DM Tales

As the year draws to a close I’m looking ahead to all the cool games I want to play in 2025, either as a player or a GM. This hobby is deep, and I love exploring it! Let’s roll it.

Sentinel Comics RPG

This is a bit of a cheat because my real goal is to play this game sometime before New Years. The way Sentinel Comics RPG is designed…speaks to me. It feels like a comic book, and the GYRO system, taking action through Green, Yellow, Red, Out is something I can visualize because of all the comic books I read as a kid. I really want to play it.

Crown and Skull

I know I’ll get to play Crown and Skull in 2025 because I’m signed up to play it at PAGE2. I’ve heard amazing things about the system, and love Runehammer’s work in general. I suppose I should start reading the book!

Knave 2e

I would have run Knave 2e in 2024, but I opted to trying something other than dungeon crawling fantasy for a lunch group. In 2025 I’m looking forward to trying out a one shot of Knave 2e to see how folks take to it. I love the wounds system in Knave 2e, which is why I want to try it out.

Tales of Argosa

Tales of Argosa is an update to the excellent Low Fantasy Gaming by pickpocket press. I’m awaiting the release of the physical book to dive in, but having looked at the PDF some I can say the game is beautiful. Pickpocket Press has an interesting take on saving throws, opting for a diminishing luck mechanic instead of static numbers. Luck only replenishes in-between adventures, so the further a party pushes into the quest, the greater the growing sense of dread becomes. I would love to take couple of months to test this out.

The Electric State

I read this The Electric State in about a day once I picked it up. The lore is compelling, and way creepy. It runs off a modified Year Zero engine so the mechanics are simple. And the emphasis on character motivation and journey are themes I find appealing.

My biggest struggle with the game is, it feels too real.

The Land of Eem

I reviewed The Land of Eem from its final PDF and was quite taken with this game that’s filled with subversive themes and humor. Post-apocalyptic muppets helping folks build anew in the ashes of a late-stage capitalist hellscape is appealing on its own. But the core mechanic is, at its core, the NPC reaction roll from old school D&D. It just uses a d12 instead of 2d6 so it’s way less predictable. The books are shipping soon, and if I can run a session or two early in the year I may try to make it an offering  at Ecclesicon in March.

Heroes of Cerulea

The Heroes of Cerulea book looks like an NES cartridge. The graphics are pixelated and feel like a cross between 8 and 16-bit graphics. And the mechanics are pure video game. Defeat a monster? It dissolves but may leave a drop. Fall off an edge? You lose one heart and appear back on the platform. Suffer a TPK, the party starts again at the start of their last area with their progress saved.

It’s old-school Zelda. And dang it I want it play.

EZD6 Wasted World

I love EZD6, and Wasted Worlds takes it into a “Mad Max meets Gamma World” post-apocalyptic waste. There’s special powers, wild technology, supped up wasteland vehicles, and a resources concept to handled things like food, fuel, and ammunition which is a perfect fit for this svelte RPG system. When I hit a week where a number of my regulars can’t show, I may just pull this out and go.

And now I’m wondering what a post-apocalyptic Howlmark adventure would look like.

The Origin

The Origin is a Cypher System setting which mixes the Heroes TV show with the X-Files and Warehouse 13. Characters aren’t as powerful as they are in straight Super Hero adventures which use the Cypher System, but the intrigue makes the game feel fascinating. I’ve been wanting to run the introductory adventure as an actual play live stream since I read the book, and I think I’m going to find a way to do that in 2025.

Barbarians of the Ruined Earth

Barbarians of the Ruined Earth has been on my shelf for a long while, and I’ve been waiting for the right time to pull it down and go adventuring. The set up is, at its core, the old Thundarr the Barbarian cartoon from the 80s. So it’s got a huge nostalgia draw for me.

But it’s also set up as a roll under system with fast game play, wonky creatures, and an unrecognizable world set thousands of years after the Earth was ruined. I think 2025 is the year I finally run it!

Conclusion

So there are the games which, as of this moment, I’m most looking forward to playing in 2025. There are four post-apocalyptic games on the list, which probably speaks to my growing sense of dread for civilization, but at least they’re all fun!

Yah, I’m not sure what all that says about me.

What games are you looking forward to trying out in the coming year? Leave a comment below to let us know!

Coming Up

As I mentioned, I’m going to be at the Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo in January—all day Friday and Saturday. If you’re going let me know I’d love to meet some folks!

I’m also ramping up Ecclesicon promotion, so expect to hear more about that in the coming months. If you’re in the Philly/South Jersey area save March 28-30 on your calendar! And if you’d like to run a game or two at Ecclesicon I’d love to have you!

I will find time to sit down and write my review of The Electric State early in the new year, because that book has me chewing and I love it when RPGs do that. I’m also most of the way through The Path of Glory book for Dragonbane, and that’ll be the next review after that. And I’m going to be stepping into a different realm to review a card game in the new year, I just need to find some time to force my friends and neighbors to play it!

Until we see each other again, folks, happy playing everyone.