Firstly it is important to know your preference. Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you apply for a position in a PBeM.

1. Do I like small independent RPGs or fleets?

The difference is that fleet RPGs often have many ships and rules to go with them. These are very structured games with many players. They often have great ideas because there are so many minds working on the ideas but you have to be pretty creative and dedicated to make your character shine. Small independent RPGs often have small crews that are very democratic. While this is nice because your character becomes more important to the game as a whole, it also requires a lot of creativity as you are partly responsible for the plots and ideas.

2. What is your favorite posting style?

This will take some trail-and-error. Basically there are three main kinds of posting (that I know of).

The first is what I call ‘tagging’. This is where you write the whole story from your character’s point of view and never write for another character. Instead, you leave <tags> with their names in for them to fill in. This is written in the third person past tense and is a good way of doing it if you enjoy developing your own character.

The second is what I call the ‘novel’ style where you write a chapter of the story with your character as the main character. You can write for other characters as long as they take on a secondary role. This is also done in the third person past tense and is a good way of doing it if you enjoy taking an active part in the developing of the plot.

The thirds way is what I call the ‘script’ style where you write a chapter of the story with your character as a main character and you can write for other characters as long as they take on a secondary role BUT this is all done in the third person *present tense*: meaning you describe things as they are happening in the style of a script eg:

Bob: *smiles at rose* I like your hat

Rose: thank you.

This is a great if you’re a playwright. I wouldn’t suggest it otherwise… but each to his own! With this method you have to have an incredibly vivid imagination, but it’s great if you want action.

There are other styles where you write in the first person, but these are usually not in the PBeM world and thus I am not qualified to teach you about them (i.e. I’ve never been involved in one!)

3. How often can I post and how often do I want to receive posts?

As a general rule, the more players there are in a game, the more posts you’re likely to get per day. I usually take the number of active members and divide it in three. This is the average number of posts you can expect to receive each day. So… if you want to join an rpg with fifteen members – expect five posts a day! This is a very general rule, but it can serve as a guideline.

By the same token, you can work out very generally how often you will be expected to post. Many RPGs stress that you must post at least once a week, however often this isn’t sufficient if things move really fast. If you can, find out the average number of posts per week and divide it by the number of players, thus you can get a very general idea of how many times a week you have to post. I.e. a group with 30 posts per week and 9 members will require a hefty some of 3 posts a week in order for your character to become adequately involved!

Once you have these numbers then you can make a decision about whether you feel you can live up to the expectations of the group.

4. Canon or creative?

A lot of ships don’t mind if you go ‘off the beaten track’ as it were. In fact, they encourage creativity. Others, however, are very specific about the fact that your rpging must remain strictly within the established Star Trek universe of possibilities. While this is nice for people who know their Star Trek as well as Daniel and Denise Okuda (and actually know who those people are), it can be troublesome for those who don’t understand – or wish to understand – beyond transporters, replicators and the fact that the Romulans are always the bad guys.

So, once I’ve decided what I want, what makes a good rpg?

Well… this is my opinion.