Orphan Episodes
As of 08/31/2020
An "orphan episode" is one whose parent episode does not contain a link to it. For example, episode 1006 has options pointing to three child episodes 15659, 15660 and 15661 -- but it also has four "orphans", 6790, 6791, 6792 and 6793. Once you're in an orphan episode, you can jump to its parent by clicking on the "Go back" link (if the orphan has been completed) or the "Cancel" link (if it hasn't). There is no way, however, to link from the parent to the orphan.
Early on, I think that most orphans were created by either a) people who started to add a new episode but then aborted it, without properly using the "cancel" feature, or b) system errors that caused episode creation to die in mid-process, after the children had already been created. In February 1999, when MarkT rewrote the Addventure software to "clean up" unused children, there was a sharp drop-off in the number of orphans created. Since February 1999, orphans are usually only created when MarkT deletes an episode for one reason or another.
Why bother with orphan episodes? Well, they present an opportunity to take a storyline off in a direction not given by any of the existing options. What if you don't like any of the options? What if the option you want has already been taken? If the episode you want to extend has orphans, then you can use one and effectively add your own option to the parent!
The disadvantage to writing an orphan episode is that it will be difficult for readers to find. Orphans will never appear in a Tree View, and cannot be linked to from their actual parent episode. Of course, if you make the orphan linkable, then you could write a later episode that links back to your orphan. The only other way for readers to stumble across your episode, once it stops appearing in the "Recent Episodes" lists, is to find it on one of the Index pages.
Orphan episodes which have already been completed
Orphans of episodes 0-999Orphans of episodes 20000-29999
Orphans of episodes 30000-39999
Orphans of episodes 40000-49999
Orphans of episodes 50000-59999
Orphans of episodes 60000-69999
Orphans of episodes 70000-79999
Orphans of episodes 80000-89999
Orphans of episodes 90000-99999
Orphans of episodes 100000-109999
Orphans of episodes 110000-119999
Orphans of episodes 120000-129999
Orphans of episodes 130000-139999
Orphans of episodes 140000-149999
Orphans of episodes 150000-159999
Orphans of episodes 160000-169999
Orphans of episodes 170000-179999
Orphans of episodes 180000-189999
Orphans of episodes 190000-199999
Orphans of episodes 200000-209999
Orphans of episodes 210000-219999
Orphans of episodes 220000-229999
Orphans of episodes 230000-239999
Orphans of episodes 240000-249999
Orphans of episodes 250000-259999
Orphans of episodes 260000-269999
Orphans of episodes 270000-279999
Orphans of episodes 280000-289999
Orphans of episodes 290000-299999
Orphans of episodes 300000-309999
Orphans of episodes 310000-319999
Orphans of episodes 320000-329999
Orphans of episodes 330000-339999
Orphans of episodes 340000-349999
Orphans of episodes 350000-359999
Orphans of episodes 360000-369999
Orphans of episodes 370000-379999
Orphans of episodes 380000-389999
Orphans of episodes 390000-399999
Orphans of episodes 400000-409999
Orphans of episodes 410000-419999
Orphans of episodes 420000-429999
Orphans of episodes 430000-439999
Orphans of episodes 440000-449999
Orphans of episodes 450000-459999
Orphans of episodes 460000-469999
Orphans of episodes 470000-479999
Orphans of episodes 480000-489999
Orphans of episodes 490000-499999
Orphans of episodes 500000-509999
Orphans of episodes 510000-519999
Orphans of episodes 520000-529999
Orphans of episodes 530000-539999
Orphans of episodes 540000-549999
Orphans of episodes 550000-559999
Orphans of episodes 560000-569999
Orphans of episodes 570000-579999
Orphans of episodes 580000-589999
Orphans of episodes 590000-599999
Orphans of episodes 600000-609999
Orphans of episodes 610000-619999
Orphans of episodes 620000-629999
Orphans of episodes 630000-639999
Orphans of episodes 640000-649999
Orphans of episodes 650000-659999
Orphans of episodes 660000-669999
Orphans of episodes 670000-679999
Orphans of episodes 680000-689999
Orphans of episodes 690000-699999
Orphans of episodes 700000-709999
Orphans of episodes 710000-719999
Orphans of episodes 720000-729999
Orphans of episodes 730000-739999
Orphans of episodes 740000-749999
Orphans of episodes 750000-759999
Orphans of episodes 760000-769999
Orphans of episodes 770000-779999
Orphans of episodes 780000-789999
Orphans of episodes 790000-799999
Orphans of episodes 800000-809999
Orphans of episodes 810000-819999
Orphans of episodes 820000-829999
Orphans of episodes 830000-839999
Orphans of episodes 840000-849999
Orphans of episodes 850000-859999
Orphans of episodes 860000-869999
Orphans of episodes 870000-879999
Orphans of episodes 880000-889999
Orphans of episodes 890000-899999
Orphans of episodes 900000-909999
Orphans of episodes 910000-919999
Orphans of episodes 920000-929999
Orphans of episodes 930000-939999
Orphans of episodes 940000-949999
Orphans of episodes 950000-959999
Orphans of episodes 960000-969999
Orphans of episodes 970000-979999
Orphans of episodes 980000-989999
Orphans of episodes 990000-999999
Orphans of episodes 1010000-1019999
Orphans of episodes 1020000-1029999
Orphans of episodes 1030000-1039999
Orphans of episodes 1040000-1049999
Orphans of episodes 1050000-1059999
Orphans of episodes 1060000-1069999
Orphans of episodes 1070000-1079999
Orphans of episodes 1080000-1089999
Orphans of episodes 1090000-1099999
Orphans of episodes 1100000-1109999
Orphans of episodes 1110000-1119999
Orphans of episodes 1120000-1129999
Orphans of episodes 1130000-1139999
Orphans of episodes 1140000-1149999
Orphans of episodes 1150000-1159999
Orphans of episodes 1160000-1169999
Orphans of episodes 1180000-1189999
Orphans of episodes 1190000-1199999
Orphans of episodes 1200000-1209999
Orphans of episodes 1210000-1219999
Orphans of episodes 1220000-1229999
Orphans of episodes 1230000-1239999
Orphans of episodes 1240000-1249999
Orphans of episodes 1250000-1259999
Orphans of episodes 1260000-1269999
Orphans of episodes 1270000-1279999
Orphans of episodes 1280000-1289999
Orphans of episodes 1290000-1299999
Orphans of episodes 1300000-1309999
Orphans of episodes 1320000-1329999
Orphans of episodes 1330000-1339999
Orphans of episodes 1340000-1349999
Orphans of episodes 1350000-1359999
Orphans of episodes 1360000-1369999
Orphans of episodes 1380000-1389999
Orphans of episodes 1390000-1399999