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Last Tea Shop Complete

You run a tea shop on the border of the living and the dead. The recently deceased visit for one last hot drink before their long journey into the Great Beyond.

Time is strange here. Days and memories blur. Nobody visited yesterday—you are sure of that. Someone passed last week, but you can't recall their face.

The fog thins. A figure approaches. You stoke the fire.


Last Tea Shop Complete is a revised and expanded version of a one-page solo game about tea and conversation. Set up your stall and wait for visitors to emerge out of the mist. Over a cup of tea, chat to the visitor about their life and help prepare them for their trip into the Lands of the Dead. Record their thoughts, fears, dreams and hopes in your journal for posterity.

Play finishes when the mysterious Veiled One comes to visit.

You will need:

  • An hour or so of quiet time
  • Pen and paper
  • One or two six-sided dice
  • Tea (optional, but recommended)

Differences from Last Tea Shop Classic

The original "classic" version was created for the one-page RPG jam 2021. It will always remain free.

This complete edition is a 16-page zine. It stays true to the original single page version, but adds options and a few secrets.  It expands the number of settings, visitors, tea ingredients,  questions and affinities. People who play through a multiple times should have very different experiences.

Last Tea Shop Expanded Edition features illustrations by the amazing Stoneshore.

Actual play

Tim from Old Dog Games illustrated a game of Last Tea Shop Classic and shared it on Twitter.  See Tim's complete playthrough at Old Dog Games.


Old Man Gaming and Wizard's Respite streamed a two-person playthrough of Last Tea Shop. It was amazing to see their story unfold. Part one is embedded below. 


Two-player variant

Last Tea Shop was written with solo play in mind, but it works well with two players. Instead of a journalling game, play it out as a series of conversations. One player takes the role of the tea shop owner. The second person plays the various visitors. 

Here are a few tips for running a duet game.

  • Death is a theme in the game. Have a conversation about tone before play. Use safety tools (e.g. X-Card, Lines and Veils) to ensure the story stays safe for all players.
  • The tea shop owner controls timing and pace. You can linger on one part of a customer's life, encouraging more detail, or advance to the next step in the question ritual. If in doubt, move the ritual forward.
  • As tea shop owner, if you're unsure how to move to the next question, try leading with, "So, tell me...".
  • As tea shop owner, remember to ask customers how they knew the previous visitor. This is key to building an overarching story.
  • Each visitor should briefly describe their appearance and approach to the tea shop. Incorporate emotional state into the description.
  • Some emotional states are can be challenging to play as a visitor. Whatever happens, keep the story flowing—even if it's in small steps. For example, if you are confused, instead of saying "I don't remember anything" try "I can only remember fragments..."
  • Foraging  only involve the tea shop owner in the game guide. Consider adapting the rules so that a visitor helps collect supplies.

Tea shop playlist

Quiet songs to conjure mists and rain.

Acknowledgements and inspirations

All illustrations by @Stoneshore.  See his excellent art and games at stoneshore.itch.io

The following games influenced and inspired Last Tea Shop.

License

Game text is © 2022 by Spring Villager.
Game format is open for hacking + remixing under a CC-BY 4.0 license.
Hacks and reimaginings encouraged; word-for-word reprints are not.

Most, although not all, illustrations are licensed as CC-BY 4.0  through Stoneshore's Tabletop Art Pack.

Purchase

Buy Now$5.00 USD or more

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5 USD. You will get access to the following files:

Last_Tea_Shop–Stall_Sheet.pdf 404 kB
Last_Tea_Shop–Spreads_for_Print.pdf 3 MB
Last_Tea_Shop–Spreads_for_Screens.pdf 3 MB
Last_Tea_Shop–Single_Pages_for_Screens.pdf 3 MB

Community copies

Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.

Community copy

If life is tricky and you can't afford a copy of Last Tea Shop, please claim one of these community copies. Every sale contributes a copy to this pool. 

Fresh copies updated when I drink a draft of recall. 🍵

Development log

Comments

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(+1)

Well this is absolutely delightful! I played one route of classic and one of complete, and thoroughly enjoyed myself both times. My experience was quite mysterious and melancholy, trying to find resolution the mistakes and misfortunes of life. I hope to find myself coming back to this game again in future and explore some hidden paths and maybe meet the mouse (hehe).

(+1)

This game is absolutely enchanted. I'm in my first play through and I'm loving it so, so much. I've never enjoyed a solo journaling game before but this one finally broke through to me. Magical. I can't recommend it enough.

I am so please that you enjoyed Last Tea Shop. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.

(+2)

I've just read T. J. Klune's book 'under the whispering door' and seems to be inspired by this game ( or vice versa ).

Good game and gook book too :D

(+1)

Thanks! I have not read "Under the Whispering Door", but it looks really interesting. Both the book and the game came out around the same time in 2021. I like a strange coincidence.

