Jack Blair's games newsletter - Issue 1

Kia Ora!Welcome to my first newsletter - this is going to be a bit different. I've never really... done this before. Well sort of. I've been posting updates on my game progress on my patreon for Value Meal patrons and higher for a few months, but I thought I'd replace that with a newsletter, as a sort of highlight of what I've been up to in a week. Patrons will still get access to updates to my games-in-progress, of course. This week I've been doing a lot of work that doesn't much look like work online. I've gotten hooked up with a physio, who's helping me ease back into exercise, done a lot of terraforming of my animal crossing island, and been doing a lot of preparation for the next season of Qomrades.Like I said, it doesn't look like much online. But it's been hard work.In preparation for Qomrades I have been reading [redacted], [redacted] and [redacted], and while it's been great fun I'm really looking forward to talking about it, so I can't wait for the season to start releasing - we're looking at a Halloween return, btw, if you're here for that hot gossip. This season I'm the GM, hence just how much I'm doing in prep.All of that has unfortunately meant I haven't had much time to work on my own games. Though I did manage to write a new rule for Space Legs and add some guidance to Sea Legs around the transition between the Home and Action Phases. I'll link the new Space Legs rule below.

September 18, 2022

Kia Ora!

Welcome to my first newsletter - this is going to be a bit different. I've never really... done this before. Well sort of. I've been posting updates on my game progress on my patreon for Value Meal patrons and higher for a few months, but I thought I'd replace that with a newsletter, as a sort of highlight of what I've been up to in a week. Patrons will still get access to updates to my games-in-progress, of course.

This week I've been doing a lot of work that doesn't much look like work online. I've gotten hooked up with a physio, who's helping me ease back into exercise, done a lot of terraforming of my animal crossing island, and been doing a lot of preparation for the next season of Qomrades.

Like I said, it doesn't look like much online. But it's been hard work.

In preparation for Qomrades I have been reading [redacted], [redacted] and [redacted], and while it's been great fun I'm really looking forward to talking about it, so I can't wait for the season to start releasing - we're looking at a Halloween return, btw, if you're here for that hot gossip. This season I'm the GM, hence just how much I'm doing in prep.

All of that has unfortunately meant I haven't had much time to work on my own games. Though I did manage to write a new rule for Space Legs and add some guidance to Sea Legs around the transition between the Home and Action Phases. I'll link the new Space Legs rule below.

As always, a lot of what I've been playing is The Sims 4. Most of that has been on stream, but not all of it. I've started another new legacy to play while I let my body decompress from my physio exercises, which have been kicking my ass.

On the subject of streaming, in case you missed it, I've put my Monday ttrpg streams on hold while I learn the new systems I need for upcoming Actual Plays. Instead I'll be streaming video games in that slot. This week I got my shit completely handed to me by the Long Dark so I'm determined to return to that tomorrow and prove myself competent.

I've also been playing Animal Crossing at night while watching the original CSI again. I've started back at Season 1. My excuse for this is that Crip Hit is coming up, and I want to get some Las Vegas Vibes down. I don't know how successful this will be, but I'm having fun.

I've got to admit though it has been extremely weird watching a cop show from the year 2000. I still remember the whole plot to every single one of these episodes from high school, so I've been paying attention to the way the writers are setting up the characters, and it's a fascinating web of contradictions. A character being literally blackmailed by a judge turns a case over to the courts and affirms his trust in the justice system, for example. I don't quite know what to think about it, but there's a lot more nuance here than I remember from when I was 12 and watching this for the first time (shocker), so I'll keep you posted when I wrap my head around how I feel about it. So far my biggest feeling is that all these characters are bastards, and I love them, but damn I do not trust them.

If you miss my streams, they'll always go up on Youtube within the week!

I think that's all I've got right now, so goodnight, sleep well, and I'll see you all next week!