E-mail sims differ from traditional online sims because all the action occurs in E-mail between crew members. Unlike other role-playing games, there is no system to determine your character's actions. The only limit to what your character can do is common sense, your creativity, and imagination! As you'll quickly find out, E-mail sims focus on character development, role-playing, and character interaction. Interactive storytelling by E-mail is a collaborative novel, but not quite. When working with others on a novel, everyone confers and agrees upon the overall characters, content and resolution of the tale.
We differ from novelists as a storytelling group in two specific ways. First, the story which we're writing is open-ended. It's full of surprises because we don't know what's around the bend. It may never have a conclusion as more threads are added, others dropped, and the players come and go over time. Second, within each given scenario, we don't collaborate in the normal sense. There is occasionally some direction when a major storyline is under way but in general we derive particular enjoyment from seeing what the other players will come up with next.
I can't really tell you how to go about creating a character. That's something the player has to do themselves. Plus they must feel comfortable with creating their own character in their own format. But I can tell you some pitfalls of character creation. Nothing kills a story like super powers. In a futuristic setting like ours, almost three centuries from now, all kinds of wonderful technologies and exotic life forms can be imagined. But the challenge of the story, and the source of drama, lies in weaknesses. For characters, add errors of judgement, personality flaws, the Achilles Heel that makes them vulnerable.
For technologies, don't go overboard. Don't use technology or character attributes to such excess that it gives unfair advantage, suffocates the story, or excludes dramatic possibilities. Challenge yourself to get out of the most difficult situations with the least gadgetry and with the greatest mortal limitations. Your readers will be more sympathetic and may yawn less at your entries.
Within your logs, you can use action of other crew members to help you tell your story. If your use of another character is minor, you probably don't need permission from the other person. However, if you extensively use the other character, or have any uncertainty as to what actions or words they would say in your log, please E-mail a DRAFT of the log to the other person and get permission and input, before sending it out to the entire crew. This kind of teamwork is very much encouraged and makes the E-mail sim a lot more fun.
Be sure to write your character's bio promptly, submitting it to the current commanding officer for position assignment. This does not need to be long or involved. In fact, it may only be the bare physical description of your character, with a little bit of background.
Also, you must read your mail at least twice a week and if you are in a position that is vital to the operation of you must be willing to write a minimum of once a week. If you will be taking a vacation or leave of absence, or for whatever reason cannot check your mail for any length of time, you must contact the Commanding officer to advise them of your absense. There are positions open for occasional writers, and they are welcome too, but to maintain continuity of plot line, if you are involved in a major storyline please see it through with frequent postings.
The focus of the USS Grail sim is not on promotions, but character developement, role-playing, and having fun! Thus, promotions will be given to characters, not necessarily the people behind the characters. For example, your character may not be the most efficient doctor. However, in pulling off this character, you may be the greatest simmer in cyberspace. Well don't expect your character to get promoted very quickly but you will get tons of commendations and comments for being such a good simmer!
Separate your paragraphs. Don't run ideas together. Stay on an event long enough to make it comprehensible. Use a spell-checker. Use a thesaurus to add variety to your writing without losing precisely what you mean to convey. Borrow methods from others. Look at how your favorite writers present their stories and try to emulate their style. Don't rush. Most important, have a clear idea of your objective within the entry and focus on achieving it (of course, sometimes a complete about face in the expected outcome makes for a more interesting story).
Naturally as a reader you may know things that your character couldn't possibly know. Keep the two separate, and avoid employing EXCEPTIONAL means to have your character learn something they shouldn't or to empower the character in some way that may be detrimental to the group. It's unfair to give your character the advantage of insights they might not otherwise have. Doing so could amount to super-status. Abuses of this can and should be met by rejection from the other players.
We want to know what's going on in the character's life. We want depth and motivation. Naturally, you don't want to tell all. You should keep the reader wondering about the subtleties, and where the story will go. But a character who doesn't share their personality, particularly their weaknesses, with the reader can't be identified with.
This is what everything boils down to: respect for other players, acknowledgement of their characters, and respect for the game. Cooperation is a must! The story takes precedence. Nurture it, feed it, protect it. If your ultimate concern is with the welfare of the group, then you can't go far wrong. As the outcasts Starfleet, we must stick together!
Written by Cpt. Karen Davies, Outpost 77
