These rules haven’t been playtested at all and are very much a WIP.

Ships & Voyages

Of the four common ships given below, the Twinpaw and Windgrasp are the most likely vessels for a party of adventurers to find themselves sailing. If they’re on board a turtle or a seaviper, it’s more likely that they’re a small part of a larger crew.

Twinpaw. A long double-hulled canoe with a pair of broad triangular sails. The favourite of sailors and explorers throughout the Archipelago because they’re stable and dependable, even in storms. Twinpaws grant +1d when dealing with choppy waters and poor weather.

Windgrasp. A swift and sleek canoe with a forked sail that claws at the heavens. Narrow and cramped, but unparalleled in terms of speed and agility. Windgrasps have increased effect when outrunning or outmaneuvering someone, but have little cargo space and a tendency to capsize.

Turtle. Stout and roomy with a single huge sail and elaborate rigging, turtles need a pretty large crew to operate effectively. These expensive ships are usually trading vessels, as all that lumber costs a small fortune. A turtle is a lumbering floating warehouse with endless room for goods and treasure.

Seaviper. A fearsome war canoe favoured by raiding parties and pirate crews. Named for their length: they are long and narrow ships that cut through the water with a hiss, propelled by sails and dozens of oars. A fully-crewed seaviper that rams another vessel at speed will inflict devastating damage.

Upkeep

A ship needs many things to make a successful voyage: food, water, supplies, crew, maintenance. To represent this battle against entropy, your ship has an upkeep rating that starts at 0 and can go up to a maximum of 4. It gains 1 point of upkeep whenever you complete a voyage (stopping at milestones along the way doesn’t count).

Your ship can also gain a point of upkeep when it suffers some minor consequence that’s not significant enough to inflict actual harm. If your ship’s rigging gets torn and needs to be replaced with a backup, for example, you might gain a point of upkeep. If someone of your food is eaten by rats or lost overboard, you might gain a point of upkeep.

You can clear all of your ship’s upkeep by weighing anchor somewhere that’s suitable for resupply and maintenance, and paying some coin. You might also be able to clear some upkeep in other ways, too. If you gained a point of upkeep because you lost some provisions, for example, then foraging or hunting might help you clear it.

Ship Type	Resupply Cost
Twinpaw	50 coins
Windgrasp	30 coins
Turtle	200 coins
Seaviper	100 coins

Drawing Supply. As long as your ship isn’t totally barren, the player characters may withdraw units of Supply from its hold to use on their adventures. The first time they do so, the GM will create a 4-clock for a windgrasp or twinpaw, a 6-clock for a seaviper, and an 12-clock for a turtle. Each unit of supply taken fills one tick of the clock; when the clock fills, the ship’s supplies dwindle. Resupplying clears the clock.

Harm

When your ship encounters a hardship that’s serious enough to hinder your voyages, it suffers from harm. Harm works like a condition: depending on exactly what has happened to your ship, the GM may invoke its harm at any time to:

• Impose a -1d penalty to your roll.
• Increase the risk or reduce the effect of your roll.
• Introduce a new threat to your roll.

Some examples of harm your ship might suffer include:

• Listing. The structural integrity or seaworthiness of the ship is compromised, making it harder to sail or maneuver.
• Sparse. The ship is sailing with a skeleton crew, making it harder to sail or maneuver.
• Barren. The ship is running dangerously low on provisions and medicine, weakening the bodies and morale of its crew.
• Unready. The ship doesn’t have enough supplies and equipment to replace things that break or function the way it should.
• Afflicted. Something has taken root in your ship; whether pest, pestilence or poltergeist. It’s a nuisance, perhaps even a threat.
• Marked. Your ship has picked up a grim reputation, or perhaps your crew is wanted for a crime. It’s harder to find safe harbour.

A ship that suffers the same kind of harm twice in a row will enter a state of crisis, placing it in immediate danger of sinking or becoming unfit to sail.

Repairs. If your ship sustains damage, you can repair or replenish it by filling in a repair clock with 4 segments. You can usually fill in two of these segments by spending the same amount of coin it normally costs to clear your upkeep. There might be other ways to fill in the clock as well, depending on the exact nature of the damage. When the repair clock is filled, one source of harm is cleared.

Making a Voyage

When you set sail for the vastness of the ocean, the GM will create a Voyage Clock to reflect how significant of an undertaking this journey will be.

• 2-clock. A voyage of a few days. Sailing between two islands in the same island chain.
• 4-clock. A voyage of a week or two. Sailing over the open ocean to the next island you can anchor at.
• 6-clock. A voyage of several weeks. Sailing over the open ocean to a remote, distant island.
• 8-clock. A voyage of many months. Sailing to the furthest reaches of the ocean.

For each leg of the voyage, your ship’s navigator must roll against the risk of losing their way. Adjust the roll depending on the ship’s circumstances:

• If you’ve made this voyage before or have a map/rutter/guide, add 1d to the roll.
• If the ship has a weatherworker or someone else who can aid the voyage, they can make a setup roll to assist the navigator.
• Subtract 1d for each point of upkeep the ship has.
• Subtract 1d for any harm that would affect the ship’s ability to sail or navigate.
• Subtract 1d for any other factor that makes the seas especially difficult or dangerous to navigate.

Judge the results as follows:

• 66. Mark 3 ticks of the voyage clock.
• 6. Mark 2 ticks of the voyage clock.
• 4-5. Mark 1 tick of the voyage clock, and looming peril threatens.
• 1-3. Mark 1 tick of the voyage clock, and sudden peril appears.

Once you’ve made the roll and resolved any perils that might have befallen you, check whether the voyage clock is full. If it is, then you have reached your destination. If not, you reach a milestone: an island or some other point of interest along the way. A milestone might serve as a brief interlude in the voyage, something the player characters sail right past or stop briefly to investigate; or it might be a quest hook that tempts the players into a brand new adventure.

The GM should prepare a handful of potential milestones in advance of each voyage the player characters undertake, or select premade ones from the Seafarer’s Almanac.

Peril

Peril comes in the form of a hazard or problem that threatens the ship and its crew. When peril looms in the distance, an uncertain threat presents itself to the player characters. They have time to prepare, and they may be able to avoid it entirely if they react appropriately. When peril appears suddenly, the player characters must contend with an imminent threat to their ship.

Peril might take many forms. It’s recommended that the GM comes up with at least one example for each type of peril described below. When peril strikes, pick the one that seems most appropriate.

Encounter. The GM rolls for a random encounter, or introduces a setpiece encounter they have prepared. A looming encounter might be one that the player characters have advance warning of, giving them the opportunity to gather information or slip away unnoticed. A sudden encounter is one they stumble into, or that cannot be easily escaped.

Event. Some unexpected occurrence threatens or complicates the voyage, like a fight between sailors or an epidemic of thieving vermin. If the event is looming, the player characters pick up on the signs and have a chance to get involved before things come to a head. If it’s sudden, it comes as a complete surprise.

Weather. Some inclement weather, such as a storm or gale, threatens the ship. If the weather is looming, then there may still be a chance to escape it entirely. If it is sudden, the question becomes how badly the ship the fares. Will it suffer significant harm, or just some upkeep?

Geography. Some dangerous or inconvenient geography, such as a whirlpool or doldrums, lies ahead. If the geography is looming, then the player characters get a chance to decide whether to risk braving it or suffer upkeep by going the long way around. If it is sudden, they’re not aware until it’s too late.