The Oberon is a PBEM (Play By E-Mail) sim. You contribute to the action and story by posting. This is coordinated through the services of Topica who provides the mailing list for us. Don’t know how to post? Read on.

There are two main styles of posting utilized by the ships of Bravo Fleet. The USS Oberon permits both the “Novel” or “Expanded Action” style and the “Script” style. An author may choose to use either style on a post-by-post basis. (Don't worry, examples of both styles are included below.)

The subject of your post is important because not every message is a post. If you're just sending a message, which is certainly fine, put whatever subject you normally would in that field to let everyone know what it's about. If you're sending a post (which is a part of the story, as opposed to just a message) put the subject as "Post: ## - Your Name". We started with "Post #1," of course and add 1 to the number of the previous post each time. That way it makes it very easy to follow the action and tell what sequence the events happen in. Including your character's name in the subject lets everyone know immediately who it is from and makes finding past posts a lot easier.

After the subject line comes the body of your message, naturally. I'll write the same post for you in both Novel and Script styles.

Novel Style

Start your post with an “OFF” section. This is where you can type stuff that is not part of the story. For instance:

* * *
OFF:

It isn’t raining here today. Since I’m a raindrop inspector I have nothing to do. So I think I’ll go ahead and post. Oh, and I think Harris’ last post was really awesome!

* * *
You can type anything you want in the OFF section. Write your thoughts about the current mission, Star Trek, or Socio-Economic conditions. Anything.

After the OFF section comes (very appropriately) the “ON” section. You may have guessed that this is where you type your contribution to the story. I'll go through an example of the Expanded Action style first, its basically written like a book. Try to be grammatically correct but don’t let the rules of English intimidate you. Here’s an example:

Note: All posts should be written in the 3rd person.

* * *
ON:

Lt.Cdr Harris was lounging back in the comfortable chair he had in his ready room. His feet were propped up on his desk and his hands were gently interwoven behind his head. He had done absolutely nothing productive so far today. Then the door chirped, indicating someone wanted to speak with him. Harris quickly sat up in his chair and put his feet on the floor, “Come,” he instructed.

Lieutenant Symes entered holding a padd in his hand. “Ready for our daily meeting?”

“Yes, come right in, Symes.”

The executive officer placed several padds on the Lt.Cdr's desk, “Here are the daily reports and the maintenance specifications.”

“Ah, good work, Lieutenant,” Harris responded.

* * *
As you’ll notice, actions are simply written out. Whenever a new person speaks or becomes the focus of attention begin a new paragraph. This makes it much easier to follow the action in the story.

To let everyone know where your post is taking place start out by putting the location inside [brackets]. This lets us know right at the start where the action is. (If you ever want something to occur in an unknown or unspecified location just put [Unknown...] etc.)

* * *
OFF:

This is picking up right were we left off, in Harris' ready room.

ON:

[Oberon, Lt.Cdr's Ready Room...]

Harris looked down at the reports, "Great, more work," he thought to himself. He then noticed some dirt had fallen off his boots onto his desk while his feet were propped up. He tried to brush it off with a sweeping gesture of his arm. “So, how is engineering coming along with those repairs to the warp manifolds?”

“They inform me that the corrections should be completed by 1400 hours tomorrow, sir,” the Klingon reported. But he knew that the estimations of engineers were always off by at least two hours.

“Ah, excellent.” There was still dust remaining on his desk so Harris faked a sneeze to try and blow it off. “Do you think – ACHOO!”

* * *
Use – to indicate when a character is interrupted in speaking. This is when something or someone cuts them off. Also, CAPS can be used to indicate yelling. But don’t use them too much because it does get annoying.

* * *
ON:

The sneeze failed to remove the last of the dust so Harris tries to casually move the padds on top of the incriminating dirt.

"Uh, are you alright, sir?" asks Symes.

"Hmm?" Harris glances up. "Oh, oh yeah. Fine. I'm just fine. Uh, we'd better get ready to -" he is cut off by a message from the bridge.

"Bridge to Lt.Cdr Harris," it was Howitt's voice.

"Harris here, go ahead Rich."

