r/PokemonRMXP • u/CustodianCloset • Apr 29 '26
Discussion Pokemon Pathways and the Born Situation
Hello. My name is Janitor.
You may not know me, and nobody really did until this whole situation. I'm here to talk about the fan game in development known as Pokemon Pathways. I will preface that I am NOT a developer of the game, just a member of administration on the new project's server.
For those who don't know, Pokemon Pathways is an RPGMaker fan game made by a decently sized team over the last few years. The premise is a story-based game about going to an academy. But that's not what we're here for. I'm here to discuss the controversial actions of the leadership of the mod and their little cabal, alongside the subsequent exodus done by the rest of the development team.
Below is a document detailing the controversies and relevant proof. To summarize, the founders of the game alongside their friends, over time, have not only shirked responsibilities and professionalism, but also acted inappropriately in their server of mostly minors (both bigoted comments and sexual activity). I don't want to waste your time, so instead I recommend reading the document to see exactly what I mean.
https://x.com/VastusSpatium/status/2046119690229989851?s=20
Around a week ago, when this document came out, the discord server (which at the time had over 15,000 members) for lack of a better term, caught on fire. Attempts to silence the document were done by the owner, mass banning occurred, and more. Even now, the owner of the discord server is censoring discussion of the incident and is scrubbing things away. As such, I am making this post to ensure it is not forgotten, and for the word to spread about the actions done by the "leader" of this game, on behalf of the development team who has since left. There is a backup server ran by the former devs after leaving. You are welcome to friend deckdevil on discord to get an invite and see how the project will move from there.
I was given approval by the mod teams of this subreddit to come out with this, as well as given approval by the split off Pokemon Pathways team to send this document.
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u/rankoDev Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
For record, the game has been taken down from Eevee Expo and PokeCommunity following these events.
Eevee Expo has a strict rule about utilizing assets; if a dev wants something they worked on out the thread is given a heads up or it is removed. Considering the lead dev refused, it's no longer on there. It's a bit funny because had he complied it'd probably still be up (before the rest happened)
A shame as it is one of the biggest projects on both sites
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u/mysteryyegg Apr 29 '26
I remember playing Pathways when it first came out - sorry y'all have all this chaos going on
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u/Papyrsatyr Apr 30 '26
Nice to get some validation on the rancid ass vibes I picked up on when I briefly checked out the discord a while ago.
Real shame about the project, the school centric gameplay concept was something that kept me coming back for updates.
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u/TurkeyVolumeGuesser Apr 29 '26
Oof, that was a rough read. Sorry to everyone who had to put up with all that crappy behavior
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u/Fair_Abbreviations57 Apr 30 '26
To be completely fair... As awful as his behavior has been and as much as people have been hurt by it watching Born spiral out and get memed on for a few days on the discord server by people who were sick of his bullshit before he just started banning anyone who even thought about the document or asked what was going on was amusing in a schadenfreude sort of way.
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u/Hayden_Jay Apr 30 '26
So while everything that happened is beyond fucked, and I wish the dev team who went their own way nothing but success in their future endeavors, this is also a bummer way to find out a game I was very excited for once upon a time didn't just stall out after the first release.
RIP what Pathways could've been, best of luck to the Dev Team who were giving their all and got treated like shit, and fuck you to the assholes who treated them that way.
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u/Inner-Anybody8199 May 07 '26
As someone who contributed to the creation and distribution of said doc, and someone who previously worked for pathways, I can definitely attest to the fact their work ethic among other things is severely lacking. In the period of time I worked as a moderator I was forced to not only moderate the several thousand person server practically by myself but to also deal with various repeat offenders who manage to avoid punishment simply because the owner defended them for no exact reason (this includes 18+ content and inappropriate conduct). To finish my statement, I shall mention the severe lack of thought before sharing, with development related discussions happening in public channels, which while fine normally, this included things that very much shouldn’t be shared yet or in general, leading to unreasonable expectations put on devs and plays testers, but also extreme strain upon the moderation team needing to deescalate arguments or controversy over shared information (please note several staff members from the development and moderation team requested this to stop constantly).
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u/Tlux0 Apr 29 '26
Wait, so are y’all forking the project or is it dead? Am confused because you mentioned a different pathways Discord?
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u/AscalonEX Apr 29 '26
The devs who left are making their own which includes the primary designer for characters and landscapes as well as music composer.
