Looking Forward at 2025
2024 had some amazing moments. Here's what's happening with Grinning Rat in 2025.
Buckle up — this is going to be a long one.
I posted a piece called “Looking Back on 2023 " just about a year ago. It was my very first Substack entry and it kicked this whole thing off.
In that piece, I talked about a general negativity that hung over the year for me. Everything felt, I don’t know, a bit incomplete—like nothing really wrapped up with a neat bow. I mentioned several projects I was juggling at the time, and when I look back now, it’s clear there was this “Well, maybe this deadline will stick, maybe not” vibe permeating everything. Maybe it’s just that I’m in a better place mentally these days, but reading it now, it comes off pretty pessimistic.
Thankfully, 2024 didn’t let me wallow in that same doom and gloom. And 2025 looks even more promising. So let’s dig into what happened in 2024, then look ahead at what’s brewing for 2025.
Dungeoneering: Catalysts & The Starlit Spire
Writing these additions for my own system proved to be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, Catalysts was probably the simplest Dungeoneering supplement to write, even though it ended up being the biggest in terms of the overall content. Starlit Spire was trickier, mostly because I kept reworking the core storyline (at one point, I think I revised it four times 🙃).
But in the end, both were done in a decent timeframe. They’re already printed, packaged, and heading out as I write this.
At the same time, there’s this bittersweet moment as production and shipping wrap up. Dungeoneering was intended as a quick, pick-up-and-go system — easy to run on a whim. Adding more expansions complicates that mission. Catalysts might be the last full-fledged expansion, though I have some thoughts on where to go next (more on that below in the 2025 section).
Road Back Home
For the One-Page RPG Jam, I had a sudden burst of inspiration and basically designed Road Back Home over the course of three days — idea, development, layout, the whole works.
It was a total surprise because I’d never really toyed with a storytelling game before. My interest in modern settings was minimal, aside from a brief stint in Call of Cthulhu. But the idea just clicked, largely because I was up north at my parents’ lake house, which holds a lot of memories for me.
My kiddo is at that age where everything’s an adventure. So while wandering the property, following him around, my mind drifted to all the years I spent with my childhood best friend doing virtually the same thing, how my mom, aunt, and late aunt would chain-smoke at the picnic table playing dice, and how the place was always so loud when upwards of 30 people were there for extended visits.
Now, it’s pretty quiet and so much stuff has changed. My friend and I had a falling out around 2010, my late aunt passed unexpectedly in 2020, and I don’t think there’s been more than 15 people up there at once in almost as many years. The property has never really been the same. Road Back Home became my way of exploring how fragile relationships can be, and I hope others found/find a bit of their own nostalgia or sorrow in it.
Sometimes, you have to channel that energy into something creative.
Sorceries of the Old Ways, Volume II
I absolutely adore the MOSAIC Strict concept — these are small, modular ideas that can slot into various systems, and each entry is typically easy to write. My Sorceries of the Old Ways volumes are basically a collection of deeply questionable spells that no sensible magic user should ever cast.
Of course, if you’re a sorcerer, you’ll probably cast them anyway.
Volume II is just a continuation of what I started in Volume I (both are free on itch.io, by the way). I won’t go into too much detail about their contents—if you’re curious, go check them out.
I wish MOSAIC Strict was more recognized among the broader tabletop crowd. Something about creating a manifesto for your design feels so different from the fleeting nature of modern online spaces.
The Grinning Rat Newsletter
Since my move to Substack, the blog has shifted a lot. Some of my articles focus on products, others on broader concepts.
I’ve noticed that my most successful posts seem to be the ones I’ve published over the last couple of months, with three of the last five articles getting almost double my normal engagement. The gap between them and older posts isn’t even close. Not sure if that means I’m being seen more often or I’m getting put into the right audiences or what. I can’t complain, though!
All things considered, I’m proud that I’ve stuck to it and managed to publish 42 articles so far. My next goal is to make it to 52 or more in 2025.
Speaking of…
Adamir
Let’s start with Adamir. For those who’ve been following along since 2023 (or even earlier), you’ll know Adamir’s been on my plate for a while.
Truthfully, this project has seen the most hiccups and setbacks in terms of writing and overall development. The inspiration to write for it always strikes at the wrong moment and whenever I am ready to write for it I spend all my time tinkering with appendices and random bullshit.
But I’m pleased to say that 2025 is the year where I’m planning to finally steer it toward the finish line — at least for Volume I, which is comprised of the Mistlands region containing roughly 30 discrete locations, a fairly large hex map, and a ton of extra stuff. Enough to run an entire campaign on for sure.
I’m aiming for monthly releases that stitch together the core components. By the end of 2025, I’d love to have Adamir: Volume I fully content-complete. It’s still a sprawling, somewhat mysterious world, but I’m optimistic that chunking it into smaller, consistent releases will help keep it on track.
Dungeoneering
Now, onto Dungeoneering. If you read the 2024 section above, you’ll know that Catalysts and Starlit Spire more or less closed out my design ambitions for the game’s first edition. One of the major reasons is that the system’s original pitch — a lightweight, pick-up-style dungeon-crawling experience — becomes increasingly harder to preserve as more expansions come into play.
You keep bolting on new modules, and suddenly, you’re not quite as lean and mean as you started out.
So, for now, I’m stepping away from anything new for Dungeoneering in 2025. Maybe in the next few years, I could see a 2nd Edition taking shape. I’ve collected a bunch of half-mad scribbles that tweak some of the system’s core assumptions, incorporate new ideas, and clean up some of the squirrely bits that have cropped up as expansions piled on.
But that’s a ways off. Consider this a break, not a breakup.
Pocket Encounters
The next big project is Pocket Encounters. I’ve teased it off and on for a bit now, but in 2025, I’m going all-in with it. I plan to launch in Q2–Q3 2025, depending on how quickly I can finalize the layout and artwork.
What’s Pocket Encounters exactly? It’s a memo pad filled with 100 short, ready-to-run encounters you can slot into your fantasy elf games. No more flipping through a thick manual only to see “2d4 wolves” or “broken wagon wheel” on half the pages.
Instead, the goal is to provide enough weird, interesting detail without overburdening busy GMs. Subsequent volumes (assuming folks dig the first one) may tackle sci-fi, modern, or even cozier, more storytelling-oriented “encounters.”
For now, I’m focusing on classic fantasy. As always, any feedback or suggestions are welcomed. If you want to follow the Kickstarter project, click here!
Newsletter
This year, I played around with paid articles; to be blunt, they didn’t catch on.
So, for 2025, I’m shelving the idea of exclusive paid posts. Instead, I’ll keep the option of a paid subscription as a tip jar. If folks want to throw a couple of bucks my way now and then, it helps fund my coffee habit while I knock out these articles.
Otherwise, I’m sticking to one free post a week. If the muse strikes or I find myself with more time, I’ll toss in extra posts here and there. But the core promise is that there will be a regular, free, weekly update — a breakdown of my home game, a short piece of GM advice, or a peek at a current project.
One thing’s for sure - I will never, ever cover hot drama in the TTRPG space. The last thing we need is another village idiot with a megaphone screeching about how “DND IS DEAD - THIS TIME FORREAL!”
Zemaryth
I’ve been flirting with solo roleplaying for a long time, watching folks do journaling or single-player experiences and thinking, “I’d love to do that.”
The problem I find with solo roleplaying is, honestly, keeping myself accountable to actually sitting down and doing it. As a forever GM, one of my biggest deadlines for running games is that other people are expecting me to have something more or less entertaining for the night.
Without that expectation, I will always be side-eying Baldur’s Gate 3 or the new Kickstarter shipment landing in my mailbox.
So in 2025, I’m finally taking the plunge with Zemaryth — a gritty, dark fantasy chronicle (not set in Adamir, by the way) that follows three characters at the outset: a fighter, a magic user, and a thief.
