Hello! I'm sorry but I can't find a clear explanation of your fudge dice system on the book or the podcast or anywhere else. It seems like I'm the one not understanding it. Sorry but Idrk where to ask. It is my understanding that whenever you need to make a check, you roll 2df and see one of the 6 possible results. But what do the bonuses for the different classes mean. Are these automatic successes to be counted on top of the roll (for instance the scientist will always crit on a smarts check)? Or are they additional dice to be rolled (in which case does it make a difference at all considering I can get as many successes as I can get failures)?
This is probably just me not understanding it. The game otherwise seems awesome, I've been wanting to play pokemon ttrpg + showdown for years and I was about to do a oneshot with my own similar ideas for a simple system when I found your book, which I'll be using instead. Thank you very much.
Another question I have, although way less important, is about pokemon natures, abilities, ivs and evs, of which the book doesn't talk about but are of course a part of showdown. Of course I suppose you just decided to leave those up to the players but how did you played them in your games? Were all the pokemon of both trainers and enemies at 31?
For what it's worth, you are not the first to ask about this. Either my explanation on the Tests & Checks page in the booklet isn't clear enough, or Fudge dice have really gone out of style!
The key thing to understand about Fudge dice is that you are not calculating a number to determine the outcome; there is no DC and bonuses are not numerical -- it is a much simpler bell curve of success / fail / other.
Trainer bonuses are, in essence, another dice in the pool. Let's say you're doing a Smarts check. If you roll two fudge dice, and you get ++, that's a Super Effective Success on its own. If you have a single + bonus on it, that makes the roll +++, which is still Super Effective. So yes, to your question, if you are a Scientist with ++++, and roll --, it is still just Super Effective. It is up to the table to add flavor on the fact that you still over-succeeded despite messing up. But all that's need to truly "Pass", is one + (after all dice are combined). You are trading worse odds on all Charisma and Brawn rolls, and passing up other Bonuses, to ensure Smarts are always your time to shine for the character you want to role play.
What I don't think I mention, but preeeeettty sure I did on the podcast, and is standard in most TTRPG's, is that the GM can always make difficulty adjustments if necessary. So if you're rolling Smarts on a check that might solve an impossible fusion energy related equation on a chalkboard, and it feels very anticlimactic to just let the Scientist automatically succeed, the GM can add a - to the check. If you are injured, and normally your Swiftness is neutral, but last session you broke your leg, the GM might say all Swiftness checks for that player get a - while you heal.
Yes, this approach requires a good, free flowing GM who is not a dick. Some players and GM's really prefer more rules and statistics, because tactical fairness is an important part of the experience. But for me the place for that here is in the Pokemon Battles.
So, to your other question, yes -- natures, abilities, IVs and EVs were all left to their defaults in Pokemon Showdown or picked by the players. I noticed that the vast majority of people who play Pokemon can and will ignore these systems entirely and still enjoy the experience, myself included. So it's optional flair/management. Again, depends on the level of tactics that is important to your unique table of gamers.
I would take a look at this Expanded Rule Set if that's your jam. Super cool.
Levels are covered on the Leveling section; in 20 Sided Stories we started at level 5 and used a d4 in between episodes/encounters. I would then adjust the possible upcoming trainer and wild battles to what felt fair or interesting for the current party; normally the same levels, some a little lower, some a little higher.
Sorry for the essay, but this page gets a lot of hits per day now. So hope that helps you and future trainers passing through!
Hello! Had a quick question for you. Looking over everything, I got a bit confused when it came to character creation. It's implied that character creation comes with stats, and then the class adds +'s and -'s as needed. But looking through it, I couldn't find anything for determining stats before classes. Is there a ruleset for that, or are player stats bonuses only determined from class?
No you're correct, the class is what determines trainer stats exclusively. It isn't numerical like, say, DnD where every stat has a value. You have (+) bonuses and (-) disadvantages as determined by your class, and every other stat is neutral.
Hey! I recently discovered your system after finding it in a lot of collections shared by my own fan game (a Final Fantasy TRPG system). I really dig the mechanics you devised, it's the Pokémon TRPG I've always dreamed of. I've seen many other popular projects like PTU, but I've always been turned away for the unnecessary amount of bloat. I think using Pokémon Showdown is a brilliant solution to account for the insane amount of variables that must be considered with Pokémon combat. I'm currently planning a big campaign for some friends, and I wanted to see how far I could stretch your mechanics. As a result, I ended up home-brewing a lot of extra rules to account for various features from the video games and added guidelines to make the process of using Showdown easier.
