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Chapter 1: Introduction
This is the Alt.StarFleet.RPG
Manual, the comprehensive reference guide to the Alt.StarFleet.RPG (ASR)
online shared-fiction writing and role playing club. It is intended
to provide a summary of all that a player needs to know to play ASR.
This full volume is intended, primarily, as a reference book to the
club. The QuickStart
Guide provides a brief summary of all that you need to know to get
started, but this volume provides a greater breadth and depth of information.
This document is maintained
in HTML format. Graphics are reserved for the appendices only to keep
loading times low.
1.1
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the beginning
of a grand journey of exploration!
"I had the ambition
to not only go farther than man had gone before, but to go as far
as it was possible to go." -- James Cook
You have found the Manual for Alt.StarFleet.RPG (ASR), a collection
of documents intended to provide an overview of the rules of the game
and a reference to other useful information.
ASR is an online club for
writers, role players, and Star Trek fans based on the Usenet newsgroup
alt.starfleet.rpg. We are one of several shared-writing clubs in cyberspace.
In ASR, hundreds of people from all over the world read and write stories
in the universe of Star Trek.
Not all of us are die-hard
Trekkers, our players come from all walks of life. What brings us together
is the common enjoyment of interactive drama -- the opportunity to write
in a cooperative and structured forum.
Experience in traditional
role-playing games, creative writing, naval protocol, military decorum,
or Star Trek trivia are *not* required to join or to flourish in ASR.
We have a structure in place to help new players become acquainted with
our rules and procedures, and experienced people ready and eager to
assist in getting settled in a Role-Playing Unit.
1.2
ONLINE ROLE PLAYING
ASR has been variously described
as a role playing game and a shared fiction anthology. By the nature
of non-face-to-face role play, both terms are accurate descriptions.
Each player in the game
writes in the personna of a character on board a Federation starship,
space station, or any of a variety of other settings. Through the course
of different adventures, and misadventures, usually cast into the framework
of mission orders from Star Fleet Command, these characters interact
with one another and develop both as individual characters and as part
of a crew. In this sense, then, the game is much like any other role
playing game where a real person, the player, creates a character, a
fictional personna living in another universe, and interacts through
this character with others in that world.
Of course, since most people
in ASR seldom actually talk to each other, the medium for communications
is the written word. Each person adds their own distinctive writing
style and ideas to a collective story which takes place in the world
of Star Trek. In this sense, the group is about shared writing and produces
material which could be called a shared fiction anthology.
Now, I've mentioned the
terms "Star Trek" and "Star Fleet" a lot. That's because this game has
chosen that universe to set its story in. However, that doesn't mean
that all, or even most, of those involved are fanatical Star Trek devotees
or that they go around wearing plastic ears and Star Trek uniforms.
In other words, while a
good working knowledge of role playing games, creative writing, and
Star Trek can be helpful in ASR, they are by no means prerequisites
for joining the group. All that you need to play is reliable electronic
mail service and the interest to work with a group of other writers
to produce a story and to have fun doing so.
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