Tidings, 1-3

"A red dragon boat has gone missing and the Rowers are offering a big reward for its safe return. The boat was last seen following the Pantomimist Queen."
An  ill-considered romance could be a big opportunity

Tidings is a system agnostic micro-setting  zine series where players can explore a near future helping communities in a precarious and hopeful city radically changed by a shifting climate.  

The setting presents an invitation to envision the shared future that will come after our present. This setting asks, what would a city look like if it was rebuilt for and by everyone? How would an ecosystem change if our lives were interwoven and rather than extractive? Can we build a better future together?

“The Watchers at the Hill Towers have seen a flotilla of Real Estate Developers coming down the river. You need to do something.”

Tidings is about finding and protecting community in the ruins left by capitalism. It leans into themes of mutual aid, recovery, tough choices, exploring an altered world, occasionally punching corporate goons, and always, always watching the weather. As such it would be appropriate for many different styles of play. 

The shape of the setting is slowly  revealed in small vignettes, neighborhood gossip, and by looking around the next corner. Tidings is being released as collections of three single sheet 11x17" poster zines that focus on specific aspects of life in the city.

"The Fish Witches know you have been avoiding them. And they said to tell you they are coming."

• Tidings 1-3 introduces The Stacks, rolling neighborhoods that slowly migrate through the city following the tides and seasons. They meet people where they live with the goods and services that keep the city thriving. 
  
• Tidings 1-3 contains the first three single sheet 11x17" poster zines and a gatefold setting map. Each zine has original art, micro-fiction, and a roll table of story hooks. 

A few touchstones include: Autonomous by Annlee Newitz; The Mountain and the Sea by Ray Nayler; M. E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi’s Everything for Everyone; Alien Virus Love Disaster by Abbey Mei Otis; Black Fish City by Sam Miller; Rebecca Roanhorse's The Sixth World series; Kim Stanley-Robinson's NY 2140; Octavia Butler's Earthseed duology; Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed; And John Ostrander & Timothy Truman's mostly forgotten 1980s run on GrimJack which lodged impossible cities into my young brain. 

This game follows in the foot steps of precariously hopeful games like: Dream Askew by Buried Without Ceremony,  EcoMofos by Copy/Paste Co-op, Penumbra City by Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness, The Songs for the Dusk by Kavita Poduri, and The Details of Our Escape by Possible Worlds Games.

New issues, new collaborations, and specific GM advice for running the setting with different game systems forthcoming.

Physical copies available here:
https://partnersandson.com/products/tidings