If you are familiar with role playing games, then you understand the processes involved in creating a character for a game. In a traditional role playing game, there are sets of rules that govern what abilities and characteristics your character possesses. In the USS Atlantis SIM, your character biography serves this purpose. It will explain key points about your character so that the other players can visualize and interact with you correctly when they write their parts of the story. In a way, this simplifies the process, as you do not need to read complicated role playing manuals to figure out how to create your character. You simply have to put pen to paper, and let your imagination paint a picture of who you will be in the Star Trek universe on board the USS Atlantis.

When creating a character for the USS Atlantis SIM, there are a few guidelines that must be followed. Below I will outline the entire process for the creation of a character for the USS Atlantis SIM.

You should send an e-mail message to the GM at atlantis@ussatlantis.com the message should state three things.

1. It should describe a little about yourself, including your name and age. Your experience with SIMs or role playing games, your likes, dislikes, other interests, etc. This will let the GM get to know you a little better in order to run a better SIM for everyone.

2. It should describe the character you are thinking of playing. This can be very sketchy. It is just to give the GM an idea of what you are thinking of, so he can make suggestions, or point out any foreseen problems with the initial concept. "No Q or Q like powers will be allowed!" No Borg or former borg characters To use the Captain as an example, I initially wanted him to be from United States, and be very diplomatic.

3. It should describe the area in which you would like to be posted. Perhaps you want to be in Engineering, or maybe Security, or perhaps you want to be a Doctor. Your initial message should state your area of interest.

After receipt of your initial message, the GM will reply to you with suggestions, or changes, to your initial character sketch. Perhaps he'll add an idea you hadn't thought of, or explain why something in your concept won't fit into the SIM. Once the character concept has been ironed out, you will get the go ahead to write your full blown biography.

Writing a fictitious character biography can be great fun. In the USS Atlantis SIM, you are not limited by hard coded rules from a fixed role playing system. You are left open to your imagination, and the confines of the Star Trek: TNG universe. Keep that in mind as you create a character. Think of what is real and possible in the Star Trek universe and what is not.

Name: the full proper name of your character in Starfleet database records.

Terran age: the age of your character in Terran (Earth) years.

Date of Birth: When the character was born in terran years.

Marital Status: married, single, divoriced etc.

Height; Weight; Eyes; Hair; physical statistics on your character.

Height / Weight Chart

Species: because we are gaming in the current Star Trek: TNG universe, please stick to 'staple' Star Trek races commonly found in the Alpha quadrant, serving aboard a Federation Starship. Humans, Vulcans, Betazoids, Bajorans, Bolians, Andorians are all good examples.

Place of birth: where your character was born, place and planet.

Languages: as a rule of thumb, Starfleet Academy forces you to take at least one alien language. The languages most commonly taught are from any species in the Federation of Planets.

Interests: a list of activities, hobbies, sports, and games your character enjoys while off duty.

Education: will always include Starfleet Academy (4 years). Possibly more.

Service record: a listing, with dates of all positions and postings in Starfleet. The current gaming year is 2376.

Example:

2376-present: Ensign Engineering Officer -- USS Atlantis

Decorations: any awards, or metals your character has earned

Background: the factual life story of your character thus far. This is the main historical background on your character. Usually the longest part of the biography. This part should in general be in the neighborhood of a few paragraphs talking about the characters history before joining the Atlantis.

Personality profile: this section describes what your character acts like. This is an important section, as others will reference it when writing stories that involve interaction with your character.

Special notes: this section can contain any additional notes about your character that could be important in game play. If your character is a vegetarian, for example, you can put that information here if you didn't specify it in the Background or Personality profile sections. That would avoid having your character accidentally eating something they normally wouldn't while interacting with another character for example. Or perhaps your character is extremely beautiful, or has green eyes, or is completely bald. Anything you want to let the other players know about your character that hasn't been mentioned in the other sections is appropriate.

Your are invited to use the bio form, once you've contacted me.

Please try the BIO FORM NOW ON-LINE

Thank You.

After you have written your character's biography, e-mail it to the GM so he can review it. After it has met with approval, you will be all set to begin.

The GM will provide you with a current e-mail listing of all the players in the game. You should update your e-mail address book to include all of the players. Next, the GM will e-mail each of the players a copy of your 'official' character biography. Finally, the GM will post a Captain's Log: which will introduce your character into game play. After that, it is up to you to adventure and enjoy gaming in the Star Trek universe on board the USS Atlantis.

You should read through all of the Crew Bios on the website to familiarize yourself with the other characters that you will be interacting with. It is also a great way to get ideas on how to write a biography. It is a good idea to read through the last several Data Logs to get a feel for the style, and frequency of the other players posting into the game. That way you can get familiar with the characters (stars) of the SIM, and also come up to speed on the current story line.