Pokémon: Pen & Paper Version
A downloadable game
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon!
This system is an unofficial, non-sponsored, non-canon home-brew, with zero affiliation to Nintendo or The Pokémon Company. Thus, it will always be free. And thus, it will always be yours.
Pokémon Pen & Paper Version is a collaborative storytelling game that was originally designed for use in the role playing podcast 20 Sided Stories. Many have wondered how we embarked on that audio journey and the rules used, so finally they are compiled, polished, and available here so that you and your friends may go on your very own Pokémon Parody Adventure!
This fully interactive PDF will help you create a Trainer, learn the mechanics, catch Pokémon, and be the best there ever was. Including 100 story ideas to help you get started!
You can hear the game in action here:
And if you need some atmospheric music, consider checking out my 101 Track Pokemon Pen & Paper Album—also free!
Despite its famous slogan, Pokémon’s success was not built on just “Catching ‘Em All”. I say, Pokémon is about teamwork, building strong bonds, appreciating nature & science, and the cathartic build-up of a long, strenuous journey. If you approach Pen & Paper Version with this mindset, some wondrous memories may lie just ahead of you.
Your very own Pokémon adventure is about to unfold! A world of dreams and adventures with Pokémon awaits!
Lets go!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Pokémon Pen & Paper Version Released!Sep 04, 2020
Comments
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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!
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.