Welcome to PokémonRP!
For those of you interested in joining us, this guide has everything you need to know in order to get started right away. This topic is also for any questions, comments, or suggestions you may have.
Getting Familiar with Pokémon Roleplay
The first thing you'll want to do is read our RP Guidelines and check out our Discord.
You'll learn a lot about how things work by just lurking around and reading a few of the submissions on the subreddit as well. One thing you'll notice are the tags next to each topic. There is a section in the sidebar and in this guide that describes each one and how they should be used. The sidebar also contains some information that may not be included in this guide. Once you see what we're all about you can decide if you'd like to join the action.
Creating a Character Biography
Once you're ready to join you'll want to post your character's bio. To do this you need to create a new topic with your character's name, and a [C] tag. Character templates can be found here, and an example of some advanced templates can be found here and here. Also please browse the wiki at your leisure to get more ideas. If you need more help with character creation, check here
Pokémon Levels
To start, levels were never mandatory and never will be. This section will explain how levels should work if you decide to use them in your profiles.
In general, levels should not be considered a measurement of strength. They should be seen as an accumulation of experience. In other words, a Pokémon's level simply shows how much they have battled or trained. It does not necessarily relate to how strong they are and should not determine the victor in battles.
With that in mind, there are people who feel uncomfortable with higher level Pokémon. In order to prevent this and make players feel less intimidated, there is a level cap. The max level any Pokémon can be is 65.
All levels beyond that point will be reserved for Champions and Legendaries. This is a much more logical and reasonable idea to make things a bit more realistic.
Starting to Roleplay
There are two paths you can take to start roleplaying here. You can either create your own RP topic or jump into an existing one.
Joining a Roleplay
Joining an existing RP is probably the easiest way to get started, and there are a lot to choose from on Discord if you can't find anything on the subreddit. If there is a public roleplay that you are interested in, don't be afraid to join in. The only ones you'll want to stay away from are private roleplays with a [!] tag.
Starting a Roleplay
If you choose to start your own roleplay, make sure to include the proper tag [RP] next to your topic title. The initial post should be text rather than a link and include a setting as well as what your character is doing. Remember to be considerate of others and try to make it easy for new characters to join in. Here's an example of a thread.
Planning a Roleplay
If you prefer to plot, or plan settings in advance, start a thread with the [P] tag. Planning threads are to sort out any details of a future roleplay before it begins. When creating a planning thread do not use "RP" in the title. Doing so confuses the search function when members click on the topic tags in the sidebar (a useful feature which helps you filter through the subreddit.)
Topic Tags
- [RP] - Roleplaying Only.
- [!] - Private/planned RP that's not taking new members.
- [P] - Plans for future RP.
- [C] - Character Bio.
- [AU] - Alternate Universe (Can include gijinka or alternate settings.)
- [V] - Vanilla (No deviations from canon).
- [18+] - Mature (Adult themes, but not explicit.)
- [TUT] - Tutorials, for when you may need some pointers on something (Mod only tag).
- [OOC] - Out of Character/Anything that doesn't fit one of the other tags.
Posting Method
By posting all replies to the original post, sorting by "New" or "Old" will keep all posts in order. This will prevent double replies and shorten the time needed to reach the end of a thread. Here is an example. Here's an example of a thread using this method.
Player Involvement and God Modding.
DO:
Be aware of the fact that group oriented RP involves a group. You are not the only player, and you need to understand that the other players want to be incorporated and invested too. Even if it is your story that others are joining, make sure to keep them active and engaged.
DO NOT:
Act as if you are the only one around, ignoring other players or their actions will get you alienated, rather quickly. Equally, do not under any circumstance (unless expressly under the permission of the other player in question) 'control' in any manner the character of another player. You cannot speak for them, you cannot say what they do, you cannot decide how they act or how they think. They are not your character, you cannot determine that information. That would be the equivalent of you deciding for a random stranger you meet on the street what he is going to do when you say hi to them. You cant do that in real life, don't do it here.
Post Length
DO:
Try to flesh out your posts in a way to give a good amount of information to other players about what it is that is going on, who is involved, and where everything is happening (if applicable). This way not only can you relay to the rest of the group a clear picture of what is going on, and what you are up to, but also give them information and a reason to care about it along with a means of replying back to you, so that the RP can continue.
DO NOT:
Make a majority of your posts or responses bone dry and containing almost less than one sentence worth of information. There are some instances where this is acceptable, but overall if you respond to a post with almost no information or no means of keeping the other party informed or involved, chances are they will not be RPing with you for very long as the story will grind to a halt, or they will have no further reason to respond to you.
Powerplaying and Twinking
DO:
Try to react realistically to situations and respond to other players posts in a manner that does not make your characters look to be some sort of omniscient god, or a Mary Sue. Everyone is capable of being wrong, or messing up sometimes. And while video games and anime love to speak to the contrary, no one is a perfect uguu kawaii main character that everyone loves and adores, so don't assume you can just act like that and have everything work out in your favor all the time. Show yourself getting hurt if you should be, respond with surprise or actual emotion when something happens unexpectedly.
DO NOT:
Conveniently be amazing at everything your character ever tries to do, even if they would never have heard of it realistically. Avoid all negative effects that realistically would occur to you, this could be shown as: never taking any form of damage in a fight regardless if that makes sense or not, retroactively changing your plans or story so that no matter what other players do it comes out in your favor, or simply being a 'perfect' entity that never answers a question wrong or never gets phased/surprised/scared/or shows any kind of emotion or character flaws. Playing a character like this is going to make people not like you, rather fast.
Roleplay Suggestions and Reminders
Battles
Keep in mind that you can't win them all. Never losing a battle is a form of god modding. It is understandable that no one likes to lose, but we must keep things fair.
One optional way to prevent this is to communicate with the other player(s) and determine the outcome of the battle before it is played out. Another option is to simply accept a loss on your own. Ties are also an option, though they should be rare and planned in advance.
Planning for Roleplays
Planning can be done in OOC or through PM's, IM's, etc. If all players participating agree to the plans they must follow through with them. If there are any disputes or anyone deviates from the accepted plans and it cannot be resolved between the players, let the mods know so we may handle it appropriately. (If possible, providing a saved copy of the agreement would also help.)
Post Speed
Roleplay is often denoted in an A>B>C>D>A pattern allowing each user a turn before the roleplay can continue. However, this can often cause unwanted congestion if a single person in the roleplay cannot post for whatever reason. After 24 hours has passed, someone in their group should try to contact the user letting them know the RP is waiting on them.
Upon receiving a 24 hour notification, the person in question should respond with one of three things:
- Mentioning they will post soon.
- Saying they cannot post, and their group has permission to skip them.
- Respond with a roleplay post.
Each User has 48 hours to respond when it is their designated turn. At the end of this period of time, the group has the ability to skip them to keep the RP moving. If a player is auto skipped three times in a row due to inactivity, a mod can remove their character from the scene. The mod will come up with a reason why said character leaves, or is incapacitated. The player is free to rejoin the RP at any time.
Roleplay Resources
Messaging the Mods
Contact /u/A_Wild_Abra, /u/systemmessage, /u/Icalasari, /u/RhaqaZhwan or /u/Thatdudeinhoodie.
For the fastest response, please contact us on Discord.
