Hello.
My PCs
A Player Character (PC) is a character owned and written-for by a writer in the group.
- Yogan Yalu, current
- Didrik Stennes (deceased)
- Didrik Stennes (alternate), from an alternate universe.
My PNPCs
A Personal Non-Player Character (PNPC) is a character created and written for a player's own purposes and used regularly in the plot.
Active
- Hamsan Dwich, a chaplain and medical technician on the USS Excalibur-A.
- Rajik, my mock cadet
- Nash Blaxland, reporter for the Federation News Service based on Starbase 118
- Deborah T'Kard, investigator for Starfleet Internal Affairs Officer Conduct Division
- Hoo Hoo H'Roo, a Tiburonian botanist assigned to the USS Artemis-A.
- Lorna Ploppff, a Human brig warden assigned to the USS Artemis-A.
Inactive, deceased, and/or retired
- Gav, a bartender and journeyman currently working his way around the galaxy.
- Kirky Bean, shuttlecraft pilot assigned to USS Excalibur-A
- Jane van Klaveren (deceased)
- Tina Kuppasoop, security officer assigned to Deep Space 224 (deceased).
- Mary Daniel, a holodeck character who now inhabits the body of the late Tina Kuppasoop (retired).
My NPCs
A Non-Player Character (NPC) is any character within the game that serves only a plot-related purpose. These characters can be used by any player for any purpose.
- Sauerkreemin ch'Yves, security officer assigned to Deep Space 224 and his half-human son, Nicholas Lawrence Tylas Themonthonus ch'Yves.
- Kalarn'Dura Boops, civilian living on Deep Space 224.
My MSNBCPNPCs
A Mission-Specific Personal Non-Player Character (MSPNPC) is a special PNPC assigned to a specific person for the duration of a mission.
- Da'al Ypartin, featured in Come What May
- Rossk Shes Ar-Dev and Foss Dev-Yem, featured in The Ties That Bind
- Ferzdy, featured in Stranded
- Scrunch, alias Nat Careswell, featured in Cats Among The Pigeons
- Ambrosius Corvus Regillensis, Carol Boeschg, and Mike Kallas, featured in In Plain Sight
- Da'al Erbil and Da'al Upovitt, featured in Impact.
Characters with joke names
I love creating NPCs with names that are either jokes, puns, or that give a clue as to what they're about. Some of these, like "Hamsan Dwich," "Debi T'Kard," and "Ferzdy," I've used in sims. But I've also cultivated a heck of a list that would otherwise not see the light of day.
Available to use as NPCs
If you ever want a throwaway character with a joke name, feel free to go shopping on this list. If you end up using one, let me know so I can retire it. I'd love to read the sim, too!
- Aiburnd Theroste
- Cho K'Tawnatu-Thpick
- Fidded sh'Eete
- Gadah Droppadoos
- Gray Tibalzafyre
- Jethro "Thro" Ninnabin
- Kredd Itzkor
- Krunn ch'Eesnak
- Micah Rowave
- Ovanai Totes
- Pam Fatch
- Porquemarr Ketts
- Ritt Skrakur
- Sagaftra
- Sallery Knott-Towerly
- Snakk Onanappel
- Triss Kitdip
Famous Federation divas
- Andoria Estefan
- Borgbra Streisand
- Breenyoncé
- Céline Dominion
- Deltan John
- El-Auretha Franklin
- Jem'Hadariana Grande
- Lady GornGa
- Sulibonnie Tyler
- ViDiionne Warwick
- Xindi Lauper
Character gallery
Yogan Yalu
Didrik Stennes
Rajik
Nash Blaxland
Hamsan Dwich
Mary Daniel
Gav
Kirky Bean
Didrik Stennes
Improv and simming
I teach and perform improv, and over the years I have found a lot of overlap between the skills of successful improvisers and successful simmers. Here are a few bits and bobs I've collected about improv, which I think are relevant to simming as well:
Radical collaboration
- Great improv comes from mutual discovery and surprise and the process of one character being affected by the other. It never comes from drawing a bunch of dots on the stage and handing the other actor a crayon and expecting them to connect them in some crazy design you have mapped in your head. —Ben Bowman
- When you play chess, you move your pawn first. You have to. The important pieces are held back, but they’re there. How many chess games will you win if you make a ton of moves without checking what your opponent is doing? Zero. So make one move and check in. And make your next move according to your partner’s first move. Just remember, it’s practically impossible to win without moving those big pieces at some point. And no one wants to see a scene entirely of tiny pawn moves. But your board must balance the other player. Otherwise, one of you is going to get steamrolled. And that’s a bad improv scene. —Ben Bowman
Agreement and acceptance
- We want to avoid conflict, debate and negotiation in our improv scenes. The audience knows we’re making it up – building something from nothing – they don’t want to see us arguing over imagined reality; they want to see us react to an accepted reality. What’s the best way to avoid arguing? Acceptance! Agreeing to a conflict-laden declaration is the easiest way to ensure a scene’s forward momentum. —Patrick Gantz