Thursday, July 31, 2008

WELCOME...Sort Of...

So what's been taking up my (and many other folks' time) these last couple of weeks?

The new Dorktower.com website.



It went live-ish last night: some of you may or may not be able to see it yet, due to some server stuff (the actual Grand Opening itself should be Monday - I'm told whatever slowness and bugginess there is on the site should vanish by then, too).

Anyway, here's what I posted there:

It’s kind of hard saying “Welcome to the new web site” when a few of you are probably still seeing the OLD web site.

All this morning, I’ve been shunted back and forth between teh Old and the New as I’ve refreshed pages and tested them out. Apparently, teh intertubes work in mysterious ways, and a straightforward, clean switchover is quite hard to accomplish.

If you DON’T see the new web site - indeed, if you’re still seeing the “Technical Difficulties” message, don’t give up hope. The switchover’s been a bit more problematic that nay of us could have realized, but the good folks at Gamespy assure me that it’s just a matter of time -hours, perhaps - before the whole world sees the brand-spanking new DorkTower.com web site.

We’re still very much a Gamespy site: you can tell that by the loverly big Gamespy ads on the right-side of the page. But switching over to new servers means that we can proudly fly the Dorktower.com banner - any links to us should now simply go to “www.dorktower.com” instead of the old “Gamespy.com/hosting/lots/of/comics/on/our/servers” thingy, or whatever it was.

I can’t possibly thank Chuck and Chris from Gamespy enough. To say they suffered to get this new website up and running is an understatement. Massive, massive thanks also go to Dorktower.com’s new webmistress, Cat Wagner, who designed, built and pretty much implemented this entire freaking new site.

Wendy, our last and much-beloved webmistress, is off to Iraq in a few days, but she’ll hopefully be popping back in from time to time to say “hi.” Obviously, we all wish her the best overseas, and our biggest hope is for her safe return, soon.

This site is pretty much a work in progress. Time considerations dictated that we get it up ASAP after the old jalopy of a web site finally quit working - we’re still not sure why the code stopped allowing me to update new comics, but there ya go. Once that happened, we could either spend massive amounts of time trying to figure that out, or go full-steam ahead on the new site, on which we’ve all put in months of work.

More bells and whistles will gradually be added to the site, as time goes on. This coming Monday will be the official “Grand Opening,” as there are sure to be things popping up here and there. The Dork Store will become a little slicker, but for the first time, you should be able to get just about anything I make from there. (Of course, we’d still prefer you patronize your Friendly Local Game Store, but sometimes that’s just not possible).

The site will hopefully be cleaner, and easier to navigate. Please feel free to drop us a line as we go along with this.

John

Friday, July 25, 2008

Dork Tower, Monday, July 25

Here's Friday's Dork Tower:



The problems with the website remain. On the plus side, it's sped up work on the new, improved website. Either the current site will be fixed, or the new design up and running, soon. Fingers crossed

Until then, please look for new cartoons on any of the following:

My LiveJournal Page

My MySpace Page

My Blogspot blog (C'mon! Who's gonna be the first person to comment over at the new Blogspot mirror site?)

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Finishing up Munchkin Quest II this weekend. So, yay!I may even get a chance to continue cleaning and reorganizing the office, afterwards.

****

EDIT: I had no idea so many people didn't realize Dork Tower Miniatures existed. They do, and are awesome, produced by Steve Jackson Games and sculpted by legendary designer Tom Meier. They can be found at Warehouse 23, or ordered directly from your Friendly Neighborhood Games or Comics Store.

Warehouse 23 Dork Tower Minis Page

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Dork Tower, Monday, July 21

Here's Monday's Dork Tower:



For some reason, there's a problem with the DorkTower.com web site, and I'm unable to post new cartoons there.

I hope this will be fixed shortly. But until then, please look for new cartoons on any of the following:

My LiveJournal Page

My MySpace Page

My Blogspot blog

All of these will have essentially the same content, and cartoons should continue Monday-Wednesday-Friday as per usual, with cartoons going up (hopefully) no later than noon on any days.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Happy Birthday, Igor!

Today is Scott "Igor" Olman's birthday!