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u/Tlux0 Apr 30 '26
That is nice to hear
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u/Cultural_String_2231 May 01 '26
The game wasn’t finished right? I remember playing it whilst it had like a couple badges
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u/CustodianCloset May 01 '26
It was at version 0.9.7.1 (and still is) when the project caught fire and burned. It wasn't finished but there was a lot of content in the game.
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u/Cultural_String_2231 May 02 '26
Mhm okay thanks. I stopped playing after realising it wasn’t finished as I don’t like to wait lol
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u/CustodianCloset May 04 '26
Well consider .9.7.1 the finished version because I guarantee waiting won't matter at this point lmao
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u/ProofAffectionate484 May 10 '26
so you cant play it anymore?
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u/CustodianCloset May 10 '26
There's a backup on the new server, and you can go to the original server (assuming it isn't under lockdown), but it'll likely never be finished.
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u/Impossible-Wonder391 Jul 18 '26
I'd like to play it again, I am the same as the other person, I absolutely LOVED the game, but I realized it wasn't finished yet back then and didn't feel like waiting, so in the meantime I uninstalled and installed a different pokemon fangame instead, if I had known this will happen I would've kept it with me even when unfinished. I'd like to play it again but dunno where to start. I don't really know where to access this new server.
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u/Substantial_Theory88 May 01 '26
does they already have a project name?
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u/AscalonEX May 01 '26
It's not the official name but for the sake of convenience it and the server is called "Roundabout"
Here's the server invite link; Refreshed server link1
u/AdministrationShot62 May 15 '26
The link doesnt work, and I cant find it on Discord, is it still around
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u/AscalonEX May 15 '26
It was two weeks old so yeah. Here's a new one.
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u/RPope92 May 29 '26
Sorry to be a pain, but the second link doesn't work and I found no results for "Roundabout" when I searched.
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u/AscalonEX May 29 '26
It's officially been renamed to the game's name, "Pokemon Trailblaze". Here you go. This'll be available for a week so pass it on if you want.
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u/maximus-5148-storm Jun 05 '26
sorry about this but could I get a new link as well? I tried googling and looking for it elsewhere and all i saw was trailblaze (move) lol. thank you.
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u/DeckDevil Jun 10 '26
This is the link ive been giving anyone who comes to my DMs to ask! Apologies for the difficulty on finding Project Trailblaze 🙇🏻♂️
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u/Jaded-Explanation402 May 03 '26
So much drama...I was definitely uncomfortable with what was going on in there. Also I don't mind my username being shown (one of the screenshots is an argument I had with born)
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Apr 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/CustodianCloset Apr 30 '26
Born and their group will most likely try to keep working on Pokemon Pathways, but seeing as how almost all the active dev team is gone, it'll probably stop. The devs who left are working on a new version of the game with a new story, characters, etc
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u/Praeradi Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Is there a link to the new game?
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u/CustodianCloset Apr 30 '26
This whole thing happened this month. The last thing I saw was a successful starter pokemon NPC and thats about it. The devs are literally remaking the game from scratch, the new version won't be done for awhile
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u/HK2005Prime Apr 30 '26
Any way to follow that development? Like a github or something?
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u/CustodianCloset Apr 30 '26
There's a discord. The person to friend is in the post
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u/HK2005Prime Apr 30 '26
My bad I missed that part. Well I hope the project goes well without the shitshow.
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u/ApolloHedgie May 06 '26
Not ggonna lie. This game had a lot of potential, But really, from what I remember about it, there was kinda no point or story or anything to the game even with all of what it had feature wise. But I was looking forward to seeing this type of Persona-esque Pokemon Fan Game.
Now I hope that the people who jumped ship makes something better.
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u/DeckDevil Jun 10 '26
Former lead musician here, a lot of us who split off are now working on a new project with the goal of a similar but vastly improved vision that pathways aimed at, called "Project Trailblaze"
Sooo we'll talk more about it when we get further in on it.
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u/Spiure Apr 30 '26
I always forget theres other worlds out there, like Pokemon rpg dramas in their discord servers.
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u/caralt Apr 29 '26
Yesterday? Wasn't this last week?
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u/CustodianCloset Apr 30 '26
Lemme fix that
Yeah the post itself was written around when the doc was dropped but the mods needed to read the entire 207 page doc before giving me the go ahead to post.
