Wed 01 Feb 2023 — Top of the Stack, Re-Redux
When the blogging thing dials it back a notch …
This is the (I imagine) last website of Bob Portnell (that's me!). At the beginning of 2023, I have reduced it down to the barest basics: less journaling here, only the library files that might speak to readers today. Find them using the tabs (or menu, if your mobile browser gives it to you that way).
Bob is a technical writer living in Sparks, Nevada. Bob is also a father, husband, disciple, and some other things. He likes making and flying model rockets, playing tabletop games, reading, writing, just being generally nerdy and silly. His internet presence beyond this website is not large. He promises to not talk about himself in third person overmuch.
Be it known that I do not receive any compensation from any stores, producers, or other places to which I link in this website. If I link, it's 'cause I love. Also I'm too lazy to jump through compensation hoops.
Here are the files I am keeping "in print." Other stuff I've done? Eh. Ask me. I can probably dig it up for you.
aka "Model Rocketry". I have been a member of the National Association of Rocketry for over 10 (non-consecutive) years, and building and flying since 1975. I lurk in the NAR Facebook group and a few others. I write my own flight prediction tools, too, usually calling them FIDO (after the flight dynamics officer in NASA Mission Control).
I'm still working on learning the night sky to my own satisfaction. I'm improving, slowly. And I've written my own tools for some calculation tasks. For news and resources, Sky & Telescope is my go-to.
Board and card games held a deep fascination for me as an only child who liked play. They still do and I am still me. Some things I've made:
I've had roleplay games in my life since 1980. Here are some things I've done or am doing.
EZFudge is a part demonstration Fudge build, part game-engine heartbreaker that I've been tinkering with for a while. I haven't found a magic system that suits it, so for fantasy I recommend Fantasy Fudge in the free Fudge SRD.
The Fantasy Trip is the first RPG I loved, and I'm well-pleased to see it back in print and well-supported at Steve Jackson Games.
GURPS is a game system I spent a lot of time with. My first paid freelance writing was an article on converting between GURPS and PlainLabel.
Blog posts! I have some again!
Wed 01 Feb 2023 — Top of the Stack, Re-Redux
When the blogging thing dials it back a notch …
Site content Copyright © 2015-23 W. Robert Portnell, tenderly hand-crafted from HTML and CSS, with just a splash of JS.
Scripting and site styling adapted from tutorials at Yahoo! and w3schools.com.