The Teapot: Fully Steeped
THE TEAPOT is a solo journaling TeaTRPG using the Lost & Found system. In it, you will set out on the journey of an Awakened Teapot, a sentient teapot with the ability to distill the latent magical properties of various teas into powerful concoctions. However, you are just a simple Teapot and will be handled by a cast of Tea Infusers, magically gifted individuals who work together with you to bring out the best in tea service.
Over the years you pass between different Infusers and see the world of humanity change around you, helping the small as well as the mighty with their plights. Passing through the various Tea Eras, you will see budding Infusers make their way in a bright-eyed world during the Freshly Brewed era; flourish alongside your established and well-respected Infusers in the A Tea, Well Steeped era; and finally find yourself among the fallen, the rough, and the tired in the reflective Tea Leaves era.
What will your tea leaves look like at the end of the journey? What fond memories will be etched into your clay? What pain did you ease? Pour yourself a cup of tea and find out!
"May our tea never go cold and let us share in its warmth."
Current Edition: THE TEAPOT: FULLY STEEPED is here!
After far too much time, lots of self-doubts, and weird perfectionism that saw this project far too delayed, THE TEAPOT: FULLY STEEPED is, well, fully steeped now! With fresh interior art, edited text, and page numbers (woo fancy) this project is here in a finalized version.
Itch Funding and ZiMo: What's New
THE TEAPOT: FULLY STEEPED is an updated version of the previously available THE TEAPOT. What new features can you look forward to in the FULLY STEEPED version?:
- Lovely, lovely art! The previous version was largely a text-only game. Working with an artist to bring a splash of life and joy to the booklet, bringing the game to its proper steeped flavour!
- Edits. The first version, while playable, had some rough edges. Those have been smoothed out and the overall gameplay flow is improved. I will also be hiring an editor after the funding session is complete to further improve the writing!
- Layout Artist: I like to think I can make okay looking games. But I'm no wiz at layout, I'll be the first to admit that. So, let's make this game as lovely as it can be then, with a proper layout artist!
Content Warning and Themes
Themes: Reflection, Change, Loss, Time, Isolation, Hope, Joy, and Tea.
As with many Lost & Found games, the experience of playing them can be quite sad, lonely, and isolating. You play as an object without any real direct agency, which can also bring up feelings of being used or unwanted. Please always listen to your feelings and emotional state you play, take any breaks you need, and cry or laugh should those feelings bubble up. Your Teapot will be waiting for you whenever you're ready to rejoin it on its adventures.
Attribution
This game is thoroughly inspired by the great solo TTRPG system that is the Lost & Found, created by Jack Harrison and Matt Sanders. The original THE TEAPOT was made for the Lost & Found Jam, and FULLY STEEPED still owes a great debt to that game jam! Be sure to check out all the other amazing games created there Here.
All artwork is done by the lovely https://zednope.art/. They have Commission options Here as well as currently available stock art for your own TTRPGs Here.
Playlist
THE TEAPOT, in whichever edition, always used music as a way to keep track of the passage of time. I've curated a small(ish) playlist of Lo Fi songs that are relaxing and "Tea House" vibes. Enjoy!
If you don't own Spotify, I would suggest finding one of the thousands of great Lo Fi playlists on YouTube! I'll link some personal favourites during the campaign below as alternatives.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Exclusive content
Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Community Copies – Tea is for All
Like what's going on but, for whatever reason, aren't able to contribute financially? Not a problem! Take a copy, pour yourself some tea, and enjoy! Already purchased the original The Teapot? Feel free to grab a copy too!
This tier will include (immediately) The Teapot: Slightly Steeped. Once The Teapot: Fully Steeped is completed, this reward will also feature the digital PDF of the game. I will replenish this tier when it gets low, quantity is just there because I like how 100 feels!
Development log
- The Teapot: Fully Steeped is here!Jan 30, 2023
Comments
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Just wanted to drop by and let you know that I'm really enjoying this solo RPG!
