Thread: Learning new moves via roleplaying

In the anime, it often comes that a Pokémon learns a new move in a moment of requirement.
Maybe the Park could also offer new moves for Pokémon? Perhaps at a lower cost, or just the option to apply EMs to Pokémon active in the Park for use there. Both with the good roleplayingness for it to happen, and perhaps also only one per run or per Pokémon per run. Mhm mhm!

Do you like it? :D

I feel I might like this idea if it is better developed. No one has ever been allowed to write directly for moves, so there's no precedent set for roleplaying for moves. I think that any move earned would have to be more expensive than buying it, for example a 5k TM would probably need to be earned through at least 8k characters, and we probably wouldn't allow those 8k to be used toward the Pokemon Capture Count. Furthermore, how exactly does this fit in with the Park's canon - Trainers come with their team to capture rare Pokemon that aren't commonly found elsewhere, they don't exactly come here to train.

Even if this did come in as a thing, how would you work it out? Does the Trainer state in an OOC what they're trying to learn? How does a Ranger judge whether or not the training is going well? Where is the character count going to come from when there is at most one NBP between encounters?

I am intrigued by this idea but it needs more thought and development.

If you just want to roleplay the learning of a move, why not tell the Ranger in OOC that you paid for a TM/BM/etc or whatever, and that you intend to learn it during the battle?
[MENTION=33962]ChainReaction01[/MENTION]; would this actually be possible? Roleplay the learning of a pre-purchased move.

Originally Posted by Monbrey

If you just want to roleplay the learning of a move, why not tell the Ranger in OOC that you paid for a TM/BM/etc or whatever, and that you intend to learn it during the battle?
[MENTION=33962]ChainReaction01[/MENTION]; would this actually be possible? Roleplay the learning of a pre-purchased move.

Monbrey, you of all people should know that pretty much anything is possible to roleplay. If your Pokemon is specced with the TM Flamethrower, you can roleplay that your Pokemon is just trying to master it or that they're learning it from one of the other Pokemon on your team or whatever. That's not what the idea is here, though: the idea is that one can obtain new EMs through roleplay in the Park.

Like I said I'm interested in seeing a proper write-up, but in all honesty I see it getting shot down pretty quickly.

There's potential to this. It seems like a lot of effort just to get one move, so I would not like to see any money cost to the Trainer. Roleplaying for a pre-purchased move doesn't really make any sense to me, but I could understand why people would be interested in roleplaying for a move. I wouldn't have it as more than like 3-4k characters for a move, though. Park runs are already long as hell, and we also shouldn't have a move require more characters than a Pokemon.

I was mostly thinking of purchased moves being made accessible during a run via roleplaying, like half or less of the moneys in characters and a plausible reason, and probably just one per run (or one per pokémon per run) to avoid silly situations where a Pokémon learns several new moves in a few in-character minutes.

For learning totally new moves, it's not so much about them training a new move as finding a new use for powers in a tricky situation, like a Pokémon losing a battle and paying in characters to gain a new move to overcome it, or for an example, a Pikachu learning Volt Tackle to overcome an opponent that deflects lightning bolts and is beating it. Maybe only certain types of EMs like BMs or MTs. Cost could be up to equal to the cost of getting the move from mart, but with the bonus of getting it in a more fun way! :D Or probably a little less to provide some incentive to RP it over just buying it. :3

My vote is no. Even if it gets discussed and a proper write up, still no.

I feel like this would be similar to Befriending, i.e. something cool roleplay-wise that gets written up with some very nice guidelines and rules to state how and when it would occur and what would be allowed and etc, and then because this is detrimental to the very idea of roleplaying it would barely ever happen.

My final word here is that I am willing to see a proper write up and if I like it, I'll put it to the Staff for proper approval. If you want help with making a proper write up, PM or VM me and we can collaborate. Honestly, though, I don't like the chances of this, mainly because anything that threatens the way battling works will get immediately shot down.

/leaves thread

All hail battling.

Originally Posted by Monbrey

All hail battling.

Congratulations on the new ranger!

