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| Player Guide; Pages or info players need. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 22 2015, 03:40 PM (1,695 Views) | |
| comixsonic | Sep 22 2015, 03:40 PM Post #1 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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Hey all, I'm planning on running a game sometime soon, and I'm unsure what my players actually need to know when going in. The Core Book is incredibly dense, and while I had no trouble reading it as GM, I don't want to subject my player to a 700+ page book just to get started. So what pages or sections do you guys think are necessary for my players to understand the game and their options as far as gameplay? |
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| Slytherclaw | Sep 22 2015, 04:20 PM Post #2 |
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Storyteller
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The book is only 500 pages, including the indexes and entire GM section, not 700+. Uhh...honestly, everything but the index as needed to search things, the GM section, and contests is pretty important to general play. .-. I guess you could also skip the items and pick them up as you go? And maybe the intro, but that seems pretty important just for getting a feel for things. Chapter 2-7 are the ones they're going to want to learn, though. This /really/ isn't a good system for a group that isn't willing to read the book. Edited by Slytherclaw, Sep 22 2015, 04:21 PM.
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| DrStraightLord | Sep 22 2015, 04:36 PM Post #3 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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I'm gonna echo what Slyther just said about needing to read the book, but at the very least, Contest mechanics can be glossed over if no-one is interested in contests, and the specifics of each class aren't needed for everyone (but they should at least see the summary of each class given in the little section before it starts listing out all the features - they're gonna need that to start building their characters). If it's an issue of not wanting to subject your players to have to read the book as opposed to them just refusing, I say let them try to read it anyway. It's long, but it's not incredibly hard to read. |
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| Gatamigo | Sep 23 2015, 04:10 AM Post #4 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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If your players are REFUSING to read the book for it's density, I'd suggest you run for the hills as you're in for a very... "fun" campaign. But if that's not the case (phew), then I have some tips? My crew had a hard time reading the entire book, so I spent the first couple of sessions walking them through character creation and basically teaching them the basic rules. We spent a LOT of time talking about the kind of game we wanted to play and the characters they wanted to create, so the only required reading was the classes section (and even that was mostly me putting together a list of classes that would work for the characters they wanted to play. You're going to want to read the book cover to cover a good 10 times before your players sit down to start ;w; ) The rest, such as Fishing, using the Environment to your advantage, hell even Capturing pokemon was put on a list of things I needed to introduce within the first few sessions. Our starting town was basically a landmine for tutorials, but with the depth of our game's plot, they blended in nicely with all the story elements I was setting up. This approach DOES require you break the immersion to speak to the players directly quite a bit, but my players didn't mind. They actually preferred being able to experience things first hand as opposed to reading about it and possibly forgetting the option is even there. If you go this route, I'd suggest you not stop trying to teach them. Like, you don't have to repeatedly bash it over their heads that "THIS IS HOW YOU DO THE THING," but make sure that there's plenty of chances to practice the mechanics you taught them in the early game. It's like how teachers make you do repetitive math problems so the process is ingrained in your mind. One of my players is used to thinking about pokemon on a meta, mechanical level- so if I hadn't required he fight in a tight corridor with plenty of objects to trip over, he'd be standing in one place repeatedly using tackle. Another of my players keeps forgetting that, y'know, she HAS a fishing rod. So pointing out that there's something shiny in the water serves to remind her that, ohey this is a thing! The more chances they have to try out the mechanics on their own, the easier it is to memorize how that mechanic works. Some things just cannot be taught, though. I personally like to withhold small pieces of information to make my players curious. Nothing that ruins gameplay, mind you, that's just cruel... Here, an example. My player played a game with a wild Pokemon shopkeeper, with the prize being a Tier 2 Berry! "What's a Tier 2 Berry?" the player asked, "Why do Berries have tiers?" "Well if you read through the items section on page ____," I replied, cheekily, "You'll find out!" I didn't withhold the name or effect of the berry, mind you, but it DID lead to my player checking out the rulebook herself, specifically to read up more on berries and wouldn't you know it- suddenly she's knowledgable about items. AND more likely to check out the rulebook on other topics if she ever wants to learn more about a mechanic she only knows through my teaching. I hope you find a method that works for you and your crew. Good luck! |
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| Birdy51 | Sep 23 2015, 12:00 PM Post #5 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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If the players are having issues with the big picture, I'd chunk it up a bit. The absolute must reads in my book would likely be the following pages. Basically, two sections are really needed. Character Creation: 12-23 - Basic Character Creation and a few handy tips. If they're new, they'll likely need to read the entire section to get a handle on just what they are doing. 33-34 - Both pages give good info on just what Skills are. Most of them are straightforward enough that players should be able to catch what they are with a bit of help from you as a GM. If their interest is piqued on learning more, smile and point them to pages 35-51 and let them discover the rest. 52-56 - Best have a copy of this on hand. It'll be important for Character Creation and explaining Edges. Likewise... 57-64 - General Features. They're important to know, but your players will likely be more interested in the coming section. 