Guide to Godai RP

[Godai]

Godai Roleplaying Guide

Now that you've gotten through the general rules, this thread will fill you in on how things are run here. Please read all of this, as it should answer all of your questions.

How does One RP on a Forum?

To those of you that have done it before, this isn't new information. However, roleplaying exists in all kinds of forms, and this is for those who've never done something like this.

Godai is a Text-Based roleplay, meaning that players are supposed to write out their character's actions and post them. In addition, Godai is a Literate Text-Based roleplay, meaning that you're encouraged to write as if you were an author writing a story about your character. Also, we're on a forum, which means things are a little more different. On forums like Godai, users are required to make stories in the form of threads. A user will find a location, a sub-forum, and make a new thread there. Then, you get to writing!

Character Creation

However, it's not quite as simple as that. First you need to make a character and get them approved for use here. Simply fill out the template and then post a new topic with it. Two moderators will then approve it and the character can then be used for your roleplay. Remember that they have to fit into our setting. We’re a semi-realistic world, much like our own, but with as few changes as possible to accommodate some facts from pokemon. That means that we use as little Pseudo-Science as possible to justify things like Pokemon Centers and the PC System. Pokemon Whispering and Abnormal biologies, like pokemorphs (Human Pokemon, Gijinkas, Etc.) and abnormal strength from snacking on rare candies, are not permitted. Your Character should also be from within Godai itself as well. Godai exists in its own canon world, which means there is not a Kanto, Hoenn, Unova, or any other region or town from the anime, mangas, or games. This also means no canon characters, no Red, Ash, Nurse Joy, or Magikarp Guy before Mt. Moon. If you want a character from a different nationality, please check this Post found in our "IC Trivia". There are a near infinite amount of characters possible for one to create!

Much like in the games, you’ll begin your journey with provisional items that are expected of any Pokemon experience. Each new character receives: 1,000, 5x Pokeballs, a Pokedex, a Holocaster with a built in map-app, a journal, a backback, your personal trainer ID, badge case and a starter Pokemon that can be selected from this list. Additionally you may choose to take toiletries, clothes and bits of food; just make sure you don’t go overboard, like say taking a mini-fridge!

There are a few rules. We ask that you fill out everything in the profile that isn't marked "Optional” on the character profile template. You're always allowed to do more if you'd like, such as Relationship tabs.

Once you've been active for at least a month, the date marked by when your character is posted for approval, you can go ahead and make a second character. There are some rules here too:

• Firstly, you cannot trade between characters, no items, pokemon, or anything can be transferred.
• We do allow your two characters to interact, but it counts as a solo thread, not a tag thread. They may not be together in one thread with another RPC though, we have this rule to make sure that every member has an equal say in the plot and that can be overthrown when one user has more than one character.
• It should also be stated that making a second character is allowed for the sake of you getting to write with more people. Making a second character to compliment the first is severely frowned upon, and can usually be done better with a simple NPC. Please do not allow your characters to meet and interact unless it's absolutely necessary.
• Lastly, before making your second character, please have at least (1) Evaluated Topic + (1) Completed Modification with your first character.

As a Note: due to our site's canon, when making your character, please keep in mind that Generation Six pokemon, those introduced in the games X and Y, have only existed in the land since the Spring of 200 AG, it is currently Spring of 201 AG. Read more about this, and the seasons here, and in the post below.

Basic Writing Rules

Godai does not rely on a Moderator system for writing as well; this means that you can control what happens in your thread as much as you want. We only ask that you have a minimum of Five (5) Posts per Thread. These threads are the life stories of your character, who are we to control that? You don't have total free-reign however, there are some things we control. For example, like what Pokémon you encounter.

There is also something called Game Mastering. While Godai is meant to focus mostly on writing and how to make beautiful prose, we've also decided to include some more game elements into the story. To put it simply, every now and then, as you're writing your stories, the lovely staff here on Godai will sneak in and stick something interesting in your character's way. It can be as simple as "A fallen tree blocks your path!" or even as complex as "Your character has unknowingly wandered into the property of a crazed old woman who sticks her two large, muscled sons on you!" (I don't think something like that would ever really happen unless we're really pressed for interesting things...).

"But, I have this really cool plot in mind for my character!" That's good! We want that. So to prevent this new addition from wriggling into your story and mucking it all up, all we ask is that you write a simple OOC message at the start of your thread, or whenever the plot starts, that simply says "Please don't GM my thread until X happens."
We will decide who get's game mastered and when by a random process similar to a lottery. Of course it'll be more sophisticated, but that will be the essentials of how it works.

Aside from those two things and doing anything world-breaking, you can do whatever you want in your thread!

Speaking of Threads

There are two main types of threads on Godai, Tag Threads and Solo Threads.

Tag Threads

This is the reason a lot of us choose to roleplay, two players, writing together, combining their wit to create something wonderful. As long as two PCs from different authors are together in one thread, it is considered a Tag Thread. The characters can battle, chit-chat, go on a date, whatever comes to mind. If you need to find a partner, the Chatbox is always good for live discussion, or you can post here and wait for the fish to bite.

We've weighed our systems to favour Tag Threads as well, but you won't miss much if you choose to Solo, but we like for you all to make friends and play nice (or rough if you're into it). We ask that each post consist of at least 200 words, though more will always get you further.

If you're worried about having to fill these threads with what we like to call "Purple Fluff," mildly useless prose to get to a word minimum, we highly encourage the use of what we like to call, Pad Posts. There are several sources online for collaborative documents where more than one author can write on one page together. The Better ones are Google-Docs, and Sync.in. Simply share a link and people can write away. If you choose to use this method, two authors can work on one post, thus eliminating the need to fill up space. These are best used for Conversations and Battles between PC characters. The word count and quality on these posts will go to both authors as well. Be careful with this because each player takes responsibility for all the good and all the bad, even if they didn't contribute it. Each post, however, must be at least 500 words because it is the work of two authors. Also make sure that you provide a link to the pad or doc you used to collaborate in the Topic Evaluation or Thread.

Memory and Meetup Threads (Tag Sub Types)

These threads are unique in that you can have one of these active when you already have a topic active. These are a second thread slot, exclusively for tags with other players. They are considered Semi-Canon, meaning the events of the topic need not fit perfectly within your timeline, but can be considered as events that have happened.

Memory threads are for meetups that happened in the past. Meetups are for ones that happen as your character is now. There isn't too much of a difference between them, just the intention of the story.

In these topics you may roll encounters, but you may not catch any Pokemon. That said, nothing is stopping you from going back to the location and meeting that Pokemon again. Just remember, previous interactions do not remove the need to go through the befriending process should you choose to take that route. Otherwise, these topics count as Tag threads,

Solo Threads

Working alone on a topic can often lead to some dazzlingly fantastic threads that explore the adventures of one PC and their affairs. Generally you can do whatever you wish to do in these topics, or you may want to spice things up a little with one of the many fabulous Seasonal Event Topics that can be found here. These are special topics that you can request and have a Mod roll for you! Create a story from such prompts any way you wish, whether it be symbolic or literal. Naturally, you’ll be rewarded with some lovely goodies.

All threads must contain a minimum of five posts, each with a minimum word count of 500. Though much like Tag-Topics, the more the better!

Origin/Lab Topics

Have a burning desire to play out events that lead to your character wanting start a journey? Want to show us how your character encountered their starting Pokemon? If you answered yes to either both or one of these questions, you may want to consider writing an origin or lab topic.

Lab topics are specifically for those that chose to have a lab starter (Torchic, Piplup, etc). You can develop how your character felt, what they did and how they behaved on the day they were finally able to chose their starter Pokemon! It is worth noting that if you chose to include a staff-made Professor, you must abide by the personality we have crafted for the character. Alternatively, you can request that a moderator takes direct control of the Professor. The Pokemon Laboratory is located on the campus of GSUC in Cadence, Central

Origin topics are for everyone else. Though you may still encounter a lab Pokemon in the wild.

These topics are entirely optional. They can only be completed once and only as your first topic.

Much like Tag-Threads and Solo-Threads, origin threads require a minimum of 5 posts and a minimum of 200 or 500 words per post respectively.

Progressive Topics

A Progressive Topic is a solo or a tag topic where something drastic happens to one's character. These should be full of rich plot and written out to the fullest potential the writer has. Every other thread a character is in can be Progressive, all one needs to do is put an OOC marking at the top that says, "Progressive Topic." These will dole out more rewards, but they're also graded much, much harsher. Don't tag your average thread with these, as it would probably end up hurting you more than helping you.

Note that these still require either a 200 or 500 word minimum per post if it's tag or solo respectively. And remember that dipping under this will result in more penalties compared to a normal thread. And if everything goes well, you can expect to bring in some big piles of rewards.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Skype Parties}Those of you who’ve settled into the community might already know that many citizens of Godai are fond of what we call, “Skype Parties”. Well, this next idea is a direct consequence of one such party, and I think we can say that it’s going to add an exciting new dynamic to the site!...

Okay, okay, we’ll get to the point.

How many of you have distinct voices for every character you read on Godai?
How many of you wish you could hear those voices reading the posts?
… How many of you have heard of an audiobook?

Yes, be excited, for Godai has decided to implement what we are fondly calling the Voiceover Initiative!

Our policy towards this interesting new dynamic is as follows:

• Open to Everyone
• Rewarding for Everyone
• Available to Everyone

So, what does this mean?

Open to Everyone: Any mod or member on Godai can voice act – after all, there are countless at your disposal! Anyone can voice anything, meaning it doesn’t have to be your own topic or even your own character. We want this to be an open and newly interactive experience in Pokémon Godai.

Rewarding to Everyone: At the same time, we realize that voice acting is a rather time-consuming task, and diving into such an endeavor might be difficult without a little… incentive. Thus, we’ve decided to make things easier by giving some bonus rewards for every topic read aloud… in the form of EXP~!

	Solo Voiceover	Tag Voiceover
Normal Quality	0.5 EXP	1 EXP
Star Quality	1 EXP	2 EXP

So, how about that? Another fun way to give your characters’ pokémon a little boost! And now, last but not least…

Available to Everyone: What does this mean? This means no downloads, people! Not everyone can download things freely off the internet, sadly. If you wish to upload a download link, feel free, but note that the read-aloud will only be rewarded if you upload it to Soundcloud (a free site). Youtube is an alternative, but please note that some Chinese members will be left out

Well then… have fun!

Topic Evaluation

Once you have completed your topic and wish to have it evaluated by a member of staff, post a Topic Evaluation Request here. Please allow up to several days for a member of staff to get around to evaluating your topic as things can get quite hectic occasionally. Once your topic has been taken in for evaluation a reply to your request will be given. Now all you can do is wait and be a patient as possible with the mod handling the evaluation. Depending on workload and length of the topic, it may take some time.

A second reply will inform you when the topic has been evaluated and you can then go to your topic and read your evaluation and check your rewards! If you have any questions or queries do not hesitate to contact the mod that handled your evaluation. Once you are satisfied, put in a modification request with your desired changes and applied rewards.

On Godai, we do believe in quality over quantity. That doesn’t mean you won’t be rewarded for word count, we know that being verbose can take a lot of work sometimes. It does mean that we treat each evaluation as if it’s written all at once. Someone who posts fifty times a day will be treated the same as the person who posts five times a month. In fact the former might even get less rewards because they sped through their story.

We look through topics and checkto see if there are any glaring penalties like the following:

• Godmoding or otherwise Breaking Rules
• Misusing or Under-utilizing Encounters.
• Illegal Catch of a Pokmeon
• Word Insuffciency
• Abusive Editing
• Changing Canon or bringing in False Canon (Nurse Joys etc)

Incomplete topics can also be submitted, but they do take a harsh penalty. We do ask that you do not use this feature unless you are stuck with an RP partner who abandoned you. But even this can be remedied by trying one’s best to simply wrap up the topic, whether it be in defeat or victory or totally anticlimactically. A Completed thread will always be worth more than an incomplete thread.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Thread Of The Month}

Thread Of The Month

As the title suggests, Thread Of The Month is a monthly reward for the writer/writers of a thread. Each month, an evaluated topic will be chosen by the moderators, and those who contributed to the topic will gain a special reward - some of which have never been given out before. Threads submitted for evaluation will automatically be considered for Thread of the Month, and no special or formal requests have to be made.

