[PW!] [FAQ] Version 2.6
RobfromVoid
The document you are now reading is the PW! FAQ 2.6
Current Author: RobfromVoid
Previous Author: Dreadite
E-mail me at: Robfr...@prodigy.net
Note from the new author, RobfromVoid (that's me!):
Dreadite very carefully made this excellent FAQ, thus
I'm only going to add new sections where necessary
depending on decisions made in the PW!. Anywhere I make
changes, I'll put the letters "RfV" to indicate that I
have made a change or added a new section. -RfV, 8/5/00
In all cases, spam and harrasment/BS will be held in
the UTMOST contempt, and may wind up causing the sender
great pain, or great big lawsuits. There, got that out
of the system. I welcome AGNP people, and PW! people...
and most anyone else that's not gonna bother me.
A: The table of contents.
A: The table of contents. =P
B: Introduction.
1: What's the FAQ?
2: What's the PokéWars?
3: What's a newsgroup?
4. What are those little symbols?
5: How do I join?
6: The rules. What not to do.
I. Writers guides!
II. Pokemon stuff.
III. Other People's characters, etc.
IV. Psychic characters.
V. Know-everything stuff.
VI. Creation and destruction.
VII. Interaction.
VIII. The Spearows and the Beedrils.
IX. Non-continuity.
X. The Weapons rule.
XI. The Orange Islands
7: What should I do? What's a good idea?
8: Omnipotence... scary, ne?
9: Banning, the punishment of crime.
10: Websites! I need websites, NOW!
B: Introduction.
This is Version 2.6. In this update, the rules concerning
the Orange Islands are added, and Section 10 (Links) is
cleaned up. Other minor changes were made. The easiest
way to find what was added is to search for "RfV". -RfV
1: What's the FAQ?
FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. Most of them
have the answers, too. This one has those, plus the base
rules for the PokéWars.
2: What's the PokéWars?
The Pokéwars is an ongoing fanfic on the newsgroup
alt.games.nintendo.pokemon. It's currently got more
than one hundred characters. It's set in the Pokémon
universe, a few years after the show.
And, if that's not enough for you, here's some more.
The PW! is a fanfic, meaning people like you write it.
It has many participants, and there's interactivity.
So, unless everyone suddenly dies, it keeps going.
It's about Pokémon, the cool game from the people at
Game Freak, and Nintendo. If you don't know what the
game is, or you haven't seen the anime series based on
the game, why are you here?
3. What's a newsgroup?
Okay, several people have asked me this. The answer is,
it's a discussion forum, so to speak. Check to see if you
have a news server, or use one of the following:
http://www.deja.com/
http://www.remarq.com/
4. What are those bracketed symbols seen on PW! posts?
Those are special header tags. Anyone posting about the
Pokéwars should use them. I'll list them here for all of
you people. Be SURE to use the right ones!
[PW!] The base header. It IDs a post as a PokéWars post.
All PW! posts must have this in front of any other tags.
[NS] This header means that this is not a story, or a
writer's guide. PLEASE remember to use this when your post
is not a writers guide, or directly relating to the story.
This means, unless you are actually posting a story or WG,
use this tag!
[WG] This means that the post is a Writer's Guide for
something. A writer's guide is a helper for writing
someone else's character or base, etc.
[NC] This means the story inside is outside the
normal continuity, and therefore, outside many of
the rules. This tag is not for telling people LOL,
saying you'll be gone for a week, or something else
along those lines. The correct tag for those is NS.
[FAQ] This means that the post is this document, or
another version of it.
[META] For impostant things. Don't use this unless
it's very important, and rules based.
Oh, and if you want to make that cool é symbol, PC users
can hold alt, then press 0233 on the number pad.
Mac users can press Option+e, and then hit e.
E-mail me any MORE ways if you'd like. Don't
post them on AGNP.
5. How do I join?
A good place to start is "Professor Rob's Tutorial"
( http://users3.50megs.com/pokewars/tutorial.html ),
but the most crucial step is to read and the entire
FAQ, the document you are reading now. -RfV
Once you've thoroughly read the FAQ, you'll need to
make a Writer's Guide for your character, and post
it on alt.games.nintendo.pokemon.
If you need help with the making of a Writer's Guide,
check out other peoples, at most the sites in
section ten.
