Guide to Paperwork
Writing Tools
Pen
Pens are widely available around the station. Paper bins often have pens on them, every crew member starts with a pen in their PDA that can be ejected with ctrl+click. There are numerous types of pens you can get.
• Pen - A standard black ink pen. You write in the Verdana font. • Blue Pen - It's just blue ink. • Red Pen - It's just red ink. • Four Colour - You can change between black, blue, red and green ink. Available in the loadout menu. • Fountain Pen - You write in the Segoe Script font. • Captain Pen - It's a fountain pen with an oak body. You write in crimson ink. The nib is sharp. So sharp it can... actually butcher corpses? You also write in Segoe Script. • Crayon- You always right in bold, you cannot use lists, the horizontal rule or small tags. You write in the comic Sans MS font. Colours depend on crayon type.
Photocopier
Photocopiers can make quick copies of whatever documents you desire as well as access to a number of forms which are pre-written by the simple click of a button, for 5 credits each. The forms which are available can be found below. When they run out of toner, you can go to an autolathe or protolathe to get a toner or XL-toner.
Sector13.space/images/3/36/Command_Paperwork.png Command Department
Includes: Job Application, Job Termination, Job Reassignment, Complaint Form, Order Form and Permit to Perform Hazardous Work
Sector13.space/images/9/90/Security_Paperwork.png Security Department
Includes: Warrant, Search Warrant, Interrogation Report, Security Report, Execution Order, and Permission to Possess
Sector13.space/images/b/b3/Engineering_Paperwork.png Engineering Department
Includes: Permission to Perform Non-Standard Work, and Permit For the Issuance of Engineering Equipment.
Sector13.space/images/4/4e/Research_Paperwork.png Research Department
Includes: Permission to Perform Non-Standard Research, and Permit for the Issuance of Research Equipment.
Sector13.space/images/6/64/Medical_Paperwork.png Medical Department
Includes: Medical Prescription, Autopsy Report, and Death Certificate.
Sector13.space/images/4/49/Cargo_Paperwork.png Supply Department
Includes: Permission to Execute a Non-Standard Order
Sector13.space/images/f/ff/Other_Paperwork.png Other
Includes: Lunch Bill and Provision of Paid Services
Writing
Writing is performed by using any writing tool on paper, with any standard writing utensil.
Description | You type | You get | ||||||
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Bold text | **Bold Text.** __Bold Text.__ <b>Bold Text.</b> |
Bold text. | ||||||
Underline
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<u>Underline Text.</u> | Underline Text | ||||||
Italic text | *Italics Text.* _Italics Text._ <i>Italics Text.</i> |
Italics text. | ||||||
Code | `Code Text.` |
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Strikethrough | *Strikethrough Text.* |
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Centering text | <center>Centered text.</center> |
Centered text.
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<font face=Courier New>Font Text |
Font Text | ||||||
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<color face=red>Color Text | Color Text | ||||||
Horizontal rules | Before line. ___ After line. Before line. --- After line. |
Before line. After line. | ||||||
Signature | %s |
John Smith | ||||||
Field | [_____________] |
Displays an editable text input field with a size based on the number of underscores. | ||||||
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<br> Line Break
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Line Break
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Headers | # H1 ## H2 ### H3 #### H4 ##### H5 ###### H6 |
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Size |
<font size=1>Font Size 1<small> <font size=2>Font Size 2<small> <font size=3>Font Size 3<small> <font size=4>Font Size 4<small> <font size=5>Font Size 5 <small> <font size=10>Font Size 10<small> |
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Table | | Title 1 | Title 2 | | ----------- | ----------- | | Text 1 | Text 2 | | Info 1 | Info 2 | |
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List | - Item one - Item two - Subitem one * Item one * Item two * Subitem one <ul> <li>Item one</li> <li>Item two</li> <ul> <li>Subitem one</li> </ul> </ul> |
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Numbered List | 1. First item 2. Second item 3. third item <ol> <li>Item one</li> <li>Item two</li> <li>Item two</li> </ol> |
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Task List | - [x] Obtain a spray can - [ ] Graffiti the walls - [ ] Evade arrest |
Displays a task list, similar to normal lists but with checkboxes that can be checked off.
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Writing a New Form
"How do I make a compelling form?"
Start with a concept you want to convey, a story you want told through paperwork. What is the purpose of someone seeing this form?
