OngoingWorlds blog

News & articles about play-by-post games, for roleplayers & writers

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Level Up – Description

I know many of us don’t want to be writers for a living, though some of us might consider it. The descriptions we use often paint pictures. While some aren’t as descriptive as others, this isn’t about the level of skill. It is more a matter of how that skill is acquired. As Role-Players, we have adjusted ourselves to describe our characters and what they do in detail, sometimes venturing into the X-Rated zone.

While many find this exciting, the level of description is easy to see. Those who have RPed for awhile, or those who write stories in their free time, tend to be more descriptive than those who haven’t written for long periods. It is in the descriptors. But what are descriptors? Simply any word that describes something, including (but not limited to) color, smell, and sound. Read More

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Interview with Mike Bremer

Mike Bremer

Mike Bremer

Last week I had the opportunity to ask simming legend Mike Bremer a few questions.  Mike needs no introduction as he’s arguably one of the most important leaders in simming and online role playing history.  Mike started his career in Allied Electronic Simulations (AES) way back in 1996.  After moving over to Tango Fleet later that year, he then co-founded Bravo Fleet with Pat Weber in 1997.  Mike served as Bravo Fleet Commanding Officer (BFCO) from 1998 to 2004 and grew it into one of the first true mega-clubs of the Internet era.  Mike has received numerous accolades over the course of his career, including the 2011 Simming Prize and, most recently, the 2015 Ongoing Worlds Medal for Superior Online Role Playing (aka the Squiddie).  Mike also hosts the Starbase 400 sim (SB400, previously known as the USS Pegasus), which is incidentally one of the sims he joined back in 1996!  Starbase 400 has won multiple awards for its high-quality and longevity.  With that, I present to you, Mike Bremer in his own words… Read More

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THE BEACONS ARE LIT! TIBERIUS CALLS FOR AID!

beacons1

DID YAH MISS ME? WELL I MISSED YOU!

Hey-o Ongoing Worlds! It’s been a while hasn’t it? Don’t answer that, we’re not actually talking and you talking to a screen with no reply really isn’t flattering. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. The beacons are lit and I do call for aid! YOUR AID! Why? BECAUSE THE CHAT BOX NEEDS OUR HELP! Read More

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12 tips for writing Star Trek fanfiction & roleplaying

Star trek characters comic

Star Trek fanfiction is as old as Star Trek itself, and heavily dominates the world of online roleplaying. There’s many giant Star Trek roleplay clubs, like Starbase 118 and Star Trek: Borderlands. We’ve even got Star Trek games running on OngoingWorlds (see here). Here’s some tips for anyone who wants to write fiction in the Star Trek universe: Read More

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The most popular blog articles of last year

It’s always interesting to look back and see which of our blog posts attracted eager readers.. Here’s the most popular from the last year: Read More

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How will the Simming & Online Role Playing Universe End?

NASA's 9 Year Microwave Sky Image

NASA’s 9 Year Microwave Sky Image
“The Face of God”

Much like the origin of the universe, the beginnings of the simming and online role playing community remain shrouded in mystery.  Sure, we know that it developed out of fan fiction on primordial online services of the late 1980s and early 1990s, but we lack specifics, and many of the details we do have are quite vague.

Records exist for many of the major players and significant historical events, but we miss a lot of the nuance.  It is also highly likely that there are pockets of our cosmos that we don’t even know about it, and now may never know about.

In the approximately 25 years since our creation, clubs, much like stars, have come and gone.  And role-plays, much like planets have come and gone too.  The community is much different now than it was then.  Indeed, just as the physical universe is more mature and less volatile than it was during its early days, our demographic is older and our universe more stable as well.  But how will it all end?  Here are three possibilities:  The Big Freeze, The Big Crunch, and The Big Bounce.
Read More

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From TV to RPG – How Our Favourite Shows Can Enhance Our Roleplaying Experience – Part 2: Juggling Characters

This article was written for us by Diego Herrera from the Star Trek game Outpost Eden.

Lots of futurama characters

Welcome back to the second in a series of articles designed to look at how sci fi and fantasy TV series can prove useful for writing roleplays (read part 1 here). In this article, I’m going to focus on what we can learn from the way TV shows manage large casts of characters when running adventures with our players. Read More

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2014 Simulation Cup Results… Finally!

Simulation Cup

2014 Simulation Cup

It gives me great pleasure to (finally) introduce the winners of the 2014 Simulation Cup!  Before we get to the results, however, I’d like to quickly remind everyone what the Simulation Cup is and how it works.  It’s an annual competition that’s normally called the Tournament of Simulations where role play games of different clubs and genres compete against each other in a friendly manner for several awards.  This year, each participating sim submitted one mission/episode/thread that was completed during 2014.  Each submission was then evaluated by three judges on a specific criteria set.  The games receiving the highest marks are now recognized.

Evaluating sims will always be subjective and this is especially true for the Simulation Cup.  We’re not here to identify the best sim or sims as this is impossible.  Instead, we recognize what we think are outstanding role plays that exude excellence.  A different set of judges may very well chose a completely different set of winners.  And that’s okay!   Read More

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From TV to RPG – How Our Favourite Shows Can Enhance Our Roleplaying Experience – Part 1: Plot

This article was written for us by Diego Herrera from the Star Trek game Outpost Eden.

equinoxpt2_072

We’re living in a world where science fiction, for most people, is defined by television series.

Sure, we’re lucky enough to be able to dip into the world of books and films, but speak to someone who you roleplay with and they’ll most likely have a list of shows that they’re hooked on. They’re probably the reason why they joined your group, especially if it’s based in or on a particular franchise. Read More

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Beyond the Senses

Spidey sense

Just because we use five senses in our everyday life, and even do describe a scene in our games, this doesn’t mean we should stop with them. “Never ignore your gut feeling” is a saying that refers to your sixth sense. Read More