While it's hard to say whether there's any one particular day that's best for running away from home, if forced to choose, one would probably say the 15th of September would be as good a day as any. But on the other hand, to the mud-soaked and waterlogged girl stumbling through the woods, the fifteenth didn't feel particularly good for anything whatsoever.
After all; it was her birthday, and nothing good had ever happened on it before.
In the rainy damp woods, full of rainy damp thoughts, the girl wove past a broken-down wooden gate in an old stone wall without even taking notice of either. She did notice the house beyond them, though, and might have hesitated a moment if not for a sudden peal of thunder. A little bell chimed as she stepped inside, boots stomping against the small welcome mat, ignoring all the signs on the front door except for the words Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast.
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Welcome to Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast, a slice-of-life tabletop RPG about a heartless witch, a peaceful house, and all the folks who have made their home inside.
Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast is a very special game. It uses pre-set characters, quick-play chapters, and an adaptable ruleset unlike anything else out there. It takes less than a half hour to learn how to play and get started, but with new chapters and secrets to unlock folks can stick with the game for years and years.
Our story begins in a sprawling old house outside time and space, where it's always September 15th and there's always room for a new visitor. A teen girl sits on the windowsill, reading a well-worn paperback and listening to the splashy-crashy rain come down. She's alone in the world, but soon enough the strangers who reside here will become her closest friends, family, and mentors.
If you love slice-of-life fantasy, queer found family, and cutting-edge game mechanics, then read on!
Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast is many things. It's a bed and breakfast, of course, but it's also this book. And this book is a book, of course, but it's also a role-playing game—the sort of game we can play with our friends around a table, or on a voice call while hanging out, or even very, very slowly by mail.
Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast is played over the course of 48 chapters, each of which is a 1 to 2-hour scenario with its own unique but quick-to-learn rules. Players can take control of one of the 7 long-term residents of the B&B or choose from a cast of 50 quirky guests, each of whom has their own ongoing storylines.
The adventures contained within each chapter include lazy afternoons, frightful nights, insurmountable chores, and zany competitions, so every play session is full of surprises. There are bespoke game rules for overcoming mountains of laundry, picking berries, surviving a trip to the scary basement, naming constellations, and everything else that matters in a slice-of-life story. These mechanics are simple and modular, meaning you only need to know the rules for the chapter in front of you. It can take as little as 15 minutes to start playing.
After each chapter, we'll be able to make changes to our characters and to the book—unlocking new guests and chapters and advancing the individual storylines of each character who played. Whether they've traded their heart away for magic powers or are just doing the everyday business of growing up, everything about a character can change through play, including their core identities. Over time, your copy of Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast will become a unique artifact of your group's play experience, a treasure that you can revisit and replay for decades.
Yazeba's unusual blend of premade characters, modular rules, and legacy mechanics makes it a perfect game for pick-up play: busy players can drop in and out without ever feeling lost, and anyone who wants to jump in can make a long-term impact without a long-term commitment. We've spent months playtesting and working with our developmental consultant Avery Alder to make sure the game is as easy as possible for new players to step into, while still offering incredible depth for the more experienced player.