We’re less than two months away from our 20th Anniversary this summer on July 4th. As part of the ongoing celebrations this year, we held a 20th Anniversary Trivia Day this past Saturday. In addition to giving away six “fantastic” prizes to our winners, we were able to cap the evening off with a Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan watch party. For those who were unable to attend, here’s the summary:
Prizes
Description (estimated retail value)
Independence Fleet mug ($15)
Micro Machines Star Trek Generations set ($16)
A Happy Birthday message from John de Lancie ($150)
Star Trek TOS VHS signed by IDF co-founder James D. West ($0.99)
Star Trek TNG Badge & Lapel set ($17)
Spock Vehicle Decal ($25)
Results
Aurther Winters won Star Trek: TOS Season 1 and selected the IDF mug
Galaxis won Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and selected the John de Lancie birthday message
Aurther Winters won Star Trek Round Robin and selected the Badge & Lapel set
LuckyFan won Doctor Who and stole the Badge & Lapel set; Aurther Winters selected the signed VHS tape
NisaMage won Supernatural and selected the Spock Vehicle decal
NisaMage won Star Wars Original Trilogy and selected the Micro Machines set
Beyond the prizes above, we will also be sending a small token to each person who correctly answered at least one question at any point during the day. Finally, we thank our event hosts for helping make it a truly special occasion: Shran dh’Klar, Trident, Angelus, Emmalyn Marcus, and yours truly.
All-in-all, it was a fantastic experience. Thank you again to all who were able to take part.
9/9/2022 CORRECTION: Aurther Winters actually stole the mug from himself, and then selected the Badge & Lapel set.
Great opening, and lots of directions to take this!
MVP
Lt.jg. Awal Kronnelti Assistant Security/Tactical Officer USS Chuck Norris
Lt.jg. Kronnelti was consistently excellent all month, coordinating joint posts, keeping the story moving, and leading the way in wrapping up our last mission. He nailed it!
Most Posts
Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell Computer Systems Specialist USS Liberty
Coming off his rookie month, Lt.jg. Zyngh took his writing and role playing to the next level, showing improved coordination with others and introducing several curveballs in the plot.
Joining mid-month, Lt.jg. McCloud is already simming like a veteran… it’s as is he’s been role playing for years!
Recruitment
None this month!
In other news, Captain Emmalyn Marcus assumed command of the USS Montana from Captain RS Harrison on April 1st. A special thanks to Captain Harrison for helping us get this sim off the ground, and best of of luck to Captain Marcus as she guides the ship to new heights! Marcus was the Montana’s XO prior to becoming CO.
Although brand new to the Liberty, Dr. Thesia threw herself into the current mission and established a fantastic report with the crew. She has posted both solo and joint posts and is very active on Discord.
Most Posts
Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell Computer Systems Specialist USS Liberty
For writing 18 posts.
Most Improved
Lt. Cmdr. Balen Pibb Chief Security/Tactical Officer USS Chuck Norris
After having communication issues with others, Pibb came back into the fray with increasing post quantity and quality.
Dr. Thesia came onboard the Liberty with a bang, throwing herself into the mix with an amazing 8 posts within her first 10 days. She is an amazingly talented writer who motivates and encourages others to participate.
Recruitment
Lt. J’goss Yass G’odoss Chief Flight Control Officer USS Chuck Norris
He recruited two new crewmembers to the ship in November, and continues to put the good name of the Chuck Norris out there on the Interwebs.
Congratulations to everyone again and have a great holiday season.
Over the last month, we’ve received quite a few inquiries about being a sim Commanding Officer (CO) in Independence Fleet. So, what are we looking for in sim COs? Before I answer, I’d like to tell the story of two:
Jimmy Rogers
Hall of Famer Jimmy Rogers joined his first sim in December 2010: the USS Liberty, which we were just relaunching. It all clicked. He ran away with the MVP award that month, and became CO of the Liberty on January 1, 2011 after only a single month of simming. Yes, you read that right: one month of simming.
