Progress update
about 2 months ago
– Tue, Apr 21, 2026 at 12:58:24 PM
Hi folks,
This is a long overdue update, and I apologise for that.
I was hoping to avoid going in to this, and it is hard to write, but I need to be fully open with you because that’s who I am.
My personal life has become significantly more complicated this year as my parents need more and more help. I am coming to terms with helping my Mum with her Parkinsons and watching her slowly get worse and worse, while trying to help my Dad as much as he can as tries to cope as a carer. This is something which I need to do, it has had an impact on the time I have available to spend on IG but I am finding ways to keep working away at IG while balancing my job, being a Husband and Dad and helping my parents.
What does this mean for the game?
There is no change to my determination to get you all your products. The team have spent 10 years trying to share Mor Nadar with you all, this is something that has to happen. The files are all at Whatz and the money you gave us remains in the bank awaiting us pushing the button for production. What it does mean is sometimes that evening I had planned to proof read or similar gets delayed by a few days and that can lead to me not communicating as frequently because I feel like I have not made enough progress to give you that update.
I need to change that though, so going forward I think I need to get to a ‘here is where we are this fortnight’ type update rather than waiting for the next big news bundle.
In practical terms where are we with the game?
Everything we showed you before looks beautiful and is working great, however Whatz have tried and they are struggling to make the inserts moulded in the way we have asked them to. I was hoping to show you the final production prototype by now but I don’t want to hold off any longer with the update.
Whatz have asked for a bit more time to see if they can come up with a different solution for the inserts. I will absolutely come back to you with more news soon when I see what they come up with.
As a reminder the insert for Potions & Preps is almost identical to the original Caves / Sewers insert so I don’t think there is too much concern there. The Enhanced Edition Caves / Sewers insert is akin to a larger version of that.
Whatz are struggling to get the Deepsorrow insert design to work and want to see if they can modify it to simplify manufacturing. I have not seen their proposed redesign yet but from what they told me today I think they will turn it around fairly quickly.
I apologise that what we hoped would work as an insert, and showed you as a foamboard prototype at conventions, might not now actually work. We will work away at it to try and come up with a solution that gives us what we need.
Again, I’m sorry – this project has had its challenges, but the determination to complete is there - there is no giving up at this end.
In the meantime I wish you all the best and I will come back to you with another update in the near future.
Yours Faithfully
Kev
IG
efiles being sent to manufacturer, revised Expansion Box design
5 months ago
– Tue, Jan 06, 2026 at 02:12:28 AM
Hi folks, festive greetings (for those that celebrate) and Happy New Year to you all!
Files with manufacturer for e-proof!
I'm delighted to say we now have ploughed through all of the sets and are in the process of transferring all the card files to Whatz. The punchboards, books and packaging are in the process of being sent also (we are making finishing touches to the packages to ensure everything fits and looks as good as it can for you - more on this below).
This is huge progress on where we were about a month ago. In terms of quantifying that progress, it's well over 1,000 proofing changes to make sure that all the cards are in the same format across the sets.
I am waiting to hear back from Whatz on likely delivery dates for the production copy prototypes and will revert when I know more.
A few of you have been wondering about delivery times. What I can say on that front is please let us get a hold of the production prototypes and then when we know they are good we can give you something more solid. I don't want to give you a date and then let you down.
However as per your requests for a rough indication we absolutely want to have these games with you before the Summer starts. That seems doable if we assume a 10 week shipping time counting back to say March-26.
What I can say to you at this point is that we are 100% committed to getting the game to you. This project is an absolute labour of love and 2025 has been a very challenging year for IG including illness for the team and children, looking after multiple sets of increasingly frail parents, and some personal tragedies within our team itself.
Please rest assured we are doing this because we want to make a cool game for you, because we want you to explore Mor Nadar, and because we want you to create your own joyful stories.
This final production process has been a beast and the team are delighted that we can now, finally, see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.
Tweaked Expansion packaging
With the cards, books and punchboards in final form we have been able to turn our attention to the packaging as we send it on for production prototypes. Feedback at conventions and from retailers is that the expansion boxes are very similar and could be confused on the shelf. In addition when viewed bookend on (like the spine of a book) the boxes originally had earthy muted tones, this would not help them compete against other titles in gaming stores.