"Sir, we're receiving a message from Bravo Fleet Command, priority three." Howitt sounds curious as to the contents of the unexpected transmission. "Should we route it to your ready room?"

"No, I'll be there in a moment." He stands and says to Symes, "Lets go find out what the brass wants." Harris hoped that Symes didn't notice the dirt. He didn't want his XO to think that he, an Lt.Cdr, was being lazy when he ought to be hard at work!

Symes lets the Harris leave first and then turns to go. He pauses for a moment though and taps his comm badge, "Symes to janitorial staff."

"McQuinn here, sir," came the reply over the comm system.

"The Lt.Cdr was putting his feet on his desk again. Make sure you send someone up here to wipe his desk off."

"Aye, sir."

* * *
Whenever you move to a different scene or setting make sure that you let us know this by putting the new [Location] in at the begining.

At the end of your post you need to sign it to let everyone know exactly who sent it (this is a lot easier than memorizing e-mail addresses). You sign your post like this:

Your Rank (abbreviated). Character Name Character Position (Tactical Officer, Chief Engineer etc...) USS Oberon, NCC-90015

* * *
ON:

[Oberon, bridge...]

Lt.Cdr Harris stepped onto the bridge, "Report."

Howitt gets up out of the captain's chair and delivers the news, "He's been on hold for two minutes. Didn't say what he wanted."

"Hopefully its not to announce another 'Take your tribble to work day,'" Symes said as he joined the Lt.Cdr on the bridge.

Harris shuddered at the thought of the last botched attempt to make tribbles more mainstream in the Fleet. "Open the channel."

Howitt complied, "Aye, sir."

Instead of the expected Federation beaurocrat Admiral West appeared on screen.

"Jim! This is a pleasant surprise. To what do we owe the honor, Admiral?" Harris was relieved that it was West and not some paper pusher who would, without doubt, tell him how to run his ship.

"Well James, you know I can't let my division heads have too much freedom. If I let you and Charlie have free reign you could claim I had nothing to do with your success," West joked. "But I won't get in your way too much today."

"Good," Harris joked back. "I thought you'd be pleased with our latest status reports and mission summaries. We're always on the front line of adventure."

West nodded his acknowledgement. "I have a new crewman for you to take on. They just joined the Fleet today. Return to Starbase 3 to pick them up so they can join your noble crew as you go galaxy hopping."

"Why, this is hardly the bad news we expected, sir," said Harris. "In fact, I am always happy to welcome a new person to the Oberon!"

OFF:

Well, its starting to rain here. I've got to inspect my daily quota of rain drops. I hope you liked the post!

Lt.Cdr James Harris Commanding Officer USS Oberon, NCC-90015

* * *
Okay, that's a Novel style post. Most likely, that's the format you'll use most of the time. But the Script style has several advantages. For posts with mostly dialog the Script style will usually work out better. But the choice is up to you. Now, here's the same post as above, written in Script style.

Script Style

Just like before, you've got the optional OFF section.

* * *
OFF:

It isn’t raining here today. Since I’m a raindrop inspector I have nothing to do. So I think I’ll go ahead and post. Oh, and I think Howitt’s last post was really awesome!

* * *
Here's where it gets different. The "Script" style gets its name because its written sorta like a script -- or a play. I'm sure that you're all familiar with plays, you put the characters name, a colon, and then whatever they say and do. Put a what a character says, naturally, in "quotation marks" and put what they do inside ::double colons::

* * *
ON:

Harris: ::lounging back in his chair with his feet up on the desk when the door chirps:: "Come," ::puts his feet on the floor::

Symes: ::enters holding a padd:: “Ready for our daily meeting?”

Harris: “Yes, come right in, Symes.”

Symes: ::places several padds on the desk:: “Here are the daily reports and the maintenance specifications.”

Harris: “Ah, good work, Lieutenant.”

* * *
Its pretty easy. Just put speech in quotations and actions in double colons.

Just like in Novel style put the location of the action inside [brackets] to let everyone know where things are happening.

