Looking Ahead to 2026
Every year around this time, I try to look forward, not to predict trends or chase whatever the algorithm thinks is next, but to ask a simpler question: what kind of tabletop work do I actually want to be doing a year from now?
2026 feels like one of those hinge years. Not a revolution, but a chance to deepen grooves that are already there. This year marks 18 years of the blog. That’s a LONG time.
Smaller Games, Sharper Focus
I don’t see myself moving away from small-format games any time soon. If anything, 2026 is about leaning harder into them. I’ve got enough micro-RPGs to release one a month through 2026, so I plan on doing that. I want games that know exactly what they’re about and refuse to sprawl past it.
That means more rules-light projects that do one emotional or mechanical thing very well: a specific tone, a single pressure, a focused experience you can hold in your hands without needing a campaign bible.
The Riverlands Keep Flowing
The Riverlands aren’t done with me yet.
What started as a cozy setting experiment has become something closer to a living shelf: books that talk to each other, overlap gently, and invite slow play rather than escalation. In 2026, I want to keep expanding sideways instead of upward. In February, I intend to launch my next Kickstarter for Song of the River Prince, so keep an eye open for that.
More Craft
One of my goals for 2026 is fewer half-finished drafts. Fewer “this might be cool someday” documents sitting in folders. More finished pieces that feel intentional, edited, and complete, even if they’re small.
That also means being more selective about which ideas deserve a full game and which are better left as blog posts, prompts, or sidebars in someone else’s story.
Community Over Metrics
Dice Monkey has never been about chasing numbers, and I don’t want 2026 to change that. If anything, I want to double down on the parts of tabletop culture that happen off the algorithm: local games, slow campaigns, con one-shots that exist only in memory, blog posts written because someone needed to say the thing out loud.
If the blog continues to be a place where people stumble in, read something thoughtful, and leave with an idea they didn’t have before, that’s success.
What I’m Carrying Forward
The biggest thing I’m bringing into 2026 is confidence in the work I like doing.
I don’t need every game to be a flagship product. I don’t need every idea to scale. Some things are allowed to be small, strange, and personal. Some games only need to exist for the people who find them at the right moment.
That’s enough.
Here’s to another year of rolling dice for the right reasons, and leaving space at the table for quieter stories.
