Who are you, and what do you do?
I'm Eugene Marshall, one half of Arcanist Press. We create tabletop roleplaying game content, mostly for Dungeons & Dragons. I write and edit our content, as well as manage our promotion and social media. My spouse handles layout and art direction. Together, we've created Ancestry & Culture: An Alternative to Race in 5e, a D&D supplement that began life as a successful Kickstarter and is now a critically acclaimed top seller on DriveThruRPG. In addition, I am a lead writer for Sigil Entertainment, an art and game studio that creates content for Savage Worlds.
In my capacity as a game designer and marketer, I'm also the showrunner of a Twitch live play show called Sigil Spotlight. We are a majority POC and LGBTQ+ community of tabletop roleplaying game industry creators. Each session, we feature the game content of one or more of the creators at the table. I run these sessions as well as the channel. The videos are archived on YouTube as well.
And then, of course, I have my day job as a university college professor working on early modern European philosophy; I've produced three academic philosophy books.
What hardware do you use?
My primary machine is a Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019 iMac with a 3.7 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5, 16 GB RAM, a 500 GB SSD, and a Radeon Pro 580X. I have a second monitor as well, an LG 27UD58-B 27-inch 4K UHD. Because I stream, I also have a Blue Yeti mic on a boom and use the SR80e open ear headphones from Grado Labs.
I also have a 13 inch MacBook Pro at a standing desk in the other room, with another LG 4K monitor, because I can't sit at a desk all day. I actually have the Kickstarter model cardboard standing desk from Chairigami. I've had mine since 2014 and it still does the job. When I'm on the go, I like the Paper Mate Mirado Black Warrior Pencils, Black, HB #2 and I carry them and my laptop in a Targus Ascend backpack, which I like because it has a low profile.
Ha, and I almost forgot my most important ingredient: coffee. I've had a subscription to Blue Bottle Coffee ever since they bought my all time favorite coffee subscription company, Tonx. Before Tonx I drank Intelligentsia. I use a Hario ceramic coffee dripper to make pour-over coffee with the help of an Elementi gooseneck electric Kettle.
And what software?
My software is pretty boring; I gave up being adventurous when I had kids and couldn't find the time to hack Linux anymore. So now I use the latest macOS and all the default apps - Notes, Reminders, Calendar, Mail, etc. I have three different Mac machines (including my machine at my university office) and an iPhone XS Max, and I rely on the out of the box syncing across platforms.
For word processing, I use Word. My spouse does the bulk of the layout, but I occasionally make edits, so I use the Adobe Creative Suite to do that, mostly InDesign. For game promotions, I use Hootsuite and Discord. To stream, I use Streamlabs, now that it is thankfully out for Mac, and Zoom. I occasionally use Pocket to read stuff I've saved, but my library of things to read always grows faster than I can read the stuff, sadly. On my Macs, I also use BetterSnapTool and the Time Out app from Dejal to schedule breaks, which I will otherwise forget to take.
What would be your dream setup?
I am incredibly privileged, so I am actually pretty close to my dream setup for my work applications. I'd welcome a really nice, expensive chair, like a Herman Miller Aeron, with a keyboard mount and mouse tray at hand, both adjustable to reduce ergonomic stress on my wrists. I wish my area had gigabit internet, even though I know I don't need anything faster than I have (400 Mbps). Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with what I have!