Mark's Mutterings

April 16, 2008 Languages

2008-04-16T15:35:47Z

I have completed the four new language cards. They are now up in the market. When you click on the card number it will bring up a web page discussing the cards and includes some notes on which languages are common and which are ancient. I'm sure that I've missed some things and hopefully you guys will catch them before I get the podcast on this done.

The New cards List is here!

April 3, 2008 GGP-009 The Boar Men

2008-04-04T02:47:26Z

The newest DS Podcast is available. It is GGP-009 The Boar Men. There are hints and tips for players and GM's relating to the new Cast card that is now available in the DS market. You can find it in the new cards listing and in the Cast cards listing.

Yow, their is a new card available! CAS-026 Boar Man.

And here is a link to the new cards list

March 19, 2008 GGP-008 The Clanborn

2008-03-19T18:59:11Z

GGP-008 The Clanborn Podcast is up. Covers some of the play details of the clanborn. As usual, I have no notes or writing for this. Podcasts are audio and give me a chance to talk instead of write. I like being a storyteller even though I have great respect for story writers and understand why they write. I'm sure the writers out there understand why I do audio instead of writing.

March 17, 2008 Phone

2008-03-17T16:54:15Z

We are answering our phone at 1-810-515-7257. You can leave messages and have a good time. I believe that the old number has been removed from our web pages. If you find the old number somewhere, let me know so I can get it changed.

The old number is still here, but we have it just to get access to DSL service. So, it will probably just ring and ring.

March 14, 2008 More Up!

2008-03-14T23:26:58Z

We now have a short write up on the Orcs on the Orc page in the DS Market. There is also a short piece on each of the Orc cards. You can read it by “clicking” on the card number.

Orc Market Page

I have also continued to put up some of the old scenarios from the DS Stories site. Looks like I'll have to move on to the stories next!

The adventures page

March 11, 2008 Card List

2008-03-11T21:30:54Z

Dave has gotten on the new DS card list in mighty fast time. So when you download the new DS Deluxe card list it will be up to date through the new CAS 025 Delethine card. Thanks Dave!

A Link directly to the page!

March 9, 2008 News

2008-03-09T19:59:35Z

We have a new Grandilar Game Podcast running around. It covers the new Delethine cast race that we just released. Yea, that's right, a new GM card. Between the write up on the web page (click on the card number CAS-025) and the podcast the GM's should get some good info on this one. Enjoy!

March 6, 2008 On for Art

2008-03-06T16:56:11Z

I have sent Sue the four language cards for artwork. I took the advice of the beta board people and we have generic Speak and R&W cards for common and dead languages. These will fill in a niche in the game cards. They are not exciting cards, but they do expand the games flexibility and ability of GM's to create a world of their liking.

I am surprised that we have no comments on the thievery cards. You may have missed them in the pile of cards on the beta board, or maybe you think they are just fine as is. If you get a chance, take a look at those. These are again cards which expand an aspect of the game rounding out some specifics we did not get to earlier.

Happily for us Sue has gotten a good load of artwork jobs this winter, but it leaves me, for the moment, looking for cards that she can do quick simple artwork for.

March 3, 2008 Seeing is Believing

2008-03-03T20:43:24Z

I see that people are finding the new stuff on the Beta Blog. Interesting Stuff. I'm holding my comments until I can see some of these in games being played. It takes a surprisingly long time to be able to completely absorb what is on cards. I am glad to see that people are playing the Phoenix character and discovering the weaknesses and new ideas. Getting past preconceived notions is not easy, I know.....

Once again going to a Con knocked me out for a week. I am just getting back to everything now. *sigh* Yes, I'm getting the orders out in the morning.... I also have a couple of days of federal paperwork in my immediate future, what fun.

February 25, 2008 after BashCon

2008-02-25T17:24:50Z

We had a good time at the show and enjoyed talking to old and new friends. Always nice to actually talk to people.

