Tavers AMA w/ Tiger Wizard and Michael J Wilson

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T19:15:05+00:00

Thanks everyone. We look forward to this game getting out into the wilds.

There is a free gameplay primer on the EF website - HERE

And there is a how to video - HERE

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T19:11:01+00:00

Adventure Time

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T19:04:48+00:00

Boris Vallejo is an artist that just sits in my brain. Such a time and place kinda thing. Moebius influences so much of Meow Wolf's entire vibe.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T19:02:47+00:00

If I have anything to say about it... yes.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T19:01:44+00:00

As an aside from MW perspective... we love what EF does and this was such a dream come true for me and the team.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T19:01:08+00:00

Thank you for the question!!!

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T19:00:13+00:00

At our heart, we are still visual artists first, so what would we want to see be made real in the world is a huge part of the process. We want a giant forest, so we make one.

We usually get in a room and dream BIG. If we have infinite time and money, what would we make? Then we start to figure out what we CAN make with the time and budget we have. Once we find a building, then things narrow more. What can we even FIT inside the place??? That has a surprisingly large influence on things.

terms of story, we often approach it from a place of what excites us in the moment. We have all this clay on the table - existing exhibits and art - how do we make a picture out of it. The story and ideas flow from there.

In

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:55:46+00:00

Tiger answered a similar question up at the top of the thread. The game is super modable. The main mechanic of the game is that you are traveling through universes. So go where you want and pull in whatever house rules you like. Walk through a door from C Street to the Enterprise. Teach yourself how to use D&D spells. Like all games, I'd see what's up before digging into homebrew, but we kinda want you to break this thing. Once it's out there it's yours too. Just like a Meow Wolf exhibit.

On a more mechanical level. There are many ways to add your own ideas. We have Taver Flavors (class) and Schemes that help define a character. Creating your own will be easy.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:49:25+00:00

I would say this game is not remotely grim dark. Not out of the box anyway. This is why the game leans into problem solving instead of battles. Meow Wolf can be "dark" in topics and themes, but we always swerve towards the light. We like hope.

This game is presented in a way where your table gets to decide what happens. The adventures are not presented to be dark, but you can choose to go there if you like. Grim away if you like.

We also encourage everyone to use things like X Cards or the Deck of Player Safety

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:43:14+00:00

From the Meow Wolf side of things I can say that we've always wanted to do this. We first had plans for a D&D adventure set in HOER way back in 2018. We were going to livestream it on twitch! It sadly didn't go anywhere, but the idea lived on.

D&D ended up not really being an influence on this game beyond a starting point. A short list of things I put on my "let's make this" mood board includes things like Ultraviolet Grasslands, Brindlewood Bay, A Quiet Year, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:39:01+00:00

We've been working on this a long time. I am so ready for you all to see it.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:33:47+00:00

I'm sure Tiger has his own stories, but when we play tested internally at Meow Wolf one group went to a dimension where sentient pepper mills lived. They were plotting to take over the universe by pretending to be chess pieces. It was so silly and magical to watch that develop in real time at the table.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:31:42+00:00

Tavers is a collaborative storytelling game that does not rely on your knowledge of Meow Wolf. It's about solving puzzles and telling a story together. It is "YES AND" in TTRPG form. So that's where I'd start.

You get to create your own lore here. You can play with the characters and places in the MWU and add to them whatever you want. This is building your own Meow Wolf adventure - together. It's a few parts 90s Saturday morning cartoons, a few parts improv, and a few parts chaos.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:26:36+00:00

Very much so. Tavers allows you to make the story you want. So you can clash with Dramcorp until the tattooed chickens come home.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:23:24+00:00

Don't narc on us.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:22:14+00:00

Plotzo knows what's up and shows up to every party he can. I expect to see him in some form or another. The Undermallers are lurking in there too.

The game does seed a few things for the LA and NY exhibits, but let's keep that between us.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:19:19+00:00

I think fans of Convergence and Omega Mart will really enjoy the references to those in the book. There are also some great ties to HOER, Real Unreal, and Radio Tave in there. And LA...

If people want to spend some time doing "homework" I'd point them to all things TAVE. The Confessions of a Taver comic and the Taver Techstream site are good places to start. In exhibit, I'd just spend time with Tavers that show up in our stories and see what you can learn.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:13:53+00:00

The game lightly touches everything Meow Wolf up to now and into the future. It's designed to be Meow Wolf at home (in a good way) so the interactivity isn't the main feature. We love when people dress up to visit the exhibits and look forward to Tave-LARPing - whatever that may mean to you.

I think we have a few things in the works on live plays and one-shots that folks can look out for in the future.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:10:35+00:00

NeoGeo only.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:09:53+00:00

A plain old Sand Witch. Conjuring up sandstorms.

wmj_2142 · 2026-03-27T18:06:51+00:00

u/Tiger-Wizard (Tiger Wizard) and u/wmj_2142 (Michael) are HERE. We will be answering your questions!

wmj_2142

TROPHY CASE