My Year in TTRPGs: 2025

EricMesa

January 19, 2026 - 25 minutes read - 5316 words

2025 was the year I leveled up my TTRPG skills (no pun intended). It started off with my participation in New Game Master Month in February. Kobold Press was a sponsor and had a coupon for the core books so I moved off the free rules and onto the main, published rules. I consumed lots of TTRPG content on YouTube, reddit, and enworld - lots of it focused on being a better GM or a more creative GM. This may have come out already if I published the other end of year blog posts before this one, but TTRPGs ended up eating up a lot of free time and reducing the time I spent on reading, video games, and programming as the year progressed.

Game Systems

2025 was the year that I learned the value of trying out different game systems. Many vocal TTRPG fans on the Internet will loudly proclaim that their system of choice is the only valid system or the only one worth playing. The more time I spent on TTRPG subreddits, especially for the FoundryVTT, the more I came to see Pathfinder as the Arch Linux of TTRPGs. As in, in every Linux subreddit whenever anyone asks any question or has any trouble with Linux, Arch users are quick to say all your problems would go away if you would just use Arch Linux. In the same way, nearly every TTRPG post (especially if someone was complaining about D&D, or their publisher Wizards of the Coast) had at least one person saying that everything was better in Pathfinder-land.

I learned, and many content creators I respect in the space recommend, that people should both play and GM multiple systems. You learn a lot from exploring different systems and it opens your eyes to different ways of playing the hobby. Sometimes you might discover there’s a better system out there for you. Other times you might find some ideas to bring back to your preferred system. On the morning that I write this I was checking out an enworld post from 19 Dec about porting the Daggerheart death moves to D&D. And Brennan Lee Mulligan has a house rule in the season 4 of Critical Role that is also making death saves less of a boring mechanic for the players who are dying. This concept of learning from playing multiple systems is a bit of foreshadowing for later on in this blog post. Also, some systems are better for certain styles of gameplay (although you can probably squeeze just about any type of gameplay into D&D, Pathfinder, or the 5e forks like Nimble, A5e, or Tales of the Valiant)

There’s nothing wrong with having a favorite system. Just don’t get dogmatic about it.

Systems I played in 2025

D&D - the original and the Big Dog in the space. Although my household has mostly moved on to Tales of the Valiant, I did DM some D&D games this year. More on that in the games section below.

Tales of the Valiant - I was the game master for a few games and I also got to be a participant. More on that in the games section below.

Cosmere - when I originally backed this kickstarter, I thought I would never actually end up playing it, but I figured the sourcebooks would end up providing great extra background and worldbuilding for The Cosmere. I did end up running a game - more on that below. What I found most interesting about this system is the way that it borrows from so many systems to create something wholly its own that works well for what Brotherwise and Sanderson wish to accomplish. It takes the 3 action economy from Pathfinder 2e, encounter rules and some tactics from D&D 4e, the leveling up system of JRPG and CRPGs, and probably some other sources I’m forgetting or unaware of. It was actually the Cosmere’s use of the 3 action economy that got me interested in checking out Pathfinder 2e.

Other Systems I own (book, PDF, or Foundry systems) but have not yet played

Pathfinder 2e (PDFs from a Humble Bundle, Foundry Modules, the free Foundry system) - each publisher has a different model when it comes to what they charge for. Paizo is the most charitable since all the rules are available free. This makes it a great system for Foundry (all you need to pay is the $50 one-time fee for Foundry) and makes it one of the cheapest entries into the hobby. I still support Paizo by buying the rule books because I like to see the artwork (that’s the one thing that’s gated behind money - whether for Foundry or on the website Archives of Nethys) and because I have the money to support them. The system is not for everyone - it’s famous for being “crunchy”, but if it jives with your play style it’s a great entry into TTRPGs.

Deathmatch Island (Paragon-based) - I bought the rulebook as a PDF because there was extra material for it included in a TTRPG magazine I was subscribed to. I haven’t yet found the right crew to play with - it’s VERY different than the usual fare.

