Post by Rip on Oct 6, 2010 14:10:11 GMT -5
Partially written by my awesome pal, Obi.
Basic Forum Rules[/b][/color]
1) What's the golden rule, children? Treat others like you would like to be treat yourself, and unless you are a very strange person, that means with respect and general kindness. We don't expect everyone to get along but please don't let your dislike for each other to escalate into public verbal sparring or flaming. That said, if you feel someone is attacking you or being a troll (think butthead), then pm a mod. We'll do our best to handle it.
2) Art thievery and plagiarism will not be tolerated. First let's give you a definition of plagiarism (Dictionary.com)--
1. A piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work
2. the act of plagiarizing; taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own
In layman's terms, this means taking someone else's art, writing, or ideas, and acting as if they belong to you. It's synonymous with stealing for a reason. You must give credit where credit is due, and in the case of art, you must have permission from the creator to use it.
3) And just to reassert that this is not allowed, please don't flame someone. It's okay to disagree, but do so without causing a ruckus. Thank you.
4) As for content not allowed on this site --
- There is to be no trying to push your views, be them political or religious or what have you, on others. This includes linking people to sites of your favorite candidate, church, or conspiracy theories about aliens, or organizations like PETA.
- Adult content is a very large no.
- Just think before you post. Would the content offend someone (within reason)? If so, reconsider hitting 'submit'.
About character reference images
We do not allow face claims. Meaning you cannot take a photograph of a random person or celebrity and use it for your character's appearance.
This includes artwork. If the picture was drawn for you specifically then of course you can use it, but if you just browse deviantart or google and come across a pretty illustration, you can't snag it and paste it up on your profile. Unless you get permission from the artist or if the artist has a policy up that states they don't care. Common courtesy, you know? This includes video game art/anime.
About names
Pokemon names cannot be claimed unless you made it up yourself. There will be a million Umbreons named Shadow, so you might as well get used to the idea now. You may claim human names, but only the full name. There can be 5 Johns but only one John Smith.
Basic Roleplay Guidlines[/b][/color]
As far as roleplaying goes, there are a few basic guidelines that you will be asked to follow:
1) Do not god-mod. This means playing as if your character is an ultimate being that can defeat and beat one everyone else, or do whatever they want. Your character is not invulnerable and cannot reign supreme over the others.
For example of what not to do:
My shiny charizard evades all your mewtwo's attacks and doesn't feel pain, like, EVER. My charizard is so fast and powerful he kills all of your pokemon with one kick.
I don't care what kind of pokemon you have, it will not stomp everything without a fight.
2) Do not power-play unless given permission by the other character's owner. Power-playing is when you take control over someone else's character and make them do things.
For an example of what not to do (mistake underlined):
Player 1: Pikachu runs up to squirtle.
Player 2: Squirtle growls
Player1: Pikachu uses thundershock and squirtle dies
As the above scenario illustrated (poorly), Player 1, in the third post, took control of player 2's character. You are not allowed to do this, even in a pokemon battle.
3) If your roleplay is taking a turn for the mature please do us all a favor and take them into the pms. If your roleplay is going to be excessively violent or center on dark, disturbing themes, please put a warning in the first post or title of the thread.
4) There is no dodge or hit limit for pokemon battles, but if someone is acting ridiculous like dodging something that's impossible to dodge, say something! Call them out on it! If they refuse to play fairly, a mod can come in and observe the situation.
5) No canon characters (Ash from the show, Red from Pokemon Special, Dean from Supernatural, etc). Only original characters, please.
6) There is no character limit, but you may only have one character of power (gym leader, elite four, champion, professor, so on).
Pokemon Specific Rules[/b][/color]
1) Only one shiny per character. If there's a large amount of a particular shiny (lets say 50 shiny charmanders) I will put a cap on them.
2) Strengths and weaknesses via types still count. Regardless, experience also tilts the tables. It is not intelligent to pin a mudkip against a battle veteran ninetails, for example.
3) You may start with a preset team and an experienced trainer. The catch is that you may not create a trainer who already holds Kwaidian badges (gym leaders, the elite four, possibly professors and the champion are the only exceptions). You have to earn those through roleplay. Pre-made teams work best if your character comes from an outside region (Kanto, Johoto, etc) or decided to train and travel with his/her pokemon before taking on the gym challenge.
4) No pokemorphs or fakemon. We will have fakemon contests for fun, but they won't be part of the world. Sorry.
5) No pokemon recolors. A slight design change, like different colored eyes or a funny shaped marking is fine, but you can not completely alter the design. It's either the natural coloration or shiny (pokemon equivalent to albino.) Wearable items like scarves, collars, piercings and even tattoos are acceptable.
