🞿 What is this? (How To)

[astralprogenitor]

Expeditions and research projects are the meat of the interaction here in Nauwill. These represent Doveport's collective efforts to learn about the region, and not only does completing tasks help push the shop towards new areas - and thereby new items, pokémon, and plots - but also they help you earn currency for supplies and prizes from the various factions!

All expedition and research project threads should be created in this forum. Completed and logged threads will be moved to the archives, but they'll never be deleted, so you can freely go back and reference your adventures for plot or roleplay purposes. Keep reading to learn more about both sorts of tasks, and above have fun in your journeys!

Before you start either sort of activity, please note that you must have an approved human character and you may only start a thread (exploration or research project) once per calendar day, based on Central time. You may only have ten open/incomplete threads at once. This does not mean ten of each, it means ten activities total. It does not matter how many characters you create or amount of pokémon you own! You do not have to complete them on the day that you start them, but you must finish at least one before starting another if you're currently at the limit.

 

[astralprogenitor]

Expeditions

EXPEDITIONS ARE CURRENTLY STILL CLOSED. DO NOT START ONE. TRY JOURNEYS IF YOU'D LIKE TO EXPLORE!
​

Expeditions are the meat and potatoes of colonizing the island, as well as the primary way that new pokémon are both discovered and captured. These forays into the wilderness aren't your typical jaunt along well-traveled paths that one might experience in already-settled regions though! An expedition on Nauwill is a journey into the wild unknown.

Fortunately, that doesn't mean that trainers are completely without any assistance. Exploration kits are provided for every individual heading out into the brush, ensuring that, at the very least, the factions of the island have plausible deniability about your inevitable disappearance every trainer has a decent chance of getting home safe and sound. These kits include a few days' worth of food, water, a basic bedroll, GPS tracker, and of course Research Balls - special pokéballs that don't imprint the user as the pokémon's trainer.

... what? You didn't think all these groups were going to just let everyone run rampant and catch the island's inhabitants for themselves, right? Of course, proper balls and other commodities to make trips more comfortable are available - for the right amount of work.

Starting an Expedition​

Starting an expedition requires you to choose the area you want to explore in. It also requires that your human character have at least one pokémon assigned to them. Travel outside of Doveport is too dangerous to be done alone, so characters with no partner cannot leave freely.

You can view currently available areas in the Area Charts. Here, you can see how thoroughly explored each area is, and you can also take a peek at what discoveries have been made there. This includes pokémon that can be found there as well as items that you might find! Some items might even be unidentified - meaning the research teams need you to bring them back and turn them in so they can figure out what is actually out there.

Once you've figured out what area you want to adventure in, you'll need to decide which pokémon you want to take with you. A character can only take pokémon assigned to them, and they can only take up to six at a time, due to the potential risk of loss as well as amount of food being provisioned.

Remember: you can only take pokémon that are your trainer's rank or lower. You cannot take higher rank 'mons with you!

Once you have this all figured out, you just need to make your expedition thread to start playing. Fill out the following form for your first post - feel free to save a copy of it for easy editing later on!:

[b]Exploration Area[/b]: (name, link to chart)
[b]Trainer[/b]: (link to registry)
[b]Pokémon[/b]: (link to registry, up to 6)

[b]Using Gear[/b]:
5x Research Balls (CS: 5)
(add other gear you want to bring; must be listed in your inventory)

[b]Starting Energy[/b]: 5+vit+bonuses

Playing an Expedition​

Once you've made your expedition thread, you may now begin to play it out! Each expedition consists of a randomly generated adventure, with your happenings pulled from an expedition chart unique to that area. These rolls continue until your character runs out of energy.

Every character starts with a base of 5+vit energy per expedition. Further bonuses can be added by purchasing items from factions, with each specifying its bonus in its listing.