In order to qualify for Thread Of the Month, both the writer and thread must comply to the following requirements:

• The complete topic must be submitted by the 20th of the month
• Complete Topics submitted after the 20th will be considered the the next month's Thread Of The Month
• The winner of last month's Thread Of The Month cannot win again the next month
• The thread must not break any major rules, such as word counts
• All writers that contributed to a thread will get a prize if that thread is picked, but not all writers will get the same prize, due to different levels and ways of contribution.

If you have any other questions or concerns about Thread Of The Month, contact staff for any details required~

Character Modification

After an Evaluation, you should then submit a Character Modification. Basically you take what was awarded to you from an Evaluation or an Event and apply it to your character~ Make sure you note how much EXP goes to whom, then change their EXP Gained and Gauge respecitively. Then their Level. Then their Stats. Then check for an updated moveset (dont’ forget to bold STAB attacks~). Update your adventure log, and add and remove any Money or Items (including pokeballs if you caught a pokemon). And make sure it’s all in code so the mods can just do a quick copy pasta~

It can be kinda tedious, but it’s worth it when you get to watch your pokemon and inventory grow~

You may also use these to Revamp a character. If you suddenly realize that they’re kinda flat, or they’re missing something from their history, feel free to submit a modification in which you round them out or enlighten us a little bit on their past~

Trainer Advancement Traits

Along your path to become whatever you’d like in Godai, you’ll hopefully find that your character will begin to grow~ Hopefully they’ll learn some new things, mature in personality, hell maybe even grow a beard~ It’s in that spirit that we also provide you with the Trainer Advancement Traits. As you post and write out your characters story, they’ll earn “Advancement Points.” There are also different traits that apply to trainers along their journeys that can translate into tangible rewards. They are as follows

• Seeing the Sights: Eagerness and Willingness to Travel
• Making Friends: A desire to be surrounded with more pokemon
• Green Thumb: An aptitude for making berries grow
• To Be The Best: Skill in training that promotes a pokemon's growth
• Silver Tongue: A smooth way of speaking that can make shopkeepers susceptible to haggling
• Nursing: A tenderness that means nothing will prevent taking care of a pokemon
• Gift Giving: Mild Materialism and interest in items and accessories.
• Paternal Instincts: Interest in children and babies of all shapes and kinds.
• Genetic Key: Interest in the scientific part of pokemon breeding.
• TLC: Exceeding care and amicability with pokemon and people.
• Technology Buff: Interest in all things electronic.
• Oooh Shiny: Mild ADD or interest in Jewlery, gem stones, or crystals
• Dedication: Taking steps on your journey
• Survivalist: Camping and thriving in the Wilds
• Treasure Hunter: Acting out of greed or pursuing money
• Gourmet: Interest in food for both people and Pokemon

Every time your character exhibits a trait that falls into one of these categories, they will be awarded with an amount of AP for that trait. Meaning an afternoon spent playing fetch with one’s pokemon can award some AP in TLC, and possibly in To be the Best depending on the full intention of the trainer. This is a subjective reward system, and the ultimate decision of how much AP is awarded if any at all is the Mod’s. This is not a system in which a writer specifically alter’s their character in order to get a thing they want, it is meant to reward complexity in a character and show how even fictional people can be very multifaceted. Honestly, one should just write one’s threads as normal and allow these rewards to be a side-benefit to one’s writing.

A Mod will keep track of your points and give you them during evaluations. It is possible, however, to earn AP in-between evaluations so if you’d like to update your AP in your profile simply ask a mod to add up what you’ve earned since then.

Everyone starts with 0 AP, and as AP is rewarded, you place it in the chart in your profile. Each trait has its own amount of AP required for leveling up. They are as follows:

• Seeing the Sights: 15
• Making Friends: 15
• Green Thumb: 15
• To Be The Best: 15
• Silver Tongue:15
• Nursing: 15
• Gift Giving: 20
• Parental Instincts: 20
• Genetic Key: 20
• TLC: 25
• Technology Buff: 25
• Oooh Shiny: 30
• Survivalist: 15
• Treasure Hunter: 15
• Gourmet: 15

The first two levels, or Tiers of a perk, require the same amount of AP. The next two Require 5 more, And each Tier after that requires 5 more than the last.

For example, Green Thumb’s Tiers 1 - 6 would require, Respectively, 15, 15, 20, 20, 25, and 30 AP.
Ooh Shiny’s, 30 30, 35 35, 40, and 45.

Dedication has unique progression, however. Tiers in it are earned at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 AP.

At each progression, the trainer gets a reward, or sometimes a choice of rewards. A Mod will PM you with exactly what you’ve earned. Here’s a list of what you can earn at the first Tier~

• Sightseeing: 1 Train Ticket Anywhere
• Making Friends: 2 Great Balls or 1 Common Roll of Choice (Next encounter)
• Green Thumb: Berry Growth takes 3 Posts (Half a Day) for the next Two Threads
• To Be The Best: 5 EXP per Pokemon
• Silver Tongue: 10% off Pokemart Requests once or 5% off for 3 months.
• Nursing: 1 Potion or Status Ailment Heal.
• Gift Giving: 2 Low Level Held Items, or 1 Medium.
• Paternal Instincts: 1 egg of Pokemon D9 or higher on the starter list. Or 10 Free Egg Cycles.
• Genetic Key: I Egg move with encounter, or 1 Ability Capsule
• TLC: 1.1 Continuous Happiness Multiplier
• Technology Buff: Any Tier 1 or 2 TM
• Oooh Shiny: Free Evolution or Mega Stone
• Dedication: Continuous .05 Exp Modifier
• Survivalist: Amateur Forager - 30% Chance to Forage on Item roll
• Treasure Hunter: Flute of Choice
• Gourmet: Poffin Bundle (1 Poffin of each type)

When you get to Tier 2 you can pick the upgraded versions of what you picked in Tier 1. It’s going to be impossible to keep them totally under wraps, but please help the process along by not broadcasting exactly what you receive after each modification.

Speaking of Modifications, please remember to put the items in your adventure log when you receive them, and separate them from what you get through evaluation. Remember to not put the title of the perk in the adventure log either.

With enough time and effort you can be seriously raking in some rewards from this, I hope you enjoy it.

Character Reaping

Unfortunately, sometimes due to inactivity, other times due to impossibly flat character, we must wipe the board clean and start over from scratch with characters. But in doing so, we risk losing everything they’ve worked to obtain. In Godai, we allow a way out of that, but stress that it must be used only as a last resort.

You're allowed to transfer all that character's EXP, Pokemon, Items, and Money to your second character, however said character must be a new character. Unfortunately, you may not transfer reaped rewards to an existing character.

To clarify, if you transfer pokemon from the deceased to your new one, you have two choices. They either arrive at the level they were caught at, at 0 EXP gained, or you must subtract their EXP Gained from the reaped character's Total.

For example, If I killed John Doe, who has 50 EXP and two pokemon, a Beautifly and a Caterpie, each with 25 EXP, and gave a Beautifly to Jane Deer, I would only have 25 EXP to give to Jane's pokemon (the Beautifly included). Or, Beautifly would become a Wurmple again, at level 5, and I can give the full 50 EXP as I please~ (I hope I explained that properly).

To do this, you must first specify that you are reaping a character. If that is all you plan to do, then the mod simply does a couple of autotools and it’s done. If you want to Reap and then transfer in the same mod, then treat the Reaped character as if they were an Evaluation. A link to their profile would be the Source, and then everything you were moving would follow.

After your modification is approved, and if you still have items, pokemon, etc that you did not want, you must then post in the GTN and everything will become up for grabs. First come first serve. Though, if the owner decides that they want a specific item or pokemon to go to someone on the site, (or are bribed enough) they can take care of that first. Afterward, let you all be like sharks diving after the left over chum~

This is so that your activity on here doesn't go to waste for something as trivial as losing interest in a character~ You can start where you left off, potentially, but with someone more fun and easier to write for. Still, it should be noted that this is an irreversible process and should only be used when Revamping won’t solve the problem. Furthermore, Mods are allowed to say, “No, you’re abusing the system.” and any action past that will be considered an Offense.

[Godai]

Where to go from here

So you’ve got all the information about making a character, and threads and all that lovliness, what are you to do? Well you write a story of course.

You can start in any location, barring a few. Tiakhom Guard is off limits until you have at least 2 badges and your team has at least an average level of 25. There are two sentries that guard the entrance to the mountain, sneaking past is nearly impossible.

Furthermore, it should go without saying, but Victory Road and the Elite 4 are also places that cannot be entered without All 8 Badges, though there is no level limit on these.

And finally, one also cannot start in the Safari Zone. They have a policy against new trainers coming in. You’re all a liability and will drive their insurance rates right through the dome. You may move there afterward though.

Wherever you decide to start, if it is an Origin thread, as stated above, you may then continue writing wherever you please, however, afterward you are required to travel linearly, meaning location by location without skipping unless you have an item that allows it, such as HM02 Fly or a Vehicle (Note, your character can always have a car, bike, or anything, but this key item allows OOC skipping). But fear not, if you are excited about reaching your new friend who's across the map, we have built in a lovely system just for that known as...

The Subway!

Speaking of which, Godai has a vast network of underground tubes that house the Subway System. Tickets are priced on how far you’re traveling. 300 + 100 per every Location skipped. Which means that the cheapest Ticket is 400. They make stops in every town. You must be in or adjacent to a city, simply RP in either your departure point, or your arrival point, and have enough Dians to pay for your trip. For Example, if John just finished a thread in Kagereta Woods and wants to be in Oraclair Town next, I would simply pay 300 + 100 for Kotoba, 100 for Wisteur, and 100 for Lumina, bringing the total to 600. I could not, however, RP in the Eveline Temple next since I did not RP in either Kotoba or Oraclair. Because of their locations not being adjacent to a city, Serenity Lake, Sagan's Den, and Acrelea Valley are without subway access.

The Subway is here so that you can get as quickly as you can to an RP partner, even if they happen to be across the country. I hope you utilize it to the fullest extent possible~

Rivals, Companions, and other Important NPCs

One of the staples of the games we obviously all love is the fact that you, as the protagonist, always have a rival or someone else with whom to compete as you travel through the game. In later games you also have friends that battle with you, and even briefly travel with you. In a realistic setting, being a loner who only loves his pokemon is unfortunately cliche pretty boring. So, in the spirit of spicing up our characters' lives, here are some ground rules for NPCs.

Firstly, everything can basically be summed up by one of Pixar's rules for writing, "Coincidences that get your character into trouble are great. Coincidences to get them out are cheating." The latter is also called a Deus Ex Machina, and is a very frowned upon practice. Your NPCs should be there to enrich your experience, not cover your bases or make things easy. If you can write a story without a constant NPC, you should do so.

If you do want one though, then you can go ahead and just write them into your threads whenever you want! Of course the quality of your writing will still be judged in evaluation and they should be supporting characters. They can even have pokemon, almost any pokemon you want. This is where things get kinda tricky though. Your NPC cannot ever help you in battle or battle you themself. We describe it below, but our Encounter system is how we manage EXP and pokemon distribution here. If you want your NPC to help you in battle or to be a rival whom you battle on occasion, you will need to have them rolled. This is simple though, just fill out a request (linked below) and give us the details and preferred pokemon, and a mod will fairly roll it. It usually comes out in your favor too. Once that's done, then you're free to go~ If you want them to grow as well, just request a re-rolling and the mod will do their best to help you get what you'd like against the wheel of chance.

Don't try to break the game with NPCs though. You should not trade pokemon with them, you should not have them magically have a higher quality pokeball so you can catch a rare you didn't prepare for, you should not battle them 10 times in a thread to boost your EXP. I'll say it again. No NPC Ex Machinas.

