Mark writes

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Blog


Starred Posts

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Mystic Dungeon Club
My tech demos and online games.

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Software Gallery
My commercial software.

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Tools
My freeware utility programs.

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Scheme
An elegant language for a more civilized age.

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Role-Playing Games
My tabletop RPGs.

ATARI VCS BASIC Programming
Retrocomputing
Old computers are better than new computers.

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Internet Archive
Favorite Books

Blog

  • Starred Posts
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  • Last 10 Posts:
  • Twin Peaks Tuesday Music

    Twin Peaks Tuesday Music

    Colt, by Hilary Woods: dreamy Twin Peaks soundtrack, by Angelo Badalamente: falling Birthmarks, by Hilary Woods Blue Velvet soundtrack, by Angelo Badalamente Loma, by LomaRead More »
  • Fighters Are Not Boring, Players Are

    Fighters Are Not Boring, Players Are

    My infrequent commentary on role-playing games, in particular the Old-School Renaissance. Internet Office Hours podcast: Fighters and what to do with them I don't understand how fighters can be "boring"? They're up front fighting, which is the most exciting role for most people. They can be mechanically simple, but of course you role-play and make … Continue reading "Fighters Are Not Boring, Players Are"Read More »
  • Flipping Back to 2010 With Flipboard

    Flipping Back to 2010 With Flipboard

    Flipboard embraces Mastodon: subhead "The news reading app is going all in on the Fediverse." so I don't have to say "don't forget fediverse"! Wow. Early days of the iPad, Flipboard was the best news-reading app for a while. My 2010-11-11 review: Perhaps the best app isn't a newspaper at all, though. Flipboard is an … Continue reading "Flipping Back to 2010 With Flipboard"Read More »
  • What I'm Watching: Troll, Troll, Troll

    What I'm Watching: Troll, Troll, Troll

    Troll (2022): Roar Uthaug, Norwegian director of generally mediocre fantasies, a disaster movie, a comedy-ish cop show, and the bad remake Tomb Raider, has turned in his kaiju movie! And… it's much much better than I expected. It's fairly linear, dumb miners wake up a massive mountain Troll, literally the King of Edvar Grieg's song … Continue reading "What I'm Watching: Troll, Troll, Troll"Read More »
  • Myst Again

    Myst Again

    So there's yet another version of Myst on the App Store I've so far on iOS bought "Myst (Legacy) for Mobile", "Riven (Legacy) for Mobile", "The Manhole: Masterpiece", and "realMyst" [sic capitalization]. On Mac, I played the original CDROM Mac Classic Myst, Riven, URU, and "realMyst Masterpiece" [sic capitalization], Obduction off Steam. Cyan got their … Continue reading "Myst Again"Read More »
  • MineTest Youstubes

    MineTest Youstubes

    So I like to watch videos of the games I play; maybe learn something, maybe just recognize "oh, I do that too". Parasocial but shared-ish experience. The problem with a free, open source, often Linux-based game is, nobody has working sound. And they really don't have working mics on their broken dumpster-dived Thinkpads, or video … Continue reading "MineTest Youstubes"Read More »
  • ORCs Versus the Evil Wizards

    ORCs Versus the Evil Wizards

    A summary of this #OGL thing I've been angry about on fediverse all week/month, and how it affects my plans. So, Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro had been working on their "One D&D"/6E playtest/previews, which has been previously held in only moderate contempt here. And then they decided to update the license. Since 2000, we've had … Continue reading "ORCs Versus the Evil Wizards"Read More »
  • RPG Tilemap

    RPG Tilemap

    I had a useful JavaScript utility hidden away in the source for my Stone Halls & Serpent Men game, so I extracted it into its own thing: Tilemap Especially with people doing the #dungeon23 challenge, it may be helpful for quickly drawing a dungeon, roguelike style. I'm pondering doing a full wilderness + dungeon adventure … Continue reading "RPG Tilemap"Read More »
  • An Atari New Year!

    An Atari New Year!

    I spent a little time this evening making some fireworks for tomorrow night! nanorog.atr-2022-12-31.zip Download, unzip, launch in your favorite Atari 800 emulator, like Atari800MacX Pick Y from the menu, ESC to end, reboot to get back to the menu. See you in a year! (I didn't get around to putting an emulator page on … Continue reading "An Atari New Year!"Read More »
  • Game Project Status Report

    Game Project Status Report

    OK, thinking about projects time, what I've done with my 3-year summer vacation (extended, 2022 edition). Scheme for local problems, sysadmin tasks, just general dorking around on the computer: ?, best decision I've made in some time. In case it's not clear, Chez Scheme and Thunderchez. Schemers in general are annoying but less annoying than … Continue reading "Game Project Status Report"Read More »

Soundtrack

Web pages should have soundtracks:

Historically significant (obsolete) sites: