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View Full Version : Pokémon game, help needed (no, not a joke)



Drascin
2007-11-28, 03:43 PM
Yeah, I know, it sounds strange, but please bear with me. I'll explain.

Alright, so this afternoon, me and my group established that our D&D campaign was going to have to be pretty slow-paced from now on due to RL concerns of half the members. The remainder of the group asked if we could do a "side campaign" so to speak, so as to get their RPG fix, and I agreed. High on enthusiasm (new campaigns always get us worked up) we agreed that usual D&D was getting a tad stale, maybe, and that we could use this to try another settings and games. After which, I naively told them, "okay, then, just tell me any kind of setting and mood you wanna play, except terror, of course, you know I suck at that, and I'll find something".

After a bit of discussion where most of my expected settings were mentioned (40K, Anima, LotR...) one of my players, who was playing with his DS while talking, mentioned "Hey, what about a Pokémon game?". The others agreed enthusiastically (note: 3/4 of my group are certified pokefreaks, including myself) and started discussing the details, while I stood there dumbfounded for a second before catching myself and starting to contribute.

Long story short: we're going to do a pokémon campaign. As in, the players are pokémon, not trainers. We already have a confirmed Ryhorn and Flygon, actually. But I'm not really sure which system could be best to represent the inherent strangeness and variety of the pokémon various species, with the whole strength/weakness issue, the attacks, the fact that most pokémon have technically impossible metabolisms, and all that. So I decided to turn to the collective wisdom of the boards, which has yet to fail me, to give me some advice on this one.

We're willing to learn any system as long as they're not overcomplicated (Anima tired us a more than a bit on that front), and high customizability is a prime point, given the sheer weirdness that runs amok in the world of Pokémon (this is what shied us from keeping our D20 tradition - making pokémon would require an amount of calculating level adjustements and making custom classes I'm not really willing to make).

So please, any suggestions would be immensely appreciated. And while you're at that, any ideas for adventures and such would be a great help :smallredface:

Dairun Cates
2007-11-28, 03:57 PM
Funny enough, I've run a campaign where all my players WERE Pet Monster trainers. Rather than use pokemon, we basically used parodies of the genre motifs. This is, of course, why one of the player's starting choices was an Orange-haired rocker in a purple suit with a headband that rode around on a guitar. One of the funnest campaigns we ever did.

On the other hand, that campaign was a GM's NIGHTMARE, and I was the GM. Try inventing your own monster manual by hand sometime. You'll see what I mean.

Anyway, there's an old BESM 2nd Edition module called Cute and Fuzzy Seizure Monsters. This gives some nice tips on running these campaigns. Although, I wouldn't endorse using it word for word.

As for systems that work... We used BESM 3rd edition. It's full of HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE oversights in balance, but it's simple and insanely flexible. Provided your players are responsible and not too horrible about power-gaming, it's probably perfect for what you want.

You might also consider mutants and masterminds 2nd edition. Run everyone as around PL8. Easy to play. Classless. Only uses the d20. No HP, just damage states. It's awesome for that kind of thing. On top of that, extra effort fits the pokemon genre perfectly. It's a thing of beauty really.

There's other systems that work, but I'd check those out first.

As for adventures... Make sure there's an overall plot going on. Something that motivates the characters forward. I tried running them under the "go through the league to become the best" plot, but tournaments became very boring very fast. I had to ultimately bring some real heavy backplot into the game and some EXTREMELY ridiculous NPCs (including Mr. Rich. A man so Rich that he can BUY immunity to most abilities and make a profit off of it). In the end, we had a time-traveling, world-saving campaign where becoming the league champion saves the world from the apocalypse. Also, Jumping Jack Flash was in it.

So, throw in Team Rocket stealing one of their moms if you have to, but HAVE an overarching plot and establish it early.

If I think of anything more, I'll tell you, but if you have any specific questions, I'd be glad to answer them via this thread, Private message, or IM.

SpikeFightwicky
2007-11-28, 03:58 PM
Wait a sec... If they're just starting out, shouldn't they be confirmed as Trapinch and Rhydon?

Prometheus
2007-11-28, 04:01 PM
If you wanted to do it D20, it seems you would have to do the whole thing homebrew...Goodluck with that.

If you wanted to emulate pokemon though, I would look into the mechanics of how exactly attack, damage (http://www.serebii.net/games/damage.shtml), and moves work in the game. I know that they are out there somewhere, if not the internet then some strategy guide to a game. If you then add ranges and areas of effect to the moves, than you would have your entire battle mechanic. Beyond that, you would just need some basic rules for interacting with objects, moving at various speeds and modes of transportation, taking up space, and using skills (if any remain).

