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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Q&A
Subject: useful links and such
Some links you may find useful!
Memory Alpha: the biggest Star Trek wiki on the internet. If you need to know canon trek info, check here.
RDI Trek Tools: our own in-house trek tools include the ship's roster and logbook, among other items. Use these to help keep things straight in our game.
Saber Class Specs: complete details of the Saber class vessel. Use this to figure out what deck a given department is located on, what types of probes the ship carries, what a given security rating is, and on and on. Special thanks to the "Star Trek: a Call to Duty" community for this superb resource!
Saber (-P Variant) Class Crew Compliment: a full breakdown of all officers and enlisted crew on the ship, by department (Word Doc format).
Bridge layout: The current standard Saber Class bridge layout is as follows. The Captain's Chair, Tactical, Operations, and Engineering are on a raised area of the bridge.
The Tactical/Security control station (comprised of two consoles, one for tactical, and one for security functions) is to the left of the Captain's Chair.
To the Captain's right is the Operations manager's console. Identical in size and design to the Tactical/Security station, the Operations manager is located closer to the bridge engineering station rather than close to the front of the bridge.
Also located on the platform, against the aft wall of the bridge, is a large master systems display monitor, similar to the one in main engineering. All relative ship information (such as damage, power distribution, etc.) is displayed on the cutaway image of the ship. Below the MSD is a large engineering console encompassing Eng I and Eng II. These consoles are usually unattended, but can be activated if an Engineering presence is requested on the bridge.
Directly fore of the command area is the Flight Control Officer, who faces the main viewer. At the very front of the bridge chamber is a large viewscreen.
Against the port walls of the main bridge, forward of the raised command section, are the consoles for Science and others that are programmable for a multitude of functions. There are two Science consoles.
Against the starboard wall of the main bridge, forward of the Captain's chair, is the Executive officer's console. It is typically configured as a backup to any of the other stations, as the XO is most often a department head currently in one of the other stations.
Pretend that second chair by the Captain isn't there, and you have a nigh-perfect image.
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 12:23:37.
Edited on 2016-02-26 at 13:50:39 by t_catt11
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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Q&A
Subject: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Q&A
This will be the Q&A thread for the moderated freeform game, Star Trek: the Edge of Duty.
We'll start with posting guidelines.
Posts in a Trek game need to be structured, else things quickly devolve into chaos. Therefore, I ask that you follow some guidelines.
First, start every post off with the date, location, and the time (in 24 hour, or military, format). We will be using "actual" dates insted of true stardates, as stardates are much more difficult for the casual player to keep up with. You will hear Captain Drake reference these in character, however. If anyone cares, our trek tools page include a stardate calculator.
Your post header should look something like this:
Stardate: 2365.02.12
USS Peregrine, Main Engineering - 1615
Your text starts here...
The very nature of a Trek game - with everyone working independently - means that there will always be several storylines going at once. If we wait for one another, the game will almost immediately become so mired down that we won't be able to continue. By giving our posts headers, we're able to back post, change scenes, etc, without too much confusion.
Please stay on the same mission day, except when backposting. In other words, if the rest of the ship is on day three, the CSO doesn't need to be sharing the discoveries he makes on day five. It's okay to go back and post a conversation you might have missed, but don't go ahead. As captain, my main function is to keep the story as organized as possible - I'll do this by regulating mission dates.
Be creative. Improvise. Add wrinkles to the plot. It's perfectly acceptable for the chief engineer to suddenly report a problem with the transporters just as we're about to visit a planet's surface. Maybe he'll need to fix it, or maybe the need for us to go is so pressing that we're forced to take shuttles.
If there's a problem on the table, don't be afraid to come up with solutions. If you have any doubts or questions, post here in the Q&A thread, PM me directly, or email me.
Please, by all means, create NPCs as needed. If you're the chief of security, you'll obviously need security personnel to flesh out your duty roster. We won't be having twenty people playing those roles, so you'll need to create them.
There's no need to go so far as to create a bio for most of them, but if you plan to use them in a recurring role, it wouldn't be a bad idea.