No, I honestly don't think it would work. It's not like a wild TM would come scurrying out of the bushes at you or something.

Originally Posted by Master Simm

Congratulations on the new ranger!

No, I honestly don't think it would work. It's not like a wild TM would come scurrying out of the bushes at you or something.

I don't know who this guy or girl is, but get him or her a medal.

It sounds like it'd be turned down for now anyway, so I'll play for a while longer and see if I can think of a good way it might be implemented and make a proper writeup at that time. :D

Thanks for discussing it with me, guys. ^_^

I don't think it's a bad idea. I envision it requiring an amount of characters equal to roughly the price of the TM. Furthermore, if learning a new move is your current goal in the RP, the characters you type should not count for both the TM and Pokemon. However, one problem I see is how the the 'story' of the NP relates to your Pokemon learning a new move. You're led by a ranger to find Pokemon. It may be strange for you to go near a body of water to try to get your Pokemon to master Water Pulse when you're supposed to be looking for Vulpix in the forest.

The insight that a TM is unable to pop out of a bush is not worth a medal at all (maybe a ribbon, though). In the Pokemon anime, TMs do not exist. Instead, Pokemon learn special moves through studying and practice, usually from other Pokemon. One example is Ash's Pikachu, who learns Iron Tail over a few episodes. In the NP, I guess instead of taking an aside to a pond, your Pokemon could attempt to learn a move from a wild Pokemon using it. You could tell your Pokemon to concentrate and observe closely, do certain kinesthetic movements, and go through trial and error when attempting to recreate the move on the wild Pokemon. There's probably several other creative methods that a skilled RPer could try, like using the environment or using a move you already know as a tool to learn the move. The ranger may have to have the wild Pokemon use the move more than once if it's understood that move is trying to be learned. Also, I guess you couldn't guarantee witnessing a certain move. If you really want to RP your Pikachu learning Iron Tail, but you don't run into any wild Pokemon that can know Iron Tail, or the ranger chooses for none of them to use Iron Tail, you can't learn it. It would be a reactionary thing, rather than something you set out to do.

Also, to many people, it might not be worth it to write that much for a TM, since you can just buy it. However, I think it's a neat alternative, and it can appeal to the same kind of people that write stories for Pokemon you can just buy in the Pokemart.

Originally Posted by Pidge

I don't think it's a bad idea. I envision it requiring an amount of characters equal to roughly the price of the TM. Furthermore, if learning a new move is your current goal in the RP, the characters you type should not count for both the TM and Pokemon. However, one problem I see is how the the 'story' of the NP relates to your Pokemon learning a new move. You're led by a ranger to find Pokemon. It may be strange for you to go near a body of water to try to get your Pokemon to master Water Pulse when you're supposed to be looking for Vulpix in the forest.

The insight that a TM is unable to pop out of a bush is not worth a medal at all (maybe a ribbon, though). In the Pokemon anime, TMs do not exist. Instead, Pokemon learn special moves through studying and practice, usually from other Pokemon. One example is Ash's Pikachu, who learns Iron Tail over a few episodes. In the NP, I guess instead of taking an aside to a pond, your Pokemon could attempt to learn a move from a wild Pokemon using it. You could tell your Pokemon to concentrate and observe closely, do certain kinesthetic movements, and go through trial and error when attempting to recreate the move on the wild Pokemon. There's probably several other creative methods that a skilled RPer could try, like using the environment or using a move you already know as a tool to learn the move. The ranger may have to have the wild Pokemon use the move more than once if it's understood that move is trying to be learned. Also, I guess you couldn't guarantee witnessing a certain move. If you really want to RP your Pikachu learning Iron Tail, but you don't run into any wild Pokemon that can know Iron Tail, or the ranger chooses for none of them to use Iron Tail, you can't learn it. It would be a reactionary thing, rather than something you set out to do.

Also, to many people, it might not be worth it to write that much for a TM, since you can just buy it. However, I think it's a neat alternative, and it can appeal to the same kind of people that write stories for Pokemon you can just buy in the Pokemart.

Agree 100%