>Copied original textUsed kids Pokemon cards, dice, tokens, and craft paper. Mechanics are simple but varied and engaging enough that it is still very fun for me. I create a branching path to the gym with some lanes gated by items or Pokemon abilities (like surf) and puzzle pieces to gather to open the gym, and make a random deck of basic Pokemon from the tcg cards. The board has different terrain zones, item balls, and trainers. My kids can see everything from the start. Basic gameplay has the kids pick a starter card then move 1 zone, roll to encounter Pokemon, battle / catch Pokemon, retrieve items, resolve trainer battles, move to the next zone. For wild pokemon they roll a d20 when entering or leaving a zone. 10+ I reveal a random basic Pokemon from their Pokemon cards. In tall grass it’s 5+, in rocky ground or water it’s 12+. To catch a Pokemon they throw a d6 pokeball. On 4+ they catch and lose the pokeball (d6) back to the box, on 1,2,3 the ball is consumed without catching the Pokemon but they can continue. If they attack and hit the pokemon they only need a 3+.
>>97979748Battling is super simple but works nicely. They select and put out a card from their team to fight the opposing Pokemon. The kids roll a d20 and hit on 10+. I the GM, roll a d20 and hit on 12+. A hit Pokemon is tapped (turned sideways). A 2nd hit knocks a Pokemon out. A player controlled Pokemon who wins a battle or catches a wild Pokemon gets a counter. The kids can spend 1 counter to reroll or 2 counters to perform a special attack. Special attacks hit on 5+ and do 2 hits. We don’t do much with types yet bc my youngest playing is 6, but on obvious advantages like water v fire they hit on a 5+ and for resistances when they start learning them I plan it to hit on 15+ and for special attacks to not do any of the added benefits. Each level of evolution gets a toughness counter which just adds a required hit to KO, so instead of tapping on a hit, remove a counter, then tap when all counters are removed. Running Away and VarietyI control this as the GM, but I change the necessary rolls to add some variety to the Pokemon. So some Pokemon I know are fast or harder to catch I make a necessary poke bowl throw of 5+ or even 6+ for legendary before attacks / tapping. Then on any misses past the 1st-3rd round (depending on Pokemon and flavor) my kids roll a d6 to see if the Pokemon flees. Some Pokemon need to roll a 1, others might flee on 1 or 2. Just flavor variance again.
>>97979756Then for gym battles or special Pokemon battles the GM can hit on a d20 10+ (if you remember I give the kids a slight advantage making my rolls hit on a 12+ for normal trainer battles). I like to add 1-3 special Pokemon battles on the map where an evolved or legendary fight happens. I know exactly what Pokemon will be there. For trainer battles I just randomly deal cards from the Pokemon card deck. Trainers have 1-4 Pokemon based on my discretion and part of the map. The gym leader always has 6 Pokemon. GM Pokemon don’t have or gain tokens but do get toughness counters. In the above pictured game a rope is needed to climb the rock face to get to the cave, an axe in the woods is needed to clear the stump, and the cave had a special poke battle and a fishing rod, while the fishing rod was needed to get the item ball in the lake which got a legendary poke battle. It was a water Pokemon who had surf and could now pass the lake. The gym had a geometry puzzle using tangram shapes the kids collected from item balls and trainers. The last puzzle piece is held by the trainer who guards the exit of the hedge maze. “Ah rats. I couldn’t even beat you, guess I’m not ready for the gym. Here take my lock piece.”
Glad you’re having fun with your kids.
>>97979748>>97979756>>97979762You sound like a good dad. Back in the 90s I remember playing super Mario with my dad. One night I told my mom "I'll go to bed when dad runs out of lives" and he had 99 lives. Also played Tie-Fighter with him. I'm probably as old as you can get on this forum (38) and still had a gamer for a dad. Most of my best memories for him come down to us playing video games together.
Reminds me a lot of the Pokemon Jr. Adventure Game.It's a game the designers had really high hopes for and they planned on making a whole bunch of sets, but only one ever came out. The mechanics were incredibly simple, but for an RPG intended for children I think it hit just the right spot.
>>97979952I'm currently halfway through my replay of Pokemon Fire Red. I have an emulator on my phone so it was easy to get back into. I tend to play it when im sitting in waiting rooms (I have health problems). Too bad the game didnt pick off.
>>97979748I will try this, but going off this post alone is hard. I will wait for a better organized pdf or something
>>97979952that's really cool! I think about adding specific moves with different move stats when they are older but it works so well already, that would almost feel like crunch just for out of game play. There is enough interaction as it work right now with 1 target number, earning counters, and choosing how to spend them.>>97979833thanks, I was told a long time ago, if you don't pay attention to what they like when they're little, they won't pay attention to you when they are old.
>>97980035Grim but I love my parents. My dad became extremely Christian when he hit his 60s after up until that point he was atheist which drove a bit of divide between us (I'm a Odinist) but I still think of him a lot when I think about my childhood.
>>97979748Neat concept, will check out later.
>>97980028This might help
Bump
>>97979748I kind of feel like you reinvented the wheel here.
>>97988514Oh shit, I remember playing this.I remember even as a kid thinking it wasn't great, but man, it's pieces had so much potential.
>>97988514that game wasn't fun though. OP has more points of decision making and uses the card game which has good art.
