Hello and welcome to Snyder’s return a tabletop roleplay podcast, my guest today is wandered across from a nearby solar system, bring them with them some, not all of their memories to share, perhaps brought here on a soft or gentle breeze, bringing with them a colourful view of the world we journey through, all the way from the Land of the Rising Sun to bring us the opportunity to remember who we are, or even the chance to be someone new is game designer, artist Kickstarter and Vagabond of Araukana Media Federico Sohns, Federico, welcome to the show.
Federico Sohns:Thanks. Thanks for having
Snyder’s Return:no, it's an absolute pleasure. But okay, how did you get into tabletop role playing games, please?
Federico Sohns:Okay, um, well, since I'm from Argentina, we don't really have much of a presence in it, I guess in comparison with like, the UK or Europe, etc. For RPG, so I didn't really know about what RPGs were. When I first came into contact with them, I found basically like a website in the internet about like, this sort of like communal project to make a warhammer city. And it was like a super weird way to get into because I was reading all of this stuff. And I didn't really get what this was for. I just thought it was something that was very cool. And then I realised, wait, there's, there's the game attached to this city. So I downloaded the PDF for that. And yeah, I went with like, a friend. And then we just started trying to make sense of it. It didn't make much sense at the beginning. But eventually it turned into something that looked like a role playing game session. So yeah.
Snyder’s Return:So from that unusual introduction, should we say, Where did your TTRPG journey take you from there?
Federico Sohns:Well, funnily enough, I didn't really do much TTRPG wise after that session for like five years. And it was only when I was like about 20, that I got back through like a co worker, to RPGs. And through like World of Darkness, northern darkness in particular. And eventually, at 23, I think it was, I moved to London, to basically do arts. And very quickly, I just got into like the scene in London in the UK, taking part of like, there's a London club called the RP Haven, I did member rep stuff there. And I run like a lot of games. And I was writing Nibiru, my first game during that time, and eventually I started working for Modiphius. big company. sure most people know it. And I worked at Modiphius for about, I think, two to three years. First as a sort of like, Assistant, play tester, developer, and then as a line manager in RPGs. So yeah, and eventually I founded our econo and went independent.
Snyder’s Return:Wow, wow. Wow. And so you were creating Nibiru, there at that early stage, how much we'll do a full sort of introduction to that system. And then Zephyr later has much changed in the development since you started working on Nibiru to where the game is now, which we'll get towards available in a moment. What changed what has changed within the game itself from first inception, shall we say to published TTRPG.
Federico Sohns:So never got published around 2020 I think. And from its inception, I think not much really changed regarding mechanics and mechanics were very simple from the start. And generally, I tend to start my games from the mechanics first. Maybe the world building aspect like the world change But there wasn't much in terms of change. Of course, like we'd play tests and stuff, and there's always stuff that gets tweaked. But more or less, the idea was always quite like, you know, stable throughout time.
Snyder’s Return:Fair enough for and so someone's interested in your words, because you're probably putting far better than I can. What is Nibiru?
Federico Sohns:So Nibiru is a science fiction game of lost memories. It is basically setting this huge space station in which people live, seemingly unaware of what's outside of the space station, which makes it a very interesting setting, because we have civilizations that develop without access to just really fundamental concepts that make our worldview on earth. Like they don't know what the stars are, they don't know what the Sun is, nor the moon. Nor the sky. That's why one of the nicknames is this guy, this world. So thinking about that, thinking about how, like people's, you know, ideas about life, and nature, and, and technology and all this stuff that is, you know, part of like science fiction stuff would have developed with all of that was very interesting. And it was essentially the stuff that I spent most of the time thinking throughout development.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, it's sort of a interesting structure to say, shall we say the, there's the Make sure I get this right the core, which was that, and timbers and the pen numbers, then Umbra and then something. The available now is a quickstart. Guide for those who are interested. But the game uses you mentioned there before about memories, it uses the memos. Yeah, want to make sure it's not a different inference of the word memos system to try and sort of help flesh out characters through play. It's such an interesting take on character creation or character building, I guess, yeah, build the character within the world rather than build a character for the world. It's.
