Nakkamon (Monster Trainer RP) - Interest Check

So I'm really into Monster Trainer stuff (Pokemon, Digimon, SMT, etc etc) and I've wanted to try a game based on that genre. The short pitch is that, thirty years ago, an event happened that caused the Human World and a Monster World (the Monsters being creatures called "Nakkamon") to fuse together. Now, a select group of True Partners (a Human and Nakkamon that are instincually drawn to each other) find themselves on a quest to discover the reason their worlds became one... and where to go from there.

Now, the catch with this game is that I'd want all players involved to create both a Human and Nakkamon character... but they wouldn't be their own partners. What would happen would be, once enough players (four ideally) have created their characters they will be mixed and paired off with each other.

So say you do have four and each create a Human and a Nakkamon: A(H) A(N) B(H) B(N) C(H) C(N) D(H) D(N)

One way they may be mixed up by the GM (IE me) as so: A(H) C(N), B(H) A(N), C(H) D(N), D(H) B(N)

Each pair would start off in their own locations and the plot would go from there.

Sound interesting?

 

I'm up for seeing how that might go, to start at least. Can't be sure if I'll stay with it or not, for a variety of reasons but, could be fun.

Never played tons of digimon other than Hackers which is....the gameplay is fun....but the story is just so unbelievably generic and god awful it made me angry just to play through. Also Nexomon a monster catcher most people haven't heard of, is worth playing. I played it on the switch a while ago. It's easy to call it a pokemon rip off, but actually playing it, the fact you catch monsters is about the only thing that's the same. Pokemon is more....you hear of these monsters being dangerous. Nexomon is more of a decontstruction. It's a world bordering on post apocplaytic because of the fact they have all these wild monsters breathing fire running around and either you tame them, or you'll probably die.

I've played through a number of pokemon romhacks and online games lately, but by far the best one is Pokemon Xenoverse, which I definitely recommend to people. It's not even like just a reskin. It's a new region, characters, and everything with it's own music. It's on a whole other level compared to other pokemon fan games.

Anyway, I'd have to see what the rules are for character creation and types before I know what I want to do. Do human trainers have a certain affinity for a type-like bonus to catching or using monsters with the same type?

 

Not totally clear what the game would be, but I'm willing to try it out.

 

I take it we'll all be playing two characters each? I'd give it a try.

 

I'm willing to give it a try... if I can think of a human character (I have way too many ideas about a monster one).

 

Yeah, it'd be one Human and one Nakkamon submitted by each player. (Oh and a note: Nakkamon can look as monstrous, "human with monster bits", or "basically an elf/orc/troll" as you like. Obviously so long as they pass the Harkness test.)

It'd be more like the Digimon or FATE animes (yes, FATE technically counts as Monster Trainer) where the human and monster are a singular partnership where the human can impart power to the monster (or can physically help out if they're so inclined/skilled) and can help them evolve past certain thresholds once their relationships deepen enough. It also has a touch of Shin Megami Tensei in that you can convince other monsters to give you what you want if you're willing to give them what they want.

As for Character Creation this is the form I have so far, so thoughts on any things I can clarify/you think might need to be added would be helpful:

NAME:

RACE: Human or Nakkamon

AGE/EVOLUTION LEVEL: Humans must be over the age of eighteen but preferably under thirty (though if you do want to play someone older it can be worked out) while Nakkamon maturation is dependent on how many evolutions they have undergone after being born instead of any set biological age. Level 3 (With their newborns being Level 0 and highest possible being Level 7) is the basic equivalent of their age of consent but they can be much "older" without having been physically alive for more than thirty years.

* Nakkamon Only Traits Here If Applicable: See below.

DESCRIPTION: If you have a picture, use it here. If not, a written one is fine.

PERSONALITY: A brief description on what their general outlook on life is. Are they a pessimist? Optimist? Thoughtful? Impulsive? Horny AF?

* = Nakkamon Only Traits
TYPE: Lover, Luster, or Loner.
These are the types of classifications of Nakkamon that inform their behavior. Lovers are ones that are inclined to seek partnerships that have a deeper emotional meaning for them. Lusters look for things they want to have that just make them happy in the moment, which is usually of some form of carnal pleasure. Loners are very needy and sometimes desperate ones that are looking for something, ANYTHING, to fill the sense of emptiness in their hearts (this tends to them, on average, being the more aggressive and "villainous" type of Nakkamon but that is not always the case).

ELEMENT: Water, Fire, Earth, or Wind.
These sub-classifications inform what a Nakkamon's powers and abilities are like as well as the kinds of forms their evolutions can take should they reach the threshold to do so, since they will be more and more attuned to their element in some way.

One last note about evolution levels: Most Nakkamon ever max out at Level 5 and stay there until they die of natural causes/in battle, with 6s being very rare and absurdly powerful and the only known 7 to have ever existed being akin to a god.

