Pokemon Tabletop United

You'd be better off taking a system you are already familiar with and changing it to fit pokemon since you'll have to teach them the rules either way.

>>49507127
Fun with the right crowd, but the amount of book-keeping is crazy. Possibly the worst sort of game to play with others who are new or new-ish to RPGs, because you essentially end up playing 4-5 "characters" at the same time.

File: sylveon_gijinka_by_scarlet_spectrum-d8q8oiz.png (485KB, 784x1019px) Image search: [Google]

485KB, 784x1019px

>>49507127
It's a solid system but I would personally play in several games first and foremost before trying to run the game. Head to the PTU forums/Roll20 and try to get in on one, learn the system through playing it and go.

That said, I would encourage players to not focus on trying to be "balanced trainers," trying to catch all kinds of Pokemon and raising 6 different ones. The game slows the fuck down really fast if you do. Instead, have each player focus in on 2 (3 max) Pokemon - Their starter, one non-legendary Pokemon and then, if they do get them, a legendary or near-legendary Pokemon (but don't just give them to them. Remember that the vast majority are hidden away or linked to the story of the games they appear).

>>49507127
It's so goddamn crunchy, in ways that it does not need to be. Limit the party size, and go with low level parties because building a character from any level higher than 1 is unnecessarily complicated due to the level progression.

If you dont want crunch you should check out Pokerole or Pokemon pen and paper, those are also well done and not as crunchy as PTU

>>49507474
Thing is you dont. All personalities of your pokemon are played out by the GM, not the player. In the same vein, your player only issues commands (of which a trainer only has 1 per round) to their pokemon. And they dont just do it no questions asked. In most cases if your pokemon have a reason to trust you they will, but if youre an ass to the the gm may have them attack you or try to escape.

Its more like you have your character that you play as normally, and then you issue commands to a familiar/companion who will go about them to the best of thei abilities/discretion.

>>49510233
*if youre an ass to your pokemon
*the best of their abilities

And if you do run it, make sure you make your expectations clear from THE VERY BEGINNING AND REMIND THE FUCKERS EVERY STEP THROUGH CHARACTER CREATION.

The last thing you need is a ninja, a matrial artists, a medium and an elementalist of some flavor expect some sorta pokemon wushu-style game when you just wanted to do a gym crawl through Kanto.

>>49510351
Jesus christ this. Theres a lot of combat classes, and all but maybe 2 have a whole 0 input to gym battles unless you set it up that way.

Also beware the elementalist classes. They are the amoung the strongest in the game and have very few ways to deal with them.

>read through it half the day
>realize how pointlessly crunchy it is

I just wanna catch Pokemon and beat up gym leaders to get to the E4, man

>>49510233
That sounds horrible. How can anyone stand to play or run something like that?

>>49510957
That example is for something like a wild battle or villian team where the PCs themselves are a part of the action. In those circumstances it just like a standard TTRPG where your character can rum around and attack, the difference is you can have a compaion help you who you order around.

In most "league sanctioned" battles hitting the trainers isnt allowed, so they just give orders to their one pokemon they have out at a time.

If its the "the pokemon might not obey" thing that get you, it really souldnt be a problem. If you're bros with your mons, they listen and you'll control their movements and attacks. If you mistreat them, they will rebel against you.

Any recommend systems for running a Pokemon game that aren't created specifically for Pokemon?

I was thinking maybe Mutants and Masterminds, but building trainers and Pokemon from scratch would be a lot of work for both the GM and players. FATE might be better.

>>49510957
By not doing exactly what the book says. As someone who takes part in multiple games, give the players a rough personality of a Pokemon and let them control it 100% once it trust them. The GM has enough to do in this system. Also my autistic love of Pokemon helps me get through it.

>>49512378
I think its going to be a lot of work if you want to base it in any system with even a mild amount of rules for combat. On the flip side with anything more narrative focused youll lose some of the finer details from the source. Which isnt a bad thing if your group just wants a fast and loose style monter taming adventure. Anything with more structure like gym battles might need work.

As for suggestions, GURPS? Memes aside, it is a diverse system that can do a fair job at most things.

>>49512408
This too. Pokemon personalities dont need to be too complex. (Make dragon pokes adamant and strong willed, but loyal once you have proven yourself, for example.) Maybe if you think they deserve one, give them a defining feature or quirk (an eevee who was attacked by a predator has a fear of biting moves and a tear in its right ear).