There's a lot of forms in the Paperwork that exist solely as busywork. There's like, two Autopsy Report paperworks on the wiki, both asking you to take like 5 minutes to copy-paste stuff from a Health Analyzer into a bunch of spots. Nobody'll read the paper, and they've been made almost entirely redundant by the actual paper printed out by the Autopsy Scanner after doing a real autopsy.
Purpose
Forms purposes boil down to two states, often overlapping:
Document a previous behavior.
- This is how people feel heard. You are validating someone's prior experience by writing it down, and the shape of the form guides you and them to reinterpret past behavior in a new light.
- You are proving that you have performed a task. You have undergone a background check for the HoP to issue you a permit. You have accepted a plea deal.
Guide a future behavior.
- This is what gives forms meaning. The form should spur someone to do more than just stare blankly and state "neat."
- The form could require additional steps to be completed. Requiring a signature is actively provoking the user to go out and interact with someone else.
- The form could directly list the next steps in the overarching procedure it is a part of. A lawsuit request form might have, in size 1 light-gray text, a remark to hand this paper to the Head of Security, Captain, or Warden in order to initiate the lawsuit. It might include fields to direct readers to specific corporate regulations to familiarize themselves pre-trial. It might include specific witnesses who need to be subpoena'd for the trial to begin.
- The form could address consent to forbidden actions, e.g. pacification, or encourage a declaration of intent, thus socially constraining them to those behaviors. As an example, an "NRI Inspection Compliance Form" to frame a boarder's visit as lawful and in terms of an inspection, thus psychologically ushering them away from the violence they're OOCly entitled to.
A good form should be pitchable as a statement of intent. For example:
- Autopsy report: "When you read this, you should understand how messed up they were when they were dragged in here, and sympathize with the effort it took to get them alive."
- Prescription: "When you read this, you should understand this person's drug-seeking has enough merit for me to have signed off on it."
- Strange Object Report: "When you read this, you should feel like I am taking my job seriously and that it is a serious job, above the mechanical actions: 'maint dive, put in this doohicky, push one button'."
- Prisoner Orientation: "When you read this, you should understand the tone of our future prison interactions."
Is this mirroring any Rules or Policy?
There's no rules about a dog playing basketball. There are rules about executing prisoners. If you're making a form to demonstrate that you have fulfilled the requirements to execute someone, ensure the form actually addresses those requirements.
In this case: they have committed a 5XX crime and were "routinely violent during detainment/arrest/holding" and the HoS authorized it, or they are a 602 Hostile Non-Typical LIfeform or it is ConsensualYou would likely have to refer them to the Psychologist/CMO as per 408 Self-Destructive Tendencies, which would likely fall under another form entirely anyways. Don't fall into the trap of making an all-purpose form..
Keep in mind that you are likely taking an OOC policy and making an IC document about it, so a) if there is a grievous breach of the Rules, you should be Ahelping the problem and not just writing an angry form about it, and b) the form is not authoritative but descriptive. While the HoS signing the execution permit would be sufficient authorization for that condition, OOCly so would the HoS saying over radio, "yeah kill 'em", so failure to sign the form is not Breaking The Rules but is merely an IC Issue.
Writing the Form
So you have a Purpose in mind.
Great! You know what you want the form to encourage. Start with that. Mentally write down, "My name is [_] and you should <a thing> because <past events>". Simple one, two line thing, gets the point across. That's the bare minimum but it's surprisingly effective. This is what you go ahead and polish. Everything else is making this core point seem more Official, more Immersive.
Are you mirroring another form?
The Photocopier can print a number of Official forms hard-coded in the codebase, with near-identical formatting. Do you want your form to look exactly like those, or do you want to make it look in your own style? As you work on more papers, you'll develop your own little quirks you fall back on.
Headers
Good forms start with a header, to prime you for the purpose of the document. If you're mirroring the Official stuff, see Talk:Paperwork for documentation on how the Official paperwork blanks look with their colored headers. They come with a one-line title, a department of origin as indicated by the color, and have their header centered but not excessively tall. You might choose differently. I've been known to have a large title with a tiny sub-title, followed by a <hr> horizontal rule, mirroring a MAD Magazine article. e.g. "EXECUTION PERMIT, from the department of Head Removal". Something both believable and silly.
