Let's Talk About Our Year In TTRPGs

[hawkeyefan]

I've also played a lot of Heart and Spire

Nice! How did that go?

 

[Fenris-77]

Nice! How did that go?

Awesome. I played both with the same group. We did two short form Spire arcs, and now we're playing Heart. All three are (tenuously) connected in terms of story. Great stuff.

 

[GrimCo]

First part of the year was solid. Standard Sunday morning group played fairly regularly on the almost weekly basis. We dropped one campaign we started last year and opted to continue one branch of our grand campaign that's been on hiatus since 2019. Managed to sneak in 3 sessions of Cairn, which is nice. Played few sessions of PF1 with other group, but had to back out due to scheduling issues, since they play weekdays from 18-23 or Sunday afternoon. That group is currently on hiatus for foreseeable future.

Second part of the year, well, it just plain sucked. We haven't played since mid June and with Christmas and New Year coming fast, there is slim chance we might play this weekend our last session of this year. Also, we lost one of the players, since my brother moved to Netherlands this summer, so again, it's 4 of us regulars and one friends who joins in when he can squeeze in some time to play.

As a group, we probably need to sit down and have a good talk about what to do next since i don't see next year getting better than this last 6 months.

 

[MGibster]

So how was your 2025 as it relates to TTRPGs? What did you play and/or run? Did you start and/or finish campaigns? Did you try new games? What did you buy? What did you get rid of? Did you go to any conventions or other organized events? Did you host any cons or other organized events? What was the highlight? The low point?

In January 2025, I started a Greyhawk campaign using the 5th edition 2024 rules. That campaign should end in late January or early February 2026. It's been a lot of fun because I've got some great players who are invested in the campaign. The high point of the campaign was how the players really attached themselves to an organization I created, The Fat Boys, a group of gastronomy monks known for their portly appearances and mad cooking skills.

I completed Fallout campaign called Winter of Atom and it wasn't so bad. It was a small group, just three players, and they're not really the best role players out there as they preferred to shoot first and ask questions later. We all have to start somewhere, right? I'll probably end up running Winter of Atom again for another group this year. Overall, I'd recommend the campaign to anyone interested in playing Fallout.

I went to my first gaming convention in about twenty years, Game Hole Con in Madison, Wisconsin. I started a thread about my experience, and it was overwhelmingly positive. The demographic makeup of gamers has changed quite a bit over the years, but most gamers are pretty cool. I had a good time and got to play some new games.

Pirate Borg: I played some Borg with a dude who had a Slavic accent and was wearing a fancy top hat. The system was easy and we had a good time. One day I'd like to run this game.

Vaesen: I played a few sessions of this and thought it was a great game. The rules are relatively simple and it's a nice change from Call of Cthulhu. I ended up purchasing several books in the hopes that I'll find some people who want to play.

Arkham Horror: I had a really great time playing this game because the GM was absolutely awesome and the other players were pretty cool. The scenario was fun and the rules were okay, but I'm hard pressed to think why I'd buy this game when I already have Call of Cthulhu.

 

[bedir than]

My biggest thing was taking my RPG passion and putting it into work. On three occasions I talked to risk intelligence and security professionals about how they can replace their boring multi-hour/multi-day simulations with micro RPGs that will help engagement and learning.

Also, I was part of my second project with @PJ Coffey
Crafting Heritages, Cultures and More: Worldbuilding

At the table we're playing two different campaigns set in the same world, recently starting up an East Marches style campaign to make certain we play every week.

In 2026, like three weeks from now, I'm giving that above talk at OrcaCon here near Seattle.

 

[overgeeked]

As a referee. This year I’ve run four one shots.

Dragonbane. Great system and loved it to bits. One player was a cocky cheater who’d read the module and called me out for changing things. I change things just a little bit to catch cheaters. He ran face first into it and told on himself. When I’m in the mood for fantasy shenanigans again I’ll likely use this game. Loved it. No complaints.

Daggerheart. Players seemed to love it but I’m not really sold. I like a few innovations here and there but it’s too clunky and superheroic for me. Easy pass.

Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme. Suffers from the same problem most comedy games do, it doesn’t embrace that the players and their PCs will just act like chaotic stupid Malkavians at all times. The book directly tells the players not to do this. I told them specifically not to do this. The second the game started…yep, they did it. And wouldn’t stop. Love to try it again…with players who get the premise.

Discworld. Great rules-light game engine. Things went well for the first half. The second half the players just started talking about how much cooler it would be if it were D&D 5E instead. Was meant to be the start of a mini campaign. There was no second session. System’s good. Love some of the innovations. Especially the magic.

As a player. I had what is likely the last game with my (mostly) original D&D group. I started playing with some of them over 40 years ago. Some of them brought me into the hobby and taught me how to play.

The referee loves combat, combat, and more combat. I think combat’s boring. I love exploration. The referee thinks it’s boring. I hate railroads. The referee might as well scream “All aboard!” at the start of every session.

I was excited to play the latest campaign because it was a famous old-school exploration-focused module. The referee ripped out all the exploration, inserted a railroad through it to the ending dungeoncrawl that’s nothing but…say it with me…combat, combat, and more combat. Literally tossed 2/3 of the module to get to the dungeon.

But hey, at least we’re playing AD&D. That’s awesome. Hard scrabble heroes scraping and clawing to eke out a well-earned victory. You know, the good stuff. Nah. Turns out they all want to go back to D&D 5E and run combat-focused dungeoncrawls.

That is, to me, the most boring version of the system, played in the most boring style, in the most boring setting.

So, yeah. I bounced.

Weird year to be sure.

 

[GrimCo]

Turns out they all want to go back to D&D 5E and run combat-focused dungeoncrawls.

You just described my PF1 group. Sessions are strings of combat encounters connected with very thin string of story and ocasional short interval of RP that lead to/ set up - another combat. I jokingly once said to DM he should just design 100 level megadungeon. Or drop PF and just play Descent.

That is, to me, the most boring version of the system, played in the most boring style, in the most boring setting.

Same. While i like good combat, if it's only combat, it gets boring real fast. We might as well play Kill Teams or Descent.