Afraid of Encounters

Afraid of Encounters' 2025 Tabletop RPG Wrapped

I have played a total of 23 Tabletop RPGs in 2025. That's more than last year or the years before that (not in total). Also, I was FOMO about Spotify Wrapped this year, so I've decided to do something similar for Tabletop RPGs.

Despite what some people in my local community think of me and my style/preference (OSR/NSR), I have played a variety of games. I believe playing and learning different games, styles, cultures, whatever, help me become a better Gamemaster and a better player. It also helps me understand people's preferences and styles. I don't think I am the type of person who sticks with one or a few games. I have to play different games from time to time.

I'm not good at bookkeeping or tracking how many sessions I played these games and when, but I remember vaguely around which months I played these games. So the list will be alphabetical and I will try to explain my thoughts about the games in a few sentences or a paragraph.

Cairn 2e

My most played OSR/NSR game other than Mythic Bastionland this year. Some of the highlights of Cairn 2e for me this year are:

Call of Cthulhu 7e

Despite being my favorite Tabletop RPG ever, I only ran this game once for four sessions. It wasn't the best Call of Cthulhu campaign, but the players and I still had fun. I ran Escape From Innsnmouth (third time) and the players were all siblings. But there were too many players (six) and the pacing was bad on my end. I also tried to incorporate some relationship elements during character creation which didn't come into play in the campaign.

Daggerheart

I ran a Session 0 for my spouse Cita and my friends, but we due to scheduling issues we haven't played the game yet. But I did play a one-shot with Cita and my friend (Habib) to prepare him for running the game in our mini-convention. I love the character creation and the scenario creation together by asking and answering questions. I really like the collaborative storytelling elements from Hope and Fear. I dislike the attack, damage and damage thresholds, and armor.

Draw Steel

At the point of writing this, I haven't run it yet. But I will be running it this weekend. I will update it with my thoughts. But so far, learning this game has been a hassle. I feel learning Pathfinder 2e is easier than this.

Dread

I ran the game for the mini-convention for four players. The first time I ran it since five years ago. I ran a zombie module and I honestly had a hard time following it. So I just used the ideas, concepts, and pointers from the module instead of following it beat by beat. One player died. It was a ton of fun. I love Dread, except the way modules are written.

Dungeon Crawl Classics

My friend, Kevin Apoleen, ran The Portal Under the Stars and Sailors of the Starless Sea. I gotta say the moments that we had in this game were some of the most hilarious that I've ever experienced. My main character (among the two that survived Portal) was a Wizard who has the Summon spell. At the start of Sailors, he summoned an egg which exploded and gave birth to a wolf. I also ran Portal for two players, and wow, no PCs died.

Electric Bastionland

I ran this three times. I used it to playtest The Knight Errant, my Appendix N Jam module. And I ran another Appendix N Jam module, The Lamia's Champion, made by a fellow Indonesian. Then I ran Chris McDowall's Prison of the Worm Queen for five sessions (the first roll happened in the last session). Damn, I really want to run Electric Bastionland again. It's so good. So simple. Bastion is one of the best Tabletop RPG cities. My version of Bastion is this mix of Disco Elysium and David Lynch's surrealism. I'll run it again next year.

Eyes on the Prize

This game is a GMless story game for four players. I played it with Cita, Kevin Apoleen, and our friend Aoi. We played as couples who were trying to con someone so we could get rich. But the catch was whether our characters would fall in love with each other or successfully con the target and went on our separate ways. My character and Cita's ended up being together. It's a nice game for a one-shot and it used cards to generate the situations/moments.

Forbidden Lands

I was a player for this one, and iirc we played for 4 sessions. The GM mixed in some story game elements that he took from Carved from Brindlewood, so it wasn't the vanilla Forbidden Lands experience. It was still a great short campaign. I've run the game last year and I would totally play it again. I already bought the modules on Foundry, so I really should play it.

Grimwild

To be honest, I was baited by the hype of a collaborative and cinematic fantasy game. When I read the game, I was a bit disappointed because it felt half baked and the information is spread here and there. But when I played a one-shot of it, it was really good. It's a shame that the project just died and it won't realize its full potential.

Liminal Horror

I ran this twice. A one-shot earlier this year before iftar for three players, adapting an older OSR module which I won't name here into a modern Indonesian setting. It a nice first look, but I craved for more. Eventually I got the full experience when I ran Zedeck Siew's A Perfect Wife. You can read my play reports here: Session 1 & 2, Session 3 & 4. Probably one of the best horror campaigns I've ever run. I'll totally run Liminal Horror again. Perhaps The Mall?

Masks: A New Generation

I'm a fan of Powered by the Apocalypse since the first time I ran Apocalypse World 2e back in 2019. But I was hesitant to run Masks because... teenage angst. I ran it for the first time last year and I ran it again, this time set in an alternate history where Maphilindo existed and became a world's superpower due to superheroes. I ran it for five players whom I've played with before. It was a freaking blast and I love the intra-party interactions, the drama and angst, and the worldbuilding we did. I ran it when the August - September Indonesian riot was happening, so that event fueled this campaign. Arguably the best PbtA game ever that is not Apocalypse World 2e or World Wide Wrestling 2e.

