The Lazy RPG Podcast - D&D and RPG News and GM Prep from Sly Flourish · [email protected]

Tabletop RPGs 2025 Year in Review – The Lazy RPG Talk Show

·59 min·5 clips

I released the City of Arches. The City of Arches is a city source book for Sly Flourish.

Mike Shea opens the final Lazy RPG Talk Show of 2025 with a year-in-review frame. He says he wants to step back and look at everything that happened across tabletop RPGs in 2025, then make a few predictions for 2026. Before the main retrospective, he talks briefly about recent Sly Flourish work. He mentions the article on timing sessions and notes that he also recorded a Readings and Reflections version for Hero Tier patrons. That material focuses on keeping sessions on schedule when time is tight. He calls out its usefulness for convention play, one-shots, and home games with hard end times. The episode then moves into a longer stretch about the state of RPGs and the systems orbiting D&D. Much of that conversation centers on licensing. He describes how Creative Commons continues to matter for people building on 5e-adjacent rules. He points to Black Flag and Tales of the Valiant as examples of systems using that openness. He also revisits the earlier ORC-versus-Creative-Commons discussion and says bespoke licenses are a headache. He talks through specific mechanics that came out of that space, especially the Luck system, which he treats as a strong replacement for Inspiration. He also discusses Doom Points, which he has referred to by other names in earlier shows. His point is not abstract policy talk. It is about what these choices let a GM actually bring to the table. The episode keeps circling back to that practical lens. He ties product and license changes to how people will run games, not just how they will read about them. Near the end, he asks what 2026 might bring for RPGs. His general guess is that the year may be quiet. He says that could still be fine, because the real job is running good games anyway. He closes by inviting listeners to keep playing RPGs and stay open to whatever surprises the next year brings.

As heard by us

A reflective year-end RPG check-in that stays grounded in what changed and what still matters at the table.

This year-end episode looks back at tabletop RPGs in 2025 and uses that view to frame careful expectations for 2026. It stays rooted in Mike Shea's Sly Flourish perspective, with attention to tabletop role-playing games, session timing, and the licensing discussion around…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play if you want Mike Shea's year-end take on where tabletop RPGs went in 2025.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Lazy RPG Podcast - D&D and RPG News and GM Prep from Sly Flourish