Traveller - I got this years ago in a Humble Bundle when I was buying up lots of TTRPGs after discovering D&D. I thought I would have lots of people to play with and I imagined playing this with some of my SF-loving friends. I still haven’t played it. I hear there’s a d20 (and/or 5e-compatible version of this system coming out in 2026)

Never Stop Blowing Up - I believe this was created by the folks at Dimension 20. All the rules were on a few pages. I’m not sure if/when I’ll play it.

Daggerheart - as of the time that I write this, there is only a fan-made system for it on Foundry. However, based on some teases from Foundry and Daggerheart I think there might be an official version coming. Also, more on this system in a future section.

Draw Steel - There is an alpha-level FoundryVTT system available with the SRD-equivalent information. I might be misremembering, but I think Draw Steel is like Pathfinder in that the SRD allows all the text from the sourcebooks, just not the art. I also own the PDF for The Delian tomb starter adventure. More on this in a future section.

Invincible - the released free rules for FoundryVTT and on PDF as part of their Kickstarter. It was available to everyone, even people who didn’t back it.

Starfinder 2e - Interestingly enough, my initial excitement for this system did not come from Pathfinder (even though the whole point of Starfinder 2e was to align its ruleset to be identical to PF2e - to allow for them to be compatible with each other), but from the podcast No Quest for the Wicked. I found out about them from Kobold Press, funnily enough. Kobold Press has an annual program where creators apply to get support from KP in exchange for making KP content. No Quest for the Wicked made a podcast mini-series that used the Tales of the Valiant system. This got me hooked on their podcast. Their normal episodes use Starfinder, so that got me very interested in the world - especially the various species and the way the system worked. Together with my fascination with the 3 action economy (as mentioned above) and my deep love of both science fiction and fantasy and I was hooked. My younger brother, Dan, got me the Player’s Core book for Christmas (in that awesome, awesome Atari/NES cover style!! Thanks again, Dan!) I will also get the PDF from a Kickstarter I will mention below. During the end of 2025 Paizo sale I picked up the Galaxy Guide, GM Core, and Alien Core. It was such a discount that I essentially got the Galaxy Guide free. (Also, all the rules are free on Archives of Nethys and in Foundry via the Anachronism module for Pathfinder - the Starfinder 2e system is not yet ready for Foundry as of the time of me writing this. It seems late as they sell an adventure for it for Foundry that has in the description an implication that it would arrive by end of 2025) Just as with PF2e you can buy monster tokens on Foundry to help support Paizo even though the rules are free.

Systems I Plan to Check out in 2026 and Beyond

Daggerheart- I’m currently planning to buy the main book to check it near the end 2026 (or earlier if there’s a sale on the Critical Role shop). I don’t know if there will be time to do a one-shot in 2026 given the other things I have planned, but we’ll see. Partially I’m buying it because the artwork is amazing and partially because I’d like to check out their rules and characters to see how it works in practice. As I mentioned above, there is much to learn from other systems. I was originally planning to get the main book around March and pre-order the follow-on book (Hope and Fear) in January, but as I planned out my gaming budget for 2026, it made sense to prioritize books that were more immediately relevant.

Draw Steel - In the previous section I mentioned that I bought the starter adventure in 2025. I am currently planning to play The Delian Tomb as a palette cleanser between longer 5e campaigns. If the starter adventure goes well and my table likes it, I’ll probably grab the main book and monster book in 2026. I do like that they have a science fantasy module/ruleset that they Kickstarted in Dec 2025. With both Draw Steel and Paizo having science fantasy spin-offs it really makes me wish that WotC or Kobold Press would do something like this for those of us who like the 5e ruleset. The biggest potential negative to going past the starter rules - it’s a spiritual successor to 4e and that doesn’t sound like it’ll appeal to my table. My players are more into RP than tactical battles and that seems to be a heavy focus of DS. On the plus side, they seem to have an encounter system and a “cinematic mode” similar to Cosmere that I might steal for my 5e games.

Paizo Games (Pathfinder 2e/Starfinder 2e) - because of Paizo’s incredible Adventure Paths, (I wrote in the past that I wish these existed for D&D and/or other 5e systems) I would love it if my table would also enjoy the PF2e and SF2e systems so we could go back and forth between those and 5e. My son already wants to create a Fruit Leshy Swashbuckler. I’m planning on running the intro box to PF2e. I already have it in Foundry from a Humble Bundle, but my kids don’t like playing on computer - they prefer to play with pen, paper, and dice. So I might buy it. I heard there might be a new version coming out - more on this later.