(1 edit)

Hello 🌸 i love this game so much that i'm working on a translation in italian, my first language (not all my friends are bilingual, so...) Is this something you agree with? Can i ask you questions on how to translate certain ingredients? When i'm done can i just... send you the files? it would be so meaningful to me! This is such a cozy and meaningful game to play! thank you for creating it!

Sorry for the slow reply. Feel free to work on an Italian translation. Someone else has produced one that I will try to find and link here.

(1 edit) (+1)

No problem, thank you for replying! In the meantime i almost finished it. I still have some doubts about some plants, or turn of phrases, that i fear i translated wrong. I took the liberty of writing you in the same way you advised in another post here, point is: would you like to look at it? i have pdf and also indesign files. I'm also taking a uni course in board game design atm so i really plan to take your work as inspiration in how to Convey a Vibe 🌻

I wanted to ask: when getting the initial tea supplies for our game setup, based on where our stall is, we get every supply type from the region (not just the one from the location we rolled specifically), right? Please clarify! Loved my first playthrough of the game, and wanted to make sure I understood it better for a second playthrough.

Thank you for your kind words. The intended way to play is to start with just the ingredients from your shop location (pages 3–4). Most locations have one ingredient, but a few have two, such as the alpine garden.

On page 6 you roll for additional ingredients until you have a total of three supplies.

So, for example, you might start in an expanse of rainbow grasses with a bright gumdrop. Then, on page 6, you roll for more ingredients until you have a three ingredients in your pantry—perhaps bird nest fungi and kawakawa leaf.

That is how I intended the game to be played. But you should feel free to make the rules your own. Enjoy!

(+1)

Thank you for taking the time to clarify. I had a bunch of supplies for my first game and I'm pretty sure that wasn't quite as intended. It was still fun though and led to some interesting outcomes! :)

(+1)

Thanks to @zlinkous for sending me down a new rabbit hole of awesome. How am I only just discovering the world of Immersive Journaling Games? I always have my trusty journal, and pen and paper have always been my go-to for quick notes, doodles, and more. Thank you for making this delightful experience available.
I'm looking forward to diving right in.

Thank you so much for your comment. I hope you enjoy the tea shop and its visitors.

(+1)

Very Very interesting!

(+4)

I wish more people include a "for print" file. I couldn't find a way to up my previous purchase :( so i just bought it again to support XD I just wanted to let you know, you just raised the bar with that extra addition a LOT for future content I'll check with that extra pdf file.

About the game: I love it, my spouse loves it, my daughter loves it (tho I change a few things for her to make it less centred around the fact they are dead). I can only recommend it.

(+1)

I have been out of town for a few days and this was such a wonderful message to return to. Thank you so much for your support and for taking the time to write. I am so glad you like Last Tea Shop. 🙏

(+1)

Really appreciate the community copy! This was my 1st time experiencing a solo RPG. I thoroughly enjoyed The Last Tea Shop. Cozy, creative, magical, and imaginative! Well done :)

Thank you for writing. I am so glad you enjoyed Last Tea Shop!

(+1)

Has anyone ever used this game with the Spoon River Anthology? You would have to figure out a way to roll through the character list, but I think this would be an interesting experience!

(1 edit) (+1)

Hello, I normally don't leave comments, but I bought the complete version of Last Tea Shop a few weeks ago and really love it. I drink tea and put on some Ghibli-inspired music while I do a playthrough and I keep getting surprised by the words and emotions the prompts evoke from me. I'm new to solo RPGs and journaling, and this RPG has been a really great introduction. Thank you so much for sharing it with us :) 

I am so pleased that you enjoyed Last Tea Shop. Thank you so much for writing this comment—it made my day. :)

(+2)

We need a tea companion for this... may I work on on?

That would be fantastic. Please do! 🍵

If you need any help, I'm a Tea Addict and can help you come up with some suggestions :D

(+1)

Hello! I purchuased your game a few days ago, it's a present for my girlfriend, so I translated the print pdf to spanish. It is a decent translation, i've done it with the help of DeepL (a very good translator). 

I hope you don't mind if I print a single copy of the game to give it to my gf. If you or somebody wants the spanish version feel free to contact me for the pdf.

Thank you!

(1 edit)

I am so glad you enjoyed the game. Feel free to print and share with your girlfriend. 🙏

I am working with someone on a Spanish translation of the extended edition at the moment, but it would be great to see what you made. If you're happy to share — and if you have Twitter or Mastodon— please send a direct message on https://twitter.com/springvillager or https://dice.camp/@springvillager and I'll provide my email address :)

Hola, he comprado el juego y me gustaría saber si podrías compartirme la versión traducida. No tengo problema en mandar capturas para que veas que realmente tengo el juego completo. Desde ya muchas gracias.

(+1)

Hi! I purchased this game like a week ago. Seems that there is a very recent translation of the game to spanish. How can I contact someone to show my receipt and possibly get the translated version!