>>49507127
It is very rules heavy, since it tries to simulate the game's mechanics. I don't recommend it to people inexperienced with trpgs.

>>49507127
Looks fucking awesome and I REALLY want to play it but I just cant find a group to save my life. There was an anon a few days ago that got my hopes up but he just stopped responding.

>>49513818
Have you tried checking the forums? There's a whole section to finding games as I recall.

>>49510351
>>49510513
Seconding.

Also make sure your group gives you a rundown of what pokemon they want in the game, both in- and out of character.
Everyone wants their favorite 'mon.

>>49514915
I did once but nothing came of it. There were no open games and the soonest a spot would be open was 6 months.

>>49515409
The solution is to always run a game, but with how much prep the system needs I don't blame people. This system will kill a GM that doesn't prepare.

>>49515445
I can only run games for people I know because they know me and how I work. I'm an extremely sensitive DM because its very easy for me to grow to hate the players. Because of it I'm only good for brutal ball bustingly hard games. But everyone else in my group is a masochist and loves it so it works out.

>>49515835
Some people might like a ball buster Pokemon game.

How do people feel about type shifted Pokemon with the new Sun & Moon stuff being a thing now?

>>49520350
Its nice. Personally i dont plan to throw any type shifted mons at my group unless its an illegal experimentation sort of thing. Even then thye would aready be owned by the scientists, so they couldnt catch them. I do like how sun and moon has done it with what we've seen so far, but some are just a bit ham fisted like with vulpix. I'd imagine a ghost typing before ice for it.

>>49520488
Yeah, that is true. I tried my hand at it with a Bug / Poison Paras and the players seem to like it. As a side note, Paras has got to be the easiest thing to make an excuse for alternate typing around.

>>49520519
Probably right there, if only because i cant think of anything else off the top of my head. Maybe pinsir for fighting and koffing for fire, but those arnt as bad as paras.

>>49520350
Type shifted pokemon have always been core.
The example in the pdf is a fighting-type rapidash.

>>49520350
I was planning a pile of type shifts as a surprise for a pokemon hunter campaign I'm planning. My favorite so far is grass-type solosis.

>>49522671
I once wrote a campaign that involved a gym leader who often went on expeditions into the polar wastelands and was about to freeze to death before an Ice-type Torkoal created an igloo around him.

Also, I enjoyed designing a fairy/psychic Nidoqueen called Titania for an elite four member

>>49522671
I just meant how people felt about using them. Hardest thing for me about using them is making sure they are the right color.

>>49510957
Seconding what >>49512408
Said. Let the players roleplay their own damn pokemon, so long as they don't have shit loyalty. The GM can still step in if it becomes necesaary, but generally people want to have a prescribed interaction with their own pokemon, as if they were extension of their trainer (and they kind of are.)

File: 1b2.gif (2MB, 1100x1080px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1100x1080px

>>49512378
>not specifically for Pokemon

You know, I've always kind of wanted to run a Pokemon game using Pokethulhu.

>>49524691
Something I've actually tried is to give the players a glimpse as to relationships their Pokemon have formed during a round of training once per session. Rest of the time unless it is an important quirk for the Pokemon I let them control them.

>>49512378
Well, M&M 2E has the Mecha and Manga supplement that has rules for having combat pets a la Pokémon or Monster Rancher.

My question is how you have anything close to narrative when there is so much crunch involved,

>>49526840
By having a grasp of what I want, but I don't write a script. The crunch comes after I've decided on what kind of stuff I want the sessions to go down. The crunch isn't also much math, just plugging things into slots. Gives plenty of time to think things up.

>>49526840
Same way as any system. RP. Just because there's a lot of rules for combat/attacks doesn't mean thats all you'll be doing. Its literally no different than any other system that doesn't fall into "rules-lite".

I can't speak for how others do it, but my group's sessions tend to be a lot of RP or travel and investigation type scenarios. If there is any combat, its usually a friendly battle per player and is only a 2v2 between 1 PC and NPC, or something similarly small. Anything like a gym battle or a forest full of encounters is its own session entirely. In the case of a forest/cave/ etc, there's usually a good amount of down time in the form of site seeing or investigation the surrounding area between fights.

