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Whether you are looking for a way to better define your player character’s backstory, thinking about creating a new NPC or playing a mission related character one critical thing to think about it what prompted this character to take action?

In some role-playing systems this is called a “kicker” which is short for the thing that kicks your character into action.  The kicker is an event or realization a character has just before a story begins.  This functions as a catalyst that propel characters into taking action, whether that is action for the cause of the mission to to antagonize the mission.

You can think of this like the opening scene of many movies.  Before the kicker, the focal character whether they are a protagonist or an antagonist is just some person.  Maybe a good person, maybe a bad person, but one that is living a static life.  The kicker pushes a character forward into action and that action becomes a story.

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For years now, we’ve gotten by with four Length of Service awards, honoring those members who’ve reached the first, third, fifth, and tenth year of service. But as we pass our 24th anniversary of founding (and approach the 25th anniversary, coming up in June of 2019), it’s time to add on a few more levels of distinction for those folks who’ve stuck around far longer than we’d ever have imagined possible.

The Captains Council is pleased to announce the 15-year, 20-year, and 25-year Length of Service awards, which will appear as follows:

Those members who have reached these levels will be honored in this year’s ceremony.

Many thanks to Capt. Jalana Rajel for creating these images.

I’m happy to report that two more people have joined our 2019 website funding campaign this month. Many thanks to Valin Dermont and Yito Seja for their generosity! This is in addition to our regular recurring donors Jocelyn Marshall and Trel’lis, for whom we have great appreciation.

Our extensive wiki requires a web server capable of managing the software, alongside the forums, and this site that hosts our news and application. We also have nearly a dozen domains and other software support costs. But all the costs required are entirely covered by members like you and me!

Can you join in the donation drive toward our May, 2019 goal of $1,455? It only takes a few minutes, it’s incredibly easy, and we never see credit card information.

Please welcome our newest Academy graduates to the UFOP: StarBase 118 fleet: Tyler Moore!

The recent and exciting launch of the USS Za gave us the opportunity of a transfer as the requests sweeped the fleet. Some people took the chance, some didn’t. But it gave us all an opportunity to reflect on our current post and ship. On what we love about the ship, the style of simming we are enjoying. Or maybe what we hope to find, or even help shape, in a new post.

We love our ships, older and newer alike. Though each one of us loves them for different reasons. Maybe the people? Maybe the quality of the sims? The plots, or the approach your crew takes to them? Maybe the commanding officers and their leading style? We are sure there are lots of things, but what is the best?

Each one of us has different reasons. Come to the forums and tell us what yours are!

This is a new post in our category Simming Questions. Here we will be asking questions about our community, our characters and our writing, and how you interact with it all.