I have been digging through a lot of my old files looking for Beta cards etc. Well, once, a long time ago on a web site far away we had adventures and stories. It seems I still have a copy of that site! So, I've started putting up some of the old adventures. Over time I'll get it all back. And here is the link to the new adventures page in the DS site

DS Adventures Library

February 23, 2008 At BashCon

2008-02-24T03:19:35Z

For those of you who think my being at BashCon will staunch the flow of Beta cards are in for a surprise. I have posted eight new beta cards for the Blow Gun. In the middle of game sessions the dealer room slows down and I sat there and finished these off and uploaded them.

BashCon is going well and Ann has done a stellar job of getting things rolling. We have had a good number of new folks trying the game here.

If you have any interesting pics from bashCon I would be interested in choosing a couple to add to our 2007 BashCon page. It would be nice to begin having a short pic gallery with the cons for us all to view and recall a good time with friends.

February 22, 2008 Untitled

2008-02-22T12:55:32Z

I have the new cards ready to order on the web page. They are listed in there primary list, new card list and added to the special lists, when appropriate.

I have added a set of 20 shaman beta cards to the ds beta blog. Looking forward to see what you guys think. I was looking over our deluxe Boon cards and I think we need some new racial ones. Plus a new one for release at StormCon.

I have been a bit slow on here the past few days. My main computer (the portable) has been to the shop. It has a new DVD drive and battery. Gotta love a warranty that actually works. Anyway, I'm going to go down and start packing the Van now. See you at BashCon.

February 12, 2008 More

2008-02-12T21:20:15Z

1. Added six new thievery aces to the beta blog.

2. Numbered and laid out the first of the BashCon releases. ELF002 Dryad Character, ELF003 Ebony Elf Character (male pic), ELF004 Ebony Elf Character (Female pic).

3. Started work on the elf page in the market. Got a page with explanation done for each card. When you click on the card number it brings up the page with pic and my writing. Went back and did one for the Fairilon Elf Character while at it. Adds a bit of flavor for the cards, and a bit of generalized history about elves. When the art is done I'll get the pics up too. errr, got ebony elf art from Sue. Cards with Pics are up in the market elf section, click on the card number to see them.

4. Sent the two handed spear to Sue for art as a spring release.

5. Starting layouts for Unarmed Master, Spear Master, Mentor, Wisdom of the Ages, Foraging for Food

6. Got a separate list of Bloodlines and Surge cards in the market. I even included a short explanation of the ideas behind the. Very general, but something.

February 5, 2008 Details

2008-02-10T16:01:37Z

1. Wrote an apology to Pixeljorge..... She is working on Bashcon and getting games and space organized.

2. Got the pic links for the unicorn cards fixed, thanks Dave.

3. Added Tiger Claws to the beta cards for discussion.

4. Thanks to Ann, I have added the BashCon schedule to the BashCon page that is linked from our schedule on the DS main page. The BashCon link is there too.

5. There is a new Mark's Mystery Podcast.

6. I got information for UBCON linked to the schedule on the main page. Driving to Buffalo NY will be interesting. We should get to see some new faces way over there. Sue is a guest at the Con.

7. Wafer Beta cards added to the Beta Blog for your comments.

and prepping for BashCon.....

February 2, 2008 Bits and Pieces

2008-02-02T17:15:23Z

1. The first “lists” are appearing in the deluxe card section at the bottom of the market navigation bar.

2. A new background/color scheme for the market is slipping in.

3. The Penglai cards are up in the market and available.

4. Sue is writing up her experiences in california. Check her blog for that info.

5. Information and links for the upcoming Cons is growing.

6. I see we have no Bashcon communication GM here on the Journal. hmmm. What does that mean?

7. We have new intro stories for DS on the webpages. Thanks Robert.

8. Sue is doing art for the following cards: Spear Master, Unarmed Combat Master, Mentor, Forage for Food, Wisdom of the Ages, Ebony Elf Character (male and female), Dryad Character. Eight cards.

January 24, 2008 Slow Progress

2008-01-24T15:54:17Z

I have finished getting all the deluxe card pics done, uploaded and connected to the market place. So, the new marketplace is now up and running. I have plans for adding a commentary on many of the deluxe cards. The template for that idea comes up on the VAL 023 card. Now that I have these I want to go through and make some special lists of cards like Boons, Backgrounds, Characters, Weapons etc. In lists of there own. Well, at least I've got something to do this year.....

