Play Infocom Adventures Online

This site requires Java to use it, but once again you too can play those incredibly frustrating Infocom text-based adventure games from the 80s. It only took me a minute to remember why I hated the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy game. These are for online only use, so no downloads (unfortunately). See the bottom of the post for stuff you can download!

Play Infocom Adventures Online

Zork I: The Great Underground Empire
Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz
Zork III: The Dungeon Master
Zork: The Undiscovered Underground
Enchanter
Seastalker
Sorcerer
Spellbreaker
Wishbringer
Starcross
Suspended
Planetfall
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Stationfall
Deadline
The Witness
Leather Goddesses of Phobos
The Lurking Horror

Here, on this Infocom fan site you can find the downloads for various versions of the Zork game.

Enjoy.

Comedian Richard Pryor dead at 65

This is a great loss to comedy, regardless of how long it has been since he performed. This is a great loss indeed.

Comedian Richard Pryor dead at 65

"Groundbreaking US comedian Richard Pryor has died at the age of 65 after a long illness.

"He died of a heart attack at his home in California's San Fernando Valley, according to his ex-wife, Flyn Pryor.

"He had been ill for years with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.

"A series of hit comedies in the 1970s and 1980s - including Stir Crazy and Silver Streak - helped make him one of Hollywood's highest-paid stars."

Class Alternatives: Challenger

I'm a fan of the d20 Modern system, however I have never really been a fan of the classes that are in the book. The generic classes just never lit a fire under me enough to make me be able to really get into the system.

To that end, I am working on a line called Class Alternatives for Battlefield Press, Inc. that will be able to be used in place of the classes that are standard to the d20 Modern system. These are not new Advanced Classes, or Prestige Classes, or anything like that. These are fully functioning 20-level classes designed specifically for use in modern campaigns. Most of these classes will be designed around Pulp, "Neo-Pulp," or other adventure fiction archetypes. Each class will be completely self-contained, all that will be needed to bring that character into play in your d20 Modern campaigns will be the core rules and a copy of the class that is wished to be used by players.

As these are still in development, page counts are not exact but each Class Alternative will have all of the information on the class, any new or altered Skills and Feats and appropriate Occupations for that character class. Each Class Alternative will be fully compatible with your d20 Modern campaign, but not necessarily with characters created using the standard d20 Modern rules. Right now, classes in development are the Challenger and the Empowered.

A part of Battlefield Press, Inc.'s Modern Options line, the Class Alternatives bring new concepts, options and ideas to your d20 Modern campaigns.

Working at Penguin

People always seem to wonder, but never quite know, what particular jobs at a publisher actually do. Not very in-depth, but interesting tolook through.

Working at Penguin

Trading bibles for porn in San Antonio

"A group of atheists at the University of Texas in San Antonio is trying to tempt college kids into trading their Bibles for pornography.

"It's part of a program called Smut for Smut sponsored by the student organization called Atheist Agenda."

Trading bibles for porn in San Antonio

Thanks, Jonny!

Lego Dice Roller

"Introducing GameByEmail's Dice-O-Matic. Made from Legos, a USB camera, and a bit of software, it's a home-grown, dice-rolling monster. Don't let it's rickety looks deceive you; this puppy can easily crank out the 20,000 rolls a day consumed by GamesByEmail. In fact, at full speed it averages almost one roll a second, well over 80,000 a day!"

Lego Dice Roller [via Boing Boing]

Green Ronin Online Store: Mutants & Masterminds, Second Edition (PDF)

Green Ronin publishers is now offering a PDF version of their 2nd edition Mutants and Masterminds game, for sale direct from their online store. No associate code here, but I figured it was worth passing along to the masses.

Green Ronin Online Store: Mutants & Masterminds, Second Edition (PDF)

Q-Unit - Greatest Hits

Who knows how long this will be up (it seems like a couple of the sites have already been taken down, but this is a pretty brilliant Mash-Up of 50 Cent and Queen's Greatest Hits. Check them out while you still can.

Q-Unit - Greatest Hits

Note: This is a different link than the one on Boing Boing, that one appears to already be dead. Google is a great thing.

USPS - 2006 Commemorative Stamps

From part-way down the page:

USPS - 2006 Commemorative Stamps

"DC Comics Super Heroes Ten comic book heroes will be saluted on the 'DC Comics Super Heroes' stamps next summer. Half of the pane of 20 will be portraits of the characters; the other half will show individual comic book covers devoted to their exploits. The characters include Aquaman, Batman, The Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Plastic Man, Supergirl, Superman and Wonder Woman."

Here is a link to a jpeg of the stamps.

MAKE: DIY GPS tracking

MAKE: DIY GPS tracking

"DIY GPS tracking with 'disposable' phones - Mod a GPS enabled Nextel and fauxjack yourself...or your car, or your kid, or a big dog, or an elephant. We really, really want to track an elephant. Mologogo is a free service that will track a 'friends' GPS enabled cell phone from another phone(gps not required) or on the web. It currently works on pretty much any Nextel phone with Java and GPS - even a $60 no-contract Boost Mobile phone."