Writing is an integral part of paperwork and writing books! If you want to write an official department memo or a good-looking book, you're going to have to know how to write it.
Listed below are guides and examples of how to properly format in-game paperwork!
We do not enforce the use of these examples exactly. This is to simply to give you a good base to work from.
These examples already have most of the special notation included. To properly understand how the notation works, you will need a basic grasp of BBCode. But don't worry, even if you don't know either, just try copy-pasting the examples and replacing the text with your own! Once you're comfortable with that, try experimenting with what works together and how.
If you would like a visualizer for your paperwork before you write it down in-game, check out https://ps.ss13.net/. The templates there are designed for Baystation's setting, but the live representation of your pencode is invaluable in making sure it comes out right.
Writing Tools
Scattered around the station are plenty of bureaucratic tools for you to make enough paperwork to drown the poor CentCom intern that has to read it all. Generally, these will be placed close to each other and typically in offices, break rooms, or similar areas:
- Pens come in plenty of different colors and styles, though the most common is black or blue. All paper bins have one on top, and you even have one in your PDA that you can remove by control-clicking on it.
- Crayons are less common, though they work similarly to pens. However, they cannot write lists, tables, horizontal rules, or logos.
- Paper bins are the mainstay of a good paperwork writer. Each one has 30 pages of paper for you to take from, and you can select between normal pages of paper or carbon-copy paper (which works in much the same way, but once you're done writing, you can tear the pink carbon-copy paper apart and be left with two copies!).
- Paper shredders are excellent for people who go through lots of drafts or who handle sensitive documents. Simply put a piece of paper or photo in and it will be gone in seconds! Though you will have to empty it from time to time if you use it excessively.
- Photocopiers help make sure you never run out of copies of a document. You can place a paper, photo, or stack of each and it will produce 1:1 copies! The only difference is that the photocopier only prints in greyscale, so things like photos and stamps will lose their color. You will also need to keep it stocked up on toner; it starts with 30 units, and every paper and photo take up 1 and 5 units, respectively. More cartridges can be ordered from the cargo department.
- Fax machines are crucial for interdepartmental communications. Just slide your ID and the paperwork in, and you can send a copy to any other fax machine or even Central Command in much the same way a photocopier can. Just bear in mind the higher-ups might not like being sent 10 copies of WGW. Bear in mind that the fax machine does not eat the paper, so there is no need to make another copy of it for yourself.
If you're writing multiple documents and want to keep them together, or clip on some of your holiday postcards to that arrest report, you will need to clip them together! With a paper in both hands, simply click on one with the other and it will form a bundle; the paper that you are clicking on will be the one on top. This also goes for photos, though you will need a paper of some kind to start the stack. Once you have one, you can flick between pages using the menu at the top, or take papers out of the bundle.
Pen Codes
Below is a list of all pencodes that you can use in your paperwork.
Text-altering tags
Bold
To make text bold, use the [b] and [/b] tags around the text.
[b]This text is bold.[/b]
Italic
To make text italic, use the [i] and [/i] tags around the text.
[i]This text is italic.[/i]
Underline
To make text underlined, use the [u] and [/u] tags around the text.
[u]This text is underlined.[/u]
Small
To make text smaller, use the [small] and [/small] tags around the text.
[small]This text is smaller.[/small]
Big
To make text bigger, use the [big] and [/big] tags around the text.
[big]This text is bigger.[/big]
Center
To center text in the middle of the paper, use the [center] and [/center] tags around the text.
[center]This text is centered.[/center]
Headings
To write a heading (which automatically biggens and bolds the text), use either the [h1] and [/h1], [h2] and [/h2], or [h3] and [/h3] tags.
[h1]Big heading.[/h1] [h2]Medium heading.[/h2] [h3]Small heading.[/h3]
Formatting tags and logos
NanoTrasen Logo
To add the NanoTrasen logo (shown to the right), use the [logo] tag.
[center][logo][br]Our corporate logo is right above this![/center]
Line break
To force a line break without actually using one, use the [br] tag.
This is a[br]one-line line break.
Horizontal rules
To add a horizontal rule (a thin line across the paper, like the headings on the wiki), use the [hr] tag.
There is a horizontal rule right underneath this line.[hr]
Lists
To make an unordered list, use the [list] and [/list] tags, with a [*] tag in front of every time in the list.
[list] [*]Item one [*]Item two [*]Item three [/list]
To make ordered lists, you will need to simply write 1. 2. 3. etc.
Tables
Tables are a very advanced tool, and you should be careful using them! To make a table with visible lines at the edges and between cells, use [table] and [/table]. To make a table without any lines (so that the text is simply spaced evenly), use [grid] and [/grid].
Either way, use [row] at the start of every row and [cell] at the start of every cell (column within each row). Make sure the number of cells is the same for every row! Note that whitespace after each cell is ignored, so you can pad cells to make it more readable:
[table] [row][cell]Top left cell [cell]Top middle cell [cell] Top right cell [row][cell]Middle left cell [cell]Middle cell [cell] Middle right cell [row][cell]Bottom left cell [cell]Bottom middle cell [cell] Bottom right cell [/table]
Inputs and contextual tags
Fields
To make a field, where someone else can write on the paper in that space, use the [field] tag. When someone else looks at the paper with a pen in their hand, "write" will appear where the field's place is.
Name: [field]
Signatures
To sign your name on the paper, use the [sign] tag. Your character's full name will be written in italics and in a special font that cannot be replicated (so that people cannot easily forge your signature).
Signature: [sign]
Current time
To write the current time (in 24-hour format), use the [time] tag.
Time filed: [time]
Current date
To write the current date (in YYYY-MM-DD format), use the [date] tag.
Date filed: [date]
Station name
To write the current station's name (for example, NSB Atlas or NSV Triumph), use the [station] tag.
Facility name: [station]