Scott's my good buddy, on whom Igor is loosely based.

I say "loosely," because if I wrote what Scott actually gets up to in a game into the comic strip, nobody would ever believe me.

Yes, that's right: I tone down Igor.

Happy birthday, Scott! And "HUZZAH!"

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Announcing...

Munchkin 7: More Good Cards!

Designed by Steve Jackson - Illustrated by John Kovalic

56 cards. - Suggested Retail Price $9.95
Stock #1460 - ISBN 978-1-55634-786-3
In Production

You Asked for It!

A munchkin can never have enough good cards . . . so we bring you . . . More Good Cards!

In this small but mighty expansion, you'll find the cards that you, yes, YOU, asked for in our online survey.

* More Wandering Monsters! The best from Munchkin Blender, with new art, along with the brand new . . . And Its Little Friends.
* More Monster Enhancers! New ways to beef up the critters your opponent is facing.
* More Cheats! More copies of the classic Cheat!, plus the TRULY abusive Cheat With Both Hands and Cheat Like There's No Tomorrow!
* More Curses! Don't Call Me Shirley from Blender, and two all-new cards, diabolic and hilarious!
* More Wishing Rings! Actually, just one. We wouldn't want to spoil too many of those Curses, would we?

Plus potions, items, and item enhancers! Shuffle them all in, or just add your favorites.

Munchkin 7 – More Good Cards is an expansion for the classic Munchkin set.

****

Jeff Mackintosh clued me in to this. It's freaking brilliant. Especially if you lead the kind of creative (quote, unquote) life Jeff and I lead:




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The Tannahill Weavers schedule just arrived this morning.

I might have a shot at the Racine show. Possibly St. Paul...we'll see.

AUGUST 2008
01 FR Dublin OH Dublin Irish Festival, Coffman Park 614.410.4545
02 SA Dublin OH Dublin Irish Festival
03 SU Dublin OH Dublin Irish Festival
07 TH Zumbrota MN Crossings at Carnegie, 320 East Ave. 507.732.7616
08 FR St Paul MN Irish Fair of Minnesota, Harriet Island Regional Park 952.474.7411
09 SA St Paul MN Irish Fair of Minnesota
10 SU St Paul MN Irish Fair of Minnesota
12 TU Racine WI McAuliffe's Pub, 3700 Meacham Rd. 262.554.9695
14 TH Rochester NY German House, 315 Gregory St. 585.271.3354
15 FR West Hartford CT University of Hartford Wilde Hall ( WWUH ), 200 Bloomfield Ave. 800.274.8587 or 860.768.4228
16 SA Brunswick ME Maine Highland Games, Thomas Point Beach, 29 Meadow Rd. 207.443.1165


SEPTEMBER 2008
10 WE South Carthage ME NE Celtic Arts, NE Celtic Arts, 2 Highland Dr. 207.562.4445
11 TH South Carthage ME NE Celtic Arts
12 FR Canton MA ICONS Festival, Irish Cultural Center, 200 New Boston Dr.
13 SA Canton MA ICONS Festival
14 SU Pawling NY Towne Crier, 130 Rt. 22 845.855.1300
17 WE Felton CA Don Quixote's International Music Hall, 6275 Hwy 9 831.603.2294
19 FR Sebastopol CA Sebastopol Celtic Festival, 390 Morris St. 707.823.1511
20 SA Sebastopol CA Sebastopol Celtic Festival
21 SU Winters CA Palms Playhouse, 13 Main St. 530.795.1825
23 TU Charlottesville VA Gravity Lounge, 1301 S. 1st St. 434.977.5590
24 WE Bedford VA Friends of Bedford Public Library, 321 N. Bridge St. 540.586.8911 x18
26 FR Bethlehem PA Celtic Classic, Historic Bethlehem festival grounds 610.868.9599
27 SA Bethlehem PA Celtic Classic
28 SU Bethlehem PA Celtic Classic

I note I'm missing their two most recent albums, Alchemy (2000) and Arnish Light (2003). But after a series of just brilliant recordings in the 90s that came every two years apart, it's a shame there's not more out there that I'm missing. Plus: five years since their last release

What's the story, Tannahill fans?