An Honest Question

Hi friends!

It's definitely a magical time as we approach the eve of the URPG's 15th anniversary. I'll have been in this crazy, wonderful dreamscape with all you lovelies for officially two years in just a month, and I thought there was no better time than now to ask this question.

What do I do in the URPG if I don't like battling?

The answer seems obvious: write stories, enter park runs, draw portraits, join contests! But all of these rewards from these activities, Pokemon, money, and items, ultimately all goes towards a system geared towards battling.

I accumulate wealth and Pokemon from what I do participate in. The system for battling that it's designed for, the amount of hard work for the specific Pokemon or item, is just perfect! But I end up donating most of my stuff through the Gift Stations just because I don't like battling and I want others to enjoy the system for what it currently is. That has always been my choice and has ALWAYS been a joy, but I begin to wonder if I've reached my URPG end-game.

I'm not saying there's a flaw in the system. I'm thinking that there's an entirely different system that could run in conjunction with the one we have now, one whose extrinsic incentives don't go towards battling. A system that capitalizes on the specific talent that the URPGer brings to the game.

Think about: the extrinsic motivation for winning the SWC/WWC, the pinnacle of achievement for URPG writers in the competition that most closely parallels battling's Champion Battle, is a Legendary Pokemon meant for battle. I think it's absolutely wonderful! It's the result of fifteen years of tradition and is the greatest honor. I just think that it doesn't inherently capture the nature of the victory or propel the writer forward, internally, towards writing itself.

What new system am I talking about, one whose rewards don't go straight to battling? I'd feel terrible leaving without a possible solution, so here's part two!

It centers around this: URPG's outward expansions have always inspired me. I wonder what incredible things would occur if we expanded inward together, uniting the Art, Story, and RP sections.

Imagine a separate section where you propose a plot-line for a story. Another author comes in, and two artists decide to join in to illustrate the story at intervals involving the Pokemon. A team of curator and grader unite, using their specific skills to not only award or decline the team based on the awesome standards we have now, but also on how cohesive the final product was considering such different talents. Everyone benefits; perhaps the author who proposed the storyline excels at making storylines but the author he works alongside is a master at description. Maybe the artist had no muse until that moment and decided to step up to the challenge. This isn't even counting the actual rewards yet.

Imagine that for just a moment, the concrete role of Zorayda or a certain 80-year-old-beloved-Grandma as ranger are dropped for just a moment. And in that place, ranger and trainer work together to create new characters that they made together for a specific plot that they put together themselves. Or imagine that they mirror what's being written and illustrated in the above-mentioned project. It's complicated, but I think it'd potentially be more rewarding / exciting / engaging /challenging for everyone involved.

Envision a system where you pay an artist to commission a piece of artwork for your story. A system where elder rangers are paid to mentor voluntary new rangers in the park. A system where the creator of that plot-line mentioned above gets paid additionally for having the original idea, and everyone else does too for teamwork. A system where you accumulate currency for a craft's domain based on how much you specifically put towards that craft.

And this system flows alongside the system we have now - double the rewards, the same amount of effort?! It just makes me wonder how many more artists, authors, and RPers would come to URPG specifically for that craft, and not just the battling. It makes me wonder if they'd stay, with a new way to measure their achievement without Pokemon or items. It makes me think that battling would increase dramatically too - more Pokemon being acquired, more battles, more growth. The convergence of talents and ambitions in a community whose members already care so much for each other would lead us on an even sweeter path. I think we could walk that path together.

TLDR;;

1. I have all this money and all of these mons, but I dislike battling! What do I do now? Is this my URPG end-game?
2. consideration of opportunities to unite the Story, Art, and RP Boards to make URPG a more interconnected game

I was going to write this on PWN but I'm not sure how the community would respond to my Deadpool gif

Spoiler

just kidding! here it is anyway!! thanks for reading!

 

I completely agree.
I've been meaning to post similar since, uh, almost a year ago. The URPG game content does seem at odds with itself with having competitive battling at the core and inviting creative players with the other sections, and I'd proposed solutions in adding cooperative battling and light RP content in Boss Fights and expanded Dungeons, with a future possibility of inward expansion to link up related sections.
Unfortunately extensive real-life difficulties have prevented me from working on these, as well as testing out Boss Fights with the PXR Opening and 15th Anniversary events.

I like the idea of cooperative creativity projects, but it would likely need some kind of (figuratively?) material reward to keep players invested - there's apparently a poor track-record for sections without these. It could be a good way to open up avenues of themed content, based on the combined projects. Park sections with creatively altered rules, Write-a-Roll-esque prompt writing and drawing events, cooperative battling content and more.

 

I agree with these, just a few things I'd like to say:

The 15th anniversary was actually January 11, 2014.

PWN could never complain about anything you did, except for resigning as Admin.

Contests totally make use of all that stuff too, like battles. Except proper contests aren't battles.

 

I'm sorry, I just don't really get this. Pokemon is a battling video game. That's what Gamefreak made it to be. I don't really understand what you're looking for. I don't quite see the connection between creating a book and having the URPG be more fun. I think the kind of thing Blue was working on is more of a step in the right direction, but I don't think that "creating alternatives to battling" is really anything that can be accomplished within the confides of this game.

If you think about it, URPG is unique in the way it associates rewards with things that people are already doing. Fanfiction, RolePlaying, Artwork these are all facets of Pokemon fanbase that people are creatively involved with already. These are the outlets people use to enjoy Pokemon without battling, taking advantage of the creatures and imagination of the world, rather than the actual games.

However, there's something that I think you are missing out on here. There's a lot of room for creativity in battling. Whether you try different types of battles : Double, Triple, Rotation, Sky, Gameboy, whatever. The battles don't have to be super competitive, they can be fun. In my opinion, this is what FFAs were initially set out to be: fun outlets of battling that weren't meant to be super competitive, or at least significantly less so than a typical battle. Unfortunately, it seems as though people have realized how much of a cash-cow they are and started just doing any means necessary to win. In my opinion, that competitiveness is really what is running the URPG dry.

Another thing you could try is doing a regular battle, but without such typical pokemon. How about instead of battling with Blaziken/Greninja/Dragonite you try actually using different Pokemon and different stratgies and being creative? And I don't mean doing something like: Blaziken/Greninja/Linoone. Actually use 3 Pokemon that no one has ever considered before. There are so many facets of the URPG metagame that have gone untapped. This is what I've started doing recently and honestly it's improved my URPG experience 100%. Who cares if you win the battle? Just battle a lot and you'll make up for it anyway.

This is probably not the answer you're looking for, but I think it's an answer to a lot of URPGers who are struggling with the cut-and-dry nature of the game right now

 

Excellent post, Smiles. I certainly agree with many of your points.

The URPG has always looked to expand and grow as a system and as a community. Ironically, despite years of development beforehand, it took the expansion of the URPG to Bulbagarden to finally launch the internal developments of the National Park and Contests sections. I think that over the last few years, URPGers have grown accustomed and interested in exploring new ways for us to interact with each other within the existing framework. Missions, Dungeons, and Adventures are good examples of ideas we wanted to look into that could go alongside Battles.

The truth is, I truly believe that our system can be taken a step further, as long as we have the will and vision to see it through.

I'm not entirely sure we can combine every creative section together, but I think I get the gist of the idea. If we were to make it so that Creative Projects were an end goal in and of itself, then we might be able to create a non-strategic system that URPGers may embark on during their journey. This idea could certainly be rewarding, in a number of ways (accomplishment and physical rewards for the creators, enjoyment for the viewers, etc.) I imagine that creativity can include not just the methods mentioned above, but also other avenues of expression such as Audio and Video. Voice acting parts of a story or RP could prove to be interesting indeed (and I still have a mostly modified version of A Christmas Carol featuring URPG members).

