Luka Rejec
CREATOR
15 days ago

Project Update: From the Book Mines 6: All VLG Art Done

Good Goldenagers!

Happy mid-June, everyone! I hope you had a lovely weekend. Got some picnics done. Maybe went out and met with friends and did a bit of singing.

Right, enough pleasantries. Off to the work!

It is done. All the spot art. Every last piece [for now]. I still need to finish the index, the inspirations appendix, and the endpapers, so that'll be when I share the "ultimate proofreader version" of the PDF ... but let's not about that. Let's look at the new pictures.

(this is basically the same update as on the stratometaship patreon--so you don't need to hunt pictures in two places)

1 - Character Creation Chapter Opening Spread


Added a cartoon of Onion being re-loaded into a new body. Fully digital work - I exported the spread and added the art where it would fit. Check out that Universal Mind Bus 42.0 neuro-cable! The whitespace is for the text ...

2 - Revised Corruption Spread



The big corruption piece again features Onion! Digital work. This time the merchant hero is unlocking an old psychophagus and gets hit by a blast of concentrated Preserved Mental Miasma ... or something like that. The piece at right is an older piece that I revamped. It's probably not as bad as it looks - that looks like a corruption exorcism in progress. I added a lot more detail to the background livingstone city and covered the pole in mystical writings + a timelost shopping list.

3 - Names Header Spot Art



This piece is for the page on names. Pencil, pen, colored pencil, ink, and white paint. It shews the Giver of Names being presented with a babeling and consulting the Memorial Monument to choose a new name for the new human.

4 - Approaches Spot Art



Approaches! From the page on getting things done--adjudicating different ways PCs do things. Pencil, pen, color pencil, and digital colors. Here we see Pointyhelmet, Poncho, Demiwarlock, and Big Fish observing the approach to an ancient Mineralmaker, a gargantuan fungoid machine that draws minerals from deep within the world for the (absent) gods to use. Holy miners dive into its depths with ancient mantras on their lips to obtain permission to withdraw those rare gifts of Soil.

5 - Unusual Die Rolls Spot Art



Spot art from rolling nuances — some odd dice and mechanics. Pen, watercolor, ink, and digital colors. We see Onion sneaking away with the liquid metal shapeshifting executioner’s blade his quick fingers ‘borrowed’ from the sad space knight.

6 - Ability Generation Page Border Art



Little people for the ability scores page! All digital. Look at all those lovely little character ideas. Also, reminding you when you play that drawing stick figures is FINE. Honestly, I should do a stick figures adventure module at some point where players are animated stick figures fleeing a drowning library or something.

7 - PC Actions Footer Spot Art


An quadruped angel (a type of rook phylake) takes action against the PCs autogolem landhog. Ahem. Pew pew. Blaarp. Pen, micron, color pencils, and digital colors.

8 - PC Actions Facing Header Spot Art



Other actions: "release ancient sleeper". Oops. Pen and colored pencil.

9 - Adjudicating Player Ideas Spot Art



Terrible ideas (stealing the ancient idol that has remained unmoved for a myriad of years). From the section on adjudicating PC (and player) ideas. All digital.

10 - Morale Page Footer Spot Art



"Release the Eater!" Noë, Safir, and Onion take extreme measures to enter the Golden City. Pen, watercolor, and digital color.

11 - Relife Options Page Header Art



Relife options. How to bring back characters whose body has ceased to function, whose head has been saved, whose head hasn't been saved (but they had a canopic jewel that backed up their personality, yay!), or that has been dis-existed. Pen and pencil color, plus a bit of digital color.

12 - Wards Spot Art



Jade mask. Digital. From the wards page. "Item trait: Jade. Grants ward bonus against ghosts and spirits." Jade Mask: Tinkling jade beads also add +1 charisma. +2 ward. 1 st. €150.

