USS Terra Nova Sim Manual

USS TERRA NOVA SIM MANUAL
Version 2.2

INTRODUCTION

I. TERRA NOVA OVERVIEW

- What is a PBEM sim?
- How does the Terra Nova PBEM sim work?
- What specifics about this sim should I know about before joining?
- What is the Terra Nova sim about?

II. JOINING THE SIM

- Applying to Join
- Character Creation: Overview
- Character Bio Template
- Character Creation: Things to Avoid
- Continued Character Development
- After Being Accepted

III. POSTING

- Email Listserver: Yahoo Groups
- Post Formatting

IV. WRITING IN THE TERRA NOVA PBEM SIM

- Overview of Writing in the Terra Nova PBEM Sim
- What is a GM and what do they do?
- Player Creativity and Using Sim Resources
- Character Interaction
- NPCs and CNPCs
- The Dos and Don’ts of sim writing

V. GLOSSERY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS

- PBEM terms and acronyms

VI. MISCELLANEOUS

- Useful on-site links
- Contact information
- Site Credits
- Version History

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Terra Nova PbeM Sim.

The USS Terra Nova is a role playing game that is played via email over the Internet. In this case, the setting is 2378, in the Star Trek universe. The timeline is set in the post-Deep Space 9/Voyager era, following the end of both television series. The stories take place in the Ryalli Sector, just beyond the farthest reaches of known Federation space.

This manual is intended as an in depth overview of PbeM simming as done in this sim. While it is designed with the new simmer in mind, it contains information and details specific to this sim. Experienced players might find it useful to browse through this manual to become familiar with the peculiarities of this particular sim.

Welcome and thank you for your interest.

I. TERRA NOVA OVERVIEW

What is a PBEM sim?
The word 'sim' is short for the word, simulation. Simulations were originally developed as management tools used to test possible outcomes of a decision-making process. Later, they became games in which players could ‘simulate’ environments, fantasy worlds and characters that could never exist in real life. Notable among these is Dungeons and Dragons, the pen and paper role-playing game by TSR (Now Wizards of the Coast). Some even played these games via post office mail, sending letters to one another to advance a story.

Once the Internet became more publicly accessible and popular in the late 80's and early 90's, simulations spread rapidly on the internet. Online services offering chat rooms became hosts to dozens of groups of people utilizing real time communication and the distance-eliminating properties of the Internet to simulate a wide variety of subjects.

The old play-by-mail sims (some of which still exist), long plagued with having to pay for postage and membership fees, made the move to the Internet as well, and Play-By-E-Mail, or PBeM, simming was born.

In short, the USS Terra Nova PbeM is a role playing game that is played via email over the Internet. 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. The stories take place in the farther reaches of known Federation space. The game is played without statistics (such as those in Dungeons and Dragons) and relies simply on the imaginations of the players to advance the story.

How does the Terra Nova PbeM sim work?
As mentioned previously, a PbeM sim is essentially a type of literary role-play. Players create characters, based on what positions are available, then write story posts to illustrate how that character lives and reacts to the fictional world he or she inhabits. The posts are e-mailed to an e-mail listserver which then e-mails the posts to all of the players in the sim.

The sim itself takes place in a region of space known as the Ryalli Sector. Characters are likely to be stationed on a space station or ship in the sector, each in a place that can affect the outcome of the story.

A Game Master (GM) directs the game, either through story posts that introduce plot elements that players can build on, or through individual directives, e-mailed to each player separately. Players react to the story posts or the directives in their own ways, based on the character personalities and backgrounds they’ve created for their character, often taking the storyline into different directions.

Players build on each other’s story posts, using their own imaginations and creativity to create a continuous story that is original, imaginative and entertaining to read.

More information on creating characters, how the e-mail listservers work, writing story posts, and what the GM does can all be found in other sections of this manual.

What specifics about this sim should I know about before joining?
The following are things that players should be aware of before joining the Terra Nova PbeM.

Extensive knowledge of the Star Trek universe is not required, though it can be helpful. Players should at least have some familiarity with the shows, as the game is set in the same universe.
This sim is rated PG-13. Players are encouraged not to be overly graphic in descriptions of violence and to keep references to sex to a minimum, though both subject matters may be used if a player wishes. There is very little foul language in the Star Trek series'. To honor this tradition, players are also asked to use swearing sparingly.
Players are expected to write an addition to the story using their character at least once a week. Writing more often than this is strongly recommended. Since we are a small sim, this is a very important requirement as it helps keep the sim active. If a player is unable to post to the game because of vacations, or final exams, etc. just let the GM know, (and the rest of the sim group) with an Out of Character message addressed to the OOC email address ahead of time.
Since the Terra Nova is a literary sim, players are expected to write most posts in narrative form. The narrative form is the one commonly used for exposition and dialog in fiction novels. Some other methods, such as writing a story post in the form of a personal log are also fine.
All story posts in the Terra Nova PbeM are moderated. What this means is that the GM and AGM will review all posts before they are sent out to players. This allows the GMs to preserve continuity in the sim. This may include minor changes to preserve continuity. Major revisions will be referred back to the player to do themselves. Please note that the vast majority of posts go through with no changes at all.

If none of these are an issue, this sim might just be for you.

What is the Terra Nova Sim about?
The Terra Nova PBEM sim, which takes place in early 2378, follows the exploits of the Defiant class variant USS Terra Nova and her escorts. The USS Terra Nova was built shortly after the end of the Dominion War and was refit for use as a short range exploration vessel. Despite the limitations of the class for this purpose, the Terra Nova was assigned to the distant Ryalli Sector to help explore a completely unknown region of space. Based from Liberty Station on the planet Gideon, the Terra Nova’s mission is much the same as her more notable predecessors, “To boldly go where no one has gone before.” Together with other ships in the sector, she is boldly trying to achieve that goal.

II. JOINING THE SIM

Applying to Join
Before creating a character for the USS Terra Nova E-mail sim, potential players should send the GM an e-mail message at (officer540@yahoo.com) to express their interest. The message should cover three things:

The message should describe a little about the player; their experience with sims or role playing games, likes, dislikes, other interests, etc. This will help the GM get to know the potential player to better know if they will be a good fit for the Terra Nova.
The message should describe the character the potential player is thinking of playing. This does not have to be a detailed character sketch. It is simply intended to give the GM an idea of what type of character the player is thinking of, so he can make suggestions, or point out any foreseen problems with the initial concept. Characters should stay within the realms of the Canon Star Trek Universe. More detailed information on character development is discussed below.
The message should describe the position the player would like to fill (Chief Tactical Officer, etc.). The initial message should contain the players areas of interest. Sometimes, certain positions will not be available and the GM will make an alternate recommendation. The Terra Nova sim is usually open to new players, though we have a player limit of around 15.

After receipt of a potential player’s application message, the GM will reply via e-mail with suggestions or changes to the initial character sketch. This may include ideas to help the character better fit in the sim, or an explanation why something in the character sketch will not work.

Once the character concept has been ironed out, the player will get the go ahead to write the character’s detailed biography. After the character's biography is written, it should be submitted to the GM for final approval. Details of what to do after being accepted can be found in the After Being Accepted section.

Character Creation: Overview
The next step in character creation is in creating a biography. In a traditional role playing game there are sets of rules and statistics that govern what abilities and characteristics a character possesses.

In the USS Terra Nova E-mail sim, the character biography serves this purpose. It explains key points about a character’s life and personality so that other players can visualize and interact with the character correctly when they write their parts of the story. In a way, this simplifies the process, as players do not need to read role playing manuals to figure out how to play their character. It is simply a matter of putting pen to paper, and letting one’s imagination paint a picture of who a character is in the Star Trek universe on board the USS Terra Nova.

Writing a fictitious character biography can be great fun. In the USS Terra Nova E-mail sim, players are not limited by hard coded rules from a fixed role playing system. Instead, they are left open to their imaginations, and the confines of the Star Trek universe.

Before creating your character, it would be wise to review the Terra Nova web site, most notably the mission synopsis. There are a few unique qualities to this sim. Most characters will have been stationed in the Ryalli Sector for a while, perhaps serving on Liberty Station. When creating a biography, please keep this in mind. Also try to keep dates as accurate as possible. The current gaming year is 2378.

The Character Bio Template with descriptions of the categories is below. The Template gives an in depth overview of each of the elements used in character creation.

Character Bio Template
The following is a list with explanations of the categories on the Character Bios used in the Terra Nova sim. For examples of this template being used, visit the Vessel's page and view the bios on the manifests.

Name: This is the full proper name of the character as it would be in Starfleet's database records. A character's name should try to reflect the race and heritage of the character as much as possible. For example, a Vulcan’s name would most likely be Vulcan in origin. Likewise, there are not many Trills and Bajorans named John Smith. In addition, it is wise to keep a character’s name from being too complex, to keep other players from having difficulties trying to spell it.

Age: This is the age of the character in Terran (Earth) years. When designing a character, age is an important factor. It can help determine the experience and maturity level of a character. For example, if a character is a commissioned officer, he would have attended Starfleet Academy for four years, although this may be longer for characters taking command and medical courses. Most cadets enter the Academy at the age of 18. This means that the average commissioned Ensign would be at least 22 or 23 years old. If a character opted instead to enlist as a noncommissioned rating and not go through the Academy, he/she may have only received one or two years of basic training in his/her field.

Species: This is the race a character belongs to. Players should try to stick to basic Alpha and Beta Quadrant races when developing a character (Terran, Vulcan, Bajoran, Betazoid, Bolian, Andorian, Trill, Bajoran). If a player wishes to play an obscure or risky race (e.g. an El-Aurian, a Benzite, etc.) they should contact the GM before proceeding. Likewise, races from quadrants other than Alpha and Beta do not fit in with the continuity of the sim and will generally not be accepted. If you are extremely interested playing such a race, talk to the GM.

Place of birth: This is where a character was born, place and planet.

Height & Weight: This is the height and weight of a character in feet and pounds, respectively.

Languages: This is a list of the languages a character speaks. As a rule of thumb, Starfleet Academy requires students to take at least one non-standard language. The languages most commonly taught at the Academy are from member planets of the Federation. All Starfleet personnel speak Federation Standard, which is essentially basic English.

Interests: This should contain a list of activities, hobbies, sports, or games a character enjoys while off duty. This can range from painting, to philosophy, to going skydiving on the holodeck.

