Un-Official Pokecommunity Guide to RP's

[KenJThomas]

Un-Official Pokecommunity Guide to RP's [Up-Dated Nov8!]

Index
1. Introduction (Search: AAAA)
2. How to Create a Pokémon Trainer! (Search: AAAB)
3. Character Name (Search: AAAC)
4. Age (Search: AAAD)
5. Gender (Search: AAAE)
6. Description (Search: AAAF)
7. Personality (Search: AAAG)
8. Biography (Search: AAAH) / Skills (Search: ZZZZ)
8. Personality and Biography (Search: AAAI)
9. Other (Search: AAAJ)
10.RP Sample (Search: AAAK)
11. Running a Pokémon RP Advice (Search: AAAL)
12. Running a Pokémon RP Plot (Search: AAAM)


Introduction (AAAA)

This thread is made to create a comprehensive resource for the Pokémon Community. For the curious, the amateurs and veterans. I hope this thread will last and see use by many of the greater and lesser members of this board that have a high standard for their own RPGs and games.

I would ask any member of the Pokémon Community board that has advice, time and gumption to add to this thread. There are many topics to handle concerning Pokémon and I certainly cannot cover them all myself. Even bringing up relevant topics you want discussed, or editing work for legibility is greatly appreciated! (I know I am not perfect, so a stickler for the rules of the "written word" could vastly improve my examples and work.)

The first topic I have chosen is the character creation process, something that's valuable to both GM and PC. I will add on to this topic and my work as my schedule permits. If you have questions, or I don't respond immediately please be patient.

How to create a Pokémon Trainer! (AAAB)

For every RPG there is a "Sign Up Sheet" often called a "Character Sheet". Your Game Master (which will now be abbreviated to GM) requires you to fill out a character sheet for several reasons including but not limited to; determining if you are skilled enough to participate, have a grasp of the plot, can follow the rules, and what your character's parameters are. If your character sheet is not accepted , do not be dis-couraged, there can be many reasons for being rejected for any particular game. Often times GM's will offer helpful tips and allow you to modify your sign up sheet to reach their standards.

Most sign up sheets consist of; name, age, gender, description, personality, history, other and a RPG sample. You should always check for what information your GM is looking for in specific, and ask before you leave anything out or add to the sheet itself. There's normally reasons behind what is placed in any individual sign up sheet. Also, the sign up sheet represented actually gives you more range of freedom than you might at first realize.

Your character's Description, History and Personality should all be four lines long as a minimum unless otherwise noted by the GM. The PK forum has had many complaints over the years of "short posts" and while you might be able to get away with less than four lines, it can certainly lead to you not being accepted to the game(s) you want to play.

While your GM must create a plot, a world and handle all the Non-Player Character's (which will now be abbreviated to NPC) around you. They work hard trying to make the game detailed and original, maintaining interest amongst the players. With your character sheet you are proving to the GM you are worth the hard work they are putting in and surprisingly (or not) you will be looking into the same elements, to attract the GM to your sign up sheet and allowing yourself a spot in their game.

So step by step you want to consider making a character you want to play while maintaining originality and a description that explains your character in as concise a manner as possible.'

Character Name (AAAC)

There are plenty of resources for finding/making a good name for your character(s).

While you can have the same name as character's from the canon material, you might want to consider a more original name to avoid confusion. Also many GM's RPGs are not canon and they do not want character's from the show, game, manga or other facets of the Pokémon franchise in their original game. While it might be alright if your character acts and looks completely different than the character in question it's best to avoid confusion. If you are having trouble making a realistic name, these three sites have comprehensive lists that can help inspire you.

behindthename is a site that displays the etymology and history of first names. The index is quite massive giving you the choice between masculine, feminine and unisex names in over seventy different cultures!
https://www.behindthename.com/usage.php

This site offers several directory's separated by male and female first names and last names.
https://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/names_files.html

Seventh Sanctum has a quick name generator that can also be used to create a name for your character quickly.
https://seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=quickname

Another valuable resource is a telephone book, the wide range of names listed is phenomenal.

Age (AAAD)

The show indicates you can be a professional trainer at the age of ten. You will want to make sure however to follow the age limits (if any) your GM has implemented for character's.

If you want a more realistic out look on being a pokémon trainer you can use this guideline (or make your own):

Age 10-14r: You can travel the world as a pokémon trainer, but you need parental consent and supervision.
Age 15-17: You can travel the world as a pokémon trainer, but you need parental consent.
Age 18+: You can travel the world as a pokémon trainer, as an adult you do not need parental consent or supervision.

Gender (AAAE)

Gender is self explanatory, you can choose either male or female as both are equally viable. Unless there is some stipulation from your GM you are free to choose either at your discretion.

Description (AAAF)

Your character's description can encompass a wide variety of subjects, however, you should always describe details from most important to least that way if you end up writing to much, you can simply erase the less important material (at your GM's request). Avoid vague terms at all cost such as "middle" and "average", these only have value if everyone uses the same measurements for these terms (which is likely not the case). Everyone looks different than one another, with very little exception. I will try to provide a reasonable summation of examples, there is many more ways to describe your character than the details I provide and players are encouraged to expand their designs individually.

Height/Weight

The tallest man was (8 ft 11 in) tall
The shortest man was (1 ft 10 ½ in) tall
The heaviest man was (1,235 lbs)
The lightest man was (15.7 lbs)

The tallest woman was (7 ft 7 in )
The shortest woman was (2 ft 2 in) tall
The heaviest woman was (1,050 lbs)
The lightest woman was (22 lbs)

While I tried to be as accurate as possible, these numbers may not be entirely correct. However, these are nearing or are the absolute extremes of humanity, they are the exception not the norm! Most pokémon trainers as human beings will fall between five and seven feet of height and a hundred to four hundred pounds, as weight summarily increases with height for the value of proportions.

Build

Human beings can be divided into three major categories and body types, this is commonly referred to as body typology.

Ectomorph- Low body mass to size ratio. Increased maximum height. Decreased starting weight. Initial bonus to Flexibility. Increased maximum for Flexibility and Quickness. Decreased maximum for Mass and Vitality. This body type is characterized by long arms and legs and a short upper body.

<Example = basketball player>

Endomorph- High body mass to size ratio. Increased starting weight. Increased maximum weight. Decreased initial Flexibility, Quickness, and Health. Characterized by having a large waist and a large bone structure.

<Example = power lifter>

Mesomorph- Good body mass to size ratio. Uses human average for starting weight and height. Initial bonus to Tone, Mass, and Health. Increased maximum for Tone, Mass, and Vitality. Characterized by wide shoulder with a narrow waist.

<Example = olympic gymnast>

If however you want to sum up your characters physique quickly with one or two positive, descriptive, words the following list should be able to provide ample assistance; angular, athletic, attractive, big boned, brawny, broad, defined, dexterous, flexible, graceful, healthy, heavy set, large, lean, lithe, nimble, rugged, small, thick, thick skinned, thin, toned, wiry.

