The Stalkers RPG: Dustwoken Season 1 - General Chat Thread (Savant Hideout - Beachwood Farmstead)

[Neo Emolga]

004-confused.png

I literally just got here, my brain is in cooldown mode from drawing all of Lyric's icons and I don't really know what my character should really do. Can someone give me a quick sparknotes version of what's happened up to now and what the general plan / to-do list is? All I understand from the last few posts is that we're picking up cursed items like crazy and need to de-curse them.

EDIT: Alright, just read up on the latest thing and I decided to stitch the two sides of the Sarkkan Note together so it's easier to see the whole thing at once. I'll try to skim through everything else that's happened in the Main Action thread to get myself up to speed.

Spoiler:

Text version:

DAAAANG, you’re already off to a great start with that!

Piecing the parts of the note together, you get the full message.

“Hey Sarkkan,

Vocco keeps stealing my cash and I remember you told me you think she swiped your watch. I found an old safe in that abandoned hitchhiker café no one is using anymore. We can keep our more valuable stuff in there so she stops stealing it. The combination to is 17, 8, 42, 32. I’ll take the top row, you can have the bottom.”

[4-Number Combination] has been added to the Team Inventory

You're not quite sure why this note was ripped in half and seemingly discarded, but you wonder what you might find in that old safe now...

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(What I was going to post earlier, but you might still find this helpful!)

Hey there! Always awesome to see new people joining us!

So if you’ve ever played games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill (or ever did one of those real-life escape room things), those were a HUGE inspiration for Stalkers RPG. Horror themes, some puzzle work, you name it, you got it, and this crazy sky squirrel thought hey, wouldn’t it be cool to do it with Pokémon with a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon feel? Voila!

So, as a spoiler-free kind of overview as to how Stalkers RPG works (and all this could be learned through going through the previous Seasons), there are multiple Stalkers hidden among the list of civilians. Each of them has a hidden “route” (most of the time, *wink* *wink*) which comprises of things that need to be done before you see the big reveal as to who the Stalker is. All throughout that, there are heaps of tricks and traps that you need to be on the watchout for. Sometimes you can be prepared for them (assume entering a dark and creepy place will be dangerous), but NOT always!

Not only that, but you also need to uncover the means to eliminate them since just knowing which Pokémon are Stalkers is a great start, but they’re demonically possessed and need unconventional means to be fully eliminated (it used to be a holy/heavenly themed “Sin Purge” ritual in previous Seasons, it’s something entirely different here). It’s a bit like gathering pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. The extra challenge is now it’s like you’ve got the pieces of multiple jigsaw puzzles in the same pile. In time, things get sorted out and you find out what’s related to what. Yeah, there’s a whole methodology that goes on behind the scenes when I create these.

So now that you’re here (and thank you for joining us!), things are still in the very early stages. Right now things are in the “gathering phase” where it’s the proverbial gathering of the jigsaw pieces before you can start putting things together. Best way to do that is search locations and interview Pokémon.

Searching locations will always give you something, but there are often hidden dangers (usually if you have full Health/Sanity/Purity, you should be fine, though). Not every location will need to be searched to finish the game, but most of them need to be checked out. As a guide, reading the descriptions of locations is often quite helpful. Everyday locations like a character’s house, a market, an apartment building, and so on generally aren’t too dangerous, but they main not reveal all that much. Creepy abandoned locations are generally ripe and full of danger, but they’ll often have your most critical components of Stalker routes. Again, there are plenty of exceptions!

Interviewing Pokémon is a different but also helpful approach, but you get more and better answers from Pokémon you can connect with in terms of Rapport (your Diplomacy perk can override this, so you don’t need to pay too much attention to this). If you share a typing with them, that’s quite beneficial. The Timid/Intimidating modifier is based on the type chart, so keep that in mind as well. A Charmander talking to a Bulbasaur might make the Bulbasaur feel a bit on edge, but a Squirtle talking to that Bulbasaur would make the Bulbasaur feel more at ease. Your evolution stage is also taken into account. If it’s close to that of the Pokémon you’re interviewing, that’ll give more positive interviews whereas if it deviates too far from it, it will have a negative effect.