I think the key here is to brainstorm various ideas. There more options we have floating around, the better ideas we'll have to choose from.

As I see it, one possible way is to set it up like an adventure, similar to how we base URPG Battles on. Battles uses a gym badge system that leads to the Elite 4. In the same vein, we can have awards that are achievable in a linear fashion, perhaps resulting in being able to face greater challenges with greater rewards. Another way of measuring this could be in the form of rank, which we see often enough in video games.

Another option would be to leave the system a little looser, allowing for collaborations to be done in the same way Art or Stories are created with the resulting piece speaking for itself. I'm not sure how we track progress, but I imagine we can integrate some sort of Achievement system.

And I'm sure there are other ideas as well.

 

I kind of agree with this. I'm really still a beginner because even though I kind of started a while ago, I haven't been able to get anywhere because my team just isn't up to par battle standards, and I'm having a hard time making money and improving my team. Therefore, I'm stuck in a bit of a loop where I want to acquire more Pokemon and items but am having difficulty doing so because I can't get any money.

If there could be a system where we could gain as much money as we could by battling, I would definitely be more active in URPG.

 

The obvious combination of writing and RP is writing a story and environment for people to RP in - playing the Game Master. It would be collaborative writing between players and GMs, and GMs could work together on larger storylines and events. Art is trickier to add in, but work could be commissioned for group RP's, providing header pictures to assist GMing, such as a visual of a cyborg Hawlucha, a raging Hydreigon in a warehouse or anything the GM imagines. Artists could also provide pieces for the park, such as mapping it out picture by picture, or for events in a similar manner to group RP.

Players could have characters with skills that could be used in group RP, Dungeons and Park. Each section could have skills which can only be used in those particular areas, as well as skills which cannot be used in those areas. Players could have limited access to skills through a level based system, which could also limit players from having a character with every skill and allowing for mechanical diversity. These skills could be things like small passive bonuses to non-competitive gameplay elements, like reduced damage taken by their Pokémon from certain sources in Dungeons, Park, Boss Fights and/or Group RP. It would have to be kept to simple values to enable smooth display for GMs to view, as well as in a small number of significant stages to operate effectively within URPG's honour system of not fiddling your stats. A thread to purchase new skills.

Dungeons could be available in various areas of the creative and cooperative sections. A Group RP might involve an in-character dungeon with a greater focus on the environment than battling Pokémon, a Park dungeon may involve trying to avoid battle rooms as part of an event, and a generic dungeon may be focused on battling Pokémon together and acquiring virtual material possessions such as money and items.
Generic Dungeons should not completely be out-of-character though. They should not necessarily require all players to use a character, and RP could be as light as copy-pasting generic scenery descriptions from a thread for the most procedural or chilled runs.
Dungeons have their own section to discuss development, and I'm going to try to focus on getting the post I said I was going to do last year done. @[email protected]

Boss Fights would pretty much be the same as described before - like Cooperative FFA's. I think the FFA-style ones should be called Epic Boss Fights to reflect their size. Dungeons, Park and Group RP could feature their own Boss Fights as well, but by their sections be smaller by default and scaled to difficulty rather than size.

Tell me what you think! Feedback is appreciated! This is a game system for you guys so let's make it happen and make it right!!

 

It seems an interesting idea, would this theoretical "Dungeon" section have the same staff as the Park one or have a brand new set of staff people?
Or would it be more like Dark's idea that has kind of faded to black?

 

I made a chart to go with the preceding arguments for expanding the game systems.

Spoiler

It is clear that the Stories, Art and Park (Roleplay) sections are very light on content. Just about everything involves developing a roster which sees most of its use in Battling and Contests.

Combining, expanding and building on previous attempts to develop new game content for URPG, and working with player requests, I propose the following updates and projects.

Spoiler

Battling additions:
Dungeons
Already in Development, Dungeons involve cooperative battling in randomly generated 9x9 grids.
Multiple modes of play would be possible: Battle, Exploration and Roleplay.
A Battle Dungeon would be the system mostly as it is in the Development forum, involving random typed floors of increasing difficulty. These would have some flavour text that could be copy-pasted from a Dungeons Encyclopedia to keep them from becoming too dryly procedural and disconnected from roleplay, as well as use of Characters. They mostly feature Pokémon to battle, but may involve other challenges to overcome.
Exploration Dungeons are more in-character and would not use a grid for their layout. Instead, they would use more written description of the environment with clearly presented paths to progress. Players would not have to roleplay, but would have more freedom to choose how they proceed. There would still be as many or more Battle Rooms, but a more open layout with additional pathways that could be utilized with HM moves.
The third mode of Dungeons, Roleplay, would be more planned out rather than totally randomly generated. They would be in-character and tied to other areas of the Roleplay section, such as Dungeons based on areas of the National Park or to link in with the current Campaign storyline. They may involve unusual objectives such as targetting only specific Pokémon species, avoiding battling non-Bosses, or solving puzzles.

Epic Boss Battles
Mostly developed, Epic Boss Battles are large, FFA-like cooperative battles against a single, challenging encounter. They are the natural accompaniment to Dungeons as FFAs are to Battles, providing group content that scales with any number of players.

Roleplay additions:
Adventures
Adventures would be forum-based roleplay similar to the National Park, but with storylines created by Writers.
Functionally, they would involve shorter and more frequent posts than is typical for the National Park, and would involve navigating a story through roleplaying. They would always require at least two players, or more at higher difficulty.
Adventures would be graded and approved by senior Roleplay staff, and hosted by someone with the Storyteller job - like a Ranger with more freedom and responsibility, which would likely be the creator of the Adventure.
They would have multiple difficulty levels, and may require a Park Run to be undertaken before an Adventure can be. One option is to disallow the use of purchased and/or traded Pokémon from a mid-level of Adventures onwards, to encourage writing, arting and roleplaying for new Pokémon.
Adventures may include challenges and content such as befriending wild or enemy Pokémon featured in them, passing through Roleplay Dungeons or solving scenarios.
They would need some attention and discussion from Stories and Roleplay staff to ensure challenge and enjoyment are present for both Storytellers and players.

Characters
The National Park Sign Up and Roles in Dungeons could be combined together to form full-fledged Characters.
Characters would allow for more roleplaying opportunities throughout the section, as well as providing a Roleplay-section-specific progression path while building a team towards more difficult Adventures and Campaign content.
Using your Character for Park Runs, Adventures, Roleplay Dungeons and Campaign content would provide points to purchase Skills and Perks from a skill tree and thread.
Skills would range from active abilities like being able to heal Pokémon in Roleplay content and Dungeons, to small bonuses to their Pokémon's battling ability in Roleplay content, to character bonuses towards performing certain actions when roleplaying.
Skills would have one rank each and require a different amount of points to purchase, and some skills and perks would require others to be purchased first.
There could be a cap on how many skills you could earn on a character, making some combinations mutually exclusive. Skills could also have other requirements.
Perks would unlock rewards such as a choice of one from a list of Pokémon, a sum of money or special items. They would be high cost and in stages, e.g. Easiest+Simple list -> Simple+Medium list -> Medium+Hard list, $5,000 -> $10,000 -> $15,000.
I'm not sure if there should be a limit on Perks or if they should be by player.

Campaign
The peak of the Roleplay section would be the Campaign, a seasonal or yearly storyline created by URPG's best Writers.
The Campaign would feature content from across the URPG, including Dungeons, Park Events, Adventures, Epic Boss Battles, Stories and Art to tell a larger story, expanding on the world of URPG's National Park.
Content would be released in stages over the season or year, and player actions, successes and failures would impact the storyline.
Players would gain access to unique rewards with each storyline that may include skills, items or the chance to try catching or befriending an expansive choice of Pokémon or a minor Legendary (BST ~600 crowd) through roleplay.

