How did the Vekari TTRPG come to be? What inspired this little flexible system and its sprawling detailed world? Why did I dedicate 2 years of my life to building this, knowing how hard it is to get eyes on indie projects at all, let alone story-heavy ones with characters nobody knows? And why am I still doing it? Questions I feel a need to answer every time I make new Vekari content, because I too am suspicious of free things.

A lot of things went into making this happen, I will say it wasn't one specific idea or event.

I have always created worlds for creative purposes. I built worlds as a child on the schoolyard for my friends and I to roleplay in, worlds to have scary adventures with my cousin in, words online when I began writing in my teen years. I have a very busy brain and I can almost experience the worlds I make, if I focus hard enough. I also have a deep love for crafted lore in games, no matter how simple or cliche, so inevitably, I would create games in their own worlds.

I have been into TTRPGs for many years. It was a hobby that actually began in an off brand D&D game from the 90s found in my grandma's basement, that would later grow into D&D, Pathfinder, Fate, Alien, Cyberpunk, countless zines and single-page TTRPGs on this very site, anything I could get my hands on I read like it was water and I was dying of thirst. Over the years, I developed my own style of running games that ended up with me running a lot of homebrew/custom rules to run the stories I wanted to tell. 

2 years ago, I was running such a homebrew D&D campaign with a group of some of my closest friends. I had drawn maps for this world to explore, written a whole little language, plotted out major plot points and NPCs, made custom mechanics... and it was all a bit of a mess. Jumping between D&D rules and my 20 page chaos document and Roll 20 left a lot of awkward unnecessary rolls and, though everyone insists they had fun, I wasn't completely happy with it. The universe would then decide that now is as good a time as any to turn my life upside down, and the game got put on hold.

And it didn't come back until my husband nearly died. When it did, it was changed. It FELT different to touch, after everything that had happened. It felt... darker. And I struggled to elaborate on the world that felt substantial, I struggled with whether or not it was worth moving to its own system with WOTC playing with Gen AI and the flip flopping between what's allowed in custom content and what isn't and just... all of it. It wasn't fun for me. But both my husband and I wanted, I'd say even needed, that world to exist as a comfort, in SOME form. So I created Vekari: Remote Bypass. It is a website that is also a text-based RPG set in Vekari with a side choose your own adventure story, and it's been running for about a year. Running it helped me figure out what mechanics I wanted to focus on and what I could drop, what parts of the lore I wanted to highlight, and just how chaotic the TTRPG could be. I continue to update it semi-regularly, sort of like an online TTRPG anyone is welcome to join, but without the collecting your personal information part. I don't care about that stuff, I just want to play my silly cyber fantasy game with people. It's on me.

Before I knew it, I had accumulated so many journals, digital documents, loose notes, and crude drawings, I figured I HAD to have a complete TTRPG in there somewhere. I started compiling it all into a PDF... and broke 50 pages in a few days. And that was AFTER simplifying my rules. Even though it was my system, I wanted to be able to customize or bend it on a whim, I wanted other people to be able to do that, and I wanted people to be able to do it and share it freely without worrying about me hunting them down for copyright issues.

If you told me 2 years ago to create what Vekari is today, I would probably have laughed you off and told you to ask a better developer, one with better focus and time management and writing skills, etc etc. So, even if the only people who ever play this are my own friend group, I can still be happy knowing I actually managed to pull off what I thought was impossible. I not only finished games, but I've picked up a long term project and continue to make new content for it. I have a whole list of Vekari games I can work on once my current commitments are completed! I am in love with the world I have created and want to show it off in as many ways as I possibly can.

Vekari exists as it does because it is everything I wanted as a kid out of an online fantasy world: magic, cool cyberpunk stuff, psychological horror bits that messed with you as a player, as much customization as possible... but it also exists as a comfort. It's an escape that still faces you with real problems, but in a controlled environment. Healing almost. Playing through Vekari games and working on the world has gotten me through some incredibly rough patches and has given me lots of opportunities to meet and support other artists as well, including my husband who was the first to be invited to write story parts and add characters. I couldn't have done this without them, so please go give zem a follow here. 

Vekari is artistic and messy and heavily flawed, but so very fun. It is an expression of life and humanity, and all the emotions that come with it. It reflects life and history and also asks questions you would never expect to be asking yourself ("What kind of fish does one find on a Neptune-like exoplanet?"). It encourages silly wild responses and builds and, ultimately, to play with a sense of childlike whimsy and wonder that may have been set aside for years. It is my largest project ever, and the one I am most proud of. I'd say if you need to rediscover the idea of freeform play, without nitpicking stats and ideal runs, this is a good game to do that with. 

It won't be for everyone, I already know some people will find it too derivative or generic or too loosely explained, but I am also confident that there are people who are going to love this to pieces as much as I do. I am pretty awful at marketing, so don't expect to see big numbers on any of the games. Might even take you a few years to come around here even if it's entirely up your alley. But those who do take the time to check things out are appreciated- it's those tiny momentary human connections on the vast world wide web that make it all worth it. Every one counts.

If you make additional content for the TTRPG or any projects using the world itself, please find a way to let me know! I would love to see anything you make inspired by my work, and may even promote content I find true to original lore or particularly neat on the official Vekari site!

TLDR; I do this because I became obsessed with a world I built during a rough time in my life and now SOMEBODY needs to make more content for it because I NEED more, so it may as well be me. If you hate it, that sucks and I hope you find a game that fits better. If you love it, that's great and I'm glad my wild crazy scoped project caught your eye! 

Thanks for joining me on this crazy journey and stay tuned for more Vekari, there's many adventures to be had yet :)