/vp/ - Pokémon » Thread #35332563

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Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 10:47:15 No.35332563 View View Reply Original Report

I'm running a tabletop Pokemon RPG, i have 4 players, its my own homebrew system. We're a few sessions in and i currently lack an overall story arc but I'm not too bothered, my players seem content to just complete the Johto league.

However I'm struggling to come up with good miniquests and obstacles. It's a bit mundane and boring to just battle trainers and wild Pokemon for the sake it, I'm trying to make it so that the vast majority of battles are for an actual purpose.

Does anyone have any good ideas for obstacles, say when arriving on a new route, or perhaps on arrival to a new town. The kind of shit you find in the games like the Gym leader is missing, but more complex than that.

Suggestions for an overall story would be nice too, I've had Team Rocket pop up a few times but nothing major.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 11:15:35 No.35332648 Report

Quoted By: >>35332704

>>35332563
Giving Team Rocket some sort of goal would help. Especially if it affects the players in a meaningful way. I wouldn't suggest them showing up to steal their pokemon continuously. Maybe have the players hold on to an item that Team Rocket needs.

As for miniquests, think of small situations that prevent the players from battling the gym leader or buying items from the mart like a power surge. But don't do it too often or make it a pain to progress.

There can be a few sidequests that aren't related to progression. If you mention something when the players enter an area, they'll usually check it out. They can hear a child crying and investigate. If they talk to the child, he/she says their pokemon is lost and the players can help find it.

Tying legendary pokemon into the mix could be a way to spice it up. They could be what Team Rocket is after or something the players can go after aside from the gym challenge. Although legendary pokemon might be too strong for a campaign, so you might want to find some way to balance it like them disobeying their trainers. Or they can just be powerful bosses and can't be captured.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 11:30:04 No.35332704 Report

Quoted By: >>35332745 >>35332770 >>35332778

>>35332648
Thanks. Yea I'm trying to tie Team Rocket into stealing some Gym leaders Pokemon, but for their ultimate plot i still don't know.

My players have a tendancy to explore everywhere, they're familiar with the games especially Johto which is where we're at, so they like to go into every house to meet each character.

What is team rockets ultimate goal anyway. To take over the world, but for what purpose?

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 11:43:32 No.35332745 Report

Quoted By:

>>35332704
To protect the world from devastation!

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 11:53:15 No.35332770 Report

Quoted By: >>35332785

>>35332704
Originally they just wanted to make money by exploiting pokemon. They're the pokemafia. Stealing and selling rare and powerful pokemon is apparently a lucrative business.
Taking over the world is more of a later addition. If they were to, it's probably just a power grab, not for any ideological purpose like making the world beautiful or releasing pokemon.

Have the events of the games happened in your campaign? You could do the radio tower plan. If not, try to think of a similar plan to gather strong pokemon en mass.
Some examples I can think of: Capturing Mewtwo or some other incredibly strong psychic type to brainwash pokemon.
A pokemon/group of pokemon/device that can immobilize an entire city (like Darkrai putting them all to sleep) so they can rob everyone blind.
Waiting for strong trainers to gather at the Indigo League, find a way to trap everyone inside, then have an all out assault to steal everyone's pokemon.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 11:56:53 No.35332778 Report

Quoted By:

>>35332704
team rocket are smugglers so the best plot for them would probably be something simple like 'we are going to steal your pokes and sell them'

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Azalea_Town.png, 674KiB, 800x649

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 11:58:53 No.35332785 Report

Quoted By: >>35332816 >>35332920

>>35332770
My campaign is set before the events of Gold and Red, Team Rocket is under operation under Giovanni. I don't want to do the Radio tower thing, i really want to separate mine from the games, that's the trouble i have with it being set in the game world and we use the games maps, they sometimes think they are just playing the actual games, not just set in that world. So repeating the exact quests would reinforce that.

I just really want them to have a bigger goal than win all the badges.