Education: This is a list of any formal education a character has received in his life. It can include childhood education, but that is extra and not required. If a character is a member of Starfleet, this list should contain a list (with dates) of how much education they received. If a character is commissioned, he or she would have attended Starfleet Academy for at least four years and most likely majored in a subject relevant to their current position.

If a character attended command school at the Academy, an extra two years should be added to the previous four years. If a character attended Starfleet Medical, they will have had two years of standard training at the Academy, and six years of medical education. With eight total years of education, their character should not be any younger than 26.

Counselors require an additional two years of education in addition to the four years received at the Academy. Keep in mind that counselors and medical officers must also complete one additional year of internship aboard a Starfleet vessel or outpost.

If a character is enlisted, he or she would not have attended the Academy, but would have instead received one to two years of basic training in a subject relevant to their current position. In addition, in most cases, it is recommended that a character not graduate within the top ten percent of your class. With as large as the Academy is, it is highly unlikely one ship would receive so many top graduates.

Rank: This is a character's rank. Most players will join the sim at a rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade or lower.

Duty Position: This is the duty position a character fills at their assigned location. Examples of duty posts include: "Science Officer," "Chief Nurse," and "Assistant Chief Engineer. Players should have already reached an agreement with the GM on what this will be before reaching this point.

Service record: This is a listing, with dates of all positions and postings in a character's Starfleet career. It can include a character’s cadet cruise.

Background: A character's background is the factual life story of a character thus far. This is the main historical background on a character and usually the longest part of the biography. It is the most important aspect of a character’s biography as it lets the GM and other players know the life history and experience of a character.

A character’s background should be in-depth and give a good picture of what types of situations a character has been through, and what type of effect it would have on him or her today. It is good idea to include important situations during childhood. Other areas that are good to comment on are: what made them want to join Starfleet, what life was like for them at the Academy, and what their previous positions were before heading to a duty position in the Ryalli Sector.

Many players like to write the background as a sort of military biography. If you need ideas of how to do this, reading the bios of other characters on the manifest pages could provide some ideas of how to go about it.

Personality profile: This section describes a character’s personality. Players often reference this section when writing stories that involve interaction with another player’s character. Typically, this area is good for listing the strengths and weaknesses of a character. Both are equally important. Having a developed character with both positives and negatives provides substance and detail to them. Nobody is perfect. Imperfection makes characters interesting. In addition, having weaknesses, fears, etc. provides a player with future material to develop and explore. After all, what fun would it be if everyone was perfect?

Physical profile: This is a description of the character's appearance. It should include things like build, weight, height, skin color, eye color, etc.

Special notes: The Special Notes section is used for additional notes about a character that could be important in game play. These may include family members (living or dead), medical items (For example, a character may have suffered Post traumatic Stress after the Dominion War), or other personal traits.

If a character is a vegetarian, for example, this information may be placed here if it wasn't specified in the Background or Personality profile sections. In this example, it might help other players avoid having this character eating something they normally wouldn't eat. Perhaps the character is extremely beautiful, or has green eyes, or is completely bald. Anything needed to let the other players know about a character that hasn't been mentioned in the other sections is appropriate for placement here.

Character Creation: Things to Avoid
Before creating a character, players should be aware of things to avoid in character creation. The items listed below include common pitfalls and items generally to be avoided in this sim.

Unsuitable Races – Because of the story-line of the Terra Nova sim and the goals of its creators, certain races are not suitable for play in this sim. This is because they either would not fit continuity, (how did the race get from that Quadrant?) or they are overpowered and would upset game balance. These include members of the Q Continuum, the Borg, all races from the Delta Quadrant and most races from the Gamma Quadrant. If a player wishes to play one of these, they should run it by the GM. Keep in mind that generally none of these are accepted.

Superhero Syndrome -- Superhero syndrome occurs when a player creates a character that is unrealistic or overpowered. This primarily occurs in the character biography or while writing in the sim itself. Superhero Syndrome can range from making your character a race that is not acceptable, such as a Q, or other omnipotent being, to making your character super intelligent, or super strong with no equal down sides for those attributes. When involved in writing, this can include having your character try to quickly and effortlessly solve every problem or situation. Superhero Syndrome severely inhibits gameplay and can disrupt or destroy entire story-lines.

A good way to avoid Superhero Syndrome is by trying to balance out a character’s positives and negatives, and by avoiding extremes with either. For example: On the positive side, a character might be a math genius, but on the negative side, he is socially inept and often offends people around him by his insensitivity. Or alternately, a character may be an excellent engineer, but has a brother who hates his guts.

Of course, any balancing that is done, must be played as well, so taking the middle of the road, without making a character that is super anything is the best way to avoid the Superhero trap. The GM will also help players avoid Superhero Syndrome when their character is first submitted.

Unlikely backgrounds – One thing that happens when characters are created is that players try to think up unique backgrounds, sometimes extremely unlikely ones, such as: having had an encounter with Q, being a time traveler, being directly related to someone on one of the television series, a former drone rescued from the Borg, etc.

While these backgrounds might seem unique, if all players used background elements such as these, there would be ships full of extraordinarily unlikely people. Most Starfleet personnel have lived normal existences and the vast majority stationed on most ships will have too. It is probably best to strive to create a character that is a normal Joe. This doesn’t preclude strange or unique things from happening to them later on.

This also isn’t to say that all unlikely backgrounds will be sent back for revision by the GM, just keep in mind that they might be.

Continued Character Development
Once a character’s biography has been created and been accepted into the sim, it doesn't mean a player will never deal with it again. Many players like to go back after a while and revise their bio and add to it with recent events and relationships that have occurred to the character. In addition players might simply have fleshed out the character's background over time. Remember, characters, like people, can change over time.

Rank and promotions within the sim are based on performance and participation. The more active a player is and the more quality logs they post, the more likely it is their character will be promoted.

After Being Accepted
After a player has written a character's biography and has been accepted into the sim, the GM will then subscribe the player to the USS Terra Nova's listservers (Yahoo Groups), a tool that allows for the distribution of email to all members. The character’s bio will be put up on this web page, and the player will be introduced to the game. After that, it's up to the player to have fun and join in with the adventures on board the ship.

IMPORTANT ADVICE TO ALL PLAYERS: All new players to this sim should read through all (or most) of the Mission Synopsis on the web site to better familiarize themselves with the sim’s story line. Other important pages to read are the Racial Profile page, which contains information on the unique races a player may encounter in this sim, and the NPC (non player character) Bio page, which contains in game established information about various commonly used NPCs. (For more information on NPCs, see the NPCs and CNPC section.)

Players are also advised to read the various PC (Player Character) Crew Bios on the web site to familiarize themselves with the other characters that they will be interacting with. It is also 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, a player can become familiar with the characters of the sim, and get up to speed on the current story line.

The USS Terra Nova's web site is the central database for all sim information and will be a valuable reference guide in a player’s writings. With it players have instant access to character biographies, and mission synopsis, Racial profiles of sector races and other Terra Nova specific game information.

III. POSTING

Posting to the sim: Yahoo Groups
The Terra Nova sim uses Yahoo groups as its listserver for In Character (IC) and Out of Character (OOC) posting. We have separate groups for each one. Upon joining the sim, a player’s e-mail address will be added to the groups. E-mail sent to the Group is then forwarded to every player on the mailing list.

The player will receive a "Welcome" message upon joining directly from Yahoo Groups telling about the group, and how to turn on and off your email there in case you leave town for an extended period of time. If you need to have your email address changed, or a new one added to the list, you need to email the administrators at officer540@yahoo.com.

When posting an IC (in character) story post to the USS Terra Nova email sim, it should be sent to the following address: USSTerraNova@yahoogroups.com

When posting an OOC (Out of Character) post to the USS Terra Nova e-mail sim, it should be sent to the following address: TerraNovaooc@yahoogroups.com

The email list servers will then mail out copies of the post to everyone in the group (including the sender) within a few hours. OOC post will be sent immediately. Story posts are moderated and may take a day or two before the GM can put them through. If, for some reason, you do not receive a copy of your story in a day or two go ahead and send it again. The GM will only post it once.

One other important note about the Terra Nova’s list server is that all story posts going back to the beginning of the sim, are stored on-line on the Yahoo groups web site. In this case, it is at the Terra Nova’s Group at Yahoo groups. If for some reason a player did not receive some of the story posts, they may be read at the web site: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/ussterranova

IMPORTANT NOTE: Players are expected to write an addition to the story using their character at least once a week. More often is strongly recommended. If a player is unable to post to the game because of vacations, or final exams, etc. just let the GM know, (and the rest of the sim group) with an Out of Character message addressed to the OOC email address ahead of time.

Post Formatting
When posting new story entries or logs to the sim group, please adhere to the following posting guidelines. These guidelines help preserve continuity and make ready story posts easier for the average reader.

Post in character (IC) posts and out of Character (OOC) posts to the correct addresses. The Terra Nova uses two separate groups for IC and OOC posting. If the message is "in character" and intended to be part of the story, it should be sent to USSTerraNova@yahoogroups.com. If it is an out of character post it should be sent to OOCTerraNova@yahoogroups.com.

The Subject line of a story post should contain the title of the post. Ex.: "Into the Frying Pan."

Other information that occasionally might be included in the subject line after the title are: "Proxy Post" - meaning that one player is posting a log that was written by another. "Joint Post" - Meaning that 2 or more players collaborated on the post.

Try to follow the standard format we use for log headers. The header is the portion within the text of the e-mail before the actual text of the story that explains the details of the post. The header should contain the following information: Rank and Name of the character, duty position, ship they are on, and title of the post. For example:

Ensign Jonathan Treblecki
Engineering officer
USS Hawaii
"Out of the Frying Pan"

After the header, location and date information should be given. This should be used whenever there is a significant change in time during a post. Dates are Earth standard (Stardates are too complex to use reliably) and time is military. An Example:

[Bridge, Deck 1, USS Hawaii]
[May 5, 2378 - 2100 hours]

When writing your log, please follow standard internet writing format; no indentations at the beginning of paragraphs and a line break in between paragraphs. Dialog should be in the narrative style.

Example:
"Mr. Kursk," the Captain said, his fingers flexing absently as he looked over from his chair, "Confirm. Does the escape pod you scanned earlier have a power reading?"

Timothy Kursk's eyes narrowed as he reviewed the sensor data, "Yes Sir. It’s very faint. The computer dismissed it as background radiation I think. The gasses in this nebula are making sensors unreliable."

