Throughout the vast Overworld the Overseers work tirelessly to protect the worlds within from chaos and suffering. Across eons they've devised countless new measures for maintaining order and upholding worlds.
The newest such measure? The Catastrophe Academy! Where those whose worlds need of a turn-of-fortune can come to receive the experience they need to secure a better future for themselves and their worlds.
And now they're finally ready for their first generation of recruits.
What is this?
Catastrophe Academy is a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon roleplaying game run by Namohysip. It is a combined social-RP and tabletop game experience run over Discord.
Who can play?
Catastrophe Academy is intended for members of the PMD: Writers United community and adjacent circles. PMDWU is a public community, but we'd ask that people at least be somewhat familiar with the community or some other players before diving into a community RPG.
Who to bring?
Players may bring up to two characters. These may be pre-existing characters from a fanfiction, prior RP, etc, or may be entirely new characters created for this game.
Characters should be classified as a "mentor" or a "mentee". Mentors have overcome some obstacle significant to them in the past, and have lessons to share with others. Mentees are facing some obstacle they must to overcome, and need to grow in order to do so! This distinction will have minor gameplay impacts.
Unlike many traditional RPGs, your characters here will be 'normalized' in power-level by circumstances of the narrative, and pulled outside of their home setting. As a result your character doesn't need to necessarily have a "level 1" backstory.
However, please read the following character guidance and consider it closely when selecting a character to bring...
A good character SHOULD
Be from a Pokémon setting.
Or at least adjacent enough to not be jarring. While this game will explore the vast multiverse of the Overworld, it is still a PMD campaign at its core and will be focused primarily on settings where Pokémon are a central element!
Be a Pokémon.
Or be prepared to become one. At the start, all player characters will be mundane, canon Pokémon. There will be opportunities later on for deviation, but at a baseline all characters will be Pokémon.
Be a first stage Pokémon, and be willing to evolve.
No matter what stage the character was at before, they'll be starting Episode 1 at their earliest evolutionary stage and evolving mandatorily throughout the campaign.
Be able to work with a team.
This is a large-group campaign, and your character will be one member of a large team. You'll have opportunities for solo moments and actions, but being a cooperative part of the group is a must!
Be someone you can work with for a long time.
We try to remain flexible with players, but changing characters is generally one of the few "hard no"s. Your character will be going through a variety of shocking, tumultuous experiences. Bring someone you think can consistently respond to things in compelling ways and undergo a personal story that you'll enjoy writing over the course of a long campaign.
Be interesting to you beyond what they are.
All player characters will become mundane Pokémon at the start of the campaign, and will be far from home. If you think your character is boring without being a Space Squeep or President of the World, consider this carefully.
Be creative!
This obviously isn't a "mandatory rule", but it's something I wanted to impart about this game in particular.
Compared to many traditional RPGs, this game allows you a ton of creative license to freely write the entire world your character hails from and their place within it. Eventually, your character may even be able to carry certain elements of that past into the campaign with them.
Many players try to remain conservative when they're uncertain of the boundaries. This is simply a reminder that the boundaries here are fairly loose, and to not feel required to use a more traditional character, backstory, or setting if you want to try something unusual.
And if you're ever unsure about those boundaries, see the next box.
Works with the GMs and other players.
Seriously. In roleplaying games, communication is the panacea to all ails. If you're unsure about anything in these character suggestions, or if you have an idea you're not sure will work, or if you want to coordinate with someone, private message one of the GMs on Discord. Nothing has ever been made worse by clearer communications.
Even some of the "don't"s below might be manageable if discussed with and cleared by a GM.
A good character SHOULDN'T
Have flaws that make them disruptive in-or-out of character.
Characters having flaws is great, and is not only permitted but encouraged. That said, when designing character flaws in a group setting you need to be conscientious of how they affect others.
Character flaws that lead to things like regularly disrupting group conversations or derailing group plans can cause problems on two planes. Out of character, it can frustrate players if it feels like you're disrupting events away from how other players want them to go. And in character, it can begin to strain belief that the team at-large would keep your character around if they're consistently a problem!
Here's a few additional things to keep in mind with character flaws:
- Flaws are made so that a character can grow and improve. Don't design a character whose flaws are so quintessential to them that you cannot imagine them moving past it.
- Remember that you can't control reactions in a shared environment. Even if a flaw is treated as "quirky" in their own story, be aware that characters in this story may take it more seriously.
- If you're ever uncertain, ask yourself this: will other players have to actively write in justifications for tolerating my character's behavior in the long-term? If so, perhaps reconsider that character choice.
Rely on how they're perceived by others.
Something to be aware of up front with a group setting is that you cannot control how other characters will perceive yours. If you cannot fathom your character in any situation where they're not universally seen as "the smart one" or "the leader", that's something to be wary of.
Be evil.
Morally gray characters, antiheroes, or well-intentioned antagonists are generally worth discussing with GMs ahead of time, but can still make for compelling characters as long as they're clearly fighting on the side of good in this campaign. But don't bring someone who's unambigously evil, no matter how cooperative they're going to be. Other players shouldn't need to come up with in-character excuses why they're tolerating Lord Puppypunter the Third, who fondly recounts all the puppies he's punted, simply because he's not currently punting a puppy.
Be mentally unfit for crisis situations.
The premise of this campaign centers around diving headfirst into catastrophes. Don't bring a character who is mentally unfit to do so, or whom it would have been negligent for the Overseers to have recruited.
This includes mental maturity. A mainline Pokémon ten-year-old that's ready to take down the mafia may be okay, but a three-thousand-year-old dragon who still needs to be tucked in at night is not.
This also includes severe mental illness. If your character would be diagnosed as clinically depressed, please reconsider.
Be a "spoiler".
If your character is from a fanfiction, then don't bring someone you will feel the need to be deflective about because of "spoilers". This is a long campaign, and characters will talk a lot. It won't be fun for you to try and dance around details of their life in every conversation. Either be prepared to spoil, or consider another character.
Have common triggers (rape, suicide, etc) as a central element.
It's an 18+ game, and it is okay for characters to touch upon these subjects in closed scenes with other consenting players. But if it's likely to come up in group environments, or other players can't really get to know your character at all without engaging these themes, consider another character.
Be a self-insert.
Characters are always open to interpretation and criticism. It gets deeply uncomfortable for other players if criticising the “character” is unsubtly tantamount to criticizing you.
Not work with the GMs.
The inverse of the above. The GMs will allow a lot of things, but if something you're doing might fall outside the scope of what's allowed you need to communicate! If you want to do something that might be impermissible and we find out when it's time to start playing it's likely to be denied outright, but if you reach out earlier there's a chance we can make it work.
I have more questions!
That's great! If you've gotten this far and still have questions, it's probably about time to join our Discord and ask them directly.