Because of the sheer volume of extra content I added, I ended up formatting it into a proper rules expansion. I thought I'd share it here so that others can use it as well!
Wow. This is incredibly comprehensive and well done. Looks to be an ideal expansion for more long form campaigns, where my base set I think is more suited for one shots / limited runs / casual players and kids. Excellent work and thank you so much for sharing.
Heya. If you mean developing something that uses dice instead of Pokémon showdown, not at this time unfortunately. I certainly tried when developing the system but there was just no way in my opinion to retain both the pace and mechanics of Pokémon battles without it. Other fan made systems try, and I encourage you to test those out! But they are going to be compromising on one or the other; either a very crunchy pace or different/less faithful mechanics.
at least thanks for an honest response, and i think that simplifying the mechanics doesnt hurt the system, like, i once was playing in one small camp, where dm used simplified type chart and a d6 and it was fun, it was quick, but allowed to think a bit. The only thing i do see troublesome to make is power for moves, as i still dunno how it is determined
I've been considering making a monster catcher style game system after my current project, and I may look over this for a few ideas to use. If I ever get a working battle system, I'll let you know, and maybe you can implement it in your own in some way.
Hello! I'd like to ask if it'd be possible that I could translate this game to Polish? Unfortunately I don't have experience in editing pdfs so would it be possible for you to send me a raw text that I could translate?
Sorry this took me so long. I originally could not find the plain text draft. But I eventually found what was either an older version, or enough had changed between the draft and the final PDF that I might as well just go through and reformat everything manually. So I did!
There's a new zipped folder included in the itch.io download with .pdf and .txt plaintext files, as well as an accessible Google Doc.
Sorry for the delay, Itch didn’t notify me for this one. Yes, rolls are modified by a Trainer’s Stats and Class. Additional or Subtracted points essentially can be treated as another dice in the pool. So if a Trainer needs to pass a Brawn check and rolls a (-) Failure, but has (++) on their Brawn stat, that roll becomes a (+) Success.
Thanks for sharing this game ! the layout design is awesome, the tables great and... wow that music !!! Thanks for putting it all together, haven't had the opportunity to test it yet but that looks like a cool game to play in a live session or in a podcast !
Correct! +/- 0 on all rolls unless they have some advantage or disadvantage. I believe I ran a game of Fate before developing this but it still didn't hit quite what we were looking for in terms of flow. But that is where I got the idea to use Fudge dice. Since all my systems have been largely for 20 Sided Stories, designing in-house allows us to lean into exactly what works for our style, format, and narrative goals without being hindered by any pre-existing mechanics or ideas.
Sorry somehow I was never notified for this message. On 20 Sided Stories we simply used a Google Doc. Pokemon Showdown has an import/export feature. It is a little clunky since it is just raw text, but so long as you label things you can just copy/cut/paste back and forth and it should work seamlessly. If you are referring to the character and pokemon sheets, you should be able to open up the PDF's in something like Adobe Acrobat. No need to print! Just duplicate the file for new uses.
A sensible question. Dragons are not only among the wisest of mythical creatures, but in Pokémon they are relatively difficult to train, earning XP slower. So the idea is that Dragon Tamers must be really skilled to attune themselves to that pseudo-legendary status, and thus benefit greatly from forming a bond.
Basically, if someone can tame a freaking Dragon, they’re probably pretty smart and REALLY connected to the one they caught.
I have been looking for an easy to understand Pokemon TTRPG for ages now! And I think this is exactly what I am looking for! I am so excited to play this!
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Hello! I'm sorry but I can't find a clear explanation of your fudge dice system on the book or the podcast or anywhere else. It seems like I'm the one not understanding it. Sorry but Idrk where to ask. It is my understanding that whenever you need to make a check, you roll 2df and see one of the 6 possible results. But what do the bonuses for the different classes mean. Are these automatic successes to be counted on top of the roll (for instance the scientist will always crit on a smarts check)? Or are they additional dice to be rolled (in which case does it make a difference at all considering I can get as many successes as I can get failures)?
This is probably just me not understanding it. The game otherwise seems awesome, I've been wanting to play pokemon ttrpg + showdown for years and I was about to do a oneshot with my own similar ideas for a simple system when I found your book, which I'll be using instead. Thank you very much.
Another question I have, although way less important, is about pokemon natures, abilities, ivs and evs, of which the book doesn't talk about but are of course a part of showdown. Of course I suppose you just decided to leave those up to the players but how did you played them in your games? Were all the pokemon of both trainers and enemies at 31?
Have a good day and thanks again.