These are my prep sheets.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 12:06:56 No.35332816 Report

Quoted By: >>35332825

>>35332785
>set before the events of Gold and Red, Team Rocket is under operation under Giovanni
maybe instead of having team rocket be villains, you could have giovanni be an unnamed character who pops up in mid game sidequests and it is slowly revealed he is in fact giovanni and that he was using you to defeat his rivals and make team rocket more powerful, ala how whitey bulger used his politician brother and the fbi to gain immunity to the law and informed on his own gang to put his enemies in prison irl.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 12:12:47 No.35332825 Report

Quoted By: >>35332869 >>35333003

>>35332816
Hmm i like that, who would be his rivals? And how do i keep him unnamed, obviously they will ask his name.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 12:33:46 No.35332869 Report

Quoted By: >>35332899

>>35332825
Easy - give him a fake name

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 12:42:50 No.35332899 Report

Quoted By: >>35332925

>>35332869
heh

Innavoig

I like it, but how do i get him to use the players, assuming they just keep doing gyms.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 12:48:33 No.35332920 Report

Quoted By:

>>35332785
Don't forget that a Celebi event could throw characters into events from any timeline. You could send them all into the future where they encounter the Goldenrod Radio Tower heist, or into the past where they could witness the events of the Burnt Tower (or cause it to happen?)

You could create an Unown finding mission, or try to lure trainers over to the dark side and join TR.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 12:49:31 No.35332925 Report

Quoted By: >>35333060 >>35333125

>>35332899
maybe not Innavoig.
Just...something that doesn't let your player deduce his true identity so easy. instead of an italian name go for something nordic or shit like that.
Making him use the players seems a bit more difficult. You could have your players go after some other 'pokemafia' or branches of Team Rocket. People that Giovanni has problems with and his own people are too incompetent.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 13:11:32 No.35333003 Report

Quoted By: >>35333060 >>35333125

>>35332825
the rivals could be three criminal gangs ran by goons with vaguely italian names which only operate in one or two cities each
giovanni himself could come to your party after a bad run in with one of these gangs, and claim to be a high ranking member in one of them who wants to bring them to justice. he would call himself 'snitch' and have your party meet him in
his goal, it would seem from the outside, is to defeat the three gangs and bring justice to johtos streets. in truth, he is trying to sew chaos in the criminal underworld and be the last crook standing so that he might turn the squabbling bands of goons into a massive criminal empire.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 1333144019677.jpg, 107KiB, 487x688

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 13:17:11 No.35333015 Report

Quoted By: >>35333060

I've been trying to homebrew a Pokemon table top for a few years with no success. Would you mind sharing your formula OP?

Also do you have your players adventuring separate or as a party?

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO Vileplume.png, 369KiB, 471x650

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 13:27:27 No.35333060 Report

Quoted By: >>35333073

>>35332925
Alright thanks.
>>35333003
Yes, i can do this, i can reconfigure todays plan to introduce one of the rival gangs.

>>35333015
Mine is quite insane. I didn't like the existing ones where you had to create entire character sheets for every single Pokemon, so i decided to make a Card for every single pokemon which the players can own and battle, all printed out and laminated. It's in its 3rd iteration now, for the fourth i want to split defence and attacks into special and physical. It's a mixture of the video games and card games.

I wouldn't recommend it unless you like printing off, cutting out, laminating and then cutting out about 750 cards, but it does make the simplify the gameplay.

I try to keep the players together as a party.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 13:31:55 No.35333073 Report

Quoted By: >>35333085

>>35333060
may as well just use actual pokemon cards lmfao but i admire the dedication

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 13:34:21 No.35333085 Report

Quoted By: >>35333091

>>35333073
That's genuinely how it began, but they were too problematic. My sister allows the pokemon to be upgraded as well, i've made a shitload of moves you can add on, and replace the two original, there's also space for two held items, and the white squares can be filled in with drywipe marker.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 13:35:23 No.35333091 Report

Quoted By:

>>35333085
system, not sister. Fuck

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 13:42:29 No.35333125 Report

Quoted By:

>>35332925
I'll just call him John, it's what Giovanni is in Italian.
>>35333003
I think at first I'll have him help the players fight Team Rocket, but this is actually his plan to take over Team Rocket. He really has no back story so i can do what i like. I can present him as some sort of agent trying to defeat TR as the players continue to take out key leaders for him.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 14:37:06 No.35333410 Report

Quoted By: >>35333471

>>35332563
What about Team rocket stealing all your mos except for your starter and you have to track them down by collecting clues, aevasdroping conversations following the aroun and that kind of stuff to recover your mons?

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 12 Apr 2018 14:48:15 No.35333471 Report

Quoted By:

>>35333410
That's definitely something I'd like to do later on. I'm not sure how they'd react to it, they'll a little whiny.

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