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.

Another year is over, and I’m still in that reflective mindset in which I look back and consider what I’ve accomplished (or not) in 2024, and what I hope to experience in the new year. As has become tradition, the following is a list (not exhaustive) of my favorite apps, board games, books, TV shows, and video games from the last year, including many that I would recommend to others.

You can help support my author newsletter and blog by purchasing one of the books mentioned on this list. I’ll receive a small commission on anything you buy from my bookshelf or the below links. The rest of the links will take you to the page to download, watch, or buy the listed media.

Apps

• DnDBeyond Mobile App. As a player in two 5e campaigns, I use the DnDBeyond app to look up spells and magic items that don’t fit on my physical character sheet, and because I build my characters there, I have a backup in case I lose my printouts. It isn’t perfect, but it does what I want it to do, with minimal downtime in 2024 compared to past years.
• Mochi. While taking French classes this year, I wanted a no-frills flashcard app with cards I could input myself, and Mochi was much more lightweight than the other flashcard app offerings (and free of ads). I paid for the version that would sync between my desktop and phone so I could practice on the go, but it’s offline by default, which is a plus for some folks.
• Notion. After bouncing between Evernote, OneNote, Todoist, and Wunderlist (RIP), I finally found a digital notebook/task list that worked for me in the PARA Method template for Notion. Once I got the hang of creating databases and related fields, I also built for myself a games log to keep track of what I played in 2024, and a media log to compile all the book/show/movie recommendations that come my way. And the way I use Notion, I haven’t needed to upgrade to a paid plan, which is great.

Who can’t believe that 2023 is nearly over? *raises hand* As the year winds down, this seems like the time to reflect on the things that helped us or brought us joy. The following is a list (not exhaustive) of my favorite apps, books, music, TV, and video games from the last year, including many that I would recommend to others. You can find my list from 2021 here. (I missed compiling this list in 2022, in no small part because I was sampling eastern Germany’s best Christmas Markets all through December.)

Apps

• Airalo. My new go-to for international data, but you’ll need an unlocked phone. I was able to save a ton of money by setting up a second e-SIM to access Japanese mobile data networks. (It cost $10 for 10GB of data across 30 days, which was plenty for the week I spent there, and much cheaper compared to my phone plan’s offerings.) I wish I’d heard of this before my trips to England and Europe this year, but I was able to try it out in Japan successfully. I’ll definitely be making use of this app when traveling in the future. The only downside is that I can’t have both e-sims active, so I had to restart my phone in order to check my text messages. Luckily, most communication is done over apps these days instead of SMS, so I wasn’t missing much.
• ​Reverso. This app pulled more than its weight for me while I was traveling abroad this summer. The thing I liked most about it is how it pulls up example sentences so you can help see the context and usage of a given word. It also saves your searches for you, so if you were a more disciplined language student than me, you could write down any new vocabulary in a notebook to study later. Also, it’s free and works fairly well offline, and it’s able to handle multiple languages in the same app.
• Vivino. When in France, drink as the French do, I suppose. But when you’re at the supermarket trying to decide between the many, many wines available for less than 10€, this app helps to narrow down the field. Scanning the label gives you the user score for that vintage, plus a personalized rating for how it compares to previous wines you’ve enjoyed. By rating the wines I tried, I was able to get a better sense of my preferred styles and remember which labels to avoid in the future. It was also excellent to have on hand when we went to Bordeaux and sampled various Grand Crus. The app helped me to get a sense for how much those bottles would fetch back home, and whether it was worth it to buy it in France to bring home or to seek it out at my local liquor store.

With 2022 around the corner, this seems like the time to reflect on the things that helped us or brought us joy in 2021. The following is a list of my favorite apps, books, music, podcasts, TV, and video games from the last year, including many that I would recommend to others. The categories for this list are taken from Jesse J. Anderson’s Extra Focus newsletter, but the selections are my own.

Apps

• ​FitOn. I’m a strong believer in the idea that staying physically healthy is important to nourishing creativity and focus. FitOn was my favorite app for working out at home throughout the pandemic. It’s got a pretty extensive collection of yoga, strength training, and cardio workouts, and it can build a “routine” for you based on your fitness goals. The paid version adds popular music to the background of the workouts, but you can’t control what tracks play so it’s more like a radio add-on.
• ​Insight Timer. I’ve tried several guided meditations apps, but often the features you want most are behind a paywall or embedded with ads (which makes sense—content and apps take time and money to create). Insight Timer works on a model similar to YouTube: the content is creator-uploaded and users can donate to creators. Whether you’re looking to relax or fall asleep or become more mindful and aware, chances are you’ll find it here.

You don’t need to be familiar with James D’Amato’s One Shot podcast in order to have a blast with the The Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide, released this month from Adams Media.

It’s About the Journey, Not the Destination

True to its word, The Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide steers players through the process of creating a detailed backstory for their role-playing game characters with the lightheartedness and whimsy of most Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. Readers will enjoy the comedic tone of many of the exercises, from the adventuring party formation app called “Ventur” (“Whom does your character swipe right?”) to the “Damn Merlinials” prompt that explores how older generations of adventurers might look down on those newer to the lifestyle.