Yazeba’s Online, an unconventional tabletop roleplaying game and the digital playground of your dreams

It’s been four years since Possum Creek Games (Wanderheim) struck the match that would become Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast, an innovative, rule-breaking, entertaining tabletop role-playing game that is undoubtedly the first of its kind. March saw the release of the online iteration of the game, Yazebas Online. This version, which also includes the official release of the original Yazebas Book in PDF form, combines the novel virtual table features of One More Multiverse, the point-and-click adventure of The Mystery of Monkey Islandand the terraforming and design freedom of Animal Crossing: New Horizons to a glorious online adventure. It’s a lot to cram into one game, but the end result is a charming, sincere playground for your digital escapades.

the core Yazebas Experience promises a slice-of-life fantasy with themes of queer family and community nurturing told through novel and innovative tabletop game mechanics. The game, set in a magical bed and breakfast run by a heartless witch, is played with fully pre-made characters. These characters include longtime residents of the eponymous B&B as well as guests who are just passing through. This allows new players to jump straight into the game without having to be guided through character creation and customization.

Each character has their strengths and weaknesses and so-called journeys on which their role-playing game is based. Traveling is an individual process of self-discovery and growth; When a character’s journey is complete, players choose a new journey to focus on. The game is divided into short chapters, which are standalone vignettes featuring specific characters. The chapters can be played in any order and last 60-90 minutes. Some chapters and characters are locked and need to be unlocked over time, giving the game an “I have to catch them all” vibe.

The physical game uses a lot of different resources depending on which chapter is being played; Coins, tokens, and even a deck of playing cards add to the tactile nature of the experience. Unspent resources can be used at the end of a chapter to further a character’s progress on their individual journey of self-discovery, or to unlock locked materials for the entire party. Players can switch who plays which character, play and replay the same chapters, and collect new play opportunities as they go. The physical version of Yazebas also comes with an envelope with stickers called mementos. The book is filled with empty shelves, and when prompted, players take a commemorative sticker from the cover and place it on a shelf. Filling up a shelf usually unlocks a new chapter or character, and unlocking something places a key sticker over the lock on the appropriate side.

you play Yazebas by changing it: cross out items on lists, fill shelves, decorate page borders, and add traits and doodles to character sheets. No two groups will play the same game, which means Yazebas is really yours to play with.

In Yazebas Online, residents are represented as sprites, and players control them with mouse and keyboard, drifting in and out of the B&B’s numerous settings. You can spend hours picking up and putting down every (or if you’re like me) object in sight and inspecting them to reveal flavor texts and hilarious jokes.

Image: Another multiverse about Keerthi Sridharan

Select a chapter and the game will teleport you to the room where it takes place: take care of a mountain of clothes in the laundry room in Chapter 3: Laundry Cycle, or try your luck at the watering hole in Chapter 21: Gone Fishin’ . These settings make the chapters much more real, and there might be hidden secrets waiting for everyone to discover. (There may be three new locked characters exclusive to the online edition.) The experience is made even more immersive by the synthic vibes of the game’s original music, composed by Naked Lake’s Jordan Hartsfield and tailored to the mood of each specific chapter – eerie, thoughtful or hectic, among other things.

The pros and cons of Yazebas Online are a no-brainer; Playing the tutorial will guide players through navigating the One More Multiverse interface, changing and adding character sheets, and interacting with the world around them.

The game’s sticker pad contains the rules for each chapter, as well as dispensers for tokens and other resources and memorabilia that you can place on the in-game shelves like trophies. Like every other part of the interface, the sticker block area is collapsible so you can open it up when you need it and store it away when you’re not.

The housekeeping mechanic built into the game streamlines the process of completing a chapter, instructing players to organize any memorabilia they have collected, view new unlocked materials, and add improvements, doodles, or notes to character sheets.

Image: Another multiverse about Keerthi Sridharan

The game’s beautiful pixel art isn’t just a backdrop: it’s the ultimate digital playground, an endless sheet of digital butcher paper that players can use to expand the B&B’s environment. Players can customize the interior of the B&B with tiles, furniture, and a pen tool without areas being locked. Another multiverse even pulls magic animations, soundtracks and additional assets from other systems and settings into its fast-growing inventory of bespoke digital games that you can use to modify the B&B however you like. You can also rotate, scale and dress up your characters. And yes, that means you can play an entire chapter upside down and three times larger than everyone else – just like I did.

Image: Another multiverse about Keerthi Sridharan

Image: Another multiverse about Keerthi Sridharan

My favorite part is the Polaroid feature: players can snap photos of their on-screen shenanigans and drag them into character journals, label and doodle over them however they want.

The online platform is also infinitely customizable and you can use it according to your needs. You can walk your character around the B&B while recounting their interactions with other residents and guests, but if you’d rather stick with the theater of the mind, you can just use Yazebas Online as an optional virtual gaming table that tracks character progress, checklists, and resources such as coins and tokens throughout the game via the UI. There’s ample space for doodles and notes in each character’s journal, and chapter rules can be lifted from the sticker pad and placed directly in a room for easy reference. For more extensive reference materials, Yazebas Online comes with a PDF of the original book.

Image: Another multiverse about Keerthi Sridharan

Yazebas takes everything you love about gaming, roleplaying, and having fun with your friends and brings it to you on one cheesy, nostalgic platter. all about Yazebas Online brings the lesson to the heart of the original game: home is what you make of it. Use it to play through chapters like a video game, keep all your coins and tokens in one place, or just leave it open in the background and soak up the bed and breakfast atmosphere while you chat via voice chat play. Yazebas is your oyster.