John

We’re having a spring cleaning sale

April 12, 2016 News, Store

Update: We sold out! Congrats to everyone who bought one of our last shirts.

Whenever we come out with a new Scriptnotes t-shirt, we sell it only by pre-order. We print just the t-shirts we need, then send them out in one big batch.

So we don’t really have “inventory.”

Except we kind of do. In the corner of our office is a set of shelves holding stray t-shirts left over from previous print runs. They exist because we overprint by roughly 10 percent just in case orders get lost or damaged.

Yesterday, we took a count and realized we have more than 50 shirts in random styles and sizes. They’re doing no one any good sitting on a shelf, so we’re having a spring cleaning sale.

[Everything in the store is 50% off this week](http://store.johnaugust.com), or until we’re out of shirts.

In addition to the t-shirts, we have 10 remaining [Scriptnotes 200-episode USB drives](http://store.johnaugust.com/collections/frontpage/products/scriptnotes-200-episode-usb-flash-drive). They’re 50% off.

We also have [Writer Emergency Packs](http://store.johnaugust.com/collections/frontpage/products/writer-emergency-pack-single-deck). They’re 50% off. (And also [50% off on Amazon](http://amzn.to/1NniHnI).)

At the moment, we don’t have any One Hit Kills on hand, but we’ve marked them [50% off on Amazon](http://amzn.to/1oVBUXx), too. If you’ve been curious about our card game of ridiculously overpowered weapons, this is the cheapest you’ll find it.

Finally, we have one [wondrous misprint](http://store.johnaugust.com/collections/frontpage/products/orange-scriptnotes-t-shirt-dreamsicle). It’s an Umbrage Orange t-shirt that missed one of the steps during silkscreening, leaving it oddly faint.

I hope to see someone wearing it one day at a live show. Like all our shirts, it’s better in your closet than our shelf.

So stop by the store and [take a look](http://store.johnaugust.com).

Why I’m voting no on Amendment 1

April 12, 2016 WGA

This morning, the WGA sent out the link for members to vote on three proposed constitutional amendments.

I’m voting yes on Amendments 2 and 3, which reduce the minimum number of candidates and signatures required for board elections. They’re minor changes. I doubt they will have a big impact either way.

Amendment 1 is the bigger concern. It lengthens the term of officers and board members from two years to three. The more I think about it, the less I like that idea. I’m voting no.

Longer terms are great when you have awesome leadership. Yay stability! But here’s the problem: you don’t always have great leaders.

Sometimes, you have fairly useless people. Sometimes, you have nutjobs steering us down dangerous paths.

So it’s important to give guild members the chance to convey their priorities and vote out the nutjobs when necessary. If we’re only voting on them every three years, that’s hard to do.

Here’s what Craig says on the issue:

> No matter what kind of writer you are and no matter what kind of union politics you’d like to see in action, Amendment One does absolutely nothing for you other than limiting *your* voice and *your* influence over *your* union.

The other big problem with longer terms is getting writers to run for office in the first place.

Having served twice on the nominating committee, I’ve had to do a fair amount of arm-twisting to get qualified writers to run for the board. I guarantee longer terms will discourage strong candidates from running. As writers, we don’t know where our lives and careers will take us. Will we be running a show? Directing a movie? Committing to three years of service is too much to ask of a busy, working writer — the exact kind of writer we want on the board.

So I’m voting no on Amendment 1.

Here’s my worry: There’s a good chance this amendment will pass, because most amendments sent to the membership get approved.

After all, it already got the thumbs-up from the board. Some very smart friends of mine voted for it, and I understand their reasons and logic. In fact, if I could guarantee that only those thoughtful and dedicated board members would be serving for three years, I would wholeheartedly support the amendment.

But I can’t, so I won’t.

If you’re a WGA member, I’d urge you to vote no on Amendment 1.

Writer Emergency Pack now on Amazon UK

April 11, 2016 International, Writer Emergency Pack

As of this afternoon, we’ve added our second marketplace: the United Kingom. We’re [officially in stock][amazon]!

We picked the UK because it was the second-biggest market for us after the US. It also serves as a gateway to Europe. When purchasing through Amazon.com, European buyers have to pay customs, making it significantly more expensive. Plus orders need to be shipped overseas, adding time to delivery. When buying through Amazon.co.uk, orders are shipped from London, and customs fees are already paid (by us).

This saves customers time, money and hassle.

At some point, I’ll write up a post explaining the process of setting up Amazon FBA for the UK. It was much more complicated than I expected, mostly because of dealing with importers and logistics. We had our shipment held at Heathrow for lack of an EORI number, which you can only get through a [finicky online form][hmrc]. For ten days, we had no idea where the decks actually were, until they suddenly showed up for sale this afternoon.

But we’re happy to finally be available. You can find us on both [Amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/Writer-Emergency-Pack/dp/B00R6ZLIOY) and [Amazon.co.uk][amazon].

They’re also available directly through the [Writer Emergency store](http://writeremergency.com).

[hmrc]: https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/EORINonVATImport
[amazon]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writer-Emergency-Pack/dp/B00R6ZLIOY/

Tuesday Reviewsday: Pillars of Eternity

March 1, 2016 Reviewsday, Videogames

Every week, I like to leave reviews for a few things I’ve enjoyed. This week, it’s just one review: [Pillars of Eternity](https://eternity.obsidian.net/game).
screenshot

I’ve nearly finished this single-player isometric-perspective RPG, which was born from a [wildly successful Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity). It’s been out for a year, but I only began playing it in January.

After a rocky start, I’ve found myself digging this surprisingly grim (and PG-13) story of soul harvesting and fallen gods. I like the characters in my party so much that I’m never tempted to swap them out for other classes. The quests are challenging enough to keep me engaged, but never googling the forums for help.

The game runs smoothly on my recent-era iMac, with fans rarely spinning up. In keeping with the fixed-camera POV, a lot of the UI is deliberately old-school, with slots and textures and a lot of clicking. But Pillars has made some smart updates for the times, with an intelligent combat system, flexible (and retrainable) skills, and essentially unlimited inventory. If you play on the easier settings, you can avoid entire aspects of the game like food and potions. If you want more of a challenge, go for the higher difficulty settings and keep your flasks handy.

In the end, I’d recommend Pillars to anyone looking for a classic D&D-style RPG.

I played the version on the [Mac App Store](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pillars-of-eternity/id979217373?mt=12), but it’s [available through Steam](http://buy.pillarsofeternity.com) for other platforms.

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