Many thanks! 

(1 edit)

Thanks for purchasing the Last Tea Shop. 🙏

We have only translated the free one-page classic edition so far.  You can find it in the downloads section of the game page.

This week we started translating the 16-page expanded edition, but it's going to take a bit longer. I'll post an update when it's done and you should just be able to login to Itch and download it. I'm not sure how long this will take as the expanded edition has a lot more text — but we will get there! Thanks again for your support.

(+1)

Ah! Not a problem. I will wait then. Thank you!

(+1)

I'm just getting into solo/journaling RPGs, and bought this after playing Last Tea Shop Classic.  This version has more visitors, tea recipes, weathers/moods, questions, etc.  I like both the Classic and Complete versions a lot.


I played the Complete version today and my first visitor was a Pilgrim, who had lost a divine compass that guided her to places where she could do good works.  

After that was a Cook, who ran a pub that the Pilgrim would stop at in her journeys.  The Cook and her cousin in the next town over had a friendly rivalry, each proclaiming that they made the best pies in all the land, and telling people, "Go try my cousin's pie and then come back here to tell me which was better."  That way, they each got twice as many customers.  

Next came a Fool, who worked in the country house of a bedridden noblewoman, whose heart broke when her eldest daughter ran away to become a Pilgrim.  The Fool frequented the Cook's pub on her days off.  

After that, a Thief came in.  The Thief had been hired by the Fool to steal the Pilgrim's divine compass, so that the Pilgrim would leave her religious order and come home to her mother.  

The Thief was followed by the Street Urchin, who acted as a lookout for the Thief now and again.  The Street Urchin found the divine compass lying in the road, and it brought her to the tea shop.

The Veiled One came in to warm up with Gumboot Tea.  They had guided the Street Urchin to the tea shop, but it wasn't the first time they had met.  The life of a street urchin is hard, and so the Veiled One met the Street Urchin several times before it was finally time to send her down the path to the Last Tea Shop.

I had fun incorporating an affinity more actively in this play-through than in my first couple sessions.  Buttons were one of my affinities, and

  • the Pilgrim thinks she lost her divine compass when the button fell off her pouch. She took a new button from my button jar and sewed it onto her pouch.
  • the Fool played with buttons while we talked, and made them dance over her fingers and vanish in her tea.  She left a stack of shell buttons when she left.
  • the button jar disappeared after the Thief's visit, but it turned up in the meadow outside my shop.  Strangely, all the silver buttons were missing.
(+1)

Thank you for writing this up. 🙏

I love reading these accounts of play sessions. I am so glad you like Last Tea Shop.  Hopefully, I will have something new to share soon. 🍃

(+3)

I loved The last tea shop, and I look forward to playing the extended version! This game is exactly the kind of cozy game I need in my life.

I'd love to translate it to french, to be able to play it with my communities. Would you be OK with that, and if so can we discuss our options?

(1 edit)

I am so glad you liked it. 🙏
Message me and we can chat about translation.

(+2)

In Last Tea Shop, you own a little tea shop in between the land of the living and the dead and you are here to offer one last cup before their journey to the afterlife. You may ask them one question while you brew and one question while you drink to find out more about them.

You play by first setting up your shop, where it’s located, what supplies you have, and what special affinities you may have. You also decide which path the visitors take, allowing you to replay the game to get different people on different rolls.

You roll 1d6 each day to see how many days between visitors there are, and then add that number to the previous day to determine who is visiting you. The game ends after 24 days and The Veiled One visits.

You also get to determine what kind of brew you serve depending on what ingredients you have. This tea can set the tone for the conversation and acts as a guide as to what questions you might want to ask.

The game provides 20 questions for you, but also clearly states that you can choose to make up questions as well. Some guests also have added effects like bringing a gift, or adding more days to the count.

I served 5 guests before the Veiled One decided to make their visit and gave me a very cryptic message. You can read my playthrough Here

(+1)

Thank you for the community copy! Times is hard right now, so I'm especially grateful. Looking forward to playing this tonight. ::) 

I'm so glad. I hope you enjoy the game.  🍵

(+1)

The Last Tea Shop is a delightful solo game that includes rules for two-players. The PDF is a soothing read, and I love all the roll tables that help players build their tea shop. There's also a section that details the kinds of visitors you'll meet. I recently did a live flip through. While this video includes other games, I've timestamped it for where I start browsing The Last Tea Shop.

Awesome. Thanks so much for sharing this video, Cassi!

this looks wonderful, any chance for some community copies?

(1 edit)

I add a community copy for every sale. I updated the free copies last night following a most recent handful of sales, but those seem to have gone. I will add more as they become available.

The classic version is available for free.

nice, ok! i'll be on the lookout, i must have just missed it ;)

(+1)

Very interesting premise, I'm looking forward to play it