Every week, Now You Know recaps the Know Direction content of the past week, previews the Know Direction content of the week to come, and shares the thoughts on the state of the network of the director of operations, Ryan Costello.

Luis gets me.

He asks me questions that show he understands my way of thinking enough to spot where he needs more information. As someone who regularly gets accused of thinking things I would never think, or have people make incredibly wrong assumptions about my motivation, it’s rare and refreshing to chat with someone who actually makes on point assumptions. Some of my most insightful conversations in the last decade or so started with Luis asking me a question.

For example, a few months ago, he asked what influences the colours I use in my weekly blog’s banners.

As with most decisions in my life, the answer is: Thought.

In case anyone assumed I randomly chose a pair of colours for my banners, there’s much more to it. And to those who missed it, here’s a sample:

After Luis asked me that, I earmarked the topic for a future editorial, waiting for when there wasn’t much Paizo or Network news to talk about. It’s… been a while. But with no immediate other topic coming to mind for today’s editorial, it’s finally time to go into my colour choices.

First of all, I am not a visual artist. I have no instincts for what looks good. Not too long ago on a podcast, I made a reference about the rules of what socks go with what outfits. Perram brushed it off as not something he cares about. To me, I have no instinct for it, and I’ve received comments about some of my choices. Not mean spirited comments, but not nice spirited either. So in situations like that, I do everything I can to memorize the rules, because there’s no other way I’m going to learn them through understanding.

All that to say, a trick I learned for combining colours in an appealing way is to steal. Find a colour combination that works, copy that image, sample the dominant colours, and colourize the photo’s two canvases one of those colours each.

But what image to steal from?

Generally, the colour combinations reference something brought up in the blog. Some are obvious.

December 7th’s Recall Knowledge – Chaotic Neutral Ninja Turtles was green and yellow, based on the shell of a Ninja Turtle.

December 21st’s Recall Knowledge – Liking What You Like was wrapping paper coloured, because Christmas.

May 31st’s Recall Knowledge – PaizoCon Online 2021 matched the PaizoCon logo.

Some are more obscure.

November 2nd’s Recall Knowledge – October 26th to November 7th was red, white, and blue, as solidarity with the network’s US Citizens who faced an historic election that week.

June 28th’s Recall Knowledge – Expansive Reviews used a couple of colours from the cover of Lost Omens – The Mwangi Expanse.

And some are references within references that I might be the only person who understands them.

July 12th’s Recall Knowledge – Delays, But Not Dismays was named after a segment on The Weekly Planet Podcast, so I used their logo for my banner’s colours.

Now, like this week’s editorial topic, sometimes I just do whatever. I look at the banners I’ve done recently, see which primary colour I haven’t used in a while, and then scroll Facebook until I see a picture with that colour. It’s usually company logos or a friend’s t-shirt in a pic. So if we’re friends on Facebook and you’ve seen a Recall Knowledge or Now You know banner that matches something you’ve worn, it might not be a coincidence.

Speaking of stuff on the site, here’s a recap of the  content from last week at the Know Direction Network:

Recap of November 1st to 5th

What happened last week on knowdirectionpodcast.com and twitch.tv/knowdirection?

Monday, November 1st

Article

Now You Know – Return of GDU and Welcome Michelle Jones
By Ryan Costello

Week two of some network bookkeeping editorials, but they’re important. Honestly, I feel the editorial section of my weekly recaps is best served covering network news. I only write whatever’s on my mind when there’s nothing newsworthy to cover.

Tuesday, November 2nd

Podcast

Digital Divination 042 – Horror in Starfinder

All I ask of the Know Direction Network staff (O.K., not all) is that any 42nd edition of their content must mention the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. John and Ron fulfilled that obligation.

Article

Eldritch Excursion – Heresy
Written by Nate Wright

Nate promised to tap into his deepest thoughts in every instalment of Eldritch Excursion (not Memetic Mind as I originally announced). The first installment delivered. Nate pointed out that characters in Pathfinder generally have positive or neutral relationships with the gods. But what about those who antagonize the gods, and vice versa? It’s an interesting premise with a lot of design potential, which Nate outlines.

