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Rules: Challenge Rules and Thread Guidelines

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Eleanor

Eleanor

Princess Era 🎀
6,562
Posts
7
Years
    • CHALLENGES FORUM RULES​
    Hello, and welcome to the Challenges section!

    Here, you can take part in Pokémon challenges that other users have created, or submit your own for others to enjoy. Beating them in under 15 hours? Beating them using only a specific type? Catching only 3 pokémon during the adventure? This is the right place for these, and any other ideas you have!

    For a general overview of what's going on in the section, you can check out the Challenge News. You can keep track of your own completed challenges in the users' Hall of Fame, or chat a bit in the Ideas and Discussion thread. This thread, instead, contains the rules that are specific for this section, as well as a list of guidelines for posting new threads in here.

    The current mods are Janp and Eleanor.
    All Pokécommunity Rules apply.
    There are a few exceptions to them in this forum, but if you haven't seen the main PC rules, please read them here.

    All threads are under moderator approval.
    When you post a thread, it won't appear right away. Instead, you'll have to wait for a moderator to check and make sure it meets the criteria for what we expect of challenge threads. Please allow for up to 48 hours to pass before contacting the moderator about your challenge. If 48 hours have passed, you are more than welcome to send the moderator a private message to ask about your challenge. Those that do not make the cut will be sent a private message, or a reply inside the thread itself, to let the user know why and offer advice or alternatives. If you have any questions about how threads in challenges should look like, well...

    Check the Thread Guidelines before posting your Challenge.
    The post below this one contains a list of guidelines, but also some nice examples for how your Challenge thread should look. Please check it out before creating your thread and feel free to use it as inspiration! You may also take a look at pre-existing challenge threads.

    Duplicates aren't allowed.
    There is no reason to have multiple active threads for the same challenge or set of rules: it's always better to keep posting in the same thread, even if it hasn't been updated in a while. There's a list for all the active challenge threads inside of Challenge News, reachable here, and new challenges that have been approved will also be announced there.
    Specifically...
    • A challenge that happens to be too similar to a pre-existing one will not be accepted as a new thread. Things such as "play a nuzlocke without items in battle" or "play a monotype challenge without any fully evolved Pokémon" may simply be added in as optional rules in the pre-existing challenge: please contact the challenge host to have those changes made!
    • A challenge thread that, on the other hand, may have outdated rules, and/or whose host isn't available to contact any more, can be replaced by a new one. If you'd like to be the new host for the challenge you're making a new thread for, please contact the Moderators first, so that we can make all the necessary changes to the Challenges List and close the older thread.

    Thread creators must take part in their own challenges.
    This is mainly to prevent people from starting ridiculously convoluted or hard challenges "because somebody might try it". If you start one, you must join it as well. If you have a good idea for a challenge, but you can't join it for some reason, you may post it on the Challenge Ideas thread, so anybody who wants to try it can start their own thread. This is the most commonly broken rule, so let's try to fix that!

    Do not post Action Replay/Gameshark codes in the challenge thread.
    Yes, there are some challenges that revolve around using an AR code or something of the like, but please refrain from posting them as we don't want to take responsibility for ruining anyone's game. Please just stick to Google for finding them.

    Challenge discussion is allowed and encouraged!
    You are allowed to discuss the challenge within its thread, as well as ask questions, help, and/or get advice. Feel free to create discussion threads or use the Chit-Chat for more general discussion. And don't hesitate to join already created topics.

    Double posting is allowed.
    Need to update your progress, but you were the last to post? Feel free to post again! So long as it isn't too excessive or spammy, double posting is allowed for updating!

    Use proper prefixes.
    There are currently 2 prefixes meant for users. The Challenge prefix is used for your Challenge threads and the Discussion prefix is used for discussions, talk threads, and such. The Event prefix is to be used by Moderators only.

