Well, it's about time I let you know about one of my obsessions. I am a trekkie. Not a trekker. I'm not that hard-core. But, I love all the Star Trek series, from the original right through Enterprise, and have most every episode on tape. I could watch the 23rd and 24th centuries until, well, the 23rd century at least.
As you may have gathered, I also like to write. I suppose then it was only inevitable that I should discover the world of PBeM's. That's, Play By eMail. I was lucky and found a good one right away. It's called Frontier Fleet.
It takes place roughly 15-20 years after the end of Voyager, so there's some distance between the official Trek universe and what we're doing, and yet the events of that still affect what we do. There are four ships, one starbase, and of course the Academy, where new members learn how to post properly, and begin developing their character.
It's a PG-rated game, so anyone that wants to write Trek-based soft porn has to find somewhere else to go. The basic guideline is, if they don't do it on the show, they don't do it here. Given that, it's still pretty open and free, with lots of room for creativity.
My main character is Lt.JG X'ok PaRel, a half-Vulcan, half-Klingon science officer aboard the USS Valkyrie. I also write a couple of the other science officers, Ensigns Alvarez and Fletcher, but they're considered SPC's, or Special Play Characters. X'ok, on the other hand, is a PC, or Primary Character. There's also NPC's, or non-playing characters. SPC's and NPC's are characters you throw in to keep things moving, and some NPC's are available to be played by anyone, with permission from the CO. There are people in the game who have multiple characters all over the fleet. Others concentrate on one or two.
What I find most striking about the game is the consistantly high quality of writing I find there. There are, quite literally, people from all over the world. Most of the writers are from the US, England, and the Netherlands, but I don't think there's a continent not represented, with the possible exception of Antarctica. All the posting is in English, which I would think would make it difficult for some, but apparently this is not the case. Oh, you can tell some people are still learning their way around the language, but the writing is still very good. I've learned a lot, and it keeps the juices flowing.
Anyway, I'll refrain from telling you any more right now. Better that you go check it out for yourself at www.frontierfleet.net. See ya there.