"Can you determine what sort of power source it is?"

There was a long pause before Kursk answered, "The computer has a match. It's an atomic battery. Low power with an extremely long power life. This type of battery was not standard for Constitution class escape pods. The standard battery was designed to last a few years at most. This one isn't strong enough to sustain life support or even a comm beacon. I'm not sure what it's for. It's not powering the pod's systems."

It is strongly recommended that players spell check all story logs before sending them to the group.

IV. WRITING IN THE TERRA NOVA PBEM SIM

Overview of Writing in the Terra Nova PBEM Sim
The Terra Nova PbeM Sim is essentially is an extremely long work of fiction, written by multiple authors. It is a role-playing game where players write out the actions of their character based on what the circumstances might be.

In a true live action role playing game, all of the players get together to participate in a fantasy game, and one person, the Game Manager (GM) takes on the role of referee. The GM oversees who goes when, and what is allowed and not allowed.

In the Terra Nova Sim, GMs help move along the story, introducing plot points with their story posts or through individual directive sent to players directly. The GMs also read all posts before they are sent through to all players to preserve continuity if possible, but most posts are sent through unchanged.

For the most part, the burden of what is allowed and not allowed is mostly shifted to each of the players. When you post your creative writing effort, and submit your story to the sim group by clicking on the "send" button of your mailer, YOU are the GM at that point. The creative effort a player makes will impact the outcome of the story. E-mail sims offer wide opportunity to write creatively and imaginatively. So long as players respect other players and try to remain somewhat faithful to the direction of the story and the scope of the region of space the characters inhabit, very little is limited.

It is wise to keep a few things in mind when writing, however:

"Given my character's biography and established game play thus far, would my character do this?"

"Given the Star Trek universe in which we are gaming in, would this possibly happen?"

"Will this entry greatly affect another player's character, or disrupt a storyline they are currently pursuing?"

"Have I used this player's character in a way that is consistent with their biography and established game play?"

"Will my post in any way alter the Star Trek universe in which we are gaming in?"

These and other aspects of sim writing continue in the sections below.

What is a GM and what do they do?
The GM (Short for Game Master) is a PbeM sim’s director. The GM maintains the website, recruits new players and does the administrative portion of maintaining a sim. The main role of a GM, however, is to create and guide the story lines that the players follow in the game. GMs do this in two ways.

The first is with elements introduced in story posts. The GM might use his own character to introduce plot points, or might post from perspectives of NPCS. These story posts help to influence the direction of the story.

An example of this might be a story post from the point of view of an NPC (Non Player Character) who smuggles a rare illegal spider on board. The spider escapes and starts biting people who then become sick.

From there, it is up to the players to follow up on the elements the GM introduces. The possibilities are endless. Players could choose to have their character get bitten, or have their character accidentally step on the spider or perhaps even find that the spider has laid eggs and now there are millions of them around. The GM introduces the elements and the players build on them.

The second method is through specific directives e-mailed to individual players to have them introduce pieces of the story in their own way.

An example might be sending a message to the player of the Tactical Officer explaining that he/she is picking up a warp trail shadow to the aft of the ship. Or telling the Doctor that when he/she examines a particular alien's injuries, he/she discovers the alien will die if not brought immediately to the ship. Then, in these players' upcoming sim entries, they can present the information any way they like.

Both of these methods are used in this sim, and both allow plenty of creative license within sim entries, so long as the storyline is adhered to and players respect each other’s characters.

Player Creativity and Using Sim Resources
The soul of a sim is player creativity. Sims live and breath on how well players build on the basic stories a GM introduces. The Terra Nova is no exception. While the GM might introduce the story, it is up to the players and their creativity to take it to completion.

For example, the GM tells a player that while his character is on an away team, he stumbles upon an alien hiding in the brush. The alien is armed.

The player then begins to write a post. Yet, instead of simply parroting the GM’s suggestion directly, the player has a great deal of freedom in how that new plot element is presented. Does the character panic and shoot at the alien, perhaps sparking a firefight? Does the character greet the alien? Maybe he even accidentally insults the alien’s mother because the Universal Translator gets the words wrong. The possibilities are endless and are limited only by a player’s imagination.

A strong word of warning, however, players should avoid having their characters take actions that might break the plot.

For example, a character is on a ship lost in the delta quadrant, manning tactical. The GM tells the player that he will see a ship approaching. The player then writes a post that has the character see a fleet of Romulan warbirds decloaking, and receive a message that accuses the ship of violating the neutral zone.

Naturally, this would break the plot of the ship being lost in the Delta Quadrent, as the Romulan space is in the Beta Quadrent. Sometimes this can happen simply through being uninformed about the nature of the sim.

To prevent this sort of thing, the Terra Nova sim has a web site. The web site contains extensive information about the sim, from mission synopsis, to character bios, to racial profiles of races in the region of space the Terra Nova is based in. These resources provide players with a wealth of information they can use to help their posts maintain the continuity of the sim.

For example, a player’s character is stationed on Gideon IV, home of the Yetanni. The GM tells him that a Yetanni female will run up to him and ask for help combating a fire. The player then writes a post in which the character meets the Yetanni female and admires her long red hair.

