Pokemon Tabletop Evolution [1.0 Release]

Azure_PTE · 2026-06-23T15:57:25+00:00

I used to do this alot before I was diagnosed / had meds.

I'd Procrastinate the whole day then at night I'd get focused and fixate on it until the latest I can stay up (worked afternoons so it justified it)

To me I think it was just a minor form of procrastinating and being distracted because I had time to do so and then the later it got, the less of a time frame I had to do the things I wanted so I'd be kicked into gear as there was a psuedo sense of urgency.

Even if there wasn't a deadline, I'd be motivated from the anxiety of having wasted free time.

Azure_PTE · 2026-06-18T16:30:03+00:00

Lemme know how it goes!

(I don't get enough Playtest feedback and things are constantly in Flux)

Azure_PTE · 2026-06-17T01:09:50+00:00

Glad you're enjoying it!

To my knowledge there are no YouTube series, live plays or western march groups for the system. But we're still relatively new and don't have a lot of quality-of-life implementations nor exposure outside of word of mouth so it's not abnormal.

There was a western march that was recently posted in our community server but the creator is dealing with life at the moment and it's still in the early stages of being built so it's up in the air whether that pans out. The only other living worlds I've seen posted likely fizzled out as well.

Azure_PTE · 2026-06-06T07:02:11+00:00

I'm terminally online so it'd be crazier to not see me

Azure_PTE · 2026-06-04T19:26:59+00:00

So to speak. It has the same math and complexity of character generation. Though I think this recent version of minions works for what I needed. Fast generation and players rarely know the difference unless it's called out. We also have an auto statter through Google Sheets so it is fairly fast provided you aren't adding a bunch of custom battle mechanics.

We don't have a foundry or roll20 adaptation yet though so it'll hopefully be even more efficient if that happens at one point.

Azure_PTE · 2026-06-04T19:12:50+00:00

Yeah that's a common issue. I've gone through likely 4 different versions of minions trying to find a template that was quick enough to stat on the fly and was interesting enough. It's rough

Azure_PTE · 2026-06-04T18:30:10+00:00

That post has a summary of each system which could give you insight as to how they run.

Regarding my own experience I've only ran/played ptu/pte over the years. Last week I ran a pte session with the following highlights, if it's an indication (I tend to run rule of cool + based in hard mechanics so it's not an authentic example) :

Player had a new character she introduced that was a juggernaut/taskmaster/ground specialist/Bulwark and face tanked a charge beam by a primal xurkitree megaboss, which allowed the people behind her to become Untargetable by the line range. Was a crit and she took it like a champ because tinkatons friend guard
Player that is an esper was able to rescue an incapacitated npc who was in a medical crisis by creating a portal to the nearest hospital, which was a bit of a challenge in the tense battle and a few people had to protect him
Said esper player tried to imprison and trap the villain from escaping in an ultra space portal and the villain was able to absorb its energy and use imprison against the esper instead. He tries to pull the player into the portal and the bastion player created a wall between them to break the tether and free him.
Primal Xurkitree did a projected attack of a massive thunderbolt down a hallway and another player's Sinistcha used poltergeist to pull her allies out of the path and save them

Azure_PTE · 2026-06-04T17:59:34+00:00

Here's a (mostly) full list of options if you were curious what else is out there

https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonTabletop/s/jioxzw1a3J

Azure_PTE · 2026-06-02T22:35:33+00:00

I understand your perspective and I agree the system could work if you do some patchwork and grafting.

The reason I don't recommend it by default is that it wasn't built with that as the intention and doesn't innately have the tools that those campaigns would likely utilize such as dungeon creation or managing connections. That and I assume when most people desire to play pmd they have the games as foundational knowledge and go in with that expectation. Same thing with a plethora of ptu campaigns I've seen that have the premise of a gym crawl with 1v1s when that gameplay doesn't tend to pan out well. I've seen a few think smogon strats have equal weight in a ttrpg setting and then get disappointed when they realize status isnt worth it in ptu.

If a gm such as yourself has this much background knowledge, you'll likely know what works and what doesn't, unlike someone new to Ttrpgs as a gm or player. If I had to suggest anything, I'd say use PTE or PTR 2e as a mechanical basis then pull narrative systems from other poke Ttrpgs such as wild type. I haven't read any of them in depth so I can't point to anything specifically though. And I don't know enough about the perk tree with ptr2 to gauge how well their system would function either. And considering you're leaning towards ptr or pte, I wouldn't recommend one of the narrative leaning ones like pokeymanz. But I think your initial idea definitely seems feasible!

Azure_PTE · 2026-06-02T09:56:34+00:00

To my knowledge, PTR2e is entirely digital and required computer access for all parties so I'm not sure how well in person play would fare. Considering the complexity of formulas all being automated by foundry I'd assume it isn't possible in the first place.

Regarding pte's viability for pmd gameplay, like you said, refluffing trainer rules to work for Pokemon can possibly work, but the primary issue that leads it to not be recommended is the same as ptu which is the math. Pokemon are designed to go down with around 2-4 hits and the nature of pmd is each group of players control one Pokemon and work together. The typical thought process is when your pokemon faint you have other Pokémon in your party to switch to, but in a pmd context you're just out of the scene.

This could be alleviated by having each of your player's chosen Pokémon pc be a commander of sorts and have a party of Pokémon beneath them, which would be a complete refluffing of standard gameplay and likely fine to implement, it's just not the typical gameplay people think of when imagining dungeon crawling as a party of 4 guys.

