Monster Trainer

From the Game's Acknowledgments:

This game was written by JL starting at 2:30 PST on July 26, 2004, and was finished by 2:30 PST on July 27, 2004. It was written as part of a 24-Hour Game Grand Event or whatever it's called... Anyways, many ideas I used for the mechanics, such as roll-over successes and descriptors for attributes, I stole from Ron Edwards' Sorcerer, though he used them to drive the play focus towards a specific narrative issue, while I included them here primarily to add and enhance color. The idea of using a die pool where you count successes I took from Luke Crane's Burning Wheel, Jake Norwood's Riddle of Steel, White Wolf Entertainment's Storyteller System, and probably more than I care to think about right now.

The idea for the game itself comes from a certain genre of entertainment that includes such media items as Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Monster Rancher, Azure Dreams, Jade Cocoon, and many others. I really like this genre of hunting, collecting, and training monsters, and felt disappointed that while numerous CCGs reflected the genre, the only RPG I could find was Pokéthulhu, which focused more on poking fun and simulating an anime than an actual game about hunting monsters. I hope anybody reading this enjoyed it; I sure enjoyed writing it.

User Summary:

A brief role-playing game in which characters are Monster Trainers, seeking out and training wild Monsters, and challenging other Trainers in an effort to be recognised as the Champion Trainer.

Most rolls are made using six-sided dice, but a few circumstances call for a random number from 1 to 10 (using either a ten-sided die or cards); also personalised cards are used to generate a map of the world. A "Normal Conflict" involves rolling as many (six-sided) dice as the appropriate attribute, with 4+ counting as a success; in a contested roll the higher number of successes is the winner.

Characters have three skills:

• Urban Skill used to make money and find other Trainers to challenge.
• Country Skill used to track down and hunt wild Monsters.
• Training Skill used to train Monsters.

Monsters have seven attributes:

• Type of monster, chosen from: Flying, Stealthy, Lumbering, Amphibious, Digging.
• Wildness which rates how hard the Monster is to command.
• Attacking is used in combat to cause damage to other Monsters.
• Defending is used in combat to prevent damage from other Monsters.
• Dashing is the speed of the Monster.
• Health rates how much damage the Monster can sustain.
• Special is an ability chosen from: Moneymaking, Glory, Riding, Tracking, Stunning, Skinning, Catching, Provoking, Predator.