DMing Pokemon Tabletop Adventures...for a party of one?

[Giegue]

Yeah. I'm back. I was gone for a while due to life but with my GF not being able to contact me I have more time on my hands. Anyway, I recently have gotten really obsessed with the pokemon tabletop adventures game. It's just such a cool, unique system and I absolutely love it. A friend and I both have wanted to do a pokemon tabletop game for a while and this seems to fit what we wanted, but there is one issue........My friend is the only person I know in RL who is willing to do any kind of PnP RPG. My old group broke up years ago(after middle school) and while I have some willing friends online, my friend and I want to play in RL. However, nobody we know is willing to game with us and as a result we have pretty much shelved our pathfinder products, seeing as we prefer D&D/pathfinder with a full party.

However, pokemon table top adventures I am considering GMing for my friend solo. Why? Well, most of the pokemon games feature a solo protagonist and as a result I was thinking about roughly following a games-based model, but with more RP added in. A typical fresh trainer out to conquer the league and forced to face the machinations of some villainous force along the way. The typical games model, basically. However, I am not used to DMing solo campaigns and I have never DMed pokemon tabletop adventures, so that's why I'm coming to you all. What advice do you have for a new PTTA DM? What advice do you have for DMing solo campaigns? Can a solo campaign still have an epic, world-altering scale despite the fact challenged have to be nerfed due to a party size of one? Or are such "battle for the fate of the world...and win the pokemon league while we're at it" type plots just too much for one player to handle?

Any tips and advice would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.

[Bearpunch]

First off, PTTA is lethal. Super lethal. As such, and the fact that your'e soloing, I suggest allowing your player to have more than six pokemon, (but only use a few at a time) and maybe start the player at a higher level than normal (maybe 2).

Also, for DMing, I suggest statting out all planned possible pokemon encounters beforehand, or use the base stats and "wing it" to the level you want the pokemon to have. It is much easier to stat beforehand.

[Esprit15]

I'd suggest trying to deviate from the traditional game to a degree. The eight gyms setup of the games may be great for an Ace Trainer, but a Psychic or Ranger may have no interest in it and instead try to focus on taking down a criminal organization.

[ScubaGoomba]

I love the idea behind PTA and think that it could definitely work out for you. I've only played one session in it and didn't encounter any real lethality but it was also a very large group.

I would suggest being willing to fudge the rules quite a bit in the beginning just to give space for a learning curve and buckle down after the first or second gym if you do find that the game is particularly lethal. Also be sure to keep the game pretty un-optimized with regards to NPC characters. The only NPC that seemed to really build a decent team was the rival; all of the others either keep their Pokémon low level, don't evolve them, use weaker Pokémon, or have obviously exploitable weaknesses. Remember, also, that certain types of trainers carry certain Pokémon (you can always expect a Hiker to have Vulpix, Geodude, and/or Zubat on his team, a Martial Artist with a Machop, Schoolboy with Rattata, etc.).

Be aware, also, that you have to set up encounters with wild Pokémon. This part is pretty easy to overlook, I think, but realize that your player only gets Pokémon that you make available. You're less likely to spend a session running in the tall grass trying to find a Pokémon to capture when you're playing tabletop, so be sure to include story-based moments to acquire new Pokémon. Think about the TV show in this respect; Ash almost always found a Pokémon as a significant story element (Charmander or Mankey, for example). You didn't have random encounters with wild Pokémon, generally, but plots based around the new catch. Even Pokémon like Krabby, who was definitely just tossed into the beginning of the episode, served to explain onscreen what happens to your seventh Pokémon and displayed how much Ash lagged behind Gary.

To echo what Esprit said, the typical game won't work as much with classes outside the Ace Trainer or, maybe, Capture Specialist. It'll be important to communicate with your player before starting up so you guys know what to expect out of the game. If you want to run Red v2.0 and (s)he wants to be the ultimate champion in Pokémon Contests, you'll run into an issue.

As a personal note, I feel like classes such as Mystic and Psychic (or any with supernatural abilities) are really outside the realm of Pokémon. I know they have precedence in the games, but the various "mystic" characters were few and far between; making them a PC class kind of negates that bit of mystery around them. Likewise, I think the classes that build the Trainer's ability to fight don't have much of a place for a PC, especially when there's really no precent of this in-game. They're great for a kind of feudal Pokémon setting (which I've bounced around as an idea with a friend of mine, and would be great, but doesn't sound like what you're going for), but the tone of your game will change vastly if humans start attacking Pokémon and vice-versa.

EDIT: Also, thanks for reminding me that this thing even exists! I totally forgot about it and am excited to be up all night reading the books.