Zephyr: An Anarchist Roleplaying Game Of Fleeting Identities

Update #23 - January Update!
4 months ago – Fri, Jan 05, 2024 at 08:56:13 PM

Hey Kinfolk!

Happy new year! 2024 comes in with news for y'all and, at least to me, with a lot to be excited about. Bureaucratic hassles are now past me and so we've done and completed development edits by Lucrecia, which have been a godsend to polish the game and bring the text and mechanics in line with the ideas and themes. This includes an overhaul of the Feelings mechanic, as well as plenty of QOL changes that I'm implementing as we speak.

Before and during our editorial run, I worked finishing off the second character sheet, which is now looking like this. It's basically there for all your Equipment and to note down Conditions, though most of the space is devoted to a conceptual map of the game's mechanics that players can use to reference stuff.

Aside from that, I spent some time working on a set of new spreads, one that I'll use to cushion out any new text needed for the changes we effected:

And then advancing a bigger, more complex and detailed illustration that I had started ages ago and that I wouldn't forgive myself for not finishing, which depicts a Salt States Teethreme (currently in progress)

Tomorrow I'll be doing a new character creation playtest with one of my groups as I continue processing developmental edits. After that, we'll do a new proofing/editorial pass and then we'll be off to the printers! I'm very happy that the project progression is back in my hands, and excited to see it going to print.

See you in the next one,

Federico

Update #22 - December Update
6 months ago – Fri, Dec 01, 2023 at 07:06:03 PM

Hello kinfolk,

November passed us and activity is now ramping up! I got a final date, 20th of December, whereby the authorities told me my corporate bank account will be established so I can finally get the manufacture contract rolling :) I'm very excited to finally get to production, and so now I've been going back and making a few more polishing touches before taking Zephyr to the editing stage.

For that, I managed to take the time to expand on the contents of the book, illustrated a couple new spreads I'm showcasing here, mostly on Windfolk background info. I also reworked and expanded the Entwining mechanic, and made it much more interesting (sentimentally Entwining with an entity allows you to, while Entwined, taking on the role of that entity - be it a bird, a fungal network, a river, you name it) and even being able to use Regional Tokens for reveals. This opens up options for tackling obstacles (for example, you may devote a session to gathering the right Zephyr tokens to make a ritual so that you may entwine with a river, and when you do it, use Regional Tokens to pass a Reveal that would allow you, roleplaying as the river, to flood a State outpost). It also gives added functionality to Regional Tokens, meaning players need to be more mindful of them as they build them up. The fleshing out of this mechanic also bled into Technologies, so now I made changes to them so that we got Technologies that open up playability while Entwined.

Next update, I'll be talking more about the editing process, but for now I'll say we are tackling this in two stages - one more tied to a thematic readthru of the book, and a second one more in akin to regular old line editing. I expect to finish these last few details within this and the next week, as well as close a pending chargen playtest, and then do the handover. 

That's it for today folks! I'll see you around as usual, in a month.

Have a nice day,

Fede

Update #21 - November Update
7 months ago – Sat, Oct 28, 2023 at 01:54:06 AM

Hi kinfolk,

Once again reaching out to write an update on Zephyr. Like said in the last, I'm still waiting for the bureaucratic process of setting up my company in Fukuoka, which is taking longer than expected *sigh*. I don't have many news outside of that, since this is really out of my hands at the moment, but my plan is that once I get closer to the moment my corporate account gets set up (after which I'll be able to process invoices for both manufacture and editing) I'll start the edits (since those get paid once they're done, not when they start) and hopefully move as fast as we can from there. I'm sorry it's taken longer than expected, but these are the kind of things we gotta deal with when in the midst of immigration procedures.

Another thing I wanna do between now and the middle of November is to do another pass on the book and give y'all a second, "beta" version that's more up to date than the alpha I sent y'all. If you are so inclined, any comments you send my way about the current version might help a lot, since we are just waiting for these processes to be over, I can give feedback more attention than normal. Specially feedback about comprehension, if the concepts and rules come across easily (which is one of my main goals, given that we are working with quite unconventional rules after all).

Anyway, many thanks for your patience, and your help during this stretch of the project! It's dearly appreciated.

Best wishes,

Federico

Update #20 - October Update
8 months ago – Mon, Oct 02, 2023 at 08:44:38 PM

Hi kinfolk,

Just hopping about for a late update, unfortunately I have no news on the production side. I'm still making steps in the bureaucratic processes to get the company running here, but they take time; it's projected to take about a month and a half until my account is set up and I can process invoices for editing and printing commissions. I cannot do this from my UK account since I need to be able to account for expenditures from my Japanese account to comply with immigration procedures. So until I can do that, I cannot go forward with printing.

In the meantime, I continue to work on the book as much as I can, expanding sections, making new spreads, and adding details here and there as I believe needed, and playtesting with the guys, so know whatever bureaucratic lull we have I'll take as a chance to make the game better :) fortunately Zephyr has proven to have some astonishing capacity to fuel creativity in retroactive manners; every week I think of a new way to convey Obligations and how they shape the world, as well as how the customs and metaphysics of life in Ophoi can add to gameplay and worldbuilding.

If you haven't seen the last update, I encourage y'all to check the alpha PDF and give it a read; most of the book's contents are found there, so there's plenty to get immersed into at the moment.

That's all for now, I'll be getting back to y'all at the end of this month/start of the next.

Best wishes,

Federico

Update #19 - August Update! PDF and Current Works
9 months ago – Tue, Aug 29, 2023 at 10:34:27 PM

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