Rules
As a member of Sim Central, all rules in effect within this organization also apply to the Cutter. As such these rules can be considered complementary to the organization-wide rules:
Click this link here for SC Rules.
Cutter
Rules and Regulations Inspired by Previous Players
Written By: TechnoDodo
(Updated: 6/20/2023)
NO ONE SHALL DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ANYONE FOR ANY REASON (Race, Creed, Walk of Life, Sexual Orientation, Financial Status or other)
All political and religious discussions will be kept to designated Discord Channels.
Characters under the age of 18 are not permitted on this sim. If your characters have children, they may be referenced but not created as a PC or NPC.
Words Defined For This Guide:
The following section is a sort of dictionary of the important terms used in the ProjectRazer.org in general and the Cutter in specific.
Sim: This is short for simulation. Cutteris a Simulation within ProjectRazer.org.
Pose: This is what it is called when you write into a post what your character does/thinks. This is often used interchangeably with tag, but they are slightly different.
Tag: This is a signal left in a post to denote that it is someone else's turn to pose.
Post: This is a completed piece of writing done either by a single player or by multiple players which gets sent to the whole group by the Nova when one of the authors clicks the "Post" button on a post's edit screen.
IC and OOC Life
IC stuff is not to be taken personally. This is a game, not real life and should be treated as such. Should you be taking offense to something that has happened ICly and can not talk about it civilly OOCly, then you need to question your motives for being here. The staff work hard to make the game interesting and sometimes that involves something with your character that might bring them out to the foreground. This can happen at an instant but we generally give a warning. Anyone caught taking IC personally OOCly will be asked to step down from the game until such time they can separate. If you can not separate, please wait on turning in an application until you can.
As such, we ask that no one take OOC issues ICly.
XXX and Violence Markings
In this sim we are ranked 1 for sexual content. We prefer you to mark anything that has to do with sex beyond fade to black aka clothes removal and penetration by anything or anyone with an Caution marker (see below) before and after the title of the post. In the Tag line place '18+' so the mod can catch and block it from nonmembers' eyes. (MOD TO BE INSTALLED WHEN WORKING AGAIN)
An example:
X Romance is Bliss X
There are a few sims in the fleet that do not follow this rule as per GM.
Now when it comes to excessive violence please mark the post with (V) before and after the title of the post.
An example:
(V) Murder is a Girls Best Friend (V)
Dating Posts
On this sim, we prefer the following formats for dating/adding timeline to a post. It’s pretty simple and straightforward.
YearMonth.Day SEASON/TIMEofDAY
Example:
241206.24 Summer/Midday
Spell Check & Grammar
All posts, before you post them, need to be spell checked and grammar checked. We understand the occasional slip through but before it is posted, it must make sense or we will send it back to be edited by the authors for further editing. This also includes posts you're currently in. Make sure when you hit save, the pose/tag in the post makes sense. You take the time to take care of your poses/tags the first time, you save less confusion later. If there are issues, first attempt to work them out with your fellow writer(s). If you are unable to work them out, please speak to the command staff. DO NOT address your concerns on the Discord channel. (See “Grammar Rules” Section below for more details)
Late Poses/Tags
If you are joining a post or posing in late to a post, please reflect that in your pose/tag. This is a good thing to remember for each post regardless of back posts or not. If you are added to a mission/post or are they just adding your first pose/tag to a post that has a lot of material, reflect that in your pose/tag. It helps not only the players but the story as well.
Important to note:
This SIM can only be successful with everyone participating. So that means we need your input on missions and logs to help make those missions move forward. The logs are also how we develop characters so if we don’t get those things we really don’t have a SIM.
Post Length and Splitting
This sim will be equipped with a mod that allows for tracking of words used in a post. We suggest splitting the post at 6,000 words so each part contains 3,000 words. This is to reduce the number of big posts in the sim and make it easier for readers in the future who are limited on time.
POSTING GUIDE
~To break a page into OOC area, I have decided to just go with the following:
OOC AREA:
Jessica: I lika ta doa the cha cha
~If the post is already OOC use the _ mark to separate it from the information above:
___________________
~Telepathic messages directed toward someone should be in brackets like this:
{Hey Jessica. I love you so much.}
~If you are in two areas in a post and you need to define that, use
~If you are thinking something use Italics:
’Jessicais one sexy beast. I could just eat her up.’