Now, then... don't be that creative! Don't "God mode" - i.e., don't play your character in such a way that he solves every problem without help, knows the answer to every question, never has any trouble, etc. Share the spotlight - everyone deserves a chance to contribute on the missions. Don't control someone else's NPC without conferring with them first.
Never, ever control another person's main character. It's okay to make reasonable assumptions, but post them as such. This is bad:
Captain Drake nodded to Commander BillyBob. "So commander, what is your plan?" he asked. The commander paused for a moment, then spoke, "Captain, we should fire up the xyz in order to make the abc work correctly."
In this case, I'm posting the commander's intentions and speech for him. No, no no.
Better:
Captain Drake nodded to Commander BillyBob. "So, commander, what is your plan?" he asked.
OOC: assuming BillyBob shares the plan...
Drake nodded again. "Carry on," he stated.
I'm reacting to what I anticipate the answer to be, but giving myself edit room if it happens differently than I expect. I am not controlling the commander.
Format your posts.
This is a writing intensive game, and we all have different styles of posting. That's fine, but I want some standards, so that no one is confused.
Speech should always be included in quotes.
"How are you doing today, ensign?" Drake asked.
No bold, no other colors. Just quotes.
Internal throughts should be italicized.
Why does he keep blathering on? his players wondered.
Italics is done by adding the <I> tag before the italicized text, and adding the </I> tag after the italicized text.
Communictions via a communicator or other device is set aside with a special symbol.
Captain Drake keyed the intercom. "Drake to engineering."
=/= Engineering, Thompson here. =/=
"Thompson?" Silas asked. "Where is Commander Kennedy?"
There was a moment's hesitation before the reply.
=/= Commander Kennedy is a little... preoccupied right now, sir. =/=
Computer speech uses this same notation. It might seem cumbersome at first, but this makes the posts so much easier to read!
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 12:14:18.
Edited on 2016-02-25 at 17:36:41 by t_catt11
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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Recruitment
Subject: fun?
I can see the fun angles on that for sure, but I'm planning to run a pretty straightforward, by the book type Trek adventure.
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 11:37:29.
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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Recruitment
Subject: that's totally fair
Agreed. We push it through, we get it done.
Come up with a concept!
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 11:29:21.
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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Recruitment
Subject: yep
I was glad to recover them. I honestly didn't realize that they were down.
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 11:26:45.
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Topic: A big thank you to Tann
Subject: A big thank you to Tann
Just wanted to give a shout out to our ambassador for the Inn, Tann Talas, for his awesome work of late in promoting the site on Facebook. Tann has personally funneled several new people to the Inn, and I wanted to say thanks for his efforts.
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 11:10:55.
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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Recruitment
Subject: keep on...
No, the keel haul would be strictly for show, as you would die instantly due to vacuum and freezing. Details.
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 10:12:50.
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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Recruitment
Subject: haha
One of the few people that I know for sure will bite as hard as I do on Trek...
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 10:07:00.
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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Recruitment
Subject: funny?
I'll have you keel hauled for that!
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 10:04:29.
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Topic: Bug Report: Chat
Subject: well
I plan to keep a link around for the old chat, just in case someone wants to use it for novelty's sake. The same backend database tables will be used, this is just a new interface.
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 10:03:59.
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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Recruitment
Subject: well
The way that it works is that the Captain - which is a position, not just a rank (in a smaller ship like this, the commanding officer may well hold the rank of Commander) - is typically controlled by the GM. You see, instead of describing a dungeon to you, the Captain is largely a plot device, used to receive orders from command, pass tasks on to the other players, and make sure that the game is progressing properly.
So that spot won't be open. 
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 09:53:54.
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Topic: Grugg
Subject: done
I have so informed him!
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 09:51:40.
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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Recruitment
Subject: awesome
Just as a heads up - I see this game as being in the same basic timeframe as Discovery. The year will be somewhere around 2365 or so, or basically in the same time frame as Star Trek: the Next Generation season two. This would be prior to the Borg (Battle of Wolf 359 happened in 2367).
The Saber Class will be a pretty new ship at this point, as they started production in 2358.
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 01:04:41.
