I am
so fascinated by the idea of implementing more mechanics into forum roleplaying. Most RPs do have some sort of mechanics in them for balance etc but the trend is very much toward trading mechanics for storytelling freedom. Which is all fine and good, but like- somehow D&D/TTRPG players create their story just fine within the confines of mechanics, so I dunno about that argument. I
love a good challenge, I love for people to have to play their way out of limitations! I love, as a GM, just rolling dice and seeing what people get. I've built some RNG into HS1 but it's more about rolling for consequences or treasure finds. Not much to do with combat at all. I
did make a character sheet with stats initially for my Trainers character and rolled using that to make my own fun and consequences, but that was absolutely not part of the RP. I just wanted to do it. And fell off doing so very quickly lmao because I found more interesting directions to go in.
So there are a few things I'm curious about in regards to implementing mechanics, especially battle mechanics in a Pokémon RP!
Are the any examples of a Pokémon RP that used ttRPG/board-game-type mechanics? For instance, rolling dice to determine the power/effectiveness of a move, or whether it hits? How would an RP like that handle battle experience/levelling/increasing the strength of moves? How would that be kept fair and even for players throughout the RP so nobody winds up overpowered? How would the GM determine how much experience a battle/event gives the player?
The more I think about it, the more convoluted all the numbers get, haha. I've never played any sort of ttRPG (like D&D campaigns), so I'm very new to the concept of mechanics in terms of PC's long-form roleplay style.
I think it could be fun to have a story-driven RP, but when battles are instigated, it beomes more of a turn-based game. Like how a turn-based strategy video game would be (such as Fire Emblem). Although, I know a lot of people's favourite aspect about Pokémon RPing IS writing out the battles, so maybe it wouldn't be as fun?
Still, I'd like to piece together something that balances story-writing and character arcs with board-game mechanics, just to experiment with something new. ^ ^
So there's definitely a pretty easy way to bring RNG and turn-based battles to Pokémon RP- I've used it before in a few different capacities, even recently! And that is: Pokémon Showdown.
The idea is that your RP has some kind of levelling mechanic. Whether levels be gained through participating in the Showdown battles, written training, prompts/events that have a level reward for the Pokémon, fixed distribution, literally just post count- whatever it is, the Pokémon gain trackable levels. And then when it comes time to battle anyone- a gym leader, an NPC, another player- everyone takes their levels and movesets to Showdown and does a battle. You could then interpret the battle in a written form (more fun imo) or you can just leave a copy of the battle/transcribe the match blow for blow, and continue on with the storytime writing. I've done both and they both work just fine! I think the biggest drawback is honestly that Showdown is limited to the standard game movesets & four moves each. Plus I guess there's stuff to be said about items and whatever. But Showdown as a game mechanic is ultimately very functional imo.
You could also straight up just RP using
Pokémon Tabletop United systems. I've done it exactly once, to test a pitch for someone, and I remember zero things about it. But in terms of mechanics tailor-made to handle Pokémon, I bet it can't be beat.
DIY mechanics that are far simpler than PTU can absolutely be done, but I haven't exactly sat down and thought about how to do them. It's a lot of work and hard to think of everything and make sure it all tracks! But once you've got a solid gameplay framework, it should run pretty smooth. It all depends on what you want to do, what your game is like, what is important to have. You could get away with doing some calculation using something like
Psypoke's Stat Calculator to find roll modifiers- divide a stat by 10 and round, then add it to the roll, you know? Seems like it would work at a glance. But it's important to figure out then how you'd interpret those rolls, how you'd use them in a setting- it's all about making it work within the individual game, I think!
There is definitely a struggle of balance between players. In anything that uses levels or power as a mechanic, it's really hard to find a fair system where everyone gains power at similar rates. I think games that have something like a timed level distribution system (
Beyond's systems,
Ceriah's system) are the most likely to succeed at keeping people from creeping up in power. Systems like
HS1's old system/
the Trainers' current system where levels are received by writing battles and training ultimately favor people who can or want to write more of those things. Which is not terrible, but if you have a few players who aren't that interested in doing so, or have no time to do as much, they fall behind and are more likely to not participate at all. It's something to look out for!
