Godai Newsletter #1 - Feb 2019

[Gaja]

Godai Newsletter #1
Feb 1st 2019

Hello and welcome everyone, members and visitors alike, and thank you for taking the time to check in and look around. Welcome to the Godai RP and its first official newsletter!

Godai as a site, has entered a new era titled 2.0, and the staff figured that everyone would appreciate the updates in an official and easy to read manner. Meaning that you no longer have to worry if you've seen all the past threads of importance. They'll be linked here and you can branch out and read up on everything as you see fit.

So I'm very happy to announce that this will be a monthly thing where we'll update/brief you on any and all changes that you need to be aware of. I’m very excited about this whole process and the story possibilities it presents us with. So I’ve decided that the #1 newsletter if going to focus on some general stuff regarding the Godai RP, previous updates and some of our plans for the future, both OOC and IC. Feel free to post follow up questions or feedback bellow, or just gifs.

The first topic on the agenda? Who’s who in the Godai Staff?​

As we've had a fair number of new members this year, #Excited, I'll briefly introduce everyone bellow. Please note that I'll do this only this time around, as meeting me once is plenty after all. On a more serious note these guys have been incredibly hard at work trying to figure out ways to improve the RP and building on the foundation that we've been given.

Anyhow I’m Gaja and I partially run this mad house now. I'd also like it stated that I did nothing, and it's all Chaos' and Vart's fault. That being said I'm not particularly tied to any one aspect of the site and try to help out wherever I can. I enjoy the story aspect of it the most, so I hope to work on that in the future. Though as you've noticed I'm all over the place and I jump in when called/needed/unneeded. If you need something, shoot me a PM. If not, shoot one anyway.

Chaos - He primarily works on game mechanics, such as the TAT and EXP system but also helps out with RP elements like Gym leaders and events. Along the regular mod stuff of course.

Vartio - He does nothing too. I mean I guess he kinda is doing the Gen 7.5 updates on his own... And I guess this whole new forum skin thing... And a lil bit of everything. So you know... barely does anything I guess, hangs out in the chat!!! Yes, that's it!

And finally our most recent and without a doubt classiest addition "The Dark Queen herself" - persimmon. While she's going to be helping out with everything, as all mods do, her main domain is an incredibly important element of the RP and that's the Nexus aspect and their involvement in the main plot as well as general plots. If you want your character to clash/join/learn about them she is probably the most qualified person to contact. She'll tell you I know things too, but this is a damn lie. I know nothing.

Now there are of course the incredibly awesome Finny and Bones as well though they're currently not as active due to RL circumstances. We love you both and hope to see you back in full force as soon as possible. So that's it!

Staff Change

Now this section exists as well, though I certainly hope we won't have it around often. Sadly the always powerful Drake has decided to step down as a mod, and promote me?, so I wanted to use this chance to show some love for our good buddy and to say that we all hope he finds new motivation to keep writing and comes back eventually. It cannot be overstated how instrumental this man was in that we can RP here today, as he kept on trucking as a Mod and handled most of the move to this server when things were incredibly hard for the site.

Whether or not he'll be back is up in the air, but regardless if he's around go nag him. Tell him Gaja sent ya.

New seasonal event.

Now part of the things we're working on as a team is the reintroduction of seasonal events. Events aren’t just back, they are better than ever!

Seasonal events are returning with a series of new Spring prompts, all focused on the theme “Stars!"
Now in the past, doing an Event only got you a small reward, but expect a lot more from now on as when you turn in a new Event Topic, you will see a new reward listed. And it'll look like this:

"Spring 19 - 30% EXP (3/3)"

Seems a little strange, no? This is an EXP bonus that lasts for 3 topics, or until the next Events are announced. Earning more stars for an Event thread gets you a bigger bonus, so do your best!

Speaking of which the newest Event has just been launched and can be found [Here]! Go check it out.

Return of the TotM

As several of you have asked, and I am sure are excited to see, Thread of the Month is returning as well. Starting today, all topics sent in for evaluation will be considered for February’s TotM. If you just missed it, or submitted something a while back, don’t worry. We will be offering a small gift for your patience. The staff has decided to give a complimentary "2x Rare Candy" for every thread that was evaluated since the last TotM which was back in September of 2017 up until today. We hope that makes it alright for everyone.

Just submit a mod request linking both this post and the thread in question and you're good.

New TAT

We are also proud to present a new TAT, "Dedication". It's a little bit of a departure from what you are used to, but it is well worth keeping track of, as it is the first TAT to be tied to OOC factors instead of IC ones. But how does it work?

Dedication is earned by taking steps in your journey. Specifically, by completing topics. For every topic at or over five posts, you will earn AP for Dedication. Each Rank in Dedication gets you a slight boost to EXP!

Also since many of you have been around and completed a lot of topics, worry not as we are allowing you to gain AP for Dedication retroactively! While we can’t give you EXP retroactively, you can get credit for all your hard work on the site up until this point and receive the bonuses moving forward. Again, thanks to all of you for your patience and well, Dedication!

TAT Summary:

Dedication: Taking steps on your journey.
Dedication also has a unique progression, with ranks earned at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 AP.

Good luck and thank you for being an awesome community! We hope this helps everyone on their journey as pokemon trainers.

Legacy Bonus

Ok this actually affects only a handful of people but a mistake was made and it addressing. The thing is, the staff didn't hand out certain High Star bonuses in the past. Someone, totally not Vartio, went back and checked every thread in the... Let's not praise him too much ok? Long story short: Members that get those bonuses will be PMed so that with their next Mod they'll receive them. We apologize for this oversight.

Updates/Events/Upcoming Stuffz

In this section I'll briefly touch on stuff that's done and you may have missed, as well as stuff that's in the works and you can look forward to. At least the stuff that I can talk about.

Forum Themes - In the Godai Patch 2.0.1 thread you'll find Vartio has made some awesome additions to the site. Some much needed freshness and color for everyone moving forward. Instructions on how to switch between themes can be found there. Also if you have feedback on any aspect on this please share.

Nexus - What's Nexus up to? While they've been quite for a while, at least OOC I can safely say that things are going to change in the near future. Stay tuned for more.

Important NPC's - We're happy to announce that we'll be working on completing the Gym Leaders so that once you decide to challenge any single one, there will be no waiting of any kind. That's not all though as the Elite Four and Champion will also be revealed soon and get their own profiles.

Delimas - Delimas 2018 is in the books. That's an annual Delimas tradition, one that we intend to see again at the end of 2019. If you received presents this year don't forget to get them by doing a mod request!

Spring Festival Arc - And to end things on something special and positive. Our first Site Event is officially happening! This event has been in the works for a while but we are happy to announce that this year it'll happen. What's so special about it? Aside from the theme and scale there is another aspect. It's going to be unique in that you'll be allowed to RP simultaneously in it and in another thread! Give it a read, and if you like the concept sign up. So far it looks like the majority of the PCs are going to be there so that's going to be fun. Now while I can't offer an exact starting date assume that you have at least another 2-3 months time. Certainly we'll keep you posted.

Feedback​

As always we all welcome your feedback, thoughts and ideas as sadly we can't read minds just yet. So as you already might know you can always share them in the Suggestions and Questions subforum and we'll address your thoughts and ideas. I won't lie and say that the RP is completely figured out and done, so if you have ideas regarding plots, events, factions or just awesome threads don't hesitate to either post there or contact anyone from the staff.

So that concludes our very first newsletter. I hope you all enjoyed it and that you'll enjoy Godai and all of the stories that we'll look to create in the future.
Until next time.

Cheers,
Gaja