Optional Note: We have a list of NPCs players have made here. These are for mod and player convenience, and are for the entire population of the site. Your character's Rival, Sibling(s), Friend(s) should not go here, these are for plot and mod purposes. If the urge strikes you though, please feel free to donate your NPC through sending a Private Message to a moderator. That isn't a guarantee it will go up, but it can be a nice gesture.

The Gym Challenge

Way back when the Godian Government, the Nijuu, sanctioned Pokemon Training as a career, they set up 8 Check points in which trainers would report their findings on pokemon. Over time these settled into tests of battle prowess, and the Gym Challenge as we know it today.

These checkpoints are currently in the following Towns

• Oraclair Town
• Melka Village
• Aurmouth City
• Glosterrice Town
• Weswell Town
• Sangproctor City
• Wisteur Town
• Scurarte Town

You can’t just barge into a gym on your first day though. These men and women see many trainers and have other duties besides kicking your tucus. In order to challenge a gym you must have At Least Three Pokemon, One of which level 15, and an average party level of 10. Furthermore, you need to have 4 completed and evaluated threads before applying for a gym battle, this includes threads between gym leaders. In other words, a gym battle will be, at the most frequent, every 5th thread completed. You cannot challenge the gyms consecutively.

Gyms will cater to your level, so don’t think that over leveling will put you at a huge advantage against a gym leader. They have had plenty of time to master their elements and to collect several different pokemon to use, at many varying levels.

Collecting Gym Badges has many benefits. Trainers with gym badges are generally respected and revered by the people of Godai, and are definitive marks that a trainer is, or was, talented and powerful in both mind and body. It is often that trainers with badges, after they retire, become esteemed members in their community, serving in local governments or other important positions. Because of this, Badges have many uses in Godai. After the attaining of a trainer's First Badge the trainer will have deeper access to closed off locations in several areas, namely The Eveline Temple, Mt. Quemar, and Firebird Villa. This means things like going to the second floor or deeper into the caves of the volcanoes. You may still RP in the wild locations, but deeper sections of it are closed off.

After the Second Badge a trainer is officially allowed to purchase a Mega-Accessory (Ring, Bangle, Glove, Necklace, etc) as well as a keystone. If they have any pokemon capable of Mega Evolution and the respective stone, they will be legally allowed to use this power in battle (so long as it's within the laws of humane treatment of all). They may also use Z-Moves legally, as long as they have the correct stone. Gym badges are not required to use HMs. And while they are mildly candorous for the use of earning respect from pokemon as well as humans, they do not interact with pokemon in any physical way. They cannot be held items and do not improve their abilities. Counterfeiting badges is punishable by extreme action on behalf of the law.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}The anime and a few other version of the pokemon universe use the term "Pokemon League" in many different ways. Sometimes it means the gyms and the Elite 4, sometimes it means a random tournament, sometimes it means something else entirely.

In Godai, the Gyms and Nijuu Elite are a part of the TIS, Trainer Initiative System, which can be read about in the IC trivia. No one in Godai, IC or OOC, should use the word "League" with the Gyms, Elite 4, or Champion. They are all a part of the TIS and will always be such.

The Pokemon League does exist though, it's a tournament held every year at the end of the summer. Currently, OOC, there is no system for this and there aren't any plans to implement it, and we would like to keep it that way until other things have been addressed. This is more similar to the Tournament at the end of the R/B Arc of the Pokemon Adventures Manga. People grouped by Badges won and relative strength and battling out. Eventually the winners of each tier are chosen and prizes distributed. The Eight Badge League and the "Champion" League are Televised and watched similarly to the American Super Bowl in the USA.

Once you defeat all 8 gym leaders, you may continue on to Victory Road and the Nijuu Elites.

Victory Road and the Nijuu Elites

The Elite 4 and Champion are men and women who hold seats in Godai’s Govornment, the Nijuu, as experts on Pokmeon. If one wishes to challenge them, one should be warned that they are some of the strongest trainers in the land and they will not hold back.

First, one must travel to the very center of Godai. In the heart of the great Super-City that is Central, stands a mountain. This mountain is called Victory Road, and serves as a literal and metaphorical barrier between trainers and the Elites. It is not encouraged for the faint-hearted, or weak of body, or feeble of mind. It has a labyrinthine system of tunnels and caves with dead ends leading in and out of the mountain. It is teeming with many different types of strong pokemon as well as other trainers who are itching to prove themselves. Making it to the very top takes days, if not weeks of restless attempts at sleep, exhausting physical strain, and trials that will deplete supplies.

This is why the area is off limits to anyone who has not acquired all Eight gym badges. There are Four main gates that lead to the area around the mountain and a patrolled fence that guards the entire circumference. Several armed guards are ready to bring down anyone who tries to sneak over before they are qualified.

If you manage to survive, you will be greeted with an illustrious and massive tower. The ground floor houses a reception area in which trainers can heal themselves and their pokemon with expert healthcare, as well as stock up on potions and revives and other trainer supplies. There are large and accommodating dorms for trainers to rest before they travel upstairs for their final challenge.

In the center of the reception area is a spiral staircase, climbing to the next level will show the trainer four doors. Behind each door is one of the Elites. A Trainer may challenge them in any order, but you must defeat them all consecutively. If you lose to one, you must challenge each one again.

If you defeat them all, the trainer then ascends to the top level, and you must then challenge the Champion, who is regarded as one of the strongest, and perhaps the wisest trainer in all of Godai. Losing to them means that you must challenge all four of the Elites again. Should you succeed though, you and your pokemon will be entered into the Hall of Fame with a ceremony, and you will have earned the official title of “Pokemon Master.”

These events will take place in a grand total of at least Six Threads

• The first must be your Victory Road story.
• This must include presenting your badges to the badge gate as well as journeying through the mountain and either making it to the top, or not.
• One must complete at least 6 Wild Pokemon Encounters
• In addition, there must be at least 3 Trainer Encounters
• And the entire thread must be at least 25 Posts Long. Attempts at adding purple fluff will be met with severe punishment.

[li]Each battle with an Elite will be one thread. That means At least 5, one for each Elite and the Champion.[/li][/ul] No one said your final ordeal would be easy or quick. IF you come out the other side victorious, great prizes await. Since the Champion is a governmental position though, your character cannot become the new champion. There are legitimate IC and OOC prizes that do come with winning though, so keep striving toward this lofty goal~

During any Gym or Elite thread, a mod will play the part of your opponent. Make sure you bring your A-Game. And who knows, maybe something interesting will happen when you least expect it during your battle.

Legendary Pokemon!

Godai's earth is home to many different species of pokemon that seem to be on the brink of extinction, but manage to survive. Each are regarded as Legend, because there isn't enough conclusive evidence to support one way or another if they exist. Occasionally a hiker might report a quadrupedal pokemon that they caught out of the corner of their eye, but a handful of anecdotes does not evidence make.

Archaeologists have concluded that ancient people used to worship deities that resemble some accounts of "legendary pokemon." A beast of the northern wind sometimes called Suicune. A bird or sometimes a man atop a cloud with control over winds sometimes called Tornadus. A titan made out of the earth and mountains themselves sometimes called Regirock. And a Phoenix that fueled Montana Quemar once called Moltres. Other beasts are sometimes reported, but these are the main focuses of the ancient evidence.

The chances of any modern human encountering one of these creatures is very, very slim. If one were to make the fates smile upon them, They must complete at least 6 threads. Then the universe may offer a rare chance to encounter one of these pokemon. Remember, they can only be encountered or interacted with, they cannot be captured, and it is very unlikely that one might defeat them in battle, though it is within the realm of possibility. A mod will write with you and act as a mild game master as a means to provide information and lore. You are still responsible for using your character to drive the plot, The mod is there to ensure everything remains in canon. The mod also gets the final say in which legendary you encounter, though most of the time everything should work out to how you want. IF you have met the requirements, feel free to PM Mr. Johnapillar or any other mod to discuss any specifics and ideas you have!

Other Plots

Don't think you're limited to the recurring plot of the games though. Please feel free to become a coordinator as detailed in the post below, or to investigate our criminal organization, or, even better, Make your own plot! Seriously, make your own rival or friends in an NPC request and travel along. Develop Romances, get into fights with the family, try to get away with murder. It's truly remarkable how even mundane events can make truly interesting plotlines. There is so much potential to be had in the pokemon universe, do not feel constrained to simply catching pokemon and battling gyms. Have your character get a job in retail around Delimas. Provided that the season allows for it.

Speaking of, our time-line on the site progresses in increments of 3 months or 1 season The banner up top will let you know what season it is. For the sake of worldbuilding, seasons are as follows: Spring is from February First to May First, Summer is from May Second to August First, Autumn is August Second to November First, And Winter lasts from November Second to January Thirty-First. All of your character's actions and plots can take place between those dates as long as that season is in effect. It should be clarified that the real world has no direct effect on what season it is in Godai, that all depends on you. We progress the seasons as the plot requires, and that is almost entirely dependent on the characters in the site and how fast their plots move. If it takes over a year for characters to move three months in their plotlines, then Summer will last for over a year. If it takes you all just one month, the Autumn will last for one month. Sometimes the seasons will align with the real world, but it may be scorching outside in August while you're writing your Arcean character's experience with Otursmas. Similarly, these have no effect on our Seasonal Events Which are dictated by the real world. But all plots given will be able to be applied regardless of season.

If we have to progress the plot, then the staff will do our best to give you fair warning, because if your character hasn't had three months of plot happen, you will be forced to make a time-skip of at least 2 weeks depending on how specific you were with dates and how near one can be to the next season.

[Godai]

The Nexus Crime Syndicate:
A Handy Guide

How to get Involved

As I’m sure many of you are aware, we have our own regional plot that will be developing over the next few months/years as the site continues to thrive with the eager creativity you all feed into the site on a daily basis. However, many of you, through choice or lack of information, are not involving yourselves with this dynamic we are trying to create. If you don’t want to and simply want to RP in a freeform Pokémon world, continue to do that; we want that too! But, if you want to see yourself delving into the story of the ever-evolving world of Godai, there is no better place to start than through participating in activities/plots involving the shady team of the region, Nexus.

What this short guide is aiming to do is to fill in some of the blanks, hopefully answer some questions and assist you in formulating strategies to get Nexus involved with your characters. This guide will also be assuming that you understand the basics of the syndicate, the information of which can be found in the spoiler below Without further ado, lets discuss the possibilities of involving Nexus as of now.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Background}

The Nexus Syndicate

"Uni Et Impera"

Any time that structure and stability is put in place at a rapid pace, there is bound to be dissent. Just like, after the Unification there was the major uprising in the west, there were also smaller attempts at insubordination over the years. They never reached a serious threat to peace thankfully, however, even now, you may hear a whispered rumor along alley walls that could point to a new order.

It is within this same spirit of rebellion and anarchy that we believe the modern-day criminal organization with the given title The Nexus Syndicate has come together. Little is known about their numbers or their following, or even their founding. Their activity started in 195 with random spikes of activity in pursuit of what has been perceived as a sinister goal by some, by others a shining light of revolution. Even so, its member organizations have been held responsible for some of the most heinous crimes in recent times, from Pokemon theft to murder. Though other crimes were as petty as painting their symbol as graffiti. Those who've been captured by the Police have not been able to provide any linking information other than a name or a symbol. And the police are always very eager to capture anything related to this group. They are the first group in nearly one hundred years to avoid the police's almost omniscient eye for so long.

However, there are those who believe that The Syndicate's goals are something far greater than petty crime. What could be the goal of such varied and seemingly unorganized acts of terrorism? Or a thirst for true power? Perhaps if you join them when the situation arises, you will get to find out....

What This Means for You

Soon, you will have a choice to make: Will you join the Nexus Syndicate in pursuit of their mysterious goals? Will you join others to stop their "heinous" schemes? Or will you do neither and stand on the sidelines?

