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If you are wondering what an RPG is, well it is a game. RPG stands for Role Play Game. Some are done
live online, but in this case we are doing it by e-mail, also known as PBeM which stands for Play By e-Mail.
Each persons e-mail is called a post. When you send it to the rest of the group you are therefore posting a
response by your character and participating in the ongoing storyline for the current mission that is happening
at the time. All such posts for a particular ship/base are sent to a message center ie...onelist/egroups for
management and archiving, then the post will be sent on to all other members of the crew. USS Pioneer
members use novel form, similar to that which is used when writing a book.
Your character is playing the part of a crew member, something like playing the part in a play or television
series that is ongoing. You write scripts for the scenes involving your character. The only character you make
major changes to without permission is your own. You are encouraged to contact other crew members to
work out common plot threads or even create joint posts with them. NEVER do you kill off other members
of the crew, or injure them without their written permission to do so.
How to get started:
To begin and end your posts:
Here is how you indicate that you are ready to begin your post:
ON:
Here is how you indicate that you are ending your post:
OFF:
Here is how you indicate where your location is during the post:
ON: <Sickbay>
(or)
ON: <Planetside>
Sometimes during a post you change locations, here's how you show it:
<15 min's later at the CO's Ready Room>
(or)
<later that day in my quarters>
Most often all posts will appear to occur in chronological order - each post following immediately after the
previous one. But, if you wish your post to take place at a different time or at the same time - you need to
indicate when your scene is happening at the top of the post also. So if the previous post to yours happened
earlier than you wish yours to, you can simply move ahead like this:
To show Location and Time:
<On the Bridge - Six hours later>
The next person to post after you may wish it to be morning again, however they will have to be
remembering what happened like this:
<Mess Hall - Earlier that day>
NOTE: You may not change how the storyline is proceeding by posting your scenes as happening prior to
other scenes and therefore changing the entire storyline....that is a BIG - NONO!
If you are telling about something that you remembered from a long time ago, or day dreaming about
something you hope may happen soon, you can write inside brackets:
(It was hard for me to believe that just a year ago I arrived onboard this ship. My younger brother had just
nearly died and I had left his bedside to assume my station here).
At the end of a post, you MUST always sign off to let others know who wrote the post, and to separate
posts so that they don't get thrown all together! Here's a couple of examples:
=/\= Commander Jessica Morelli=/\=
CO, Starbase 47
(or)
~*~Ensign Dweeb~*~
Transporter Operator
Starbase 47
At some point in your posting career you will wish to use the ships communications to contact another
crewman. Below are two different ways you can indicate this:
+Tap+
or
=/\=
For an example:
Morelli: +TAP+ Kolcheck to Main Engineering...
(or)
Kolcheck: =/\= How are things in Sickbay?
To end your communication you do this:
Morelli: =/\=Thank you Commander Steed<comm off>
IMPORTANT POINT: UNLESS YOU ARE THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE SHIP/BASE
YOU ARE SERVING ON, YOU MAY NOT BEGIN OR END MISSIONS WITHOUT PERMISSION
OR SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS TO DO SO FROM YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER. The CO may
have something specific planned for a mission or others involved in the mission. If you would like to suggest a
major plot development contact your Commanding Officer first via one-on-one e-mail, DO NOT suggest it
during your post. Most CO's encourage suggestions from their crews, especially possible new mission plans.
Sub-plots may be introduced without permission as long as they do not interfere with the current mission as it
unfolds. In other words you may certainly add to the story, but you may not detract from or adversely affect
the overall mission plan.
.
The guidelines:
This section will attempt to give you some guidelines as to what you can and cannot do when you post.
1. Please HAVE FUN with your writing!
2. Stick to your characters BIO information, but don't let that stop you from developing your character
further.
3. Try to be creative so that others will enjoy reading what you write.
4. Try to write like your character is a real person. He/She will have emotions, and make mistakes - NO-
ONE CAN BE PERFECT. Try to get into your character and imagine how your character would react in
certain situations, then write it out.
In RPG's, you have to make your character act REAL. Think of your character as a real person who lives in
that reality instead of our own. I know this may not be easy but it is the way to write realistic posts. Also, try
to get involved in the missions - a good way to do this is to, in the form of a post, suggest ideas for possible
solutions to the problems faced by the ship. You may for instance suggest that an away team should go
down to the planet and investigate - this could lead to you being noticed and assigned to the away team.
Adding suggestions is a good way to get your character quickly involved in the storyline.
Another way to add interest to your posts is to add a recurring theme. This could come in the form of your
character's Holonovel ( like Picard has Dixon Hill ), this program could occur in many posts and provide
your crew members with some interesting reading as well as giving your character something to do!
CAUTION: You would NOT send you character off to enjoy a Holonovel if your character had other duties
to perform, or you were in the midst of a battle. Character development is always encouraged, but use
common sense and keep you character involved in the current storyline as well.
WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN YOU POST:
Don't be a "ONE POST WONDER" - this means that in a single post your character solves the entire
mission and gets everything back to normal. This is also called "SUPERHERO SYNDROME", no-one
should be a god and try to control or hog the entire scene. Your character is a member of a crew, a crew
that also wants to enjoy the pleasure of adding something to the whole, try to be courteous and allow others
to have fun too.
Also, do not create ridiculous aids that allow you to capture 5,000 Jem'Hadar or blow up an enemy planet,
or personal armor/equipment/weapons that have NEVER been known to exist in the world of Startrek to
date.
Another caution I am adding here is to all those who's characters have psychic ability. Please use good
common sense when posting your characters abilities. We want a GOOD story, not a GODLIKE story.
When your character crosses the boundary of good to godlike, it takes away from everyone else's
characters...causes confusion, and often times bad feelings among the crew.
There is PLENTY of great equipment/armor/weapons already in existence for Trek lovers to use, you don't
have to be a SUPERHERO to be an excellent player. Naturally new things may be dreamed up along the
way, BUT - you must get Obsidian Fleet R&D permission to introduce something NON-TREK into the
game. If you DO post a SUPERHERO act, it WILL be cut from the record.
An example of a "ONE POST WONDER" would be:
You are with an away team who have been captured by the Jem'Hadar and are being held captive in a
holding cell. You then remember an old trick you learned during time spent in the Himalayas - you begin by
levitating a monkey wrench you saw nearby. Your mental prowess allows you to use telekinesis to bring the
monkey wrench into contact with a live circuit wire, and short out the force-field. After this you fight your
way out of the building by using your special Mach IV extra chemically enhanced perfume that you bought
just a week before from Quark while visiting DS9. You just spray a little toward the Jem'Hadar who fall
down unconscious and you get away unscathed. This is ridiculous, and also VERY boring for the rest of the
crew to read. To be a good poster you need to develop a writing style for your character which invites
others to participate along with you.
NOTE: If you are playing the part of an NPC (Non-Playing Character) in your post this is how you would
sign off:
Lt. Maximus
Engineer
USS Pioneer
and
Lt. Coolio(NPC)
Maid
USS Pioneer
Well, that is all you need to know in order to begin playing...so...what are you waiting for....JOIN US
TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!....[:O)P
live online, but in this case we are doing it by e-mail, also known as PBeM which stands for Play By e-Mail.
Each persons e-mail is called a post. When you send it to the rest of the group you are therefore posting a
response by your character and participating in the ongoing storyline for the current mission that is happening
at the time. All such posts for a particular ship/base are sent to a message center ie...onelist/egroups for
management and archiving, then the post will be sent on to all other members of the crew. USS Pioneer
members use novel form, similar to that which is used when writing a book.
Your character is playing the part of a crew member, something like playing the part in a play or television
series that is ongoing. You write scripts for the scenes involving your character. The only character you make
major changes to without permission is your own. You are encouraged to contact other crew members to
work out common plot threads or even create joint posts with them. NEVER do you kill off other members
of the crew, or injure them without their written permission to do so.
How to get started:
To begin and end your posts:
Here is how you indicate that you are ready to begin your post:
ON:
Here is how you indicate that you are ending your post:
OFF:
Here is how you indicate where your location is during the post:
ON: <Sickbay>
(or)
ON: <Planetside>
Sometimes during a post you change locations, here's how you show it:
<15 min's later at the CO's Ready Room>
(or)
<later that day in my quarters>
Most often all posts will appear to occur in chronological order - each post following immediately after the
previous one. But, if you wish your post to take place at a different time or at the same time - you need to
indicate when your scene is happening at the top of the post also. So if the previous post to yours happened
earlier than you wish yours to, you can simply move ahead like this:
To show Location and Time:
<On the Bridge - Six hours later>
The next person to post after you may wish it to be morning again, however they will have to be
remembering what happened like this:
<Mess Hall - Earlier that day>
NOTE: You may not change how the storyline is proceeding by posting your scenes as happening prior to
other scenes and therefore changing the entire storyline....that is a BIG - NONO!
If you are telling about something that you remembered from a long time ago, or day dreaming about
something you hope may happen soon, you can write inside brackets:
(It was hard for me to believe that just a year ago I arrived onboard this ship. My younger brother had just
nearly died and I had left his bedside to assume my station here).
At the end of a post, you MUST always sign off to let others know who wrote the post, and to separate
posts so that they don't get thrown all together! Here's a couple of examples:
=/\= Commander Jessica Morelli=/\=
CO, Starbase 47
(or)
~*~Ensign Dweeb~*~
Transporter Operator
Starbase 47
At some point in your posting career you will wish to use the ships communications to contact another
crewman. Below are two different ways you can indicate this:
+Tap+
or
=/\=
For an example:
Morelli: +TAP+ Kolcheck to Main Engineering...
