Despite having a career as a prestigious pokemon professor, you don’t actually get to spend much time doing *research*. Between teaching responsibilities, managing rambunctious pokemon, and the constant battles with Reviewer #2, it’s hard to find the time. And then there’s the grants! Writing grants, submitting grants, and even occasionally *reviewing* grants – after all, serving on grant committees does tick off that pesky “community service” box. But any pokemon professor with experience in the act would rather treat a gyrados with a sore tooth than try to get six of their peers to agree on anything!

Still, the six of you have a whole stack of grants to review and make funding decisions on, and nobody gets to go home until everyone can agree, however begrudgingly, on how to split a limited pool of money among too many projects. Will old grudges, eccentric personalities, and esoteric theories get in the way of scientific progress?

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**This is the first run of a brand new game, written by a second-time LARP writer. The timing, balance, and content may not be well-calibrated! Please keep these factors in mind when considering if you wish to play Gotta Fund 'Em All.**

Some basic familiarity with the pokemon universe is required. This game will contain some references to the original games (Red/Blue[/Green]) and the first few seasons of the anime, as well as Pokemon Snap, Hey You Pikachu, and Pokemon The First Movie (though none of these should be taken to be “required reading” to enjoy the game). **Pokemon Scarlet/Violet are _explicitly_ not canon in this game, please pretend they do not exist**. Several characters will contain references to meme-worthy inconsistencies in the Pokemon universe or well-known glitches in the games. While some serious subjects will end up being discussed, this is not meant to be a serious game, and we encourage players to have fun with their characters’ eccentricities and fixations.

All characters are written as gender-neutral, and only surnames are specified – players should feel free to assign whatever gender identity to their character that they wish to embrace. While costuming cues are provided for each character, this is a costuming-optional game, and players should feel free to dress however they feel. The theme of the meeting is “business casual”, which in the Pokemon universe means something akin to how most gym leaders tend to dress on a daily basis.

This game likely has low replay factor -- one of the goals is figuring out which grant belongs to which lab, and what various character's not-so-secret fixations are. However, in future runs if we end up writing more characters/grants, replayability may be re-considered.

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Note: This game will be played masked, though players may briefly raise/lower their mask to consume beverages (such as water or coffee). Please plan to wear a high-quality mask -- we will have a supply of N95 and KN95 masks available for players. Please do not plan to eat during this game.

Despite having a career as a prestigious pokemon professor, you don’t actually get to spend much time doing research. Between teaching responsibilities, managing rambunctious pokemon, and the constant battles with Reviewer #2, it’s hard to find the time. And then there’s the grants! Writing grants, submitting grants, and even occasionally reviewing grants – after all, serving on grant committees does tick off that pesky “community service” box. But any pokemon professor with experience in the act would rather treat a gyrados with a sore tooth than try to get six of their peers to agree on anything!

Still, the six of you have a whole stack of grants to review and make funding decisions on, and nobody gets to go home until everyone can agree, however begrudgingly, on how to split a limited pool of money among too many projects. Will eccentric personalities and esoteric theories get in the way of scientific progress?

Some basic familiarity with the pokemon universe is required. This game will contain some references to the first three or so generations (Red/Blue[/Green], Gold/Silver, Ruby/Sapphire) and the first few seasons of the anime, as well as Pokemon Snap, and Pokemon The First Movie (though none of these should be taken to be “required reading” to enjoy the game). Pokemon Scarlet/Violet are explicitly not canon in this game, please pretend they do not exist. Several characters will contain references to meme-worthy inconsistencies in the Pokemon universe or well-known glitches in the games. While some serious subjects will end up being discussed, this is not meant to be a serious game, and we encourage players to have fun with their characters’ eccentricities and fixations.

All characters are written as gender-neutral, and only surnames are specified – players should feel free to assign whatever gender identity to their character that they wish to embrace. This is a costuming-optional game, and players should feel free to dress however they feel (costuming cues may be added to character sheets, but these are merely suggestions). The theme of the meeting is “business casual”, which in the Pokemon universe means something akin to how most gym leaders tend to dress on a daily basis.

This game likely has low replay factor – one of the goals is figuring out which grant belongs to which lab, and what various character’s not-so-secret fixations are. However, in future runs if we end up writing more characters/grants, replayability may be re-considered.

Participant communications
Gotta Fund ‘em All is a free-form LARP with a substantial reading component – 3 pages of character sheet, 4 pages of rules, 3-4 pages of setting (mostly a remidner of “these are the rules of the pokemon universe” and some basic scientific information to help structure discsussion), and 24 pages of grants. You must read the grants. Grants will be sent out 1-2 weeks before the convention for you to review.

Character surveys are brief, less than 15 minutes in duration and multiple-choice with an optional free-form box at the end. Surveys will be sent out either after the game fills, or a week after the final round of signups, and are due back Two Weeks Later. Casting WILL occur whether or not all surveys are submitted in-time – if you do not submit your survey, you will get whatever characters are left at the end of casting!

Content warnings
Gotta Fund ‘em All, as a Pokemon LARP, will necessarily contain some discussion of slavery and abuse of sentient beings. (None of this abuse will be on-screen, as professors aren’t allowed to take pokemon into the meeting room, and battles are forbidden on-site at the National Institue of Pokemon Research.) In additon, this LARP will likely contain some discussion of pokemon mating, though in a strictly academic context. Child labor will likely be discussed but in a lighthearted fashion (no abuse of children implied or discussed). Some characters may have toxic “leadership” traits, some ageism may become present in discussion, though NO characters are given qualities of being racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted, and any implied workplace harassment is in the form of “why aren’t you working on weekends/kids these days have it too easy” (and not, e.g., sexual harassment).

There will be grants, and you will actually have to review them. If you’re a serious academic, this game may be a bit Too Real for you.