|
A Manual for The FRPG Interactive Universe "On occasion, history advances in leaps and bounds on the shoulders of giants. These accomplishments, if nothing else, cause us to look at our own lives and dare to dream the impossible. Yet, even as we dream, we are to recognize that there can be no substitute for hard work and perseverance. The human spirit is a powerful tool which each one of such wields with a varying degree of skill. We must, as with all things, hone our skills to make this world, our world, better for us and our posterity. It is my contention that man's greatest trait is not any sort of measurable achievement, but rather the drive and the imagination to achieve greatness." - Stephen R. Prest, Game Founder, Administrator, Player, Friend [1995-1998]
Ever wanted to sail the heavens in a starship? Find adventure, romance, excitement and friendship while going where no one has gone before? If you do, then you're in the right place. Welcome to the Federation Role-Playing Game! We are a Play-By-Email (PBEM) Role-Playing Game (RPG) with a long and proud history of writing our own Trek. Many reasons bring a person here - a love of Trek, as mentioned, but also a love of writing and the many friends from around the world that are made while participating in the game. We don't make any promises about what you will find in the game, neither do we make too many assumptions about why you're here. But we can say - if you make the effort, you'll have a writing experience you won't soon forget. So pull out the keyboard, fire up that modem, and dust off your old Trek magazines - it's time to play!
2.0 THE ADVANCED COMMAND TRAINING PROGRAM The Advanced Command Training Program, or ACT as it is abbreviated, is the training wing of the FRPG. Its entire purpose revolves around preparing people for assignment to the active RPing ships of the Fleet. First contact is with the Deputy Chief of Operations (see below), and the teaching is done by instructors who rotate duty in sets of two. The current Chief of Operations (Peter Aspinall) is responsible for biofile feedback and answering questions. His email address is: the Director of ACT (Position currenty vacant), who is responsible for coordinating the instructors, classes and missions. Their email addresses are: The procedure for completing the ACT program is roughly as follows: 1. Potential cadet completes
character biography and Entrance Application story and sends them to the
adresses provided on the biography template. The idea is that your character is a Cadet, in his/her/its final year at the Academy. As one of the best and brightest Starfleet has to offer, you are offered a place within the Advanced Comman Training (ACT) program. If you pass, not only will you graduate and attain the rank of Ensign - you will also qualify for an assistant senior staff position aboard one of the ships of the line. This rationale helps to explain why officers fresh out of the Academy get command positions that most other officers would have to work the larger part of their career for. This is basically how things go. That said, it's time to go through that first step - creating a character by preparing a biofile. Read on!
The first step is creating a character. The character (also known as a persona or alter ego) is the medium through which players interact in the FRPG universe. Below is a standard biofile, annotated with endnotes. When completed, the biofile forms the essence of who your character is, and the seeds of who he/she/it can become. Please read carefully before completing! Notes/annotations are given in italicized text. ------------------------------------------------------ Player Name: (First, Middle,
and Last) Age: (in Terran Years)
Date of Birth: * NOTE: Minimum age for ACT Applicants is 22. The reason for this is that the standard Starfleet Academy program which precedes ACT lasts 4 years and has a minimum registration age of 18. Please also note that some races like Vulcans and Romulans are comparatively older than humans. A Vulcan in his 'twenties' is approximately 100 Terran Years old. * NOTE: Races not allowed due to current regulations: Androids,
Q, Borg, Holograms, Strong telepaths, Telekenetics, Shapeshifters. [/\] FAMILY INFORMATION [/\] Place of Birth: (city and/or
region, planet) * NOTE: A character's citizenship is the government to which he belongs and, as a citizen, represents. For most characters, citizenship should be the United Federation of Planets. Some may be from a Federation Protectorate, a world which is not currently a Federation member, but is in the process of gaining admission and is under Starfleet protection. In those cases, planetary citizenship should be listed. * NOTE: Obviously, there are some items in the family section which are not appropriate for all characters. Those characters who have yet to get married and start a family or who have no siblings would obviously not list those categories. Also, please note that this biography is a biography of your own character and not of your character's family. As such, any family information included should be limited so as to prevent the bio from becoming too lengthy. [/\] PERSONAL INFORMATION [/\] Favorite Drink: Goals: [/\] STARFLEET INFORMATION [/\] Current Assignment: Advanced
Command Training, Starfleet Academy Awards: reserved for awards
obtained during active role-play * NOTE: This
section is compulsory, and is a record of a character's RPG progression
in a chronographical format. Beginning with the character's time at Starfleet
Academy, the history section details assignments, promotions, and awards
given during role-play. Please note, only those events which happened
within the RPG have the current year included in brackets within the stardate.
