I am extremely late in posting this, but I’ve been incredibly busy in 2026. In 2025 I ended up playing 2 days (48 hours) less than in 2024. It would have been way less if I hadn’t been playing Slay the Spire while exercising. More on that below.

Games Played in 2025

1. Slay the Spire (4 days, 22:42:57): You may remember that, a few years ago, I played a lot of Slay the Spire but eventually decided Monster Train was better. Before going on a flight I saw that this game was on sale in the Google Play store. It joined Gwent as the second game on my phone. Having it available for random moments of play made its play time rise up throughout the year. In fact, on the all-time charts it rose from the 39th position to the #4 position. I’ve been working, without success, on beating the final area of the game (essentially new game +).

Story

After our long rest in the library, Flint suggested we explore further. However, when we tried to go down the next hallway, a powerful wind blew us back. Flint was immediately blown back. Aghell was able to stay there, but became exhausted. Scrabble suggested that killing the creature might remove the spell on the hallway. The crew agreed with that and decided that we would use what we learned to kill the firegeist. We filled buckets from the ship with seawater and hauled back into the room with the monster.

I believe this was the first book released for Starfinder Second Edition. As such it had to serve as an introduction to the system as well as what had changed in the solar system since the first edition. Unlike many TTRPG companies, Paizo likes to advance the story of the world and change things up as time goes on.

However, the best part of the way this book is organized is that the first few chapters are based on the types of campaigns you might run - horror, science fiction, fantasy, weird, and so on. For each type of campaign, the writer suggests planets the GM might go to and some campaign starters whether it’s for a one-shot or a long campaign. Just this section alone is worth getting this book.

I was a kickstarter backer on this book

Based on the introduction, it looks like this series was meant to be a trilogy. As such, this book is mostly about wrapping up all the loose ends from the prior two anthologies. I think the book mostly succeeds in that endeavor. The ending somewhat fell flat for me in the same way as the ending to 2001: A Space Odessey; things got a bit too trippy.

As usual for a collection or anthology, I have reviews per each short story.

Ruth: Our main character is not just a mother, but a grandmother. That doesn’t stop her from getting the justice she deserves. A compelling tale of wits and experience being a mighty weapon.

Raising the Dead (Hindy Silverman): Funnily enough, I think I added a book with a VERY similar premise to my TBR list recently. Imagine that kids show, Monster High, but instead of a kids’ perspective, it’s told from the parents’ perspective. It was a fun story and I would definitely read more in this world.