Planning is the key to a successful mission. Mission planning involves three distinct elements:
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1. Synopsis outline
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2. Collation of props & resources
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3. In-game leadership & management
The best successful & developed roleplay with coherent input from all crew members—the holy grail of roleplay—where the mission plays out like a tightly edited movie with plot twists, heroic feats and a smart climax.
But even the best missions don't play quite like that. In Second Life 3D Inworld a player is controlling their avatar's movements, typing to speak, reading chat (and interpreting out-of-order contributions), monitoring panel instruments, screens and action, and communicating on private channels.
Sometimes a third-party source material is referred controlling NPCs.
Yet, regardless of all that (and perhaps because of it) a roleplay mission can and should be an adrenaline-pumped adventure. This short introduction best way to try to improve planning ideas
Roleplay missions can be a independent experience/adventures or they can be formatted as episodes into an ongoing story arc. Whatever the case you need a storyline as a starting point.
Much of the story arc detail should have a synopsis. A basic foundation that allows a contributing outcome to build on (crew playing out the mission) By many formats but a story has to start somewhere, and it is the job of the story writer is to set the scene. Common opening plan based on something new or a continuing episode. ((( given the name of the story and timeline or date of the story being what is happening or had happened. The situation that is going on are))) "Ship's Name we have entered "name" sector of space, and we are received a distress call from "name..." or "Long Range Scans has picked up an anomaly in the "name "System". A premise like either of these sets up a situation at a distant location and lets you introduce a protagonist and a mission parameter. Most roleplay mission's springboard from these traits
Understanding of star trek stardate apply to the story Use the stardate calculator based on timeline your group roleplay in. input your roleplay year, month & day/ Add 24clock time and it will calculate a stardate . (TNG example : 2400 Aug 28 1700 hrs)= stardate 75434.15
Keep in mind though that roleplay (and story writing) Primarily there are creative pursuits. As much as possible your story avoids clichés and you should avoid copying plots based on old Trek episodes where the story and end game have been established.
A mission is a problem for the crew to solve. The fun comes from letting different team to contribute, devising and implementing strategies to deal with a story arc design situation. Then everyone together made the outcome collectively. This builds on writing the next story and the roleplay is not Movie theater or Tv show scripted
Also the story writer should have a reasonable grasp of science astronomy and knowledge of Trek canon. Starfleet operates in space and refers to Stardate in roleplay.
That's pretty big and not the sort of crossing you can make in 4 minutes at Warp 5 (Warp 5 is 125x the speed of light so you will travel 0.586 light years in 24 hours at this speed). Here is a Warp Factor chart. Note that Alpha Centuri is our closest star, a mere 4.33 light years away
The Sun does not lie near the center of our Galaxy. It lies about 8 kpc from the center on what is known as the Orion Arm.
In Trek canon Earth marks the border between the Alpha and Beta Quadrants and is a class M planet, the third planet in the Sol star system in the Alpha Quadrant, at coordinates 1.23N 2.79W.
There are from 300-million to upwards of 40-billion Earth-like worlds in the Milky Way. So, just because we have starfleet maps that show quadrants and sectors highlighting notable planets, that doesn't mean our galaxy has been explored and its secrets are known. There are infinite possibilities in space and lots of room for new discovery in our vast galaxy, even in the Alpha Quadrant.
Star Trek is near future science fiction.
Science is an important descriptive word for the genre. Please try to stay away from the Hogwizard School filled with wizards, elves and magic amulets (or "infinity stones"). The aliens we encounter are different worlds somewhat technology spectrum and some are primitive worlds. Avoid writing gods and supernatural beings into your story's a lot of Advanced technologies are fine but the laws of physics and even time travel are a shared limitation of the Star Trek Universe. Adding to much of God model to Story ruins the story arc.
Story writing for roleplay is different to outline in one crucial way: the ending is unsure
The roleplay synopsis story is a set-up and a crew outline. Its conclusion will be group written. Therefore, when you write a story, make sure one path is at least set, and if possible multiple paths, to solve the puzzle it poses.
Your story should be similar to the first half of a screenplay in outline—the communication of the story will be improvised and much of the action after your set-up sequences (engaging with an enemy or beaming down to a location) will be spontaneous
Considering this in mind the first rule of writing for roleplay is YOU didn't write the story.
You supply the synopsis and props or ideas. Roleplaying group write and produce the ideas of the finished outcome. That is all. Plan and Design are cheap and seldom unique. No IP (intellectual property) applies to your story contribution.
Sadly, I have seen individuals claiming their IP was totally ruptured just because other players changed details of the story arc plot. It is so ridiculous in a group-write situation. If you have these inclination, you go write your own paperback book
Your story really should have a good background to add depth to the action. If you are creating a bad and aggressive alien, think to yourself why are they hostile? Think about what is it about the formation of their biorhythm circuition life process or maybe is it their civilization that makes them the adversary to Federation race?
