Holoworld Fleet: A Star Trek PBeM RPG since 1996

Posting

Posting is what Holoworld is all about. It's where the characters interact, the story is formed, and the fun happens. The creative part is up to you. But there are a few conventions you should be aware of for posting here on the DESTINY and out in the fleet.

1. How do I start my post?

Before getting going on the story, it's important to let your fellow players know where your post takes place. You should also let everyone know when your post happens. For this, we need two or three things:

I. The stardate. This one comes all the way at the top of your post. The stardate takes the form

SD YY.MMDD.HHMM (timezone)

where YY is the current Holoworld Fleet year. Right now it is 2421, but we leave out the first two digits, so we get 21 for the YY. MM is the current month (April when this page was last updated, so we get 04), DD is the current date (the 26th at the last update), and HHMM is the time in 24-hour military style. It is also common practise to include one's timezone, such as EST or GMT+0100 or whatever suits your location.

Let's say it's 4:27 in the afternoon as this is written. In 24-hour format, that's 1627, so the entire stardate becomes 21.0426.1627.

II. The scene. This is the location where your post starts off. If your character is on the bridge, simply put in something like this:

Scene: Bridge

III. The story time. It can be helpful to indicate when your post takes place with respect to other posts. For example:

Time: After the funeral

So, putting together the pieces, without writing anything at all before it, the very first thing in the post would be:

SD 19.0816.1627 (EST)
Scene: Bridge
Time: After the funeral

What if I want to make a comment or question?

Small ones can go at the end of the post. Just put a line (typically made with dashes) after the end of your post and ask the question. In the post itself, only use a brief tag if you want some input. Don't overuse this; it is not for the purpose of getting a one-line reply, but for allowing a large amount of input from the other player. Okay, suppose I want to make a comment at the end, for example, to let people know that I will be away from my computer from Thursday to Saturday for something, here is how I would do it:

----------------
NRPG: By the way, I will be away from Thursday to Saturday this week. See you when I get back.

If you have a lot to say outside the actual post, it's better to send it as a separate message to the NRPG list.

How long should my posts be?

That depends very much on the situation. Posts on the active units are anywhere from a few lines to several pages. Try not to make your posts too short (say, only one or two paragraphs), because that doesn't work to keep the story going in the long run. Anything more than a few paragraphs is good. If you have trouble expanding your posts, just contact the CTO or one of the instructors. They are there to help you.

How do I sign off?

You should sign off with the following information:

your real name
your char's rank and name
your char's post and unit

For example:

Respectfully submitted,

John Jones
Ens. Pete Smith
FCO, USS FIGMENT

Also, please sign off NRPG messages. It's considered polite to put your name under any message you sent :-)

What do I need in the subject line?

First put your unit's name and follow it with a title for your post. Right now, you are on the USS DESTINY. Suppose you write a post about the replicators malfunctioning and producing pounds and pounds of nothing but spinach (I am not suggesting you do so, this is just an example). You might have a subject such as:

USS DESTINY: Popeye's heaven, Pluto's bain

If your char is going from one unit to another, say from the DESTINY back to OMEGA once you graduate, you will have a subject something like:

USS DESTINY --> SB OMEGA: Reporting to the Fleet PO for assignment

Where do I send my post?

To the unit's list, in this case, hwf-academy@yahoogroups.com, and to the newsgroup via the no-spam mail-to-news gateways:

mail2news_nospam-YYYYMMDD-alt.holoworld.rpg.startrek@anon.lcs.mit.edu
mail2news_nospam-YYYYMMDD-alt.holoworld.rpg@anon.lcs.mit.edu

Replace YYYY with the current year, now 2007, the MM with the month which is currently 08, and DD with the current date, which at this writing is 16. Note that we use the normal calendar year here, so don't confuse this with the stardate.

Anything else I need to know?

Actually, a few things. First, be sure to double space between each paragraph. Also, when writing dialogue, start a new paragraph for each character speaking. This makes the post easier for the reader to follow along with. Such as:

"Report," the CTO ordered, whipping around to look at the green cadet.

Cadet Elton's fingers typed into the console. "Aft shields are at 67 percent," he said, his voice slightly strained.

"Can we reroute power from the secondary systems?" the CTO asked quickly. He looked at displays of his own on the arm consoles of his chair.

"Negative sir," came the terse reply.

When showing that a character is thinking something, rather than speaking, enclose it in a set of asterisks. Example:

*There must be an answer out there,* he thought as they gazed into the void.

When showing that the computer is speaking, enclose it in a set of greater than/smaller than brackets. Example:

When showing that someone is speaking through a comm badge or other communication channel, use a set of square brackets, [ ]. It's important to remember that when using the brackets for the comm links, the brackets are used only for the parties that are not present in the scene that you are writing. The dialogue from the characters that are in the scene will continue to be placed in normal quotation marks. Example from above:

"Report," the CTO ordered, tapping his com badge.

[Aft shields are at 67 percent,] Cadet Elton said, his voice slightly strained.

"Can we reroute power from the secondary systems?" the CTO asked quickly. He looked at displays of his own on the arm consoles of his chair.

[Negative sir,] came the terse reply.

How do I reply to another post?

Just write a post as you would otherwise. If you reply directly to an email containing another post, be sure to delete the old post at the end of yours before you send it, so the message is not so large :-) It's good custom to 'snip' one or two paragraphs from the old post to give the readers a reminder of what was happening (for instance, repeat a question you are responding to). Also, remember to change the title to something fitting for the new post.