Hello outlaws,

Nothing big to report today! It's just been a bit since I jawed on in this devlog, and after a very fun second session of my group's Copperhead-turned-Tortuga County campaign today, I felt like doing some jawing.

We're Gonna Build Something This Summer
I've been hoping to turn this post-pandemic season into a real Constructive Summer, and so far it's been a 4–5, reduced effect result; way too busy with non-RPG-related, mortgage-paying work, but still getting stuff done. Since the last update, I've wrapped up a couple more chapters and refined the book layout some more. At this point, there's not so much left to write, but there's a ton left to edit, and it's only June, anyway. We'll see how it goes!

Copperhead County interior artist Adam Schwaninger and I have continued working on chapter art as well. Those are almost all done, at which point we'll move on to more setting chapter art and miscellaneous interior pieces. For a while, I was making heavier use of photography in the book, some of which is still in the EA PDF; but ultimately I decided I'd rather have a unified aesthetic with commissioned, art-directed illustration, and that was a good decision. Making art is easily the most fun part of this whole book-producing process.

Here's two new chapter pieces. One is a dumb joke, the other is surprisingly tragic; that's the Copperhead County aesthetic.

Book Corner
While you're here, let me recommend you two recent works of other regional crime fiction that you might enjoy.

A couple days ago, I finished Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden and really enjoyed it. It's a good noir story anchored by great characters and a closely observed, very evocative setting on the Rosebud Lakota reservation in South Dakota. The main character is also a great example of a very archetypal Brick in Copperhead County; at various points he even employs a baseball bat and zip cuffs to make it really clear.

My new read is Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby, and while I'm not done yet, holy shit, it's good. It's set in semi-fictional rural Virginia, so there's your Copperhead County connection there. The main character is also a good example of a PC starting the campaign as a veteran with Burnout; he's primarily a Mover, but with some Brick and Stringer characteristics. 

(Blacktop Wasteland's Beauregard's Burnouts are Guilty and Cold, for the record; and both he and Virgil from Winter Counts have the Family drive. Hey, it's almost as if Copperhead County is a good reflection of contemporary crime fiction...)

Pick those up from your local library or bookseller!

That's It
That's all for now. Watch this website for future updates and jawing-on's.