all right, b!tches, let’s gold up this heart
So here’s the deal: this is gonna be a test of the Kingslocke Advanced Rules. The second test, in fact (I’ve already run the Advanced Rules once on X and made a couple of changes based on that experience, although I didn’t fully document that run). The Kingslocke, for anyone just joining us now, is the dumbest and most convoluted Pokémon challenge run ever devised by a mortal fake gamer guy (I am the guy; it me). Its basic mechanic is just that, whenever you visit a new location, you have to draw a card from a tarot deck and follow a unique rule based on the card you draw. And that is the only simple thing about the Kingslocke.
The Advanced Rules do not supersede the Third Revised Edition, which is the version of the rules I created after finishing Black 2. They are an optional addition to those rules, meant for people who’ve already played a game using the Third Revised Edition, and they’re not even necessarily supposed to be harder. Mostly, they’re supposed to be more complicated. You know, because the real problem with the Third Revised Edition of the Kingslocke was that it wasn’t complicated enough. The Advanced Rules are a version of the Kingslocke in which each of the four suits puts a different spin on each of the Minor Arcana cards. In the standard Kingslocke, the four Aces all do the same thing; so do the four Twos, the four Threes and so on, up to the four Kings. In the Advanced Rules, the Ace of Cups presents you with a slightly different challenge from the Ace of Wands, which is different again from the Ace of Swords, and different still from the Ace of Pentacles.
To add a little bit of extra excitement here (and because I’m not totally ready to publish them yet) I’m not going to post the full Advanced Rules at the start. Instead, we’re going to learn as we go – when I draw a new Minor Arcana card, I’ll reveal its special rule. Of course, the Major Arcana is unchanged in the Advanced Rules, and all the Minor Arcana cards still do basically what you’ll be used to if you’ve followed or played a Kingslocke before, so no-one’s completely in the dark here. The Twos still let you catch a Pokémon of your choice and use a TM of your choice – but they each might give you something extra as well. The Sevens still want you to draw more cards – but they each do it in a different way. And, of course, the Kings still send Pokémon to the Vessel – but they all have their own special methods of extending their royal patronage to help the Pokémon they favour.
Of course, here’s the part you all care about: what happens when I draw a Ten? How are we doing custom rules this time? Well, I have a new plan for this one. Anyone can submit ideas for custom rules in the comments to this post – or any post in this series – at any time. You don’t have to wait for me to draw a Ten and prompt you, the way we did it in my Pearl Kingslocke. We’ll collect them all, and whenever I draw a Ten, Jim the Editor will pick the one he thinks is the most fun or interesting of those that seem to work for the situation. A Ten also lets the audience revoke ongoing rules or free petrified Pokémon, and you might want to specify something like “first, free all petrified Pokémon” or “if a Four is in play, revoke it” in your submissions if you think it will make your own rule work better, but you don’t have to. If you don’t, I’ll just run a poll after Jim picks the rule.
Oh, and as is my custom when playing games of the DS era and older that have not had a virtual console release, this is going to be run on an emulator, with a very slightly tweaked ROM that will allow me to evolve Pokémon who normally need to be traded (all changes are detailed here: https://pokehacks.dabomstew.com/randomizer/changedevos.php).
The run begins tomorrow, and updates When I Feel Like It. Here goes nothing.
Pokémaniacal 
Woo!
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More hyped about this than Scarlet/Violet, natch!
Some really bad ideas for custom rules:
– BOOM: Whenever a Pokémon with a self-KO move enters battle it must immediately go for that self-KO move. If any party Pokémon is prompted to learn a self-KO move like Explosion or Memento by level-up while [BOOM] is in effect, the Pokémon must learn that move. Any self-KO moves that currently exist in any party or boxed Pokémon’s movesets may not be replaced by new moves nor removed by the Move Deleter. Self-KO moves can be used even if [the cards that limits physical/special moves, STAB moves & moves with high BP] are in play, unless that’s incredibly inconvenient/especially if that’s incredibly inconvenient.
– X Travaganza: If/the next time [the tithe card – Hierophant?] is in play – instead of throwing away money, the player must buy X [effect] items that amount to or surpass the value of that tithe. The player must then attempt to use all of these items on a single Pokémon in a single battle, decided by some contrivances that I’ve had too much beer to come up with. (As previously stated, these are bad ideas :P)
– Zigzagoon: If this rule comes into play, select one unevolved but evolvable (eg Chikorita or Pichu, but not Stantler or Poliwhirl) Pokémon from party/box or catch the first you can find. This Pokémon becomes the run’s Puppysnuggles McTeacozy (to clarify, that’s a title, as in “Champion”) and must always be referred to with many adjectives describing how cute, adorable, fluffy & precious they are, yes they are*! As long as the Ten that invoked this rule is in play, this Pokémon must be kept in the active party (but this does… not?… take priority over cards such as The Lovers/Hermit/etc…?)