Nimble v2 - This started out as Nimble 5e - a streamlined ruleset for 5e. It still claims to be somewhat compatible. I was VERY much into checking this out in December. My desire has cooled somewhat as I took a look at all that I had planned for 2026. We’ll see if their February crowdfunding campaign changes my mind.

Shift - I am not 100% sure on this one. It looks interesting, but I already have so many systems to try. It’s a new system by Hit Point Press that revolves around your powers and weapons having a chance of breaking. When I tried the sample material it didn’t seem to be for me, but I keep wanting to give it another chance.

VTTs

I’ve always been more of a pay once type of person (it’s one of the reasons I never played MMORGs like World of Warcraft) so I switched fully from dndbeyond to FoundryVTT. ($50 once for Foundry vs $50/yr with dndbeyond). I did throw together a spreadsheet to compare the benefits of the 2 subscription tiers at dndbeyond as well as the replacement cost for the 3 core rule books that I bought as a physical/dndbeyond bundle. After 2 years the money works out. Also, as you saw above, I’m someone who likes to try out different systems. With dndbeyond being D&D only vs Foundry being for “every” system, it was a no-brainer for me. That said, there were some issues/travails with the Foundry upgrade to v13. Unlike most other software I use, the Foundry team seems content to break lots of the APIs between versions. This means that when a new version comes out - the user has to wait for all their modules to update before out early-to-midout early-to-midout early-to-midupgrading. This can vary across systems - D&D and Pathfinder 2e were ready almost immediately; Kobold Press and Cosmere took a lot longer. Since a lot of what people love about Foundry involves the plugin ecosystem, this can be very annoying. I’m hoping the pace of change can slow a bit - that they end up with a more stable API or that it only changes every other year.

I got a bunch of free modules (or they were included with Kickstarter at no extra price) for the Alchemy VTT. (For example, I got Obojima and Humblewood modules for Alchemy as Kickstarter rewards). I REALLY DON’T like how the interface works and so I don’t know that I’ll be taking advantage of those.

Games I ran or was a player in

D&D

Our first TTRPG game of 2025 was the DND adventure club trilogy: The Wandering Hut. Click here to read my blog post about that session.

Dungeon in a box #6-12 - We finished off the second half of the Dungeon in a Box Campaign. (Blog posts for session 6, 7, 8, 9, 10-12 - when I write the posts I’ll come back and edit this link). The table’s enthusiasm ebbed and flowed, but in the end, Scarlett ended up skipping the last 3 since she wasn’t really enjoying the dungeon crawl aspect of the adventures. I also reviewed the content from the DM’s point of view.

Humblewood - Last year we finished the original Humblewood campaign as well as many of the side quests from Tales from Humblewood. This year was supposed to be the release of Humblewood 2 so I ran The Loper side quest. We also took time to set up Bastions for the characters since they were level 5 and D&D 2024 DMG had rules for creating Bastions. We’ll see how well the rules work within the framework of a Humblewood campaign. With Humblewood 2 slightly delayed until the end of January, it’ll most likely get pushed back to the second or third campaign of 2026 as we start up our next Tales of the Valiant campaign first.

Cooking Quest 3 - The folks who work on Dungeon in a Box also create a series called Wondrous One-Shots. Because I was subscribed to Dungeon in a Box, I automatically had access to the digital versions of the one-shots. In prior years we played Cooking Quests 1 and 2 with the kids and my brother David as players and me in the role of DM. Each one involves a set of 5e mechanics for doing an Iron Chef style one-shot. Since we had so much fun with 1 and 2 we were pumped to play this one. We never finished this third one because it was WAY too long compared to the first 2. We played for hours and eventually the kids got bored.

Faster Purple Worm Kill! Kill! - I’ll write a little more about this below, but one of the Kickstarters I backed was FPWKK by Beadle and Grimm. I was originally considering using it to introduce my brother Dan to D&D since it’s pretty low stakes - your characters will die at the end of the session. Therefore the players don’t have to get hung up on their character species, class, etc. Instead I used it to introduce some coworkers to D&D. I had a new employee start recently and while getting to know him, he expressed to me that he’d always wanted to play D&D, but never knew anyone who played. I asked another one if she’d be interested. I ran Fast Purple Worm, Kill! Kill! for them and it was a huge success. They had enough fun that they’d like to play again. I had a blast because they totally surprised me with the decisions they made.

Finally, as an end cap to the year, the final game I played with the kids was a DnD Adventure Club trilogy - The Nimbus Trilogy. I mentioned at some point in the past that DnD Adventure Club started providing information on how to play at higher levels. This trilogy was played at level 3. We will end with the next 2 trilogies and I was hoping to have played them in December at level 5 and then retire the characters. Instead, it’ll be the first two games of 2026.

Tales of the Valiant

I started off the year leveling up my GM skills with New Gamemaster Month. I learned a lot and also got a coupon that I was able to use to get the full Tales of the Valiant rules. If you are ever thinking about being a GM, I would definitely recommend participating in NGM. Here are my blog posts about the my experience in 2025:

New Game Master month didn’t only make me a better game master for everyone who plays in my games, it also introduced me to someone who agreed to be in one of my games. When I reciprocated, I became a regular in her game. FINALLY, I was able to be a player! I created Scrabble, my kobold bard, who got to be in a campaign known as The Pyros. Then, just before the year ended, most (though not all) of that table switched to a new campaign called The Flying Harpy. (I kept Scrabble) (If you click on the series link for The Flying Harpy - session 0 and session 1 were done in 2025)

Of course, I also finished my first ever long-running campaign with my kids. We played sessions 2-13 in 2025. It was a blast and we learned a lot. We might return to those characters in 2026 or 2027.

Finally, there were a few weeks where we couldn’t get everyone together for The Pyros, so I ran 3 sessions from Faster Purple Worm, Kill! Kill! (We ran it in Tales of the Valiant since it’s 5e compatible - I just had to find equivalents for the D&D monsters) We played Eye of the Beholder, Everyone Dies at the Circus, and Everyone Dies at the Slurping Spa. My GM liked it so much, she bought it to run with her other group.

The Cosmere TTRPG

When I first backed the Kickstarter for The Cosmere TTRPG I mostly only got the digital rewards because I thought I would never get to play with anyone. At most I thought maybe I would get to play with my brothers online. But it turns out that I have a bunch of coworkers who like Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere and were interested in trying out the TTRPG. In 2025 we played the First Steps introductory session, and Chapters 1-3 of the Stonewalkers campaign. It’s been a lot of fun playing with my coworkers and getting to reveal new bits of Cosmere lore to them. I’ve also gotten some kudos from them on my GM style, which is nice to hear. We should be finishing up the campaign by this summer. We’re currently playing biweekly for 2 hours - it’s a nice compromise so that we don’t have to stay up too late on any one night.

One of the biggest surprise consequences of playing The Cosmere is that it introduced me to a 3-action economy and demystified that aspect of Pathfinder a little bit. I had been waffling about checking it out with one of their many semi-annual Humble Bundles and this pushed me over the edge. Also, it spilled over into Starfinder, but more about that below.

Plans for 2026

I have some pretty ambitious plans for 2026:

Second ToV Campaign with my kids - I’m writing this in 2026 and we’ve already played an introductory session 0. You can follow along with Valery and The Other Two series.
Humblewood 2 - We were supposed to play Humblewood 2 before the second Tales of the Valiant campaign. The kids REALLY loved the first campaign. But then Scarlett started getting really excited about her character for the second ToV campaign. The decision was made easier for me by the fact that Humblewood 2’s digital release was delayed. As of the time I’m writing this, it’s still not out.
Monster Hunter - This is the Pokemon-like TTRPG that Stella backed in a Kickstarter last year. By the time it came out (late November) it got put on the back burner because of all the holidays. But I’m going to make some time to run it for the twins. It’s going to be hard to balance the encounters with only 2 of them playing (Scarlett doesn’t want to play). I think if David was on east coast time, I’d invite him to play with them.
Keys from the Golden Vault with work friends - I mentioned above that I introduced some work friends to D&D and they loved it. They want to play again and, based on the way they played, I think they’d like the anti-hero stand of playing Keys from the Golden Vault (which, from the description seems like Ocean’s 11 the D&D campaign) The hard part will be fitting it in.
Potential Third ToV Campaign - After finishing our second Tales of the Valiant campaign and then playing Humblewood 2, I don’t know if we’ll have time for the third campaign, but if we do, it’ll be the Northlands campaign. I think the kids will really enjoy it because the girls are very into mythology.
Pathfinder 2e- beginner box - I know Sam looked through the Pathfinder Player Core 2 and is excited about the idea of playing a Leshy Swashbuckler. Scarlett is currently not into playing PF2e at all, but I hope I can change that. I want to be able to dip into Pathfinder here and there to take a break from 5e and play something a little different (but not TOO different). I currently have the PDF and Foundry VTT versions of the current beginner box - something something Otari. But my kids prefer paper or physical so I’d have to/want to buy the box set. However, there’s a new beginner box coming out May 2026. The Otari one is a remaster version of their old one (from before they moved to the ORC license after the OGL scandal). I’m hoping the new one can be even better based on what they’ve learned.
Starfinder 2e - this one is a HUGE maybe. WAY before I was into fantasy, I was into SF. My whole life I was a Sci Fi kid - both movies and books. After listening to No Quest for the Wicked I got really interested in the Starfinder setting. Then, as I mentioned above, I got interested in the 3 action economy. Finally, Starfinder (unlike Traveller) is Science Fantasy (instead of Science Fiction). Think of it like this Starfinder::Traveller -> Star Wars::Star Trek. So it would be a nice mix of my two genres (or maybe just bringing things back to the pre-1940s when it was all just speculative fiction and not 2 separate genres) What makes it hard is that none of my kids are into SF. I think my brother Dave could probably be into it. My coworkers might give it a try, but I want them to enjoy their D&D without confusing things. Plus, what weekday or weekend am I going to play it and still have time to cook, exercise, spend non-TTRPG time with the family? We’ll see. However, I AM collecting the rulebooks - I have the galaxy guide, player’s core, alien core, and GM core. I REALLY enjoy the setting.

Kickstarter

I started off 2025 with the idea that I would be limiting the number of Kickstarters that I backed because I already have lots of adventures and campaigns to play and not enough hours in the year to get through them all. Then, near the end of the year there were suddenly a bunch of Kickstarters that I didn’t want to miss out on. Even so, there are so many more I would have backed if I had “infinite” money for the hobby. The level of creativity in the TTRPG space is phenomenal!

Backed in 2025

Legendary Monsters: Vicious and Valiant - Asian and Hispanic monsters for ToV - I backed both because I liked the idea behind the project and to make sure creators got the signal that it’s worth it to create content for Tales of the Valiant. So many Kickstarters are for D&D (there may be some for Pathfinder, but the algorithm doesn’t send them to me? Near the end of 2025 I did start seeing some for Daggerheart) and so I wanted to make sure the Tales of the Valiant gets the love it deserves. I truly believe it is a vibrant 3rd party ecosystem that determines if a system lives and survives. I really like what Kobold Press is doing with ToV and want it to remain as a viable 5e alternative.
Kobold Press Monster Vault 2 - As someone deep in the Tales of the Valiant 5e fork, this was a no-brainer.
Humblewood 2 - As you can read (or may have read) on this blog, Humblewood was the first non-kiddie campaign we did at my house. It was a no brainer to continue the story.
Chromeheart Revolt, A Cyberpunk-Fantasy Campaign for D&D 5e - only $5 because I was an early backer. I figured I could back a cool idea since it was only $5. I am impressed with the number of TTRPG resources I got for $5 compared to some of the larger companies. (VTT resources, for example)
Kobold Press Player’s Guide 2 - I backed for similar reasons as the Monster Vault 2.
2026 Quest Calendar - I waffled quite a bit on this one. In the end, partially because I’m a forever GM and because I thought the idea sounded fascinating, I decided to back this one.
Kobold Press Northlands - A very interesting project by Kobold Press. It’s TECHNICALLY about the Northlands in Midgard, but they were careful to make sure it could be placed into any world, not just Midgard. I backed it for both the new character options and the fun-sounding Norse campaign.
Wild Magic Reimagined - Similar to the Legendary Monsters campaign, I wanted to make sure to back a project that supported Tales of the Valiant. But the biggest attraction to this project was seeing how wild magic led to such a great story in Fool’s Gold. I wanted my players to be able to have that ability.
Starfinder: Afterlight CRPG - It was a no-brainer to back this as it was half the eventual retail price on Steam. (Plus it comes with a PDF of the Starfinder 2e PDF for free!)
Obojima: Tales from Yatamon - Although I haven’t yet played Obojima either with my brothers or my kids, I still like the aesthetics and wanted to continue to support the idea.
Journey to the Quest: An Animated Pilot - I discovered this D&D abridged cartoon on YouTube. I think it was probably recommended to me because I enjoy Tales of the Stinky Dragon. This one is a bit more serious than Tales from the Stinky Dragon (while still being comedic). I don’t know that I would necessarily have backed this Kickstarter, but they made some of the rewards compelling enough and I do want to see if they can end up funding a real, full-length cartoon.

Interested, but Skipped Out on Backing

Beadle and Grimm’s Skullduggery - first of all, my kids are more all-in on ToV than D&D. Second, the content wouldn’t appeal to my kids. With the adults in my life my hands are full with Cosmere and playing (and sometimes DMing) the Pyros group. Also, I still have lots of adult D&D (not a euphemism) content to play and haven’t had a chance. This is probably the same reason I won’t back the first 2026 Kobold Press adventure - also focused on darker themes.
Legendary Planet - similar reasons to above - kids wouldn’t enjoy.
Feybound: Trickery of the Wilds - I like the creator on YT, but I already have lots of adventures to run
One-Shot Wonders: Volume 2 - if not for ToV taking all my money, I would have strongly considered backing this one

Delivered in 2025

Legendary Monsters: Vicious and Valiant - Asian and Hispanic monsters for ToV - used once (as of 9 Sept) in our 2025 ToV campaign.
Tales of the Valiant Labyrinth Worldbook and Adventures - I have already started using the setting and enemies from this Kickstarter in our 2024-2025 Tales of the Valiant campaign. See my reviews here and here.
Faster Purple Worm, Kill! Kill! - ran a bunch of sessions with the folks who play in The Pyros. It was a blast and I want to run more of these for many folks. And, as I mentioned, I used it to introduce some coworkers to D&D.
Chromeheart Revolt, A Cyberpunk-Fantasy Campaign for D&D 5e - have not yet played.
The Cosmere TTRPG (Stormlight portion including all physical rewards; Mistborn comes next year - prescheduled, not a timeline shift) - started a game during fall 2025 with some coworkers and it’s been awesome to create a story together.
Kobold Pres Monster Vault 2 (physical and PDF delivered; Missing Foundry delivery as of 18 Jan 2026) - I’ve already used a few monsters in my 2024-2025 ToV campaign. See my review here
80s (Digital Only delivered; Dice physical reward Missing) - I’ve read through the rules, but have not yet run a session.
Obojima: Tales from the Tall Grass - In late September/Early October I got my physical items. I didn’t remember that I had added physical items as part of the add-on phase in backerkit so it was a pleasant surprise.
2026 Quest Calendar
Monster Trainer’s Handbook - “pokemon” - missing physical items

Backed Prior to 2025 Still Not Delivered

The All New Gobber’s Guide to Hearth and Home - there was some great progress early on. Then the writers had some health issues. After that the artists had some issues. The project is doing an OK job of communications, but it’s a bummer that it’s so behind schedule. I previously mentioned that its usefulness might have been deprecated by the D&D 2024 Bastion ruleset. The Tales of the Valiant Player’s Guide 2 will also have base-building rules. So, I’d like my content since I paid for it, but I’m not as excited for it.
Blood and Glory - haven’t heard from this creator in months. I might just consider this abandoned.

Conclusion

And that was 2025 in TTRPGs! We’ve already started playing in 2026 and my mother got the kids a 3D Printer so we’ve started adding custom minis to everything. I’m so excited for all the journeys I’m going to take in 2026! For a comparison, here are the 2025 predictions I made last year.