This is an idea I have had in my head for some time. I have been involved in quite a few SIM, which are essentially structly structured play by posts, and wondered if we are making entries into a ship's log- would it not make sense to have a SIM in the first person? Like a real ship's log?

Yet how would people interact, would descriptions overlap? I then thought of waking up on a mysterious ship, and the ship expands as more and more people join.

I don't know, is a first person SIM possible? And not necessarily Star Trek at all. Would every thread be a different log? At this point I am not sure if this should be a SIM, a pbp, a blog, or a one man job.

Ideas, advice, laughter?

Curious, what's a SIM?

In reply to AlexDemille (msg # 2):

In essence it is a play by post, where a 'captain' (usually the gamemaster) introduces and propels story arcs for his 'crew' the players to play out in the form of post, which are recorded as third person ship's logs. Many times the game master, as well as other players, write mutual posts and revise posts that they made together.

It sounds like it could work with the right players.  On RPOL, GMs can edit players' posts, but players can't edit other players' posts.  It would work better if each person were in charge of a different part of the ship, like Engineering, the Bridge, and Sickbay.  It would get more difficult if you had multiple players filing logs in the same part of the ship unless people took turns and respected others' posts.  I think with a few ground rules it would work really well as a pbp, but a Google Hangouts or a wiki-style roleplay might be easier to manage if players need to edit others' posts.

Also, as a player, I would be a little leery of other players editing my posts, but I've never done a SIM before as you describe, and with some experience and a good understanding of what's appropriate and what's not, it sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

Could be interesting.  I'd love to observe or participate if you decide to do something like that.

I've always dreamed playing in such a game set in the Elite or Wing Commander/Privateer universes...

Maybe?  I've never even heard of a SIM before now, nor do I know what kind of game you have in mind.

I had not expected such a response. I am not sure where I would start it, if start it at all. I am not even sure of the universe. Though I confess Star Trek to be the one I am most familiar with. Both trying a new pbp concept and creating a new universe to boot may be a little more than most could handle especially myself.

Just glad there is interest. And Mad Mick, your suggestion of departments might be something to consider. Though how would these departments interact. Also, no, I would not be in the habit of editing other's posts.

My first impulse would be to have it on google groups, easy to respond but the department thing might make things clunky. Not to worry, RPoL is in the running.
This message was last edited by the user at 11:35, Tue 14 June 2016.

My impression of RPGs vs. SIMs:

In RPGs, players generally control only their own characters, while the GM controls everything else (external events, environment, NPCs, etc.) and arbitrates the degree of success or failure of attempted PC actions.  RPGs are more like traditional face-to-face roleplaying games.

In SIMs, players generally control their own characters, and also share some degree of control over everything else (see above).  SIMs are more like collaborative storytelling.

Hope that helps...  :)

Please remember that, per the rules of this forum, any discussion here must be about games that will be run on RPoL.  No other locations can be considered or suggested in this thread.

In reply to OakMaster (msg # 9):

I do like the sound of certain areas having more control over things. I am not big on one person/one character

I'm wondering if it should be a supreme thread, with the captain starts it and the rest of the crew begins to weave from that and other logs come from that all stemming from the captain's Uber log- thoughts?
This message was last edited by the user at 01:36, Wed 15 June 2016.