Edited on 2016-02-23 at 13:02:43 by t_catt11
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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Recruitment
Subject: awesome
You had a junior officer in Discovery, right? I don't know how viable it will be to re-leaunch Discovery right now, as two thirds of our central staff in that game are played by folks who are currently not active.
But if you're up for a new sim... well, that has us to two of the necessary six or so players. Start thinking about the type of character you'd like to play.
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 00:58:41.
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Topic: Grugg
Subject: update
I've texted him a couple of times today (sent him a duckface photo to scar him/make his day), and he seems in good spirits. He's had a little setback or two, but overall, he seems to be on a very positive recovery arc.
He's holding me to my promise to start the next chapter of Zombies in Chicago when he gets better, and I'm happy to keep it.
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 00:53:01.
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Topic: Bug Report: Chat
Subject: yep
Really really. I have a working prototype that I'm working on integrating. We're talking sooner rather than later.
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 00:48:54.
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Topic: Star Trek: the Edge of Duty Recruitment
Subject: Any interest in Trek?
So, I figure that if I'm going to try to take part in this revival of the Inn, I need to get involved in gaming again. Nothing seems to get me harder than Trek... though it is a complicated thing, and we've had a couple of fizzles.
I'd love to just bring back the U.S.S. Discovery, but we'd be missing some key people. So, I'm considering starting an entirely new storyline; at the moment, I'm seriously considering a game aboard a Saber Class scout vessel. It would be a much cozier sim - whereas the Discovery carried a full thousand personnel, a Saber carries only sixty.
This would be a typical Trek Inn game; I would provide the plot framework, but the game itself it a moderated freeform. Do what you want, as long as you don't try to control someone else's character. for more information on how the game works, please refer to the official Q&A thread for this game.
Writing skill is paramount for this sort of game. For a Trek game to be fun, we have to read about your character's thoughts, emotions, motivations.
I'm figuring one, maybe two posts per week.
So... is anyone game for this sort of insanity? I figure that we need around a half dozen players to make it work, though Trek will accommodate more.
*****************************************
Edit:
So, this is apparently a thing. We now have an official name - Star Trek: the Edge of Duty.
I'm going to post a list of needed character roles, plus some optional ones, with accepted players denoted. Please PM character concepts to me.
Captain: myself
Executive Officer: due to the small crew size, the XO will almost certainly hold one of the titles below.
Chief Tactical/Security Officer: Tann Talas
Chief Science Officer: Dox
Chief Medical Officer: SilentOne
Chief Operations Officer: Ayrn
Chief Engineer: Duncan74
Chief Flight Control Office (aka Helmsman): Eol Fefalas
Astrid is joining us as a more junior engineer.
Impulse is joining us as a more junior security officer.
That actually makes seven "lead" roles. One or two of these can be NPCs, but we need the majority filled in order to have a successful game. Note again that in a small ship like this, some roles are combined or omitted. For example, I don't foresee us carrying a ship's counselor with a compliment of sixty souls.
***********************************
Added this information for those looking to develop their service records. These are typical times spent in each given officer rank.
Ensign - Commissioned cadet rank - duration 1 - 4 years
Lieutenant Junior Grade (j.g.) - duration 2 - 4 years. usually referred to as "Lieutenant"
Lieutenant - duration 3 - 6 years
Lieutenant Commander - duration 4 - 8 years (can be permanent)
Commander - duration indefinite
Captain - duration indefinite
Fleet Captain - usually only a temporary rank
Commodore - duration indefinite
Rear Admiral - duration indefinite
Vice Admiral - duration indefinite
Admiral - duration indefinite
Fleet Admiral - duration indefinite
Commander in Chief, Starfleet - Usually 4 year posting
Posted on 2016-02-23 at 00:48:04.
Edited on 2016-02-25 at 12:49:41 by t_catt11
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Topic: Bug Report: Chat
Subject: if you ever get that....
If you ever get that error, do the chat logout link.
I am finally working again on the new, improved chat - it's fully AJAX drive, no more flicker refreshes, no popup window.
Posted on 2016-02-22 at 23:06:37.
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Topic: New member sign up issue
Subject: here is an update...
