In this psychic-powered TTRPG – rooted in the love of urban living, street culture, queer found families, and the belief in the power of communities to radically change the world around them – players take on the role of Espers, everyday people who have woken up to miraculous psychic powers that the wider world is none too keen about. Cast adrift from everything you know, a new life is waiting for you in Zener City.

The only questions you need answer are: what is your Vibe? Who are your people? And how will you make your mark in this technicolour metropolis?

City of Espers is designed to tell stories about the best and worst of urban living, usually at the same time! Stories of everyday struggle and celebration, stories about what it means to live closely with others, whether you chose them or not, stories about building a better life for yourself and your community.

Tell stories about friends and rivals, of competition and collaboration, and of resistance and revelry in a world that changed fundamentally with the appearance of psychics known as Espers. Tell stories of tragedy and triumph, of bottoming out and rising up to the top. Tell stories about new ways of living and old habits dying hard.

Casting dice aside, City of Espers uses a depleting hand of cards, drawn from a standard poker deck, to resolve any moment that needs a check. You’ll play cards from your hand and add them to the value of one of your Attributes to hit or beat a Target Number set by the GM or played in opposition to another player or NPC.

You’ll only draw fresh cards from the shared deck when you run out. That means that knowing when to go for broke and intentionally failing a check or when to play that high number card you’ve been saving is crucial. But failure is just as interesting as success, and every card you play will advance the story. Revel in your triumphs and never forget to fail forward!

Your life in Zener City begins by building your House, the found family formed by you and your friends around the table and the centre of your social life in Zener. Defined by the things you have in common – your House colours, your sense of style, your tastes in music, sports, or food, and the emblem that represents you publicly – the most important part of an Esper House is the Vibe: a simple statement of who you are and what you’re about.

Every player takes on the role of an Esper, a person who has discovered startling psychic powers and is learning how to use them. Attributes? We got them! Each Esper is a mix of:

And to survive the trials of urban living, Esper Battles, and the occasional street scrap, each Esper has STAMINA, a combination of their HOLD and Flow, with an additional numerical bonus.

Of course, no Esper would be caught dead without their custom Esper Gear! 

Hey, what’s your Spark? Answer that by choosing from 28 Psychic Abilities. Set the competition ablaze with Pyrokinesis. Shed incoming blows with Crystallise. Summon a Mental Construct to assist you whenever needed. Or ask questions of Zener itself as a City Speaker! You’ll start with one, but as your powers grow, so too will your list of Abilities. Just make sure not to Burn Out; it ain’t a pretty sight!

When the tension reaches fever pitch, it's time for an Action Sequence. Whether it’s the final match in the Esper Battle League, a pitched street fight over Turf, a high-speed car chase, or a group of Espers infiltrating the headquarters of a shadowy research corporation, Action Sequences distil timing, placement, and action down into a face-paced, easy to understand format.

No one is quite sure how it happened or when it truly started. All they know is that Zener City resonates with Espers and their psychic powers. As Espers group together into friendships, communities, and ultimately Houses, the stuff of the city around them starts to wake up.

Fuelled by the shared psychic powers of a like-minded group, Turf starts small – a whisper, a feeling, a smell, an odd occurrence that only House members can see – and develops into a powerful ally rooted in the fabric of Zener City itself.

Able to answer questions, offer guidance or assistance, or just helping to make your small patch of the city feel more like home, Turf is a powerful (and frequently misunderstood) part of life in Zener City. Just make sure to respect Turf that doesn’t belong to you; bad things might happen otherwise!

So what can you expect when City of Espers arrives at your door? A fully illustrated hardcover book in Royal dimensions, 160 uncoated pages, illustrated throughout, and – for those wanting to add some sparkle to their lives – a boxed version complete with a custom playing card deck, featuring some of the most glamorous Espers Zener has to offer!

Opening Number: The Core Rules – Six Pages of Core Rules mean you’ll be hitting the streets of Zener City in no time at all.