You know the € symbol stands for "cash" in the game, right? The rainbowlanders don't call it euros ... the actual reason for this symbol, rather than the ₡ or ₵ is a matter of how easy (or hard) it is to type one or the other. And the cents symbol ¢ just denotes units that are far too small.

13 - Custom Spread Spot Art



Pen, pencil, and water color. Actually used masking tape to get the straight edge here. Fancy, eh? Nothing digital. The armorer presents the Helmet of Goblinhunter to the hero. The hero is not convinced and consults its embodied mechatronic daemon whether the helmet is suitable. Perhaps the hero should not drink distilled spirits while shopping for armor. Oh, well.

14 - Gadgets Page Assemblage



Gadgets, gadgets, gadgets! All digital. From the, well, uh, gadgets section of the equipment chapter. I think the Radiothermal Stove, "Stovey", is probably my favorite.

15 - Spell Demonstration Piece



Spells! Urm. Powers! The Apocrypha of the OS album. Spells include "Can Trip", "Hlod Person" and "Tragic Missile" ... not sure who the green tentacly fellow is. All digital.

16 - Inventing New Powers Spot Art



Inventing new powers. Sometimes things go "Bromf!" ... Pen and digital colors.

17 - Suspended Insight Power Art




The wizard hangs upon a tree of thorns and gains +1 to an ability score for the rest of the day and a cryptic answer to a single question asked of the uncaring void. The answer has a 1-in-6 chance of being immediately helpful.

Overcharge: Gains +2 to an ability score and the answer has a 1-in-4 chance of being immediately helpful.

A totally unique spell that is not at all based on any commonly known mythology! All digital. Except the bunny. The bunny is metareal.

18 - Revised Contents Worm for the Contents Page!



This piece isn't exactly spot art and wasn't precisely necessary, but I wanted to make it. Pencil, ink, and digital colors. The hero and the Giving Worm.

There is a village there, still living as in the days of the Fleeting Gods, its buildings of livingstone undefiled by the pestilence of Muyuk. The house of goods still celebrates the cosmic goods bestowed by the Founder. The house of amusements still replays the seven-hundred procedurally ambivalent tales in 7-dimensional holoreality. The house of milk still sings and the fountain of protein and fats, drawing from organic wellsprings deep beneath the crusted flesh of the land, flows with nourishment. Alas, though the village is living, no humans remain. Only the Giving Worm (L14, humble servitor).

The Giving Worm knows what every human truly wants, and gives ointments and oils to satisfy every desire. Alas, this results in most humans becoming catatonic, satisfied in hallucinatory edens of their own dreaming. Even these humans the Giving Worm cares for, providing them nourishing, protective pods that offer them a full human life span of two-hundred years and four-score of hallucinatory eden.

Dig into the walls of the village and it is full of pods, full of dreaming god-humans, each the lord of their own Eden.

19 - Consumable Items Spot Art



The Joy Good Dispensary. All digital. Stand by for economic propaganda report.

"Welcome to the Joy Good Dispensary! Get your goods of joy here. Satisfy your cargo. Consume. Goods for joy! Behold, material treasures for immaterial pleasures! Take the gift and be a civilized person again! Leave woe and weal behind. Forget the desolatiom. Embrace the munificent plenty. Be good again!"

20 - New Bluelander Path Piece



A re-do of the Bluelander piece. Pencil, pens, and digital colors. I re-did this one because the original Bluelander lady wasn't suitable for a full page piece. She gets a spot art position instead.



That is the lot! Oof. This book has changed from last year ... rather than a retrospective of my old pieces reworked to fit a rulebook, you're getting ... a fully illustrated-up rulebook. I appreciate your patience ... my demanding muse would not permit me to pass off a half-finished book.

됐다!

Next update will be on the other book - the proper book - the OGA. It should be big and nice and shiny. Not these little spot art pieces.

I'll write again from the Book Mines soon!

—Luka,
Seoul, May June 2025
Includes Backer-Exclusive Content
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