Saratoga Basic Training
Created by Captain Zseeq on Sat Dec 16th, 2023 @ 2:35am
Game Type
Play by Nova
Saratoga is a Play by Nova Star Trek Roleplaying Game set in 2401. In a Play by Nova game the Game Master initiates a plot and gamers will add their contributions by logging into the game's website. To assist all players in knowing when a post is awaiting their response, players in a particular scene will be e-mailed a copy of the current storyline and will be able to read ahead before posting their response.
Game Participants
Game Master
The Game Master is the person who is responsible for the game. He/she sets the storyline and is responsible for ensuring that participants are playing the game, with player characters posting their additions to the storyline. In the event that an action of substance is taken by a character (some examples are firing a phaser, scanning an anomaly) it is the responsibility of the Game Master to post the results of this action. A Game Master can injure a character, but he/she will not kill a player character without approval from that character's owner.
Playing Character
A Playing Character is a character played by a real person. This character may be based upon the player or the character could be a total opposite of the player. For more information on developing a Player Character please see Character Creation.
Nonplaying Character
A Nonplaying Character is a character that is not normally played by a Player Character and doesn't usually feature as many protections as a Player Character. They are created for storyline purposes and may not appear for more than one storyline. They could be seen as being the supporting cast or extras in a film. At present two distinct types of NPCs have been developed. There are Protected Nonplaying Characters and General Nonplaying Characters. A General Nonplaying character is not as developed as a Player Character and are usually only intended for a specific usage and may not exist longer than a single mission. Any player can create a General NPC; however, they cannot be created with a rank higher than that of a person's PC. The other type of NPC is a Protected NPC. A Protected NPC is owned by a PC and can be created for short- or long-term usage. A Protected NPC is normally approved by the GM for use and the rank will not exceed that of the PC.
Game Style
Due to the number of participants within the Saratoga game, the posting style of the Saratoga is third person narrative format to help with story flow and development. In our story it is expected that a player should post, at minimum, one comprehensive post per week to participate while replying to tags once every two to three days. We do understand that this is not a business, this is not work, this game is for the personal enjoyment of its players.The first step in writing a post is to make sure that you've read all the other entries that have come between your last entry and the addition that you're planning. Things like changes to the environment, people leaving or joining the character, has an event occurred are all situations that should be considered to properly write a response. Players can explore their creativity with their character, but they must remember the character's past in the process. As a third person limited format, players should avoid making their character knowledgeable about events that they should not know about. Most importantly, when dealing with dialogue, has someone tagged your character? A tag is when a character speaks specifically to another character for information, and it is a request to respond.
After you've reviewed the scene you're ready to get started with writing your post. Your post should contain the actions, thoughts, and speech of your character. You are sometimes being the originator of what is going on, but sometimes you are also being reactive to others. One great thing that any player can do is that he or she can set the scene by employing the character's senses in the message to describe what he or she is experiencing. What does your character think about what's going on around him or her? Is the character excited, have trepidations, or indifferent about what's going on? What about the character's thoughts about the people around him? All of these things give insight into your character and the scene going on. One recommendation that all players should heed is keep things believable for the game you're writing. Players should keep their actions believable and consistent. Further, all of us have to remember that we can't always be the center of attention in a storyline. We need to support other players as they participate, and support the GM.
If you have a specific tag as part of a conversation you can post your answer where your tag was located. If you are having a conversation you can end your part of the post after the tag and let another player reply. You shouldn't assume an action or that the conversation is over after a tag unless your character has ended the conversation. Should an action deal with an event that is not integral to the main story and is between two players usually results will be decided between the two players. If two player characters get into a fight, for example, the results should be decided between those two players and will not require Moderator intervention and can be resolved via player to player tag. When you are posting you should try to leave things open-ended instead of final as no assumptions of success should be made. Here is an example:
| Korok tried to kiss Riley. | Korok kissed Riley. |
| Sovok tried to neck pinch Sarah. | Sovok neck pinched Sarah. |
This format allows Riley's player to decide if Korok was successful. It also let's Sarah determine if Sovok did the neck pinch; avoiding contradiction in posting. In either of these scenarios if a player posted that he/she was successful against another player's action that is a bad phenomenon known as character hijacking (we'll talk more about that in a minute). One easy way to overcome these risks is to speak with one another off list about the storyline and, perhaps even, complete a joint post together off list before posting to help with the story flow.
If the action is related to the entire storyline then the Game Manager should decide how events transpire. Killing the Orion pirate, destroying the Romulan Warbird, or revealing that a Trill you scanned is really a Cardassian could damage the storyline as planned. In these situations it's better to let the GM decide how things transpired. You can tag the Game Manager to respond to an action and he/she will post the results. Here is another example:
| Kane fired the phasers, trying to destroy the Borg Cube. | Kane fired the phasers, destroying the Borg Cube. |
| Gravik scanned the warp core, trying to find the malfunction. | Gravik scanned the warp core, finding the malfunction. |
As said above writing this way gives the chance for the Game Master to respond according to what was planned for the storyline. If the Borg Cube was meant to survive it would do so, if it was meant to be destroyed then the GM would write it was destroyed. Same goes with Gravik's scan. If she's meant to solve the problem the GM will say she succeeded, if she isn't then the GM can post that she failed. These decisions will be employed based on storyline need and not based upon favoritism or any other inappropriate means. Players should also be ready to expect the unexpected in any post. Some of the best storylines come from the unanticipated.
As players grow in ability it can become commonplace to want to explore a side story involving additional characters. Saratoga is very welcoming of this creative process as it adds to the overall enjoyability of our games. Subplots should include more than one person and should be inclusive if other players want to participate. We are very accommodating of efforts to create side stories (or Side quests as they're called in the gaming community), but we like to work closely with the leader of the side quest to ensure it does not conflict with the main story or the overall operation of the game in entirety. The GMs are more than willing to work with a player to develop such a story that improves overall enjoyment of our games.
A final word of warning: avoid hijacking another person's character. This is strictly prohibited in the Saratoga game as it is considered extremely inappropriate. Character hijacking is where a player takes over another person's character and posts a response from that character's perspective. There will be times when you will need to write in some actions of other players characters to keep things moving, but these should be minor actions only and never dialogue. An exception to this is if a commanding officer or team leader issues orders to a team of officers as it is safe to assume they will do what they've been asked to do. Another aspect of character hijacking that is easy to do is reading a player's thoughts or emotions if you're playing an empath or telepath. Each telepathic and empathic race has an oath not to read someone without permission or an order to do so. We respect that.
Out of Character Discussions
Out of Character comments are real life comments that are outside of the game environment. Saratoga's management strongly supports the development of relationships amongst our players outside of the game environment and a Discord has been established to better support development of these relationships.Our Discord gives all participants a place to also ask questions about the game, a situation, or scenario at any time. We do ask though that all OOC comments and discussions remain appropriate.
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