OtherSpace is closing...

...on an important date!

On June 28, the game celebrates its 11th anniversary. To celebrate, we've kicked off our Summer Celebration. All players are eligible to receive a Summer Celebrant badge and anyone who contributes at least $5 via PayPal to jointhesaga@gmail.com during the month of June is eligible for a Summer Celebration Contributor badge.

Other activities:

* This weekend, we hold our first RP expertise "belt" tests. Participants will be trying for their Green Belts.
* I'm also hoping to have my new Llivori character, Ribas Salek, active aboard Comorro.
* Work will continue on crafting and the grid of Hekayt Prime.
* We'll start holding our introductory sessions and bring-a-friend-days.
* We'll hold another OtherSpace Roleplaying Awards ceremony.
* And more to come!

Get into the action at jointhesaga.com 1790!

OtherSpace: New online novel!

The first chapter of the new OtherSpace novel project has been posted in our new social networking site at http://otherversers.ning.com/profiles/blogs/otherspace-stolen-warrior

A new chapter will be posted each week until the novel is finished.

Enjoy!

New JTS community site!

We're setting up a new centralized community site for the games of Jointhesaga.com. Features of the new site include:

* Event calendar
* Player pages and blogs
* Web-based chatroom
* Forums
* Game information for OtherSpace and Necromundus

Basically, we're taking all the best features of having a Wiki, forums, and the JTS blog and putting them all in one place while giving more control of the content over to the players.

So, rather than having a character journal in a forum some folks might not know about, journals will get displayed on the front of the community page. Rather than having forums that are lost in the shuffle of information, active threads show up on the front of the community page. And, rather than having all our information for the game stored in various places (blog, Wiki, etc.), we'll offer it via tabs on the front of the community page.

In short: We want to make it easier to find each other AND the important stuff we and our newbies need to know.

If you want to join up and get started, feel free!

The site can be found at http://otherversers.ning.com

NOTE: It's still a work in progress, but starting activity NOW would be a good thing.

Thanks!

JTS: Now Twitterfied

We've succumbed to the trend and joined Twitter, so follow us! http://twitter.com/Jointhesaga

Warcry says hi!

Thanks to Warcry for the shout-out they gave to the games of Jointhesaga.com!

The dev interview runs until Monday, so if you've got any questions, head to the Fallen Earth forums and post in the thread. I'll answer as I can!

The latest visitor numbers

How do you like numbers? I think they're great! So, let's see some!

In the past month, our blog at http://jointhesaga.blogspot.com got more than 1,000 visits, averaging about 3.53 minutes per visit.

Visitors are predominantly from the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and Italy. About 40 percent have been new visitors. More than half use Firefox. More than 90 percent use Windows. One of our visitors actually connected using a Wii.

Common search phrases that led people to us: Join the saga, OtherSpace, John Christian Falkenberg, danger of stress, and event cards.

Our top referring sites: Blogger, Google, Plattitudes (my personal blog), MUDdy Hobo (my blog on MUDing), furry.wikia.com, mudgamers.com, and Facebook.

OS: Farewell to Joker!

Joker won't be staffing on OtherSpace anymore. College keeps him plenty busy these days. He carried the game through some tough times, for which I'm very grateful. We may still see Fulton showing up on occasion. Until then, we wish him well!

OtherSpace Open House Recruiting Bonus!

New players who create characters during the open house weekend will receive a special bonus of 1000 Roleplaying Points to flesh out their characters.

Current players who bring in new players who create characters during the open house weekend will receive a special bonus of 500 Roleplaying Points.

Hiverspace RP Award Nominees!

