Pokemon Quest FAQ and Concepts

General Concepts.

- TMs: Don't exist in this universe. I had a hard time with this one. In the end, it was decided that any move from the move list can be learned, but a Pokemon's temperament, experience, and breeding affect how easily each move is to learn. A Pokemon that wasn't bred to learn a certain move can still learn it, it's just harder.

- Held Items: I struggled with this too, but decided to go the anime route. Held items are not allowed. Some Pokemon are recognized as having an attachment or dependency on certain items, so there are exceptions. A good example is Farfetched with it's stick or Kadabra/Alakazam and spoons.

- What about evolutions based on trading or trading with held items?: I still work the same way. Trading through a proper trading machine at a Pokemon center or using your Pokedexs to trade causes reactions with certain Pokemon. Others need to be holding an item for that reaction to occur and start an evolution. The exact science behind it is best left to Pokemon researchers.

- Catching Pokemon: Damage it, give it a status condition, or otherwise wear it out. If the vote to use a Pokeball wins, then the highest of the first three votes for that action count as the rolls for it (Don't worry, it will be specified when it comes up). Pokemon that have been completely KO'd can still be caught, but they won't respect you without a lot of effort and time. Catching a Pokemon is a battle of wills and respect.

- How does battling work?

    - Basics: It works pretty much like the games. Unless there are special circumstances, each voting period is a standard turn where each side has time for one move. You are strongly encouraged to get creative though. Use waterguns to jump, attack terrain instead of the enemy to give yourself an advantage, counter an attack in doubles battles, etc. Anything short of 'aim for the horn' will probably work.

    - Winning Money: The default bet is half of your current money in your account. Your trainer card also acts as a debit card. If no amount is set before a fight beings, the loser automatically loses half of their money to the winner. The idea is to make you think first before committing to a battle recklessly. Trainers can agree on any or no amount before battling.

    - Etiquette: You can turn down any battle for any reason. Both trainers in a standard match release their Pokemon at the same time to avoid any unfair advantages. Releasing your Pokemon first can be considered an insult unless there's a clear gap in trainer experience like gym leaders.
Pushing a Pokemon in a clearly futile fight is considered poor form, but at the same time, not giving your Pokemon a fair chance or not letting it at least try is also seen as not respecting that Pokemon. This shouldn't come up much unless there are extreme circumstances, or someone is trying to make a statement.

- If we only need 8 badges, why are there more gyms?: There are a few reasons. The first is that I wanted to give each type a gym because it's just plain fun. The second is that I wanted to give players the option to skip gyms or bypass cities. I've seen quests go off the wall before and I didn't want everything to explode if a single gym encounter takes an unexpected turn. Third, in the anime it's often implied that there are more than eight gyms in a region, so I wanted to explore that. If a gym leader just buggers off, gets sick, eaten by a Gyarados, etc, then it doesn't make sense to have the entire league halt until a replacement is found.

- On defeat: You're going to lose battles. Losing can be frustrating, especially if you're wise vote is drowned out by other players sometimes. There's no joy in victory without the risk of defeat. It would be naive to expect every fight to go perfectly, or that some players won't vote to pick a fight with someone or something out of their league. Pokemon in general is pretty light on the consequences, so don't worry about it so much and just have fun. I'm not attached to whether the MC 'wins' or 'loses' this quest, I'm just in it for the love of the franchise.