8 Player Yazeba's Play Report


Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast: Stay #1 - Another Rainy Day 

I brought Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast to a cottage weekend in October of 2024, which was attended by all with the express goal of playing games. There was some euchre, cribbage, Root, Dune: Imperium, Honey Heist, Slugblaster, Turnip 28, and Jenga, and that's the ones I can recall. I came prepared with Yazeba's because I thought, "neat, this could be for the real ones and some odd-one-outs when we have too many for other games". You see, the likelihood of having stragglers was quite plausible, considering we had 17 PEOPLE. It was a pretty big cottage, honest. 

It's Friday night, we've all just eaten dinner, a delicious lentil soup, and a pause fills the room as we all consider what to play first. No one wants to be the first to set the tone for the weekend. I forgot the line above immediately after thinking it and suggested Yazeba's to the group. No stragglers, no 'real ones', the entire group. I get 7 takers, 8 including myself as Concierge. I get the feeling maybe, just maybe, this is too many people. I also, definitely should have read this book more before suggesting it, but live mas. 

Thankfully, the first chapter to play, Chapter 5, is a game with a raucous vibe, and I figure, 'yes, this can be done". We find a table and sofas, and I turn to the group, and suggest that we have two people play Hey Kid, a demon child with any pronouns who is bored from being cooped inside with days of rain, and another two people to play Gertrude, the newest arrival to the B&B who sleeps on top of the dryer and doesn't want to get in trouble. I tell the group I'll play Parish because we need another guiding voice in this group, as the two players for Gertrude are not the most experienced. My two Hey Kid players are troublemakers in games like these, and despite not playing a lot of TTRPGS, I trust them implicitly with the main driving role of this chapter from interactions at a previous cottage gaming weekend. Finally, the last three players, two of them members of my long-time playgroup and a third guy I only know from a previous cottage trip. There are no more required characters, and I think of what we can do without adding too many more characters. Finally, I fuzzily recall a character from a twitch stream, and I now realize the memory is fuzzy because of fur and little cotton tails. The Rabbits In The Garden Who Wear Little Outfits

I suggest that they play The Rabbits In The Garden Who Wear Little Outfits and immediately, they are intrigued. The name alone invokes images of rabbits in little clothes. It sells itself. They learn that carrots are not eaten, but are used as currency in the back garden. One of their whoopsies is to ‘argue and bicker amongst themselves’, and they know this whoopsie well. They are hooked and in character, before the game has begun. We enter the Laundry Room, and the Hey Kids players, within five seconds of starting, announce they have a stick, and it is on fire. My trust in them is immediately vindicated. A hose is retrieved, and in a blur, begins to soak the drywall of the laundry room as Gertrude suggests a new game of Drawing… with the hose. Parish tries to hold onto the hose, and makes things worse. At this point, my memory of the actual meat-and-potatoes of the session is a tad blurry, the heat of the moment of Concierge-ing makes it all tough to recall. All I can say for certain is that the ticking clock of a water hose, blocked by a single carrot, hangs like Chekov’s carrot over the session after we leave the Laundry room. Also, there is an OSHA compliance officer rabbit now, and they are not pleased. 

We get Hey Kid to try Jump Rope, the Cleaning Up Game, Rabbit CPR, and also conversely Rabbit Bowling, all in the next room after busting through the wall. Those last two Rabbit game ideas were the Rabbit players' ideas, and none were harmed in the playing of these games. Eventually, Hey Kid calms down, and the hose bursts. The Rabbits knew how to sail somehow and glide away on the hose river to the backyard, while Gertrude, Hey Kid, and Parish helped re-drywall the Laundry Room to conclude the Chapter. 

I let the Hey Kid players decide our very first sticker for the book, and they insisted I apply it as the owner of the book. They pick to unlock Chapter 33 “Let’s Start A Band” and give Hey Kid +2 Cool and +2 Funny with their Leftovers. Gertrude gets +2 for their journey, and the Rabbits get 4 segments. Parish gets 1, because I gave the Rabbits’ Players one of mine since I thought they only had two for three players. Everyone said they had a great time, and I believe them. They also really wanted to know what was in the Forbidden Envelope, and despite the seal coming off in transport to the cottage, I remained firm, and only peaked a little. 

Now, in January of 2025, my partner has put on their year-long Bingo card that they will Open the Forbidden Envelope. So I hope to have more sessions of Yazeba's to talk about here in the future. It also prompted this hit Bluesky post (Skywriting?).

(originally written for Discord)

A Third for Yazeba's

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