I've always played around with the idea, but someone who hasn't done a whole lot of DMing...

What system would be best for this?

Fuck PTU. That shit's as complicated as Pathfinder.

I'd be willing to do GURPS if I had to.

I kind of feel like just making up some numbers and ocassionally telling people to roll D20s would be the best way to run it

The most important part of running PMD is somehow balancing the uniqueness of the assorted pokemon, while not letting that get carried away and making everyone who doesn't get a flier with arms feel useless.

I think GURPS could handle that decently, with a bit of tinkering about.

Alternatively, sidestep PTU and just go PTA, and give each player both "pokemon" stats, and "personal" stats.

I'd be so down for doing a campaign like this.

Refluffling the abilities of 4e DnD works perfectly for mystery dungeons.

Pokerole, another fan made pokemon system that isn't nearly as crunchy as PTU/PTA, straight up has a PMD splat.

I've never used Rokerole (cause currently running a PTU game), but I've heard good things from the small handful of people I know that have.

I made a ghetto but functional Pokemon system for my own personal use because I hated how convoluted and needlessly complicated all the Pokemon Tabletop systems were (like PTU and the like).

I just literally take actual Pokemon stats using a game stat calculator, and slap some lite D&D Basic rules on top of them.
Example: Your poke wants to attack another poke, roll 1d20+(attack or spec attack stat), if the opposing poke isn't surprised or sneak attacked they have a chance to either tank the hit (Def or SpDe) or dodge it (Spe). Same roll from them, 1d20+(relevant stat). If the attacker rolls higher, they hit. If the defender rolls higher, they either tank the damage or dodge the attack.

Damage is based on attack (1d4, 1d6, 1d8, etc), and the relevant attacking stat is added to that roll, and then you subtract the defender's relevant stat to determine HP taken. Super Effective moves do double their dice damage. Not Very Effective rolls are halved.

Stats can work like D&D skills for skill checks, like Speed to move fast or sneak, or Attack to make a strength check.

It's obviously not perfect at all, and sometimes requires DM Fiat and fibbing to make it fair to the players, but I've used it for a tiny PMD campaign with my buds and they've enjoyed it so far. No real hiccups... so far.

How do you handle what Pokemon the players can play as?

Its not very hard, but it takes a good amount of thought, I've been in a game based in Savage Worlds that has worked really well. It really just depends on how deep into it you really want to go. I'd suggest going somewhat rules light or the like as it allows for more pokemon to be 'useful' and good characters. Because although the games say that there is no best pokemon ...there fucking are.

This has given me inspiration for a simple tabletop hack of the games.
Bumping thread so I can post it later

bump almost done

This system is based off the game mechanics, translated in such that it gives the general feel that Pokemon games give, while still being very easy to set up, play and run.

>Translating the Games
Humans are not computers, therefore the game has been simplified as much as possible. To translate a Pokemon's Game Statistics (GS) to TableTop Statistics (TTS), take their base stats and divide by 5, rounding up or down as necessary.

>Salandit
>HP: 48->10
>ATK: 44->9
>DEF: 40->8
>SP. ATK: 71->14
>SP. DEF: 40->8
>SPD: 77->16

These are Level 1 stats.
Next, choose a nature (pic related). There are 25 natures, and they help to roleplay Pokemon. These can be either chosen (for Mystery Dungeon or starter pokemon) or randomly rolled for (for Pokemon encountered in the wild). Each nature has a favoured stat and an opposed stat. Each time they gain a level, they gain +4 to each stat. Their favoured stat then gets another +2, while their opposed stat gets -2. Pokemon can grow to a maximum of Level 10.

>Converting Moves and Levels
Moves work as in the games. Once a Pokemon has gained enough levels, they learn a new move or moves, and can use those as their trainer sees fit. Pokemon do not forget moves, but they can only have 4 prepared for ready use at a given time. To convert an attacking move, divide the power by 10 (for more details, see Combat and Damage)

Leveling can be done at the discretion of the GM. If he wishes to track the number of battles and pokemon fought he can do that, or he can have leveling occur at important plot points. It's important to remember that Levels in game are on a 10:1 basis. So level 1 covers levels 1-10, level 2 covers levels 11-20, and so on. Thus, to maintain continuity especially in the early game certain events will be broken up over the course of a level. So for instance, if we have a newly hatched salandit, it may be some time before he learns Ember. The learning of moves and evolution occurs at the discretion of the GM.
(cont)

>Combat and Attacks
In addition to their GS, Pokemon also have two TTS. These are:
>Health
>Combat Dice

Health is the amount of damage a Pokemon can take. This calculation is:
>Health=2*HP Stat*level

Combat Dice determine the amount of damage a Pokemon can deal. They gain a new one every level. By default they are d6s, but type effectiveness can change that.

To attack, a Pokemon must have PP for a move they have prepared. When you use a move, 1d100 is rolled. This roll is compared to the moves Accuracy score, and if the roll is less than the Accuracy score, you hit! If it's equal or higher, you miss. Note that the roll can change! Bonuses and penalties can be assigned based off circumstances.These are at GM's discretion, and can include:
>Target being unaware of your prescence: -30
>Target is prone or otherwise vulnerable: -50

>Target is far away: +10/30 feet
>Attacker is on infirm footing: +20
>Target has cover:
The GM will tell you before you roll for an attack whether you have any penalties or bonuses to the roll. After you roll, these are then added to the roll and compared to the score.
>Seth's charizard wants to sneak attack a raticate which is unaware of his prescence with his flamethrower move. Since flamethrower is a ranged attack, Seth's GM allows this. Seth's charizard gets -30, but then gets +40 because the raticate is 150 feet away, for a net of +10 to the roll. Seth rolls his d100, and gets 43+10=53, vs. flamethrower's accuracy of 100, meaning that seth's charizard hits. It's certainly aware of him now!
(cont)

To calculate damage for an attack, first compare the attacking pokemon's ATK stat to the target Pokemon's DEF stat. If the attacker's ATK score is higher, the Move's Power is added once for each Combat dice being used.

