Updated! The Storytelling Adventure System products went live today.

It's cold in Atlanta, or so they tell me. Brisk, some say. I'm very comfortable, but even Petur (who, you'll recall, is from fucking Iceland) says it's cold in the office, so what do I know.

I think Chaney's going to cut Craig open and hide out in his guts until Rogue Two arrives. It's cold, is what I'm saying.

It's Chaney Theater today. Apparently there was a lot of sodomy on last night's episode of Rome, and he's hung up on it. Chaney's somehow jumped from Suicide Girls to Yaphet Kotto to Gary Busey and gotten his pawn in the end zone – king him.

"You know, Mike, words can't hurt you," says Rich.

"They can if they're taped to a giant dowel rod!" shouts Chaney.

John is working on a bunch of The Compass of Terrestrial Directions, Volume 2: The West drafts are coming in now. John, seriously, these Exalted titles are getting out of hand. (And, thus, we spend a few minutes talking about why that is and how it affects the sales and warehousing databases.)

Bax is home "sick," meaning he's sitting on a space heater and playing Halo with the folks who are awake in Europe, I'll bet.

Brian is art directing Old MacDonald's Codex (or Oadenol's Codex, maybe it's called). He also getting art and graphics in line for that big-ass Exalted board game, Exalted: War for the Throne. We're digging the icons for that game, because we are design geeks.

Somewhere around here is a peek at the cover for that big game. It's over there, I think.

I (Will) am getting Damnation City out the door this weekend, for real. Some major mechanical changes have happened in there since the alpha and beta versions, but I think it's the strongest combination of flexible and atmospheric that it's been at any point in the process, so I'm happy with it. I'm eager to see what you all think of it.

And, hey, the first of the Storytelling Adventure System products are going live this week today! (Thanks, Conrad!) You can now buy The Resurrectionists, Parlor Games and Chicago Workings. By tonight, you could be playing them. How rad is that?

matt's doing new proofs for Scion: Hero. He laid-out that book all over again this weekend to accommodate his new tweaks for readability and some notes from John. The book's also broken the 300-page barrier and is on its way toward 350 pages. We'll let you know where it stops once we know. matt's continuing to do new logo work and handling the incoming art for Damnation City, on its way to Craig for layout and all that.

Ethan has playtest notes and other notes coming in this week on the beta version of Changeling, and the art for that game continues to take shape in Aileen's hands. She's planning ahead on the future covers for the line right now and continuing to make the cover magnificent. We saw a peek at it last week and it's pretty terrific – moody, creepy and green.

Speaking of green, and transitioning into Mage news, take a look at Michael Komarck's stellar cover for Free Council, which is around here somewhere. (It's bigger 'cause its sooner.)

Magical Traditions is going off to editing from Bill's desk this week.

Petur's goal is to have the content for every card of the EVE: Second Genesis expansion ready by the end of this week so that art direction can begin full-scale. He and Zack (former intern, now EVE CCG organized play honcho, you remember Zack) are also working hard on a new push to get the game out in front of new players in a kind of refresh to the launch back in November. We saw samples of potential new CCG promo kits and convention-support materials this morning that got us brainstorming all kinds of new ideas. We'll see what new things we have to show off there in the coming weeks.

Craig's haunted book, World of Darkness: Urban Legends is about to go out the door (again), despite having somehow attracted every gremlin in the office to whatever machine it's on. Some books, this just happens. Meanwhile, Craig's taking the Damnation City sketches and diagrams off of teh matt and preparing to layout that ridiculous monster.

Chaney's manhandling the new e-Quarterly, which sometimes experiences the inevitable hiccups that come with intern development, but they're here to learn and they do a lot of shit jobs for us, so it's all worth the extra time it takes to get this stuff right. Wednesday's the big playtest day for Chaney's new card game, too.

Chaney mentions the art for that game, and matt says, "Is that the gorilla that's sitting on your desk?"

"With the jar on his head?" asks Chaney.

"Yeah," says matt.

"Yep, that's him."

Aaron is interacting with our lawyers this week – all routine stuff. He's at the wheel, keeping our trademarks and other legal rights in order. He's also getting new samples from some of our printers, to see what's possible for our future board games and the like. Licensing details always crop up and take up some of Aaron's time, too, of course.

Rich is working on symbols for Scion and attending his requisite large number of meetings. He's also lining up the cover for Monte Cook's World of Darkness and preparing to art direct its insides. That book's happening so fast! Monte Cook's a machine.

Somewhere, drills are spinning in the office. Something heavy and metal is being dragged and beaten elsewhere in the building. The guys with the power tools want information from the building, and they know how to get it.

Current Music: Jesper Kyd, Hitman: Contracts soundtrack