| Male |
Female |
Spivak |
Example | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| he |
she |
e |
When a player stops for Sarjenka,
e scores 5 points. | |
| him |
her |
em |
A player must discard one card each
turn if Static Warp Bubble is affecting em. | |
| his |
her |
eir |
A player completes eir
turn by drawing a card from eir draw deck. | |
| his |
hers |
eirs |
Even if a player's personnel is captured,
the card is still eirs after the game is over. | |
| himself |
herself |
emself |
A player may play The Juggler on eir opponent or
on emself. |
Within each group of three, it is recommended that three games be played; each person will be moderator (a.k.a. Gamemaster, or GM) once, as the other two play against each other. Thus, when you join in a group, you should be willing to commit to three games: two as a player, and one as a GM. Yes, sometimes real life duties can prevent one from fulfilling that commitment; that cannot be avoided. But you should not join unless you reasonably expect, at the time you join, to be able to participate in three games.
This is done because no one wants to GM all the time; thus, the moderating duties are split evenly. Being GM can seem like a daunting task at first, but it's really not too hard.
(If someone is willing to GM without having the opportunity to play, then that's fine, and you can play just one game within the trio.)
You can choose who moderates first by any convenient method; usually, the person most familiar with the cards and rules, and/or someone who's moderated before, should volunteer to GM first. Also, your threesome should agree on which option to use for mission attempts; see that section below for the various options available. Once that game is completed, one of the other two will moderate, followed by the third. (If your group is really ambitious, you could have all three games going simultaneously, but I don't recommend it.)
Once your three games are completed, you can play another set of three, if all three of you are agreeable; otherwise, those who do wish to play additional games can look for other interested players.
Since these rules are still in their beta-test format (something of a misnomer, since there was no alpha-testing), I would appreciate hearing from the players and GM, telling me which option for mission attempts were used, and what you thought of it, as well as the PBEM (play by e-mail) rules in general.
2. The moderator sends out the spaceline, with each player's missions alternating. (If one player has more missions than the other due to Space, the moderator will have to use some discretion in arranging them.) Also the moderator announces what doorways each player is seeding. If a mission is duplicated, the moderator should label them #1 and #2 for reference. (There may, of course, be more than two of Space or Nebula.)
3. Each player then sends the moderator a list of the cards e is seeding under missions, in the order they are seeded, as well as the location at which e is seeding them.
Example:
(Note: You need not group all seed cards at one location together, as I did above. Also, don't forget that dilemmas are encountered in the opposite of the order they are seeded!)
Each player also sends the locations e wants eir outpost(s) at. Cards will be seeded as listed, alternately by each player. That is, the first card of player A will be seeded, followed by the first card of player B, the second card of player A, the second of player B, and so forth. The moderator responds by announcing the location of each player's outpost(s), and privately send each player eir initial card draw.
[Some degree of faithfulness to the FTF game is sacrificed here in the interests of speed. Most notably, neither player knows how many cards the other player has seeded under each mission. However, I consider this a feature rather than a bug. (I don't know how it affects game play exactly, but it makes better Trek sense that players don't know how many cards are seeded under a mission.)]
On a player's turn, e should send out as much or as little of eir turn as e wishes. The other player can then interrupt at any of the stages (as long as it would be legal normally). If the player's move is interrupted, e continues from that point, rather than the end of the sequence e sent.
Let me give an example:
Player A, at the beginning of a turn, sends:
Now, Player B responds with "I play Barclay's Transporter Phobia as they are beaming up to the Excelsior." The moderator makes the random selection and announces which personnel is affected by BTP.
Player A then starts eir next sequence from the point at which BTP was played. The Excelsior does *not* move to WN, and WN is not attempted. (Unless Player A still wants those actions to take place, in which case e must send them again.)
If a Player does not want to interrupt eir opponent's sequence, e should send an "OK" to let the other player and the moderator know e is not playing any interrupts during that sequence. (It would probably be good to leave in, quoted, what you are responding "OK" to so there is no confusion.)
At some times it may even be wise to send only part of an action. For example:
Now if Player A had said, "Play Palor Toff to retrieve Vulcan Mindmeld," Player B might play Countermanda to place VM (and two other cards) out of play. But this way, if Player B wants to play Countermanda, e must do it now, not knowing which card A wants to retrieve. (Moving a ship and Wormholes may be similar: if B knows where A is moving a ship to, that may affect eir decision to Wormhole it or not.)
Ultimately, the players will have to find a balance. There are certainly legimate reasons for not sending your entire turn in at once, but being overly cautious will make the game unnecessarily long.
At the end of a turn, the player should state that e is drawing a card so the others know eir turn is over. If for some reason e does not get to draw a card this turn (Q's Tent, Klim Dokachin), e should state that e ends eir turn.
Advantages: True to the FTF game
Disadvantages: Very slow
Advantages: Fast
Disadvantages: Players may play interrupts based on knowledge
of later dilemmas, which they wouldn't have in the FTF game.
This can actually be quite a difference from the FTF game,
depending on what cards a player has. Example:
The moderator may send out, in a single message,
Under this method, the player may then respond, "Oh, wait, I play Security Sacrifice to save Beverly." The decision to do this may well have been affected by the knowledge of those dilemmas which followed Armus.
The GM looks at each player's hand to determine if either has an interrupt e might want to play during the mission attempt. If so, the GM only resolves the mission attempt up to the point at which the interrupt would be played, and then pauses to see if the player wants to play the interrupt. If not, the player sends "OK" and the GM continues.
Advantages: Fast, while avoiding the foreknowledge problem
of method #2
Disadvantages: The GM reveals some information about a
player's hand by pausing or not pausing. A GM
error may be more likely in this method. Also, the
Devidian Door problem: how to handle the fact that a
player with Devidian Door in eir deck may choose to gamble
and use its effect even though it isn't in eir hand yet?
Advantages: Fastest method of them all
Disadvantages: Significantly changes the play of some cards.
Howard Heirloom Candle and Security Sacrifice are now
completely useless, and Q2 can no longer be used to nullify
Q.
Except when superceded by this document, all Decipher FAQs and Rule notes published at the start of the game are in effect. In addition to the documents which have been labeled as FAQs, this includes (but is not necessarily limited to) the Beta Printing Info, Alternate Universe Rule Notes, and Q-Continuum Rule Notes. The players are expected to be familiar with these, and the moderator will have no sympathy for cases in which a player may make a bad play due to eir ignorance of those documents. (If you're not sure, ask the moderator *before* you make your move!)
Where there is no guidance from the FAQs, the moderator's interpretation on rules questions is final. There is no appeal, even to authoritative sources such as Q, during the game (although the moderator may ask such sources before e makes eir ruling). (Expect this to happen frequently with recently released cards!) (If you're not sure, ask the moderator *before* you make your move!)
Tournament Rules (being generally good and recommended even for non-tournament play) are in effect. That is:
The effects of Terraforming Station apply to the next game between the same two players with the same GM.
If a new set of PBEM rules or a new FAQ is released during the course of a game, the new rulings should be used if they merely clarify a point that was previously unclear, and had not been ruled on by the GM; however, if they reverse a previous PBEM rule, FAQ, or ruling by the GM, the old ruling should be used for the duration of the game, with the new rules taking effect when the next game starts. (This actually happened to me, when the latest Decipher FAQ came out just a few days after I had made a GM ruling concerning Alien Parasites, and the FAQ gave the answer opposite to the ruling I had made.)
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