[IC] Playning as Pokemon, Genesys ;dnd modules ?

Hi!
I wanted to check what will be an interest for longer one shot game where:
- players play as pokemon - probably as human(oids?) changed into pokemon,
- but are transferred to parallel world, that is Fantasy ala DnD (Dolmenwood more precisely), with other races like halflings, fairies and magic,
- the game is run on Genesys RPG ruleset, with pokemon stats made on the fly,
- playing fresh pokemons - only 2-3 moves at the beginning, preferably first evolution,
- the story and locations are converted/taken directly from classic modules: "The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford" and "Winter's Daughter" but converted that most fairly beings are pokemons,
- the two mentioned modules are combined in one mini-campaign with sandbox elements, and have few main changes in story ncorporated in them, to make them fit with each other,
- GM(me...) is "not an expert in Pokemon lore" (to put it in delicate words - only few cartoons and playing a few games briefly, many years ago...) - but wants to learn a lot, by observing players and hoping they will make this game pokemon-thematic by their behavior,
- GM has low regard to any established settings, as he don't like to be restricted by artificial borders, but will try to keep the game "fantasy, OSRy and pokemony" - like, as much as he will be able to do,
- GM like PC interacting with environment, NPC and each other, not only moving from point A to B, and kill 5 x Monster C... :) He like fighting and competition himself, but think many time there are more interesting ways to achieve things, than kill all opposition...
- don't play at weekends, and thinks 3-5 posts per week is enough and is very accustomed to play asynchronous boardgames online, so have no problem with waiting someone even for few days, as long as the action will move once per week - so probably it will be not a best game for impatient types, but my aim in posting routine is: answering all post from weekend on Monday, answering all post from Monday on Tuesday, and so on... until Friday,
- GM don't plan to continue this game beyond those two modules, but if chemistry will be good will gladly move with the group to some Year Zero Engine systems and adventures, or even play testing his science fantasy system - in the future, after this little campaign,
- GM is not a native speaker(as you may already noticed :) ).

So? Who would play sucha game here on GP?

P.S. I'm doing such game for my two sons right now, so have already some materials, and plan to make this game here on GP more "adult", but the main story elements will be very similar - so nothing very dark,

I love Genesys and I've been looking for a game to join as a player.

The premise to this seems... really weird to me, to be honest?

I don't understand the whole reasoning or need behind the... really complex/highly "engineered"... and esoteric artifice you're describing here of "humanoid-turned-into-Pokemon transported into OSR (which is quite un-Pokemon-like by my estimate) Dolmenwood".

Can you elaborate on the "why" behind that some?

Why not just Pokemon that are Pokemon and in Pokemon-land?

Or why not just fairy creatures that are fairy creatures in Dolmenwood?

Why the complex cross-over of two worlds that I think are pretty different in tone and themes?

I ask because I can get really excited about games and characters when I can just "see" my character and who they are and how they fit in the world or story based on a campaign prompt, but I feel like I can't see this character or how they fit in the world. So I'm just trying to get a better idea of the vision for the campaign.

I’d be interested to try! As long as being pretty new to D&D and PBP doesn’t cause an issue.

I like the general premise, though I think doing something closer to the Mystery Dungeon games would be way more fitting.

Premise of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. The player is a human turned into a pokemon. After waking up, you promptly join a "Dungeon Team" or some kind that takes quest at a main hub city and that go into different dungeon areas. Recruiting different pokemon along the way. All of the inhabitants of the world are Pokemon but truly act more like people in typical fantasy settings. It is very "questing" and "job focused" adventuring.

How you could translate this to this game?

1. PC getting turned into pokemon is right on point.
2. Having a "Feywild" type feel to the world is pretty perfect.
3. Reskinning all inhabitants as Pokemon. That being said, making each fantasy race = pokemon type might be fitting. Then the Pokemon-species is basically the template for stats and abilities. A world that isn't segmented by these types is important, instead more "ecosystem" based break downs. (A forest may have a ton of bug types, but having those Pikachus and Pidgeys walking around is important)
4. Figuring out a progression system that works well for this is vital to hit the Pokemon spirit. Mystery Dungeon doesn't really put an emphasis on evolving, it happens but very rare, so not focusing on that works. Making sure things like STAB and resistances are there for moves is key.

If you are set on Genesys, I think it could work if you figure out how to represent Pokemon moves I have played the FFG Star Wars games so I am sort of familiar with the system but how it gets implemented I couldn't really help with.

So, you have pressed the secret combination of buttons.

Genesys
Body Horror
and, the secretest button of all, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. (No one can know about my trash taste. No one!)
Hell Yeah
Oof. Biggest miss here, but this is the largest, most complicated point, which I will address below.
I do think there is a light, WoD-ey way to play Genesys that relies less on the mechanical intricacies of its talents, it's going to take a deft touch. Rules on the fly is a pretty demanding way to play
How you want to handle "Types" and "Moves" and Dex entries is going to be key to how you want to manage the system. I had some rudimentary thoughts in the area but it was related to Risus.
D&D and D&D adjacent modules often include a lot of dungeon crawly combat - I'd eyeball them askance. Genesys does not do well with dungeon crawly type structure, as it relies on fuzzy mechanics to create tension and does not deal well with the attrition mechanics. I'm not familiar with the modules in question, but it's worth very closely examining them and determining if the combat scenes are well structured to transition to action scenes.
Careful with the "s" word there, ha ha!
Pokemon "lore" is insane, and canon is basically nonsensical. Pokemon does, however, have a very unusual and unique emotional tone that, if I can torture the metaphor, can be played at many different "keys." If you get the vibe, you can do a lot of work from that footing.
All pretty standard stuff, but I do want to bring up an important point. In Genesys, much of the game is negotiating the effects of Threat and Advantage, Triumph and Despair, to build up the narrative around the unique task resolution. You may want to introduce an asynchronous channel (a Discord server or a faster moving OOC thread) to get through these negotiations.
Can we expect anything but your best here?

But anyways, on to the big, meaty point - the setting as described.

You've got quite a mishmash of themes going on, but I think it might be just a bit too much. I think you may want to dial back some of the levers a little bit. While I'm all for high-alienation settings, having all the variables cranked up so high risks the characters not having any footing to stand on.

Pokemon is already a pretty fantastical setting, and transporting characters from one fantastical setting to another is tricky business, but not impossible. Having characters transform and adapt to that new setting is certainly not an unexplored subsection of the subgenre.

But, as I said before, Pokemon is a vibes-based more than a lore-based setting, and the vibes feel a little bit off. Introducing the typical fantasy humanoid races feels like a push too far for reasons that are difficult to articulate. Wizards and things are already in the setting - see any Psychic gym - but injecting halflings, elves and fae dilute the sense of alienation and "otherness" of Pokemon. There are some pokemon that represent fae of both western tradition (Gardevoir, Flabebe, Mimikyu) and the "fae" yokai (Mawile, the much-maligned Klefki). There are also just straight up people, like Mr. Mime, Hitmonchan, and Morgrem. While some Pokemon media definitely raises the ethical specter of pokemon personhood, these don't seem like questions that will be adequately or delicately addressed while barging through an OSR module. We may not be equipped to answer the question of what makes an orc distinct from a Grumpig.

There's room to maneuver here, but, as mentioned above, I think it would be best to focus a bit and concentrate on the themes you want to come through.

If you want to explore the themes of personhood and the blurred lines of identity, I think you may want to dial back on the adventure, or you'll have to handle it very particularly as a framing device for subversion. This is a really challenging needle to thread.

If you want to focus on alienation and transformation, I think that keeping the setting familiar to the characters and the players on some axis. I would dial back the fantastical nature of the setting. You could reframe it as a modern adventure, or (and this is the way I'd personally do it) you could take a cue from the recent Arceus game, thrusting the characters into a somewhat familiar past, recognizable but uncanny.

If you want to focus on the adventuresome spirit, I'd pry out either the fantastical non-human races (to avoid raising those thorny ethical questions) or remove the transformation element of the characters, making them more conventional trainers. This will allow you, as the GM, to sideline the personhood conflict by not having the PCs transgress into the quagmire of their own identities. This does engage in a bit of social abnegation, allowing the players to not think about an issue that doesn't affect them, but it does let you draw narrative lines as a Gamemaster, and acknowledge that issues, while they may exist, aren't the subject of the story you're trying to tell.

So, apologies if I have dedicated too much wordcount to say, "I'm interested in the concept but not quite there on the proposed execution," but it's a slow day at work, and I thought I'd present my own thoughts based on a... shockingly similar concept I had theorycrafted out back when I did much more GMing.

Sorry for delay, but had crazy time and had to thing things trough. I will address all your concerns individually, in coming day, but for now I wanted to state how I currently see this game:
I would like to use rules for Avatar the last airbander setting and book from: Avatar for Genesys. So the PCs are like people from Avatar world and can be elemental banders.
As begging of the adventure (campaign maybe?) I would like to use Wyrm of Brandonsford (so converting it to Genesys), but with many changes, mainly that all fey creatures are more like pokemon, then fey... and there will be way to catch them and familiarize them to find in the world.
So mix of Avatar and pokemon... but I think more sane and believable.

Anyone still interested? But probably I will be doing a new interest post for this.

I agree:)
Human spirit in Pokemon body is not new concept: see Pokémon Mystery Dungeon video games.

