USS Ranger, NCC-82675 Command Book

By David Suárez de Lis, CO. Coauthored by Juan Ángel Romero, XO

Introduction

The purpose of this book is to define the mission statement and compromises of the Command Team of the Alt.Starfleet.RPG (ASR) unit USS RANGER, NCC-82675, a SENTINEL-class mark II Frigate deployed as part of TASK FORCE HORIZON, with base of operations at Starbase MAGELLAN, in orbit over the mining planet Akata III, in the Kryadala region, and at the outskirt boundaries of Federation space, rimwards, on the edge of SILVER Fleet and touching BLUE Fleet traditional Areas of Operation (AOs).

Statement

The USS RANGER was born as a small unit (between four and six players, but it’s now a ‘normal’ unit), with the intent of accommodating a more horizontal and multifaceted style of playing, where each writer had several characters at their disposal–one PC and several NPCs–and the ability to dictate the story plot line within the parameters orchestrated by the Command Team, all with the goal of having fun and enjoy the idea of writing with our fellow players in a Universe that is most dear to us.

To achieve this goal, the Command Team, as responsible and accountable for the unit on behalf of the Flag Council, has a series of obligations that they must strive to keep to the best of their abilities in order to ensure a healthy writing environment for their unit.

The expected responsibilities for the Command Team and its members are listed in the next entries.

Command Team (CT)

The Command Team of the USS RANGER is composed of the figures of the Commanding Officer, the Executive Officer and the Second Officer. For certain missions, there will be a temporary command player: one of the unit players will be designated as the Junior Officer of the Deck. When this happens, they will have the creative control of the next mission, always within the global parameters for the unit.

It’s the duty of the CT to ensure that the unit is healthy and its players are enjoying the writing and fulfilling their aspirations as players. They will be vigilant and try to keep everybody in the mission or in parallel story arcs if necessary, as long as real life (RL) allows.

Fluent communication between members of the CT is expected, of course. The CT is the responsible to lay out the missions for the unit and to ensure that missions add to the characters’ development, the AO wide story arc and the players’ joy and growth as writers and ASR members. Anyone on the CT or the unit as a whole can approach the CT with a mission idea, or AO story arc development, and they will be taken into account by the CT and the COMHORIZON (if applicable).

Commanding Officer (CO)

The CO is the leader of the unit. Their parameters are to ensure the continuity of the unit as a whole and, as such, is accountable and responsible on behalf of the unit before the Flag Council.

The CO’s PC is the CO of the ship, unless incapacitated for some plot reasons.

The CO will participate and be an active part of the unit’s day-to-day life, and will write, at least, once per week with a post that’s meaningful and moves the plot or helps other players. If the writing is slowing down, the CO will take as many NPCs as necessary to write and act as a kind of prompter for the players to follow the lead and resume writing at a more lively pace.

While not writing, they will be helping the XO or 2O with other administrative duties, as managing the roster and the web pages on the ASR site and keeping tabs with fellow COs on the AO, if any, and COMHORIZON for news and current developments in the AO, as to be able to contribute to and keep it as coherent and rich as possible.

Executive Officer (XO)

The XO, also known as First Officer (FO), is the right hand of the CO, and will assist in crew management, story telling, mission plotting and other duties.

The XO’s PC is the XO of the ship, unless incapacitated for some plot reasons.

The XO is expected to write every other week with a post that’s meaningful and moves the plot or helps other players.

The XO and the 2O (see further) will try to at least post in alternating weeks in order to assist the CO’s weekly writing.

Second Officer (2O)

The 2O is the other right hand of the CO and their functions are the same as the XO, but the 2O’s PC is not a command officer (unless it’s the OPS/2O), and any other billet will do. Ordinarily, the 2O won’t be the Command Master Chief Petty Officer (CMCPO) either.

The 2O is expected to write every other week with a post that’s meaningful and moves the plot or helps other players, from their advantage point of view.

The XO and the 2O will try to at least post in alternating weeks in order to assist the CO’s weekly writing.

Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD)

From time to time, a non command, unit player will be designated as JOOD. They will have the creative control of the next mission, always within the global parameters for the unit.

When there’s a JOOD, they will be a temporary part of the Command Team and as such will have to accept the mission statement and try to post, at least, every other week.

If it’s agreed upon before the mission starts, the CO and JOOD will be the only ones knowing the mission plot. In that case, the XO and 2O won’t have to post every other week.

On very special occasions, the JOOD might be a guest player from another ASR unit, if the situation grants it.

Leave of Absence (LoA)

If any CT member will be unavailable for more than one mission (2-3 months) they will have to notify their fellow officers as soon as possible so that the necessary steps might be arranged to ensure the success of the current mission and the following ones.

For short LoAs (this is, 2-3 weeks for the CO and 1-2 months for the XO and 2O) the other two members are expected to jump in and cover for the missing officer in the way that best serves the story line (usually just writing normally as the missing writer would do).

In any case, LoAs have to be notified to the High Council, which will discuss with all involved parties the best steps to take to ensure the unit’s well being and continuity, which might include temporary changes in the CT or ensuing missions without the missing member and their character.

Closing Remarks

The points stated above are the minimum guiding lines. We are all expected to enjoy and write as much as we desire and RL permits. All of these points are to be taken, thus, as rough guidelines. Units with an active, caring Command Team grow and endure, while those without, become a burden to the rest of the players.

The RANGER Mission Statement is to develop the TASK FORCE HORIZON AO through exploration, First Contact and Scientific investigation with as horizontal as possible a structure, where any player can add to the story line, in a responsible way, from any POV, in order to create bigger and better stories, and to enjoy the process of writing and grow within a nurturing environment.

As such, the Command Team is just a useful tool to this end, nothing more. Common sense and compassion are to be used at discretion.

Version history

• Draft 1, 2020-12-05, initial document
• Draft 2, 2020-12-07, rephrasing of several paragraphs and core concepts
• Draft 3, 2020-12-20, widening of JOOD
• Draft 3a, 2020-12-21, typos and region name
• Drat 4, 2020-12-24, final changes and attributions
• Version 1, 2021-02-09, corrections and approved
• Version 1, 2022-04-27, adapted to wiki and published

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