I have been lowkey working on a heavily Digimon World 1 inspired RP site for the past month, but I'm trying to make sure it's something I'd really stick with before opening it up. Maybe I'll make an interest check thread on it once it's "finished"

I do think Digimon has some really interesting features that make it stand out from Pokemon (one partner rather than a bunch you can collect, infinitely variable evolution lines that let you get creative, an isekai setting that lets you see how your normal human would fare in cyberspace Wonderland). But the lore and setting are more convoluted than Pokemon, so it's harder to make.

Also, each Digimon series/game varies a LOT more than each Pokemon series so you also need to do more work to get everyone to understand what exactly Digimon and Tamers can or can't do in your setting.

So I think that's part of why Digimon is less popular than Pokemon

Like the others have said, if you don't have levels/stats, there's no need for modded encounters. Heck, it's probably a lot more common for trainers to buy/adopt a pokemon than to catch one in the wild.

If you want to keep certain pokemon rare, you can limit certain ones to one per player, and allow people to spend forum currency to unlock more.

Or, you could just ignore rarity altogether and see if your community does a good job of self-regulating. After all, if it really is a character-driven RP, people wouldn't really be hoarding rare pokemon. They'd probably just pick whichever pokemon make the most sense for their character to have (like if they are playing a pokemon nurse they may have two or three fairy/normal types. If they want a charizard, they will build a character who makes sense owning a charizard.). When reviewing a character application you could even make them give a justification for each pokemon they have. 

But ultimately, any restrictions are your call! Just do what you think gives people options while having something to build towards. 

---

As for coming up with your general site concept, my advice would be to sit down and really reflect on what you like about the Pokemon world.

For me, what really excites me is the idea of humans living alongside fantastical creatures in harmony. I enjoy thinking about how humans and pokemon would interact in contexts outside of battling. In a world where nearly everyone has a magical pet that they take everywhere, society would be structured very differently from ours.

I also like to explore the implications of a pokemon world (while avoiding the darker implications like pokemon being used for war. Good vibes only!). Would pokemon species have multiple color morphs/breeds? Do students get scholarships for doing well in pokemon tournaments? Are there any new industries that would exist only because of a certain pokemon? How hard is it to find an apartment if you have a fire pokemon? Obviously it isn't necessary to answer all of these questions, but it may be fun for an RP community to work together to answer them over time.

Based on what you like about the Pokemon world, what setting would you be interested in creating? If you just want to focus on people vibing with pokemon rather than the trainer's journey, my suggestion would be to focus on one community (A city if you want a huge variety of people/pokemon, or a town/village if you want a more rural feel) and use the story to explore how pokemon and humans rely on each other. There could be one or two Pokemon gyms in town for people who like roleplaying battles, but there would be plenty of other activities for people who want to focus on other things.

I recently got the hankering to do an Avatar TLA rp, but I can't seem to find any that are still open!

I think a big issue is that the setting of Avatar lends itself to grand plotlines that sweep across multiple continents. But a smaller scale Avatar RP, maybe taking place on a single island or in one town, could work a lot better. Just gotta keep all your characters close enough to interact with each other.

Thanks for the feedback!

I can see that using bells for furniture and house upgrades might be too much of a hassle. It may be a better experience for players to just build their characters' houses with whatever size and furniture they think is appropriate.

Additionally, maybe it would be a good idea to allow people to create custom animal villagers, as long as they ask permission before using someone's OC (I'm a little hazy on the etiquette there). It could even turn into a lowkey Panfandom RP that way, with Epona and other Nintendo-based villagers in the games already lol. I'm definitely open to allowing original villagers, I'd just have to think about how it's implemented.

I'm definitely very prone to going overboard with ideas for intricate mechanics, but it's probably best to avoid complicating things, especially at the beginning. After all, an Animal Crossing RP should be relaxing, not overwhelming.

I think I will stick to a town milestone idea, along with some sort of collectible that people can spend their bells on. Maybe a bug/fish/fossil catching mechanic similar to how Pokemon RPs handle wild Pokemon? People could pay a handful of bells for a chance to bug hunt, fish, or fossil hunt.

Essentially, I want to create an RP to allow people to play as villagers and NPCs from the Animal Crossing series. All the villagers have amazing designs that give them ton of personality! However, the AC games probably won't ever flesh them out as well as they deserve. So, I'd like to create a space for people to develop their favorite Animal Crossing characters, in one small town setting.

This is still very much in the early brainstorming phase, so any suggestions are appreciated. Here's a list of my current ideas. 

• Creating Your Character: Players would be allowed to claim any villager or NPC that has appeared in an Animal Crossing game (possibly with some exceptions) and make a life for them in this new town! They'd keep their canon personality type, but players would expand on their backstory, occupation, motivations, and personality quirks. 
  
• Moving Into Town: After a character is accepted, they would set up a house thread describing their character's house and yard, with screenshots from one of the games if desired. There's opportunity to implement a furniture and plant collecting system here, but that may be more complicated than it's worth. At the very least, it would be easy to implement a Home Upgrade system, allowing players to buy extra house space over time.
  
• Building Up the Town: Of course, certain parts of the town would be bare at the beginning. There could be a museum that needs exhibits, a couple shops that need upgrading, a boat to an island that needs repaired. Unlike the games, town growth is only limited by our creativity, but we'd need to develop some good systems for it to feel rewarding. Maybe players would be allowed to buy space for their own shop, in case Merengue wants to open a cafe, or Eugene wants to start a night club?
  
• Expanding the Lore: To fully realize some characters, we will need explore some of the stranger parts of Animal Crossing lore. Why do Coco and Clay appear to be animated statues? What's the deal with Ribbot and Sprocket? It's important to develop site lore that explains these mysteries, so that the world these villagers live in makes (a little) sense.
  

All that being said, here's some questions that I have for anyone interested in the concept:

• What do you like and/or dislike about my current ideas?
• What mechanics would you like to see implemented in a site like this?
• Would you be interested in acting as a staff member or helping to build the site? (not an immediate need, but if anyone happens to be interested, help would be appreciated)

Ok, I keep having ideas for cute slice of life RPs lol.

Would anyone enjoy an Animal Crossing RP where you get to use the in-game villagers as face claims (keeping their name and general personality as well)? I love the designs of Animal Crossing villagers and some of them would do really well in an environment where they can have a fully unique personality and backstory.