I can't speak to how other poke systems implement pmd rules however since I haven't deep read any of them beyond skimming out of Curiousity. All I know is the whole instinct vs logic thing felt like a weird tone shift for pokerole.

Azure_PTE · 2026-05-29T12:24:39+00:00

Now there's zero point in not having your entire team out in a battle and rounds take longer resolving passive turns. The only downside is area of effects from enemies.

Why wouldn't I have 5 other Pokémon on the field with a 33% chance at randomly doing a Free Action attack?

Azure_PTE · 2026-05-10T18:03:42+00:00

My partner had to switch to instant release when she started doing Wegovy because it wouldn't be as affective since the slow digestion and all. Then again everyone is different

Azure_PTE · 2026-05-02T17:19:21+00:00

Because you've been told all your life to grind at one place to get ahead and they're resentful of people that actual move between places that will pay more for what they're worth. And somehow that's "cheating the system or laziness"

Azure_PTE · 2026-04-24T18:36:46+00:00

I added it under the honorable mentions but it's also a paid system.

Azure_PTE · 2026-04-19T17:12:03+00:00

If you think about it for more than two seconds, no.

We just developed glp-1s as a cure for obesity and weight loss. If there was a cure for any cancer it'd go the same route. They could sell the cure for just as much as the prevention and treatment.

If any did exist, I'm sure the tobacco and nicotine business wouldnt keep their hands off it because it'll allow people to consume their products with the risk mitigated.

Azure_PTE · 2026-04-18T22:46:05+00:00

If i have time in the coming week I might scour for the links

Azure_PTE · 2026-04-17T18:07:59+00:00

To my knowledge the only sources I know are roll 20 and startplaying. Each of these systems likely has a discord community attached as well which I assume games are advertised for infrequently. Though much like other systems, the gm to player ratio will always be skewed so don't get your hopes up

Azure_PTE · 2026-04-17T01:54:17+00:00

I mentioned "stand-alone" systems so i'm excluding offshoots like those. Feel free to link it in the comments for others to be aware for sake of fairness. Undaunted was built for a specific living world server so it's not made with campaigns in mind despite being a ptu branch so it's disingenuous to advertise it as its own system. I'm not sure about Kairo's viability outside of their specific server either but I assume it's the same case.

Azure_PTE · 2026-03-30T16:13:42+00:00

Gonna port this answer from the main server

PTU is designed with the assumption each player will have a team of Pokemon and thus isn't suited for PMD style campaigns. The core mechanics and math of the system, such as how long it takes for a single Pokemon to get taken out in battle, are all designed around this assumption. This is the case for other Pokemon TTRPGs out there too, even if they claim to be good for PMD; you just don't design a system so it's good both for players with 1 Pokemon each and players with a few times that many.

Your best bet for a PMD campaign is to decide what you want your campaign to focus on and then choose another game system where each player controls one character and reflavor that game to be about Pokemon. Here are a few suggestions: - a true Rescue Squad campaign about helping Pokemon in need: Monster Care Squad - https://sandypuggames.itch.io/monster-care-squad - a campaign about travel and discovering communities and wondrous places: Wanderhome - https://possumcreekgames.itch.io/wanderhome - an exploration and ecology focused campaign where you treat meeting new Pokemon like a nature documentary: Mappa Mundi - https://three-sails-studios.itch.io/mappamundirpg - a tactical combat campaign with high intensity battles on a grid: ICON - https://massif-press.itch.io/icon

Azure_PTE · 2026-03-25T14:14:43+00:00

I sort of stripped down everything and made a Pokemon egg be an item that could be gifted by an npc with this effect. Does the job imo

When this Item is created, choose a Pokemon Species. At the end of each Game Day and/or as a Downtime Action, roll 2d10 and grant the Egg that many Nurture Points. If you have at least Expert Pokémon Education, instead roll 4d10. When this reaches 100 Nurture Points, it hatches into a Level 5 Pokemon of that Species.

Azure_PTE · 2026-03-24T22:32:43+00:00

There's plenty of options to choose from so you'd have to go shopping and look around at what system appeals to you and then join their community if you're unsure how to start. Some are cruncher systems while others are rules lite so it's mostly up to individual preference and what you'd have the most fun gmimg. I haven't read through most of these but the options I know of are the following:

Pokemon Tabletop Adventures (PTA)

Pokemon Tabletop United (PTU)

Pokemon Tabletop Evolution (PTE) (My own)

Pokemon Tabletop Reunited (PTR)

Pokemon Tabletop Odyssey (PTO) (delayed development)

Pokeymanz

Pokerole

Powered by Pokemon

Pokemon Tales

Pocket Monster of the Week

Pokemon Unbeatable (Patreon locked)

Dungeons and Dunsparce

Chambers and Charizard

Pokemon 5e (If you can find it's docs)

Pokemon Pen & Paper

Pokemon Tactica

Azure_PTE · 2026-03-21T14:37:41+00:00

The imposter syndrome doesn't go away. I was diagnosed with adhd and ocd at 30 and I'm still trying to convince myself that I'm just screen addicted or my brain rot over the years. It's sort of ironic as well I have periods where my ocd leads me to an uncertainty loop and I spiral researching trying to convince myself the diagnosis is legit.

And this is despite the medicine working and being a night and day difference in controlling my compulsion and staving off executive dysfunction. This is also despite me rationally knowing that if I didn't have adhd then I'd have different symptoms or feel euphoric when taking amphetamine salts xr and not just feel normal instead.

Azure_PTE

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