You are required to enter every new event of professional significance
(promotion, assignment to ship, a new position within the crew and occasionally
big personal events such as marriage, birth of children, etc) into it
along with the correct stardate. Education: * NOTE: Please see the regulations in regards to the choosing of majors and minors. * NOTE: Additional training is really just there to help 'flesh out' your character on a professional level. It is optional ... but if you do fill it out, put some thought into what kind of person your character is. [/\] BACKGROUND HISTORY [/\] * NOTE: Although tempting, the FRPG frowns
on *super characters*, that is to say character possessing skills and/or
abilities making them superior to others. The challange is to write about
the characters surmounting the obstacles placed in their path. If these
are too easily overcome, it makes the entire story and mission seem less
impressive and reduces the experience for all involved. -------------------- Have you ever been a member of the FRPG
before? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>End Biography<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< There are certain things which we discourage in active characters simply because they disrupt game play and/or limit productive interaction with others. These include, but are not limited to: * ties to an active criminal or intelligence-gathering organization, There is also the 'super character' pitfall, of which many of the above are symptoms if not outright manifestations. These characters have seemingly limitless abilities, contacts or connections, and never make mistakes or show weakness. At first, the lure of such a character may seem like fun, but one must recognize that the development and play of a super-character ultimately leads to isolation - largely because that character cannot grow and as such, interaction benefit for others is limited. Instead, develop your character with a few faults. Players have found that those faults actually make RP more satisfying and realistic Now this isn't to say that you CAN'T have any elements of these things because in some instances they are part of Trek - but because they alter the level playing field we certainly discourage them. However, if you have an idea falling under the above that you'd like to try, we're happy to listen. There are exceptions to everything.
4.0 POSTING - HOW TO FORMAT A POST A post itself consists of four distinct sections: the title, the header, the body, and the footer (or 'sig'). Although it might sound pedantic, uniformity is important to ensure that the post is received and archived correctly. * These are placed in the "Subject:" line of your E-Mail message For example: if your ship is the USS CENTURY and your character is on the bridge, then receives an urgent message to beam down to TERIOUS III (which you do) at which point you are escorted to the Magistrate's throne room, your subject line would look like this: USS CENTURY: Bridge * TERIOUS III: Transporter Pad -> Throne Room ("Titel") Or, if you ship was the USS PATRIOT and you weren't even ON your ship. You were planetside and wrote a post about your action on MONGOL PRIME where you interviewed someone in a tavern before wandering the city streets, finally winding up by the river. Let's say you also wanted to give your post the title 'All in a Day's Work', it would look like this: USS PATRIOT: MONGOL PRIME: Mog's Tavern -> City Streets - > The River Bethune ("All in a Day's Work") Let's say now that while writing on the USS PROPHECY you wished cut between scenes, writing about the enemy as well as for yourself. It might look like this: USS PROPHECY: MOG'S FOLLY: Stateroom * USS PROPHECY: Bridge * Quarters ("Titel") 4.2 Header, Location, and Scene Indicators The header precedes the Location/Scene Indicators and is only once put at the beginning of each post. It consists of the post's title and a line including the title of the post preceding your own. Let's say the last post written on your ship was "Lorn the Great" by Stefan Palan. If you were to write your post, the title, listed before the Big Three, would be: "Marxx is Cool" EXACTLY in this format: "Current Title" The Location/Scene Indicators now follow right after this. While incredibly simplistic in their own right, the location and scene indicators are vital to any post, giving the reader pointers and directions as to where they 'are' in the story. They are comprised of three parts, the header details the location of the post, the current stardate, and the opening scene. [NB]: Only the VERY FIRST header should contain the STARDATE. All subsequent scene/location changes should NOT. For example, an opening scene might look like this: Location: USS CENTURY While the second scene in that same post might look like this: Scene: Quarters The third scene might involve transfer to a planet, which would look like this: Location: PLANET X While the writers and producers of Star Trek have noted that there is little rhyme or reason to the stardates used in episodes, our own stardates and their creation have been defined quite carefully to provide for a simple, yet futuristic method of telling time. It should be noted, however, that stardates merely reflect the time and date of the post and hold little significance when dealing with RPG time. Stardates themselves can be written in one of two forms. The first form, long form, is generally reserved for use in RPG biographies and documents. The second, or short, form, is used most often in posts and similar materials. If ever you are in doubt, please feel free to use the form with which you are most comfortable. Both forms utilize the same style of formatting with only a slight change from the long to short forms. Consisting of two groups of numbers separated by a period, and in long form a bracketed number, the proper form for the creation of stardates has been included below. SHORT FORM: Y.yMMDD.hhmm * Y = the millennium, currently 2 LONG FORM: YYYY[y.y]MMDD.hhmm * YYYY = current RPG year (2004="2419",