Some categories got no proper nominations, so we won't be giving badges out for them this go-round. Also, we have an automatic winner in the Favorite Politician category: Silvereye! For the rest, send a list with your choice of 1 winner from each category to wes@jointhesaga.com:

Favorite Normalspace Refugee
Majors
Kestrel
Silvereye

Favorite Fastheldian Refugee
Naoi
Norran
Thayndor Zahir

Favorite Hekayti
Fridrik
Jorg
Cawl

Favorite Lotorian
Zuan
Lisostapa

Favorite Starship Commander
Finch
Cathal
Jest

Favorite Starship Crew
Zero Gravitas
Tharsis

Favorite Pilot
Zuan
Tharsis

Favorite Doctor
Marina
Alexandra

Favorite Scientist/Engineer
Lildrina
Finch
Kit

Favorite Soldier
Norran
Varal
Lucius

Favorite Politician
Silvereye (Unanimous winner)

Favorite Tradesman
Rathenhope
Frn'Zxk'Fkg

Favorite Hero
Aadzrian
Tharsis
Finch

Favorite Villain
Lucius
Sam Gideon
Vard

Favorite Pose - no nominations

Favorite Quote - no nominations

Favorite News Article

jan09-11: Glitch causes diplomatic gaffe - Comorro
jan09-5: Dribgib On the Loose - Comorro
jan09-6: Refugee to be auctioned as servant - Comorro

Favorite Wiki Page - no nominations

Favorite Character Journal/Story
Set the World on Fire (Tamila's Journal)
File #44522780 Letters to Rillitan (Tiana's Journal)
Dreams of Another Life (Starchaser's Musings)

Favorite Event (Player or Staff)
Salvage in Rigor Strand (Zero Gravitas)
The Glowing Plague (Comorro Station)
Plant Epidemic (Comorro Station)

Favorite Overall Roleplayer
Snowstreak
Kestrel
Finch

Winners get 1,000 RPP per category won! Deadline to vote is Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern. Winners will be announced Saturday night during the open house.

March Madness Fundraiser!

It's that time again! We're raising money toward our marketing and server costs! If you can afford to contribute, use the PayPal button on this page!

Contributors get badges commemorating their generosity!

New MUSH tutorial/Provisional Approval!

As we gear up for this weekend's OtherSpace open house, I'm pleased to announce our new in-game MUSH tutorial and provisional character approval.

Basically, you just need to run the gauntlet of character creation and then enter the main grid aboard Comorro Station. You can observe RP and interact. When you're ready to become a full-fledged non-newbie, you can submit a character biography.

Hope you can stop by!

jointhesaga.com 1790

Whose MUSH is it anyway?

We've been chugging along on OtherSpace for more than a decade with lots of staff-driven storylines. Feedback in recent months has pointed to a desire for players to see fewer universe-shattering events and more smaller plots.

I, on the other hand, have always been a fan of PLAYERS taking the lead on making things happen. However, they don't always have a good starting point in mind and fall back on letting staffers drive the story.

But now we've got Event Cards. I think these are going to be awesome. Players buy them with RP Points and then "deal" the cards to their staffer of choice. The staffer then builds an adventure on-the-fly using the cards as a source of inspiration. It creates a creative compromise, with both sides playing roles in an improvisational interaction. First, the player throws a challenge at the staffer, using as many as three cards. Then, the staffer throws the challenge right back to the player in the form of an exciting adventure.

With this system, players hold the power to determine the *kinds* of activities we run on the game. They can pick and choose staffers to handle their events. And staffers should get a lot of amusement out of juggling multiple cards and turning them into memorable adventures.

They should keep the storytelling fresh and inventive, with more even ground between what players expect and what staffers deliver.

Event cards ought to serve to really set us apart!

Necromundus: A farewell to Ramuh

It's time for another departure, this one from Necromundus, as Ramuh moves on to other things. Citing a lack of time to commit, Ramuh stepped down during tonight's staff meeting. Best of luck, Ramuh!

Farewell: Ifrit and Dice

I just wanted to take a moment to let folks know that Ifrit and Dice have elected to step down as staffers from OtherSpace. They've got a lot on their plate getting Elan Vital (a new MUSH) up and running.

We wish them all the luck in the world. It's not easy starting up a new MUSH, especially an original theme, and particularly during an age when we're competing with graphical MMORPGs. However, they're talented folks and I'm sure they'll flourish.

They put a lot of hard work into OtherSpace during the past couple of years. It's much appreciated.