~To talk to someone using a compin/wristband in another section of the ship/planet go for the compin style look to make it stand out :
=/\= Jessica, I must have you now! =/\=
~ Timelines should be set up as follows in the example below and must be kept track of for all posts:
241210.07 08:00 hrs
~ Tagging other players is a must now to do so, we are now going with an option that will make the tags easier to identify in posts do as such and you will have success:
TAG Jessica
~ If you are wanting to do something in the sense of a flashback within a post, that is perfectly acceptable. Note how many days, months, years it has been up until the point of the current post you are making like so:
Then when done with the flashback,
So far this is what I have to help along posts. If I see something I will add it and am open to suggestions on how to make posts more clear and uniform.
GRAMMAR RULES
By Thetos
I would like all Sim posts to be compliant to these rules. I don’t mean to be a grammar nut or imply that some people don’t write very well, but if everyone follows these rules, it will make reading the Sim much easier to read.
New paragraphs with each speaker. – This is one of the most important rules in novel (or RPG) writing. Whenever a speaker different from the last starts talking, make a new paragraph! For example:
Good:
“Lt. Smith reporting as ordered, sir!” The pale faced officer said as he entered the ready room.
“Good. Good.” The captain replied as he stood up and straightened his uniform. “I need you to assist Commander Korrell in Engineering.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very good. You’re dismissed.” Smith nodded once and exited the ready room.
Poor:
“Lt. Smith reporting as ordered, sir!” The pale faced officer said as he entered the ready room. “Good. Good.” The captain replied as he stood up and straightened his uniform. “I need you to assist Commander Korrell in Engineering.” “Yes sir.” “Very good. You’re dismissed.” Smith nodded once and exited the ready room.
As you can see, when you cram an entire conversation in one paragraph, it becomes much more confusing and more difficult to decipher than if you write it correctly.
SPELL CHECK!! – If there is a most important rule, it’s this one. When you misspell a word (or more) it drastically slows reading time as the reader has to unconsciously figure out what word you actually meant. Punctuation and capitalization is also important.
Good:
Phasers burned against the shields of the small Defiant, causing the ship to shudder violently. The Science Officer, Lieutenant Grayson, was thrown through the door as a torpedo detonated the panel behind him.
“What was that?” That captain inquired imperatively as the ship shook again.
Poor:
phazers burned aganst the shields of the small defient causing the ship to shutter violantly the sciense officer lutenant grayson was throne threw the door as a torpedoe detanated the panel be hind him “what wuz that” the captain inquierd imparativly as the ship shook again
That was an extreme case of course, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any posts that bad, but you get the idea. The first one is a lot easier to read, right?
A spell checker can usually fix this up with no problem. (In fact, my spellchecker kept trying to correct that bad paragraph as I was writing it!) Word has a great spell checker, so if you type in that, you shouldn’t have any problems. If you don’t have Word, another option is the Firefox browser. It has a built in spell checker in its input boxes, such as the reply box, and it’s free. If you don’t have word, and you hate Firefox, don't be surprised if you find your work corrected. (Please do not rely on this as a crutch, but rather learn from the corrections!)
Rank abbreviations – In the past, I’ve seen some people tend to refer to others and their crew in an almost ‘gamertag format’.
Good:
Ensign Carr ran into Admiral Rounds, sending them both crashing to the floor.
Poor:
EnsCarr ran into VAdmRounds, sending them both crashing to the floor.
This isn’t as critical as the two above, but it still helps the flow of the post when you type the whole word rather than collapsing it into a single name. Also, notice that I didn’t put “Vice” in front of the Vice Admiral's name. While you should put the full rank down occasionally, the extra words such as Executive, Rear, Vice, Junior Grade, and Sub are more formal terms than simply Admiral or Lieutenant.
An exception to the abbreviation rule is Lieutenant. It is perfectly fine, encouraged really, to use Lt. as long as you keep it separated from the name or rank with a space. IE: Lt. Grayson or Lt. Commander Koll.
No making up your own grammatical formatting… While it may make sense to you, it does not make sense to anyone else.
Past Tense Usage
As for Stranded, we aspire to write stories like a book rather than a script of live action. So in order to do this, we write in what is called Past Tense. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as follows:
“past tense
noun
Definition of past tense
: a verb tense expressing action or state in or as if in the past:
a : a verb tense expressive of elapsed time (such as wrote in "on arriving I wrote a letter")
b : a verb tense expressing action or state in progress or continuance or habitually done or customarily occurring at a past time (such as was writing in "I was writing while he dictated" or loved in "their sons loved fishing")“
As part of Cutter we ask that we adhere to this as much as possible. While we understand that not every writer is used to this, we ask that you make your best effort in this. If you need further help or wish someone to assist you in correcting this, speak to one of the command staff or fellow post writers to help with this transition. If there are issues, first attempt to work them out with your fellow writer(s). If you are unable to work them out, please speak to the command staff. DO NOT address your concerns in the Discord channel.