Jason L. Blair

Last updated

Jason L. Blair
Born
Occupation(s)Writer, game designer
Years active2001–present
Notable work Little Fears , Agents of Mayhem
Website jasonlblair.com

Jason L. Blair is an American writer and game designer, best known for his work on the roleplaying game Little Fears .

Contents

Career

After the release of the award-winning tabletop roleplaying game Little Fears in 2001, Blair wrote for various other publishers and published an urban magic game through Key 20 titled Wyrd is Bond.

Blair's Key 20 Publishing and Adept Press sponsored a booth for The Forge at Gen Con in 2002 to appeal to enthusiasts of indie role-playing games. [1]

He eventually joined Human Head Studios as their Adventure Games Director where he led the development and publication of the board game Frankenstein's Children, the card game Villainy, and the 1950s B-movie roleplaying game Normal, Texas while also assisting on the script for the video game Prey .

After leaving Human Head, Blair primarily freelanced for a variety of video game studios. He also continued to develop and publish his own tabletop work such as Streets of Bedlam (using the Savage Worlds system) and Little Fears Nightmare Edition.

In 2012, he joined video game developer Volition Inc where he worked on Saints Row IV and Agents of Mayhem .

After a brief stint as Creative Director at Funcom’s US office, he joined High Voltage Software in 2019.

His work has been nominated for multiple awards from IGN, ENnie, Indie RPG Awards, and Origins Awards. [2] [ third-party source needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Costikyan</span> American game designer

Greg Costikyan, sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X", is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wargames, role-playing games, boardgames, card games, computer games, online games, and mobile games. Several of his games have won Origins Awards. He co-founded Manifesto Games, now out of business, with Johnny Wilson in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Baker (game designer)</span> American writer and game designer

Keith Baker is an American game designer and fantasy novel author. In addition to working with Wizards of the Coast on the creation of Eberron, he has also contributed material for Goodman Games, Paizo Publishing and Green Ronin Publishing. In 2014, Baker and Jennifer Ellis co-founded the indie tabletop game company Twogether Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wick (game designer)</span> American role-playing game designer

John Wick is an American role-playing game designer best known for his creative contributions to the tabletop role playing games Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea. He self-published Orkworld under the Wicked Press banner, and later co-founded the Wicked Dead Brewing Company with Jared Sorensen. His games under that company include Cat, Schauermärchen, Enemy Gods, and Thirty. He has won the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game and Best Collectible Card Game twice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indie role-playing game</span> Aspect of role-playing game publishing

An indie role-playing game is a role-playing game published by individuals or small press publishers, in contrast to games published by large corporations. Indie tabletop role-playing game designers participate in various game distribution networks, development communities, and gaming conventions, both in person and online. Indie game designer committees grant annual awards for excellence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Heinsoo</span> American game designer (born 1964)

Rob Heinsoo is an American tabletop game designer. He has been designing and contributing to professional role-playing games, card games, and board games since 1994. Heinsoo was the lead designer on the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons (2008), and is co-designer of the 13th Age roleplaying game along with Jonathan Tweet. He has also designed and contributed to role playing, miniatures and card games, and a computer game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Fears</span> Tabletop horror role-playing game by Jason L Blair

Little Fears - The Roleplaying Game of Childhood Terror is a role-playing game published in 2001 by Key 20 Publishing. The book was written by Jason L Blair, featuring illustrations by Drew Baker, Dimitrios "Jim" Denaxas, Veronica V. Jones, hive, Nick Wilson, Kieran Yanner, Bradley K. McDevitt, and Julie Hoverson, and additional material by Seth A. Ben-Ezra, Greg Oliver, F. Scott Blair, and Shelby Mallow.

Josh Mosqueira-Asheim is a game designer of both tabletop games and video games, and was game director during the creation of Diablo III at Blizzard Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Chambers</span> English author and game designer

Andy Chambers is an English author and game designer best known for his work on over 30 Games Workshop rulebooks and sourcebooks.

Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. They are best known for the free indie RPG system Fate, Blades in the Dark, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians, all of which have won multiple awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Winninger</span> Game designer

Ray Winninger is a game designer who has worked on a number of roleplaying games, including the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. He is the former Executive Producer for the Wizards of the Coast Dungeons & Dragons studio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabletop role-playing game</span> Form of role-playing game using speech

A tabletop role-playing game, also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a kind of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech and sometimes movements. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines, usually involving randomization. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise, and their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gaider</span> Canadian writer and game designer

David Gaider is a Canadian narrative designer and writer. He was the lead writer and creator of the setting for the role-playing video game series Dragon Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powered by the Apocalypse</span> Design framework for tabletop role-playing games

Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role-playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other indie role-playing games.

Jason Morningstar is an American indie role-playing game designer, publishing mostly through Bully Pulpit Games. Morningstar's games often forgo a game master and are set in situations that quickly take a turn for the worse for the player characters. Grey Ranks, for example, is about doomed child soldiers in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, and Fiasco is about impulsive crooks pulling heists that are sure to go terribly wrong. With these two games, Morningstar became the only named person to have won the Diana Jones award twice as of 2023. He also won an IndieCade award for Desperation. In addition to designing games, Morningstar works with academia and industry, consulting on using games for teaching and learning in education, with a focus on health sciences.

Cam Banks is a game designer known for his work on the Cortex System line of roleplaying games as lead designer for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, and the Big Damn Heroes Handbook supplement to the Serenity Role Playing Game, among other titles. He is the Cortex Creative Director for Fandom Tabletop, the publishers of Cortex Prime.

Fred Hicks is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He was one of the founders of Evil Hat Productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Patrick Fannon</span> American role-playing game designer and writer

Sean Patrick Fannon is an American role-playing game designer and writer. He has been working in the gaming industry since 1988, and is best known for his work with the Savage Worlds game system, including his epic fantasy setting, Shaintar, and his conversion of the classic game Rifts. He has also worked as a designer in the video game industry and a consultant in the film industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banana Chan</span> Game designer and writer

Banana Chan is a Chinese Canadian game designer and writer for tabletop role-playing games and board games. Chan and Sen-Foong Lim created Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall (2021). Chan has written for over twenty tabletop games, including the official Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft (2021), Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, and the third edition of Betrayal at House on the Hill (2022).

Grant Howitt is a tabletop role-playing game designer, publisher, and journalist. He won six ENNIE Awards for his game Heart: The City Beneath. His game Honey Heist, which inspired an online trend of self-published games with one-page rulesets, has been featured on Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, and Friends at the Table. Through his publishing company Rowan, Rook and Decard, Howitt is a co-designer on Kieron Gillen's DIE: The Roleplaying Game.

Sharang Biswas is an Indian American designer/writer of tabletop role-playing games and interactive media, a writer of speculative fiction, an adjunct professor of game studies at NYU Game Center, and a freelance games journalist. His work focuses on LGBTQ and science fiction and fantasy themes. Biswas has won multiple awards for his game writing work as both a solo designer and a collaborator: one IndieCade award, four ENNIE Awards, and two Indie Game Developer Network awards. He was an Artist in Residence at the Museum of the Moving Image.

References

  1. Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. p. 407. ISBN   978-1-907702-58-7.
  2. "Honors • Jason L Blair, Writer & Game Designer". jasonlblair.com.