We have therefore tweaked the design of the packaging throughout to:
A - Harmonise the style across the sets but using different tones
B - Lift the brightness and contrast across the sets to help them be distinct and to 'pop' more
We are delighted with how the designs have turned out. I will be able to show you the effect better when I receive the production prototypes, for now though I thought you may like to see a scaled down version of the old and new designs so you can see the difference. Please note Novice Booster 1 was deliberately increased in size some time back to accommodate the contents.
I will come back to you with an update when I hear more from Whatz about the production prototypes. For now I wish all of you the best.
Cheers
IG
Current state of play - Prepress, tickback and proofing across products
7 months ago
– Sat, Nov 01, 2025 at 08:52:19 AM
Hi all,
apologies for the radio silence since the last update - we have been flat out working through all the amendments I mentioned in the past update to try and get the files of to Whatz for the end of October. This is also why we have not been adding on additional products to pledges in the meantime, our priority is to get the files away. We can absolutely modify pledges once this is done.
So where are we?
The project involves us delivering the following:
New products: Deepsorrow, Potions & Preps, Novice Boosters 2 & 3, Card Dividers
Remastered products: Great Sewers Enhanced Edition, Weeping Caves (Enhanced Edition), Novice Booster 1
Note the amount of work required to remaster the original products is just as much as it is for the new products, all of the original cards need to be amended to the new templates, new card codes, new set code and environment tag system, and proofed to ensure the terminology is harmonious with the new sets.
I want to take the time in this update to explain where we are at in detail.
I shared this diagram below in a previous update - it shows the completion status of each component per set.
To clarify the status key:
Reviewed = component agreed, final testing and proofing to begin
Tickback = all points from the component review session added to Master InDesign files
Proofed = Master InDesign files exported to pdf, proofread and proofing points captured
Final Tickback = all proofing points updated into the Master InDesign files
Prepress = Ready to be sent to Whatz for digital e-proof and then production samples
Here is where we are at today 1 Nov 2025
As you can see practically everything is now at Final Tickback or Prepress stage.
The remaining points outstanding are 303 tickback marks in Great Sewers cards
314 tickback marks in the Weeping Caves cards
343 tickback marks in the Deepsorrow cards
Right now we are focussing in closing these out as quickly as we can (we are about a week to 10 days behind my post illness stated schedule). This will mean all of the green on the diagram above changes to blue.
This leaves the Insert work (which we are reliant on Whatz for) and finalizing the Upgrade pack (which is an amalgam of all the other sets).
I'm frustrated we are not all blue yet but the progress we are making is substantial and is being done to give you all the best possible products we can.
In terms of what some of this means for your games I will show a few examples below, 2 pages from the Pots & Prep rules and 4 cards from the Sewers Set.
This is page 5 of the Final Tickback version of the Pots & Prep Rulebook:
This is the Prepress version (note the inclusion of tokens and Location cards):
This is page 9 of the Final Tickback version of the Pots & Prep Rulebook:
This is the Prepress version (note the correct use of the numbers 4 through 6 in the example):
From the Great Sewers Set here is the Final Tickback version of the Smirk card:
Here is the WIP PrePress version:
Note the following improvements:
Upgrade to the final form Foe card,
The addition of the purple title banner as this is a special card
Embedded coding of Profile Adjustments to make it simpler to use the card
Correction of proofing points on 'Engagement Round' and 'Ranged Attack' which are glossary terms
increase in Card Code font size and set icon for filing
From the Great Sewers Set here is the Final Tickback version of the Handyman card:
Here is the WIP PrePress version:
Note the following improvements:
Correction of of proofing points on 'Handle' (Bold), removing the extra space after 'Test'
Correction of 'Mastery' to 'Speciality'
tweaking the wording around the Careful Search bolding so it is easier to see how to use the card
Bolding 'Trap' and 'Booby Trap' to make it quicker for the user to see it's applicability
increase in Card Code font size and set icon for filing
From the Great Sewers Set here is the Final Tickback version of the Awareness card:
Here is the WIP PrePress version:
Note the following improvements:
Correction of of proofing points on 'Engagement Round' and 'Round'(Caps), these are glossary terms.
Bolding of the first sentence and introduction of additional spacing to make it really clear what it happening with this card.