>>49526840

These >>49526871 >>49527363 honestly but that should really go without saying as what these anons said is true for any system. Not everyone wants a 100% fight quest, not do they want complete RP. Strike a balance that works for your group.

File: ptx-logo.png (15KB, 260x124px) Image search: [Google]

15KB, 260x124px

So how is Pokerole? I'm digging their Mystery Dungeon game, which reminds me a lot of World of Darkness.

Also, steal the tile system they have, real nice.

>>49529177
If it is the Storyteller one, I think its shit.

>>49507127
PTA/PTU is /tg/'s baby, so it's a bit of a sacred cow, but there are less crunchy alternatives, like Pokérole. Dicepool-based system, rules are pretty basic, and it's fairly versatile.

>>49512408
>>49510957
>>49510233
>>49507127
I have been GMing this game for a few months. Went out of my way to design a whole new region.

It isn't worth it. The rules are very limited, trying to balance things is hard. When you players minmax everything it makes it really hard to make interesting battles and challenge.

The game has a lot for the GM to do. To much for me. I honestly liked it a lot at first. Then i started to learn how much the systems can be abused. Then I had my players fighting things almost double their level. With bullshit added in. And they still steamrolled.

TL;DR It isn't worth it unless you homebrew 75% of the content. It is a cool base for a game, but it still feels beta phases to me.

>>49530963
Also GM'ing pokemon sounds gets old after the 3rd or 4th session.

Every couple steps having the players ask "What pokemon are nearby" also gets annoying.

I really hate that I hate this game, but GMing PTU really made me dislike the idea of a Pokemon Tabletop.

>>49530963
I've also been GMing for a few months and yeah the prep is a big time sink. Balancing stuff can also be a pain, but you just gotta find what works and stick with it. I personally removed some stuff that bogged the game down and was just extra paperwork. Namely injuries, my players haven't decided to power game and I throw fun stuff at them.

>>49530997
Just be reasonable with your players. Say they can search for Pokemon once per general route or something. If they wanna go off and try to catch something else throw a nest of all the same thing at them to keep them remembering that is how ecosystems work most of the time.

So, I heard about this mod of Ryuutama for Pokemon called "Poke no Tabi" - found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EByfgODH2g5GmB9Hhra9A_u_YDZfnn_Xy7bjpAlgHcE/edit

Anyone have any idea of how good it might be? I like Ryuutama for how easy it is to pick up, so if it's a good way to run a Pokemon game, I'm in. But I don't have the head to read a system and see if it's junk.

The only time I use PTU is when I want to run a Mystery Dungeon game or a game that's basically Hey You Pikachu

>>49532164
After giving it a quick read it doesn't seem that bad. I personally would still stick with PTU, but that is just because I'm a huge autist.

>>49533239
Appreciate the first look and thoughts. I'll look into PTU to see if I can grok it should I have a group that is down to play some monster trainer adventures and decide which of the two to run with depending on my understanding and their interest in crunch.

>>49530963
What did their characters even do to minmax? Aside from elementalists, pretty much every oyher 'strong' class is balanced and has its own niche.

>>49533459
*other
Damn, what a typo.

>>49533456
PTU is not for someone that doesn't like crunch. The GM's job gets much harder the longer than game goes on. But if you really love the games and can handle it then you won't find a better system for getting that feel.

Don't be afraid of removing things that make your job harder. I personally removed injuries unless something gets incredibly fucked up. My players don't abuse healing so it works out fine.

>>49510233
Personalities =/= stats. You still have to keep track of levels, moves, damage rolls, etc of your team, your GM can just tell you how your pokémon reacts and even then thats an optional thing, most campaigns a GM will let players dictate their teams actions for general gameplay and only state Pokémon reactions themselves at critical story points or direct interactions.

>>49533576
Their complaint was you play as 4-5 characters at the same time, and thats what my comment was addressing, because you objectively dont. In most games, you have at most 2 combatants to control. Your character, and one of their pokemon. See >>49511643 for further explanation.

>>49518197
I honestly doubt anyone will enjoy me killing their Pokemon the second they fuck up. Though then again maybe not. Maybe people would want to play a Pokemon game that obeys real world physics.

>>49530911
Reminder that Pokerole is based on Scion and has all of its flaws with none of its strengths.