Green Bean
2007-11-28, 04:01 PM
Wait a sec... If they're just starting out, shouldn't they be confirmed as Trapinch and Rhydon?

Ryhorn is correct, actually.

Dairun Cates
2007-11-28, 04:02 PM
Wait a sec... If they're just starting out, shouldn't they be confirmed as Trapinch and Rhydon?

Not to show my nerdiness, but Rhyhorn's the lower level one, and as for the Flygon, I suppose SOMEONE has to be "team leader".

Drascin
2007-11-28, 04:30 PM
Whoa, instant replying. Neat! Let's answer one by one:

Dairun: BESM was my first thought based on what I had heard of it, and I can get the BESM 3rd Ed handbook easily. I will look into that supplement you mention. Also, I'll give a look at that Mutants and Masterminds game - never heard of it. About the plot... I think I'll start with a few random things, ala Rescue Team Blue, and start getting them into the actual plot slowly as they progress. Many thanks for your reply :smallsmile: .

Spike: Ryhorn is, as mentioned, the first evolution, so that one is correct, and I didn't feel so mean so as to make someone actualy start as the heavily movement-impaired Trapinch. 'sides, if they're starting as about the same power level, the actual level of evolution is not really that important. And let us not forget: Flygon is cool, and the Rule of Cool supersedes other considerations :smalltongue: .

Prometheus: Yeah, that is mainly why I didn't want to do it on d20 after thinking of it for a second. And I mostly intend to represent the world of pokémon, with the whole ecology and species interrelations and such, not the games exactly, since there are more than a few things there that are acceptable on the games but would be stupid to think of in a somewhat more verosimile RPG ground (such as the conundrum of Ryhorn, whose density is supposed to be HUGE according to pokédex data, being able to use Surf to swim without sinking :smallconfused: )

Thank you all for replying! If anyone has any more ideas, don't hesitate to voice them - the Goddess knows I'm going to need every bit of possible ideas for this.

SpikeFightwicky
2007-11-28, 04:37 PM
Ouch! Can't believe I messed that up... Serves me right for never using the water weak PKMs.

Anyways, I'm also of the opinion that d20 isn't the best system, unless you want to create an entire setting based on it (that and making 'claws' a 35/day ability seems odd :smallbiggrin: ).

Mr.Bookworm
2007-11-28, 04:38 PM
Whoa, instant replying. Neat! Let's answer one by one:

Dairun: BESM was my first thought based on what I had heard of it, and I can get the BESM 3rd Ed handbook easily. I will look into that supplement you mention. Also, I'll give a look at that Mutants and Masterminds game - never heard of it. About the plot... I think I'll start with a few random things, ala Rescue Team Blue, and start getting them into the actual plot slowly as they progress. Many thanks for your reply :smallsmile: .

Spike: Ryhorn is, as mentioned, the first evolution, so that one is correct, and I didn't feel so mean so as to make someone actualy start as the heavily movement-impaired Trapinch. 'sides, if they're starting as about the same power level, the actual level of evolution is not really that important. And let us not forget: Flygon is cool, and the Rule of Cool supersedes other considerations :smalltongue: .

Prometheus: Yeah, that is mainly why I didn't want to do it on d20 after thinking of it for a second. And I mostly intend to represent the world of pokémon, with the whole ecology and species interrelations and such, not the games exactly, since there are more than a few things there that are acceptable on the games but would be stupid to think of in a somewhat more verosimile RPG ground (such as the conundrum of Ryhorn, whose density is supposed to be HUGE according to pokédex data, being able to use Surf to swim without sinking :smallconfused: )

Thank you all for replying! If anyone has any more ideas, don't hesitate to voice them - the Goddess knows I'm going to need every bit of possible ideas for this.

I second Mutants & Masterminds.

It's really flexible, and it seems really good for what you're trying to pull off.

Dairun Cates
2007-11-28, 04:42 PM
Well, it's worth mentioning that Mutants and Masterminds is INTENDED to be for superheroic 4-color role-playing. However, it certainly has been used for other purposes by the fans. Here's a good example of the wide array of things people have done with it.

http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?t=25576&sid=768498ebe41bde5bb93afd624cd36eff

Had I known it existed at the time I might have run my own campaign in it. Still, BESM 3rd is a very solid choice. Just be aware that it's VERY possible to make characters that unbalance the game unintentionally. You don't even have to TRY to be batman.

