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- Seen Apr 19, 2024
Hey there. I've made a lot of RPs over the years, many of them "journey style pokémon RPs". Here's one, where I tried to think of what I've learned from earlier RPs and how to make things engaging yet not too strict. It reuses a lot of themes I've used before, in case some things seem familiar. If you have time, I would like thoughts, impressions, anything you think of when you see this. Thank you!
< no IC thread yet >
back g r o u n d
Jubilife City is perhaps the heart of Sinnoh - a large, active city where you can find anything and everything you'd need or wish for. And yet, not everyone living here is happy... An up and coming pokémon professor has decided that this is the perfect place to base their operations in. Together with a number of assistants, professor Larch took over a whole office complex, turning it into their research centre. It is unclear how they could afford this, and many speculate that professor Larch has contacts of high importance and wealth.
One day, there is a break-in in the centre. The Jubilife Police Department arrived too late to help, and there is little to go by to identify the thieves. The professor then reveals that they were planning on giving out specially bred pokémon to troubled youth of the town to give them a good chance to find joy in become pokémon trainers in return for participating in a special study. But now, some research and some pokémon were taken away. The professor decides to give out the remaining pokémon before they are stolen as well, just to not keep all eggs in the same basket, so to speak. Together with devoted trainers, they will grow and become able to protect themselves and their trainer soon enough - due to the strong bonds that form when a pokémon and trainer successfully spend time together.
You are one of these troubled teenagers who are given a pokémon and are asked to journey the region to the south, west, north, and far east, for the sake of the study. To motivate you extra, the professor suggests that you take on the gym challenge or contest challenge.
Watch out for pokémon thieves though... Wild pokémon can be very strong, but they lack the honed skills and empowering human-pokémon bonds that make trained pokémon uniquely superior. That's why lazy or greedy criminals try to steal trained pokémon to use or resell rather than capture wild ones themselves. In this world, it's generally seen as taboo to pay money for a pokémon - in the past, at least. Trading is the accepted form of acquiring new ones aside from capturing wild ones, hatching new ones, or being given one as a free gift for a justified reason. But in recent years, very wealthy people have started to erode that old taboo, which have only led to pokémon thievery becoming more common. Remember to report any criminal activity you come across to local authorities. Fight back only if you have to! And don't forget to update the professor on how you and your team are doing from time to time. Good luck!
the s t u d y
Professor Larch is asking you to do mainly three things:
1) train and grow your pokémon, let it evolve if it feels like the right thing to do, and nurture it as well as you can while strengthening the bond between the two of you.
2) gather data on other pokémon in the pokédex they gave you - and register for each entry you make whether the pokémon you met was wild or with a trainer.
3) call up your personally assigned Research Aide every once in a while! At the very least once every few days, to tell them about how things are going, and to transfer pokédex data to them. Internet connection can be spotty when out on the road, so it is a good idea to do this whenever you stop by a settlement or a city with facilities (i.e. a pokémon center). If you really don't feel like talking, you can also send them an e-mail and attach the pokédex data...
r u les
1. One post in the IC thread per player every month is the absolute minimum posting frequency requirement in order to keep the RP flowing, but I prefer something more like one post per 2 weeks. A JP (joint post) counts for all involved players. If you have a really good reason, your character can be paused if you can't post for longer than that time (for example if something happens IRL or if you have been working on a JP with other players for a while and are having difficulties coordinating).
2. Rating is T. Although this RP deals with "troubled teens", I chose the T rating because there is no need to go overboard with gore or romance or violent descriptions, but depicting some criminal/traumatic themes is of course fine as long as the descriptions aren't explicit. For example, mentioning abuse is okay in this RP, but writing it out happening is not okay unless it is as simple as Paul and Chimchar's relationship in the anime, etc. It is also fine to have a somewhat more "realistic" approach to pokémon battling than the games/anime/manga if you want, but remember that pokémon will never really make sense, and we don't need it to :) if you have any questions about the rating, just ask in this thread, or PM me on the forums, or DM me on Discord and we'll try to sort it out.
3. You may reserve a SU spot + starter for 7 days.
4. You need a Discord account and be able to respond on a dedicated RP server there, in order for this RP to properly function. If you cannot or don't want to use Discord, then this RP is not for you, sadly.
5. Pokémon won't grow by levels in this RP. Instead, I will inform you when one of yours has grown enough to evolve or learn a new move (of my choosing). If you really wish for your pokémon to evolve sooner, you can let me know and I'll keep an extra eye on it to see if we can justify it :)
6. You are free to capture wild pokémon available in each area as you please.
7. Money is not something we keep track of. When you beat another trainer in a mutually agreed on battle, they are meant to pay you prize money, but we don't have to be specific on how much that is, imo.
