuck in a Geodude's head. You are coated in honey and pestered by a Lickitung. You happen upon a tiny "toy" spaceship in a little crater in the ground. Your hat becomes fixed to your head before a formal dinner Your personal gravity field is temporarily rotated to an odd angle You can find that you can fly for brief periods, but only by tripping over a Magnemite and painfully landing on your face several times first. Shaq and his team of ace Pokemon challenge you to a basketball game. |
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| Deleted User | Jun 1 2014, 08:00 AM Post #7 |
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Deleted User
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You, uh, you went a little off the rails there with those last few, lol. I'm really looking for stuff that happens specifically while traveling on the roads between towns. Towns themselves usually have enough in them for a GM to figure out a few points of interest for their players. If you base the towns off the ones in the game, you already have several plot points right there. Same goes for places that can be treated like dungeons, such as Viridian Forest, a Rocket Base, or Lavender Tower. The GM can easily create specific encounters for those areas, since the possibilities are limited by the location. But traveling on Route 3 from Pewter to Mt. Moon? What happens there? In the games, it's always the same - battle Trainers, hunt for Wilds, battle Trainers, hunt for Wilds, battle, hunt, battle, hunt, etc. It works in the games but it becomes stale in PTU. I want to offer my players some things to encounter on their way from here to there. I want them to be able to skip the events if they want to (say, if they're in a big hurry), or stop and interact for a moment if they want to. And I'd like there to be some positive incentive to stop and interact. Like the live wire example above - they could continue on and just get where they were headed, but if they stop and repair it, they'll get 1 Misc XP for their good deed, or if they get smart and use the wire on an Electric-type that they have in the party, that Pokémon might have a Daily or Scene frequency Move restored, or maybe they store the charge and their next Electric-type attack hits for double damage. Stuff like that. |
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| Zubat | Jun 1 2014, 10:53 AM Post #8 |
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Student GM
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"Something in the distance": Riotminds' RPG has an adventure where you see the bird Roc. Being such a majestic creature, the adventurers' mind skill gets elevated by 1 for seeing it. Proposal: a DC of 12 on intuition, the character notices something flying in the distance. On player's initiative: perception DC of 10 can say that it comes closer. If the party waits for it to come close, they see a huge and majestic bird flying over them. This gives everyone in the party +1 in spirit. It's doubtful if the bird, Ho-oh, is in range of the pokédex. Notice how the active part gives them +1 spirit while the ignoring or not noticing gives nothing. "Bill's grandfather": In gen2 and their remakes, Bill's grandfather gives evolutionary stones if showed specific pokémon. He gives a visual description, nothing more (he doesn't know species, types, sizes etc.). The party sees an elderly man walking alone on the road, heading in the same direction as the players. If/when they catch up, the man asks to be shown some pokémon. If anyone in the party has one of them, the man gives them an evolutionary stone. Here is some copy pasta (versions excluded): Everstone: Show Bill's grandfather Lickitung or Jigglypuff Fire Stone: Show Bill's grandfather Vulpix or Growlithe Thunderstone: Show Bill's grandfather Pichu Water Stone: Show Bill's grandfather Staryu or Marill Leaf Stone: Show Bill's grandfather Oddish "Holla holla, donate dolla!": The party meets guy collecting money for charity. The money goes to [GM's choice]. I prefer to think of it as losing money. "Mommy, look!": A pokémon breeder lives by the road. This is a way to sell a wished for pokémon to the group. Level 10 ponytas, miltanks, growlithe etc. are for sale. "Trading Card Game": A group of children rides by on bikes. They stop and ask about animon (animal monsters), does any of the players have animon cards? One kid has the golden retriever, the platypus, the ostrich and, most valuable, the monarch butterfly. Another has the lion, the tiger, the cheetah and the panther, almost all felines. The third one has a collection of 5 white doves, they are rare, and 1 grey pigeon. They have a friend who has a grizzly, 120 HP and 100 damage, the rarest card of all. OT: "Three Machamp have begun an impromptu bodybuilding competition and want you to judge." This immediately made me think of an episode of Malcolm in the middle. Couldn't find it in English
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| TM93 | Jun 1 2014, 11:33 AM Post #9 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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This one's actually a personal favorite that I use often in the early game, partially to test how well the players work together, and partially to let them either get a fair bit of EXP, probably enough to get their starters to Stage 2, or a few good Pokemon out of it (that don't vastly outlevel their team mind you). It's in-depth enough to be an entire scene on it's own, but also basic enough to fit into different campaigns with ease. It's also simple enough to set up that you can use it as a buffer before they get to the next town where a major event may be taking place that you may need time to set up. OH GOD WHY DID WE THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA The players are wandering through the woods, whether to explore, or to simply get to the next town. Something leads them astray (I usually use a Pikachu running past as a hook, or some other "semi-rare" pokemon that at least once PC might want. In a more fantasy-based game, perhaps it's a strange light of some sort.), which eventually ends with them being lead to a clearing, a glade if you will. The Pikachu vanish into a burrow in the ground and refuse to come out. As the party stands there, they realize that there's a buzzing sound coming from all around them. They look into the trees to find a massive number of Kakuna hanging from the branches, and they're all shaking rather violently. Each turn the level 10 Kakuna can evolve (I normally flip a coin for each one until I hit the # of PC's to see which ones evolve), although I wouldn't toss more than 1 or 2 Beedrill at a time per PC if the campaign just began. They're scary Pokemon at an early level! For simplicity's sake I normally give Pokemon XP based on the number of Kakuna placed, making them all count as Beedrill, even if PC's managed to KO them before they evolved, however I might also recommend keeping track of Beedrill vs Kakuna KO's/Captures, so that the PC's don't overlevel if they don't earn it. If the PC's did particularly well, maybe the Pikachus/semi-rare Pokemon come out and join them as a thank-you for getting them out of a sticky situation (I normally set these to their Main Pokemon's Level -2). This is just an idea, mind you, and I'm always open to constructive criticism. |
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| Solysp | Jun 1 2014, 11:36 AM Post #10 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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A group of youngsters asks the party to show them how to catch pokemon. A PokeNews Team covering swarming Bug Types is in danger of getting swarmed under. A Mysterious old man gives the party cryptic advice (it's probably Elminster... again...). A strange merchant offers to trade rare items to the party members, but he doesn't want money, instead he wants to trade for secrets about the PCs. (Good way to get new plot hooks and balance out the party's loot power level). A little girl/old lady's Skitty is stuck in a tree. Kangaskhan has lost it's baby. A roadside memorial has a ghost pokemon that wants the party to leave flowers. Team Rocket is sitting dejected by the road, they could use some cheering up. |
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7:42 AM Jul 11
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Pokéball created by Sarah & Delirium of the ZNR







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Those are perfect, and exactly what I'm looking for. Random downtime events. Hopefully, we can get some more users to weigh in as well.


7:42 AM Jul 11