So, you've made a character, chosen a Pokémon, done everything but actually roleplayed. All the stats in the world won't help if you don't know how to use them. To prevent the time you spent creating a character from being wasted, here's the Rules: the most boring part of OPKRPG.

Before we go on, there's three all-encompassing rules that you must abide by:

1. THE NARRATOR'S WORD IS LAW.  There's no way around this one. If he says that you can or can't do something, that's it. No arguing, no haggling, no nothing. He has the privilege to override any or all of your decisions if it will advance the storyline or promote good conduct. Players, this is his world you're playing in. If you have a problem with his rulings, talk about it after the scene, or after the session, not right in the middle of a tense scene.
2. The rules are made to help, not define. This system was created with the intention to settle arguments in chat-room roleplaying, and then get out of the way. In other words, if a rule or option doesn't make sense, toss it out! Some people just use skill and attribute tests for their chat-games. They have a blast, and guess what? That's OK.
3. Stay in character as often as possible. This can't be emphasised often enough. You are, for the duration, becoming who you're acting. Like, don't say, "Jimmie challanges Koga to a Pokémon duel. He's all egotisitical and proud." Rather, get your voice all huffy and boastful, and tell the narrator "Koga. I am Jim Tesseh from Mount Moon. I have earned four badges from four gyms. None of my pokémon have been hurt by any of their attacks. I will defeat you and take your badge as I did the other 'leaders'. The battle begins now." When you need to drop out of character, make obvious note it somehow--use a different voice when your character is talking, or begin the line with > if in a chat room.

That said, let's begin.

Note: Throughout the examples, we're going to use the same group. They are: Jared, playing Tyler, a nosy, bookwormish 12-year old; Sarah, playing Daphnie, a cheerleader and soccer player who's always asking herself why she's journeying with Tyler; and Greg, as Daphnie's Machop, with as much perkiness and hyperness as her trainer. Note that these descriptons are of the characters, not the players! Their Narrator is Brett.

The bread and butter of OPKRPG, this is the mechanic that everything else is built upon and around and in mind.  Attribute Tests answer the basic question: Did I, or didn't I?

The test itself is fairly simple. Consider the action you're trying to preform, decide what the most viable statistic is. Then determine the difficulty: Easy, Average, Hard, or Near Impossible. Use the static difficulty in the table above or roll up a new one. Now, roll a D100, add it to the related stat, and if the total meets or beats the difficulty BOOM! you succeed. If not, well, you fail.

Skill tests.  Sometimes it seems, while the attribute could conceiveably cover the concerned action, the average character wouldn't know about it--for example, programming a computer, doing a backflip, or driving a car. Well, that's the reason for skills, and skill tests. When you think that a skill would be most appropiate for the task at hand, use Attribute + Relevant Skill + D100. Determine the difficulty as normal. But, what if you don't have the relevant skill? Add the attribute and the D100, then halve the total. And yes, you may round up.

In this text, we are going to mark tests in two ways. If you see it like this:

Two options for both types of tests:
1. Japanimation effects.  (J-effects for short.)  If you really want your RPG sessions to be more like the TV show or manga, this option lets you simulate them in effect. Whenever you fail an attribute or skill test, compare your dice to the difficulty number. If the number on the dice is less than the difficulty without the ones digit, you've had a flub--yes, that's the term used--and not only fail miserably, but horrendously and embarassingly.
2. Wild Die. Using this rule, things can go very badly... or quite well. When the dice comes up 96-100, roll another D100 and add it to the result. This doesn't trigger further Wild Effects. However, if the dice comes up 01-05, roll 2D10 and subtract it from your result. If these two dice come up the same number, roll an additional pair of D10 and subtract it from your result, as well as the first pair. If this second set both come up the same, reroll, and keep going on like this until they don't show the same digits. And by the way, if this causes the result to drop to 0 or less, make it a 1. The reason is that some of the system's formulas will break down with a 0 in the works.

Attribute Test: The trio are walking along, minding their own business, when two police officers run up from behind them and demand they come with them for questioning in a bank robbery. The Narrator asks the players to make Perception Tests--he doesn't explain why or tell them the difficulty, just asks them to make the tests. Jared rolls the percentiles, gets a 74, and adds it to Tyler's Perception score of 16 to get a total of 90. Sarah rolls up 40, and adds it to Daphnie's Perception, 31, for a result of 71. Greg adds the 19 from the dice and his score of 12; 31. Brett compares the difficulty of 85 to their results. Brett informs Tyler of two things--one, the female officer's nametag reads "William Erikson;" and two, she has a pigtail tucked up into her hat. Tyler puts two and two together and shouts "Hey! You're Team Rocket!"