8. We do however keep an inventory of key items for each player. You are encouraged to keep track of it yourself in a post in the OOC thread (for example your SU post), because history shows that when I am tasked to update a post with all of this, I tend to forget things hahah...
9. ^ Same goes for your pokémon team and their moves, items and details!
10. You will be expected to JP (joint post, to build a post together in - most often - a live online googledocument) quite often, as I will put you into events together with other players and pretty much force you to interact. This is because I've seen that this is the best way to form bonds between player characters early on :)
the r e g i o n
star t e r s
Sprigatito / Fuecoco / Quaxly / Grookey / Scorbunny / Sobble / Rowlet / Litten / Popplio
s i g n u p sheet
TRAINER
Name:
Age: (15-18, yeah it's slim but it's because the target audience for the study is slim)
Pronouns:
Appearance: (written or picture, or both!)
Personality & preferences: (general character traits and examples)
History & family: (how they reached their current point in life, and what family they have and cherish... or loathe)
Goals: (professor Larch won't force anyone to go on this journey, but they will strongly encourage - and your family might also strongly encourage you to accept the study. Or maybe they are against it? Either way, your character should have some form of goal or something to strive for during their journey. Maybe a weakness to overcome, someone or something to find, a specific metric to reach, or a self-transformation they wish to achieve. Be creative! This is meant to motivate you and ensure you hopefully never feel completely aimless on the road)
YOUR RESEARCH AIDE (this person will be your personally assigned contact to professor Larch's centre, and the one you will be relying on and communicating with throughout your journey! most likely you will talk with them on phone or in video calls, or at least emails, but they might also meet you at some points if you want! At the very least in Jubilife :))
Name:
Age: (18+)
Pronouns:
Appearance: (written or picture, or both!)
Personality: (general character traits, can be brief)
History & family: (COMPLETELY OPTIONAL - you might just remove this section if you prefer not to elaborate on this for now, since this is not your main character)
POKéMON
Species: (choose from unclaimed starters above in this post!)
Nickname:
Pronouns:
Ability: (HA is okay unless I really feel like it's gamebreaking :))
If you wish for a specific Egg move: (then wish away! I will assign you the other initial moves for your starter when your SU is accepted)
p l a y e r list
- moon as ?
don't you know?
you are destined for greatness!
you are destined for greatness!
J o u r ney
Spoiler:
< no IC thread yet >
Jubilife City is perhaps the heart of Sinnoh - a large, active city where you can find anything and everything you'd need or wish for. And yet, not everyone living here is happy... An up and coming pokémon professor has decided that this is the perfect place to base their operations in. Together with a number of assistants, professor Larch took over a whole office complex, turning it into their research centre. It is unclear how they could afford this, and many speculate that professor Larch has contacts of high importance and wealth.
One day, there is a break-in in the centre. The Jubilife Police Department arrived too late to help, and there is little to go by to identify the thieves. The professor then reveals that they were planning on giving out specially bred pokémon to troubled youth of the town to give them a good chance to find joy in become pokémon trainers in return for participating in a special study. But now, some research and some pokémon were taken away. The professor decides to give out the remaining pokémon before they are stolen as well, just to not keep all eggs in the same basket, so to speak. Together with devoted trainers, they will grow and become able to protect themselves and their trainer soon enough - due to the strong bonds that form when a pokémon and trainer successfully spend time together.
You are one of these troubled teenagers who are given a pokémon and are asked to journey the region to the south, west, north, and far east, for the sake of the study. To motivate you extra, the professor suggests that you take on the gym challenge or contest challenge.
Watch out for pokémon thieves though... Wild pokémon can be very strong, but they lack the honed skills and empowering human-pokémon bonds that make trained pokémon uniquely superior. That's why lazy or greedy criminals try to steal trained pokémon to use or resell rather than capture wild ones themselves. In this world, it's generally seen as taboo to pay money for a pokémon - in the past, at least. Trading is the accepted form of acquiring new ones aside from capturing wild ones, hatching new ones, or being given one as a free gift for a justified reason. But in recent years, very wealthy people have started to erode that old taboo, which have only led to pokémon thievery becoming more common. Remember to report any criminal activity you come across to local authorities. Fight back only if you have to! And don't forget to update the professor on how you and your team are doing from time to time. Good luck!
the s t u d y
Professor Larch is asking you to do mainly three things:
1) train and grow your pokémon, let it evolve if it feels like the right thing to do, and nurture it as well as you can while strengthening the bond between the two of you.
