CATCHING*: There will be two ways to catch pokemon within the rp. You have to keep in mind our setting- This is taking place in a time before catching pokemon and training them is widespread. Many people within the world are still warming up to the idea of so much as even just living with pokemon, much less keeping them in pokeballs. It's also stated that pokeballs are a recent invention of their own, so outside of the game's story, you're less likely to encounter anyone who has a full of team of six they've been spending decades training and battling with. We're working under the assumption that the majority of people within the world do not have pokemon, or did not spend time with them. So with that in mind, our catching mechanics so far are as follows-
Method #1: Players will be required to purchase a (cheap) item from our store that can be used to trigger a catch thread. You choose where you want to have your catch (the mountains, by the ocean, etc.) and from there, staff will determine which pokemon will be available to you, how many pokeballs your character has, and how many chances you get to perform a successful catch. Second or third stage, rarer, and other harder to obtain pokemon will obviously be more difficult to catch. Your chances to catching a Wurmple are pretty good as opposed to catching a powerful Garchomp, ya know? We're also toying with the idea of different pokemon being available to you based on your character's star rank (we're still hashing out how that will work too so don't take this as gospel).
Method #2: We will have frequent "catch event threads", maybe mass outbreaks, maybe distortions, but essentially a big group thread where everyone gets a chance to snatch up some wild pokemon. This will use similar mechanics to a regular catch thread, but everyone who shows interest will have an opportunity to make a catching attempt, no shop purchase necessary. We want to use these to sometimes also expand on the site or move the plot along. Like, for example, oh the Construction Corps is looking to build a new neighborhood of town, but there's not enough workers, hey could we get folks to go out and catch some Machop to help us?
Either way, our catch threads/events will sometimes be linked to a REQUEST that members can pick up for some rewards as well as contribute to the expansion of Jubilife Village or other settlements around Hisui. Going out into the wild on your own to freely catch pokemon will be disallowed, because while we don't want to moderate a million catch threads, we also don't want people just going out to suddenly have full teams of six to pummel everyone with because... Why what's the point of that?
STARTERS*: So as I explained above, most characters won't even have pokemon, or be interested in having one to begin with. Should a character have a partner pokemon, it's pretty unlikely it would be some third stage evolution that's seen years of battle. I'd put more money on say some old lady from the Hoenn region who's moving into town with her pet Skitty that never leaves the house, just as an example. So characters will be allowed a first stage starting partner pokemon, maybe two, and maybe a possible second stage depending on the pokemon, but again that's not solid yet. We will however, have a list of pokemon that characters could reasonably start out with, either as pets, for adventuring, or town building with. But having a pokemon will not be required.
STATS: Overall, we're statless. We don't really want to sit here and roll die a million times to determine stats over and over again, we're not gonna focus on it. It's like, just use common sense when it comes to your pokemon. Should you choose to get into a battle, just be smart about it. Yeah, your Growlithe will absolutely fry that Kricketot, kinda no question about that lmao. Yes, a Ryhorn could very easily run down a little Pikachu into the dust without even really trying.
CHARACTER ART: Original and fan art are both allowed so long as it follows the animanga art style (more or less), could reasonably fit our setting's time period, and is PROPERLY CREDITED. Even if the original art is not yours, we still want to know who made it, and where it came from, and no, zerochan and pinterest are not actual sources lmao. They're good ways to find art, but we want explicit credit linking back to a twitter, tumblr, insta, artstation, deviantart, etc. Using a doll maker/picrew is fine, just again, so long as it fits our aesthetic and setting.
*Please note that we're still fine tuning these, this may not be the final decision we make, and it could change even after launch as we figure things out. We're three adults, two of which are knee deep in intensive majors in school, and ultimately want a more casual slice of life experience with a bigger focus on town and settlement building than other hardcore pokemon rp mechanics. We're not interested in seeing who's gonna become a "top trainer" because those don't exist yet. Maybe as time goes on and the region becomes more developed, then we can start talking about the beginnings of actual training and a league, but until then, enjoy sitting on the riverbank eating potato mochi with your Bidoof lmao.