    Challenge hosts may remove you from the challenge.
    If you are causing a stir in a challenge thread, whether by being rude to other players, not following the rules of the challenge, or talking back rudely to the owner of the thread, the thread owner has the right to remove you from the challenger list and blacklist you from the challenge. For anything that needs to be dealt in a more official manner, feel free to contact the Moderators.

    Redirecting users on other websites to get updated is discouraged.
    What this means is, it's better to keep all of your progress updates on this forum, or make it easily accessible through your posts. If you're using YouTube videos, please add an embed player in your posts for easy access, for example. Simply linking to your content on a different website, or linking nothing but your YouTube channel for example, can be seen as blurring the line of unneeded advertising, giving that there's alternatives to that. Ultimately, situations like these are dealt with by forum moderators on a case-by-case basis.

    Group Challenges are alright to post!
    You can host challenges that require two or more people to sign up and work together to complete it, the most typical example being a Soul Link Nuzlocke! If you would like to participate in a challenge like that but haven't found anyone to play with, you can still state your interest and look for partners in the challenge thread itself. However, it is not allowed to look for players with the main intent to create content to host off-site, or force them to record their gameplay for you to use (for example, gathering footage for an unrelated YouTube video series), considering the previous rule.

    Moderators may need to edit your challenge threads.
    Just a heads-up: we Moderators reserve the option to make some small edits or addition to the first posts of each challenge topic, for things such as the Challenge Spotlight or for dealing with new versions of the same challenge thread. We will try to keep these edits to a minimum, though.
    We have badges!
    These are being awarded by moderators and have different tiers depending on the number of regular OR event challenges completed successfully. They are obtained differently though:


    • the Masked Champion Badge, aptly inspired by a certain Alolan individual, is based on the records in the Event Hall of Fame, which is updated by mods after each event. More information on the events themselves and how they work is also in said thread! Please note that only events run after October 2020 will contribute to the badge count.
      • Having completed even just 2 different events grants you the first tier for this badge (Bronze).
      • The second tier (Silver) is at 4 completed event challenges.
      • The highest tier (Gold) is obtained at 8 events!

    • The Challenger Badge is awarded based on everyone's information in the Hall of Fame thread. Unlike the Event hall of fame, this one needs to be updated by each individual user, so please keep that in mind! Specifically...
      • The first tier (Bronze) can be obtained by completing 5 different challenge runs. That means, completing the same challenge multiple times still counts!
      • The second tier (Silver) is at 10 completed challenge runs.
      • Finally, the highest tier (Gold) will be awarded at 20 completed challenge runs.
      To claim a new Challenger badge for yourself or a new tier, please feel free to contact a Moderator. We'll also check the Hall of Fame and make the necessary updates when Events are running!

    Original rules written by Went and Sydian, with later additions by Necrum and Sydian. Last updates made by Janp and Eleanor. Updated 1.6.22.
    The previous Rules thread can be found here.    ​
     
    Eleanor

    Eleanor

    Princess Era 🎀
    6,562
    Posts
    7
    Years
    • CHALLENGES THREAD GUIDELINES​
    Hello there! If you're interested in creating a new Challenge thread then this is the place to be. Here are some tips and guidelines to make a nice, interesting Challenge thread... and have it approved as per the section Rules above.
    Know what games your challenge is for.
    If your game only works on a specific group of games or is best played on a few games, please state it clearly in the thread. Leaving no indication of this will generally be interpreted, by the Challenger's own discretion, as your challenge being playable on all main series games, including Let's Go Pikachu / Eevee and Legends: Arceus (if the challenge can be adapted to those games' own, different mechanics regarding catching/leveling up and battling Pokémon, respectively), but also hack ROMs and fangames, as long as their own plot and progression work well in the context of the challenge.

    Avoid spoiler tags for important information.
    Even if the list of rules of a certain challenge may be long and look intimidating, it's always better to have it clearly laid out inside of the first post, readily visible, than keep it hidden inside of a Spoiler tag. Those are alright for things such as questions in the Personality Challenge, the Pokémon groups in the Time Warp challenge, or the scenarios of the Apocalocke.