Correction of proofing points on 'Attack' (Caps), this is a glossary term.
Additional spacing introduced to simplify reading.
Rewording of the last part of the Reactive Shot Ability to aid clarity.
Rewording and use of bolding under Pinning fire to clarify use.
increase in Card Code font size and set icon for filing
From the Great Sewers Set here is the Final Tickback version of the Acrid Smoke card:
Here is the WIP PrePress version:
Note the following improvements:
Correction of of proofing points on 'Location' and 'Event' (Caps), these are glossary terms.
Additional spacing introduced to simplify reading.
Use of bolding on 'each Hero' to clarify use.
increase in Card Code font size and set icon for filing
Next Steps
We get the remaining components at Tickback status to Prepress status (which we are doing right now).
We get the inserts completed with the help of Whatz.
We send it all off so we can receive digital proofs and then the publication prototypes.
We get those games shipped out to you.
Please note we can add further things to your pledges after the files are with Whatz.
I will be able to confirm likely shipping dates after we get the publication prototypes.
I appreciate it was a while since my last update, I was really hoping to have moved everything to prepress stage and then to share the good news on that front. We're not quite there but we are working really hard to get it there for you. I hope that some of the detail I have shared above shows you the industry involved and that we take getting you your games very seriously.
Wishing you all the best.
IG
Progress Update, Dirk card
9 months ago
– Sun, Sep 14, 2025 at 02:04:22 PM
Hey folks,
a brief update from me.
Firstly an apology, I said I would touch base after two weeks. I wanted to wait until we had the new Dirk card to show you so you can see the cool new Weapon we are adding. I received the art at the tail end of last week hence the short delay in the update.
Refunds and additional purchases
We've have a few people asking for refunds - this is absolutely fine and they will be provided in full - to make it easier please email me at: [email protected] with your preferred email address for the refund (which will be given via PayPal).
A number of you have also asked if you can add additional things to your pledge - yes of course, we are very happy to help here. Again if you can reach out at the email address above that would be most helpful.
Progress update
Since the previous update we have drafted in additional resource to help with the proofing and tickback process. We are not quite where I projected to be but we are pretty close to schedule.
We have now proofed and ticked back across all sets except Deepsorrow - so to be clear we have now done:
Weeping Caves Enhanced Edition
Great Sewers Enhanced Edition
Potions & Preparations
Novice Booster 1
Novice Booster 2 - A Trove of Treasures
Novice Booster 3 - the Cryptic Collection
Morgan is remerging the cards for prepress so we can send to Whatz.
Updated packages to support the increased box sizes are being made.
In the next two week sprint we want to finish Deepsorrow and cross check the glossary, punchboards and do a final check on books.
We also need to make sure all the inserts are correct and will work for you (which we need help from Whatz to do).
The Dirk card
As per my previous update we are moving Himantes to a Kit and giving you all a new Weapon the Dirk in the Novice Booster 2 set. You don't need to do anything to get this card it will be added to the set at our cost. We are doing this because we believe it makes the game more fun for you and is more suited to the lore of the game.
Design principles:
Let's start with the basic Knife - this is the default Weapon for all Characters, you always have it. In this case you can see it on the Female Apothecary Occupation card from Pots & Preps:
You can see the stat block on the right showing from Top to Bottom:
Crit 16+
Strike 14-15
Advance 12-13
Trade Blows 10-11
Push Back 9
Fail 8 or less
It's not a brilliant Weapon but it's handy, especially al L1 when you have so little Equipment. It becomes more useful with a positive modifier which you could gain via:
Advantage (from Surprise, via another character, a Talent etc)
Outnumbering (remember you can now outnumber your Foes to gain a +1 on all Melee attacks regardless of Weapon used)
You can also use a few Abilities that specifically reference the Knife:
E.g. the 'Solid' Skill Talent in the Sewers Set has the 'Brawler' Ability:
Exhaust: While attacking with a Knife change a Push Back result into an Advance or Trade Blows result.
We want to build on this and give you the chance to not only have a better Knife but also to be able do more things with it. This is important to us as Combat in LU should feel different with each weapon, they work differently and can do different things, we want to reflect that in the design that we use.