Federico Sohns:Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like, well, because it's about lost memories. Essentially, in this space station, the players take on the role of vagabonds, which are people that woke up with no memories. And they start to recover this memories. And the way you do is essentially, you have a bullet points, which are memory points that represent the potential of your character to remember stuff. And whenever there's a role, so there's an action that sort of like triggers that sort of like memory, you know, kind of like an eidetic, or like that has to do with haptics are touching action stuff, you can spend those and create a memory, you get to write, and it tends to give you a bonus, for the action that you're doing. So there's like a connection between movement action and the act of, of remembering something. And that's how you start to build and sort of mould your character. As the game progresses. Yeah,
Snyder’s Return:it's a lot of doing a flow, a lot of flow between the narrator and the the vagabonds to help sort of create this, the game uses a correct me if I'm wrong, a default system are very simple in a good way, not simply not in a bad way dice ball and dice resolution system to help keep that caught almost conversation between the group and the narrative to go into to help build out these these memories. And these characters. It's beautifully written fantastic artwork as well, which you also credited for. So, said a little bit about, let's let's focus a little bit back on to you. Where can we find Nibiru work? We find you Where can we find our economy media,
Federico Sohns:please? Well, our economy basically has a website or a candidate calm, and then our economy and then number one in Twitter, which I tend to update most often. So yeah, that's where you can get Nibiru and see what's coming from me.
Snyder’s Return:All right, I will make sure there are links to those done description below the Quickstart guides available through your website through a drive thru RPG. So click on those one thing that you have been posting on your Twitter recently, a time for recording is the upcoming Kickstarter, which looks fantastic, would you mind Tell us a little bit more about that, please.
Federico Sohns:Yes, of course, that is my next game, which is Zephyr, which is an anarchist fantasy game of fleeting identities. Yeah, it's, it's basically, it's a fantasy game. And it's funny because it's, it's sort of like, based around this, this idea, it's a bit high concept. So the idea is that it's a game about feelings in which feelings in this world have. They're basically material, they behave like substance. So you can see, you know, rivers of like fury and mountains made of sorrow, etc. And in particular, the Zephyr, or for specific feelings that belong to this creature that is called a boy. And the boys this like massive sort of like sentient continent in which the adventure is happening. So it's basically like, on the back of a creature that has shaped like, continent and mountains, etc. So the interesting thing is that these, these feelings of a foie, which come in four colours, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, are represented in the game with tokens, their actual token, there are no dice in the game, you basically use those tokens. And those tokens, because your characters to are made out of feelings are part of your constitution. So instead of like tracking, HB, etc, you have just like a pile of tokens represents what you're made of, in the game. And, of course, like, there's a task resolution system that is tied to the tokens, etc. But your characters, the windfall, they basically go out into the world to fulfil obligations, sacred obligations to your community. And it has that vibe of Nibiru, of discovering what your characters are. But instead of taking memories, they take to bonds bonds with the world discovering what they feel strongly about. And so to basically determine that, instead of like spending memory points, you grab the tokens that are part of your constitution, in different colour combinations to create different bonds, for example, one part cyan, or one part yellow, and two parts, magenta means fury. So if you spend that you gain, like, awareness that, you know, there's this particular thing, I don't know, like, for example, like your brother in law, or like a village, that a slight burning part of the of the forest that you're very furious about. And so you write that, and so you advance your character through that. But at the same time, because it's part of your constitution, you have to mind when is it that you're spending that because it's your HP. So there's a lot of like survival, gameplay tied to the development of the character as well.
Snyder’s Return:So me, I love that shift to the to a new mechanic, I love Dyson. I'm gonna stress that now. I have many days I do Luddites don't think I'm rebounding dice here entirely. But this token system, so, so different, it feels, and I know other systems have sort of passing tokens or trading tokens with others. But the way this this system sort of uses the tokens and associated colours, I think is magical, I think is the only fair, fair word I can use for it. It's, it's inspiring. I love it, to be honest, I love it. And it's not just the land of avoid. There are also enemies, antagonist antagonists.