Most people tend to write a character that is based
off of them in personality or some other way, because
it's easier to write. You don't have to, however.
When you're done with that, post a story. Make
sure to follow the rules, though.
Oh, and you can't be a character from the show,
or one inside the game. There are some exceptions.
You could be, for example, one of the Shorts Kids.
Who knows how many of them there are?
6. The rules. What not to do.
Here we are in the bulk of this FAQ. Read this,
or else. I'll list the rules, and some examples
of what NOT to do, okay?
I. You can have a maximum of FOUR writers guides
at one time. For instance, I have Dreadite, the
Diet Coke Bottle From Hell: E, and Erich Owens, a
character someone asked me to write for them. I
could make one more WG, and then I'd be at my max.
You can only have one character, location, or team
per WG. No character+location, no multiple locations,
ONE thing. Also, if you decide to make a gym, it cannot
distribute badges that have special powers. The only
kind of badges that can be given out are ordinary ones
that don't make Pokemon obey you or increase stats.
There are a couple of exceptions to the "one thing" rule.
One is the case of a duo. If you have a duo of characters
who are always together like Jessie/James, then they can
be kept in one WG. The second is that if your character
rarely leaves a location, they can be together in one WG
(i. e. a chef in a restaurant, clown in a circus, gym
leader in a gym, etc.). -RfV
II. There are a few rules regarding Pokémon. Some
ground rules are laid here.
These are the "banned" Pokémon:
Mewtwo, Mew, Zapdos, Moltres, Articuno, and anything
from Gold/Silver. You can use the first five in your
stories, but you CANNOT capture or kill them. Your
trainer cannot be one of them. You cannot _clone_ them.
Or take their babies, or anything like that.
Togepi, even though it is in the show, cannot be
caught until Gold and Silver come out in the US. Is that
understood? Same goes for all other Pokémon that are
in the show but not the Gameboy games that have been
released in the United States. If they're not in Pokemon
Red, Blue, or Yellow, they're not allowed.
Also, any Pokémon in Gold/Silver cannot be used in
stories. The only exception is Togepi, which is owned
by Misty. It is not allowed to battle, or be given
away, taken, stolen, anything. It can sit there and
say priiii! and be cute, though.
You can't capture the Crystal Onix that appeared in
an Orange Island episode, but you can use it in
a story if your character is on its island. -RfV
Also, the pokemon from Pikachu's Summer Vacation are
allowed to appear AT that park only. (Wherever that
was). ^^; The same rules apply to them as to Togepi.
Two, you cannot capture Missingno. In the PW! world,
that term is used to descride a glitch. Like calling
a glitch a nickname. It is NOT a Pokémon to capture.
Three, your Pokémon can have up to four moves. They
can be moves they learn, or TMs. Use common sense here,
okay? I'm SURE you have some. Also, there are a few
exceptions, so just ask before you do something rash.
As long as you use common sense, you'll be fine.
III. You CANNOT kill another person's character, move
them long distances, or kill their Pokémon without the
author's EXPRESS permission. Also, no brainwashing,
creating a huge backstory for them, etc. E-mail them and
ask if you can do something like that to them. If they don't
have an E-mail, post to the newsgroup using the NS tag.
If you get no response because they have no E-mail, it's
THEIR tough beans. =P It pays to have an E-mail address,
folks! There's tons of free ones you can get. Try these
http://www.deja.com/
http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.hotmail.com/
The list goes on. There are a bunch of free E-mail providers.
IV. There are limitations or the powers that psychic
characters can have. I'll list them here for your
reference.
Teleportation. Place limit on this, okay? The move in
the game has them, and you should too. After all, the
Teleport in the game didn't allow you to anywhere you wanted,
or teleport other people/things. Place restrictions on this.
Mind Reading. You cannot read another character's mind,
unless their author gave you permission. Empathy, which
is reading emotions, is okay. It doesn't allow you to
know everything, just to pick up on if someone is trying
to kill you, or something.
Attacking. Keep this down, okay? That's what psychic
Pokémon are for, after all.
All in all, as long as you're not that close to Sabrina's
level of power, most people will be fine with it.
Mewtwo is as powerful as he is in "Pokemon: The First
Movie" (he's VERY powerful, in case you haven't seen it).