The twist? I’m going to let readers steer the ship a bit. At certain decision points, I’ll post a poll or invite direct comments to shape how these three characters progress through Zemaryth. As characters inevitably die, disappear, or get replaced, the audience will help choose the next brave soul or cunning villain to step in.
I’ll be using Cairn 2e as the system, with some additions thrown in as the story evolves. To generate much of the setting, I’ll rely on Knave 2e’s generative tables, a tool I’ve really come to enjoy for its organic results.
I’m definitely drawing inspiration from Tale of the Manticore for its blend of narrative storytelling and raw system dice rolls. Expect the grim but hopeful sword-and-sorcery yarn and the unpredictability of a tabletop campaign with actual dice behind the scenes, mixed with the crazy shenanigans you lot subject these poor characters to.
Stay tuned for the first article of 2025, where you’ll get to vote on some critical initial details that will shape the trio’s starting circumstances and kick off the campaign.
Public Library Kids Game
I’ve signed on to run a weekly kids' game at the public library for another four months (January through April). We’ve been delving into Tomb of the Serpent Kings — an amazing intro dungeon that’s perfect for calibrating how crunchy or narrative my young players want the experience to be.
After roughly five months of experimentation, it’s become a super-abridged “DND” where the characters don’t even have stats, but it totally works for this group.
The last session ended with:
someone losing their hands to a black pudding
the pudding being lured into a hammer trap that knocked it into a chasm
a giant bat trying to drag someone into the cavern (who ended up being a pretty chill dude after the victim asked for the bat to stop)
mummified hands replacing the stumps of the handless character after both being dumped unconscious into some healing waters
everyone deciding to split up at the end of the session — just as they get into the harder part of the dungeon.
At some point, I’d like to revisit a previous blog post about Running Games for Kids and add some of the new insights (and downright hilarious stories) I’ve collected during these sessions.
Home Campaigns
I’m still running two big games on the home front, though each has its own unique dynamic.
Bluecliff Adventures
Bluecliff Adventures is my longest-running 5E campaign by far, going on six-plus years now.
It’s down to two players and me, drastically changing the story's shape. Fewer players means more intimate roleplay, deeper character arcs, and more time for each PC to explore personal objectives.
I may or may not write about this; it’s such a massive, sprawling narrative that I’m not sure how to condense it without turning it into a pure campaign diary. We’ll see!
Dungeons of Drakkenheim
Late last year, I tested the waters of paid GMing on StartPlaying.games.
It was an interesting experiment; if I’ve learned anything, you need luck and perseverance to make it work. Player churn is real—people come and go, want a full campaign experience, then decide halfway through that it’s not for them. It’s tough, and ultimately, I gave it a rest for a while.
But one of my prior players contacted me in October to specifically request a Dungeons of Drakkenheim run in 5E — a post-apocalyptic, horror-infested setting that’s surprisingly rich in player-driven exploration. We assembled a new group, and it’s been an absolute blast.
It still has that 5E obtuseness that can sometimes get in the way, but the top-tier players make the entire experience come alive. Once we have more sessions under our belts, I might write a dedicated article about it.
Wrapping Up
Whew, that turned out just as long as I expected (and then some). Lots of stuff going on! I hope it captures the excitement I’ve got heading into 2025.
There’s always that lingering fear, that “what if this time next year, everything’s derailed again?” feeling, but so far, writing and blogging continue to feel like a welcome creative outlet. If you’re still here, reading, you’re a massive part of why I haven’t given up. Seeing support, engagement, or just the occasional “Hey, I liked that” is all the motivation I need to keep going.
Here’s to another year of writing, playing, designing, and exploring the many corners of our weird and wonderful hobby. I’ll see you soon — probably next week if my schedule holds. Thanks again for sticking around.
See you next year - hyuck, hyuck, hyuck!
I’d love to hear about your solo gameplay if you get to it and I’m so in on the Pocket Kickstarter. I signed up for notifications!
Wow, Nate. You are a busy dude. That was a good read. Looking forward to seeing how this pans out for you.