2025: A Year in TTRPGs

This year I kept saying "Oh I'll go write a blog post for my website eventually" and then never did it. Whoops!

However, I did want to do a quick round up of the year, especially as there have been some key developments that are worth talking about. So here it is: A summary of my year working full-time freelance in the tabletop games industry.

Freelance Marketing

In 2025, freelance marketing work was my primary source of income. ~70% of that work was in the tabletop games industry, and the majority of that was recurring work for a few key clients. After starting down this road by necessity in 2024, I feel like I finally hit my stride this year. There were fewer months where I wondered "Will I be able to pay my bills?" and more months where I was able to treat my wife to dinner out.

From February to August, much of my freelance work came through an agency, which eventually opened the door to a part-time role which has provided some additional stability in the back half of this year, which I am thankful for. This year I worked on a half dozen crowdfunding campaigns, helped clients think about selling products online and at conventions, and managed my fair share of ad campaigns. Every project is different and provides a lesson, which makes me feel like I learned a lot, even if much of that information wasn't exactly new. I've begun drafting a series about how to think about crowdfunding like a marketer, and that's something I hope to share in the new year, as I have time to organize those thoughts more clearly.

Broken Door

If you're reading this, you may already be familiar with my indie game publishing company, Broken Door Entertainment. If not, you should go check it out. I'm proud of the progress we made this year.

After successfully crowdfunding Paragons: The Roleplaying Game in fall of 2024, we went to layout in early 2025 and navigated the choppy waters of changing tariffs. Things worked out in our favor though, as books are exempt from tariffs and that was the only thing we manufactured overseas. The crowdfunding campaign fulfilled in June and the book officially released at GenCon in late July/early August.

Learning how best to sell Paragons has been a fun challenge this year. I brought the book to 3 conventions and have been selling copies online as well. The game is currently available in a handful of game stores in Illinois and Florida, and I am actively exploring ways to get the game into more stores (if you own a game store, let's talk!).

I don't have my accounting for 2025 finished yet, but we've done a little over $2k in sales since releasing the book. Conventions account for approximately half of that amount. It's an encouraging first few months of sales, and I hope to keep building momentum as we head into the new year with more products.

With a crowdfunding campaign planned for early 2026, and several projects in motion, I think Broken Door will experience some pretty significant growth in this next year.

Hedron

I mentioned in the freelance section that one of my freelance clients has turned into a part-time job, and that's referring to Hedron. I'm thrilled to be back in the digital TTRPG space, working on a platform that is incredibly powerful. The first few months have been a whirlwind, but I'm finally starting to feel settled into my role as Head of Brand as we gear up for a busy 2026.

I've had opportunities to do some minor content creation for the company (the first content creation I've done in what feels like years, even if I know that's not quite accurate), and am excited to help shape our vision and direction for the future to meet the needs of tabletop gamers around the world.

If you're looking for a VTT to level up your gaming experience, whether you're a player, GM, or game designer, Hedron has tools that can meet your needs.

A Personal Note

I don't want to give the impression that this year was all sunshine and rainbows. I've continuously worked on myself, dealt with impostor syndrome, and fought through a long patch of writer's block. But I'm infinitely an optimist, so I celebrated my first wedding anniversary with my wife, spent time with friends new and old, and continue to love this industry at its best and tolerate it at its worst.

I played a handful of new games this year, but not as many as I would have liked. My biggest gripe about having so many competing priorities is that every second of rest or relaxation feels like it needs to be earned, and that's something I'm going to have to deal with. Something I have been inspired by recently is the physical design that goes into board games. I was thrilled to see the physical design that went into the new D&D starter kit that released this year, and hope to incorporate some similar ideas in future projects that I work on.

Ultimately, I'm grateful for the year that I've had, for the opportunities that have been presented to me, and for the friends who have supported my journey every step of the way. And I look forward to more friendship, more opportunities, and hopefully a few more games in 2026.