6) Your character may not have personal interaction with any legendary pokemon in his/her history aside from something very minor. Such things must be roleplayed out on this forum. Likewise, your character may not have any personal relationships with any canon pokemon characters. You may not play Lance's long lost grandson.
7) Legendaries cannot be caught or commanded. Your character can try to restrain them, but the pokemon will not obey unless (somehow) forced to.
8) Use common sense! This forum is suppose based around the idea of pokemon existing in a real world, not a video game. You cannot fly on a pidgy because you would squash it; you cannot surf a vaporeon because its too small. Large bug types, however, will support you in flight (like beedrill, butterfree, scyther).
9) Levels don't mean a whole lot here; you can raise pokemon at any pace you want. What matters is battle experience, and the only way to do that is to participate in rp battles. There's no leveling system. Do it how you want. All I ask is that you, again, use common sense. I do not want to see a newbie trainer start off with bulbasaur, have it evolve into ivysaur during the next rp, and then venasaur one later. You must at least imply that a certain amount of time passed.
10) There is no move limit. If a pokemon can learn it through leveling, TMs, HMs or the move tutor, it can know it. If your pokemon CANNOT learn a move, then obviously it cannot know it. You may also use your pokemon's physical body during battles. Anything with teeth and nails can bite and scratch, for instance.
We're excluding egg moves because they're complicated.
Please look up generation V move lists to see what's available for each pokemon.
11) You do not have to visit the towns in any order. You don't even have to participate in the gym challenge. Caterwaul is about character development instead of completion, so go crazy.
12) If you decide to begin with a newbie trainer who receives a starter from the professor, you can go about obtaining your pokemon of choice a couple different ways.
option 1: you meet a pokemon through some sort of ic event. Maybe a friend gives it to your character; maybe you find it in a trap; maybe you come up with some sort of plot.
option 2: you can ask a mod to spawn it for you. It has to be in an area that pokemon would appear (go by pokemon habitats). An absol, for instance, is a mountain pokemon, so you'd probably find it in Rue. After reaching the location, just ask a mod to spawn whatever particular pokemon (if gender matters to you, make sure you state it), and you can rp out catching it. The mod will rp the pokemon during said battle. Keep in mind that you may not catch it; it could defeat you in the fight or run away. If that happens, you can ask for a respawn.
Basic Forum Rules[/b][/color]
1) What's the golden rule, children? Treat others like you would like to be treat yourself, and unless you are a very strange person, that means with respect and general kindness. We don't expect everyone to get along but please don't let your dislike for each other to escalate into public verbal sparring or flaming. That said, if you feel someone is attacking you or being a troll (think butthead), then pm a mod. We'll do our best to handle it.
2) Art thievery and plagiarism will not be tolerated. First let's give you a definition of plagiarism (Dictionary.com)--
1. A piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work
2. the act of plagiarizing; taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own
In layman's terms, this means taking someone else's art, writing, or ideas, and acting as if they belong to you. It's synonymous with stealing for a reason. You must give credit where credit is due, and in the case of art, you must have permission from the creator to use it.
3) And just to reassert that this is not allowed, please don't flame someone. It's okay to disagree, but do so without causing a ruckus. Thank you.
4) As for content not allowed on this site --
- There is to be no trying to push your views, be them political or religious or what have you, on others. This includes linking people to sites of your favorite candidate, church, or conspiracy theories about aliens, or organizations like PETA.
- Adult content is a very large no.
- Just think before you post. Would the content offend someone (within reason)? If so, reconsider hitting 'submit'.
About character reference images
We do not allow face claims. Meaning you cannot take a photograph of a random person or celebrity and use it for your character's appearance.
This includes artwork. If the picture was drawn for you specifically then of course you can use it, but if you just browse deviantart or google and come across a pretty illustration, you can't snag it and paste it up on your profile. Unless you get permission from the artist or if the artist has a policy up that states they don't care. Common courtesy, you know? This includes video game art/anime.
About names
Pokemon names cannot be claimed unless you made it up yourself. There will be a million Umbreons named Shadow, so you might as well get used to the idea now. You may claim human names, but only the full name. There can be 5 Johns but only one John Smith.
Basic Roleplay Guidlines[/b][/color]
As far as roleplaying goes, there are a few basic guidelines that you will be asked to follow:
1) Do not god-mod. This means playing as if your character is an ultimate being that can defeat and beat one everyone else, or do whatever they want. Your character is not invulnerable and cannot reign supreme over the others.
For example of what not to do:
My shiny charizard evades all your mewtwo's attacks and doesn't feel pain, like, EVER. My charizard is so fast and powerful he kills all of your pokemon with one kick.
I don't care what kind of pokemon you have, it will not stomp everything without a fight.
2) Do not power-play unless given permission by the other character's owner. Power-playing is when you take control over someone else's character and make them do things.
For an example of what not to do (mistake underlined):
Player 1: Pikachu runs up to squirtle.
Player 2: Squirtle growls
Player1: Pikachu uses thundershock and squirtle dies
As the above scenario illustrated (poorly), Player 1, in the third post, took control of player 2's character. You are not allowed to do this, even in a pokemon battle.
3) If your roleplay is taking a turn for the mature please do us all a favor and take them into the pms. If your roleplay is going to be excessively violent or center on dark, disturbing themes, please put a warning in the first post or title of the thread.
4) There is no dodge or hit limit for pokemon battles, but if someone is acting ridiculous like dodging something that's impossible to dodge, say something! Call them out on it! If they refuse to play fairly, a mod can come in and observe the situation.
5) No canon characters (Ash from the show, Red from Pokemon Special, Dean from Supernatural, etc). Only original characters, please.
6) There is no character limit, but you may only have one character of power (gym leader, elite four, champion, professor, so on).
Pokemon Specific Rules[/b][/color]
1) Only one shiny per character. If there's a large amount of a particular shiny (lets say 50 shiny charmanders) I will put a cap on them.
2) Strengths and weaknesses via types still count. Regardless, experience also tilts the tables. It is not intelligent to pin a mudkip against a battle veteran ninetails, for example.
3) You may start with a preset team and an experienced trainer. The catch is that you may not create a trainer who already holds Kwaidian badges (gym leaders, the elite four, possibly professors and the champion are the only exceptions). You have to earn those through roleplay. Pre-made teams work best if your character comes from an outside region (Kanto, Johoto, etc) or decided to train and travel with his/her pokemon before taking on the gym challenge.
4) No pokemorphs or fakemon. We will have fakemon contests for fun, but they won't be part of the world. Sorry.
5) No pokemon recolors. A slight design change, like different colored eyes or a funny shaped marking is fine, but you can not completely alter the design. It's either the natural coloration or shiny (pokemon equivalent to albino.) Wearable items like scarves, collars, piercings and even tattoos are acceptable.
6) Your character may not have personal interaction with any legendary pokemon in his/her history aside from something very minor. Such things must be roleplayed out on this forum. Likewise, your character may not have any personal relationships with any canon pokemon characters. You may not play Lance's long lost grandson.
7) Legendaries cannot be caught or commanded. Your character can try to restrain them, but the pokemon will not obey unless (somehow) forced to.
8) Use common sense! This forum is suppose based around the idea of pokemon existing in a real world, not a video game. You cannot fly on a pidgy because you would squash it; you cannot surf a vaporeon because its too small. Large bug types, however, will support you in flight (like beedrill, butterfree, scyther).
9) Levels don't mean a whole lot here; you can raise pokemon at any pace you want. What matters is battle experience, and the only way to do that is to participate in rp battles. There's no leveling system. Do it how you want. All I ask is that you, again, use common sense. I do not want to see a newbie trainer start off with bulbasaur, have it evolve into ivysaur during the next rp, and then venasaur one later. You must at least imply that a certain amount of time passed.
10) There is no move limit. If a pokemon can learn it through leveling, TMs, HMs or the move tutor, it can know it. If your pokemon CANNOT learn a move, then obviously it cannot know it. You may also use your pokemon's physical body during battles. Anything with teeth and nails can bite and scratch, for instance.
We're excluding egg moves because they're complicated.
Please look up generation V move lists to see what's available for each pokemon.
11) You do not have to visit the towns in any order. You don't even have to participate in the gym challenge. Caterwaul is about character development instead of completion, so go crazy.
12) If you decide to begin with a newbie trainer who receives a starter from the professor, you can go about obtaining your pokemon of choice a couple different ways.
option 1: you meet a pokemon through some sort of ic event. Maybe a friend gives it to your character; maybe you find it in a trap; maybe you come up with some sort of plot.
option 2: you can ask a mod to spawn it for you. It has to be in an area that pokemon would appear (go by pokemon habitats). An absol, for instance, is a mountain pokemon, so you'd probably find it in Rue. After reaching the location, just ask a mod to spawn whatever particular pokemon (if gender matters to you, make sure you state it), and you can rp out catching it. The mod will rp the pokemon during said battle. Keep in mind that you may not catch it; it could defeat you in the fight or run away. If that happens, you can ask for a respawn.
