The Zhenya’s Wonder Tales campaign is now complete!
Thanks to all 565 of you who backed this project and for everyone who shared the game with friends and showed us your ...
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Bully Pulpit Games
about 1 month ago
It's the Last Day! Only a Few Hours Left!
Today is the last day of the Zhenya's Wonder Tales campaign!
We're down to the final hours! The project campaign ends at 8pm EST / 5pm PST tonight!
Still Waiting to Pledge...
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Bully Pulpit Games
about 1 month ago
Interview with the witch herself, Zhenya!
Three Days Left!
We’re in the final few days of our campaign, and we’re so glad to have you all with us. If you have friends who haven’t heard about the game yet, we hope yo...
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Bully Pulpit Games
about 1 month ago
The Final Week! Movie and Music Recommendations
It's the final week of the Zhenya's Wonder Tales campaign! If you've been waiting to jump on board, now is the time!
To celebrate the moment and say thanks for all your supp...
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Bully Pulpit Games
about 1 month ago
Our Favorite Tales, Characters, and Moves
Here at BPG HQ, we've played a lot of Zhenya's Wonder Tales and we've been living with these characters for a while. We love them all, but here are some of our favorite chara...
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Bully Pulpit Games
about 2 months ago
About the Folk Tale Source Material
Folk tales and fairy stories are an endless well to fall down, and I have just started my descent, relatively speaking. I’m certainly no expert! But I know what I like, and I...
The Zhenya’s Wonder Tales campaign is now complete!
Thanks to all 565 of you who backed this project and for everyone who shared the game with friends and showed us your support! We’re very pleased at the success of this campaign, especially considering the very difficult moment in which it’s happening.
If you've seen the recent U.S. tariff news, you know that manufacturing games is about to get a whole lot more expensive. It's possible that this will be the last time we'll be able to feasibly offer a game like this, or to reprint our other boxed games.
I hope that I’m wrong! Perhaps if enough of us tell our representatives how much this impacts us, they will step up and make things right so we can all continue to live our lives and happily play games together.
In any case, we hope that you take advantage of the preview PDF we made available during this campaign and give Zhenya’s a try at your table while you’re waiting for the final version. If you do, please let us know how it goes!
What Comes Next?
The campaign may be closed, but our work continues!
It will take a few weeks for all the funding to get sorted out between Backerkit and the banks, and we’ll be using that time to get the pledge management tools set up here on Backerkit. We'll let you all know as soon as that's ready, which will most likely be in May.
We’re currently working with the pre-press team at our manufacturer and fine-tuning the layout of the cards and rulebook. We expect to hand the files over to them shortly to get a proof and make sure everything is coming together as we expect it to.
While we’re expecting our costs to go up dramatically due to tariffs, we budgeted for contingencies like this and don’t expect any problems delivering the game as planned. We’ll be talking with the manufacturer more about that and keeping our eyes on the news, so we’ll let you know as we find out more.
If you have any questions as we go forward, please let us know! You're welcome to reach out to us through Backerkit or directly by email to [email protected].
Hi! This project look great, but some of my buddies & family members struggle with english. I wonder if translating pdfs on my own would be possible. Not sure if i.e. we can get plain-card picture and txt files with game texts.
We’re in the final few days of our campaign, and we’re so glad to have you all with us. If you have friends who haven’t heard about the game yet, we hope you’ll tell them about it!
Interview with Zhenya
We asked you all for questions for Zhenya, and they were happy to answer them... for a small price. We’ve paid dearly for that, so we hope you enjoy the results!
Hey Zhenya, are you a real witch?
What an impolite question. Am I a real witch. What makes a witch real? What makes a worker of magic a witch? So little you know. Such shame you bring. If you want to learn whether I am a witch come find me. I am anywhere you see blood in the snow when the trees are quiet. I am beyond every green wall of stinging, cutting ozhyna. Find me and we can talk about witchcraft.
Cottages, with legs or without?
I am not who your question suggests, but I hold a great reverence for her.
Do you have any tips for getting blood out of wool? Asking for a friend.
Chop a hole in river ice. Tie a stout rope to a nearby tree. Tie the other end to the corpse and drop it, fully clothed in your wool, into the hole. In spring the wool will be as good as new after you lay it flat to dry. As an added bonus, the fat of the corpse will saponify (transform to a soap-like consistency) and will be perfect for making kasha.
Favorite recipe for weeknight meals?
Nothing warms my heart (or my stomach) on a busy weeknight like eating a delicious serving of kasha out of the skull of an old friend.
You will need: Two cow's horns of water, one cow's horn roasted kasha, forest mushrooms, garden onions, a good handful of human fat (preferably from a child), dill or other savory herbs, salt to taste.