Whomst
This is a form between one or more people, so there should be at least one field for the persons to sign or write their name. The Official forms tend to follow the structure of "Who cares (me), Why I care, You, Why you care, what you should do, confirm that you understand." Remember to keep the fields pretty wide, because names get long around here.
Immersion
Smaller fluff details to make the form seem immersive.
- Date and Time: Nobody ever needs the Date, these forms are never carried over between rounds, but adding a field for the Date makes the form feel like it belongs in a larger archive. The Time can be mechanically relevant, as like indication that you filed a lawsuit during a prison sentence or whatever, but it's rarely actually relevant. Still, it's just like two [___] fields that provide more immersion.
- Fun fact! As of June 12th, 2564, form
victimssignees can use %d or %date to write the current in-game date, and %t or %time to set the current server time (because no one uses station time). Thus, Date and Time fields should be a single field, not the antiquated two or three fields separated by a colon.
- Fun fact! As of June 12th, 2564, form
- Legalese: You could write out, "This is permission to kill you. You have done this 5xx crime [__], and The HoS agrees you should die," or you could stretch that out. Explain the concept of execution. Elaborate on the greater authority at play that gives you the right to play god with this person's life. (It's Nanotrasen Corporate Regulations, as enforced as part of a special agreement with the Sol Federation). Explain the criteria by which this person deserves death. Explain why the HoS needs to approve. Make up words. "Concordat" is always a litigious nerd's wet dream to read. Instead of the aforementioned example sentence, it could be stretched out and "legalised" to read like the following, "In accordance with Corporate Regulations and the penal acts outlined therewithin, your violation of the following regulation categorised under the 5xx code series, [___], has constituted legal permisses to sentence you to execution by Nanotrasen authorities, therewithal the ultimate approval from the Head of Security.". You can go wild with this
- Legal Format: Commonly in legal documents, especially government documents and business contracts, we have what is commonly called a "Preface" or "Preamble", which forms the very first part of any document before the actual main body. Usually, this contains definitions, "whereas" statements, and a bunch of other legal baloney that serves as an introduction to the document, much like the exposition of any story. Starting with this fancy introduction, instead of just a title and main body, already makes your document look formal. Legal documents commonly have fineprint. Writing those gives your document a corporate look.
- Combination words: Legal documents commonly use these strange archaic combine words, such as "henceforth", "hencewith", "whereas", "therewithal", "hereinwith", just to name some examples. These words are pure gold, and are almost essential when writing legal documents.
- Free remarks: Prompting one or two lines for someone to just write their feelings on the matter goes a long way in getting them invested in the form. Instead of just "HoS Sign here", maybe add a "Official Statement on the status of this person's livelihood" to prompt them to think of a neat way to say "this chucklefuck shot the Captain and deserves death".
- Consistent language: Phrase it like a general-purpose form even if it's for this specific situation only.
- Worldbuild: Make ideas up. Talk about severance pays that'll happen off-station, talk about funeral arrangements and what to do with the remains. Things that won't affect the current round are a gold mine for immersive form-forging. Make up a few Departments that sound like they'd handle paperwork and slip them into the form. "As per the SolFed Mail Sorting and Delivery Regulations, your remains must be sealed within 5x9 boxes."
Function
It's also easy to run away with blathering on about nonsense, to the point that the entire form becomes an eye-glazing background piece to ignore, instead of the roleplay device you intend it to be.
- Use color and bolding to indicate the important bits. <font size=1 color=gray>Boring-ass fluff. Fine print.</font>. <b>Name of Victim:</b> [___] Bold and eye-catching, indicates an important field vital to the form.
- Small fields as checkboxes. I'm personally a fan of small phrases like "You [_]will / [_]will not do X". Makes the signee read through and consider the implications, without having to devote much thought to how they'd write it themselves.
- Consistency. If the form has to go on, it should rhyme with itself. If you need like 3 signatures, the surrounding bits should be similar. Don't like, ask Date Time Signature at the top, but for someone else at the bottom ask Signature Time Date.
- Horizontal rules. Separate sections with <hr> and perhaps a few <br>s too.
- Actionable Spaces: Not just "Sign here, [____________]", but decorate the most important parts with consistent spacing and reverence. Three BRs for where stamps go is the minimum, four to ensure the stamp fits well.
Quick Forms Ready for Use
Here are some forms you can use to make your life easier. Simply copy and paste the markdowns onto a piece of paper to create the form.