Drascin
2007-11-28, 04:50 PM
Oh, I kinda assumed - point-based systems tend to be oh so very breakable in my experience. Which is why I already warned the players that any attempt at unbalancing the game would be punished by sudden bombardment by Wailord-ammo orbital cannons. Still, this M&M game seems so very interesting... I need to find a way to get it.

Omniplex
2007-11-28, 05:24 PM
I would use GURPS, because you can do just about anything with GURPS, were it not for the huge discrepancies in point values between pokemon. a steelix is probably into the 300-500+ for sheer size and strength, and most of the legendaries are definitely there, while a pikachu I've actually tried, and it was about -80 pts. BESM D20 is nice, because i'm pretty sure it's available free online. FUDGE might work too, given you get to make up your own stats, as in, Attack/Defense/SpecA/D/Speed, ect. i've never really tried anything with that system. I doubt you want to use Risus, it being so light and all. You could bulls#!+ it with D20, making up stats for the creatures as elementals, magical beasts, and such, and advancing hit dice and power when you feel like leveling up, instead of using character class levels, which would be somewhat inappropriate for pokemon. Either way, it will be a lot of work to stat them all out, but the fun kind of work

Thinker
2007-11-28, 05:31 PM
I also support Mutants and Masterminds. Any abilities from Pokemon can easily be represented with M&M powers and they even have mechanics for changing the cost based on uses per day. It is probably the best-balanced point-based system I have seen. Everything is capped by your power level, which fits in pretty well with Pokemon. To top it all off, its d20 so there won't be too many more mechanics to learn.

Dairun Cates
2007-11-28, 05:54 PM
I would use GURPS, because you can do just about anything with GURPS, were it not for the huge discrepancies in point values between pokemon.

I dunno. GURPS is almost too complicated for its own good. Making characters in GURPS can be a real chore and with a Pet Monster campaign, you WILL be making a HUGE list of characters. It's inevitable. Your players will notice when you send them against the 30th freakin' Guntre- I mean Sentret. Point is. He'll probably have to eventually make at least a good 50 of the 493 or so existing monsters and that just makes me cry thinking about it in GURPS.

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-28, 06:11 PM
I second Mutants & Masterminds.

It's really flexible, and it seems really good for what you're trying to pull off.

Thirded or whatever. M&M 2e is definitely what you need. Right when I started to read the OP I knew that's what you needed. I love the system, though I haven't played it that much, its a keeper!

goat
2007-11-28, 08:17 PM
Go full circle.

Reverse engineer Pokethulhu.

Dairun Cates
2007-11-28, 08:32 PM
Go full circle.

Reverse engineer Pokethulhu.

But that might end in Call of Cthulu instead. Somehow a Flygon making a SAN check just doesn't fit well.

Edit: By the way, can we expect one of the players to play a super bad ass Magikarp with craptons of Toughness and Damage output with surprise attacking ability because no one sees it coming, or at the very least can we expect that as a villain?

goat
2007-11-28, 08:44 PM
I think pokemon is a scenario that should definitely should require san checks.

It has ten year old children controlling ghosts, giant dragon things that can destroy cities, and elder beings that created large swathes of the local universe.

Not to mention the poor little Cubones, wearing the skulls of their dead mothers as helmets.

Mewtarthio
2007-11-28, 08:59 PM
And laughable, innocuous carp that can, suddenly and without warning, transform into mighty flying dragons. And a system that's so ridiculously corrupt you can bribe security guards with bottles of water you bought from a vending machine. And space-distorting mind-control devices that cost roughly one-ten-thousandth the cost of a bicycle.

Wraith
2007-11-28, 09:20 PM
The first thing that sprang to mind when I considered a Pokemon RPG was 'Toon' - since Pokemon never die and they have all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff for abilities and appearances, it seems almost perfect.

Good luck getting your hands on a copy of the rulebooks, though - I've been trying for ages, and never so much as gotten a sniff of one... :smallfrown:

Pyroconstruct
2007-11-28, 10:04 PM
I swear I saw a d20 pokemon writeup floating around the internet years ago... not sure where it is though. Maybe it can be dug up.

Given that you're going to have to write everything up for your world, I would recommend HERO 5th ed. It does take some learning at the start, but it's very good and easily the easiest game for the GM to balance I've ever seen, and more importantly it's designed as a toolbox game, ie, it is designed to let you play any genre or setting, rather than making you try to jam in rules designed to work with another setting.

tyckspoon
2007-11-28, 10:11 PM
And laughable, innocuous carp that can, suddenly and without warning, transform into mighty flying dragons. And a system that's so ridiculously corrupt you can bribe security guards with bottles of water you bought from a vending machine. And space-distorting mind-control devices that cost roughly one-ten-thousandth the cost of a bicycle.

