Blue Land: A Cheesy Mess (Patreon)

Dear heroes,

With mild delay (for the dairy to ripen), I give you the Blue Land and two newly completed character paths: the bourgeois and the golem.

This is the first regional overview with the revised layout (with a little bigger font and a lot bigger pictures). It took a bit longer to assemble than I planned because, well, baby haha and bigger pictures.

I'm really pleased with how the map turned out. That also took a bit longer than I planned, since I wanted to get the style just right (using a map to indicate a political mess as well as to convey a joke with faction names). First, I thought to make it with photoshop, and after a day of that ... I remembered why I always end up making maps in vector: I like my layers neatly organized and coded, and different things sorted ... and that's just easier in illustrator vs photoshop.

(yeah, I'm back to adobe, after the color catastrophe I endured earlier this year)

Presenting a Region for Play

Even more than in the Red Land teaser (which I'll now have to revise, sigh), I've refined and expanded (both) the location structure from the UVG. Each region gets more content because there are just six lands, rather than 32 locations. The structure, very roughly, is as follows:

1) A spread of big art + map + summary (p46–47). This is something any ref can use as a handout for players without a second thought.

2) Visiting the Land (p48–53). Three spreads for travel, weather, events (misfortune), encounters, and shopping. A one-stop section for the ref who needs quick inspiration in a land generally. The shopping section is the newest - I want each land in the Rainbowlands to feel different to players, which means prices change. Local produce is cheap, imports cost multiples. I'm also building an appendix combining the products in each of the categories (so, all weapons, all foods, all souvenirs).

3) Life in the Land (p54–57). A few spreads for local politics, factions, and adventure seeds. This wasn't a consistent part of the UVG, but with this book I'm trying to very explicitly give each faction and described location at least one clear adventure hook. Either something the ref can use directly, or to serve as inspiration fuel. Here's an example:

I think the Big Human is one of the creepier things I've written up and illustrated, honestly. Happy belated halloween, I guess.

4) Major Destinations - closer to the way locations worked in the UVG, these are major sub-regions, like Red End and the R.L.D. in the Red Land, each with their discoveries and secrets.

5) Hidden Gems (Discoveries) - I did that for the Red End and Red Land, I still need to do it for the Blue Land. I actually have some nice bits planned and illustrated for the Blue Land ... but gosh, it's already 10 pages!

A deer-footed betterperson portals away from the rabble.

Revised Character Paths

After completing the Magitecnica zine (and the ongoing work with the Guide Book behind the scenes), I had to admit to myself: Luka! Stop overwriting and overstuffing! Six good traits and six good named characters is enough for a path! Put the items and other traits somewhere else! Spend more time illustrating each one with art!

So, nervously, ... I did that.

The bourgeois is illustrated (see attachments below), but the golem ... well. I asked some folks on-server which of the named golems they'd like to see illustrated. I think each of the named golems got roughly one vote.

Perhaps you can help me break that cruel tie in the comments?

Next Update

The next Our Golden Age update should be a little sooner than this one (no zine to complete!) but I'm not yet 100% sure what it will be. Very roughly ... I'm playing with the following elements:

• The Orange Land overview (it's frankly scarier than the Blue Land).

• The Rust Backcountry in the Red Land (it's quite ... mmm ... still a bit in the air, honest).

• The Heart of Blueness and the Ruins Azure (discoveries, discoveries).

• The Palace as Group Character (the real estate / property mechanic complement to the estate / wealth mechanic). I've got this idea for a kind of character sheet with room for players to sketch new rooms and holdings. It's a bit like the shipbuilder in Mothership, I guess ... conveniently it _should_ also function as a random generator for palace / house locations.

Thoughts and ideas welcome.

But first, first I'm taking a couple of days completely off from layout, I think. I wanted to finish this update on Friday and I didn't so ... I confess, I spent the weekend polishing some of these arts. And that map. Well, that's a story. Separate story. I might do a breakdown post on the map.

Happy November!

Ok, I'm given to understand this is a month to give thanks in some parts of this globe. So, to those who do give thanks of that sort - and to those who don't: wishes for a bountiful, family-filled, feud-less november.

If you know someone who'd get a chortle out of any of the teasers in the last (how many?!) posts ... do send them out freely while reminding those good folks to come join the stratometaship :).

Take care and thank you again, good heroes!

—Luka,
Seoul,
a cold day, clear, windy