This backstory already exists for canonical species, but you need to apply new ideas and thought to the development of new aliens. The same applies to creating benign alien species. When you write less advanced species, keep an eye on the Prime Directive and the rules that govern our interactions with them.
And if your story deals with the past or future be remindful of the Temporal Prime Directive that protects the timeline of a story
Almost all story's require props and materials. Build ideas ,tearing apart and recycle thing with new colors and textures (e.g., the Enterprise gets a thrashing in Star Trek into Darkness) . If you have to make your props, or get them made by someone , make sure you have sufficient time for this job. "We play in 30 minutes and I need the interior of a Borg Cube," is not going to work. Complex sets need time to create, so plan your resource needs with a commensurate lead-in time
A good story arc need time to set up the stage.
The types of props you need to think about are:
1. Finding people to play alien or enemy avatars
2. The construction of props and the stage being set in the story
3. Creation of any NPCs on the side
4. Images for the ship's screen or crew stations
5. Items to be used around the area based on roleplay
6. if needed Locations to beam down to
7. Special objects like stolen, illegal contraband or weapons
8. Player notes/instructions of things
The smart way to proceed with story writing is to work in advance so that we are not in a tailspin to get them ready for each mission.
Have some backup plan up your sleeve pre-resourced to use in at short notice.
SYNOPSIS - A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE RP :
If your story focus on Science Officers and they need to report on a certain type of subspace phenomena (let's say a micro wormhole), you will need to supply them with notes about this event happening for them to report their findings.
On the other hand, if a story centered on Intel, Engineering, Medical, Ops or Security. Creating these resources is part of the writing process. Make sure every Dept understands and researches their duties about the story
Things can get tricky at this point. If you supply a notecard written as scripted speech, you are essentially TV show writing and taking away the player's agency. A good notecard will provide all the technical data the player needs while allowing them to format the data in their own words.
Think about arranging it in essential bullet points and prefacing the card with a clear instruction for the player to report the information in their own words when asked for it, or to volunteer the information at a specific "event point" in the plot.
Make your instructions as clear as possible and distribute the cards prior to mission so that the player(s) have a chance to absorb the information and ask questions.
If you are captaining or leading the roleplay mission, you will need to keep the story running on track. Sometime Private messaging is your best, but not your only tool.( make sure things are addressed private instead in open chat)
Sometime In the heat of a fast moving mission, players can misunderstand what has happened and throw curveballs at the story plot that ruins it, heading off in a direction that has not been prepared for (for example the ship is badly damage and we are going to hid inside a nebula, but you don't have an image or prop of a nebula ready to use,).
Your job at this stage is to deflect curveballs and keep the story viable... with one important caveat: there should be room within your story for viable subplots and alternate endings. That is the nature of group-write.
If someone else is leading the mission (and therefore has to diffuse curve-balls), make sure they have all the information they need to oversee the storyline.
If you are good to write stories or have ideas for a story , please talk to a senior player. We welcome all input and will help you where we are able.
Give senior dept members their part of the rp story to delegate ideas within their depts staff to accomplish
viable subplots and alternate endings to meet the needs of the Story arc written. It is the job duty of every senior dept member keeps things on track.
Captain of the story (GM) and delegate all RP members
Commander- oversees the duties and assignments of ship Operations in RP and reports to the captain. Make alternate dissentions to the captain
Senior Staff( Dept leader )to delegate ideas with members assigned to them to accomplish ideas to meet goals of the Story
Crew member follows the flow of the story arc and the assigns given to them.
Roleplay communication a vital key within Command Senior Depts and RP members.
Not good etiquettes to cross or overstep other Dept leadership without permission from command first. Unless story arc calls for depts /crew to be a team, work and mix ideas
AWAY MISSION ASSIGNMENTS:
If story arc calls for an away mission this is a mission during which an away team, such as a landing party or boarding party, performed tasks in locations outside of their starship or starbase. This included missions on planetary surfaces and other starships. Away missions ranged from exploration or first contact to combat. The majority of these missions were launched using a ship's transporter to send the crew to their destination. When use of the transporter was dangerous or impossible, shuttlecraft was used.
Leadership and chain of command :
Command will assign a mission leader. It is the duty of Mission Leader to guide his/her team during the away mission.
ALL TEAMS needs to report to away mission leader. (f someone else is leading the mission (and therefore has to diffuse curve-balls), make sure they have all the information they need to oversee the storyline.
AWAY TEAM LEADER- IS RESPOSIBLE TO LISSEN TO COMMANDING OFFICER AND REPORT ANY INFORMATION GIVE TO THEM FROM THEIR TEAMS
1. Make sure you have read ahead of time the RP story . Be ready to do your part !
2.. Correct DUTY Uniform- ALL THE ITEMS COMES WITH IT .
* Correct DRESS Uniform- Same exact details as your DUTY uniform, except this is for DRESS
Formal occasions
3. EVA/Environmental Suit(if needed for RP) have all attachments ready
4. Weapons, Tricorder and other things needed for RP-have them ready
Pre-Planning is the key to a successful mission
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