2025 TTRPG Retrospective
Another year in TTRPGs concluded and this time around I managed to play 10 different systems. It was still a pretty D&D centric year but with some nice variants of a proven formula. This time Iâll go from most played to least played.
Shadowdark
Last yearâs retrospective ended with the question of if Iâd manage to pry Shadowdark away from my in-person group, which I did not manage to do :). Instead we squeezed every last drop out of the Gloaming hexcrawl map and threw stonehell, ravenloft and others at it and prolonged the magic for about 30 more sessions. Itâs still not over but shouldnât have more than two sessions left in the tank.
5e
The promise of D&D 2025 fixing some of the systems inherent pain points (for me) was to alluring to withstand the titanâs sirenâs call. I played an online campaign of Wild Beyond the Witchlight and a homebrew Funhouse Dungeon with some friends and enjoyed it quite a bit, however the slowness of combat still rubs me the wrong way sometimes but the new books are beautiful and I am feeling the urge to maybe play something a bit more roleplay focussed with the system sometime in the future.
Swords & Wizardry
I played quite a lot of solo S&W this year and am finding the barebones structure of the rules more and more inspiring: a lot of fun interactions and creativity really can only happen in the gaps between the rules and using logic to extend the basic rules framework as needed on a case by case basis. Also I like the increased simplicity of eg death or saving rolls as opposed to the more roll centric approaches of Shadowdark. S&W is just fast and lean. It is great and I feel more and more drawn towards OD&D as the ârightâ version of D&D for me.
Imperium Maledictum
This time around I was a player! A nice d100 system with a nifty way of determining levels of success as a gateway to the imposing world of Warhammer 40k. It was a really fun time playing the starter set, that opened my eyes that ttrpgs are much more about playing worlds than it is about playing systems, especially with such an impressive and living world as the 40k universe. At times the lore became overwhelming in its details and terms, but it had the effect on me of being even more drawn in: now I am devouring 40k novels on the side and paint minisâŚ
MĂśrk Borg
I love this game, maybe itâs the perfect representation of a spiritual successor of OD&D: pure creativity and just enough rules to sustain it. I played it both solo (absolutely excellent for this) and ran Rotblack Sludge. The world has so much flavor that easily translates to the table and it just feels so fresh compared to your band of elf wizard, halfling thief and dwarf cleric hanging out in a tavern asking for quests. Really refreshing, I will play this a lot more going forward. Pirate Borg and CyBorg are high on my list.
Daggerheart
I ran the free Sablewood Messengers adventure twice and as I discussed here before it is an excellent one shot that showcases the system well. I had a lot of fun running a game with the fear resource tokens and the back and forth with the players that ensues from their use. I am really looking forward to joining a campaign in the next year to see how the system holds up over more sessions of play.
Vaults of Vaarn
This was a short lived play-by-post campaign that I played in that we played GMless. The world was fun and the mechanics pretty much BX, but somehow the GMless collaborative play didnât really click for me.
Cairn
Just a brief solo campaign, still a great system but sometimes a bit too ânakedâ for me.
Mythic Bastionland
What a beautiful book and how usable at the table. It boils over with creativity. So. Many. Good. Ideas. The one-on-one oneshot we played was super fun and just generated from the books tables. A great game I want to play more.
Vaesen
I played âThe Song of the Falling Starâ in an online convention. Super good GM, roleplay heavy and really fun. It skirts by many serious themes but was a really rewarding experience. I want to play this more than I want to run it. So much fun to roll so many d6s.