Also, each of those civilians has their own personality traits, likes, dislikes, things they like to do, and may have possible friendships and rivalries. Getting that information may be helpful. Some of the civilians also may have items that will be useful to you and the rest of the team.

If you need some examples:

Spoiler:

Example #1
Slowking to Azelf (with a kind personality)

Slowking (Final 2of2, Water/Psychic) to Azelf (1of1, Psychic)

Interview Rapport: POSITIVE
+1 Shared Pokémon Type (Psychic)

Nothing too crazy here. The Slowking's Interview with Azelf would be positive and mostly likely Azelf would provide helpful stuff and fork over an item if he was carrying one. No intimidation factor either.


Example #2
Pidgeot to Celebi (with an indifferent/uncaring personality)

Pidgeot (Final 3of3, Normal/Flying) to Celebi (1of1, Psychic/Grass)

Interview Rapport: NEUTRAL, INTIMIDATING
+Intimidating (Flying to Grass)

Because Celebi is pretty indifferent, she might think this Pidgeot is being a bit rude and overbearing, and chances are good she's not going to be too crazy about helping them. She might give her opinion about the Stalkers and that kind of thing, but would mostly keep the better details to herself. If she's carrying an item, chances are good she's going to hold onto it until someone a bit more cooperative comes along.


Example #3
Pansear to Slurpuff (with a nasty personality)

Pansear (1st Stage 1of2, Fire) to Slurpuff (2of2, Fairy)

Interview Rapport: NEGATIVE
-1 Evolution Stage Difference

In this case, the types don't conflict in any way, but it's the evolution stage difference that hits the Pansear player. And because the Slurpuff is a jerk, the player wouldn't get much besides getting the birdie flipped in their face. They would have pretty much wasted their time on this one.

Example #4
Misdreavus to Frolass

Misdreavus (1st Stage 1of2, Ghost) to Froslass (2nd Stage 2of2, Ghost/Ice)

Interview Rapport: NEUTRAL
+1 Shared Pokémon Type (Ghost)
-1 Pokémon Evolution Stage Difference

Example #5
Togekiss to Hawlucha

Togekiss (Final 3of3, Flying/Fairy) to Hawlucha (Final 1of1, Flying/Fighting)

Interview Rapport: POSITIVE, VERY INTIMIDATING
+1 Shared Pokémon Type (Flying)
+1 Intimidation (Flying to Fighting)
+1 Intimidation (Fairy to Fighting)

So hopefully that helps. :3

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Things I’d recommend when just starting off:

• I’d say start on the safer side of things and maybe search some of the everyday kinds of places in town first as you get a feel for the game. You’ll be gathering helpful things for the team to work with and you’ll be crossing off places that need to be search. That always helps the team get closer and closer to the end goals. HOWEVER, If you’re feeling a bit more brazen and incredibly brave (like Scytherwolf here) and you feel like plunging your Pokémon self into dark waters for dark, horror funsies, pick any location with ABANDONED on it, preferably with a creepy as all heck description and check that out. Hey, that’s taking one for the team!
• Look at the list of civilians and see which ones your Nidorina form would have a good interview with. Those would be great Pokémon to have a chat with to see what their take on the Stalkers is and if they’ve seen anything strange or unusual around town. If the interview is good, they might have something to give and they might disclose information about who to talk to next or where to search. Plus it’s a fun narrative! NOTE: Since you have the Diplomacy perk, you can always use that to essentially override the Interview system and get pretty good interviews each time, so the Rapport system isn’t something you need to pay too much attention to. That usually applies to folks who have some other Perk. :3
• This is a classic case of “when in Rome, do as Romans do.” So see what other players are doing and check out the results. It’s a great way to see how it all works and it gives you an idea of what kinds of results you’ll get if you do similar things.
• And when possible (and you’ve already done this I see!), look at what was found and see if there’s ways to piece it together. Early on, you still have a LOT of missing pieces, but as time goes by and more things are found, you’ll start to see connections if you look back at what’s in the Team Inventory and what’s noted in the Team Records at each location. The more you uncover, the more connections you’ll be able to make, but you’ll have to occasionally go back and check these things and discuss them with your peers.

So hopefully that was helpful! As always, I won’t give away too many hints, but if you have questions or if something doesn’t quite make sense, please reach out! And again, thanks for joining and I really hope you enjoy this!

Cheers! :3