Hi, I’m Chris Huth, and this was my fire.
It was just over a month ago that I was importing the credits page of 13th Age into InDesign thinking that I was mere days away from being done, and noting what I thought was the rustic scent of a neighbour’s fireplace.
Then my partner came into the room, asked me if I smelled something, and less than minute later she was outside with the cat and I was trying to wake up the unit below to let them know their back porch was probably on fire. Turned out I was wrong; it was the entire house next door.
Nobody died, which is the important thing. (Including the cats next door, I’m told.) In the month since we’ve dug for salvage through ashes and mud, moved six times, criss-crossed the city looking for a new apartment, lived with three other cats, and a dog, and a pigeon, and scraped soot and grime off of our remaining worldly possessions.
The aftermath could’ve been much worse if not for the support we’ve received. It’s been simply astonishing being the receipient, along with my partner (and cat) of the generosity not just of our friends and family but of distant acquaintances and complete strangers. And, since it wasn’t just my home but my work that was lost, having the support and understanding of not just Pelgrane and Fire Opal but also of the extended community of those who are gaming with the stuff they create… thanks, everybody.
13th Age: Current Status
The big break here was that the vast majority of what was going into the layout—art, text and most of the layout assets—was with Fire Opal Media, not me or my backups. Though getting new hardware and software was a bit of a hurdle, the last three weeks have brought us almost back to where we were before the fire.
Currently we’re just going over each page in turn, layering in the sidebars styles and tables to accompany the body of text and art already in place. After that is only the front matter—credits, table of contents, legalese—and the index to go.
To complete the promotional circle, I’d like to thank Chris Gwinn at Code42 for the Crashplan account we’re currently using as an online backup.