Aurther Winters Archives - Independence Fleet

Monthly Awards: September 2021

Posted on October 12, 2021 | by Rook Mirtoh | Leave a Comment

Congratulations to all of our award winners for September:

Best Post (Single Author)

Commander Savar cha’Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen
Executive Officer
USS Sunfire

Some feel a vision from the prophets is a tired old hat, but this was nicely written an left me wanting more. Great work!

Best Post (Joint Post)

Cmdr. Samantha Howard & Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson & Lt. Aiko Kato & Ens. James Phoenix
CMO / XO / FCO / TO
USS Washington

For “To Go Forth….Again”

Good writing from a team that is used to working together getting it done. Not all Trek posts need action sequences to be good, and this one hits the mark with the threat of violence without actually getting into it. Had me on the edge of my seat!

Funniest Post

Commander Jackson Andrews
Executive Officer
USS Albion

For “Back on the Command Track, Well Sorta Pt.1”

Lol, he was made a Yeoman? So awesome.

Genesis

Lieutenant JG Djon Zyngh & Captain Aurther Winters
CSO / CO
USS Chuck Norris

For “Death’s Triangle”

Nice intro and good tags all around on this one. Well done!

MVP

Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell
Computer Systems Specialist
USS Sunfire

What a player! From creating well crafted posts to encouraging engaging joint efforts, Durnell also acts as the Captain’s counsel to bounce suggestions and ideas off of.

Most Posts

Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell
Computer Systems Specialist
USS Sunfire

For writing 15 posts.

Most Improved

Lieutenant Aiko Kato
Flight Control Officer
USS Washington

The Washington’s young pilot really worked to get involved with the crew and to become more integrated, creating some excellent contributions along the way.

Rookie of the Month

Lieutenant Trevor Andrews
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Eminence

Don’t let the rank fool you, Andrews arrived on the Eminence and hit the ground running. A great addition to the sim!

Recruitment

None this month. Get recruiting!

It’s been a while since we’ve had 5 sims represented within the awards in a single month, well done! Keep all the great posts coming, and maybe we’ll see a few more next month.

Awards… For Monthly Awards!

Posted on July 3, 2021 | by Charles Star | 2 Comments

Wow, what a 20th Anniversary Webcast! It was so awesome that I think we have a new tradition here in this fleet. Our very own Admiral Ken Gillis hosted the event, where he introduced the Hall of Fame class of 2021 and awarded prizes to three people from among our monthly award winners. If you missed it, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see the Hall of Fame inductees. However, I can give a quick recap of the prize drawing.

First, here are the prizes:

Next, the names of the monthly award winners were added to the big wheel. Players received a spot on the wheel for each award they won dating back to March 2020 (award fractions were rounded up):

The three winners were…

Captain Aurther Winters of the USS Chuck Norris

Lieutenant J’goss Yass G’odoss, also of the USS Chuck Norris

and Chief Petty Officer Remal Kajun of the USS Sunfire

Congratulations to all three! And thank you again to Ken for hosting and putting this on. Bravo!

Please stay tuned for more anniversary news tomorrow…

EDIT: Due to our current embargo on shipping goods to Canada, Aurther Winters will instead be getting a Tim Hortons gift card as a consolation. Also, Remal Kajun has offered to donate his prize. As such, we drew two more winners: Lieutenant Dean House of the USS Sunfire & Lt. Cmdr. T’Ponga Shemara of the USS Montana. Enjoy the prizes!

Monthly Awards: May 2021

Posted on June 13, 2021 | by Rook Mirtoh | Leave a Comment

I hope everyone enjoyed SciWorld yesterday. It was an instant classic! Thank you to all who played a part in putting it on, including Aurther Winters, who was just awarded the Ongoing Worlds Community Honor for his efforts as Chair. Congratulations!

And now, on with the May monthly awards:

Best Post (Single Author)

Lt. Cmdr. Grexx
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Albion

For “Stop blowing holes in my ship!”

A great character introduction, and the character’s introduction to his new ship… along with its problems.

Best Post (Joint Post)

Lt. Cmdr. Estella Stratton & Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson
Chief Counselor / Executive Officer
USS Washington

For “Quiet Time”

A fantastic character development piece between the two Washington crewmembers. Well done!

Funniest Post

Capt. Shran dh’Klar & Lt. Deanna Celes & Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson & Cmdr. Samantha Howard & Lt. Cmdr. Estella Stratton & Ens. Connor Carrick
CO / OO / XO / CMO / CC / CSO
USS Washington

For “Dealing with Duplicates”

A classic ensemble post that reads like a great sitcom episode! Hilarious!

Genesis

None this month.

MVP

Lt. Cmdr. Grexx
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Albion

The Chief Engineer joined the Albion after many years away from simming. He immediately integrated himself into the story, drove the plot forward, and worked well with the crew. It’s as if he never left!

Most Posts

Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell
Computer Systems Specialist
USS Liberty

For writing 12 posts.

Most Improved

Ensign James Phoenix
Tactical Officer
USS Washington

Ensign Phoenix dove into the current mission and showed an eager willingness to advance the story, both for his own character and the greater storyline.

Rookie of the Month

None this month.

Recruitment

None this month.

Keep up the great work, everyone, but let’s make sure we have winners in all categories for June!

