Update 2: One Week In, and City of Espers Is Hitting The Airwaves!
What's happening, Espers?! Good to see you! George from Three Sails Studios, here, with my first weekly update on the City of Espers campaign!
The End of Week One
And what a week it has been! If I'm honest, I've barely slept. Between the excitement of the City of Espers campaign launch and a jaunt to Edinburgh for the Tabletop Scotland convention, my mind has been buzzing (though I've been assured this isn't the onset of telekinetic powers; such a shame)!
At time of writing, 391 Espers have arrived in Zener City and are getting ready to build their Houses, reveal their psychic abilities to the world, and start making their mark on our technicolour metropolis. Together, we've raised a total of £17,944, bringing us to more than 200% funded!
From myself, Nathan (City of Espers creator), and the rest of the Three Sails Studios team, thank you for your support so far!
City of Espers On The Airwaves!
In Zener City, you can expect the House of Oracle to bring you all the news you need to hear. But there is also a rich tradition of pirate radio station, guerrilla TV broadcasting, and more handmade zines than you can shake a stick at.
Beyond Zener, though, you can count on City of Espers creator Nathan Blades to greet you whenever you open up YouTube.
While I've been busy promoting the game at Tabletop Scotland (thanks to all who stopped by to talk about the game, flick through the book, and to those who immediately backed the campaign on the spot!), Nathan has been the face around town, hosting a Crafting an Esper livestream, joining the team at Inside the Rookery for a livestreamed interview and answering questions from their always engaged community, and joining VTuber and TTRPG designer Mildra the Monk for an interview covering the ins and outs of the game!
If you want to hear all about City of Espers directly from the creator and designer, these interviews are a great place to start. I've linked them here in the update for your enjoyment and information.
With all the news from the streets of Zener you need to know, the House of Oracle have you covered! Illustration by Shane Melisse.
Signing Off: Every Little Helps
With one week down and three weeks left to go, we have entered what is commonly known in the crowdfunding space as 'the valley'. This is the point in the campaign where the initial peak of support has slowed down and we enter a much slower time for the crowdfunding campaign.
But, despite that, support for City of Espers continues, and we're very grateful to everyone who has chosen to support the campaign so far!
At more than 200% funded, I am very happy to say that City of Espers, in all its technicolour glory, is guaranteed to go to print! As with all Three Sails Studios projects, we'll be going to print the day after the campaign concludes and our excellent printers, MegaPrint, will do an amazing job on getting the game ready for your tables and shelves.
In the meantime, we are working towards our first Social Impact Stretch Goal milestone! When the campaign reaches £25,000, we'll be upgrading our solidarity donation from £1 per backer to a fixed £1,000, which will be donated to a youth homelessness charity.
This is part of our ongoing commitment as a design studio and company to support causes in need of our support. Each and every backer makes these donations possible, so consider increasing your pledge (from digital to physical, for example, or from physical to All In), sharing the campaign with your friends, communities, and online spaces, and just getting involved down in the comments below.
With that, Espers, I will sign this update off and get back to the day to day of running a TTRPG crowdfunder. We only have five more pieces of art waiting to arrive before the book is complete, so I'll be getting print files ready, reading and responding to your comments, and getting ready for my home game of City of Espers to kick off in the next few weeks!
Until next week, as always, keep yourselves safe and be excellent to each other!
In solidarity,
George City of Espers producer Studio Lead, Three Sails Studios
Zener Grand Station, flanked by Zener University and the RIDER Technologies building. Illustration by Jess Herron.
Thank you, everyone! City of Espers reached its funding goal after just four hours!
But it isn't over yet! September stretches out before us and Zener City, our technicolour metropolis, certainly has room for more sparking Espers to join the party!
A Look Behind The Scenes
Something I like to do during crowdfunding campaigns is give you all a peek behind the curtain so you can understand the campaign more deeply. Today, to celebrate how quickly we funded, I'm going to give you a breakdown of the current split between pledge levels.
At the moment, the All In Edition (which, remember, comes in a beautiful box and with a custom deck of City of Espers playing cards!) is the most popular pledge by a good long way. At time of writing, 143 backers have chosen this pledge level.
The next most popular is the Physical Edition (which comes with a physical copy of the City of Espers rulebook and PDFs, too!), with 59 backers currently opting for this version.
The Digital Edition is hot on the heels of the Physical Edition, with 45 backers opting for a PDF-only copy, and another 24 backers making use of our Low Income pledge tier. We're happy to have you with us!
Thank you all for your support so far; it means the world to the whole team behind City of Espers. For those who might have been on the fence before we funded, don't forget that you can always upgrade your pledge!City of Espers will be going to print the day after the campaign concludes, and we expect to have physical copies arriving around the world in December and January, as part of our No Long Waits! promise.
So, if you're feeling the vibe Zener City has to offer, consider boosting your pledge to the next level. And if you do, know that every pledge contributes to our...
Social Impact Stretch Goals
Every Three Sails Studios game contributes money towards a good cause linked to the themes and messages of each game contains. For Mappa Mundi, we gave £2,500 to an elephant sanctuary. For Gallows Corner, we gave £2,500 to a food bank and crisis centre. For City of Espers, we'll be donating to a youth homelessness charity!
Every pledge adds money to the pot or helps us get closer to a larger bulk donation. As it stands, we're donating £1 for every backer, but when the campaign reaches £25,000, we'll be donating £1,000 (or £1 per backer, whichever is higher).
So, please know that each and every one of you are contributing to making the world a better place just by pledging for this excellent game. Thanks for your support!
Looking Ahead
With the campaign now well under way, what can you expect to see from us over the next four weeks?
Well, every Tuesday, you'll hear from me (George, City of Espers producer and Three Sails studio lead) through these updates, breaking down what has been happening in the campaign and sharing insider looks at City of Espers.
If that's not enough, Nathan (City of Espers creator and designer) will be doing regular streams over on their Twitch channel which we'll also link through to here on Backerkit. These will be participatory streams and are a great place to talk everything City of Espers.
And of course, you can always ask questions or just hang out here on the Backerkit page! The more questions and comments we get, the better, as I always love answering them (and it helps me do something else other than looking at the funding number, so help a guy out, hey?)
Signing Off
With that all said, I'm now getting ready to catch a train up to Edinburgh for the Tabletop Scotland convention, where Three Sails Studios will be exhibiting from Friday to Sunday. If you're in the area, come find us and have a chat!
But until next week, or if I hear from you in the comments, keep safe and be excellent to each other!
In solidarity, George
The House of Starfall, getting ready for a night at Planet Party karaoke bar. Illustration by Shane Melisse.
'You should have seen some of the gear they were rocking! One of them blasted someone across the room with a trumpet! And someone else kept zooming around on a skateboard powered by fireworks. I've never seen something like it. Do you reckon we can make something better? Something that'll really put us on the map!'
Hello, Espers, and welcome back to Zener City! Today's discussion sees us just four weeks away from the Backerkit campaign launch for CITY OF ESPERS! We're very excited to be in this position, and we hope you are too!
You'll be hearing from me (George) every week until launch, with discussions, project updates, and relevant information (including pledge tiers, pricing, and what you can get for your support). But for today, I want to talk about something cool, something that defines your Esper's sense of style, purpose, and just general badass-ery: Gear.
What is Esper Gear?
In a game focused on personal creative expression and making your mark on your home city, Gear is one of several tools (tools, get it?) that facilitate that expression and -- in some cases -- literally making your mark on Zener City. Whether its a Chromatic Paint Gun daubing rival Turf with your tag or an Earthquake Hammer sending your competition flying through the air, Gear is as much a part of your Esper as their Psychic Abilities.
So let's build some Gear!
For this discussion, we want to give you the freedom to build two pieces of Gear for your Esper and share them with us in the comments!
During Character Creation, you will create two pieces of Gear and apply three Tags across them. These Tags not only show off your individual style and the functions of your Gear but also give each piece of Gear a mechanical advantage. A single piece of Gear can have a maximum of two Tags, so for this discussion, we suggest applying two tags to one piece of Gear and one tag to another.
Now, we need to keep something secret for the final version of the game, so we're not going to tell you what the mechanical advantages of each Gear Tag are, but we will share with you all the available Tags. In the comments below, you just need to answer the following questions:
What is your first piece of Gear? What Tag(s) are you applying to it? What does it look like? What does it do? What name have you given your Gear?
What is your second piece of Gear? What Tag(s) are you applying to it? What does it look like? What does it do? What name have you given your Gear?
Let's give you some examples!