Writing additions:
Write Adventures
Writers who have written Stories of a challenging rank, Hard or Complex or higher, and Rangers who have similarly proven their ability to write with quality, would earn the submit new Adventures.
Adventures are essentially interactive stories with Park-style battling against Storyteller-controlled opponents. Those writing Adventures might have similar freedom to writing Stories, but accommodating players instead of an intended Pokémon to earn.
Unlike the Campaign, Adventures would not need to be part of the URPG setting, and could be stand-alone or part of a series.
They would require grading and approval before players could sign up for them. The Writer of an Adventure should always have first right to play Storyteller for their own creation, but could leave it available for others to run.

Adventures would have a difficulty scale to indicate how long they might be and how developed the players' Pokémon teams or Characters might need to be.
Similar to Pokémon story ranks, an Adventure would have stages of Easiest to Complex.
Easiest would be available to help introduce people to roleplaying in URPG.
Simple would be for players who are just starting out in the section.
Medium would be where Adventures should begin trying to test players' abilities in roleplaying, navigating the story and Park-style battling.
Hard would, in short, be harder. Hard Adventures should make players work to succeed.
Complex would be the high end of Adventures, where players should be challenged to resolve the story.
Rules regarding their construct and approval systems would need input from Stories and Park sections.

Write for Campaign
The end-game for Writers, those who meet the most difficult challenges of Stories in URPG would be able to write the storyline of URPG itself and work together to create the content that tells it.
Writing for the Campaign would have a wide range of creative possibilities, utilizing any of the game sections thematically. For example, one Campaign Writer might set a section of Story in the Pokémon Contest scene and require participation in Contests from players in order to interact with these elements.
The Campaign would generally feature Exploration and Roleplay Dungeons, Park Events, Adventures, Epic Boss Battles, Stories and Art, depending on the Campaign Writers' storylines and their creativity in telling them.
This system would also require input from Stories and Park sections.

Art additions:
Art for Adventures
Successful Artists would be able to create Art for Adventures in two main ways: Inspiration, and Depictive.
Inspiration pieces would be used to base an Adventure around. They may be a story in themselves, and would be curated before use. They might require use of certain prompts or other factors to qualify.
Depictive pieces would be used in Adventures as visual aids, depicting non-player characters, scenes or anything that can be visually represented. Adventure Writers may work with an Artist before posting their work, or may post a request for a particular description to be created.
They would scale with difficulty levels alongside Adventures.

Art the Park
The final game of the Art section would be to draw the Park, picture-by-picture.
These would be from the most successful Artists in URPG, and immortalize their artistry by creating canon visuals of the National Park. They might include scenes of areas and/or Pokémon, Ranger Stations or other buildings, or landscapes.
Only the most successful Artists would be able to submit pieces towards this.

Additional Systems:
Some ideas have been offered to help with these systems, and include...

Random Mail
Random mail could be given out as rewards for some content and be, essentially, a lottery for additional rewards. They would mostly be junk letters that could be used as Hold Items or sold in Garage Sales, but would occasionally turn out to be something else that could fit in a letter such as money, items like Weakness Policy, or Roleplay material.

Cash for Creatives
Writers and Artists could gain money bonuses for works that would pass higher difficulty ranks if they were written as such, but excluding Easiest and Simples. Stories and Art could also forgo Pokémon capture targets in return for additional money bonuses, to allow for Pokémon-related works that do not heavily feature Pokémon themselves.

tl;dr:

Spoiler

As always, feedback greatly appreciated!

 

@BlueTowel; One word: incredible. I am new, and with the current setup I would really just battle for evolutions, because I'm more into RP'ing. Your proposal has blown me out of the water. I personally love adventures, I am that kind of RP'er. Campaigns seem cool too. I guess the additions to Art and Stories are good, but I can't tell. I would write more if I could.

 

Bluey, your creativity is incredible! My ideas, more of which I'll share in a second, are really a lot smaller than what you've taken a lot of time and effort into crafting. Also, thank you to everybody else for taking sincere interest in this all! I really feel like this will go somewhere.

Really quickly, I'm a very hands-on person who needs to see models / examples to grasp an idea. I've created this dummy board to hopefully clarify my ideas through example: Home | Forum . It's a small place where I can literally throw ideas onto a board, and anyone is MORE than welcome to join and post ideas too!

Ok, so, some of my thoughts:

• Achievement Points: or AP, is a secondary measure of achievement that runs alongside current URPG currency. A small sum of AP is earned every time somebody completes a Park Run, submits an art work or writes a story. With AP, players can purchase Pokemon and Items that differ from what the PokeMart offers. Additionally, AP buys skills, perks (perhaps organized into levels?) that Bluey mentioned. They would potentially be organized into something such as this and this.
  
  Ideally, AP received is a very small sum that adds up with each attempt towards a creative work. I haven't worked out concrete numbers, but approximately for every five stories / art / submissions / a combination of the mentioned for a Medium-Ranked Pokemon, a player will be able to buy a Medium-Ranked Pokemon through their AP. Or, that player could save their AP, keep working, and eventually reap a reward of an even bigger prize.
  
  
• Completing the PokeDex: Because stories, park runs, art submissions, buying Pokemon with money or AP, and possibly voice submissions all revolve around creating a roster, I think it's ideal to organize a secondary measure of achievement for completing the PokeDex through these means. See for a little more information on how that works; basically, players receive a "reward package" for every rank they acquire by completing more of the PokeDex through the above-mentioned methods. These reward packages gift money, a claimable Pokemon, and AP points based upon what Rank the player is.
  
  I conceptualized this system in the manner that current URPGers will receive a large sum of AP that will hopefully get them more involved into creative works while receiving money. I promised that it wouldn't hinder the current system, only create more rewards for similar effort while getting people even more interested in what's out there. Also, the rewards for completing the PokeDex encourage non-battlers like me because now I'll be even more inclined towards evolving my Pokemon (and then might become further interested in battling with them).
  
  Although the system is cumulative so that you earn more as you keep playing, current URPG players would only be able to "start" at wherever they're currently at in progress. So for example, somebody like Bee who has nearly filled the PokeDex wouldn't be eligible for reward packages Rookie Trainer - Pokemon Master. He would only receive the prize for Pokemon Master, and go from there.
  
  The rewards seem slightly ridiculous in scope, but I'm looking at it from the perspective of the more Pokemon you have, the more money / AP you should have to equip those Pokemon.
  
  The final reward seems impossible. Somebody would have had to spread their creativity and expertise in all directions for it to even be feasible. From winning all the story competitions to all the art competitions to all the battles against a Pokemon Champion... but I like the idea of the impossible. It's one of the things that drew me to the URPG in the first place, the idea of a challenge so great it'll take everything you've got and ten times more. You always have something to work towards.
  
  
  [*]Art Commissions & Story Deals: An interactive section would be where players can write / draw / RP at the request of another player for a certain Pokemon. This is really a minor thing, but I think it would help organize the current business of these deals into one tidy little place.
  
  
  [*]Joint Projects: This was the first half of my vision towards a more interactive system (with a new measurement of achievement being the second). Concisely, artists / writers / RPers / wonderful voice people work together towards capturing a Pokemon in one "project" thread. Along with the normal AP and Pokemon they would have normally received from completing these works individually, this team also receives additional AP points for working together. Encouraging people to work together. Ideally, the team of evaluators would receive a slight wage bonus for working together as well in their evaluation.
  
  Competitions for Team Projects, etc
  
  An example of a passed project and a failed project.
  