For those considering membership with The Syndicate, bear in mind that you will be dealing with people whose motives may align with the light, or rise from the darkest corner of a twisted mind. Those who are faint of heart or who have righteous intentions are strongly advised against approaching The Syndicate, for you never know what may be lurking in the shadows. However, those with ambition and cunning, those with a thirst to prove yourselves...you shall find yourselves in good company here. Joining is not easy, they do not want to risk their goals on a naive teenager. Proving oneself to a member is the most likely way of gaining admission to their ranks, but what marks a person as Nexus? They could be anyone, potentially.

If you choose to pit yourself against The Syndicate, I wish you the best of luck: only the vigilant, cunning, and strong will be able to handle this vast network of enigmatic associates, whose goals remain unknown. All that I can guarantee is that you are dealing with something the likes of which Godai has never seen... The police and other state officials will be your friends here, and will take any information they can get in order to bring in these criminals.

Where to Go from Here

As more information becomes available to you through the Plot Advancements, you will have the option to interact with members of Team Nexus. You may also be allowed to incorporate Nexus into your own regular threads, but any actions on their part need to be approved by a mod, preferably Mr. Johnapillar. If you're lucky, or unlucky, depending on how you look at it, a mod might give you a Nexus Themed Game Master as well!

Certain restrictions apply if you choose to join The Syndicate: any actions taken in an RP on behalf of The Nexus Syndicate must be approved by a Mod (i.e. your "handler"). Bear in mind, though, that you will not know what you’re getting into, as Mods will be watching over the situation to test your character and evaluate what skillsets he/she can contribute to The Syndicate. The best way is to communicate any ideas you have with the mods and to be flexible.

Should you choose to fight against The Syndicate, you will be able to apply for such event threads at the same rate through cooperation with the Godian National Police or other "special channels" working against The Syndicate. Be aware, however, that these missions will increase in difficulty and will involve dealing with powerful elements of the criminal underground. Who knows? You may even be forced to do battle with their leader... Again, flexibility and communication are key. The actions of your character have the potential to affect every other character in these types of plotlines.

In Conclusion

Please keep checking back for new edits to this post! This is where you'll find the latest, up-to-date information on The Nexus Syndicate, as well as information that may be vital to your respective missions.

I want Nexus now damn it! What can I do?

Above all else if you are to write with the syndicate, you must play by the foundations our very own Johnapillar has created. This means you cannot use them as ‘Team Rocket’ villains or any similar game-teams. We’d like to think that our team is realistic, cunning and very careful with everything they do.

If it helps, apply them to the real world. Think, “if this organisation was real, how would they act?” The truth is, we wouldn’t know. The best example I can think of is a highly organised cult; where a collection of people with a shared believe gather to pursue their mutual interest(s). In doing this, you’re opening many doors for yourself in which you can explore morality and other such topics. Your character may see reason in some of Nexus’ actions, they may not. The point being, try not to make things black and white. Nexus sit in the grey, as really we don’t know what they are truly up to as of now.

“If we don’t know what their goal is, how can we write about them?” Honestly, I asked myself this dozens of times, as I’m sure many others have, and your answer on this is going to be different to mine. We know they fundraise; you could something with that. We know they have been leaving their emblems around city walls; you could do something with that. We know they can be dangerous; you could do something with that. As of 201 we know they were in possession of objects called plates, maybe they're looking for those? Or you could explore the individuals that would work for such people. Which brings me onto my next point: Nexus NPCs.

Who Are They?

Anyone you want them to be. Nexus attracts a large number people, all from different backgrounds, all with different personalities and motives.

This amount of freedom might seem quite overwhelming, but think: what do I need for my topic, what kind of character do I need to bounce right off of mine? Personally, I find this to be crucial to the creation process. You want someone you have a real interest in, someone you want to peel back and examine. These people don’t have to be outwardly malicious, or even cruel. If that’s the way you want to approach it, feel free. Maybe your Nexus agent has been forced into the role; maybe they are blind to their employer’s true intentions.

It may also be worth noting that you could have ‘goons for hire’ type characters that are not directly involved with Nexus, but rather under temporary employment to serve a purpose they’d rather not use their own agents for. This may also lead to some interesting dynamics between the agent and the for-hire operative.

Quick Q&A

Q: How dangerous can we make their actions?
A: This will depend entirely on the topic and how much time you have spent working with/against them. For a first topic with them, I’d try to stray quite far from murder/explosions/massive robberies etc. That’s not to say it can’t happen later on though, just make sure you talk it through with a member of staff.

Q: Can I roll for Nexus specific encounters?
A: Of course! We love crafting NPCs for Nexus, just state in your preferences that you would like an operative and not a run of the mill trainer.

Q: People who have written with Nexus have quite long topics; do mine need to be that long?
A: Not necessarily. If you ask someone who has written with Nexus in mind, they will probably tell you that they felt it important to run the plot thick with happenings and events. However, you can have a brief encounter with an agent; just make sure it’s plausible.

Q: Does encountering Nexus improve topic evaluation rewards?
A: Not at all, well not directly anyway. There’s no system that boosts rewards if Nexus are present, but you may be able to craft a stronger sense of a plot with them there which will boost the overall grade of the topic.

Q: Is there presence in Godai to amplify? Or are they to remain in the shadows?
A: Spoilers.

Archived Nexus Threads

Here are all the topics that have some involvement with the syndicate, some more than others. This list will update over time as more threads are written. Please read through these topics at your leisure; you may gather one or two ideas of your own through them!

• Twenty One Reasons by Baby and Vanihba
• Room 7 by ill Fate
• She and He by ill Fate
• Wisdom of the Dying by Zaiaku
• Dancing by Myself by Riffraff
• Where the Wind Flows my Feet will Go by Persimmon
• Head Full of Doubt by Meridia
• Long Time no See by Bones

[Godai]

Pokemon Stats

Welcome to hell! *Manic evil laughter*
Be friends with these numbers and they will be friends with you. Ignore these numbers and well… They’re not going to be your friend.

A large part of Pokemon derives from combat. In order to make our combat smooth and flexible, we have developed the stat system. The combat qualities of a Pokemon are regularly determined by the numbers of stats that each Pokemon has. The number of stats defines how powerful your Pokemon is compared to others. Combining stats with free-form RP makes your experience as a trainer even more fun! Just like in the games, your Pokemon is defined by five statistics:

• Attack
• Defense
• Special Attack
• Special Defense
• Speed

“But what about Health?” We’ve decided, here on Godai, that keeping track of a bunch of numbers is a really big pain in the rear and can immensely limit a person’s creative flow, so we’ve removed all numbers from the Health Classification and given you broad titles that give you more room for interpretation. Health is a measure of how long a pokemon can fight, basically. It’s not necessarily similar to the defensive stats, they measure how sturdy a pokemon is. Health is closer to Stamina than anything.

Below are the titles that describe each classification of health. We grouped pokemon into these based on their in-game stats. We’ve also included a brief description of what the title can mean in RP

• OHKO: Special to Shedninja. One hit does the trick to knock out this baby.
• Pathetically Weak: These Pokemon are complete pushovers and have no durability whatsoever. Depending on how strong they are, a few dinky hits may knock them out.
• Scrawny: The Pokemon is a pretty big wimp, not being able to withstand much punishment. Their endurance is quite underwhelming as well, as it doesn’t take long for them to tire out. A couple strong hits should be enough to take them down.
• Low: The Pokemon’s all-around durability is sub-par, but completely salvageable. They won't be able to take a lot of strong hits, and will be quickly tired out after a few rough exchanges.
• Intermediate: The Pokemon’s toughness is generally fair, and how long they can last in a fight is mostly dependent on the strength of their opponent. They can take quite a few strong hits and weak attacks will only gradually whittle them down. Their stamina is decent, but they are not without limits.
• Above Average: The Pokemon is a resilient bruiser, capable of absorbing a lot of punishment before finally going down. Weak attacks alone will usually not be enough to win against them since they are very tough. Tiring them out would take a lot of effort.
• High: The Pokemon is a walking tank that makes soaking up damage and sustaining long fights look easy, but of course they are not invincible. A lot of offense is required to bring them down.
• Unnaturally Monstrous: The Pokemon’s perseverance is unsettling. They are capable of fighting for hours on end. They can win most fights simply by outlasting their opponent. A tenacious offense will be needed to defeat them.

Now, to get back onto track. Just like Health is only a blanket statement about a pokemon’s capability, so are the rest of the stats. Furthermore, we’ve grouped several numbers into five different levels with titles. They are as following: Novice, Nest, Great, Ultra, and Master. This is meant to generalize the concept of an attack so that it’s easier to understand, since sometimes numbers can be hard to view in a real world setting. They are divided thusly:

• Novice: 1-5
• Nest: 6-25
• Great: 26-125
• Ultra: 126-625
• Master: 626-1000

The highest any stat can go is 1000, and yes, we ran calculations and this is indeed possible with the right circumstance. Most of the time though, achieving Master level stats will require a lot of work, a very high level, and vitamins. It will be supreme bragging rights, definitely. This also includes stat boosts like Swords Dance, etc. Pokemon are powerful, but three Iron Defenses shouldn’t turn them into a meteor capable of destroying the earth.

These are meant to be freeform friendly. No calculations, these are here to give you a basic idea about of what your pokemon is capable. And remember to keep in mind that the more creative writer that has pokemon with lower stats will almost always find a way to defeat a less capable writer with vitamin-buffed beasts. That stated, if someone is writing a battle in a solo thread, look at the stats and compare them. Generally, if something has Great defenses and you’ve Novice Attack, then it will be tanking what you throw at it pretty well. Similarly, if your Speed is in Ultra , you could probably justify dodging a lot of attacks from a Nest leveled opponent. And if you’re paired up with a glass cannon with Novice Defense, and you’ve got Ultra Attack, you’d better make sure you attack first.

If you’re in the same level though, it might not be so even though. In the Great and Ultra tiers it becomes possible to have a wide range of stats. In this case, just compare the numbers. If a stat is twice the comparative stat or more, it’ll be super or not very effective. This can stack with regular type effectiveness as well. So a Super Effective, Critical Hit with a 3:1 stat ratio could probably justify a One-hit-KO. Though, as a writer, battles generally should be pretty dynamic, so going all out to get that first powerful hit might be discouraged, not from a game-rules perspective, but an artistic one. Remember the point of the stats is to supplement your writing, not govern it.

Here we’ll list a general idea of what we expect from each tier. Remember that your imagination is limitless, we’re just providing these guidelines to focus it into a brilliant world.

Attack

The Attack Stat is here to describe how much a Physical Attack can do in battle. It can also partly describe how much force it can exert outside of battle too, combined with the Defense stat. However, aura theory tells us that strength comes from intent. Even large pokemon give out the same amount of force as small pokemon. An Onix with the same intent as a Joltik does the same amount of damage. This physical intent, Out of Character, we call the Attack Stat.

• Novice: These Pokemon can usually barely carry their own weight as they walk. Even ten pounds (4.5 kg) would prove to be difficult to move.
• Nest: These Pokemon can carry about half of their body weight out of battle. In battle, attacking a Defense Novice would prove fairly effective.
• Great: These Pokemon can easily carry their body weight out of battle and would be capable of breaking small pieces of wood. In battle, Novice Defenders will barely be able to withstand a few hits.
• Ultra: These Pokemon can carry twice their body weight with ease out of battle, in the upper scale, they can also break rocks. In battle, Novices and Nests are decimated, and Great Defenders may only to take one or two hits
• Master: These Pokemon have monstrous strength, capable of lifting up to ten times their body weight out of battle, and carry five times for long periods of time. In Battle only the most trained Ulta defenders can receive their attacks. If untapered, Novice Nest and Greats can potentially be killed.

Defense

The Defense stat is here to describe how much a pokemon can negate a Physical Attack. This, in congruence with the Attack Stat fully describe how much force it can exert outside of battle. Similarly to Attack, large and small pokemon who have the same intent can withstand the same amount of force. Defense, in character, can be seen as the emotion of endurance.