Mother Has Arrived: Creating a House – A speedy guide to establishing your House, including your Vibe, built around a series of collaboratively answered questions.

Getting Up: Creating Your Esper – Generate your Attributes, build your Gear, and select your Psychic Powers in no time at all.

The Living City: Turf – Work with your table to create your Turf. Breathe life into your patch of Zener City and decide just what form your unique Turf will take.

Hitting The Streets: Action Sequences – Full rules (and example scenarios) for running Action Sequences at your table.

A New View: Additional Rules – Let your players control the Tempo of a scene or be struck down by Status Effects as they do battle across Zener City. And for those GM’s seeking a helping hand, our Events Randomiser has got you covered.

Curtain Close: Ending Sessions and Experience – As your players grow, so will their Espers. Satisfy their ambitions using our Experience rules.

All Dressed Up: The Houses of Zener City – Dive into twelve pre-made Houses – from Starfall to Hyperion, Fantabulosa to Barricade, La Sape to Tokusatsu, and more – each complete with Turf descriptions, significant House members, and story hooks.

Welcome Home: The Locations of Zener City – For those GMs and players wanting to see the sites of Zener, we’ve created 10 significant locations, districts, and neighbourhoods. Visit Velford Heights and rub shoulders with the wealthy and the powerful. Catch a show at The Palace stadium, or attempt the speed record around Route 05 ‘The Tide.’ Visit the street market in Billingsway Cross or explore the depths of Labrys Forest Green. Whatever takes your fancy, Zener has something on offer!

A Prewritten Adventure: Break into the mysterious RIDER Building and come face to face with the results of their experimental research. A technicolour dungeon crawl through the possibilities of the Esper mind? Yes please!

City of Espers is brought to you by a multi-racial, multi-national, majority queer, majority neurodivergent team of designers, writers, artists, and producers.

Nathan Blades (he/they), creator, designer, and lead writer: Known across cyberspace as The Neon Caster, everyone’s favourite androgynous late night show host, Nathan is the creative force behind City of Espers. Creator of several indie TTRPGs and contributor and writer to projects by Rowan, Rook, & Decard (Spire: Shadow Operations and DIE: Bizarre Love Triangles), Weird Age Games (Hard Wired Island: Tales From L7), and Son of Oak Studios (Tokyo: Otherscape), City of Espers is Nathan’s largest and most fully realised game to date.

George Francis Bickers (he/him), producer, art director, layout artist, and supplementary writer: The Studio Lead at Three Sails Studios and creator and designer of Mappa Mundi – An Exploration + Ecology RPG and Gallows Corner – A Peasants’ Revolt RPG, George is the biggest City of Espers fan out there. Responsible for producing City of Espers and helping bring the game to life, you’ll find him seeking out strange new Turfs and listening to what they have to say.

Jeremy Blum (he/him), editor and developer: The all-seeing mind of Three Sails Studios, Jeremy is the editor and developer for City of Espers, roles he also thrived in for Mappa Mundi and Gallows Corner. A writer and contributor to several Paizo and indie TTRPG projects, he can be counted on to know everything that’s going on across Zener City.

Artists and Illustrators: We’ve been incredibly lucky to work with some of the best artists across the world of TTRPGs, manga, and comics. City of Espers has been given form by Isa Happyfield (cover art; card art), Shane Melisee (House and Turf illustrations), Jess Herron (spot illustrations; City districts), Emily Greymoore (spot illustrations; City districts), Lur Noise (full-page splash illustrations), and Donald J Kirby (character illustrations).

As with all Three Sails Studios games, City of Espers will be finished and ready by the time the Backerkit campaign concludes. With our No Long Waits promise, we’ll be sending the game to the printers the week the crowdfunding campaign ends and delivering copies to backers within just a few months.

City of Espers is a game all about the amazing potential of everyday people. As with every Three Sails Studios project, City of Espers is 100% human made. We reject the use of so-called ‘GenAI’, a tool used to disenfranchise writers, creators, artists, and editors, built on their stolen labour.