Fair Winds and Following Seas By Aven McConnaughey For 2-6 players Fair Winds and Following Seas is a game about sailing the seas with a small but competent crew. The game takes place over a series of Voyages. Each Voyage should take about 30 minutes to play and you can play any number of Voyages in a session. The core experience of the game should be calm and contemplative. There is little at stake for each Voyage: your crew will complete their Assignment, no one will be lost, and the world will continue as it always has. Play should be focused on the sensory experiences you encounter on your travels. There is not a strictly defined setting, time period, or ship for this game. Your ship is probably made of wood, primarily propelled by sails, and requires a moderate crew. The world has multiple sovereign nations, some of which have royalty. Details can be established for your play-through and your group. To play you will need these rules and the print and play cards (both printed), six tokens that need not match, and writing implements. If you are unable to print the document, you can use the tables at the end of this document to generate the details of your Voyage and loose leaf paper for characters. Setting Sail: Each player should choose a Role. If your character has not been given a name, come up with one and write it on the sheet. The Roles have no mechanical effect, but they will accumulate memories from each Voyage they are on. No one plays the Captain, though they may show up at some point to complicate your voyage. The Captain primarily exists as a demand on your time, attention, and energy. Roles: * Sailor * First mate * Doctor * Quartermaster * Navigator * Helmsperson If this is your crew’s first Voyage, draw a card from the Destination deck. Write Home Port in one of the Detail spaces on the card. This is where your crew originates from and where your families are located, if you have them. This is also where your crew is when you begin your first Voyage. To create a Voyage, draw a card from the Employer, Assignment, and Destination decks. This establishes who has hired you, what they have hired you to do, and where you have to go. Write a detail about the Employer in one of the blanks on the card (if available). Answer the question on your Assignment card. Arrange the Shanty deck in order, so when placed face down, the top card is 1 and the last card is 6. Each Voyage consists of six Watches. Each player should take at least one Watch. After everyone has taken a Watch, any remaining Watches may be taken by any player. Taking Watch: There is no set order for Taking Watch. If you are feeling inspired, take the next Watch. If you are having trouble but you’re the only one who hasn’t gone, feel free to ask your fellow crewmates for inspiration. When you take a Watch, you should describe one sensory aspect of the voyage. For the purposes of this game, the senses are SEEING, TOUCHING, HEARING, TASTING, SMELLING, and FEELING. Each Watch should describe a sense that has not already been described. You can describe objects and people that are present in the world, but you should focus on a detail that fits the sense you’ve chosen. For example, if the person that takes first Watch describes something they SEE, then the person taking second Watch could describe anything except something they SEE. Say they describe something they TASTE: then the person taking third Watch could describe something they TOUCH, SMELL, HEAR, or FEEL, and so on. As each sense is described, add a token to the Sense Map to keep track. There is also a list of prompts next to the Sense Map if you’re having trouble deciding what to describe. After you take Watch, draw the next card from the Shanty deck and read the text aloud. Everyone who has drawn a card from the Shanty deck should join in for the last line of the verse. Watch Deviations: After the first Watch, draw a card from the Event deck. This is something that will occur during your journey and should be referenced in at least the second or third Watch. If your destination is your Home Port, the final Watch should describe a detail relating to what it is like to come home. Ending Your Voyage: After you finish your final Watch, it may be unclear if you have completed your objective or successfully navigated your Event, but worry not - you did! If any member of the crew feels the need to narrate the details of success, take the time to do that now. Every member of the crew for this voyage should write a memory from the trip on their character sheet. They carry these memories from game to game. In addition, if there are any blank Detail spaces on your Destination Card, add a detail. If you didn’t learn anything new at all about your destination on this Voyage, you may skip this step. If you’d like to go on another Voyage right away, keep your same characters and draw from each deck again to establish your Destination, Employer, and Assignment. Do not shuffle previously revealed cards back into the deck. Otherwise, pack up your cards, map, and characters and thank you crewmates for their hard work. Thanks to Adam for his help with the Shanty, and to playtesters Tom Fendt, Gwen Carlson, and Adam. Sense Map: Hear See Smell Touch Taste Feel You could describe: * The ship * The crew * The food * The weather * The ocean * The port/docks * The wildlife * The time of day * Or something else Shanty: Now we set out, for the captain to please, One with the sea and the ship and our mates, Our pockets are empty but full are our plates. Pray we’ll have fair winds and following seas. A dark cloud beneath, I feel my chest seize What monster or demon has picked up our tail? What breaches the surface! ‘Tis only a whale! Pray we’ll have fair winds and following seas. One day we’ll return, on a homebound breeze The wind brings us out on the ocean so wide We bring ourselves back with our coin and our pride. Pray we’ll have fair winds and following seas. What calls in the dark? What obscure mysteries Wrack our minds with the promise of secrets long lost? Dare we quest for the truth? Can we handle the cost? Pray we’ll have fair winds and following seas. Dreams of bubbling pots, some stale bread or hard cheese Do plague our dear captain, who’d eat his own thumbs. We’ve eaten our lot, and we’re near down to crumbs. Pray we’ll have fair winds and following seas. We pull and we groan and we heave and we wheeze When the ocean won’t listen to man or to gods We make our way home despite all the odds Pray we’ll have fair winds and following seas. The Lists: Employers 1. Merchants of the Blessed Light 2. Jack’s Privateers 3. Their Majesties of the High Court 4. Silvercoat Patrols 5. The Society of Truth 6. Docks and Locks 7. College of Hypathia 8. The Altoholm Family 9. Seekers of the Elephant Garden 10. Helena’s Shippers & Handlers Destinations 1. Coast of Higher Tides 2. Golden Scales Reef 3. Nina’s Outpost 4. Gloriana Piers 5. The Elephant Garden 6. Temple of Health and Wellness 7. Pine Needle Island 8. South Hallston Sandbar 9. Ghost Fields Key 10. The Sister Cities of the Queen’s Straight Assignments 1. Deliver mail 2. Transport diplomat 3. Collect and deliver resources 4. Recover lost cargo 5. Deliver building supplies 6. Escort merchant vessel 7. Cart around scientist 8. Disaster recovery 9. Investigate missing ship 10. Pursue bounty Events 1. Caught in bad weather 2. Discover cargo is not what you thought 3. Ships suffers damage 4. Familiar route you could sail in your sleep 5. Encounter royalty 6. Breathtakingly beautiful weather 7. Find local residents in need of assistance 8. Crew struck by illness 9. Stumble into a mystical realm 10. Crew member severely injured 11. Captain announces side mission 12. Captain makes an unreasonable demand 13. Discover shipwreck 14. Encounter another ship 15. Arrive ahead of schedule 16. Come across the lair of a sea monster 17. Merpeople approach with a request 18. Unexpected discovery 19. Low on supplies 20. Stumble into a mystical realm Navigator Name: Memories: Sailor Name: Memories: First Mate Name: Memories: Doctor Name: Memories: Quartermaster Name: Memories: HelmspersonName: Memories: