My 2025 Tabletop Gaming Plan

My 2024 plan was a measured success. Improving on it seems like a better idea than starting over. Or maybe it's just easier. In either case, it's the way I'm going.

In 2024, I went back to where I started tabletop gaming - role playing games. I intend to maintain my focus on TTRPGs in 2025, but there might be room to squeeze in some miniatures wargaming here and there.

Get more of my collection off the shelves and onto the tabletop.

By collection, I'm referring to my miniature wargames as well as TTRPGs. Solo wargames are simpler to schedule. Another Five Parsecs From Home campaign is the most likely contender.

As for TTRPGs, I should have adventure module X1 The Isle of Dread ready to go when our group gets over our holiday hangovers. I'm planning on posting my notes on converting it to Old School Essentials, but only after we've played it.

The most likely game after that is Tachyon Squadron for FATE Core. Sci-fi in a more narrative system should be a good palette cleanser before diving back into OSE. I'll have whichever classic D&D module I want to run figured out by then. And after that, maybe Lancer?


Do something with the games I've Kickstarted or preordered as they come in.

This was a 2024 goal that no longer applies. I exercised some restraint and don't have any Kickstarted or preordered games on the way. I'll count that as a win here. We'll see if that holds out for another year.


Presenting more of my tabletop gaming thoughts online.

My ideas and opinions aren't special. They do have a way of bouncing around the inside of my head until I find something to do with them. Posting them online qualifies as something. It also spreads the misery by making them other people's problems.

I plan on continuing to make a nuisance of myself on Mastodon and Bluesky.

I've found ways to increase the post count on this blog. The first is getting more organized and posting more regularly. The second is cheating. Publishing the Character Creation and #RPGaDay Challenges as daily updates is a guaranteed sixty-two posts! Seriously, I'll be shooting for weekly or biweekly posts outside of those special challenges.

As for YouTube, I may end up taking the "throw things at the wall and see what sticks" approach. At least I'll be posting something there.


Make a dent in my pile of unread books (and not just TTRPG books).

One thing I might try is to favor fiction for awhile. Non-fiction can be challenging for me to get through. I have the same issue with the mechanically crunchy parts of game rules. Fiction seems to flow better. And it's been a long time since I demolished a novel over a weekend.


Make a dent in my pile of shame (miniatures and terrain).

This demands a direct assault. I need a direction to work towards. A specific goal to focus my efforts. In 2025, I'll be looking at using my long neglected 15mm scale collection for Five Parsecs From Home. That means painting many tiny 15mm dudes and terrain to match. On the bright side, nobody expects better than tabletop standard at that scale.


And that's the plan. I'll circle back and report on my progress around the middle of the year.

How Did My 2024 Tabletop Gaming Plan Go?

"No plan survives contact with the enemy."

- Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (paraphrased)

The end of the year approaches! Let's see how things went with my 2024 Tabletop Gaming Plan.

The games I ran and the miniature I painted in 2024.

Back to where I started with tabletop gaming - role playing.

As mentioned in the Midyear Update, our group finished D&D adventure module B4 The Lost City by June. My general approach to converting it to Old School Essentials and the specific decisions I made can be found elsewhere on this blog.

The other game I ran with our regular group was Mothership. My impression of the game is favorable. My opinion of the adventure in the boxed set - Another Bug Hunt - is mixed.

I also got the chance to play a couple sessions of D&D 5e run by my son. He has some rough edges as a gamemaster, but didn't we all at that age? D&D 5e is not my game, but I'll cherish every chance I get to roll dice with our family.

My goal to focus on TTRPGs was a success. I didn't run or play in as many sessions as I hoped, but even that was a marked improvement over 2023.


Getting more of my TTRPG collection off the shelves and onto the tabletop.

Okay, this could've gone better. I was planning on running FATE Core, Night's Black Agents, or Modiphius' Conan this year. None of that happened. I'll have to work harder to make the schedule come together in the future.


Do something with the games I've Kickstarted or preordered as they come in this year.

This was a mixed success. Mothership hit the table. Lancer did not. That's still much better than my average, so I'll take it.

Presenting more of my TTRPG thoughts online.