Many potential pit falls have been discussed in the Bad habits of RPrs thread. Admins, moderators and potential GM's and fellow players have voiced their concerns.

To maintain a high standard of quality at the PK community we want to help you avoid the more common (and some not so common) problems that the majority of RP'ers have run into in the past, or might come across.

The most common of which (to my knowledge) is a cliché character.

Cliché Character's

A cliché is an expression, idea or phrase that has been used to the point of losing its intended force or novelty. Everyone has seen cliché character's and many have been guilty of creating and using them. It's natural to want a particular set of characteristics that resemble what you deem to be "perfect", or to inter-pose yourself as the character you are portraying. Both often lead to favoritism, the latter reinforces this as people commonly down play all their negative traits they possess and exemplify their positive attributes.

So while you can start with a cliché your character's should not end there! Many popular and established character's are cliché to one degree or another. There success is based off a number of factors, they could be what popularized the cliché hence were original for their time. They could have several distinctive traits that help define the character beyond the generic, or be inter acting with character's and plot that are able to keep them entertaining. Or at it's worst, society has forced conformity on the creatives of the time and people are choosing "the best from the worst".

An important factor to remember is that these character's have the spotlight on them, while in RP you share the spotlight along side other players who will not enjoy your character's habitually generic, stale and lifeless actions. To make a good character they must be dynamic, capable of change and not easily caricatured into traditional good-evil dichotomies. The world and the people (your character's) that fill it should reflect that.

These two links will help determine if your character is a cliché.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heroic_stock_characters
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_stock_characters

Alter Ego the moderator for the Pokémon Roleplay and Pokémon Roleplay Lounge has a considerable amount of information concerning character generation and avoiding clichés including an in-depth guide to avoiding the many faces of Sue (common clichés!) it can be found here A treatise on character profiles.

Personality (AAAG)

Personality is made up of habitual patterns of behavior, emotion and though. These traits should remain relatively stable stable over time, differing from person to person though some traits may over lap. These central traits determine your characters disposition, while secondary traits are not as prevalent in day to day activities. Plenty of traits correlate together forming "groups". What you must be careful of is giving your character's contradictory personality traits.

As the creator of your character, you must determine what your character's actual personality traits are. Do not focus on describing what other peoples character's think of yours. Everyones character's will come to a different conclusion, people might mistake shyness for indifference, being straight forward as antisocial, impersonal as cold hearted so on and so forth.

Some contradictory personality traits would be;

impulsive and calculated
egocentric and modest
strict and easy going
organized and chaotic

Wikipedia offers an adequate set of examples for personality examples. Divided into low range and high range groups so you will not end up with conflicting traits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Personality_Factors

Biography (AAAH)

A character's biography, particularly in this sense is used to help describe and high-light important aspects of your character's life, including intimate details and experiences and might include an analysis for the subject's personality or current out look.

As a pokémon trainer you will likely want to include how and why you got the pokémon (if any) that you have. The description does not have to be long especially if your a new trainer, perhaps it's your starter or it was purchased by yourself or a family member (as a gift). It's possible that your character was influenced by someone, or location or it was absolute chance.

If your character's life has been un-eventful you can still describe what influenced them into becoming a pokémon trainer and what led up to it.

A biography can also be a good way to determine what your character's skills are.

Examples for skills (ZZZZ):

Alchemy:

Alchemy is used to put ingredients together to create new substances such as; poison, soap, acid, perfume, alcohol, bug repellent, medical salves and more.

Appraise:

Use this skill to tell an antique from old junk, worthless stones from precious and the worth of foreign coins and currency.

Archery:

Archery is the art of using a bow and arrows, it is commonly used for hunting but can also be used in times of war.

Athletics:

This skill helps perform general physical functions including running, throwing and jumping.

Awareness:

This skill increases your general ability to observe and gather information through your biological senses and also determines how alert you are to stimuli in your surroundings.

Cryptology:

This skill allows you to analyze and decipher coded text or messages. This includes mathematical, linguistic and other coding patterns.

Doctoring:

This skill is used to identify and successfully treat wounded friends from dying, to help others recover faster from wounds and to treat people who have become poisoned and disease .

Dodge:

This skill helps you to avoid being struck by taking evasive action. Some examples of dodge actions would include; side-stepping, with-drawing, ducking , weaving, feints and head slipping.

Fencing:

Fencing is the art and science of armed combat involving cutting, stabbing, or bludgeoning weapons directly manipulated by hand, rather than shot or thrown. Example weapons include swords, knives, pikes, bayonets, batons and clubs.

Herbalism:

Herbalism is the art of herbal medicine where you utilize the propertys of plants, fauna and moss for treatment of various ailments. Herbalism can also be used to create other more exotic or un-lawful extracts and is also shares in also has its share of common house hold uses such as perfume, soap, coloring dye and potpourri.

Leadership:

Leadership provides your character with the understanding of how to lead. You are equipped with the ability to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute towards the effectiveness and success of an action, project or group.

Martial Arts:

Martial Arts determines how well trained you are in self-defense and hand-to-hand combat. There are many forms of martial arts and characters must choose what styles they are practitioners of after taking Martial Arts (some examples are; Boxing, Judo, Jujitsu, Karate, Aikido and Wu Shu). Martial arts can be purchased multiple times for different styles.

Pokémon [knowledge]:

Knowledge pokémon represents a study of pokémon types, habits, diet and rules concerning the ownership and use of pokémon, including but not limited to, labor, battling, breeding, tournaments and contests.

Pitching:

Pitching provides your character with the ability to throw spherical objects faster, further and more accurately. It also allows you to safely lob objects to allies during stressful situations.

Repair:

Repair allows you to temporarily or permanently patch and keep together gear that is falling apart or broken.

Ride:

Ride helps you to mount and ride a suitable creature, for humans common mounts are; horses, camels and pony's and their pokémon variations. This skill lowers fatigue while riding and also allows players to attempt guiding their mount with their knees, mounted combat, using their mount as cover, fall safely (from their mount), fast (leap) mount and fast (leap) dismount with more success.

Speech:

In the act of vocalization you are well versed in public speaking, oration and quotation. Your ability to use rhetoric, composition and delivery of words is striking and graceful you are able to present and combine thought and reason in a powerful way and persuade others from their original point of view to another.

Stealth:

Stealth is your skill for slinking in and out of the shadows by virtue of quiet subtle movements, or at times creating diversions. Stealth is the art of remaining un-seen and un-heard.

Survival:

The Survival skill encompasses techniques used in camping including; lighting a fire, finding shelter, making water safe to drink, finding and identifying food, treating weather-based injury, climbing, swimming, and using specific or makeshift tools. This skill also helps the player track, hunt, determine direction and avoid natural disasters.

Tactics:

The tactics skill is how fast and how well you can provide strategy in any given situation. You understand formation, deployment, siege, artillery, logistics and employment of fighting men and women.

