Director’s Briefing – August 2018

 
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Welcome
 
To the eighty-seventh Briefing and the eighth scheduled Briefing of 2018.
 
 
Computer woes
 
On my Pixel C tablet, I had an app to read certain pdfs protected by digital rights management. Unfortunately this app turned into a major liability. When I needed to read the pdfs ahead of teaching preparation for delivering a cyber security course in Maastricht, it decided to violently disagree with my tablet’s OS. Essentially it placed the tablet into a mode where it would not properly close down and most importantly would not restart fully. There are various button holding and plugging and unplugging of charger sequences that if you are lucky will get the Pixel C back to life. During an Open Day, I managed one of these sequences and was able to remove the offending app. Unfortunately I was then interrupted by a potential student and by the time I had finished chatting to the student and parents, the admin-level security on the tablet (designed to lock the tablet after x minutes of inactivity in order to protect my university account) had kicked in. I have been locked out ever since.
 
If and when I manage to get in again, I have to delete my university account in order to disable that admin security and make the tablet stay open permanently. Then connect to a laptop or desktop, grab all the files (because there are always files that don’t make it to the cloud masters), and then do a factory reset before rebuilding it. If I manage to get in again.
 
(OK, I didn’t need to explain all of the computer woes, but Colin indicated that one of the results of his survey was a desire for more SF content. I offer my computer woes as a plot element to weave into your next cyberpunk or sf game.)
 
I have now bought a replacement convertible laptop/tablet running Windows and started moving *some* files from my cloud and home computer master archives onto the new machine. I am going to avoid shifting gigabytes of data unnecessarily onto a solid state drive and focus on working on only two or three products at a time.
 
 
GenCon 2018
 
We wish all of our representatives and the Pointy Hat Games team a very successful and enjoyable Gen Con 2018. We are all jealous that we cannot be there.
 
 
Shadow World
 
Terry was taken unwell again, so despite our best efforts, we did not get Jaiman complete in time for Gen Con. I have vetted a near-final interior of Jaiman using my old tablet and I have smuggled a copy to our team at Gen Con so that they can talk about it to visitors to the booth.
 
 
Rolemaster
 
As you may have seen, Max has updated ERA yet again, including improvements to the printable character sheet, skill cost corrections to some of the datasets, and the inclusion of Priest templates in the RMSS/FRP Channeling Companion dataset. He has also completed a RMSS/FRP Races & Cultures dataset and an Oriental Companion dataset. Look for those turning up on RPGNow soon.
 
 
HARP
 
As the taster previews of HARP Subterfuge on The Guild Companion will have shown, HARP Subterfuge is an impressive draft. It has made it onto the new tablet for an editing run. The author of The Garden of Rain adventure module is expecting to be sending his first full draft to me this month and it will also join HARP Something Wicked, Something Wondrous and HARP Bestiary drafts on the tablet.
 
 
Until next time
 
Back to where I was before I was depixellated and that is more writing and editing.
 
Best wishes,
Nicholas
 
Director, Iron Crown Enterprises Ltd
 
 
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