What are flash characters?

Flash characters provide a new way to roleplay in the Kutho region. In the main RP, you are obligated to begin at the bottom rung of the trainer ladder, grabbing your starter from Professor Willow and slowly building your team up to something impressive through a continuous RP narrative.

With flash characters, you can be anyone that you choose in the region of Kutho, from the lowliest of trainers to the most elite of Rocket operatives. Rather than beginning at the beginning and working towards some end, you can jump into your character's story at any time that you please--whether that's when they're a newbie just going after a wild charmander they've found or well into their narrative when their charmeleon evolves at last. Rather than being a persona you're dedicated to building up over the long term, a flash character could be someone you intend on using only for a single thread or to play through the occasional scenario if you're bored with your main journey.

What kind of flash character(s) can I create?

Flash characters can be anyone in the Kutho region. They could be an ordinary trainer, a member of professor Willow's research staff, the owner of a restaurant in Mura City, or any other member of Kuthonian society. You may also RP as one of Kutho's NPC's, such as Ricky, the Mura City gym leader. However, in order to do so, you must obtain the permission of the NPC's creator--typically, you will need to show competence in RPing in Kutho before you can reasonably expect other people to let you use their characters.

There are only a few restrictions on the kinds of characters you can use for this kind of RPing: first, pokémorphs and relatives of Pokémon-canon characters are still disallowed. You cannot play as a pokémon, either. Also, particularly outlandish characters (those zapped in from other canons, those with exceptional professions or backstories, and so on) will be scrutinized very carefully and not likely accepted.

How is RPing with flash characters different than RPing in the rest of Kutho?

In the main RPG, your character moves sequentially around the region, guided by you and your moderator. Kutho RP's have continuity; you can't jump around in the narrative or around the region as you wish. Your main Kutho character is one that you are expected to stick with.

Flash characters, on the other hand, aren't used to build a long, continuous narrative. Rather, you pick a character, decide on a scene or scenario that you want to play through, and can choose to abandon them at any time. For example, if you decide one day that you want to try out playing a ninja character in the heart of Mossy Forest, you can create a ninja character and RP that character terrorizing some poor trainers wandering through on their way to Deathgorge. As soon as the trainers move on or the scene is otherwise resolved, your RP is done. If you decide the ninja isn't for you, you can drop their story and pick up a different one without penalty.

Overall, flash characters have their story played out through a series of short scenes, not necessarily in conjunction with a moderator, and their story can be told in any order, beginning at any point--or perhaps you only want to run one scenario with a character and never use them again. Flash characters give you a chance to "try out" different kinds of characters, some very different than the ones that would make sense in the main RP, or tell an extended story about a character by only focusing on bits of their narrative that you think would be fun to play without having to do all the training and connective story work necessary in the main RP.

However, if you would like to play with your "canon" Kutho character, the one you use for the main RP, you can do so as well. You are still required to post a signup for approval, though if you want you can just copy and paste information from your main application. Alternatively, you can change your initial application to reflect what your character's gone through in the RP so far or to add more pokémon, if you plan to play a scenario in your character's future. Other than that, your flash RP works the same as if you were using a new character entirely. However, unlike other flash RP's, those involving Kutho PC's cannot be accepted into canon.

What kinds of flash RPing are there?

There are three styles of flash RPing: solo, group, or moderated.

Solo RPing is freeform RPing--that is, you're writing out the story of your character all by yourself. Every post in your thread should be made by you, representing one "chatper" or "scene" in the story that you are trying to tell with the RP.

Group RPing is the style that you may know from the single-thread RP's hosted by some large message boards. In this play style, two or more players create characters then work together to play out a scenario. This is unlike moderated roleplay in that no single player is the "game master," although one may take more responsibility for moving the plot forward than the others. Instead, any player is able to introduce new plot points or characters and determine the results of others' actions.

Moderated RPing is the same style used elsewhere on Kutho: all players post what action they want to take, then a moderator provides a post detailing the results of those actions and prompting the players' next move. In this format, the moderator acts as the game master and is not using a player character themselves.

Can I reuse flash RP characters?

Absolutely. If, after you play out a scenario with a character, you decide you want to use them again in another, you can do so without penalty. For example, if your character obtained a rare fossil over the course of the last scenario you played out with them, you might later decide you want to RP their quest to get it revived. Alternatively, you could jump backward in time to play through a bit of your character's backstory. You can use a character as many times as you like, and you can jump backwards and forwards in time as freely as you like from thread to thread.

Is there a limit to the number of flash RP's I can be in at once?

You can be in only one moderated flash RP at a time, but you can have as many solo or group RP's going on on the side as you want.

Can what I do in a flash RP affect the main Kutho storyline?

Yes, potentially. After you finish your flash RP, you may post in the review request thread to ask a moderator to look through your RP and decide whether it is good enough to be considered a part of Kutho canon. The effects that your story has on Kutho as a whole may be small or large--maybe your character erected a statue in Mura City that players in the main RP will now see as they wander in from Plains' End Path, or maybe you have joined the great tradition of wanton destruction and managed to blow up Mura entirely, preventing players in the main RP from visiting. You should be warned, though, that the more drastic the impact of your RP would be on the main storyline, the higher the quality of RP necessary to get it included as canon; obviously, if you want to blow up a city, your RP had better be pretty spectacular!

If you want and your thread is approved, your flash RP character can also become an NPC who may appear before characters in the main Kutho storyline; if this is the case, you grant all moderators the right to use your character as they see fit.

How do I get started?

The first step is to decide on a character and a scenario you want to play out, as well as an RP style. Once you've got that squared away, you can post your signup in the Flash Character Signup thread. Further directions and a sign-up sheet are available in the first post of that thread, but for the most part the process is identical to signing up for the main RP, except that you need to include information on the scenario you will be playing with the character in addition to the usual profile information.

Once your character has been approved, you can either start your thread, if you are doing a solo RP or a group RP where everyone else participating has gotten their characters approved. If you need a moderator for your RP or want some other players to join you for a group RP, post in the "RP Recruitment" thread with a link to your flash character's profile, a brief description of the scenario you want to play through, and an indication of who you want to join you--a moderator and/or other players. Once you've collected all the necessary members for your RP, you can start your thread and be off.

What if I get bored with my RP?

You can drop a flash RP at any time. If you're playing with a moderator, just let them know that you're done, and after doing so, you can sign up for another moderated RP immediately. You should also let other members of a group RP know that you're dropping out; if you're just doing a solo thread, you can let it quietly sink and die, unless you feel like you want to announce that you're done with it.

If you like, you may revive a moderated or solo flash RP later on if you feel like going back to it. You can also re-join or restart a group RP, though obviously all the other members of the group need to be on board for this to happen.

Dropped RP's cannot be considered for canon inclusion.

How do I get my RP added to Kutho's storyline?

Upon completing your RP, post in the "Review Request" thread with a link to your thread and a brief summary of what happened in it. If you would like the character you played in that thread to be released in "main" Kutho as an NPC, you should note that as well. A moderator will review your RP thread and either approve it for inclusion in the canon or give you suggestions for improvement so that you may be able to get later flash RP's included in the main storyline.