The rest, as they say, is history! Rogers commanded the Liberty for 19 months, winning 2.33 Genesis awards, capturing 3 posting titles, and leading the ship to an incredible 315-post month in September 2011, which is still tied for 9th all-time. Beyond the numbers, he led amazing stories and mentored dozens of role players.
Aurther Winters
Aurther Winters began simming in 2003 after seeing an ad on a college message board. As James Sullivan, he slowly rose from Ensign to Commander on the USS Dragon in a Hall of Fame career that ended with seven monthly awards, still good for a tie at 11th place all-time. Then life happened and he drifted away from simming.
He returned to role playing on the USS Chuck Norris in 2012 as Aurther Winters. Winters picked up his 10th monthly award in August–one of only four people in IDF history to hit double digits. As with Sullivan before, Winter rose through the engineering ranks to eventually become XO of the Chuck Norris under two different Captains. He was the type of XO who just made the Captain’s job easy. Winters became CO of the Chuck Norris this month.
That’s right–James Sullivan/Aurther Winter simmed for the first time about 17 years before he became a CO, while Jimmy Rogers simmed for one month before becoming a CO. Both are in the Hall of Fame, and both are incredible Captains. Every career is different, and every route to CO is different.
Show Me the Money!
One of the most basic principles of good wring is show, don’t tell. Let the reader experience the story through thoughts, actions, feelings, dialog, etc. instead of saying what happened. The same with being a sim CO: Telling us you want to be a CO is great, but you know what’s even better? Showing us you want to be a CO! How do you do that? Like this:
Do you have what it takes to be a sim CO in IDF? Show us! Make the ship you’re already on great. Make your crew great. Make your Captain look great! It’s not necessarily easy, but then again command isn’t for everyone.
We had a lot of great contributors in August, including some fantastic award winners below. However, there’s one thing missing: No Recruitment award. If you’re doing any work to recruit players to your game or the fleet, please make sure your CO is aware so they can nominate you for an award.
Best Post
Cmdr. Samantha Howard & Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson & Lt. Lisa Olsson CMO/XO/CSTO USS Washington
Grayson does it again: Leading by example and filling in while the Captain had IRL items to deal with; A true example of what a team player XO looks like.
Last year on Ongoing Worlds, we hosted a role playing game show called The Simming Endeavor. The concept was simple: Bring 13 different role players together into a single game, allow them to compete each week to write the best post on a particular topic, and then have them vote each other out until there’s only one left. As host, it was tons of fun–some of my best all-time memories of role playing.
Our very own Bolak (aka Largehobbit) was one of the contestants. I’ll save you the spoiler and not tell you how he did! James “Rook” Mirtoh and James D. West both served as special guests (episodes 3 and 8, respectively). And finally, our former Director of Art, Sadie Stanton (aka Bella), created all the graphics for the show.
The purpose of this post isn’t to shameless promote our prior work. Well, at least not entirely. One of last year’s contestants, Messenger of Heaven, is looking to host and produce a second season of the show this fall. If you’re interested in serving as a contestant, please contact me on discord or through email. Believe me, it will be a unique experience you can’t recreate elsewhere.
Or if you just want to read the episodes, we’ve posted links below. We recommend starting with episode 1, obviously.
In unrelated IDF news, Captain Aurther Winters has relieved Captain Grover vonMcCormick as Commanding Officer of the USS Chuck Norris, and Captain Dick Sprague has relieved Captain Michael Meezo as Commanding Officer of the USS Wayfarer. Both turnovers are dated to September 1st.
Recruited the Washington’s stellar rookie and continues to work on recruiting for the ship.
Congratulations to all of our winners. Good luck to everyone for May and keep simming! That’s what I said last month too? I’m must be getting too old for this.
It’s that time again as we reach out into the community and ask one of our esteemed members about their “Favorite Trek.” Aurther comes to us after a break from the simming world and we are overjoyed to have him back.
