Welcome to the USS Excelsior E-mail sim. The USS Excelsior E-mail sim is a role playing game that is played via Internet e-mail. It is a cooperative story telling effort, where each participant (player) creates and controls one of the characters in the story. This Player Character (PC) then acts and lives in the game world environment. In this case, the setting is the 24th century, in the Star Trek universe. The timeline is that of The Next Generation and the more current Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

 If you are familiar with role playing games, then you understand the processes involved in creating a character for a game. In a traditional role playing game, there are sets of rules that govern what abilities and characteristics your character possesses. In the USS Excelsior E-mail sim, your character biography serves this purpose. It will explain key points about your character so that the other players can visualize and interact with you correctly when they write their parts of the story. In a way, this simplifies the process, as you do not need to read complicated role playing manuals to figure out how to create your character. You simply have to put pen to paper, and let your imagination paint a picture of who you will be in the Star Trek universe on board the USS Excelsior.

When creating a character for the USS Excelsior E-mail sim, there are a few guidelines that must be followed. Below will outline the entire process for the creation of a character for the USS Excelsior E-mail sim. 

 1.It should describe a little about yourself. Your experience with SIMs or role playing games, your likes, dislikes, other interests, etc. This will let the GM get to know you a little better in order to run a better SIM for everyone.

 2.It should describe the character you are thinking of playing. This can be very sketchy. It is just to give the GM an idea of what you are thinking of, so he can make suggestions, or point out any foreseen problems with the initial concept.

 3.It should describe the area in which you would like to be posted. Perhaps you want to be in Engineering, or maybe Science, or perhaps you want to be a Doctor. Your initial message should state your area of interest. Sometimes, certain positions will not be available and the GM will make a recommendation.

After receipt of your initial message, the GM will reply to you with suggestions, or changes, to your initial character sketch. Perhaps she/he'll add an idea you hadn't thought of, or explain why something in your concept won't fit into the SIM. Once the character concept has been ironed out, you will get the go ahead to write your full blown biography.

Writing a fictitious character biography can be great fun. In the USS Excelsior E-mail sim, you are not limited by hard coded rules from a fixed role playing system. You are left open to your imagination, and the confines of the Star Trek universe. Keep that in mind as you create a character. Think of what is real and possible in the Star Trek universe and what is not.

Your biography should (but does not need to) use the following outline.

Name:

Terran age:

Species:

Place of birth:

Languages:

Interests:

Education:

Service record:

Background:

Personality Profile:

Physical Profile:

Special notes:  

(If you wish to use a different outline, that is fine. However, this kind of information should be present)  

The following is a break down of each of the categories:  

Name: the full proper name of your character in Starfleet database records.

Terran age: the age of your character in Terran (Earth) years.

Species: What race your character will come from. Try to stick to basic races (Terran, Vulcan, Bajoran, Betazoid, Bolian, Andorian, Trill, Half-Klingon) ... if you want to play an obscure or risky race (e.g. an El-Aurian, a Romulan, a Benzite, etc.) please ask first.

Place of birth: where your character was born, place and planet. 

Languages: as a rule of thumb, Starfleet Academy forces you to take at least one alien language. The languages most commonly taught are from any species in the Federation of Planets. 

Interests: a list of activities, hobbies, sports, games your character enjoys while off duty.

Education: will always include Starfleet Academy (4 years). Possibly more. 

Service record: a listing, with dates of all positions and postings in Starfleet. The current gaming year is 2373.

Background: the factual life story of your character thus far. This is the main historical background on your character. Usually the longest part of the biography.

Personality profile: this section describes what your character acts like. This is an important section, as others will reference it when writing stories that involve interaction with your character.

Physical profile: this section will describe the characters appearance. It will include things like build, weight, height, skin color, eye color, etc.

Special notes: this section can contain any additional notes about your character that could be important in game play. If your character is a vegetarian, for example, you can put that information here if you didn't specify it in the Background or Personality profile sections. That would avoid having your character accidentally eating something they normally wouldn't while interacting with another character for example. Or perhaps your character is extremely beautiful, or has green eyes, or is completely bald. Anything you want to let the other players know about your character that hasn't been mentioned in the other sections is appropriate.

After you have written your character's biography, e-mail it to the GM so he/she can review it. After it has met with approval, you will be all set to begin.  

The GM will then subscribe you to the USS Excelsior's mailing list. Your bio will be put up on this web page, and you will be introduced to the game. After that, it's up to you to have fun and join in with the adventures on board the ship.

You should read through all of the Crew Bios on the website to familiarize yourself with the other characters that you will be interacting with. It is also a great way to get ideas on how to write a biography. It is a good idea to read through the last several Data Logs to get a feel for the style, and frequency of the other players posting into the game. That way you can get familiar with the characters (stars) of the SIM, and also come up to speed on the current story line.

Though not required, it is recommended that you have access to a Netscape Navigator compatible Internet web browser. The USS Excelsior website will be the central database depository for all of the SIM information. It will be a valuable reference 'bible' in your writings. With it you will have instant access to everyone's character biographies, the current e-mail addresses of all of the players, and a complete record of all the previous stories and posts through out the SIM.