>>49526840
By trusting your players. Players like me fucking LOVE crunch. I could do that shit all day. You focus on your end and my end will be tip top.

>>49533672
Kill might be abit much. I was talking about having battles being brutal and things being dangerous. Like death in PTU is really hard to do unless you go out of your way to kill a player's Pokemon.

>>49533692
Fucking this. I spent like 20 minutes figuring out how to do the exact EXP with training to make my Pokemon as close in levels while still going up.

>>49533707
>Rockslide
>Rapidash is crushed under 1 ton boulders

Nope nigga dead

>>49533721
>Rockslide
>One ton boulders
There's your problem

>>49533672
Good fucking luck having real world physics explain how nearly any random animal can fire a massive laser, or how they can even focus one to do damage, or how they even have energy to do so in the first place. Or explode, because thats pretty common too. Also lets not forget makeing various elemental attacks happen at the drop of a hat. To top it off, psychics.

Pokemon is far too rooted in make believe to try and make it work with physics and be anywhere near as enjoyable.

>>49533731
Well like I said that's how I roll. I dont think you quiet understand what I meant. When I DM I HATE my players. I go out of the way to set it up so if they fail they fail hard.

>>49533735
That is literally the point I was making.

See

>>49533770
I would totally tell them their electrode is dead if they ordered it to use explosion.

>>49533770
There is a difference between being a killer and just ignoring mechanics to screw over players. But I guess that could be why they hate you.

>>49533784
Like I could see Explosion = death being reasonable in a gritty game so long as people aren't spamming it to just kill the players.

>>49533784
You obviously cant read, nor do you comprehend what real world physics are.

>>49533784
So could they only use Earthquake near fault lines? Would Dragonite have giant wings so it could fly?

>>49533801
Like I said they dont hate me. They are all masochists that want me to DM much to my annoyance. I dont want to DM but they make me and it is fair to them to DM for them when they DM for me.

>>49533818
HA I would totally use that.

>>49533851
What would the real world physics be of a move like Sunny Day or Hail? How could you scientifically explain a creature that can will the weather to change?

>>49533886
Who the fuck knows. I'm not getting into that because I will never DM this game. I was simply explaining why I am not a good DM and what I normally do.

>>49533459
Chef is super broken if you put just a little time into it.

>>49536107
Is it? Making vitamins isnt that big of a deal. And as far as i know, things like using 3 leftovers at once doesnt work.

If you mean the whole using preserves as an ingredient for my new preserves, they specifically said it doesnt work that way. May have been in a playtest packet, but i do recall it coming up.

>>49536107
How?

what's the best system to run pokémon mystery dungeon?

>>49538898
Apart from any generic system, I'd say Pokerole did a fine job for that setting at least. Close to the games in themes and stuff and the dungeon crawling with tiles is also fun.

>>49536234
Dumplings combined with tastes can give a Pokemon what, twelve boosts in a single turn? You don't even need to stack special ingredients, you can turn the regular recipes into monsters by piling food into itself. The vitamins part isn't a big deal at all.

>>49540788
Again like i said, you can't do that iterative stuff with the recipies.

>>49542145
According to the rules and devs you could.

File: Screenshot_20160927-202849.png (385KB, 1440x2560px) Image search: [Google]

385KB, 1440x2560px

>>49542273
Again, you are wrong. May playtest packet, last page

>>49542311
Oh, they finally fucking fixed that bullshit then.

>>49542349
Dude thats from may of last year. Its been there for a while.

>>49542349
Well they made a new version, it isn't like they wanted you to do it in the first place.

>>49542367
I honestly can't remember half of what the playtests say they're so poorly organized and mostly useless.

>>49542386
Well not everyone needs to be told exactly what they can't do. Because common sense is a thing.

>>49542452
This. If something seems hyper exploitable, its probably just that. An exploit.

Also being at the far ends of the power spectrum, wether thats minmaxing or being inept, all it does is make the GMs job harder. You don't need to be that guy, or a group of them.

>>49542452
With PTU's extreme amount of crunch, I'd disagree. The game has rules for everything you could possibly do, for such an obvious and simple exploit to get missed it seems deliberate.

>>49542628
Playing by RAW you can technically miss a Pokemon that is asleep, paralyzed, and caught in a net with a Pokeball.