I whipped up a quick FAQ with the help of the PW! FAQ and Jeroen's advice.
Hopefully, it'll cover everything in simple terms so that you can have a
better idea of the way I see it happening. The entire document is subject
to change, but the most important things are there, I hope.

I've used "Fanfiction Experiment" as the name for now, but that can change.
I didn't want to worry about trivial details.

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The Fanfiction Experiment: Frequently Asked Questions Version 1

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Contents

1 - What is the Fanfiction Experiment and how do I join?
2 - What ARE those funny symbols in front of your posts?
3 - So, what are the rules?
4 - Banning, the punishment of crime.
5 - So what should I do?
6 - What do the moderators do?
7 - Credits

***

1 - What is the Fanfiction Experiment and how do I join?

FE is an ongoing, INTERACTIVE fanfic set in the Pokmon universe. Authors
write about their own characters and interact with other writers. FE is not
simply for writing - it's for writing WITH other people.

To join, read this entire FAQ, and then read a few of the other posts to get
an idea of how it all works. Then make a character who you'll like to write
about, and start writing! Try to interact, but don't throw yourself in.
Just ease in, and have fun.

RULE ONE - You can't be a character from the games or the TV show.

That's not to say you can't occasionally include show and game characters -
it's what they're there for. Most people like to write characters somewhat
like them, but you're not required to.

By the way, the FE is based during the Gold/Silver/Crystal era, so Blue is
the eighth Gym Leader, Giovanni is no longer the head of Team Rocket, Lance
is the Champion of the Elite Four and so on. As for Hoenn and Orre, use
Ruby/Sapphire and Collosseum as a guide.

***

2 - What ARE those funny symbols in front of your posts?

These are the very important FE header tags. They help others to find what
they're looking for and to be able to tell what each post is. I'll list
them here. Be sure to use the right ones, or your posts may get lost in the
shuffle.

[STORY] The post is a story. Most posts will use this tag.

[WG] Signifies that this post is a writer's guide! A writer's guide is a
post that describes an author's character or location. When you're writing
about someone else's character, you may need to find their character's WG to
help you understand what that character is like.

[NS] This header simply means that there is no story or writer's guide in
the post. It is used for discussion, compliments and so on.

[NC] This means the story posted is outside the normal continuity and
therefore outside many of the rules. Abusing this tag will be dealt with
severely. DO NOT only write NC stories to evade the rules. Do not transfer
characters from an NC world into the normal continuity or vice-versa. NC is
just to be used for silliness or the occasional out of continuity story.

[DV] This tag should be very rarely used. If there's a post that has some
serious problem in it, such as rule breaking, it can be "Declared Void"
using this tag. Please don't declare random but valid interactions void.

[META] This tag is used for important rules discussion. Do not use this
tag unless it IS important and rules-based.

***

3 - So, what are the rules?

Glad you asked. That's the point of this FAQ, and it should cover
everything you'd need to know.

RULE TWO - You can only have FOUR writer's guides at a time, as well as ONE
additional location WG.

A WG can only have one character, duo or location per guide. If you write a
duo, they must be as inseperable as Jessie and James - that is, if one
appears in a story, the other one has to. Otherwise, you'll need two WGs.
Your character's Pokmon can just be listed in the WG.

A location can be a town, a building, an island - anywhere that you want to
write about that isn't in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn or Orre. If you decide to
make a gym, it must be unofficial, like the Fighting Dojo. Only the
official ones can distribute badges that have special powers.

RULE THREE - You may not own any "restricted" Pokmon.


In the FE universe, there is only one of each of certain Pokmon, and they
can't be owned by any characters at all. They are listed here in full.

Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Metwo, Mew, Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Lugia, Ho-oh,
Celebi, Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Latias, Latios, Kyogre, Groudon,
Rayquaza, Jirachi, and Deoxys.

They can't be cloned or bred either. Neither can you create a new Pokmon.
386 aren't enough for you? Tough.

Your Pokmon's moves must be sensible. You don't have to restrict yourself
to four moves if you don't want to, but don't go overboard. And remember,
nobody in the games or the show need a Blastoise with Flamethrower, and
neither do you.

About the TMs, again, use common sense. The FE is about stories, not
building a killer team. For simplicity, in the FE the Kanto TMs are called
KTMs, the Johto TMs are called JTMs, and the Hoenn TMs are called HTMs.


And AGAIN, common sense for breeding. If you want to do live breeding, or
breed things not breedable in the game, feel free to, okay? We're not the
thought police, forcing you to conform to the breeding rules set down for
play balance in G/S/C, but try to make sense.

RULE FOUR - You can't be omnipotent.

We know that there are psychics in the Pokmon universe, so if you want, you
can give your character a special power, but be sensible. Nobody likes a
character that can destroy the world in two seconds flat, and overly
powerful characters can ruin good stories.

Sabrina is THE most powerful Psychic. If she can't do something, then
neither can you. Neither can you exceed the power of any Pokmon in the
game. That's what the Pokmon are there for - they have special abilities,
so you shouldn't need them.


As for weapons and technology - anything that exceeds the realms of the real
Pokmon world should not be allowed, ever. I mean it - no lightsabers.

But omnipotence and twinkism isn't limited to cool powers, magic, technology
and weapons. Writing yourself undefeatable, driving things always to your
direction, and basically ruining everyone's good time is just as bad, and
you will get warnings for this. Don't go about catching a zillion rare
Pokemon, getting all the badges in a week, etc. If you just try and do
everything in short spans of time, you ruin the fun of writing to begin
with.

RULE FIVE - Interact sensibly.

Interaction is the blood of the FE. Find a group of people to interact
with. If someone interacts with you, you must interact back. Read some
stories to get an idea of how it works.

You CANNOT make big decisions for other people's characters. You can't kill
them, you can't force them to join a team, you can't give them new Pokmon
or take old ones away unless you have the author's EXPRESS permission.
Also, you can't create a backstory for them - if it's not in the WG, then
you can't create it.

You cannot destroy a city, or important landmarks, or anything that's not
yours, except with permission of the owner for WGed areas. NEVER will we
see the Pokmon Centres or important cities in flames, etc. You could blast
your own stuff with impunity, of course, but why you'd do that is beyond
me...

RULE SIX - Avoid excessive mature content.

You can swear a bit if you like, but you'll be warned if you go overboard.
Think of the FE as carrying a PG rating. You can have violence, but nothing
to gory, bloody or erotic.

***

4 - Banning, the punishment of crime.

This is the gritty part of the FE, and should be carefully read. Sometimes,
people break rules, and sometimes it's not on purpose. This is what happens.

1. You will be warned about the rules you're breaking. Anyone in the FE 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 FE.

Unless the poll happens, there will be no banning.

***

5 - So what should I do?

Final guidelines, then.

RULE SEVEN - Write stories.

Stands to reason, I know, but remember - stories require narrative as well
as dialogue, so don't write in script form. Also, write in the third
person - i.e. "Harry walked out" instead of "I walked out" - since others
may be continuing the story later.

If you want some advice on how to write well in the FE, you can check
Professor Rob's Tutorial at http://pokewars.pipian.com/tutorial.html (Who's computer is this?) - it
was written for the PokWars!, another interactive fafiction, but it's still
relevant.

RULE EIGHT - Spellcheck.

Use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation wherever possible. Don't do
this: "u r all boreing nto kwel liek me!!!!!111". This is stupid, and you
will be treated as if your IQ is that of a goat (no offense to any goats out
there).


Also, don't use too much formatting when writing. Use plain text if you
can - don't use different fonts or colours, marquees or anything like that,
since it makes the stories too hard to read. If you want include pictures,
do so in an NS thread rather than posting it as part of the story.

Finally, bear in mind that the rules of PKMN.NET still apply. We'll give
you a break if you deserve it, but don't think that you can get away with
racism or something just because it's a story.


The rules can be found at http://www.pkmn.co.uk/rules (Who's computer is this?)

***

6 - What do the moderators do?

They simply carry out the decisions of the entire group. They won't edit or
delete any posts or ban any writers unless the majority of participants have
agreed on doing so. Everyone has an equal say in the FE, so think of the
moderators as your servants.

***

7 - Credits

The Fanfiction Experiment is based on the PokWars!, developed by Dreadite
and Regulus, and its website can be found at http://pokewars.pipian.com. (Who's computer is this?)

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Feel free to ignore it, but the offer's there.

--
Steffan Alun

http://iceduck.pkmn.co.uk/ (Who's computer is this?) - my site
http://www.pkmn.co.uk/ (Who's computer is this?) - want Pokeyman?

Sapphire PokDex: 371