The Space Opera Working Thread

With death threatening from every corner and crew members dropping like flies...
What IF the two crews teamed up?

Would that ruin everything if the crews combined?

*Ducks before I get hit with rotten vegetation*...

[edit on 27-3-2009 by silo13]

reply to post by silo13




The time is coming soon that the two crews will meet.

Captain loam has been in contact with me on how things are progressing and I agree with him that we need a few changes in order to make the story AND the characters within it more 'relaxed'. The biggest problem so far has been the pace at which the main story has progressed and some members are falling by the wayside because they have trouble keeping up with it all.

Writers I need some help here a sec.

In my new post I have to bring up money, there’s a Bounty on the head of someone aboard the Yydryl.

As I wouldn’t dream of setting a monetary precedent for the Space Opera without input I really need some help here.

How are we going to handle money?

Is there one form of money, payment, one monetary standard used throughout the Galaxy?
(Makes me shudder even thinking about it this day in age).

Or does each and every Planet have it’s own form and in some way there’s a Galactic exchange?

Is it possible there is no money exchange at all?

If not, what would a Bounty be?
What are we working for?

Thanks...

Just my humble opinion, I think we should have a different currency for every nation or union. E.U. type star nations would have one currency and multiple species.

But you are correct this is an important decision one that requires more input from the rest of the group. We'll have to see what the others say.

Originally posted by masqua
The biggest problem so far has been the pace at which the main story has progressed and some members are falling by the wayside because they have trouble keeping up with it all.

I agree as well. Slowing the pace a bit is a good idea.

I suggestion. We can make posts that have an ending that could have a commercial break after them. Instead of posts that need an answer right away. That gives us all the opportunity to post later and when we are able.




[edit on 27-3-2009 by Studious]

Hello, everyone.

I've really enjoyed participating in the story thread, but feel a few modifications to the rules might be in order. Mainly, I'm hoping to acheive the following outcomes:

1) slow things down a bit for everyone, without completely killing the pace of the story
2) lighten the load on a single mod
3) make the story more readable not just for participants but for audience readers
4) tighten the integrity of the story itself by making clear what can and can not be done by participants.

Here's what I've been working on as a result of my experience in this wonderful project initiated by masqua:

--------------

General Rules of an Epic

Introduction:

An Epic is part collaboration and part game.

A story thread is begun providing the initial details that set the stage for the Epic. Twelve members, separated into two teams and led by a captain, are appointed to character positions within the Epic.

Members who have not been appointed to one of the twelve character positions may still participate in the Epic under certain conditions.

The Epic is moderated by one or more mods in the role of Nature.

Each Epic has a companion discussion thread, where in addition to general discussion about the Epic, participants can strategize or coordinate on story elements.

Story threads are ALWAYS in character and serve as the authoritative source for all facts relative to the Epic universe. Ideas expressed in the discussion thread are not part of the Epic.

All participants are limited to one character for the entirety of the Epic. A character can never die, unless either the member playing that character consents to that outcome or Nature causes that outcome under a limited set of circumstances.

With limited exceptions, no member can control the actions or dialogue of another member character without that member’s consent.

Nonconforming posts will either be edited by Nature to cure any rule defects or simply deleted.

There is no ending to an Epic.

Types of Participants:

There are four levels of participants in the Epic:

1) Nature
2) Team Captains
3) Team Members
4) Visiting Members


Nature:

Nature may appear as frequently or infrequently as Nature desires. Nature’s principle role is to supply the initial story setting, and subsequent objectives or events to keep a story moving or to change its course.

Nature is omnipresent and all powerful. Nature is the only character that can freely control the actions or dialog of another member character.

Team Captains:

Team Captains lead their groups in pursuit of the objective(s) in the Epic.

When communicating with other team member characters, dialogue text is always written without quotes in an assigned color. Narrative or dialogue with non-member characters is always written in normal uncolored text.

While Team Captains do not have the ability to control the actions or dialogue of another member character without that member’s consent, Team Captains do have the ability to logically move any team member to the same location as the Team Captain for purposes of interaction and plot advancement.

Team Members:

There are twelve appointed team member positions, separated into two teams. Team Members generally support one another in furtherance of personal or collective objectives, and generally report to the Team Captain.

Team members are expected to create personalities which reflect their appointed role.


Visiting Members:

Any member with writer status may participate in the Epic by choosing to logically introduce a non-appointed character into the Epic. Remember, a member may only play a single character for the duration of the Epic. When appropriate, visiting member characters may be appointed to one of the twelve team positions.

Non-Member Characters:

Non-member characters are characters introduced for the purpose of interacting with member characters. Non-member characters may be created or eliminated by any participating member or Nature, in any logical manner, at any time.

Posting Badges:

Member posting badges identify the class or nature of a participating member in the Epic. Members must always use the appropriate badge and place it as the first item in all of the member’s posts.

Character Names:

Member characters always share the actual member’s ATS name.

Posting Limits:

Team Members may only post once every 12 hours.

Visiting Members may only post once every 24 hours.

Otherwise members may post more frequently, if such posts are 150 words or less of new text.

Nature and Captains may post at any length and with any frequency.

No member may post twice in succession without an intervening post made by another member.

Writing Perspective:

Members are free to build upon previous concepts introduced by other members or introduce entirely new ones.

Members should preserve the integrity of previously introduced facts. If they are ever to be changed in some manner, the member is required to provide a means that is consistent and logical to the Epic.

A member can never write facts related to another member character’s background.

Never post any out-of-role comments or questions in the story thread.

Quoting:

When quoting a member character’s dialogue, always use the “quote” tag, instead of the “external source” tag or “reply to” link options.

Always trim quotes to their relevant portion only.

Media:

All media used must be uploaded to the ATS Media site.

Character Parking and Death:

A team member may choose to park a character for some period of time, provided that time does not exceed 30 days. Thereafter, Nature reserves the right to cause the untimely death of the Team Member.


Supplemental Rules for The Voyages of the Penelope and the Yddryl


Dialogue Colors:

USS Penelope Captain’s dialogue color.

Starship Yydryl Captain’s dialogue color.


Character Badges:

Ship-to-Ship communications between the Penelope and the Yddryl will not occur until they meet at some point after departure from their respective outposts.

[edit on 27-3-2009 by loam]

Originally posted by loam
When communicating with other team member characters, dialogue text is always written without quotes in an assigned color. Narrative or dialogue with non-member characters is always written in normal uncolored text.

Though this part is under the Captain's section It seems to be saying that all team member characters would, when writing dialogue to each other, use an assigned color.

Is this just the Captain's dialogue or everyone's?

I think Orange and Red should be reserved for Captain's orders not all dialogue.


When the ships eventually do begin to communicate we could use a dialogue color to denote conversation between two or more characters with one or more characters from the other ship. This would be done due to the gravity that conversations between the crews will probably have.

List of Colors

1. One color for dialogue between characters one ship to the other: ????

2. Orders on the Penelope: Orange

3. Orders on the Yydryl: Red

4. Nature: Yellow



Not sure about the badges. It may become repetitive or disruptive.

But I suppose it allows us to see what position people hold easier. Plus it would allow a moderator to see how often someone had posted clearly. So it does have possibilities.

Originally posted by loam
Posting Limits:

Team Members may only post once every 12 hours.

Visiting Members may only post once every 24 hours.

Otherwise members may post more frequently, if such posts are 150 words or less of new text.

Nature and Captains may post at any length and with any frequency.

No member may post twice in succession without an intervening post made by another member.

This part is EXCELLENT. I agree that would slow the story down sufficiently and make not posting for a few days not as dramatic.

PLUS allowing posts of 150 words or less still allows us to carry out dialogue effectively.

Originally posted by loam
Character Parking and Death:

A team member may choose to park a character for some period of time, provided that time does not exceed 30 days. Thereafter, Nature reserves the right to cause the untimely death of the Team Member.

A caveat to that could be for any reasonable period of time agreed to by that team member and Nature. So that Nature cannot kill someone who has already stated they would be back after an agreed to period of time.

Though the paragraph quoted does allow a character to be gone for longer than 30 days it allows Nature to kill them.

I think 30 days should be used if the member has not stated that they were going to be gone. But if they set up an agreement with Nature for a longer period of time than 30 days (within reason) then that "contract" should still hold and thus Nature cannot kill them.

[edit on 27-3-2009 by Studious]

[edit on 27-3-2009 by Studious]

So for these badges, am I to add this to my media portal or am I all right just using the URL loam provided and just use his portal? I'm not 100% on the rules with the new media system. I can click the badge, take the URL, click Insert an Image and it shows up just fine.



[edit on 27/3/2009 by Scurvy]

reply to post by Studious

Originally posted by Studious

Originally posted by loam
When communicating with other team member characters, dialogue text is always written without quotes in an assigned color. Narrative or dialogue with non-member characters is always written in normal uncolored text.

Though this part is under the Captain's section It seems to be saying that all team member characters would, when writing dialogue to each other, use an assigned color.

Is this just the Captain's dialogue or everyone's?

I intended this to be just the Captain's dialogue when he speaks to other member characters. No one else uses dialogue colors. I really thought about this one long and hard. I think this is important because we are dealing with an Epic length thread. This dramatically increases the readability of the thread and makes it easy to follow key elements of the story arc as established by the respective Captains. Trying to make the distinction between Capt. orders and other dialogue he might have with members becomes too unclear, imo. Better to just require it for all of his interactions with members. Of course, when interacting with NPCs, it's just plain text.

You can look at my posts for an example of this.

Originally posted by Studious
Not sure about the badges. It may become repetitive or disruptive.

But I suppose it allows us to see what position people hold easier. Plus it would allow a moderator to see how often someone had posted clearly. So it does have possibilities.

Aside from the new frequency restrictions, I consider the badges one of the most important additions to the rules. Remember, the thread is not just for participants, but the broader readership on ATS. The badges in posts will help casual readers to easily get into the story, without having to keep track of who is who at all times. It's tough enough for the participants.

Also, I think it serves as a nice reminder of the specific role that is intended. This will make transitions between members into those positions much smoother in my opinion.

Originally posted by Studious

Originally posted by loam
Posting Limits:

This part is EXCELLENT. I agree that would slow the story down sufficiently and make not posting for a few days not as dramatic.

I hope so. I went for times that would create a nice balance. I don't know about all of you, but the pace of the current story is killing me.

Originally posted by Studious

Originally posted by loam
Character Parking and Death:

A caveat to that could be for any reasonable period of time agreed to by that team member and Nature. So that Nature cannot kill someone who has already stated they would be back after an agreed to period of time.

I think that goes without saying. Death does not always have to be the approach. But I do think it is only fair not to tie up an appointed slot for too long. That decision is best left to the managing mods.

Incidentally, Captain Cadbury is an excellent example of character parking. When he returns (if he chooses to do so) I will be relinquishing my role as Captain. That is why he does not die in the story plot.

[edit on 27-3-2009 by loam]

reply to post by Scurvy


You can just use the link. It's already on the media portal.

Incidentally, to right justify it, you use these tags [ imgr ] [ /img ] without the spaces.

The little "r" is for right.

Btw, if you want to left justify other images with text wrapping, you use a little "l" in the first tag, like this: [ imgl ] [ /img ].

Centering images is easiest with the [ ats ] [ /ats ] tags.

[edit on 27-3-2009 by loam]

*Testing*





Loam, please verify this is the right badge for me.

Thank you for taking the time to make these guidelines. Admittedly, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed of the pace. I'd also had a few issues which you addressed.




Edit: I'll get it right here in a sec How do I get it to be justified right?

[edit on 3/27/2009 by Whisper67] ::grumbles::

[edit on 3/27/2009 by Whisper67]

[edit on 3/27/2009 by Whisper67]

[edit on 3/27/2009 by Whisper67]

[edit on 3/27/2009 by Whisper67]

Originally posted by loam
Aside from the new frequency restrictions, I consider the badges one of the most important additions to the rules. Remember, the thread is not just for participants, but the broader readership on ATS. The badges in posts will help casual readers to easily get into the story, without having to keep track of who is who at all times. It's tough enough for the participants.

An excellent addition which I can install from page 1 on. The downside would be an edit by me at the bottom of each post.

We do have to consider the wider readership of ATS, both the membership of ATS and visitors. We are role playing not just for ourselves here and our audience is every bit as important as the players on the stage.

Making it easier to understand by the use of these badges will go a ong way to make it easier to follow.

The rules on posting will also help in this regard... both for the role players involved AND the audience that reads the story as it unfolds.

Major kudos, loam.

reply to post by Whisper67


Look at my last post on how to right justify the tag.

Originally posted by Whisper67
Loam, please verify this is the right badge for me.

I'm realizing there is an obvious position conflict between you and Scurvy. I suppose you could both use the same tag for now (a one-time exception, imo)...or one of you could take the engineering/operations badge.

The "operations" piece would cover your envisioned assignments, while adding some additional responsibilities.

[edit on 27-3-2009 by loam]

Originally posted by masqua
An excellent addition which I can install from page 1 on. The downside would be an edit by me at the bottom of each post.

I don't mind that at all.

Does anyone else?

Of course, I can't imagine the work that would require.

[edit on 27-3-2009 by loam]

Originally posted by loam

Of course, I can't imagine the work that would require.

I doubt we need to use these badges in the working thread (other than for practice ) and changing the posts only in the main thread won't be so difficult... after all, there's no need for badges in deceased personnel.

Originally posted by loam
I'm realizing there is an obvious position conflict between you and Scurvy. I suppose you could both use the same tag for now (a one-time exception, imo)...or one of you could take the engineering/operations badge.

The "operations" piece would cover your envisioned assignments, while adding some additional responsibilities.

Eeep, my opinion on this is....I'd rather share then give myself the tag of "engineering" I don't mind the operations so much but, not sure my character has the background needed for engineering. Am I just focusing on the engineering part of that badge? Whisper can handle plenty of responsibility...just not in the area of engineering.

Also, my 2 cents here: I love the idea of badges. Especially for the other crew with thier avatars being similar. I like they are similar for continuity and ease of keeping relating them to a team and I think the badge policy will enhance this. Overall, the badges add to the readability.



[edit on 3/27/2009 by Whisper67]

reply to post by masqua

Originally posted by masqua
I doubt we need to use these badges in the working thread (other than for practice

)

That is actually why I just added them here. I was curious to see the visual impact.

Originally posted by masqua
and changing the posts only in the main thread won't be so difficult... after all, there's no need for badges in deceased personnel.

Very cool.

*loam thinks masqua is nuts if he believes that will not be a mind-numbing task*

Remember, NATURE CAN NOT COMMIT SUICIDE.

reply to post by Whisper67


I think it might make sense for Scurvy to have the engineering/operations badge. "Weapons" systems can easily fit under those headings.

But, it is up to the two of you.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1f9e33049436.jpg[/atsimg]

So I have to stick this up here before each post?

Or what if I place it in my sig?
Testing 1-2-3-4-

Ok I will go back 1,000 pages to catch up since I was missing yesterday!