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Below are the rules and guidelines for participating in the USS Sulu simulation. Any questions about posting requirements, character interaction, or post formatting should be found below. If you have any questions, send an email to the GM.
Posts should be a minimum of four paragraphs. In general, you can't really say much in just a couple paragraphs. A lot of times, not much can be said in only four paragraphs.
Paragraphs should NOT be indented. Additionally, a blank space should be left between all paragraphs. When sending out your posts, make certain your email program is configured to send in "Plain Text." If you are uncertain how to change the settings in your email, let me know.
Because posts are sent in plain text formatting, there is no way to emphasize text. So, in those instances when you would like to have text emphasized in some way, use the following:
- To indicate text that would be italicized, use * on either side of what you are trying to emphasize. Such as: Captain Salinger narrowed his eyes. "Now," he said, "I think it's time that *you* gave us the answers we were looking for."
- To indicate telepathic contact, you will want to use ~ around the thoughts being sent. For example, ~I do not believe my injury is severe,~ the Betazoid counselor thought to his companion.
Posts should be written in third-person, past tense.
Example: Captain Matthew Salinger sat forward in his chair as the Romulan Warbird decloaked on the main viewer. They'd known that the Romulans had been patrolling this sector, but they hadn't expected such an overt display. Something tugged at the back of Matt's mind as a part of him began to think there was more going on here than it seemed.
Every attempt should be made to use punctuation and capitalization in your posts. In a sim that allows global membership with such widely varying levels of skill with the English language, perfect English won't be required. However, it is much easier to read a post with punctuation and capitalization in the proper places. Also, be certain to spell-check your posts.
All members of the sim are expected to submit at least one in-character post every two weeks. If you find you are unable to maintain this posting frequency, you should contact the GM and discuss a means to keep yourself active in the sim.
Any member of the sim who fails to either submit a post to the listserver or notify the GM of an inability to meet the posting requirements for a period of one month will be removed from the sim as inactive.
Whenever your character interacts with another player's character in the sim, you should contact the other character for a joint post. There are many methods for crafting a joint post. Typically, the post is sent back and forth off-list until it reaches a conclusion, and is then posted to the Tales from the Outer Rim listserver.
Any interaction between characters should be contained within a single, completed post (or more if the post is very large), not spread out over a dozen small posts. Do not end your post tagging another to pick up in a conversation.
Your character should never injure or harm another player's character without that player's consent. If your character and another character get into a fight, and neither you nor the other player can decide who wins the fight, the fight should end in a draw.
Make sure your posts all contain the proper heading. It should include a title and all the player characters involved. If you write a post with several NPCs, do not list the NPCs in the heading unless they have a significant contribution to the post. Character occupations are not necessary, and are optional for the header.
When the posts are archived, they are archived by date. Because of this, including a date in the headers of a post is very important. If you send out a post without a date, expect a message from either the GM or AGM.
Headers should follow the following format:
"Title"
by (name) - (occupation)
Location: (location)
Stardate (current stardate), (ship's time)
A normal post written by one author should look like this:
"Seeking the Unknown"
by Captain Matthew T. Salinger - Commanding Officer
Location: USS Sulu, Bridge
Stardate 57906.18, 22h20
A joint post written by two authors should look like this:
"To Boldly Go"
by Captain Matthew T. Salinger - Commanding Officer
and Commander Lyrr Tayla - Executive Officer
Location: Starbase 1, Promenade
Stardate 57906.18, 10h51
The use of "by" and "and" may be eliminated for the header if you wish. But, the other information should be included.
In a joint post where one player writes for a player character and another writes for an NPC, use the following format:
"Captain Proton and the Damsels of Peril"
by Captain Matthew T. Salinger - Commanding Officer
and Lt. jg Grixble Flummus - Engineer
Location: USS Sulu, Holodeck 1
Stardate 57906.21, 15h32
For the USS Sulu, a stardate is constructed in the following manner:
The first number is an indicator for the century. The 24th century (2301-2400) uses the indicator 5. The next two numbers are the current year. Currently, that will be 79. The next four numbers are the month, then the date separated by a decimal point. So, to indicate June 18, 2379, the stardate would be 57906.18.
The current stardate on the sim will be determined in posts by the GMs. You will want to use their posts as a point of reference, and follow the pace that they are setting.
The USS Sulu takes place in the universe of Star Trek. As such, effort should be taken to make sure the things that appear in posts come from that genre. Away Team members should be carrying phasers and communicators. Food is generally prepared in a replicator, and EPS conduits power the ship.
The point of simming is to have fun. These rules and guidelines are to help everyone have a fun time on the Sulu, and yet still maintain some order in the sim. If you have any questions, contact me.
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