Personality and Biography (AAAI)

Think about the relationship of your character's personality and biography. Individuals are complex, a persons life takes shape through a series of contingent happenings. When you write these two subjects, your objective should be to arrive at your character's motivation and desires, his features of character (both positive and negative) as well as illuminating the events that make your character who they are. In order to fully understand your character you need to be able to determine how they think, what they want (and have wanted), intended, chose, resisted and why.

A biography is a compilation of several different kinds of assertions or observations. Some of the things that happen to your character, some of the actions and choices that were made, some reasoning behind the subject's personality and motivation and the reasons behind them.

While you may have determined each of these subjects singly and may not have contradicted yourself in each separately you must review to make sure your character's personality and biography reflect each other and do not contradict.

If your character has a tragic past they are un-likely to be the happiest person in the world.

Other (AAAJ)

Other is the "catch all" of the sign up sheet. Anything that does not apply to the other topics can be placed here. It's not un-common for people to list their pokémon both active and inactive, important possessions including your traveling gear, badges, ribbons, pokédex and what ever else your GM might supply you with. It may also include your character's journal or other information you have received over the course of your adventure(s)!

An example for clothing:

Trainers Outfit: This is an outfit for active trainers that have to deal with the hardships and rigorous life style brought on by the pursuit of pokémon training. It includes sturdy hiking boots, pants or a skirt, a sturdy belt, a linen shirt, gloves, and a jacket or vest. This outfit also includes any extra items you might need, such as a cap or a scarf.

RPG Sample (AAAK)

An RPG sample is just that! A sample of your skills and techniques for RPing.

While different GM's have different tastes you can count on being judged based off the following criteria;

-Character Development:
This includes how well you showcase your character. Anything that will further push our understanding of your character is included.

-Creativity:
Is the material original.

-Effort:
Without it, you lose. Simple as that.

-Entertainment:
This includes how enjoyable the role play sample (and sign up sheet to some extent) is to read.

-Legibility
Is the post clear enough to read, if it cannot be understood by your GM and other players it will not be accepted. If spelling and grammatical errors become distracting, your chance of being selected as a player will be deduced. The forum has a spell check option make sure that you use it.

-Rules
Do the sign up sheet follow all the rules up-held by The Pokémon Community forum, and include all the information asked for by the GM.

Running a Pokémon RP Advice (AAAL)

Game Master

1.You need to create a game you will have a fun time GM'ing. If you start perceiving your game as a burden, chore, down right un-pleasant, end up having burnout, or writers block you need to examine your game and determine what you can do to change your out-look. If modification is not enough you may need to consider withdrawing from the game.
2.While you are involved with plot, you must listen to and balance your players needs, however, you will not conduct favoritism and put an individuals desires above the groups.
3.You will present a coherent plot and goals, manage the wants and needs of both with those of your players and enforce the rules as an impartial judge.
4.You will never conduct yourself in an immature or inflammatory manner, you are an example to your players. You have no excuse, if you are unhappy with your role as a GM it's time for you to take a break and pass the mantle on.
5.You have to be able to keep up on what's going on, you might be able to delegate work to an assistant but the game depends on you. If you are not consistent, you game will collapse.


Players

1.You need to join a game that you will a fun time playing in. Determine if a game is appropriate for you and decide if you want to commit your time and energy to the game you are considering joining. If you decide to withdraw from a game make sure to notify your GM and explain why you are going. Make sure to leave in a respectable and mature manner causing as little stress to the GM, rest of the group and game.
2.Be respectful to the GM, pay attention when they post.
3.Be respectful to other players character's, your character is only as important not more important than any other players character. You will not control other players character's, or NPCs that are being controlled by the GM.
4.There are consequences for your actions, playing as a character in a game there is always risk. That being said, bad things might occur to your character, possibly even die. Throwing tantrums or making inflammatory remarks is not appropriate conduct.
5.When filling out your sign up sheet (character sheet) be sure to follow the rules and make a character that fits your GM's needs and works in the game that is presented. Consider the effect's your character might have on other players as well as on the game. Try to make your character as interesting as possible, it will make the GM more receptive to accepting your character.
6.Take critiques and criticism with an open ear and mind. Nobody is perfect, and while you might not agree with what's said you might still learn from the experience.
7.Remember that GM's are human beings, as such they can make mistakes and also have a life outside RPing. Respect the fact that your GM has work,school or other pressing matters in their life and they need to have time to take care of themselves.

GM's and Players

If you are not having fun, find out what you can do to change it. You might have to modify the character, the plot or end up quitting the game entirely. Just be sure to do it like a mature adult, your fellow gamers are people to and will appreciate your courtesy. Be sure to respect one another, even if you have other responsibilities or pressing matters to attend try to maintain a pleasant demeanor. Be sure to listen to one another, people don't speak because they like the sound of their voice, they do it because they are trying to communicate, pay attention. Both the GM and the PCs are responsible for maintaining communication. Information and the exchange of ideas are crucial, if you enjoy something or are dis-pleased you must communicate this to each other.

Preparing a Pokémon RP Plot (AAAM)

The plot comprises all the major (or minor) events in your story. It's every idea you will execute so that your players can build and expand on and work through. To make a pokémon RP you first need to have a good grasp of the pokémon world this (with whatever modifications you enforce) will be the setting for your RP. Second you will need to focus in on the situation(s) you want your RP'ers to play through. These events are often dramatic and are the basis for your game. Your players could be abducted, disaster can strike, madness could ensue!

After you have come up with a collection of ideas, the next step is to make them into a recognizable story which forms your basic plot idea, that leads to your central conflict and premise, then builds your characters and underlying themes. A plot should not be less than five or six lines, the Poké Community will not accept less! While you do not have to provide a powerful essay on every event in your game, you have to provide enough material to maintain player interest.

Here is a list of twenty common themes, while not original they are serviceable (which is important).
https://www.tennscreen.com/plots.htm

Do not be afraid to use more than one basis for your plot, it will help make your game distinct when others inevitably have a similar basis for the idea of their story. This is doubly true if you want to play through the more common pokémon themed games the most popular of which (to my knowledge) is "A Pokémon Journey". There are reasons for this being the case, however, most players want to play the character's they have created and have their own adventure in the vein of the show or video game.

This has many pit-falls you must address before starting a game, as competition will be particularly stiff and you will have really try to impress upon potential players how your game is different and why they should play in your game rather than the multitudes of other RP threads that will likely look startlingly similar to your own. Even if your game has the potential for greatness, you can easily be over looked.

Example RP Plots:

Journey:

Like the majority of people in the world of Pokémon you are a Pokémon Trainer. Having given up your 'droll existence', you take your first strides of adventure now! Capturing pokémon, collecting badges, competing in competitions, battling the elusive Team Rocket and building your reputation with other trainers to claim your dreams!

Journey includes Capturing pokémon, collecting badges, coordinating in competitions, battling the elusive Team Rocket (or if people want to play in a different region replace Team Rocket with appropriate gang) and more. Basically it would be in the same vein as the show, there is alot to do in the pokémon world. The pokémon world is more dangerous than it is made out to be in the anime as it is a production for young audiences they have to keep violence (particularly permanent injury and death) to a minimum.