If your character fights with him, it's a good idea to have
him or her lose, or else your character might be accused of
being omnipotent, and could even be banned for it. My
suggestion? Don't get into a fight with Mewtwo. -RfV
V. Know-all devices/people/pokémon/powers are not allowed.
The reasons are in the omnipotence section, but I'll give
you a few. The first is that if everyone knew everything,
that would be the point? This is to have fun, not to
show off.
VI. About the creation of stuff... and destrucion.
Creating new Pokémon is not allowed, first off. You can
create new towns, but they CANNOT have an official Gym.
There are only eight Official Indigo Pokemon League Gyms,
and it'll stay that way. You can create locations, too,
but the same basic rules apply. You can create unofficial
gyms, however, but the badges given out can't do anything.
You cannot devastate a city. No destroying important
landmarks, like the Gyms, Pokémon Centers, shops, and
important buildings. You can destroy your house, or
something like that. But why would you do that? ^_^
VII. Interaction is good. Some people seem to have
the idea that the PW! is a place to post your own
little fanfic. This is wrong. The PW! is an
interactive fanfic. Stress the interactive part.
Interaction is the flesh and blood of the PW!.
So, interact! If you don't like it, go write fanfics.
VIII. Hentai... ecchi.. the Spearows and the Beedrills.
(Or, why did they choose THOSE animals? ^^)
Plus, violence! All the qualities of a action movie.
Okay, this topic has come up since the last version of
the FAQ. Since we have young people in the PW!, all
you should be ashamed. =P In any case, avoid any
scene that should be in a lemon fic. There's a great
invention from old tv and movies called hinting, then
fading to black. Don't be descriptive, damnit!
Think of this as having to go into a PG rating.
There, that should handle it.
And about the violence. Well, look. It's fine, but
don't describe every gory detail, okay? As I said,
there's young ones in our ranks.
IX. Non-continuity.
Well, quite simply, Non-continuity is NOT for having
your own huge storyline. It is for having little
stories set a bit outside the rules, or for all-out
chaos and goofyness.
If you want to have a huge NC interactive thing,
I'm SURE people can think of something. ^_^;;
You're really treading thin ice if you travel back
and forth from non-continuity into continuity, since
characters that come from a world without rules might
break rules in continuity, so please don't do that.
It's been done in the past and the people who did it
were very careful about not breaking rules, but let's
keep the NC world apart from the real PW! world. -RfV
X. Weapons and technology
Okay, this is somewhat new, but was decided on a
while back. You CANNOT have a weapon that exceeds
the limitations of technology in the pokemon and
real world. No plasma cannons, photon guns, phasers,
lightsabers, or any such things. (And no Death Stars! ^_-)
XI. The Orange Islands (RfV)
The rules for the Orange Islands are pretty simple, and
can be summed up in one phrase: "If the island has been
seen in the Pokemon show aired in the USA, your character
can visit it". This applies to the Orange League Gyms,
also, which means your character can only earn badges Ash
Ketchum has earned in the show (currently only the Coral
Eye Badge and the Sea Ruby Badge), especially since he or
she can't even step into the other Gyms until Ash does.
Crystal Onix cannot be caught. Read Section 6: Clause II,
if you haven't already done so, for more information.
Pokemon from Pinkan Island can be caught, since it's only
illegal to the police on Pikan Island, not illegal
according to the PW! rules. If your character catches
one of those Pokemon, you can write Officer Jenny chasing
after him or her, but you won't be breaking any rules.
7. So, what SHOULD I do? What's a good idea?
Create a cure for cancer. Oh, right, the PW!.
Well, as a wise candy Youma once said, "It's better to
write one good story than to write one hundred bad ones."
He also had the good taste to grace us with this idea.
"I try to think like that character would in that
situation. It makes for better writing. Plus,
knowing how to change between first and third person
is helpful."
Both great tidbits of advice. Listen to the Chibi-Youma!
Spellcheck. People would like that. Oh, and did I
mention capitalisation? Or how about punctuation? All
very good ideas. ^_^
Keep your powers and team medium. Nobody likes an
ultimate power.
Also, be SURE to use the right tags. SOME people
have screwed this up... *looks around* Yes, you,
back there! I'm talking to you, and him in the corner.
