Pocket Monster Adventures
heavenlyspoon.org
Pokémon Monster Adventures is a low-prep Pokémon Tabletop roleplaying game inspired by the first generation of Pokémon games—including all the weird stuff. You can download the rulebook for free be…

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!

  • smeg@feddit.ukEnglish
    1·
    29 days ago

    Might be better to pick a single thing for paralysis to do if simplicity is the goal. Some ideas:

    1. Miss the next turn - same as the TCG but probably too similar to sleep
    2. No movement for X turns - more of a literal interpretation of paralysis but seems like it might also just be a less strong version of sleep
    3. Chance of failing the next attack - represents the “fully paralysed” effect from the games, a little similar to both confusion and sleep
    4. Act last in the next round - represents the speed-reducing effect from the games, but is a little confusing in practice based on whether the target has already acted in this round or not
    5. Permanent speed reduction (well, as permanent as poison), could be similar to how Agility works - similar to above but maybe a bit simpler?
    • HeavenlySpoon@ttrpg.networkOP
      2·
      22 days ago

      Just replying to let you know that I’ve changed move to Move whenever it’s not referring to movement and that I’ve changed Paralysis to the easier option of not being able to move this round and next round. It definitely plays differently, but it’s quicker and should hopefully be easier to understand!

      • smeg@feddit.ukEnglish
        1·
        22 days ago

        Sounds good! I noticed a couple of little typos when I read through before, want me to make a list of them if they’re still there? Also, very strangely, a few pages had a tiny blob on them which when I zoomed in turned out to be Vileplume’s stat sheet.

        • HeavenlySpoon@ttrpg.networkOP
          2·
          22 days ago

          Weird! I don’t know how that happened, can you give a page number for where it shows up?

          And yes, please share any typos you find!

          • smeg@feddit.ukEnglish
            1·
            22 days ago

            I first noticed it on p182 (Abra), I’ll let you know if I see it anywhere else

            • HeavenlySpoon@ttrpg.networkOP
              1·
              22 days ago

              I figured out what happened, apparently the Vileplume sheet snuck onto my Pokémon sheet template. It should be fixed now.

              • smeg@feddit.ukEnglish
                2·
                2 days ago

                Right, it seems I really went down the rabbit hole with proofreading so I hope this seems helpful rather than obsessive!

                • Missing Data
                  • p165 - Diglett has no evolution info
                  • p238 - Scyther is missing, there’s a second Mr Mime
                  • p249 - Vaporeon has Haze twice
                • Typos
                  • p20 - “strength” should be “Strength”
                  • p45 - “but in and out of battle” should be “both in and out of battle” (I think)
                  • p85 - “starts the battle against two opponents” should be “starts the battle against three opponents”
                  • p92 - “the trainer by threatened by” should be “the trainer be threatened by”
                  • p291, Bulbasaur - “timealone” should be “time alone”
                  • p291, Charmeleon - “move down” should be “mow down” (maybe?)
                  • p305, Gloom - “wretch” should be “retch”
                  • p311, Poliwrath - “water of the land” should be “water to the land”
                  • p313, Weepinbell - “it can split out” should be “it can spit out”
                  • p317, Farfetch’d - “adapt” should be “adept”
                  • p321, Cloyster - “Closter” should be “Cloyster”
                  • p323, Kingler - “Pincer” in the Description should be “pincer”
                  • p325, Hitmonlee - “This now only” should be “This not only”
                  • p340, Luxwan - “Leep Slap” should be “Leek Slap”
                  • p341, Straigar - “or main you” should be “or maim you”
                  • p342, Wooper - “Temor” should be “Tremor”
                  • Confusion - “swap” should be “swaps”
                  • Mimic - “copy an” should be “copy of an”
                  • Real nit-pick minor inconsistencies
                    • Full stop is occasionally inside the brackets at the end of a sentence (.) instead of ).)
                      • Do the Wave
                      • p315, Geodude
                      • p349, Elixir
                    • There’s a mixture of angled apostrophes (’) and vertical ones ('), e.g. in Charmeleon’s dex on p291
                    • Sometimes kph is used (e.g. Onix on p321, Doduo on p317), sometimes km/h (e.g. Rapidash on p315)
                • Inconsistencies in size between full sheet and dex entry
                  • Ninetales
                  • Machamp
                  • Rhyhorn
                  • Electabuzz
                  • Tauros
                  • Articuno
                  • Zapdos
                  • MissingNo. (I assume this one is deliberate though!)
                • Graphical Glitches
                  • p222 - There’s one last tiny Vileplume on Comet Punch
                  • p347 - Gyaoon has a vertical line on the right edge of its picture
                • Rules Queries
                  • There’s no mention of giving NPCs the class abilities, are they for the Trainers only? (I assume yes as it would make the Professor’s job harder)
                  • p16 - Can conditions stack? If not then does a new one replace an old one?
                  • p16 - Can you switch a paralysed or sleeping pokémon? Only confusion is mentioned as being cleared by switching.
                  • p36 - If you’re a Cue Ball can your pokémon with Strength push others into water like boulders?
                  • p50 - Can you use Elixirs in battle? (I assume no but it might be worth explicitly stating)
                  • p50 - Any reason to mention both “special poke balls” and “great balls and ultra balls”?
                  • p51 - Is there any point in catching an evolved pokémon if you’re at a high enough level to catch the lower one and immediately evolve it at a gym?
                  • p58 explicitly mentions that you can’t switch against wild pokémon, can you switch against a single trainer? (p56 implies no but is not explicit)
                  • Double Team is slightly ambiguous
                    • Can you use it if there are no empty surrounding spaces?
                    • Does the double move with you?
                    • Would it be simpler to have the effect without occupying two spaces?
                  • Skull Bash / Razor Wind - can you still move on both turns?
                  • Metronome has results for 5 and 6 (presumably copied from Super Metronome) but only uses a d4
                  • Amnesia - can it be used out of battle for “free” PP restoration?
                  • p17 implies wrap/bind/clamp prevents movement but the Move says “or either moves”
                    • Does that mean only forced movement by a third pokémon?
                    • If so should it say “or either is moved”?
                  • Swift/Softboiled/Splash/Transform/Mimic have no Move die, can they be used out of battle?
                  • Meditate - how does it affect moves which attack multiple times?
                  • Barrier - does it create an obstacle which can’t be flown over?
                  • Poison Sting - is it supposed to always be a Basic Move? Apart from pokémon with it only Magikarp and Mew have multiple Basic Moves. (I assume this is intended it just looked inconsistent)
                  • smeg@feddit.ukEnglish
                    2·
                    1 day ago

                    I really appreciate all the work you’ve put into this, I’ve got a group together to play so my weekend is going to be writing an intro and a map for them!