Game Mechanics As mentioned previously, there are a few rules and pointers to go by as you play the game. A game consists mainly of interactions between people; each of these people is represented by a character. There are two types of characters: Player Characters (PCs) and Non-Player Characters (NPCs).
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Player Characters Player Characters are simply characters who have a specific player. The character you developed as your representative in the game is your player character, and the characters other players have developed are their respective player characters. It is good manners not to presume the actions of anyone else's player character, just as you would probably not enjoy others presuming what your character's actions and reactions would be.
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Non-Player Characters In any given game, there are generally fewer than a dozen people playing, and consequently, only about that many player characters. A ship may, however, be crewed by dozens, sometimes hundreds, of individuals. The crew members who are not represented by player characters, as well as all other individuals your character will encounter, are non-player characters. They can be used by anyone, though it is generally polite to be careful how you use an NPC that someone else has extensively developed.
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Posting The core of a PBB game is the post. In a post, each person describes the actions of their character, as well as the character's interactions with others, both PCs and NPCs. There are some guidelines which will help you to write better posts, which will make it easier to comprehend what you've written, how it bears on the action as a whole, and who should react to it.
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Keeping Consistent Consistency is the hallmark of a good poster. If you've written in your last post that you've beamed down to the surface, don't suddenly have your character in the middle of a discussion on the ship's hanger deck. Likewise, suddenly varying your character can be confusing. If you've created a Vulcan character, having them tell knock-knock jokes every tenth post is somewhat out of character. (Unless you've established that your character is making a study of primitive humor, for instance).
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Post Etiquette It is generally considered polite to only write scenes and dialogue for your character. It is usually all right to write a single line of dialogue for someone else, but if you're going to interact with them any more than that, you should either end your post where you expect their response, or consider a joint posting.
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Joint Posting In a joint posting, you and another player create a scene for your characters between you, before the list as a whole sees it. On some games, these form the bulk of the action. To start a joint post, send a private message (PM) to the other player or players you would like to involve in the scene, with an outline of how you'd like the scene to go. They should PM you back with any changes they've made, and so on. Then begin the post, messaging back and forth to all. Do not write all of your ideas, leaving blanks for others to fill in their responses. This is very rude.
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Etiquette Generally speaking, if you have someone else's character involved in your post, and you give them either an important decision or more than one line of dialogue, you should consult the person whose character you're involving. The one line rule is subject to common sense, of course. If you make a long post in which your character makes a soliloquy about why they're in love with someone else's character, and asks that other character to engage in matrimony, "Yes" is one line... but it wouldn't be prudent for you to write it.
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Back and Forth Sometimes, if the scene is a simple one, it can be handled in one exchange of PMs, and then can be posted to the game forum. More often, the scene is somewhat complex, and requires more than one exchange of PMs as you write, and then I write, and then you respond to my response, and so on. The joint post should not be posted to the forum until both players are satisfied with its contents.
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Keeping Track of Changes Each time you get a joint post PM, make sure that you read it all the way through. Sometimes, people change things early in the post, not just at the end; if you fail to check, your character could be left looking foolish, responding inappropriately, or to things that didn't occur.
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Plot Development As you play, you will be developing plots and subplots, under the general direction of the CO. These plots will periodically come to an end, while new ones are developed.
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Following the Master plot The Captain will have a master plot in mind when the adventure (or mission, as they're called in the game) commences. The plot may be as simple as "How does Romulan Ale get across the neutral zone?" or as complex as "Romulan spies have set up a corridor for secrets to be ferried across the neutral zone in the guise of smugglers of Ale. Meanwhile, Vulcan spies are making their way through the same conduit, seeking to support reunification activists in the Romulan Star Empire." Once the plot has been introduced, it is the ship's duty to respond to the events the Captain presents. Each person in the game takes their role, helping to resolve the situation. You should never write a "back-post" to invalidate something someone else has already posted. In our game, if a post has appeared on the list, it is presumed to have happened -- unless the poster has violated one of the other rules.
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Plot Twists Sometimes, things aren't as simple as they first seem. Perhaps the Federation is aware of the smugglers making their way across the neutral zone, but doesn't choose to shut them down. Or perhaps the smugglers have pull with an official on the Federation Council, which protects them. In general, if you want to introduce a plot twist which will affect the entire game, you should clear it with the Captain first. If you wish to introduce one which just affects your own character (one of the smugglers is your cousin, and you're conflicted about his role in the operation) or your character and another player's, it is usually all right to introduce it without prior approval. Taking advantage of this to ridiculous extremes should be avoided, however. If you write long posts about your character's childhood which have no bearing on what the rest of the crew is doing, the other game members will likely ignore them completely.
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Post Formatting Just like a good journalist, you should cover certain basic facts in your posts. The classic journalist's questions of Where, Who, When, What and Why are applicable to posting as well. Because it can make putting a post into perspective with other posts much easier, La Vida Libre will use the following method of opening a post which lets people establish the setting in their minds quickly. For example, if you were playing Sam Snead, who was on the bridge, you might write a block which read: (La Vida Libre, Bridge; Sam Snead, Captain Blake; MD3, 14:30) Finally, we want to know who posted this amazing masterpiece! Give yourself credit. Please make a signature block, which can be set up in your profile settings. Consider this example:
Sam Snead This gives us some information that may be useful in replying to the post, as well as answering the question that does occasionally occur: "Who the heck is this Snead person, and why is he on the bridge?"
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NRPG's (Non-Role Playing Game) Occasionally, it is useful or even necessary for the players to make comments which their character would not, or impart information which the character would not know. This is best handled in the Discussion forum, rather than in a mission post. You'll find the mission discussion link on the home page of the forum.
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Spell checking Our game takes place in a text environment. The other players know you through your writing, so the clearer your writing is, the better. One of the easiest things you can do to improve the quality of your text is simply to spell check your posts. Many web browsers now have spell checkers available, and it only takes a few moments to run a post through them before sending it.
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