• Novice: These Pokemon can barely move on a gusty day. They can’t carry any more than ten pounds (4.5 kg) without becoming exhausted.
• Nest: These Pokemon can carry about Seventy-Five percent of their body weight out of battle. In battle they can receive Novice attacks without too much worry. Long battles will remain tiring though.
• Great: These Pokemon can carry their body weight plus an additional fifty percent out of battle. In battle, they can easily shrug off Novice attacks, while Ultra attacks can prove dangerous.
• Ultra: These Pokemon can carry three times their weight out of battle. In battle, all but Ultra and Master attacks can dent these walls, they could probably be hit by a small car and remain unscathed.
• Master: These Pokemon can withstand almost anything except by their competitors. They can easily carry fifteen times their body weight indefinitely. In battle only Master level attacks can even phase them. They could stop a moving train if asked.

Special Attack

The Special Attack stat is here to describe how powerful a Special Attack can be. In battle, it comes from the same intent to attack as a physical attack, but instead of aura governing the physical, it affects the force of the aural interaction. While there is powerful force behind a jet of water or fiery explosion, the more devastating part of it is that it can exhaust the other pokemon’s aura, and thus their ability to fight. The higher the special attack, the higher the volume of whatever substance can be produced. In character, this can relate to intelligence, slightly.

• Novice: These Pokemon can generate very small volumes of attack, less than a liter. Most any Pokemon can take this attack and continue perfectly fine.
• Nest: These Pokemon can generate between one and ten liters of their attack and a substantial physical force. Novice defenders will be fairly exhausted after one or two attacks.
• Great: These Pokemon can generate between ten and fifty liters of their attack, and have the capability to condense that volume into a more physically compact form. Novices and Nests can barely handle an attack.
• Ultra: These Pokemon can generate between fifty and two-hundred liters of attack, and can shape them into multiple different forms of varying density. All but Ultra and Master will be thoroughly devastated when confronted with one of these attacks.
• Master: These Pokemon can generate from two-hundred liters to unknown measurements that rival oceanic waves. They have the capability to shift these attacks into almost anything their imagination can form, and will pose a lethal threat to almost any pokemon.

Special Defense

The Special Defense stat is here to show how much of a Special Attack can be negated. Just like a physically stocky pokemon can withstand direct attacks, a specially fortified pokemon can prevent the aural exhaustion of special attacks. At high levels, they can shrink the size of incoming attacks, In character, special defense can somewhat be seen as wisdom.

• Novice: These Pokemon negate very small volumes of attack, and can barely withstand any attack from anyone before being tired.
• Nest: These Pokemon negate up to ten liters of attack. They can weather novice attacks fairly easily.
• Great: These Pokemon negate up to fifty liters of attack. Aural attacks from those below them can almost be laughed off, at this stage they can start to change the direction, and to a small extent, the shape of incoming attacks.
• Ultra: These Pokemon negate up to two-hundred liters of attack. Special attacks from the lower tiers can have their shape changed with ease, if not almost snuffed out completely.
• Master: These pokemon can negate almost any volume of attack, and weather any number of trials. Even with a weak body, these pokemon can take the abuse in stride and make themselves better from it, if not turn it around on their assailant.

Speed

The Speed stat is here to determine how quickly All Techniques are executed. Just like in the games, the Pokemon with the highest speed stat will move first. It’s not just physical speed, but the ability to manifest and direct aura quickly as well. This also plays into evasion as well. Just like the physical stats, speed is governed by aura as well, so a Muk may move faster than a Jolteon if trained properly. Many emotions play into speed, excitement, ambition, and freedom are a few examples.

• Novice: These Pokemon are supremely slow to react, and usually prefer to sit still. When they do move it will take a lot of motivation to go far at all.
• Nest: These Pokemon react much more than novices, and can dodge a few attacks before becoming tired. Out of battle, if they’re physically able, they can run like a human, fairly fast for a short period of time.
• Great: These Pokemon react much faster than those below it, and against a slow opponent, can dodge for a long time, and counter-attack with ease. Out of battle, if they’re physically able, they can run like a dog, moderately fast for long periods of time.
• Ultra: These Pokemon react incredibly quickly, and can counter-attack most anything with ease, easily dodging all but powerful Great Attackers and their equals. When they move out of battle, if they’re physically able, they can move like a large cat, but for even longer periods of time.
• Master: These Pokemon can react faster than anything, capable of powering in multiple attacks on top of counter attacks to all but their rivals. Out of battle they move like cars if they’re physically able for almost as long as they want.

Remember, Stats (also levels) are purely for OOC purposes. No one in Godai asks “What level is your pokemon” or “What’s their speed stat.” or “I have an Ultra Attacker” These descriptions are for you as a writer to use and discuss with other players.

Now that you know what the stats mean, lets show you how to figure out how they apply to your character’s pokemon.

Pokemon Division

In Godai, we have decided to generally classify all pokemon into 12 Stat Divisions. In the games, all pokemon have a Base Stat Total. We grouped these BSTs into larger categories and assigned all pokemon based on their in-game stats.

Your Total Stats on Godai are calculated by taking the Level of your Pokemon and multiplying it by the Number of Stats per Level as defined by their Division. Check the pokedex for many useful facts about your pokemon, including division. Here’s a helpful table which you will probably reference many times while you’re here~

Division	Stat per Level
D1	18 stats per level
D2	17 stats per level
D3	16 stats per level
D4	15 stats per level
D5	14 stats per level
D6	13 stats per level
D7	12 stats per level
D8	11 stats per level
D9	10 stats per level
D10	9 stats per level
D11	8 stats per level
D0	Unavailable/Banned

**D0 contains ALL the Legendary Pokemons. They are unusable and banned. But, they can be encountered~

Dividing the Stats for Your Pokemon

Just like humans, pokemon all vary in size, strength, and other abilities, and that is reflected in their stats. Some specialize in attack, others defense, and others specials and speed, some have combinations, and others don’t specialize at all. The pokemon games give very limited diversity between different members of a species through the use of natures, EVs, and IVs. In Godai, we’ve made those all essentially moot by allowing you nearly free reign over the assigning of stats. However we can’t allow a person to actually give their Alakasam a ton defense points, so we’ve gone through and set ranged percentages based on species.

In the pokedex, all pokemon have one to three stats in which you must put a percentage of your total stats. That means if you choose 25% in SpAtk, and you get 12 stats per level, every time you level up you must put 3 stats there, no more, no less. The remaining 9 can be assigned as you please. Or if you’re dealing with total stats, at level 5 this pokemon might have 60 stats. In that case, exactly 15 would go to SpAtk.

Don’t worry, this is the most math you’ll ever have to do, just think back to when you learned percents (for me it was when I was 12), and dig up those memories and you’ll have no problem at all~ To help you along, here’s an example.

Primary Example

Let's go along with a Bulbasaur. Now, let's take a look at the PokeDex on his info.

Level: 5
Division: D8
Total Stats: 55
Attack: -
Defense: -
Special Attack: 21-26%
Special Defense: 21-26%
Speed: -

Remember that Total Stats are calculated by taking the product of the Pokemon's Level and the Stats per Level given by the Division. So, with Bulbasaur as Level 5 and his division at D8 (which would be 11 Stats per Level), he would have a Total Stat count of 55. Once you calculate that, you look at the stats that contain a percentage range. So in this case, Bulbasaur has a percentage division for Special Attack and Special Defense. From there, you are able to select any number within that percentage range. So, for example, if I wanted Bulbasaur's Special Attack to be 23% and his Special Defense to be 25%, then I can do so. If that were to happen, his stats would turn out to be like this:

Attack: -
Defense: -
Special Attack: 55 * 23% = 12.65 = 13
Special Defense: 55 * 25% = 13.75 = 14
Speed: -

If we calculate the remaining stats, we have 28 stats left. What do we do with it? It's simple. You have the freedom to divide those 28 stats to the other three stats that have dashes. Yup, this is the freedom that we will give you through the stats system! (the only restriction to this freedom is that you cannot make a Pokemon's stat 0. It must have at least 1). So, if I were to divide my stats freely and however I want:

Attack: 9
Defense: 9
Special Attack: 13
Special Defense: 14
Speed: 10

In the end, that should all total up to 55 stats, correct? Just remember, there are some stats that require a specific percentage division while there are other stats that you can freely manipulate. Also remember to always round to the nearest whole number when it comes to distributing stats by the percentage.

We also hold a special rule when it comes to the percentages. Typically, when you encounter a Pokemon in the wild, its stats have already been decided for you. However, once you catch the Pokemon, you are able to alter its stats to however you see fit. Please keep note that once you select a percentage for the Pokemon's stat, you cannot change that percentage again. Once chosen, it stays permanent. The only exception to this rule is when the Pokemon evolves. At that time, you are able to change its percentage.

We hope that by using this system, we give you whatever freedom to use your Pokemon.

Now, what happens when your Pokemon evolves? Just like in the games, when your Pokemon evolves, the stats are greatly increased by a huge factor. Therefore, in the forum, Pokemon Division AND Stat Distribution changes upon evolution. So, once Bulbasaur goes from Level 15 to Level 16, he would evolve into an Ivysaur.

Level: 15 Division: D8 Total Stats: 15 X 11 = 165 Attack: ? Defense: ? Special Attack: 23% = 165 X .23 = 38 Special Defense: 25% = 165 X .25 = 41 Speed: ? Question mark signifies however you want to divide the stats.

Level: 16 Division: D6 Total Stats: 16 X 13 = 208 Attack: ? Defense: ? Special Attack: 23% = 208 X .23 = 48 Special Defense: 25% = 208 X .25 = 52 Speed: ? Question mark signifies however you want to divide the stats.

Do you see the significant difference when your Pokemon evolves? This also applies to every other Pokemon. So, when you are applying the stats to your Pokemon, the key thing to remember is the Pokemon's Division, its Level, and its Stat Distribution percentage. That is all there is to it.

Vitamins

Vitamins are nutrient-rich health drinks that strengthen a Pokémon’s stats. They are carried at every Pokémart for the price of 4500. Stat boosts from Vitamins are processed directly through Pokemart requests.

Level: 5
Division: D8
Total Stats: 55
Attack: 9
Defense: 9
Special Attack: 13 (23%)
Special Defense: 14 (25%)
Speed: 10

Each Vitamin provides a 10% boost to a stat after all base percentages have been calculated. Let's say we want to increase Bulbasaur's Speed with a Carbos. His current Speed is 10, and when we take 10% of that we are left with the Bonus Stats: 1. Here's how his Profile will look now:

Level: 5
Division: D8
Total Stats: 56 [55+1]
Attack: 9
Defense: 9
Special Attack: 13 (23%)
Special Defense: 14 (25%)
Speed: 11 [10+1]
Vitamins Used:
1x Carbos (10%)

Take a look at the bracketed numbers next to Total Stats. The first value [55] represents the Base Stat, which is the number used to calculate Bulbasaur's Special Attack and Special Defense. The second value [1] is the number of Bonus Stats. This is also done next to the Speed stat.

At first this doesn't look too impressive, but keep in mind that Bulbasaur is only Level 5. As his Base Speed increases, so will his Bonus Speed in accordance with the 10% multiplier. So when he reaches 20 Base Speed, the Bonus will increase to +2. Vitamins also stack, so buying more will also help.

Additional Vitamins increase the multiplier by 5%. So with 2x Carbos, Bulbasaur would get a 15% boost instead of 20%. The multiplier for a single stat is capped at 50%, which is 9 Vitamins. Your Pokemon can ONLY consume a total of 20 Vitamins. The Vitamins Used section helps you keep track of what stats are being multiplied and by how much.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Pokerus}Godai does have a system to support Pokerus, and it is basically a free vitamin, but with some extra rules.

Firstly, you must encounter Pokerus in a pokemon in a Wild or Trainer encounter. All encounters include this roll, but it is up to you what to do with it. If you encounter a pokemon with Pokerus, you may choose, as a writer, to have your character’s pokemon contract it, by any of the usual methods of catching the flu (including eating Vomit if your pokemon happens to behave that way). An infected pokemon can only infect one other pokemon. From there, IC, the pokemon will have 24 hours of showing no symptoms, but being contagious. The rest of the contagious period lasts for 48 additional hours, but while showing symptoms such as fever, lethargy, vomiting, etc. In total, 3 days is the amount of time a pokemon may be contagious. Furthermore, any pokemon may only infect one additional pokemon and can only be caught once. Illness may last for up to 10 days, IC, and can, without treatment, result in a pokemon dying if that is relevant to the story.

