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Favorite RPG Products of 2025

by Mike on 24 November 2025

As we approach the end of the year and the opportunity for some good sales over the next couple of months, I want to offer a list of some of the top RPG products that got my attention in 2025. These products weren't all necessarily created in 2025. Some are older (significantly older in some cases).

My list isn't your list. Don't be offended if you don't see your own favorite product on this list. Instead, think about this list and share the products that got your attention in the past year and brought fun to you and your friends around the table.

Dragonbane Core Set

Published by Free League publishing, the Dragonbane Core Set is an incredible value. Inside this boxed set you get:

The full Dragonbane rulebook
A full campaign adventure
Solo rules so you can try it out by yourself
A beautiful regional map
A full set of dice
A nice set of cardboard stand-up tokens
Initiative cards, quest cards, and treasure cards
Five pregen characters and five color blank character sheets
A fold up battle mat with stone and grass terrain

I've played in a few Dragonbane games and played through some solo games and really love this system. You can check out their free rules to get a feel for the system and listen to my Lazy RPG Talk Show segment about Dragonbane for more info.

2025 D&D Monster Manual

The D&D 2025 Monster Manual is my favorite book of monsters for 5e. The monster design is excellent, with hard-hitting and easy-to-run monsters who scale well from low to high challenge ratings. The art is excellent, the layout is fantastic, and there's a huge pile of monsters in here. One thing that helps the 2025 Monster Manual stand out is that stat blocks aren't spread across multiple pages, which makes the 2025 MM much easier to use than other 5e books who regularly spread stat blocks across columns and across pages. It also has a ton of monsters with a greater variety of highly-used NPC stat blocks at different challenge ratings. I've been using the 2025 Monster Manual in two different 5e games for several months and I really dig it.

The Tales of the Valiant Game Master's Guide

Full disclosure, I wrote a good chunk of this Game Master's Guide which is probably one of the reasons I like it so much but there's a whole lot to love in this book. Because Tales of the Valiant includes magic items in the Player's Vault, the Game Master's Guide has more room to offer tools and optional rules for any of your 5e games. I talk all about what makes this book great in my Gems of the Tales of the Valiant Game Master's Guide article.

Daggerheart Core Set

Though it doesn't come with everything the Dragonbane Core Set includes, the Daggerheart core set has a ton of awesome material in a reasonably priced box. The single-volume core book included in the set has everything you need to play the game plus ability cards that let your players build and run their characters without each of them needing their own core book. The downloadable character guides along with the cards offer everything you need to build and level up characters from all of the game's classes. This inclusivity means your whole group can build and run characters without having their own copy of the book. I haven't had a chance to play much Daggerheart yet but plan to run a Daggerheart campaign in 2026.

24" Chessex Battle Mat

This year I returned to the venerable Chessex Battle Mat, putting aside my beloved Pathfinder Flip Mat. While I still think the Pathfinder Flip Mat offers a better deal as a lazy TTRPG accessory, the Chessex mat is a joy to use at my two weekly games. With my favorite marker – the Staedtler 315-9 medium point wet erase marker, it just feels great to use. The 24" by 26" is more versatile and portable but the 34" x 48" Chessex Mega Mat is great for a larger gaming table when you don't need to lug it around from place to place. Read more about it in my Review of the Chessex Battle Mat.

What's On Your List?

A quick discussion on the Sly Flourish Patreon Discord server brought up a lot of other awesome products I haven't fully dug into yet including Shadow of the Weird Wizard, Mythic Bastionland, Dolmenwood, and more. Each of us has our own favorite products and I'd love to hear yours!

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Talk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on the Two Opposing Truths of Tabletop RPGs and the Blood Mage – Dragon Empire Prep Session 45.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Always recruit new potential members to keep your gaming group healthy.
Aim for six regular players and two drop-in players so it takes five people cancelling before you can’t get four people to your game.
Don’t get fancy with the end of your campaign. Give players the satisfying conclusion they want and deserve.
Throw in hordes of small minions to give blasters large groups of baddies to blast.
At the end of your campaign hand the story to your players and let them describe where they are one year later.
Always keep an eye on the time. Adjust your session as needed.
Pitch new games to your players. What’s in it for them?

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