I'm still in the freshly brewed era with my first infuser and I'm already having such a blast!
I like how the set-up is very minimal and quick while having enough structure with the prompts that I won't feel lost with thinking about what happens next.
Something that usually bogs me down with solo RPG's is when I feel pressured (mostly my personality's fault) to research a historical setting or set-up this elaborate worldbuilding first before being able to jump in. But here, because the scope of a teapot's perspective is so limited, I can get away with not knowing the full details of the world the teapot is in.
And it's so fun! I hope you don't mind my chattiness but I just want to share how with my teapot, its creator is an alchemist who wanted to see the connection between the plant's origin and how its soil and climate affect its magical properties in tea brewing. So figuring that out was their crowning achievement. And for the sake of controlling variables, they painstakingly used the same teapot for every treatment in all their experiments, which gave the teapot such a huge wealth of knowledge.
Anyway, this alchemist's discovery made their empire prosperous, which attracted enemies from neighboring territories, causing a war to eventually erupt where the alchemist's children were drafted giving us our next infuser: the war veteran that inherited the teapot from their dear parent.
I stopped there for now because I needed to take a break but given that this is the first solo RPG I've played after literal years, I was surprised at how elaborate the plot can go and I was only beginning!
Thank you for creating this! :D
Hi there!! First, I wanted to thank you so much for the kind words and letting me know about your game! I can't begin to express how happy it makes creators to know someone is playing our stuff. The Teapot has a special soft spot in my heart as my first "big" game, so I'm happy some of the elements of the design (limited scope of the character, interconnecting the eras via the Infusers etc.) seem to happening for you!
I do love this story already you've got going, like a lot. That's a fun arch of Alchemist Researcher into War Veteran that makes sense. I really like the idea of studying the tea plants in such a scientific way too, that's a fun angle. Makes me think of wine makers!
Thank YOU for playing! I'd love to hear about any further developments your little Teapot gets up to! :) I also hope it gets you into more Solo TTRPGs, there's so many good ones out there!
Hello, I hope this isn't rude to ask! Are there any plans to replenish community copies in the future? I stumbled upon the earlier version as well (although it seems like it's no longer available) and thought this looks like such a lovely game. If not, thank you anyway!
Hi!! No worries at all to ask, I completely forgot to add some more community copies here! So thank YOU for asking! I've added another 100, enjoy!! :)
Managed to get one, thanks so much for the opportunity! Congratulations on the full version as well \o/
I adore this game. I am a very slow solo-journal RPer, so it's taking me some time to make my way through the game, but that's okay! I am enjoying it immensely. I have a community copy of the game, but I would like to contribute to the funding! I'm still unfortunately unable to pay the recommended price, is there a way to donate a certain amount?
It makes me so happy to hear you're enjoying it! Thank you for playing it. :) I think the Teapot is a great game to play slowly too, really let the story steep (sorry, had to!) :) You'll have to let me know what your Teapot gets up to!
Hmmm, I've tried something that might work? I've made another Reward Tier called Pay What You Can! If you've claimed a Community Copy it might not let you though, but in all honesty just hearing you're enjoying it has been wind in my sails! Let me know if that works. :)
Ahh unfortunately that didn't work! I tried it but it still said I had to pay the minimum of $8.08!
Another question, if that's okay? Are you on Discord? The Alone Together server? I would love to friend you there if possible. 😊
Ack! I'll try to have that as an option should I run another Itch Funding for sure.
Oh yea, for sure! I'm not on that server, feel free to add me though! Going to comment my username below, then delete that comment once you add me haha.
Great sounds good!
Sent!
Hi!
How many pages does this zine contain?
Thanks!
Hi there! :)
The Slightly Steeped version comes in at around 30 pages. But, these are like full Letter Pages! I'm working on reformatting it for the Fully Steeped edition to A5 pages... I'm expecting that one to be in the ballpark of 40-45 pages?
Let me know if you have any other questions! :)