Skill Test: After a breif sortie with the imposter officers, they resume their task--to walk to Grey City's Pokémon Gym. Upon arrival, they discover that the Gym Leader there won't battle those who can't make it through an obstacle course. The first half of the course is just some physical straining--monkey bars, ladder climbing, that sort. Halfway through, though, is a platform twelve feet in the air from which the players must backflip to the ground and go on. Daphnie is first up. She bought Acrobatics +3 in character creation because of all the training that she took for he stunts. She rolls the dice, 34; adds her Agility, 31; and then adds her Acrobatics score, 3, for a total of 68. Brett says that the flip is only Easy for someone with the Acrobatics skill, so she passes. Now Tyler tries it. However, he doesn't have the Acrobatics skill, like Daphnie. Jared adds Tyler's Agility and the roll of a percentile pair; 14, plus 13 from the dice, make 27. Because Tyler doesn't have Acrobatics, Jared needs to halve and round up.  A result of 14 is much less than the difficulty of 30, so Tyler fails. Or, as the Narrator puts it, "You jump off the platform backwards.  But, you don't know how to swing your legs the way Daphnie did, so you land on your feet and fall on your butt."

Japanimation effects: Daphnie, Tyler, and Machop come across a wild Nidorina. Since Daphnie would like her, she tries to charm her. The Narrator thinks a bit; then, Brett tells her, "Roll Empathy plus Social mod." Which she does; her Empathy being 32, plus the Social Mod of 8, plus her die roll of 7, totals 47. Brett compares her result to the difficulty; it's a Hard task, due to the Nidoran's temper and the distrust this particular one has. Not only is she a total failure, because 7 is less than 8, she suffers a J-Effect. Brett informs Sarah that "You bend down and try to get Nidorina to come to you like you'd call a cat. She comes to you, sniffs your hand testilly,"--at which point Sarah emits a delighted squeal, thinking she's got it--"and then chomps her fangs right into it." Sarah blinks once or twice, realizes what just happened, then rolls with it. "(Fly Screen) AAaahhhh! (She's shaking her hand really hard, but Nidorina is shaking with it, refusing to let go.)" The hysterics keep on flowing from there.

Wild Die, Wild Success: While exploring abandoned factories in search of Grimer, the duo manage to pick the only one out of dozens which is a Rocket hideout. They are discovered, and in their attempt to escape get a faceful of Pokémon provided sleep powder. When they awake, they're chained to a vertical support I-Beam. Daphnie, with a Hard Agility roll, manages to call Machop. "Machop, Karate Chop attack on the chains but be quiet about it!" she asks. Brett thinks quick and says that 60 points of damage need to be dealt to break the chain, and a Near Impossible Agility roll to not make noise. The karate attack is no biggie; whap, and it's gone. The agility roll, however; hmm. Greg takes his dice and rolls them. They come up 98. Since they're playing wild die, he rolls once again. The dice is a 31. Adding the two results to his Agility of 41 makes for a 170-point Value result; or, as Brett narrates, "You quickly crack the chain off the corner and grab the chain. A flick and a twist of your wrist gives you a neatly folded chain before it even had the chance to fall."

Wild Die: Wild Failure. Freed, the team decide to listen in on the Rockets' plans. So, they try, as a group, to hide behind some crate and press their ears to the wall. It's just an Average Perception test, sez the Narrator Brett, but they still need to roll. He says that because he doesn't want them to waste time with useless rolls, to Their average Perception is 28, rounded up; the percentile comes up 5. Jared, acting for the group, rolls the wild Penalty Dice. They come up 4 and 4. Rolling again, they now come up 5 and 6. (28 + 5) - (4 + 4 + 5 + 6) = 33 - 19 = 14, complete and utter failure. And, they're playing Japanimation rules, so they take a J-Effect (5 is less than 7.) As it happens, they fail to notice that the wall between them and Team Rotten is made of dryboard. So when they lean against it, they break right through it, starting things all over again.