Shower at least once every few days. =P Trust me
here, it's worth it to get away from the computer.
By the way, Gameboys don't take the shower well,
either.
Take a joke. If you don't have a sense of humor,
you won't last long. I'll kill you myself unless...
Now, did you take that as a joke? Good. ^_^
Don't do this: "hi i'm baddude13 and ihave beter
pkmn thn all u i win" Oh, yes, did you notice
the new errors in that sentence? I told you I added
or redid everything. Even this tired old joke.
8. Omnipotence... scary, ne?
Omnipotence. Every newbies dream... until they get
flamed from the pits of hell for it. So, this will
define the term as it's applied in the PW!
Overpowered characters. These are onmipotent, and
a bit disliked. Sure, some powers are fun...
but how likes cosmicly powerful characters? *watches
hands raising left and right* Er, nevermind. Who
likes them used against you? *watches the hands
quickly drop.* Nobody likes them. As much as you
want to be one, resist the urge. Or there will be
consequences.
Once again, your character shouldn't be able to beat
up Mewtwo. That is considered omnipotent. -RfV
Know-it-all characters. Nobody likes to write with
them, because it's really not cool. The same goes
for overpowered types.
Generally, don't catch a Pokémon every single post.
Expecially rare Pokémon such as Chansey, Electabuzz,
etc. They're RARE! And if you have a million Pokémon,
people won't want to write or interact with you.
Being anywhere you need to. There was a group who,
in the course of a few days, gathered all 8 badges.
That's not fun, really. Take your time... it'll
be better in the long run. This is for the fun of
writing with others, and sometimes making everyone
laugh, or cry... be a good writer! Have fun. ^_^
9. Banning, the punishment of the crime.
This is the gritty part of the PW!, and should be
careully read. Sometimes, people break rules, and
sometimes it's not on purpose, sure. But, this is
what happens.
1. You will be warned about the rules you're
breaking. Anyone in the PW! can and should warn you.
Once you've been warned, you should fix what you did,
or just ignore it, and never do it again. However,
if you continue to break the rules, and don't fix
what you did, the next step will happen.
2. There will be a poll. As with most polls,
public opinion counts. Everyone will vote, and
if you're voted against by the majority, you're
banned from the PW!. You will be ignored, and
your posts will not be archived. You can still
read, sure. You could even create a new net-ID, and
come back. Be warned, though. People will catch
on if you keep breaking rules after doing that. ^_^
However, for the most part, you're screwed. So,
try to follow the rules, okay? Good. Oh, and unless
the poll happens, there will be no banning. That's
a NEW safeguard. It'll keep angry people, like myself,
from taking it out on someone for no reason. ^_^
The following have been banned.
Anchovy Ace. He's been rather nice recently, and
has had some interesting contributions. Still banned,
though. Tough luck. We villians stick by stuff like
this. =P
DrCompuman, and affiliates. They're banned, and gone.
Missingno, Mewtwo, Mew, the birds... broken rules like
broken windows in the slums.
SniperZ/Pu2. The same guy, he broke a couple rules.
For instance, having Mew and Mewtwo.
10. Websites! I need websites! NOW!
Yes, there are websites. Suprised? I didn't
think so. I'll list them here.
1. The Pokewars! Pavilion
http://users3.50megs.com/pokewars/
Maintained by: RobfromVoid
This site hosts the official HTML PW! FAQ, has a short
Tutorial for people who want to join the Pokewars!,
and will host PW! fan art in the future. -RfV
2. The Clan Caterpie homepage, at:
http://www.caterpieforest.com/
Maintained by: Frosterfree
It's the Clan Caterpie homepage. Check out the Clan's
page, and revel in bug-worship! He archives all the
Clan Caterpie and related posts here plus his own posts.
3. Dreadite's PW! sounds page, at:
http://members.xoom.com/Dreadite/
The PW! sounds page. I recently moved it, and updated.
I'll be updating much more regularly these days, so
check it out. Please?
Well, that's all. Ja ne!
Oh, and any other questions, just contact me.
Foratog5AFTA
Not all of us watch the cartoon, so we don't know which islands we can go
to. I'd love it if someone could post a description of every island that Ash
as visited so far. That would kick many an ass. ^_^
-- "Atogy Siggy" Version 3.8 - Huggbees!