Mythic Bastionland

My favorite Tabletop RPG of 2025. I ran it since it got released earlier this year. I've run a total of seven one-shots. I played in a one-shot. And I'm currently running a campaign that is aiming for the City Quest, and the Knights are now at 12 Glory. I keep on saying this but I believe this is peak game design. The game feels like it runs itself and does the work for the Referee. I even made a Knight, a Seer, and a Myth for Mythic Bastionland Jam. The community support for this game has also been amazing from Elmcat's blogpost to Loner's Referee Companion. I cannot wait to see future games that are inspired by Mythic Bastionland.

Old-School Essentials

The first time I ran Winter's Daughter (I've run it three times), I used Old-School Essentials and the players had a blast. I love the clear rules and layout. I love how simple it is. But I think trying it once is enough, as I feel that I am now more interested with the new school approaches from games like Mark of the Odd/Odd-like and Mothership. I may try Dolmenwood when it's out on Foundry.

Pathfinder 2e

My most played game of 2025. I have been playing Pathfinder 2e since 2022 after leaving D&D 5e behind. Despite my fascination with OSR/NSR/POSR, a lot of my friends still play Pathfinder 2e and I'm running two campaigns for them. It's going to be a mainstay trad game for me, even though it's crunchy as hell. At least it has better adventures, clearer rules, mechanics, and a well-balanced game unlike D&D 5e. I'm currently running Season of Ghosts and a homebrew sequel to War for the Crown.

Pirate Borg

I haven't played Mork Borg yet, but I had been eyeing Pirate Borg since I started concepting my own game/adventure/setting. I ran four sessions of it and we had a lot of fun! I will try to run a longer campaign in the future because I love the world and the rules! I mean, come on. Cosmic Horror stuff is my thing! I ran the last part of Buried in the Bahamas and followed it up with Sinking of C'thagn.

Quietus

I ran it around Q2 this year out of curiosity after discussing Forged in the Dark with my friends (I ran Blades in the Dark back in 2020). It's a really nice one-shot game with tons of dramatic potential. I'm a sucker for Mike Flanagan's movies and series, so I love how Quietus tries to emulate the themes and fiction of his stories.

Shadowdark

If new players wanted me to run D&D 5e/2024 for them, I would just run Shadowdark to be honest. I don't want to say it's just D&D 5e-lite because it's reductive. But I feel that this is a better entry way to the hobby than D&D 5e with less bloat. I've run it for experienced players, I've run it for newbies. Works everytime. If the newbies felt they wanted something more than just the simplicity and old school sensibilities of Shadowdark, then I encourage them to try out D&D 5e/2024. I ran The Tragic Curse of Grimhill Fort once and Winter's Daughter twice using Shadowdark.

Star Wars FFG

I always have this tradition of running either a one-shot or a short campaign of Star Wars in May. It just so happened that Andor Season 2 was all the hype (and it deserved the hype and praises), so I had to run a "sequel" to Andor Season 2 using Star Wars FFG, set in Coruscant concurrently with Battle of Endor. Same as Masks: A New Generation, the campaign was fueled by my displeasure of the government. I will run Star Wars FFG again next year.

Thousand Arrows

The Warring States period of Japan is one of my favorite historical periods. Thousand Arrows (PbtA) is the best way to experience it in Tabletop RPG. I ran a short campaign set during the Honno-ji Incident. The final session was right at the 443 anniversary of the event. It was so dramatic, so epic. I wish more people play this game. I wonder why the creator took it down from online stores.

Trophy Dark

A member of the Indonesian Tabletop RPG community has been going all in on Trophy Dark since earlier this year, so I got curious. I played in her game once and it was a blast. I ran it once, adapting I6 Ravenloft into a Trophy Dark Incursion. It's a great game for what it does, but I feel I have experienced enough because I don't feel it's only focused for one-shot and I don't think I will find anything new out of it other than different moments with the players. I would like to try Trophy Gold in the future.

Vampire: The Masquerade 5e

I will be running this game at the last week of this year, because I'm using Auld Sanguine scenario to start a Chronicle. I will update this once I've run the first session. I've run V5 several times in the past and I love it despite the godawful layout.

World Wrestling 2e

Best PbtA game that isn't Apocalypse World 2e or Masks: A New Generation. Okay, maybe I'm biased because I'm a Pro Wrestling fan. But damn, talk about emulating a genre perfectly. This is it. The only pro wrestling Tabletop RPG that you should play. It's freaking awesome. I ran it once for two sessions and played in my friend's game for two sessions. I'm totally going to run it again next year. Perhaps a G1 Climax tournament-style campaign!