New Take on Pokemon Tabletop

[Katasi]

Alright, so I really like the idea of a Pokemon game along the lines of D&D, but all the d20 version I have found just lack quite the right feel for me.

The obvious answer to pokemon tabletop is of course GURPS, where such a thing may not be simple and easy, but at least it would be obvious. But I want a d20 system that is at least a little simpler.

To state my goals

A. The idea here is to produce the FEEL of Pokemon, not any exact copy of the mechanics

B. I want to produce the feel of both the games and the anime, but leaning a tiny bit more toward the anime.

C. In that respect, I want both the pokemon and the trainer to matter about equally.

D. All aspects of raising pokemon should be viable for PCs, but no PC should be able to master more than one or two of them.

E. I want to address a few things that are glossed over (reasonably) in the games and anime- pokemon death should be possible (though rare or non-existant) in trainer battles. Which leads directly into the next one- pokemon should be able to interact ecologically. And last- pokemon should be potentially dangerous to humans, especially wild pokemon. This is hinted at in the beginnings of the games (stay out of the tall grass, attacking pokemon, etc), the concept of being attacked in the tall grass, and the treatment of certain pokemon by the characters. Also needs to be in place to allow a less on-rails pokemon game.

Just a few things of note that need to be included:
Human psionics do exist in pokemon, and their abilities affect their interaction with pokemon.

Having pokemon not evolved needs to be an option, preferably a generally viable (although maybe not optimal) option.

My current thoughts are to use a VP/WP points system, tweaked a bit to allow some WP damage to be taken and cause KO instead of full on injury. Still working on this tho.

Still a very early work in progress and currently this is just a place to track my ideas. Please feel free to chime in with thoughts, suggestions, etc.

[Mr.Sandman]

I have seen is done very well in Mutants and Masterminds Here ( http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=44308) that you could take some ideas from. I found it easy to create the feel of the pokemon in this system, so something similar could work.

[Katasi]

I have seen is done very well in Mutants and Masterminds Here ( http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=44308) that you could take some ideas from. I found it easy to create the feel of the pokemon in this system, so something similar could work.

Hmm, the problem is I don't know Mutants and Masterminds, and have access to none of the rulebooks.

[Mr.Sandman]

Luckily it is a D20 system that is mostly OGC, and thus has a SRD. ( http://www.d20herosrd.com/)

[Domriso]

Mutants and Masterminds could work well. My opinion would be to focus less on the pokemon and more on the trainers to get the feel right.

Make the different trainer classes (or their derivative) be all about the proper control and direction of the pokemon themselves. Pokemon can (and should) possess stats, but it is the trainer's job to utilize that correctly.

This set up allows for the feel of the pokemon game to work around the same vein as the power set up.

[Katasi]

Mutants and Masterminds could work well. My opinion would be to focus less on the pokemon and more on the trainers to get the feel right.

Make the different trainer classes (or their derivative) be all about the proper control and direction of the pokemon themselves. Pokemon can (and should) possess stats, but it is the trainer's job to utilize that correctly.

This set up allows for the feel of the pokemon game to work around the same vein as the power set up.

Hmm, I'm inclined to disagree- Pikachu, and to a lesser extent the other pokemon where all very much characters on their own.

I feel pokemon should be treated like followers or cohorts, only instead of not leaving when their level gets to high, or leaving, they become uncontrollable.

[Milo v3]

Have you had a look at Pokemon Tabletop United? It's not really a d20 based system and is rather fleshed out.

[Grek]

I cannot recommend PTU. It is very bad mechanically. I don't mean little faults like something being unbalanced, but major issues like ambiguous wordings in the basic rules and attack rolls being a THAC0-esque mess where you subtract the enemy AC from your attack roll and then compare to a target number.

[Milo v3]

I cannot recommend PTU. It is very bad mechanically. I don't mean little faults like something being unbalanced, but major issues like ambiguous wordings in the basic rules and attack rolls being a THAC0-esque mess where you subtract the enemy AC from your attack roll and then compare to a target number.

I severely disagree, the wordings aren't ambiguous except for a small number here and there (especially compared to 3.5e or PTA), and when there are ambiguous wordings you can ask the developers on their forum and there is a 99% chance they will happily answer, and make it clearer, and as for the attack rolls, most moves of similar power have the same accuracy, and it fits the Pokemon series much better than d20 attack rolls.

[Sajiri]

I cannot recommend PTU. It is very bad mechanically. I don't mean little faults like something being unbalanced, but major issues like ambiguous wordings in the basic rules and attack rolls being a THAC0-esque mess where you subtract the enemy AC from your attack roll and then compare to a target number.

Just curious when you last looked into PTU? I didn't follow it at first (was more into PTA) and I think when it was first released for public viewing it was just a big mess, but the impression I get now is that it's the preferred system for pokemon games (United over Adventures, they essentially came from the same thing). It's still in beta I think, and I only glanced over the pdf last night, but I believe it's next update is meant to be relatively soon.

[Grek]

I played a campaign of it back in June of 2013, which suffered greatly for the flaws mentioned above. We eventually decided to switch over to a free form system entirely.

It's entirely possible that the system has improved in the last six months, but I rather doubt it. You don't just redo base mechanics like that without needing to overhaul a whole lot of other stats all across the book.

[Milo v3]

I played a campaign of it back in June of 2013, which suffered greatly for the flaws mentioned above. We eventually decided to switch over to a free form system entirely.

It's entirely possible that the system has improved in the last six months, but I rather doubt it. You don't just redo base mechanics like that without needing to overhaul a whole lot of other stats all across the book.

There has been at least 1 "major" update since then, with the next major update being released in a few weeks.

[Domriso]

Hmm, I'm inclined to disagree- Pikachu, and to a lesser extent the other pokemon where all very much characters on their own.

I feel pokemon should be treated like followers or cohorts, only instead of not leaving when their level gets to high, or leaving, they become uncontrollable.

That's one way to work it, but it depends on the canon you're working from. I prefer the core games to the anime, so my concept of pokemon tends to be less in the concept of full-on characters.

Another system you might want to look at is BESM 3rd Edition. It possessed a "Monster Trainer" class that might have some ideas for you to use.

[Katasi]

That's one way to work it, but it depends on the canon you're working from. I prefer the core games to the anime, so my concept of pokemon tends to be less in the concept of full-on characters.

Another system you might want to look at is BESM 3rd Edition. It possessed a "Monster Trainer" class that might have some ideas for you to use.

I started out with the anime (actually I started out with the trading card game, then a couple years later found the anime), and didn't play any of the games until nearly a decade after starting on the anime.... so while I want to have some feel of the games there, I'm mostly basing things off the anime (up through diamond and pearl, cause I stopped watching in the middle of that. I also haven't really seen any of the games since HeartGold/SoulSilver)