| Welcome to Pokemon Tabletop. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| Newbie Guide | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 13 2013, 09:25 AM (4,651 Views) | |
| Elemental Knight | Aug 13 2013, 09:25 AM Post #1 |
|
Knight of the Spread Sheet
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Welcome to the world of Pokemon! I'm Elemental Knight, and I'm not a Professor - but I've played Pokemon Tabletop for years, and I've played Role-Playing Games online for over a decade. I'm making this post to help you, the newbie player, with getting acquainted with Pokemon Tabletop: What it is, and how to play. What is a Role-Playing Game? What is Pokemon? Since I don't know what level of familiarity you have with Role-Playing Games, or with Pokemon, or with playing Pokemon Role-Playing Games online, I'll just start from the beginning. (If you know what these things are, feel free to skip ahead!) If you don't know what a Role-Playing Game is, I suggest checking out this page. It defines exactly what a Role-Playing Game (hereafter, "RPG") is, and gives you a few basic terms. It's a quick read, so if you've never experienced an RPG before, I highly recommend it. If you want the TL;DR version, though: RPGs are basically Cowboys & Indians, but with rules. If you don't know what Pokemon is, I suggest this page. It describes what Pokemon are as a type of creature; all of the media around them - video games, cartoon shows, movies, comic books, and so on - are based around the adventures that humans have alongside these creatures. For some "in-character" information to introduce you to Pokemon, I highly recommend this work of fiction. How do I start playing? So, you know what Pokemon is, and you know what an RPG is. Now you need to learn how to play. There are two ways to play an RPG: as a Player, or as the Game Master (hereafter, "GM"). Players play only as one hero of the story (and that hero's associated Pokemon). The GM plays as "everything else" - all of the other characters the heroes meet, all of the villains, all the wild Pokemon, even the weather. if this is your first time, I highly suggest being a Player; it's much simpler and easier, and the experience you gain as a Player helps immensely if and when you try your hand as a GM. First, you need other people. On this site, I'd suggest checking out the Union Room (where people start games, and then get new players) or the Waiting Room (where people come together and try to find someone to run the game for them). Other sites, such as MythWeavers and Giant In The Playground also often have play-by-post games that need new players. Of course, if you know anyone in real life who's playing a Pokemon Tabletop game, you can try to join their group! However you do it, wherever you do it, find a game that looks promising, and apply to join. The person running that game, the Game Master, will help you apply from there. This is about when you need to start having some familiarity with the rules. Your game may be in "PTA" or "PTU" version; check with your GM to be sure, and they can point you to the correct rulebook and version for their game. Once you find a game to play in, you'll have to make a character to play as. This process varies from game to game, but in general, you want to create a character that you'll enjoy playing, and that can have interesting interactions with the other Players' characters. This isn't always easy, but when in doubt, as your GM or your fellow Players for advice. The more they help you, the better the game is for everyone! Once you get into the game, just be sure to show up on time, be prepared, and help everyone (including yourself) have fun. That's it! Where do I find the rulebooks? (Let me know if these links are for out-of-date editions! I don't always remember to update them when a new version comes out...) How do I learn more? Unfortunately, explaining an RPG is much harder than learning it actually is. I definitely suggest you watch an RPG being played some time - it's the best way to learn, I feel. There are plenty of games being currently run online; just ask the game's GM if it's okay for you to sit in and learn. Don't bother them too much while the run the game, but asking questions before and after (and during breaks) will probably be okay. I'm a GM, and new to Pokemon Tabletop - or even GMing in general. What should I do for my first session? I've written some thoughts about what a GM new to Pokemon Tabletop should do for a first session before, and I also have a whole module for GMs to use (originally made for PTA, but usable for PTU as well). I want to start a Play-By-Post game. Any advice? It's been a long time since I ran a play-by-post game, and I've never run a PTx PbP game. However, Slytherclaw has some advice! What do I do if a new version of the game comes out? What if I want to switch from PTA to PTU (or vice-versa)? Well, the first thing is to know your old version of the rules pretty well. In playing it, you'll probably find some things it does well, and some it does poorly. When the new rulebook come out, give it a read, and see if it addresses those issues. Be on the lookout for fixes to things you didn't think were broken, but might still be improved by the new system. If the new version seems like it solves some of your problems, without creating new ones, then you should use it. However, you should include the players' experiences in that assessment of "does the new version cause more problems than it solves": If a player's class or favorite mechanic disappears, or is significantly changed, the players may not want to switch over - or they may want to switch over even more. Don't forget the possibility of house-ruling in sections of