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It’s the first issue of 2025 and we got a lot of news to catch up on. Tons of interesting bits of pieces you can dig through if you’re interested in data or looks back. A new senior game designer was hired for D&D. There’s a fascinating look at the history of indie RPGs that I have to recommend. And finally is a quick look at the aftermath of Stranger Things’ finale.

Looking Back at 2025: TTRPG Highlights

Now that 2025 has wrapped up, people are looking back at the year and collecting data. I got a couple of pieces myself coming up here in the next 1-2 weeks. We already got several game designers and creators to comment on what they thought mattered in 2025.

Here are some other looks back from other writers, publishers, and creators in the TTRPG space:

• Bundle of Holding, a popular site for buying cheap bundles of TTRPG PDFs, released its Year in Review, detailing what games sold well and what struggled.

• Steve Jackson Games published GURPS in Review, noting that it released six new supplements for its TTRPG.

• Rascal News decided to crowdsource its best-of-2025 to its player community.

• Roll20 detailed all of the updates that it made to its VTT.

• Actual Play podcast network Many Sided Media reviewed its big changes in 2025 and its plans for 2026.

GeekNative, one of the sister websites in the TTRPG space, also conducted its own year-end deep dives into data from several publishers. This data is unofficially collected by them, so take it with some salt. But GeekNative published lists of the following

• Best-Selling Modules on Fantasy Grounds

• Best-Selling Non-D&D Modules on Fantasy Grounds

• An unofficial list of the best-selling 2025 releases on DriveThruRPG

• The unofficial best-selling 2025 DriveThruRPG publisher league table

• The unofficial best-selling 2025 DriveThruRPG analysis: Human vs AI

GeekNative has similar lists for DriveThruRPG’s World of Darkness, D&D, Pathfinder and other sections of the site if you are curious. The data affirms much of what we expected; the success of Daggerheart and Draw Steel. Will that momentum remain constant in 2026? We will see!

Dragon Heist Co-Author Joins WOTC as Senior Game Designer

Wizards of the Coast officially hired longtime D&D writer James Haeck as its new senior game designer. Haeck has worked for several years creating third-party content for companies like Critical Role, MCDM and more and has been around the space for a while.

Haeck announced their new role during a Dec. 31 episode of Ghostfire Gaming’s Eldritch Lorecast that they would join WOTC as a senior game designer.

Haeck has an extensive record of content creation. He acted as lead designer on Call of the Netherdeep, an official D&D campaign set in Critical Role’s Exandria. He co-wrote the CR-based Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. Haeck also served as co-author on Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus.

Haeck will join Justice Ramin Arman as part of WOTC’s change in staff. They’ll be working alongside principal game designer F. Wesley Schneider as well as senior designers Makenzie De Armas and Amanda Hemon.

We still don’t know what D&D has planned for 2026. However, there appears to be significant shifts at WOTC amid Dan Ayoub taking over D&D. It seems likely that we may learn more about the new books in the next 1-2 months in a similar way to how they revealed last year’s collections of books at a press event.

Video Essayist Dives Deep Into Indie RPG History in Latest Movie

The history of TTRPGs is one of those things that is both extremely niche but also something not terribly well documented. It’s why I’m always thankful when creators take it on themselves to capture and record the history of the hobby. Aaron Voigt, a writer and TTRPG-focused video essayist, published a very accessible look at the last 15 years of independent TTRPG development that is absolutely worth a look if you’re a nerd about such topics.

Want to see more reporting in the TTRPG space? Heard a scoop or a story you want covered? Let us know! Subscribe to TTRPG Insider and get exclusive interviews, trend pieces, speculation and coverage of D&D, mainstream publishers and the indie scene.

Stranger Things Premiere Makes Waves, Leaves Fans Unhappy

Stranger Things, the 80s-themed TV show that many attribute to surging interest in Dungeons and Dragons, concluded its story on Dec. 31, 2025, with its season five finale. Without giving away too many spoilers, the heroes faced off with Vecna and saved the world.

The response to the show has been a bit divided, according to Rotten Tomatoes. I’ve seen plenty of people nitpicking and prodding the show, noting that it had a lot of plot holes and seemed very fan-service-y at times. Personally, I found it a predictable, if acceptable, ending. It wasn’t anything game-changing, but it concluded the story enough for the show to feel mostly resolved. It felt better than the endings of shows like LOST or Game of Thrones, at least.

I was fascinated by Netflix’s decision to broadcast the finale in theatres, given the streaming giant’s overall opposition to putting its content in movie theatres. However, it appears the exception and not the norm.

The franchise isn’t over yet, however. We will be getting an animated spin-off next year, as well as a possible spin-off based on a key artifact seen in the finale. Will they be good? I don’t know. We’ll be keeping an eye to see how D&D themed they will remain in the wake of everything.

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