Welcome to the Star Wars - Tales from the Outer Rim. The Tales from the Outer Rim sim is a role playing game played via Internet E-mail. It is a cooperative story-telling effort where each participant ( player ) creates and controls one or more characters ( Player Character or PC ) in the story. The PC then interacts in the game world environment. In the case of Tales from the Outer Rim, the setting is a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. The current time is just after Return of the Jedi and the fall of the Empire.

If you have any questions, contact the GM.

If you are familiar with role playing games, then you should understand the processes involved in creating a character for a game of this nature. In a traditional role playing game, there is a set of rules that govern what abilities and characteristics your character can possess. In a Sim like this one, your character's biography replaces all of those characteristics, attributes, and dice rolls. The biography covers any of the key points in your character's life or the basics of who he or she is so that the other players can visualize and interact with your character correctly when they write their parts of the story. In a way, this simplifies the process. You won't have to read hundreds of complicated role playing manuals just to figure out how to create your character. All you need to do is put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, and let your imagination paint the picture of who you will be in the Star Wars universe

The first thing you'll want to do is create a bio for your character. Writing a biography for a ficticious character can be a lot of fun. It gives you the opportunity to create a person from the ground up. In a sim like Tales, the only limitations are determined by your own imagination. One thing to keep in mind when creating your character: Is this the kind of character you could expect to see in a Star Wars movie?

What kinds of characters are we looking for on Tales from the Outer Rim? Mainly we're looking for well-thought out characters with a detailed background and goals to keep the character moving forward in his or her life. When you join the sim, you do want to have something for your character to do. Goals will help that. We don't want superheroic characters who are the best at everything they ever try to do. Even a Jedi Knight will have times when he or she's not the most skilled at a particular task. A good character will be a realistic character--the interests and goals will match where the character is in life. A good character will have room to grow as the story progresses.

Tales from the Outer Rim is a free-form simulation, which means that there really isn't a set, guiding plot or path for you to follow with your character. The stars are the limit, and you can pretty much take your character in any direction you'd like. That being said, the best kind of player for this sim is one who can blaze their own path. If you'd like, you can probably join in on other storylines (provided you have permission from those writing the stories), but a story will not necessarily be plotted out and unfolded for you. So, as long as you're a motivated, self-starter, you'll fit right into the action here.

NOTE: Any bio submitted with only one or two paragraphs for a background has absolutely no chance of being accepted.

You may be asked to submit a writing sample with your character's bio. This should be a post written from the point of view of your character, and should be between 500 and 1,000 words.

We place a picture to represent characters in all the bios, as if this were the actor playing your character. When choosing a picture for your character, please use one of photographic quality. There are a lot of talented artists out there, however we have chosen to keep the character images similar in style, therefore photographic quality is needed.

Because Tales from the Outer Rim deals with some mature content, a minimum age requirement of 18 years has been set. No player under the age of 18 shall be admitted into the sim. Any players joining the sim by falsely claiming to be 18 years old will be removed.

New players to the sim will also be required to submit at least one post within two weeks of their joining. Additionally, they must maintain posting at least one post every two weeks for a pediod of two months. If at any time during that period, they are unable to post for some reason, they should contact the GM/AGM regarding the absence.

If you are already a member of the sim, and wish to bring in an additional character, please read through Sim Rules for additional characters, and proceed from there. Additionally, now existing players on the sim (those who have been players in good standing for at least three months, may opt to bring in a Force-Sensitive character. The rules for such a character are as follows:

• All players wishing to play a Jedi character must have been a member of the sim in good standing for a period of at least three months. Two new Jedi characters will be selected for admittance each month. Fill out the application form completely, including the writing sample from the point of view of your Force sensitive character.
• When filling out the application, the Jedi character's powers should be listed in the section for powers. As a character grows in power, this list will be added to. In the beginning, the Jedi powers will be fairly limited. Special talents and potentials should be listed, such as a particularly strong skill with influencing the minds of others.
• No player can control more than one Force-sensitive character at a time.  GMs can make exceptions to this on a case-by-case basis (such as for an extremely talented player, for players who already have more than one Force-sensitive character, and GMs).
• Jedi must begin as Padawans at the Temple unless they have permission otherwise. The character will be young and unskilled with the Force, learning how to use it from the Masters at the Temple. If a player wishes to play a more advanced Jedi character, they may submit a new application after four months with the Padawan character, following the same application procedure.
• As with all things, the GMs have the right to refuse or revoke the privilege of writing a Jedi/Force-sensitive character at any time.
• Force powers will be approved by the GM, and any abuse of those powers in posts will be looked into by the GMs
• Jedi and Force-sensitive beings are very powerful and require a particular caliber of player to pull off effectively.  Players who appear to be only looking for the power offered by playing a Jedi Knight will be refused.
• No Jedi will carry a double-bladed lightsaber
• Continued abuse of the Force or actions that lead to the dark side will be watched by the GMs.  No Jedi will be allowed to fall to the dark side without approval.

Additionally, before submitting your bio, please proofread and spell-check the bio. Please do not paste your bio from Microsoft Word directly into the form on the following page. It loses a lot of the punctuation and makes a real mess of things when trying to format for the website.

Now, to submit your bio, use the Online Application Form.

The GM will provide you with the email address for submitting your posts. Next, the GM will put a copy of your 'official' character biography on the web page so that the other players can read it. Finally, the GM will post a message to the other players announcing your arrival. From there, it is up to you to create your adventures and life in the Star Wars universe in Tales from the Outer Rim.

You can email the GM at jaedyn@dynamicsims.com.

You should read through all of the Character Bios on the website to familiarize yourself with the other characters with whom you will be interacting. It is also a great way to get ideas on how to write a biography. You may also want to read through the last several Archived Posts to get a feel for the style, and frequency of the other players posting into the game. That way you can get familiar with the characters of the Sim, and bring yourself up to speed on the current story line.

Though it's not required, it is recommended that you have access to a modern web browser. The Tales from the Outer Rim website is the central repository for all sim information. It will serve as a valuable reference tool in your writing for the sim. On the site you will have access to the biographies of all the player and non-player characters, the archived stories, important world and universe information, and the e-mail addresses of all of the other players.