2025 had a very different shape for me than those past, with much less free time and, frankly, energy. I was thrilled to become a mother, but it meant prioritizing my little boy over my own creativity and entertainment. The list of my favorite apps, tabletop games, books, TV and movies, and video games from the last year is shorter than in previous years, but perhaps you’ll find something to inspire you as you pursue those 2026 goals and resolutions. There’s also a bonus list of recommended mom-related apps at the end if you or someone you know is expecting.

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Apps

• Obsidian. This free note-taking app works entirely offline and locally, and it isn’t full of AI bloat, making it my new RPG campaign organizer of choice. I’ve been using it for my solo RPG campaigns and love the combination of wiki-style linking with basic markup formatting. The latter helps me easily translate my content to typeset PDFs on GM Binder or blog posts on WordPress (with the right plugin). And with the recent introduction of bases providing database functionality, it’s quickly becoming a full-blown replacement for Notion. Check out PhD20’s series of tutorials on using Obsidian for RPGs if you want to get started.