Not that my ideas and opinions are anything special, but getting them out of my head makes me feel better. This is my 25th post on this blog in 2024. That's much better than 2023. I'm also babbling about this kind of nonsense on Mastodon and BlueSky.

YouTube, unfortunately, is where I fell down completely. I just couldn't put together the wherewithal to draft a script, set up the gear, talk to a camera, edit the raw video, add music, make a thumbnail, write a description, upload the video, wait for YouTube to process it, and watch as the algorithm tries to figure out what to do with it. It's more work than it looks like and I'm not sure what I can do to make it less demanding.


Make a dent in my pile of unread books (and not just TTRPGs).

I read more books this year than the previous one. It barely made a dent in my book pile of shame, but some books read is better than no books read.


Make a dent in my pile of shame (miniatures and terrain).

I got (checks notes) one miniature painted this year. Something had to give to make progress everywhere else and this was it. I'll need a new plan for next year.


"Strategy is a system of expedients; it is more than a mere scholarly discipline. It is the translation of knowledge to practical life, the improvement of the original leading thought in accordance with continually changing situations."
- Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

Given how poorly 2023 went for me as far as tabletop gaming is concerned, the modest improvements I made in 2024 feels great. But there's obviously room for more. Next year: new plan.

The 2025 Character Creation Challenge, Introduction

31 days. 31 characters.

That's the essence of this challenge. It's been running every January since 2021. It's time for me to give it a shot.

Carl at TardisCaptain.com is the one who's throwing down this particular gauntlet. Details are presented at TardisCaptain's Blog of Holding. The premise is simple - make a character for any TTRPG every day in January 2025 and post it for the world to see.

I intend to post each character:

• Here on this blog.
• The rpg.net forum thread dedicated to the challenge.
• Bluesky.
• Mastodon.

TTRPGs I will almost certainly be posting characters for include:

• Robert E. Howard's Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of.
• Mothership.
• Old School Essentials Advanced.
• Star Trek Adventures 1e.

Other TTRPGs that I might use include:

• Ashen Stars.
• D&D 4e.
• Lancer.
• Night's Black Agents.
• Star Wars (West End Games).
• Tachyon Squadron (FATE Core).

In addition, there are any number of games I may end up digging up or spotting as I go through my collection.

My plan for now is to crank out characters for games that don't require much effort. Once I have a decent buffer, I'll take on the heavy lifting needed for more mechanically or creatively demanding games. I'd prefer to maintain a buffer throughout the challenge to keep from getting behind.

Looking forward to January!

Black Friday/Cyber Monday Haul 2024

It's been quite awhile since I published one of these posts. There's a couple of reasons. First, many of my tabletop gaming purchases these days are PDFs. Which don't make for great photos to attract eyeballs. Second, many of my tabletop gaming purchases aren't for the games they were written for. It's to ruthlessly pillage for ideas to use in the games I actually run. This year is actually something of an exception. Third, my previous holiday deal shopping posts feature a fair amount of "these are the exciting plans I have for this stuff!" Which gets depressing when I go back and realize how few of those plans actually materialized.

But let's do this thing again anyway.

The only physical products I picked up during the sales.

From Drive Through RPG (all of theses are PDFs):

BattleTech: Periphery
The original version. These days, I'm more interested in reading BattleTech lore than playing any version of the tabletop game. It's also handy for looting ideas for use in other games.

Dark Star Violet Magazine Issue #1
A sci-fi TTRPG zine. I saw a bunch of what I suspect is AI generated art and not much useful content when I flipped through it. I'll give it a more through read through later.

Delayed Blast Gamemaster Issue #1
A fantasy TTRPG zine. Has an OSR feel. Could be fun and maybe even useful. If nothing else, I like the name.

Technophobia
Something unusual - a horror themed adventure for Lancer. I'll give it a look once Lancer moves up the list of games hitting the table.


From Exalted Funeral (all of these are physical products for Old School Essentials):

Carcass Crawler Issues #1-3
The official Old School Essentials zine. Lots of additional material. Not sure how much will be hitting the tabletop.

Old School Essentials Deluxe Referee's Screen
My relationship with GM screens is complicated. I got this more for the vibe than any expectation that's I'll get much use out of it.

The Incandescent Grottoes
I'm eventually going to need a low level adventure to start a new campaign. This one got good reviews, so it's the one I bought.


From itch.io:

The Karrakin Trade Baronies
A supplement for Lancer. Sourcebook for a bunch of space feudalists - a trope that I'll need throw scorn at sometime. Also has some optional rules that were the main attraction of the book for me. I would've preferred a physical product, but a PDF will do for now.


Those are my holiday sale retail therapy purchases for this year. This lists also serves up some clues about my upcoming tabletop gaming plans. I've found that what I purchase on Black Friday and Cyber Monday tends to influence what I'll be playing and running in the coming year. Previous posts in this series are below:

Black Friday / Cyber Monday Haul 2019, Part One

Black Friday / Cyber Monday Haul 2019, Part Two

Black Friday / Cyber Monday Haul 2020

Black Friday / Cyber Monday Haul 2021, Part One

Black Friday / Cyber Monday Haul 2021, Part Two


Happy Holidays!

My Favorite Stuff 2024

This is a list of stuff that's been working well for me over the past year or two. Handy if you're doing some last minute holiday shopping for a tabletop gamer. Or if you are a tabletop gamer looking to spend some cash or gift cards received over the holidays. Or if you just want to indulge in some retail therapy. I'm not in a position to judge.

I skipped a "My Favorite" post last year due to my tabletop gaming interregnum. Links to past posts along these lines:

My Favorite Things 2018

My Favorite Stuff 2020 and 2019

My Favorite Stuff 2022

My New Dropper Bottle Case



Old School Essentials

I didn't realize that I never stated my opinions about this game until I sat down to write this post.

It's exactly what I wanted.

A question I sometimes see is: "Why not use the classic D&D and AD&D materials directly?" Well, that would mean spending time and money on the following to get what I was looking for:

• Cook Basic D&D down to its heart and soul. Which means purchasing the Dragons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia and throwing out huge chunks of it.
• Take what I most enjoyed about AD&D and convert it to be fully compatible with the chopped down version of Basic D&D from the first step. Which means taking the three AD&D core books and not using most of them.
• Hand our group the resulting document sometime in the 2030s.

Or I could do what I actually did:

• Shop around for a product that already did all that work for me.
• Wait for a sale on the Exulted Funeral site.
• Purchase a pair of books from Necrotic Gnome.
• Be impressed by the clear writing and organization of the Old School Essentials books.
• Download a bunch of free content from Necrotic Gnome, including a checklist of options to bring to our group.

I'm happy with the choice I made.


D&D Module B4 The Lost City

I previously published a couple of posts about this module:

Preparing a Classic D&D Module for OSE

Remodeling B4 The Lost City

This may end up replacing B2 The Keep on the Borderlands as my go-to for starting a nostalgic old school campaign. It's not without flaws. It does need preparation before putting it in front of players. And it does not in any way benefit from modern concepts of layout and organization. But the swords and sorcery flavored dungeon delve at its core? An experience not to be missed.


Mothership Boxed Set

I've posted my thoughts and experiences about this game before:

Countdown to Mothership

Mothership Debrief - Another Bug Hunt

It's a delight to open a tabletop RPG boxed set in the halcyon year of 2024. Good rules. Good presentation. The starter adventure is...

...a tad undercooked.


The Middle Ages: A Graphic History by Eleanor Janega and Neil Max Emmanuel

This book is my new recommendation for "an introduction and/or overview of the Middle Ages" to anybody who asks. Which comes up both more and less often than folks might believe. If everything you know on the topic comes from Gary Gygax and YouTube, you should read this book.


Army Painter Wet Palette

I used to slap my paint on a ceramic plate or cheap plastic artist's palette. Like a savage or something. Now I carefully add water to the absorbent pad, lay on a sheet of parchment paper, and mix my paints like a professional. Has it improved my brushwork? Not one darn bit. But it does keep my paints fresh and perky while I break down sobbing at my inadequate skills while base coating a miniature.


That's my favorite stuff some this year (and last year). Let's see if I remember the next post in this series in 2025.