For a more comprehensive, Nova Sector-tailored paperwork list, see Paperwork.
General Needs
Simple Request Form
For requests of special items, like from the autolathe, it may be a good idea to have a form for people to fill out. The following papercode creates a simple request form:
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Paper Markdown: |
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Complex Request Form
For people that you dislike, or maybe anyone who asks for all access.
Sign below the line. ---- |
Paper Markdown: |
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Space Suit Sheet
A proper way to apply for a space suit. If you get the HoP's stamp of approval you're less likely to get robusted by security if you have a space suit. Requires editing in your department and a proper reason.
(reason) Under these conditions: (conditions) If such a privilege is afforded to me, the authorizing official will sign below the line. |
Paper Markdown: |
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Simple Weapon Permit
For authorizing Non-Sec Crew members to have a weapon
This form certifies that its holder is permitted to bear a particular weapon. This document requires HOS or Captain stamp and sign.
Name: Assignment: Permitted Weapon: Sign and stamp below the line. |
Paper Markdown: |
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Complaint Form
Got a complaint?
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Paper Markdown: |
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Employee of the Month Form
To perform a survey to determine the employee of the month in your department.
Full Name: |
Paper Markdown: |
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Insulated Gloves Sheet
A good way to get insulated gloves: Have you ever felt "oh man I want some insulated gloves". Well there's two ways to do this. You can do it the ron burgandy way and get a welder, weld into tech storage and have sec chasing you up and down. Or you can get HoP's approval and get some from Cargo Bay. If you have a HoP stamp, Cargonia daren't object to your request... and the HoP is probably happy for a reason to exist (generally a HoP will love it if you do your own paperwork). Requires editing in your department and a proper reason.
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Paper Markdown: |
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Cyborgization Confirmation Form for Robotics
This is to get those pesky assistants to wait five seconds and fill out a form before they turn on you and start fireaxing the windows down trying to get borged.
I also wish to name my model
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Paper Markdown: |
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After you're done, just add
Operation successful %s
Head of Personnel Job Application Form
This sheet just extra paperwork for assistants and clowns and such that want a job change. If you don't think they are cut out for it send them to ask the head of the area for their stamp of approval.
Sign below the line.
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Paper Markdown: |
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Dungeons & Dragons Sheet
Modifed LLA Dungeon & Dragons sheet to work with our Microlite20 core rules.
Class: Alignment: |
Paper Markdown: |
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Inspection Form for Inspecting
Inspection form for departmental inspections, etc.
Adherence to Health & Safety Guidelines Courtesy shown to Inspector & Overall Approachability Overall Grade Other Comments Glory to Nanotrasen.
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Paper Markdown: |
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For the Chef/Bartender
Simple Menu
Bar - Restaurant
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Paper Markdown: |
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Hamburger Menu
Bar and Restaurant
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Paper Markdown: |
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Sandwich Menu
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Paper Markdown: |
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Pizzas
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Paper Markdown: |
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For the Warden
Crime and Punishment
- To remind you why someone is in permabrig (usually I'll only write things down if they're in there 5 minutes or more).
----
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Paper Markdown: |
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Enemy Retirement Contract
This allows you to process your prisoners quicker. As space law goes, only the Captain can execute people. However it says nothing about voluntary execution scenes. This allows a antagonist to either die with dignity or choose how he wants to spend the rest of the round (if I was an antagonist I'd want to be cyborged). This little piece of paper makes things move faster.
I (write) do hereby acknowledge I am a hostile threat to the station. By so doing freely I enter a contract with Nanotrasen in which I can pick between becoming a cyborg, life in prison or execution.
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Paper Markdown: |
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For the Detective
Case Notes
This is a form that lets you name a case, add some suspects and some clues/details about it.
(author's signature) |
Paper Markdown: |
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For medical purposes
Prescription sheet
This form certifies that you have not only permission, but an important reason, to obtain and use certain "pharmaceuticals."
(signature) |
Paper Markdown: |
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For Head of Personnel
Additional Access Request From
This form is used for granting additional access.
Paper Markdown: |
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All Access Request From
This form is used for "granting" all access.
Paper Markdown: |
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Substitute ID Request From
This form is used for requesting new IDs.
Paper Markdown: |
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Job Change Request Form
This form is used for requesting a new job.
Paper Markdown: |
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