Welcome Cadet!

If your reading this then your probably curious about RPGs and what is involved, below you will find a crash course in how to post aboard the 'Sirius PbEM', including valuable tips on the TAGS and formatting a post correctly for submission. An integral part of a Play By Email RPG is the writing, without which there would be no story.

To participate in an RPG such as the Sirius, a player MUST be able to set aside time to write, usually we recommend an hour or two. All players are expect to post at least once every 7-10 days, so please considering this before applying.

PREPARING A POST:

When you recieve a post from the mailing list, the chances are it will look a little like this...

Subject: [USS SIRIUS] Interlude #10

ON:

<>

After the effects of the transporter subsided, Jones glanced around at her surroundings. The main lobby was fairly open plan, behind her, large arching doors with decorated glass panels led to the street outside. The midday sun, shone through the glass, bathing the walls and floor of the lobby with warm sun light. Reaching in to her pocket, Jones pulled out her comm badge and activated it. "Jones to Felix, beam down successful."

"Understood Ensign, happy shoreleave, see you in two weeks, Felix out"

"Can I help you miss?" Inquired a polite voice beside her. Turning her head, Jones came face to face with a Bolian dressed in shorts and a loose fitting shirt. Adorning his left breast was a symbol she wasn't familair with. Was this what passed as a uniform on Risa? Following her stare, the Bolian smiled, then pointing at the symbol he said proudly.

"Risa Tour Guide Max, at your service. It is our need, to meet your needs!"

"Er, Hi! Bella, Bella Jones, Uss Felix. Max could you tell me where I check in?"

"Many welcomes Miss Jones of the Felix, if you will follow me, it will be my pleasure to help."

OFF:

=/\= Bella Jones [o]

Astrophysics

Alright, so that was a nugget sized example of a typical one or two page post, now lets break it down shall we.

'Subject: [USS SIRIUS] Interlude #10'

The first part [USS SIRIUS] is inserted automatically to any email sent to the mailing list, so you dont need to type this yourself. The second half "Interlude #10", tell us that the ship is currently not in a mission and this is the 10th post so far in to the interlude. Think of interludes like downtime, there's no main plot to follow, so players can write about going on the holodeck, spending time on pet projects and generally doing subplot work on their characters. When you come to send out a post, if the last post was #9 then yours should be numbered #10. Doing this keeps posts in order, so events from one player to the next are coherent.

USING THE 'ON:' & 'OFF': TAGS

These tags tell other players when your 'in character' writing begins and ends. You can include short messages in them.

For example:

"ON: Hi guys, does anyone want to write a joint post with me next?"

"OFF: Sorry that was an epic post, but I was on a roll!"

LOCATION

To establish where your character is, we use a pretty simple system that using the symbols. For example, If say I were writing this at Quarks, the location tag would read: <>

Now what if we want to establish a time? Well we could, if we wanted  to, place it in the "ON:" tag at the very beginning of the post, like  this.

"ON: Hey everyone, this post follows on directly after my last one,  about two hours before we departed Bajor."

That is the rough and ready approach, which gets the message across  to everyone. But the ON: and OFF: tags aren't usually included in the compiled missions that go on this site. So the reader wont see that you have said this, so there is another way to get the information across, using the location TAG:

ON:

<>

In one line, we have established your characters location and at what  point in time events are taking place, voila!

WHAT IS IN A NAME?

Well that depends on whether you are asking me or Shakespeare, but  for now lets assume your wondering how to stamp your name at the  bottom of your newly written post.

First and foremost is your comm badge =/\= , this establishes that  your a member of Starfleet, anyone who isn't, wont have one. Next is your name, just your name, not your rank or your position. and next to that are your rank pips. Below is a complete list of all the rank pips we use.

DEPARTMENT TITLE / ROLE

Located below your rank, is your position or function aboard ship. If your the Captain, your title will likely read "Commanding Officer". Likewise if your Chief Medical Officer, it read "Chief Medical Officer". However it's not always that straight forward. For example, if your a junior officer, your title may read "Astrophysics" or "Warp Technician". All this means is that this is the field your character specialise in.

All name tags follow the same layout;

=/\= Walter Dun [*o]

Science Officer - Astrophysics

=/\= Walter Dun [->-]

Medical Technician First Class

=/\= Walter Dun [o-o]

Starfleet Operations

This concludes our tour of the basics of posting, I hope it has been useful