Hello again! I don’t have a lot to talk about since my last update in June, because unfortunately I had to go in for sinus surgery halfway through the month, and that threw off my plans a bit. However, there has been good progress. Here are some highlights:

• Received the first draft of the magic chapter, and I’ve redlined it (meaning I’ve made comments, corrections, and suggestions to help David with his next draft). This means that, once this chapter is rewritten, the player half of the book is done!
• Redlining the enemies draft from Rob now.
• Got the draft of the introductory adventure, while I’ll be redlining next (hopefully later this week).
• Discussed the Pugmire Earplay story with Dave Grossman. He’s generally liking where it’s going, but we’re planning a more detailed discussion in the near future.
• Started discussion with a potential editor for the Pugmire anthology.
• Started compiling a mental shortlist of my preferred actors and authors — nothing firm yet, but I have a good idea of the people I’m approaching first once things are more firmly in place.
• I’ve been watching the Geek & Sundry Pugmire shows, and chatting with some of the folks behind them to see if we can come up with more awesome Pugmire opportunities in future.
• More work with the Onyx Path team on the Pugmire presence at Gen Con, as well as working with Gen Con as an Industry Insider this year. There will be Pugmire demos running at the Onyx Path booth, as well as full Pugmire games on the schedule, run by the ever-amazing Wrecking Crew!

Watching some people play Pugmire has helped me refine a few bits I was on the fence about, particularly around tricks. As I mentioned last month, I’ve been fiddling with them to make them all compelling. One piece of that is removing the restriction to only take a maximum of two breed tricks, and that all dogs in the same family are stuck with those tricks. I know my reasons for doing that previously, but in the end I realized that I was stopping people from trying out potentially cool tricks. Plus, explaining the restriction is actually more trouble than it’s worth at the table, so in the end I decided to open that up. I also completely rewrote a couple of tricks. For example, I thought that the pointer tricks were a little weak, so I replaced one with this completely new one (as always, this is pre-edit text, so it may not show up in this form in the final book):

Deductive Strike
The pointer with this trick can observe an opponent to learn where her opponent’s weaknesses are. The pointer can observe one opponent as a free action. Any round after the one in which the pointer observed the opponent, she can make an attack roll using her Intelligence modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity. If successful, the Intelligence modifier also adds to her damage.

One of the things I love about working on creative projects is collaborating with creative people. Rob has been doing a great job coming up with creative and compelling enemies for Pugmire, thinking of things that I couldn’t come up with and finding the right balance between old fantasy favorites and new creepy creations. Here’s an early peek at one of the new monsters!

Leechtongue (CR 4)
Travelers tell of dogs possessed by the Unseen licking their paws on the side of the road. Never ask these dogs to travel with you, because when you least expected it, they reveal their unending thirst. A black, barbed tongue lashes the victim around the neck and the leechtongue sucks all the water out of the poor thing, leaving a dried up husk in a ditch.
Defense: 14
Stamina points: 44
Speed: 30 feet
Abilities: Strength 16 (+3), Dexterity 10 (0), Constitution 16 (+3), Intelligence 10, Wisdom 6 (-2), Charisma 10 (0)
Attack: Claws (+6 melee, 2d4+3 piercing) and tongue lash (+6 melee, 1d10+3 bludgeoning)
Tricks: Resistance to all damage except radiant, Darkvision
* Dehydration: After a tongue lash, the target makes a difficulty 15 Constitution save. Failure indicates the target is Weakened until they can take a rest and rehydrate.
* Battle Frenzy: The Leechtongue makes a claw and lash attack with the same action.

Finally, I’ve been working on my travel plans. As I mentioned above, I’ll be at Gen Con in August. I’m also going to be at Fan Expo Canada September 1-4 in Toronto. And I’m in discussions for another appearance in late September/early October.

That’s it for now. See you in August — hopefully at Gen Con!