SciWorld 2021

Posted on June 7, 2021 | by Charles Star | Leave a Comment

Join us this Saturday, June 12th, at 11:30 AM EDT (-4) / 4:30 pm BST (+1) for the 2021 SciWorld Online Convention. Chair Aurther Winters, Fleet XO Ken Gillis, and many others have put in a lot of hours to make this an extra special event this year. After the 11:30 opening ceremony, we have seven hours of provocative discussions, interactive trivia games, and live role playing planned.

Since we’re this year’s host, you get a sneak peak at the official opening ceremony video:

YouTube
mp4
Alternate ending (YouTube | mp4)

This will be the 19th SciWorld, and the third hosted by IDF. The first SciWorld was held all the way back in 1999. And just to see how far we’ve come over the years, here’s the opening video from the first modern SciWorld, which we hosted in 2011:

See you this Saturday at SciWorld XIX!

Trivia Day Results

Posted on May 14, 2021 | by Charles Star | Leave a Comment

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.

Monthly Awards: March 2021

Posted on April 17, 2021 | by Rook Mirtoh | Leave a Comment

Sorry for the delay, but your IDF March winners are below:

Best Post (Single Author)

Lt. Sheeraashaa Genno
Chief Security Tactical Officer
USS Albion

For “The Short Straw”

Interesting format, and an even more interesting mystery to solve! Well done!

Best Post (Joint Post)

Capt. Rhenora Kaylen & CPO Remal Kajun
CO / C
USS Liberty

For “Contemplation”

Nice work here. Great turns of phrase, good character development, and excellent dialog. Captains are humans too, after all.

Funniest Post

Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell & Lt. Anna These & CPO Sapphire
CSS / CMO / MaA
USS Liberty

For “I am Blue Sasha Fierce pt1”

You had me at backwards Klingon poetry…

Genesis

Capt. Aurther Winters
Commanding Officer
USS Chuck Norris

For “Truth and Consequences”

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

For writing 23 posts.

Most Improved

Lt.jg. Djon Zyngh
Chief Science Officer
USS Chuck Norris

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.

Rookie of the Month

Lt.jg. Steven McCloud
Chief Medical Officer
USS Chuck Norris

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.

Monthly Awards: November 2020

Posted on December 9, 2020 | by Rook Mirtoh | Leave a Comment

This may be the earliest we’ve gotten the awards out this year. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Best Post

Cmdr. Samantha Howard & Lt.jg. Carolyn Fredrickson & Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson
CMO / EO / XO
USS Washington

For “Ground Zero”

Funniest Post

Lt. Cmdr. Balen Pibb
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Chuck Norris

For “My Stick”

Genesis

Captain Aurther Winters
Commanding Officer
USS Chuck Norris

For “Not Where I Belong”

MVP

Lt. Anna Thesia
Chief Medical Officer
USS Liberty

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.

Rookie of the Month

Lt. Anna Thesia
Chief Medical Officer
USS Liberty

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.

So You Wanna Be a Captain?

Posted on September 24, 2020 | by Charles Star | Leave a Comment

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:

Post! Quality & Quantity
Get others involved in the story
Recruit new players
Mentor younger players
Help solve and de-escalate disputes
Engage at the fleet level on Discord, Facebook, and Twitter
To sum it up: Lead by example!

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.

Monthly Awards: August 2020

Posted on September 14, 2020 | by Rook Mirtoh | Leave a Comment

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

For “Bound but not broken PT 2”
Great conversation flow, and the element of danger is palpable.

Funniest Post

Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell
Computer Systems Specialist
USS Liberty

For “The Rocketman”
Hilarious dialog about a shuttle named Debbie.

Genesis

Capt. Michael Meezo
Commanding Officer
USS Wayfarer

For “Enter Lord Chaos”
An interesting antagonist escaping from prison, a good start to any mission!

MVP

Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson
Executive Officer
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.

Most Posts

Cmdr. Aurther Winters
Executive Officer
USS Chuck Norris

For writing 25 posts.

Most Improved

Lt.jg. John Wyatt
Intelligence Officer
USS Chuck Norris

Wyatt upped his game from a rookie to a full-fledged contributor in story development. He also doubled his post total from 6 to 12.

Rookie of the Month

Lt. Lisa Olsson
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Washington

The new Security & Tactical Officer wrote some solid posts and really picked up the pace at the end of the month.

Recruitment

None this month! Get to recruiting!

Keep writing and keep role playing! The IDF tradition continues…

The Simming Endeavor: The Sequel?

Posted on September 3, 2020 | by Charles Star | Leave a Comment

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.

Episode	Air Date
USS Endeavor role play	N/A
Episode 1 (Introduction)	September 8, 2019
Episode 2 (Abdication)	September 15, 2019
Episode 3 (Déjè vu)	September 22, 2019
Episode 4 (Humor)	September 29, 2019
Episode 5 (Others)	October 6, 2019
Episode 6 (Change)	October 13, 2019
Episode 7 (Switch)	October 20, 2019
Episode 8 (Action)	October 27, 2019
Episode 9 (Return)	November 3, 2019
Episode 10 (Random)	November 10, 2019
Episode 11 (Decision)	November 17, 2019
Episode 12 (Finale)	November 24, 2019

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.

Good luck, simmers!