Unfortunately, this post would have problems written this way. If the player had read the Yetanni profile, they would have learned that the Yetanni are animalian species, with six limbs and short fur instead of hair.

The resources provided on the website can go a long way to helping players maintain continuity. At the same time, all resources, such as racial profiles contain details that were established within story posts. What this means is that if it is not in the profile, players are welcome, (within reason) to build upon it and add details. Whatever a player adds will be added to the site for future reference.

The bottom line: players should use their creativity. Don’t be afraid to innovate and be imaginative, but also don’t be afraid to use the resources that are already there.

Character Interaction
Like all shows on TV (not just Star Trek!) it is not a good practice to kill off the stars of the show. Since the other player characters are the stars, players must be careful with characters that belong to other players.

One thing to look out for when using another player's character (star) in a story post, is how such use will affect that character. If the use of the character is only minor, and doesn't really affect it developmentally, then the use is probably okay. But if the use of the character is extensive and might affect the character deeply, it is wise to send a copy of the intended post to the player before sending it to the whole group.

For example, Joe writes a post that has Jim’s character suffer major burns in a fire. Jim didn’t OK it and gets upset that now he has to play out something that another player forced on his character.

Showing courtesy to other players helps avoid getting someone annoyed at you. It also helps to be familiar with the other character’s biography when using it. Doing this can avert situations where a person’s character is made to do something they would never do.

The only exception to this is in GM posts. GM’s may occasionally have things occur to other characters. This might be to advance the story, or to introduce conflict. It is up to the players then to resolve it.

Stories that require a lot of dialogue between two player characters (PCs) are best handled in a cooperative effort. One player will write out the story, with dialogue for their character and the other pc, and then mail it to the other player for review and/or revision. When they both agree on the final story, it is posted to the rest of the sim group as an official entry. This kind of cooperation, often called a joint post, is encouraged.

An alternative way of doing a dialogue sequences between two players is to connect with another player through an instant messaging (IM) client and co-operatively write the post in real time. This is an excellent method for posts containing large amounts of dialog. Unfortunately, not all players will be able to do this.

In a side note, because of the gaming timeline is that of the current Star Trek period, the players may occasionally get to interact with "Canon" Star Trek characters in the sim. When this happens, it is important to treat them as "special guest stars" and also not to hurt or change their established characters in any way that would cause inconsistencies when future Star Trek movies come out.

NPCs and CNPCs
The Terra Nova like many sims, is not large enough to fill every position that might occur on a starship. This would require hundreds of players, and a GM staff of dozen. Since this would be impractical, much of the crew on sim starships are NPCs, Non Player Characters.

NPC’s are characters which might have a name and even a background, but are not directly controlled or played by any one player. Most are faceless, the people that are assumed to behind the scenes, doing maintenance, cleaning the toilets, etc. Players often use NPCs in their writing, whether it is to lead a security team to fight against intruders, or an away team to an alien planet.

On larger ships in the sim, such as Liberty Station or the USS Furious, players can feel free to create any new supporting characters required. On the website under individual ship Manifests on the Vessels page, there are complete crew manifest listings that include all NPCs for the sim as they are created. They are listed by position and by department to hopefully make it easier to quickly "grab" a couple of officers from whatever department is needed. It’s probably wisest to use established NPCs if a lot of them already exist.

On a smaller ship, such as the Terra Nova, all positions on the ship have had NPCs created for them. Adding to the crew on the Terra Nova is not allowed. In fact, many of the NPCs have backgrounds and personalities that have developed over time. To help with NPC’s on the Terra Nova, an NPC bio list has been created, containing basic biographical information about NPCs on the Terra Nova that have been established in story posts. It can be found on the Vessels page on the website.

Players are welcome to use these NPCs and build on them as they see fit.

Unlike the "stars" of the sim, NPCs can be killed. Doing this is not really advised unless you are the player who most often uses them. Killing off NPCs should be done extremely sparingly and only for good reasons. This is to avoid the “red shirted ensign” problem that occurred on the original Star Trek series.

Recently, a new concept has been introduced to NPC development, the CNPC (Controlled Non Player Character). The CNPC is an NPC that over time has been extensively developed and interacted with. These characters have been featured in numerous logs and in many aspects can be as developed and 'real' as PC characters. Often, the creator of a CNPC has plans for the character. It is recommended that if a player wishes to extensively use a CNPC, they first get permission from its creator.

If you have created a CNPC that you would like listed on the website along with other crewmembers, please write up a brief biography and send it to officer540@yahoo.com.

The Dos and Don’ts of sim writing

The Do’s - Here are some simple guidelines of what to strive for when writing a log.

Write in such a way that you portray a real person, with emotions, habits, weaknesses, a past, and one who may make mistakes and is just trying to live by their beliefs to the best of their ability.
Have fun writing your logs.
Write so that others have fun reading your logs.
Keep true to your biography, but don't be constrained by it.

Ideas presented in-character are always a good way to get involved in the main plot, suggestions for improvements or secondary approaches directed towards a character’s superior officer gets visibility which may in turn generate an assignment for the character to do something that could even become critical to the plot. Character interaction and joint logs can also be a great way to get involved too.

If you feel your character is always being left out of the main plot, talk to the GM about it, they can suggest ways to get more involved or may even be able to focus the next plot on your character or department. Keep in mind however, if a player does not actively participate, the GM will be hesitant to give them a leading role in a storyline.

