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Pocket Monster Adventures — A TTRPG based on the first generation of Pokémon (heavenlyspoon.org)
submitted 1 week ago by HeavenlySpoon@ttrpg.network to c/rpg@ttrpg.network
8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey, Lemmy!

I’m a somewhat experienced TTRPG designer and my latest project is an RPG based on the first generation of Pokémon games.

You can download the complete game for free here:

https://heavenlyspoon.org/pocket-monster-adventures/

My focus was on ease-of-play and simple prep. Many of the other Pokémon RPGs out there seemed to involve a lot of overhead—especially for the GM. I prefer a more improv-heavy game, and having to do a lot of prep makes that basically impossible. 

Sticking to gen 1 made it so I could keep the scope small enough to allow for simple encounter tables, pre-prepared Pokémon sheets for every Pokémon, and a simple set-up for every Pokémon controlled by the GM.

The game is designed to be played with one GM and two or three players, and every aspect of the original games has been changed where needed to accommodate this.

I don't know how much interest there is for this kind of thing, but hopefully at least someone will get some joy out of it!

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[-] kamenlady@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I'm loving it! Even if i don't find someone to play with, I'll read through it all

[-] smeg@feddit.uk 2 points 1 week ago

Wow, this is incredibly detailed, very keen to try it out!

[-] smeg@feddit.uk 2 points 1 week ago

@HeavenlySpoon@ttrpg.network I don't know if you're looking for feedback, but something that seems potentially confusing is the different behaviour of the move die between normal and special moves. If I'm reading it correctly for a normal move your "attack roll" (to fall back to d&d terms) is determined by the Move die and the target to beat is the move's Threshold, but for a special move your "attack roll" is your Special die and the target is the Move die. I'm not sure if using the same terminology to refer to two opposite things is the clearest!

[-] HeavenlySpoon@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 week ago

Feedback is always welcome!

The issue is that for out-of-combat actions, the move die has the same function for both types of moves, so giving it a different name could lead to more confusion. Additionally, any number mentioned on the move card always refers to the move die, so having different names might again be more confusing.

I hope I made it clear that special moves have a very different procedure, and as soon as you realise that, knowing that the “move die” is the die on the move card should hopefully make things fairly clear.

Part of the impetus behind the combat rules was trying to make a singular “Special” stat not just functional but logical. If it was just going to be SpA/SpD combined, there’d be no reason not to split them. Having the split be damaging moves and effect moves solved that issue nicely, but it did necessitate very different mechanics.

Thanks for the feedback, though!

[-] smeg@feddit.uk 2 points 15 hours ago

Fair enough, you can tell I hadn't read that far yet!

Another bit of feedback: the word "move" is used to mean different things and can be a bit ambiguous. A good example is the paragraph explaining paralysis: "move(s)" is used to mean changing turn order, movement around the grid, and an attack (and I'm still a little confused as to how paralysis works in general!) Might be worth calling "moves" (the attacks that pokémon make) something like "abilities" or "techniques" to make it clearer?

[-] HeavenlySpoon@ttrpg.network 1 points 14 hours ago

Hmm, techniques might work, but space is often limited and it’s quite a bit longer than “move”. I’m aware of the issue, but didn’t have a clean way of solving it. I couldn’t use “attack” since there’s already an Attack die and abilities are also a thing in Pokémon in general. If it was going to be confusing regardless, I figured I might as well stick with the name used in the games. Basically, move as a noun is an “attack”, move as a verb is movement. I may have to try to fit that clarification in somewhere…

The thing to keep in mind with Paralysis is that every round starts with determining turn order, any Paralysed Pokémon move to the end of the turn order and then loses Paralysis. The not-being-able-to-move bit is only relevant if the Paralysed Pokémon hasn’t acted yet that round.

[-] Aielman15@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Looks lovely! I'll have a more detailed look tomorrow, and I may leave my opinions here.

The other big Pokémon TTRPG (Tabletop United, iirc) was a headache to run, hopefully this one is easier on both the master and the players.

[-] HeavenlySpoon@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 week ago

Thanks!

I have never actually run a Pokémon TTRPG I didn’t make myself, but having read through a few, I was always struck by how much work they demanded from the GM. Having to basically design each Pokémon the players will face seems like such a daunting task. On top of this, enemy Pokémon usually have to be run the same as those of the players, which again means a lot more work for the GM. I’m a lazy GM at heart, and that just would not be possible for those games.

I tried my best to make things as easy on the GM as I could. With some experience, you should be able to start a battle from scratch in less than a minute, and you don’t have nearly as many decision points as the other players during the battle.

this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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