Cops and Robbers;

Cops:

As a member of the PPF (PokéPoliceForce) you and your Pokémon companions are in charge of protecting citizens, apprehending criminals and halting crime as you are ordered. An important but commonly thankless job you make do treading through your nine to five grind trying to make the world around you safe.

Robbers:

You are a member of the elusive "Team Rocket" working your way up the chain. Lets face it your a bad guy (or girl) for whatever reason, you want money, fame and power. As fast as you can get it, you live in a dangerous world and the police are not going to help you.

Mystery Menace:

An un-known force conspires against you and those around you. The town/city you occupy is hit with a major disaster and is closed off from the world around you. No help will be coming, it is up to you! Find out why the disaster struck, who is behind everything and survive.

Pokemon Ranger:

 

[CTFx]

A good help sheet, I have something to add.

To help lengthen post, and to create a more descriptive environment take this into consideration.

Pretend you are painting a picture.

I stood in grass, with mountains in the background.



(As you can see, it dosnt look like anything that a place would look like.

I stood in grass, with mountains in the background, shooting up into a star-filled dark blue sky.



(You can still see the see through mountains, although the sky still looks nice.)

I stood in grass, with grey mountians in the background that shot up into the star-filled sky.



(It looks complete, but its not a painting, It looks like something we could do in 2nd grade. Spice it up, make it nice.)

I stood in grass, flowing against the wind. Grey Mountains, capped with ice, scarred from weathering huddled together in the background, against the night, prickled with stars. The Moon towered over them all, showing his superiority, yet, casting its light so that I could see.



(Truly, a work of some art.)

This surley should help you with the descripting part, even open paint if needed to help. This should increase overall post length, and your overall skills as a writer.

 

[KenJThomas]

Response to CTFx:

Thanks for the compliment and taking the time to post!

I agree that a descriptive environment can make both GM and PC posts more entertaining, or less boring.

I will be adding to my posts until they are completely full in this thread if possible as time goes by, so be sure to stay tuned as the post count might not reflect up-dated work. Also if you have any other information you would like to share please do!

 

[Gummy]

Something like this can be very helpful to those having trouble making a quality sign up. You very nicely touch on the main points of an SU and thoroughly explain what should and shouldn't appear in each section. We can only hope that those that really need help check out this thread.

 

[KenJThomas]

Response to Gummy:

Thank you for posting, I to hope those that need help find and use this resource or any of the ones already provided on the forum. As I have not posted much, I am sure the community at large does not know who I am so this thread could easily be over looked.

Part of net working will have to be up to the GMs and PCs on this site, between my day-to-day schedule, working on this and reviewing RPs going on in this community I have had little time to network with other members. As work done for the community, GM's can always link this as a tutorial in their RPs and OOC threads when they want new players or players that are having trouble making a character to have a resource.

I hope to make this a valuable tool for both PCs and GMs soon, including techniques and tips on developing plot, placing, maintaining interest and more as my schedule permits.

 

[KenJThomas]

Double posting with permission from Allelujah Haptism.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Mechanics

It's very important to decide on what the mechanics of your game will be. Everything must be made as concise and easy to understand as possible. If you confuse potential players, or find yourself having to modify your rules time and time again you will likely find your players disgruntled and withdrawing from your game.

RP Rating

The RP Rating system for The Pokécommunity forum can be found at RP Ratings [2007 Version], the creator of the thread is Soma Peries staff admin and PC supporter! Be sure to pay attention to the descriptions and restrictions then determine what rating is appropriate for your game.
https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/78897

Rules

These are the restrictions you will be placing on the game and the players, this is determined by what sort of game you are creating. You will cover the process for the players sign up sheet and the mandatory aspects of the game, be sure to define the rules and provide definitions for mechanical terms new players might not understand or know.

A list of example game rules;

No Bashing, Flaming, Insulting or Trolling: Bashing, flaming, insulting and trolling is a matter of directly or in-directly giving other players or GM (or both) a hard time by being annoying or aggressive in any way shape or form. Your character might be annoying or aggressive in game, but the player cannot be.

No Bunnying : Bunnying is the act of moving another players character without their permission.

No Scripting: Scripting is writing in a format for a screen play.

No Skipping: Skipping is the act of passing over or "skipping" by other peoples posts without reading them and taking their effects on game play into account.

No Spamming: Spamming is the act of posting advertisements, abusive, or unneeded messages.

All suggestions, questions and comments that are out of character will be placed in the appropriate OOC thread.

You will create and control one character, your sign up sheet will be placed in the appropriate OOC thread.

You will be required to post once every forty eight hours.

Trade evolution has been abolished, all pokémon with a trade evolution will replace their trade evolution method for the happiness evolution method.

Trade with item evolution has been abolished, all pokémon with a trade with item evolution will replace their trade with item evolution method for the happiness with item evolution method.

You will not be able to capture legendary pokémon, you might be able to battle or spot these legendary pokémon under the GM's direction.

Pokémon will evolve when they reach the appropriate level. The only way to negate an evolution is with an everstone.

----------------------------------------------------------
More information has been added to the first post, under preparing an RP Plot.*

 

[Mika]

Wow, it's nice to see a newer member taking the initiative to write such a monstrosity like this! However, like all pieces of work, there are always some revisions that can be done and as I've read over your little guide, I've found some little flaws I think you should take a look at. ^^ I mean none of the following as a flame at any point in time, I simply wish to critique and help you improve and I think you have a lot of potential. :3

Have you participated in any roleplays on PC since arriving here? You seem to know all the typical stereotypes that an RP, but you seemingly don't understand or you simply didn't state what should happen around them. Simply using the basics you've listed, the roleplay would be rather lacking in entertainment. For example, if you use your Cops and Robbers theory: Oh nos. It's a bad guy. Run away. Oh we stopped the Robbers! Yay we win! The End Good RP Masters make the plotline more entertaining by using the base idea but through the usage of a detailed original plotline, they mask the underlying stereotype so it's hardly visible if visible at all.

I'm not sure why you're using the terminology of GM instead of RP Master, is this a little typo? Roleplays at Pokemon Community are not D&D based or anything similar [d20 etc] at all. My pokemon trainer does not have a 18 in Charisma or a 9 Strength and she does not have to roll a reflex save when a bomb hits the side of the airship she's traveling on. ;3 I can roleplay all of that out using simple common sense.

On the DnD note, do you understand that DnD [and d20 respectfully] are completely different from roleplaying, at least on this site? Take, for example, the following.

Spoiler:

Game Master

1.You need to create a game you will have a fun time GM'ing. If you start perceiving your game as a burden, chore, down right un-pleasant, end up having burnout, or writers block you need to examine your game and determine what you can do to change your out-look. If modification is not enough you may need to consider withdrawing from the game.
2.While you are involved with plot, you must listen to and balance your players needs, however, you will not conduct favoritism and put an individuals desires above the groups.
3.You will present a coherent plot and goals, manage the wants and needs of both with those of your players and enforce the rules as an impartial judge.
4.You will never conduct yourself in an immature or inflammatory manner, you are an example to your players. You have no excuse, if you are unhappy with your role as a GM it's time for you to take a break and pass the mantle on.
5.You have to be able to keep up on what's going on, you might be able to delegate work to an assistant but the game depends on you. If you are not consistent, you game will collapse.