  

Please let me know what you think! I'm really happy people are reading / taking these considerations seriously. Y'all are the best!!

also if somebody wants to grab my park run on PWN, I'd really enjoy that as well #shamelessplug

Replying to what Bluey said next! There's a lot of gold there!

 

Thanks for the Likes and kind responses, guys. ^_^

Definitely! This is very much what I had in mind for half of Character Perks.

It could be taken a step further with three main currencies: $, "AP", and "Experience Points".
$ could be the current main system of money that is used to purchase in the PokéMart and everything that exists as-is.
"AP" could be currency for player-side rewards such as buying Pokémon, converting creative work to additional $, and maybe converting creative work to character development through experience points too. Gained slowly through creative works and in chunks from Pokédex completion. Purchases relatively expensive, i.e., 5 Medium works to gain enough AP to purchase a Medium.
"Experience points" could be largely character-based and be a combination of Skills and in-character Perks such as professions (e.g., Doctor, Police, Criminal Team) and extraordinary abilities (e.g., Parkour, Eidetic Memory, Beefcake) that would have significant benefits in roleplaying. Experience points would be relatively slow as well, and there would be limits to prevent players inevitably having every skill on a character. Each skill would have different costs and, like with AP, players would have the option to save up rather than spend as soon as they have enough points.
I think Achievement Points may be misleading as a name, though. AP wouldn't entirely be gained from and for achievements, and may be confused for other games' achievement systems.

I like it. It would need a breakdown of every source of Pokémon to determine how much to award at which stages, but that's a balancing detail.
There may be an issue with providing benefit to battling through collecting Pokémon, but I don't think it's particularly significant if rewards are low at the low end, as they are in the examples.
Another issue might be with players trying to abuse the system to exploit for profit, collecting Pokémon from the Mart and using basics battles and Pokédex rewards to build funds without really participating in the game, but with them being by-player and one-time-only it would not be effective outside of attempting to claim the same stage multiple times; easily detected.
A split of AP into AP and Experience Points would allow players to focus their rewards towards the game content that most appeals to them. Money is universally beneficial, and allowing AP to be converted to other currencies would allow some choice and flexibility in progression. Some players might want to develop a Pokémon team ($ for more EMs), others might want to purchase favourite Pokémon (AP for purchasing by rank), and others still might prefer to build characters to roleplay with (Exp for Skills).

These sound perfect!
A thread to help remember and track story deals, while not having the obligation of posting to keep them informal. Additional AP for working together in mixed-medium formats.

---

An issue with my proposition is that it would be a lot of work to implement it all in one go, as well as likely to start weakly as the systems are slowly, organically populated with players and staff.
So what I'd reckon is a staggered implementation, including Smiles' propositions. Three stages where systems are implemented together.
Adventures would make a likely 2nd Stage, with Art and Writing feeding in to them as well. The Campaign would open up as a 3rd Stage, with Art the Park at the same time.
So that would make the other aspects mentioned (Dungeons, Epic Boss Battles, Characters, Achievement Points, Pokédex Completion, Joint Projects) the foremost projects to develop.
In the interest of keeping things moving, I'd spend the next week collecting feedback from this thread, elaborating and modelling on how these developments would be function and be implemented, and open more official threads next Sunday.
Does this sound fair?

 

• Dungeons & Boss Battles: this is on-point! I think I would have to see an example of what it would be like before I can say anything more about this, but I love the grid aspect and the cooperation > competitive part of it too ^^ definitely going to be a lot of fun.
  
  
• Adventures: To be entirely honest, I can't currently see how an Adventure differs from a normal park run. Park runs in themselves are incredible adventures, and I've learned recently that they are lots of fun if the trainer works with the ranger to achieve a complex and engaging storyline rather than "ranger throw next mon at me plz." I can see how it would be exciting to have a storyline written out, but then I feel like this takes away all of the creativity and fun out of the ranger's part of the job. Also, I'm personally against the idea of fulfilling a point-by-point plot line made up by somebody else. If the ranger (or other RPer) and I are along a path and see something cool, I'd like to follow that path with my fellow RPer and not have to do whatever comes next in my fate. The spontaneity is part of what makes RP fun, at least for me. Plus, with the difficulty levels and restrictions, I feel like Adventures would just be a URPG story two people are writing that has been summarized / thought up by by somebody else already :x
  
  Maybe I'm overstepping my place by saying this, but I think activity would improve in the National Park as it is if people entering changed their overall schema of what a park run is like. If everyone came in with the mentality of, "oh wow, wonder what my ranger and I will do today!" vs. "oh wow, I wonder when the next Pokemon will show up!" I think we'd get a lot more happy RPers entering. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding your concept?
  
  
• Characters & Experience Points & Abilities: I like the idea of building upon a character for Dungeon and the National Park. However, I feel like the whole concept of experience points and "professions" are going to make us into an MMO ^^;;; that's not necessarily a bad thing - but I'm not entirely understanding the difference between AP and Experience Points. Achievements points would be gained from and for achievements. Anyone who has ever written a story (I'M LOOKING AT ALL YOU; DO YOUR SWC'S NOW) or completed a park run or submitted a piece of art should feel like they're achieved something awesome. Conceptually, when you work hard and achieve something awesome you should be able to use that achievement to build more achievements, which translates to buying mons / items / skills. And that's as simple as it needs to be.
  
  So would experience points only buy skills and perks? Also... why limit peoples' skills? If someone has worked hard / gained enough experience through that hard work, shouldn't they be entitled to all the skills they want?
  
  Experience points may be confused for every leveling system in the universe of games.
  
  
• Campaign: I really, really like the idea of the Campaign as a reward for the best writers / RPers conceptually. Being able to basically write the main storyline of the URPG and play through the world you make would be fun! But I'm also worried that this would just be a LOT of work for 2-3 people to be doing for over a year. Keeping track of what people are doing in their RPs, neat ways to make huge impacts, scheduling timelines... @[email protected] it sounds good now but seven months in I feel like it'd be more of a punishment than a reward for both the winners and the people trying to play through it. Any thoughts?
  
  
• have the same qualms about Writing for Adventures and Art for Adventures. Some of my favorite artists in the URPG have admitted to not being able to do landscapes all that well... so I also feel like that'd be a punishment instead of a reward... and then having to feel obligated to submit something because you won may also be slightly restricting. In my mind, I'm paralleling the art submissions to the awesome banners people would make for park places - and I feel like anyone should be able to submit that.
  
  
• Random Mail: what does mail do hehe
  
  
• Cash for Creatives: "Good job on your 100k Harry Potter-Pokemon story! here's $50,000!" is this what you mean?? @[email protected] I think that's a generous idea for players who don't want to write Pokemon stories for the capture, but then does the grader still "grade" a story without a capture attempt? Also, what's the inspiration behind paying them? Wouldn't it be more fitting for them to receive AP? I like paying people for commissions because that's a service, but if you're writing a story for yourself then that is a service for yourself and thus AP.
  
  I realize I'm playing Devil's Advocate on a lot of these ideas, but I'm picking up on misunderstanding on my part, or maybe potential holes, that I think would best be teased out now.
  
  
• Completing the PokeDex: Ah, I definitely understand your qualms about people purchasing mons in the mart! In my mind, there's two levels of "rookie trainer-esque" ranks: one for a trainer who completes ~10 dex entries, and then one for a trainer who buys all the mons in the AP shop and PokeMart and evolves them through battling. Maximum reward would prolly be around ~25k for that level. If anything, the goal is to keep the new URPGers interested in URPG and battling and getting interested in other parts of the URPG as well. And if anything, general battling goes up and refs get paid more also, I don't understand: "but with them being by-player and one-time-only it would not be effective outside of attempting to claim the same stage multiple times; easily detected."
  
