New Players' Guide

This article has the basic steps and info you'll need to join. Please read it thoroughly!

You must be 16 or older to join Star Army. No exceptions.

If this is your first time, you will need to register an account on the forums (preferably your real first name), post your contact information/survey responses, and create your first character. You'll also want to create an account for this wiki.

If you have any questions, please ask them in the Your Questions Answered forum! (Note: a forum login is required). You can also get live help in the IRC channel or contact the admin (see below)

If you have trouble registering, email the admin at stararmy@gmail.com. He'll help you out ASAP. If you are in the United States you can also call or text message (209) STAR-ARMY (that's 2097827276) and leave a message and it will be delivered to the admin via email.

The online Character Creation Guide (CCG) is your primary resource for making your character. Before you make your character, if possible, do background reading on the role-play. Once you're somewhat familiar with the role-play setting, you'll want to get started with the CCG. It should give you vital information for your character, based on your choices. The character creation guide is meant to be easy, but also to be in depth. It is long, and thorough, and you may find your brain feeling tired if you try to go through it too fast. Take plenty of time to think about your character in advance, and the possibilities of what she could be.

We strongly suggest your first character serve in the Star Army of Yamatai, United Outer Colonies Peacekeeping Forces or Star Military of the Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia; this is the best way for you to get a feel of the Star Army universe. With a plot ship, there will be other characters around to interact with, whereas if you made an independent character, you might be on your own. Civilian and other types of characters (such as Elysians) are available, but Star Army characters are usually easiest to play because they get the most resources and guidance and the most adventures and plots to be in (after all, it is a Star Army themed RP). If you have questions the Character Creation Guide doesn't answer or is confusing you about, don't be afraid to ask on the forums!

Note: Freespacers can join Star Military of the Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia as there is a treaty in place between the two that allows it.

When you're done with your character biography, you'll need to:

1. Add your bio to the wiki (if you're not sure how, see the steps below)
   1. Go the List of Notable Characters, follow the link to your faction, and then click “Edit this page” and add a link to your your character by linking to character:<character's name>.
   2. Save the page and then click the (red) link you just made. It'll take you to a “This page hasn't been created” page.
   3. Click “Create This Page” and build the wiki version of your character biography (Use the Auto Formatting Template)
      • For directions on adding a page, see: FAQ: How do I create a wiki page?
      • For Dokuwiki syntax see the Formatting guide
      • Here are some example characters.
   4. Save your Wiki bio. It'll be where you keep track of your character from now on.
2. Submit a link to your bio for review to the new biography forum. All characters should be already on the wiki before you submit them. There's no need to post the biography in the forum thread; a link to the wiki article on your proposed character is fine (and preferred). This is to make sure each new player is registered and somewhat familiar with the wiki, which is where we keep track of everything. Also, approved character posts are auto-deleted after a while so your bio needs to be on the wiki where it is safe.

If there are no problems, approval will usually be quick and painless. If there are issues with your biography, the game master will do his best to help you adjust it so that it makes sense or fits in the role-play. The most common sources of problems are overpowered, glorious histories and skills, story continuity issues (things that wouldn't make sense, like joining the Star Army before it was founded), and lack of detail (also, don't be a Mary Sue - If you're not sure use this). These are pitfalls that you want to avoid when creating our character.

NOTE: If you update/edit your bio, post a reply to its thread so the reviewers will know to look at it again!

A character forum moderator will post approval of your character in the forum thread you posted. The topic will then be moved to the APPROVED forum (so if your character thread seems missing, check there!).

Once you character is approved, you should:

1. Attempt to get your character into a story plot (See the List of Active Plots). Once he/she receives orders, the adventure is soon to begin.
   1. If in the Star Army of Yamatai, your character should request for orders on the Star Army Communications Network.
   2. If you're a Nepleslian, join the Nepleslians Group and then post in the Nepleslian Communications Network.
   3. If you're a Jiyuuian post in the United Outer Colonies Communications Network.
   4. When you get orders, edit the plot's page so your character is on their crew roster.
2. You will also want to figure out what your character owns. KS is the main monetary unit in the role-play. To be fair to all players, each of their characters initially starts with three-thousand KS on her electronic money card, minus the cost of items the character starts with. Military characters are also usually loaned a predetermined bundle of standard-issue equipment such as uniforms for no cost. The equipment varies by faction. Ask your GM if you need help finding it.
   
