Doesn't seem like a good time to ask /vp/, nor have they ever been useful for this kind of thing. I've been wanting to run the Poke RPG for 1-3 people but I find myself stuck at what kind of game I wanna run. Making a modern-day region is tough when most of my experience is D&D and D&D-like games but I feel like a lot of options and concepts might be unplayable in a medieval setting.How do I get started with this sort of thing?
>>96792881don't prep a whole ass region for them to blindly walk through, it's a waste of timeprep open ended situations for your players to get into
>>96792881There are a number of fan-made systems that will work better than trying to use d&d to simulate something it's not made for. Sadly I don't remember the names of them, but googling pokemon ttrpg should find you something. Buliding an entire region before the campaign starts is just a bad idea if you don't know if the players will be involved for the long haul. Since it's pokemon themed, I would talk to the players to find out some of their favorite pokemon to include for them to catch so that everyone has more fun. The more like the games it is, the harder it will be to actually run a campaign of since you might need to repeat gym battles for every player.
>>96792954I've already decided on using this as my system: https://isaacostlund.io/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/The-Poke-RPG-1.0.pdfThe problem is that most of my experience is wrapped up D&D that it becomes a little harder to account for a more technologically and societally advanced setting like Pokemon. I already had the idea of capture wishlists in mind so I can make sure there's spot for them in mind.My goal isn't to recreate Pokemon the game, but rather the early anime or manga.>>96792927Open-ended situations are where I scratch my head at. I suppose I could try a starter town being bothered by some not!Team Skull or not!Team Rocket, but I don't know if that'd be entertaining.
>>96793027Both of those are pretty episodic early on. Can't speak of any of the newer stuff. Plus you really only need a plan that goes until the next zone of interest or even session, so I would keep it more simple and figure out what you and the players like and want to do over all and then introduce stuff like an evil org.
>>96795460New stuff is about globetrotting and the group is either in an airship or at school. Not a fan of it.Maybe I'll do something akin to a hexcrawl and some generators.
Heres what im using>mortals from owod as a base for players and pokemon>dice pools based on the pokemon base stats (hp/atk/def/spatk/spdef/spd) divided by 16s.>pokemon start at lv.5 and roll a d% when winning a battle to level up (90+ is two level ups)> every 5 levels after 5 gain a "training" + 1 to all stats or +3 to a single stat>moves do damage equal to their power divided by 10 plus owod's +1 per success over the hit requiremen.
>>96793027>The problem is that most of my experience is wrapped up D&D that it becomes a little harder to account for a more technologically and societally advanced setting like Pokemon. I already had the idea of capture wishlists in mind so I can make sure there's spot for them in mind.Not even pokemon tends to account for it. There are cars and planes, but it's usually assumed the character walks everywhere anyway. The most you have to account for is phones, and even then you could limit things to text messages or email if you want to have a reason why calling for help isn't an option everywhere they go. One thing I'd recommend pretty much regardless of which Pokemon tabletop system you use is to be careful about how many Pokemon the players can have at once. If you've got 1 player it's not a problem, but three people with full teams of six is 18 extra statblocks to worry about managing.>>96796090A pokemon hexcrawl is a solid idea, and as long as you're confident in your ability to come up with interesting landmarks, then you can have fun stuff like the party stumbling upon haunted mansions in the woods or hidden caves where there might be something rare or legendary. Random encounter tables are probably a key part of that, but I think you want to lean into the tabletop aspects and make sure the entries aren't all just "1d6 wild Zubat appeared". Look to the anime for inspiration where there might be a wounded pokemon, an evil team engaged in some poaching, a traveling trainer who needs help with something, a legendary going on a rampage about something, etc. Basically, fill the random table with inspiration and plot hooks rather than firmly established encounters. Things might still result in a battle, but it should be something that the players have options of how to approach and could lead into something more.