Like it or not, you're going to fight some time or later. So, when you do, you should do it the right way. Note that in Pokémon, RPG or no, fighting is no small thing. In keeping with its Japanese influences, there are two reasons for fighting: one, to better your pokémon and yourself, and to avenge lost honor.

Arc here. Please note that the folder with the hard copy of OPKRPG was lost June 12. I apologize for this delay.

So, where does one begin a fight? First, you need to decide if it's a Duel-- and a Pokémon battle is a type of duel--or a street fight. They have different formats; duels are more formal, with the fighters using "warrior's honor." On the other hand, street fights are less formal. They could be just hit and hurt, no-holds-barred, reckless, senseless violence; or, they could be a good-natured tussle between friends.

Duels begin with a Facedown. This is where the two fighters look each other in the eye, come to the agreement that they are going to fight, and one of them is going to lose. Ego versus ego, will versus will; This battle of force of personality nigh-determines who wins the physical one. This battle, performed before every Duel, is performed as so:
Each player adds their Combat Score, Willpower, and three six sided dice. If this is a Pokémon fight, also add your level to this roll.
Compare rolls. Note how much each player beat, or was beaten, by their opponent. That number is their bonus, or penalty, for the first round. You add (subtract) this number from their Attribute, Iniative, Skill Rolls, Aim, and Dodge rolls. Each round after the first, halve this bonus, rounding up.
Continue the fight as normal.
This makes a few things happen. First, the bonuses will vary widely, from minor to humongeous. Secondly, this gives high-level Pokémon a more distinct advantage than combat stats. Thirdly, because it halves each round, small bonuses quickly drop down to 1, while large bonuses stay longer looming longer, giving a geometric effect to a linear system.

Each twelve second round you may perform one action. This includes taking a picture, firing a crossbow, throwing a Pokéball, locking a door, and making a physical attack.

How to fight one twelve-second combat turn:

1. Roll Iniative. Iniative = Combat Score + Agility + D100. Highest score goes first, with ties broken by Agility, then Combat Score, then randomly. In a Pokémon Battle, add the trainer's Intellegence to this roll.
   Each player spends their turn in this manner:
   1. You make your Skill Roll. If your Martial Arts move, or whatever, requires a skill roll, make it now. If you fail, forfeit the rest of your turn.
   2. Roll to Hit. Add your Combat Score, Reflexes, and 1D100. That's your Hit Number.
   3. The defender rolls his Dodge Number. The defender adds his Agility, Combat Score, and 1D100, halving the total if Paralyzed. If the Hit Number fails to meet or beat the Dodge roll, it doesn't hit. A real brainbuster, huh?
   4. Roll and apply damage. Roll, total, and deal damage. If you take damage, add it to the Total Damage Taken line on your sheet. Also, note how much damage you've taken this turn seperately, as it'll come in play when you check knockback.
2. Continue the above steps for all players.
3. Every Player Checks Knockback. If the total damage taken this turn equals or exceeds Health + Willpower - Mod (Total Damage Taken + 1D100), you pass out from the combat stress. To wake up, make a roll, difficulty (Total damage taken - 1 for each minute you've been out)

Combat Maneuvers

• Normal attack. In other words, a jab, kick, elbow, etc.
  • Requires an Easy Agility roll.
  • Does 2DU + 1D10 points of damage.
  • No other special effects or modifiers.
• Overwhelm. You throw yourself on top of your oppoent, kicking and biting, doing whatever it takes to hurt him badly. While this maneuver does deal more damage, and has a better chance of hurting him, it does tend to leave you open.
  • Requires an Easy Combat Skill roll.
  • Does 3DU+2D10 points of damage, plus 1 point for every 5 points that your skill roll beat the difficulty.
  • Add your Agility to your Iniative roll.
  • Subtract Mod(Strength + Agility + Combat Score) from your opponent's Dodge Roll.
  • Reduce your own Dodge Rolls by your opponent's (Combat Score + Agility).
  • For the purposes of knockback, you've taken 10 additional points of damage this turn.
• Trip. You're trying to make your opponent lose his footing. If you're faster than he is, you might trip him before he can make his action.
  • Make an Average Agility + Combat Skill + Acrobatics roll.
  • Does 2D6 + 2 - Mod(Opponent's Health) points of damage.
  • Reduce your Iniative roll by [30 - Mod(Perception)].
  • Your opponent adds Acrobatics to his Dodge roll if he has it.

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