#dm corner

I need to give a huge thank you and shout out to M.C. Splashdown over on Discord for providing these awesome, cleaned up versions of the character sheet, Pokemon Encounter Template, and a simple Pokemon NPC builder sheet. Also for allowing me to post them here and share with you all!

Matthew when a random element means nothing yet every one tries to make some thing out of it (THE CHAIR): Haha, okay guys, very funny, can we get back to the actual plot now? (is never brought up again).

Hello lovely anon! I’m glad you’re enjoying this resource ^_^

Hi there!

If you’re talking about how all of them are DC 10 for status conditions from this post then the reason I capped it at 10 is because that’s what I noticed it’s most commonly capped at in regular D&D. 

However, from a DM standpoint, you could change it to whatever you want it to be. 

What initially stumped me when I thought about beginning this project was how would I be able to do the dungeon layouts.

In Pokemon Mystery Dungeon normally, no dungeon floors look the same, and can come in a variety of different shapes. So how was I going to replicate it? My solution was this:

A bunch of different handmade cardboard tiles with custom shapes. All of them are measured to be 1 inch squares, which should fit most game pieces.

I could have just bought a bunch of different squares or custom maps, but I wanted to save money, and also wanted to be able to move tiles around as I pleased so that they could fit the variety of different tables my group usually plays on. 

How it’s worked in the test run--and the system I’ll be using in the campaign--is that I first lay out the above tiles I want, then I place items on the board that look like this:

They’re made out of Sculpey and what isn’t it pictured, but I also sculpted, is the staircase. I also have little cardboard Wonder Tiles and squares that denote a Pokemon Spawn.

I pick and choose where on the board to place items, then I cover it up with thick paper, so that only the room my players are in is revealed at the start of each floor. I ask my players to either move away from the table or take breaks as I set up each floor so they don’t know what’s there. 

It usually only takes 2 minutes at most for this whole process, since I decide ahead of having the session what items can be found in each dungeon. I’ll probably do a post about that when more of our campaign is revealed.

At the very first floor, I describe what the dungeon scenery is like, and what’s unique about it. Because I’m crafty with clay, I’ve also been thinking of making slim bas-reliefs that have different terrains on it to place in between the tiles, but I’m still thinking about that.

Besides the things I’ve had to account for myself, there’s things that luckily exist online that have made my life a whole lot easier in planning this campaign.

I’ve been using Serebii’s Sun and Moon Pokedex to determine the moves and Pokemon info I need on...basically every Pokemon. The reason it’s that Pokedex in particular is that *currently* it is the most up-to-date Pokemon Generation and the amount of Pokemon that I want included. From a DM standpoint, you can pick and choose, but that’s what I’m sticking with.

For trying to remember type advantages, I use this lovely chart. 

When I remembered “Ack! How do moves work in PMD again?” I was able to turn to Bulbapedia’s list here. 

If you’re a little shit DM and want to eventually incorporate traps like I’ll be doing, Serebii also has a list of some of the devilish traps that are in the series.

They also have a good list of items found in the games. I pick and chose a lot of these, as well as made up items that will be included for my specific planned campaign.

I also used this TM (Technical Machine) list to figure out what TM’s might be either found in the wild or sold at Kecleon’s Shop.

In the world of PMD, Missions are the main reason for going into dungeons. Missions are received through the Missions Board. You can accept them by pulling the desired missions off the board. You can only take a maximum of 5 at a time. Each listing includes:

-Job Summary -Client -Objective -Place -Difficulty -Reward

Of the possible missions available, each will be of a certain type. The types of possible missions are:

-Rescue me                                                      -Rescue someone -Escort to someone                                          -Prospect with client -Find item                                                         -Deliver item -Search for someone                                        -Take item from outlaw -Arrest outlaw

Mission Difficulty

Each mission has a level of difficulty that will award a certain amount of points that will go towards increasing rank. The mission levels and points are as following:

Difficulty                                       Points Gained

E                                                             10 D                                                             15 C                                                             20 B                                                             30 A                                                             60 S                                                             90 *(Star)                                                    150 

Rank System

Missions have different ranks, and adventurers reaching certain ranks will give them certain rewards as well. 

The rewards listed below are totally tailored for what I think my players will want as rewards, but also keeping in mind stuff I have planned for the plot of the game. If it says [REDACTED] that’s because it’ll be revealed as the plot and other events get posted for my group’s actual campaign.

 Rank                 Points Needed               Reward

Normal                     Starting                     Bag Space 16 Bronze                      100                   Reviver Seed, Oran Berry (7) Silver                         400                 Bag Space (5), Reviver Seed (2), +1 Skill  Gold                          1,600                [REDACTED], Sitrus Berry (7) Diamond                   3,200               Bag Space (5), [REDACTED] Super                        6,000               [REDACTED], +1 Skill Ultra                         10,000              Vitamin Box (7) Hyper                       15,000              Special Key, Bag Space (10) Master                      62,500         [REDACTED][REDACTED], Hidden Ability        

 Yes I did decide the Hidden Ability would be unlocked at Master Rank I’m cruel lmao. 

This post is short, just another little DM thing I’ve done.

I like things that are 3D, and I think it’s immersive for my players since we meet in person to play. So what I’ve decided to do with the typical Mission Board found in PMD is to actually have a Mission Board:

It’s just a simple cork square that I tape on missions to. I thought about buying a formal one with a frame so I can actually pin stuff to without worrying if the pin will come out the other side, but as is it’s slim and portable enough for transport.