>>96796612>If you've got 1 player it's not a problem, but three people with full teams of six is 18 extra statblocks to worry about managing.I think if I was gonna have a full party of players, I'd probably ask them to keep active parties down to three.>>96796612Part of it is going to be using some tools provided by https://theworldofpokemon.com/. It's got a list of general biomes, what Pokemon can be found there, and even a location generator if I'm desperate (I'd rather make my encounter tables). The problem with generation mostly comes from the stuff on the human side. There is not a lot of random tables for modern cities or people, which I'd need to do a fair amount.
>>96796747Well, I'd note that the site you linked does have City as a habitat table. Though really, you can probably get away with only having one or two big cities. Most of the time the players should be in smaller more or rural towns, especially if you're doing a hexcrawl. Just look at any given pokemon region, and there's usually only one or two cities that actually have skyscrapers or other major industry. One thing you can probably use to define nearly any town/city would be a gym alongside some sort of contest though. Put a bug gym in a town that also has a bug-catching contest and things should already be taking shape.But ultimately, yes. You will need to make your own random tables in order to help move things along in the actual moment. That's why I often recommend tables of plot hooks rather than just encounters, since the the more interesting questions for the players are going to be if there's anything special or unusual going on that they can do something about.Being confronted for a battle by a random trainer is one thing. Being confronted for a battle, only for the trainer to reveal his pokemon hasn't been listening to him lately, is a way to potentially lead in to something more.
>>96796881>One or two big citiesIt could depend on the region. Unova tends to handle being a more urban and developed region pretty well, but that's because it's built off US East Coast culture.I suppose I could make a roll list depending on the biome (ice or fire having increased odds in tundra while bugs and dragons are lowered) for the local town's type. Most towns don't have a gym, but there are more than eight. Chances could depend on a population roll (could use the 3.5 GM table for that. Pokemon population centers are usually medieval except for the big cities.) Generally, the towns with gyms are the ones that are the biggest for tourist bux (unless it's like Wyndon)From there, I could probably make a drop-down on what kind of specialties the towns have. If it's a town with a bug-type gym, their specialty could range from historically relying on beekeeping to silk fashion to being near a forest. Generally, a town should have one specialty relating to their type and two that are more tied to their biome.Random trainers and possible rivals should have a chance to either be local or wandering. Local trainers pull from the encounter table but with a chance of outsider Pokemon, while wandering trainers pull from the table. NPC Trainers should have an archetype or class they pull from, even in a classless system like The Poke RPG, in order to make their flavor quick and easy. From there, Pokemon can be generated with natures and loyalty. That alone should get a general vibe of what the trainer's dynamic is with their team and be enough to spin things off.I think I'm getting a good foothold of what to do here.
>>96798896>It could depend on the region. For Unova, the only two major cities are Castelia and Nimbasa. That's what I mean about there usually only being one or two big cities. Even in a region based off new york, a lot of the places labeled "cities" are actually incredibly rural. Just look at Mistralton City or Icirrus. You've got a few houses and an airstrip, or a couple of windmills. And that's the trend for most of the games. If you're talking about a city that has skyscrapers, apartments, and then a major corporation, department store, or other big-city landmarks, there's usually only one or two. I say this mostly to point out that players aren't going to get confused if there's only one settlement in the region that has skyscrapers, and everything else is just small towns with a few houses and one notable landmark aside from any gym.And using the gym as a focus for the an area works well. Like you said, a bug gym easily lends itself to beekeeping, which likewise lends itself to plots about wild pokemon breaking in to steal honey, or an evil team trying to rile of a swarm of angry bee pokemon as a distraction. Trainer archetypes also work well for that purpose, where a fisherman is gonna tell the players stories about a rare pokemon in a lake, challenge them to a fishing contest, complain that they lost something at the bottom of a river, get angry that the PCs scared a fish away, etc. It gives you a lot of stock characters that can feasibly show up in a lot of places, give you a rough idea of what sort of team they might have, and gives you a list of plot hooks that you can easily draw from on the fly.