I am also happy with having different blogs for different types of comments. You can access Sue's Art Blog, My Blog , Mark's Mysteries Blog and the DS Beta Blog through the link for “Our Blogs” on the DS main page.

January 22, 2008 California!

2008-01-22T15:55:02Z

In the wee hours of tomorrow morning I will be delivering Sue to that city far to the south of us for an airplane ride to California. Should be interesting, and fun for Sue.

January 16, 2008 Market Updates

2008-01-17T02:35:31Z

The new market now has order buttons for all of the cards and items. What is not finished are the pictures. It was slowing me down too much to try to do both at one time. The pics now end at universal 20. I'll be slowly getting more pics up. Right now if you click on a pick you get an error message. Most of my time right now is trying to get set for Sue's Con trip, so I will be my usual slow self.

January 10, 2008 BashCon GameMaster Communication

2008-01-10T23:57:31Z

BashCon is set up for easy access by individual GameMasters to set up their games. When you register to GM a Dragon Storm Game, add a comment with your times and levels. That will allow other GM's to work around what is happening and allow you guys to crudely co-ordinate games. We have had a shortage of Mid to Low level games at recent cons, so keep an eye out for those!

January 10, 2008 Valentines Day is coming. Here It?

2008-01-10T21:58:13Z

I have put up some Valentines Day gifts in the cafepress shop. If people are going to order on line, then send the cards etc. it needs to be up early. By the end of January the on-line buying of Valentines will be about done. Anyway, here are the pics I used. If you have a Valentine to buy for, we would appreciate you buying from Sue. Thanks.

The Cafepress Valentines Items

January 9, 2008 Good Morning All

2008-01-09T15:14:26Z

I have started on some maintenance of the DS Beta Blog. I have added another proposed Phoenix card (The sixteenth one). The selection would make a full ready to go character right out of the gate. As this character is different from what you are used to take another look and make comments on the new concepts. I'm still looking for a better name than “Protect the Precious”, see what you can think of.

The reason the character seems so different is that I had initially designed it to be used in a different game than DS, but using the same system. The point system I used in those tests was different (much simpler) than the DS system, so my point cost may be off on these.

I have also changed the blog settings to list up to 100 entries on the first page. That means no second page to look up the older beta card entries.

After adding the new Phoenix card I pulled down the cards that I am sending back into the pool for reconsideration at a later date. Those would be Culture Savvy, Elethay Knowledge, and most of the elf cards.

In the next few hours I will also be pulling the beta cards that are being sent on to Sue for artwork and on to be cards. They are Unarmed Mastery (sorry, no Duel Weapons), spear master, mentor, Forage, Wisdom of the ages, Ebony Elf Character and the Dryad Character (may only have one Flash Dance)

Thanks for the comments! Keep going.

January 8, 2008 dragonstorm.com

2008-01-08T15:14:18Z

It is back! The site went up quicker than I expected. Hopefully it will be easier to navigate. There are links to the old market everywhere that the new market is under construction.

On our Con schedule I now have the dates for StormCon I (August 8th to 10th). There is also a link to more info. More as it goes forward.

January 8, 2008 dragonstorm.com

2008-01-08T14:06:24Z

dragonstorm.com is temporarily down, I'm going to pull it now.

January 7, 2008 Web Page being Updated

2008-01-07T23:24:23Z

I am working on the web page again. Some updates for finding stuff on the front page. Revamping the market. Putting them on one page with anchors is not working as well as I would like..... Anyway, all the pages will be there. If they are not finished there will be a link to the old market.

Result is that at some point I will need to delete the current site and upload the new one. That means there will be a couple of hours down sometime in the next 24 hours. Just warning you!

January 3, 2008 New Beta Cards Added

2008-01-03T16:27:29Z

We have three new weapons, including the fabled two handed spear up.

There are also a set of four GM cards up for comment.

The Phoenix is forming up nicely. Your card ideas are looking good. The Phoenix itself is different than prior characters, but it looks like we will be able to release a good set of cards for it that gives a well rounded full character set right up front. I'm thinking summer release for the entire character.