It's the 1st of January, 2026 here in New Zealand: what a year it has been, and I'm personally not sorry to see the back of it.
Again, I must apologise for the lack of content over the last twelve months. Unfortunately, trends that had developed over the preceding years became more intense and challenging. My job - already a hissing nest of stress-inducing vipers - became even harder to handle, until, a few months ago, a blood pressure check at a doctor's visit revealed a ridiculously high result. A battalion of tests revealed no underlying problems other than the hypertension itself, although I have a family history through both parents of heart issues.
Diligent monitoring of BP results showed that, whilst it's almost always too high, my BP is waaaay worse before and during shifts at work. I've soldiered along with it as best I can, but there's been only marginal improvement despite medication, so, in the name of spending more time with my family, getting my BP down to normal levels and having the mental space to do the things I actually care about (like getting out into the great outdoors and writing for RPGs), I've resigned my job, and am off in search of greater simplicity (and, no doubt, less money). I've less than 3 weeks to go, and I will be leaving a workplace of nearly 16 years. This is both scary and exciting.
It's my hope that this will translate into more time and mental space for this blog and other TTRPG-related writing. So: new content ahoy, and perhaps, perhaps, inspired by the release of OSRIC 3.0, a return to some of my favourite areas of the blog - Petty-Classes, Fortnightly Fiends, and the Hex material, adapted for OSRIC, along with new classes, and a revisitation of, and simplification of, skills for the OSR.
The material I'd been putting together for my own system has seen the creation of a great many character classes. Some of these, suitably modified, would translate quite well to OSRIC 3.0. If you think that OSRIC doesn't need skills, further classes and other more recent paraphernalia, stand by to repel boarders!
Anyways, here's to the New Year, that it may be fruitful, joyful and better for all of us, in all the ways that matter the most.