Federico Sohns:Yeah, totally. There's basically at the centre of a foyer at that sort of like the valley that's at the centre. There are the antagonists, which are the salt states, which are essentially like a huge, stable society based on debt, and they essentially just go out and incursions and, you know, they're, they're dangerous, it's like you want to avoid it's, it's also one of those things where, like, of course, the setting is conveying ideas, etc. And there's one thing which I think, because of the premise is kind of, you know, wacky, I don't think it'd be the same to say, Okay, this whole premise of like, feelings that become matter, etc. And then they give you a D 20. And like a class system or something like that. It's just, it really needs the system to be able to, you know, stay present and in the minds of players I think, but yeah, it's it's about what really conveys the best the the ideas in that case.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, absolutely. So it is a time of recording it is waiting to be launched on Kickstarter and And so when when is that Kickstarter running from until
Federico Sohns:that is going to run until the 20th of February.
Snyder’s Return:Link will be in the description below. So please, if you listen to this while the Kickstarter is ongoing, please scroll down for that link and support the Kickstarter for Zephyr. So with Nibiru complete, Zephyr very close to sort of kick starting at time of recording. Please back it as I've just said, because it looks fantastic. What else is next for for you in particular and Araukana Media in the future?
Federico Sohns:Um, well, I'm mainly just working on on Zephyr now. After that, I have no idea. I would like to do something that ties into the salt states. Part of the setting. So that's a thing that could happen. But I'm like just so embroiled in Zephyr because I'm doing everything. I do all of the illustrations for this book. I do all the illustrations, all the writing of the game design is yeah. So yeah, it's quite working.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, no, but I mean, it looks the Post report on Twitter, the stuff that is up on the Kickstarter page, it looks amazing. So, but it's incredible the amount of work you put into it so far and moving forward. What was one of your inspirations was for Zephyr, please.
Federico Sohns:For Zephyr? It's a good question. I well, I don't have for example, clear inspirations for like Nibiru for Zephyr it's very clear. It's essentially a lot of readings on anarchist anthropology. With anarchist anthropology I referred to anarchists studying societies outside of State and the ways in which democracy happens in those societies. So outside of their seeking Lea parliamentarism and sort of like electoral systems and stuff like that. So it's tied to that, particularly to David gravers work depth. The first 5000 years, James Scott's work, for example, seeing like a state against the grain. And, you know, it's generally about the dynamics of like those stateless societies there. So social institutions, and also the interaction with the states because this sort of like interaction is there in the game, the idea that there's windfall communities that live at the periphery, in labour very robbed, sort of like landscapes, because that's an interesting thing of a foyer being that it's living, it's a thing that is constantly like moving and there's earthquakes, and it's, it's super rubbed outside of that, like Central Valley. So they're protected by all of that terrain and stuff. But the solid states, you know, they have their foothold in the middle. And the interactions are tied to that and through the world building and of course, the mechanics that convey that they're very particular to those roots that there's I've done a lot of research for the for the game, but it's mostly social sciences and anthropology.
Snyder’s Return:Wow, that's very deep. So no, it's it's amazing to draw on such important resources and then share that in such a way that is engaging for people like myself who potentially wouldn't necessarily go and pick up and read these things, but can absorb that information through play. Even by proxy, which is every day is a learning day as it were. So with all that in mind with with as you say, You're doing all the work for Zephyr and you've done a lot of work, you know, what all the work for a neighbour to do you get any time did you get any downtime? Or is all of your time work slash tabletop role playing game development?
Federico Sohns:Yeah, yeah, I don't work much I work between three to four hours a day. So the rest is free for me. That is like for me, it's like super important not to work more than four, maybe five hours a day and and that's it now I'm basically working all of the day because I'm with the Kickstarter and I'm about to move cities and, and stuff like that. I'm moving to Tokyo. But But generally, most of the like the last two years, it's been about three hours more or less, over Every day three to four hours.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah. Nice. So with your free time that you do you get to play other tabletop role playing games. Are you in any sort of groups or, or campaigns or anything? where you currently are? mind telling us a little bit? Yeah,
Federico Sohns:totally. I will have a basically meet up with like, a couple of friends that live nearby to play to suffer, here. And the this summer, I went back to Argentina to see friends and I got together my high school friends. And we basically started a game of exalted. And we've been playing that since I left. It's super fun, like every Friday. So yeah, I've been playing for like a bureaucrat in exalted, because apparently, there's like a, like a build path in Excel to the where you have, like a bureaucracy build. So it's really like, you know, a very legalistic character that's always trying to bring up like paperwork and that form or this form to sort of like, Yeah,
Snyder’s Return:it's nice that it's good. You able to sort of play consistently and work on your projects, and sort of, I'm sure move within moving house will be probably stressful as it is for anybody else moving house. Sounds like it sounds like you're all over it. So that's really good. So we touched on Nibiru, is there any more content coming from New Rule Have you sort of finished the releases for that?