 

Alright, I'm in, it'd be fun to try something different.

And if it'll be like fate, does that mean semen = magical energy drink?

 

Current human ideas:

Spoiler

Capitan/Professor(Not sure which one. I was thinking either like a ranger environmentalist captain or a marine life kind of not!pokemon professor) Vanessa Rayne
Human
Age: I was thinking early thirties or so if that works

Marine life specialist, Single mother, works with the coat guard, and a trainer. Seems like she does dam near everything. Her general belief is that it’s not enough for a trainer to have strong monsters, but they should be capable themsleves.

She was actually expected as the most likely to win last year’s Nakkumon tournament…but she threw a party before the tournament, and missed registration.

Naturally, as a trainer, she typically gravitates to water and ice aligned types though she’s fine with using whatever gets the job done.

Other trainer idea

Spoiler

Larissa Schulz

A professor and teacher, she’s not much of a hardcore battler herself, but her knowledge and powers of analysis to know exactly what moves and weaknesses to expect from the opposition and how to exploit them, still leaving her effective when the situation calls for it.

While she researches a number of subjects, she namely shows interest in the process of evolution and the conditions that cause it in some species while others are wildly different.

Spoiler

While not common knowledge, she was also part of a secret weapon project to create the most powerful Nakkumon. The war ended before any results were publicly seen and the official story is it never really worked and they abandoned the project. But…. those ultra rare starting Nakkumon that
can’t be found in the wild came from somewhere, didn’t they?

Well a few ideas for a monster type. I'm not sure how human like or monster like they are supposed to be, so I don't know what works or doesn't.

Spoiler

Also while it looks like the typical pattern, this time, while she is another milf, there’s actually no incest involved. Crazy, right?

…maybe the Nukkamon might with some kind of breeding but….

 

It can be, if the Nakkamon and Human have that kind of relationship!

Both of these are fairly decent, though if the latter's role becomes known in whatever wars popped up over the years, she might face a LOT of mistrust and persecution from everyone who isn't her True Partner (and yes, she can be responsible for some of the wild Level 6's running about, who will remember her). And with the former, I think in this world being a "Trainer" would function more as a sports team coach than like, a Pokemon person capturing her team. Like, everyone but her Partner would end up going home once whatever sport event/workout was done for the day.

The main reason I want characters mostly under thirty is because it's been that long since the worlds merged and this is essentially the first generation coming of age where both species co-existing together is becoming normalized. However, someone in their younger thirties can still work since most of their memories of the most chaotic years would be hazy due to being... y'know a baby and then a small child.

These all honestly work as potential monster designs, since you're basically working in a frame that can vary wildly from this:



To This:

 

So the coin flip says to go with the second human idea and I guess I'll put the first one in the backrow for some other time.

As for a mon, I narrowed down some I liked....to find a lot more that I also like and now I'm back to making less of a decision.

Spoiler

And I couldn't find a image of just the darker one at the top, but that one with the chest, because you know my pattern by now.

Also a lot of these are from deadlands which seems to have a lot of good art.

My ideas for the mon are basically:

Being part of a line made in a lab, explicitly for dominance in combat, her powerful appearance and impressive powers...would be impressive if she has ever actually been in a fight in her life. A product of being just out of the lab.

Basically an old nakkumon restored from a fossil(That was my kind of idea for the egyptian girl type)

And you know...if I don't go with either of those, just sexiness in general.

 

ELEMENT: Water, Fire, Earth, or Wind. Also are these the only types we’re using?

It’s fine if we are. Just wondering what the options are. Does something like electric apply to the wind type and ice apply to water in general? Just curious. A light type could be argued to be an extension of heat and fire in general really and a dark type based one probably could apply to a few things depending on what their powers do.

 

Yeah, Thunder and Ice powers would fall under the purview of Wind and Water. And I wanted to keep it to the basic four for simplicity's sake this time around instead of over-complicating it with alternate elements like Metal and such.

EDIT: Oh and I like the "created/raised by the military but never actually fought idea". Though depending on the humans submitted it might require her having escaped/accidentally released at some point to be with her Partner.

 

I think one of the things that I'm having the most trouble with is coming up with a proper evolution line (And good character designs for each of them.)

 

Wait evolution line? That's going to be tricky. Mostly looking for appropriate pictures to represent them. I'm a sucker for consistency after all.

 

I have an idea, but need a little longer to narrow it down.

 

I thought that was what we we're doing. I might have been wrong.

Maybe unless it takes after digimon where devolving is a thing, which is actually encouraged to access more forms.

Basically a reason digimon differs from pokemon.