Players

1.You need to join a game that you will a fun time playing in. Determine if a game is appropriate for you and decide if you want to commit your time and energy to the game you are considering joining. If you decide to withdraw from a game make sure to notify your GM and explain why you are going. Make sure to leave in a respectable and mature manner causing as little stress to the GM, rest of the group and game.
2.Be respectful to the GM, pay attention when they post.
3.Be respectful to other players character's, your character is only as important not more important than any other players character. You will not control other players character's, or NPCs that are being controlled by the GM.
4.There are consequences for your actions, playing as a character in a game there is always risk. That being said, bad things might occur to your character, possibly even die. Throwing tantrums or making inflammatory remarks is not appropriate conduct.
5.When filling out your sign up sheet (character sheet) be sure to follow the rules and make a character that fits your GM's needs and works in the game that is presented. Consider the effect's your character might have on other players as well as on the game. Try to make your character as interesting as possible, it will make the GM more receptive to accepting your character.
6.Take critiques and criticism with an open ear and mind. Nobody is perfect, and while you might not agree with what's said you might still learn from the experience.
7.Remember that GM's are human beings, as such they can make mistakes and also have a life outside RPing. Respect the fact that your GM has work,school or other pressing matters in their life and they need to have time to take care of themselves.

This, with a few exceptions, is frighteningly similar to the guidelines for DMs posted in the Player's Manual. While it is not in list forms, the idea of balancing the needs of your players and your plot etc, is found in the introductory section of, specifically, the Wheel of Time d20 book as it refers to the roles and jobs of being a dungeon master. The player rules, especially the character death part [which, while it isn't banned, is rather taboo on this forum] also seem suspiciously similiar to those of the player guildlines in said player's manual.

DM'ing and RPing are two very different worlds. There are a few items that overlap but it's in an out-of-context format. Unfortunately, this isn't the only time you do this. :C I really wish it was...

Earlier, in your biography section, you posted a set of skills with definitions that are very strangely and disturbingly similiar to that of the skills in DnD.

Spoiler:

Alchemy:

Alchemy is used to put ingredients together to create new substances such as; poison, soap, acid, perfume, alcohol, bug repellent, medical salves and more.

Appraise:

Use this skill to tell an antique from old junk, worthless stones from precious and the worth of foreign coins and currency.

Archery:

Archery is the art of using a bow and arrows, it is commonly used for hunting but can also be used in times of war.

Athletics:

This skill helps perform general physical functions including running, throwing and jumping.

Awareness:

This skill increases your general ability to observe and gather information through your biological senses and also determines how alert you are to stimuli in your surroundings.

Cryptology:

This skill allows you to analyze and decipher coded text or messages. This includes mathematical, linguistic and other coding patterns.

Doctoring:

This skill is used to identify and successfully treat wounded friends from dying, to help others recover faster from wounds and to treat people who have become poisoned and disease .

Dodge:

This skill helps you to avoid being struck by taking evasive action. Some examples of dodge actions would include; side-stepping, with-drawing, ducking , weaving, feints and head slipping.

Fencing:

Fencing is the art and science of armed combat involving cutting, stabbing, or bludgeoning weapons directly manipulated by hand, rather than shot or thrown. Example weapons include swords, knives, pikes, bayonets, batons and clubs.

Herbalism:

Herbalism is the art of herbal medicine where you utilize the propertys of plants, fauna and moss for treatment of various ailments. Herbalism can also be used to create other more exotic or un-lawful extracts and is also shares in also has its share of common house hold uses such as perfume, soap, coloring dye and potpourri.

Leadership:

Leadership provides your character with the understanding of how to lead. You are equipped with the ability to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute towards the effectiveness and success of an action, project or group.

Martial Arts:

Martial Arts determines how well trained you are in self-defense and hand-to-hand combat. There are many forms of martial arts and characters must choose what styles they are practitioners of after taking Martial Arts (some examples are; Boxing, Judo, Jujitsu, Karate, Aikido and Wu Shu). Martial arts can be purchased multiple times for different styles.

Pokémon [knowledge]:

Knowledge pokémon represents a study of pokémon types, habits, diet and rules concerning the ownership and use of pokémon, including but not limited to, labor, battling, breeding, tournaments and contests.

Pitching:

Pitching provides your character with the ability to throw spherical objects faster, further and more accurately. It also allows you to safely lob objects to allies during stressful situations.

Repair:

Repair allows you to temporarily or permanently patch and keep together gear that is falling apart or broken.

Ride:

Ride helps you to mount and ride a suitable creature, for humans common mounts are; horses, camels and pony's and their pokémon variations. This skill lowers fatigue while riding and also allows players to attempt guiding their mount with their knees, mounted combat, using their mount as cover, fall safely (from their mount), fast (leap) mount and fast (leap) dismount with more success.

Speech:

In the act of vocalization you are well versed in public speaking, oration and quotation. Your ability to use rhetoric, composition and delivery of words is striking and graceful you are able to present and combine thought and reason in a powerful way and persuade others from their original point of view to another.

Stealth:

Stealth is your skill for slinking in and out of the shadows by virtue of quiet subtle movements, or at times creating diversions. Stealth is the art of remaining un-seen and un-heard.

Survival:

The Survival skill encompasses techniques used in camping including; lighting a fire, finding shelter, making water safe to drink, finding and identifying food, treating weather-based injury, climbing, swimming, and using specific or makeshift tools. This skill also helps the player track, hunt, determine direction and avoid natural disasters.

Tactics:

The tactics skill is how fast and how well you can provide strategy in any given situation. You understand formation, deployment, siege, artillery, logistics and employment of fighting men and women.

May I remind you that no ranking system exists in the pokemon rpg world, at least not here on PC, and that there is no way to put ranks into the individual skills and that some of the skills listed would have no bearing anyways or at least not with the descriptions you gave below them in any sort of roleplay. And, before you try and say you didn't take any of this off a Wizards of the Coast Player's Manual or a similiar book, may I point you towards the following:

Martial arts can be purchased multiple times for different styles.

Purchasing Martial Arts styles? I was a DnD Club Secratary and President at my highschool my Junior and Senior year. I've lead campaigns and I've been part of them and the only time I've ever seen the purchasing thing is when I wanted to add Aikido to my d20 mod Rouge and it cost me 4 gold. >> It then turned into a skill in my skills list I could add ranks to.

As well as a few other catagories,

Pokémon [knowledge]:

Knowledge pokémon represents a study of pokémon types, habits, diet and rules concerning the ownership and use of pokémon, including but not limited to, labor, battling, breeding, tournaments and contests.

Ride:

Ride helps you to mount and ride a suitable creature, for humans common mounts are; horses, camels and pony's and their pokémon variations. This skill lowers fatigue while riding and also allows players to attempt guiding their mount with their knees, mounted combat, using their mount as cover, fall safely (from their mount), fast (leap) mount and fast (leap) dismount with more success.


