Review of A Monster's Tail - a Monster Catching PbtA TTRPG

    I am supporting an ongoing Kickstarter campaign for A Monster's Tail, a monster catching TTRPG inspired by Pokémon and based on the PbtA system, developed by Five Points Games. At time of writing, there are only a few days left.

    I regularly run Dungeon World, and since Palworld came out, I've been thinking about how the monster catching genre might be adapted to PbtA. I was thrilled to discover someone has beaten me to it. Since I want this to succeed, I decided to run a one-shot for my regular gaming group and see how that went. What follows is my review of the game as it stands in the Quickstart. 

The Bottom Line

1. My players and I all had a great time and would love to pursue a longer campaign.
2. The final version is still being edited, and as such, the Quickstart document is a little rough. It has clearly been re-written a few times by now. There are a few errors and poor wording that made it confusing.
3. The Quickstart document is almost but not quite sufficient to comfortably run a one-shot in. I felt it was lacking in the amount of Genmon ("generic  monster," as they call them) and the number of "natures" available to apply to them.

Mechanics Overview

One of the more innovative things about this system is how it approaches the genre. There have been other attempts at converting Pokémon to TTRPGs, and they tend to focus on emulating the combat mechanics of the games. A Monster's Tail, however, is more like the anime than the games. It's about telling a story of a group of friends going on a journey together through a world of trainable monsters. It doesn't get bogged down on the mechanical details of catching, training, leveling, battling, etc.

Players start by choosing a “Journey,” this game’s term for Playbooks. The Journeys don’t just grant different moves, but they describe what the character’s goals are for the campaign. For example, the Champion is the Journey focused on challenging all the gyms. Whereas the Idol is more interested in using their Genmon to aid them in their performing art, and advances through successful performances. The Journeys each have their own victory condition to track, which triggers their “Finale” when completed. Given that this is a Quickstart, this isn’t very detailed yet.

Catching Genmon comes down to a single 2d6 roll, modified by the "grade" of the capture device (like basic pokeballs vs great balls or ultra balls), and with a -1 penalty if you have yet to use another move in the scene. This means it gets easier after interacting with the wild Genmon at least a little bit first.

                The Genmon themselves are differentiated by having one or two types, and having a type advantage/disadvantage over an opponent can grant a bonus or penalty to certain rolls. Each Genmon also has a “Nature,” which describes its personality. This gives the GM a list of “nature complications,” or how the Genmon’s behavior complicates the scene, and a number of moves related to its nature.

One really interesting innovation is how duels are handled. As I learned from speaking with the designers, having to roll the same combat move over and over again for up to 6 Genmon is really boring. Instead, there is a qualitative measurement known as "style," to assess whether a trainer is stronger than, weaker than, or equal to you. Random trainers you meet in the wild can be assumed to be weaker, gym leaders and villain team admins are stronger, and villain team leaders and champions are much stronger. You may then raise or lower your own comparative style by asking questions, like whether or not your team is healthy, or if you have type advantages, etc. Then the duel comes down to a single roll. The results are determined based on whether your style is lower, equal, or higher than your opponents. A lower style might mean a narrow defeat, even on a 10+. With a higher style, even a 6- is a victory, albeit with a complication.

Again, the game is trying to emulate the storytelling aspect, rather than get bogged down in the mechanical exchange that is usually handled by a video game console. I think this is an innovative approach to the monster catching genre that showcases the strengths of the PbtA system and design philosophy.

A Summary of Play

Note: I ran a second one-shot recently for a different group, which happened to include one of the writers of the game. He was able to join up due to, coincidentally, living in the same city as me. I’m only recording my experience with the first group, both for brevity and because my overall impression was the same both times: a lot of fun, very exciting, very much in need of more editing.

I started this scenario with 4 players, one for each of the four "Journeys," i.e. playbooks, that are available in the Quickstart. The players were:

Oris, the Champion. Much like Ash Ketchum, the Champion wants to challenge the gyms of the region, collect all the badges, and "be the very best, like no one ever was."

Jeremy "Gen Man" Filschner, the Idol. The Idol's journey is to gain notoriety using their Genmon in the performing arts. The details are left up to you, as "Gen Man" here was a luchador.

“Cap” the Captain

“The Doctor” the Doctor

    I opened by describing the players setting out from Venture Town, the starting town, and traveling along Route 1 to Tenor City. Route 1 was mostly a maritime forest alongside some short limestone cliffs and tide pools by the ocean.

    We tested out the travel rules, and this is where I felt it needed some more clarification. Routes and Wilds have a "rate" associated with them, and I originally thought you needed to role the Travel move once per rate of the Route. Upon conferring with the designer on Discord, it seems like only one roll is necessary, and the "rate" is tracked with a progress clock. A rate of 3 needs three successes of any kind. Failed rolls could add complications and remove progress, per the GM's discretion.

    In any case, they explored the route, captured a few wild Genmon, and agreed to help an old man find his missing Genmon, a platiquent named Admiral.

    They soon found a group of Spade Gang grunts, the local villainous team. One of the grunts had stolen the wayward platiquent and refused to return it.

    Oris challenged the grunt to a duel and won, forcing the grunt to return the stolen Genmon. Gen Man, however, couldn't leave well enough alone, and demanded to know what the villains were up to. The Admin, a man called "Clubs," challenged Gen Man to a duel.

    The interesting thing is, the way Gen Man's player rolled, he could have chosen to win the fight, but barely. Instead, he decided that it made more narrative sense to lose. So Clubs defeated Gen Man and warned them not to follow.

    After this, they returned Admiral to the old man who rewarded them with some Gear (the currency you spend for equipment), then asked Cap to watch Admiral for a while. Cap's journey, the Captain, has certain part time jobs associated with them. Cap chose "Genmon babysitter" for one of them, and thus earned a civic commendation.

    Before arriving in Tenor City, they also saw a couple of trainers who had fallen down in a cliff collapse. The Doctor provided medical care to the NPC trainer's injured Genmon, and thus progressed their journey as well.

    Upon arriving in Tenor City, Oris wasted no time before challenging the gym. The gym was of the "Mantle" type, an earth and stone themed type, and before Oris could face the gym leader, Chuck, he needed to complete a rock climbing course with his Genmon. Despite having the "Reckless" condition at this point and taking a -1 penalty to Overcome (a generic move similar to DW's Defy Danger), he rolled well and the battle commenced. He was able to successfully defeat Chuck and earn his first badge.

    Afterwards, Gen Man arrived at his wrestling match to perform. He rolled well enough to succeed, but added one to his "audience track," which is kind of a measure of how tired of him the audience is. This indicated that while he did well, he would need to do better.

    After the match, Gen Man met with a "talent scout" to discuss the match, only to learn it was Clubs, the villain Admin from Route 1. Clubs warned Gen Man to keep his nose out of the Spade Gang's business if he valued his career, and Gen Man, defiant, vowed to become the greatest luchador in the region regardless.

Concluding Thoughts

    On the whole, I’d say this is an innovative and elegant way of translating Pokemon-style stories to TTRPGs. Despite the rough spots I encountered in play, it’s clear that this is a diamond in the rough. And the developers are active on Discord and have been very receptive to the feedback that myself and others have been giving them. I’m very excited to get my hands on the final release.