2) gather data on other pokémon in the pokédex they gave you - and register for each entry you make whether the pokémon you met was wild or with a trainer.
3) call up your personally assigned Research Aide every once in a while! At the very least once every few days, to tell them about how things are going, and to transfer pokédex data to them. Internet connection can be spotty when out on the road, so it is a good idea to do this whenever you stop by a settlement or a city with facilities (i.e. a pokémon center). If you really don't feel like talking, you can also send them an e-mail and attach the pokédex data...
r u les
1. One post in the IC thread per player every month is the absolute minimum posting frequency requirement in order to keep the RP flowing, but I prefer something more like one post per 2 weeks. A JP (joint post) counts for all involved players. If you have a really good reason, your character can be paused if you can't post for longer than that time (for example if something happens IRL or if you have been working on a JP with other players for a while and are having difficulties coordinating).
2. Rating is T. Although this RP deals with "troubled teens", I chose the T rating because there is no need to go overboard with gore or romance or violent descriptions, but depicting some criminal/traumatic themes is of course fine as long as the descriptions aren't explicit. For example, mentioning abuse is okay in this RP, but writing it out happening is not okay unless it is as simple as Paul and Chimchar's relationship in the anime, etc. It is also fine to have a somewhat more "realistic" approach to pokémon battling than the games/anime/manga if you want, but remember that pokémon will never really make sense, and we don't need it to :) if you have any questions about the rating, just ask in this thread, or PM me on the forums, or DM me on Discord and we'll try to sort it out.
3. You may reserve a SU spot + starter for 7 days.
4. You need a Discord account and be able to respond on a dedicated RP server there, in order for this RP to properly function. If you cannot or don't want to use Discord, then this RP is not for you, sadly.
5. Pokémon won't grow by levels in this RP. Instead, I will inform you when one of yours has grown enough to evolve or learn a new move (of my choosing). If you really wish for your pokémon to evolve sooner, you can let me know and I'll keep an extra eye on it to see if we can justify it :)
6. You are free to capture wild pokémon available in each area as you please.
7. Money is not something we keep track of. When you beat another trainer in a mutually agreed on battle, they are meant to pay you prize money, but we don't have to be specific on how much that is, imo.
8. We do however keep an inventory of key items for each player. You are encouraged to keep track of it yourself in a post in the OOC thread (for example your SU post), because history shows that when I am tasked to update a post with all of this, I tend to forget things hahah...
9. ^ Same goes for your pokémon team and their moves, items and details!
10. You will be expected to JP (joint post, to build a post together in - most often - a live online googledocument) quite often, as I will put you into events together with other players and pretty much force you to interact. This is because I've seen that this is the best way to form bonds between player characters early on :)
the r e g i o n
Spoiler:
star t e r s
Sprigatito / Fuecoco / Quaxly / Grookey / Scorbunny / Sobble / Rowlet / Litten / Popplio
s i g n u p sheet
TRAINER
Name:
Age: (15-18, yeah it's slim but it's because the target audience for the study is slim)
Pronouns:
Appearance: (written or picture, or both!)
Personality & preferences: (general character traits and examples)
History & family: (how they reached their current point in life, and what family they have and cherish... or loathe)
Goals: (professor Larch won't force anyone to go on this journey, but they will strongly encourage - and your family might also strongly encourage you to accept the study. Or maybe they are against it? Either way, your character should have some form of goal or something to strive for during their journey. Maybe a weakness to overcome, someone or something to find, a specific metric to reach, or a self-transformation they wish to achieve. Be creative! This is meant to motivate you and ensure you hopefully never feel completely aimless on the road)
YOUR RESEARCH AIDE (this person will be your personally assigned contact to professor Larch's centre, and the one you will be relying on and communicating with throughout your journey! most likely you will talk with them on phone or in video calls, or at least emails, but they might also meet you at some points if you want! At the very least in Jubilife :))
Name:
Age: (18+)
Pronouns:
Appearance: (written or picture, or both!)
Personality: (general character traits, can be brief)
History & family: (COMPLETELY OPTIONAL - you might just remove this section if you prefer not to elaborate on this for now, since this is not your main character)
POKéMON
Species: (choose from unclaimed starters above in this post!)
Nickname:
Pronouns:
Ability: (HA is okay unless I really feel like it's gamebreaking :))
If you wish for a specific Egg move: (then wish away! I will assign you the other initial moves for your starter when your SU is accepted)
p l a y e r list
- moon as ?
