Lock It All Down
September's Pugsteady Update!
Hey all! It’s been raining a lot here in Atlanta, so it’s easy to feel a bit down. Luckily this month’s Pugsteady News has some fun things to talk about!
Not Being Around People Again
Remember last month when I talked about feeling weird about being around people again? Now I’m looking back at that time with fondness as COVID starts spreading again. Dragon*Con, a huge local Atlanta convention, has some unconfirmed cases of COVID spread, which is making it hard for me to be comfortable with in-person convention attendance yet. Last month I was taking it day-by-day, but there are more days when I feel uncomfortable with it right now.
I know I’ve been talking a fair bit about the pandemic in these updates, but there are real work effects for me and my colleagues. Mental health issues aside (which are absolutely important to a creative professional), there are also rising paper and shipping costs, making it harder to make and send out books. It’s not career-threatening or anything, but it does mean I’m constantly reassessing how to make products, something a lot of my peers are doing as well.
News Roundup!
But “reassessing” isn’t the same as not doing anything. There’s still plenty of news to talk about!
The Transformers RPG is available for pre-order! This was a fun project to work on, and I’m really excited to see it get closer and closer to reality. It’s looking to be heading for a March 2022 release, so order it while you can!
Gen Con is coming! While I won’t be attending live, I will be appearing again at Gen Con Online in two panels: Storypath Q&A and What’s Up with Onyx Path? Ticket “sales” (they’re free) help us tell Gen Con how much people like our content, but you’ll be able to see it yourself on the Onyx Path Twitch channel.
Another episode of History Check is up! This time I talk about Timemaster, a forgotten time travel gem from the mid 1980s.
There’s more in the coming months, so stay tuned!
My Media
Honestly, I’ve still continuing my Star Trek binge. I’ve made it nearly through season five of Star Trek: Voyager, and what’s really helped has been the podcast The People v. Star Trek: Voyager. It’s a fun review show framed as a series of cases in Space Court, judging each episode (and season) of the show. They just launched a spin-off called The People v. Gundam Wing, so I plan to watch that next.
Aside from that, I’m taking a break from Ace Attorney to get back into some adventure gaming. Right now I’m just starting Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders. It’s a mystery game set in 7th century China, and I really dig it. I’m only an hour in so far, but I highly recommend it.
I’ve also been reading some great books by Hardcore Gaming 101. They do nice and comprehensive review of retro video games, digging into the history of each game. They also do very specialized topics, like two books on game localization. If you’re interested in the history of games, they’re generally pretty good, and worth flipping through.
And with that, I’m back to work. See everyone next month!