Wednesday, November 3rd

Twitch

Know Direction 262 Live – Grand Bazaar Breakdown

Luis Loza helped us understand The Grand Bazaar, and excellent Lost Omens hardcover, to be sure. But one that defies simple summary.

Podcast

Game Design Unboxed 23: Greece Lightning

Hey, GDU’s back! What’s hilarious to me about this episode is that Danielle went from two co-hosts to hosting on her own, and you wouldn’t know it. Guest Kathleen Mercury does an excellent job elaborating on how her game, Greece Lightning came to be.

Article

More Lore – Shadow-Haunted Ustalav
By Scott D Young

More Lore is all about Scott D Young finding obscure gems and expanding on them. In the first installment, he cites an entire PFS scenario inspired by a single paragraph of content from an earlier edition of the game.

Thursday, November 4th

Podcast

Know Direction 262 – Grand Bazaar Breakdown

I may have been a bit bolder in this one than past breakdowns,  mostly because I know Luis gets me. So whereas with another developer I may have described Grand Bazaar as broad, with a lot of intriguing content presented in unexpected ways. With Luis, I said “describe whatever the hell this book is.” Bearing in mind, I really liked this book. It’s a fun read. But it’s tough to sum up.

Article

Something Creates – A Vehicle!
by Andrew Sturtevant

I have to be honest, I haven’t read Andrew’s last couple of posts. I tend to read our blogs just after breakfast and miss our content that goes up after my work day starts. And that’s my loss, because he’s designed a mech and a vehicle in his last two articles. I look forward to going back and reading them.

Friday, November 5th

Podcast

Intrepid Heroes 072 – The Battle Rages!

The banter early on in this episode got a laugh out of me. Like, most episodes amuse me, but I literally laughed out loud. And I know people say “literally” to mean anything but, and “laugh out loud” to, again, not actually mean that, but I’m too honest for such confusing hyperbole. I laughed. The laugh was out loud. Literally.

Article

Monstrous Physique — Garuda (PF2E)
By Luis Loza

Luis continues to adapt Final Fantasy creatures, a franchise I’m not super familiar with and therefore don’t have much to say. Sorry all. I’m sure Garuda is a faithful and interesting adaptation, because Luis made it.

Preview of November 8th to 12th

This is back to Block 2 of our 2-block schedule.

Monday, November 8th

Article

Now You Know – Colourful Choices
By Ryan Costello

The question is, where did the colours in this week’s banner come from?

Tuesday, November 9th

Podcast

Legend Lore 035 – The Oracle

Luis and Loren talk about the 2e oracle.

Article

Fox’s Cunning
By Dustin Knight

Dustin offers expert insight and helpful tools to enhance your game.

Wednesday, November 10th

Twitch

Know Direction: Beyond Live – Mechs

Alex, James, and Vanessa mech about, looking at Tech Revolution’s big robo rules live in front of a Twitch audience.

Podcast

Presenting – Gamers Making Games

John Godek talks with RPG designers and authors about the games they’ve work on, usually about Pathfinder and Starfinder but also others.

Article

Behind The Screens
By Ryan Costello

Ryan gives insight into the hows and whys of his GMing style, and why conventional GMing advice can be damaging if not looked at critically.

Just warning everyone now, this week’s Behind The Screens unapologetically references Paw Patrol. A lot.

Thursday, November 11th

Podcast

Valiant Episode 26

Our Valiant heroes continue to explore the Temple of the Whisperer.

Article

Investing In
By Rob Pontious

Rob shares what he loves about the RPGs he’s been playing lately, and why you should check them out.

Friday, November 12th

Podcast

Know Direction: Beyond 63 – Mechs

It’s been a minute since the last Know Direction: Beyond, and I know Alex, James, and Vee are eager to get into mechs. This should be a fun one full of references to anime I barely understand.

 

Now you know,

Ryan Costello