This sections details for those new to the world of PBeM (Play by eMail, also known as simming) as to what it is and how it works.
You begin by creating a character (you do this when clicking join). You are allowed a bit of variance when creating your character but you should try and bear the following points in mind when creating your character for this game:
1: No character is superman. They will not have a thousand abilities that enable them to be extra hard, extra intelligant, able to solve all situations on their own. We don't mind little unusual quirks, like a Klingon who has developed telepathic powers, as long as it's fair, so for example, the same Klingon's power could never be near as good as that of a Betazoid's telepathic power. These little quirks should also be justified in your character description / background. Maybe the Klingon was subject to some unusual medical experiments, or his grandfather was in fact a Betazoid and thus he is really quarter Betazoid himself.
2: Your character should be of a Federation Race. This is a starfleet ship and considering 99% of starfleet is made of races from the Federation, your character should be from one of these. We don't mind though the occasional character being from a non-Federation Race (like Klingons, Romulans, Ferengi, Cardassians etc...) as long as it is justified and we are not over run with them. However, we don't want any Dominion characters (Changelings, Jem'Hadar etc...) nor characters from Delta Quadrant races (Kazon, Ocumpa, Talaxian etc...). However, though this may seem restrictive, there are in fact plenty of Federation member races to choose from which include, but are not limited to: Humans, Vulcans, Bajorans (recent members), El Aurians (not many though), Trills, Betazoids plus many others detailed throughtout the various Star Trek programs.
3: Your character should have flaws. Everyone has a flaw in their personality, no one is perfect. It's about overcoming these flaws that sometimes really makes a character. It could be hatred of something, an addiction to something, a hot temper, a coward in battles etc.... Having these flaws will make your character more fun to play with.
4: Department heads should be experienced. This refers to both in and out of character. Players who want to play department heads should have some experience in other PBeM's. In character, Department Heads don't get to where they are straight out of the academy, they will have served aboard various other posting's before joining the ship. New players should assume their characters have come straight out of the academy or have not long finished at the very least. One interresting twist we will allow is with Bajoran characters who may find themselves starting as Ensign in Starfleet after transfering from Bajoran Militia after serving there for a number of years.
5: Do not assume a Rank. This ties in with the last point a bit, but do not presume in your application which rank you will begin at. The Captain and the Task Force One Commodore will assign that. Typically, those without PBeM experience will start at Ensign, while those with PBeM experience will be given a rank according to the strength of the example post and previous pbem experience as noted in their application. If you are transferring a character from another ship PBeM, you can let us know which rank their were upon that ship, but it is still the Commodore's and Captain's decision as to what rank you will be (if it happens to be lower, it could make an interesting plot twist that your character was demoted for some reason, however, it is probably rare that we will start a transferred character at a lower rank to what they were)
Once you have submitted a Character, it normally takes a couple of days for the Captain to get back to you and let you know about the position. This is because the application form has to go through both the Captain of the ship and Task Force One's Commodore. The Captain will email you will the details of getting set up using the message board system and your bio will appear on the crew roster.
Once you have been confirmed into the Yahoo Group, take your time to get yourself familar with the way it is laid out. You can set a post up on the board by either using a email address that Yahoo provides you to post to, or directly going to the site itself, logging on, and clicking on post message (I prefer the latter as I know some people have had problems sometimes sending emails straight to the board and they don't end up arriving). It will then normally take about a day for your message to appear as the post has to be cleared for posting first by the Captain to make sure there is nothing in the post that goes against the current plot. This isn't censorship, this is just to make sure the game runs smoothly. If there is a problem, the Captain will email you to let you know and the reason why.
Once the message has been approved for posting, it will then appear on the board. The Home section details the most recent five messages, though clicking on 'messages' will bring up all the messages posted to the board. The message will also go out then to all the members of the group email. Make sure you set your email's to come in either individually or as a daily digest in your membership settings (it will ask you this when you apply) so that you can keep upto date with the story. It may also be handy if you know how, to set your email up with a seperate folder that will recieve all stuff that has USS Savage in the title, allowing you to keep your PBeM stuff separate to your normal in flow of mail.
You will notice that there are few other facilities that Yahoo Groups provides. Feel free to explore these, though these are less important than the main message board and may or may not be used depending on the needs of the group.
Here's the crunch of the game, the posts. In these posts you will explain to the rest of the group what your character is doing, thinking and saying. They will also probably interact with other characters. Think of it as like writing a short story each time for your character in the third person perspective, a short story that with everyone elses posts will add up to be one big story.