For what it's worth, you are not the first to ask about this. Either my explanation on the Tests & Checks page in the booklet isn't clear enough, or Fudge dice have really gone out of style!
The key thing to understand about Fudge dice is that you are not calculating a number to determine the outcome; there is no DC and bonuses are not numerical -- it is a much simpler bell curve of success / fail / other.
Trainer bonuses are, in essence, another dice in the pool. Let's say you're doing a Smarts check. If you roll two fudge dice, and you get ++, that's a Super Effective Success on its own. If you have a single + bonus on it, that makes the roll +++, which is still Super Effective. So yes, to your question, if you are a Scientist with ++++, and roll --, it is still just Super Effective. It is up to the table to add flavor on the fact that you still over-succeeded despite messing up. But all that's need to truly "Pass", is one + (after all dice are combined). You are trading worse odds on all Charisma and Brawn rolls, and passing up other Bonuses, to ensure Smarts are always your time to shine for the character you want to role play.
What I don't think I mention, but preeeeettty sure I did on the podcast, and is standard in most TTRPG's, is that the GM can always make difficulty adjustments if necessary. So if you're rolling Smarts on a check that might solve an impossible fusion energy related equation on a chalkboard, and it feels very anticlimactic to just let the Scientist automatically succeed, the GM can add a - to the check. If you are injured, and normally your Swiftness is neutral, but last session you broke your leg, the GM might say all Swiftness checks for that player get a - while you heal.
Yes, this approach requires a good, free flowing GM who is not a dick. Some players and GM's really prefer more rules and statistics, because tactical fairness is an important part of the experience. But for me the place for that here is in the Pokemon Battles.
So, to your other question, yes -- natures, abilities, IVs and EVs were all left to their defaults in Pokemon Showdown or picked by the players. I noticed that the vast majority of people who play Pokemon can and will ignore these systems entirely and still enjoy the experience, myself included. So it's optional flair/management. Again, depends on the level of tactics that is important to your unique table of gamers.
I would take a look at this Expanded Rule Set if that's your jam. Super cool.
Levels are covered on the Leveling section; in 20 Sided Stories we started at level 5 and used a d4 in between episodes/encounters. I would then adjust the possible upcoming trainer and wild battles to what felt fair or interesting for the current party; normally the same levels, some a little lower, some a little higher.
Sorry for the essay, but this page gets a lot of hits per day now. So hope that helps you and future trainers passing through!
This clears everything out! Thanks a lot!
Hello! Had a quick question for you. Looking over everything, I got a bit confused when it came to character creation. It's implied that character creation comes with stats, and then the class adds +'s and -'s as needed. But looking through it, I couldn't find anything for determining stats before classes. Is there a ruleset for that, or are player stats bonuses only determined from class?
No you're correct, the class is what determines trainer stats exclusively. It isn't numerical like, say, DnD where every stat has a value. You have (+) bonuses and (-) disadvantages as determined by your class, and every other stat is neutral.
Hey! I recently discovered your system after finding it in a lot of collections shared by my own fan game (a Final Fantasy TRPG system). I really dig the mechanics you devised, it's the Pokémon TRPG I've always dreamed of. I've seen many other popular projects like PTU, but I've always been turned away for the unnecessary amount of bloat. I think using Pokémon Showdown is a brilliant solution to account for the insane amount of variables that must be considered with Pokémon combat. I'm currently planning a big campaign for some friends, and I wanted to see how far I could stretch your mechanics. As a result, I ended up home-brewing a lot of extra rules to account for various features from the video games and added guidelines to make the process of using Showdown easier.
Because of the sheer volume of extra content I added, I ended up formatting it into a proper rules expansion. I thought I'd share it here so that others can use it as well!
Pokémon: Pen & Paper Version - Expanded Rules
Wow. This is incredibly comprehensive and well done. Looks to be an ideal expansion for more long form campaigns, where my base set I think is more suited for one shots / limited runs / casual players and kids. Excellent work and thank you so much for sharing.
May i ask, do you plan developing combat system, which, likely, would be simplified in-game combat?
Heya. If you mean developing something that uses dice instead of Pokémon showdown, not at this time unfortunately. I certainly tried when developing the system but there was just no way in my opinion to retain both the pace and mechanics of Pokémon battles without it. Other fan made systems try, and I encourage you to test those out! But they are going to be compromising on one or the other; either a very crunchy pace or different/less faithful mechanics.
at least thanks for an honest response, and i think that simplifying the mechanics doesnt hurt the system, like, i once was playing in one small camp, where dm used simplified type chart and a d6 and it was fun, it was quick, but allowed to think a bit. The only thing i do see troublesome to make is power for moves, as i still dunno how it is determined
I've been considering making a monster catcher style game system after my current project, and I may look over this for a few ideas to use. If I ever get a working battle system, I'll let you know, and maybe you can implement it in your own in some way.