Hey, it's not without warning. The carp spends at least three seconds glowing first. One would be well advised to spend that time running away. And lets be fair to the guards: they were *really really thirsty*. Although that's not much better; instead of insanely corruptible guards, you have guards who are invested with the power to arbitrarily block access to a major city just because they want a drink.

....
2007-11-28, 10:23 PM
BESM is supposed to be balanced?

I thought it was an anmie simulation?

Collin152
2007-11-28, 10:44 PM
Well, I am required by federal law in 4 differant countries to mention the Classic Marvel Superhero game as a distinct possibility, and for a side campaign it is golden; the books are all online, its a simple d100 system, has incredible diversity and flexibility, and is fairly balanced.
Furthermore, it can account for things such as a Jigglypuff's rubbery, bouncy body or even Smeargle's ability to paint things.

Oh, and this is the bestest iea evar, and if it were an online game, I'd totally play in it.

Jothki
2007-11-28, 11:26 PM
How do you anticipate Pokemon being used in this? Are we talking "Charizard, use Flamethrower on that Bulbasaur", or "Charizard, grab that Team Rocket member, fly him up into the air, and drop him if he doesn't immediately reveal the location of his base"?

Mewtarthio
2007-11-28, 11:32 PM
The PCs are the Pokemon.

Campaign Seed: Your PCs have had enough of the endless battles, the kidnappings, and the slavery. They have decided the time to end the dominance of humanity has come: They will rise up, free their oppressed bretheren, and bring about the Pokemon Revolution!

Alleine
2007-11-29, 12:05 AM
Which is why I already warned the players that any attempt at unbalancing the game would be punished by sudden bombardment by Wailord-ammo orbital cannons.

I would unbalance the game just so I could be hit with a wailord-ammo orbital cannon.

Guy_Whozevl
2007-11-29, 01:29 AM
Long story short: we're going to do a pokémon campaign. As in, the players are pokémon, not trainers. We already have a confirmed Ryhorn and Flygon, actually.

You phail due to lack of a Rhyperior. Why doesn't someone be a CB Heracross or Adaptability Porygon-Z? They are teh broken.

Seriously, let's hope that whatever system you do end up using will discourage crazy powergaming like this with item useage and overemphasis on Pokemon that rock in the OU metagame. I vote that you remove any battle-related hold items in general (Choice Band/Scarf/Life Orb) and only have stuff like Berries in your system.

GoldDragon
2007-11-29, 01:39 AM
Seems to me that Mutants and Masterminds would work wonders for this. You build your character's "heroes" with a set limit of points. I'd probably keep the number of points low, and keep a good watch on what players were spending their points on. Add a damage modifier to certain powers and you should have something that at least feels like Pokémon.

ZebulonCrispi
2007-11-29, 02:09 AM
The PCs are the Pokemon.

Campaign Seed: Your PCs have had enough of the endless battles, the kidnappings, and the slavery. They have decided the time to end the dominance of humanity has come: They will rise up, free their oppressed bretheren, and bring about the Pokemon Revolution!

Better yet, take the human side of this event, and set the campaign in a world where civilization has been torn asunder by the combined might of the Pokémon in their revenge-fueled wrath against mankind. A Post-Apokélyptic world, if you will.

Icewalker
2007-11-29, 02:15 AM
On the other hand, that campaign was a GM's NIGHTMARE, and I was the GM. Try inventing your own monster manual by hand sometime. You'll see what I mean.

Really? I keep writing adventures, and I make all of my own monsters/NPCs. Of course, I'm not setting up a database beforehand.


To be honest, while you can probably work it off of a previous system, the best solution is probably a slightly modified new homebrew system. Of course, that solution is probably also the most work short of making an entire new system.

Dairun Cates
2007-11-29, 03:05 AM
Really? I keep writing adventures, and I make all of my own monsters/NPCs. Of course, I'm not setting up a database beforehand.


To be honest, while you can probably work it off of a previous system, the best solution is probably a slightly modified new homebrew system. Of course, that solution is probably also the most work short of making an entire new system.

