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Ditto's 'Mon 3.5e RPG Campaign Review

So I've been playing around and reading on different ways to make and Pokemon themed campaign. I decided to use 3.5e because it was the one that felt more natural to me (Mostly because its the only one me and my friends agree on) the setting of the world will be just like Dungeons & Dragons, just with all of the "Monsters" replaced with Pokemon (To keep it simple we will be using 1st and 2ed generation pokemon #001-#251)
Pokemon will all have their own moves and level up accordingly, you can verbally control your pokemon to follow your orders or command them using a telepathing ability. Other questions regarding Pokemon will be addressed in the full campaign review thread (If it gets approved). So, does anyone want to catch 'em all?

Summary: Pokemon in a Dungeons & Dragons fantasy setting with regular races and classes.

Review Campaign RPG Mon Dittos

Ditto, I changed your title slightly so it better reflects what you want to establish. Do you have players already lined up for this or are you hoping site Members are interested?

My first concern will be copyright issues in using the name "Pokemon" and by extension images from their monster library. Have you checked into their terms and conditions of use? If they have a fan kit then that makes things a lot easier.

What is "Tl;rd"?

Ditto's 'Mon 3.5e RPG Campaign Review Reviews RPG & Card Board

I figured since it was a fanmade home brewed setting I wouldent have to worry about any legal issues. The only thing that I would be taking from Nintendo is the names, the design, the moves ect ect. And since it is deemed a fan game with no source of income it should fall under the "Satire/parody fair use" copywrite laws. Which should be acceptable as Pokemon played nothing like Dungeons & Dragons, I've seen many sites using the Pokemon library for pure roleplay purposes, I just wanted to add dice roles and magic to the game

No, I was going some current members or even some new ones would join up and play something a little different than the usual tolkienesque style game (Think Lord of the Rings setting)

"Tl;dr" is short for "Too long, didn't read" it's more or less of a footnote summarising the whole paragraph.

Review Campaign RPG Mon Dittos

First of all, let me say this is a great initiative and I will be very happy to support you in getting it started, however that "Only" might seem small for you but is 'large' for them. I've been down this road before and I know how it can be when you get a legal rant about the use of someone's intellectual property.

I decided to do some research on this. Basically, the owners of Pokemon don't have time to review and approve those who may be interested in the use of anything related to Pokemon so they issued this statement:

Here is one even clearer:

Does Pokemon follow up on this? Well they decided to go after their biggest fan at one time and sued them for using their images / names, etc. Strangely, in this situation Pokemon decided to drop the case (Apparently because of negative publicity) but the owners of the fan site still had to pay legal fees. Read more: Source 3e

So this is how it can / cannot work: You can continue with your concept but cannot call it "Pokemon". You will need to come up with your own name and cannot reference that you are using their material. For images you will need to use pseudo graphics.

Ah, urban talk. I changed it to "Summary" as we are all about reading here.

Review Campaign RPG Mon Dittos

I actually have a good portion written out and I've shortened the word Pokemon, to just 'Mon. And I think a way to avoid using each and every Pokemon's name I could just use the PokeDex's (In game Pokemon encyclopedia) to their purest definition and verbally describe them
Example :
Pikachu - The Mouse 'Mon "Short yellow mouse with red cheeks, electricity can be seen jolting off it's lightning bolt shaped tail"

Ekans - The Snake 'Mon "Purple snake with two yellow bands around it's neck, lacks teeth but can dislocate it's jaw to swallow it's prey whole"

Squirtle - The Tiny Turtle 'Mon "Blue turtle with a brown shell, can be seen in groups spraying water from it's mouth, may hide in their shell when provoked"

Donphan - The Armor 'Mon "A heavy bull sized elephant with a thick hard skin covering it's trunk all the way down it's back, it uses this skin to protect itself while it rolls forward like a tire at it's enemies"

Crobat - The Bat 'Mon "A small purple bat with two sets of wings that allows it to fly nonstop. It flys so quietly you wouldn't be able to hear it if it fly's by you"

Chikorita - The Leaf 'Mon "Small green dog shaped 'Mon with a large green Leaf sprouting out of it's head and a ring of small buds around it's neck"
Now, naturally this is just to describe the 'Mon without actually [saying] the name, but if you Google "The mouse Pokemon" you will get a small list to choose from, and using obvious descriptions a player should be able get a good idea of what the 'Mon looks like without us having to use [copyrighted] images.

Ditto's 'Mon 3.5e RPG Campaign Review

Sounds like a plan, I have changed the title of this Thread to reflect that.

The example you wrote out is your own text (Descriptions)? The series and theme is so well known that those who are truly interested in this may not need much explanation.

Back to my original question: Do you have players already lined up for this or are you hoping site Members are interested?

By the way, because of the theme you are using the Role-playing Game will be kept in this Board: Comic / Anime Play By Post Role-playing Games & Reviews should you be successful in starting.

Ditto's 'Mon 3.5e RPG Campaign Review

No, as of right now I don't actually know of anyone who is willing or wanting to play this out.

Ditto's 'Mon 3.5e RPG Campaign Review Board Card & RPG Reviews

Well, I am a fan of Pokemons since 1st gen and I would like to participate. Curious how Nintendo has not milked the cow in this path, pen and paper Role-playing Game. I will check this thread for updates.

Note. I am more accustomed to DnD5E and I have to study a bit before (And if) we start a campaign in 3.5E.

Edited: Morfeas on 14th Apr, 2016 - 11:07pm