Game Rules

1. Overview, "What is the U.S.S. Wyvern PBEM RPG?"
2. Posting rules and requirements
3. Vacations, "Is there any "time off" from the game?"
4. "What happens if a player fails to post?"

What is the U.S.S. Wyvern PBEM RPG?

The U.S.S. Wyvern is a Star Trek "Play by Email" Role Playing game, set in the popular Star Trek universe originally created by Gene Roddenberry in 1966. The U.S.S. Wyvern is placed in the "Next Generation" era of Star Trek, and is following the events after the War between the Dominion and the Alpha Quadrant came to a close at the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and a few years after the U.S.S. Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant at the end of Star Trek: Voyager.

How does one participate in the U.S.S. Wyvern PBEM RPG?

Traditionally, when the term "Role Playing Game" is used, many people think of pen-and-paper games such as Dungeons & Dragons, where players role dice against opposing skill tests and interact with other players face-to-face. The first noticable difference between Pen-and-Paper role playing games and "PBEM" role playing games is that "PBEM" games lack that face-to-face interaction. PBEM games have their roots in "play by mail" games, in which the actions taken were sent through the postal system. The advent of email introduced a faster and cheaper means in which these can be delivered.

Likewise, the general style of the game differs from traditional role playing games. In pen-and-paper role playing games, a single participant, usually with the title of "game master" (GM) or "dungeon master" (DM) controls the playing field, and all possible actions a character can take must be confirmed by the game master. The means for this can vary; sometimes the decision to allow an action is based on the game master's whim, while other times dice or similar testing devices are used to determine if the action succeeds. However, the process of action-test-confirmation is more strenuous without the face-to-face interaction between the players.

A better way to look at the flow of activity on the U.S.S. Wyvern PBEM RPG is like that of a "chain story." Each player participates in the story by writing a short - typically around 1 page long - story segment detailing the actions of his or her character in relation to the current storyline in progress. These story segments are typically referred to as "posts," form pieces of the puzzle which, when combined with the posts from other users, form the overall story. The game master in this environment orchestrates the process, ensuring the information detailed in a user's post is consistant with information that has previously been posted.

A Sample Post

Lieutenant Commander Rr'Vellan
Executive Officer, USS Firestorm
Stardate: 55290, 14:54
Duty Post
Kypp

"LOWER YOUR WEAPONS! LOWER YOUR WEAPONS!"

Rr'Vellan yelled as they stood face to face with four Romulans. They had agreed with Lela that the two teams would cooperate, but there was no way for her to inform her team of that. Lela had wormed her way through the Starfleet team and now stood in the middle of a series of guns.

"Will you put your weapons down, we're all here to help eachother."

Rr'Vellan looked at the Romulans and then behind him at his team, signaling they should put their weapons down slowly. One by one they put their weapons down, and moments later the Romulans did the same.

Lela pointed towards a corner and signaled that they should put their stuff down there and sit down for a bit while she would inform her team of what was going on. As Rr'Vellan studied the Romulans from a distance the humor of the whole situation hit him. Not only were they going to cooperate with Romulans Spies, but while they were dressed in Romulan jump and assault suits the Romulans were dressed in Federation suits. An ignorant observer could easily mistake this team for a group of Vulcans, of course Starfleet would only allow single race teams very rarely nowadays after several failed experiments where they used only Vulcans as a ships crew.

------

Not much later, Rr'Vellan, Max, Lela and Laestac were leaning over a large map of the base. There were two ways to enter the base nearly undetected. In both cases they would have to disable or scramble a series of motion detectors and other sensors waiting for them but they wouldn't encounter much personnel that would detect them.

The first option would be scaling a huge natural wall on the west side of the base, the base was build at the edge of a deep gorge and that side wasn't defended well against penetration for all the obvious reasons. But it came with some serious problems too, since there was no way to get out in case of trouble and they wouldn't be able to take the same route off the base either.

The second option was far more interesting, it would require them to enter a cave about six kilometers south of the base. They would have to follow a series of caves and narrow natural passages that would eventually lead them to a cavern. From that cavern they would have to drill a few meters into the wall until they would reach the sewage system of the base.

Though there would be some security near the sewage system, this route would leave them undetected until the point of entering the base. They could place most of the high explosives in the sewage system with anyone ever knowing it was there. They could then find their way to the Romulan prisoner rescue him and get out of there, with luck without ever being detected. But if need be they could blast their way out of the base and blow it sky high behind them.