Despite the best effort of your GM, he/she may not be able to create a plot which will actively include every member of the sim at all times.

In a situation in which you are not highly involved in the sim, create a sub-plot, recurring ones are best. Some suggested sub-plots include: romance, ask a fellow crew member to share a holodeck program with you; rivalry, use the holodeck or challenge someone to a game of darts in the lounge; party, (it is always good to get people to interact) throw a surprise birthday party for another character. There are numerous other types of sub-plots. Some that may require approval from the GM are: recurring villain NPC, recurring technical/mechanical problem, or maybe even an outbreak of the flu.

Examples - "The Dos":
Example #1: Be imaginative, add to the plot
Say you are on an away mission but you are just one of the little guys (a junior science officer), you can make an open ended post that you find a plant that should not be native to this planet, and is only known to exist five sectors away.

This gives your GM the opportunity to feed your idea into the main plot which involves a medical quarantine of part of the planet or opens up a possible sub-plot for other simmers to exploit.

Example #2: Cooperate
You're patrolling near the DMZ for Maquis raiders. Nothing much is happening, and as the helmsman you're dying for some action.

The BEST course of action would be to talk to the players most likely to be involved if a Maquis ship attacked a convoy or such - the senior officer on the bridge and the tactical officer - as well as the GM, then work out a joint post between the people.

You might end up having a log in which the tactical officer receives a distress call and that the CO orders helm to head to the ship in distress at maximum warp, and the "blessing" of the GM to post the log. You might be told no, but again, by doing this, you have gotten more than yourself involved in the plot.

The Don'ts - Here are some simple guidelines of what to avoid when writing a log.

Don't try to solve the "problem of the day" by yourself in one post.
Don't assume to know how another player's character would react to big events.
Don't drastically upset the storyline by adding random elements.
Don't make character changing decisions for other players

Examples - "The Don'ts":
Example #1: Keep it believable
Your mission is to explore ancient ruins on a desolate planet. As you explore the planet, the GM posts that there are Klingons with disrupters nearby. You get into a battle with them and everyone on the away team is killed but you. You survived and killed all the Klingons because you had a personal shield you invented in your spare time and hid on your belt.

Some of the simple and hopefully more obvious things that should not be done include: killing or seriously harming a player’s character without that player's prior permission, altering the main plot by adding elements that are out of place, solving the main plot by yourslef in a miraculous manner, writing a log that locks other players into a set course of action without their or the GM's permission, or writing a log that makes a character look like a superhero.

The single biggest mistake simmers make is often related to the Superhero Syndrome. This is when a simmer has their character do something amazing or unrealistic that is beyond good etiquette. This is regardless of whether or not it is feasible or within the characters biography. Examples of the more subtle forms of this are better than a description. But here are some of the more obvious cases: a character single handedly disables 10 Jem'Hadar with only a penknife; you prevent a star from going supernova using the Bussard Ramscoops in 20 minutes; or you solve the plot in a single post.

Remember, don't do everything, simming is based on interaction with others, not on showing off or one-upmanship.

Don't spend excessive amounts of time writing about the universe your character lives in. And the object is not to out do the other simmers with what ideas you can create. For example, in a Star Trek sim; a transwarp teleporter, that can teleport anywhere in the galaxy wouldn't be very fun would it? What would be the purpose of spaceships? Keep it believable.

Also remember that all posts have repercussions for the rest of the crew and ship. Taking the warp core offline for a level 1 diagnostic in the middle of a battle is not a very good idea, nor is running a security drill in the middle of a party being held onboard.

Example #2: Don’t Over-reach
Your current mission is to protect a sector from some raiding pirates and you're the assistant flight control officer. You post that while on duty you detect a large deposit of metal on a remote moon. You steer the ship over to see what it is and find the pirate's secret base. Your post then goes on to have the ops officer hail the pirates and tell them to surrender. They do.

This is a prime example of Superhero Syndrome, which was mentioned above and should be avoided at all costs. The same idea applies here - while TV shows mostly do this sort of thing due to time constraints, e-mail has all the time in the world. When analyzing the above actions it is clear that there are a lot of plot problems - for one, the helm doesn't do scanning for metals, science, tactical, or operations does. Second, if the player had the captain order them to pilot to the base, and if they had the Ops officer hail them, one the cardinal rules of e-mail simming has been broken, which are NEVER undermine the CO or overuse another person's character without his/her permission. Finally, pirates would not surrender that easily.

It's definitely a fine line that is tread when it comes to plot lines. When in doubt, stick to what is known and what can be done at your character’s post or in their current situation. Alternately, ask the GM. Tell him/her what you were thinking about sending. You might just happen to have a better idea than what they had and might let you go ahead and post, or they might be able to sit down and explain why that post wouldn't fit in. Either way, it's a lot better than posting it and then having the GM sending the post back to you for revision.

In this area, it is always a good thing to keep in mind the Golden Rule, if you would not want another player to make the post you are about to make, then you shouldn't make it. Remember, the GM may do some of these things from time to time, but he/she is doing it for good reason (discipline, plot development, etc.) and that does not mean that players should reciprocate.

V. GLOSSARY OF TERRA NOVA PBEM TERMS AND ACRONYMS

The following are a few common terms that might come up in this manual or while playing in the sim.

