After almost six months physical products are now shipping again.

It's been a bit of a rough ride and progress on product development has taken a big hit but I'm finally at a point where things can slowly start to move again.

I had Covid last June after attending the UKGE, it was mild and I was out of the other side after two weeks. However at the end of July I had a massive memory loss, which essentially means the best part of the last two and and half years are missing. That included everything I'd been working on. So Lucrum, Second Thunder's first board game released at the UK Game Expo in 2022, I designed and created it, but have absolutely no memory of doing it. In August I was diagnosed as having Long Covid and advised to give work a break.

At the time as part of my Long Covid diagnosis I was suffering from what we thought were anxiety attacks, I was getting 12-14 a day triggered by complex thinking. Which, for a creative, pretty much stops your ability to work - the creative process consists of juggling a huge collection of 'what ifs' in your head and gradually mixing and refining them into a working product.

I was handed over to a neurologist who proceeded to put me through several tests MRI, EEG, Cognitive and Memory etc. But it was a recent sleep deprived EEG in January that changed things. While hooked up to the EEG machine I had a mini 'anxiety' attack and they caught the brain waves on the scanner.

A week or so later I was called into the hospital to discuss my results. Apparently I wasn't dealing with anxiety - I've been having seizures on the right side of my brain since last July, I've now got Focal Epilepsy. Bit of a shock.

I don't have any of the usual epilepsy triggers, mine is apparently stress and complex thinking. Not a great combination when working for yourself in a creative business. However, I'm now weaning onto the medication and it is making a huge difference - I can work creatively again, although currently only for short periods at a time.

What does all this mean for Second Thunder? Well, now I've got a diagnosis and medication I can slowly get back to product development and support. The website is now connected up to work with Sarissa Precision for shipping so physical products can be shipped without my involvement (taking a 'thing' out of my head is a big help).

My diagnosis does mean I can't drive for a while as I've had to surrender my Driver's Licence so I'll not being doing any trade shows this year (2023). I can reapply for my licence after a period of time but I've made the decision to take the year off the show circuit to get used to the new me.

I am going to be putting together an 'introduction to Lucrum' video over the next month or so. With everything hitting me just after I launched the game it's not had a chance to be seen by anyone yet so I'm needing to pick up where I left off last June. Interestingly, due to my memory loss, I'm in the unique position of having created something but being able to look at it completely objectively as I have no memory of it. The good news is when I pulled it out and read the rules my first thought was "this is really good!", which is a very good sign when reading the rules to a new game.

You can find out more about the Lucrum board game on a blogpost I put together last year here (opens in new tab).

With regards to Open Combat, I'll be picking back up on the Black Powder supplement later this year. I expect I'll be back in a position where I've got it all clear in my head again and able to write consistently in June so will be able to work towards finally getting it finished and released. I've no idea on release date for it yet though.

So in summary, apologies for the disappearance for the last few months. It's been a literal life changing period. But I'm now in a place where I can get back to the fun stuff of making and playing games again!