Aurther cut his teeth back in 2003 when he was recruited into his first Sim through a college message board. So started the adventures of James Sullivan on the USS Dragon in IDF. From lowly Ensign to Chief Engineer James rose through the ranks until that thing we call “a life” dragged him away.
But the call of Captain Youngblood of the USS Chuck Norris called him back again to engage in technobabble once more, a language in which Aurther is quite fluent. Alas life struck again and Aurther went of to live it for several years before recently stumbling on an invite to returned to his old stomping ground to Trek once more!
Now a proud father of a beautiful 8 week old daughter and a man with a little extra time on his hands (or perhaps better time management skills) he has returned to the Chuck Norris and Independence Fleet to which he has remained loyal all these years!
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Aurther and his Favorite Trek :
Name: Aurther Winters
Rank: Commander
Sim: USS Chuck Norris
Position: Executive Officer
Favorite Star Trek episode? Darmok
Why? This was in the height of the TNG best writing and acting. The plot and the messages that came out of it were some of the best. The premise of being able to speak the same language but not the same language is a dynamic I don’t think is often explored enough.
Favorite Star Trek series? The Next Generation
Why? It expanded what was originally set out in TOS, but the stoy and acting was far superior. It also laid out the groundwork and subplots for would would come later in different series. Also I feel like there is nothing more iconic then then the Enterprise-D.
Favorite Star Trek film? First Contact
Why? As much as I love how Iconic the Enterprise-D was, when the Enterprise-E made the scene I was in love. As a fan of the ships on Star Trek this was one where there was just so many to see and like. This one also had a good fee call backs well also being interesting and showing us all where the line is. Here. No further! *Insert smashing glass scene*
Favorite Star Trek Captain? Captain Picard
What year did you start simming? 2004
What sim was it? USS Dragon
What keeps you simming today? Keeping the writing skills and imagination up, and love of Star Trek
Favorite non-simming hobby? Hockey
Favorite non-Trek series? The Orville
Favorite non-Trek film? Ghostbusters
Favorite book (fiction or non)? Redshirts
Favorite video game? Halo
Favorite musician or band? Greenday
Favorite superhero? Captain Canuck
If you could have any super power, what would it be? Don’t know if you would call it a superpower, but being able to understand and speak every language
Favorite sport? Hockey
Favorite team? Colorado Avalanche
Favorite food? Tacos
Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi
Lennon or McCartney? Lennon
Jordan or LeBron? Jordan
Star Trek or Star Wars? Star Trek
Rank the Trek TV shows from best to worst. The Next Generation (1987–1994) Original Series (1966–1969) Discovery (2017–present) Picard (2020–present) Orville (2017) Enterprise (2001–2005) Deep Space Nine (1993–1999) Voyager (1995–2001)
Rank the Trek movies from best to worst. II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) IV: The Voyage Home (1986) III: The Search for Spock (1984) The Motion Picture (1979) V: The Final Frontier (1989) First Contact (1996) Generations (1994) Nemesis (2002) Insurrection (1998) Star Trek (2009) Into Darkness (2013) Beyond (2016)
Was this too many questions? I mean by the end I thought you might have been asking for my shoe size, but I think this was a good amount.
Fantastic Aurther please take a bow and everyone else have a great Easter weekend!
Rook Mirtoh, your friendly neighborhood Director of Personnel here. It’s been a number of years since I was last in the IDF Admiralty. So many that I’ve lost count! Regardless, I’m back and so is IDF. March was a great month with many great posts and performances. Alas, we don’t have enough awards to honor everyone who is doing excellent things with us today. However, we can honor these outstanding members of the fleet.
Best Post
Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson (XO) & Lt. Cmdr. N’Sachzny P’Glosho (CSTO) USS Washington
For “Meeting old friends?” Beautifully written, an in depth look at the characters, history, and politics. Well done!
For jumping right in on the new website in his old role as XO and posting a fleet-high of 6 posts, all helping set the tone for what’s coming. Already stepping up as a leader and getting new crew integrated.