OOC, what happens is a Four Thread Process. The First thread is the one with the encounter, where a pokemon is shown being exposed to the disease. On The Second thread, a 3% boost is applied to any stat of your choosing. On the Third thread, that boost is 6%. And the Fourth thread is the final 10% boost that stacks with vitamins.

The amount of time elapsed is up to you. The entire illness can be done and over with by the first thread of 10 IC days if it appeals to you, but you must adhere to the 4 thread process in order to get the stat boost. The only time IC time matters is when infecting other pokemon. This must happen within 3 IC days, just like we’ve described above.

Let’s run an Example. Trainer John and his Wurmple encounter a wild Scatterbug with the sniffles. The Scatterbug sneezes on Wurmple and now Wurmple has Pokerus, but is not showing symptoms. In the Same Thread, Wurmple later plays with John’s other pokemon, Caterpie, and now Caterpie has Pokerus and the thread ends. Wurmple and Caterpie now have 1 thread completed. The Next thread takes place two days later, and Wurmple and Caterpie are both quite sick. John’s other pokemon, Weedle, Sewaddle, and Burmy are all fine though. But Wurmple Sneezes on Weedle, then Sewaddle, and Caterpie Sneezes on Burmy. However, only Weedle and Burmy will get sick from this event, since Wurmple cannot infect more than one pokemon. The Next thread takes place two days later, and Weedle and Burmy are contagious, but Wurmple and Caterpie are not. And Sewaddle is not sick. Wurmple and Caterpie are on Thread 3 and have a 6% boost to one stat. Weedle and Burmy are on Thread 2 and have a 3% boost.

If this confuses you, feel free to ask a staff member and we will hopefully be able to clear it up. And remember, all one has to do to avoid getting sick is not write it in.

If you have a question on one of the stat distributions or its division, please ask us through a PM or in the Chatbox or post a topic in the Suggestions & Questions. Remember, our job is to make sure that you understand the system as much as possible. The Statistic section is the biggest and most complex block of the RP system. It is quite normal if you do not understand at first. Therefore, it is recommended that you ask questions that you are unsure of. For information about Contest Stats, please read Here~

[Godai]

Battling System

Battling in this forum is meant to be a way for your character and their pokemon to grow not just physically, but emotionally as well. Because that is our goal, battles here can really be summed up by common sense. We take elements mainly from the games but the other canons as well. Reading this guide, however, will provide you a more specific guidelines for you to follow.

The easiest way to describe our system is Free-Form Battling. That means that you can do most anything you want and there are only a few limits on your creativity.I made sure to qualify that with “only a few,” for a reason however. There are some rules and there are guidelines, and there are traditions as well.

The first rule is that all battles, basically anything that can award you EXP, must be given to you through an Encounter Request. A mod will perform a series of randomized magic spells and then deliver something that you can use in your thread. Yes, you get to control what we give you, we only control what it is. And even then our mods are nice enough to usually give you what you want if they can. A note on this, Wild pokemon are not encounterable inside cities, even the outskirts. Please keep that distinction clear in your settings. Since you get to control your opponent, it’s natural to try to use whatever means you can to win, but try losing every now and then, the person reading might be thoroughly impressed and reward you in other ways~ It might also be tough to try and think for both sides of a battle, but one of our goals here on Godai is to strive to make people better writers. Almost all authors control both sides of every fight they write, so though it may be kinda tiring at first, let your brain and imagination stretch, you’ll find that you can come up with some really amazing things~

Declaring your Pokemon

The first step to every pokemon battle should be to declaring your pokemon. This can be done at any time before a battle begins, and it’s usually best to do it during your first post. At the beginning of each thread, we ask that you post in a spoiler the "Pokemon" section of your profile (you can PM a mod to get the code if you need it) and this will be your thread's Pokemon Declaration. This way, even as your pokemon gain experience and change stats from Monthly Events and other sources, there is always a stationary record of your pokemons' levels and stats available for your and the evaluator's reference. Furthermore, if you receive EXP or other rewards, you can post an updated declaration. If you do not post a new declaration, the evaluator will judge your pokemon based off of the most recent declaration. This can result in godmoding penalties if you're not careful. It basically makes the staff’s job infinitely easier.

But, since Godai is about freedom and creativity, there is some wiggle room involved. If you want, you can adjust your pokemon's status at the start of the thread so that they're lower than what they are in your profile. If you received more rewards than expected, and had an idea in mind for your pokemon's evolution or the learning of a new move or anything else that requires them being at a lower level, we encourage you to declare your pokemon that way~

This might be a little confusing so here's an example,

John starts a thread and X happens

SPOILER: Click to show

{Pokemon Declaration}

Silcoon Caught at Level 5 Name: Silcoon Gender: Male Type: Bug Ability: Shed Skin Height: 2’ 0” Weight: 22 lbs EXP: (0/9) EXP Gained: 26 Level: 9 Division: D8 Stats: 81 Attack: 14 Defense: 28 (35%) Sp. Attack: 13 Sp. Defense: 13 Speed: 13

Moveset: 1. String Shot 1. Tackle 5. Poison Sting 7. Harden Unique Moves: - - - - Item:

Then John goes through with the rest of this thread, and Silcoon gets into a battle, get's 19 EXP, then Levels Up and Evolves!

SPOILER: Click to show

{Declaration Update!}

Beautifly Caught at Level 5 Name: Beautifly Nickname: Isaac Gender: Male Type: Bug/flying Ability: Swarm Height: 3’ 3” Weight: 62.6 lbs EXP: (0/11) EXP Gained: 45 Level: 11 Division: D5 Stats: 132 Attack: 18 Defense: 25 Sp. Attack: 41 (31%) Sp. Defense: 28 Speed: 20

Moveset: 1. String Shot 1. Tackle 5. Poison Sting 10. Absorb Unique Moves: - - - - Item:

In this hypothetical situation, I could have had a beautifly before I started the thread as well, but for my story's sake, I started off with a Silcoon.

Types of Battling

From there in your battle, you’d then choose what kind of battle you’d like to have.

• Single Battle: These are the most common type of battle. One pokemon fighting another pokemon. The fight continues until a trainer is out of usable pokemon, or surrenders.
• Double Battle: Exactly the same as the above, but with two pokemon out at the same time. Interesting dynamics are possible here, especially strategies and timings.
• Triple Battle: See above, Plus 1~ Even more coordination.
• Rotation Battle: Almost exactly the same as a Triple battle, but only one pokemon can move or switch at a time.
• Sky, Surf, and Dive Battles: These are limited to specific pokemon that are able to learn the given moves. They only need to know the move if the writer wants their trainer to be up close to the battle, but it is not required. There are several pokemon and moves that cannot take place in sky battles, read about them Here
• All out Melee: This is a Six (Or maybe more) on whatever massive disaster requires this much power and effort. Use these with caution and plausibility. Controlling two pokmeon freaks out some trainers, let alone three or six.

There are also nearly infinite other rules that could be theoretically placed, if you’re unsure about something ask a mod.

Using Moves

The obvious next step to any battle would be to pick a move, read about its information on Bulbapedia, check to see if it’s in the Special RP Movedex and use it. Each pokemon has two categories of moves; their learned moves or Movesets, and their Unique Moves. In the games as you level up, you learn moves, but you’re forced to forget older moves as new ones move in to replace them. In Godai, we don’t force that to happen, and as you level up your pokemon retains memory of every moves its learned. Imagine the battle possibilities~ Evolution can sometimes result in some changes, like beautifly not learning bug bite at level 15. However we have a move-relearner in Oraclair Town that can teach these moves to your evolved pokemon for a price.

Unique moves though, have different moves. These more accurately reflect the game. These are moves that aren’t learned by leveling up, including Egg moves, TMs, HMs, and Tutored Moves. You only get four of these at a time. Furthermore, if you teach one to a pokemon, it is stuck there and cannot be undone until you need to make room for other moves. If you teach your Butterfree Arial Ace and you decide that you want to undo that, then you have to find four other moves before Arial Ace can be undone. Be careful and give it plenty of thought before using up those slots~

All moves have some form of label on them as well. They are Physical, Special, a Buff, a Debuff, Status, Recovery, or Weather.

• Physical: Physical attacks use, primarily, a pokemon’s muscle mass, which translates in the metagame to its Attack Stat and the opponent’s Defense Stat. Make sure you read about Contact, as only some physical attacks make contact
• Special: Special attacks are the opposite, they use, mostly, a pokemon’s special energy that makes them pokemon. The metagame translation is represented by a pokemon’s Special Attack stat, and the opponent’s Special Defense. Note that almost all special attacks avoid contact, there are some that do though. Check bulbapedia for its classifications there.
• Buff: These are status moves that increase a pokemon’s strength somehow. In the Metagame they increase a stat. They do this in six stages, 1.5x, 2.0x, 2.5x, 3.0x, 3.5x, and 4.0x.
• Debuff: These are, obviously, the opposite of a Buff and lower a stat. These lower in six stages too, and as follows: .67x, .50x, .40x, .33 x, .29x, .25x.
• Status: These are special moves that do not deal direct damage. Instead they place some form condition onto another pokemon. These can be Status Ailments, or other moves like Protect, Foresight, Wonder Room, Destiny Bond, Taunt, etc.
• Recovery: These are specific moves that can seemingly magically restore a pokemon’s vitality and stamina. However, in Godai, we have a rule that these moves may only be used once per topic. The exceptions are Milk Drink and Softboiled, they may be used more than once, but only on another pokemon, and in that case, only once per pokemon.
• Weather: These are special moves that can change the weather around the immediate area of the battlefield. Their effects can benefit or hinder a pokemon and their moves.
• Intense Sunlight: Increases the power of Fire-type moves by 50% and decreases the power of Water-type moves by 50%.
• Heavy Rain Increases the power of Water-type moves by 50% and decreases the power of Fire-type moves by 50%.
• Sandstorm: Damages all Pokemon who are not Rock, Ground, or Steel-type each turn.
• Hailstorm: Damages all Pokemon who are not Ice-type each turn.
• Fog: Significantly decreases the accuracy all Pokemon. This weather can be cleared by the move Defog.

Additional details of the weather conditions can be found here.[/ul]

General Battling

This step is where we deviate from the games the most. It’s not simply about pokemon and their moves, stats, and strategies. There are guidelines here about how things should be done so as to remain fair and also allow for other creative freedoms.

Firstly, think about the numbers we’re given. You went through all that trouble to fill out the stats for your pokemon, and Gamefreak worked hard to assign moves different power levels and accuracies, please remember to use them as references. For example, the pokemon with the highest speed should almost always go first. I say almost because there are priority moves like quick attack that supersede this, and there are probably a few cases in which a slower pokemon’s attack might land before a faster pokemon’s. Also, tackling a shuckle probably won’t do very much at all unless you’ve got some beastly attack stats. Just remember to think about these things. Also think about how much power a move has when you use it. Pokemon can’t be shooting Hyperbeams everywhere and flooding towns with their hydropumps all day. Those moves should be kinda exhausting. It’s still up to you, but remember to think about your resources and use logic to deduce believable outcomes. If it seems like it’s too much, it probably is, so check with a mod before you go through with it~

When you use a move though, it doesn’t always have to be exactly as it might be in the game. Feel free to get creative with these, for example, using ice beam on the floor to slide around. Using confusion to toss rocks. Or even just not use a move at all and let your Machamp put your opponent in a headlock. Think about how a move could be used if pokemon were here in the real world, and let your imagination play around.

If your trainer wants to interfere with the battle and use an item, switch a pokemon out, or attempt an escape, it almost always takes priority. However, after these are done, the pokemon remains vulnerable to whatever attack may come at it. Escaping can work, but you have to make it believable. A trainer or a wild pokemon is probably going to continue after your trainer if they really want a battle. Employ something clever and interesting if you really need to avoid a battle. If you don’t it can result in some penalties.