Certain factors affect the size and amount of dice being used, in particular type effectiveness.The following factors can move a Pokemon up or down 1 step each:
>Defending Pokemon's type is vulnerable to Move Type: +1 Step
>Attacking Pokemon is shares Type with Move being used (STAB): +1 Step
If a Pokemon moves up a Step, refer to this chart:
>Step 1: d6
>Step 2: d8
>Step 3: d12
All Pokemon start at Step 1.
On the other hand, if a move is ineffective, it reduces the damage. If a Pokemon type is resistant to the move's damage, it halves the number of dice you roll (if the number of dice dice are not evenly divisible, simply roll and divide the damage). Note: if the pokemon in question has two types and is resistant to both, you are at 1/4 damage!

An example:
>A level 4 charizard (Health-56; HP-28; AT-29; DE-28; SA-34; SD-29; SP-32), is fighting a level 4 Gyarados (Health-62; HP-31; AT-37; DE-28; SA-26; SD-32; SP-28). The charizard uses Flameburst against the Gyarados. Charizard's Special Attack (34) is higher than gyarados' special defense (32), so charizard gets to add bonus move damage (+7/die). Charizard shares a move type with Flameburst, so it gets STAB (+1 step), but gyarados is resistant to fire damage (dice/2), so charizard will roll 2d6+14 for attack damage. He rolls 9+14, dealing 23 damage, and putting gyarados at 39 Health. Gyarados uses Aqua Tail. Gyarados' Attack (37) is higher than charizard's Defense (28), so he gets to add the move's power to his attack (+9/die). Gyarados shares a type with the attack (+1 Step), and charizard is weak to water (+1 Step), so he rolls 4d12+36. He rolls 28+36, dealing 64 damage to charizard and O.H.K.O.ing him!
(cont, next one should be the last one guys)

>Making a Trainer
Human trainers have all the same stats as Pokemon, they just start lower. The base stats for a trainer are:
HP: 5
ATK: 5
DEF: 5
SP. ATK: 5
SP. DEF: 5
SPD: 5

Unlike Pokemon however, trainers can learn skills. Skills are what make humans more versatile. When you place a point into a skill, you must choose a specialty. The skills that human trainers can learn are:
>Art (Craft): The ability to create and appreciate specific crafts. These include things like music and painting, but can also be more "practical" things, such as weaving or woodwork.
>Athletics (Sport): The ability to control your body. These include soccer, swimming, biking and combat sports.
>Occult (Practice): Knowledge of mysticism and spirituality. Includes such areas as magic and holy rituals, but also psychic abilities.
>Pokemon (Type): Understanding of Pokemon, and ability to interact with them. This aids in areas such as befriending, training, and even capturing Pokemon
>Science (Field): Knowledge of the scientific principles which governs the world. Can be a natural science such as biology or chemistry, or an applied science like engineering.
>Social (Class): The ability to navigate social situations and talk to people. The class you choose makes you identifiable as a member of that class, such as roughneck, gentlemen, or rich students.
>Survival (Talent): Practical understanding of nature. Talents include hiking, fishing, and climbing.
Skills are used to make checks as you navigate the game world. When your character attempts something that they have some chance of failure in, they roll d100 against a difficulty chosen by the GM. If the roll is under the difficulty they succeed. If the roll is lower than the difficulty they fail. Skills raise your chances of success! When rolling against a check of a skill you have points in, for every point in the skill you get +5. If the check is against your area of specialisation, you get +10!
(next one's the last one, promise)

>Advancing Trainers
When you make a new character, you get the base trainer stats, and you get 10 points to distribute either amongst your skills, or to raise your combat stats. Trainers gain levels based on the advancement of their pokemon. Anytime one of their Pokemon gains a level, they get one experience. It takes 5 experience for a trainer to gain a level.

Trainers start know only one move, Hit:
>Hit
>Type: Normal
>Category: Physical
>Power: 1
>Accuracy:100
>PP: 20
(I have rules for trainers to learn more moves if anyone cares)

>Capturing Pokemon
Throw Pokeball.
Roll d100.
Add Pokemon's levelx10.
Modify the roll if the Pokemon has:
>Half-Health: -20
>Quarter-Health: -40 (not cumulative)
>Status: -10
Compare to ball's catch rate.
>Poke-ball: 60
>Greatball: 80
>Ultraball: 95
>Masterball: 120
If the roll is less than the catch rate of the ball you capture.

Ok, that was way more writing than I expected. I really hope somebody else gets some use out of this. If anyone does use this, let me know how it goes, you can drop me an e-mail at [email protected]. I'm sure there's some stuff that I missed, but just use your best judgement and play it by ear.
Happy training!

So, for a PMD game, just ignore the last two posts and give the Skills to the Pokemon?

Ugh, errata

Erm... Health should just be 2*HP, don't multiply by level
Cover should give +50

Also, forgot to mention that everytime they gain a level they get 5 points to spend.So that's 10 points for level 1, then 5 points for each level after

Yep, I'd say that's a pretty safe way to do things. Might consider giving Pokemon different skill names, but it shouldn't matter too much