Unlike the Novel style, thoughts here are treated differently from standard dialog -- there's no place in these posts to put "he though" or "thought Krol" etc. So put thoughts inside of (parenthesis).

* * *
[Oberon, Lt.Cdr's Ready Room...]

Harris: ::looks down at the reports:: (Great, more work) ::notices dirt had fallen off his boots onto his desk while his feet were propped up. He tries to brush it off with a sweeping gesture of his arm:: “So, how is engineering coming along with those repairs to the warp manifolds?”

Symes: “They inform me that the corrections should be completed by 1400 hours tomorrow, sir,” ::knows that the estimations of engineers were always off by at least two hours::

Harris: “Ah, excellent.” ::there was still dust remaining on his desk so Harris fakes a sneeze to try and blow it off:: “Do you think – ACHOO!”

* * *
Also, when someone says something over a comm channel, either a hail, a page to someone, or a phone conversation, it is, like thoughts, made distinct -- by putting it in angle brackets (the greater than, less than signs). They won't show up in HTML so I'll just use { and } to deomonstrate here.

* * *
ON:

Sneeze: ::failed to remove the last of the dust from the desktop::

Harris: ::tries to casually move the padds on top of the incriminating dirt::

Symes: "Uh, are you alright, sir?"

Harris: "Hmm?" ::glances up:: "Oh, oh yeah. Fine. I'm just fine. Uh, we'd better get ready to -" ::is cut off by a message from the bridge::

Howitt: {Bridge to Lt.Cdr Harris.}

Harris: "Harris here, go ahead Rich."

Howitt: {Sir, we're receiving a message from Bravo Fleet Command, priority three.} ::sounds curious as to the contents of the unexpected transmission:: {Should we route it to your ready room?}

Harris: "No, I'll be there in a moment." ::stands:: "Lets go find out what the brass wants." ::hopes that Symes didn't notice the dirt:: (I don't want my XO to think that I, an Lt.Cdr, was being lazy when I ought to be hard at work!)

Symes: ::lets Harris leave first and then turns to go. He pauses for a moment though and taps his comm badge:: "Symes to janitorial staff."

Janitor: {McQuinn here, sir.}

Symes: "The Lt.Cdr was putting his feet on his desk again. Make sure you send someone up here to wipe his desk off."

Janitor: {Aye, sir.}

* * *
Most things are still the same between the two styles. Be sure to let people know when the [location] changes and to sign your posts at the end.

* * *
ON:

[Oberon, bridge...]

Harris: ::steps onto the bridge:: "Report."

Howitt: ::gets up out of the captain's chair:: "He's been on hold for two minutes. Didn't say what he wanted."

Symes: ::steps off the turbolift:: "Hopefully its not to announce another 'Take your tribble to work day,'"

Harris: ::shudders at the thought of the last botched attempt to make tribbles more mainstream in the Fleet:: "Open the channel."

Howitt: "Aye, sir."

West: ::appears on screen::

Harris: "Jim! This is a pleasant surprise. To what do we owe the honor, Admiral?" :: is relieved that it was West and not some paper pusher who would, without doubt, tell him how to run his ship::

West: {Well James, you know I can't let my division heads have too much freedom. If I let you and Charlie have free reign you could claim I had nothing to do with your success. But I won't get in your way too much today.}

Harris: "Good. I thought you'd be pleased with our latest status reports and mission summaries. We're always on the front line of adventure."

West: ::nods:: {I have a new crewman for you to take on. They just joined the Fleet today. Return to Starbase 3 to pick them up so they can join your noble crew as you go galaxy hopping.}

Harris: "Why, this is hardly the bad news we expected, sir. In fact, I am always happy to welcome a new person to the Oberon!"

OFF:

Well, its starting to rain here. I've got to inspect my daily quota of rain drops. I hope you liked the post!

Lt.Cdr James Harris Commanding Officer USS Oberon, NCC-90015

* * *

For More Information

I hope that pretty much explains it all. E-mail me with any questions you have (ChrisBarnett_99@Yahoo.co.uk). Also, be certain to ready the Posting Guidelines. Don't worry, you'll get better at posting the most you do it and after seeing others write up posts.