Pokemon is: Pokemon Lv.1-100

Digimon is:
Rookie: Lv. 1-20
Evolving it alllows you to raise the level caps in game, but devolving still increases the cap so it's actually necessary to get the super strong digimons because some forms require a rookie to be a much higher level than what they would otherwise be and aren't possible to achieve through just straight transformation. (Lucemon in particular is an absolute bitch to fuse...but once you do....)

Devolution would be more complicated I think to have, but probably would allow for more varied forms...plus if there is one you still wanted to do more of, you can go back to it. But that would all be up to the gm. A straight evolution line keeps things less convoluted though.

 

I'd say, for now, don't worry about Evolution TOO much? Maybe keep in mind what form the Level above the one they have at the moment might be, but don't feel you need to plan out the entire line right at the start. (And it'd be more Digimon in the sense of each form can look radically different from the previous one if you think that would look better/more dramatic.)

 

Okay going to put my stuff here, though I'm still have trouble with the mon.

Spoiler: Human: Professor Schulz

Larissa Schulz

A professor and teacher, she’s not much of a hardcore battler herself, but her knowledge and powers of analysis to know exactly what moves and weaknesses to expect from the opposition and how to exploit them, still leaving her effective when the situation calls for it. Sociable and friendly, she remains still serious about her work being done properly.

While she researches a number of subjects, she namely shows interest in the process of evolution and the conditions that cause it in some species while others are wildly different. But that is only one aspect to her research, tying into much grander goals. Supposedly, and while as far as anyone is really aware, there was a pretty infamous conspiracy theory back during the war that the government was funding work into trying to create the ultimate Nakkumon to end the war. Of course, there's absolutely no proof to support this other than circumstantial evidence at best and nobody has ever seen this alleged Nakkumon. Even more committed conspiracy theories insist that while the project happened, it never really worked...sure, you can observe the results of specifically engineered species from the war made for combat, but they were never to the level to be destroying entire armies in a night, and while they never managed to properly make it, they're still trying to develop it in secret.

If and only if, that was true, Larissa would have to point out that such a project would ultimately be unviable. A few hundred people all working in a lab out in the woods by themselves? It's hard to imagine they could all keep a secret, isn't? Even if you want to assume that somehow, all the well reputed scientists in the region were trying to make a perfect Nakkumon, that would actually fall apart pretty quickly with many arguments over what perfection should be. Should it be perfectly obedient to obey orders or shouldn't the superior being be capable of independent thought? Well, assuming and only assuming, if Larrisa had any say about it, then if she was trying to do something like it, her own opinion would be that the perfect Nakkumon would also possess superior morals too. A crazy and unhinged weapon of mass destruction is hardly perfect. But rather, something that has the wisdom to use their powers wisely along with being raised with the compassion to understand the difference between self defense and ruthlessness. It wouldn't just need to have perfect powers, but be raised in the perfect environment to nurture it into having it grow wisely.

Yes, hypothetically, if she did somehow still have the funding and supposedly had a secret lab, then technically, she could try raising and growing the perfect Nakkumon in the way that her colleagues wouldn't allow, either wanting to emphasis heightening powers over empathy or focusing too much on logic. Then Schulz could potentially try having raised her own version Gamma to be one that could remain independent without stripping any of it's intelligence, but also capable of viewing the humans that made it with trust and see a purpose to fighting for them. Then if any of that were true, assuming the idea of an Alpha version made during the war could be disastrous. Powerful enough to crush armies, but no emotional maturity to handle it.

If any of that could actually be true...but that's all just conspiracy theories...right?

Spoiler: Mon: (Still unsure what I'll do)

I used a dieroller to decide, and I still can't find any other art of the top right dark skinned one by herself, but that's the one.

Name: Jeanne
Level: One? Seriously?
Type: Lover, Luster, or Loner(Debating. Might still change my mind to do one of the other ones)
Element: Water
Description:

In their youth, it's said that the few found in the wild for one reason or another are incapable of taking care of themselves and survive by trying to make people feel sorry for it. This is a tactic, that Jeanne herself has been more than comfortable using an adult in more ways than one. Despite having the appearance of an incredibly impressive and capable mon, Jeanne has never needed to be in a fight in her life and isn't nearly as powerful as presentation would suggest.

Her best move is something called the Paradox Burst Star. Which...despite the scary name and extremely flashy display, given how jokingly weak her level it is, it uses up almost all of her stamina to cast and barely even does much more damage than just punching someone regularly would. However......

Spoiler: Other ideas

Spoiler: I was also debating using this one as a first form that grows into one of the others, but don't know how long I'd be using it for.

Also don't know if I'm satsifed with that background for Jeanne so that may still change too. I'm narrowing it down, but slowly.

 

Anyway, the idea I had for a Mon was a bunny girl fighter kinda deal

Spoiler: Bunny warrior