"Explorers! A PMD RPG": What To Expect - Post 1
Heya! Since we're on the run-up to release on August 2nd, I thought I'd make a series of posts discussing what you can expect from this PMD TTRPG system.
This book is a meaty 200+ PDF with incredible art from the PMD Community, of which each artist has given their express permission for usage. So, needless to say, we've got a lot to cover -- I'll try to do two parts per post!
Character Creation (Part 0): Preamble
For "Explorers! A PMD RPG", I devoted a lot of development time into character customisation. It was a big part of my design focus.
I wanted to make sure people could play their chosen Pokémon without fear of being pigeonholed by stats, movelists, abilities, etc.
If people want to play their Pokémon similar to that, that's cool, and the system can allow for that. But I wanted to account for people who wanted to try something new with a Pokémon, or felt their favourites wouldn't "hold up" in the course of an adventure.
So.... how'd I go about achieving that? Let's start with...
Character Creation (Part 1): Choose Any Pokemon!
A big part of character creation for a game all about BEING a Pokemon is giving control to the player. So, let's start with the basics:
You can play ANY* Pokemon you'd like in "Explorers! A PMD RPG".
Now, you probably noticed that glaring asterisk. Fear not dear reader. There's only a few exceptions. After some discussion with my Design Consultants, we agreed that, Legendaries, Mythicals, Ultra Beasts and Paradox Pokemon should be left to the discretion of the GM if they are to be allowed. We felt that GMs would want these Pokemon in particular for their own Adventures as bosses, villains or some other plot-related reason -- or their existence invited assumptions about a GM's world of PMD, or the general implied setting. So, if you'd like to play one of these Pokemon, get the consent of the rest of the players and the GM!
Futhermore, there's a list of Pokemon that felt like without their key Ability, that Pokemon would simply lose its identity. So, these Pokemon have been dubbed "Unusual Pokemon", and their playstyles can vary wildly based on their unique, built-in Ability. To compensate for them, so the rest of the table doesn't lag behind in power level, there's some suggestions to even the playing field.
That's all for this post! Please follow to make sure to follow to keep up with these "What To Expect" posts if you're interested in the development of this game!