  I see what you're saying about being able to convert AP, but I'm foreseeing a lot of corruption with that happening. Say somebody gets into the pattern of only doing art commissions for people, thus earning money + converting it into more money, drawing Pokemon for their own, earning AP and then converting that lol, and then like that the new trainer who joined a month ago suddenly has twenty NUKEM Pokemon without participating in the game really. XD That's just me being paranoid, but then I'm worried that defining a scale for conversion would be hard to do. Two solidified currencies for two different parts of the URPG is, in my mind, yin and yang. Good balance.

If people like the whole AP idea and PokeDex Completion idea, I can work on that and have working models ready by the end of July. Also ready to work on other parts people like too - just need to see even the most basic of concrete examples before I touch something and break it ^^;;

 

Really good work guys! @BlueTowel;
@Smiles ; We did a good few dungeon runs. Here is an incompleted one when we were testing out trainer roles I believe. There were also about ten or so completed ones done in the blast chat on AIM. Honestly this section was pretty close to completion with just a few things needing to be confirmed and a few decissions to be made. Repetitivity, potential DM bias and deciding on whether runs would be just one floor or multiple. In the end, I think it was agreed the option to leave at the end of each floor with three floors of increasing difficulty. And teams of one or two trainers and one DM were most effective!

If you guys want to continue with this, I'm happy to help!

 

So we were discussing the SWC in AIM and Smiles told me to post this here, so why not?

Nowadays, most of the tournaments or wide events are either Battle-based (tournaments) or writing (competitions), since Contests or Art doesn't have enough staff/visitor activity to warrant those and the Park does it own's thing with the Wheels and stuff - I might be wrong here.

Anyhow, I was talking about how a (temporary) legendary wasn't a very good prize, and here's why, in truth, new Pokemon are only good for 3 things within the URPG, with legends we can add a fourth, those being:

- Bragging Rights: Just beating the tournament or winning the competition is enough bragging right, getting a legendary isn't in itself too much of a bragging right by itself.
- Battling: Well, pretty much most of the time you try to do something important, like battling a gym or doing a serious battle, the other person will put a No Legends clause in if they don't have a good counter or it's an offensive powerhouse - like Soul Dew Latios or Mewtwo Y or Arceus - or will use a strong counter to set up while sending it to oblivion. The only important battles I'm aware that can't have No Legends on are E4 and Champion, where it's one allowed per team. The Champion has its own legend or at the very least a counter and if that wasn't enough, E4 battles are so rare they shouldn't really be considered.

- Contests: While I know this isn't within the staff's control, finding enough people for a DPP/RSE contest is almost impossible and the rare times we can - or find someone for a BW contest - it's almost impossible to find a judge, within memory the only active judges (in AIM) are Ash, Hannah, Jess and SLC (the latter being inactive atm because of irl stuff). And with the current ban on stats, it's much preferrable to use other Pokemon for contests than a particular legendary - with the possible exception of Mew that can learn every combo if memory doesn't fail me.

- Using it on the Park: There's no real reason to use a legend in the park when a normal Pokemon can do anything it can do without the chance of doing more damage than you can handle within the MCR (because objectively it could deal massive damage and even subjectively a legend could deal a very large amount of damage).

So here's what I propose, if the AP (or whatever you call it) system takes off, paying in it - especially on the writing competitions - could work out much more better than legends or at the very least give out prizes from Stupefying to lower or another rank. I understand that this opinion may be unpopular but if anyone disagrees with this and has an argument to back it up I'd love to discuss this

 

NOTE: Post incomplete, posted early to get moving. Just need to finish the examples of everything.

Yes! Dungeons and Epic Boss Battles are both near completion.
Epic Boss Battles really just need to continue testing and playing through them!
I will post sign ups for one after this post and spend some time finding ways to make the refereeing more efficient.
One public Epic Boss Battle was tried, but balancing issues and real life difficulties led to me ending it. I'm pretty sure the main two problems with balance were that I'd had a mental blank on the attack rate with three bosses, and overadjusting to player actions. I'm thinking bosses should generally attack once per turn, unless there are 9+ players, and even then be restricted to one multi-target attack per turn, and maybe not two turns in a row either.
The next one would be a Mewtwo battle, which would be simpler for a test. After that I would try the Legendary Bird Trio again.

Spoiler

For Dungeons, there are many different directions the development could be taken.
Different ways to spice up the repetitiveness such as with randomness, freedom, roleplay or bosses.
Varying the difficulty levels while reducing potential DM bias with weaker Pokémon, player abilities or strict DM battle behaviour.
Developing towards intended goals of completing runs, or reaching floors.
Whether to have short runs for a quick play to pass time and develop Pokémon, or long runs for an evening playing with friends.
My proposition is to try to include as many as possible within a framework, much like Battles have a framework to vary with size (e.g. 4v4), modes (e.g. BW), and rules (e.g. doubles, clauses, inverse).

The three main modes were outlined in the earlier post as Battle, Exploration and Roleplay.
Outline:

Spoiler

A Battle Dungeon would be the system mostly as it is in the Development forum, involving random typed floors of increasing difficulty. These would have some flavour text that could be copy-pasted from a Dungeons Encyclopedia to keep them from becoming too dryly procedural and disconnected from roleplay, as well as use of Characters. They mostly feature Pokémon to battle, but may involve other challenges to overcome.
Exploration Dungeons are more in-character and would not use a grid for their layout. Instead, they would use more written description of the environment with clearly presented paths to progress. Players would not have to roleplay, but would have more freedom to choose how they proceed. There would still be as many or more Battle Rooms, but a more open layout with additional pathways that could be utilized with HM moves.
The third mode of Dungeons, Roleplay, would be more planned out rather than totally randomly generated. They would be in-character and tied to other areas of the Roleplay section, such as Dungeons based on areas of the National Park or to link in with the current Campaign storyline. They may involve unusual objectives such as targetting only specific Pokémon species, avoiding battling non-Bosses, or solving puzzles.

Generally for Dungeons, the framework could be Randomization Style, Difficulty and Mode.
For Randomization Style there could be a choice of By Type and By Terrain/Habitat - rolling wild Pokémon for battle rooms by either a type list or a list of which Pokémon occur in which habitats. This would give players a choice between artificial Pokémon groupings that would become more random and challenging with each floor, and more type-varied groups of wild Pokémon that could be vaguely scouted by knowing the terrain type and could increasingly vary with each Battle Room for each floor. While there is not currently a full list of Pokémon by Habitat, there is a starting point available on Bulbapedia. A list of this kind may be useful for other areas of Roleplay, such as a resource for Adventures and Campaign.
Difficulty could be a brief shorthand to describe the evolution stages of Pokémon that would appear, the way in which NPC Pokémon choose attacks and the way in which NPC Pokémon choose targets. It may be a scale going from Easiest to Merciless or beyond, or it may take another format if someone has a better idea. Pokémon would use weak attacks at the lowest levels, random attacks as they get higher, and strong & super-effective attacks with increasing strategy at the higher levels. At low levels they would choose individual targets, as it gets higher they would become random, then at the highest levels would be increasingly calculated and teamy. The Difficulty Level could increase with each floor, with players having the option of leaving the Dungeon at the end of each floor. The rewards for Dungeons would be tied in to the Difficulty Level, with the lowest levels awarding little per floor.
The Modes have already been described, but here's an example of part of an Exploration Dungeon, and a piece of a Roleplay Dungeon.

