Zephyr: An Anarchist Roleplaying Game Of Fleeting Identities

Update #22 - December Update
8 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
9 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
10 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
11 months ago – Tue, Aug 29, 2023 at 10:34:27 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Update #18 - July Update! NPCs, Digital Tabletop and other bits
about 1 year ago – Tue, Jul 25, 2023 at 12:05:48 AM

Hello kinfolk!

I'm writing from an airport now since I'm jaunting from Tokyo to Fukuoka and back doing immigration stuff and prepping my apartment to move back to the south. This month has been very hectic and stressful on that end, which meant sadly I couldn't finish the book by this week, which was what I wished to do. I'm sorry! I hope next month, finally settled in my new place after the move I'll be able to send out the PDF. In the meantime, however, we did lots, and I wanted to let y'all know...

We are almost done with the NPCs for backers! The end result is swell and I've loved every second of working with these fellas. It's great because after three years of drawing Windfolk non-stop, whether you want it or not you start to settle and run out of ideas to spice-up their design. But working with y'all really revitalized the designs and inspired me to switch things up; it was very enriching, even for a creative loner like I am.

I also got to solve one design problem I had, which was the planning of my character sheet design and shifting stuff around and finalizing a design for it. The thing is, I had made changes to the rules from the last time (ages ago) that I had worked on the character sheet, and to reflect that (basically adding Traits) I needed to rework the sheet, and to change the function of the second sheet. 

This month I got to do exactly that, reworked the main character sheet, and will modify and render the second page so that it basically has the Cargo section (so all items) and the rest of the sheet is dedicated entirely to showcase a rules summary for players to reference. I think it's a very good use for the space of the second sheet, since Zephyr is already a pretty non-conventional game that has some heft to its mechanics, and so players would benefit a lot from having a quick rules summary there. Also, since the main other thing featured in the second sheet is the stuff you are carrying, I'll make it as if its the interior of a bag - the cover of which you "pull up" (the first character sheet) when you need to check inside : D (something like the sketch below)

Another big thing this month is that, with our discord community we been talking a bit about online platforms for Zephyr. The challenge ofc here is how to port the more physical, boardgamey aspects of the game online, in a way that's also accessible. For example, some of the more fleshed-out tabletop sims in the 3D department might have accessibility issues and quirks that make them not very friendly for TTRPG use, while the more TTRPG-ish simulators have good functionality for TTRPGs, forms, sheets, but no physics and the like. We are starting to test out platforms, have already tried Tabletop Simulator, and now we are trying out Role, which seems quite easy to access (but still need to adapt to the lack of 3D functionality). We'll be trying this one this Sunday with the playtest group and see how it runs, so we have a better image for what makes for the best online platform for Zephyr (whether going for something more boardgamey that is more unwieldy for PDF handling and stuff, or something more TTRPGish with little/no physics involved)

If you happen to know of a platform that you think would be a good option for Zephyr, this is a great time to mention it since we continue to test them out and find the best suiting one!

That's it for today. Thanks for your patience and for enthusiasm for the game! Remember you can join our Discord here if you wanna chat.

Best wishes,

Federico