the new rules, as well. This may be a good option if the new version has one or two segments you like, but don't want to go all-in on switching to the new version. Of course, this means that you may have even bigger problems down the line, when the next version comes out. No matter which way you decide to go, though, talk to your players and make sure they understand what's going on, and why. See if they have concerns too. They may have noticed some change to their classes or mechanics that you didn't, or they may have been having problems with the current ruleset that you hadn't noticed. And if everyone agrees to go to the new version, take some time to convert over. It won't ever be quite as easy as it looks. If you can take this time between sessions, all the better, but be prepared for the first session with the new rules to be slower than average. One final note: You should probably allow the players some leeway in altering their characters when you convert to a new rule-set. While you may not allow them to change from, say, a Psychic to a Chef, you should expect some points to be rejiggered, and some of the players' current feats or edges to be swapped out for new ones. I highly recommend that you allow this for 'free' (no XP cost in PTU). ... And if you have any further questions, ask them here! We'll all be glad to try and help you out. Is there anything in particular about playing Pokemon Tabletop that you're still confused about, or that you need help understanding? Let us know! Edited by Elemental Knight, May 14 2016, 08:09 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| Elemental Knight | Aug 13 2013, 09:26 AM Post #2 |
|
Knight of the Spread Sheet
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
How do I make those neat Trainer avatars I see around? Some people draw their Trainers, and some find pictures online from other characters and artists. But if you want to make your own custom Trainer image, there's also a tool that you can use to make a Trainer avatar, here. It only has Pokemon up through Gen V, but the human customization options are still excellent, and do a good job of getting the Pokemon 'feel' and artstyle down. Unfortunately, the tool doesn't have a way to easily export the image or save your options. If you want to save the image, you can either
If you intend to go back and edit your Trainer image repeatedly, I suggest taking notes on the options you've picked - this will help you later, in getting the right eyes, skin tone, and other variables correct. Where can I get Pokemon tokens for my maps? I maintain a large collection of tokens for map-based Pokemon Tabletop games here. You can also use sites like Bulbapedia to find images or sprites for specific Trainers, and crop those down for use as tokens. (A lot of the sprites I have in my collection came from Bulbapedia.) I want to make brand-new Pokemon for my players. How do I go about this? There're a couple of ways! If you're just looking for homebrewed Pokemon (aka "Fakemon") to use, and don't want to create your own, you should check out the Homebrew forums, specifically the PTU Homebrew Index. You might also check out my own Fakedex. If you're looking to make your own Fakemon, check out my advice on making Fakemon. Edited by Elemental Knight, May 14 2016, 04:18 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| Elemental Knight | Aug 13 2013, 09:26 AM Post #3 |
|
Knight of the Spread Sheet
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
This is the second post I'm reserving. I think about five posts will do, don't you? Between Spoiler Tags and links and headers, that should be enough room and organization... |
![]() |
|
| Elemental Knight | Aug 13 2013, 09:27 AM Post #4 |
|
Knight of the Spread Sheet
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
This is post Three of Five. Ah ah ah! |
![]() |
|
| Elemental Knight | Aug 13 2013, 09:28 AM Post #5 |
|
Knight of the Spread Sheet
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
DAWN OF THE FOURTH POST ONE POST REMAINS |
![]() |
|
| Elemental Knight | Aug 13 2013, 09:28 AM Post #6 |
|
Knight of the Spread Sheet
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
And this is the last post. Go ahead and post now! Lemme know what questions you, as Newbies, might have! Tell me if I've forgotten something! Tell me if I haven't explained it well! I intend to edit the first post and put in some more info later tonight. This should be fun. |
![]() |
|
| coolin 79 | Aug 13 2013, 09:36 AM Post #7 |
|
Pokémon Trainer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
not realy a game question but do you know any games i can join |
![]() |
|
| KujiUn | Aug 13 2013, 10:00 AM Post #8 |
|
Data Manager
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Ask in the Waiting Room, or look in the Union Room. It's generally advised (recommended, will be VERY cross if you don't) that you look in the Union Room first before asking that question. |
![]() |
|
| coolin 79 | Aug 13 2013, 10:08 AM Post #9 |
|
Pokémon Trainer
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
i just askin |
![]() |
|
| KujiUn | Aug 13 2013, 10:10 AM Post #10 |
|
Data Manager
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
It IS on the guide up there.
|
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
![]() Join the millions that use us for their forum communities. Create your own forum today. Learn More · Sign-up Now |
|
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · General Discussion · Next Topic » |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
5:15 PM Jul 10
|
Pokéball created by Sarah & Delirium of the ZNR





![]](http://z4.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)




5:15 PM Jul 10