It's not so much the planning that's horrible. That's to be expected. It's that in order to have a cohesive campaign, I can't be repeating ANY monsters too often. Which is to say that for the first few sessions, I had to come up with new monsters for every trainer. Considering tournaments were consisted of 5 person teams. Even assuming ONE monster each, I had to make a whole HELL of a lot of monsters for the first few sessions. Basically, by the end of the first session, I had around 20+ monsters categorized already. That doesn't even BEGIN to include the stats for the trainers controlling them. Making your own monsters and NPCs is optimal, but there is a certain extreme where it can get maddening to put out that much content week after week.

For the record, I believe I actually had over 150 monsters done by the end of the campaign. This does not include evolutions. I really did LITERALLY write my own monster manual for a campaign (I also technically wrote an entire pokemon game too).

Edit: Although, I'm not going to complain. I did get to make a monster named Gila Mobster.

Drascin
2007-11-29, 08:28 AM
Too many replies to address individually with what little time I have... but thanks everyone for replying. After all the mentions, I will certainly try to find M&M 2nd Ed through every channel at my disposal (though from pictures of the cover I would have never thought it'd be useful to represent Pokémon :smalltongue:. I am, in fact, still a bit surprised that a supposed "superhero" game is so widely regarded as my best bet). I'll start toying around with BESM 3rd in the meantime (already got it) to see what I can do and start getting a feel for the campaign.

Also, a bit that made me chuckle...



You phail due to lack of a Rhyperior. Why doesn't someone be a CB Heracross or Adaptability Porygon-Z? They are teh broken.


You actually answered yourself - because the amount of points they'd be given wouldn't be nearly enough to represent the sheer brokenness of said creatures :smallwink: . In fact, the guy with the ryhorn did want a rhyperior, but I warned him that the power level would probably not allow him to play a creature able to withstand a direct hit from a heavy tank with little injury, which ruled out pokes like rhyperior or steelix.

Collin152
2007-11-29, 04:57 PM
Yeah, superhero systems tend to be inherantly flexible and vague, lettign them fill in for anything.
I love that about them.

F.H. Zebedee
2007-11-29, 10:58 PM
I actually ran a double campaign Pokemon game that I simply used the cards to do. It turned out well, if simplistic and easily broken. (One of my players had a Golem that haxxored the upgrading system to have a 500 damage explosion. 500!) (May I add in my defense that they were my first RP campaigns barring a homebrewed system.)

However, it was very fun indeed. I ran with it, and basically Monty-Hauled, partially why they ended up so 00bar, but it was a good time for all. I played a Martial Artist, another one of us played a sort of "Diplomat to the Legendary Pokemon" and could call in airstrikes, and the last was a mutant who had been infected with the Deoxys virus, and had abilities tailored to killing legendary Pokemon. And that was in addition to our parties.

We once beat infinity Weedles, and then a Muk with 30,000 HP.

So, I can't say I advise that route. Bad things happen, even if they get lovably ridiculous at high levels.

I'm thinking of homebrewing a D6 Pokemon system, and making it simplistic and fast. Not to mention doing a few pre-constructed trained stat blocks, since trained Pokemon always were a jerk to do in mid-battle. Maybe even features for doing Trainers (for those who like it rough and tumble. My campaigns actually started with forcing the group to go and CATCH their Pokemon by beating them into submission with their bare hands.) and for creating new species.

"Oh, that Clefairy knows Surf!"
"They can't use it. I know. Tried."
"Nevermind. Bubblebeam it is."
"Would the Bubblebeam for Clefairy be the 30 damage roll for Paralysis version, or the 20 damage, roll for confusion version?"
"Screw it! You take 30 water damage."
"No, I have a held item that prevents all water damage."
"BLAH!"

And for plots, I'd recommend something along the lines of "Finding out about some operation to capture a legendary Pokemon" and then having them chasing the team of villains who are out to do so.

Jothki
2007-11-30, 03:01 PM
The advantage of a system with point-buy powers is that you can probably easily throw whatever you want at a pokemon to give them whatever powers they need, without needing to care too much about what species they actually are or having to directly map each attack to a usable ability. If they know Strength or are simply a species that looks like they should be strong, give them some sort of strength-based power. Fast species or individual Pokemon that would know moves like Agility or Extremespeed get the ability to move fast. Fire-types or an individual Pokemon that has been trained to use fire-attacks (suprise your party with a flamethrowing Rattata!) get control over fire. The four moves themselves can be mostly irrevelent, they just define what powers a Pokemon have access to.

Project_Mayhem
2007-11-30, 07:53 PM
I second doing something with pokéthulu

1: it's free
2: it's dead easy to play and to stat pokémon
3: as you aren't using human trainers the san stuff doesn't actually matter
4: The other stuffs elementary and easy to fudge