All Roles Filled and First Mission

Just a quick note – all roles are filled and we have begun our first mission.

Please look at the Twitter accounts to the right and follow them.

I am also working on an RSS feed, and will post the link when I have it.

RPG Progress Update

Things are falling into place.  I feel comfortable starting plots and episodes very soon.

Yes, I’ve seemed quiet again, but I’ve been answering DMs and emails, getting things in place, and working on the Ning group.

Here are some updates.

Roles Filled

1. Captain Janeway (of course, duh)
2. Chakotay
3. Tuvok
4. B’Elanna Torres
5. The Doctor
6. Seven of Nine
7. Harry Kim
8. Ensign Tabor (canon, minor role in the series)
9. Maximal Pathiro (non-canon, see his bio sheet on this blog)

Roles Vacant and Notes

We might still have a Tom Paris, but I’m waiting to hear back.  If I don’t hear back soon, I’ll give the spot to someone else.  if you’re interested, @ reply or DM me and I’ll let you know if the spot comes open.

At this time, I’m not going to accept any more roles except for (possibly) Neelix.  I think 10  or 11 people will be plenty for followers to keep up with.

General notes

I’m taking this next week to finalize the details, then I expect us to launch with our first official storyline next week.

RPG Progress

It’s been 2 weeks since I posted the notice that the RPG was starting back up.  Since then, I’ve been quiet.

Rest assured that I’ve been working “behind the scenes” getting everything ready for our new RPG launch.  I want to make sure this is done right – not half-assed like I did it last time.  :P

What do I mean by that?  Well, originally I started RPing on Twitter just as a way for me and Chakotay (we’re friends IRL and love Voyager) to goof around and have some fun.

Then other people wanted to join in, and I thought that would be fun, so I said “The more the merrier!” and people joined left and right.

I ended up with a HUGE group that I honestly had no time to run (or any clue how to run).  I was gone a lot.  After finally admitting to myself that I screwed up, I handed the group over to someone else.   The group slowly died off.  (Honestly, that was happening even before I handed it over, so I don’t blame the person that took it over.  She inherited a group that I royally screwed up.)

So I took a break.  I needed it.

Now I want to restart, but I want to make sure that I don’t make the same mistake twice.  I’m keeping the group small.  I’m limiting membership.  I’m going to provide some structure, but I’m not babysitting. I also will make more time for RPing.

That brings me to the updates.

Roles filled

The following roles have been filled:

1. Captain Janeway (of course, duh)
2. Chakotay
3. Tuvok
4. Harry Kim
5. Tom Paris
6. Seven of Nine

You can find the links to the accounts on the right.  (I am waiting on Tom Paris’ account.  Once I have it, I’ll post it.)

I am also going to ask for an RSS feed to be created.  If/When I can get it, I’ll post the link on this blog.

Roles vacant and notes

1. Neelix - Neelix is presumably still in the Delta Quadrant; however, if someone wants to play Neelix and have him check in on us and chat via the subspace communicator, I think that would be a nice touch.
2. B’Elanna Torres – B’Elanna is available.  In the books she is off on some Klingon quest, I think, but this is a alternate ending/reality, so she can be on board.  As far as I’m concerned, since we have deviated from the books, having her and Tom Paris together would depend on how the players want to handle it.
3. The Doctor – In the books, the Doctor is several places.  If someone wants to play him, he can either be on the ship 24/7 or travels from the ship to other places and then back.  It’s up to the player.

FAQs

As you can imagine, I’ve had lots of questions about this, so I’ll answer the ones I’ve gotten most.

Q:  Can I have a non-canon role?

A:  Now that the majority of canon roles have been filled, I feel comfortable opening the floor to some non-canon ones.   DM or email me with the idea and I’ll see if I think it would work in.

If you want to have a non-canon role, be prepared to provide me with a bio/background that I can place on the blog for people to learn about your character.  I’ll also need to see it before approving you.  Please see the Non-canon Character Bio page for more info.

Q:  Will Chakotay and Seven of Nine be dating?