Playing is simple:

1. Roll the number your chosen area chart requires.
2. Check your result against the chart.
   • If the result requires you to roll again, do so.
3. If the final result is hidden, stop there and link your roll in #help-me on Discord.
4. If/when the final result is revealed, do as the instructions say.
   • If a stat roll is required, roll the stat and write a 3+ sentence summary of what happened.
   • If a battle is required, begin and play out the battle against the wild pokémon, including (optionally) catching it if able.
   • If you find an item, note it in your expedition finds.
   • If anything else happens, follow the prompt as written.

If you're uncertain how to do any of these things, make sure to check out the information on dice roll mechanics as well as pokémon battle mechanics.

Each roll costs one (1) energy, and when your character has no more energy left, their expedition is over. Certain events in an area may cause you to gain or lose energy, so be careful! If you take too many risks, your adventure might be over sooner than you think.

Once you're done with the expedition, you'll need to make a final wrap up post detailing the results of it all as well as the most important decision: what faction you want to turn your results in to!

Here's a handy, pre-formatted "per post" sheet you can use if you'd like. It includes areas for all important data you might need to keep track of, making it easy to just copy and paste everything as you go on your journey.

Write your actions here!


[B]Status[/B]:
[I]Trainer[/I]: x/x HP, x Energy
[RIGHT][B]Gear[/B]:
5x Research Balls (CS: 5)
(Add other gear)[/RIGHT]
[CENTER][B]Finds[/B]:
Nothing so far![/CENTER]

In addition, here is a simpler sheet for pokémon. You can fill in your mon's moves and stats and have them pre-calculated for easier use! Obviously this is reusable as long as your pokémon hasn't leveled up, so feel free to save it in your journal or somewhere handy if you'd like. Anything in () indicates something for you to fill in from your main sheet!

[B](Pokémon Name)[/B] :: (Type1)/(Type2) || (Current HP)/(Max HP) [I]HP[/I] || (Current Will)/(Max Will) [I]Will[/I]
(DEX+Alert) [I]Initiative[/I] || (VIT) [I]DEF[/I] || (INS) [I]SDEF[/I]

--Per Move:
[B](Move Name)[/B] :: (Move Type) || (Physical, Special, or Support?) || (Target) || Priority (Priority value)
(total To-Hit value) To-Hit || (total Damage value) Damage Pool || (Accuracy value) Accuracy
[b]Effects:[/b] (any special effects the move has!)

Completing an Expedition​

Once you complete your expedition, you'll need to tally your results in a final post, then mark your thread as [Complete]. It'll be processed ASAP.

Each item you return from an expedition will get you a different number of points, and once a thread is finalized you can count it towards your trainer rank advancement regardless of how the whole thing went. Factions will give an equal number of points for simplicity's sake:

Task/Item​	Points​
Completing an expedition	3
Bringing a pokémon in a research ball	1
Bringing an item	0.25
Donating a fusion shard	5
Donating a fusion crystal	10
Donating/giving up a Power Well	3

That's it! Your adventure will be processed and archived ASAP. Remember to save direct links to battle Victories (click the number on the top right of a post and save that link) for pokémon evolution requirements, and link the completion post for trainer rank advancement requirements!

Use this form for easy final post creation:

[CENTER][B][SIZE=24px]Adventure Done![/SIZE][/B][/CENTER]

[b]Items Used[/b]:
(any items you used at the beginning or during the exploration; include any broken balls as 'used' as well, but NOT successful catches - mention those in the pokemon caught section instead)

[B]Items Found[/B]:
1x (item)
1x (item)
-etc-

[B]Pokémon Caught[/B]:
(link pokemon to the post where you caught it and indicate what ball was used)

[B]Handing Over[/B]:
(specify or say Everything)

[B]Handing Over To[/B]:
VCA / URA / Fairlight
(pick only one!)

Cooperative Expeditions​

Expeditions are currently balanced towards single player play. Coop expeditions will be added at a later date after the single player version is thoroughly tested.