65-195 - The big one. This is where being a beginning player gets really gets tough. That is a veritable mountain of material to look through. However, they don't have to read every class. They just have to find one or two that they like to start with. From there, you can help them figure out the Edges they need to make what they want to build work. Playing the Game: 196 - 203 - For players that are just beginning, these pages will good enough to give an overview of the basics of Pokémon. Once they get further along, I'd show them page 204-205 as well, since improving a Pokémon can be a good way of making your player a little more well rounded. (210-212) - These pages only really matter if you as a GM make use of the Loyalty mechanic. (213) - Only pertinent if a player happens to want to breed Pokémon. 214-215 - Capturing and Dealing with Wild Pokémon is important. Therefore, these pages are important. 219-225 - Good pages to have around. 226-252 - A must read or otherwise good section to keep on hand. Combat is always important. 271-276 - Your basic items. If your players are interested in knowing more about them, urge them to go forward with it, but this should hold over for a while. (303-435) - Keep this entire section on hand, preferably on a laptop with a search bar. It'll make life a bit easier until players write down each move onto their sheets. 436 - A nifty little page. May be handy for new players. Granted, it's missing information on some important things, such as Daily Move Frequencies, so you may want to write something in about that. So... That said. 220/496 Pages. It's still a lot, but the following selections are what I would consider the most important parts. Once your players knock out what classes they'd like to class into, that number can be lowered to about 100 Pages that should be read actively by even the laziest of players. It's still quite a bit, certainly, but such is life. Who knows! Once you get down to character creation, they might get a bit more interested in the nitty gritties as Gatamigo described. Hope you guys have fun! |
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| Mondo | Sep 24 2015, 11:31 AM Post #6 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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I'd say you don't need nearly as much as people are saying, really. Most of the book is for index purposes and there's no reason you can't keep looking at it as needed to find the information you need. Page 18 is a solid full summary of character creation. You probably don't really need the rest of the chapter if you're trying to cut down on reading. 196-202 has all of the pokemon creation information, which unfortunately doesn't have a summary. Pages 254-260 contain the combat demo and actually ultimately grant enough information that you can play. Everything else in the book is reference. Non required reading. Your players will probably end up skimming a lot of the skills and features chapters, but they really shouldn't overload themselves by reading more than they want to. The game has a lot of rules, but they're probably the most intuitive rules you will ever come across. Everything is so simple and clean that if they just start playing they will probably naturally be following the rules without even knowing what they are. It's kind of a brilliant (or lucky) system like that. Edited by Mondo, Sep 24 2015, 11:34 AM.
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| comixsonic | Sep 24 2015, 03:26 PM Post #7 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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Thanks guys. My players are actively opposed to reading the rules, but having gone through them myself, I feel as though a large portion of the rules are not at all needed for the players and only made sense for the GM to go through. Thanks for helping me pare down the reading needed. |
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| BatiroAtrain | Sep 24 2015, 03:42 PM Post #8 |
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Pyramid King
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Having players opposed to reading the rules is definitely going to be a problem. This game is very heavy on book-keeping, and you'll be picking up the handbook every few minutes to reference things like move effects, items, Pokemon stats, class abilities, etc. If they won't do a once-over, then at the very least have them peruse the character creation stuff, so they understand what they are capable of as players. If they can't be bothered to do that, you're gonna have a very, VERY sluggish game ahead. |
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| FanaticRat | Sep 24 2015, 04:26 PM Post #9 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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Uh, ok, I'm gonna be blunt here: if your players are actively not reading the rules, you should not run for them, full stop. A game is a collaborative effort, and GMing is admittedly a lot of work. In order to have a good game, the players also have to do their share, and if they are unwilling to do something as simple as sit down and go over chargen but still expect you to run for them, then it honestly means that they do not and will not respect the time and effort you'll put into the game. You're not going to get anywhere if the players don't want to exert any effort, simply put. I know that may be hard to hear, but having gone through stuff like this myself in my GMing career I don't want you to have the same bad experiences I did. |
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| Nomad | Sep 24 2015, 04:51 PM Post #10 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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Some sections they can skim/skip The stat/type ace represent a large portion of the class section, and while they are cool classes, unless someone is interested in one I wouldn't require players to read through them. They wouldn't have to read through the abilities/moves, but they should know about move keywords. I'm tired of having to explain that no, Sucker Punch cannot be used as an attack on your turn, it's a triggered move. Unless someone is planning on doing these, mounted combat, breeding, contests and weapon rules can be skimmed or skipped. Not requiring most of this and the GM section will reduce the book by more than half. There are still some useful details to be found in these sections but your players can learn most of what they need outside them and cut back to them when they have more specific questions than (how many at-will ground type attacks are there and what pokemon can learn them) Edited by Nomad, Sep 24 2015, 04:52 PM.
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