For the first blog of 2025, I thought I'd talk a bit about what kind of gaming I'm doing right now, and likely for most of the year. I had thought I'd review 2024's TDM successes, and waffle on a bit about 2025 releases, but then I thought, No. I'm going to talk about the games I'm involved with and enjoying. So here goes.

Canada/Grafton/The One Ring

I have four RPG groups I meet with. First is my local group in (or near) Grafton ON, where I live. Six players, and we've been meeting for just about a year as I write this entry. Our chief campaign is The One Ring from Free League, with me in the GM chair, and its a system that I really, really like. It truly captures the spirit and flavour of Tolkien, and in its second edition is an absolutely beautiful collection of books (I have them all). The team, comprising of a hobbit, an elf, a dwarf, a hillman, a beorning and a Numenorean, have been busy investigating all kinds of shenanigans in and around Bree and the Shire, that point to the rise of an old evil, long vanquished. Their patron is Bilbo Baggins, and they're just about to make their first foray into Moria, intent on gathering information on the extent of the Enemy's presence.

What I really love about The One Ring is its overall simplicity and evocation of the books. The attributes, skills and abilities are very faithful to Tolkien's written word, and the rules employ an economy of style both narratively and aesthetically that also carries over into the campaign material. I'm using 'Ruins of the Lost Realm, 'Tales of the Lone Lands' and 'Moria: Through the Doors of Durin' extensively, and I'm struck by how well the writers (not least my old friend and colleague from Mongoose days, Gareth Rider-Hanrahan) convey senses of place and adventure, but at the same time leaves creative spaces for the GM's imagination to fill. This is great material for the best Lord of the Rings RPG ever produced, and we're having a blast as a group.

When we can't get the entire team together, I run one-shot Cthulhu adventures using Mythras and set in Arkham. The investigators work for an occult-themed magazine called 'Imagine', looking into odd goings-on around the city and across Arkham county. Not all the scenarios are Mythos-related, but we've had a lot of fun (and a couple of near character deaths).

Canada/Remote/Against The Dark Master

My second group is my Toronto group, consisting of five players (of which I'm one) and our GM, Blain. More Tolkien, as we're playing an 'Against the Dark Master' campaign, set in the mid-Third Age during the war between the Arthedain and the Witch King of Angmar. Our team is hunting down a group of the Witch King's allies who have seized control of the Troll Shaws and are actively gathering powerful magic to their side. The campaign makes extensive use of the excellent Middle-earth Roleplaying (MERP) material from the 1980s and 90s, and our characters are driven by a common sense of purpose and duty to stop the Witch King at all costs. I play a Dunedain ranger called Almarian, owner of the fabled spear Orc-Spite, and we're currently preparing to withstand a siege by orcs and trolls akin to the stand at Rorke's Drift.

'Against the Dark Master' presents an interesting comparison with The One Ring. It's far, far crunchier, and while its enjoyable, I can't say it's one of my favourite systems. It seems rather fussy and disconnected, combining a lot of disparate elements (Skill Ranks, Levels, XP, and all manner of other complications) that mean the whole is a little less than the sum of its parts. We do have considerable fun with it though, and have had a couple of truly memorable successes, not least a riddling contest with a Stone Giant, and some divine inspiration deciphering ancient inscriptions in an old Numenorean sepulchre. Does it capture the atmosphere of Tolkien in the same way as The One Ring? No, not really - it's too fussy for doing that. But our GM really knows his subject, and as players we just get on with enjoying our storytelling together without quibbling over the rules, and these more than compensate for any issues I may have with the game system.

UK/Roll20/The Winter King

My third group is based in the UK, and we meet on Roll20. Three players, all from the same family (and old family friends of mine), we've played a One Ring campaign, have wrapped-up 'Beyond the Mountains of Madness' (the epic Antarctica-based campaign for Call of Cthulhu), and we're getting ready now for Session Zero of a Mythic Britain campaign using Mythras. This will be a playing through of 'The Winter King' trilogy by Bernard Cornwell - my favourite novels of all time and favourite RPG campaign, and one that I haven't run in a long while. I'll incorporate some elements of Mythras's Mythic Britain material - especially Mark Shirley's excellent 'Gwynedd' and forthcoming 'Armorica' supplement, but largely I'll be staying true to Cornwell's narrative (and not the terrible TV adaptation that recently aired). Its going to be gritty, bloody, intrigue-filled, and lead up to several set-piece battles that have always been huge amounts of fun to run when I've GMed this campaign in the past.

PeteCon/Sweden/Lyonesse/Monster Island/Mothership

My fourth group convenes annually in Sweden (although last year, we convened in Canada), where we spend a week of intensive roleplaying in the snowy countryside just short of the arctic circle. Our campaigns there have encompassed the aforementioned Winter King/Mythic Britain, Luther Arkwright, a mash-up of 'Wolf Hall' and 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell', and more recently, 'Casting the Runes' and 'Mythic Greece'. When we met last summer in Canada, we kicked-off two new campaigns: my Lyonesse romp, which has the characters as members of the esteemed Lyonesse Town University getting themselves involved in a scheme to rebuild the navy of King Casmir with some Fairy trees; and Pete's 'Monster Island WW2' campaign, which pits a team of elite divers against the Japanese forces in the South Pacific, just as they manage to open a gate that drags everyone into the dimension where Monster Island is located. Both these campaigns will continue this year as we meet in Sweden in a few weeks time. The Lyonesse campaign will see the students having to put-right a considerable mess they created involving a Cat Show; and the brutality of Monster Island WW2 will continue as we struggle with dwindling ammunition, growing radiation sickness, an increasing body-count, kaiju, haiku, and maybe even kung-fu. To lighten the mood, there'll likely be some 'Mothership', and maybe even some board gaming too.

We cram a lot of intense, character-driven roleplaying into that single week, but it's worth the long trip from Canada to Lulea so that I can meet with old friends who are consumate roleplayers willing to take on any and all challenges.

For me then, it really is a full year of roleplaying. Middle-earth, Cthulhu, Mythic Britain, Lyonesse, Monster Island, deep-space Alien-style horror... I can't wait. In my next blog, in a couple of months, I'll update you on where these various games are, and perhaps share my thoughts on the mechanics of The One Ring and Against the Dark Master. Until then, I hope you enjoy your own gaming, whatever you play, and stay happy, healthy, and warm.

Next month, Kaitlyn returns with a new series of bi-monthly blogs looking at our different Mythras campaign settings.