'You should have seen some of the gear they were rocking! One of them blasted someone across the room with a trumpet! And someone else kept zooming around on a skateboard powered by fireworks. I've never seen something like it. Do you reckon we can make something better? Something that'll really put us on the map!'

Hello, Espers, and welcome back to Zener City! Today's discussion sees us just four weeks away from the Backerkit campaign launch for CITY OF ESPERS! We're very excited to be in this position, and we hope you are too!

You'll be hearing from me (George) every week until launch, with discussions, project updates, and relevant information (including pledge tiers, pricing, and what you can get for your support). But for today, I want to talk about something cool, something that defines your Esper's sense of style, purpose, and just general badass-ery: Gear.

What is Esper Gear?

In a game focused on personal creative expression and making your mark on your home city, Gear is one of several tools (tools, get it?) that facilitate that expression and -- in some cases -- literally making your mark on Zener City. Whether its a Chromatic Paint Gun daubing rival Turf with your tag or an Earthquake Hammer sending your competition flying through the air, Gear is as much a part of your Esper as their Psychic Abilities.

So let's build some Gear!

For this discussion, we want to give you the freedom to build two pieces of Gear for your Esper and share them with us in the comments!

During Character Creation, you will create two pieces of Gear and apply three Tags across them. These Tags not only show off your individual style and the functions of your Gear but also give each piece of Gear a mechanical advantage. A single piece of Gear can have a maximum of two Tags, so for this discussion, we suggest applying two tags to one piece of Gear and one tag to another.

Now, we need to keep something secret for the final version of the game, so we're not going to tell you what the mechanical advantages of each Gear Tag are, but we will share with you all the available Tags. In the comments below, you just need to answer the following questions:

What is your first piece of Gear?
What Tag(s) are you applying to it?
What does it look like? What does it do?
What name have you given your Gear?

What is your second piece of Gear?
What Tag(s) are you applying to it?
What does it look like? What does it do?
What name have you given your Gear?

Let's give you some examples!

My favourite character in City of Espers is Molotov Mol from the House of Barricade. I think one piece of Mol's Gear would be as follows:
    
What is your first piece of Gear? A radio jammer, used to hack into and disrupt police radio communications
What Tag(s) are you applying to it? Digital (so that it can interface with radio communication systems) and Shadowy (so that it can be used discretely, without drawing attention to the user)
What does it look like? What does it do? Mol's radio jammer looks like a walkie-talkie. It allows them to listen in to radio traffic and monitor the situation, but it seems to resist being looked at and picked up on in the radio waves
What name have you given your Gear? Mol's radio jammer is simply called 'Chaos', and you know things must be serious when they bring it out!

Time to make your own Gear!

So, Espers, we want to see what Gear you'll be bringing to Zener City. Time to blow the competition away, or gain a subtle advantage, or simply make a statement that none can ignore! You have your assignment, now have your Gear Tags. We'll see you in the comments!

City of Espers Gear Tags

Attuned: Connect with the world around you

Broadcasting: Live and on air!

Chromatic: Paint the town red

Dazzling: Shine bright and stun your foes

Dizzying: Out for the count!

Digital: I'm in!

Emergency: We're not broken yet!

Ensnaring: Stop, in the name of love!

Haunted: The tempting voice in your ear

Miasmic: The big smoke

Musical: A song in your heart

Oversized: The bigger the better!

Plasmic: Bzzzap!

Shadowy: Softened and silenced

Shielding: The power to protect

Spiked: Dangerously hand-crafted

Stylish: It's called FASHION, darling!

Tethering: Grapple and swing through the city

Transforming: Change when the time is right

Voyaging:  You have a sweet ride!