The Puppysnuggles McTeacozy is permanently banned from evolving, but is also permanently immune to petrification by any means, and is not affected by move-limiting cards. Though sadly not applicable, in Gen VI/VIII the Puppysnuggles McTeacozy’s Affection stat must be maxed out at earliest (in)convenience, obvs.
– Haunted: in battle, if any opposing Pokémon successfully uses the moves Taunt, Torment, Disable, Encore, Heal Block or Embargo (…did I miss any?), the affected Pokémon (in plural if applicable) must follow the specific restrictions imposed by that move until you’ve beaten the next Gym Leader.
(Kinder variation: the Pokémon is haunted by Taunt, Torment & Disable until the next Gym Leader is beaten, but you’re only haunted by Encore, Heal Block and Embargo until you’ve healed at a Pokémon Center.)
(Since these moves aren’t that commonplace in-game, I guess “the next time/the next X times any opposing Pokémon…” would be the best way to get a rule like this to actually have an impact on gameplay.)
*For a totally hardcore version of this rule, the Puppysnuggles McTeacozy’s moves & other actions must additionally be referred to with adverbs properly connoting how cutely, wonderfully & marshmallow-mittenly they used Sand-Attack/got healed by a Super Potion/etc.
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oh good heavens
the first one, I have to admit, did make me cackle
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Really excited for this!
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Seconding Zigzagoon because it legitimately made me crack it as soon as I read ‘Puppysnuggles Mcteacozy’.
ROTATION: As long as this card is in effect, the first Pokemon in your party must use all four of their moves in clockwise order, then leave the battle and be replaced with the Pokemon in the next clockwise slot. Said Pokemon must use all four of their moves in clockwise order, then be replaced, etc etc. After a battle the team must be rotated so that the last Pokemon to be used is in the last position of the ‘clock’. This rule cares not for the presence of rules that restrict move usage; if a move is known then it must be used.
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That sounds absolutely miserable; well done
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Oh hey it’s best game 83
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Custom rule, inspired by discussions from during my Kingslocke stream:
Reverse Catch Rule – every time a card says you may catch a Pokémon, you must instead petrify one Pokemon that fits the catching parameters (ex: if it says you may catch a male Pokemon then you must petrify a male Pokemon). You *can* petrify a Pokemon in your PC for this rule. If you have no Pokemon to petrify within the qualifications for that card, you may petrify a Pokemon of your choice. However, if a card drawn does not normally allow you to catch a Pokemon, you may now catch the first Pokemon you find in this area that is usable by the current rules.
I really wanted a rule that, as we touched on, can be either helpful or harmful depending on what you draw. If this seems to harsh, instead of petrifying it can be changed to “boxed until the card is revoked), but I think petrifying is balanced in this case since a lot more cards will now give you new Pokemon and you can choice to petrify Pokemon in your PC anyways.
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Just to throw one more option in the mix, keeping to the spirit of a “helpful/hurtful rule”:
Reverse Petrification – any time you are allowed to free a petrified Pokemon (whether from a card or from clearing a gym/milestone battle), instead you must petrify a Pokemon in your current party that is within 5 levels of your highest leveled party Pokemon (this can be the highest level Pokemon). Anytime a card petrifies a Pokemon, you may instead free one petrified Pokemon of your choice. As long as this rule is in play, Snake Eyes and Death immediately petrify a single Pokemon in your party within the previously stated level range but their ongoing effects are nullified until this card is revoked – Snake Eyes and Death can still be revoked during this time in all the usual ways.
I… am not sure if the last bit of this rule is allowed because it sorta alters two cards temporarily… but Snake Eyes and Death would get weird with the reversed petrification otherwise (you could just intentionally get knocked out to free all our Pokemon). The interaction there is entirely for balance – outside of those two cards, I think there are more ways to free petrification than cause it, and so if they’re reversed then petrification is hardly even a threat while keeping them intact would be incredibly cruel (having them cause petrifaction on fainting on top of all normal petrification methods also causing petrification. I think a single petrification from those cards is fair and the cards themselves don’t have their rules altered, they’re just temporarily nullified. I *think* under that wording this is legal though? No other cards are unchanged, it’s just when this card is in play then it triggers a petrify on Snake Eyes and Death and otherwise negates them. Ultimately however, you’re the rule writer and if this is questionable to you I can try rewriting this rule that keeps the spirit of it without, like, being too cruel or meaningless. I truly don’t actually want to put you through another Effie, I’ve seen the pain of a really cruel 10.
Also I hope this all made sense it’s almost 1 AM and my brain is half off!
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here’s a custom rule that my own observer came up with while i was playing Black 2:
The Escalator: as long as this card is in play, your party Pokémon must be in ascending level order. You may choose to free a petrified Pokémon if its level is lower than that of the lowest-leveled member of your party when the card was drawn; if you do so, that Pokémon becomes compulsory until it surpasses any member of that party in level.
on its own, not very restrictive, but stacks nicely with when you might have a compulsory Pokémon at a low level, or when Waterfall is in play. of course, as it happens, when he gave me this rule i had both.
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That *is* an interesting one…
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