To prepare: Boil kasha in water in your cauldron, then add salt and put next to the fire, covered, until kasha is tender. Cook first onions and then mushrooms in human fat until they are on the edge of burned. Add water and more fat as necessary. Season to taste, although they should be exquisite all alone. Add the tender kasha to this mixture and stir well. Garnish with dill and serve.
How do you prefer to take your fireweed tea?
Ah, you mean kostrytsya. I take it steeped until it is as black as my heart and twice as bitter. Perhaps with a little sprinkle of dried pivoniya as a reminder of lost youth. Good for the joints! Good for the guts!
Have you ever / would you ever date a werewolf? What qualities do you look for in a potential supernatural lover? What are some red flags?
Child, there is no such thing as a “werewolf”. There are wolf fairies, of course, who can masquerade as mortals, and these may be what you are speaking of. Zhenya is old; Zhenya does not date. But I have had many lovers and I always appreciate a partner with the Gift who knows not to tempt my wrath. Some red flags include the flag of Elbląski County, and the banner of my old friend Bohuslav of Švamberg.
What is your true name?
My true name rhymes with the fading light in a hanged man’s eyes. What is your true name, child?
Zhenya, what advice do you have for us Americans in these dark times?
It can always get darker, child. My advice is to cultivate fearlessness, for the creatures of the night and their mortal allies thrive on fear.
Why are you letting these people make this game?
They seemed so earnest, and they sought me out - which is an impressive demonstration of their determination or idiocy. A bargain was easily struck. I shall get a freshly pulled tooth every year and they shall have their little game. As long as the teeth arrive promptly I wish them the best of luck.
Have you actually played Zhenya's Wonder Tales?
No, mercy, no. "But Zhenya", Jason says, "It is a sort of game on cards that is not a card game, and you play-act and caper and jape," and I suspect it is some kind of riddle or trap. If I wish to "have fun" I will do something more to my own taste, like forcing fairies to dance until they turn to sand or chasing bears into pits.
Thank you for the questions! The campaign ends Thursday at 8pm EST!
Today is the last day of the Zhenya's Wonder Tales campaign!
We're down to the final hours! The project campaign ends at 8pm EST / 5pm PST tonight!
Still Waiting to Pledge?
If you've been waiting to pledge so that you can be fashionably late, now is the time to crash the party! We've got a place by the hearth for you, so we hope that you'll join us by choosing a pledge level today and adding an extra copy or the Roll20 edition while you're at it!
Thank you for your support!
For all of you who have already signed on to support the project, Thank you! We're so glad to have you here and we're excited to be able to make this project a real thing and not just a scary monster story we tell each other in the light of the fire.
It's the final week of the Zhenya's Wonder Tales campaign! If you've been waiting to jump on board, now is the time!
To celebrate the moment and say thanks for all your support, our team put together this list of movie, music, and video game recommendations that have the right Zhenya's vibe! If you have suggestions of your own, we'd love to hear them!
Jenn’s Recommendations
The first and foremost that comes to mind is Three Thousand Years of Longing. While no wonder tale contains a djinn, the movie has a rich and strange feel to it and the different stories over time feel very similar to the wonder tales.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Huntersmay or may not be so bad it’s good (it’s not, it’s a bad movie), but I do find myself rooting for the witches every time! The dark forest vibes are very Zhenya and Peter Stormare as Sheriff Berringer is eminently hateable.
If horror isn’t a draw for you, Song of the Sea brings beautiful animation together with haunting music. My family watched this after the studio’s other film, Secret of Kells, and we were all crying by the time the credits rolled. A sad time, but a good time.
Song of the Sea (2014)
Child of Light is a video game full of magic and monsters, and the stories you discover in different areas echo the different wonder tales- especially the village of crows. This sometimes-side-scroller, turn-based combat game is beautiful and captivating and a very good time!
The Longing doesn’t share much on the surface with Zhenya’s Wonder Tales, but feels like it could be the epilogue of a tale, with the Shade tasked with watching over a sleeping king for 400 days. Played in real time, you can explore the underground kingdom you find yourself in, contend with boredom, read actual books and gather resources and decorate your room. Will you wake the king when the time comes?
Kristine’s Recommendations
I've always loved the vibes of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the 1975 animated television special by Chuck Jones. It's a bit like the Jungle Book in the animation but the conflict between the mongoose and the cobras feels very Zhenya's!
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1975)
In terms of music, there's an album called Solon Islandus by Icelandic artist Gabríel Ólafs. Several songs make me think of Zhenya's Wonder Tales:
Solon Islandus - choral piece that warms and cools in tandem. There's something magical and sad about it.
Kyndir - A piano composition that makes me imagine that heavy feeling of longing while rain falls outside a thick glass window.
The Restless Bird- A voiceless song like birds flying across stark grey skies.
Jason’s Recommendations
I've talked about book recommendations in our previous post but for movies, my first stop would be Czech fantasy, most of it animated or using puppetry:
