2025 TTRPG Reflections
Time to sit around the campfire and reflect on the year! 2025 was a fun year of exploration for me when it comes to TTRPGs and GMing. At the end of 2024 I wrapped up two long-running D&D campaigns and was eager to try out some non-D&D TTRPGs and also start doing my own adventure design.
Running in-person sessions
Other than a small one-shot and a hybrid session, I had never run in-person games before 2025. At the beginning of the year I started running one-shots and other smaller games with some friends I met at my friendly local game store, which gave me the opportunity to experiment a bit and also run a lot of in-person games.
My two main campaigns are still online due to players not living in the area, but I've loved being able to run all of my one-shots and West Marches games at my own table. The vibe of having everyone around the same table is such a great experience that really elevates play. I started playing D&D right before locking down for the COVID pandemic so even as a player I barely experienced in-person play. As a GM, getting to see and react to people's energy in person beats voice and video calls.
Writing & publishing adventures
With the exception of the Dragon Delves campaign I just started, all of the D&D one-shots I ran this year were my own design, some of which I have since published! I've taken a few courses with Storytelling Collective and learned design and layout with the help of Affinity Revolution, and am absolutely loving it. I also have been doing a lot more map and dungeon design using cartography style dungeons ala Dyson.
I've always been a person drawn to crafting the entirety of what goes into making a thing so being able to design, write, map, and layout my own work from start to finish is a real joy.
Systems I ran in 2025
Shadowdark
I was really interested in Shadowdark as a new fantasy d20 game and fell in love immediately. I ran a two-shot of Lost Citadel of the Scarlet Minotaur and had a blast, even though I definitely ran a bunch of the rules completely incorrectly. Not long after that I was toying with the idea of running a West Marches game and the Kickstarter preview for Western Reaches had just gone live and so I decided to go with Shadowdark instead of D&D.
I highly recommend Shadowdark to anyone who is familiar with D&D 5e and wants to try something familiar feeling but different enough in tone and feel. I've also heard it's very good for new players and one-shots as the mechanics are simpler than 5e, although I've mostly run it with experienced players.
Blades in the Dark
I ran a 4-session campaign of Blades as well as a one-shot and it quickly became one of my favorite systems. Possibly my favorite as a pure design and mechnanic, even though I still play d20 fantasy more. It balances narrative-forward play with clever mechanics in a way that just hits a sweet spot for me and I absolutely love the stress and trauma system. I just got the physical copy of Deep Cuts and I'm excited to dive back into Doskvol.
Kids on Bikes
I also ran a 4-session campaign of a very silly 80s Scooby Doo-esque Kids on Bikes game. The antagonists went from literally a "guy in a mask" to a real cryptid and it was incredibly fun and ended with a homecoming dance. That campaign I really put my players more in the drivers seat of storybuilding as we had a full worldbuilding session zero and just about every idea from the campaign came out of that session or their other ideas.
D&D 2024
Although I was more interested in trying other indie TTRPGs coming off of two long D&D campaigns, a lot of my one-shots this year were in D&D. This is in part because it was what I was most familiar with and also because I started writing adventures! Honestly though, after a lot of one-shots I am eager to get another longer heroic high fantasy campaign going after a long break from that type of storytelling.
Looking to 2026
I'm not much of a new years resolution person but I did a bingo board last year and really enjoyed that process of checking things off a set of micro goals in various categories. The 5 TTRPG goals I set for myself was actually my first BINGO! I plan to do that again this year and this is my WIP list of TTRPG goals:
TTRPG
- Run a 4-6 session PbtA campaign
- GM a paid game
- Self-publish a printed adventure zine
- Self-publish an indie TTRPG
- Release a new tool