2005="2420") While you may compose your posts in a variety of ways, perhaps the single, most common means of posting is accomplished through the combined use of both narration and dialogue. Primarily we use the third person, as a means of further distinguishing between ourselves and the characters we play. The exceptions to this are log or journal entries, or other 'written work' (letters, etc) but these are still spoken 'through' the character. Due to the various ways in which dialogue is used in the Trek universe, our conventions are as follows: * " " used when speaking to those in the same room/scene (speech) 4.6 The Footer or Signature Line ('Sig') This is the last thing you add to a post. It's primarily for identification purpose, and gives the name of the player, the player's e-mail address, the name of the character, the position and rank the character holds, and what ship he or she serves on. Provided you have that information, you can format it any way you like or add other things like your email address or quotes you like. EG: Rae Kahuroa (player name) <your@email.com>
5.0 OTHER FRPG CONVENTIONS AND POLICIES The Moderator, or moderator account, is the email address we send mail to for archiving. All our posts are kept and stored at these addresses, and can be accessed through the internet via the FRPG homepage. The moderator accounts are for stories only, so it is of VITAL importance that you: * send all posts to the moderator account NB: Occasionally we also refer to the person who takes care of the archiving as the 'moderator' too. Don't be too confused by this - they do pretty much the same thing. Non-Role-Playing Game, or NRPG messages are used to distribute PLAYER information, and are mainly used to administrate and manage matters. These messages can vary in both length and subject, but should always include RPG or related material. Moreover, it is important that you do not send these messages to the moderator accounts. Only posts should be sent to the moderator. When sending an NRPG, no ship information is entered into the subject line, simply NRPG: then the subject of whatever it is you want to talk about. EG: NRPG: My Last Post All graduates of ACT take assistant senior staff positions on their assigned ship, regardless of rank. The following slots are the ones to whose assistant positions fresh graduates are usually assigned, depending on availability and player skill. Captain, first officer and second officer (usually OPS, but this may vary on some ships) slots need to be earned. Included with each listing is a canon character who has also taken that slot in the TV shows. Please also note the abbreviations that accompany each position. These remain standard throughout the game. * CEO: Chief Engineering Officer. If it's broke - the CEO fixes it! (Mr Scott, Geordi LaForge, B'Elanna Torres, Charles "Trip" Tucker) * Sec/Tac: Security and Tactical Officer. Responsible for internal security, manning ship weapons in ship-to-ship conflicts, and frequently, personal security on away teams. (Worf on the ENTERPRISE, Tuvok, Malcolm Reed) * CSciO: Chief Science Officer. An investigative and often advisory role, frequently resulting in a close partnership with the CEO to come up with solutions to technical problems. Analysis of anomalies, phenomena and the like will often fall first to this person. (Spock, Jadzia Dax) * FCO: Flight Control Officer. Responsible for manning the helm of the primary vessel, and also for flying shuttles on away team missions and the like. (Mr Sulu, Tom Paris, Travis Mayweather) * CMO: Chief Medical Officer. Physical health and well-being of crew members, and occasionally, also that of life forms with whom they come in contact. (Leonard McCoy, Beverly Crusher, Julian Bashir, the EMH on VOYAGER, Phlox) * CNS: Counselor. Responsible for the psychological well-being of the ship's crew, and also frequently called upon to assess the opposite side in first contact or inter-species relations. (Deanna Troi) * MCO: Marine Commanding Officer. The head of the marine compliment on a vessel. Marines are usually deployed in ground combat and in battles within a ship. And just for clarification, here is the basic rundown of what the Captain, ExO and Ops do: * CO: Captain. Responsible
for all primary decision making on the vessel. (James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc
Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Kathryn Janeway, Jonathan Archer) Grandstanding is a problem which we strive to avoid. It happens when, rather than working with a team, an individual decides to strike off on his own and forge new and often disruptive, paths. Examples of grandstanding include: * monopoly of the plot (i.e.: writing a thirty-page epic which pretty
much precludes anyone else from getting their two cents worth in) Grandstanding is dealt with by Commanding Officers. Usually it's a matter of revoking the offending post or reprimanding (publicly or privately) the offender. Extremely serious cases could even see dismissal from the game or a return to ACT for further training, although this would have to be very extreme. 5.5 Non-Playable Characters (NPCs) To give the illusion of a vast community of Starfleet personnel and civilians and make role-play as realistic as possible, NPCs are created to fill the extra positions aboard a starship or starbase. These characters come in one of two forms. NPC pNPC It should be noted that the same restrictions apply to SHIPS which may also be NPS and pNPS.