   If you want more than three-thousand KS of items to start with, your character can go up to seven-thousand KS in debt, although this is not recommended. You might also save money by buying used items, which usually are around fifty to seventy percent the original cost of the item (I pity you if you buy used soap, though). To make things easy, for things that aren't found on the price lists, one KS is about equal to one US dollar. See: Prestige System.
3. Once you're in a plot, start role-playing! If it's a single-post plot you can start right away (or as soon as it makes sense in the plot). If it's a Joint Post plot, then find out when the next chat session is (most plots have a scheduling thread in their forum).

Note: You may also want to acquire an image to use for your character; this can be useful for giving the other players and the game master a mental picture of her. If you stick around for a while, you can also get Star Army to pay for an artist to draw your character's portrait though the Star Army Commissions Project.

Most Star Army roleplay is done by posting directly onto a thread (or start a new one), which is called a Single Post. Sometimes single posts are consolidated into compilations.

For JPs, we usually arrange a meeting time or just spontaneously start role-playing with whoever is on Yahoo! Instant Messenger or IRC that fits into a plot. These RP sessions usually last about an hour or two and when we're done, one of the people in the RP session saves, edits, and posts the transcript (then referred to as a Joint Post) onto the boards. The above methods of RP are why some parts of the board tend to have big, long posts with multiple characters and few replies–so don't let them intimidate you, they're just giant edited transcripts.

Etherpad and Google Wave are real-time multi-user communication tools that allow roleplayers to write a group RP post simultaneously. No plot has made this the standard RP method so far, but it is catching on and many GMs have expressed interest and have used it for roleplay posts.

See: Player's Rights

Before you start, there's some basic rules to go over, so that everyone has a good experience. These aren't the full list of rules, but they're sort of the main ones.

• If you're going to do something that majorly affects someone's character (or the GM's NPCs), like make sure that you both agree to it beforehand. Remember you can only describe what your character is doing, not how other character is affected or how she reacts.
• Listen to and communicate with your Game Master. It's alright to discuss something with him if you disagree, but don't argue and bicker. If you have a problem with one of the players or the game master, let your GM know. Nothing will get done if you just grumble behind his back about how you wish there was more action, less NPCs, etc.
• Write well. If your post is half-ass and hard to read (using wrong words, misspelling words) that means you're making more work for your GM and/or fellow players who have to read it and edit it. No one wants to take you on their plot ship if you're going to make it look like it's full of illiterates.
• Don't disappear on us. One of the big problems with playing in online forums is that people sometimes vanish and leave others hanging. Don't do it. We are reasonable and understanding, but if you don't plan on staying then don't start at all.

Full rules are available here: Rules

• JP (Joint Post); An edited transcript of a real-time chat role-play session between multiple players, posted on the in-character story forums. Basically, everyone agrees on a time (or happens to be online) and meets up in a Yahoo conference to roleplay. See: Joint Post and Guide to Joint Posts.
• IC (In-Character); Content that is in the story world.
• NPC: Characters whose actions are not written role-players, but rather by the Game Master (GM). See: Non-Player Characters.
• END: End of a role-playing session in a chat room. (PAUSE or OFF may also be used)
• ON: [Location]: Start of a role-playing session in a chat room. This denotes the scene. If your character isn't in that scene, you probably shouldn't post IC except for entering that scene.
• OOC: Out-of-Character; Content that is not part of the story world (real life).
• PC: Player character; characters whose actions and dialogue is written by a role-player. See: Player Characters.
• Scene: The setting and timeline of a JP, as directed by the GM.
• SP (Single Post); A role-play post by a single player, posted directly to the in-character story forums. See: Guide to Single Posts.

• Character Creation Guide
• Glossary of Key Terms
• Frequently Asked Questions