Exploration Dungeon:

Spoiler

Mode: Exploration (9 rooms, inc. 4 battle rooms per floor, 1 boss per floor, 4 random event rooms. 3 floors. any number of open paths and HM paths) - DM makes quick private notes of layout: Randomization Style: By Terrain/Habitat
Difficulty Level: Medium *First Floor: Stage 2, Ex-Fully Evolved and Doesn't Evolve Pokémon. 2 Battle Rooms as many as players, 2 Battle Rooms as many as players + 1. Attack individual targets. STAB moderate power moves unless 1/4 resistance or immune. 1 terrain type.
Second Floor: Stage 2, Ex-Fully Evolved and Doesn't Evolve Pokémon. All BR as many as players + 1. Attack random targets. STAB or neutral strong attacks. First Floor + 1 terrain types.
Third Floor: Fully Evolved and Doesn't Evolve Pokémon. All BR as many as players + 1. Attack individual targets. STAB or neutral strong attacks. Second Floor + 1 terrain types.*
Pokémon per Player: 2
Players: 2

DM: Rolling First Floor Terrain.
*DM rolls die: 2.*
DM: 2 - Forest
Player #1: Alright, so that's probably a lot of Grass and Bug-type Pokémon. I'll bring Charizard M Blaze and Magmortar F Flame Body, playing Ranger Dave.
Player #2: I don't have a lot of Pokémon. I'll bring Gengar F Levitate and Metagross - Clear Body, playing Trainer Joe.

Floor 1 - Start
DM: You're in an oak forest. It's daylight. The grass is trampled in paths going West and East. There are bushes between the trees to the North.
Player #1: I have no idea which way to go, and I don't want to use my Ranger ability to check rooms this early. East or West?
Player #2: Do you think we could cut through the bushes and go North?
Player #1: I haven't bought HM Cut or *Character Cut Skill* yet.
Player #2: East maybe?
Player #1: Okay, let's go East.
DM: The forest is foresty as you forest through the forest.
*DM rolls for room encounter. Rolls random event room. Rolls 59 - Darkness.*
DM: *Darkness* The forest got really dark! You can't make out wild Pokémon species.
The path continues on and curves North, or you can return back West along the path.
Player #1: North.
Player #2: Yeah, North.
DM: As you forest along the dark path, it comes to a split. There is a boulder blocking a narrow path going West, and the main path continues on North.
Player #1: Hey, I have HM Strength! Charizard can move the boulder. West?
Player #2: Awesome! I have *Character Strength Skill* so I could move it too. West!
DM: Moving the boulder aside, you forest through a little more forest.
*DM rolls Battle Room. Rolls 3 Pokémon room. Rolls from encounter list.*
DM: You forested into a group of wild Pokémon, but you can't see what they are!
*Pidgeotto, Yanma and Kecleon. Battle battle battle.*
DM: The forest gets lighter after defeating the wild Pokémon. You take in your surroundings. The forest path spreads out going North, West, South and back East. There are bushes between the trees to the South.
Player #1: I guess we started from the South. North?
Player #2: The only way is up. North!
DM: You forest some more!
*DM rolls Battle Room. Rolls 2 Pokémon room. Rolls from encounter list.*
DM: You forested into a wild Sneasel and Heracross!
*Battle battle.*
DM: You're still in a forest. It forests to the West where there are bushes. It forests to the East where there is more forest.
Player #1: East.
Player #2: East.
DM: The forest forests into a path going North and South.
Player #2: North! Uppp!
Player #1: North, sure.
*DM rolls random event room. 49 - Immunity.*
DM: You forest to the North and find flowers that smell really nice, and also protect your Pokémon from status for the rest of the floor. There is a sheer cliff to the East, and the path back South.
Player #1: Charizard can HM Fly us up the cliff. East?
Player #2: Okay! Magic Dragon ride, yay!
DM: Flying on Charizard, you fly up and along the cliff to the East, and see a path leading across curving South before stopping in a gully.
Player #1: South!
Player #2: Southhh!
*DM rolls Boss Room.*
DM: There is a conspicuous large tree stump in the middle of a clearing, but the boss is not present. You have to find the McGuffins or toggles or whatnot. There is a cliff to the North, and a path leading West.
*Players go back and explore the rest of the rooms to find the things to fight the boss and go to the next floor.*
*Boss rolled is Shiftry. Gains +100% health per player, +can use Quiver Dance, strategic move usage.*
*Boss battle boss battle.*
DM: Boss defeated. Do you want to go to the next floor?
Player #1: Yes.
Player #2: Yeps.
*DM rolls additional terrain type - 1, Grassland.*
DM: After defeating the Shiftry, a path opens up to the East, leading towards sparse forest mixed with grassy plains...

Roleplay Dungeon:

Spoiler

Mode: Roleplay (9 rooms, inc. 4 battle rooms per floor, 1 boss per floor, 4 non-battle event rooms. 3 floors. any number of open paths and HM paths) - DM has prepared private notes of layout: Randomization Style: Not randomized.
Difficulty Level: Medium
Pokémon per Player: 2
Players: 2

DM: There have been reports of wild Pokémon around Mt. Mountainplace mobbing Pokémon Trainers who've visited the area. You've volunteered or been hired to investigate the mountain for what might be causing this abnormal behaviour.
Player #1: What kind of area is Mt. Mountainplace in? What kind of mountain is it?
DM: Mt. Mountainplace is a small, rocky mountain deep within Fake Forest in the Notacanon Region.
Player #2: Forest and mountains... I'll lead Hawlucha M Mold Breaker and bring Gardevoir F Trace, playing Ranger Bill.
Player #1: Playing Officer Ben, and I think I'll bring Charizard M Blaze and Gliscor M Hyper Cutter. Gliscor lead.
DM: Alright. Any requests on how you arrive?
Player #2: Anything's fine.
Player #1: I'm not sure how Ben would get there. Taxi?
DM: Ranger Bill drives him out there?
Player #2: Works for me.
Player #1: Alright.

Floor 1 - Start
DM: A Ranger SUV drives up a dusty back road, arriving at the gated entrance of a wild, grassy field. An enormous forest spans the north horizon, the peak of a small mountain barely visible above the treeline. A short way down the field lies an entrance to the deciduous forest, full of sturdy brown oaks with great leaves that seem to colour the air green with the warm, summer daylight.
Player #1: <roleplaying arriving socially awkwardly with the unknown ranger and thinking he's going in alone>
Player #2: <roleplaying introducing character as relative stranger but investigative partner for case to officer>
<Players roleplay just a little more with each other before actually entering the forest>
DM: As you enter the forest, the mountain's peak falls out of sight behind the tree-tops. A beaten path of short grass leads north before splitting in three directions, going east and west as well as north. The eastern path looks churned and muddy, while the northern path disappears into thick brush.
<Players roleplay trying to decide which way to go. They roleplay investigating the churned, muddy eastern path before deciding.>
DM: The ground seems to have been disturbed by vehicle activity: Off-road tyre tracks are clearly visible.
<Players roleplay considering the implications of this, but decide to take the western path: The Ranger believes in scouting before confronting.>
...
The floor continues similarly to an Exploration Dungeon with increased roleplaying and decreased randomness. See DM notes sketch above.

Spoiler

In contrast to the National Park, Adventures could contain battles against Storyteller-controlled trainers, involve different locations outside of the National Park or other settings entirely, and may require creativity from the players to work out how to proceed no matter their Pokémon, Items and Skills. It would be more Roleplay Content, as the National Park is. There would be far fewer chances to gain new Pokémon, with befriending as the default rather than capturing. Befriending would also take part over the course of the Adventure, making it more involved to maintain befriending a Pokémon while progressing.
Of course, you could have an adventure in the National Park, but perhaps also an Adventure in the National Park.
Adventures are not meant to replace the National Park, but to add further roleplaying opportunities in URPG in a vague path of progression. Adventures would be more challenging with a greater prospect of failure.