Stealth:

Stealth is your skill for slinking in and out of the shadows by virtue of quiet subtle movements, or at times creating diversions. Stealth is the art of remaining un-seen and un-heard.

Survival:

The Survival skill encompasses techniques used in camping including; lighting a fire, finding shelter, making water safe to drink, finding and identifying food, treating weather-based injury, climbing, swimming, and using specific or makeshift tools. This skill also helps the player track, hunt, determine direction and avoid natural disasters.

All of these are near quotes from the Player's Manual with a few words changed here and there or added and, to be honest, in the Ride skill specifically, the words that were added were added in such a way it was painfully obvious where you had taken your information from. I'm actually a bit suprised you didn't include cliche character skill builds or character types that would received additional skills because they were of that class.

Using DnD skills is not a bad idea if you simply use them as a starting ground to jump off from. In your biography history you say that you've been riding Ponyta since you were little because you lived on the safari zone. Therefore, if there is an explosion, you won't fall off your horse because you've been riding so long. This is how we do 'skills' here. It's not based on ranks or even the general concept of the ranking system. It's all about common sense and how the background fits with the current character.

You have alot of good ideas but I think you need to realize that DnD isn't transposable into other roleplaying situations. =/ The roleplaying style here is more fanficy and focuses more on the character development and plot development other than the technical aspects behind said chara development and plot development. Also, and this is just me echoing my professors, make sure you cite your sources. I know you took the skills out of the player's manual, at the very least, and that should be cited because it's not your original work. say no to priacy! >:C

 

[Alter Ego]

Most sign up sheets consist of; name, age, gender, description, personality, history, other and a RPG sample. You should always check for what information your GM is looking for in specific, and ask before you leave anything out or add to the sheet itself. There's normally reasons behind what is placed in any individual sign up sheet. Also, the sign up sheet represented actually gives you more range of freedom than you might at first realize.

Not to be rude, but...as an RP master (which is the term we usually apply to that position here, btw) I'd get very, very annoyed if every potential RP member took it on them to ask me for a list of everything I want to see in a profile before even giving it a shot. If there are unfamiliar fields that you don't know how to relate to, or if the RP master has set up specific requirements but worded them in a way you don't understand, then that's a different matter, but the purpose of a character profile is to describe the character and anyone who can expect to RP should also know how to do that without the RP master hand-walking them through the process.

Seriously, running an RP requires a huge amount of work both in creativity and writing; RP masters do not need the additional burden of having to list out every basic requirement of a profile for each and every applicant and they do not even need to give help in filling that out. (though nice ones will) That is what guides on said subject are for.

Again, asking for clarification is fine; asking the RP master to effectively do half your work for you is just plain lazy and should not be encouraged.

Your character's Description, History and Personality should all be four lines long as a minimum unless otherwise noted by the GM. The PK forum has had many complaints over the years of "short posts" and while you might be able to get away with less than four lines, it can certainly lead to you not being accepted to the game(s) you want to play.

As much as I would like there to be a minimum on these, this is actually something the RP master has full liberty to decide. Four-lines minimum on these things is something I advocate and I think of it as a good rule of thumb, because I find that that's usually the minimum requirement for even covering the essentials of these things properly (not to mention that it is also what most demanding RP master's will set as minimum), but it's by no means an absolute rule. Some will accept less and some will demand more.

Also, just as a note? People will not be getting away with undersized posts. Short profiles? Yes, as this is the RP master's territory, but we have an established minimum for post length and I will enforce it. About nine out of ten offenses in this section are failures to abide by this rule, and they also make out a significant portion of the thread locks, so kindly don't encourage that kind of behavior, even with a 'might get away'; because...well, I'm sure you didn't make this thread for the purpose of spreading misconceptions and faulty information.

While your GM must create a plot, a world and handle all the Non-Player Character's (which will now be abbreviated to NPC) around you. They work hard trying to make the game detailed and original, maintaining interest amongst the players. With your character sheet you are proving to the GM you are worth the hard work they are putting in and surprisingly (or not) you will be looking into the same elements, to attract the GM to your sign up sheet and allowing yourself a spot in their game.

Incorrect. Standard practice on these forums is that NPCs are free games for anyone to create unless the RP master decides otherwise. Strictly speaking, RP masters are only in charge of keeping the plot running and ensuring that section rules are followed within their RP (including alerting staff if the RPers refuse to cooperate); that's it. What they choose to do or not do about NPCs is purely at their own discretion.

So step by step you want to consider making a character you want to play while maintaining originality and a description that explains your character in as concise a manner as possible.'

Source for the quotation please? If it is not an actual quotation then those quotation marks have no place here.

Grammatical sticklerism aside, I'd like to remark that your emphasis seems a bit off here. Yes, if you can convey all the necessary information about your character concisely then that's great because it makes it that much easier for the RP master who has to read and evaluate your application, but at the end of the day, what counts the most is how well you convey your character idea to the reader. This is also why there is no section-wide minimum on profile content; ability to compress and convey information is a highly subjective thing and depends a lot on individual writing style, so one writer may need five lines to relate what another can pull off with two. Again, the emphasis should be on accurate and efficient description of the character; not word or line counts. Length is not a virtue unto itself one way or the other.

Seventh Sanctum has a quick name generator that can also be used to create a name for your character quickly.
https://seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=quickname

Okay. Hold it right there. The words 'original' and 'name generator' just do not go together. Ever. Sites listing names are great, but you should still pick out the combination for yourself rather than falling back on a piece of programming; random generators have no sanity checks and do not view or evaluate the name combination as a coherent whole so they have a tendency to create awkward and generic combinations. (Hands up kiddies; who can not think of a dirty/inappropriate combination of completely ordinary names in their own language?) Also, because the list of names in such generators is usually very restricted, it is bound to churn out same or similar combinations a lot in the long run, eliminating any hopes for originality that you might entertain.

Just...no. Please, for the love of all that is sweet and sugary, take the time to actually pick out a name for your character yourself; there are lists aplenty to fall back on so resorting to a computer-generated 'quickie' name is, again, just plain lazy.

Gender (AAAE)

Gender is self explanatory, you can choose either male or female as both are equally viable. Unless there is some stipulation from your GM you are free to choose either at your discretion.

I find myself wondering what the purpose of this part even is. You are certainly not adding any information that shouldn't already be self-evident to anyone with an interest in reading a guide on RPing. It is most certainly not worth its own subsection.

Height/Weight

The tallest man was (8 ft 11 in) tall
The shortest man was (1 ft 10 ½ in) tall
The heaviest man was (1,235 lbs)
The lightest man was (15.7 lbs)

The tallest woman was (7 ft 7 in )
The shortest woman was (2 ft 2 in) tall
The heaviest woman was (1,050 lbs)
The lightest woman was (22 lbs)

There are lists aplenty for this sort of thing, all accessible through a simple computer search. Average weight and height by gender, age group, and nationality is well-documented so I really do not see the need to include a list of mad extremes (as anyone willing to go extreme would probably top them anyway). We all know our own measurements and there are BMI (Body Mass Idex) calculators available online, complete with instructions on how to make sense of BMI, to tell you what a healthy (or at least normal) combination of height and weight is.