    State the moment when your challenge is meant to end.
    Usually most challenges involve a whole game run, from the moment the game is started for the first time, until the first time credits roll. If that is not the case, or you need to clear out some doubts (the typical example being Johto games, where the ending may be decided by the challenger to be at the Johto League or at the match against Red), please state it clearly in your thread.

    Keep optional rules separated from mandatory ones if possible.
    If a challenge allows for various optional rules or difficulty modes, try to list them in a separate paragraph, after the core rules of the challenge. For Challengers, it's always appreciated if you could list any optional rules you're following in the moment you sign up to a challenge or during your first progress update.

    Sign-up forms are useful!
    Why? To let players know what to mention as they post their updates: it usually includes their game of choice, what rules they may be using in addition to the core rules of the challenge, or anything else that you as a host may need to know. This is especially important for challenges in which the player needs to follow rules based on information they provide themselves, such as with the Personality challenge or The Ones That Got Away challenge.

    Think about possible gray zones in your rules.
    Creating a robust ruleset that keeps into account all the possible exceptions is surely hard, and some details may escape us. Sometimes it's challengers who notice those tidbits as they find themselves in a situation where rules may cause conflict between each other. In that case, the most desirable outcome is for the challenge host to clear any ambiguity! Please keep this in mind when writing down the rules for your challenge.

    A list of challengers and champions is optional.
    It's a very common feature of older challenge threads and a nice way for a challenge host to reward challengers, but fear not, for it's only optional for you to add in. If you do decide to have these lists in your thread, though, please try to keep them reasonably well updated, depending on the activity of your thread.
    Here is an example of a first post that follows these guidelines and that you can use as inspiration. Feel free to use it as a template as well, replacing just the rules and information you need to change!

    Spoiler: The Nuzlocke Challenge, by Janp

    The Nuzlocke Challenge

    ​

    I don't think I have to introduce Nuzlocke. It's one of the oldest and the most popular Pokémon challenges out there. It has simple rules, but can get complicated. Your Pokémon are just few pixels on a screen, but losing them can be emotional.

    Core Rules

    These rules are mandatory to follow:
    1. Any Pokémon that faints is considered dead and must be released (or permanently put in PC).
    2. You can only catch the first wild Pokémon encountered in each area, and none else. If the first wild Pokémon encountered faints or flees, there are no second chances.
    3. All Pokémon must be nicknamed.
    4. The challenge ends when you first see credits roll.

    The first two rules are in effect only after you gain the ability to catch Pokémon.

    Optional Rules

    You can make your game harder/easier by applying some optional rules. There are some for inspiration:
    1. You can only use Pokémon you catch yourself, meaning gifted Pokémon are banned.
    2. Starter Pokémon must be randomly chosen. A common system is if the last digit of the player's Trainer ID number is 1-3, the player must choose the Grass-type starter; if it is 4-6, the Fire-type starter; if it is 7-9, the Water-type starter; if it is 0, free choice.
    3. A black out is considered as game over.
    4. The challenge ends after you beat Elite Four and Champion in a rematch.
    5. You have to play with SET battle style.
    6. Each Gym battle has a level cap. Usually, it's the level of the first or last Pokémon of that Gym Leader.
    7. You can only use same number of Pokémon as Gym Leader.
    8. You can't use healing items in battle.
    9. You can't use held items.
    10. You can only use one Pokémon type.
    11. You can't evolve your Pokémon.

    And many, many more rules. You can make your own rules to adjust the difficulty.

    Nuzlocke Variations

    Aside from optional rules, there are several Nuzlocke variants that change the core rules a little bit. For example:

    You can check them out in their respective threads, and find even more such variations in the Challenge List over here!

    Sign-Up

    Username:
    Game(s):
    Optional rules, if any:


    Original version written by Sydian, available here. Current version written by Janp and Eleanor. Updated 1.6.22.​
     
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