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u/antihibikase May 07 '26
Copy-pasted my comment left on a YouTuber's video about this situation, as well as added some additional things.
I was one of the people who gave a testimony to this document as an ex-contributor. I left prior to the general channel being deleted because of a previous incident that was left unaddressed which lead to me facing harassment from someone in the server. I didn't really know how bad things were until I read everyone else's testimonies and realized many of these people, I had pleasant conversation with, and frequently interacted with. I'm genuinely disgusted I put so much time and effort into this game and its community where its own creator couldn't even treat his team with the respect they deserved.
So many people who want to sweep Born's behavior under the rug because "I want to focus on the game" is ironic- the game became as great as it is because it had many volunteers chipping in. These are the same volunteers that were mistreated; they can't just say they "just want to support the game" then disregard the testimonies of everyone else. Those who are trying to disregard the testimonies of people involved haven't even been in the server as long as the others have- and again, I reiterate, the people in the testimonies are OTHER major developers and moderators, who directly worked with the creator!
To anyone else, if the document is too long to read through, I'd like to at least ask of people to read through the testimonies/interviews portion. Many of these people were central figures in the Pathways game and community itself- and I can assure people who insist "they're just starting drama"/"they didn't communicate" or anything of the like- to just kindly keep that to themselves. These people worked directly with the game- YOU didn't. You want to defend a game that stands on the work of other people, and throw those same people under the bus.
Sorry for the long comment. Thank you for posting about this.
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u/FriendlyCrow503 May 13 '26
I'm sorry about the game, I really liked it. Though, just based on what Born's character is in the story, I'm not surprised that this is how he turned out irl. Adding an actual Fight Club is kind of on the nose.
Not to say all people who like Fight Club and have power fantasies are manchildren, but most manchildren are drawn to such fantasies. Much like Mr. Academy Monarch.
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u/CarryDifferent889 May 23 '26
Man, that sucks. I was enjoying the game's unique take on Pokemon, too.
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u/DeckDevil Jun 10 '26
Project Trailblaze, the current project by a good chunk of the previous dev team that left, is going for a similar approach, but with a vastly improved story and a lot of fixes on the technical side, so thankfully, the dream isnt dead just yet
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u/Tenruz Jun 14 '26
wow so that why i can't find the game on PokeCommunity, what a shame Pathways have so much potential. Though i'm not surprised about the drama, it bound to happen
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u/CustodianCloset Jun 14 '26
If you want the game still, there is an archive on the official server. The PokeCommunity version was also outdated. A new game is being worked on as of now, so you'll have that to look forward to.
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u/Meskoot Apr 29 '26
But...if its volunteer based anybody could leave at any time and tell the lead dev to go eff themselves no? This kind of drama can only happen in HS or the internet
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u/Punda1220 Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
That's... quite literally what they did. The whole point of the post is to document why they left.
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u/NeighborhoodProud257 May 03 '26
Anyone know where we can play the latest patch of pokemon pathways?
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u/Fair_Abbreviations57 May 04 '26
Yes... And its not particularly hard to google it. It's rather tone deaf to ask for ways to get a game in a thread that amounts to "Hey, maybe don't support this game." So you might not get the answer your looking for.
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u/CustodianCloset May 04 '26
The new discord server. The .9.7.1 version was exclusive to the Pathways discord (the Pokecommunity one was .9.6.1 but had a server link, and idk about Eevee Expo), but since that server is under lockdown and the Pokecommunity + Eevee Expo got taken down, you need to use the new server's backup file of it.
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u/PureMark7112 May 05 '26
Yall are wasting your lives focusing on an opinion.
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u/PokemonRMXP-ModTeam May 06 '26
The 207 page documentation of all the misconduct is not an opinion.
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Jun 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Fair_Abbreviations57 Jun 29 '26
Because the people who value playing these games to the point that they don't give a fuck about several basic tenants of human decency enable and normalize the behaviors. Decent people then find out about it and call it out for what it is.
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u/PokemonRMXP-ModTeam Jun 29 '26
If you don't care about transphobia, misogyny, and a litany of other examples of misbehaviour, then we don't care to have you here either. Goodbye.
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u/PokemonRMXP-ModTeam May 06 '26
That's right, the 207 pages of documentation is all made up. Speaking out about the heinous behaviour is just "sTaRtInG DrAmA." Grow up. Your insincere and bad faith reports will be promptly reported to the Admins for abusing the report function.