2025 Annual Review
The Year of Exploration
General Summary
Hey hello! Welcome to the 2025 review of The Sea of Starlight, and Bonus Action. This year definitely flew by and saw a lot of changes in focus, both for Bonus Action, and my other job. I teach at a university and switched majors to Spatial Development last september. A far more creative field, where I have the pleasure to teach students all sorts of skills from concept development, to sketching and designing. It has been a blast, but developing new lessons and workshops is time consuming for sure!
In terms of Bonus Action, my focus was on publishing a book, which I've made progress on, but have not yet been able to complete. If you want to get a sneak peek, check it out here!
Statistics
In terms of Bonus Action, my focus was on publishing a book, which I've made progress on, but have not yet been able to complete. If you want to get a sneak peek, check it out here!
Numbers
Here are the (approximate) statistics of what I've illustrated and made during 2025!Statistics
| Type | 2025 | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Images Illustrated | 42 | 1863 |
| Words Written | 51.276 | 606.792 |
| Articles Published | 282 | 2979 |
| Items Invented | 262 | 1925 |
| Potions brewed | 0 | 200 |
| Creatures conjured | 40 | 87 |
| People encountered | 0 | 110 |
| Locations uncovered | 0 | 231 |
| Places mapped | 4 | 12 |
| Random tables constructed | 32 | 71 |
Rewards Granted
The Book. This year I planned to create and launch Relics of the Realms on Kickstarter. That turned out to be far more work than I had expected, and the timeline slipped accordingly. Still, a lot did get done. I’ve edited and corrected the text of roughly 1,000 items, updated around 80 illustrations, and continued publishing new creatures and random tables on Patreon. None of that is wasted effort. All of this material is being consolidated and will be published here in the digital archive as well.
The Journey. Progress was slower than I wanted, but it was real. I learned a lot about what actually goes into Kickstarter campaigns and physical production, beyond the romantic idea of “finishing a book.” I also spent time learning about marketing and, more importantly, about choosing the right business partners for specific parts of the process. As a solo creator, that’s harder than it sounds, and I made a few things more difficult than they needed to be. That said, the illustration updates were a clear reminder that my technical and artistic skills have improved over the past few years, which helped keep things in perspective.
The Games. I’m still running two campaigns: a West Marches–style game set in Novarheim a standard four-player campaign set in Azuno. Both went on a brief hiatus while I switched jobs and focused on the book, but they slowly picked back up toward the end of 2025. I also managed to play a one-shot as Balthazar, a human Grave Domain cleric, which was a nice change of pace. Earlier in 2025, I designed my own educational game, Vino Vidi Vici. That project ended up being more influential than I expected and has pushed me to think more seriously about game design as a broader creative direction. I don’t know yet what that will turn into, but it’s clearly something I want to explore further.
Goals for 2026
Here are a few goals for 2026 in no particular order.
Kickstart the Relics of the Realms
Update the Sea of Starlight with edited texts and images of magic items
Worldbuild and finalize the pantheon
Update old articles from the first campaign
Make formats for NPC's and shops/merchants
Create more new content, instead of finalizing/reillustrating old content.
The Journey. Progress was slower than I wanted, but it was real. I learned a lot about what actually goes into Kickstarter campaigns and physical production, beyond the romantic idea of “finishing a book.” I also spent time learning about marketing and, more importantly, about choosing the right business partners for specific parts of the process. As a solo creator, that’s harder than it sounds, and I made a few things more difficult than they needed to be. That said, the illustration updates were a clear reminder that my technical and artistic skills have improved over the past few years, which helped keep things in perspective.
The Games. I’m still running two campaigns: a West Marches–style game set in Novarheim a standard four-player campaign set in Azuno. Both went on a brief hiatus while I switched jobs and focused on the book, but they slowly picked back up toward the end of 2025. I also managed to play a one-shot as Balthazar, a human Grave Domain cleric, which was a nice change of pace. Earlier in 2025, I designed my own educational game, Vino Vidi Vici. That project ended up being more influential than I expected and has pushed me to think more seriously about game design as a broader creative direction. I don’t know yet what that will turn into, but it’s clearly something I want to explore further.
Goals for 2026
Here are a few goals for 2026 in no particular order.
Notes
Finally, I'd like to thank my patrons, supporters, subscribers, customers and followers for joining me on this worldbuilding, item creating, illustrating and writing journey. It is thanks to you that I can continue doing this! If you are not yet a patron, consider supporting me at Patreon.com/BonusAction
Brunnian Gardener's Goose
Amniteum
The Handsome Garpike
Tidal Torture
Sheep Drake
Swordstone Elemental
Sunhoard Scarab
Wandering Stump
Report Date
30 Dec 2025
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