Hello! I'd like to ask if it'd be possible that I could translate this game to Polish? Unfortunately I don't have experience in editing pdfs so would it be possible for you to send me a raw text that I could translate?
Yes! I think I have an older plain text version lying around. I will make sure all the text is in sync and updated and then get back to you.
Okay glad to hear it! Just give me some contact info to you so I can send it back and ask any questions!
my email is sz.daszkiewicz1@gmail.com
Send me the plain text whenever it's ready!
Hey! I was curious if you're still interested in me translating the game for you?
Sorry this took me so long. I originally could not find the plain text draft. But I eventually found what was either an older version, or enough had changed between the draft and the final PDF that I might as well just go through and reformat everything manually. So I did!
There's a new zipped folder included in the itch.io download with .pdf and .txt plaintext files, as well as an accessible Google Doc.
Oh sweet! I'll be sure to take care of it soon enough! Mind telling me where I can send the finished version?
No rush. Go ahead and post a link here and I can add it after reviewing.
Hey, I was wondering what is the situation on translation to Polish?
Hey!
we have made a complete german translation, while we have completely redesigned the layout :-).
http://projektcaera.de <- The German Pen and Paper Discord.
The translation was done by our complete team, the redeisng itself by Da_lolinger and the graphics were done by Wuidkatzdesign.
We love your work and find your work.
Holy crap that's awesome. Thank you.
Thank you very much,
would you like to publish this here, or may we publish it ourselves on our site?
In any case, you can also download it for free with us then on the Discord server
I consider the design open source. So long as you're abiding by the CC license, you are free to do whatever you want with it :)
Is it possible to play this solo? Or do you have plans on making a solo version?
Unfortunately no, sorry. It was very much conceptualized as something to play with a group. I also don't have any experience with solo TTRPG's.
Love the game!
I'm not sure exactly how your stats affect your dice rolls though. It says roll 2dF, is this result modified by your stats anywhere?
Sorry for the delay, Itch didn’t notify me for this one. Yes, rolls are modified by a Trainer’s Stats and Class. Additional or Subtracted points essentially can be treated as another dice in the pool. So if a Trainer needs to pass a Brawn check and rolls a (-) Failure, but has (++) on their Brawn stat, that roll becomes a (+) Success.
Thanks for sharing this game ! the layout design is awesome, the tables great and... wow that music !!! Thanks for putting it all together, haven't had the opportunity to test it yet but that looks like a cool game to play in a live session or in a podcast !
Thank you so much! Yes it is very much designed to be role-play focused. If you get a chance to run a game, I wanna hear all about it!
Thanks for this! Are PCs assumed to have Zeros for stats unless modified by classes? Any reason for not using Fate Core/Accelerated?
Correct! +/- 0 on all rolls unless they have some advantage or disadvantage. I believe I ran a game of Fate before developing this but it still didn't hit quite what we were looking for in terms of flow. But that is where I got the idea to use Fudge dice. Since all my systems have been largely for 20 Sided Stories, designing in-house allows us to lean into exactly what works for our style, format, and narrative goals without being hindered by any pre-existing mechanics or ideas.
Do you have any recommendations on how to keep track of Trainer/Pokémon info digitally?
Sorry somehow I was never notified for this message. On 20 Sided Stories we simply used a Google Doc. Pokemon Showdown has an import/export feature. It is a little clunky since it is just raw text, but so long as you label things you can just copy/cut/paste back and forth and it should work seamlessly. If you are referring to the character and pokemon sheets, you should be able to open up the PDF's in something like Adobe Acrobat. No need to print! Just duplicate the file for new uses.
Why is Dragon Tamer +/- Wisdom around a Dragon?
A sensible question. Dragons are not only among the wisest of mythical creatures, but in Pokémon they are relatively difficult to train, earning XP slower. So the idea is that Dragon Tamers must be really skilled to attune themselves to that pseudo-legendary status, and thus benefit greatly from forming a bond.
Basically, if someone can tame a freaking Dragon, they’re probably pretty smart and REALLY connected to the one they caught.
I have been looking for an easy to understand Pokemon TTRPG for ages now! And I think this is exactly what I am looking for! I am so excited to play this!
Amazing! I'm here if you have any questions.