Foratog5 - Leader of Team Atog, Leader of the Cowdog Fan Club, lone member
of AFSTFM, special member of Goomba Elite, a PW! and DW! writer, a PW!
Fanart artist, a WCW and Macintosh evangelist, a horrible speller, bad
SHifter, and the self-proclaimed most-loved tree-eating-reptile in AGNP.
Current Theme Song: ?
Contact me via:
E-Mail - forato...@yahoo.com
AIM - Foratog5AFTA
battle.net - Foratog5AFTA
ICQ - 72001707
Web Site - http://www.geocities.com/foratog5/
Newsgroup - alt.fan.teamatog, alt.fan.skippy-the-flaming-kangaroo
Marco262
> Good job. I have an idea though:
>
> Not all of us watch the cartoon, so we don't know which islands we can go
> to. I'd love it if someone could post a description of every island that Ash
> as visited so far. That would kick many an ass. ^_^
I agree.
--
-Marco262, Aspiring Regular
*****************
Points:
15 Y2Tech Points
1 Mewtwo? Been Done Point
200 AGNP love points
1 Defibrillator point
________
Points freely given
*****************
STD's: Nature's way of weeding out the sluts.
Be nice to your enemies, it drives them nuts.
*****************
"Have you ever kissed someone in your family... in that way?" -Scythrscy
"Recent evidence suggests that a barrel of monkeys is not half as fun as
previously claimed, and is in fact, rather horrifying." -R2D2METWO
"He's a legend in his own mind. Anywhere else he'd be arrested." -My friend
Teresa
"I'm sorry, but I don't trust anything that bleeds for three days and doesn't
die." -Mr. Garrison on PMS
"take it off Mr. Turkey" -Myuuticuno
*****************
Priest: The seven deadly sins are: Lust, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Anger, Sloth,
and Pride.
Me: I thought "Gluttony" was one of the seven dwarfs.
*****************
TV Show quotes:
Drew: You guys nailed yourselves to the roof, didn't you?
Oswald: Maybe.
-The Drew Carey Show
-----------------
"Why don't you give me fifteen green M&M's amd spank my rump."
-Wayne Brady from "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"
-----------------
Drew Carey: The topic is: The #1 thing you shouldn't lick.
Ryan Stiles: *points to Colin*
-"Whose Line Is It Anyway?"
*****************
Words of Wisdom:
"It's not the pace of life I mind, it's the abrupt stop at the end." -Hobbes
"A mirror, a shield, a promise, a great distance, and a kind word-five ways to
avoid harm." Flavor text on Pentagram of the Ages
"If we didn't laugh, we couldn't react to a lot of life." -Hobbes
"The only reason that people use profanity or insults is that they can't come up
with even a half-decent arguement otherwise." -Me
"A bird in the frying pan is worth two in the fire." -Me (Don't ask.)
*****************
AIM: Marco262
_________________
| |
| PLEASE DO NOT |
| FEED THE |
| TROLLS |
|_________________|
| |
| |
/\/\/\/\|/\/\/\| |/\/\|/\ ()/)
Continue
> Foratog5AFTA wrote:
>
> > Good job. I have an idea though:
> >
> > Not all of us watch the cartoon, so we don't know which islands we can go
> > to. I'd love it if someone could post a description of every island that Ash
> > as visited so far. That would kick many an ass. ^_^
>
> I agree.
Well, if you can't get what you need from an episode guide, there might be a
problem.
To post the description that you're looking for, someone will have to watch all the
episodes and take notes. That would mean all the episodes thus far on tape and alot
of time. Someone might be able to do that, but the lack of response does not bode
well for it.
For the most part you might be better off with just making something up for any
islands that you feel like visiting. There are only a few which are going be
well-remembered and people will notice a difference. Pinkan Island, Mandarin Island,
and the Islands where the gym battles took place are probably about it. Otherwise
most of them have been far from memorable. The bulk have been either a forested
wilderness or modern-city-on-a-shoreline type of thing.
Other than those few islands, just getting highlights from an episode guide (as I
said before) when combined with your imagination will probably make up something
better than what's been in the Orange League episodes anyway.
Jeff Hauser*
*Sig Sold Seperately