A:  I asked C and got this answer:  ”Hell no.”  ’Nuff said.

Q:  Will Chakotay and Janeway be dating?

A:  Tsk tsk.  Patience is a virtue, kids.  You’ll have to wait and see.  ;)

Q:  What about other roles that are not as well known – like ones that were only shown a few times on the series?

A:  As long as the person is listed on the Memory-Alpha site as being presumed alive when Voyager returns to the Alpha Quadrant, that’s fine by me.

Q: Can other Trek characters be on board?

A:  I have to say that this idea intrigued me when it was proposed.  My instinct would be to say “Yes, within reason.”   Obviously, Kirk’s not to going to be on board, but anyone of the Voyager/DS9/TNG era could be.  Just use common sense, though – Picard, Riker or Troi might visit, but won’t be on Voyager permanently.

Q:  What about villains?

A:  Another idea that intrigued me.  My answer:  ”Tell me what you have in mind, and we’ll work from there.”  Use the Non-canon Character Bio page if it’s a non-canon villain.

Q:  When will you start having RP?

A:  As soon as I get all of my ducks in a row.  That doesn’t mean, of course, that the players can’t be tweeting in the meantime.

I will announce when the RP episodes will begin.

That’s all for now.

If you have a question, please leave a comment or send me an @ reply to @Captain_Janeway.

Restarting the RPG

I have taken a long break from RP.  It was necessary and it was a welcome break.

Now, however, I have come to realize that I miss being “The Captain.”  Yes, I know I can only RP few and far between, but on the times when I can pop in for a cup of coffee in the ready room, I thoroughly enjoy it.

I’ve also found that when I don’t RP, people miss the Captain!  I always have tweets saying that I’m missed, and that does my heart (and ego) a lot of good.  :)

So I’m going to start the RPG up again, with a few changes:

1. I’m not babysitting.  I don’t have time to run an RPG.  I’ll provide a way for the RPG to communicate, but don’t look to me to start plots, moderate squabbles and whatever.
2. This is going to be a casual group.  People can RP when they can RP.  No pressure to be online at a certain time for a plot/episode/scene.  If people are on, they’re on.  If not, then not.  No guilt trips.
3. We will only be RPing original plots.  No episodes.
4. The RPG will be limited.  Having 20+ people was simply too many.  I don’t mind having non-canon players, but I’m going to have to set a reasonable limit.
5. Just because you were in the old group doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be in the new one.

For now, all roles are open – with the exception of Chakotay.  I’m going to make one last-ditch effort to get him to return.  If he doesn’t, then I’ll post that role as available.

If you are interested in joining, please contact me via Twitter at @Captain_Janeway.

Please let me know what role you want to play and if you are in any other RPGs.

Storylines, blogs and new players

First of all, I would like to welcome our new followers.

Just a reminder of a few things you will need to keep in mind if you are following the players in our role-playing group.

1. Please follow everyone that is on the list at the right hand side of the blog. I know it’s very tempting to only follow the familiar characters that you saw every week on the series, but in order to follow the entire story line you will need to follow everyone that is listed. If you are not following both people in a conversation, you will not see any of the tweets that are sent to a person.

2. Our group tweets a LOT. It can be difficult to follow a scene on your regular account if you have lots of tweets from people in between the role-playing ones. One way to get around this is to have one account to follow all of the players in this role-playing group and only members of this role-playing group. This will make it easier for you to catch up on tweets. It is like reading a story if you do it that way – with no distractions.

3. Please feel free to interact with us. We love chatting with our followers.

OOC versus IC

You will see these two abbreviations quite often from our players. It can be very confusing when you first begin following the role-playing group.

Think of the role player as an actor. He or she is playing a part. It would be the same thing as watching a play – the actor is pretending to be the character. The character acts and speaks a certain way. The character has certain mannerisms, gestures, catchphrases or other identifying characteristics that make him or her unique.

But the person playing the part – the actor – does not necessarily have those mannerisms. They have a script that they follow.

OOC means Out Of Character. It means that whenever that particular player is saying at the moment is what the person playing the part is saying, not the character.

IC – In Character – means that the character is saying something.

An example:

Let’s say you’re watching a play. The actors are in the middle of a scene. They are discussing something with each other in character.

Then, one of the actors turns to the audience and says something like, “I hope you are enjoying the performance.” That would be an out of character (OOC) comment. It is not something that the character is saying, but the actor.  We use this for stage directions and also for letting followers know when we are leaving and when we will be back on.  (Example -  OOC:  I will be back later.  Probably in 2 or 3 hours.)

Plot Lines

Because we have a lot of tweets, we try to summarize the major plots. Here is a brief idea of what has been going on.  Please visit the character blogs for more details.

Training Exercise

MU Tom, Shara, Braddock, Tuvok, Archer, Harry Kim, Jones, Munro have just completed survival training on an uninhabited planet. They spent 24 hours learning how to survive by using the resources that are available on the planet.

The mission went well with no complications.

For Tom and Shara, this served as their introduction into Starfleet. They are now officially in Starfleet.

Character development

Kala is giving musical performances in the mess hall and has been giving musical performances with Seven and Harry Kim. She is trying to gain more control of her abilities, and she will begin working with Tuvok and Jean to do so.

Jean has been helping people all across timelines and different universes.

Shara and MU Tom have started dating. They were discoved by Braddock and their relationship is no longer a secret.

Harry and Seven have been spending more time together.  Seven is trying to be more comfortable in social settings, and Harry is helping with that.

New Players and some updates

We have 2 new characters that you should follow:

Mirror Universe Tom Paris – he was brought on board when MU Chakotay was rescued.

Kala Cree - a Deltan/Betazoid we found in a stasis pod and has been brought aboard.

Now for the storylines – a very brief synopsis:

MU Chakotay and MU Tom Paris have been brought to Voyager.   MUChakotay is still recovering in sick bay.  MU Tom has been working in the mess hall and also helping in Astrometrics.  Annika was put into stasis. 

Kala is trying to find her place on Voyager.  She has been playing duets with Harry Kim and entertaining the crew.

Tuvok has been having some….issues and has not quite been himself. 

Shara has been spending time with both Braddock and MU Tom Paris.  Also studying for her training.

B’Elanna finished the episode Extreme Risk and we are glad she is okay! 

I will update more later – just wanting a quick update for now.

Mirror Universe Storylines and other updates

A lot has happened recently. Since it is nearly impossible to keep up with all of our tweets (I swear, we need to start providing Cliffs Notes!), I am going to try and update the blog more regularly so that everyone can keep up with the major storylines.

Before I start, I just want to remind everyone that you need to follow all of the players so that you can see all of the conversations. If someone you are following is having a conversation with someone you are not following, you will not any of the replies. This could mean that you miss an entire scene between two characters.

I know that it is tempting to only follow the major canon characters and to ignore the ones that are not canon or are minor, but please keep in mind that some of the non-canon characters are the most active  in our role-play. They have a lot of interaction with our canon characters.

Okay, now that that’s over, let’s get to the storylines.

Harry Kim and Shara are no longer dating.  They will be meeting with Jean Pierce to see if they can work things out. In the meantime, Shara and Ensign Braddock are becoming closer friends. As you can imagine, the rumors about Shara and Braddock are flying all through the ship.  Harry Kim is not taking the break up very well.

Things have been pretty quiet for B’Elanna Torres, but you can expect to see her  getting into trouble on the holodeck soon.  (Episode – Extreme Risk – http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Extreme_Risk)

Jean Pierce and Chakotay have been getting used to working their relationship around busy schedules. Jean is trying to get settled into her routine and she is being kept quite busy. We are going to be installing a chair on the bridge for her, so that she can be an advisor – similar to Counselor Troi.

Seven of Nine has been asking a lot of questions about sexuality and has also been trying to do some research on the rift between the main universe and the Mirror Universe.  If you want to have a good laugh, be sure to follow the conversations about human sexuality between Seven and Shara.  I will warn you now – do not drink anything while you are reading those conversations or you will splorph it all over your keyboard.  (The OOC comments are as funny or funnier than the IC comments.)

Mirror Universe:

There is a lot going on with the Mirror Universe storylines. I will try to give the best synopsis I can. 

Annika has been causing trouble and harassing people as much as possible.

MU Harry Kim has had a lot of interaction with Seven of Nine and is now busy building his own faction.

MU Chakotay has disappeared and is presumed to have returned to the Mirror Universe. Before he left, it looked as if he were under the influence of some outside force – possibly Annika.  Voyager is trying to locate where he is and find him. If possible, they will bring him back.

This is a very brief synopsis of what is going on. If you have a question, please leave a comment. One of the players will try to answer your question – hopefully, the person you ask about will be able to answer you. If not, I will give it a try.

Back in Space

Well, shore leave is now officially over. We have just left the planet Stakarr and are now headed back on course.

Tom and Harry had to be bailed out of jail with us paying a fine. We provided a large variety of seeds and cuttings for the officials on the planet in order to pay our fine. It seems that the planet we were visiting had a very limited amount of edible plants.

Seven has discovered a few class M planets that are not very far away. We are planning to make a supply run whenever we get close enough.  Tuvok, Shara and Ensign Braddock will take a shuttle to the planet in order to gather supplies.

RPG members and Interactive followers

I often have people ask me how they go about joining our Voyager role playing group.

Actually, there are three different ways that you can interact with us and be a part of the fun.

1. Follow us and chat – just follow all of the players (there is a list on the right hand side of this blog) and watch what goes on. Then just talk to us either in character or out of character. For example, during one recent storyline, Janeway was going to take a variety of seeds and cuttings to a planet so they would have a greater variety of edible plants. One follower suggested to bring recipes along with them, since you cannot have new fruits and vegetables without knowing how to prepare them. It worked right in with the storyline, so Janeway sent a note to Seven of Nine right away to tell her to include recipes along with the seeds and cuttings.
2. Become an in-character interactive follower – this is a little bit different than just following us and chatting with us. An in character interactive follower might actually interact on the ship with us. This is the first step to becoming a member of the role-playing group. You can create your own character and then we will work with you so that you can get used to coordinating storylines and short scenes with the players. This way you can get used to how we interact with each other when we role-play, how to read a scene, how to ad-lib and play off of each other, etc. If you want some information about becoming an in-character interactive follower, please e-mail Shara at sharatheorion@hotmail.com  and she will work with you to set something up.
3. Become a member of the role-playing group – in order to become a member of the role-playing group, you will first have to have some time as an in-character interactive follower. This will make sure that your role-playing style meshes well with ours and that you can work well with the other group members. It also gives you a chance to get used to us and in the way we do things before you have to worry about any type of time commitment. If you are a member of the role-playing group, you will be invited to join our e-mail group and to help us plot storylines. The e-mail group is what we use behind-the-scenes in order to develop our major story lines and plot developments.

 

Simply following all of us and reading the story lines is fun, but interacting with us is even more fun. Hope to hear from you soon.

Shore Leave

Right now, Voyager is in orbit around a planet and the crew is enjoying some well-deserved shore leave.  Everyone – with the exception of Tuvok – has been on the planet and has had some fun and relaxation.

Oh, yeah.  B’Elanna has gotten in a few scrapes.  Tom and Harry are in jail for breaking some obscure local law.  Janeway and Mirror Universe Chakotay have gotten hot and heavy.    And Shara has gotten bitten by some local insect.  (Who knows what that might do?)

Seven got to see Mirror Universe Harry Kim on the planet’s surface, as well.

On another note, Seven has been asking questions about human sexuality of Shara.  The conversation they had in the mess hall made Janeway choke on her coffee.  Twice.  Orions and Borg are not shy when it comes to dealing with sexual techniques and terms.   

Janeway had a hilarious conversation with them afterwards about proper mess hall topics of discussion.  They were confused about why, but understood that there will be no more sex talks in the mess hall.  They will have to do that in private.