Rockets Underground is a Pokémon fangame that uses the Forged in the Dark system. You play as a group of Team Rocket grunts: scrappy small fries in the grand scheme of things, fighting to establish a name for yourself in Goldenrod City. Your standard-issue Pokemon (zubats, koffings, ekanses, etc.) aren’t strong enough to go up against tough trainers. So instead of brute force, you turn to craftier forms of crime: heists, intimidations, back-alley deals, and the like.
Every grunt knows that all Pokémon exist for the glory of Team Rocket. How true is that motto for you, and how far are you willing to go to carry it out? Is stealing Pokemon just a paycheck to you, or a way of life?
You play in Goldenrod City, the sprawling metropolis of the Johto region, somewhere in the mid-2000s to early 2010s. Cell phones exist, but they’re not smart. The most thrilling technological marvels here are the bullet train and the radio tower. It is easy to go unnoticed in a city like Goldenrod, to slip into the shadows of the Underground passageways and avoid all notoriety and responsibility. It’s also the perfect place to build a fortune at the casinos or make a name for yourself at the Pokéathlon Dome.
While Team Rocket has offices all over the world, most grunts live and operate within Goldenrod City. Many make their homes and headquarters in the city’s commercial district full of underground tunnels. Rockets may make excursions to easily accessible cities (such as the neighboring Azalea or Ecruteak, or taking the train to Saffron), but for the most part they roam the Golden metropolis in search of a tourist or other easy prey.
This is a game about miscreants stealing Pokémon. It’s probably not going to be as edgy as your average Blades in the Dark game. That said, I designed this based more on the mainline Pokémon games and the Pokemon Special manga. It leans closer to a serious story than it does the hijinks of the Team Rocket trio in the anime. In this world, Team Rocket as an organization is competent. They have plots within plots, a squad in every corner of the world. Yours can specialize in whatever crime your table wants to pull. If you want to make your squad stories extra serious or extra silly, I can’t stop you!
As a Grunt, you choose a playbook and a Pokemon. Your grunt is motivated to stay a member of Team Rocket for one reason or another, and their need to impress the Boss is insatiable. Because of this, grunts actively seek high-risk, high-reward jobs that involve some kind of monetary or Pokemon yield to be delivered to higher-ups in exchange for this week’s paycheck.
Characters can specialize in one of the following archetypes:
Upon entering Team Rocket, Grunts can choose one of the following standard-issue Pokemon: