USS Zion Documentation Center

Available Documents | Writing Style Guide | Character Creation | Game Rules | Posting Format | Experience Points System |

Posting Format


Posting Format

The new automatic scoring and archiving system that the Zion has requires us to make changes in the way we format and submit our game posts.

First and most importantly you should now begin sending your posts to post@usszion.com. You should only send official game posts to this address.

Any OFF or out of character communication (OOC) you wish to make should go to the zion_ooc@usszion.com mailing list.

If you make a mistake on your post and want to fix it please send it to repost@usszion.com and we will take care of the fix for you.


Naming Your Post

While it is not mandatory that you give you post a title we strongly encourage you to do so as it appears better when it is archived on the web site. If you wish to give your posts a title you should include that title on the very first line of your post and enclose it in quote marks.
Example:
"The Zion is Coming"


[ON:]

After the title you should include an on mark enclosed in brackets [ON:]


Stardates

Putting a Stardate on your post is required. If you fail to include a Stardate in the proper format your post will be rejected. The proper Stardate format is like this:
Example: Stardate 58204.17 2200

Please do not include any other characters in your Stardate line.

How to translate stardates:

The stardate that we use on the Zion is a fairly easy starday to use. We will use Stardate 58204.21 as an example.

5 . The first number in this example stands for the century. On out game 5 is set to century 23.
82 . The next two numbers in this stardate stanf for the year. In this example the year is 82.
04 . The next two numbers in the stardate stand for the month. In this example the month is 04 (or April) The month is then followed by a decimal point (.)
21 . The next two numbers (after the decimal point) represent the day of the month. In this example the date is the 21st.
2200 - The last 4 number represent the time of day and it is in the 24 hour format. IN the example the time of day is 22:00 (or 7PM)

Putting it all together our example date is April 21, 2382 22:00


The Story

The next part of the post is your story. It is in the same format you have always used. However, please discontinue the practice of using =/= to indicate using ships communications. See our Writing Style Guide for more info.


[OFF:]

After your story is complete you must include an OFF statement enclosed in brackets [OFF:] This tells our parser that you are done with your story and that it should now be looking for signatures.


Signatures

The Signature of the post is the most important change that we have made it controls how the post is scored (experience points) and how it is recorded on the site. Please pay special attention to follow the rules for signatures when you do your post.

Game signatures need to be no more or less that 4 lines. The first line must be the character.s name, the second line must be the position the character has on the ship, and the last line must be the email address of the player who played the character.

Example:
Commander John Wright
Executive Officer
USS Zion
dave@starpoint.net

You must use the email address that you have registered to play the game with. The email address is used to award you points for your post. Failure to use the correct email address will result in no points being awarded.

Please discontinue the use of notes such as .Also playing Miranda. Each character played must have a 4 line signature.

If you are playing a character that is not list on our web site continue to use the 4 line signature but make sure to include their position on the second line.

Example:
Chester the cat
The Captain.s Cat
USS Zion
dave@starpoint.net


Example Post

"Next Stop, Rura Pente"
Stardate 58204.15 2005

[ON:]

Hunter entered the Admiral's office and saluted.

"At ease Captain." Price smiled at Hunter. "Ian, it has been a long time."

Hunter smiled at Price and shook his hand, "Congratulations on your appointment here Max. It.s wonderful to find you on this side of the war.

"It is good to be on this side of the war. So far Peaty and I like it better than dodging Federation assassins," said price with a sad expression on his face.

"How's the family, Sir?" asked Hunter as he tried to coax the Admiral's bird, Peaty, to eat a cracker from its tray.

The parrot squawked and said "Admiral want a cracker?"

Price smiled at the bird and said, "All that I have left now is Peaty. The Federation is not a safe place anymore."

Hunter looked sympathetically at the Admiral whose face remains stoic. "I'm sorry to hear that Sir," said Hunter taking a seat at the Admiral's desk. "I asked you here because I have made housing arrangements for our prisoners with the Klingon penal colony Rura Pente. I need a good ship to get them there."

Hunter rubbed his mouth and chin nervously, "Rura Pente? Isn.t that a bit harsh Sir?"

Price remembered the General's mocking laughter when he requested the prisoners be given a small amount of care. "I have expressed my concern for their wellbeing to the staff at Rura Pente. I am sure they will not be treated too harshly."

Hunter smiled, of course he knew better. "Will they be given due process or are they being declared prisoners of war out right?"

No, we will need to process them first. I imagine there were several of them who will want to defect. Not all Federation crews are evil as you well know." Price looked at Hunter. "We should only send those who we determine are a threat to our security and those who have committed war crimes to Rura Pente. Now is not the time for war crimes tribunals that must wait until after the war." said Price.

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem. It is a bit of a journey of course, about 45 days at warp 6. We'll have to plot a course around Federation space. I should think we'd want to go alone, cloaked." Hunter smiled, "It will be the Zion's first deep mission; we won't be back for quite sometime."

"Very good. Thank you Ian," said Price.

Hunter sighed, "Then there is the unfortunate matter of a crewman that had murdered two federation prisoners and then blew himself up. The report has been submitted to your office. If you want to investigate it..."

Price frowned. "That is unfortunate, I will review your report and assign someone to investigate," said Price.

"As you wish, Sir" Hunter stood up and as the door opened, he turned and said with a light hearted salute, "It.s good to see you here, Sir."

[OFF:]

A JP by

Capt Ian Hunter
CO
USS Zion
ian@usszion.com

AND

Admiral Max Price
Judge Advocate General
Maquis Command
dave@starpoint.net

AND

Peaty
The Parrot
Qul Tuq Station
dave@starpoint.net