While the simplest method to create something like this might be a point-by-point plot, that is not something I would suggest and endorse. It might be a challenge to create a suitable system for maintaining quality and freedom for Adventures in URPG, but I'm confident that such a system is reasonably achievable.
I think a more likely system that we'd implement would be something like having required events within an Adventure structure, e.g. An Adventure must contain at least 2 Battles, at least 1 befriendable Pokémon, at least 1 Boss, at least 3 situations involving different cognitive skills to smoothly navigate - maybe the players need to talk a raging Pokémon down, or trick a criminal into sharing information, or clear up a misunderstanding with the police. But allowing the Writer the freedom to choose what they are, and when, how and why they occur.
A good GM (Game Master, a more typical term for roles similar to Storyteller) adapts the story and game to the actions of the players to give freedom - the story is not just that of the Writer, or the Storyteller, but of the players as well. The Storyteller's role is in the run itself, where they are referee, narrator and live-editor. The Writer might also be the Storyteller, or the Writer may work with the Storyteller.
But, much like you cannot accomplish anything by roleplaying solely outside of the National Park inside a Park Run, you would not be able to accomplish anything by abandoning an Adventure's scenario to completely do your own thing. Ideally, players should have the freedom to approach the scenario however they choose, but with suitable environmental reactions courtesy of the Storyteller.
The game mechanics of Adventures would need a serious discussion of their own, so maybe it's a good idea they'd be in a second stage. ^_^;

Here is an example of how an Adventure might be structured:

Spoiler

<Writer writes Adventure: Starfall. Genres: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Action, Mystery, Thriller.>
<It's graded, passes. Title, information block of genre, difficulty, etc. posted on Adventures index thread/sub-forum.>
<Players looking for Adventures check index.>
<Players sign up for Adventure, posting Character, maybe request this one specifically, request a certain difficulty level or range, maybe request a particular genre or two.>
<Storyteller, who could be the Writer, posts taking their run.>

<Storyteller posts thread. Introduction to scenario: Players are on the same street in Lumiose City during the evening, doing their own thing like maybe shopping. Describes area in prose, like the opening of a scene. Brief information block of genre, players, difficulty, etc. at the end of the post. >
<Player #1 posts introducing character by what they're doing in Lumiose. Just a Pokémon Trainer doing a little tourism.>
<Player #2 posts introducing character. Off-duty Pokémon Nurse on a clothes shopping trip.>
<Player #3 posts introducing character, is a new Trainer lost in the city looking for Professor Maple.>
<Storyteller posts drawing players into the Adventure's story: ...

Need to continue this one.

Experience points may be a misleading term as well, since the concept is a skill tree rather than gaining levels. Skill points, perhaps?
Achievement Points have some name crossover with previous URPG systems in development, similar to the seemingly now omnipresent Achievement systems in computer and video games where players earn badges and/or points for completing stages in a game and accomplishing difficult, complex, or exceedingly silly or obscure objectives.

I do not disagree that creating a piece of work and art is an achievement, I'm just concerned about people mistaking points from informal achievements for Achievement Points and getting in a kerfuffle. AP would still translate to buying more Pokémon, items and skills, but could do s by means of conversion to $ for items and Exp/SP for Skills. Almost all items are available for $ in the PokéMart and section Marts, though AP could also be used to purchase new, exclusive items for non-Battling sections. Perhaps Story Passes and the like too?
I do not mean to present an exhaustive list of everything that could be purchased, the more ideas the better.

Professions would largely be mechanicless qualities for a character. They would be, essentially, costumes for RP. Someone wishing to roleplay a Police Officer would have to purchase 'Police Officer' as a profession, which would enable them to interact positively with Police NPC's in most circumstances and arrest NPC criminals.
Skills themselves would be bonuses to various things, or requirements for characters to have almost guaranteed success at certain actions such as Climbing - one rank of it might enable a character to climb anything with footholds, like a weathered brick wall or a chainlink fence, with reduced expectations of descriptive roleplaying for the action, which might then lead to a climbing skill for easily overcoming less rugged climbs. They would be diverse and most would be specialized to sections.
The reasoning behind limiting skills is to let each character be mechanically unique, as well as prevent a roleplaying endgame where everyone is a super-strong, freerunning, hyper-intelligent, inventious, hiking, eagle-eyed, Pokémon-befriending, Pokémon-snagging, Pokémon Ranger / Police Officer / Member of Every Criminal Team / Medic / Breeder / every other skill we can think of. Of course, there are multiple ways to approach a limit as well. There could be a soft limit where each new skill costs exponentially more and make it take insane playtime to collect every skill and profession. Some kinds of Skills could have no limit on how many you could have, while others like Professions may allow only one or a few at a time.

The separation of AP and Exp/SP would allow for an easier system to keep track of Skills, as URPG is an honour-based game, as well as open the possibility for someone to simply reset their Exp/SP and respecialize their character.

If there is sufficient interest, I think Characters could do with a brainstorming session, which could maybe be used to form the basis of a development thread and some testing.

Here is an example of how the Skill Tree might look.

Spoiler

img /img

The Campaign would not be directly linked to Adventures, and the Campaign Staff would only have to pay attention to Campaign content. The Campaign Staff would have the freedom to decide how much content to create for their term, planning around their own lives and how much they feel up to creating. They would also have the freedom to do as little or as much as they individually would like, with cooperation between Campaign Staff to maintain consistency. A quiet year might feature a few smaller Campaign stories that may or may not be connected, with a single event stage in each such as a Park Run with an introductory story and piece of art - with player actions in the Campaign Park Runs affecting the ending of the story and perhaps future stories in the Campaign.

If the Campaign is to be implemented in a third stage after Adventures, that gives us a lot of time to work out potential problems such as turning from creating fun to making work.

Here's an example of how a Campaign year might be structured.

Spoiler

example

The idea behind Art for Adventures and Art the Park is that artists can create work that would be shared and shown throughout the URPG for ALL OF TIME! And for Adventures, for All Of Time to be however long the Adventure exists, and for the Park for however long the Park exists. The art wouldn't necessarily have to be landscape, and could be of people or wildlife related to the area. They might be used to show a wild Pokémon, or the landscape, or a Ranger or anything that could be conceived and related. Adventures and the Park could only gain from having beautiful Art featured.
But honestly, I'm not sure how to create a fulfilling progression for arting. Maybe Artists should be able to submit art for Adventures and the Park at any time, without requirements of having shown a quality of work in URPG. But I think it's more of a game and more fun to work to earn the chance.

For Writing for Adventures, I think a lot of people would find this a very fun and interesting way to develop writing skills, and as a URPG job in general. Tabletop RPGs tend to feature pre-written scenarios that are bought and played with a GM and players. I think it would be a great option to have this available in URPG. While I expect most people who write an Adventure to also GM it, I don't think the system should be designed with that as a requirement. Some people might just like to write a story to be viewed through roleplaying, coming up with scenarios, twists and puzzles to entertain, but not having the skill or inclination to guide people through it and adapt to their actions. Just like a GM might go off-script with the players for a tabletop RPG adventure, this option should and hopefully would be available for URPG Adventures as well.

You can write letters on PokéMail and attach them to Pokémon as hold items and then when they're traded away the other person can read them!
They otherwise do nothing as Hold Items, including preventing item loss through Trick, Thief, Pickpocket and similar moves and abilities.

