Dear Goldenagers,

This is an update from the weeds. I'm slowly working through the thorough and helpful and exhausting and exasperating editorial comments for Our Golden Age. This is one of those things that just takes its time.

It ranges from classics like:

To interesting clarifications like:

To mood-boosting comments:

To places where strange mechanics, like the toady-accumulation engine, get discussed:

I literally have nothing to say. After a few hours of this, I replace my brain, mulch the old one, and resume. I think I'm getting close to the end. 70 pages or so left.

After that, it's:

1) the final final FINAL map - and updating it within the book
2) make the final proofready PDF
3) the referee screen
4) the adventurers' notebook
5) layout on the two zines
6) final cover art and box art

For now, I'll just leave you with the final FINAL version of the card backs:

Till next time, be good y'all ...
—Luka

Hi everyone,

On Monday I had the surgery to remove the tumor and it was successful. I'm off to the hospital now to have the stitches removed. Hopefully the new look won't be too dramatic. Couple more days and the meds will be done, too.

Then, I trust, it'll be back to work. I look forward to sharing the rest of the cards with you next week. Meanwhile, here's some art ...

Anyway - off to get the stitches out. Hopefully the healings going well and so on. Hopefully I get off all the meds soon and can do some proper exercise again. Things like that.

Have a lovely spring, everyone. Hope the flowers are out (for the fellow northern hemispherics) and, talk to you soon.

And, sunscreen.

Cheers,
Luka

Good Golden Agers,

The first of the theme card decks for the OGA (which I'm now calling OGA vastlands cards in my filing system, because of course one must variegate one's filenames) is complete.

That's 60 cards. Here's one.

How do the cards work?

Wait, is there a game for these cards?

Yes, actually there is. It's a trick-taking tarot derivation of tarock games I played in Slovenia. It should be quite familiar to many central Europeans ... and a fun in-world amusement for groups who've decided to just hang out in the Ultraviolet Grasslands and not go anywhere further than where they are for now. Maybe they're stuck for the winter or something ...

We're in the home stretch: one deck and the referee screen left, then a bit of layout. The good editor also just sent me the annotated digiscript of the OGA.

Ok, a few more cards ...

Ok, that's it for this deck—you'll find links to it in PDF and jpg forms (if you want to use it in a virtual tabletop) in the exclusive contents for backers special section.

Next week, if all goes well, the next deck. Then: surgery. Hopefully that goes fast and uh ... yeah, fast and well.

Take care, good humans!

Good Backers,

Welcome to March. This update brings both some good and some bad news. It was supposed to be about 1–2 weeks earlier, but the reason for its delay will soon be as clarified as ghee.

I'll start with the bad. Two weeks ago I was diagnosed with skin cancer. It's not the worst kind, but is serious enough to require surgery and I'm booked for treatment at the end of the month. I've been told to expect another month for recovery. Fortunately, the treatment prognosis is good and, save for regular checkups, I should be mostly ok afterwords.

Yes, but, still. As you may well imagine, the diagnosis was not the easiest thing to process, nor am I looking forward to the surgery and healing process.

It may also cause delays. It shouldn't cause too many, but it may. Let's hope not. Could be worse, after all.

Ok, that was the bad news.

The editing on the OGA is nearing the end, the zines are writ and waiting to go into editing, and so I'm tackling the last part: the cards.

All along I'd meant to make them feel a little more worn down, aged, so now I've finished the hand-drawn borders for the text and stat boxes. I've still to finish all the hand-written labels and I want to tweak the set (nemesis, ministry, etc.) labels. I'm also seriously considering (i.e. I will probably do it) designing a set of custom ligatures for the blocks on the left.

The conceit of the cards is that you can use them for a straight up card game (the swords and numbers), you can use them to generate random opponents (level and life), and to generate random powers (or effects or traps or what have you), and the cards themselves also provide location / character / event / item ideas (with the happy text below).

I'm also going to do some custom ligatures / stylings for the roman numerals ... because why not? Well ... I'll see. I'll do a test on those.

The cards also provide more context on some art from the UVG, for those who want more bones for their players to gnaw upon.

A few of the cards are not designed as part of the in-game card game, but just there as art cards to fill out the deck to 60. Still ... I trust they will look nice and perform the other functions.

Next update I will either have the first full deck for you (60) as a pdf, or the finished hand-lettered / hand-ligatured style. One of those.

Some of the dropbox links broke a few weeks ago! I've been doing some digital-administrative work in the background and found ... uh ... odd permissions in dropbox. However, fixing that crashed all the existing links. Which is totally brilliant, isn't it?

I'm appending all the revised / fixed links below.

And meanwhile, I'm also finishing up the OGA spot art. About one piece per day.

I'm timing that to be done right about the time the editing is ad acta, so we go to proofs with all the art in place.

Right. That's all I've got to say today.

Oh, no, wait. Sunscreen. Use sunscreen. And don't get sunburnt as a child! Or your children. Don't sunburn those.

Good luck and take care everyone, see you soon!

—Luka,
Seoul, Spring