Best Tabletop Game: Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast

Oh boys and girls. Let me tell you about Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast.

Once upon a time, the world was cruel, and there was a witch who knew it well, and so she sold her heart to build a house in the woods where the world could never find her. At first she would let no one into her fortress. But in the long march of days, a strange thing happened: in her own cold and spiteful way, the witch made a friend…and then another…and then several more, until her house was teeming with colorful faces and complicated lives. The house would come to be known as Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast, and it would last for a very long time.

This is a role-playing game unlike any other you’ve seen. Its existence feels magical, impossible even. It defies all common sense of how these games are supposed to work. It’s cozy. It’s queer. It’s silly. It’s deep. And I am all here for it.

So what is this game like, really? It’s a “slice-of-life legacy tabletop role-playing game about a found family and their magical home.” It revolves not around heroic deeds like your typical RPG but instead around small everyday moments. Each session you choose one chapter from the book to play as a group, and each chapter (48 in total) has its own simple but unique rules. You don’t create your own character but choose each session one of the residents or guests of the B&B to play. After each session you get stickers to place in the book which can unlock new characters and chapters.

The characters range from an insecure teenager to a knight-turned-frog who is now a cook, and from a rambunctious demon child to the heartless witch Yazeba herself. Each of them has their own personality and their own options for growth. There are also a TON of guests each with their own personality so not creating your own feels like a liberation rather than a constraint. But the real highlight are all the chapters which come with their own story, their own rules (yes, really), and their own rewards. I should also mention that the book has a number of secret, unnumbered pages with additional backstories and chapters, as well as a separate “forbidden envelope” with even more secrets.

Honestly the thing I like most about this game is how easy it makes everything. There’s no need to do any preparations, to come up with your own characters, or to count squares on a grid. You just read the opening text, pick a chapter, pick characters, and you’re already playing. Yet at the same time the progression - both on a global level by unlocking new chapters and guests and on an individual level by making progress on the resident’s paths - makes the game feel epic in a way I thought wasn’t possible for a silly rules-light RPG like this. I believe I will be playing this game for a very long time.

Previous winners: Avatar Legends by Magpie Games (2022), Cantrip by Hipólita (2023), and Slugblaster: Kickflip over a Quantum Centipede by Wilkie’s Candy Lab (2024).

#BestOf2025 #TTRPG #SliceOfLife #Queer #YazebasBnB

@Kiraserpentine

Wanderhome. The queer themes are muted, but they're there. When the game invites you to explore melancholy, regret, loneliness...it feels like a safe space.

Hot Guys Making Out. Queer as fuck. Moments of intimacy and joy despite a rising threat and potential tragedy.

Desperate to try Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast, which wears its queer aesthetic on its sleeve. And The Girlfriend Of My Girlfriend Is My Friend looks fun.

#wanderhome #HGMO #YazebasBnB https://stargazersasha.itch.io/girlfriend