They're a bit of a junk item in Pokémon, thanks to advances in communication technology. They could, however, be repurposed in URPG as a lottery. Players might receive a selection of random Mail as loot from Dungeons, Adventures and the Campaign. In most cases they would contain nothing and would serve no real purpose besides a tiny bit of income in Garage Sales, but might otherwise contain some $, maybe a little AP, maybe a bit of Exp/SP, perhaps a random item from a list of those that would fit in an envelope, possibly even ways to link exclusive Roleplaying content.

Feedback is appreciated! ^_^ I also think it would be best to tease out as many misunderstandings and potential holes as possible as soon as possible, in order to create the system and for it to be as great an addition to URPG as possible! So many possibilities~ ^_^

I believe the inspiration behind Cash for Creatives is to give opportunities to write URPG stories and create URPG art that does not have to heavily feature a Pokémon to be rewarding, such as a story about N and Ghetsis or an artwork of Team Rocket, and then to also offer opportunities to Writers and Artists to gain $ to develop Pokémon to battle with.
I think AP for creation and being able to convert AP to $ would essentially be this proposition.

It would take a lot of Art to suddenly have twenty NUKEM Pokémon in a month and they would also be providing towards URPG with Arting Pokémon for others, but to avoid this kind of exploitation it is simple to calculate a reasonable maximum potential income.
For a rough example, if we take NUKEM to mean having 10 EM's, and calculate EM's as costing an average of $5,000, then it would cost $50,000 to NUKEM each Pokémon. To earn $50,000 in Art Commissions, at the expected rates for Pokémon being around their average MCR in $, a player would have to create and sell two Hard Pokémon at $25,000 each or one Demanding Pokémon at $50,000.
If every NUKEM Pokémon takes $50,000, and AP are gained at a relative value of their difficulty and worth at 1:5, then 4 in 20 Pokémon would be NUKEM'd through AP gained by Art Commissions.
That would mean Arting 16 Demanding Pokémon to gain $800,000 to NUKEM 16 Pokémon. If an Artist can pass 16 Demanding Pokémon for Art Commissions and create their own strong roster of Pokémon in a month, I'd say they've earned their 20 NUKEMs and whatever the AP from creating their own Pokémon gets them.
But even then, there are many different points in the system where a number or ratio can be changed to reduce exploitation. If AP were gained at a relative value of 1:10, then it would take another 2 Demanding Pokémon Art Commissions to achieve the same NUKEM goals.
The same kind of exploitation could occur using AP to purchase EM's as well.
It wasn't so long ago that Pokémon prices were adjusted in the PokéMart to reduce exploitation of basics for profit. Adjustments can occur after implementation if an exploit is noticed or pursued.

I definitely like the whole AP idea and the PokéDex Completion idea!
If anyone wants to join in creating these systems, go ahead and volunteer! ^_^ The more the merrier!
I'd create a list of who's involved with what, as well as project status breakdowns, in a thread in Development if all of this is sufficiently supported by Sunday. Which it seems to be!
And, of course, people could volunteer to be involved after that thread is posted too. :3

 

I'd like to clarify quickly that Bluey and I are actually NOT working together on any of these projects; it seems this is so because we're the only ones replying back-and-forth to this thread with feedback. He has phenomenal ideas, but my ideas are a lot smaller / mostly work within the system we have right now. I'm willing to work with him as more feedback is given and the projects actually start, as I'm sure many others are, but at this moment I'm not fond of being clumped into some major design project without my consultation or approval.

For my original ideas, I'm shooting for a PokeDex System that rewards players for gathering more Pokemon through battling + creative means, an Achievement Points system that rewards players points for creative works (that they can then use to buy TM/items, similar to Swiftie's awesome StArt MArt!), and the formal launching of Team Projects. Am recopying here, as I know there's a lot of stuff to read in this thread.

• Achievement Points: or AP, is a secondary measure of achievement that runs alongside current URPG currency. A small sum of AP is earned every time somebody completes a Park Run, submits an art work or writes a story. With AP, players can purchase Pokemon and Items that differ from what the PokeMart offers. They would potentially be organized into something such as this and this.
  
  Ideally, AP received is a very small sum that adds up with each attempt towards a creative work. I haven't worked out concrete numbers, but approximately for every five stories / art / submissions / a combination of the mentioned for a Medium-Ranked Pokemon, a player will be able to buy a Medium-Ranked Pokemon through their AP. Or perhaps for every medium-ranked story, that person could buy a conventional TM. Or, that player could save their AP, keep working, and eventually reap a reward of an even bigger prize.
  
  
  
  
• Completing the PokeDex: Because stories, park runs, art submissions, buying Pokemon with money or AP, and possibly voice submissions all revolve around creating a roster, I think it's ideal to organize a secondary measure of achievement for completing the PokeDex through these means. See for a little more information on how that works; basically, players receive a "reward package" for every rank they acquire by completing more of the PokeDex through the above-mentioned methods. These reward packages gift money, a claimable Pokemon, and AP points based upon what Rank the player is.
  
  I conceptualized this system in the manner that current URPGers will receive a large sum of AP that will hopefully get them more involved into creative works while receiving money. I promised that it wouldn't hinder the current system, only create more rewards for similar effort while getting people even more interested in what's out there. Also, the rewards for completing the PokeDex encourage non-battlers like me because now I'll be even more inclined towards evolving my Pokemon (and then might become further interested in battling with them).
  
  Although the system is cumulative so that you earn more as you keep playing, current URPG players would only be able to "start" at wherever they're currently at in progress. So for example, somebody like Bee who has nearly filled the PokeDex wouldn't be eligible for reward packages Rookie Trainer - Pokemon Master. He would only receive the prize for Pokemon Master, and go from there.
  
  The rewards seem slightly ridiculous in scope, but I'm looking at it from the perspective of the more Pokemon you have, the more money / AP you should have to equip those Pokemon.
  
  The final reward seems impossible. Somebody would have had to spread their creativity and expertise in all directions for it to even be feasible. From winning all the story competitions to all the art competitions to all the battles against a Pokemon Champion... but I like the idea of the impossible. It's one of the things that drew me to the URPG in the first place, the idea of a challenge so great it'll take everything you've got and ten times more. You always have something to work towards.
  
  
  [*]Art Commissions & Story Deals: An interactive section would be where players can write / draw / RP at the request of another player for a certain Pokemon. This is really a minor thing, but I think it would help organize the current business of these deals into one tidy little place.
  
  
  [*]Joint Projects: This was the first half of my vision towards a more interactive system (with a new measurement of achievement being the second). Concisely, artists / writers / RPers / wonderful voice people work together towards capturing a Pokemon in one "project" thread. Along with the normal AP and Pokemon they would have normally received from completing these works individually, this team also receives additional AP points for working together. Encouraging people to work together. Ideally, the team of evaluators would receive a slight wage bonus for working together as well in their evaluation.
  
  Competitions for Team Projects, etc
  
  An example of a passed project and a failed project.
  
  

Since these ideas are so small, I think a single person really could tackle them, just given enough initial feedback / check-ins with a staff member. I honestly think I could map out what the appropriate PokeDex awards would be based on doing some research on the average members, then research on how quickly people acquire Pokemon from the mart and from creative works. I'm trying to map out the most realistic yet rewarding Dex possible, but with hard work it will be no worry.

The AP System / AP Mart wouldn't take too long to figure out either, thanks to the wonderful models we already have. Joint-projects have already been done in the past, I'm finding out, and I'm sure we can do them again and encourage players to do joint projects with rewards.

I realistically think I could have all these things ready by August 1st. We have limited resources, yes, but time is also limited. If I receive enough feedback and people like these ideas, I'd like to work on this all in the summertime so I can have these systems implemented before school starts. School is that weird plane where my body, soul, and mind blur together into this studying and PWNing aura and well... XD You know how that is!! And I actually really would like to see some of these ideas take off by then.