My favourite character in City of Espers is Molotov Mol from the House of Barricade. I think one piece of Mol's Gear would be as follows: What is your first piece of Gear? A radio jammer, used to hack into and disrupt police radio communications What Tag(s) are you applying to it? Digital (so that it can interface with radio communication systems) and Shadowy (so that it can be used discretely, without drawing attention to the user) What does it look like? What does it do? Mol's radio jammer looks like a walkie-talkie. It allows them to listen in to radio traffic and monitor the situation, but it seems to resist being looked at and picked up on in the radio waves What name have you given your Gear? Mol's radio jammer is simply called 'Chaos', and you know things must be serious when they bring it out!
Time to make your own Gear!
So, Espers, we want to see what Gear you'll be bringing to Zener City. Time to blow the competition away, or gain a subtle advantage, or simply make a statement that none can ignore! You have your assignment, now have your Gear Tags. We'll see you in the comments!
City of Espers Gear Tags
Attuned: Connect with the world around you
Broadcasting: Live and on air!
Chromatic: Paint the town red
Dazzling: Shine bright and stun your foes
Dizzying: Out for the count!
Digital: I'm in!
Emergency: We're not broken yet!
Ensnaring: Stop, in the name of love!
Haunted: The tempting voice in your ear
Miasmic: The big smoke
Musical: A song in your heart
Oversized: The bigger the better!
Plasmic: Bzzzap!
Shadowy: Softened and silenced
Shielding: The power to protect
Spiked: Dangerously hand-crafted
Stylish: It's called FASHION, darling!
Tethering: Grapple and swing through the city
Transforming: Change when the time is right
Voyaging: You have a sweet ride!
Some examples of Esper Gear. From top left, clockwise: Shielding, Ensnaring, Shadowy, Spiked, Haunted. Illustrations by Emily Greymoore.
Mother Has Arrived! Let's start building some Esper Houses!
City-Pop Brawlers? Sunny Attitude Surfers? Anarchist Outlaws? The League of Elegant Gentlemen? Houses come in all shapes and sizes and with every type of Vibe you can imagine. Yours will be as unique as every member.
Espers: welcome to Zener City! As we get closer to the crowdfunding launch for City of Espers, we wanted to open up the floor to you, our amazing community, and give you the opportunity to start your life in Zener City a little early.
Over the coming weeks, we're going to be starting a number of 'discussions' here on Backerkit to go over some key parts of the game and give you the space to start creating, sharing, and talking with other would-be Espers.
To celebrate the start of our Backerkit Launch Party period, we wanted to start with one of our favourite parts of City of Espers, and arguably the foundational moment for any new player starting their life in Zener City: building your House!
What is an Esper House?
In a game built around found families and the experiences of urban living, Esper Houses function as both an anchor to keep you steady as Zener City throws everything it has your way and also as a foundational part of your Esper's identity. Your House is your family here in Zener.
United by shared beliefs, shared passions, and shared fashion and style, Esper Houses are safe havens and sources of safety and drama. Most will remain small and insular; a collection of likeminded individuals, yes, but with no great ambition. Others, yours included, will rise up and make their mark on this technicolour city. Whether that's taking on the Esperball League or protecting your community from unscrupulous property developers or diving into the secrets of Turf, you are destined for great things, and your House will be with you every step of the way.
Let's Build Some Houses!
For this discussion, we want you to build your Esper House and share it with us and the community here on Backerkit. As the weeks go by, you'll use this House you've built to then create a cast of Espers who call it home and start building your Turf: the psychic resonance of Zener City itself, coming to life to reflect your power and your identity.
So, it's time to get involved! It's time to build your House.
Feel free to answer all of the questions below, or -- if you'd prefer -- just choose three or four from each list!
To begin, you need to answer some Vibe Questions and then declare your House Vibe. The questions are:
• What two colours does every member of your House wear? • What genre(s) of music does your House widely listen to? • Is there a shared hobby or job among members of your House? • When a member of the House enters a room, how do outsiders react? • What would an emblem representing your House look like? • What’s your House’s Vibe in 1 to 3 words?
With your Vibe settled, it's time to tell the story of your House, to give it personality, history, and bring it to life. And most importantly, giving the House its name. We do that by asking and answering House Questions. The questions are:
• How long ago was your House formed? • What kind of person founded the House? • How does the House look after its members? • What does the House’s base of operations look like? • What form of self-expression does the House value? • What action or behaviour does the House forbid? • How does the local neighbourhood feel about your house? • Who or what has the House been struggling with lately? • What’s the name of your House?
We want to hear all about your House, so please do take part in this first discussion and share your Houses with us and the rest of the community. We'll even choose some of our favourites and share them on the Launch Livestream!
To get you started, I (George, City of Espers producer) will share one of the Houses I created for the final book: The House of Barricade.
