the_plateau | Sinnoh trip FAQ

As you’ve all heard from Lance himself, this month, VR is going to Sinnoh!

We realise this is probably a lot to take in at once and you’re all brimming with questions, so we’ve written up a little FAQ for the Sinnoh event to try and address the most common questions. We ask that you read through it, as well as our Eterna City information post here, but if you have any more questions after, please feel free to ask ‘em here.

How will we be getting to Sinnoh?

Everything will be revealed on the 9th, but until then, all your characters will know is that they are requested to report to the Goldenrod City pokecenter on Sunday. For those that desire it, lifts will be arranged, free of charge. If you already are in Goldenrod City or would rather travel yourself, that’s fine too.

Would my character be able to join in later / leave earlier?

Like any group trip, we go together and we leave together! Meaning it will be impossible to join in on the trip later or go home earlier.

Where exactly are we going?

As Lance mentioned, we’ll be heading to the scenic Eterna City for two weeks. And in addition to the city itself, there are also a few nearby routes that have been opened up for characters to explore if they so desire.

It will not be possible to explore beyond these routes. Like in the games, there will be roadblocks, keeping characters from accessing the next routes.

The list of allowed routes and places are:

Eterna City
The Northern segment of Route 205
Eterna Forest (including the old Chateau
The Western segment Route 211
Mt Coronet
The Underground

It will not be possible for characters to leave Eterna Forest to the South and continue onto the rest of route 205

It will also not be possible for characters to leave Mt Coronet onto any of the other routes (Eastern segment of route 211, route 216, route 207, and route 206)

This means that it is theoretically possible for a character to find Spear Pillar, but this would require two weeks of straight up exploring.

In addition to all of this, there will also be field trips to two other Sinnoh locations.

Field Trips?

That’s right. In order to get as much bang for your poke-buck, so to speak, while the majority of the trip will be spent in Eterna City and surrounding areas, there will be two field trips to explore some more distant locations within Sinnoh.

One field trip will be held on Friday the 14th, and the second on Friday the 21st. The exact location won’t be revealed until those dates. ICly, you can assume that characters will find out where they’re going on the morning of the trip, giving them one last chance to tag along or stay behind.

Travel during these trips will be taken care of by the League and won’t cost characters a thing. Any expenses outside of travel (say, buying souvenirs) will mean dipping into your own wallet, though!

Threads of each field trip will go up within the main mod log for the event, and those should include all information you need. (You can also ask questions. We do answer questions still.)

Characters are free to decide whether or not they come along, but keep in mind that they will not be able to join everybody else later or go home earlier. So get up earlier and pack plenty to eat!

Tell me more about The Underground!

It certainly wouldn’t be a Sinnoh trip without the Underground!

We did have to adjust the concept of it slightly. Unlike in the games where you get a kit and can then access the Underground from just about anywhere, in VR, the Underground functions as a network of tunnels with several fixed entry points. Eterna City is one of those points.

This means characters will be able to enter the Underground and dig for fossils. On our Info Page, we have included a list of all possible fossils and items characters can find while digging in the underground. For every full day (from 10am to 6pm) they spend in the Underground, they will be able to take home up to two items. What they find is entirely up to you.

And yes, those sure are some Galar fossils pieces on the list too. No, you will not be able to revive those just yet. But who knows, maybe if you hold onto them...

What if my character tries to leave the allowed routes?

They’ll be caught by a dedicated team of rangers and returned to the city. If it happened on accident because a character happened to get majorly lost, the rangers won’t be too strict with them. If it keeps happening, however, they might find themselves confined to house arrest for the remainder of the trip.

Okay, but what if--

This is a hard limit, so no matter how your character tries, they will not be able to leave the allowed routes.

Can we challenge the gym while we are there?

Yes and no.

You can absolutely challenge the gym. However, because characters are not officially Sinnoh trainers, they will not be able to earn an actual badge. Instead, Gardenia has set aside a little special reward for anyone willing to challenge her.

Gym challenges can be submitted here.

Also, while this all is going on, regular badge challenges are on temporary hold. We will do one final check/accept on August 5th, but after that, we’ll only be checking the Gardenia challenges for the duration of the event. Normal badges will resume after the 23rd, but bluntly speaking, mods wanna have fun too!

Also, it’s not like you can challenge any Kanto or Johto gyms while you’re in Sinnoh anyway.

What about apping new characters?

Our apps will remain open!

Anyone who apps in as a Trainer or Breeder has the option of either having their character awaken in a small, strange room in the Eterna City pokecenter or waiting to intro their character until everyone returns!

Rockets will have the choice of either waiting to intro or else showing up in Sinnoh with one Pokemon (whichever one is level 5) only to get kidnapped by Team Rocket upon returning, at which point they will receive their second Pokemon and undergo their basic training. Alternatively, they can arrive in Goldenrod and undergo training as usual, but that period will be handwaved so that they’re ready to play as soon as everyone gets back!

This event really isn’t my style…

You don’t have to participate! Characters are free to remain back in Johto and Kanto.

During this event, the network will be accessible for characters both in Johto and Kanto as well as Sinnoh. So you’ll still be able to talk to each other even if you are literally regions away.

We hope we have been able to answer all of you guys’ most common questions, but we are sure there are more uncommon questions just waiting to be typed out. We’ll put up a thread in this post specifically for answering questions, while we hope you will use the rest of this post to start plotting up some Sinnoh fun.

Oh, and for this event, we’ve created the tag !Sinnohtrip. We’ll be tagging all of our stuff with that, but we also invite you to use it for any posts set during this time so they can easily be found in the future.