We took a few days off from DM’s Tracker updates and cranked out a silly little random name generator. If you guys like it we’ll be happy to put more time into it. We are likely to expand the name database a little. Anyway, we hope you like it – we had a blast making it!

The iphone is really fun to develop on and as I tweak the name database I think the our naming app will become better and better. We’re keeping the price at .99 on this one, but if there is enough interest I’m sure we’ll be happy to polish and add more to this one.

Take a look at it over at bit.ly/1VW7gR.

DM’s Tracker Six Minute Demo shows the inner working of DM’s Tracker. I might add in a voice over track later if it seems like we need to. The only thing to note here is that we are showing a few fixes and updates that aren’t out in the current version or in the update that is currently making its way upstream in the Apple approval queue.

Meanwhile, if you would like to add comments about the video feel free to do so.

This evening I finally got a chance to work on a D&D 4e tool that I’ve been meaning to jump on for a while. Basically we have an on-going house rule that you can spend an action point at the table to allow your most recent roll to become an automatic success. 1s are still failures, but everything else is fair game. I was talking this over with some other DM friends and one of them mentioned a system where they actually use Action Points to do a number of other things.

Here was the list he posted:

Energized: Gain one bonus action point

• Accurate: +1d6 to attack
• Powered Up: +1d6 to damage
• Lucky: Reduce the damage of an enemy hit (even a crit) by half, after damage is rolled
• Resilient: Turn a failed saving throw into a success
• Resourceful: Regain a used encounter power before the encounter is up
• Rescuer: Allow a downed ally to roll a 20 on their death save
• Quick: Move half your speed, but treat it as a shift, for one round
• Stalwart: Negate one push, pull, slide or knocked prone effect
• Sturdy: Gain a bonus healing surge, which you can use immediately, even if you have already used your second wind, or save for later as a standard healing surge

So, with that in mind I’ve created these “power cards” to accommodate. If you like them, feel free to check them out. Let me know what you think of them or if you have any suggestions for making them better.

DM’s Tracker went live in the App Store on Aug 6. We are starting to get enough feedback that we’re able to see what people want, and what we need to do next.

We are through the Apple approval process and are live in the App Store with DM’s Tracker. I could not be more proud of what we’ve done there. Basically if you a) play D&D 4th edition and b) are a Dungeon Master that wants an easier way to track initiative then you should check it out.

In related news I sent out download codes to some of the bigger D&D sites with high hopes that they will be willing and able to give me feedback. Having community leaders step up and help us make the app even better is pretty exciting stuff.

Artcharts 2009 v1.5.1 is now available in the iTunes App Store. Feel free to head on over and pick it up. It fixes a bug where single action events were not showing up correctly. Now you’ll be able to see all those Void of Course moons and Mercury Retrogrades.