The House of Barricade. Illustration by Shane Melisse.
Vibe Questions • What two colours does every member of your House wear? Black and red • What genre(s) of music does your House widely listen to? Lots of speed punk and hiphop • Is there a shared hobby or job among members of your House? Monitoring the Zener City Police Department • When a member of the House enters a room, how do outsiders react? Initially with wariness, but soon with reassurance • What would an emblem representing your House look like? A molotov cocktail • What’s your House’s Vibe in 1 to 3 words? Anarchist Outlaws!
House Questions • How long ago was your House formed? Five years ago • What kind of person founded the House? A prolific squatter of abandoned buildings who saw the need to provide free accommodation to Zener's homeless population • How does the House look after its members? With food banks, financial aid, and legal support • What does the House’s base of operations look like? An occupied warehouse building that technically still belongs to one of Zener's largest absentee landlords • What form of self-expression does the House value? Protest, creativity, and helping out those in need • What action or behaviour does the House forbid? The ends never justify the means. The House must achieve its aims without replicating the injustices that make the House's actions necessary. • How does the local neighbourhood feel about your house? The local neighbourhood were initially wary of these crust-punk squatters and activists. But over time, as the House has sought to protect and nurture the local community, people have become increasingly welcoming and proud of the House. • Who or what has the House been struggling with lately? There are constant fears that police spies and informants have infiltrated the House. With a House that always tries to welcome those in need, this can create significant disruption. • What’s the name of your House? The House of Barricade!
Time to Share Your House With Us!
So there we have it: a House created from the ground up! Now it's time for you to create yours and share it with the community.
Thanks for being with us on the journey, Esper. Zener City, our technicolour metropolis, is a city unlike any other, and its waiting for you to make your mark. Start now. Start with us. Bring your House to life!
I'll see you in the comments!
George City of Espers producer Studio Lead, Three Sails Studios
What's happening, Espers?! Good to see you! George from Three Sails Studios, here, with my first weekly update on the City of Espers campaign!
The End of Week One
And what a week it has been! If I'm honest, I've barely slept. Between the excitement of the City of Espers campaign launch and a jaunt to Edinburgh for the Tabletop Scotland convention, my mind has been buzzing (though I've been assured this isn't the onset of telekinetic powers; such a shame)!
At time of writing, 391 Espers have arrived in Zener City and are getting ready to build their Houses, reveal their psychic abilities to the world, and start making their mark on our technicolour metropolis. Together, we've raised a total of £17,944, bringing us to more than 200% funded!
From myself, Nathan (City of Espers creator), and the rest of the Three Sails Studios team, thank you for your support so far!
City of Espers On The Airwaves!
In Zener City, you can expect the House of Oracle to bring you all the news you need to hear. But there is also a rich tradition of pirate radio station, guerrilla TV broadcasting, and more handmade zines than you can shake a stick at.
Beyond Zener, though, you can count on City of Espers creator Nathan Blades to greet you whenever you open up YouTube.
While I've been busy promoting the game at Tabletop Scotland (thanks to all who stopped by to talk about the game, flick through the book, and to those who immediately backed the campaign on the spot!), Nathan has been the face around town, hosting a Crafting an Esper livestream, joining the team at Inside the Rookery for a livestreamed interview and answering questions from their always engaged community, and joining VTuber and TTRPG designer Mildra the Monk for an interview covering the ins and outs of the game!
If you want to hear all about City of Espers directly from the creator and designer, these interviews are a great place to start. I've linked them here in the update for your enjoyment and information.
With all the news from the streets of Zener you need to know, the House of Oracle have you covered! Illustration by Shane Melisse.
Signing Off: Every Little Helps
With one week down and three weeks left to go, we have entered what is commonly known in the crowdfunding space as 'the valley'. This is the point in the campaign where the initial peak of support has slowed down and we enter a much slower time for the crowdfunding campaign.
But, despite that, support for City of Espers continues, and we're very grateful to everyone who has chosen to support the campaign so far!
At more than 200% funded, I am very happy to say that City of Espers, in all its technicolour glory, is guaranteed to go to print! As with all Three Sails Studios projects, we'll be going to print the day after the campaign concludes and our excellent printers, MegaPrint, will do an amazing job on getting the game ready for your tables and shelves.
In the meantime, we are working towards our first Social Impact Stretch Goal milestone! When the campaign reaches £25,000, we'll be upgrading our solidarity donation from £1 per backer to a fixed £1,000, which will be donated to a youth homelessness charity.
