fantasy sim group
So...what is the difference between roleplaying..and advanced roleplaying you ask? Well it's like the difference between a sundae, and a banana split. It gets better the more you put into it.
That saying goes along with advancing your roleplaying skills. The more (effort) you put in it, the better and more fun it will be.
So what are some things you can put in it to make it better? Well that is what we are going to teach you here today.
Imagery:
First lets talk about imagery, how to use it effectively within a sim.
Imagery is VERY important. It draws the other members and observers into what you are saying so that they feel they are not only a part of it, but begin to actually picture the scenery and the story in their minds.
They can see the bridge and hear the words the Captain shouts out as the alien ship opens fire. Red Alert --- the red blinking red lights flash across your mindseye and the screaming klaxons penetrate your silence.
You see the crew scurrying to man the battle stations and the explosions appearing on the view screen. Until they are sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting for the next line you type to see how it all ends. Will they die? Will they win? What is going to happen next???
It becomes a movie and not just words on a page.
Who knows you may even write a response to the action the Captain put out and someone else will respond to both you and the Captain. See how all of a sudden what you do affects others on the ship?
Actions:
Actions are really the heart and soul of simming. This is what you build off
of to work your magic of drawing us all into the sim and to specifically your
part of the sim.
By actions we mean using descriptive verbs, adjectives and adverbs to paint a better picture, not just the basic action that the CO gives.
Here are some examples of what we mean.
-
-=/\=- ACTION
-=/\=- You are the
If your helm you would more than likely start evasive maneuvers. Tac would probably start raising shields, modulating them on a rotating frequency and power up weapons. Ops, may reroute more power to shields. For just a few examples of how to react to the Captains actions if he doesn't grieve you any direct orders.
Alright, now that we have gotten the hang of actions, lets move on to what they cause, reactions or in other words, emotions.
Emotions:
Emotions or even lack there of, are what make your character come alive.
Emotions are what develop your character into what you envision he/she to be. It's how to help the other simmers know how your character will act or react to any given situation.
Even if your character has no emotions, that sets the tone of who your character is. And of course there are also your mannerisms that would do the same.
Even non emotional species or androids have mannerisms. Data never used contractions, always cocked his head to the side when he was thinking, Spock would use the phrases "Fascinating." Or "most interesting" and would give the Vulcan salute whenever said hello or good bye.
All of these things make up who you are playing.
To know how your character would react, that you should be able to find out in your bio. Of course all character's develop and grow with experience, so should your character. But the base of who your character is, should be specified in your bios.
Again, some examples;
-
Lets use your
engineering character again, and go back to the first action, where the co
placed out an overall action to the entire crew of the Borg Cube appearing.
One reaction would be to do something similar to this: "Captain were modulating the shields on a rotating frequency and doing the same with the phaser array. I hope it will hold up."
Now that we know how to act and react and use imagery to get our words out from being read to being seen in the TV we all have in our heads, lets move on to what do we do when we aren't in the main plot.
A lot of simmers would just sit in front of their computer screen and just do nothing else. Although you are there and technically participating, I can't imagine that being any fun.
There are always things you can do, depending on your position.
Say for instance you are the chief tactical officer but the ship is docked at a Klingon star base for repairs. There is no shore leave permitted due to strained relations. What can the tac officer do?
Some examples would be during shift to run a diagnostic on their station. Get a fix on how many quantum, and photon torpedoes are actually aboard by going down to get a visual count on them. On off shift he may visit 10-Forward, the gym, or run a holodeck program. Is there someone on the ship that he'd like to pursue a relationship with?
Okay, how about this one. You are the ops officer on a space station. The other officers are busy involved in their own duties or talking to each other, and no one is really interacting with your character. What can the ops officer do to keep them busy and occupied and having fun?
The ops officer
can keep the others up to date on the ship's systems or relay more power to
one area as needed. I've seen some ops officers on down time, sitting at their
stations and playing Pong with someone else on the ship. Contrary to popular
demand Engineering doesn't always do all the repairs on the ship. On some
stations the station's operators are better qualified to do their own repairs
working closely with engineering. Wouldn't it be fun to open up the panel
under the ops station and check for any loose or burned out wiring?
=======================
Captain Dennis Belum
Commanding Officer
USS Splendor
Stardate: 50007.20
Location: Bridge
-=/\=-Action-=/\=-
=======================
The USS Splendor has left space dock for it's Cadets training run.
"Helm", Belum says. "Set co ordinates to 253 Mark 7 and proceed at full impulse."
"Aye Sir"
"Science"
"Sir?" "Prepare to study some unusual anomalies in that sector. Starfleet has noticed some unusual occurrences and want's us to check them out."
"Aye Sir"
"Captain," Commander Kemp speaks up. "Are you sure it's safe enough for this crew? This is their first time on a starship."
"Commander, I have great confidence in our crew and I think that just this once we can handle a little scientific investigation. Contact Sickbay and have them begin the crew's physicals while we're on our way."
"Aye Sir" Kemp responded.
+taps+ Kemp to Sickbay you can begin the physicals anytime.
+taps+ Sickbay here Acknowledged.
"Counselor, if you would work with the Medical Officer I'm sure we can get the psych evaluations out of the way as well."
He watched her carefully as she stood. "Aye Sir. Permission to leave the Bridge?"
"Granted"
Beside him he noticed Kemp frowning over his console. "Problems Mr. Kemp?" Belum asked.
"I'm not sure as yet but this report states that the ships that got too close to that anomaly recorded problems with their warp drives and impulse engines."
"Forward the report to Engineering. Forewarned is forearmed don't you think?"
"Aye Sir" Kemp responded.
---
In this lesson you will be able to respond to the Captains post with how your character not only would react to his/her orders but we'd like you to elaborate on how they feel as they hear this exchange of news on the bridge. Remember the only ones not on the bridge at this time is Sickbay personnel and they are doing physicals. If you are on the medical staff, and do not know who to call down first for a physical you can always start with the Command Staff. What you find when you do your physicals I leave to you to decide.....
When this Lesson is complete, please send it to trainingfacility@yahoogroups.com and an instructor will look it over and get back with you on it.
Please
do not continue with the next part of the lesson until you have been given
the okay to move on.
©2005. Fantasy Sim Group. All rights reserved.