Ectomorph- Low body mass to size ratio. Increased maximum height. Decreased starting weight. Initial bonus to Flexibility. Increased maximum for Flexibility and Quickness. Decreased maximum for Mass and Vitality. This body type is characterized by long arms and legs and a short upper body.

<Example = basketball player>

Endomorph- High body mass to size ratio. Increased starting weight. Increased maximum weight. Decreased initial Flexibility, Quickness, and Health. Characterized by having a large waist and a large bone structure.

<Example = power lifter>

Mesomorph- Good body mass to size ratio. Uses human average for starting weight and height. Initial bonus to Tone, Mass, and Health. Increased maximum for Tone, Mass, and Vitality. Characterized by wide shoulder with a narrow waist.

<Example = olympic gymnast>

If however you want to sum up your characters physique quickly with one or two positive, descriptive, words the following list should be able to provide ample assistance; angular, athletic, attractive, big boned, brawny, broad, defined, dexterous, flexible, graceful, healthy, heavy set, large, lean, lithe, nimble, rugged, small, thick, thick skinned, thin, toned, wiry.

Okay...this is the point where we put down the thesaurus and start thinking. Because really, this is getting into needlessly complicated and specific terminology that could just as efficiently be described in common words. To your average person, the word 'ectomorph' means nothing whatsoever, whereas the traits (slim bodybuild/physique, long arms/legs, etc.) will. Rather than trying to use a fancy word that has no real place outside of a Biology thesis to begin with, how about just sticking to regular, functional words in profiles instead? I can not speak for everyone, but as an RP master I prefer it when I don't need a dictionary or encyclopedia to interpret the sign-ups. Clarity first, peoples; clarity first.

To maintain a high standard of quality at the PK community we want to help you avoid the more common (and some not so common) problems that the majority of RP'ers have run into in the past, or might come across.

In this case, I would suggest that you acquaint yourself with the RP section here in PC first before trying to do that. Judging by both your chosen terminology and your general treatment of the subject matter (which makes me think DnD rather than the considerably different PRP section that I've spent these past few years in) it is obvious that your 'fieldwork', as it were, has some major shortcomings. I would strongly suggest that you try to patch those up before trying to address any perceived 'trends', as you doing it right now is, I'm sorry to say, making you come off as rather presumptous.

The most common of which (to my knowledge) is a cliché character.

As I was saying...

From the viewpoint of a moderator I can assure you; the most common problem in this section is people writing far too short IC posts.

A cliché is an expression, idea or phrase that has been used to the point of losing its intended force or novelty. Everyone has seen cliché character's and many have been guilty of creating and using them. It's natural to want a particular set of characteristics that resemble what you deem to be "perfect", or to inter-pose yourself as the character you are portraying. Both often lead to favoritism, the latter reinforces this as people commonly down play all their negative traits they possess and exemplify their positive attributes.

So while you can start with a cliché your character's should not end there! Many popular and established character's are cliché to one degree or another. There success is based off a number of factors, they could be what popularized the cliché hence were original for their time. They could have several distinctive traits that help define the character beyond the generic, or be inter acting with character's and plot that are able to keep them entertaining. Or at it's worst, society has forced conformity on the creatives of the time and people are choosing "the best from the worst".

Ahem, you seem to equating cliché characters with Mary-Sues with self-inserts here, and that's one jumbo-size can of worms right there. Kindly get your terminology straight. Mary-Sues are cliché, but not all cliché characters are Mary-Sues, not all Mary-Sues are self-inserts (nor are all self-inserts Mary-Sues), and not all self-inserts are clichéd. To jumble them up together like this and treat them as a single entity really promotes nothing but confusion.

Personality is made up of habitual patterns of behavior, emotion and though. These traits should remain relatively stable stable over time, differing from person to person though some traits may over lap. These central traits determine your characters disposition, while secondary traits are not as prevalent in day to day activities. Plenty of traits correlate together forming "groups". What you must be careful of is giving your character's contradictory personality traits.

As the creator of your character, you must determine what your character's actual personality traits are. Do not focus on describing what other peoples character's think of yours. Everyones character's will come to a different conclusion, people might mistake shyness for indifference, being straight forward as antisocial, impersonal as cold hearted so on and so forth.

Some contradictory personality traits would be;

impulsive and calculated
egocentric and modest
strict and easy going
organized and chaotic

...so wait, first you're saying that cliché characters should be avoided and the next thing you know you are promoting the idea that certain personality traits 'correlate'? (usually, I should note, into a small set of personality types also known as...you guessed it; cliché characters) Please, at least try to avoid internal conflict in your arguments; it makes it rather difficult for me to figure out what you're trying to say. The notion of mutually incompatible traits is also drawn to a restricting extreme here. Yes, just saying that someone is 'strict and easygoing' at the same time is obviously a paradox, but if their attitude is contingent on circumstances then there is room for seemingly contradictory traits. Various psychological disorders may also account for the apparent paradox, and while I'm not saying 'everyone get a personality disorder now', this is still a possibility that exists and is quite often employed in the darker-themed RPs. To simply exclude it in favor of an over-generalized view of 'mismatching traits' is shutting away an option to avoid precisely the kind of two-dimensional and clichéd characters that you say should be avoided.

The wiki is not a god, my lovelies.

As a pokémon trainer you will likely want to include how and why you got the pokémon (if any) that you have. The description does not have to be long especially if your a new trainer, perhaps it's your starter or it was purchased by yourself or a family member (as a gift). It's possible that your character was influenced by someone, or location or it was absolute chance.

...I doubt a character can be classified as a pokémon trainer if they don't have any pokémon, you know. Would also like to point out that your emphasis here is way off. This is not DnD. You do not live and die by your skillset; the skills are only there to serve characterization and plot purposes. They should not be the emphasis of the history (which is the usual term for that here), and arguably have little place in it at all. The 'other' field is typically used for any special skills or talents of a character and RPs that place a greater emphasis on such things will usually have their own profile field devoted to them. History is, first and foremost, about personal development and background information to explain the character's current outlook and life situation and possibly their motives for getting involved in the plot like they do.

Your skill list, again, reeks of DnD, which - again - has very little to do with what goes on in this section. We all know what a skill is without an abundant and space-consuming list of examples.

While you may have determined each of these subjects singly and may not have contradicted yourself in each separately you must review to make sure your character's personality and biography reflect each other and do not contradict.

If your character has a tragic past they are un-likely to be the happiest person in the world.

Again, this depends. A stone-cold sociopath could have had what most call a happy and peaceful childhood, but if they were born with their tendencies, this is not a contradiction. Similarly, even a person with a tragic and traumatizing past may have found a way to get over their issues and maintain a positive outlook on life. This would require an explanation, but it is doable. Once again, you seem to be promoting the very same stereotypes you just spoke up against a few paragraphs back.

