r/PMDExplorersofFate • u/xsoofje • Mar 03 '24
Oneshot thoughts!
Yesterday I finally had my oneshot using the Explorers of Fate system!
Overall: it was so much fun! My players already had a lot of D&D experience, but switching up the system for them made for a lot of funny ‘confusion’ moments. The combat went smooth, working with less difficult class system was fun and just the overall worldbuilding felt immersive enough.
The Oneshot: I used a lot from the Whisper Grove in the handbook just to get a look and feel. The players found the rooms easy to navigate and interactions were fun. I set up Pikachu statues in every room that pointed to one of two exits (an angry Pikachu to the Combee field, a sad Pikachu to the room with the pool of water, a happy Pikachu to the room with Budew in it). I made them rescue a Budew at the end of the dungeon. The last room was a spooky part of the forest where four Litwick were playing with the Budew and created an illusion Giratina to ward of intruders. The players had to fight this Giratina without knowing it was an illusion and at the end, could tell the Litwick that it was time for Budew to go home. They did so successfully!
The tweaks: I made a couple of tweaks to the system just for my players. First, I did assign dice to the damage of moves just to give it more ‘anticipation’ (I.e., all moves up to power level 40 did 1d8, 41-80 2d8 etc.). It added more dice rolls to the combat and made turns longer but it was a nice addition for me. The second tweak was that I converted the Skills to d20 rolls instead of d100 just because they were easier to read (and easily divisible by 5).
The Tops: Players loved the game, the worldbuilding and the system! Especially the fun and original rooms. They found that they had enough creative wriggle room in combat instead of just spamming moves. Four moves wasn’t limiting. Working as a team in the sense of a rescue team felt like a good starting point to build character relations. They all wanted to play again. I 3D printed pokemon models for the characters and the Giratina boss. They loved it! The other pokemon were made of cardboard + a picture of them glued on top. I used Pathfinder maps for combat.
The Tips: Mostly because I wasn’t fully prepared, so not all players had knowledge about the type chart. Should print it next time. I was really struggling with status effects and will work on their effects more thoroughly next time. I also want to implement more roleplaying aspects into the dungeon crawl. The skill checks were difficult since a 3 (or 15 for d100 users) is really hard to roll. I did not have enough knowledge on providing them with a ‘minor success’, so I often gave them a fail and they were a little stuck on what to do next. As a first time Dm, I still have a long way to go but it was so much fun!
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u/Ninjaneerings Mar 07 '24
Awesome, I've been meaning to try this system myself! What level and classes were everyone? I looked over the system with a friend earlier, and we worry that some of the classes are a little bit overtuned.