Federico Sohns:So I launched a, an expansion supplement, Saturday, last year. And for now, I'm just completely focused on on Zephyr if I ever launched something for Nibiru, again, it will be with a new system. I think that like, you know, it's like, depending on the system, there's a certain degree of stuff that you can add on to before bloats. And basically, sort of, like, I know, like washes out the the core of this system, I think, and because nature is very lean, it's very easy to make it bloated. So I would like to also get the chance to design something new, because I like that's one of the most rewarding things for the whole experience for me designing systems and mechanics. So I would like to do something with a different system for Nibiru in the future. If I if I go back to that world.
Snyder’s Return:Well, we wait to see maybe if a new system comes to mind, a new game will come to mind. One surfers sound in the wild, as it were. Yeah, we'll go with that. So you know, we've, we've covered Nibiru and Zephyr, what about for you, as a us as a company? Where do you hope to take our icon or media in the future,
Federico Sohns:ah, in the future, hopefully to Tokyo. But like, I don't really have like any sort of ambition, company wise or in terms of like, in fact, like, I've been doing more or less, okay, with money. So it's one of those things that as long as admin doesn't turn because like, for example, I spent like 30 minutes on admin, every day, or maybe 20 minutes. Sometimes I don't do admin, but if I can keep it like that, that, to me is the most important. I don't I really don't want to make it so that it becomes so big that I have to spend one hour every day sending orders as to stuff like I have a food and food. Sorry, I have a house and food and, and stuff. I can pay rent. So yeah, the most important thing for me is time and being able to use the time at work for like designing and illustrating stuff. So
Snyder’s Return:quirky question, I guess the logo for the company is sort of a diamond with is it? Is it a face it looks like Yeah.
Federico Sohns:It was a windfall.
Snyder’s Return:Ah, okay. So did you come up with that? How long is because I've long time ago, I was thinking that that's been there a long time and this game is quite new and the terms cross, okay. Does it have a name? Or is it just just the logo You know, it's
Federico Sohns:just a logo. It's basically a windfolk. But yeah, it was there since the time, Nibiru got published, which means that at least the idea of the characters and more or less how they look, was there from since like, 2019, or something. So yeah,
Snyder’s Return:that's awesome. That's amazing. So, with all the games you're putting out, and you know, you're playing in wine and have experience with with many others. With the TTRPG community in a certain amount of turmoil at this point in time with respect to certain attitudes, shall we say? Or approaches to game release? Do you feel that the the TTRPG community is, is becoming more inclusive? There's there's a lot more voices that seem to be joining together a lot seem to be focused at one particular direction at the moment, but do you feel that the TTRPG community in and of itself is becoming more inclusive? Are there more people coming into the hobby? At this point in time? Do you feel?