Other is the "catch all" of the sign up sheet. Anything that does not apply to the other topics can be placed here. It's not un-common for people to list their pokémon both active and inactive, important possessions including your traveling gear, badges, ribbons, pokédex and what ever else your GM might supply you with. It may also include your character's journal or other information you have received over the course of your adventure(s)!

An example for clothing:

Trainers Outfit: This is an outfit for active trainers that have to deal with the hardships and rigorous life style brought on by the pursuit of pokémon training. It includes sturdy hiking boots, pants or a skirt, a sturdy belt, a linen shirt, gloves, and a jacket or vest. This outfit also includes any extra items you might need, such as a cap or a scarf.

Again, this smells a bit of DnD. By convention, clothing goes in appearance and people are not required to give a detailed account of every trinket and bauble their characters have amassed during their life. In case of exceptions, it falls to the RP master to request such information.

-Character Development:
This includes how well you showcase your character. Anything that will further push our understanding of your character is included.

Character development done well is not something that occurs in a sudden jerk (i.e. one post) but as the end result of a longer process throughout the RP, and as such you should not really be able to pin down a post of yours (such as the sample usually is) and say 'this is where my character develops'. Posts with special significance for the character's development may well provide good fodder for samples, yes, but usually it's because these tend to be more engrossing and dramatic than your average post.

Game Master

1.You need to create a game you will have a fun time GM'ing. If you start perceiving your game as a burden, chore, down right un-pleasant, end up having burnout, or writers block you need to examine your game and determine what you can do to change your out-look. If modification is not enough you may need to consider withdrawing from the game.
2.While you are involved with plot, you must listen to and balance your players needs, however, you will not conduct favoritism and put an individuals desires above the groups.
3.You will present a coherent plot and goals, manage the wants and needs of both with those of your players and enforce the rules as an impartial judge.
4.You will never conduct yourself in an immature or inflammatory manner, you are an example to your players. You have no excuse, if you are unhappy with your role as a GM it's time for you to take a break and pass the mantle on.
5.You have to be able to keep up on what's going on, you might be able to delegate work to an assistant but the game depends on you. If you are not consistent, you game will collapse.

Players

1.You need to join a game that you will a fun time playing in. Determine if a game is appropriate for you and decide if you want to commit your time and energy to the game you are considering joining. If you decide to withdraw from a game make sure to notify your GM and explain why you are going. Make sure to leave in a respectable and mature manner causing as little stress to the GM, rest of the group and game.
2.Be respectful to the GM, pay attention when they post.
3.Be respectful to other players character's, your character is only as important not more important than any other players character. You will not control other players character's, or NPCs that are being controlled by the GM.
4.There are consequences for your actions, playing as a character in a game there is always risk. That being said, bad things might occur to your character, possibly even die. Throwing tantrums or making inflammatory remarks is not appropriate conduct.
5.When filling out your sign up sheet (character sheet) be sure to follow the rules and make a character that fits your GM's needs and works in the game that is presented. Consider the effect's your character might have on other players as well as on the game. Try to make your character as interesting as possible, it will make the GM more receptive to accepting your character.
6.Take critiques and criticism with an open ear and mind. Nobody is perfect, and while you might not agree with what's said you might still learn from the experience.
7.Remember that GM's are human beings, as such they can make mistakes and also have a life outside RPing. Respect the fact that your GM has work,school or other pressing matters in their life and they need to have time to take care of themselves.

Again, this sounds like DnD more than PRP. Not being an avid player myself, I don't have a guide to pull out and quote, but if I were to look one up I imagine I'd find something like this. Some of these principles have a loose relation to RPing here, but most...are not really applicable.

Preparing a Pokémon RP Plot (AAAM)

The plot comprises all the major (or minor) events in your story. It's every idea you will execute so that your players can build and expand on and work through. To make a pokémon RP you first need to have a good grasp of the pokémon world this (with whatever modifications you enforce) will be the setting for your RP. Second you will need to focus in on the situation(s) you want your RP'ers to play through. These events are often dramatic and are the basis for your game. Your players could be abducted, disaster can strike, madness could ensue!

After you have come up with a collection of ideas, the next step is to make them into a recognizable story which forms your basic plot idea, that leads to your central conflict and premise, then builds your characters and underlying themes. A plot should not be less than five or six lines, the Poké Community will not accept less! While you do not have to provide a powerful essay on every event in your game, you have to provide enough material to maintain player interest.

Basically, a really long way to say: 'setting, story, and direction are needed'. Those are the three things I actually look for.


Also, as a note? Dividing RPs into simplified (stereo)types is, again, promoting clichés at the expense of originality.

A list of example game rules;

No Bashing, Flaming, Insulting or Trolling: Bashing, flaming, insulting and trolling is a matter of directly or in-directly giving other players or GM (or both) a hard time by being annoying or aggressive in any way shape or form. Your character might be annoying or aggressive in game, but the player cannot be.

No Bunnying : Bunnying is the act of moving another players character without their permission.

No Scripting: Scripting is writing in a format for a screen play.

No Skipping: Skipping is the act of passing over or "skipping" by other peoples posts without reading them and taking their effects on game play into account.

No Spamming: Spamming is the act of posting advertisements, abusive, or unneeded messages.

All suggestions, questions and comments that are out of character will be placed in the appropriate OOC thread.

You will create and control one character, your sign up sheet will be placed in the appropriate OOC thread.

These can all be handily condensed into the very standard number one on these things:

"Follow all RP sections rules."

Really; go see for yourself. These are all there, re-stating them one by one is not really useful.

Also, a note on the rules thing? I would suggest limiting them to as few (numerically) as possible to avoid creating confusion. The smaller the amount of rules, the easier they are to remember and the greater their efficiency tends to be.


Overall? I'm sorry to say that this guide is not all that good. While it is obvious that you have put in some effort, your lack of actual experience with RPs on this site and your confusion over a number of subjects is equally obvious. A number of the things said here are either misleading or downright incorrect, your treatment of the subject is very superficial and imprecise, you lack a clear argument and structuring within the subcategories, the terms you use are needlessly obscure and specific in places, and relevant (not to mention illuminating) examples are completely missing. Were I an impressionable newbie who read this wihout honestly knowing anything about RPing practice on these forums, I would walk out very confused indeed and probably get even more bewildered after I tried to apply the contents of this guide in actual RPing situations.

So yeah, as much as I approve of people taking initiative and doing this sort of thing, I would much prefer it if said people really knew what they were talking about. If you want to write a guide to PC RPing (that is 'PC' with a 'C', by the way, not a 'K') I would suggest that you first go out and really learn what RPing here is all about. It is, as has already been noted, significantly different from DnD and also differs, in some respects, from RPing practice on similar boards. I'd also suggest proofreading your arguments before posting and making sure that you make a clear and coherent argument with an actual point somewhere down the line. There are good intentions and even some good ideas knocking about here, but they are frightfully unorganized and your lack of actual experience does show rather badly. :\