AGM - Short for Assistant Game Master. The AGM is an assistant to the Game Master. He or she assists the GM in running the sim. The roles the AGM takes depends on the sim.

CNPC - Short for Controlled Non-Player Character Plus. CNPC's are more developed NPC's which often are the result of the work of one or more simmers. These characters have been featured in numerous logs and in many aspects can be as developed and 'real' as PC characters. Often at times, the creator of a CNPC has plans for the character. It is recommended that if you wish to extensively use an CNPC, you first touch bases with its creator.

GM - Short for the term Game Master. The GM is the person directly in charge of the sim. They work to keep the sim running, plan new storylines, admit players, advertise the sim, and keep up the website.

Joint post – A story post that is a collaborative effort of two or more players.

NPC - Short for Non-Player Character. NPC's are the backbone of the simulation. They are the various background characters in the sim that can be created at will and controlled by any simmers. NPCs can range from being other crewmembers, to family, to friends, and to enemies.

NRPG - Short for Not Role-playing Game. This is the same as OOC and can be used instead.

OOC - Short for Out of Character. This is used to denote an area where information that is not part of the actual story is. Also used in the Subject lines of an email to show that the email is information, not a contribution to the actual story. In the Terra Nova there is a separate board for ooc posts. Any ooc messages included with a story post should be placed at the bottom.

PbeM – Short for Play by E-mail. This refers to a simulation game that is played via e-mail. See Part I for a more detailed explanation of PbeMs.

PC - Short for Player Character. Every member of the sim controls one PC, which is their primary character for development and interaction in the game.

RPG - Short for Role-playing Game. At times, in a message or log, this can be used to show where the actual story starts should there be other information in the email.

Simming – Simming refers to the process of participating in a sim.

Story Log – See Story Post.

Story Post – A story post is a player’s story log, containing the story as it occurs to the character during a particular moment of the game. Players e-mail these to the Story group to me mailed to all the sim’s players. It is also know as Story Log

Superhero Syndrome – Superhero Syndrome refers to behavior in which a player attempts to have his or her character act in a superhuman fashion. This may be displayed by having a character who always knows the solution to every problem, routinely does things that would be impossible for most people, solves the plot in one post, etc. Superhero Syndrome severely and negatively affects gameplay and should be avoided.

Terra Nova – The Terra Nova is the name of the sim. It is named after a Defiant Class starship of the same name.

Yahoo Groups – Yahoo groups is the e-mail listserver that the Terra Nova uses to send out e-mail to all players. Yahoo groups has the nice feature of being available for online viewing through the Yahoo groups website.

VI. MISCELLAMEOUS

Useful on-site links

Commander Mulenga Banda bio – This is a good example of a character bio.

Missions page – This page contains short synopsis of all of the missions in the Terra Nova sim so far.

Racial Profiles Page - Contains detailed profiles all the sim specific races in the sim. The profiles are based on in game revelations and are updated as information is revealed.

Sector Map – This is map of the Ryalli sector.

Terra Nova OOC Achive (Yahoo) – This is the yahoo group to which OOC e-mails are sent. The group automatically send the posts to other players. This is a good site to visit if you wish to review past OOC posts. Please note that you must be a member of the group with a valid yahoo account to see this archive.

Terra Nova Story Achive (Yahoo) – This is the yahoo group to which story entries are sent. The group automatically send the posts to other players. This is a good site to visit if you wish to review past posts.

Universe History Page – This is a short history of the Star trek universe, with sim specific items in red text.

Vessels page - Contains a listing (including manifests, specs, etc., where applicable) of all Federation related ship in the Ryalli Sector. Player ships are at the top.

Who’s/Who page – This page contains a list with basic descriptions of the leaders and notable figures as related to the sim. This includes heads of state and starship captains.

Contact information
The following are the e-mail addresses of the GM (Game Master) and AGM (Assistant Game Master) of the Terra Nova PbeM sim. Feel free to contact either if you have any questions or comments about this site or the sim itself.

Game Master – officer540@yahoo.com
Assistant Game Master – No e-mail address available

Site Credits
Portions of this manual are adaptations from the USS Invincible email Sim Manual by Andrew Heeley. Used with permission. (The USS Invincible PbeM sim has been discontinued.)

Adaptations and additional portions to this manual were authored by Scott Lawrenz for the use of the Terra Nova PbeM sim.

Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, movies, etc. are Copyright Paramount Pictures. This document is for entertainment purposes only and is not for commercial use.

Any interest in the reuse of this manual or portions of it should be directed to Terra Nova Webmaster. Reuse without written permission is strictly prohibited. Permission for use will generally be given. We'd like to keep track of sites that use this manual.

September 12, 2003

Version History

Version 2.2 - 12/2/03
- Reorganized portions of content.

Version 2.1 - 10/23/03
- Reorganized portions of content
- Corrected and added internal links where needed
- Corrected spelling and grammatical errors.
- Clarified unclear portions of text.
- Added version history

Version 2.0 - 9/15/03
- Completely reorganized and rewrote Terra Nova Sim Manual.
- Added specific subject headings for better browsing, including more internal links to various pages on the website.
- Updated details about gaming and how this sim works to make specific to the Terra Nova sim.
- Added significant content about gameplay and writing to the manual.

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