With this in mind we have introduced the Dirk. However before we turn to that I will cover off the Seax and the Worn Kopis. These are the starting points in the sword family in LU. We therefore have to make sure that the Dirk is as fun to use as these Weapons but reacts in a different way - it would not have the slashing prowess of the Seax or the brutal chopping power of the Kopis but it would have the speed and penetrating power of a finely honed point.
Please note I will use some of the images here to help explain some of the proofing / tickback improvements while I go so you can see what we have been doing to improve the game for you.
Starting with the Seax from the original Caves Set
You can see it is a better Weapon than the knife, the Crit and Strike levels are better and you are far less likely to have a Fail result. It's dependable, you may be pushed back with it more often and you should used Talents and tactical advantage where possible to get the best from this versatile Weapon.
Proofing wise note the omission of the Weapon Family top right and the original small print and small icon Card Code in the top left.
Moving on to the Worn Kopis from the Deepsorrow set.
We retain the same solid 13 Strike rating but have an even lower Crit rating at 14 - this reflects the hacking nature of this sword. You are less likely to be parrying with it (hence the limited Trade Blows band) and have a higher Fail rate. The idea here is that you reach out and try to do something pretty lethal with your swing but if you mistime it you are leaving yourself more open to attack.
Proofing wise again note the old style smaller font Card Code and icon.
Iterating from this we now introduce the Worn Dirk.
This new Weapon sits in the Knife Weapon Family group (i.e. uses different Talents to those of the two Weapons shown above).
You can see a Crit rating in line with the Knife (worse than the swords) but a Strike rating better than all three. Your chance to Advance (help others) with this Weapon is limited, but you have a decent Trade Blows of 9-10, reflecting you using it to parry blows or simultaneously strike. This Weapon is all about the quick dagger plunge strike so it you miss you leave yourself open, hence like the Kopis if you miss you are open to danger. It is however much better than the default Knife.
Proofing wise please note the improved Card Code and Icon size on this card.
Finally we move on to the Upgraded Weapon the Crafted Dirk
We are adding an improved Crit number and a better chance to cause an Advantage result with this Weapon. Used either in isolation or with the Weapon Talents designed around it we believe the Dirk is a worthy addition to the proverbial weapon rack in LU and hope you have lots of fun using it.
For the history/lore nerds like me the Worn Dirk is based on a ballock dagger (I've -ahem- gone with the traditional spelling used by many here so as not to cause offence). I first came across this beastie on a Historic Scotland trip to Blackness Castle (used in Outlander, Outlaw King, Mary Queen of Scots, Hamlet and other shows) where a guide was impressing my kiddos and others. It was widely used throughout much or Europe from the 13th to 18th centuries and so is a little anachronistic for us (the Newcomer Conquest being roughly 11th Century in terms of tech) but we think it's different enough to earn its spot and seems more interesting than a generic 'dagger'.
The Crafted Dirk is a continuation of that theme. The Highlanders continued to use it and refine accordingly. It was far more than a simple knife, the Clansmen would swear on their blade and would not travel without this sidearm well into the 18th century. For the purposes of giving you something upgraded and beautiful to look at (everyone likes nice cards) please forgive some poetic license as we introduce this piece of history to the game.
In the meantime we shall crack on with the proofing/tickback work I mentioned above.
I also wanted to say thanks to so many of you who left messages and good well wishes for my health - truly you are a great bunch - thanks to you all!
Wishing you all the best
Speak soon
IG
An apology, progress & new card, Tabletop Scotland, Tariffs
10 months ago
– Sat, Aug 23, 2025 at 08:00:52 AM
Hi folks,
An apology
I need to start this email with a full apology – I’m sorry, I really am.
Since the last update I have had health issues with a throat infection and thyroiditis which knocked me for six. I then had had an overactive thyroid which made me unable to work, or do anything for my family or IG for several weeks.
In the past week I have had a check-up at hospital who have confirmed the thyroiditis has abated and my thyroid has now entered an underactive stage – this is being medicated and I am back at work and also working on IG, albeit playing catch up mode.
What does this mean for the project since the last update?
I can see a number of comments on the page where people are distressed and angry. That is on me – again I apologise, my health was not up to it. Yes, of course, anyone who wishes a full refund will receive it. Please note these can take a wee bit of time as we need to process them via PayPal usually because you can only process refunds in Kickstarter or BackerKit within a certain period of time of a pledge.
