39
A deliberately late-newsletter, held back until I could announce: I have a new job! I'm working as a senior game designer at Possibility Space, a relatively new company working on a truly exciting project that's right up my alley. I'm working side-by-side by a lot of people that I have a tremendous amount of respect for. I've spent the past week eagerly devouring everything I can trying to learn what there is to learn, and I've still got a lot more to go.
It is also my birthday today! I'm the pleasantly divisible age of 39. I have absolutely no thoughts in my head about what it means to almost be 40, and probably won't think about it at all for the next 364 days.
The birthday celebration was meant to include a West Texas trip that has sadly been post-poned, owing to some medical drama around Pullo. There's not enough detail to warrant a mention right this moment, but it's had me in a bit of a state for past few weeks and trying to get him the attention he needs has been like pulling teeth. He's in good spirits and relatively fine on a day-to-day basis, but I worry so about my best pal.
West Texas will still be there. Presumably.
FATHOM hit v0.35, which had some sorely-needed text changes for consistency and clarity. The star of the show is really the new player sheets that we got done by Coffee Johnson in Google Sheets. They are gorgeous, responsive, and comprehensive, much like Coffee themselves. I've deliberately put FATHOM to the side since getting this update out, to focus on some other stuff (including, you know, the new job.)
Finished a big bit of work for HEART that I've had sitting in the wings almost since the end of ICHOR-DROWNED. It's nearly ready to go, as far as text is concerned, but there's some truly excellent art getting made for it that will be worth the wait.
The long-awaited Brendan actual play podcast is coming soon. For real, this time.
📺 - A newfound crush on Rene-Jean Page led me to binge the first season of BRIDGERTON.
📽️ - Lots of films, new and old. SUPER MARIO BROS was a charming kids' movie for me, the 39 year old kid in the audience. WOLF OF WALL STREET, which was very funny and just a little overlong. The gem of this past month was NETWORK, a wildly prescient film that's so much more than its famous line.
🎮 - RESIDENT EVIL 4 is back, and it still whips. A tremendous game, and one I'm fine with having been pandered to with a high-definition remake. I was briefly enthralled with the OUTER WILDS DLC, Echoes of the Eye, but got tired of the puzzles real quick.
🎲 - I purchased the X-COM board game at the start of pandemic lockdown (as a birthday present to myself, I think??) and have only finally gotten to play it. It's good. Not an every-week sort of game. Much more fun is the ARKHAM HORROR living card game, whose first campaign was a ton of fun for me and my crew.
📚 - Still slow-going through the backlog. This month is the easily-readable short story collection THE SLOW FIX by Ivan Coyote.
Lots going on, and lots more to come. See you next time.