(or)
Kolcheck: =/\= How are things in Sickbay?
To end your communication you do this:
Morelli: =/\=Thank you Commander Steed<comm off>
IMPORTANT POINT: UNLESS YOU ARE THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE SHIP/BASE
YOU ARE SERVING ON, YOU MAY NOT BEGIN OR END MISSIONS WITHOUT PERMISSION
OR SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS TO DO SO FROM YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER. The CO may
have something specific planned for a mission or others involved in the mission. If you would like to suggest a
major plot development contact your Commanding Officer first via one-on-one e-mail, DO NOT suggest it
during your post. Most CO's encourage suggestions from their crews, especially possible new mission plans.
Sub-plots may be introduced without permission as long as they do not interfere with the current mission as it
unfolds. In other words you may certainly add to the story, but you may not detract from or adversely affect
the overall mission plan.
.
The guidelines:
This section will attempt to give you some guidelines as to what you can and cannot do when you post.
1. Please HAVE FUN with your writing!
2. Stick to your characters BIO information, but don't let that stop you from developing your character
further.
3. Try to be creative so that others will enjoy reading what you write.
4. Try to write like your character is a real person. He/She will have emotions, and make mistakes - NO-
ONE CAN BE PERFECT. Try to get into your character and imagine how your character would react in
certain situations, then write it out.
In RPG's, you have to make your character act REAL. Think of your character as a real person who lives in
that reality instead of our own. I know this may not be easy but it is the way to write realistic posts. Also, try
to get involved in the missions - a good way to do this is to, in the form of a post, suggest ideas for possible
solutions to the problems faced by the ship. You may for instance suggest that an away team should go
down to the planet and investigate - this could lead to you being noticed and assigned to the away team.
Adding suggestions is a good way to get your character quickly involved in the storyline.
Another way to add interest to your posts is to add a recurring theme. This could come in the form of your
character's Holonovel ( like Picard has Dixon Hill ), this program could occur in many posts and provide
your crew members with some interesting reading as well as giving your character something to do!
CAUTION: You would NOT send you character off to enjoy a Holonovel if your character had other duties
to perform, or you were in the midst of a battle. Character development is always encouraged, but use
common sense and keep you character involved in the current storyline as well.
WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN YOU POST:
Don't be a "ONE POST WONDER" - this means that in a single post your character solves the entire
mission and gets everything back to normal. This is also called "SUPERHERO SYNDROME", no-one
should be a god and try to control or hog the entire scene. Your character is a member of a crew, a crew
that also wants to enjoy the pleasure of adding something to the whole, try to be courteous and allow others
to have fun too.
Also, do not create ridiculous aids that allow you to capture 5,000 Jem'Hadar or blow up an enemy planet,
or personal armor/equipment/weapons that have NEVER been known to exist in the world of Startrek to
date.
Another caution I am adding here is to all those who's characters have psychic ability. Please use good
common sense when posting your characters abilities. We want a GOOD story, not a GODLIKE story.
When your character crosses the boundary of good to godlike, it takes away from everyone else's
characters...causes confusion, and often times bad feelings among the crew.
There is PLENTY of great equipment/armor/weapons already in existence for Trek lovers to use, you don't
have to be a SUPERHERO to be an excellent player. Naturally new things may be dreamed up along the
way, BUT - you must get Obsidian Fleet R&D permission to introduce something NON-TREK into the
game. If you DO post a SUPERHERO act, it WILL be cut from the record.
An example of a "ONE POST WONDER" would be:
You are with an away team who have been captured by the Jem'Hadar and are being held captive in a
holding cell. You then remember an old trick you learned during time spent in the Himalayas - you begin by
levitating a monkey wrench you saw nearby. Your mental prowess allows you to use telekinesis to bring the
monkey wrench into contact with a live circuit wire, and short out the force-field. After this you fight your
way out of the building by using your special Mach IV extra chemically enhanced perfume that you bought
just a week before from Quark while visiting DS9. You just spray a little toward the Jem'Hadar who fall
down unconscious and you get away unscathed. This is ridiculous, and also VERY boring for the rest of the
crew to read. To be a good poster you need to develop a writing style for your character which invites
others to participate along with you.
NOTE: If you are playing the part of an NPC (Non-Playing Character) in your post this is how you would
sign off:
Lt. Maximus
Engineer
USS Pioneer
and
Lt. Coolio(NPC)
Maid
USS Pioneer
Well, that is all you need to know in order to begin playing...so...what are you waiting for....JOIN US
TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!....[:O)P