Pokemon Tabletop United vs Pokemon Tabletop Adventures

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shinimasu
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Pokemon Tabletop United vs Pokemon Tabletop Adventures

Post by shinimasu »

So I found the review here of PTA, and I was wondering if anyone knew if PTU was actually any better or just more streamlined? I mean giving it a cursory once over it looks like some things got tightened up but until I actually try and play it I have a poor idea of how it actually translates into game play.

And I don't want to invest time into learning how to play a broken mess when I have other games I could run.
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Post by Koumei »

I have asked about them before, and the answer given from actual players was "PTU is the Pathfinder of PTA". I think they meant "It fixes the little problems up and gives more options", but it could also mean "Everything is changed for no reason and it's a mess".
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Josh_Kablack
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Post by Josh_Kablack »

Did either of them fix the switching between metric and imperial units in a single power description that was a common issue last I cared to look?
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Post by ...You Lost Me »

I am a bigger fan of PTU. PTA has classes that can be literally worthless, it encourages dumpster-diving, it has power now/later trades, and it's stupidly complicated. PTU has a lot less of those problems and streamlines the crazy system to boot. It also has a better community. If you point out rules holes or loopholes, you're more likely to get the "Get out dirty rollplayah" response from PTA players than PTU players.

The only selling point PTA has for me is the crazy shenanigans you can get up to, like DR 50 on PCs (not pokemon, human beings). But if you plan on learning a new system or running Pokémon for your friends, PTU will take you farther.
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Post by Shrapnel »

I will say, as someone who is almost totally ignorant of TTRPGs, that I've found PTU easier to use than PTA, and much more accessible.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I've played a few games of PTA, and I enjoyed it despite the fact that it has a number of flaws. Shrapnel and I posted a campaign log or two about it a while back (if you're curious, look through the In The Trenches subforum).

I haven't played PTU (a friend was planning to run a game a while back but that hasn't turned out well) but from looking over the rulebooks it looks better.
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Post by Grek »

They're both a fucking mess.
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Post by spongeknight »

They both share the basic problem that the pokemon themselves are as unbalanced as all fuck. The movelists are based on the original game instead of, you know, anything that would make sense. Some pokemon are worthless because they don't get any at-will moves until level 20 or some shit like that, some pokemon just don't get any good moves ever, and some get really powerful ones really early. It's fucked. And the stats of pokemon are another kick in the teeth- some are just 10 stat points higher than others because go fuck your rattatta.
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