Progress and a new Weapon Card
Before I became ill, I mentioned we had final checking process to do before sending files off for production samples. This process was nearly complete but we noted something was not working the way we needed it to in the Novice Booster 2 set. Specifically, the Himantes/Cestus weapon did not feel right, it did not balance with the others and it felt like we could do better for you.
What I mean by this is two things:
1) Lore wise it seemed unlikely somebody would wander around with only the Himantes as a way of protecting themselves, although mechanically this of course was absolutely right – there is nothing stopping you taking Kits and just having the default Knife if you really feel want to do so.
2) As a Weapon, the Himantes worked by supplementing the Knife profile, but some of the Talents therefore had to be in keeping with what the gloves could do, and if therefore meant we could note really give you the diverse range of Weapon Talents we wanted to because some things just didn’t make quite as much sense (you can’t really throw them and they felt less likely to help with a parry than using the basic Knife).
To this end we have retained the Himantes and moved it to a Kit, so if you want to wear those gloves and use them you can have fun with it, and they will certainly be a useful choice, but you don’t need to use up a Weapon slot accordingly.
To adjust for this, we are adding a new Weapon - The Dirk, into Novice Booster 2. This is in addition to the Himantes Kit. It plays a bit different to the other Weapons and we wanted to give you something fresh in that regard (i.e. it is not a dumbed down sword). The Dirk will stay within its own Weapon Family Group (Knife), meaning you can use the associated 3 Weapon Talents with either the Basic Knife or take the Dirk Weapon and use those Weapon talents with the improved Dirk profile.
With the Dirk you can choose to make a “sneak attack”, avoid damage, and even throw the weapon as you see fit.
We’re not trying to recreate a thief/backstab specifically here – LU is all about having a classless system for character generation. However for those that have a hankering to take a knife and be a bit more stabby, we think this additional Weapon will give you even more fun when playing the game.
Please note this is the only real ‘tinkering’ in terms of gameplay that has occurred during this process – and it was important to get it right for you. The rest of the process is me making sure that all of the proofing errors I found pre illness are implemented into the pre-press files now that I am back up and running. This ensures that the product is the very best it can be, all of the Caps and Uncaps errors are caught, Glossary terms are used throughout (e.g. token vs counter) and that you receive the polished product you deserve.
What needs to be done now to get the production Samples?
We need to finish the process that was near completion before the last update and my illness. The Novice Boosters and Potions & Preps have been completed this week. This leaves Caves, Sewers and Deepsorrow to go, I anticipate this taking two weeks.
After that, all of the files need to go to Prepress with the help of our graphic designer Morgan who is ready to do this. Please note there are some final amendments to boxes to be done at this stage. This will be done in September. We are therefore targeting having all files to Whatz for the Production Samples at the beginning of October. This will mean we will receive those production samples by Mid November.
After checking those samples, we would then proceed immediately to production. We will let you know when the files are away to Whatz and then provide pictures when we receive the production samples.
Tabletop Scotland
We always want to see you and show where we are at with things. We have been keeping in touch with Dave and his team at the convention to see if we could attend. However, at time of writing given my health is recovering and given that we do not have production samples to show, we all agreed it made no sense to attend as an exhibitor this year. Please note I am a big believer in what the Tabletop Scotland are trying to deliver to the community and their vision of making it a destination convention for all. I will probably attend as a visitor, if anyone wishes to catch up with me please let me know or say hi on the day. It is always a pleasure.
Tariffs
We have been monitoring the situation closely and at present it seems to be fairly stable. With that in mind and given what we have said about Tabletop Scotland above we are going to redirect our exhibition costs in this regard. While Tariffs in the USA for boardgames from China remain at 30% or lower, it is our intention to pay any tariff costs for our US backers so that you are not out of pocket in this regard. If this becomes financially unsustainable, we will speak up, but we think this is the right thing to do and that is what we are intending to do for you.
Future Updates
With my health now back in a stable position, I intend for you to get updates every two weeks for the time being until we have a firm date fixed for production and we can start getting those games on the boats and out to you all.
I appreciate this update is overdue, the fault is mine and none other. I will try harder for you in the meantime to rebuild your confidence in the project.
Wishing you the best
Kev
IG