 

[astralprogenitor]

Research Projects​

Research projects are the work that the scientists and scholars (and anyone else who wants to help out, at least on Nauwill) do both at the city's facilities and in camps around the region. These represent the less dangerous tasks presented to the workers that have come to Doveport; instead of braving the wilderness and risking their lives, those working on RPs are tasked with learning about and understanding the island's secrets. Whether it's learning about new varieties of pokémon brought back from the depths of the wilds or trying to figure out what makes its weird stones tick, these projects work towards filling the annals of knowledge that will hopefully one day be compiled about the area.

Thankfully, research projects also require quite a bit of heavy lifting - there's always boxes of gear and materials to be moved around, so there's no lack of need for less studied individuals around as well. Anyone can participate in research tasks, so long as they have a will to do so and the effort to expend, so anyone can earn a little credit and hopefully help everything go a little smoother overall.

Currently available research tasks will be listed in this forum, alongside the research progress information. You can see what you're interested in, then get set to start researching!

Starting a Project​

If you have a character that wants to take part in the research process of a task, first figure out which task you want to do! After that, you'll make a thread in this forum with this post as the header.

Once that's created, you can begin working on your task! You begin by rolling any requirements that may be listed, then compare to the success chart listed for that task. If you roll an event that hasn't been revealed yet, drop your thread into the #help-me channel in Discord in order to see what happened. If you roll an event that has been revealed, go ahead and begin writing your character's post for that task!

Note: results in the assignment table are what you discover if you succeed (i.e., roll that many 4, 5, or 6s). If you don't succeed, then they won't find that information out. You can let them come to any other conclusion or be totally baffled, whatever you want, there.

If there are multiple success options available, pick one to use.

You need to write at least 500 words revolving around your character beginning, attempting, and either succeeding or failing at the task. You should make sure to take into account how you rolled - if your character fails at something, don't be afraid to let them fail! They will still receive credit and progress towards advancement. Your reward at the end will increase based on how much you write, so don't worry if you do more!

Once you're satisfied with the completion of your research task, create a final post indicating which faction you'd like to turn your research in to, and mark the thread as [Complete]. It'll be processed ASAP.

That's all there is to it! You'll earn faction credit based on how many words your project ends up being:

Words​	Faction Credit​
500	3
1000	5
2500	12
5000	24

Assisting a Project​

Got a character who wouldn't take on a research task themselves, or have two or more that want to work together on one task? That's where assisting comes in! Instead of a solo writing task, assistance turns a task into a roleplay.

For an assisted project, the players decide which characters will roll which requirements; if there are multiples, you can assign different characters to different roles, but each requirement can only be rolled once, so choose wisely! The character's player should be the one to roll the dice for any part they are taking on.

Once all rolls are finished, the players should then work together to write out the events of the task together. This should be done in alternating posts as a standard roleplay - please do not have one player post a single written block of text. This should continue until the scene of the task is finished, with the task being failed or succeeded according to rolls. Players may of course continue to write until they're satisfied with the conclusion of their writing.

When the task is fully completed, make a final post tallying the word count for each player as well as the faction that the task will be handed to. Afterward, mark the thread as [Complete] and it will be processed ASAP!

Note that you may not create assisted task threads out of multiple characters of your own. These are meant to be community tasks, and the increased rewards are reflective of the effort of writing and working together.

Once processed, each player will receive points based on their final word count:

Words​	Faction Credit​
500	4
1000	7
2500	14
5000	28

Group Projects​

Certain projects are labeled as group projects, and these are handled differently. These projects require more than one player, and their difficulties are much higher than standard projects; they also allow a thread to only tackle one aspect of an assignment at a time rather than multiple pieces. However, unlike standard projects, group projects let everyone roll and have the results be cumulative, rather than individual.

During a group project, each player has their character roll their choice of stat combo for the group's chosen research point. Each character may roll a different combo if more than one is available! It should be stated in the post where the rolling takes place. Afterward, count up ALL successes across ALL players and compare to the research's difficulty to see the result.

Only one character per player may roll; the character that rolls is the one that takes credit for the research. A player may have other characters present in the thread, but they do not get any rolls and none of the activity will count towards advancing their rank. They also do not count towards any minimum character requirements.

Rewards are calculated per the Assisting a Standard Project rate!