What is a Role Playing Game (RPG):
A Star Trek role playing game or "RPG" is a type of game where people create a character and use him/her to role play a star trek themed game. You have probably heard of a game called Dungeons and Dragons. This is one example of a role playing game.
There are some companies that have made Star Trek RPG's, Last Unicorn, FASA and West End games. They produce books with rules, game ideas, character sheets, and dice. With the advantage of computers, RPG can now also refer to online RPG's. Most commonly an online RPG is called a "sim".
What the heck is a Sim:
"Sim" is short for "simulation". This can refer to any number of online role playing games played in a variety of formats.
So players are Simmers?
The players whom partake are called simmers.
CO and GM:
Someone runs the sim. For live Star Trek sims, like you will be playing, this person is usually called the "CO" or Commanding Officer. They can also be called the GM or Game Master. (The term Game Master comes from the time before computers and dice role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.) A CO or GM is responsible for planning the game, making up the plots, setting a schedule, sending out notices, prompting players, etc.
In short they are responsible for keeping it going. In recent times, this person may also create and run a web page for the players in the game. Of course any of these responsibilities can be delegated to someone one else, but the overall running of the game is the job of the CO/GM. (An older term, DM, may be familiar to some people. In Dungeons and Dragons, the DM was the Dungeon Master, who made and ran the dungeons and other parts of the game.)
PC:
Each simmer has a PC or Playing Character. This is the main character someone uses to play the game. In Star Trek sims the CO/GM is also a simmer.
NPC:
Sometimes there are Non Playing Characters, NPCs. These characters may be used for several games or just for one scene. Their purpose is to enhance and augment the story game. NPCs can be any kind type of character: crew, visitors, villains, persons on stations, natives of a strange new world, a pet targ, etc.
Actions and dialog are typed by everyone who plays in response to other actions that have happened. This happens in "real time" in the chat room. Many people find a live sim more fun than an email sim since there is no waiting around for days to get the next action and the spontaneity makes it more exciting.
There are special typed symbols/punctuation's to use that tell people in a chat room if something is a thought or action. These symbols/punctuation's go both at the beginning and end of a thought or action. No special symbol is used to denote speech.
Actions/Thoughts:
The most common action codes are: A pair of colons
::Sitting and eating a tasty breakfast::
::Walks over to console and tries to start a systems check.::
::Enters sickbay and looks around for the doctor::
::Falls over when the panel behind her explodes::
::Oh no its you! She thought.::
::What are they doing here he wondered.::
Away Missions:
When your character is off the ship, for whatever reason, this is a symbol to use before you type anything. This symbol is a tagged reminder that this character is acting outside of the ship. The generic symbol is the @ key.
@ ::Looks around:: Hello? Where am I?
@::Lt Thomas is beamed down and he materializes on the planets surface::
@ Im rerouting the shuttles auxiliary power to the shields!
Communicating with someone not in the room:
When someone is not in the current room you are in and you are communicating with someone it's best to use your combadge. This is done with a pari or plus symbols + +. You will place the persons or intended direction in between the symbols.
+CMO+ Thomas to Doctor Sue, medical emergency deck 2.
+CSCI+ Thomas to Joe, I need more power diverted to the lateral sensor array.
+ME+ Thomas to main engineering... status report?
+Onimaru+ Delta Flyer to Onimaru, were dropping out of warp and we should be ready to dock in 5 minuets.
CO/HOST Actions:
CO/HOST Actions run by the CO-Captain or HOST are usually typed in all capital letters.
ACTION: THE TRACTOR BEAM FAILS.
ACTION THE SHIPS POWER BEGINS TO FLUX
ACTION AN UNKNOWN SIGNAL IS BEING PICKED UP BY THE ONIMARU