1. A person's character may NOT be killed without the WRITTEN CONSENT of the person with the exception of cases where the offender is found to have severely broken one or more of the RPG rules. 2. A ship of the line may not be destroyed or damaged beyond repair by any player except the Captain of the said vessel. 3. Q may not be introduced into play, neither may any Q or god-like character be introduced into play by any person other than the Captain. 4. Once someone has posted a message you may NOT alter or change the message in ANY way. 5. Do NOT bring private matters or feelings into the role-playing game. This includes using the RPG forum to degrade a person by calling them names, using foul language, or any other inappropriate behavior. 6. An RP 13 rating applies to language, sexual content, and violence. Please adhere to this in your writing. 7. A personal or private attack on anyone in the RPG, character or person, without just cause, relating to their play or otherwise will not be tolerated and will be dealt with by the unit's CO, or the next highest ranking officer. 8. Your name will be published with your post in the RPG archives and with your ship roster on the webpage. Please contact your Captain if you are unhappy with this. 9. The RPG Administration reserves the right to remove a player and his or her character(s) if said person breaks the rules in a way that justifies such dismissal. Such conduct would include, but not be limited to, the distribution of unlawful information and the use of obscene, abusive, or otherwise objectionable language in public messages. The Federation Council will be the arbiters in this matter. 10. The RPG Moderator and Administrators reserve the right to review any material posted to the RPG's HyperNews Archives, to which all players have access, and edit or remove any material which the moderator and/or administration, in its sole discretion, believes may be irrelevant, unlawful, obscene, abusive, or otherwise objectionable to players. 11. Using RPG addresses and mailing lists for purposes of solicitation and unrelated topics will not be tolerated. Any player in violation of this rule will disciplined immediately. 12. All documentation and services provided by the Federation RPG are intended for the private use of its players and any commercial or other unauthorized use or distribution of those materials, in any form, is expressly forbidden. 13. Posts to the HyperNews Archives and to other RPG players are the writings of the individual players. It is therefore the sole responsibility of that player to abide by any previously established copyrights, trademarks or any other legal restrictions that may be in place. The Federation RPG administrators and youth.net shall in no way be held responsible for the actions and writings of players in the RPG. 14. In no event will the owner and administrators of The Federation RPG be held liable for any consequential, incidental, indirect, or special damages resulting directly or indirectly from game play. As such, you agree to indemnify and hold the aforementioned harmless from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) resulting, directly or indirectly, from use and/or misuse of the game. 15. All information contained in The Federation RPG areas, including but not limited to the RPG Web site, gopher site, newsgroup, and HyperNews Archives is there for general entertainment purposes and is, in no way, intended to refer to any real person, alive or dead. Any such reference is accidental. 16. By submitting an arrival post to ACT, you waive all rights to prosecute or take legal action against any member of the RPG administration, the RPG owner, or other players within the RPG as outlined in the RPG's Legal Release Waiver. We ask that you do not continue play if you do not wish to abide by these rules. These rules are subject to change without any prior notification by The Federation RPG.
The submission of my ACT: Arrival post formally states that: I have read, understand, and do hereby agree to abide by and uphold the rules, regulations, and guidelines set forth by The Federation Role-Playing Game (RPG). As such, I hereby relinquish the ability to take legal action against any member of the RPG administration and/or the RPG owner for any actions in or about The Federation RPG. If any of my own actions are deemed inappropriate I agree to take full responsibility for them, indemnifying the RPG administrators and owner from any possible prosecution or legal action. It is also my responsibility, and not the responsibility of the owner or administrators, to keep myself up-to-date with all new rules and regulations. If I find any which I am unable or unwilling to uphold and/or abide by I shall remove myself from the game and notify the RPG Coordinator and those I interact with of my decision. If I continue play with the new rules I understand that I am responsible for abiding by and upholding those rules in addition to the existing rules and as such take full responsibility for my actions under the new or added rules as well.
Ranjani Sabarinathan
Copyright (c) 1995-2007, The Federation RPG. All Rights
Reserved. |