Pokemon Magic?

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Simlasa

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What games feature elements that might derive from Pokemon (or something similar)?

My primary homebrew setting has a form of animism/folk magic that I've never much expounded upon. Most PCs over the years have been from urban centers of the East and used the 'scientific' form of magic they teach... but now I'm wanting to build up on the animism angle for a different area of the setting. So I'm hunting for inspiration

I know there are Pokemon TTRPGs... and Majimonsters is a direct take on things like Yugioh... but I guess I'm looking for something that's a bit less of a single-minded Pokemon clone... where the 'monster trainer' element fits into a larger setting, not the main theme.

The Whispering Vault had its 'Servitors', which are sometimes described as 'Clive Barker Pokemon'. I'm curious what other RPGs might have some form of this.
Maybe there are classes in some later form of D&D that work this way? Monster trainers or Ghost Wranglers?

I know very little about Pokemon itself, but I like the idea of wizards using an array of specialized magic critters/spirits/living spells/elementals to perform magic... care and feeding of a menagerie of magical creatures... and the whole idea of them (not sure of the Pokemon term) 'evolving' into more powerful forms. The relationship of magic-user to his living spell beasts.
Maybe something where summoned spells can be fought and 'killed'... requiring the caster to recruit a new spirit/creature/demon of the variety he lost.

I doubt anyone here played Navia Dratp when it was out (Bandai's collectible version of Shogi with psychic teenage girls controlling armies of yokai-ish monsters (Masetai)) but that's also along the lines of what I'm aiming at.
 
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I'd probably look to Familiar mechanics for inspiration; maybe give them specific types and tendencies, but let the player have quite a lot of leeway in customising what they look like. If I was using Ars Magica rules (For example), I might let a player have two out at a time (For simplicity of book-keeping), with each one providing +6 / +4 / +2 in three forms, and +6 / +5 / etc. in six techniques to the wizard controlling them; maybe they keep others back at their covenant, and can swap between adventures, and the creatures can earn XP whenever they're bought out on an adventure, just like the PC.

"Evolution" in the pokémon video games is basically a power-up mechanic (They grow into a stronger form); you could handle that in an RPG just by saying "your creature gets bigger and stronger", so now you have a betterr cat, rather than your cat growing into a mexican wrestler.
 
"Evolution" in the pokémon video games is basically a power-up mechanic (They grow into a stronger form); you could handle that in an RPG just by saying "your creature gets bigger and stronger", so now you have a betterr cat, rather than your cat growing into a mexican wrestler.
They don't gain significant new powers? I was imagining something more than just 'leveling up', but actually shifting into a new state, as well as up whatever caste level such spirit creatures might have.
 
They don't gain significant new powers? I was imagining something more than just 'leveling up', but actually shifting into a new state, as well as up whatever caste level such spirit creatures might have.
Not really.

Each species has a list of moves that they learn when they hit different experience levels; the stronger moves generally come at higher levels. Evolved forms of the same species usually have the same move list, but learn them at higher levels; but on the other hand, because the evolved version has better stats, even just the same move will be stronger; so for example Ivysaur learns Solar Beam (A strong Grass-type move) at level 44, but it’s evolved form Venusaur learns it at 53... but because Venusaur has better stats, it’ll still hit harder. So ideally you stay in the unevolved form for as long as possible to learn moves, and then evolve when you’ve learnt everything you need (To continue the example, Ivysaur can evolve at level 32, but you can cancel the evolution and do it again next time you level).

Of course, if you link your creatures to other things, it could work completely differently - if they were linked to religious observance, then the feature of a more devout worshipper could be “stronger”, or more able to assist it’s owner (If one of the tenets of the religion was peace, frex, they probably wouldn’t reward the worshipper with a magical flamethrower).
 
OK... I'd been thinking they were more like whole new creatures when they changed... like caterpillars into butterflies into Mothra.
 
What games feature elements that might derive from Pokemon (or something similar)?

The only two I know of are Pokethulhu, which combines Pokemon with Lovecraftian Mythos creatures, and the BESM supplement Cockfighting Seizure Monsters, which is a pretty straight pastiche.
 
OK... I'd been thinking they were more like whole new creatures when they changed... like caterpillars into butterflies into Mothra.
Well... it varies. There are a few that completely change; Magikarp, a useless fish, evolves into Gyarados, an awesome Chinese water dragon, and Eevee, a cute fox... thing, can be fed elemental stones that turn it into a number of elemental-themed... fox things. Rowlet, a cute owl, eventually evolves into Decidueye, a bad-ass owl archer. And there are some evolutionary lines that work like bugs, including having a cocoon-like middle evolution.

Pokemon is a big subject, though. What are you trying to do with the concept? How do you envision the religion working? You don’t need to replicate the game’s mechanics, it sounds more like you want to replicate the feel; "kids go on an adventure, learn to make friends, prepare for adulthood".
 
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And there are some evolutionary lines that work like bugs, including having a cocoon-like middle evolution.
That's what I pictured, for some reason.

Pokemon is a big subject, though. What are you trying to do with the concept? How do you envision the religion working? You don’t need to replicate the game’s mechanics, it sounds more like you want to replicate the feel; "kids go on an adventure, learn to make friends, prepare for adulthood".
At the moment I was just looking for more RPG systems that had drawn some influence from the idea of collecting magical pets... using them to cast spells... to see what has been done with that concept beyond straight up Pokemon/Digimon/Yugioh... and gather ideas.

My setting is 'magically terraformed' and my original idea is that these creatures were magical constructs designed to aide with that settlement/invasion/protection/conversion process, millennia ago. This is on the frontier, they're much rarer in established areas.
I'd pictured something like a shaman carrying a collection of wood/stone/bone totems that housed his menagerie of spirits... or like a collection of ghosts housed in shrunken heads... but that can evolve/change/'awaken' in certain situations.
I'm also reminding myself of the 'Fatimas' in Tribe 8.
Also, it's been pointed out to me that Warmachine/Hordes (and so the Iron Kingdoms RPG) also kind of fit the general concept.

Like I'd mentioned, The Whispering Vault has invisible creatures that embody specific spell-like purposes, they're not cute, some are barely sentient.
I think you're right that some expansion on familiars/summoning rules would be the way to do them. I was just looking for what's come before.

EDIT: There's a whole Pathfinder setting based around the monster hunter/trainer ideas: Mystical: Kingdom of Monsters
 
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