The first draft of N.O.W. is moving along quickly and I’m keeping on schedule!
I’ve done things before where I set up the framework and watch those elements come together, but it’s never been as cathartic or far reaching as this is. 😀 You’ll see what I mean when its playtest comes out early next year.

Veranthea Codex is developing on track!
Tomorrow is the…fifth big developmental writer’s meeting and we’ve got the vast majority of artwork sequenced, along with word counts. I’ve got a bit of work cut out for me next week but we should have a playtest document for the PC options/GM resources together by November 1st, giving backers two months or so to get us some feedback.
Also, artwork. Indi Martin is doing up the gods and they are amazing thus far! Nathanael Batchelor’s chugging along, and Jacob Blackmon is working on something big. 😉

Paizo has a Pathfinder Developer position open!
It’s true! Of course I’m applying, but if you’ve got the qualifications they’re asking for and interested in the job, I encourage you to do so as well.

#Gamergate
I’ve been avoiding actively saying anything about this for months, and I was going to continue not saying anything about it before I ran into an article about this (ridiculous god-forsaken) catastrophe by Felicia Day (it is a great piece you should read).

One of the core tenets I keep to as my career develops is a piece of advice an industry veteran gave me: “always put yourself in as positive a light as possible,” and to paraphrase a bit of the rest, “don’t initiate any negativity; it will find you anyway.”
So watching this crazy thing explode has been terrifying because I feel like I’m walking on eggshells every time it comes up.

I can’t even imagine how bad this would be if my genitalia were on the inside.

This is seeping farther and farther away from the source and I honestly don’t understand it. I really don’t.

Hand One
I understand being upset, rebellious, and an adolescent. I understand being ostracized by society at large and finding refuge in a niche culture with only a few instances of proper socialization every year. I understand envy, misdirected rage, thoughtless targeting, and fearing change.

I get all of those things and I can see them at work as motivations for the senseless vitriol being spewed at female game creators and gamers, I just can’t work it out in my head how it actually resolves. People are taking these ridiculous expressions of rage and acting on them, making threats (which whether real or not, when you get a dozen or so, you’re going to leave your house) against people that do not even remotely deserve anything but respect.
What the f#$%?

The Other Hand
The fact that people are being made to suffer—some literally having to move from their homes or alter their professional lives in response to this unfathomable barrel of asshats—is abominable, but there seems to be an air of actual change.

Last weekend Stephanie and I finally watched American Pop and the throughout the film, Ralph Bakshi (wonderfully) goes through the gamut of American culture; at one point he touches upon the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and I said, “oh you just couldn’t resist yourself, Ralph.” Stephanie was confused, and after about two minutes I spelled out what it was and how it played an important part in American history.

This is a wide, blaring, disgusting bullhorn of ridiculous shit, but at least nobody’s been burned alive and I think we should take a brief look back on history and reflect—hopefully something good is going to come out of all this.
Felicia’s philosophy of not feeding the trolls seemed about right, but I just couldn’t not say something at this point.

This is a really ugly horrible episode; here’s to hoping it picks up before the credits.
Stop being dicks. Tell people about this ridiculous bullshit. Don’t tolerate it. Don’t encourage.

And another piece of advice I live by: Love and Peace!