Federico Sohns:It's a complex question? Um, yes, I think I think for sheer like, gravity, like it becomes more more inclusive, I think the problem is, where's the inclusion sort of, like, guide it to, because there's one thing, which is to have, you know, I don't know, people from the global south writing content for, I don't know, like an American line manager for DND, than actual people from the global south writing their own things, and being able to put those things into like, a convention, the US or a convention in Europe or whatever, I think that's, that's the thing. The most important factors that make for an inclusive community, for me is access to the production line. So access to printers extra to distribution access to, for example, the ability to even be paid for your games, because in Argentina, like, we can't really take out dollars from the bank. There's really sort of, like, really bad sort of, like, apparatus of like, you know, confiscation, stuff like that, that sort of like cut off your chances to, to get paid from outside the country. So it's really not about how many people we can put in this, you know, d&d project or whatever. But you know, giving the tools for people to be able to do their things. Because if not like that, that's the other thing. Like, a lot of us like, we've had problems with, like d&d, and not even because of its market monopoly, but its cultural monopoly. It's a game about, you know, killing racially coded specious, and stuff like that. And, you know, to, to be able to allow other narratives, and you want to be able to give people access to the production line, and there's some people that have been acting, so like, mediators in that regard. So, yeah, it's, it's really hard to because it ties a lot with like, international politics, and, you know, include enclosure of the global south and stuff. So yeah, I think it's, it's something that has to be tied to a change in material conditions.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah. Great answer, thank you, for sort of providing insight from from sort of your, it is your unique perspective, but it is a perspective shared by many others around the world that are, as you say, unable to get foot on the ladder, or, you know, just just foot in the door as much as anything else. So now, I appreciate your insight. And it's such an important lesson, I guess, to take away from this, especially for myself, who has sort of fallen into the DND hole and climb back out again to see what else is out there in the world.
Federico Sohns:Yeah, there's nothing bad about like playing d&d is just a it's it comes from a different culture and different worldview. And also, like, for example, I have access to that production line, but the price I pay is that I don't see my family for years or stuff like that. So there's always like degrees of precarity that we have to take in to be able to, to partake. So yeah, that's basically the thing.
Snyder’s Return:Well, that's quite A sombre note. Sorry. That's all right. That's not that that's, that's the truth of the situation. And then I can only respect I can only sort of respect that and sort of take that forward and try to carry that with me a little bit as a reminder of so many things. So, we have spoken about Nibiru. We've spoken about Zephyr Kickstarter coming soon, please scroll down and support that link. The link will be in the description below this podcast. We discussed your gaming activities exalted, and that kind of touched on the state of the TTRPG. world, not just the community, but over the world at large. Is there anything we haven't discussed? That you want to bring up? At this point?
Federico Sohns:No, I'm not sure. That's, that's a good summary.
Snyder’s Return:Fair enough. So would you like to remind us where we can find you on social media find you on the web, where we can support you, please? Further we can.
Federico Sohns:Yeah, it's our econo.com for my games, if you want to purchase Nibiru and stuff, and we have our mailing lists there, and also are Ikana number one in Twitter to get like, the updates and stuff, and you will find everything that's that I've written more or less in public about Zephyr is there, as well as links and stuff. So yeah, thanks.
Snyder’s Return:So there'll be a link to your Twitter, the website, you have a Discord server.
Federico Sohns:Yeah, or kinda has a Discord server. So you can hop in, and I'm pretty much always there. If you want to, like, interact with others get together for a game, you know, ask questions. That's more than welcome.
Snyder’s Return:Yeah, so community is always fantastic and discords. So it's such a great platform for cultivating sounds wrong growing, that's still the same thing. Having it just goes great. You also on Instagram, and Facebook as well. So I'll make sure there are links down in the description below. So people come and find you come and support you. So before there'll be a link to the Kickstarter, if you're listening to this after the Kickstarter, hoping to backfill or just go and buy a
Federico Sohns:backer kit or something like that there.
Snyder’s Return:Or just just go and follow the links, find a finds effort on the website or drive thru or wherever it may be posted, and pick it up because the artwork alone is is worth any value of money for purchase. It's fantastic. Federico I'd love to get you back once the Zephyr is Zephyrs Kickstarter campaign is complete. talk through it maybe sort of talk through a game or run a game or something like it'd be great to get you back on the show for for that or future projects. If you'd be willing to join me Of course, yeah,
Federico Sohns:of course.
Snyder’s Return:They've been really fun. Amazing. And it's been such a pleasure to get to chat with you. I'm really looking forward to speaking to you again in the future. Let's say thank you so much. Thank you for listening. If you'd like to learn more about the show, then go to www dot Snyder’s return.squarespace.com. Alternatively, you can find us over on Twitter. At return Schneider, you have a link tree link in the description of this episode. And if you want to support us, come and join us over on Patreon and we also have a Discord server. Please leave us a review because we'd love to learn how to improve the channel and provide better content out for for those who are listening until we until we speak again. Thank you