A special Thanks to Charmy, the original writer of this essay, for letting me post this on my page to help out all the new people who wander in.

Ah yes, the distinguished newbie, confused by the aspect of a "text" RPG. You see, back before the times of video game techonology, breathtaking 3D graphics and toe-tapping music, there lived a time when people WROTE their adventures (yes I know this is incredible) and did their OWN Role-playing, unhindered by rules of a game, experience points and such. This was even before the time of Pen & Paper RPGs with 500 page thick rulebooks stuffed with information on how to play the game. You see, a forum RPG has few rules. You create your character, who can be anybody, a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker, (Although that would be awfully dull in the world of Pokémon). You have few set "rules". You don't have a selection of Pokémon you "choose" from. You don't have your Pokémon level up in such a sense, and gain 24 "experience points" from fighting a Rattatta. This is not a video game environment. The Pokémon you have, become CHARACTERS in themselves. They aren't these mindless automitons who follow your commands like robots and have 10 strength, 20 agility, and other boring statistical information. They have personalities! The example of a poor roleplayer is as such:

Wild Pidgey encountered.
"Go Squirtle" I said.
Squirtle appeared.
"Squirtle water gun."
Pidgey got hurt. (10 damage)
Pidgey used gust.
"Oh no Squirtle." (10 damage)
"Squirtle use tackle."
Pidgey got weakened to red life.
Yay, go Pokéball!
Pidgey goes inside and 1-2-3. Yay I caught Pidgey.
Squirtle gained 25 experience points.
Squirtle leveled up to level 6.
I goto Cerulean city.

Etc, this is the most boring, pathetic role-player in the world :P This same scenario, role-played reasonably well could be done as such:

Our hero, Ken Masters (Hehe, street fighter :), was travelling on the worn dirt-path to Cerulean city. He was responding to an urgent telegram to arrive there at once for some "work". Being a mercenary, he gladly accepted the opportunity. (See? He is not a stereotypical trainer) His comical Squirtle was besides him, obviously quite tired from the walk. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye Ken spotted a small bird. It was a Pidgey. Ken wanted to catch one for his sister, so without disturbing the Pidgey he crept up and whispered "Squirtle, Water Gun!" "Squirtle!!", Squirtle yelled, firing a powerful blast of water which knocked Pidgey into a nearby tree.
The Pidgey yelled in surprise, and quickly faced its assailant. With hate in its eyes it dived towards Squirtle and flapped its wings at a tremendous rate creating a small tornado. Ken covered his eyes as blinding sand swept into the air. "Squirtle look out!", he yelled.
"Squirtle!!", the Pokémon cried out as he was blown back by the powerful winds and crashed to the ground. "Squirtle, counterattack with tackle!", Jeneba commanded. "Squirt Squirtle!", Squirtle nodded and dived into Pidgey, sending it flying into a nearby rock, and knocking it out cold. "Great work Squirtle, go Pokéball!", Ken yelled as he chucked a fresh Pokéball which hit Pidgey and enveloped him. Ken watched nervously as the Pokéball twitched, once, then twice. Then it started to shake violently. Ken's eyes widened, but then finally it lay still. Ken picked up the Pokéball.
"Alright! We got a Pidgey!", Ken said happily, attaching Squirtle to his belt.
"Squirtle squirt!", Squirtle gave Ken a peace sign. (V) Suddenly there was a crash of thunder in the sky. "What the..?", Ken's voice was swallowed by another loud crash of thunder, followed by torrents of rain. "Oh great! Squirtle hop on!"
Squirtle jumped onto Ken's back.
"Lets go!"
Ken ran as quickly as he could towards Cerulean city. Suddenly he stepped on a mud puddle and slipped, soaking his clothing. "Oh great, this is going to be one of those days..", Ken sighed.
"Squirtle.. squirt..", Squirtle mumbled, crawling out of the mud. "Sorry bout that Squirtle..", Ken sighed.

See how that battle was made alot more interesting? And thats just the start of the stuff you can do. You may notice that there was no experience points, no tallying of how much life a Pokémon has left. A simple way of thinking of the RPG is like you are writing a story. In the Anime, how do you know when Caterpie was going to evolve? You didn't. How did you know that Pikachu fainted when it did? How did you know that Bulbasaur gained Solar Beam? You didn't. There is no "exact" points or anything. And yes, there is no graphical interface! This is a role-playing game.

For the more experienced Roleplayer there is an interesting type of character you can play on the world of Pokémon. And that is to have your character be a Pokémon. These characters are relatively difficult to use. The reason for this is that they are animals in many ways. They have to have their words translated by a Pokédex and they don't have lives which are nearly as complicated as that of a human being, which makes conflicts difficult to create. A Pokémon doesn't have to worry about romances, deadlines, laws, drugs, money, jobs, and whatever else plagues the human race. However a character like this can be rewarding. You can give players a new perspective on the world around them, and eventually you can bond with a trainer. This creates a very special kind of relationship which can be very enjoyable for both the Pokémon and the trainer. Remember, in an forum RPG, YOUR imagination is the limit, not the programmer's. *winks*

Oh yes, and one final, closing note. Before you go out there, you must know the evil ways of the RPG "twink". These are vile, pitiful creatures who spoil the game for other people by making their character super strong, perfect people (or Pokémon) who can never be defeated and have infinite powers. An example of this is:
Mitsurugi Kanarenzu entered the warehouse with a determined look in his eye. Suddenly 50 team rocket agents leapt from their hiding places and attacked Mitsurugi with their thousands of Pokéballs. Mitsurugi called out his Mewtwo, Mew, Dragonite, Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur to battle them.
After dispatching the thousands of Pokémon with perfect ease Mitsurugi walked up to the rocket members and beat them all up with a series of martial arts moves unequaled by a thousand black belts.The rockets lay defeated and Mitsurugi returned his Pokemon to their Pokéballs while flashing a pearly white grin at the cute girl watching him. The girl rushed towards him in awe and Mitsurugi gladly took her to his home, where his 82 wives and 30 story mansion awaited him.

Yes, extreme exaggeration, but these kind of people can be a real pain. Please don't become one of them!
In this particular RPG, there are a few rules you must pay attention to. They are outlined on the webpage and you must follow them to the letter. To refresh your memory, you can choose between Bulbasaur, Charmander, Pikachu, and Squirtle as your starter Pokemon and you may get one from Nurse Joy in any of the major cities. Initially stick to catching weak Pokemon. For those who are Pokemon and require trainers, please target people who don't have many player Pokemon already. Also don't just "request" to have a trainer, you should create an interesting storyline for a trainer to get involved in! This ins't hard to do! An example is with me(Charmy) and JC. That leads to the final part of this essay, I suggest you all read the initial story for background on the main characters so far. This is very helpful most of the time.

Now get out there and roleplay!