I thought it could be interesting to see how "fantasy people" react on pokemons and pokemons interact with them. Maybe I didn't stated it well enough but I planed to exchange fey creatures into pokemon's creature. So fantasy+pokemon. Not fantasy+fey+pokemon:)

Pokemon in fantasy world is also not a new concept: see Pokemon Tabletop United RPG system has expansion for this.
Thanks for all questions. You were right, being in pokemon body and interact with non-pokemons + all the other thing was too much. That's why I changed it. See my previous post.

It will be in Genesys system from EDGE - there are quite a few quick start rules and adventures too see if thats your jam. Your low experience with this and PbP will not be a problem for me as long you are willing to learn new things:)

I agree it would be cool to play pokemon in pokemon world and city... but sadly I don't have enough knowledge about pokemons and their setting/lore to pull it through. So I backtrack to game where we have PCs like from Avatar TLA cartoon, living in fantasy world, but instead of fairly folk and creatures they meet pokemons (that can even sometimes talk). So sliping in some pokemon into the world, but not making the world around it.
I had done conversion for Lucario and Frokkie - and went simple, as this is narrative system - giving them Pokomon Power skill, and using it similar to Arcane power skill - and moves as spells. I think it could work this way.

About the progression, I also planed to keep it simple: Lvl 1 pokemon have only one move. On lvl 2 it have two( and I think they normally have quite a few on lvl 1). And so on, until they get all the moves from level 1. Then the progression is as the pokemons in games. Level progression is faster initially then this for PC - maybe based on combat count, maybe not.

Hey PedroP,

Apologies as I was gone on holiday when you updated this post, and just now saw it.

But as mentioned I love the Genesys RPG system, and would love to play in a game of it, and I also love the world of Avatar, so that's all good.

The Avatar-based characters seem a natural fit for Genesys to me, as it's "magic system" maps well to Genesys' approach, imo.

And the Pokemon-ish mashup is... fine? I guess? I'd certainly be interested in seeing what your ideas are for handling something like a Pokemon which is essentially closest to a "Conjure" in Genesys by default, but sounds like you may be handling them more as an independent character?

I saw you posted a recruitment thread for a different system tho, so perhaps you have abandoned the Genesys effort? And if so, I understand.

No worries! I'm glad that someone answered:)

Yes. Avatar (1st Season as I didn't watch 2nd) is amazing. If only most currently released live movies had such good script, characters development and world building... I would have something to watch :)

Yes, bender are perfect fit for Genesys - and I think the author of Avatar: The Second Age developed it even further to even better fit the world.

As for Pokemons - don't worry I will try to make them as "avatar-y" as I will be able to. Not planing to portray the feel from Pokemon cartoon. Besides animals in avatar show had their quite important place - but were mostly passive. So I plan to use pokemon monster as inspiration to make them avatar-like creatures, but give them some agency and make the adventure so that PC will have to "befriend" them first and only after that, they will be able to use them in the combats or interacting with the world. At least as long the "trining skill" rolls will be good. If there will be success PC will describe and control their actions, if not... it will be my turn to make them do what I will think pokemon-like creatures would do in avatar world:) So definitely: independent characters, but mostly controlled/described by players.
As Tales of Argosa seam to be great system and I really want to try it: Avatar+Pokemon+Genesys combo is my priority. But until yesterday... non of you have answered in this thread:)

So can I assume you are for the game with above assumptions? @emsquared ?

If yes, I will try to make a recruiting post next week. I think - we will not need too many players, more so like 2-4 but, lets try to find ones that really dig this and will want to focus on this game, as I plan to putt some effort in it:)

I'm definitely in.

I love tooling with Genesys, and I love Avatar, and I can see Pokemon-ness in Avatar (Appa and Momo ofc and the general aesthetic of combination-animals that they do in the show), so I think there's a good fit in that way. Still trying to wrap my head around a Bender+Pokemon Trainer concept, but I think that can be worked out.

The retool is definitely looks like it could be much more focused and easier to explore. But, as with any narrowing aperture, you do shave off the edges. It's a bit of a miss for me.

Best of luck!

Great! I will start to work on recruiting post this week.

Glad to hear that. I'm very open to working together on this "specific" world and additional rules/mechanics for Genesys together. So always looking forward to any suggestions/input.

Understandable! :)

But out of curiosity: what made you interested the most about this thread and concepts in it? How you would prefer our game to shape instead the last proposition?

The pivot to trainer characters rather than Pokemon characters is the pivot for me. Aside from leaving the potential horror themes out of the mix, managing a stable of pet characters is usually quite mechanically and (narratively) taxing.

OK, I understands. Only one thing: I envisioned it as PC befriending their first "monsters" so not many pokemon during this adventure. Thanks for this info.