[Brody]

After 17 years, OtherSpace is undergoing some big changes.

Effective this weekend, we're rolling the storyline back to just after the original narrative arc from 1998, when players defeated the Il'ri'kamm Hive Mind and freed the worlds of the Orion Arm from reliance on their alien FTL technology. So, we've rewound the plot to the point that the dramatic Sanctuary story arc, which saw the entire playerbase packed together on a colony vessel to escape a warmongering fleet, never happened.

But we haven't ditched ALL of the lore from the past couple of decades. Instead, we've basically merged the worlds of the Ancient Expanse (an alien universe) with those of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Some things to know:

I've been in the process of retooling our website at and you're invited to join our community site at where we host forums and sometimes run solo play-by-post adventures for our players.

[Brody]

Effective immediately, players are no longer required to submit a biography to get a character onto the OtherSpace grid. Players can create a character, go aboard Sol Station, pick their race and gender, and then head onto the grid to start their adventure in the Orion Arm.

Players who submit biographies are rewarded with bonus Saga Points, though.

The prospect of dropping the gate like this is scary for an old-timer like me, but I’ve given it a lot of thought and decided that it’s probably easier to get (and keep) new blood by lowering that barrier. It’s also possible that we’ll just see someone make a quick-dash character, try to get involved in RP, find it’s not their style, and quit. That’s a risk worth taking, I think.

[Kallindor]

I think that's a pretty good idea if you want to pick up new players, thinking up and writing a 250-word bio about a character on a mud you aren't sure you'll like yet is a big barrier of entry.

Game sounds really cool!