I have found and fixed a bug that was improperly setting new user passwords. If you have registered for the Inn, and cannot log in, please shoot me an email at [email protected] from the email address associated with the account. Please provide username and the password that you wish to use, and I will fix this for you.
Sorry for the inconvenience!
Posted on 2016-02-22 at 17:11:36.
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Topic: The Death of the Inn?
Subject: well
Again, I'm not looking for cash. The Inn costs me little to maintain, now that I have it sharing a server with my development platform.
I'll admit, it's nice to see some positive feedback. Maybe there is more hope than I thought.
I'm still not optimistic... but maybe there is a spark. Maybe that's enough.
Posted on 2016-02-17 at 23:16:58.
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Topic: The Death of the Inn?
Subject: well
Again, I'm not interested in pulling the plug. Sure, let's talk. I'm not optimistic, but if we made some improvements, a few games got going... who knows?
Posted on 2016-02-17 at 13:49:08.
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Topic: The Death of the Inn?
Subject: yes
The site is functionally dead in terms of gaming. I'm sad about this, and I have sincere doubts that this will ever change - certainly that it will ever change to the point where we might experience another "golden age" where this place is a vibrant center of gaming.
I am not saying that it is dead in that I'm pulling the plug.
For those asking what they can do?
We don't need staff right now. There was a time that we needed staff for moderating threads, for keeping an eye on chat. Right now, adding staff would be like appointing lifeguards around the onboard swimming pool of the Titanic.
What people can do, I'd say, is post. Start games, join games, etc. Using the forums, period is good - share poems, talk about the news, make silly posting games, whatever - but what's killing the community, IMO, is lack of actual gaming taking place here.
Posted on 2016-02-17 at 13:13:19.
Edited on 2016-02-17 at 13:17:06 by t_catt11
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Topic: The Death of the Inn?
Subject: some thoughts
I have no intention of shutting the Inn down completely. I don't want to kill Trilogy. Even though the message boards are all but empty, we still get a couple thousand page loads every day, as people use the various generators and utilities on an ongoing basis.
Don't worry about costs. I have the Inn sharing a server that I use as a development platform for my sideline business; the only real expense these days is the yearly domain fee.
As for promoting the Inn? Please feel free. Facebook, reddit, whatever. I would love to see people actually coming here to game, to be a community again. But I'm afraid that the idea of an RPG website just doesn't hold the appeal that it once did.
Once again, so much of this is my fault. When I go dark, the Inn seems to struggle. I've never understood it; I'm just one guy... but apparently, the Inn's health is linked to my activity in some sort of silly Arthur/Britain parallel.
If I updated some things (forums, chat, look of the site), maybe it would help. Maybe. There are some broken areas that I haven't fixed; I'll fully admit that the hack a few months ago took a lot of the wind out of my sails.
But the thing is, I worry that people just don't care for forum games anymore. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I should get off my ass and actually run one of the games I've been talking about, maybe actually be present and such.
Maybe I'm just kidding myself.
Understand, I do NOT want the Inn to die. I'm simply acknowledging that, for all intents and purposes, it seems to already be there.
Posted on 2016-02-17 at 09:38:06.
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Topic: The Death of the Inn?
Subject: agreed
The interest has indeed waned. I cannot point fingers without again pointing out my own shortcomings. If I was here more. If I improved the site more. If I promoted the site more.
I've had good intentions - I have long promised a sequel to Zombies in Chicago. I have tried - and failed - to start a couple of D&D games. Star Trek and Star Wars both call to me to run.
But who will play in these games? Can I be counted on to follow through? Who would want to play is such games?
I fear it has almost become a chicken and egg situation - we can't have good games without active players, but we can't have active players without good games.
I truly wish that it were not so, but it certainly feels as if the Inn is dead. Would a better message board interface, a new chat interface fix that?
I doubt it. The games and gamers are what is missing, and I just don't know how to fix that, especially since - again - so much fault lies with me.
Posted on 2016-02-17 at 00:53:21.
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Topic: The Death of the Inn?
Subject: The Death of the Inn?
