School Stuff
I used to teach classes for ITT Technical Institute. I also used to teach night school courses for Weber State University at the Salt Lake Community College Campus. Some people even think that I enjoyed teaching. The following are links to class notes for some of the Weber State classes I have taught in the past.
CS 3210: Unix System Programming
CS 3230: Internet Multimedia and
Applications
AKA "The Java Class"
CS 3250: Object Oriented Programming with Ada
CS 3100: Operating System Concepts
The Old "Internet Class" Notes
My Robocode Pages - I've become infatuated with Robocode and I use it in all my Java classes. Here's some notes I've written up on it.
Mark's Stories
Here and there I do some creative writing.
The "Nile" Stories - Humorous sci-fi
Far From Home - A "mythic hero" fantasy novel.
Twilight Zone episode idea: "The Runner" - My modest foray into fan fiction
Links and Interests
Pics from my vacation back East circa end of May - beginning of June, 2007
Pictures of my girls - Ain't they the cutest?
Sites of Interest - This page has a chronically incomplete listing of websites that I like to visit. Included are net comics, fav software, news sites, and more.
Articles of Interest - These are specific writings I've encountered that piqued my interest. Maybe they'll pique yours.
Mark's collection of sigs that I have gleaned from various other sources.
Mark's movie to-see list for a listing of the kinda shows Mark likes.
Mark's Musings - Random thoughts and reflections.
Personal Info
Email me, or don't if you're a spammer.
My Faith Journey - I was raised as a member of the LDS church, but I had an awakening and now I'm living my own, authentic life. This is my story
Games and Gaming
Mark's writings re: card games, board games, and role-playing games.
D4: A rules-lite Fantasy RPG This is a free / rules-lite RPG system I made. It is largely adapted from the system I designed when I played D&D (lite) with my daughters years ago.
Mark's Puerto Rico Buildings I'm a big fan of the German board game Puerto Rico. I've played it a bunch and I came up with some of my own ideas for additional buildings.
Cheat sheet for Unbelievably Simple Role Playing (USR). List of protozoan player characters for use with USR.
Fudge RPG Resources - I've taken a shine to the Fudge RPG. Here is a Fudge character sheet (PDF format), and a Fudge cheat sheet (PDF format), and some sample Fudge Steampunk characters.
QUERP Cheat Sheet - QUERP is a great little rules-lite RPG that's great for newcomers or nights where you don't want to have to learn a lot of rules. I made this cheat sheet to help players understand the system. There's also this alternate cheat sheet which includes some house rules.
Lucky Squares - Yet another game I made up. Rules light, family-friendly. Features a lot of bluffing & trying to read people.
Unlucky 7s - Another game I made up. This is a Hearts-like trick-taking game that's played with a set of double-9 dominoes.
Quincy - A game I made up. Fun, fast-paced, easy setup, and you can use your old set of double-9 dominoes and some shiny stones to play.
Valley of the Mammoths Rules - A handout I made to help us keep track of all the numerous rules in this incredibly chaotic game.
Mark's Settlers of Catan Strategy Guide - Hints and advice about one of the world's best board games.
Psycho UNO - Here's the rules for the whacked-out, cooked-up version of UNO that was developed in the Game Club at ITT.
Mark's notes on Dungeons and Dragons - Emphasizes the 3.5 system and mostly gives advice from time spent in both the DM's and the player's seat.
Mark's Mahjongg Pages - Scoring, limit hands, jargon, house rules and links to other Mahjongg sites.
Mark's notes on the Middle-Earth Customizable Card Game (CCG) by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE)
See Mark's Hearts Tips that gives advice and strategies for the game of Hearts
Check out Crown Jewels, a board game I invented that can be played with a checkerboard, and a standard set of dominoes.
I've written up a buncha stuff for playing a Victorian GURPS campaign. Many of the ideas / adventures here could be used in any Victorian era RPG. There is also quite a bit of information on generic GURPS gaming, including: how to be a good GM, advice on character creation, advice for players, additional rules, and more.
I've also written up a few additional Risus rules of my own that can be used with the too, too cool Risus RPG. I cover Fantasy Cliches, making magic objects, and Martial Arts cliches. I also have a plethora of Risus sample characters.
Geek Stuff
Geek friends of mine with links to their websites.
Some have said that Mark is hard to shop for. Mark finds this a little hard to believe. To aid the befuddled gift-buyer, Mark has supplied a page of gift ideas which should be of some help.
The truth about Dungeons and Dragons! You always wondered what the real story was with this game...
Here is my Geek Code:
----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----
Version 3.12
GCS/ED/H/L/M/TW d-(++)@ s++:-- a- C++() UL+++$ P+++ L+++$
E---(-) W++ N+ o K+ w--- O- M+ V-- PS+(--) PE Y+>++
PGP>++ t+@ 5++ X+(++)@ R+(+++) tv(@) b++ DI++(--) D++@
G(++) e++* h----() r+++ y++++
----END GEEK CODE BLOCK----