If you’re having a battle against another member’s PC, then make sure there’s lots of communication between the two of you. Don’t just randomly throw something lethal or devastating at your opponent that would interfere with plotlines. Along that same line, be careful about auto-hitting. It’s really ultimately up to the target of an attack as to whether or not it lands and how much it does. But remember to be realistic, dodging and making every attack miss falls under god-modding just as much as auto-hitting does. And furthermore, try to keep your actions as your character would perform them. You might know what pokemon your opponent has, but they don’t. Not doing this is called Meta-Gaming and is also against our rules.

If you’re unsure, just remember that communication is key. Both with your partner and the mods if need be~

Extra Mechanics

To make the game more interesting, Gamefreak included some other factors that vastly change the rules of battles.

• Type Effectiveness: All pokemon have one or two types, and all (but one) move has one type. That means that some moves will do extra damage, or less damage in some situations rather than others. A Move advantageous to one pokemon type does double damage, to both does quadruple damage. If it’s disadvantageous to one and advantageous to the other, it does neutral damage which is the same as a 1x multiplier. If it’s not effective on one type and not the other, then the move does half damage and if on both, then quarter damage. Some types are immune to others, which results in an immunity If one type is immune to an attack and the other isn’t, then the result will still do nothing.
  
• Critical Hit: Sometimes moves hit vulnerable areas, or are delivered at point blank range. This will result in a 33% boost onto the types damage. Qualitatively, it means it’ll hurt a good amount more. Be careful with these, without any modifiers there’s only about a 6% chance of it happening. Read more here.
  
• Recoil: Some moves are so ferocious that the user themselves is actually hurt by the attack, slightly. They almost always receive some percentage of the damage dealt. The harder you hit something the more it’ll hurt.
  
• STAB: STAB stands for Same Type Attribute Bonus. Basically if a pokemon uses a move that aligns with their type, they get a 50% boost to the power of the attack.

Defeating Pokemon

Almost all trainers want their pokemon to grow. A good way to do that, especially early on, it defeating others. Once you best your wild opponent, you have a choice. You can either Capture It or leave it and Gain EXP. Despite the changes in Gen VI, you cannot do both here.

Regarding the former, you can choose to capture it when it’s weakened, when it’s totally defeated and fainted, or while it’s at full strength and you manage to befriend it. It generally depends on the pokemon’s personality. The mod does have a right to revoke a capture upon evaluation if they feel it wasn’t up to scratch. Don’t worry though, as long as it’s reasonable, let your creativity take you as far as you’d like.

If you want to gain EXP, remember that the mod dictates how much you get. Almost always you’ll get the full amount deserved, but if another pokemon helped you or the battle was subpar, you might receive less. But remember, extra effort does not go unnoticed, a battle that’s pleasant to read will almost always reap lovely rewards.

Battle Summaries

The final step to any battle is a Battle Summary. This, like the declaration, is something that’s designed to make the mod’s life a little easier when evaluating. All one needs to do is go through and list all the moves and tactics used by whom in an easy to read manner, usually in a spoiler.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{An Example}Trainer encountered a Pokemon

Pokemon Used/Sustained a Status Infliction
Pokemon Used a Move

Trainer used Item

Trainer defeated Pokemon
Trainer captured Pokemon

Doing that will ensure we don’t miss anything amazing that happens, even though it might be buried in text.

Conclusion

Thanks for sticking through this big read. Just remember, a lot of it is common sense and good sportsmanship.

To summarize:

• Pokemon Declaration
• Type of Battle
• Moves and Their attributes
• Reference the hard numbers
• Be creative with them
• Type match-ups, Critical hits, etc.
• Win/Loss or Capture
• Battle Summary

If you’re confused on anything, as we’ve said many times in this post, ask a mod in the chatbox or through PM and we can discuss it over~

[Godai]

Contests!

These are exciting alternatives to battles for those of us who don’t care for such barbarism~
Introduced in Generation III, and again used in Generation IV, we will be taking inspiration from both forms of contests and making our own canon.

First thing I should mention, is that there is no dichotomy between trainers and coordinators. A trainer can take place in contests and a coordinator can battle gyms if they want to. Anyone can, in theory, do both. This is related to Godai’s message of remaining as freeform as possible, what’s to stop you from kicking butt and doing it beautifully?

Secondly, just like battles, there are stats. Yes this means more numbers, but thankfully this is entirely optional. If you choose for your character to want to participate in contests, then you’ll simply add this little template below your pokmeon’s regular stats.

[ul][li][b]Cool:[/b] # [/li]
[li][b]Tough:[/b] # [/li]
[li][b]Beauty:[/b] # [/li]
[li][b]Smart:[/b] # [/li]
[li][b]Cute:[/b] # [/li][/ul]
[spoiler]{Poffins Used}None[/spoiler]

You’ll notice there are no percents here. That’s not an oversight, all pokemon start off with Zero contest stats except by a request and a lucky roll. The way you gain contest stats is by the use of Poffins. These baked treats are made by taking wet and dry pastry ingredients, i.e. flour, sugar, water, milk etc, and combining them with berries to make different flavors that react with a pokemon rather strongly, and increasing their various appeals. How much is determined by, yes, more math. The process might seem tough at first, but it’ll become second nature with practice.

1. Pick up to Four Berries. These can be any four that your character has, including repeats of berries. Any more and the texture of the poffin is compromised and you end up with anything from goop to rock cakes.
2. Second, go to this Page and scroll down to Generation IV’s Listing of the berries.
3. Find your Berries, and take note of their flavor strengths in each category.
4. Divide each of these by 10. This is to make the numbers smaller and easier to deal with.
5. Add up each Flavor Category individually. (The Flavor Category with the highest number decides the overall Color and Flavor of the Poffin)
6. Add the Total Flavors together into One number.
7. Then take that final sum and divide it by 4 (Always Round Down).

That’s all the math you’ll be doing. Now how to apply it to your stats.

1. Take each Flavor Category Sum, and add those directly to your stats.
2. Then take the Final number you got by dividing the Total Sum by 4. This Determines the Level of the Poffin. You take that number and apply that many points to whichever stats you choose.

I feel that an Example is needed.

I have 2 Oran Berries, 1 Razz Berry, and 1 Tomato Berry.

I look up their Flavors on Bulbapedia. divide by 10, and together they’d look like this.

Berry	Spicy	Dry	Sweet	Bitter	Sour
Oran	1	1	0	1	1
Oran	1	1	0	1	1
Razz	1	1	0	0	0
Tomato	2	1	0	0	0

Now I add up each category, and totals will be like this.

Poffin	Spicy	Dry	Sweet	Bitter	Sour
Red Poffin	5	4	0	2	2

Now I add all of those up and Divide by 4
5+4+0+2+2= 13
14 / 4 = 3.25 ~ 3.
That means the Poffin is a Level 3

Now say I have a Wurmple to whom I’m feeding this poffin. It’s a Red, and Spicy Poffin because it has the highest points in the Spicy category. If I fed it to the Wurmple his Contest Stats would look like the following:

• Cool: 5
• Beauty: 4
• Cute: 3
• Smart: 2
• Tough: 2

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Poffins Used} Level 3 Red Poffin: 2 Oran, 1 Razz, 1 Tomato.

Now, in the games, some pokemon don’t like certain flavors and that makes them unhappy when they eat them. Conversely, if they like a certain flavor and they eat it, they become very happy. These are determined by Nature in the game, but since we don’t use natures here, we will simply relate it to the highest stat.

If a Pokemon’s Attack Stat is highest, it likes Spicy Poffins and Berries
If a Pokemon’s Defense Stat is highest, it likes Sour Poffins and Berries
If a Pokemon’s Special Attack Stat is highest, it likes Dry Poffins and Berries
If a Pokemon’s Special Defense Stat is highest, it likes Bitter Poffins and Berries
If a Pokemon’s Speed Stat is highest, it likes Sweet Poffins and Berries
If two or more stats are tied, then they will enjoy multiple flavors.

The opposite is true as well.

If their lowest stat is Attack they will Dislike the Spicy Flavor
If their lowest stat is Defense they will Dislike the Sour Flavor
If their lowest stat is Special Attack they will Dislike the Dry Flavor
If their lowest stat is Special Defense they will Dislike the Bitter Flavor
If their lowest stat is Speed they will Dislike the Sweet Flavor
If two or more stats are tied for lowest, then they will dislike multiple flavors.

Pokemon with even stats will remain neutral to all flavors.

The other way that Contest stats are gained is through actual RP. When you submit a thread for evaluation, you can choose to make a note saying, “I trained for a contest.” Depending on the type of training and/or moves that were done, the evaluator will reward you with a certain number of Contest stats to be placed in that category. The exact method will remain unknown to you, but it will not be arbitrary.

Competing!

Now that you’ve got your pokemon ready for contests, you’ll then need to actually go visit some, and participate~

There are Five Contest Halls across Godai. One each in Tiensee, Cascadia, Kotoba, and Vlostik. The Elite Hall is Located in the Everlight District

Each hall is large enough to hold four arenas for each of the four rankings, Normal, Super, Hyper, Master and Elite Rank. Trainers all start challenging at the Normal Rank. They enter one pokemon into one Appeal Category (Cool, Beauty, Cute, Smart, or Tough) and if they win, they’re awarded a Normal Ribbon. If they wish the enter a Super Rank Contest, they may only enter the pokemon that won the Normal Ribbon. There is no order or specific denomination for each hall, and coordinators can even go to the same hall more than once for a higher rank. In order to Enter the Elite Rank, At least 2 Pokemon need to have Master Ribbons.

For example, If that Wurmple I mentioned above went in and won the Cool contest, he’d be awarded a Cool Normal Ribbon. If I wanted to enter him in a Super Rank Contest, I could only submit that Wurmple and only in the Cool Category. I could, however, win the Normal contest in Tiensee, and then circle back and challenge the Super Contest in Tiensee again.

When it comes to procedure, Contests in Godai are broken down into two rounds. Primary Judging, and Secondary Judging.

Primary judging is where the judges and audience examine your pokemon and rate it based on how it physically looks. We can’t let you know the specifics, but they look for the contest attribute you’re competing for, but there’s more to it than that.

If you’re confused, don’t worry, because Secondary Judging is where your creativity as a writer comes into play. This is the point in the contest in which pokemon are able to use moves in order to impress the audience and judges. It is most similar to the Generation III Contests, but with a few amendments. The pokemon that performed best in the primary judging will be put last in the order to perform.

At this point the coordinator chooses a move and the writer describes the pokemon using it. The round will be judged on how creatively a move is executed, and also by how well it is written. That does not mean more words gives more points, finding the balance between detailed imagery and concise prose will yield the most hearts.

After this, the pokemon with the most hearts will be placed first for the next round. This continues for a total of Five Rounds. At the end of the context, the pokemon with the highest combined scores from the Primary and Secondary Judging will be awarded the victor!

Extra Mechanics

Just like there are things like poisoning and stat buffs in battles, there are other intricacies in contests that make them more interesting.

Many moves have a Jam Rating. These affect pokemon either ahead and/or behind them in the contest order, and they remove points from their appeal through psychological mind games with either the pokemon them self, or on the judges.

Some moves make the user Settle Down just a Bit which will protect them from being jammed once, if another pokemon uses a jamming move, they will be susceptible. It also only lasts for that round.

Other moves make the user Oblivious to Others, which protects it from being jammed for the entire remainder of the round.

Pokemon can be made Nervous from another pokemon’s appeal. These will varyingly affect they way they perform when it’s their turn that round and how well it is received by the judges.

A few moves have Cool Down Periods meaning that after one use, a pokemon cannot perform in the next round.

Sometimes moves can Rearrange or Scramble the Performance Order.

Using the same move twice in a row will result in exponential loss, 2 Heart Deductions from the total, Then 4, then 8. There are a few moves, like Hidden Power, that do not follow this rule though.

And I’m sure you’ve been wondering this during the entirety of you reading this, yes, Move Combos are allowed. There is a list here of moves that have guaranteed levels of appeal. You may also combine your own moves, but there isn’t any fixed amount of appeal that you will receive. Two moves may be used in the same turn and count as a combo. However, they must be rehearsed or trained outside of a contest. Coming up with a combo the moment of a round and expecting it to go off perfectly is, quite frankly, implausible.

The Audience is also important for appeal. Using moves in the same category as the contest will slowly bring up their excitement, which can add to appeal. However, using moves outside of the appeal will either do nothing, or actually bring them down. Strategy can come into play here to screw over an opponent.

Just like with Gym Battles, Mods will control the Judges as well as your other competition. though they will only do the latter to fill spaces. Tag threads of up to four can participate in contests together, though most contests will only be two people. If there are any fewer, Mods will create or use NPCs to fill the roll of your competitors. Also like Gym Battles, a total of 4 precursory threads must be completed before participation in a contest. There are no level or pokemon restrictions however.

[Godai]

EXP System

Experience Points are indications of how much a Pokemon has battled. Once a Pokemon has grown a certain amount of experience points, they level up and become stronger. The more you level up, the more difficult it becomes to gain EXP.

Overview

EXP is typically awarded in the following fashions.

• Defeating Pokemon: This is accomplished when one of your Pokemon come out victorious in a battle, either against a wild Pokemon or a Trainer. This is usually the most basic way Pokemon gain their EXP.
• Topic Evaluation: This system is a reward-dealer. In return for completing an RP topic and contributing to this site, we review your topic and give you rewards for your performance. As you know, one of the rewards granted is Experience Points. The EXP comes in the form of a number, in which you are able to split up your reward to your Pokemon party however you want.
• Announcements: There are particular activities that can grant EXP. Special holiday events or anniversaries can get you some free EXP. Just keep on constantly checking the Announcements page to check up on any updates regarding to EXP.

In order to distinguish the value and skill of each Pokemon under the trainer's ownership, we've included a feature known as Gained EXP. Gained EXP is the amount of EXP the Pokemon has gained under the ownership of the trainer. This feature reveals how acquainted the Pokemon is with the trainer. By adding up the EXP Gained from all Pokemon the trainer owns (including his/her PC Box), we are able to determine the Total EXP Gained, allowing us to compare and contrast the experience of each trainer!

Leveling Up

Like in the games, the amount of experience points a Pokemon has is dependent on its level. However, the amount varies depending on what species the Pokemon is, which is always consistent with its evolutionary family. A given amount of experience points will always set a Pokemon at their corresponding level.

Each Pokemon has an EXP Gauge which is represented by (#/#).
-The first # represents the Total EXP amount the Pokemon currently has, added to the EXP it had at capture (There should never be a zero in the left number).
-The second # represents how much Total EXP the Pokemon needs in order to level up.

All Pokemon fall into six different groups known as EXP Rate, where each group has a different amount of experience points required to reach Level 100.

• Erratic: Requires 6000EXP to reach Level 100.
  Leveling up is slow at first but gradually becomes faster.
• Fast: Requires 8000EXP to reach Level 100.
• Medium Fast: Requires 10000EXP to reach Level 100.
• Medium Slow: Requires 10600EXP to reach Level 100.
• Slow: Requires 12500EXP to reach Level 100.
• Fluctuating: Requires 16000EXP to reach Level 100. Leveling up is fast at first but gradually becomes slower.

Below is a table that you are going to be using for the rest of your RP life. The numbers are the Minimum EXP required to be its respective level. To be Level Five in the Medium Fast group, you need a Total EXP of 7. If you want to level up to level six, you need to gain 2EXP in order to reach a Total EXP of 9.

	Erratic	Fast	Medium Fast	Medium Slow	Slow	Fluctuating
Level 1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Level 2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Level 3	4	3	3	3	3	3
Level 4	6	5	5	4	5	4
Level 5	9	7	7	6	7	6
Level 6	12	9	9	8	9	8
Level 7	16	11	12	10	12	10
Level 8	20	14	15	12	15	12
Level 9	25	17	18	15	18	17
Level 10	30	20	22	18	22	20
Level 11	36	23	26	21	26	23
Level 12	42	27	30	24	31	26
Level 13	50	31	35	28	36	30
Level 14	59	35	40	32	43	34
Level 15	69	40	47	36	51	38
Level 16	80	46	55	41	60	43
Level 17	93	52	64	47	70	48
Level 18	108	60	74	54	82	55
Level 19	123	68	85	62	95	63
Level 20	139	77	96	71	109	72
Level 21	157	87	108	81	125	83
Level 22	176	98	121	92	142	95
Level 23	197	110	136	104	161	108
Level 24	220	123	152	118	182	123
Level 25	244	137	170	133	204	139

	Erratic	Fast	Medium Fast	Medium Slow	Slow	Fluctuating
Level 26	270	152	189	150	228	157
Level 27	298	169	210	168	254	177
Level 28	326	187	232	188	282	199
Level 29	356	206	255	210	312	223
Level 30	381	227	280	233	344	250
Level 31	413	249	307	258	378	279
Level 32	446	272	336	284	414	311
Level 33	481	297	367	312	452	346
Level 34	519	323	400	342	493	384
Level 35	557	350	436	375	537	425
Level 36	597	380	474	408	583	467
Level 37	638	411	513	445	633	510
Level 38	680	444	554	484	686	560
Level 39	724	479	597	525	741	605
Level 40	768	516	642	568	800	666
Level 41	813	553	690	614	862	717
Level 42	859	593	741	663	926	785
Level 43	906	636	795	714	994	843
Level 44	954	681	852	770	1065	920
Level 45	1002	730	911	833	1139	984
Level 46	1051	780	973	895	1217	1071
Level 47	1100	830	1038	960	1298	1142
Level 48	1150	885	1106	1028	1382	1239
Level 49	1200	941	1177	1100	1471	1318
Level 50	1250	1000	1250	1174	1563	1425

	Erratic	Fast	Medium Fast	Medium Slow	Slow	Fluctuating
Level 51	1313	1061	1327	1251	1658	1512
Level 52	1378	1125	1406	1332	1758	1631
Level 53	1444	1191	1489	1417	1861	1727
Level 54	1512	1260	1575	1505	1968	1858
Level 55	1581	1331	1664	1596	2080	1963
Level 56	1651	1405	1756	1692	2195	2107
Level 57	1722	1482	1852	1791	2315	2222
Level 58	1795	1560	1951	1893	2439	2380
Level 59	1869	1643	2054	2000	2567	2506
Level 60	1944	1728	2160	2111	2700	2678
Level 61	2020	1815	2270	2225	2837	2815
Level 62	2097	1907	2383	2344	2979	3003
Level 63	2175	2000	2500	2467	3126	3150
Level 64	2254	2097	2621	2594	3277	3355
Level 65	2334	2197	2746	2725	3433	3515
Level 66	2415	2300	2875	2861	3594	3737
Level 67	2496	2406	3008	3001	3760	3910
Level 68	2578	2516	3144	3146	3930	4150
Level 69	2674	2628	3285	3295	4106	4336
Level 70	2764	2744	3430	3450	4288	4596
Level 71	2863	2863	3579	3608	4474	4796
Level 72	2964	2986	3732	3772	4665	5076
Level 73	3058	3112	3890	3940	4863	5291
Level 74	3161	3242	4052	4114	5065	5592
Level 75	3265	3375	4219	4292	5273	5822

	Erratic	Fast	Medium Fast	Medium Slow	Slow	Fluctuating
Level 76	3363	3512	4340	4475	5487	6146
Level 77	3470	3652	4565	4665	5707	6392
Level 78	3578	3796	4745	4859	5932	6739
Level 79	3678	3944	4930	5058	6163	7001
Level 80	3789	4096	5120	5263	6400	7373
Level 81	3900	4252	5314	5473	6643	7653
Level 82	4003	4410	5514	5688	6892	8050
Level 83	4117	4574	5718	5910	7147	8348
Level 84	4232	4742	5927	6137	7409	8772
Level 85	4336	4913	6141	6369	7677	9090
Level 86	4452	5088	6361	6608	7951	9541
Level 87	4570	5268	6585	6852	8231	9878
Level 88	4675	5452	6815	7103	8518	10358
Level 89	4894	5640	7050	7359	8812	10716
Level 90	4914	5832	7290	7622	9113	11227
Level 91	5019	6029	7536	7890	9420	11605
Level 92	5139	6230	7787	8165	9733	12148
Level 93	5260	6435	8044	8447	10054	12548
Level 94	5366	6645	8305	8734	10382	13123
Level 95	5487	6859	8574	9028	10717	13547
Level 96	5609	7078	8847	9329	11059	14156
Level 97	5713	7301	9127	9636	11408	14603
Level 98	5835	7530	9412	9950	11765	15047
Level 99	5920	7762	9703	10271	12129	15519
Level 100	6000	8000	10000	10600	12500	16000

If you want to know your Pokemon's EXP Rate, please refer to the PokeDex.

Through battle, you can determine the maximum EXP your Pokemon gains depending on their level, mods may judge the quality of the battle to be deserving of less EXP in Evaluation:

• Levels 1-14: The Pokemon gains EXP equal to the opponent's Pokemon level.
• Levels 15-35: The Pokemon gains EXP equal to three quarters (rounding down) of the opponent's Pokemon level.
• Levels 36-70: The Pokemon gains EXP equal to a half (rounding down) of the opponent's Pokemon level.
• Levels 71-99: The Pokemon gains EXP equal to a third (rounding down) of the opponent's Pokemon level.

Thankfully, the EXP you gain through Topic Evaluation and Monthly Events are not cut in any shape, way, or form. They all come in one piece.

Are you confused? Well, let's do some examples.

You have a new Pikachu who's at Level 5. Pikachu currently has 7 Total EXP (which goes into the first #) and is categorized in the Medium Fast group, where at Level 5 Pikachu needs 9 Total EXP to level up (which goes into the second #). So his EXP gauge would be at (7/9). Pikachu just squashed a Level 2 Wurmple OUCH!. He gains 2 EXP because Wurmple is at Level 2, so that adds to the first #, making his gauge go up to (9/9). Because Pikachu has reached the requirement to level up, he levels up to Level 6, in which his new gauge is (9/12). Remember, constantly looking at the table helps.

A Level 16 Beautifly, with 55 EXP in the medium fast group, masterfully takes down a level 13 Onix. Because Beautifly is now above level 15, it get 75% of its opponent’s level as EXP. This means that it gets, 13 x .75 = 9.75, rounded down, 9 EXP, which just so happens to be just enough to level up~ Gotta love those meduim EXP rates.

You have a Charizard who is at Level 36! Since Charizard is at the Medium Slow group, his EXP gauge would be at (408/455). He just smoked the crap out of a Level 25 Jynx by cooking her googly-eyed head with a Flamethrower. Because Charizard is now at Level 36, he only gains half of Jynx's level, which is 25/2 = 12.5, rounding down, so that's 12 EXP. Adding that 12 to the first #, Charizard's new EXP gauge is now (420/455), which means he only needs 35 more EXP to level up.

You have a Level 76 Dragonite at your side. Dragonite is a Slow group, so his EXP gauge is at a whopping (5487/5707). He decides to pummel a Level 41 Gyarados, demoralizing the poor beast back into a Magikarp. Because Dragonite is now in the Levels 76-99, he gains only a third of Gyarado's level. 41/3 = 13.667, rounding down, so that's 13. Adding 13 to his Total EXP (5487), Dragonite's new EXP gauge is now at (5500/5707).

(Please, do not make your Pokemon battles as simple as the examples above when you RP) Does it look a lot easier to understand now that you look at the examples? We understand that the large numbers definitely look daunting, and that's because they are supposed to be. But wouldn't it be cool if the staff saw these numbers and planned ahead so that when a character begins getting close to them, their rewards began to grow along with them? Of course we can't describe how, but put some trust in us and try to find out how much EXP you get at those levels by getting there~

We hope that with this EXP system, your RP experience becomes more stable and fun.

_{Credit goes to Centuck for proposing EXP System 2.0}