By Third Person perspective, we mean as follows: "John walked down the
corridor, whistling an old haunting tune as memories of the battle drifted
through his mind. He stopped briefly at a turbo lift door and awaited for the
turbo car to arrive." This is third person perspective. Do NOT write from first
person perspective (where everything is written with I, i.e. "I walked down the
corridor) nor in script style (i.e. "John:
You should place in the title of your post, a short descriptive title (e.g. "Walking Down Corridor") and your character's rank and name after it (so it would appear as "Walking Down Corridor" - Ensign John Smith). At the begginning of the post, put between triangular brackets (the ones often used for HTML codes) where your character is starting. For example, on the Bridge of the USS Savage, on DS9, In the Holodeck etc...
Finally, after writing your post, put at the end your Character name, rank, position and ship. For example:
Ensign John Smith
Chief Toilet Cleaner
USS Savage
So what to put in the post. Previous posts should be able to help you out here. You could do something in reaction to someone elses post. A good example would be when the Captain gives out orders, everyone's posts afterwards would then have their characters following out those orders. But there are plenty of other things as well to write about.
The posts normally run chronologically, so your post will normally be set at a time after the time of the last person's post. You will need to involve progressing the story along a bit, whether it is to further the main plot along (basically which ever mission we are doing) or going off on a sub-plot and plot twists. Character development is a key here, and as well as carrying out duties for Starfleet, your character will get spare time as well. What do they do they do when they off duty? Who do they make friends with? Writing about your character's off duty events is just as important as writing about a character's on duty mission related events. Our characters are not automated drones. They are living sentient creatures with feelings and emotions, likes and dislikes etc... The key to good Simming is to portray this side of your character as well as doing what you position and rank requires you to do.
Your character will also need to interact in their posts with other characters at points. If we were to post email's like online roleplayers write in which you just did your action and speech and then waited for the other player(s) to respond, it would take forever to get anywhere. Therefore, you also need to write also the reactions of other characters into your post. This will mean studying the characters bio and previous posts and getting an idea of the sort of things that character reacts like to situations and the things they say. This bit can take a bit of getting used to, but once you've grasped it, it makes for really good character development. If you are not sure if the player would have his character react in the way that you have written, you can always email the player direct first and check (this can be handy to begin with when you first start, but later on you should be able get out of needing to do this).
Do not solve everything in one post: Yes, in Star Trek, sometime they stop that planet exploding by reconfiguring the deflector emmitors in five minutes, but it is also an air time show that has a limited time to show things. In the world of PBeM we have a bit longer to play with, so problems should be solved over a number of posts to make the game more interresting.
Do not solve everything on your own: The crew of a starship is a team with people in many different positions. Get other characters involved over several posts. No one person should be able to solve a situation all on their own. For example, the Captain could give a post in which he orders the Chief Engineer to create a STD (Save The Day) device to do something. The Chief Engineer then puts up a post with him and his Engineering team brainstorming about to how to solve it and he assign's individual engineers to work on different parts of the device. One engineer could then post that the part of the work he is set requires some advanced scientific theory, so he contacts the science department and so forth and you begin to see how the situation is solved by a variety of people which makes it fun for all.
Thou shall not kill: Goes without saying really, do not go killing off other peoples characters for them.
Interact with others: The biggest key to playing a good PBeM is to interact with the other crew. The more enjoyable you help make it for others, the more enjoyable they will make it for you. However....
Treat other peoples characters with the respect you would have them give yours: Yes, when you interact in your posts, you get to control their character for a while but don't go making them doing anything the player wouldn't want their characters to do. If you are in doubt, ask the player.
Don't go contradicting other peoples posts: by this we mean, say one person has said that you were in the shuttlebay, don't say in the next post you have been holed up in the holodeck all day.
Do submit plot ideas and sub-plot ideas: If you have an idea for a plot or sub-plot, let the Captain know. However, don't go launching your own main plot lines without consulting the Captain first.
Make sure it's readable: Your post must be in English and though we don't expect it to be perfect, try and make sure that the spelling and grammar is readable. We don't mind if people post using Proper English or American English, but please bear in mind that there are people playing from both sides of the Atlantic and that there are a few differences in words and meanings (the word pants for example. In the UK, pants are your underwear, in America it's your trousers).
Have Fun, Make it Fun: This is the whole purpose of the game.
Yes, there are promotions to be gained in the game and your character can go up in the ranks. When you get promoted is decided between the CO, XO and the Task Force Commodore. People who get promoted will do so for one or more of the following reasons:
People who post regularly (this should be at least three times a week for department heads, twice a week for all other crew).
People who make good quality posts that are more than just a few paragraph's in length.
People who interact with others instead of trying to work it out all on their own.
People who show good character development and roleplaying.
People who submit good plot and sub-plot ideas.
People who make it fun for others to play.