If I remember correctly, the Red Dragon Inn was founded in the year 2000, first as an Angelfire page with a hosted message board. I started the site as a way to indulge my D&D hobby, as I was working, going to night school, and had two kids at home... in short, I really didn't have time for tabletop gaming any more. Eventually, we obtained a domain name, and things took off from there.
I was so incredibly fortunate to attract a truly superb core group of amazing, creative gamers. These titans of fantasy helped to take my few pages of notebook scratchings to a real D&D campaign setting. We got together and told amazing stories of heroism and villainy, of joy and sadness, of seriousness and silliness and insanity of all stripes.
The names are nigh legend these days; Alacrity, Yanamari, Vanadia, Bromern Sal, Admiral, Raven, Ayrn, Mithrandir.
The site grew so quickly for a time, and this core group became our staff. Over the years, we grew and grew and grew. There was a time when every one of our forums - and most of the categories - saw at least a little activity every day. Chat was a huge deal; at any given time, you could count on there being at least a couple of rooms going. For a time, I truly believed that we would even elevate Audalis to having an actual published campaign setting book.
Then came the various crashes; we lost games and data, we lost members. I basically had to rewrite the entire site, and for some time, things were up and down. Eventually, though, we moved to some excellent hosting, and after a time, a new golden age of the Inn arose.
Posting reached an all time high. The chatrooms were busy again. New faces came, new pillars of our community arose. Names like Eol Fefalas, Tann Talas, Almerin, Grugg, Merideth.
Ah, the stories we have told over the years! Some of the ones I have personally been involved in that stick out in my mind include Meanwhile, A Separate Thread, Continuing Where we Last Left Off, Zombies in Chicago, Star Trek: Discovery, A Frozen Grave, Star Wars: the Tides of Fate.
I have been challenged as a Game Master, player, and writer. I have been privileged to participate in some superb games, and to tell some great stories... and better yet, I have met some wonderful people (beyond those pillars I have already mentioned). Ginafae, Ye Olde, Hammer, Gertie, George Worthington, Reralae, Scarab, Tiamat, Odyson, Pit F(r)iend, Lyshkala, Skari-dono, Jozan1, Gloern, Hansjorg, Celeste, Keeper of Dragons, and so many more (please forgive me for the many omissions I have obviously made). We forged a true community, we felt a kinship, we had something truly special here.
But it is far past time to face reality. The Inn is not what it once was. Most of those pillars of our community have long since passed on from being such. Life has pulled us all in different directions, and sadly, has seemingly pulled us all away from our shared home away from home.
I am chief among the offenders. I can blame legitimate causes such the birth of more children (and being involved in their various activities), various financial stresses and sideline employment, and some ongoing battles with depression. But I would be dishonest if I didn't admit that I have also simply sucked at time management and organization, and have allowed other interests to leach time that I would have once devoted to the Inn. I've had so many plans to add to and to improve on the website... but I have seldom followed through. I can no longer be counted on to even post regularly to a game, and that is just pitiful.
Indeed, it would seem that the curtain has fallen on the stage of the Inn, and there is little to do but admit that fact. One of the few active threads for the past few months has been Tann's weekly NFL pick 'em game, and that had it's last post some nine days ago... yet is still third in the list of recently updated topics. We have one truly active game left on the Inn. Even Alacrity - long the heart and soul that has kept the place running in my absence - has admitted that his life has changed, and that he is near the end of his own time as an online Game Master.
I would be lying if I didn't say that this makes me terribly sad. I truly love this site, this community. But now, we have a only nigh silent monument to what once was, and apparently will never be again.
I suppose that, for the foreseeable future, I will keep the website up as an archive, but it makes me sad to know that there really is no gaming going on anymore. I wish the best to all of you, and hope that you never truly abandon that sense of adventure, that creative spark... even if the Inn is no longer the place to share it.
Thank you to all of you who have contributed to the Inn for the fifteen plus years it has existed. For those I have gamed with, for those I have not, for those who post in other areas, for those who have lurked - thank you, one and all.
Posted on 2016-02-17 at 00:19:18.
Edited on 2016-02-17 at 17:31:13 by t_catt11
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