[Closed] PbtA - PKMN: A New Journey

Pokemon Go by Natalie Andrewson
School’s out! You’ve made big plans with your teenage friends this summer break. Tomorrow you’ll meet the Professor, receive your very own Pokémon and head out of town together. The next five weeks are filled with promise – it's time to visit all the places you’ve never been, get into and out of trouble, and have an adventure you won't forget.

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Game System
This is a playtest for PKMN: A New Journey, a rules-light Pokémon roleplaying game built on the PbtA (Powered by the Apocalypse) framework. I made it! The rules are available on my itch.io page. Player rules start from page 6 onward.

Player Expectations
The core of this game is about going on a trip with friends, exploring places you’ve never been and bonding with strange and wonderful creatures.

While catching and battling Pokémon will be a big part of gameplay, this game doesn’t aim to be a tactical combat simulator or monster collection builder.

The PCs will all be teenagers. Don't make a character yet, though! Everyone will do character creation together when the game starts.

Content Warning
Though the game's tone should hover around PG-13, there are some topics that I might employ that could cause discomfort. There will be a Session 0 to discuss if any topics should be fade-to-black or completely avoided.

This game is explicitly queer-friendly.

AI Policy
I do not want AI usage in this game. That includes character portraits.

Posting Rate
4 to 5 times a week. If you can’t post for whatever reason, don't worry, just give me a heads-up.

Applications
I’m looking for 3 to 5 players. If you’re interested, just leave a post below with 3 of your favourite starter Pokémon. You're welcome to join whether you're familiar with PbtA games or not.

Players won’t be chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, so I will leave the thread open for around a week before selecting players.

INTERESTED!!!!

Not a surprise since we've been chatting for a while on this. Favorite 3 starters:

1. Squirtle
2. Totodile
3. Turtwig

Clearly more of an old-school fan; the suggested water inclination is mere coincidence, as is the presence of shells in 2:3 listed.

Rules light and Pokemon: sounds awesome and I'd love to be considered for a spot! I haven't played a PbtA game before so this would be my first time with the system. No problems with policies listed here. Posting rate and PG-13 sounds good, especially since the characters are teenagers. Hmm, for my favorite 3 starters, I've gotta go with Bulbasaur, Chikorita, and Oshawott. I guess Oshawott is kind of the odd one out, heh.

Hello, fellow Pokémon game maker! Always a pleasure to meet another designer. I haven't had the greatest experience with PbtA, but since this is Pokémon, I decided to give the rules a once-over, and I'm open to the idea of helping playtest this. However...

Personally, I've never really been big into the 'battling' part of Pokémon. I've always been more attracted to the peaceful side of the franchise, like the forging of bonds, meeting new people/Pokémon, camping/cooking, and going on 'quests' or finding new ways to solve problems with a Pokémon's capabilities.

Basically, I'm more Pokémon Snap than Pokémon Colosseum, and I'd rather talk a Pokémon into joining me than beat it into submission and capture it. I'm not saying that I would never participate in fighting if the need arose, nor would I stop other players from engaging in battles at their leisure, just that I would rather look for other ways to progress beyond it.

Knowing this, do you think I'd be a decent fit for this game?

If so, then if I were limited only to starters, I would probably choose...

Eevee (Let's Go Eevee!)
Fennekin (Because fox.)
or Bulbasaur (My original.)

Or if Eevee doesn't count, I guess maybe Snivy.

Yes, that shouldn't be a problem at all. The way I envision it is that throughout the game, there'll be different challenges for the PCs to overcome - combat is just one way of doing so.

Great! Then color me interested! ^^ No issues with any of the mentioned stipulations on my end either. Looking forward to it~

I'd be interested!

My three favourite starters are Cyndaquil, Torchic and Litten.

I'd also be more interested in the atmospheric and "beauty" contest aspects of pokemon. I like the idea of being a pokemon trainer in the same way someone trains dogs for a dog show (ethically, of course!) than teaching them how to fight. I've always thought of a trainer who uses pokemon for SFX in an idol concert or something. :3

A kindred soul! :3

This sounds fun!

I would be interested s well.
Do you have some thoughts on what the objective of the campaign will be yet? (No need to answer if that's more of a session zero thing)

I also think I would fall on the side of alternative problem solving in most cases, though I'm not averse to battling at all either. Especially if it's more of a competitive sports thing between rivals or friends.

For my three favourite starters, i'll have to go with Rowlet, Bulbasaur and Frokie.

I don't have any plot planned for the campaign - rather, I see it more of a road trip where the PCs have things to cross off their bucket list ^^

Glad to see there's interest in the game! I'm going to leave this thread open until the weekend.

I'm getting the feeling that the game is more set around the characters, living in the world of Pokemon (and having their own Pokemon), who aren't so much on the path to becoming a Pokemon Master, taking on Elite trainers, and capturing them all.

I get the sense that it's more about living in a Pokemon world rather than trying to conquer it.

Mostly because I just want to put my favorite Pokemon up. I am just throwing in a female bug tamer.

Grubbin
Snom
Dewpider

Omg yes! Is there a slot open? Super interested

Three favorite starting pokemon (technically not "starters" per the games) : Scyther, Gastly, Porygon

Three favorite starters (per usual definition of "starters"): Totodile, Bulbasaur, Torchic (funny, I usually love more fire types, but my main picks appear to be one of each type)

Open-World MMO Life Sim in Pokémon! Absolutely my vibe!

I'm trying to stop myself from mentally creating potential characters. It's so hard!

Creating a character is the easy part.

Not creating FIFTEEN CHARACTERS... now there's a challenge...

The issue for me is that I have a small collection of characters needing homes from previous Pokémon games that either didn't get off the ground or the game died shortly afterwards, so it's not like I'm lacking options.

...but that draw to come up with something completely new is a heavy pull, too!

Thanks everyone who expressed interest in the game! I've decided to go with @kaekozee, @quilltid, @Kingo, @Tickettbror and @Bunt. Invites are sent and we can get started in the Session 0 thread.

For the remaining, I'll keep you in mind if another slot opens in the future.

Totally not putting my hat in the ring, but if I were, I would have to go with the only three Pokémon I know besides Pikachu: Bulbasaur, Snorlax, and Charizard.

Well,I'll sign up for the backup list too.

I'd say my favourite starters are...Cyndaquil,Torchic,and Rowlet?

If we're expanding that to "basic" Pokemon in general,I'd say...Vulpix,Audino,and Litwick.

Yay, fellow Vulpix fan 🦊 Best floof!