This is part of our ongoing commitment as a design studio and company to support causes in need of our support. Each and every backer makes these donations possible, so consider increasing your pledge (from digital to physical, for example, or from physical to All In), sharing the campaign with your friends, communities, and online spaces, and just getting involved down in the comments below.
With that, Espers, I will sign this update off and get back to the day to day of running a TTRPG crowdfunder. We only have five more pieces of art waiting to arrive before the book is complete, so I'll be getting print files ready, reading and responding to your comments, and getting ready for my home game of City of Espers to kick off in the next few weeks!
Until next week, as always, keep yourselves safe and be excellent to each other!
In solidarity,
George City of Espers producer Studio Lead, Three Sails Studios
Zener Grand Station, flanked by Zener University and the RIDER Technologies building. Illustration by Jess Herron.
if you read this im free on Thursday night and would like to hang out. Please respond to this and then hang out with me on Thursday night when I’m free.
Thank you, everyone! City of Espers reached its funding goal after just four hours!
But it isn't over yet! September stretches out before us and Zener City, our technicolour metropolis, certainly has room for more sparking Espers to join the party!
A Look Behind The Scenes
Something I like to do during crowdfunding campaigns is give you all a peek behind the curtain so you can understand the campaign more deeply. Today, to celebrate how quickly we funded, I'm going to give you a breakdown of the current split between pledge levels.
At the moment, the All In Edition (which, remember, comes in a beautiful box and with a custom deck of City of Espers playing cards!) is the most popular pledge by a good long way. At time of writing, 143 backers have chosen this pledge level.
The next most popular is the Physical Edition (which comes with a physical copy of the City of Espers rulebook and PDFs, too!), with 59 backers currently opting for this version.
The Digital Edition is hot on the heels of the Physical Edition, with 45 backers opting for a PDF-only copy, and another 24 backers making use of our Low Income pledge tier. We're happy to have you with us!
Thank you all for your support so far; it means the world to the whole team behind City of Espers. For those who might have been on the fence before we funded, don't forget that you can always upgrade your pledge!City of Espers will be going to print the day after the campaign concludes, and we expect to have physical copies arriving around the world in December and January, as part of our No Long Waits! promise.
So, if you're feeling the vibe Zener City has to offer, consider boosting your pledge to the next level. And if you do, know that every pledge contributes to our...
Social Impact Stretch Goals
Every Three Sails Studios game contributes money towards a good cause linked to the themes and messages of each game contains. For Mappa Mundi, we gave £2,500 to an elephant sanctuary. For Gallows Corner, we gave £2,500 to a food bank and crisis centre. For City of Espers, we'll be donating to a youth homelessness charity!
Every pledge adds money to the pot or helps us get closer to a larger bulk donation. As it stands, we're donating £1 for every backer, but when the campaign reaches £25,000, we'll be donating £1,000 (or £1 per backer, whichever is higher).
So, please know that each and every one of you are contributing to making the world a better place just by pledging for this excellent game. Thanks for your support!
Looking Ahead
With the campaign now well under way, what can you expect to see from us over the next four weeks?
Well, every Tuesday, you'll hear from me (George, City of Espers producer and Three Sails studio lead) through these updates, breaking down what has been happening in the campaign and sharing insider looks at City of Espers.
If that's not enough, Nathan (City of Espers creator and designer) will be doing regular streams over on their Twitch channel which we'll also link through to here on Backerkit. These will be participatory streams and are a great place to talk everything City of Espers.
And of course, you can always ask questions or just hang out here on the Backerkit page! The more questions and comments we get, the better, as I always love answering them (and it helps me do something else other than looking at the funding number, so help a guy out, hey?)
Signing Off
With that all said, I'm now getting ready to catch a train up to Edinburgh for the Tabletop Scotland convention, where Three Sails Studios will be exhibiting from Friday to Sunday. If you're in the area, come find us and have a chat!
But until next week, or if I hear from you in the comments, keep safe and be excellent to each other!
In solidarity, George
The House of Starfall, getting ready for a night at Planet Party karaoke bar. Illustration by Shane Melisse.
A question i have been wondering a lot since reading the pre-release version of the game.
Lets say someone come with a Psychic Abilities that isn't covert by the book.
Would there be rules or guidelines to create unique psychic abilities? Like which suit should it be or what Value.
Also if those exist already what are they? Been wanting to show my friend the game and do a one shot but i know some of my friends would think outside the boxes and the pre-release doesn't have those guideline.
